Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

"Ranma?" Cologne asked while waving her hand inches from his face. Growing tired of the boy's lack of response, Cologne reared back and slapped Ranma hard across the face.

Slow at first, but with gaining speed, Ranma's body untensed, his muscles shifting under the skin almost like fluid. His dilated pupils were the last to return to normal, following behind his mouth, which had snapped itself shut.

"Ranma, are you all right?" Cologne hadn't thought it possible for Ranma to react to anything in the manner that he had just displayed. Just to make sure that he hadn't had an aneurysm, she gently probed his brain with wispy fingers of gauzy chi. Nothing was wrong, but the technique only worked on physical ailments.

"Is he insane?" Ranma whispered quietly. "The other girls have probably figured out fifty new ways to kill Margaret that no one ever even imagined. And me? They just skin me alive. No big deal; been expecting it for quite some time."

"Maybe you should lie down, take a nap?" suggested Cologne. Ranma was acting weird, weird even by his standards. He sounded almost hopeless, maybe closer wallowing in despair. Oh, that was a nice thought; Ranma, a young man with way more chi than he knew what to do with, releasing the mother of all Shi Shi Hokodan in an underwater city.

Ranma shrugged and said, "Don't worry about it, Cologne. I'm not going crazy, and I don't really need to take a nap. I slept pretty well last night. What I am going to do, is go back to Tokyo and clear this whole mess up."

Cologne was no longer worried for Ranma; she was frightened for the general populace of Tokyo. She couldn't let Ranma put his own life in danger by exposing himself out in the open, and to his fiancées and enemies, but how could she stop him? He was still inexperienced with subtle magic, and she had a few hundred years of overall combat training, so there was a slim chance that she could take him in a fight; but once again the fact that they were in an underwater city flashed through her mind. Her quarters definitely weren't reinforced like the workout rooms, who knew what could happen?

"Maybe I'll get a chance to kick Kenji's ass. Margaret'll probably be pissed, but if what Lerris said is true, she'll probably forgive me."

"Ranma, you can't go back right now. We still don't know who here is trying to kill you or why, and we know that your presence in Tokyo will only exacerbate the problem the next time you leave." Maybe she could get a sneak attack in while he had his back turned to leave. The best solution would be to simply reroute him through the ring system when he tried to leave. A few days in Hawaii might do him some good.

"Look, Cologne, I know that you're thinking about all the bad stuff that I'm going to cause, but I have to do something. And I'm not scared of the Attendant that wants to kill me. There are at least two dozen other people that want to kill me besides him or her, and they've never managed to get the job done, so why should this one succeed?" Ranma had come to a decision. Margaret really was in danger from his fiancées, Mage or not, and Ryoga would probably try to waste her just for hurting Akane's feelings; and strangely enough, the thought of losing Margaret made his heart hurt and nausea threatened to knock him over. Lerris was really on the money with his predictions.

"The army can just evacuate Tokyo before I leave again. That way no one will go crazy or get hurt when I come to stay here."

"Ranma—"

Ranma cut her off. "And maybe we can figure out who's trying to kill me while I'm in Tokyo. You know, they may come out in the open or something obvious."

Hawaii it was. He would thank her one day. Now all that she had to do was convince him that she wouldn't stop him. "Let's stop by the armory, then. At least we can get you a little more protection."

"I already got the crystal bands. Not that a library of stupid books is gonna do me much good, but it was my choice." Ranma still hadn't told Cologne about the ability to teleport. It was sorta funny. Teleportation was a lost art according to Margaret, but a pair of wrist cuffs designed for an old librarian too old to take care of the Royal Library properly had given him a major advantage over practically everybody.

"Ranma, that was your choice as a focus. There are other enchanted weapons that you could use, but I was thinking more along the lines some lightweight armor for you to wear. Not enough to slow you down, but maybe some protection for your vital areas."

"I don't know… armor isn't really my style." It would be good to have in case someone somehow managed to get a gun in Japan. He was confident that he could dodge a bullet or shield himself from them, but if he was fighting and an unseen gunman shot him in the back while his concentration was focused elsewhere… "On second thought, maybe I should get a little something."

Cologne smiled and nodded. Just keep him comfortable. She would get one of the psychics remaining in Atlantis to take a break from investigating Ranma's attempted murder and have him send the account number of one of her bank accounts. Ranma did deserve a vacation. Hmm, maybe, just maybe, Cynthia could be convinced to send Margaret too.

It took them a quarter of an hour to get to the armory. Cologne led Ranma in through a door that he had walked past at least a dozen times without ever seeing.

Cologne saw his puzzled look and said, "It's a kind of psychic block we keep up to stop small children from wandering in and hurting themselves."

Ranma filed that little tidbit of information away for later. Psychics could hide in a manner that he couldn't detect. The armory surprised Ranma. It was not the one he had first visited. "How many armories are there?"

"A few dozen," Cologne answered. "The one you and Margaret first visited is used to store non-bonded focus objects and unknown magical artifacts. This one holds mainly armor and some high-powered kinetic-force based weapons similar to those used by your newest enemy, but of a magical nature."

The walls were lined with every type of armor Ranma had ever seen and many he hadn't. There were suits of full plate armor like that worn by ancient knights, as well as full samurai gear. Ranma was looking for something a little more understated, so his eye barely stopped over them. The farther into the corridor-like room that Cologne led him the closer they got to what Ranma was looking for. Now there were wooden dummies with partial armor plate/mail combinations. He didn't want shoulder pads or hip guards, ruling out the latest batch. By the time they reached the far end of the room the armor no longer hung on dummies. They were simply laid out on small racks.

"Ranma, we can go to another of the armories, but the selection will be similar to this one," Cologne said exasperatedly. By the time Ranma actually made his mind up, Tokyo would be back to normal.

Ranma finally spotted something he could work with. It was simply designed, but very impressive looking black metal inlaid with gold. There were a pair of arm bracers, greaves to protect his shins, and an intricately linked set of small metal plates that formed a shirt that looked like the scales of a reptile, a really big black and gold reptile. There was also a crown thing, but he just left that on the rack.

"Very nice. I'm glad that you found something you liked." Took him long enough.

"It is what I was looking for, but doesn't it seem a little thin to you?" Ranma asked while he strapped the greaves on over his clothes. He was pleased to see that the inside of the armor was padded leather.

"This isn't normal, everyday combat armor, Ranma. Everything in this room is enchanted to withstand practically any form of mundane assault. They are more vulnerable to magic, but there is nothing immune to magic."

Ranma's cuffs fit easily under the bracers and the scale shirt of armor fit as comfortably as his normal silk shirts did. "Okay, that should do it. I don't look goofy or stupid, do I?" Ranma asked, turning in a little circle so that Cologne could get a better view of him.

Cologne smirked and picked up the circlet. She fit it on his head and said, "There, you look very dashing."

Ranma had no idea what 'dashing' meant, but he did know that he wasn't going to wear the crown.

Before Ranma could take it off, Cologne said. "If you want the armor to be anything more than simple metal, you have to wear it, too, to complete the enchantment." Cologne looked at a small plate anchored to the rack that Ranma had taken the armor from. "Are you going to want any weapons?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nah. If it's anything like that sword Kuno had, I could accidentally kill someone."

Sound reasoning. "I'll accompany you to a ring room."

"Waaaaahhhhh, my daughter hates me!!! Waaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!" wailed Soun as Genma led him out of the tent.

"Calm down, Tendo, we'll get this all straightened out. We've just got to get hold of my sorry excuse for a son and this whore he's shacked up with, and lay down the law. As soon as I start questioning Ranma's honor and calling him a girl, he'll give in."

"Waaaaahhhhhhh!!! You're so much smarter than me, waaaaahhhhhh!!!"

Genma began the mental exercises necessary to tune out his friend’s wailing, but a loud clearing of the throat, the kind used to get someone's attention, drew Genma's attention just like it was meant to.

"Why, hello there. My name's Kenji, and I couldn't help but hear you talking about my daughter."

Seeing as how the man had been polite and hadn't demanded vengeance for stealing from him like so many strangers did, Genma responded in kind, "No, sir, I'm afraid that you're mistaken."

"Oh, no, I'm afraid that I'm not mistaken. You see, my daughter just happens to be married to your 'sorry excuse for a son', so that would make her 'the whore', right?" Small arcs of electricity were running up and down Kenji's arms by now, and his eyes were shining just a little more than could be explained by the light of the setting sun striking them.

Genma gulped. This was one of those times where defending one's honor came second, with survival winning first. He let the still wailing Soun fall unsupported to the ground and was halfway turned around before the first whip of electricity fell across his back. "Oooooooooowwwwwwww!" he screamed.

From his rooftop perch, Ryoga shuddered in sympathy for whatever animal was being tortured. He would have helped it if he could, but the chances of getting off the roof and across the city were slim. He'd likely end up in Tibet again like yesterday. Thankfully it had only taken an hour to find his way back.

Ms. Mizuno had taken up working in one of the hospital tents as a way to pass the time. Juuban General had been overrun by people from the neighboring Paranormal Containment wing. She had just finished bandaging a small boy’s arm, after stitching up the gash he had received when he had tripped into a pile of broken glass. "There you go. Your mother is waiting outside, so run along." She gave the brave little boy a lollipop before he left.

She had not taken another breath before a trio of soldiers carried in what appeared to be a twitching mass of undercooked meat. The tattered and burnt clothes hinted that it may have been human, but all the smoke was to obscuring to make any guesses concrete.

"Get a fan in here. I need to be able to see what I'm doing." She also didn't particularly care for the scent of roasted human.

Cologne said, "Since you haven't got much experience with the rings, I'll take care of designating your arrival destination. Where exactly do you want to appear?"

"Just drop me off at Furinkan," Ranma said. He was going over what he was going to say to everyone when he showed up after disappearing and getting a wife.

Cologne didn't have to worry about Ranma seeing her key him in to Hawaii since there was no readout display on the rings. She added a day to his travel time so that she could check with Cynthia about sending Margaret. It could be like a little honeymoon.

When Cologne was finished, Ranma stepped through the ring after saying, "Thanks a lot, Cologne."

That made her feel a little guilty, but she reminded herself that it was for Ranma's own good.

Satisfied that his relationship with his fellow father-in-law had been firmly established, Kenji went to wash the smell of burnt hair and skin off. Kami knew that Cynthia had blasted him through the roof the last time he had come home with that particular fragrance floating about him.

This time he thought that she might have understood, seeing as how he had been defending his daughter's honor, but it wasn't worth the risk.

To be continued.

Author's Notes: I know that this is a really short chapter, but it felt like a good place to stop and I wanted Ranma's return to Tokyo to be the beginning of the next chapter.

Oh, yeah, another thing. I released a lot of other fics that I never finished or hadn't worked on in a while, but there were too many, counting the ones I'm working on now, to continue them all, so could you, my loyal readers, tell me your favorites out of them? Whichever gets the most responses will be the one I try to add to my current work list.

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Last revision: May 21, 2007