Nightmare!

"Hey Velgri, how long can I put off a challenger for if I'm in the middle of something or completely fed up with things?" Ranma asked, stopping on his way to the house as he noticed his advisor sunning herself in the yard.

"A month," the fox replied, not bothering to sit up.

"Really? That long?"

"Yes, but if you do so consistently, the Dark will focus on making sure each challenger has the best possible chance of victory."

Ranma frowned, "Better to keep them frequent and easier so I can build my skills for now, then." At his advisor's noise of agreement, he added, "And they let me get away with this because of politics."

"Politics and self-interest, yes. While the forces of Darkness as a whole would love to defeat you, that's quite a different matter than personally risking your most powerful resources, especially when even victory has its own risks. Unless pressured by their dark lords, most entities who field a challenger simply use it as an opportunity to gain a moderate advantage rather than make a serious attempt."

"Well, it works out well for me, at any rate."

"Yes," Velgri remarked dryly, "one would almost think our side aimed for such an outcome when negotiating the Accords."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. Thanks." He started to head inside, then paused. "Uh… You know, when I talked to Kasumi about that night out with Henri, she was really interested in the opera. I told her I'd take her someday if I could swing it, but I was thinking that, well, maybe you'd want to…"

"Thank you Ranma," Velgri said warmly, "that's very considerate of you."

He smiled and hopped into the living room through the open shoji, where he was greeted in a much harsher tone. "Boy! I saw you on the news the other day!" Genma barked from where he was seated by the shougi board.

"Yeah?" sighed Ranma. "And what do you have to say about it?"

"Good work," his father said gruffly.

"Wait, really?"

Genma adjusted his glasses, then crossed his arms and frowned at Ranma. "What, did you expect me to scold you for rescuing people from a fire? Do you really think so little of me, boy?"

"Well… no. But it seems like that's all I've been hearing for a while now, so excuse me for being surprised."

Genma sighed. "Sit down, Ranma. You know I've never been generous with praise and encouragement; it's not the way I learned, and it's not the way I teach. My approach is to challenge and goad my student, with competence being assumed and praise being all the more meaningful for its rarity. But encouragement is supposed to be rare, not nonexistent, and if I've failed in that, I …" He took a deep breath. "I apologize."

Ranma stared at his father for a long moment, his eyes wide. And then they narrowed. "You're dying, aren't you."

"Disrespectful whelp! I bare my soul, and this is the response I get?!"

"Okay, okay!" Ranma said, making placating gestures, "sorry, it's just that, well, you never say stuff like this."

His father hmmed. "Well, I am now. We've both been under a lot of stress for a while now, what with the curses, the Amazons, engagements, various obligations, issues caused by," he coughed softly, "past indiscretions, the return of the Master and old rivals…" He shook his head. "Under the weight of all that, I may have slipped from rare praise to no praise, and I shouldn't have. You've made mistakes, boy, a lot of them, but you've learned a bit from them too, and overall, you've done well."

"Thank you," Ranma said quietly, "but what brought all this on? You're kinda worrying me, old man."

"Aside from my son being surprised that I praised him for rescuing people from a fire?" Genma asked, raising his eyebrows. "I always raised you to be a fighter, Ranma, to be embroiled in constant struggle and challenges, and to thrive on it. But it was never my intention to see you fighting for your life, having to kill or be killed, on a regular basis. I trained you to be the best martial artist you could be and to protect the helpless, and seeing you shouldering the task you are now… I just wanted to say I couldn't be prouder, son."

"I…" Ranma swallowed. "I gotta go," he said past the lump in his throat and leapt to his feet.

"Boy!" Genma barked before he could escape, "you understand we won't speak of this again?"

Ranma nodded emphatically then bolted from the house.

oOo

"Akane, could you let Ranma know dinner will be ready soon?" Kasumi asked as she stuck her head into the living room.

"All right. You're sure he didn't go out somewhere?"

"Pretty sure. He said he wanted a quiet day after last week."

Akane nodded as she got up and started looking for her wayward houseguest/magical girl/sort-of fiancé. After determining he wasn't in the house, dojo or yard, she looked back at the house and raised her gaze with a sigh. After taking a few minutes to retrieve the ladder and rest it against the side of the house, she climbed onto the roof and studied her quarry, who was lying on his back, arms behind his head, gazing at clouds.

Pushing away the minor annoyance she felt at having to track him down to the roof, she studied him for a moment then softly asked, "Is everything okay?"

Ranma gave a little shrug. "I guess."

Akane silently walked over and lay down next to him, mirroring his position as she joined him in watching the clouds.

After a few minutes, he started speaking again. "It's just weird, you know?"

"Mm?"

"Have you ever felt that time's kind of standing still? That you're living your life and doing things, but everything's on hold and nothing's really changing. I mean, some things may change, but overall, everything's still the same."

He sighed. "I just feel it's been like that since we got here, and now, finally, time's moving forward again and things are changing."

"I think I know what you mean. When I was little, on summer break, it seemed like everything was on hold for the month and that it would never end."

"Yeah, like that."

Akane thought for a moment. "Do you think things are changing because you became the Avatar? That's a pretty big change."

"Not directly… I mean, I became a magical girl and it was like, fine, another crazy thing happening to me, and for a while that was it. But recently, the whole thing of actually having to kill people, people I might actually get to know and even kind of like... Yeah, they're supposed to come back eventually, but it doesn't really feel like it, and knowing that if one of them wins, I won't…"

He sighed and shook his head. "But you want to know what the really stupid thing about all this is? I think the thing that really got me feeling this way is that the stupid old man said he was proud of me. He even apologized for not saying it more! I mean, how dumb is that—feeling like the world is changing because a stupid panda says something like that? It's ridiculous, right?"

"I don't think it's ridiculous at all," Akane said quietly. "I mean, he's your dad, who you've been with all your life, and your teacher too. Of course him being proud is important to you. And yes, he should have been saying it more." She sighed. "Look, you're an arrogant jerk who's lazy about anything that doesn't interest you, a walking, talking example of what not to say or do around girls, a terrible student, someone who acts without thinking or considering other people's feelings far too often, and an arrogant jerk—"

"You said arrogant jerk twice," Ranma said flatly.

"Sorry," Akane said with a slight flush. "But, you are also one of the best martial artists I've ever seen, a great Avatar of Light, often have good intentions, and will move heaven and earth to help someone who really needs it. So, yeah, you need a lot of work, but there are some really big things to be proud of."

They lay there in silence for long moments, Ranma blushing furiously and looking distinctly uncomfortable until Akane eventually added, "Have I mentioned you're an arrogant jerk?"

His laughter rang out over the rooftop, and a moment later, it was joined by hers.

oOo

"So? How did it go?" Yumi asked as she wheeled a cart bearing several sandwiches and a huge mug of coffee with various accouterments over to Ursula's table.

"I have a job," the bear-woman replied as she took a sip of the coffee before transferring the mug to her table. "The city wants me to help with disasters, emergencies, and projects that could use someone really strong. It seems pretty good. I even got a place to stay."

"That's great!" exclaimed Yumi, impulsively hugging the bear-woman for a moment in her excitement. "Are you going to live in the fire station or something, or did they just help you find a place of your own?"

"Nah, turns out a relative of a couple of the people I rescued yesterday was really grateful and offered to let me stay at a house he owns, rent-free."

"A house?" Yumi repeated, eyes wide, "that's amazing! I wonder why his relatives aren't living there."

"Don't know and didn't feel like asking if he was sure he didn't want to offer the place to his flesh and blood instead. Maybe he has a bunch of places. Anyway, it's nice and big. So, wanna move in with me?"

Yumi stared at Ursula, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she asked, "W-what?"

"Move in. With me. You've been a bunch of help and you would've let me stay with you if your place were big enough. Besides, it'll make things a lot easier if I have someone local living with me to explain the weird things around here. So what do you say? All I'm asking is half the rent each month."

"You said it was rent-free," Yumi said dumbly.

"Well, there you go, that should make the decision even easier. Like I said, it's a big place; you won't even have to sleep on top of me. Unless you want to," she added teasingly.

"I… All right, I'll do it!" Yumi exclaimed with a grin as she finally got over her shock at such an amazing offer.

"Move in or sleep on top of me?" Ursula asked with a smirk.

"Yes."

Ursula nodded and reached for a sandwich. Yes, this was much better than dying in a fight with the Avatar.

oOo

"So, anything special today?" Nabiki asked as she set up her video camera on a tripod. "You know, things I should focus on, new moves I'll need to dodge."

Ranma sighed and bowed her head briefly. "No, I'm just planning to practice making light people and seeing how well sparring with them goes. If I get any inspiration in the middle of things, I'll tell you before I try anything. That okay?"

"It'll do. Okay, I'm recording; go ahead and transform."

Ranma frowned. "I'm not sure I like you recording that."

"Why not? It's not like you flash everyone during it, you don't have a secret identity from your enemies, and if someone else gets their hands on the tape, it's not like it'd be really hard to track down who you are even without that bit."

"Fine. I'm a guy." A moment later, the Avatar of Light stood in her place.

"You're right," Nabiki said, looking at the counter on the camera, "that doesn't take nearly as long as it seems to. Avatar of Light practice session two."

Ranma took a deep breath and let it go, then stood there in silence for a few minutes as she relaxed and focused on the power of Light within her, feeling its warm and bright nature and attuning herself to it. Eventually, she gathered a quantity of it, smiling faintly at the impression it was happy, almost eager, to help her and projected it into a human form while focusing on wanting a sparring partner.

Ranma felt a portion of the Light flow out of her, and several feet away, golden light coalesced into a copy of her, except the lavender and pink parts of her outfit were replaced by shades of blue, and her jewelry was silver instead of gold. The copy smiled faintly at her creator before the two of them bowed and leapt into action. Punches, kicks, and light lances flew between the two Avatars, each one being blocked, countered or evaded, none of the stray shots coming anywhere near the camera or its operator. After a couple of minutes, the two leapt apart and stared each other down.

"Very nice," Ranma said with a pleased smile, "now let's step it up a bit!"

In an instant, the silver and blue Avatar rushed forward and Ranma fired a pair of light lances at her, one from each hand. The lavender Avatar's eyes widened slightly as her opponent simply charged through the golden bolts, actually seeming to absorb their energy, and threw a running punch at her head. The punch only struck air, however, as Ranma flipped backwards at the last instant, her right foot lashing out in a kick that caught the other girl in the chin, sending her reeling back before exploding into golden motes.

"That was great!" Ranma exclaimed with a grin. "I was kinda hoping I'd get her memories or something to get twice as much out of it, but oh well."

"You watch too much anime," Nabiki replied, shaking her head, before slow clapping drew their attention.

"Wow, that was really good," called a girl standing at the top of the hill, "especially from such a new Avatar! Your clone still needs some work, sure, but great early effort." The newcomer looked to be in her mid-teens, with pale skin, peach colored hair in a pageboy style, and mismatched eyes that almost seemed to glow, with the left being blue and the right green. She wore a long sleeved black jacket liberally decorated with fringes and patches of purple and green that was held closed by silver buttons. Black slacks with a silver belt and purple suede ankle boots adorned her lower body, and her fingernails had the appearance of softly glowing moonstone. She wore no jewelry.

"I suppose you're my next challenger," Ranma remarked as the newcomer launched herself from the hilltop, somersaulting through the air to gracefully land halfway between Nabiki and her in a gymnastics pose.

"That's right! My name is Akuko and I'm here to end you, Avatar!"

"Uh huh… So, when do you want to do this?"

"Now!" cried Akuko as she threw a hand into the air and all three people on the hillside crumpled to the ground.

o0o

Ranma slowly blinked and looked around. The last thing she remembered was being unable to stay awake and seeing Nabiki and the Dark challenger collapsing as her eyes fell shut, and now she was standing in a dark and spooky forest. Twisted gray trees bearing brown or orange leaves, choked under masses of scraggly woody vines, obscured most of the sky, but through gaps, she could see a blood red full moon hanging in a twilight sky. The air was still, the scent of mold and decay a thick and heady perfume. Moonlight reflected off of a small pair of red beady eyes watching her from a knothole in a nearby trunk; when she turned her gaze that way, they quickly vanished. There was no sign of Nabiki or the challenger.

"Well, I somehow doubt a challenger would break the Accords to knock me out and bring me here instead of just killing me, and I was falling asleep… so this is probably a dream." She looked around and grimaced. "A bad one. Right. So all I need to do is wake up. I do that every day—in my sleep, no less" she said with much more confidence than she actually felt. She took a deep breath and calmed herself, focusing on her body. She didn't ignore her surroundings, of course; she wasn't an idiot, after all, but she concentrated on her toes and exactly what they were feeling. She just needed to reconnect to—a scream cut through the forest.

"Nabiki!" Ranma raced through the dark forest, her efforts to wake herself up forgotten. Her expression turned grim when she adjusted her course slightly to follow the scent of blood. Before long, it led her to a small clearing surrounded by a ring of black trees wrapped in vines bristling with inch long blood red thorns. In the center of the clearing, Nabiki lay huddled, covered in long, bloody scratches.

"Shit!" Ranma hissed as she darted through a gap between trees and rushed over to the fallen girl. "It's okay, I'm here now. You'll be all right," she soothed as she checked the other girl's injuries.

"Damn it, Ranma, where were you?" Nabiki groaned as she struggled to rise.

"I'm sorry. I should have gotten to you sooner," said softly as she carefully put her arms around Nabiki and gently helped her up.

"Yes, you should have!" Nabiki growled, lunging forward and viciously snapping with a mouth suddenly full of jagged fangs. Her target jumped back while deflecting Nabiki's head to the side, but her neck stretched and twisted, and she just managed to catch flesh and draw blood.

"You're not Nabiki," Ranma coldly stated, her torn right glove slowly turning red from the pair of shallow gashes just below her elbow.

"All of this is your fault! You owe me, Saotome!" the other girl shouted before breaking into laughter. "And one way or another, I'll collect my pound of flesh." She lunged forward, fingers twisting into claws, only to fall to the ground as a brilliant bolt of golden light vaporized her head.

"Damn it…" Ranma gingerly inspected her wound, deciding it wasn't that bad, but the situation had suddenly become much worse. She made her way out of the clearing, briefly flaring her Light into a protective aura as a mass of thorny vines tried to wrap around her as she squeezed between two trees. "Now what am I supposed to do?" she asked, studying the surrounding forest with a frown. A moment later, she abruptly turned her head in the direction of the sound of a heavy branch falling in the distance and set off.

0

Ranma quietly darted through the forest, taking care to give the ones with black bark a wide berth after the first two she'd gotten close to had tried to grab or stab her with their twisted limbs. The gray trees seemed to only look menacing, but she wasn't going to assume they would remain passive in the future. She still hadn't seen any wildlife, aside from brief glimpses of glowing eyes in the dark and was quite happy with that state of affairs. As she got close to the sound of breaking branches and crackling leaves she'd been following, she slowed, frowning when it abruptly cut off.

Moving forward as quietly as she could, she grimaced as part of a ring of black trees emerged from the gloom. Eyes darting around for any signs of threats, she cautiously made her way around the ring without getting too close, looking for the opening that was sure to be among the trees. She found it soon enough, a gap of about six feet, and the moment she was positioned to get a clear view, distant branches parted, allowing a beam of blood red moonlight to pierce the forest and illuminate the small clearing like a hellish spotlight.

In the center of the clearing, head bowed and body motionless, Nabiki hung suspended several feet above the ground by thick bundles of dry vines wrapped around her outstretched arms. The ground was smothered under a carpet of woody brown vines, and a glint of moonlight on white drew Ranma's attention to a length of splintered bone wrapped in vines, its jagged point aimed up at Nabiki's chest. As if they'd only been waiting for her to notice, the vines waited a heartbeat longer then surged forward with their bony spear.

A light lance destroyed the bone as Ranma hurled herself into the clearing, golden light already reforming around her hands as she soared across the ground below. With the creaking of wood, the vines wrapped around Nabiki's arms pulled, and the girl threw her head back in an agonized scream that echoed through the forest for the instant it took another pair of light lances to sever the vines. Before she even started to drop, Ranma caught her with one arm and spun around to face the entrance to the clearing. As they arced toward the vines below, which had whipped themselves into a violent frenzy, she gathered an aura of golden energy around both their bodies, letting it absorb most of the force of the whipping vines, and slammed her fist into the ground, disintegrating the vines in an explosion of golden light. The moment her feet touched down, she ran for the opening with all her speed, but even that wasn't enough to avoid vines from the trees lashing her arms and shoulders to leave bloody furrows.

Once they were a safe distance from the trees, Ranma quickly but carefully laid Nabiki on the ground and cautiously looked her over with a pensive frown on her face. The other girl was breathing steadily but seemed to be unconscious; there were some scratches on her arms, but no other visible injuries. Of course, any damage the vines may have done pulling her arms wouldn't be easily seen just by looking, and Ranma was rather hesitant to get up close and personal enough to feel for any damage after the previous Nabiki's attack. She ran her hands through her hair, grimacing slightly as her new injuries made themselves known. This place was wearing her down and she didn't know what to do.

In the distance, another scream in Nabiki's voice rang out, and Ranma cursed loudly.

o0o

Nabiki raised the English style teacup to her lips and took a sip as awareness returned. A casual glance revealed it was a delicate-looking pale seashell pink porcelain teacup decorated with small clusters of roses; the rim, handle, and base were limned in gold. The tea itself was a wonderful oolong far beyond anything she recalled drinking while actually awake. As she set the cup on its matching saucer, she idly examined her surroundings. She was sitting in a garden on a white wrought iron chair at a round table covered by a lace tablecloth. Atop the tablecloth were all the ingredients of a formal afternoon tea: china tea service, ornate three tiered tray bearing finger sandwiches and pastries, scones, and small pots of preserves, lemon curd, and clotted cream. In the opposite chair, Akuko was watching her with undisguised curiosity.

"I've never seen anyone integrate in so smoothly," the other girl said with awe when Nabiki's gaze fell on her.

"Being able to take things in stride is a vital skill," Nabiki remarked as she nibbled on a tiny sandwich. Mmm, smoked salmon and lemon butter. Very nice.

"Hnh," Akuko said as she spread clotted cream and strawberry preserves on a scone, "most people just look around all confused and ask stupid questions. And when I tell them they're in my nightmare, do they calm down and act reasonable? Nooooo… instead, they get all antsy and start begging and pleading for me to let them go. You're not going to do that, are you?" she asked, then sighed in pleasure as she bit into her scone.

"How did that work out for them?" Nabiki idly asked as she looked around the beautiful garden. The plants were expertly shaped, and exquisite benches, sculptures, and fountains were artfully placed along the paths. She couldn't help but notice there didn't seem to actually be any exits, however.

Akuko giggled and shook her head. "Not very well."

"I will not, then. Not that I'd be inclined to, regardless. This tea is very nice, by the way."

"Thank you. I made it myself."

Nabiki hmmed and took a moment to admire the clouds drifting across the beautiful blue sky overhead. "Where's Ranma?"

"Oh, she's in a cursed forest getting worn down and sliced up rescuing fake copies of you."

"That doesn't sound very smart," Nabiki observed as she selected a pastry from the top tray.

"I know! You'd think she'd ignore them after the first one attacked, but she just keeps falling for it! I mean, sure, I'd make her think she'd let the real you get killed, and maybe eventually actually kill you in front of her, but she could at least try!" Akuko huffed and finished her scone. "Good is stupid!"

Nabiki nodded slowly as she thought for a moment. "So, since this is a dream, and we know we're dreaming, shouldn't we be able to make changes to it and do things like fly around?"

"Ooh, you're a smart one, aren't you. You would be able to do stuff like that, except this is my nightmare, and you're only human. Your little human brain considers all this to be real, so it imposes reality's rules on you and won't let you do things you know you can't do. Since you can't fly when you're awake, your brain goes, 'oh, I can't fly!' and voila, you can't fly in here."

"That's interesting. I suppose someone who's crazy and thinks they can fly, even if they really can't, would be able to fly in here, then."

Akuko stared at her for a moment, mouth agape. "They totally would! That's brilliant! I'm gonna need to find some crazy people to play with once I kill the Avatar." She sighed and sagged. "Damn, you're great to talk to. I wish I could keep you around instead of killing you."

"I am a little surprised you're not giving me the 'join the winning side' pitch, actually. Are you forced to kill anyone you bring in here or something?"

"Oh, it's nothing like that. I'd totally keep you as a pet and conversation partner, but even if I convinced you to change sides, the fact that I violated the Accords in a big way by bringing you here would still be in your head for anyone powerful enough to dig out, and that would be really bad, so I'm going to have to spread your brain across the hillside out there once the Avatar's dead. Nothing personal."

"Which raises the question of why you did that in the first place. Wonderful pastry, by the way. It's the whole brain thing again, isn't it. Ranma knows I'm in here because she saw you bring us both in, making the copies more convincing. If you showed her someone like her mother, or she didn't see me get brought in here too, she'd be able to easily dismiss them as fakes."

Akuko thumped her forehead against the table and groaned, "Stooop… You're making the fact I have to kill you ever more painful. Maybe I can figure out a way to kill you out there but keep you alive in here?" She sighed. "Probably not without a lot of experimenting on other people, and it'd take time I don—ooh, that was a nice hit!" she exclaimed, raising her head and grinning at Nabiki. "I'm afraid our time is almost over; there's no way the Avatar is going to last much longer now. Thank you so much for all your help!"

"I don't think I really did all that much," Nabiki said, frowning as she stared into space, thinking hard.

"But you did! Without you, I never would have been able to keep the Avatar ensnared so well. To think, I'm crushing the Avatar of Light, all thanks to an ordinary schoolgirl!" Akuko cried, throwing back her head and laughing maniacally.

Nabiki blinked and the ghost of a smile appeared on her lips as she focused on the other girl. "Hey, I may be a schoolgirl, but I'd hardly say I'm ordinary."

Akuko stopped laughing and curiously turned to her. "Oh? What are you, then?"

"Well, personally," Nabiki said as she studied her fingernails for a moment before looking up to lock gazes with Akuko, "I think I'm pretty special."

o0o

Ranma bounded through the forest in arcing leaps, another Avatar of Light in a slightly different outfit following about ten feet behind with an unconscious girl slung over her shoulder. She knew, absolutely knew, she was following the bait into yet another trap and the smart thing to do was to ignore any and all Nabikis and just hope the real one was all right once the challenger was dead… But how could she just gamble with Nabiki's life, even if it was the smart move and the odds of her being safe were pretty good? After all, there was nothing stopping Akuko from throwing a deathtrap with the real Nabiki right in front of her and laughing when she just left her to die horribly. Yeah, it was unlikely any Nabiki she encountered like this would be the real one, but… but what if she was? How would she face the Tendous and tell them she just let their daughter and sister die?

Ranma slowed to a walk as she emerged into a field of grass and scattered patches of stone that extended for about a hundred feet before masses of twisted trees once again took over. She needed to face reality. She was already hurt worse than she'd ever been in a challenge, and making light clones and shielding auras had drained her energy more than she was comfortable with. On top of that, so far as she knew, she hadn't even done any damage to her enemy. If she lost, Nabiki would end up just as dead if Akuko killed her here, except the rest of her family would soon be joining her. And she did have one Nabiki. Maybe… maybe it was the real one.

She stopped and stared ahead intently as the sound of branches snapping drew her attention to the forest on the other side of the field. A moment later, she pursed her lips and warily watched as a new Nabiki lurched into the field in a staggering run. The other girl tiredly made her way into the field for several seconds before looking up and noticing Ranma. Her eyes widened and she looked like she wanted to call something but lacked the breath and instead just kept moving forward. Ranma briefly wondered what she wanted to say but the question was quickly answered when a giant wolf-bear-octopus hybrid abruptly smashed through the trees ahead and charged into the field after the fleeing girl while loosing an earth shaking roar.

Ranma ran past Nabiki as the exhausted girl tripped and fell to the ground, and intercepted the bear with a flying kick as it pounced, sending it slamming back into the trees. She grimaced as it slid to the ground and immediately tore back into the field but paused to glance behind herself as she felt a strange surge of Light energy. A thrill of fear raced through her as she saw the Nabiki she'd rescued earlier, her fingers now ending in long knife blades, running forward through dissipating motes of golden light, her eyes fixed intently on the other Nabiki who was weakly struggling to rise.

Enemies rapidly approaching from both ahead and behind, Ranma exploded into action, grabbing Nabiki and desperately throwing the both of them to the side, sending them flying, bouncing, and rolling. As the two attackers crashed into each other, she exhaled in relief, just before pain stabbed into her side and she reflexively pushed away the girl she was holding. She rolled to a stop and rose to one knee, grimacing as she held a hand to her side over the rapidly spreading patch of red staining her fuku. She spared a quick glance to make sure the others weren't closing in, then watched the Nabiki she'd just rescued smoothly rise to her feet, a blank expression on her face and a bloody carving knife in her left hand.

The new Nabiki's lips suddenly stretched into a bright smile. "Well, it looks like you're done for, Avatar!" she cheerfully said in Nabiki's voice, even if the intonation and mannerisms were completely wrong. "Thanks for being so stupid—it really helped! As a thank you, and because she's been fun to talk to, I promise to kill the real Nabiki quickly and painlessly. Byeee—"

The parting word was cut off as several multicolored explosions flashed in the distance and the ground shook. Ranma glanced at her opponents, and seeing that both the Nabikis and the bear were standing motionless and staring into space, she stood up and set off in the direction of the explosions, one hand pressed to her side as she moved as quickly as she could without jostling her wound. She had no idea what was going on, but as smaller explosions illuminated the distant forest, she figured whatever it was, it wasn't part of Akuko's plan.

o0o

"You drove yourself crazy, you magnificent freak!" Akuko screamed at the magical girl as a marble bench exploded when a mass of vines swung it into the path of a crackling ball of energy.

"Now that's just rude," Pretty Special remarked as she crossed her arms before her chest then slashed them to either side, sending threads of energy scything across the ruined garden, slicing through vines, animated statues, and monsters alike, leaving them in burning, twitching, or frozen pieces on the ground.

"Really? Which part?" Akuko called as she manifested glowing red daggers in an arc above and behind her.

"Both," Nabiki replied as she rolled diagonally forward to avoid most of the daggers flying at her while snaring the remaining two with blue threads that whipped around and buried them to the hilt in the broken base of a bronze statue. "I rather liked 'magnificent' though."

"Well, don't drive yourself crazy to give yourself dream powers like a freak (even if it is awesome) and I'll stop saying that!" As the magical girl narrowed her eyes and formed crackling balls of energy around each hand instead of reasonably turning back into a normal human, Akuko decided she might have miscalculated slightly. When one energy ball destroyed the steel shield she conjured and the other, launched a second later, slammed into her stomach, simultaneously freezing, shocking, slicing, and setting her on fire, she was sure of it.

"Aaaah! Screw this!" Akuko cried as black feathered wings sprouted from her back. "I'll finish off the Avatar and come back for you!" Or maybe just make a new garden far away, she thought, as she considered how poorly the fight had been going. She flew up and to the side, just barely avoiding the multicolored energy threads that attempted to ensnare her, and with a mighty clap of her wings, soared into the air, rising high above the ruin of her garden and the surrounding forest. Before she could even decide which way to go, her vision went white for an instant as her head snapped back and she plummeted to the ground, her forehead exploding in pain and a sharp crack echoing across the forest.

"Nice shot," Nabiki acknowledged as she walked over to where Akuko lay on the ground moaning weakly. She gazed down at the girl, gathering energy in her hands, and realized there was something she needed to say. "Thank you for tea, it was very nice." Taking the pained groan as acknowledgement, she threw the balls of energy and watched as Akuko's body dissolved into colorful motes that quickly faded.

"Huh. Okay, I didn't see that coming," Ranma remarked from where she was tiredly leaning against a tree where the forest now bordered the garden.

"Neither did she. Are you okay?"

"I'll live," Ranma said, gingerly feeling her wound before smiling mischievously and asking, "So, just how long have you dreamed of being a magical girl, Nabiki?"

"Since you knocked me out with that rock," she answered flatly.

"Ah. Er, well, good job. And, thanks," she added sincerely, "I was in a pretty bad way."

"No problem. I'll put it on your tab."

"Thanks…" Ranma repeated, much less sincerely. "So, any idea how we get out—"

oOo

Ranma groaned as she opened her eyes and the sun painfully blinded her. Shielding her eyes, she quickly took stock of herself and was relieved to find no injuries and her Avatar uniform completely intact. She sat up and saw Nabiki rising to her feet near the camcorder while Akuko lay motionless on the ground. Flipping to her feet in a graceful motion, she approached the challenger's form as Nabiki walked over, as well. As if waiting for them, the moment they came close, Akuko's body dissolved into colored motes that quickly faded.

"That's strange," Ranma said with a frown, "no shade."

"Maybe her nightmare realm thing makes it work differently," Nabiki said with a shrug. "Either way, it's not your concern."

"Yeah, I guess not. This whole challenge was really weird. I remember something about a creepy forest and garden…" She frowned and eyed Nabiki suspiciously. "And you attacking me?"

"Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what happened," Nabiki replied flatly.

"Yeah, okay, that's pretty unlikely. Actually, I kind of have the feeling you helped somehow, so … thanks. Do you remember more?"

"Just bits and pieces; nothing important. We done for the day?"

Ranma looked around the hill briefly. "Yeah, we're done. I'm not in the mood for more."

Nabiki nodded and started putting away her video equipment. As she finished packing things up and zipped the bag, she paused for a moment to watch the colors that briefly flickered across her fingernails. The ghost of a smile appeared on her lips for an instant; both it and the colors were long gone when she walked over to the now detransformed Avatar and they headed home together.