Akane made an attempt to file all the new thoughts and experiences flooding through her mind. It had been a whirlwind experience, to be sure. After meeting Ranmira and her three unusual sisters, she'd had a chance meeting with Peorth, a Goddess and her stand-in mother. Skuld had determined that Akane genetically exhibited the potential to become a Goddess, after which Skuld and Ranmira had escorted her to the heavens for an evaluation as well as an inevitable meeting with Kami-sama. Kami-sama had the results of her initial evaluations before Akane had left the Evaluation Center to arrive at His office. There was an attached note mentioning the unusually high levels of raw power Akane unexpectedly possessed, though no mention was to be made of that to her for the time being. She recalled the meeting... He had declared that Akane was now a Goddess-in-training - third class, first category, limited - and would serve the next phase of her evaluation and training as a Yggdrasil system debugger, apprenticed to Skuld. Akane had idly wondered for a second why she couldn't be apprenticed to Ranmira, at which point Kami-sama had smiled and pointed out that Ranmira was unable to take on an apprentice while fulfilling Saotome Nodoka's wish. The rest of the meeting had come and gone without incident. It wasn't until the two Goddesses were well on their way to their next stop with their charge that Akane realized she could not remember exactly what Kami-sama looked like. She remarked as much. "There's a reason for that," Skuld vaguely waved the thought away. "It primarily has to do with the fact that you aren't a 'complete' Goddess yet." Akane blinked. "Speaking of that... um, would Kami-sama look down on me because I'm not exactly a Goddess by proper birth?" She hesitated, too wired to concern herself with any of the scenery they passed. "...Well, you know what I mean..." "No... Akane, you have nothing to worry about," Skuld offered her a smile, hoping to draw Akane away from the subject and keep her spirits up. An Aa! Megamisama / Ranma 1/2 Crossover Instruments of Change Part Five written by Mike Koos ------------------------ A minute passed before Akane spoke again. "Ano..." "Yes, Akane-chan?" "...Kami-sama said I'm going to be a... E... yu..." "A Yggdrasil system debugger," corrected Ranmira. Akane nodded. "Yeah. What's that?" As far as she could tell, a 'system debugger' had something to do with computers, and Nabiki was better informed in that field than she. It suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea what Goddesses did on a daily basis. "Yggdrasil is the computer which insures that everything, everywhere in the world, runs the way it's supposed to be," Skuld explained. "Of course, there's a *lot* more to Yggdrasil than that, but you only need to concern yourself with that basic purpose for now." "This... Yggdrasil... deals with all that?" Akane's eyes widened. "It must be enormous!" "It is," Ranmira confirmed. Akane looked to her to explain further, but the Goddess wouldn't elaborate. By this time, they were passing back through the open doors of the Evaluation Center. "Now, every so often things go wrong. Inexplicable events take place. That is due to the effect of bugs in the system, and as debuggers, it's our job to track the bugs down and get rid of them so that Yggdrasil runs the way it should." Akane suppressed a slight shudder. "You mean *actual* bugs that crawl around and get into everything?" "Essentially, yes." Akane wondered. The Goddesses brought her into a small office - the Evaluation Center was filled with offices that all looked the same, Akane sourly noted - where she was instructed to lie on a padded examination table and close her eyes. Akane did as she was asked. A warm, welcoming sensation flooded into her from somewhere close to her head, and spread to each part of her body. She became aware of three points tingling more than the rest of her body... forehead, cheeks... hey, weren't those the places where the Goddesses had the markings on their faces? Then it was over, and the sense of warmth left her. "Akane-chan, you can open your eyes," she heard Skuld say. Ranmira helped her off the examination table. "How do you feel?" the red-haired Goddess asked. "Uh... fine, I think." Akane concentrated on her face, brought a finger up to see if she could feel the markings which were likely now affixed there... nothing. "Is there a mirror here I can use?" Skuld gestured to the changing room in the rear of the office, where a full-length mirror was mounted on a side wall. There. In the mirror, she was able to see her new 'look' for herself. Three distinct triangular markings of an amethyst color, resembling Urd's, except hers were larger and slightly rounded. Akane breathed a sigh of relief. She had been afraid that whatever markings they assigned her would resemble Peorth's. The last thing she felt she needed was to be marked forever as Peorth's daughter. She could barely feel the presence of the marks. They definitely weren't like makeup, which she had been quite aware of on the few occasions she had worn even the smallest amount of makeup. Well, if she was going to train to become a Goddess, would it hurt to look the part? "Those are your links to Yggdrasil," Skuld informed her. "Through those, you can communicate with Yggdrasil--" "...And Yggdrasil can keep an eye on me," finished Akane. Someone had to, right? "Yes." Skuld nodded to her sister, who glanced about the room as though searching for something. Ranmira spotted a small box atop the solitary desk in the office and made a grab for it. "Ah!" She handed the small velvet box to Skuld, who opened it, gently drawing a pair of ornate yet simple golden earrings from within. "These are your limiters, Akane. They're called limiters because they keep the amount of your power you can use at any one time at a low level. Whatever you do, don't take them off." Akane's limiters, in fact, had been specially designed for her... to limit her power usage to one-fourth of its maximum potential. Akane studied her earrings in the mirror while she let Skuld clip them to her ears. Two gold clips, joined by a fine gold chain that descended into an enigmatic sapphire sphere. No studs - which was for the better since she had yet to have her ears pierced. Someday, perhaps. "What do you think?" She examined her profile. "I like it," Akane couldn't help but giggle. She'd already decided to like Skuld; who else could act like a one-hundred-percent serious scientific genius one moment and a young child the next? Ranmira and Belldandy felt like sisters to her. Then there was Urd, whom she didn't know well enough to judge. Though for some reason Urd *did* remind her of Nabiki... "Oh, I almost forgot." Ranmira left the room. A minute later, she returned with a hammer that resembled the hammers she and Skuld had displayed for Akane's benefit earlier, except this hammer was sky-blue. "This is your new debugging hammer." The Goddess-in-training felt the weight of her hammer in her hands, a definite step up from her faithful wooden mallet. She practiced storing and retrieving the hammer to make sure she could summon it as easily as her mallet. Skuld, meanwhile, was mentioning exactly *why* she kept her hammer strapped to her back rather than stored off somewhere in dimensional space, but Akane wasn't paying close attention. When had she first called for her mallet? Akane couldn't recall the exact time. After her... *mother's* passing, she had become angry enough at a classmate making fun of her for having no mother that she'd summoned the mallet without realizing she'd done so. Fortunately, she stopped the swing inches from hitting the bully. After a while Akane came to accept this new 'ability,' even though her family was at a loss as for an explanation *why* she could pull a mallet out of thin air. Until now. Hammer held firmly in hand, she decided it was time to revisit an issue they had briefly discussed earlier. "So what do these bugs look like?" Better to be prepared, and safe than sorry, she'd always said... In response, she heard Ranmira turn a few words in a language she couldn't understand into quiet, rhythmic verse. Something in Akane's thoughts told her Ranmira was casting a minor spell... though she wasn't sure *how* she knew that. Was Yggdrasil somehow silently supplementing what she knew? An image shimmered into existence before her at chest level: the three-dimensional, life-sized image of a bug, floating in the air between them. Definitely not the creepy-crawly insect or cybernetic computer bug she had half-expected to see. No, the bug inspired thoughts of cockroaches breeding with cute, fluffy bunny rabbits. Almost cute - if you could get past the thoughts about their possible descent. This was what she was expected to use her debugging hammer for? She reached out to 'touch' the projection. "That's what they look like?" Akane paused. "It looks so real... not like a hologram, but real." "Yeah." Skuld snorted. "She can make it move and sound like a real bug, too. You don't want to know how many times she got me with that when we were children." Akane glanced peripherally at Ranmira in time to see the Goddess stifling a giggle. An idea took shape in Skuld's mind. "Wait a second... oneesama, do you think we could use your little projection to test Akane's use of her hammer?" Ranmira put a finger to her mouth in thought - and much to Akane's surprise, the bug mirrored Ranmira's actions. "I... uh, suppose we could. I haven't really used such a complex projection in years..." "It should do," her sister assured her. "At least until I can get together some kind of virtual-reality projector or whatever to help people train." "Like the last one?" suggested Ranmira, her eyebrows raised. Akane blinked. "The last one?" Skuld urgently shushed her sister. "Ah... eh-heh... nothing! Ranmira was thinking of something else, weren't you, oneesama?" "Er... yes." No one spoke for a moment. "But why do I need to train? I've been using a mallet - I mean, hammer - for years," inquired Akane. "For one thing, this isn't the same hammer, Akane. Your new hammer is smaller, thinner and weighs less than the one you've been using... but it's also augmented with magic to affect more of an impact." Akane knew she would learn soon enough why that 'extra impact' was needed. "Really?" Her face brightened. She drew out her hammer and studied it closely, thoughts of using it against her rivals briefly crossing her mind. The raven-haired Goddess of the Future gave her a look of suspicion. "Which means that you had better stop thinking about using it on anyone else." "How... how did you know?" Akane was stunned. Were her thoughts being monitored, passed through Yggdrasil? "I recognized the look on your face," Skuld shrugged. Why, she herself had wanted to use her hammer on Keiichi more than once after the first time they'd met... so who was *she* to tell Akane not to use her hammer on anyone else? She mentally smirked. Akane blushed. "Oh." "Akane-chan, I know the temptation to use your hammer on occasion to solve agreements is difficult to resist, but you are a Goddess candidate now." There was no indication of a dual intent in Ranmira's words. "It's not something you should be doing... and I'm not saying this because you have a tendency to mallet Ranma quite a bit." "B-but he usually deserved it! You were there those times - you know how he thinks!" "Did he *really* deserve it?" In that instant, hearing those words, Akane understood she was on the losing end of the argument. "I don't really know." "You should give him a chance to tell you his side of the story before you decide his punishment." She often didn't, at that. Simply pounding on Ranma and walking away without bothering to listen to him had become all too easy. her mental voice reminded her. Akane's shoulders slumped in a gesture of defeat. "I'll never pass any of these tests." Skuld flashed her an ear-to-ear grin. "Are you kidding? You'll probably fit in just fine around here! Now, c'mon! I know just the place where we can 'train!'" "Huh? Hey, ah - wait!" Akane was left to wonder what Skuld had meant by her words as the Goddess dragged her out of the office by her wrists, Ranmira trailing behind. ** ** ** "WHAT!?" Trust Kunou Tatewaki never to react calmly or rationally to anything, Nabiki smirked. Nabiki had long ago made an effort to learn how to be a fair judge of character. Urd, Belldandy and Skuld were difficult at best to read, and she hadn't yet tried to come to a conclusion about Keiichi; but Kunou-chan was an open book with forty-two point text. True, a person like Kunou wasn't *always* easy to accurately second-guess, though he was predictable enough for her to manipulate whenever the need arose. Marller - a demon! - had proven that point earlier in the day. Once Belldandy's spell had erased whatever damage had been inflicted on him as a result of Marller's plan, Kunou had situated himself at the family room table, demanding an explanation... after mistaking Urd for Marller and nearly attacking her with his wooden sword, recalling fragments of the hold Marller's sword attempted to take of his mind... ...and since he only had a vague recollection of the face of the woman who had given him the sword, thanks in no small part to Marller's illusions, he naturally assumed Urd was the same person. Urd wasn't sure how her sisters would have reacted under the same circumstances, but had it not been for Belldandy levitating him two feet from the ground - leaving him powerless except for that wooden sword of his - while Nabiki and Mr. Saotome tried to convince him that Urd was not the 'villianous scoundrel' who had manipulated him into exposing someone he loved to such great evil... "Do you mean to tell me that I accepted a dangerous weapon from a *demon*? Oh, will the shame never cease?" The one named 'Urd' was giving him the same kind of bemused look he had come to barely tolerate from Nabiki. Whether or not she was a Goddess was debatable; there were only two individuals in the world he ranked with the Goddesses... "Yeah, and you nearly lost your soul to them, too. Not to mention Akane's." Nabiki's eyebrows raised at the thought. Was this something else about the Dalanis Sword which Belldandy and her sisters had neglected to mention? Not that there hadn't been plenty of revelations this evening, already. Her father had fainted after learning that a Goddess known as Peorth had taken his wife's place for a time, and now his youngest daughter Akane was a potential Goddess as a result. After they had brought Soun back to full consciousness, he had decided that maybe it would be for the best if he avoided any further revelations for the rest of the night and left to lie down in his room, with Kasumi tending to him as she normally did whenever her father's emotions got the better of him. Kasumi. Kasumi was the only one of the three Tendo daughters to have been able to know their original mother, thought Nabiki. But that wasn't entirely true, was it? Akane was just as much Peorth's daughter now as she was Tendo Hiroko's. As a Goddess, Akane would be able to seek out at least one - maybe both! - of her mothers and talk to them. Being only one year older than Akane... and *Mortal*, at that, Nabiki had never been able to get to know her true mother. She would never have that chance, either. No - it wouldn't be right to be jealous of Akane. That wouldn't help matters at all. And what of Ranma? Having spent so much time on the road, had he ever known his mother? What had happened to Mrs. Saotome, for that matter? Maybe Ranmira would know, though from experience Nabiki assumed the Goddesses would not be so quick to tell her anything. She would just have to search for the relevant information on her own as always. Her contacts needed the workout. "The dreadful horror of it all! To think that I, Kunou Tatewaki, age seventeen, the 'Blue Thunder' and ever-rising star of Fuurinkan High, could place the lives of my dear Tendo Akane and the pig-tailed goddess at risk!" Now, on to the matter of one ever-annoying eloquent Kendo swordsman. "Speaking of that, Kunou-chan," Nabiki fixed him with the best solemn stare she could put together on such short notice, "there is another reason these Goddesses are here." "What would that be, mercenary?" Nabiki's expression darkened at the mention of the title. "I thought you might like to know that both Akane and your pig-tailed goddess have gone to the heavens." Kunou paled. "You are lying, Tendo Nabiki. I caused them no harm." She shook her head in a negative. "I am not lying," she said, earnestly. "It is a trick!" Kunou shot to his feet and raced toward the front gate. "Tendo Akane and the pig-tailed goddess are out there, somewhere! I shall find them!" "Nabiki-san, you shouldn't have done that." Nabiki shrugged in response to Belldandy's stern tone. "All I did was tell him the truth. He usually ignores that, anyway." Belldandy opened her mouth to respond, but was cut short by the loud squeal of a pig close to her feet. She glanced downward at the same time as Nabiki to find P-chan looking up at them in bewilderment. "Oh, hello, P-chan," Nabiki dryly greeted him. "Glad to see you could find your way back." She knew who P-chan truthfully was, of course. While Nabiki wasn't thrilled with the thought of Ryouga potentially taking advantage of her little sister, the truth was that Akane did need people to be close to her and protect her. That the arrangement gave her something she could use to individually manipulate *both* Ryouga and Ranma was an added benefit. On second thought, she figured it would be for the best to remove Ranma from the list of people she could directly manipulate, now that she knew a Goddess would be watching her through Ranma's eyes. Belldandy scooped P-chan into her arms and brought the startled pig up to her eyes. "What a cute little pig. Is he your pet?" she asked Nabiki, who shook her head. "I guess you could say he's Akane's pet." A snort came from the table. "She keeps a pig as a pet?" P-chan threw a glare in Keiichi's direction as if to say, "What of it?" - which silenced him. Nervously Keiichi opted to shrug instead of saying anything. Nabiki studied Belldandy's reaction to the animal she held. Could the Goddess recognize that the pig was actually a human being cursed to wear that form whenever he got wet? Or, even if they couldn't detect that simply on sight alone - maybe they needed some special power or something - surely Belldandy recognized the presence of whatever magic or power was contained in Ryouga's body to comprise the curse. Up until Ranma's arrival on their doorstep after returning from China, Nabiki had never placed much stock in magic. She'd seen some things that were routinely considered impossible in her view of the world, but aside from that Nabiki had led a normal life - which, now that she thought about it, was rather boring compared to the life she led now. There was certainly no lack of anything unusual to happen... Another issue, meanwhile, nagged at her thoughts. Ryouga often announced his appearances by directing all of his fury at Ranma. Nabiki figured she had a good idea of most of the reasons fueling Ryouga's anger - the curse, frustration over being lost far too often... and, naturally, Akane. Sure, Ryouga wasn't around as much as he would have preferred, though why hadn't Akane noticed Ryouga's feelings toward her? If Ryouga followed his usual pattern of attack first and then think later, how would he react when Ranmira returned, assuming it would be her and not Ranma? On one hand, Ranmira wasn't a fighter in the same sense of the word as Ranma - but if Ryouga attacked her, he would be facing Ranmira's powers as a Goddess, and possibly those of her three sisters as well. Maybe even Akane, at that. Genma probably deserved a little divine retribution for everything he'd done over the years. Ryouga did not. She sighed; the question, "What could possibly go wrong?" was practically a sign of impending doom, these days... ** ** ** "Are you ready, Akane-chan?" Akane considered her answer to that question. Skuld and Ranmira had taken her to what appeared to be an arena, or perhaps a coliseum... the carved stone structure reminded Akane of pictures she had seen in her history books. Was this reminiscent of ancient Roman or Grecian architecture? Or both? She couldn't remember, nor did she want to waste time trying to consult Yggdrasil for the answer. From the damage she could see in the polished arena walls, a few dedicated fights had taken place here. But who would be fighting here, in the heavens? Akane was grateful that there were no people seated in the arena seats above them to watch her practice. She drew her hammer, holding it - and herself - at the ready. "Ready!" she announced. Akane could see Ranmira begin to cast her spell from where she stood. Time to concentrate. She'd allowed herself time to adjust to the feel of her new debugging hammer. Skuld had been right; this hammer was weighted differently than her own, not to mention having a smaller head and long, thin handle. She couldn't simply swing it into targets without much thought as she could her mallet. No, Akane knew, she would have to aim her swings with better precision. Ranmira waved her hands in front of her like a puppeteer. Casting a hasty look around her, Akane could see why. There the bug was, bouncing about at her feet, beside her - coincidentally mirroring the movements Ranmira made with her hands. Uttering a battle cry, Akane swung the hammer about... a wide swing that allowed the bug to be far away from the landing site when the hammer came in contact with the ground. Oops... She glanced momentarily at Skuld, but the Goddess said nothing, and merely watched. In truth, Skuld was reminded of her own attempts to learn the proper way to use her hammer. She hadn't quite gotten the hang of it herself, especially since real bugs weren't the easiest things in the Universe to catch. Urd liked to make fun of Skuld and Ranmira's efforts in debugging - since Ranmira was a little less successful with her hammer against the bugs than Skuld - though Urd wasn't that much more successful than any of her sisters when it came to debugging. Akane was showing the potential to become a good debugger. A familiar grunt indicated that Akane's hammer had found its mark. Actually, the head of her hammer had passed through the bug... an unusual sight, Skuld had to admit. Ranmira dispelled the projection and created a new one. This time, the projection was more agile and deliberately harder to catch. "On to Level Two, I guess," muttered Akane. Skuld watched with interest as the second bug darted through and around Akane's ankles. A grin brightened her face as she recognized that her sister was deliberately teasing the Goddess candidate. She'd never really had the opportunity to see someone fighting bugs without having to worry that the bugs' presence would cause something to go wrong somewhere. Akane was reminding Skuld of herself... even when Ranmira had the bug leap for Akane's head after a failed strike. Akane yelped in surprise, leaping backward several feet. "Wh-what did you do that for?" Skuld made a pathetic attempt to hide her amusement over the incident from Akane. "That's the way the bugs behave. You expect them to stand still and let us get them?" "......No. Of course not." As an afterthought, Akane brought the head of her hammer down upon the non-moving bug next to her. The projected bug vanished. "No fair!" Ranmira blurted. "I wasn't ready!" When she noticed Akane's laughter, she smiled. "Oh, okay. If that is how you want to train..." Without prompting from Skuld, *two* of Ranmira's projections appeared beside Akane. She heard Skuld's startled gasp. Was something wrong? Skuld was watching her sister with concern. Aside from a hint of strain in the way Ranmira was carrying herself, Akane couldn't discern anything out of the ordinary with Ranmira. However, if Ranmira was straining, it would be a good idea to get this training session over with, and soon. She turned her attention back to the bugs... Which didn't move. After a handful of seconds Ranmira fainted, falling over - the bugs fading along with her. "Ranmira-san!" "Oneesama!" Skuld dived to catch Ranmira, while Akane ran to rejoin them. "What's wrong? Is she..." "Shh." The raven-haired Goddess cast a quick spell to bring her sister back to consciousness. Ranmira groaned. ".........I... guess I didn't regain as much strength after that fight as I thought I did..." The concern in Skuld's voice was unmistakable. "You knew you needed to rest. Why did you agree to do this, oneesama? And if you were tired, why create two bugs and then attempt to control them? Surely it can't be easy!" "Yes... it isn't. Akane? Can I... ask a favor of you?" Akane dropped to her knees and moved closer. "...Sure." Pause. "In my pocket. I still have two of the chocolate bars Urd bought for me... after the fight. Could you help me open them, please?" She reached a cautious hand into the pocket she assumed Ranmira had been indicating with her eyes, half-expecting the pocket to be extradimensionally large or something along those lines. It wasn't, at least not as far as she could tell; then again, Ranmira's pockets were probably similar to the place where Akane stored her mallet or hammer - only the person who used that 'storage space' could reach into it. In no time at all Akane had found the candy bars and was unwrapping them. Skuld pulled Ranmira to a short block of polished marble and lifted the other Goddess onto it, bracing Ranmira when she made an effort to sit up. "If you need to rest," said Akane, placing one of the unwrapped bars in Ranmira's hands, "why stop to eat chocolate?" "Akane, always remember that all Goddesses - even candidates such as yourself - have a finite amount of power. If we try to use too much power at once, we become exhausted and need to rest to recover our strength. However, there are... occasionally, things which can give us a boost in power without having to rest. Ranmira's favorite just happens to be chocolate. She's addicted to it," Skuld grinned. "So what's yours?" Skuld's grin lost its strength. "Oh, uh... ah..." "Ice cream," Ranmira commented, taking a smaller bite from her chocolate than Akane had come to expect from Ranma. "She's addicted to it." As Skuld blushed in slight embarrassment, Akane laughed. "...Anyway, we should probably end this practice session. We need to start on the next part of Akane's training. Oneesama, are you sure you'll be all right?" "Yes." Ranmira composed herself. "Shouldn't we be going back to my house, though? I do have school tomorrow and..." Privately, Akane wouldn't have minded missing school for a few days - although she doubted anyone, deity or Mortal, would appreciate her doing so. Even worse... what if she would have to 'transfer' from Fuurinkan High to a school *here*, if that was how it worked? Maybe Kami-sama wouldn't look down on her because of her 'improper birth,' but she had no guarantee any other Goddesses or Gods would react the same. Well, no matter what they threw at her, she was just going to have to weather it and show them just what kind of Goddess she could become. Skuld absently nodded. "That's where we're going. Just remember, you're now 'on call.' And... because I'm going to have to remain close to you while you're training, Akane-chan, they've asked me to enroll in your classes at Fuurinkan High." "I thought you wanted to take a couple of classes at Nekomi, first," quipped Ranmira, smiling. Skuld threw her a curious look. The idea sounded strange to Akane. Skuld, attend her classes at Fuurinkan High? Sure, the Goddess was probably more than eligible to take the classes, but wouldn't the faculty have something to say about a girl who looked to be four or five years younger than expected signing up? That wasn't the real reason Akane was concerned, however. "Um, really? I don't know... it can get pretty weird in our part of the world. And I'm not just talking about all the fights." "We're used to seeing weird things, believe me. You don't have to worry about us." "I guess... I just don't want you to get hurt in all the nonsense that goes on there." "I'm sure we'll be able to handle it. After all, my sister's a martial artist, now!" joked Skuld. Ranmira inhaled. "Ranma's the martial artist, not me." "Fine. Then let *him* handle all the problems." The Goddess of the Future sighed. "Okay, let's get going. I don't want to be late for my first day of school." It went without saying that she didn't want to have to endure high school, given that she felt she was better-suited to a university-level curriculum, yet she did have a responsibility to her new apprentice. Fortunately, neither Akane nor Ranmira seemed to have noticed her discomfort. She shrugged. ** ** ** At the Tendo the home, the phone rang. Nabiki checked the clock in the family room. "One-seventeen in the morning," she grumbled, getting to her feet to answer the phone. "Who the heck calls at one-seventeen in the morning?" That it was late was not surprising to Nabiki - but why was she staying up to wait for Akane when she had been given no indication her younger sister would return anytime soon? She had school in the morning. Most people had already departed for home and bed. Mr. Saotome was likely curled up in his bedroll as a panda by now. Keiichi, Belldandy and Urd had left; she didn't know or care where Kunou was at the moment, and Ryouga had disappeared as well. Not that it mattered much to her at this time of night. Kasumi's voice filtered to her from the kitchen. "I'll answer the phone!" Huh? Kasumi? When had she returned from taking care of their father? Nabiki considered resting her head on her arms and falling asleep at the table. So what if she overslept and missed part of her classes in the morning? School had at once become far less of a concern than it had been earlier in the day... Akane was going to be a Goddess, someone in control of the world in which Nabiki and other Mortals lived, if things worked out well. This was either the best thing to happen to Akane in her life - or the most disastrous. No... she reconsidered that thought. Better to have learned about Akane's potential *now* and taken steps to keep her powers under control than to allow her to discover her powers later in nonstandard ways, with devastating results. "I doubt you'd want to see your sister become a demon, right?" Urd had asked her. She tried to imagine Akane becoming a demon, like that Marller woman... Marller, who was evil enough to inspire an adverse reaction in Belldandy and her sisters at the mention of her name alone - and evil enough to force Ranmira to reveal her presence. Nabiki was willing to bet that Ranmira still wanted to zap Marller if the Goddess had the chance. She wasn't a Goddess herself, Nabiki knew, but what would *she* do if she ever found herself face-to-face with Marller? After all, Marller had put Akane, Kunou and who knew how many others in the area at risk with that stupid sword of evil... "Oh, Nabiki." Nabiki forced her attention away from her musings to look, awkwardly, at her elder sister. She hadn't heard Kasumi approach. "Kasumi-oneechan... who was that on the phone?" Kasumi seemed to be her normal cheerful self, which even at one A.M. in the morning wasn't unusual. "That was Akane on the phone. She wanted to let us know that she and the others will be returning soon." smirked Nabiki. "How soon?" A flash of golden light from the direction of the garden attracted their attention. "Akane said, 'right away.'" Nabiki pursed her lips. "Oh." "Tadaima--!!" Akane and Skuld carried Ranmira into the house on their shoulders. "Dear me!" exclaimed Kasumi. "Are you all right, Ranmira-san?" Akane raised her head, the overhead light playing off her new limiters and spotlighting the triad of markings on her face for Nabiki and Kasumi to see. "She'll be fine. She just needs to rest." After Kasumi helped Skuld and Akane settle Ranmira into a chair at the family-room table, Nabiki pulled her sister aside. "Heh. My sister, the Goddess." Akane smiled. "I'm only a Goddess-in-training, oneechan." "So what happened to Peorth?" Akane's expression abruptly turned dark. "I don't know, and I don't care." With that, she walked back to Ranmira's side. The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps from the hallway broke the silence that followed. "RANMA!" Hibiki Ryouga lunged toward a surprised Ranmira. "I'M GOING TO *KILL* YOU!" (...to be continued...) ------------ Oops. In the previous part, when I mentioned that this story takes place before Volume 22, that was obviously only the Ranma half of the equation. ^_^ In regard to A!MG, I assume this takes place sometime after Volume 11 of the manga. Credits: Written by: Mike Koos Prereaders: Richard Beaubien, Kevin D. Hammel, Jonathan Ng, Shadowmane, Tom Williams, David Wills Special Thanks: Artemis & Luna With apologies to Takahashi Rumiko and Fujishima Kosuke... All parts of this series are available at the RAAC archives at ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works or from my WWW pages at http://www.fanfic.net/~makoto/ Comments and questions welcome. * Mike ('Kino Makoto') Koos: makoto@cal.net * http://www.fanfic.net/~makoto * * "I can do nothing to stop you. Your background music is too strong * for me." - Sam Johnson, Whose Line is it Anyway?