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[Day 3]

As they walked into the Tendo compound they both felt it.

Ranma signed and said, "Hello, Shampoo."

With in moment of his saying that, Shampoo's bike landed in the
Tendo compound having jumped off the near-by rooftop. She had a few
delivery orders in her basket.

Nabiki frowned at Shampoo. The 'extra ingredients' in several of
those orders, all Ranma's favorites, just screamed at her magical
senses. Even without thought, her magical probes sought them out and
neutralized them.

Shampoo, uncaring or more likely unknowning, was smiling and
demanded, "There, Husband. Shampoo make picnic lunch for us. We go
date now."

Ranma's eyes narrowed as he looked directly at Shampoo and calmly,
yet firmly stated, "No."

Shampoo blinked. As far as she knew, Ranma had never out right
refused free food. Nor spoke forcedly to anyone, let alone, to her.

Still in a calm, yet firm voice, he stated, "I have more important
work to take care of then to waste my time with some kitten, whose
playing games. Shampoo-san, you are not my wife, not now, not before,
not ever. I am happily married, and we have more then consummated that
marriage. It is recognized and blessed by the Heavens, and to
interfere with it, is to invoke their wrath."

Shampoo swallowed, this was far worse then any of her nightmares
were. Still she had her Laws and Traditions to follow, so she flashed
some skin and spoke firmly, "Airen, stop being funny. Airen is Amazon
Husband and will obey his Wife."

Ranma sighed and stated, "I am not Amazon anything, Shampoo-san. I
only challenged you for food I and my father took out of ignorance. It
was you, and you only, that escalated everything. I follow only my
conscious and the righteous Emperors."

When her sure-fire technique had failed, Shampoo knew she was in
trouble. Always before, she could just show him some cheesecake, or
more, and get her way, as an Amazon Warrior should. But now, her
technique to fluster him, at least, had failed.

Nabiki's blood was boiling in anger. Amazons, of any kind, had been
thorns in their side at every turn. The ignorant, stubborn bitches
would always think themselves superior to everything, and then claim
mercy when the Truth was slammed over their thick heads. Of course,
any mercy from any Amazon was, simply, /death/. A
sentiment that she returned in spades. She enjoyed rebalancing worlds
where Amazons thrived, releasing magical viruses to tame them,
and if the entire world was lost, there was always her Sith
Planet-Destroying techniques. A Sith-girl had to keep in shape, after
all. Especially, as such a world was no loss to the Universe.

Reading Shampoo's thoughts, such as they were, just pissed her off
more. She seemed to think that her Master was some prize to be taken
back to her Village, and then broken to be some kind of stud stallion.

In Tendo Righteous Anger (which Nabiki had trademarked), Nabiki
yelled in perfect Mandarin, "You're not taking my husband anywhere,
you honorless, ignorant kitten!"

Both Ranma and Shampoo blinked in confusion at Nabiki's outburst,
although for different reasons.

Nabiki's outburst brought Akane from within the house out, and
Ukyou who was walking towards the Tendo-ke at a run. Both arrive in
time to see and hear Ranma's response.

Which was: Ranma sighed, and said to Nabiki, "Fine... you can play
Amazon Warrior too... Just don't expect me to get involved... And if
you decide to kill her, try not to leave a body behind. I got a cramp
in my writing hand from last time." He faced Shampoo and prayed in
Mandarin, "May whatever goddesses you believe in watch over your soul,
and bless you with a less complicated life in the next, Shampoo-san."
With that, he walked towards the house.

Akane barred his way and confronted him with, "Baka! You're not
going to leave my defenseless sister like that."

Ranma blinked in confusion and asked in wonder, "Huh? Akane-san,
what I do or not, ain't your concern. Besides, there is no doubt as to
Nabiki's victory."

Which shocked Akane, Ukyou, and Shampoo. Nabiki just smirked.

Shampoo growled at the disrespect her husband was given her, and
replied, "Mercenary Girl is no fighter..."

Hamming it up a bit, Nabiki dramatically posed and sung, "I'm a
lover, not a fighter."

On more solid ground, Akane added with a hint of glee, "Nabiki
isn't a martial artist!"

"Martial Arts isn't the only thing in the world, Tendo-san," Ranma
answered with a slight sourness in his world. With that, he pushed
Akane to the side and walked in to the house.

Akane, Ukyou, and Shampoo's jaws were on the ground, shell-shocked
from Ranma's very-un-Ranma-like statement, or rather the Ranma they
thought they knew.

Nabiki laughter at their reactions brought the girls' attention
back to reality and her.

Shampoo took a stance and threaten, "Give Airen back, Mercenary
Girl, or..."

Nabiki smirked and asked in a poor intimation of Shampoo's
dialogue, "Or else what, kitten-girl?"

"No fun make of Shampoo," she replied angrily.

"Why not? It's so easy," was Nabiki's reply with a laugh.

Akane was torn. On one hand, she knew she had to defense her
Oneesan from Shampoo, whom she could take as she was the best martial
artists in the world. Yet, on the other hand, it was about time that
her thief of a useless sister got taught a lesson in dealing with her
betters and the Martial Arts.

Ukyou, on the other hand, knew that she would be creamed if she
interfered with Shampoo's fight, but on the other hand, her Ranchan
would praise her for saving the mercenary Tendo sister from her own
folly. Although, said Mercenary Girl did steal her Ranchan out from
under her. Probably tricked him into swearing to serve her as her
boy-toy for the rest of his life, while she made money from his sweat
and tears, crying for his Ucchan to save him. Let the gaijin bimbo
teach the girl a lesson about interfering in the Arts and her betters.

Akane and Ukyou sat down on the steps toward, purposely leaving
Nabiki to her fate as they saw it.

Shampoo was a bit worried that Akane and Ukyou would gang up on
her; of course, neither could truly work together like she and Ranma
could. But still, fighting two opponents, plus whatever tricks
Mercenary Girl had, was not something Shampoo wished to do. That they
had sat down, obviously, leaving Nabiki to her was fine with her. She
knew Mercenary Girl was a coward, as all Japanese were. So she hefted
her bonbori at the girl and charged at her, thinking she would cower
before her.

To the surprise of all those present, Nabiki remained calm and
collected, and merely side-stepped Shampoo's attack as if it was
nothing.

Shampoo blinked, growled in annoyance that this will take a bit
more time, and charged at Nabiki again, a bit quicker this time.

Again, Nabiki merely sidestepped her at each charge.

Shampoo was moving a bit faster then Ukyou's level, still not going
full out, and still Nabiki dodged her as if she was some kind of
beginner.

If those present were more knowledgeable, they would have noted the
seemly similarities between Shampoo's fight with Nabiki and Akane's
first fight with onna-Ranma.

Shampoo was getting more and more annoyed with each miss and
Nabiki's lack of concern. And then Nabiki smirked at her. Shampoo
growled, "No more Miss Nice Girl. Do this Amazon-style now." With
that, she took a step back, put one bonbori over her head, pointed at
her, and the other one, was raised slightly in front of her. Obvious
the over-the-head one was to strike her, while the in front one was to
block a defense Nabiki had.

Nabiki's smirk grew.

Shampoo, using her full speed, rushed at Nabiki, with the intention
of striking her down with her over-the-head bonbori, and follow up or
defend herself with the other.

The sound of metal striking metal rang out over the neighborhood.

Akane and Ukyou could only blink as Nabiki's sword had blocked
Shampoo's over-the-head bonbori strike.

After the block, Nabiki jumped out of the way, thus missing
Shampoo's follow up by centimeters.

Shampoo was surprised to see the sword in Nabiki's hand, not to
mention that Mercenary Girl seemed to use it correctly and
efficiently. She rated her as not quite a swordmistress, but up there
with Stick Boy. She tried several fake-outs to test Mercenary Girl's
defenses, and found them to be solid. She did note that Mercenary Girl
did not go on the offensive with her sword, just stuck to defense. She
also saw that Mercenary Girl had a calm, almost empty-expression, on
her face, almost as if she was in a trance.

Nabiki was sweating on the inside. Although, from without, it did
not show, but she was using every trick she had learned just to avoid
being hit. Shampoo was faster, stronger, and more skilled then she
then she could show with Akane and Ukyou in the audience. There was
also the possibility that Cologne knew of the ki technique to view
past events, so she had to limit herself to what she and Ranma had
agreed upon when they decided to conseal themselves upon their return.

Of course, Shampoo and Colonge should have long left Japan behind
when they came back. Still, speed and power was not everything in a
match. She was not Ranma No Kami's student for nothing.

She had spent many hours a day sparring with her Master. Something
that had greatly troubled her to do, but she was now thankful for it.
Even when He punished her for not trying her best, as it still went
against her grain and slave-nature to strike out at her Master. Worse,
her Master's idea of sparring was to use any non-lethal technique and
beat the crap out of each other. Of course, he rewarded her with her
favorite treat hot, animalistic sex, where her Master took her as the
slavegirl she was, did not help her overcome her slave-nature.

But her Master was persisted, and she was thankful, for in sparring
with onna-Ranma, she was prepared and ready to take on Shampoo. Even
if she did have to limit herself as not to show off anything they did
not wish anyone else to know.

Of course, she was smirking at Shampoo, both to hide her fear of
discovery, and since it was the Ranma-thing to do. She was the first
disciple of Rando Ryu. But she was not a Martial Artist, nor pretended
to be, like her Imootosan. She was a Mage, who was on the defensive,
true, but she was preparing a spell to use that would end this fight
quickly. As her magical abilities were already known to both Akane and
Ukyou.

None of which Shampoo knew. What she saw was someone, now
obviously, trained by Ranma, and seemed to be on her level, in only a
month's time. Which was impossible to her mind, no one but her Airen
was on her level, she only gave him that to stoke his ego. Her Airen
was impossible to be around when his useless male ego was hurt. The
sooner she could remove it, the happier she knew they would be. The
fact that Nabiki was seemly only on the defensive, not taking her
seriously, just upset her to no end.

Shampoo growled, "Shampoo ends this now!" And got ready to perform
one of her Amazon Special Techniques, which she had been saving to use
on her Airen when his ego got out of control again, but now, was
annoyed enough to use it on Mercenary Girl.

Nabiki laughed, and replied, "You got that right, kitten-baby."

With that, Shampoo shouted, "Obstacle for Killing!" And she rushed
at Nabiki moving so fast, she seemed to blur to Akane and Ukyou's
sight. Both paled and looked away from the impending mayhem that was
obviously going to follow.

Instead, of metal striking flesh, they heard, metal striking earth.
They looked to see what happened. And they were shocked to their core.

The grounds of the Tendo-ke were Shampoo and Nabiki had fought was
torn up. Nabiki stood not a third of the way from where Shampoo had
started from, but Shampoo was not to be seen. Her twin bonbouris
laying on the ground. Nabiki looked none the worse for wear. She was
holding neko-Shampoo by the nape of neck and wiggling her finger at
her saying in baby-talk, "Naughty, Naughty, kitten-baby. Bad kitten."

Akane and Ukyou could only stare in shock.

Smirking, Nabiki said, "Bad kitten go to room." With that, there
was a puff of smoke and neko-Shampoo was gone. To the girls, she said,
"Ranma did say the outcome was obvious." With that, she walked into
the house.



Nabiki walked into the dining room, sat down, and took a great deal
of food that had magically appeared before her.

While Nabiki was eating, Nodoka came into the room. Nodoka was
amused to see that Nabiki was using the old Saotome Ryuu Eating
technique that her son had perfected. She watched in amusement as
Nabiki ate as much as she could, as quickly as she could, the poor
girl was obviously starving.

In short while, Nabiki's pace slowed and finally stopped.

Seeing her chance, Nodoka asked, "Nabiki-chan, have you seen my
son?"

Through their bond, Nabiki located her Master and answered, "He's
in his castle."

Nodoka blinked and asked, "Castle?"

"It's easier to show you then to explain," Nabiki replied. She took
her Master's Mother's hand in her right, and with her left took out
the spellcard that served as a gate to her Master's sanctum sanctorum.

Nodoka gasped as the spellcard expanded to the side of a
double-door gate and opened into a stone walkway. She was
half-dragged, half-held back by Nabiki's hand. Nodoka was a bit
surprised at how strong, physically, Nabiki was.

The walkway was completely made of stone, from floor to ceiling, no
obvious source of light, or temperature regulation, but the walkway
was very comfortable and well lite. The floor stones were darker in
tone then the walls, and the ceiling stones were lighter in tone then
the walls.

The walkway seemed to go on forever, or so Nodoka thought, but
after a few moments, they reached a doorway. On either side of the
doors were two female stone statues stood, seemly guarding it. The
statues seemed familiar to both girls.

Nabiki blinked, the walkway had never before been closed to her.
And she knew those two statues weren't statues, but Living-Earth
Element Golems.

For some reason, whenever Ranma dealt with elementals or elemental
chi/magic, the end result would be, almost always, female in some
form. If it wasn't, on the very rare occasions, they were
hermaphrodite in appearance. And even then, when working with Fire
Element, they would seemly take on the appearance of Akane, Water
Element would take on Kasumi's appearance, while Air Element would
take hers, and she had originally thought that the Earth-Element had
taken on onna-Ranma's appearance, but now with Nodoka at her side, she
realized that it was actually Nodoka's appearance that the
Earth-Elements would take.

Earth... Mother... Mother Earth. She got it, now.

The Living-Earth Element Golems were formable opponents, any metal
or wood against them could easily be absorbed into them, even if
charged or charmed to explode, as no explosion would actually occur.
The Golems were completely immune to most magics. And any damage done,
could be easily repaired quickly, even if suspended off the ground. On
the ground, they could absorb additional Earth-Elemental material, and
use it to create weapons, shields, or body-patches. And if you touched
one, they could suck anyone or anything inside themselves, enduring
them harmless, captured and imprisoned within. They were as soft as
clay, yet, stronger then any ceramic polymer, and could assume any
shape needed or desired by Ranma.

Nabiki also knew that within the courtyard of the castle, as well
as the walkways leading up to it, all magic was sealed. So she did not
have any magic to use here, if the Golems decided not to let her and
Nodoka pass.

Fortunately, Ranma had left instructions for the Golem to allow
Nabiki and his Mother to pass, so as the two approached them, they
opened the doors, and closed them after they passed.

Nabiki and Nodoka thought they heard the two Golems giggle as they
closed the doors. Only, Golems did not giggle.

The two stopped and starred at the courtyard and Castle, for two
different reasons.

Nodoka could only stare at the Castle, done in the Yamato Era
style, which was seven stories tall, and looked majestic. It was
exactly as her father had described it to her in the bedtime stories.

It was the Hosuseri Castle, built by Takagi-no-Kami, in all its
glory. It was the Castle from which the Hosuseri Clan served as
Shoguns and Daimyos of the Land throughout Japanese History.

Nodoka recalled the stories of the Castle she was told of its
withstanding sieges and countless invasions, and she see could see
why, now, for herself. Her father would tell her only the Palace of
the Emperor surpassed the Castle in splendor. Although, seeing the
Castle, she was not sure how that could possible.

After taking in the Castle, she saw the courtyard, which was very
spacious, filled with gardens, trees, wells, and open spots that could
be used for various purposes, such as relaxation, exercise, or
picnics.

Enclosing the courtyard were mighty walls, seemly made from the
same material as the Living-Earth Elemental Golems. They could easily
take a cannon-ball assault without any problems, and just as equally
easily take any direct magical attack as well, even better then the
Golems.

Nabiki was starring not become of the Castle and its grounds, she,
too, had been awed in seeing them for the first time. Her interest
laid in the fact that the courtyard was filled with activities.
Water-spirits, shaped like Kasumi, were carrying various items out
from the Castle and through the gates in the walls. While
Fire-spirits, shaped like Akane, where carrying tools and building
materials all over the place. Air-spirits, shaped like herself, were
cleaning the messes caused by all the activities, while the
Earth-spirits, shaped like her Master's Mother, were assisting the
others as they could.

Neither could spot Ranma in the courtyard.

"Let's check the Castle for my son," Nodoka suggested.

Nabiki shook her head, "He's not there." Seeing Nodoka's look, she
clarified, "There's a warm feeling from the Castle when Ranma is
within. I'm not feeling that. So he must be outside."

"Outside?" Nodoka echoed.

Nabiki's answer was seemly to take Nodoka's hand and headed out
through the nearest wall-gate.

Once through the wall-gate, passed the no man's land that
surrounded the walls, they saw a grass prairie that seemed to go over
for as far as the eye could see.

Nabiki explained, "We don't know where the Castle actually
resides... My theory is its somewhere within the kami-plane. Both the
Castle and surrounding areas response to Ranma's wishes. The grass
prairie, for the most part, seems to be endless. I've flew my top
speed for days without finding any indication of an end to the
prairies."

At Nodoka's worried look, Nabiki added, "However, when walking with
Ranma, to go on a picnic, we walked out of the East Gate, and with in
an ten minutes, we were at the edge of an also seemly endless forest,
where every tree or plant that we had come across grew. Even the
mystical Senzu Bean plant, which we had heard only grew under very
extreme, very rare conditions, grows here in abundance. Doesn't matter
how difficult or rare something is in its native soil, here, it grows
in abundance."

Nabiki smiled as she recalled a memory and mentioned, "Through the
North-Gate, the grass prairie gives away to the most beautiful beach
with a seemly endless sea. The sea is filled with both fresh-water and
salt-water fishes and sea creatures. We've spent several picnics
there. Just catching what we wish to eat, and either roast it on the
beach, or make sushi out it. The water is just warm enough, not to
activate Ranma-nushi's Jusenkyou curse, but not so warm that you have
to adjust to it."

She added, to be complete, "Through the West-Gate, it gives away to
a seemly endless mountain range. The mountains are good for skiing,
climbing, and possess a richness of minerals and ores. There are even
mystical ores and magical gems in the mountains." Nabiki laughed.
"Lina-sensei would have given anything to be able to spend any amount
of time in those mountains... She loves exploring, and finding rare
magical gems and such."

Nabiki's face took on a bit of edge and her voice, a warning, as
she finished with, "Through the South-Gate, you need to be careful.
There is a volcano passed the grass prairie, that's very active. You
need to be care of the lava flows and the chemical geysers. There are
several thunderstorms going in that area as well. However, if you're
careful, there are lovely hot springs, where you can relax in. There
are also some caves that act as natural stream baths. In its own way,
it's as beautiful as the other quadrants, but there, you need to be
cautious."

Nodoka could only nod and wonder about such a place, especially how
Nabiki had said "seemly endless" a lot. But that was for later, now,
she wished to find her son.

As if the thought had summoned him, Ranma's voice asked, "Enjoying
the scenery?"

Ranma stood before the two Saotome girls, one by blood and the
other by marriage, and smiled at them. He led them a short distance
away, where a table and chairs had been set up. On the table a map of
Tokyo rested. The map was more detailed then any map Nodoka had ever
seen.

The girls could see various cots, beddings, and tents being set up
by the various elemental-spirits. A few Fire-Akanes and Air-Nabikis
were setting up campfires, while Water-Kasumis and Earth-Nodokas set
up cooking utensils and got some soups and stews that could be easily
consumed, yet filling, and would stay without attention for a while.
One Air-Nabiki made sure everything was just 'right', and then winked
at the real Nabiki, her mother-in-law, and her Master.

"Ranma-chan," Nodoka asked, "What's all this?"

The elementals stopped, gave Ranma sympathetic looks, and dark
looks towards Nodoka.

Ranma, himself, whined with, "Mom..." And then continued with,
"It's a field hospital. We're reorganizing the devil hunter clans, the
mikos and the like... to help out, we will give each a ki-crystal
pendants, that will allow them, if they're injured to come here to be
healed, or simply to communicate with each other and us."

"Why not use the Castle?" Nodoka inquired.

"The Castle is Hosuseri Clan property," Ranma stated. "Out here, is
neutral ground, where everyone can feel safe. And if, some demon or
unauthorized person used the ki-crystal to get here, they can be
easily trapped in the prairie, without endangering anyone else. Which
reminds me..."

Ranma reached towards the table, and presented his mother with a
pendant. The pendant ended with a blue-greyish crystal, which seemed
to glow and pulse, much like the life-stone that was on Nabiki's
collar/choker.

When Nodoka put it on, she squealed and exclaimed, "It's warm..."

"There's a bit of my ki in it," Ranma explained with a smile.

Nabiki looked happy at that, so Nodoka let it go, since her son's
explanation did not truly explain anything to her why the pendant was
warm to the touch, although, it was a very nice feeling between her
breasts. It invoked memories of her breast-feeding Ranma and just hold
him as a baby.

"You need to just hold the pendant and think of the Castle, and you
will be teleported to the Castle, Mother," Ranma stated. "The other
pendants will only teleport to here, unless the ki-signature does not
match the person it was given to, then it will teleport them further
out. Groups will be kept together, while individuals will be separated
a bit of distance away, in case of any problem that might arise."

Ranma reached out, took both Nabiki and Nodoka's hand, and returned
them to Tendo's dining room, which was empty. Nodoka went off to check
on her husband, wanting some quality time with him. She felt
her needs building.



Kasumi was curious as to why she could not find her sister, Auntie
or Ranma-kun. Not knowing what to do, she spent the time in her room
going over the various pamphlets and trying to decide what classes to
take. She was also a bit worried about how the family was going to pay
for it all, until she saw the included budget that showed that
her classes and everything would be covered completely, even leaving
her a bit to spend on herself and food/snacks.

She was surprised to note, that she had been studying the pamphlets
for over an hour or so, and decided to head to the dining room for a
snack.

As she got close to the dining-room, she heard Ranma called out,
"Ka-chan, come here."

"Hai, Ranma-sama," Kasumi replied and walked briskly into the room.
It was only after she entered the room, did she noticed she had used
the formal/superior -sama suffix with Ranma's name, as well as, her
haste to get to him. But she stood with pride before him, although,
the blush did not help, neither did the smirk on Nabiki's face.

"Turn around," Ranma commanded. Both Nabiki and Kasumi did so, and
then when she realized that her husband had only meant for Kasumi to
do so, she turned around fully, to watch with a smile.

Ranma lifted up Kasumi's hair off her neck and placed a similar
pendant to Nodoka's around her neck.

Kasumi moaned in pleasure at the contact of Ranma's hands and the
warm pendent between her breasts. Unable to help herself, she leaned
back a bit, to make greater contact with Ranma's body.

Nabiki smirked at her Oneechan, even as she wished she were the one
leaning against her Master.

With a bit of concern, Ranma whispered in Kasumi's ear, "You okay,
Ka-chan?"

"Heavenly," was Kasumi's answer in a dreamy voice.

Ranma blinked in confusion, shook his head a bit, and stated,
"Don't take the pendant off, for any reason, it will protect you and
take you to a safe place if there is trouble."

Dreaming of being with her mother, for that was the safest place
she knew, Kasumi replied, "Hai, Ranma-sama."

Ranma eased Kasumi onto the bench, in front of the dining-room
table, and said, "Nabs, take care of Oneechan, while I go delivery the
other pendants."

Nabiki nodded, and after Ranma left, she and Kasumi had a bit of
sister-talk including: boys, sex, fashion, movies, what being Ranma's
sex slave was like, clothing, food, cooking, family, and friends.