Part 3

The Tokyo International Airport was often the sight of some interesting parties moving to and from other countries. Today was no different as a collection of two college-aged young ladies and one man stepped off the plane in a variety of not happy moods.

"I tell you she's around here somewhere," Romeo said nervously. "I can barely smell her through the picante. She's going to pounce as soon as we step out of the plane and tear our livers out by the skin of her teeth!" The girls looked at him, Moisha still scratching.

"Like...what?" the pink-haired wererat asked. "Listen, I just want to like get a bath to get this gunk off of me!"

"Quit being such a pair of whiny babies!" Lydia snapped angrily. "Honestly, are you warriors or not!?"

"Which of us had to change after that werecheetah grabbed us a couple of days ago?" Romeo asked. He was rewarded with a steady glare from the blonde that almost cleared his bowels.

"Agh!" Moisha whined. "It's getting into the silver burns!! Can't we go get a bath?"

"If you didn't scratch," Lydia muttered angrily as she stalked ahead. "You wouldn't have so much trouble. I'm heading for the rental place, why don't you two get the luggage, if you can manage it."

She stalked away and then quickly ducked around a corner. After checking around the corner to make sure that Romeo and Moisha were indeed heading for luggage claim, she began scratching frantically.

"Oh yeah," Lydia sighed. "Mmm, that's better, yeah. There to! Ahhhh. Much better."

"Excuse me, Miss?" someone said, instantly attracting Lydia's attention. "What are you doing?" Lydia looked down, took stock of where her hands were, and paled.

"In public of all places," somebody whispered.

"I hope she's not American, can you imagine how bad that would make us look?"

"It's not like that," Lydia protested. "I'm just..." and then she saw Romeo and Moisha already coming down the hallway. "...needed a little...relief." Her voice trailed off in defeat.

"Hey, Lydia," Romeo said. "There are some security guards coming this way...would you know why?"

"Grrr..." Lydia rolled her eyes upward and would have cried if it didn't go against her warrior image.

"Now more than ever must I defeat the evil cur Saotome and free my loves from his darkness," Kuno muttered as he stalked down the runaway from the Kuno private jet. Kodachi sauntered along behind him, considering things.

"Hmmm," she said. "That gaijin woman mentioned 'blood transfusions' certainly my Ranma-sama would not begrudge me a sample of his...essence." She smirked for a brief moment before continuing her thoughts. "Still, I have no idea how to reach this Jade place. Of course, this new werecheetah has not been made 'safe' yet. Still, is that a chance I should take. Hmmm." She frowned, remembering the bit about mind control and wondering whether it would be better to wait for Ranma to make an appearance.

And of course that shapechanger was with him. Hmm, wait for a week, or try to take power immediately. Kodachi considered the question for all of two seconds.

"Listen," Brittany said. "I told you. It's not her I'm smelling!" She sighed in exasperation.

"I think you just have rats on the brain," Gina said, shaking her head.

"I keep telling you they're there!" Brit insisted.

"Any clue what they're talking about," Ukyou asked. "I'm not doing so well in English."

"They're talking about smelling rats still," Nabiki said irritably. She couldn't tell how Brittany could make sense of all the mixed smells in the airport. Just thinking about it gave her a headache. She turned to the arguing sisters and cleared her throat. "Any chance of teaching us how to change before we get back to my home?" Brit looked at her and blinked.

"Sorry, girl," Brit said. "You'll have to wait another day or so. You need to build up some lunar energies first."

"Lunar energies," Nabiki said. "Right."

"Oh damn!" Ukyou said suddenly smacking a furred fist into an open hand.

"What is it?" Nabiki asked, she was busy noting how people seemed to be avoiding her.

"I forgot about Konatsu," she said. "He's still stuck back there."

"Hello?" Konatsu called out as he wandered the nearly endless halls of Gina's lab. "Is anybody home?"

"Excuse me," a voice said. Konatsu turned about to see that foreign werecheetah's husband. "Aren't you one of the Japanese visitors?"

"Oh hello, sir," he said, bowing demurely. "I seem to have gotten myself lost. Could you please direct me to the rest of my party?"

"They, uh, went back to Japan," Stripe said hesitantly.

"Oh dear," Konatsu sighed. "Hmmm, I suppose I should call her as soon as possible. She may have a task for me to accomplish here. In the meantime is there anything I can do for you sir?" Konatsu blink-blinked.

"Um, no," Stripe said. "Ukyou-sama, you say? Ukyou is that girl that sort of dresses like a guy?"

"Mmhmm," Konatsu nodded. Stripe looked Konatsu over for a moment and cocked an eyebrow.

"You know, she doesn't seem to bend that way," Stripe said to the "girl" in front of him.

"Bend what way sir?" Konatsu asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Never mind," he said.

"So this is the place, huh?" Gina said as they approached the dojo. "Looks calm enough." She tried to ignore Nabiki's quiet snicker.

"I suppose with Ranma out of town that the center of chaos has moved off a bit," Nabiki said, smirking.

"Okay," Gina said, setting down her luggage. "You guys go get settled in and I'll go see this Minister of Health idiot." By the time any of the three had turned around, Gina was in the rental car and down the street. Well, half-way down the street. Damn Ace for having a date with Penny anyway. She could have brought the Gina-Mobile over, but noooo.

"Did she just leave the three of us alone to explain to my sister what's going on," Nabiki wondered.

"Nope," Ukyou said. "Just the two of you." She tried to leave for her own place, but found herself stalled at the end of the other werecheetah's arm.

"No you don't," Brittany said. "You stay where I can see you until you've gotten some training." She glanced toward Nabiki and saw the wererat putting on what seemed to be rain slickers. "That isn't going to hide you very well, you know." Nabiki gave her a sidelong look.

"You have never met my father," she said simply.

"WAAAHHHHHH!!!!" Soun Tendo's cry could be heard up and down the street. "My babies are Nezumi!!" Nabiki's mouth twitched irritably as she sipped at the tea Kasumi had made for them.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, of course. "If Nodoka knows about Akane, what will this mean for the marriage. Is she fine with a cat marrying a rat?"

'If Nodoka knows?' Nabiki thought to herself. Not 'if Akane is?'

"WAAAAHHHHHH!!!" A new cry was established. "The schools will never be joined!!! Ranma you better not eat my baby!!!"

"I don't think you have to worry about that, Daddy," Nabiki said. "They're both a little too clueless for that yet."

"WAAAAAHHHH!!! My baby's virtue is going to be lost!!!"

"I know the human body is mostly water," Brittany said. "But shouldn't he be getting dehydrated soon?"

"By the way," Ukyou said. "Where's the panda man?"

"Oh," Kasumi said. "Uncle Saotome is still trying to get to America. He sent us a postcard from Tibet just this day. Funny it has a Tokyo postmark though."

"WAAAHHHH!!! How dare you abandon me in my time of need Saotome!!"

"You don't seem very upset by all this Kasumi," Nabiki noted nervously. Kasumi's opinion was the one that mattered here.

"Remember two weeks ago when the toaster oven tried to eat the family?" Kasumi asked.

"Yes," Nabiki said. "What was Akane thinking of trying to cook out of one of Happosai's books? It seems like she tries anything that looks like a recipe since she figured out curry. I guess sometimes a little success is a bad thing. What happened to it anyway?" Brittany listened on skeptically while Ukyou had this horrified expression on her face.

"I'm not sure," Kasumi said. "I thought we put it outside with the trash."

"So what you're saying is that compared to some of what happens here," Nabiki said. "Us being wererats is normal."

"Exactly," Kasumi said cheerfully. "Oh also, remember when I left to help our cousins around the house?" In the background was the sound of someone beating a toaster oven to death.

"We were avoiding eating at home for a week," Nabiki said. "Of course I remember."

"Oh, I thought Ranma would be able to handle the cooking," Kasumi said. "He said he would."

"Akane wouldn't let him," Nabiki said dryly. "It was just after the oni incident, right?"

"Oh yes," Kasumi said. "Ah, that explains it."

"Explains what?" Nabiki asked. "What about that week?"

"Well, you see..." Kasumi started.

"WAAAAHHH!!!" Nabiki sighed as their father ran back through the room complaining about something new entirely.

"I thought she said the chaos was mostly gone," Brittany said nervously. "Is it always like this?"

"Pretty much," Ukyou said.

"This is the 'welcoming party' you have set up to meet this kid?!!?" Gina declared as she looked over the unfriendly collection of black-suited men in mirrorshades. She just bet they had silver bullets too. "Of course she hasn't shown herself! She's probably scarred out of her mind!"

"We must protect the well being of the people," the Minister protested.

"Wouldn't that include the well being of this missing girl that you've set out to turn into a fur rug?!!" Gina demanded.

"You know, that's not a bad idea," he said. "Of course, werecreatures are a cowardly, superstitious lot..."

"That's criminals, Mr. Wayne," Gina interrupted, voice dripping sarcasm.

"I'm sorry," the man said. "What?"

"Nevermind," Gina said. "Look, you trigger-happy dunce. Werecreatures are just like any other person, got it? My sister is a werecheetah, she's never hurt anyone." She considered that for a moment. "Well, she's never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it...not on purpose anyway."

"So you're not going to hunt them down and make sure they cease preying on innocent people?" the man sounded dismayed.

"What?!" Gina gasped. "No! I'm going to find her, and then put her and anybody else that changed into an extradimensional containment field until my Dad gets back from Jade so he can cure them."

"There's a cure?"

"Didn't I say that on the phone?" Gina asked wearily. She wondered if her parents were having this much trouble with the Saotomes.

"I think I may have found something we can agree on," Akane said suddenly. Breaking the silence that had been three people carefully not fighting for the last fifteen minutes.

"Oh?" Ranko said suspiciously.

"What's that?" Ranma asked.

"This is all Gina's fault," Akane said. The three glanced around the room for a moment, Ranma and Ranko confused at the sound of someone blaming somebody other than them, Happosai, or Genma.

"Well," Ranko said, hesitantly. "Yeah. Hmm..." Her eyes narrowed.

"You know she looks like she could use some self-defense training," Ranma noted.

"I wonder if her mother will let you give her a little bit of a crash course?" Akane said to Ranko. The female Saotome blinked and suddenly produced a wide grin that somehow managed to be cat-like even in human form.

"Brrrr," Gina said as she shivered.

"Is something wrong Diggers-san?" the Minister asked.

"I feel like someone just walked over my grave," Gina said shakily. She shook off the feeling and went back to talking to Minister Edeota.

"Your...grave?" the minister said nervously, wondering where he could find two candle sticks to make into a cross.

"It's a figure of speech," Gina said, not bothering to pay attention to the sudden appearance of garlic. "So can I talk to the girl's family and friends? Maybe they'll know where to find her. And for goodness sakes, get rid of the heavy artillery. You're making my baby sister look stable!"

Meanwhile, the men in mirror shades were chatting amongst themselves.

"Are we done yet?" one of them asked. "My shift starts in like an hour."

"Hey," another said. "I'm not complaining. We may look stupid, but at least cousin Baka is paying us well for looking stupid."

"You know," said a third. "This is a very realistic looking water gun."

Yuka glanced about cautiously. She really didn't want to come out, but she was getting hungry. Fortunately it was fairly late at night so there probably wouldn't be very many people around. As for those that were around, if she stuck to the shadows maybe they wouldn't notice her.

That left the problem of where to get the food. She'd been lucky to snatch the clothes she was wearing now. There were people at her house that she wasn't certain she wanted to see. She guessed that they'd be around Sayuri's place and maybe even the Tendo dojo too. She would have imposed on Ranma and his mother, if they were home.

And she'd needed to snatch some clothes too. It was amazing how hard it was to find a kimono, or anything for that matter, for someone almost seven feet tall. Then again, her cup size could have competed with Shampoo now. And that was damn cool.

She wanted to give Ranma a good talking to anyway. Or maybe a throttling. Then again she might be able to get Akane to lend her a mallet. She was beginning to learn why so many people felt obliged to blame everything on Ranma. It was very cathartic.

Yuka sighed quietly and disappeared back into her hiding place.

It would probably be a good idea to figure out where to try first rather than just wandering about aimlessly, she decided. She took a deep breath and clutched at her dad's amulet. Well, I could always stand a diet for a couple of days.

Then she heard the little mewing sound behind her. She turned around cautiously and relaxed upon seeing a white cat staring at her curiously. More important was the fish at its feet. Yuka stared for a few moments before quickly snatching the fish away, not even wondering why she hadn't smelled it approaching. It had been almost two full days since she'd last eaten, and raw fish was far from anathema to her to begin with.

The cat merely blinked and cocked its head the other way as Yuka ate, and then faded back into the woods away from her.

"BACK!! BACK!! BACK!!" The door opened and slammed shut, revealing a breathless Gina leaning against the wall.

"Hey, Sis," Brit said, noticing. "This isn't our house, you could have knocked."

"I was planning too," Gina said. "Until some animal in the trash heap attacked me."

"Did it look like a toaster oven?" a tall Japanese girl asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"Well," Gina said hesitantly. "Sort of."

"Oh dear," Kasumi said, sighing before turning to the phone. "I suppose we shall have to call the exterminator after all. Now what was Skuld-chan's number?"

"Eh?" Gina said, blinking. She looked to her sister, noticed the "don't ask" signal and just resumed catching her breath. "Anyway, it's not as bad as I was afraid of."

"Huh, oh the 'outbreak,'" Brittany said, shrugging. "So what's the total population of werecheetahs now?"

"About six," Gina said. "Plus one girl that's gone missing who was probably the original one Ranma scratched. Anyway, I got some ideas of where to look, but maybe we should get your two new students to help since they know the area better."

"Why both of them?" Brittany asked. "It only takes one to show us around."

"Yeah," Gina agreed. "But we'll cover more ground if we split up. I'll go with that Ukyou girl and you go with Nabiki. Just try to avoid scaring her to death."

"Well it isn't my fault she smells yummy," Brittany protested. "Charlie smells yummy too, and I don't go around eating her."

"Right," Gina said. "Well, let's go. Maybe we can get this done with tonight."

"How dare those peasants keep me from what is my power by noble rights?!" Kodachi demanded angrily pacing her room in the Kuno command. Then suddenly she stopped. "Wait, there is yet one werecheetah remaining uncaptured. Now if I were a silly little peasant girl trying to hide in Nerima, where would I go?"

"Nerima is a small town according to this," Lydia snapped. "It shouldn't be that hard to find where they're keeping the cats. We do this systematically and cover all the ground until we smell something. And it'll take us right to them."

"And then what?" Romeo asked.

"What do you think?" Lydia answered irritably.

"Haven't you, like, seen those cartoons with the cat trying to get in a dog pound?" Moisha asked nervously.

"Yess," Lydia said. "Great, ain't they?"

"This girl will stick as close to the city as she can and still remain hidden," Daishi determined. "We should begin with her home and circle outward."

"It shouldn't take me long to find her," Ionis boasted calmly. "Then all that needs to be done is capture her. After all, it's just one untrained, frightened little girl. What could go wrong?"

"No doubt the remaining werecheetah is none other but the virtuous pi...spotty...blonde...errr...." Kuno gave up crafting a new nickname for the moment. "No doubt it is the vile Saotome's virtuous and energetic sister who is enslaved most foully by her own lascivious sibling! I must seek her out and rescue her before the foul Ranma can abuse her loveliness further!! Now where would the fair maiden go in this time of fear? Oh yes! Of course!"

"I suddenly have an urge to find Kuno and tear his throat out," Ranko muttered.

"I get that all the time," Akane said. Off to the side Ranma nodded sagely.

"Hey," Gina said. "Where're you going? I thought you said it was this way?"

"Oh," Ukyou looked embarrassed. "Sorry. I suddenly had an urge to find Kuno and tear his throat out. Funny, it just came out of nowhere. Anyway, I told you we should have checked here first."

"I smell them over this way," Romeo said somewhat hesitantly.

"Cha," Moisha said, frustrated. "They're like over here."

"You're both right," Lydia said. "And they're coming this way."

"So why are we in this place?" Brittany asked, she glanced about cautiously. There was that familiar smell again. Actually, several familiar smells, but everything in this vacant lot was so jumbled up that she couldn't make heads or tails of them yet.

"One thing you gotta learn about Nerima," Nabiki said. "Whenever someone runs away from home, they always end up in the same place."

Suddenly the lot was flooded with light revealing something...not good.

"This is the Ministry of Health," the voice came from the light above. "All werecreatures stand down and prepare to be quarantined." Across the vacant lot Gina was smacking her hand into her head.

In the middle of the whole mess sat a rather shocked looking Yuka.

"Where is she?! Where is my true love that I might save her from this horrible curse!"

"You there! Peasant-girl! Bite me this instant."

"I thought you said you were keeping an eye out!"

"For werecheetahs, not all this, Zelda!!"

"ACK!!! Shouldn't we have like...have scattered before now?"

"Oh my..." Nabiki whimpered, for once at a loss for words. There was little more movement for perhaps ten seconds before somebody attacked somebody.

Then the explosions began as Daishi took down the chopper with a chi blast.

"AHHHHH!!!" Yuka screamed as the battle was engaged.

"Back off, baldy!" Ukyou snapped as she swiped her spatula at the woman in the green jumpsuit.

Ukyou had to switch off that target quickly as Kodachi leaped into the fray. She didn't waste any consideration on this opponent, slicing out with the sharp edge of her spatula. The gymnast was forced to flip over the strike, interrupting her move toward the terrified Yuka.

"Stay out of my way, waitress!" Kodachi snapped as Zelda shouted something in English and attacked again. A couple feet away, Brittany had intercepted Daishi's move toward the young werecheetah and was battling the ninja.

"I'm not supposed to be out here," Nabiki muttered irritably hiding behind an old refrigerator.

"HA! Gotcha!" Gina shouted triumphantly as Ionis struggled with the glob of goo that had spilled out of the ball Gina had tossed at him. Then she had to move quickly as the roving sword battle that was Kuno and the rats started to move back toward the rest of the near free-for-all.

Lydia pulled off from Kuno and sliced at Yuka, who was now running out of the center of the fight. The wererat's strike was blocked by a dagger tossed by Daishi, who had to duck a flying gymnast's club. Then Kodachi was sent flying by the bald woman's kick as Brittany broke off from the ninja and grabbed Yuka, dodging the wererats' as she leaped for a more defensible position.

"NOT OVER HERE!!" Nabiki shouted as the center of the fight shifted towards her.

"It's, like, another wererat!" Moisha shouted to her fellows, speaking English.

"Damn," Lydia snapped. "Get to her before they do!"

"A little late for that," Romeo snapped, parrying Kuno's thrusts frantically.

"Have at thee, foul servant of the darkest forces!!" Kuno shouted.

"Ukyou nearly lost her head to Daishi's sword, and she backed off to join Brittany in front of the two girls. The rats reached the position about the same time she did and suddenly realized one major fact. There were three werecheetahs there. Then the Kunos and Peewee's playmates joined the mix, and they had other targets to choose from.

A flour bomb was tossed into the air, mixing with a burst of paralysis gas diluting the effectiveness the gas greatly. In fact the only person that really got hit with it was Zelda, who suddenly seemed to be fighting like a twitchy stick figure. Or maybe she had just seen Zoolander one too many times and was trying to break dance.

Somebody clapped a hand on Nabiki's shoulder and the girl remembered some old training in a fit of panic. So Gina found her hand grabbed and her arm being twisted painfully.

"Ack! It's me! It's me!" Gina snapped. Nabiki released the girl's arm with a look of relief.

"Thanks for the warning," Nabiki said dryly.

"Yeah, yeah," Gina muttered. "Get the other girl and let's get out of here while they fight it out." Nabiki nodded and turned to Yuka scaring the poor girl out of her wits, until she figured out who it was.

"What happened to you?" Yuka gasped after Nabiki identified herself.

"Ranma," Nabiki said simply. Yuka was about to ask more when Lydia jumped downward, leaping past the two busy fighters.

"Leave her alone you carnivorous monster!!" she shouted angrily, sword leading on the way toward a petrified Yuka. Nabiki and Gina pulled Yuka out of the way.

And then.

Then a chill and hideous cry rang through the battlefield. A cry which momentarily galvanized all the Nerimans.

"SWEETO!!!"

"Get off of me!" Zelda shouted. The next cry came from a certain buxom wererat as the lower half off her jump suit was torn away.

"Hmm, didn't mean to do that," the little troll said, snickering. "Pink's your natural hair color then?" Moisha almost lunged at him, but then she'd have to move her arms.

"It is the legendary demon," Daishi said, momentarily impressed.

"Oh don't you dare come near me!" Ukyou shouted, tossing spatulas and flour bombs at the new threat. She found herself momentarily on the same side as Kodachi as the gymnast unleashed her own chemical arsenal on the pervert.

"You commoner fool!" Kodachi snapped. "Your flour bombs are rendering my gasses ineffective!"

"Who threw these things at me!!" Happosai demanded angrily. "Ranma!! I know you're here somewhere!! Only you would ruin my fun this way."

"What could possibly be so bad about a little perverted old man?" Brittany asked. Then the ground was suddenly littered with little round objects. With fuses.

Brittany momentarily wondered just when Brianna had gotten back from Jade, but that question was plowed over by the realization of just what was about to happen.

"TAKE COVER!!" Nabiki shouted just before the battle was whited out by the Happo-Fire-Bursts. As the smoke cleared Happosai looked around the battlefield for the expected Ranma.

"Oh no!" Happosai shouted suddenly. "What have I done? I've harmed all of these sweet, innocent young ladies." He grieved piteously for all of twenty seconds. "Hmmm, I thought there were more people here, oh well."

"Oh man," Romeo said when he finally got back to the hotel room. "I thought we were done for that time. Did you see if Moisha got out?" He took a deep breath and turned to look at the girl he had grabbed from the conflagration and run with. "Hey, are you okay?"

As he turned around completely he noticed for the first time that he had not been dragging Lydia along. Nope, instead he had that other wererat they had seen in the battle.

"I guess this means no party tonight," Romeo said nervously as he looked at the unconscious Nabiki.

"Ya know," Ranko said. "Much as I'd like ta sit here and keep sayin' and doin' nothin', I'm tired." She stretched out and stood up, heading for the door.

"Good night I guess," Akane said. Ranko stopped and glanced back over her shoulder.

"You're not coming?" she asked.

"I was...uh, going to ask Ranma how to change again," Akane said, having the decency to look bashful. Ranma nervously scratched the back of his head and looked away as Ranko glanced at him.

"Fine," she snapped, stalking out of the room.

"Great, she's mad again," Akane said. She turned to Ranma. "You don't mind if I stay here, do you?"

"Uh, no," Ranma said. "I mean after last night why not?"

"Yeah, last night was nice," Akane said. "Even if I was acting a little...umm...Amazon-like."

"That was kinda frightening," Ranma said. They stayed silent for a couple of seconds. "I kinda thought there'd be something more to sex though."

"Uh, Ranma," Akane said, recovering from the face plant. "That wasn't sex."

"What?" Ranma asked. "Okay, so what did we do then?"

"We just slept together," Akane explained, wanting to hit herself for the poor explanation.

"Isn't that the same thing?" Ranma asked. Akane looked Ranma over in near disbelief and then hid her face in her hand. "Akane, are you okay?"

"You're Ranko right?" somebody asked. Ranko grumbled and turned to look towards the voice, and found herself facing a huge looking human.

"Uhhh..." Ranko said, blinking. The lady had to be at least a foot taller than her, in c..c..ca..cheetah form. "Yeah."

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked. "Its about that friend of yours."

"Ryouga?" she asked, neck still craned. "What about 'em?"

"Why don't we talk about this over some food?" the woman suggested.

"Really?" Ranko asked. She started to debate herself between sleep and eating.

"I'll pay," the woman said.

"All right," Ranko said, smirking in a manner that seemed to make the tall woman nervous. "Lead the way!"

Sheila stared in outright shock at the pile of dishes that Ranko had already devoured, and then at her rapidly shrinking purse. This was going to be a very expensive questioning.

"So, what kind of mage is your friend anyway?" Sheila asked.

"Mage?" Ranko repeated between bites. "You mean like Diggers-san?" Sheila nodded. "Ryouga ain't any more of a mage than Ranma or me."

"Okay, if he's not a mage then what was that attack spell he cast to get away from us, then?" Sheila asked.

"Oh, you mean the Shi Shi Hokodan," Ranko said, working on another leg of lamb.

"Excuse me, what?" Sheila asked. Ranko shrugged.

"The Shi Shi Hokodan," Ranko repeated. "Ryouga's chi blast. He channels his depression into a huge blast of energy."

"When he gets depressed he goes boom?" Sheila asked, feeling somewhat nervous suddenly. "And it's not magic?"

"Not that I know of," Ranko said. "Doesn't matter though, my...Ranma's Moko Takabisha is better than his attack. He has to be really depressed and do a Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan ta beat that."

"Perfect -- ?" Sheila paused and took a breath. "Huge ball of energy goes up and them comes down?"

"Oh, you've seen it!" Ranko said. "Yeah, nasty attack. Hard to beat except just getting' outta the way. Ryouga's always moody about somethin' and he's always blamin' m...Ranma for something too. Kinda cute though." Ranko stopped and blushed furiously. I did not just say that.

"The last time I saw Ryouga," Nodoka's voice said behind them. "He was chasing Ranma down the street with a silver weapon. That is not what I would call cute." Ranko winced and turned around to see her mother looking somewhat cross, something that almost sent her running in panic.

"Hi mom," she said weakly.

"Young lady," Nodoka said firmly. "You had better not associate with this werewolf, for your own sake."

"Ryouga's harmless," Ranko protested. "He's an idiot, but he's a harmless idiot..."

"He's a werewolf," Nodoka insisted. "And would call him harmless about as much as I would call him cute." Sheila frowned but didn't say anything.

"Whatever," Ranko said. "He'll be after Ranma anyway, just like everybody else." Nodoka's face softened a moment.

"Just by careful, dear," Nodoka said. "Most of the werewolves I've known are murdering beasts."

"Probably won't see him," Ranko said. "Ain't like he'll be able to find us again."

"Why not?" Sheila asked curiously.

"Ryouga's got a sense of direction like a compass inna steel cup," Ranko said. She stood up and stretched. "I guess I'll go ta bed now."

"We're going to be waiting for the rest of the Edge Guard here," Sheila said. "Maybe you and Bri would like to go shopping around town?"

"Well," Ranko glanced to her mother who nodded encouragingly. "I guess so. Wait a minute, you're one of those Edge Guard werec..c...cats?"

"Errr..." Sheila shuffled nervously. "Yeah."

Ranko looked at the huge woman and unwillingly imagined her cat form. She took a step away from the woman, swallowing, preparing to run. And then Sheila shrank down into her hybrid form and stretched out.

"I just didn't want to scare you," she explained. It was one of the few times that Ranko's confusion completely and totally overwhelmed her.

"But, you were so...big! And now you're..." Ranko spat out. "How?"

"Oh, that," Sheila said, waving her hand. "Small birth defect."

"I think I may have heard of such a case before," Nodoka said, equally shocked. "A long time ago."

"Yeah," Sheila said. "Well the bad part is being offered a lollipop by idiots that don't see the Edge Guard gear." Ranko felt oddly comforted by Sheila's oddity, though for once she managed to avoid voicing the "I'm not the only freak" feeling.

"I know that inn was around here somewhere," Ryouga muttered.

He pushed through the undergrowth heading in what he was certain was the correct direction. And now thanks to Ranma he was a common thief. Then again how could they expect him to run around naked.

And of course, the both of them had left him to drown. Ranma and Ranko. When did Ranma get a sister? He didn't know, he didn't care. Now, of course Ranko had some cause to leave him in the water like that. He HAD peeped on her, even if it was unintentional. Besides she was a girl, and well, he was pretty certain it wouldn't be a good thing to go beating on a girl.

But Ranma he could still destroy. Obviously Ranma had done something to curse him with being a shapechanging beast. And maybe his sister too, the evil twisted fiend. Ryouga stopped walking and considered this for a moment.

"Okay," he said. "I'm starting to sound too much like Kuno. Which means there has to be something wrong with what I'm thinking. But all I'm thinking is that this is all Ranma's fault, so that has to be right...so what am I doing wrong?"

Ryouga sighed deeply.

"My head hurts."

Somebody nudged at Moisha as she lay on the ground in the smoking ruin of the vacant lot, which was a state of being that it often held. She shifted about slightly, and smirked.

"Oh come on," Moisha muttered in half-conscious amusement. "You two can, like do better than this."

"Eh?" Brittany said, standing over the wererat with a confused expression. She was already in a bad mood upon waking up to find a certain item of clothing missing.

"Romeo," Moisha said, and the confusion cleared. "Lydia. You're not tired yet are you?"

"GAHH!" Gina shouted, covering her ears. "Too much information!"

"Hey!" Brittany shouted. "Ditz! Wake-up!!"

"HA!!! Fireball for twenty damage!!" Moisha shouted sitting up sharply. "I, like, finally beat the...both of..." she looked around her at the people surrounding her. "Like, uh-oh."

"So is she going to tell us where they took Nabiki and Yuka?" Ukyou asked in Japanese. "Or are we going to have convince her?"

"Yes!" Kuno shouted. "What has been done with the beautiful...girl?"

"Ranko isn't here Kuno," Ukyou said irritably.

"Of course she is not here!" Kuno declared. "For she has obviously been taken by this..." Kuno trailed off as he looked over Moisha.

"Uhhh..." Moisha said, then continued uncertainly in Japanese herself. "I don't, know what you're talking about?"

"The two girls you little rat!" Brittany snapped lifting Moisha up by the remains of her suit. "Where'd your two little friends take them!?"

"Brother-dear," Kodachi said as she shook out her head clear after finally waking up. "What are you looking at?" Kuno didn't seemed to respond, and seemed to be fixated on some low point. Everybody else turned to look at the only male among them, virtually drooling over Moisha's altered outfit.

"Pervert!" Ukyou shouted before smashing him into the dirt.

"Hey, he was like cute and stuff," Moisha protested.

"Oh, don't worry about him," Gina said. "Because we still have some questions to ask." Moisha swallowed nervously.

This is not funny, Nabiki thought, rubbing her head. She looked around the cheap hotel room and frowned noticing her captor talking on the phone to someone. The other rat was in human form now, a trick that still escaped Nabiki's knowledge. Now was not the time to ask though. Get away first then worry about other things.

As she edged toward the door, behind the other rat's back she listened intently for a sign that he might turn around to look at her. Apparently his two girlfriends had been captured in the fracas, but he'd been able to recover a hostage from the cats. At least that's what she got from her command of English.

Of course she couldn't be certain, the man's voice was rather slurred. Something to do with the thick smell of alcohol permeating the room, she decided. Either that or the fact that he sounded like he was expecting to die at any moment. At least it made it easy to get to the door with out him noticing.

She winced as the door clicked closed behind her and then ran full tilt down the hall. She almost went down the stairs, but caught sight of a collection of suspicious looking men in black suits coming up. Frowning, Nabiki backtracked and spied a maintenance closet at the head of the stairs.

She slipped in, closing the door again moments before the men turned onto the last flight of stairs. She waited nervously before leaving the room and padding silently down the stairs.

Nabiki had always been surprisingly good at stealth, her and Kasumi both, constantly surprising the martial artists that otherwise seemed to know where everybody was at any given time. She just hoped that carried her through right now, whatever the good intentions of her "rescuer" it didn't seem like the people on the other side of that phone call were very nice at all.

She almost walked out into the lobby, but found a side exit that didn't require going past so many people. Once outside she was home free. She could get to a phone, call Kasumi and then a cab. Everything would be fine.

"Tendo dojo," Kasumi said as she answered the phone. "May I help you? Nabiki? Is something wrong? Wait, wait, what is happening?" She looked up briefly to see Ukyou walk into the dojo looking nervous, her tail twitching behind her.

"Kasumi, we have some bad news," Ukyou said. "We lost Nabiki and Yuka."

"Nabiki's on the phone right now," Kasumi said, and quickly turned back to the phone. "Is Yuka with you? How many people? No, no, keep moving I suppose. Get a few...hello? Nabiki? Hello?" She looked up to see the rest of the search party coming in through the door. "We were cut off."

Ukyou noticed the worried expression on Kasumi's face and that alone made her depressed. Why couldn't this stuff have happened while Ranma was still in town?

"Now, now," the old man behind her said in perfect Japanese. "We can't let you risk getting caught by them again." Nabiki was turned around to face him by the big man holding her.

"You know, my sister's the one that does the damsel in distress thing," Nabiki snapped.

"But you've already been rescued," the old man said. "Or did you want that pack of cats to tear you to pieces and eat you up?"

"They're cheetahs," Nabiki said. "It's called a pride. Wolves have packs." Well, she wasn't entirely certain of that, but correcting the old man felt good anyway.

"Well," the old man said. "You have spirit, that's good. You could be useful to us, with the proper training." He smiled viciously.

Training, Nabiki thought bitterly. Right.

"Where is she?" Ukyou asked. "What did she say?"

"She was at a hotel," Kasumi said. "Something about being rescued by some other wererat."

"We got one of them," Ukyou said. "They took Yuka with them too. Happosai showed up and everything went to hell. Or deeper to hell."

"Don't worry, Kasumi," Gina said soothingly. "That girl will tell us where they're hiding and we'll get them back."

"Yuka wasn't there," Kasumi said. "Just her and some young man that had apparently lost two of his own friends."

"Two," Gina repeated. "Well, we'll find out what they did with her after we rescue your sister. Everything is going to be fine." If the rats don't have the other cheetah, then...oh damn. She took one of her communicators out of her pocket and activated it.

"Gina," Penny said as the link connected. "This had better be good."

"We have a problem over here," Gina said. "We need two rescue parties and only have enough people for one."

"Rescue for who?" Penny asked.

Lydia was woken up by a violent shaking and someone shouting in rapid-fire panicky Japanese. This didn't help the left over headache she had from whatever had hit her in the back of the head in all the confusion.

Why couldn't they wait until I healed completely, she wondered, not certain who was shouting. A concussion wouldn't have taken THAT long.

When her eyes opened and began to focus she found herself facing one of the werecheetahs.

"EEEEEEE!!!" Lydia shrieked. "DON'T EAT ME!!!"

The werecheetah released her as soon as she shouted and started grinding her hands together worriedly instead. She sniffled for a couple seconds and then started wailing loudly and crying.

Lydia snapped to standing and plastered herself against a wall. Looking around it was easy to realize that she and the werecheetah were in some kind of cell. Whoever had captured her had locked her in a room with a werecheetah.

Wonderful.

It was several minutes before the werecheetah quieted to sniffling. Which caused Lydia to calm down.

"What...say...you?" the werecheetah asked finally.

"Uhhh..." Lydia looked back at her blankly for a moment, sweating. The girl was paying attention to her.

NOT GOOD!

"Don't eat me?" Lydia tried. The girl looked puzzled for a moment then disgusted.

"EWWWWWWW!!" The sound was followed by more rapid fire Japanese which Lydia guessed was sort of panicked ranting.

The girl turned silent for about a minute. Allowing Lydia to calm down in time for the girl to lunge at her and grab the collar of her combat suit.

"NOT FIGHT!! JUST GIRL!!! HELP!!! WHAT DO I DO!?? WHAT MEANS...vi...vi...viviseshen??!!"

"Vivisection?" Lydia repeated, mostly to stave off the oncoming heart attack. Until she realized what that meant. "Ahhhh...shit."

"She's woken up, Lord Talon," Daishi said.

"Hmmm," Pee Wee said, a gleeful expression on his face. "Now what to test first? Maybe the classic?"

Back in the cell, Lydia was surprised to see one of the walls open up to a corridor, but didn't question it. Following her instincts she rushed out of the room, or, more precisely, away from the werecheetah.

Never gonna make it, never gonna make it she thought, and the sound of rushing air behind her seemed to agree with that. Then something smashed her to the side and there was a loud metallic clang followed by a high pitched, pained shriek that was definitely not coming from her.

Glancing back, Lydia saw the werecheetah flat against the wall of the corridor, wailing and frantically pulling at her leg. The leg was caught between the wall and a large spiked, metal plate that had apparently swung through the wall in an attempt to catch Lydia. The cheetah had been fast enough to get Lydia out of the way, but had been caught herself.

They're not silver spikes, Lydia grumbled as she considered heading on down through the corridor and leaving the girl behind. I would have lived, so will she.

The girl looked at her and whimpered something in Japanese as she shifted about. The trap responding by trying to crush her leg further and she screamed again. Lydia cursed and shook her head.

"Help?" the girl whimpered uncertainly.

"Grr," was Lydia's only reaction for a moment. "No way I'm giving this prick the satisfaction of having a guinea pig to play with. Even if it is a cat."

Having rationalized her decision, she walked forward and examined the trap for a moment. She tried to pull the plate off the girl, trying to ignore the look of gratitude and hope she was getting from the girl as she did so. That wasn't going to work though, she could, of course cut girl's leg off. But the only way she could do that was with her own claws, and then the girl wouldn't grow a new one. She ignored the question of why that would bother her.

Lydia walked around the plate and looked for its hinges grumbling and cursing under her breath. Their captor had set up a little maze for them, probably amused to do that to a rat. The hinges proved easy to find, but that still didn't help her problem much.

"I need something to pry these fucking screws out," she grumbled irritably. She paced for a moment before walking back to where the girl was trapped. She took a look at one of the spikes and smirked victoriously. She pointed to the spike, glancing at the girl.

"Nani?" the girl asked still crying piteously and trying not to move her leg.

"Pull it out," Lydia said. The girl still didn't seem to get the message. Lydia gave an exasperated sigh and yanked on the spike before pointing at it again. "Pull it out! Do you want to stay here?"

The girl shook her head and tried to pull herself to standing on her other leg, screaming as the plate tried to crush her again. Lydia slapped the girl, causing her to quiet down immediately, and pointed at the spike again, mumbling a variety of curses under her breath.

The girl stared at her in shock for a moment before grabbing the spike and pulling on it. Lydia braced her as the spike ripped off, easily falling to the werecheetah's strength. The wererat shook her head irritably as she collected the spike from the girl's hands, apparently the werecheetah was surprised that it had been as easy as it had been.

Once she had another tool to supplement her claws, prying the screws out of the trap hinges was easy. Lydia had them out after about five minutes of work, trying to ignore the pained crying from the girl. Then it was a simple task to push the plate over and free the girl's leg.

The werecheetah fell over and dragged herself away from the plate and rubbed at her ruined leg. Lydia hesitantly looked over the injuries, making sure they were closing as they should, and shrugged.

"You'll heal," she said, coolly. She stood up and glanced around the first corner of this little maze she was looking forward too. In doing so she noticed a small hole in the wall that the spike trap had made. She smirked and glanced around some more, looking for the inevitable camera.

"Well, she almost fell for the first trap," Pee Wee said. "And now I have some werecheetah DNA to experiment with." He chuckled evilly just before the image on the screen tossed something at the camera, and suddenly there was static.

"She found the camera, Lord Talon," Zelda said.

"So what, she can only go one direction," the boy scientist said. "What's she going to do, go back in the cell?" He waved at the screen showing the empty cell in time to highlight the image of Lydia walking into it.

Through the original door.

From the outside hallway.

"How'd she get there!!" Lord Talon demanded as the screen Lydia walked off the screen and then back on, Yuka's arm draped on her shoulder so that the rat could support her walking until the leg healed enough that the girl could walk on her own.

Kasumi turned into the tea room to see a pink haired wererat being interrogated by Brittany.

"So where are they?" Brittany demanded.

"I...I don't know?" Moisha protested weakly. "I don't know the hotel or anything, its not like I, you know, pay attention. Lydia does all the, like preparing, you know?"

"Oh you know something," Brittany growled. She leaned in close, growling. Moisha whimpered pitifully waiting for the cheetah to kill her. Brittany was about to demand answers again when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, she was surprised to see Kasumi standing there, seemingly calm but with a worried look in her eyes.

"Please, Brittany-san," she said. "Let me speak to her." Brittany hesitated. "She is my sister."

"All right," Brittany said. "But I'm staying in case she tries something." This time it was Kasumi's turn to hesitate.

"I suppose it is past the need to keep a secret, if Nodoka knows about Akane, then she knows about all of us," she sighed. She waited for Brittany to move and then sat down across from the wererat. "Do you speak Japanese?"

"Some," Moisha said hesitantly. "Not the best, you know?"

"I suppose you speak it well enough," Kasumi said. She pointed to her neck stiffly, trying to stay calm and not just breakdown. "You're outfit has a high neckline."

"Well, it's a fashion statement," Moisha said weakly. Kasumi's normally sunny smile was barely present in response to the joke.

"Two people I know always wear high necklines, or scarfs," Kasumi said.

"Okay...so?" Moisha asked.

"You see, their work was dangerous in ways and they used to be burned a lot," Kasumi explained. "Eventually the skin would no longer heal and the burning left scars."

"I don't see what this..." Moisha started.

"I don't want my sister in Gothwrain's power," Kasumi said bluntly. Moisha stared at her in shock, as did the Diggers sisters.

"You know Lord Gothwrain?" Moisha gasped.

"I have heard of Lord Gothwrain," Kasumi corrected in a disapproving tone.

"Like okay, probably some sort of lies and such from all you people out to..." Moisha stopped talking as the girl she was talking to brushed back her hair to reveal slightly pointed ears. Then shape-changed into a hybrid rat form with snow white fur, though her hair was still brown. Ukyou planted her face into the floor at the change while Moisha looked for the roots of Kasumi's brown hair. Brittany just blinked, trying to remember if Kasumi had been scratched at anytime.

Kasumi reached out to the stunned Moisha and pulled the zipper down from her collar to reveal her neck. She regarded the still burnt flesh under the collar and shook her head.

"Where is my sister?" she pleaded.

"You had to tear up your leg," Lydia muttered. "It couldn't have been an arm? Now I'll have to drag you around for at least an hour, and you still won't be able to run for who knows how long."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," the girl was saying in her heavily accented English.

"I'm not doing this for you, kid," Lydia said. "This is just to get the crap heap that stuck me here with a fucking predator."

Lydia looked up and down the corridor and saw a door at the corner of a turn. Hoping she wasn't about to walk into the sadists' control room, she dragged the girl in that direction and stepped into the door. Looking around she smirked broadly.

"Maintenance room," she said happily. She took the werecheetah's arm off her shoulder and sat her down. She looked around and quickly found what she wanted. Grabbing the gallon of bleach she quickly zipped out of the room, hoping they weren't close enough to the cell to get there quickly. "Stay here, be quiet."

One of the primary rules she had been taught was leaving no trace. That certainly meant blood evidence, and she wasn't certain that extended to other lycanthropes, but no way was she going to leave anything for this sadist. She was splashing bleach over the girl's blood when she heard the door open and quickly shifted form and zipped out of the hole in the wall.

"I don't get it," Zelda was saying. "How did they get out? These walls are half a foot thick solid..."

"Gravel," Daishi muttered. "With about an inch of concrete covering. If the cheetah had tried, they could have left the cell at anytime. I'm surprised the trap did not do more damage."

"This is what happens when you go with the lowest bid," Ionis said. "And look, they splashed bleach all over the blood. Lord Talon isn't going to like this."

"Wait they came back?" Zelda said. "We must have just missed them."

"Yes, someone was here," Daishi said eerily. "Just before we entered. The presence is, indistinct, but there is something."

"I still don't get it," Zelda said. "I mean, that hole there is puny."

"The little one is a wererat, Zelda," Ionis said. "She can get very small. But they can't escape."

"Cease this chatter and cast the spell," Daishi said. Ionis grumbled, but concentrated his power, seeking through the compound for their quarry.

The door opened and Yuka tensed until she saw that strange gaijin slip into the room. The woman was rather scary in a way, mollified by the fact that she seemed to be more afraid of Yuka. She was also Yuka's only chance of getting out of here, unless somebody figured out where ever it was she was.

The woman looked around the small room for a moment then bent down to check Yuka's leg, keeping a close eye on Yuka as she did so. Yuka almost cried out as the woman touched her leg, but cut it off as she got a nervous and angry glare from the woman. The woman continued feeling her leg, not being particularly gentle about it.

Then she muttered something like "fucking glass" and grumbled angrily. She sat up and started to grab things off the shelves. While she was doing that, Yuka felt a soft warmth and glanced down to see a light emanating from the amulet she was still wearing. The light fell away quickly though.

"All the nearby rooms are empty," Ionis said. "I don't see how they could have gotten far with the cheetah injured."

"Something is not right," Daishi said under his breath.

"Yeah," Zelda said. "Our prisoners escaped. Of course something is not right."

Stripe stood up at the sound of the door bell and walked to the door. He was surprised to find Penny and Charlotte on the other side. He didn't think Gina had anything planned that she had forgotten about. Hopefully this didn't mean there was a new problem already.

"Hey Stripe," Penny said irritably. You'd think someone interrupted a date or something. "I'm here for Gina."

"Gina's not here, Penny," Stripe said. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh actually," Charlotte said. "Gina asked us to form a rescue team to go save some people from Pee Wee's Playhouse! Though why'd you want to escape from a house with a princess and a cowboy and a talking chair..."

"Charlie," Penny moaned irritably. She turned to Stripe. "She means Pee Wee Talon. Gina needs to rescue someone else, so she asked me and Ace to rescue these two. And I don't know about you, but invading Pee Wee's stronghold with just me, Charlie and Ace didn't sound too smart."

"Erwin Talon?" Konatsu said, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. "Daishi is serving him, perhaps I should come with you."

"Ummm, you know Daishi?" Penny asked what she thought was a little girl.

"Oh yes, of course," Konatsu said politely. "My stepmother was always complaining about that clan, they apparently think they're better than us."

"You're a ninja?" Penny said doubtfully. "How old are you? Thirteen?"

"Sixteen," Konatsu answered seriously.

"Well, this should make things a little more fair," Lydia said to herself. She smirked as she inspected her makeshift collection of weapons. "C'mon kid, let's go." She reached down to help the girl up, grumbling irritably.

They moved to the door and peeked it open, seeing Pee Wee's goons exiting the cell. The cheetah's arm tightened around her at the sight, eliciting a pained curse from Lydia. Not to mention setting a few of the rat's hairs on end. Lydia was going to make a rather firm request when she noticed the glow coming from the girl's chest.

Lydia almost panicked and ran away screaming from the cat, but forced herself to point at the light shakily.

"What the hell is that?!" she whispered sharply.

"Father's amulet?" the girl said after a moment as if uncertain, whether about the answer or words, Lydia wasn't sure.

Lydia was distracted from further questions as she noticed the ninja glancing in their direction. She held her breath waiting for the end to come, she wasn't ready to fight yet. Then the ninja looked away from the door, despite the fact it was cracked open. Glancing back at the light on the girl's chest, she saw it fade away as the three left the area to search the halls.

"Whatever works," she grumbled. I'll have to get that amulet from her when I get out of here. "Now let's see here." She sniffed at the air for a moment.

"What you smell?" the girl asked. Lydia glanced at her and then started taking them down a hall.

"Fresh air," she said, not really caring if the girl understood her or not. "I hope so anyway."

Something was bothering Daishi and he couldn't quite figure out what it was. It was something about the hall outside the cell. There was something he should have seen there, something wrong with the blank walls in those halls.

Blank walls? Daishi thought to himself. There should have been a door there.

"So why didn't Pee Wee install cameras outside of the maze?" Zelda asked irritably. "It would make things much easier."

"Hey," Ionis said. "Where did Daishi go?"

"I don't know, I don't care," Zelda said, smirking as she spotted something further than the hall. She strode forward cracking her knuckles. "I think I find the little runt, and there's no feline speedball to save her this time."

"Huh," Ionis said, turning to look in the direction of the door standing ajar. "Wait!! Zelda don't!"

Yuka watched as the woman she was with set perhaps the tenth booby trap back along their path. At least she assumed they were booby traps. They seemed more like pranks to her. She really didn't see what they would do beyond get their captors angry.

"Buckets of water?" Yuka finally ventured to ask.

There was a loud pained scream from further down the halls. The woman smiled viciously before they continued down the hall.

"Bleach," she said simply.

Daishi glanced back towards the sound of Zelda screaming and shook his head. He was saddled with complete amateurs. And their opponent's seemed to have unforeseen abilities. He turned a corner and saw a shimmer upon the floor.

"Wet floor," he sighed, shaking his head. Considering their resources, these two were quite good. Or at least the nezumi.

It was about time that a ninja could face against a nezumi. It was time to prove who the real masters of the shadow were. Time to put an end to this ridiculous notion that anyone was superior to a ninja.

"I warned you," Ionis said, smirking.

"Quit reminding me and give me another healing spell," Zelda snapped back.

"I healed the bleach burns already," Ionis said. "The only problem you have is you keeping rubbing your....eyeeeeeeeeeee!!!" Ionis went flying down the soapy hallway waving his arms frantically until he hit the tripwire at the end of the hall and flattened into the floor.

"BWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Zelda stepped doubled over, still laughing her lungs out.

Then she took a hard solid step forward, slapping her knee. Her laughter cut off as she took an inadvertent slide down the hall on her stomach. She ended up tangled in the tripwire on top of Ionis and having trouble breathing. A rope around your neck will do that.

"Smell that?" Lydia said, sniffing the air. "El Ninja, by Menen. We got company coming soon. But then again, you can't understand a lot of what I'm saying so why am I telling you?"

"Ni...ninja?" the girl asked, frightened. She winced as her leg was jarred.

"Don't worry about it," Lydia said. "Ninjas are a fucking bunch of retards and amateurs." She gritted her teeth nervously Great, I'm stuck in some maniac's fun house being chased by thugs and carrying around a teenaged ESL predator that is probably going to tear me to pieces as soon as she can.

She sniffed at the air again and turned a corner, wondering if she was going to be following this fresh air smell in circles for the rest of her life. The only good thing about that was that at least it would be a short time. Because whatever she said about Daishi, she knew the ninja could tear her apart.

"What I need is a little bit of a drop on this guy," Lydia muttered. "A weapon would be nice too." She had wanted to grab a broom or mop, but didn't have enough hands to drag both the girl and carry the makeshift weapon.

She turned another corner and saw something like mana from heaven. A bright glowing sign that read "exit." She paused and set down the werecheetah so she could check the girl's leg again.

"Can you walk yet?" Lydia asked sharply.

"Need to leave," the girl protested. Lydia ignored her and prodded the leg a little more, she frowned as she decided that the girl's leg was probably still broken in three or four places. She couldn't do what she planned.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Lydia snapped. She took a deep breath, helped the girl to her feet, and made for the exit. At the other end of the hallway two battered figures turned the corner and found their target. I'm going to die! I'm going to die! Damn!

"GET HER!!!" Zelda shouted, charging forward as Ionis started casting a spell. Lydia turned to try to run back the other way only to see Daishi turn the corner from that direction.

"FUUUCCKK!!!" Lydia shouted as the werecheetah girl was screaming. Daishi moved forward confidently and smoothly. What do I do?!! What do I do?! What do I!? Wait...that might work!

Lydia reached into clothes and grabbed a handful of the makeshift gas bombs she had made. Zelda was almost to her as Lydia tossed the balls to the ground and pushed the werecheetah to the side. Zelda charged heedlessly into the smoke cloud, certain that her target was in there somewhere. There was a loud a squeak and the next thing she saw was Daishi waiting cautiously on the other side of the cloud.

"You fool!" Daishi shouted as he dodged out of Zelda's way. The genetically enhanced woman smashed into the wall in order to stop. "That is exactly what she wanted you to..." The rest of his lecture was cut off as Ionis' fireball came out of the cloud and exploded between him and Zelda.

"We got her!" Ionis shouted as he turned to look at the sit of the explosion. As soon as the smoke and debris cleared he turned to see Daishi and Zelda lying dazed in the hallway, alone. "Or maybe not."

"That hurt," Lydia muttered. "That hurt, that fucking hurt!" One of the wererat's arms was hanging limply at her side, and both of the fugitives had flash burns from the edge of the fireball. They were moving terribly slow now, the werecheetah still couldn't support herself, and now Lydia could barely support the both of them. "I can't believe she fucking stepped on me!!"

At least they were outside that building now, but the way things were going she was going to pass out before they got out of the parking lot. From the feel, she had a collapsed lung as well as her shattered arm, shoulder and shattered ribs. The only reason she was still up is that she was used to operating with worse damage in training with Zero. The werecheetah didn't sound much better off. She was sobbing quietly and Lydia thought she may have rebroken a few of her bones in that shove.

She heard the motion behind them even before the ninja landed in front of them. Glancing back she saw the bald woman stalking up to her and cracking her knuckles. Behind the thug was the mage and that little pipsqueak calling himself Lord Talon. She remembered him from Japan, too.

Can I get to him? Lydia asked herself, glaring at the smirking brat. She coughed and grimaced. Nope.

"You gave us a good run," the little brat said. "But's it's over now. Still it is a good thing that they were instructed to capture you. If that had been a full powered fireball Ionis had thrown I'd have lost two very expensive bodyguards. Now, let's get you two back to your cell, where you can heal up for the next test."

Test, Lydia smirked. "Don't act like I didn't just fuck all your plans up you little snot!'

"Such a mouth," Erwin said. "I think you just volunteered to be studied first." Lydia spit at him, or tried to anyway.

"Time to go, bitch," Zelda smirked. Lydia set down the cheetah and gasped as she tried to shakily prepare for the two fighters. The upcoming fight was cut short as a helicopter appeared almost out of nowhere, flying low just over the compound. "What the hell, where'd that come from?!"

"Zelda, Daishi!" Erwin shouted as the helicopter landed. "Guard me! Don't worry about them, they're not going anywhere."

"Yes, Lord Talon," Daishi said tightly moving to stand between Erwin and the helicopter.

"Later girl," Zelda snapped to Lydia threateningly. The helicopter door opened up, revealing a dark young woman smiling in vicious and victorious manner.

"Pee Wee, Pee Wee, Pee Wee," the woman said, holding a crossbow. "I should have known it was one of your fronts that leased this place."

"Excuse me?" Talon said. "What are you talking about, Penny Pincher? Wait, you mean that YOU own this land?!" Lydia almost groaned, she recognized the name from her files, she'd just fallen into the hands of the werecheetah's people. She was more doomed than ever now.

"Got it in one little boy!" Penny said, growling at the nickname. "And you're late on your rent, but that isn't why I'm here."

"Then I have you to thank for the shoddy construction!" Talon snapped angrily. "Forget rent until this place is built to my specifications. Wait, why are you here?"

"Well, I'm taking your guests back to Japan," said. "And don't even think about trying to stop me, I was...busy when Gina called me, and really want to get back to being busy as soon as possible."

"I don't see how you intend to get away with them," Zelda said. "There is no way that you can beat all three of us by yourself."

"Ace, Charlie, everybody else," Penny called back over her shoulder. A small turret on the helicopter rotated to face Pee Wee and his playmates as Charlotte and Stripe stepped out to stand next to Penny. "You were saying?"

Daishi tensed to move and was surprised to find himself dropped to the ground by something. As he flipped back to his feet, he caught a glimpse of a kunoichi moving to join Penny's group.

Erwin, Ionis and Zelda gulped nervously as Daishi growled irritably, glaring at the apparent girl that had taken him off guard.

"I am so dead," Lydia muttered before blacking out.

"Yeah, Gina," Penny said into the communicator. "We got your lycanthropes."

"Already?" Gina sounded surprised. "That's a relief."

"Yes," Penny said. "Well, when you're a genius of my caliber..."

"Penny," Ace said from the pilot's seat. She rolled her eyes and looked back at the fuming Gina.

"Anyway, Pee Wee blew the scene as soon as I started talking cops," Penny said. "I swear, when I learn how to track a magical transit, those jerks are toast."

"Oh, a genius of your caliber can't do that?" Gina asked. Penny frowned fractionally. "But thanks a lot for the help. I hope the rat didn't give you any trouble, she's something of an enemy of Brit's."

"Actually," Penny said hesitantly looking back into the copter. "She's in bad shape. Both of them are."

"What happened?" Brittany asked, getting in the screen.

"It looks like someone dropped a bulldozer on the rat," Penny said. "She has one whole side almost crushed. The cheetah has a broken leg, but it's almost healed already."

"Not magic, silver or another werecreature though," Brittany asked.

"Don't think so," Penny said, shaking her head. "No."

"Then she'll heal," Brittany said, smirking with a "serves her right" expression. Then her expression lit up. "OOOO!! HI Muffin!! Are you coming to Japan again?" Penny rolled her eyes and handed the communicator to Stripe.

"If you're going to talk to Stripe," Gina's muffled voice said. "Why not just take the communicator and stay out of my face." As the communicator was given to the young married couple and the conversation appeared to degenerate to sweet talk, Penny worked her way back in the copter to check on the wererat.

"Is she going to be okay?" the young cheetah asked worriedly in Japanese.

"I think so," Penny said back in Japanese. "She's hurt bad, but you people heal fast. Look at your leg, it was trash when we picked you up. I'll bet you can walk now."

"Well maybe it just wasn't hurt that bad," the girl protested weakly.

"Trust me," Penny said. "I've seen Brittany take some nasty hits, and she's up and around the next day. This girl'll be fine."

"Who's Brittany?" the cheetah asked.

"A friend of mine, a werecheetah like you," Penny said. "You'll be meeting her."

"Oh," the girl said. She remembered the fight that had gotten her in this mess. "I think I might have already."

"For a moment, I'm told," Penny said. "By the way, stop smacking your lips at Charlotte." She pointed to where Charlotte was scrunched against a corner of the copter.

"Sorry," the girl said, embarrassed.

"Hey, girl," Penny said. "Is that you glowing?" The girl looked down at the amulet around her neck and swallowed nervously.

Lydia, blinked awake, or at least she thought she did, to the sight of endless and impenetrable darkness. She sat up quickly arm set to lean on a ground that was not there. She straightened her body into a standing position and glanced around for a sign of anything.

The darkness vanished all very suddenly, replaced by a serene, moonlit forest clearing. In the middle of the clearing a werecheetah stood over the torn and bleeding bodies of a wererat, and...himself?

"What the fuck?" Lydia gasped, then covered her mouth. Great, just great. Now she'd gone and gotten herself killed anyway. And why wasn't she running already? Probably because it wouldn't do any good.

The werecheetah turned and shrank into what Lydia assumed was going to be its human form. Which is why she was momentarily confused when the tail didn't go away. She took a closer look at the "cheetah" and saw.

"Gothwrain?!" she gasped. He was much younger, but it was definitely him. She looked down at the bodies, and found herself recognizing the dying, for she was still breathing, rat. Then it was the darkness again. "Lord Gothwrain killed the seer? No, that's not possible. It was the cheetahs!"

That's what she'd learned as a child, the cheetah assassin killed Cassandra to keep her from warning the rats about their plans. All the clan knew that. And they knew that Gothwrain had killed the assassin somehow and brought Cassandra's warning anyway. That was the history of this age.

Whatever this dream had been. It was just that, a dream, a lie.

It had to be.

Gina looked away from Brittany and her cutesy talk and turned to Moisha. The wererat was sitting very nervously in the room, watching everybody else. She kept a very close eye on the werecheetah with the very big, sharp, fighting instrument, and an even closer one on Brittany. In most experienced warriors this meant they were prepared to fight at any given time. In Moisha's case, she looked petrified and prepared to run at any given moment. Which made Gina sort of doubt that the girl was telling them the truth.

At least they had managed to find some clothes for her.

"This is the hotel?" Gina asked.

"Chwa," Moisha said. "Yeah, I like told you already, now can I go?" She sounded like she still thought they were going to kill her when they were finished.

"So you don't have anyway to contact your friends if you get separated?" Gina asked doubtfully.

"Lydia said something," Moisha answered nervously. "But I never, like, thought about it, you know?" Gina smacked her head with her hand, she could almost believe it with this ditz.

"So your friend Lydia should know something right?" Gina asked.

"For sure, if you can like find her, you know?" Moisha said. Gina smiled.

"We found her," Gina said. Moisha, already somewhat nervous, choked at that news.

"You caught LYDIA?!" Moisha gasped.

"Hey, considering who had her first," Gina said dryly. "I'd call it a rescue. Are you sure you don't know where they might take that girl?"

"Uhhh...no," Moisha said nervously. Well, Lydia will, like, know what to do about that Kasumi person and getting away. But what if that girl's right about Lord Gothwrain?

Nabiki looked around her cell. She insisted on thinking of it in that way, despite appearances to the contrary. Most people would look around the room and see a decent hotel room, or spartan quarters. They wouldn't notice the lack of windows, or the fact that the processed air was coming through the cracks of the door rather than an air grate somewhere.

Well, I messed up when they picked me up, Nabiki thought. Let's see if you can remember your own rules, Nabiki. Rule one, don't let them know you're in control until you're in control. Well she'd never really numbered them before, but might as well. She had nothing better to do.

That was no problem, all she had to do was shuffle nervously, fidget and look around without really looking for anything. Basically act like a normal teenaged girl trying to be brave in a scary situation. Make sure not to overplay it though. She had shown some ice earlier, so best to keep some ice in the act.

The door opened to admit the withered old man and his bodyguards. Gothwrain, she thought that was the name. He gave her a comforting smile, somewhat grandfatherly. It didn't fool her, but she let her body language relax fractionally.

"How do you like your room?" the old man asked.

"It is fine," Nabiki said, just a hint of a quiver.

"I think it's time we got to know each other," he said, sitting down in a chair across from her. "I am Lord Gothwrain."

"Kaoru." The old man smiled and produced Nabiki's wallet, Nabiki swore angrily at the site of the item and tensed up again.

So far so good.

"A nickname, Miss Tendo?" the old man asked.

"You don't expect me to be cooperative," Nabiki said.

"Oh, but I do," Gothwrain said, he smiled again. "Eventually. Helping me, helps yourself, after all."

"Then you'll let me go home," Nabiki asked, doubtfully.

"Not until we know it's safe for you," he said. "You were taken from the grasp of three werecats, and two of my elite warriors were lost in the operation."

You were there for Yuka, Nabiki thought. Just like everybody else. "You mean those girls?"

"Yes," Gothwrain said. "You should be more appreciative of their loss."

"Look, I just want to get through school and get a job somewhere," Nabiki said. "I don't know anything about warriors, or cats or whatever."

"Oh, really," Gothwrain said, he gestured to one of his guards. Nabiki nearly panicked as the large man drew a gun.

"Now wai..." Nabiki started to protest frantically before the shot rang out.

She felt something hit her chest and pass through like a heavy punch. She felt her heart shredded by the bullet and her back torn out as the bullet passed through her. She tried to take a breath as everything faded to dark around her.

"Well," Gothwrain smiled, looking at Nabiki's slumped body. "She panicked." He stood up and started for the door.

"What does that mean, Lord?" one of the bodyguards asked.

"Why that she either still expects any gunshot to kill her," Gothwrain explained. "Or else she expected those to be silver bullets."

"So is she a stray..." the bodyguard's lip curled. "Or deserter?"

"Stray is more likely," Gothwrain said. "See to it that she is trained. In either case I can make use of her."

Nabiki woke up alone in her room with a great, heaving breath. For just a moment she thought that maybe the whole thing was a dream. But the smell of blood and fire was strong in the air, and all it took was looking down at the hole in her dress to see that the gunshot had been real.

Nabiki shivered almost uncontrollably for a few moments before virtually leaping out of the chair. She glanced back to see the hole blasted on by the bullet going through the chair, and the blood that had stained the room behind her.

"Oh kami, I can't do this," Nabiki muttered quietly to herself. She took a few moments to calm herself down and start thinking again, not wanting to determine if she had been dead or merely unconscious just now. Patience, patience, he doesn't want to kill you yet. An opportunity will come, just wait for it.

"We already went shopping yesterday," Ranko said, not certain what more they could get, that she hadn't already.

"Well, now we can shop some more," Brianna said, as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"With what money?" Ranko asked. "Because I've noticed they don't take Earth money around here."

"And that's why we're taking a little side trip first," Sheila said, entering the lobby and sitting at their table. Ranko turned to look at her and nearly jumped. Sheila was in her hybrid form, apparently geared up for battle rather than shopping. "Sorry, can't stay human for what we're going to do."

"What are we going to do?" Ranko asked nervously. "Rob the bank?"

"Nope, can't do that," Sheila said. "We're the good guys around here. No, there's an old tower I passed on my way here. Shouldn't take us more than a half-day or so to root around in it and get back here with something to go crazy with."

"So, we're going to go adventuring then?" Brianna asked eagerly, a nearly bloodthirsty look in her eyes. "Hmm, I should get Genn to come with us so he can translate for Ranma."

"Well," Sheila hesitated a moment. "I was kind of thinking she could stay here, I mean this is going to be dangerous for a kid." She seemed to be forgetting Ranko's casual discussion of Ryouga's skills yesterday.

"I defeated a god once," Ranko said. Brianna and Sheila both stared at her in shock. "Well, sort of."

"Go get Genn," Sheila said.

"Hey, sensai, you seen my sister?" Ranma asked as he joined the elder Diggers a little outside the town.

"She, Genn and Brianna went to explore some old tower with one of Brianna's friends," Julia said with a hint of nostalgia. Ranma face planted at the statement.

"She actually went LOOKING for trouble?" Ranma asked.

"As if you don't?" Akane asked, rolling her eyes.

"I go lookin' for a cure, ta save you, or trouble comes looking for me," Ranma protested.

"You know," Julia said, turning to smirk at Theo. "If it weren't for Ryan I'd start to think that all you Earth men were a bunch of over-cautious worry warts." The mage sighed and rolled his eyes at the teasing.

"They plan to be back soon," Theo assured Ranma.

"Yeah," Ranma said. "With all of hell on her heels."

"Let's get to the exercise for now," Julia said. "If they don't get back by nightfall then we'll descend on the place in full wrath." She almost sounded as if she'd enjoy that. Then again, Ranma was sort of hoping the Ryouga would wander back so that he could get a good spar in. So maybe he could understand that.

"So how is a fighting technique going help me with the Nekoken?" Ranma asked.

"A fighting technique won't," Julia said. "Meditation techniques will." Ranma's enthusiasm dwindled noticeably.

"Meditation techniques?" Ranma repeated doubtfully.

"Hey," Julia said. "Don't knock it until you've tried it."

"Don't worry," Theo said. "We won't start with the serious stuff until we have your sister here too."

"Why should I be worried about sitting around and starin' at nothing?" Ranma asked.

"What do you mean serious stuff?" Akane asked.

"Where's mom?" Ranma asked.

"I am here," Nodoka said. "I apologize for being late, but I had to...inform that Tirga fellow that I was already married." Ranma glanced at his mother in her hybrid form and shuffled nervously, he was almost to the point where she didn't freak him out.

"If we're all here then?" Julia asked. "Let's get started."

"Souloficesouloficesoulofice," Ranko muttered as she walked through the crumbling archway with Brianna and Sheila.

"Sheesh," Sheila turned around slowly to look at Ranko. "It was a cub. A lousy little cub." The werejaguar seemed rather irritated about the incident.

"Trust me on this one Sheila," Brianna said. "A cat person getting in her face is exactly what we don't need right now."

"Why, what'll happen?" Sheila asked.

"She turns into a cat," Genn said. "Mentally." The rakshasha turned to Ranko. "I can help you with that you know."

"That's fine, thank you," Ranko muttered. "I can handle it. Souloficesouloficesoulofice."

"Shhhh," Sheila said. "I think I hear something."

"MORTAL FOOLS!! I SHALL TEAR YOUR ETERNAL SOULS FROM YOUR FLESHY HUSKS AND-OUCH!! Ouch! Ouch!" The shouting creature was reptilian, somewhat dragon or demonic in appearance. And it was currently being pelted by blasts from Brianna's gun at extremely low power. "That's it lady, you're going first!!"

It started to charge for Brianna, for about two feet. Its headlong charge as Brianna upped the power of her gun by a few settings. Its motion reversed and the large creature slammed into a wall before slumping down to the ground.

"That was easy," Brianna said cheerfully. She returned the gun to low setting and continued pelting the creature's senseless form with low energy blasts.

"Uh, Brianna," Genn said nervously. "It's not done yet."

"Oh goody," Brianna said with a wide grin.

"Is she always like this?" Ranko asked Sheila and Genn nervously. They nodded, rolling their eyes. The demon-dragon thing stood up and roared loudly.

"YOU THINK SUCH PALTRY POWER CAN -- huh?!!"

The creature blinked as he looked forward. Sheila and Ranko were charging forward to enter melee while Brianna was powering up her gun again. Then there was the big minotaur that had somehow replaced the scrawny wimp with the horns.

"Oh bloody hell," the creature moaned.

"Now, I know you can do this," Julia said, sounding somewhat frustrated. "When we were sparring you kept your cool very well. So you'd think that you could do this now."

"He's probably too bored," Akane said, tapping her fingers.

"Well, you try sittin' and doin' nothing for an hour," Ranma protested.

"You're doing nothing," Julia said. "I'm focusing."

"Ranma," Nodoka said. "Haven't you had some experience in the past with meditation techniques?"

"Well, sort of," Ranma shrugged. "But that's all for fighting techniques."

"Like what techniques," Julia asked.

"Umm, Zanshin, Soul of Ice, chi summonin'," he shrugged and looked around. He thought about mentioning the umisen. It might technically be a meditation technique, erasing your presence like that, but it was a sealed art.

"Describe them," Julia instructed.

"Well, Zanshin is being aware and on guard all the time," Ranma said. "Soul of Ice is keepin' your cool even while fighting or being embarrassed. And chi summoning is sorta just for forming your emotions and chi inta somethin' useful."

"That middle one sounds promising," Julia said, nodding. "Let's see it."

The chi summoning one was obvious, and Zanshin sounded exactly like the warrior's sense. His description of Soul of Ice was too general for her to place it among the list of techniques one could learn in Jade, there were several techniques that could do the same thing.

"Well, all right," Ranma said. "Not much to see on its own though." The change came without any visible mark. One moment Ranma was standing there, the next moment Ranma was standing there some more.

"It's part of the Hiryu Shoten Ha," Akane said. "He's never used it for much anything else."

"Yes, well we can see that some other time," Julia said. Stay on task, Julia. She glanced to her husband and walked over towards him. "Well?" She spoke quietly and in English. Theo had enchanted her to be able to speak and understand Japanese. He had not enchanted the Saotomes or Akane to understand English.

"The technique is not focused on calming him," Theo answered. His eyes glowed slightly as he probed Ranma's mind lightly. "Just letting him keep control. I'm guessing it's to keep him from getting distracted in a fight."

"Yeah, and the temperature dropped when he started," Julia said. "But at least he's not a total stranger to this. Now, how to make meditating seem interesting to him."

"And how did you manage it?" Theo asked.

"Master Leep," Julia said dryly, almost growling.

"Ah, that makes sense," Theo said. Julia's old master would require some sort of calming technique to deal with.

"This isn't good," Sheila said, frowning as she kicked the body of the creature they had just beaten.

"Did you...kill it?" Ranko asked hesitantly. Sheila glanced at her and blinked.

"No," she said sharply. "Just tore apart its body."

"Eh?" Ranko blinked. "But that's killing it!" She sounded aghast at the possibility.

"It wanted to suck out our souls and tear us limb from limb," Brianna said. "What would you expect us to do?"

"Hey, we're the ones invading the thing's home here!" Ranko protested.

"Nope," Sheila said. "It's invading ours. It's a drakyn, look the body is already changing back to ash and smoke." She pointed at the dead drakyn and sure enough the creature's features were seemingly burning away into a black ash and a smelly grey smoke that was slowly filling the room.

"Wow, that's a quick decay," Brianna said, giving an impressed whistle. Then she blinked. "What do you mean, it's invading here?"

"I don't care if it is a dragon!" Ranko said. "We should have just knocked it out." Sheila sighed, exasperated.

"We didn't kill it," Genn said suddenly, shrinking to his normal form. "I felt it leaving the body. I think what Sheila's trying to say is that this thing is like a puppet for some sort of spirit." Sheila nodded. "And it is completely evil, all it hopes to do is cause pain and suffering."

"You mean it's like a ghost?" Ranko asked uncertainly.

"Nope, like a demon," Sheila said. "There'll be a couple of fires somewhere in here. One big one for materials, and one small magical one as a gateway. There'll probably be an idiotic mage standing around to tend the fires and summon more of them too. We find the fires, shut down the gateway and arrest the idiots. Or else we'll have a full scale invasion on our hands."

Ranko still seemed uncertain and frowned, shuffling irritably.

"These things like to take people's souls and torture them throughout eternity," Sheila explained. "If we CAN kill it, all the souls it's taken go free. Personally, I don't think we can kill it with what we got, but we can send it back to its own realm."

Ranma fidgeted a moment, but finally nodded.

"Good," Sheila said. "Now about that fire. It can't be upstairs, we'd have seen it in the windows."

"Down we go then," Brianna smirked, leading the way for the four of them toward the basement door. She opened the door cautiously and stepped lightly down the corridor. "I should have my battle armor for this."

The stairs came down to a fair-sized cellar, but there was no fire sight. In fact the whole thing looked quite damp and moldy. Not at all the type of place a fire creature would dwell.

"Well, maybe the fire is upstairs afterall," Brianna said.

"I'm telling you we would have seen it," Sheila said. "We're talking a huge fire here."

"Ummm," Ranko said. "This wall's kinda hot." Something prickled in the back of her mind, that prickle she always got just before..."Oh shit." She whispered as she stepped back from the wall.

"Ranko! LOOK OUT!" Genn shouted as the wall exploded outward and a black, clawed hand reached out and grabbed hold of the werecheetah. A black smoke enveloping her.

"YOUR SOULS ARE MINE!!!"

Ranko didn't know what happened. One moment some monster was grabbing her, and the next moment she was in this dark...room. She thought it was room anyway. She couldn't see any walls or ceiling.

Then suddenly there was a blinding light and stifling heat. Ranko covered her eyes until they adjusted, and she could discern what was standing there. A humanoid figure of pure flame and corrupt light.

"You didn't seriously think that you could defeat me," the flame creature said in a roaring voice. "Child?"

It's after my soul! Ranko gasped. Like what the c..c..ca...jaguar lady said.

"I have your soul," the being laughed hideously. "And what a powerful soul it is, you should bring me power beyond..." Ranko was making ready to fight the creature as it approached her, but both of them froze at a new sound.

"Rrrrowwr!!" It echoed around the room, in the darkness the drakyn's flame could not reach.

"What is this?!" the drakyn demanded. Ranko shivered nervously.

"C...c..." she shivered nervously. Then a cat from Ranko's nightmares charged the drakyn out of the darkness. An alley cat the size of a polar bear, lean, thin, with a vicious fang-filled mouth, huge talons dripping venom. "CCAAAAAAAAATTT!!!"

"Ranko!" Sheila gasped in despair, seeing the hand grab the young were-cheetah. This was her fault! She should have made the girl stay in town, and now it was too late.

"You bastard!!" Brianna shouted. She brought her gun up to her shoulder and nearly pulled the trigger as Sheila and Genn began to move as well.

"AAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE!!!" The creature screamed as it exploded in burst of silvery grey light that blanked out all else.

" -- AAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT!!!" The second scream was undoubtedly Ranko's.

"C...c...cat?" Ranko whimpered, as she fought down the shivering in the fading light.

"Hey, she's all right," Brianna shouted, relieved. Ranko knees gave out underneath her and both Brianna and Genn moved to her side.

Sheila blinked in surprise, uncertain of what she had just seen. Had that girl just killed the drakyn? She hesitated a moment, moving toward the hole in the wall to ascertain no more surprises would be coming before anything else.

"There's no cat," Genn said soothingly. He wasn't certain just how safe it would be to go into Ranko's mind at the moment.

"No cat," Ranko repeated, calming down a little. "Okay."

"Yeah," Brianna said. "Well, except for us."

"The cat killed it," Ranko said. "And then it picked me up."

"Well they're both gone now," Brianna said. "Everything's going to be fine."

"Uh, no it's not," Sheila said. "We have a problem."

"What?" Brianna asked. "Didn't the bad guy just go boom?"

"I just found a fire," Sheila said faintly.

"So, put it out with that ice thing of yours then," Brianna said, coming to look through the hole with Sheila. Genn and Ranko, the werecheetah much calmer now that she could see no signs of a cat, stepped up next to her to also see what was up.

"I don't think I can quite do that," Sheila said.

"Oh...poop!" Brianna agreed wholeheartedly.

"We just have to put out the small fire," Ranko suggested hopefully. "Right?"

"And how do we find it?" Genn asked. "Before whoever started this summons another demon?"

The hole that had been smashed through the cellar wall opened into a huge cavern. And at the bottom of the cavern, hundreds of feet down, sat a huge lake of molten lava.

A shimmering ring of silver light flashed across the skies of Jade. The ring slowly faded to nothing as it expanded, it's light diluted and invisible.

"What the hell was that?" Ranma demanded loudly. "Does that happen often?"

"Those were souls," Theo said. "Something powerful and evil just died."

"Well, I guess that's good," Akane said.

"Unless there's more of them," Julia said. "And that's in the direction Brianna went. Come on Theo!" Theo was already starting to gather power for a transport spell.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted. "You aren't going anywhere without me."

"Us!" Akane corrected. "I'm not letting you go off alone. I'm worried about Ranko too."

"I am not willing to leave my children in danger," Nodoka ascertained.

"I wouldn't ask you to," Julia said. "Okay, Theo let's go."

And then the five of them vanished from the scene. In the air behind them a faint complaint of "I told you she'd bring hell down on us," wafted through the air.

Part 4   |   Anime@Fan.Fic