Why Always me? Chapter 2              Written By: Matdeception

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Disclaimer: Ranma ½ was created, and belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Gold
Diggers was created, and belongs to Fred Perry. I write this work not to
make money, but to pay homage to the original works of these to authors.

Authors Note: There may be numerous differences found in the GD manga as
opposed to what is listed here. Nothing here should be taken as Cannon,
no matter how close to it the story really is.

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The dawn came quietly to the sub-dimensional town of Seers Hamlet. The
birds were chirping, the people were rising, and everything seemed right
in the world. Except perhaps for the two were-cats, one jagwere, one
were-tiger, trudging along the streets looking like death warmed over.

Looking into their eyes, the random passer by of the street could easily
see their blood shot eyes, their staggering stance, and the exhaustion
that seem to permeate the air around them. Whatever it was they were
doing last night, it kept them up the entire time.

Growling in impotent rage, Tirga snarled out tiredly "Damn this. We've
been up all night Gar. I think its time we cut our losses and just go
home."

Shaking his head stubbornly, Gar retorted, "Shut up. Were not giving up
on this. I'd rather have my eyes gouged out than risk Sheila like that."

Tirga groaned, "Its prolly to late man. If Sheila found Ranma I'll bet
you a hundred gold pieces he tapped that ass, slipped her the bolognie
pony, massaged her lab.."

Gar tried, he really did. There is only so much slander one could take
about his sister, especially when you're enduring it from you're best
friend concerning a supposed love affair between Ranma and Sheila. One
can only be pushed so far.

Having long since tuned out Tirga's words, Gar glared when the
were-tiger brought two fingers up to his mouth and started flicking his
tongue in and out in a rather suggestive manner.

"Tirga.." Gar growled out angrily.

Tirga ceased his simulation, quirked his head to the left slightly, and
asked, "What?"

"PREPARE TO DIE!" Gar yelled and leapt at the were-tiger.


***


Sheila moaned softly, her eyes fluttering open to find the morning sun's
glare glittering gently. She pursed her lips and sighed, this simple act
beginning the slow numbing process of awakening her lethargic mind.

What was this weight on her chest? Sheila didn't know, but whatever it
was it had better not be Tirga. Sheila growled as she thought of the
likely repercussions she would inflict on the lecherous Were-tiger if it
were. Probably scream and Kapowie the pervert.

Sheila sighed, her eyes lowering and then widening at the sight before
her. Some man, human from appearance was laying on top of her. Both
herself and the unidentified man crumpled in a rather suggest heap with
her legs spread to either side and him laying haphazardly between them
while he used her breasts as a pillow.

Sheila was ready to scream, but her mind began to awaken fully and the
memories of her actions the night before came unbidden to the fore.
Intense feelings of passion, warmth, and an overwhelming compassion
trickled into her awareness slowly, her mind digesting the information
that came with it as a slight blush began spreading across her cheeks.
The unfamiliar fire at the pit of her stomach started too slowly burn
again as the feelings the man, Ranma was his name, had caused in her the
night prior.

Ignoring her body's reaction to the prior nights memories, she lifted
her gaze from the boy back to the sky, her thoughts becoming
introspective. She didn't realize that as she thought she began to
softly move her fingers through Ranma's hair, petting him gently as he
slept. No, she didn't notice, as her mind was abuzz with the
implications of her earlier actions.

She had slept with Ranma, and despite memories to the contrary she
couldn't believe it. Sheila left off a small contented sigh as her
internal monologue continued. She had slept with Ranma, he didn't scorn
her in the least. He was so gentle and caring for their first time.. for
her first time.

Giggling, her hands parting Ranma's jet-black bangs to gaze intently on
his angelic face, Sheila grinned at the seemingly peaceful and innocent
expression.

She didn't believe for a second that she was Ranma's first, his
experience from the night before proving that point. Sheila had heard
about others first times and it generally was very awkward for both
parties, and nowhere near as pleasant. She never did ask if she was his
first, so the matter was moot to her anyway. She was just thankful her
first time was so perfect, so pleasing, and she definitely liked the
look of complete devotion in Ranma's eyes the night prior. She decided
right then and there, she could have done a lot worse than Ranma for her
first, and was thankful for that.

Shaking her head to clear the remaining cobwebs, Sheila sniffed the air
and blanched at the overpower musk still lingering. Even though they
hadn't been physically active in hours the smell of their musk and sweat
remained in the air, on her, and most of which on Ranma.

Pausing in her petting, she pushed with her hips and hands, forcing
Ranma to turn over as carefully as she could so as to not wake the still
slumbering man. With a soft thump Ranma rolled off her chest and hit the
ground, the foliage greatly reducing and impact he might have felt from
the sudden movement, yet he did not wake.

Sheila leaned up, stretching her arms languorously overhead to work out
any kinks in her back she might have had from being used as a mattress
the night before. She looked over the area, taking note of any landmarks
that might give her an idea of where she was. It was her hope that she
could find one of the nearby water springs that outlined Seer's Hamlet.
The last thing she needed was to deal with anyone from home, especially
if they managed to detect the rather obvious scent on her. Gar would
bust a nut, Tirga would cry in dismay at not being the lucky tiger to
pop this jagwere's cherry.

Sheila giggled again as she jumped to her feat, the image of Onoli
detecting her scent and fainting would be priceless. Still, it wasn't
worth all the grief she would get from the other members of the Edge
Guard. It wasn't any of their damn business as far as she cared.

Tracing over the area, Sheila took the time to do a more thorough
catalogue of the area. Within moments she left off a sigh of relief as
she figured out her location. A spring easily big enough for her to wash
up wasn't too terribly far away. Ten, fifteen minute walk at the most.

Satisfied, she allowed her eyes to travel back to Ranma. Her slight
blush erupted into atomic Rouge at the sight. She didn't realize it at
first, but by pushing Ranma off of herself, she inadvertently pushed him
onto his back, leaving his now flaccid member in plain view for all to
see.

She was tempted, oh so tempted to reach out and touch it. Yet, stopped
herself. Now was not the time to enjoy it, nope. By the positioning of
the sun, Sheila guessed it to be only an hour after sunrise, which means
she had to hurry and bath before her patrol shift came up.

Sheila pouted at that, all she wanted to do was curl up and bask in the
warmth her lover was willing to give her. But NO! She couldn't spend the
day in perpetual bliss, she had to get up and go to work.

Grumbling about the injustice of being a servant of justice, Sheila
ignored the pun and quickly gathered her clothes. She was so sore! Her
tongue all the way down to her naughty bits felt like it had gone
through a ten-mile marathon! But damn, did she feel good otherwise.

After gathering her cloths, Sheila bounced off with a noticeable spring
in her step, a permanent smile plastered to those thin dusky lips

***

Yawning loudly, Julia returned to the land of the living with out
incident. Stretching across her nice and comfy bed, she instinctually
went in search of the warm body belonging to her husband. Failing to
find said warmth, she sat up immediately, her eyes searching and
cataloging her surroundings quickly.

Early morning, the sun's light barely able to pass the threshold of her
curtain's into the shadowy room. Eventually, her eyes traced across the
floor to her husband's resting spot. She was confused at first when she
saw this, but then unbidden the memories of yesterdays fiasco came to
her.

Growling softly at the remembrance of the slap, Julia schooled her
features and quenched her anger. She had already forgiven him,
unofficially anyway. Once he dealt with the bond in full, there by
freeing Ranma from his slavery, he would be forgiven officially.

Flinging her legs to the side, Julia's feet touched down on the cold
hardwood floor, an involuntary chill traveling up her skin and leaving
goose pumps in its wake. She ignored this, as such was generally a
common occurrence when visiting the Jade Realm.

Using her foot, Julia began prodding her husband's shoulder in an
attempt to awaken him. She was not disappointed. Within moments of her
constant buggering, Theo's light blue eyes flared open wildly, staring
at his wife in confusion. Julia could nearly see the gears turning in
his head as memories of the day prior came to him.

Theo gave off a small smile upon seeing his wife, his voice hoarse and
raspy from the nights sleep. "Morning Julia."

"Good morning, Mr. Diggers." Julia said in return, her words carefully
chosen to express her still angry emotional state concerning the
situation. She nearly cried out when her husband winced. He too must
have realized the meaning behind her words, and showed this by sighing
loudly.

"Hurry up, Diggers. I want to get dressed, gather up my /slave/ and go
home. A nice hot relaxing bath should do my frazzeled nerves just the
trick." Julia sprouted off in a tone of annoyance.

At his wife's words Theo grumbled and shisayed to his feet. He felt like
utter shit, sleeping on a cold floor wasn't the best of ways to gain a
good night's sleep. Stretching a bit, Theo nodded quickly, "Yeah, a nice
hot bath should do just the trick." Turning to face his wife, he gave
off a little forced smile, "I'll go down and prepare your.. Ranma for
the trip home. Come by in an hour, everything should be ready by then."

Nodding slowly, Julia ushered her husband out the door. With a loud
'clang' the door was shut, leaving her alone in the cold room. That
small amount of time spent with her husband hurt her more than she
realized it would have. Still, she had to stress to her husband her
utter hate concerning the situation, especially in regards to her
'slave' Ranma. Poor boy was used for some reason or another, and because
of her husbands stupidity the boy was going to suffer.

Shaking her head, Julia forced out a smile. It wasn't so bad. Ranma
would finally be able to return home, return to the mother that gave
birth to him, and the rest of his family. She made a promise to Ranma
right there. As soon as they figured out how to break the bond, she
would personally take Ranma to meet with his family. It was the least
she could do, considering at the moment he was pretty much a slave to
her.

With that promise made, Julia went about changing her cloths, grabbing
her bags, and with a slightly heavy step, made her way towards the Edge
Guard. It was time to go home.

***

Ranma blinked, his eyes wandering the entire area looking for something
he knew should have been there, but wasn't. Just where the hell did
Sheila go? Why the hell didn't she at least wake him up before she left?

Grumbling, he set about dressing himself, his mind wandering back to the
night of wild passion he had with the sexy, yet defective, jagwere.
Despite being his, and her first time, he felt he did a pretty damn good
job. After all, Sheila spent the entire time screaming in orgasmic
bliss, making him do all the actual work. Not that he minded, Ranma
viewed it more or less as his duty to the martial arts. Why, if the
woman was able to assist him in his Art, then he obviously wasn't doing
his very best to bring her world crashing down around her. That would
not stand, of course.

Ranma growled when he noticed his shirt was missing. Sheila must have
grabbed it by accident. Shrugging, Ranma crossed his arms in a vain
attempt to keep some body heat from escaping in the cold morning air as
he made his way back to Seer's Hamlet. His thoughts occupied by his
feelings, and the way Julia had affected him last night.

Ranma knew for a fact Julia had no clue he was with Sheila last night,
he had gone through painful precautions to make sure his mind shield was
up for the entire event. Yet, with out knowing it appeared she had
pressed him to act in a different manner than he normally would have.
Ranma knew he wasn't quite the touchy feely type, yet the feelings he
had last night clearly spoke out to him that he should have been. He
didn't like it one bit either, not one bit at all. To him it appeared as
if Julia was attempting to change him, coerced him into being something
he didn't want to be. In essence, trying to force him to her will. That
hurt, and Ranma didn't understand why.

No.. that wasn't true. He understood why perfectly. He felt betrayed.
Julia had promised she wouldn't try to abuse this bond, and would do
everything in her power to see it removed. Now she had proven herself a
liar, and some one not to be trusted. This situation, already having
sucked big giraffe balls, was getting worse by the day. Hell, not even a
day after her promise, and she already broke it.

"Strike one Master" Ranma growled to himself.

Ranma blinked as he regained awareness to his surroundings. He hadn't
notice how long he'd been thinking, and instinctively wandered up to the
building he needed to be at. Looking left and right, he saw a pair of
Were-Ocelots waving shyly at him. Blinking, he wondered why they were
looking at him like that. Not that he minded any; it was just odd for
this time of morning. You'd figure people would be trying to wake up
instead of bedding down. Heh.

Waving back, Ranma graced the pair with a killer, yet in his own way
shy, smiles. Turning his head back to his destination, he missed the
resulting swoons from the aforementioned werecats.

Tapping into the bond a bit, Ranma found the other end already in the
building, seemingly feeling extremely annoyed and a bit angry. Sighing
to himself, Ranma opened the door and walked on, onwards towards a
seemingly angry Julia Diggers.

***

The chilly still waters broke into a frenzy of ripples and waves as
Sheila broke the surface, submerging herself completely in the clear
waters. Shifting form to human, Sheila smiled as the waters massaged and
comforted her sore muscles ever so gently.

Washing away the dirt and grime attributed to frolicking around on the
ground in the throes of intense passion, Sheila scrubbed herself in
earnest using Ranma's shirt, the one she had accidentally grabbed when
she ventured to wash up for the trials of the day. Her mind drifted into
the memories of her actions the night before.

Ranma had been incredibly gentle with her, yet despite his gentleness he
managed to push her very existence over the threshold of sanity into an
unending orgasmic bliss. His hands were like silk at times, but became
rough at just the right moments. She could still feel his hands kneading
the flesh of her ass, the intimate touch of his lips, then intricate
dance of their tongues. Ranma's actions left her yearning for more of
his touch, yearning to feel him fill her up yet again, yearning for him
to bring her world down around her yet again in orgasmic bliss.

Lost in thoughts, Sheila didn't even realize her hands were moving of
their own accord. One broke the surface and dived down to her clit, the
other softly kneading the flesh of her bosom while pinching and pulling
teasingly at her nipples. She failed to hear her own voice gasp and
wither as her fingers scrapped against the outer lips of her petals.

The next time, and you can assure yourselves there will be a next time;
they made love Sheila was determined to do it in her human form. Making
love to Ranma was simply something one needed strength and endurance
for, and had it not been for her ungodly regenerative abilities in her
hybrid form; she didn't think she could have survived it as long as she
had. At least in her human form she had her strength, her endurance, and
the little known fact that her libido, while in human form, grew to
monstrous size. Oh yes, next time she would defiantly have to try out
her human form.

Moaning, Sheila's fingers sank slowly into her clit with out much more
preamble. She exulted in the feelings her fingers were bringing out in
her, especially when she curled and uncurled them. Her face was flush,
her breathing already becoming gasps as she ministered herself.

When she starting mewing in expectance of her on coming orgasm, Sheila's
mind reasserted itself and all at once she was ablaze with the desire,
the need to finish. The fingers within began pumping faster and faster,
the motions displacing water almost as quickly as it recovered from her
furious actions. Her nipples were hard and straight, having already been
the focus of one of her hands for quite awhile. Soon after, the other
hand joined the first, pushing and pulling in and out of her tight
little twat in a near frenzy.

A torrent, a rush of pheromones, a silent scream, and then a soft
whimper were all the clues generated by Sheila's orgasm. She leaned
against the edge, trying to recover her breath and berating herself for
letting her imagination lead to her unexpected masturbation session.

Taking the time to catch her breath, Sheila shifted back to her Hybrid
form and climbed out, quickly getting dressed. She turned and started at
the pool of water were she had so recently relieved herself in. Giving
off a small smile, she turned back and began a light jog. Hopefully
Ranma was awake, and then she could blow off work and spend the
remainder of the day embraced in unending passion with her lover. She
hoped anyway.

***

Julia growled, clearly displaying her anger for her husband to see.
Ranma had promised he would have returned to his 'cell' for the night,
that he would meet her early in the morning. She knew he could have been
delayed, but the simply fact it seemed he lied to her hurt for some
reason she couldn't understand.

On her way here, her thoughts had drifted to her brief time with Ranma
the day before. He was handsome, she could easily see that. Not ruggedly
handsome like her dear Husband, but Ranma exuded a quite charm, enticing
and inviting in its own way. She felt they had bonded more than through
magic, bonded as friends. He had been kind and caring during the
upheaval, but now he had seemingly just lied to her. That hurt, and the
moment Ranma showed up she was going to show him how much it hurt!

"Where the hell is he!?!" Julia growled out through clenched teeth.

Theo winced. Julia was angry, and if there was one thing he knew to
avoid about her in their twenty some odd years of marriage, it was to
avoid an angry Julia. Hell, if at all possible, switch dimensions and
leave her behind until she could cool off. Needless to say, an angry
Julia was not pleasant. Visiting the undead realm for tea and crumpets
would be preferable than this hell.

"I don't know Julia, he should have been here…" Theo carefully spoke out
as he inched towards the door.

Appearing through the door shortly after Theo's statement was Ranma.
Julia grinned as she saw him and was about to shout out at him for lying
when she noticed his state of appearance.

The day before Ranma had been dressed in midnight black trousers and a
shirt, his feet were adorned with similar colored leather and his hair
was tied back in a pigtail that journeyed all the way down to the small
of his back.

Today his hair was loose, falling all the way down his back to just
above his butt; his black trousers were stained up good with dirt and
grime from some strenuous activity. It wasn't these small facts that
stopped Julia in her tracks though. It would appear, hidden behind that
black shirt the day before, laid a well-muscled body. Ranma's pecks
flexed slightly as he turned about the room, his eyes crossing Julia
momentarily, and then settling on Theo.

There was something else however, the smell. Ranma reeked of a night
full of passion and sex, and damn could she tell. "Where the hell have
you been, Ranma?" she growled out angrily.

Ranma turned and glared at her for some reason, and by the look of his
eyes he was angry with her for some reason..

***

Arriving back to their 'camp' Sheila's eyes went in immediate search for
her stud muffin. Gazing left and right, Sheila's anxiety grew when she
couldn't see hide nor hair of him.

Realizing he wasn't here, Sheila began thinking of where he could have
gone.

His cloths were gone, and the little twerp didn't even say good-bye!
Sheila didn't like that one bit. Still, she bit back her anger for the
moment and tried to look at it from Ranma's perspective. If he had woken
up and found she had taken off, he would have been angry too. Since she
didn't exactly leave a note or anything.

Sheila blinked, looking at the black shirt clasped tightly in her hand.
To make matters worse, he had left with out his shirt, which means
anyone and everyone who stumbled upon him would see his finely muscled
chest.

Sheila growled as she took off at a dead run for Seer's Hamlet. She'd be
damned to share her man with anyone else! She remembered as she ran that
Ranma was supposed to travel to the earth realm with the Armsmaster,
Julia Diggers. The explanation she received from Bugie clearly pointed
out it was in both their best interests to keep bond and bonded together
as they researched and worked on severing the bond.

Sheila gasped, running even faster. If Ranma and Julia left before she
got there, she wouldn't be able to say good-bye! No! What if he doesn't
realize he's her boyfriend now? She never did say anything about that,
and he never called her his girl friend. Damn, she just had to get there
now! Else he might go off and get another girlfriend before she could
catch up to him.

Mind and course set, Sheila focused on her target.

***

Walking through the halls of the Edge Guards Headquarters, Ranma became
introspective concerning the bond. As he got closer to where he sensed
Julia, he noticed with a bit of dread that she was more than simply
angry; she was pissed off. He feared she was pissed off at him, cause
god only knows what she could do with her being bonded to him like she
was.

There was something else though. As he felt her emotions flow over him,
he detected his own anger growing. For what reason, he didn't know. He
just suddenly had the feeling he needed to kick the living shit out of
something.

Stepping into the Antechamber before the cells, Ranma gaze immediately
locked on Julia. She looked about ready to say something, but for who
knows what reason she didn't. Ignoring her for the time being, his gaze
then fell on Theo.

Biting back a war cry and the sudden impulse to jump across the room and
tear the mans head off, Ranma bitterly remarked, "So here is where the
wife beater was hiding." Then grinned when Theo visibly flinched.

Julia seemed to snap out of her daze, angrily growling out, "Where the
hell have you been Ranma?!"

Sighing, Ranma turned to face Julia as he crossed his arms over his
chest, "Dealing with eight years of pent up frustration." He answered
dryly, glaring at the woman before him. "And looking for my shirt."

Julia huffed, "Forget it. I'm sure I could find you something to wear
when we get to Earth." She turned her eyes to Theo, "Could you send us
home Dr. Diggers?"

Ranma raised an eyebrow at the professional tone and choice of words his
master had chosen. He was about to make a crass comment about it, but a
loud thump and the sound of some one dragging something sounded from
behind him.

Gar, looking slightly worn was dragging an equally bedraggled Weretiger
behind, who was moaning about over protective brothers and rage
disorders. Ranma shrugged, it obviously didn't matter.

Gar flopped Tigra to the floor, who opted to moan in abject pain instead
of taking note of his surroundings. Gar's eyes quickly crossed over
Julia, who he bowed respectfully, then Theo whom he offered a nod, then
Ranma who he leapt at and starting shouting obscenities.

Ranma fell into a defensive stance the moment Gar's muscles tightened in
readiness, yet no attack came, Gar stopping right in front of him to
yell, "What the hell did you do to my sister!"

Chuckling nervously, "Uh.. nothing at all Gar!" Which was true, he
didn't do anything to her by himself. It was a joint effort.

"Where is she then?! Have you seen her?" the questions continued,
thought Ranma noticed the anger in the jagwere's voice was lightening
ever so slightly.

"Haven't seen her since yesterday." Which was also true as far as Ranma
was concerned. After all, he hadn't seen her since he passed out the
night prior, so it wasn't really a lie.

Theo and Julia glared openly at Ranma during the questioning, both
having ascertained and determined the musky over powering smell from
Ranma, which deduced a night of sexual activity. The fact Julia could
feel Ranma's mischievous thoughts concerning the situation only added to
the fact.

"Ranma.." Julia growled, her fists clenching slightly, "Remember you're
promise to me concerning the girls."

Gar, having been mollified by Ranma's answer, slumped onto a bench
tiredly. Julia assumed he must be good and tired to miss the stench
emanating from Ranma.

Ranma waved her comment off, "Yeah yeah. Don't tap their ass's, I got
yah master." He replied flippantly.

Rage, anger surged in Julia at the casual way Ranma took her words.
"Look you pri.." her words died on her lips as Ranma's right wrist began
crackling with electricity. Ranma's body stiffened immediately and his
eyes widened in shock as the shackle buried in his right wrist unleashed
its punishment. Bolts of electricity sprang forth, crashing and running
across his body. The amount of force within the discharge throwing Ranma
to the floor in a howling fit of pain.

Ranma gritted his teeth and tried to summon his Ki to help ward off the
damage his body was taking, only realizing his mistake a second too
late. His glittering gold battle aura sprung forth for the briefest of
moments before Ranma felt his control of his inner life force ripped
away, causing the color to switch to darkest night. The switch in color
preceded a new level of pain Ranma never thought existed.

Julia, Theo, and Gar watched in horrified fascination as Ranma's body
convulsed and wracked painfully on the floor, his screams of pure
torment some how increased decibels beyond what should be possible.

Julia's anger extinguished nearly instantly at the sight, yet the
torture from the bonds that bound them continued. She could feel across
the bound the pure agonizing torment Ranma was feeling, yet she knew it
was also toned down to protect herself.

The sleek black aura Ranma had summoned combined with the electric
shocks for truly devastating effects. The ethereal stream itself had
turned against him, the enchantments subverting his control on it and
taking the extra energy and adding it to his predetermined punishment.

***

Bugie's head snapped up at the anguished scream that seemed to
reverberate all throughout Seer's Hamlet. A moment's deduction verified
what he feared. Ranma, the cats' paw in this failed manipulation was
being punished for some unknown reason.

As the scream of anguished torment began to fade away Bugie lowered his
head into his hands and sighed deeply, realizing his own stupidity was
the cause of the horror being inflicted on the relatively innocent man.
Was garunteeing Happosai's absense from Seer's Hamlet really worth this?

***

The eldritch energies began to fade away, for that Ranma was thankful.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly the ungodly pain began to fade, his aura
winking out as he regained control.

Theo stared horrified as the boy began to settle down from his
punishment, and shook his head, "Such… torture." He whispered out.

Tirga and Gar simply gawked at the amount of magic that went into the
attack. Being Edge Guard members, and not mages, neither had any clue
what the hell just happened, only that a lot of magic had been used
against the young boy recently. They remained still and gawking even as
Ranma recovered.

Julia herself was flabbergasted at what just transpired. Her horror
began to grow as she realized that this was her fault. In her anger she
had some how managed to trip one of the punishments placed within the
magical bands Ranma now wore. "Oh my god." She managed to say as Ranma
staggered to his feet slowly.

The pain had been horrendous. Happosai's insane training had never even
come near to the amount of pain that one moment had supplied. He made a
mental note to never summon his Ki to ward off the damage again; it
seemed to only make matters worse.

Bloodshot eyes panned around the room, taking note of Tirga and Gar's
stunned expression, as well as Theo's horrified one. Julia's expression
was hardest, like steel, as if what just happened didn't bother her in
the slightest. That pissed him off more than her attempts to coerce his
thinking did.

Spitting out some blood, he had bitten his inner cheek in an attempt to
relieve some of the pain, Ranma snarled, "Strike two bitch. I swear to
god, once this fucking bond comes off I am going to kick the living shit
out of you!"

Julia blinked at the vehemence in his words. She was sorry, deeply so.
Couldn't he see that? It took only a moment of introspection before she
realized she had donned her battle face in light of what just happened.
"I didn't mean for that to happen.."

Ranma waved his hand angrily, "I don't care if you meant it or didn't.
It happened, you caused it, that's enough for me."

Theo remained silent throughout the exchange. On some level he felt he
needed to defend his wife from Ranma's angry words, but at the same time
he simply couldn't do it. The spells of punishment were much more
vicious than he would have imagined. It was as if the ethereal stream
turned against the boy, itself forcing as much as it could into the
power behind the spell. Being a mage, he was attuned to the stream on
many many levels. This was simply one of them.

Julia stayed silent for a moment, her eyes examining Ranma in his moment
of uncontrollable rage. His eyes, the deepest blue she could honestly
say she had ever seen glowed menacingly as he glared at her. She could
feel the rage he wasn't bothering to hide from her through the bond. He
hated her and everything she did to him. The sheer magnitude of that
hate nearly caused her knees to buckle due to his unconscious Ki
Projection he was casting through out the room.

"Fine." She said at last, "Theo, open the gate home." Her voice was clam
and collected, her eyes never leaving Ranma's raging own.

In short order Theo had the portal summoned, Julia and Ranma breaking
eye contact to pass through the barrier separating both worlds.

"Nothing is ever easy.. is it." Theo said as the portal closed, more to
himself than to any one else.

***

Gar shook off the horrified awe he felt at what had just transpired. He
didn't know when it happened, but at some point in his stupor Theo had
left. Looking over at Tigra, Gar felt slightly mollified at the fact
Tirga had as of yet to snap out of his own stupor.

Shaking his head, Gar stood up, "Well, I'm going to go back out and look
for Sheila some more." When Tirga failed to respond, Gar shrugged and
made for the exit.

He was nearly bowled over as he was leaving the room, Sheila pushing
past him and into the room with Tirga. Her eyes shining with desperation
he had never known her to possess. "Something wrong, Sheila?"

Whipping around to face Gar, Sheila nearly shouted, "Where's Ranma? Tell
me he didn't already leave with the Armsmaster!" he voice was nearly
frantic, causing Gar to frown. Maybe Ranma had lied about his innocence
concerning his sister.

Tirga snapped out of his stupor right then, a malicious grin crossing
his features, "Oh, Ranma's gone all right. He left with the Armsmaster a
little ago. Not before she showed him who the boss was." He chuckled,
feeling a little better. It was obvious to Tigra Ranma had scored on his
territory, namely Sheila, so if felt right to spite him like this.

Gar winced. Either Tigra had lost his mind, or he was begging for an ass
kicking. That's the only thing he could think of to explain his sudden
bout of idiocy.

"What happened?" Sheila bit her lip in concern as she whipped around to
Tirga. He grinned widely in response, "Magic, torture, Ranma screaming
like a little girl. That short of thing. Was funny as hell to watc.."

Any words Tirga might have spoken died on his lips when Sheila rushed
forward and kneed him in the face brutally. Tirga slammed back to the
ground roughly, his hand coming up to his broken nose as he rolled
around painfully.

Gar blinked, the brutality Sheila expressed was beyond anything he had
ever seen her do before. She was breathing harshly, her angelic face
twisted into a cruel expression with her fists balled tightly at her
sides.

She kneeled down and grabbed Tigra by the shirt, lifting him off the
ground roughly as she growled out, "Say that again Tigra, I dare you."
She then leaned forward, and Gar winced at what he heard her whisper,
"Next time I'll rip you're balls off.." then she dumped him back to the
ground roughly.

Turning around, Sheila began to leave, but Gar stepped in front of her,
a frown etched into his features, "Where were you last night Sheila."
His tone and posture enough for Sheila to realize it wasn't an idle
question, and he expected an answer.

She grinned like the cat she was, "Oh, having wild passionate sex with
Ranma." She answered as thought it wasn't of any importance.

Gar froze up, his eyes widening as he tried to digest her answer. While
Gar was frozen, She slipped by and exited the room, a happy go lucky
smile and a spring in her steps.

***

Pan view, overhead Seer's Hamlet.

Two screams ripped through the air, one in pure rage, and an other in
jealousy.

Sheila smirked at Thorpan and Onoil as she entered the lobby. The sheer
happiness on her features warning the others that they shouldn't even
bother asking what just happened, else they ruin her mood. It was a sure
fire way to getting their ass kicked, so they all went about their
business as if it never happened.

***

Ranma shuddered as he passed through the dimensional barriers separating
the Realm of Jade from the Earth. It took a moment, but the lightheaded
feelings he just experienced slowly faded away.

He took immediate note of his surroundings. A couch covered in some
black substance marked the middle of the room, leather he presumed. A
gray window set within a box that hung from a wall was another point of
interest to the martial artist. Various potted plants also outlined the
room, giving it an earthy appearance.

The only other item of note he could see off the bat was Julia herself,
who seemed to have fallen into that cold mask again. Other than that the
area was eerily silent, the only noise coming from his and Julia's soft
intakes of breath.

"Anyone home?" Julia called out, her eyes darting too and fro as if in
search of something. Odd, she mused. Her daughters would have generally
been in the area to greet her whenever she returned from the Jade Realm.
Why aren't they here? Oh that's right, they were supposed to have
returned the day before, so probably had run off when they didn't return
as planned.

"Well.. I guess you're in luck." Julia stated finally as she began to
move out of the room. Ranma followed, sensing she wanted him too.

"Why's that master?" Ranma asked dryly.

"I don't think you want to meet the rest of my family smelling the way
you do. Luckily, you get to take a bath since they aren't home yet."
Julia grinned playfully. Her grinned died quickly at the glare the boy
leveled at her. He was obviously still upset over the accidental
punishing, Julia mused, Truth was so was she.

"Fine." Ranma stated simply as he followed his master. The rest of their
trip was short, both lost on their own thoughts and not in the mood to
carry a conversation with the other. In short order, Julia opened a door
and flipped on a light switch. "Here's the bath. Take one, I'll go find
you some clothes to wear in the meantime."

Julia watched Ranma for a moment as he entered the room, until he
slammed the door in her face. She let off a sigh at that. She would be
pissed too if she had to go through that.


***

Rook frowned, "What the hell happened to you?"

A short man, wrapped in so many bandages one could confuse it with a
real mummy rolled up on a wheel chair. "Worker Dispute. You wouldn't be
interested."

Rook stared at the.. thing for a moment, before nodding. "I take it
then, Happosai, you've succeeded in you're plans?"

Happosai cackled madly, "Oh, it did this old man proud to watch that
bitch and ungrateful whelp get what they deserve! Hehehe. Everything
went according to plan."

Rook nodded, "Yes, I can already feel the spells taking effect." He then
sighed exasperated, "Are you sure this plan will work? I find it
extremely hard to believe Julia Diggers would fall to you're student in
such a way. I invested a lot of time and effort to get those Geases
placed on the council members; I don't want all my efforts wasted. "

Happosai smirked; at least Rook thought he had. He couldn't really see
the old man's face behind all that gauss. "Even if Julia doesn't fall,
the others will. With them out of the way, we can finally finish our
plans."

"Fine. HANZO!" Rook yelled.

A crash sounded off from somewhere, a few grunts, and then the double
doors leading into the room crash open. "IT'S HANZA YOU FUCKING PRICK!"
Hanza yelled, dragging in a chest.

"Whatever, HanzO!" Rook smirked, seeing the woman color angrily and
glaring at him. "Well Happosai, heres the gold as we agreed…" Rook
frowned, Happosai looked ready to burst from his wheel chair. Shaking in
excitement as he stared at his hired help, Hanza.

"To hell with the gold! I want her!" Happosai said quickly, "Can I have
her?"

"Uhh.. sure." Rook said, dumbfounded. What the hell did he want with
Hanzo?

"SWEETO!" Happosai cried before leaping from his chair and latching onto
Hanzo's chest, his wounds apparently forgotten. "My, what firm orbs you
have my dear!"

"GET OFF ME YOU FREAK!" Hanzo screamed as she ineffectually tried to
knock the pervert off her chest.

"Ooooo. You're not wearing any underwear! Ahhh! And you smell so fresh!"
Happosai grinned, disappearing beneath her cloths, Hanzo struggling to
get the freak off her person. "Oh and wet too!"

Hanzo's face colored quickly. That old man did not just touch her there,
did he? And he certainly was not thinking of sticking that pipe where
she thought he was.

Rook boggled at the sight of his hired help being molested before his
eyes, and then let off a booming chuckle, "You two kids play nice." And
as an after thought, he added, "Careful with her Happosai. She's still a
virgin."

Happosai sounded off from somewhere in Hanzo's dress, "Not for much
longer!"

Hanzo just knew today couldn't get any worse.

***

Gina let off a tired yawn, absently brushing some dirt she had gotten
herself covered in as she stepped into the Digger Mansion Foyer, her
sisters and Ryan following behind her all looking rather tired and a bit
dirty from their trip.

"Well.. that was a complete waste of time." Brianna mumbled, breaking
off from the group and heading towards the living room. She had been
nearly stoned to death in the rustic village for being a 'demon'. Gina
sighed as she watched her go, the entire incident had been rather hard
on her quasi-sister/daughter. Despite the cool front Brianna had put up,
Gina knew it hurt for people to see her as some demon incarnation out to
steal their men and children. Brittany didn't get stoned, since she was
in her human guise at the time.

Brittany rubbed her shoulder, her face grimacing in annoyance, "Stupid
old freak. Gina, next time you want to go explore some secluded place in
China, don't invite me."

Gina scowled, putting thoughts of Brianna out of her head, "On no you
are not! No way am I taking the blame for this one! Everything was fine
until Ryan asked to spar with those Amazon hussies!"

Ryan sighed, "How was I suppose to know Gina? It's not my fault I beat
all those girls! I didn't even know they had those screwed up laws!
Besides, I said I was sorry didn't I?"

Gina glared, "As I recall, you didn't fight overly hard to stop them
from kissing you, did you?" then she let off a feral growl, "Or drag you
into their mating hut!"

Ryan chuckled nervously, looking ready to panic before Brittany came to
his defense, "Chill Gina, let the poor boy off easy. He didn't know they
were going to have sex with him like that. Besides.." Cheetah smirked
teasingly, "I seem to remember you letting one of two of those Amazon
hussies kiss you too!"

"They gave me the kiss of death Cheetah! The kiss of death! There going
to be hunting me down for the rest of my life, Ryan not only got the
Kiss of Marriage! He consummated it! He's supposed to be my boy friend!"

Brittany chuckled, some how seeing this as a big joke. "Sucks to be
you!" she said, before disappearing into the kitchen obviously not
concerned overly with the situation, which pissed Gina off to no end.

When Brittany disappeared, Gina felt some of her anger abate. She cast a
deep scathing glare at Ryan, who opted to follow Cheetah into the
kitchen rather than deal with her righteous Feminine wrath. Insensitive
prick! He goes off beating all those girls, gets dragged off and
'forced' to have sex with them while she had to run and hide from
various blood hungry Amazons! He's acting like nothing was wrong with
the situation!

Gina sighed. She really needed to think about this more before deciding
what she should do about her cheating boyfriend. "I'll just take a bath.
Hopefully that will relax me…" she smiled, imagining the warm water
already cascading over her form, slowly washing away the stress and
pains the day had brought.

***

Meanwhile, Ranma glared balefully at the empty tub before him. It was
bigger than any tub her had ever seen on Jade, and thus wasn't looking
forward to using it. Baths on Jade were rare, generally reserved for the
overly rich and opulent. Sure, he had taken a bath now and then in the
past, but that would always require him to fill the damn things up
himself, so he never took one often. It was just so much easier to find
a lake, or a gully to wash up in.

Frowning, Ranma looked around the room in disgust. "What kind of fancy
shit hole is this? Where the hell is the water bucket, or the waterhole
for that matter!" It just didn't make sense! There was no bucket in
sight, and Julia never did tell him were the nearby waterhole would be.
It didn't seem efficient to have a tub so far separated from its source
of water, so it was quite logical for Ranma to believe there was a
waterhole nearby. Julia had yet to return, and at the moment he would
rather just stand here and glare at the tub than go into that woman's
mind.

Just what in hell were those strange things in the wall? It was apart of
a pipe system, he knew. Due to the very few pipe apparatus's on Jade
Ranma couldn't figure out what their purposes were for. Technology had
long since been banned for one reason or another on the other world;
rumors had it that the Shadows used it to keep the other mystical beings
subservient. Whatever, Ranma honestly didn't give one damn about that.

Ranma whipped his head as the sound of the door opening. Just great.
First Julia does that shit with the shackles on Jade, and now she was
walking in on him in the bath.

Only it wasn't the red haired Armsmaster he had been expecting, but
rather a nubile blond with startling green eyes and a body to die for.
Ranma's gaze started at her petite feet, slowly working their way up her
long perfect legs, briefly skimming over her waist and unmentionables
before passing her generous assets and settling on her thin rosy lips.

Gina's breath caught in her throat at the sight of the naked handsome
man in the bathroom. She watched as his eyes gazed over her own body,
and felt the need to return the favor. Starting at his sculptured
calves, she lingered longer at the sight of his limp phallus before
traveling up his well-formed chest only to settle on his ethereal stormy
blue/gray eyes.

Silence ruled for a few moments, until Ranma managed to gather his wits
enough to say something, "Goddess…" he whispered, then smirked and
leered lecherously.

Gina blushed deeply, more from the embarrassment of the moment than the
boy's compliment. She stepped back and slowly shut the door. She stood
there for a minute, trying desperately to gain control of her pounding
heart. Shaking off the ethereal feel of the moment, she grabbed a
bathrobe and quickly put it on, stepped out of the room into the
hallway. Count to 3. One, Two. Three.

She screamed.

***

Julia blinked. "Did some one just scream?" She strained her ears to
listen for any repeat screams, just in case.

When non-came, she chalked it up to her frazzled nerves and overactive
imagination. Then Julia growled. "Doesn't Theo have ANYTHING to wear
besides his freaken Mage Suit!"

***

Ryan, upon hearing the scream from Gina, burst forth into action -
Cheetah following closely behind him as the two, now three when Brianna
joined them, made their way to where the scream originated.

Ryan slid to a stop near Gina, his eyes quickly taking note of
everything around him as he tried to determined what was the cause of
his girlfriend's fear, thought maybe she won't be that for much longer
until he could find some way to apologize for cheating on her like he
did.

He took note of Gina gazing at the door to the rest room, and scowled
grimly. Brittany and Brianna were both busy trying to ascertain whether
their sister had been hurt, and just what in hell had happened to cause
that reaction in her.

Ryan's face set in stone. It was obvious to him something in the
restroom had scared her, and whatever, or whoever it was better have
their insurance paid up. Because NO ONE scares his girlfriend and gets
away with it.

***

Ranma scowled when he heard the scream, quickly putting his pants back
on. He hoped he could calm her down and explain the situation before
peoples heads started exploding.

"Just my freaking luck." He said angrily as he approached the door.

Just as he was about to reach the knob, the door slammed open. Ranma
took a moment to evaluate the situation.

Some red haired dude was glaring at him, showing all the signs that he
was about to beat down on him for whatever slight his mind came up with
in regards to the situation.

Three girls, one he recognized as the girl who he had seen in the buff,
and two he didn't readily recognize were huddled behind him.

Wait a minute!

He took a closer look at the two unknown women. 'Well, I'll be damned. A
real life were-cheetah!' Ranma exclaimed internally. The were-cheetahs
were thought to be completely wiped out; none were suppose to have
survived that nasty genocide by the werewolves. Well, didn't this just
beat all! 'Uh oh.. there glaring at me.'

Ranma chuckled slightly, the sight of the unknown were-cheetah cracking
her knuckles and approaching, while the other unknown were-cheetah
pulled out some strange looking pipe. 'Well.. looks like its time for
the ritual welcoming/annual beat down session.'

Ryan didn't need to think twice, his thought process being very
simplistic. Girlfriend screaming. Unknown guy with only his pants on.
Girlfriend screaming. Unknown guy smiling lecherously as he stared at
something behind him. Girlfriend screaming.

Conclusion? Perverted rapist in need of an ass kicking.

Ranma sighed, preparing for the inevitable confrontation with these
unknowns. Ranma wasn't stupid though. There was a were-cheetah present,
a mean and tough looking one at that. So thinking, Ranma began drawing
in Chi from the ethereal stream, reinforcing his body as well as
stimulating his senses, adrenaline glands, and his reflexes. All this in
the span of .7 seconds. Now all Ranma had to do was wait for them to
throw the first punch, or kick. Whatever.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Unknown dude screamed before jumping at Ranma with
impressive speed and control for a guy looking ready to permanently join
the tomato race.

"Not likely." Ranma retorted, ducking under Ryan's high kick and back
stepping. "Look, can't we talk about this? I'm sure it's some kind of
misunderstanding." Ranma tried to reason them. At least he can say he
tried.

"Shut up!" Ryan bellowed while leading into Ranma with a series of fast
punches and kicks.

Ranma frowned, easily blocking and misdirecting Ryan's blows. Getting an
impression of the man's maneuvers set in mind, Ranma let his body run on
autopilot while he reviewed the situation and evaluated his foes and the
area.

 His foe was skilled, that he could easily tell. However, he didn't make
full use of the ethereal stream, relying entirely on his personal skill
to win the battle. While Ranma could respect some one like that, it
seemed rather stupid.

The bathroom was small, not leaving him or his adversaries much room to
maneuver in. This was good, since it didn't let the were-cheetah  join
the battle, or let the other werecheetah and her oversized pipe get into
the action.  What THAT pipe was Ranma had no clue, but it looked
sinister.

All in all, a pathetic situation and one that would lead to massive
amounts of property damage, something Ranma wasn't willing to have
happen. Who knows how pissed Master would get if her slave destroyed her
house? He hadn't even been here an hour yet!

Coming back to his senses, Ranma dodged over a low kick, rebounding
slightly off his extended fist, and kicked Ryan brutally in the face
with a chi-enforced kick. The effect threw Ryan back harshly, the angle
causing him to crash into the Mirror above the sink, and then through
the wall to whatever room lied beyond.

Landing quickly, Ranma envisioned the magical matrix of the Shadow Walk
spell, one of the few he had ever bothered to learn - God bless Tsunami
for that. If Ranma knew Tsunami was Julia's mom, he might have been just
a wee bit nicer to the woman. But he didn't, sot he point was moot.

"RYAN!" screamed Brittany. She cast a glance at the hole Ryan had made,
before turning her full attention on the scumbag. "I'm going to kick
you're ass!" she rushed in trying to catch the man off guard.

Ranma shrugged, "You want to try?" then put energy to magical matrix
within his minds eye.

Brit stopped her controlled rush as Ranma descended into his own shadow,
which also promptly disappeared. She looked back and forth, body tense
and ready to pounce the moment the creep opened himself up.

Ryan groaned, crawling out of hole he had been belted through. "You get
him Brit?"

Brit cast a quick glance to Ryan, growling out, "No. He disappeared."

Brianna growled, cocking her energy rifle in annoyance, "I swear when I
find him I'm shoving this up his ass!"

"MMMMMFFFFF.. mmmmmm." Came a sound behind the three.

***

Ranma grinned, emerging from the shadows next to Gina. He watched her,
remaining as silent as he could. A few seconds pass, he heard Ryan
moving about in the room again.

Ranma thought for a moment about the situation. These three nuts were
pissed, and trying to kill him because they some how believed he had
done something inappropriate with the other girl.

A sinister idea came to mind, one which Ranma had every intention of
using.

Sneaking up behind the girl who started this whole situation, Ranma
tapped on her shoulder softly.

Gina whipped around, her eyes focusing instantly on Ranma. She was about
to scream again, but Ranma had other ideas.

Grabbing her robe, Ranma pulled the resisting woman into his embrace and
initiated lip lock quickly, his hands working into her robe and quickly
fondling her assets expertly.

"MMMMMFFFFF.." Gina went, at first struggling mightily against the man
as he kissed her. Then his hands.. oh god his hands started touching and
groping her, and for some reason she felt her resistance fade away under
his firm strokes and pleasurable touches.

When he slipped her his tongue, she all but gave herself over to his
masterful ministrations.

"mmmmm."

The results on his assailants were as about expected.

"YOU BASTARD"

"GET YOU'RE HANDS OFF MY SISTER!"

"DIE SCUM BAG!"

Ranma didn't really know who said what, but it didn't really matter to
him. He released his grip on the girl, grinning menacingly at the trio
as he taunted them, "Lets dance bitch." Before taking off at break neck
speeds for the front door.


***

Julia whoops in success, finally finding something Ranma could use to
replace his soiled clothes. "He better be happy I found this!"

Turning to the door, Julia blinked as the sound of some loud crash and
people stampeding like broncos out in the hall. "What the hell is that
all about?" she wondered before exiting her room and quickly heading to
the restroom were Ranma should be.

"What the hell happened?" Julia asked herself as she surveyed the
damage. The bathroom was torn apart, the wall tiles around the now
broken mirror hanging loosely. Julia frowned when she took notice of the
hole in the wall that looked oddly enough like Ryan.

Thinking for a moment, Julia managed to put two and two together and
figured out what must have happened. "Jesus, he's not even here an hour
and there already trying to kill him!" she growled out as she took off,
following the path of destruction through the house to the front door.

***

Strype sighed, his mind in turmoil over the situation brooding on Aebra.
His people were in trouble, they were dying and he was here doing
nothing to help them.

He stood before the front door of the Diggers mansion, a look of deep
thought and focus covering his features as he contemplated the
situation.

"Should I tell them? Its not their business… maybe I should tell Brit?"
he said out loud, trying desperately to figure this out.

After a long moment, he shook his head. No, if he just told Brit she
would demand to go with him. He didn't want to endanger her life.. no..
he wouldn't tell her. Strype decided right then and there, he'll sneak
off and go to Aebra by himself. If he some how managed to survive
though, he vowed to return and explain everything to his friends and
family.. and Brit.

Just as Strype turned away from the front door, he spied Penny, Ace, and
Charlotte approaching. He waved jovially, trying his best to hide the
inner turmoil he was feeling concerning the situation on Aebra and his
recent choices on the matter.

"Hey Penny, Ace, Charlie. Hows it going?"

Penny grinned from were she was latched onto Ace's arm, "Hey Strype!"

Ace chuckled nervously, looking askance at the Nubian beauty content to
choke the life out of his arm, "Eh..heh.. Sup Strype. You seen Cheetah
or the others yet?"

Charlotte waved, but her eyes were riveted on the interplay going on
between Penny and Ace. Maybe if she figured it out she could figure out
how to have a baby! Oh she always wanted one, so cute and cuddly! She
couldn't wait to figure out the secret involved.

Strype shook his head, "Fraid not.."

That was when all hell broke loose.

***

Ranma crashed through the front door, not even bothering to open it in a
vain hope it would some how escape destruction. That pussy was frothing
mad and out for his blood, oh yeah and the werecheetahs too.

Seeing the group in front of him after exiting the establishment, Ranma
flipped high - and sailed over them. To them it looked as if Ranma had
just flown right over their heads.

Truth in reality was simple. He didn't fly, he glided. A quickly
application of his Chi and Bernoulli's principle allowed him to perform
the feat. Its amazing how similar such theories existed in both worls.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'LL KILL YOU!" Ranma heard that pussy, Ryan,
scream in rage as he landed. Ranma whipped around and smirked his
aggravating smirk, "Bring it on, pussy. I'm going to lay you're ass
down."

Brittany growled, rushing past the non-combatants quickly with Brianna
on her heels. She launched a punch forward, which Ranma had been
expecting.

Jumping high, he allowed the pissed off were-cheetah rush past under
him. "Geesh you're slow." He taunted.

"I'm going to cut you're dick off and shove it up you're ass!" Brianna
screamed, training Ranma with her plasma rifle. She didn't dare risk a
shot due to the innocent bystanders, but she was ready to way lay holy
hell on the bastard.

Now, Strype, Ace, Penny, and Charlotte reacted immediately to the
violent situation. Ace pushed Penny back, trying to shield her from what
he could already tell would be a messy ordeal. Charlotte took to the
skies while Ryan, Brit, Brianna, and Strype encircled the man. Strype
didn't know what this was about, but seeing his lady love getting ready
to attack the dude he felt like he should help.

Ranma growled as the four encircled him. First Julia and her fucking
punishment. Then he couldn't find the water bucket for that god damn
bathtub. Fine, he could deal with it. Then this pussy Ryan had to attack
him, also something he could deal with. Now he was being surrounded by
four very pissed off people he didn't even know. He didn't like it, but
he could deal with it.

However.. that… BITCH threatened to cut his dick off, practically
threaten to tear off the very focus of his art! That was something he
could not, no, would not stand. There were going down, no if ands or
buts about it. Ranma was pissed.

As the four surrounded him, Ranma allowed his inner store of Ki to
blossom and surge freely, the restraints he placed on them gone for the
moment. As his Ki merged with the power he was gathering from the
ethereal stream his Body began generating a silver light. Not big or
over powering, Ranma had long since learned not to waste energy on
something so pointless as intimidation..

"Lets do this." Ranma spat as the power flooded his senses

Brit grinned evil like. Truth be told she was thankful the dirt bag had
brought the fight into more open quarters. Out here she could use her
speed to her advantage, rather than having to limit herself in close
quarter combat.

With a savage yell of beastial fury Brit lunged forward in a burst of
speed, her fist extended as she put her full strength and skill into the
blow. Few people could see, much less dodge a strike from the
quick-footed were-cheetahs.

Ranma frowned deeply. Truth be told he had seen the were-cheetah tense
up in preparation for a strike long before she herself had committed to
the action. He felt confidant that he could easily dodge it, but her
speed was simply something he hadn't been expecting. Still, even though
he was surprised he managed to lean back, slapping her fist and
redirecting the attack enough to completely miss him, but not the poor
guy who had been trying to sneak up on him.

Brit's eyes widened when Ranma slapped her attack out of the way. She
wanted to scream when she realized her attack was now heading dead on to
her fiancée, at the rate she was going she couldn't do anything but
watch the inevitable happen.

Strype gasped, Brit's blow connecting with enough force to blast him
across the yard, where he crashed heavily into the outer wall.

Ranma wasted no time. The were-cheetah was more dangerous than he had at
first thought. "KACHU TENSHI AMAGURIKEN!" he screamed as he launched his
attack. However, instead of punches the pigtailed martial artist rapidly
struck the woman's pressure points before flipping back and away when
Ryan entered the fight.

Brit screamed, her body falling to the ground roughly when she lost her
motor control. Her eyes were swimming! She could hardly see anything
anymore, and she felt so damn weak! What the hell did he do to her?

Ranma paid no intention to the downed were-cheetah. She was no longer a
threat, the Paraysis/Moxibustion/Modified Catstounge/ and blindness
Shiatsu he had used on her should keep her out for a long time. And if
she some how managed to get back in the fight, she would be as weak as a
baby. Hell, all it would take to introduce that bitch to a new world of
pain would be one 'hot' chi blast.

Refocusing on the situation, Ranma met Ryan in a series of lightning
quick combinations. The fight was intense, but Ranma simply outclassed
the Martial Artist in terms of speed, power, knowledge, and simple
skill.

Ryan quickly broke away from the fight, which Ranma simply couldn't
understand. Why was he running? What possible… holy shit!

Ranma's senses flared, his danger sense screaming at him to move, to
run, to dodge! Quickly looking for the danger, Ranma spotted Brianna
aiming that strange pipe at him. He didn't understand what was so
dangerous.. well, he didn't understand until Brianna shot her energy
rifle.

A pinprick of glowing white hellfire emerged from the pipe, rushing
towards Ranma at breakneck speed. Hellfire, that was the only word Ranma
knew to describe the strange energy rushing towards him.

He wasn't frozen into inaction though, he simply wasn't that stupid.
Gathering his Chi quickly into a blast, Ranma inverted the energy in his
hands while screaming, "SEIREI TATE!"

Ranma's chi ball rippled, then popped out of existence and reappearing
like a shimmering shield of white light. The energy from Brianna's rifle
collided with the Energy Sheild of Ranma's technique, and for a moment
the two battled for supremacy. In the end, Ranma's Seirei Tate won and
Brianna's energy bolt dissipated ineffectually.

Ranma sneered, cupping his hand and willing the remaining energy of his
technique to fire off at the stunned were-cheetah.

The dimly shimmering energy field surrounding Ranma guttered out,
refocusing in the cup of his hand momentarily. "Here, try this!" Ranma
shouted as the ball flew from his hand.

The weakened chi attack flew quickly towards its target.

Ranma spared it no attention as Ryan rejoined the battle, the two now
locked in a fierce combat.

Ranma smiled grimly at the sound of the explosion. He knew it wouldn't
kill the woman, but it would give her something to think about the next
time she tried to pull a crazy stunt as the hellfire blast again.

"The nine hells! You're all so stupid!" Ranma mumbled as he began
retaliating to Ryan's skillful attacks.

***

Julia ran faster as the sound of fierce combat reached her senses. 'Just
what in the hell is happening?' she pondered mentally, stepping through
the broken doorway.

The front yard was indeed a war zone. Julia took a quick evaluation of
the situation. Strype was buried under a portion of the wall surrounding
the Digger Estate, though he was recovering quickly.

Her Daughter, Brittany was struggling to her feet, seeming to be in a
great deal of pain.

Ryan had just broken away from Ranma, her other Daughter Brianna had
just shot at her slave.

With a scream of 'SEIREI TATE" Ranma blocked the attack, some how he
knew a shield technique to defend against energy blasts and, Julia noted
bitterly, she had no clue how to do that.

The following explosion by Ranma flung Brianna roughly into the wall of
the house, unhurt but certainly banged up a bit.

At the moment Ranma was beating the stuffing out of Ryan callously.

Off to the side of the front door, Julia spied Ace and Penny watching
the goings on. Near them Charlotte had just landed, looking confused.
Close to her Gina was readying one of her laser pistols, probably to pop
shots at her slave if he ever gave her the opportunity.

Running up to the two non-combatants, "What the hell is going on?" Julia
demanded.

"Not sure Mrs. Diggers. Gina said she found this guy in the restroom,
but beyond that we have no clue. Only that Brit, Bri, and Ryan went
nuts. Strype joined in when he saw them attacking him. He doesn't know
whats going on either." Penny explained quickly, not taking her eyes off
the rather intense fighting going on.

Ace, for all his denials on the matter seemed to be protecting Penny as
a lover, or at least some one who cared deeply of another, would.

Julia nodded and turned her attention back to the fight, thoughts of
concern for both her family and Ranma warring in her mind.

***

Strype struggled to his feet, hissing painfully. That attack probably
cracked his ribs, it sure as hell felt like it anyway.

"Screw this guy." Strype mumbled angrily as he tapped into his power,
bringing his telekinesis to the front.

***

Ranma gasp, he felt a powerful force wrapping around his body, binding
him. He tried to move his arms and legs, but whatever force was being
used wouldn't allow him even that luxury at the moment.

Ryan was panting, dangerously close to collapsing from the wounds he had
received so far. When Ranma suddenly froze up, Ryan blinked confused by
what was happening. Well, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the
mouth, so with out further a due he began waylaying on the immobile
target.

Ranma grunted with each hit Ryan rained down on him. The pain wasn't so
great, and easily ignored. It wasn't like he could do anything at the
moment.

Focusing on his inner self, Ranma changed the way he viewed the world
from the Physical plane to the energy one. Quickly following the strands
of power that held him at bay, Ranma found the person responsible for
his current situation.

'Shit' Ranma cursed mentally, trying to come up with a way to counter
this devastating technique of the Tigerman. He couldn't get close to him
to disrupt his concentration. Summoning a Ki blast wouldn't work either,
he needed to focus it within his hands else it would simple explode due
to its lack of quantum matrix. How the hell could he turn this energy
attack if he couldn't…. wait a minute… turn his energy attack!

***

Julia frowned as Ranma got the stuffing beat out of him. Something
wasn't right about the situation, she just knew it. Ranma had to be
planning something!

Checking her link, Julia breathed out in relief when she realized her
slave wasn't blocking her at the moment. She turned into his thoughts
and nearly buckled under the information passing through his mind at
lightning speeds.

It was staggering! The amount of information Ranma could process and
dissect! He was working on things so fast Julia almost couldn't grasp
it. It has something to deal with energy and the way people harnessed it
from the ethereal steam.

Julia gasped loudly, causing Penny and Ace to stare at her curiously.
"STRYPE! STOP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!" she screamed, but it was too late to
stop what Ranma was about to do.

***

'Heheheheh! It's so simple' Ranma crowed mentally! Granted, he wouldn't
have figured it out of Happosai hadn't taught him the Hiryu Shoten Ha -
The technique that used ones own energy against him or her. He
reluctantly admitted Julia helped by inflicting the Punishment on him
earlier. It let him get a first rate view on the process used to turn
his own energy against him, hurting and binding him like it did.

Ranma grinned evilly at Strype, completely ignoring the beating he was
taking from Ryan.

Strype blinked, a sense of doom washing over him as he faintly heard
Julia's cry of warning. It was simply to late, however.

Flashing his Aura brightly, Ranma let his inner energies mix with the
alien power of his captor momentarily. It was all he needed. Withdrawing
from Strypes energy lay lines, Ranma watch belatedly as Strypes energy
peeled off him, becoming a cyclone across the Ethereal stream as it
raged back towards its originator. 'Heh, he won't even know what hit
him.'

Ryan savagely laid the smack down on Ranma, almost cackling in glee at
how easy it was. Until Ranma's aura flashed brightly, flinging him back
as the heat of his aura burned him. Ryan dimly heard Strypes scream of
abject horror as the Prince of the Kyrn collapsed under the assault of
his own power

"Now, little bitch. Lets see you take me with out you're friends help."
Ryan heard his foe growl. This was going to hurt, Ryan just knew it.

***

Brianna shook her head, clearing the wave of dizziness she felt after
that explosion.

'God damnit! What the hell is it going to take to bring this asshole
down!' Brianna screamed mentally as she rose to her feet. The attack had
hurt, thankfully her power armor had absorbed most of the blow, else she
probably would have become a smashed kitty cat.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Strype screamed, his voice
portraying nothing but pain and torture.

Brianna spared Strype a glance and nearly buckled at the sight of Strype
curled in a fetal position, crying and gasping in pain on the ground.

Something snapped in the Lycanthpoid at the sight. She was Brittany and
Gina combined. She loved and hated the same things they did when she
came into creation. She loved Strype, and this bastard had hurt him.
That was the final straw, he was going down!

Brianna growled, turning to their tormentor. "DIE YOU BASTARD!" she
shouted, a small protrusion popping out of the side of her leg armor
releasing three mini-missiles at the target of her wrath.

Ranma frowned, stepping away from Ryan. "What the hell now?" he asked no
one in particular as he watched the other were-cheetah launch some silly
looking tubes at him. 'What the hell is that?'

Julia gasped when the missiles were launched, quickly mustering her will
and every ounce of her being to SCREAM across the bound 'DON'T LET THOSE
HIT YOU!'

Ranma blinked, casting a spare glance to Julia, before turning back to
his current predicament. He didn't know what the hell those things were.
It didn't feel like any attack he had seen in the past back on Jade.
'Heh.. this world is full of surprises, isn't it.' He asked himself
mentally as he channeled his waning Ki source to his fingertips.

The missiles approached rapidly, Ranma tensing as he prepared to counter
them. He jumped over the first, slightly tapping the first on the side
with his Ki glowing fingers, then twisted over head and tapped the
second. He couldn't dodge and tap the third; they were simply going to
fast, so he settled on dodging by twisted slightly.

The missiles touched by Ranma lost target and veered off course, one
flying up and over the outer wall to crash down and explode on some ones
car. The second sputtered slightly before veering off and crashing into
Theo's garden, reducing it to ash in the proceeding conflagration.

***

Theo shivered slightly, "What the hell?"

Bugie shrugged, "Sorry, been meaning to get that window fixed." He
replied, sheepishly.

Theo nodded, moving to the window and closing it, sealing the cold wind
outside.

***

The last missle veered up and came around, auto tracking on its target,
who was currently rushing towards the recovering Brianna.

Brianna gawked, "The fuck!?" she cursed, and then her eyes widened when
Ranma came charging towards her.

"That's right, you're fucked!" Ranma yelled out as he closed the
distance between the two.

Brianna raised her energy rifle, attempting to defend herself from the
avalanche of pissed off martial artist barreling towards her.

Ranma snorted, easily flowing through the girl's defenses. He reached
out and tapped the girls power armor, whispering, "Bakusai Tenketsu."

Brianna was ready for anything at this point. A punch? Fine. A kick?
Fine. Ungodly pain via getting beat down? Easily. She wasn't ready for..
nothing. She blinked curiously, before grinning madly. He grinned died
when Ranma smiled evilly and said, "Welcome to the pain." And then leapt
away.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Brianna's power armor erupted into a conflagration much like the
missiles had, flinging the stunned lycanthropoid back unconscious.

Ranma frowned deeply. He had thought the girl could take more than that!
'Well shit.' He thought as he turned around and ran straight for the
incoming missile. 'She won't be able to survive the blast as she is now.
God damnit.'

Within a few steps of the projectile, Ranma dropped to the ground and
slid the rest of the way, raising his hand and tapping the missile
lightly with his KI.

The missile immediately lost target and veered straight up before
exploding in midair, the concussive force causing everyone below to
flinch.

Strype fell unconscious some time between the missles first being
launched and Brianna's beat down, which was a good thing since the
torment he was under stopped the moment he stopped feeding power to the
ability.

Ryan was recovering, but it would still be a few more moments before he
could rejoin the battle.

Gina abandoned her laser pistol after seeing Brianna's energy bolt
dissapate ineffectually, and instead opted to bring out some pain
sticks. All she had to do was get close and hit the stud and this fight
would be over!

Ranma rose to his feet, his senses screaming at him that an attack was
incoming. He was too slow, however, and could do nothing but take the
hit full force.

Brit had managed to recover, much to Ranma's surprise. He was sure the
were-cheetah would have been out of the fight long enough for him to
finish it. Luckily he had hit her with the Moxibustion, making her
rather incredible physical prowess worthless in this fight.

Ranma staggered back under the blow, Brittany's punch to his face. Now,
while Brit was as weak as a newborn babe, she still had her speed on her
side. That much kinetic energy is enough to stagger any body, epically
if she got a running start on the strike.

Ranma sneered, spitting out some blood as he dodged and blocked
Brittany's rain of fists, "Impressive." He said, truly meaning it. The
girl must have broken her hand doing that, but she was still fighting.
True, were-creatures regenerate extremely fast from normal non-magical
damage, but when Ranma is completely immersed as he is now with the
power of the ethereal stream he might as well be considered magic
incarnate.

"Impressive.. nice try, weakling." Ranma taunted when Brit stomped
attacking. She was gasping, obviously out of breath and tired. Those
pressure points must have really taxed her endurance.

Brit growled, "I.. I'm not… done yet.. asshole!" she forced out tiredly.
She grinned suddenly, which she'll later say was the stupidest thing she
could have done.

Ranma frowned, noticing the grin and Brit's eyes flicking quickly to
something behind him. He checked his senses, and sure enough some one
was sneaking up on him. A moment's inspection informed him that it was
Gina, the girl who started this whole damn mess. Well.. heh… let her get
abit closer, then crush her dreams.

Gina smirked, slowly, every so slowly sneaking up on the stud who was
kicking the shit out of her, and her family. With Brittany keeping his
attention riveted on her, Gina felt it was safe to get up close and
bring an end to this fight. She had no clue Ranma was about to unleash
his trap

"So… were-cheetah…" Ranma began slowly. Gina was closing in, he
estimated another 5 seconds were needed to get her in range. "… this is
going to hurt. Just thought I'd let you know."

Ranma screamed, spreading his arms and flaring his aura impressively.
The sudden onslaught of power and displacement of air caused everything
around him to get blown back violently. This included Brit, and Gina who
just entered the range of the attack.

Brit flew haphazardly and crashed into a wall close to Strype, were she
slumped down seemingly unconscious.

Gina flew back screaming. Ranma frowned deeply, already in motion. 'Yet
another person who can't take it.. man.. this sucks.' He knew if Gina
hit the wall like Brit did she would die, and death was a big no no in
his book.

Ryan growled rage once again clouding his features as he jumped head
first in the dust cloud brought up by Ranma's strange attack, only to
find the man gone!

Ryan scanned the area quickly until he caught sight of Julia, and the
rest of the non-combatants staring off to where Gina should have landed.
He followed their gaze, slightly fearful of finding a bloodied and
broken Gina Diggers….

What he discovered caused him to see nothing but Red.

Ranma had caught the girl carefully, gently holding her to his chest as
he rebounded off the wall and landed. He set her down, reaching out and
covering her semi-nude body with the bathrobe that had flown open from
the attack. He looked up at the others, who were all glaring at him
hatefully - sans Julia - and shrugged, "She couldn't take the damage and
survive." He explained. Not that he expected that to ease their worries,
but it was the thought that count.

Ryan didn't hear, nor care what the bastard was saying! He charged in
and reengaged the little shit, his fury driving him onward.

Ranma sighed, 'Here I am, once again in the thick of things with the
pussy.. hey.. wait a minute' Ranma narrowed his eyes, and then glared
openly, "Oh my fucking god! Who taught you Anything Goes?!?"

Ryan simply smirked, upping his offensive.

Ranma was about to beat the answers out of him before Julia explained,
via the bound, that Ryan could pick up any martial art moves just by
seeing them. He generally doesn't understand why they were made that
way, and the deeper secrets of things, but if it didn't involve Chi
Attacks and the like he could use it.

Ranma scowled, leading Ryan into a deceptively strange pattern "You
stole knowledge from my school, thief. You know the price of that?"

Ryan screamed, not caring and frustrated with Ranma's impenetrable
defense, "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DIE!"

Ranma grins slightly, "How'd you know the price is death?" he chuckled,
jumping over a leg sweep, and then ducking under Ryan's follow up round
house. He suddenly sprinted forward, and Ryan winced waiting for the
strike to come.

With a cry of "HIRYU SHOTEN HA" Ranma performed a sloppy uppercut that
completely missed its target.

Julia was about to call Ranma an idiot before she suddenly dove for Ace,
Penny, and Charlotte while screaming, "HIT THE DIRT!"

Brianna groaned, waking up slowly and just in time to hear her mothers
shout of warning.

Brittany scowled painfully, climbing to her feet. Just in time too.

Ryan smirked victoriously! "NOW YOU'RE DEAD!" he screamed before a
cataclysmic Funnel of Eldritch energy and wind funneled upwards,
carrying the now screaming form of Ryan high into the sky.

Luckily, Ranma had maneuvered Ryan far enough away from everyone else so
they weren't in danger of joining the idiot in his punishment. No one
steals from the Anything Goes School and expects to survive!

Brianna watched, dumb founded as the shadowed form of Ryan filtered
about in the Tornado. 'What the hell did we get ourselves into?!' she
asked herself before snapping out of her daze. It didn't matter! She had
to defend her family from this rapist!

While Ranma remained stationary at the base of the cyclone, Brianna
sought desperately for a means to hurt the asshole. Spying Gina's Laser
pistol, Brianna quickly grabbed it up, set the power to full and started
firing.

The laser beams shot forward in their deadly arcs, only to splash
against the funnel of energy and be absorbed with out any effects the
others could see.

Ranma smiles, sensing Ryan's life force on the verge of collapse.
That'll teach the asshole not to steal HIS school's techniques. Pumping
his aura once, signaling the end of the technique, the tornado
dissipated and Ryan came crashing down, unconscious.

Ranma looked over the battlefield, briefly. He was tired damnit, he
needed sleep, he needed a bath, he was hungry, and he'd never tell
anyone but he was hurting big time. He then scowled when his danger
senses flared, instinctually dodging out of the way of the incoming
laser fire.

Ranma rushed towards Brianna, growling angrily 'Jesus H. Christ! Don't
these people know when to give the hell up? Nine hells these women are
stubborn!'

Brianna tried her damndest to hit the quick-footed martial artist, but
every time she thought she would hit him he managed to dodge. Soon he
was up her in face, fists descending quickly. Brianna just knew this was
going to hurt.

Only the pain never came, instead she felt all her muscles lock up and
then she fell to her knees, panting. She couldn't move, not even her
pinky toe! She was totally at this mad mans mercy! Oh shit, what the
hell did she do to deserve this! Where's her army of Peebos when she
needs them!?

Brit screamed when she saw Brianna collapse to her knees, thinking the
worst she took off at a run. Ranma turned to her at the sound of her
scream, quickly raising an arm to defend himself from the Cheetahs
flying knee attack. Brit connected, but lacked the strength to follow
through with the attack. The inertia managed to push Ranma back some,
but Brit bounced off his arm, twirled around in mid air slightly before
crashing to the ground in a heap. She was too tired, to hurt and too
weak to even move!

Ranma grunted, shaking off the effects of Brittany's attack. He looked
at her disdainfully, before turning around and walking to Julia.

Ace growled, shoving Penny back forcibly to defend her from this mad
man. He didn't know how he was going to do that, exactly, but he would
hopefully think of something. Charlotte looked on confused, but took
Ace's stance and waited for the attack! She was Penny's bodyguard! It
was time she did her job!

Ranma steps up to Julia, sparing a scathing glare at Charlotte and Ace,
daring them to try something against him. When they didn't take action,
he turned his full attention on his master. "Now. Master, if you would
be so kind as to tell me where I can find the water bucket to fill the
tub with, I'll get out of you're way."

Julia was mad about the whole situation and was about to make her
feelings clear when his question penetrated. She blinked, trying to
figure out what he meant. A quick check through the bond showed what he
meant, which caused Julia to start laughing at the absurdity of the
situation.

Brit looked up from were she was resting and growled. 'What the hell is
mom laughing about!? She just watched her kids get the shit kicked out
of them!' She shook it off and tried to stand, to continue this fight.
She realized she simply lacked the strength to do such and scowled,
"What the hell did you do to me?!"

Ranma, irritated at Julia's reaction to his question, blinked and looked
at Brit, as if he was noticing her for the first time. He shrugged then,
"Made you weak as a newborn babe, tempoary paralysis, blindness, and an
aversion to heat. Shiatsu." He said, as if expecting her to understand
what he meant.

Ranma turned back to Julia, who was still laughing her ass off. Figuring
he wouldn't get any answers out of her, he turned around and headed into
the house grumbling about this kind of crap always happening to him.

***

Dashi the Black Death sat on top of the wall overlooking the Diggers
front yard. He was blinking like crazy, his jaw seemingly permanently
stuck open. The sight of one guy kicking the living crap out of Most of
the Diggers had been too much.

"Lord Talon must be notified of this." He said, before jumping away.

***

Julia couldn't help herself! The situation was entirely too funny.

She felt a little guilty when her children glared at her, but it was too
damn funny.

Gina grumbled, "Penny, put Ryan and Brit into the regeneration tubes.
I'm going to go get dressed."

***

Gina frowned deeply at the read out. Whatever that guy had done to Brit,
it was something her machines couldn't handle. Physically she was fine,
her ego might be bruised a bit but all in all she would recover. It was
her strength… she couldn't figure out how to get it back!

Gina sighed, and looked at the two in the Regeneration tubes as well as
those in the room.

Strype had left shortly after he regained consciousness, not really
explaining were he was going or what he was going to do. In all the
excitement no one thought much about it, but now Gina was wishing he had
stayed. Brit was going to need some one to comfort her when she found
out her strength was not coming back until whatever Ranma did to her
faded away.

Ryan, out of everyone, was the most damage. Multiple factures and broken
bones, nothing life threatening but it would take hours to set and heal
correctly. He'd probably be sore for the next few days, but he should
recover.

Gina snorted, "Provided the maniac doesn't come back and finish us off."

Penny frowned slightly, the only other person in the room. She had sent
Charlotte home, and Ace had some things to do tomorrow so he had left as
well, "Gina."

Gina snapped out of her trance, "Yeah Penny?"

Penny smirked, this was going to be funny, "Girlfriend, you know that
Maniac was invited to stay here."

Gina arched an eyebrow, "What?"

Penny chuckled, "You're mother brought him back from Jade. He's a guest
here." Then she smirked, "You attacked one of you're guests."

Gina growled, "What the hell?!" and then she blushed, remembering the
brief kiss earlier. She sighed then, deeply, "Just great. This is all my
fault."

Penny nodded, "Yep!" then chuckled as she exited the Lab, "And don't you
forget it!" she rubbed it in.

Gina threw a clipboard at Penny, which was blocked by the door as it
zipped shut, "SHUT UP!"

She growled. Annoyed and pissed off. "How am I going to explain this to
Brit and Ryan? Man I'm in soooo much trouble!"

***

Ranma glared balefully at Julia as she left the bathroom, still laughing
her ass off. "Nine hells! She shoulda told me! Stupid woman!"

Once he was sure Julia wasn't close enough to hear it, he started to
laugh. It was rather funny, now that he thought about it. The whole
situation might have been avoided if he had figured out how to turn the
water on. Julia said Gina would have realized some one was in here if
the water was running, or if the Tub was already filled.

"Heh." Ranma said as he slumped into the waters, enjoying the feeling of
the hot water soothing his wounds and tense muscles. "Ahh.. now this..
is nice."

***

Brianna growled at Julia from where she sat, holding an ice pack to the
back of her neck.

Julia raised an eyebrow at that, "Don't you growl at me Young lady. You
brought this down on you're selves." Oh no, she was the 'Mom'. She
wasn't going to take that shit from her kids.

"How is this our fault? He attacked Gina in the bathroom!" Brianna said
through clenched teeth.

Julia chuckled, having long since learned the truth from Ranma. He
couldn't lie to her, the bond made sure of that, "Gina walked in on
Ranma, and Ranma did nothing but stare at her. Gina was just confused
and scared, she overreacted."

Brianna frowned, her anger abating somewhat, but her embarrassment
rising, "What is he doing here anyway?"

Julia had just tilted back a glass of OJ when the question hit her,
nearly causing her to gag.

"Mom?"

"Brianna.." Julia began, seriously. ".. a situation occurred while me
and you're father were visiting Jade. Due to.. certain blunders, and
bouts of idiocy to great to imagine, Ranma and I… " she shook her head,
"Wait until the others are able to listen. I don't want to repeat
myself.

Brianna blinked. Whatever it was must have been bad if her strong willed
mother refused to tell her right then. "His name is Ranma?" she asked,
changing the focus of the discussion. Maybe if she got her talking,
she'd slip out more information on the situation

Julia nodded, "Ranma Saotome."

Brianna frowned, "That's it? You have to know more than that!"

Julia shugged, smirking and waving one finger in a 'Nah ah!' gesture at
Brianna, "You'll find out everything when everyone else does."

Brianna pouted cutely.

Julia ignored her.

***

Ranma snapped awake, the sudden action causing the now cool water to
splash over the rim and to the floor a bit.

Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, Ranma stumbled out of the bathtub
and quickly go dressed in the cloths Julia had given him.

Stepping out into the hallway, the pig tailed martial artist let his
senses spread out to detect the others of the household. All of the
residents he knew of, Master included, were somewhere beneath him.

"Least I'll be able to get some peace." Ranma grumbled, some how
stumbling into the kitchen, and finding a verifiable feast left out.

Ranma's eyes sparkled slightly at the sight. A moment passed before he
dove right in and began feasting like a ravenous beast!.

Later..

Ranma burped. It had been a good meal, a bit heavy on the Tuna side, but
good nonetheless. How nice of Julia to leave all that food out for him,
those chocolate chip cookies were tasty too. Speaking of his master, he
opened himself to the bond slightly, and immediately closed it off.
Whatever she was doing down stairs had her full attention. She did not
want any interruptions.

Shrugging, Ranma was now full, clean, and tired as hell. "Guess the
stars will be my roof tonight." He said simply, walking out of the house
and jumping to the roof.

He lay there for a bit, contemplating the situation and the stars above.
This 'Earth' was so different than Jade. Did he really come from here?
And if so did he have any family that might be willing to take him in
once he got this nasty business with Julia done?

Ranma chuckled, "It doesn't matter." He said simply, before drifting off
to dream.

***

Earlier.

Gina wrapped a bathrobe around her sister, Brittany. Brianna and their
mother had come down earlier, and were not helping the weak were-cheetah
to her seat from the regeneration tube.

"Oi.. Gina, why am I still so weak?" Brittany moaned pitifully, leaning
heavily against Brianna and Julia.

Gina picked up her medical chart, and reviewed the information. Truth
was she didn't know how to explain this to Cheetah, some one who relied
on her strength very much.

She took a deep breath, and bulled ahead. No point hiding it now,
Cheetah would figure it out for herself soon enough anyway, "Whatever
Ranma did to you can't be fixed with my machines. I'm sorry Cheetah,
until Ranma takes it off, or it wears off on its own there is simply
nothing I could do."

Brittany took a second to digest that information, "Wh-wh-what!?! You
mean I'm going to be 'As weak as a newborn babe' forever?!"

Julia gripped Brit's hand, gently so as not to cause any under pain, "No
Brit. You won't." she said with full confidence in her voice. 'Either
Ranma fixes this, or I'll make his life a living hell.'

Brit looked her mother dead in the eyes, and then scowled slightly, "Who
was that guy!?! Why didn't you help us mom?"

Gina coughed, taking it from there, "Because that guy - Whose name is
Ranma Saotome - was a guest invited by mom, Brittany. I was confused and
scared when I found him in the bathroom, but he hadn't done anything to
deserve getting attacked. We attacked her guest, and he defended
himself. He didn't try to kill any of us.." Gina cast a glare to
Brianna, "Even if some of us tried to kill him."

Brianna chuckled weakly, suddenly feeling very very small, "Sorry!" she
squeaked out like a itty-bitty mouse.

Brit blinked, digesting that slowly, "We.. attacked an innocent man?"
she sighed, "Shit." At Julia's glare Brit quickly amended her statement,
"Err..ahh.. I mean, Crap!"

Julia continued to glare at her daughter, before saying "I better not
hear anymore of that language, missy!"

Brit chuckled nervously, nodding. "Y-yeah mom! Hehe… so.. do you think
you could have Ranma take off this weakness Shitsu-whatever thingy he
did to me?"

Julia contemplated the request. She really didn't feel the need to
bother Ranma about it just right now, so tried gaining the information
via their shared link, only to discover Ranma was once again guarding
his mind from her. She was able to get a brief view of his emotions
though, and didn't like them.

"Bothering Ranma about it now.. isn't advisable." Julia said slowly,
receiving questioning looks from her three daughters.

"What do you mean 'isn't advisable'. He did this too me, he should fix
it right?" Brit pushed forward. She wanted her damn strength back!

"Yeah. Why shouldn't we?" Brianna asked, growing concerned and confused.

Julia smiled sadly, and decided now was as good a time as any to explain
the situation to his daughters, "Because he hates me, and every one
associated with me." She explained calmly.

Three sets of 'Blink Blinks' and Gina asked, "What the hell? You invite
him to stay and live here, and he HATES you for something you didn't
do?" obviously Gina referred the fight earlier as to why Ranma hates
Julia.

Julia shook her head quickly, "No. He doesn't hate me for what happened
with you all today. He found the whole incident rather.. Invigorating.
No, he hates me because of what the Council on Jade and you're father
did to him."

Brit frowned, "And what did they do to him?" this guy was sounding like
a complete asshole!

"They tried to enslave his mind to their will, only before the final
enchantment could be set Ranma broke free and ran. While he was running,
he ran into me, which activated the final enchantment. Binding his mind
to mine." Julia said uncomfortably. She didn't want to explain the…
intimate reaction to her daughters.

Gina frowned. That didn't sound good.

Brianna gasped. She knew what it was like to have something control her
thoughts and actions. Grave Digger was not a fun part of her life.

Brittany blinked, "Wait wait wait a minute here. Daddy and the other
mages tried to turn Ranma into a slave, but he fought them and due to
their screw up he ended up bound to you? Making him you're slave?"

Julia nodded, "That's the basic gist of it."

Brit scowled, "So why does he hate you for something you had no control
over?" She knew Julia had to be hiding something.

Julia frowned, but decided to tell them anyway, "The enslavement spells
were not meant to bind Ranma's mind to my own. I can't control his
thoughts, but I can influence his actions. If he does something I don't
approve of, I could theoretically access a number of enchantments placed
upon him that will inflict an enormous amount of pain. Something
happened on Jade, right before we came here. I some how tripped one of
the spells, and Ranma suffered the consequences. He's been… upset ever
since." She finished uncomfortably again. How do you explain to you're
daughters the man you just invited threatened to kick her ass once this
bond was off? Hell, at this rate she even wondered if an ass kicking was
the least of her worries.

"What was it? A electric shock? Slap on the wrist kind of thing?" Gina
questioned, curious.

"Eh, take that, multiply it by a million and carry it into the deepest
depths of forever, and you'll have a brief understanding of what Ranma
went through because of my lack of control." Julia finished.

Brit frowned. That had to hurt. "Well.. ah.. don't take this the wrong
way.." she tried to find a way to say this with out sounding like a
total bitch, "Can't you just.. 'make' him fix me?"

Julia frowned deeply at that question, "No. Don't ever ask such a
question again. If you push Ranma that way, he will get back at you ten
times over." Seeing the ashamed look on her daughters face, Julia
offered, "I'll ask him to release it though, or at least let me know how
to fix it. That's all I can do though."

Brit nodded, and was about to say something else before her stomach
growled, "Eh. Can I get something to eat? I'm really hungry."

Brianna smiled at that, "I've set up a FEAST for you Brit! Tuna sub's,
sandwiches, anything you can think of!"

Brit's eyes glimmered slightly, "Chocolate chip cookies?"

Julia rolled her eyes. Brit always had a weakness for those cookies,
"Yes Brit. Come on, lets eat."

***

Ranma snapped awake at the sound of a sorrowful scream of torment, which
quickly followed some cursing and crying.

He shrugged, it didn't matter to him. What really mattered was finding
an outhouse.

Standing up, Ranma gave the yard a quick look and frowned. There wasn't
any outhouse! Where the hell was he suppose to take a piss?

Ranma thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. Julia will tell him
eventually, until then he'll go as he always did in Jade when traveling.

Walking to the side of the roof, Ranma unzipped his pants and began
relieving himself.

"Ahhhhh."

***

"The food! It's all gone! I'm sorry Brit, the chocolate chip cookies are
gone too!" Brianna exclaimed.

When they had first stepped into the kitchen, Brianna had been expecting
her sister to maul the feast and at least forget about her lack of
strength for a few minutes. Sadly, that wasn't meant to be.

They had walked into the kitchen, took one look at the devastated feast,
and Brit screamed.

When informed about the cookies, Brit damn nearly cried!

Julia frowned at the display. Whoever had eaten Brit's food was going to
be in big trouble. She frowned, sensing a growing urgency coming from
the Bond. What could be happening?

Stepping outside the back door, Julia looked around quickly. When she
failed to find Ranma she turned to go back inside but a steady warm
sprinkle of rain started pouring down.

Julia looked up and frowned. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Where the
hell was this… oh no..

"Ahhhhh."

***

To be continued