Ukyo was at a complete loss. Ranma really was only a girl because of a Jusenkyo curse? This wasn't a dream? But his father had said … did that mean the man had been tricked? No, as Ukyo's mind tried desperately to make sense of things, a more likely picture started to form. His father had known the truth but lied to Ukyo. Looked like his father was due for his own thrashing when Ukyo got back.

He knew Ukyo wasn't about to forgive Ranma and wanted to make him out to be the victim to win Ukyo's sympathy. Because of him Ukyo had humiliated himself spreading lies to Ranma's friends. Because of him … well, Ukyo had reconnected with Ranma and actually become his partner. Okay, maybe his father deserved enough credit to spare him a beating, but he was still going to get a talking to. The result was one thing, but Ukyo didn't like being lied to regardless.

Ranma's father, on the other hand, wasn't getting off easy. He might not have ruined Ranma's life after all, but he'd still ruined Ukyo's.

"Looks like my disguise is all set too," Ranma said proudly looking over his now male body.

"Aww, you're going to stay like that? You were cuter the other way."

Ukyo almost panicked for a moment thinking his frazzled mind had betrayed him into saying something like that, but it was Konoka that had spoken. Although Ukyo did eagerly watch Ranma to see how he'd react to that. Ukyo wasn't going to come right out and say it like that, but he did at least share in the sentiment.

"You don't have your tail or cat ears this way," Konoka continued before Ranma could respond. Wait, that's what she was concerned about?

"Yeah, I might actually miss those a bit myself," Ranma admitted. "Going to be hard to get used to not having them."

"So, why are you so tan in your real form?" Ukyo asked. It may have been an odd thing to focus on right now, but he was still curious about that little detail. "You didn't get cursed right after sunbathing or something, did you?"

Would that even carry over after all that time? His body had obviously gotten older.

"Beats me," Ranma answered simply. "Magic is weird, I guess."

"Side effect of all that demonic energy," Chao then explained.

"Hmm, well, it doesn't really bother me," Ranma said. "Any other side effects I should know about though?"

"There might be one or two. I wouldn't worry about it too much though."

"If you say so," Ranma agreed easily. "I guess we should plan out what we'll do from here."

"Wait, you're just going to accept it like that?" Ukyo protested. "Chao's telling you demonic energy affected you enough to change the color of your skin, and you're not even going to try to press her about what else might have happened?"

"If Chao doesn't want to talk about things, it's hard to get them out of her," Ranma answered with a shrug. "Besides, I feel fine, so I'm not too worried."

"Yeah, and Chao would tell us if there was anything dangerous about it," Konoka agreed. "So I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

Those two were being far too easygoing about this. Ukyo wanted to keep arguing, but looking at them, he didn't think there was any way he'd win this one.

"Fine, let's move on to the planning then," Ukyo conceded. Still, he didn't trust Chao as much as they seemed to, so he'd keep an extra close watch on Ranma to make sure everything was fine.

They didn't want to be too easy for Ranma's family to find, so they skipped the closest towns and set off for a city their map showed being not too far from where they'd camped out for the night. Konoka didn't have any real disguise, but thankfully at least still had the hooded robe she'd been given when they first crossed over to this world. Good thing too, given how their wanted posters were plastered up were you'd have to be blind to miss them right at the entrance to town.

"Che, Fate must be obsessed with Negi or something. No way he deserves a larger bounty than me," Ranma complained as he tore the poster free. "You sure you can't just tell us where to find everyone Chao?"

"I've already told you more than I should about the future," the ermine replied. "Besides, I can't even be certain how much of it is still the same."

"Can't you at least give us a hint?" Konoka urged her. "This is a pretty big world, and it could take a long time to find everyone."

"Oh, fine, a little hint," Chao agreed. "Negi should be hard at work tracking everyone down. I expect you'll hear from him before too long whatever you do."

"What about my dad, or Negi's?" Ranma asked. "Any more clues about that?"

"I really don't know any more than I told you about your father," she said. "He ends up an arena fighter at some point, but I don't know where, and I don't know when he actually starts. Although if he's already fighting, it's probably in his cursed form. Your family really didn't seem to know where he was, and I think they'd have heard something if Genma was fighting in his own form."

"The coward is probably just using the curse as a way to hide," Ukyo said bitterly.

"Or he just got locked in the form like I was," Ranma countered, defending his father. Still, seeing the stubborn look in Ukyo's eye decided to change the subject before he really got going on it. "Well, let's ask around town and see if anyone knows anything. I don't want to just sit here waiting to be found."

Their group quickly found a bar of some sort and entered. Seemed like a good place to start asking. Giving a quick glance to Konoka to make sure she was hiding under her hood, he walked up to the bartender, passing over the wanted list he'd recently torn down.

"Know where I might find any of these people?" Ranma asked.

"More bounty hunters?" the bartender asked with a bit of sigh. "I don't know anything about them, and I'm sure any of them that had set foot in these parts would already be captured by now."

"Well then, heard anything about a panda man fighting in the arenas?" Ranma asked changing direction toward finding his father.

"Panda man?" the bartender asked in confusion.

What did the Magic World not have any pandas? "Black and white bear," Ranma added, hoping they at least knew what a bear was. He had to wait a moment for a reply as a large bald guy next to him slapped down some money for the bartender and got up to leave, taking the man's attention away from Ranma.

"Afraid I never really followed the fighting leagues," the bartender said with a shrug, after counting out the payment, apparently satisfied he hadn't been stiffed. "Haven't heard of any bounty like that either. Just get added?"

"This one is … uh … personal," Ranma replied. "Well, thanks anyway."

Their group then left the bar, a bit dejected they hadn't turned up anything. Ranma didn't really have any experience tracking someone down, and wasn't even sure how to start.

"So where do we go from here?" Ranma asked, as they milled around outside the bar.

Before anyone could make a suggestion, they had to part a path for that same bald guy that just left, Ranma getting a good look at the man's scarred face this time, even despite the glare of the sun off the pale dome of his head. Must have forgotten something. Only as he walked past, he casually reached up and flipped off Konoka's hood.

"I thought as much," he said.

"What are you doing?" Ranma demanded already moving to place himself between Konoka and the man … only the ground started to glow around their whole group and suddenly Ranma found himself frozen dead in his tracks.

"I can't move!" Ukyo cried out, hand frozen to the giant spatula he'd been in the process of pulling out.

"Sorry, I should have seen this coming," Chao then said from his shoulder.

As much as he struggled, Ranma couldn't move his body either. Breathing and talking seemed about all he was capable of. Frantically he tried to look for a way out, instead he spotted two other men approaching that clearly didn't look like they planned to come to their aid. There was also a robed guy with a staff standing on a building across the way. That mage was clearly channeling something, and Ranma would bet anything he was responsible for them being stuck like this. Now he just needed to figure out a way to do something about that.

"Listen kid," the bald guy said to Ranma. "You've probably got some talent if you actually managed to land a prize bounty like this, but you've obviously got a lot to learn about the business. For starters, don't go parading around your score. Hiding like she was behind that hood, it couldn't have been more obvious if you'd had a big glowing sign announcing who she was. Just collect your bounty and then go after your next mark."

"You'll be sorry if you don't let me go right now!" Ranma shouted back angrily, getting only a loud guffaw from the man.

"Look, I like you kid, so how about a small payment in exchange for your prize," he said, but Ranma couldn't care less about that right now as one of the man's companions, a guy so short Ranma would have thought he was a kid if weren't for the curly red mustache, had grabbed Konoka and was starting to drag her away.

[I'm going to need to borrow your power again,] Ranma told Ranko.

[Coming right up,] she replied, thankfully not protesting at all this time. She must have realized just how urgent the situation was.

"I believe I saw that arena fighter of yours," the bald guy continued. "He's no value to me without a bounty, so I don't see any reason not to help you out there."

But Ranma had just received the burst of demonic energy from Ranko, and pushing everything he had into fighting whatever was holding him in place, he felt something snap and his leg was smashing into the side of the guy's head. He was out cold even before he went spinning and tumbling down the street. The slimeball holding Konoka had just enough time to bring his arms up to try to defend himself before he met a similar fate.

Then Ranma was bounding up to roof to where that mage was trying to cast some sort of spell at him, but with all the extra power Ranma was holding on to right now, he was easily able to get there before the spell was finished. Getting a good look now, Ranma was able to see it was actually a young woman under the robes, but that didn't stop Ranma from tearing the staff away from her and giving her a good enough clonk over the head to make sure she wouldn't be casting any more spells for a while.

It did bring up bad memories of being on the receiving end of blows like that during the training with Cologne, but Ranma quickly shook them from his mind jumping back down and advancing on the final member of the gang that had set up this little ambush. Seeing his companions taken out so quickly and with a now free Ukyo looking ready to get a little payback the guy already had his hands up in the air.

"I surrender!" he announced loudly.

Given how pathetic the guy looked, Ranma figured he was more likely to piss himself than try anything, so he held up on any further attacks. It was almost embarrassing, the guy had graying hair and looked like a fighter who had been around the block a few times. He should have a little dignity. For a moment, he thought Ukyo wasn't going to be as forgiving, but he reluctantly let it go.

"Ranma," Konoka called out, running up to him now that she was free. "Why didn't you wait a little longer? He was about to tell you about your father."

"Don't be stupid!" Ranma snapped, frustration at being caught in this trap and putting them all in danger spilling over a bit. "I'm not just going to sit around and let them do who-knows-what to you."

Ranma immediately felt bad for that little outburst, and was thinking he should probably apologize or something, but before he could, Konoka got a big grin on her face and engulfed Ranma in a surprise hug.

"Thank you," Konoka told him, still not releasing Ranma from the hug. "I'm really glad you're such a good person, Ranma."

He didn't know why she was so happy when she'd just got yelled at, but Ranma was glad she was taking it so well. He'd have felt like a heel if he'd upset the girl when Konoka had done so much for him lately. If he had to put up with an awkward public hug that Konoka seemed to have no intention to let up on, well, that was the least he could do. Wasn't even that bad, really.

"*Ahem*, maybe this guy knows something about your father," Ukyo cut in sounding a bit annoyed for some reason as he pointed to the still cowering fighter, who actually stumbled and fell over on his back trying to retreat away from the advancing Ukyo.

"If he does, he'd better speak up," Chao declared, the ermine crawling onto the fallen man's chest and staring down into his eyes.

"The only town we've been to lately with an arena league is Aethiopis!" the man quickly answered. "If the boss saw him anywhere, it was probably there!"

Konoka had finally released Ranma, letting him walk over to where the man was being questioned, but Ukyo and Chao had it pretty well covered with their bad cop/bad cop routine.

"You're not just trying to lead us into another trap, are you?" Ukyo asked dangerously.

"Yeah, maybe we should drag him along so he can be there if anything goes wrong," Chao suggested.

"I swear I'm not lying!" the man insisted. "And I'm worthless to you anyway, but … that's it, the boss! He has a bounty on him! This isn't the first time he's attacked other bounty hunters, and it got a price on his own head! Turn him in for some extra cash, but let me go!"

"Fine. Get out of here," Ranma told the man, despite the almost disappointed looks on the two girls that had been running the interrogation. "Just don't let me see your face again."

The man needed no further encouragement, and scrambled to his feet, taking off running.

"Since we don't have any other leads, any objections with making Aethiopis our next stop?" Ranma asked. Getting none, they made plan for their journey. Just one thing to do first.

Ranma kind of wished he could have stayed to see the face of the bounty hunter once he'd woken up to find himself in custody. Still, didn't want to risk him squealing about Konoka while they were still in the area. Sadly, the bounty hadn't been all that big, but at least they had some of the local currency. The bigger worry though was making sure there wasn't another bounty hunter going after Konoka.

Ranma kind of wished he'd had more practice illusion magic, but the best he could do right now was right now was reverse the spell he usually used on himself and make it look like Konoka had animal ears and a tail. Konoka sure seemed to like the look, but it didn't do a thing to change her face, so Ranma had his doubts it would be all that effective.

They were here at Aethiopis now though, so they'd have to hope for the best. Looking around the city, it was certainly no Tokyo, but a decent sized place nonetheless. As eager as he was to find his father though, his previous worries were still bothering him, so he sent Ukyo on ahead to use some of their new money on a room at an inn where Konoka could stay hidden away while they searched. Unfortunately, Konoka wasn't too thrilled with this plan.

"But I want to come too!" Konoka protested loudly. "I want to be there when you're reunited with your father!"

"But what if you're recognized?" Ranma argued. "We could end up walking into another trap."

"You protected me last time," she countered. "I'm sure you could do it again."

"Even if everything did work out, I really don't want to have to explain to Setsuna why I put you into so much danger. She'd blow a gasket or something."

"Secchan wouldn't get mad at you," Konoka insisted, but a lot of the fight did seem to go out of her.

"This really is for the best," Chao added, Ranma being grateful for the assist. "And we'll meet up with you as soon as we can."

Ukyo chose that moment to return, running up to where the group was waiting on the edge of town. "I got the room," he announced, holding up the key.

"Great. Lead the way," Ranma said. "Let's get this over with quickly and quietly."

Heading into the town, Ukyo led them through a few back alleys until they got to an inn near the edge of town. Ranma ushered Konoka in after Ukyo, trying to shield her from view without looking too suspicious. Halfway to the stairs though, Konoka stopped in her tracks.

"Hold on–" she began, only to be cut off by Chao, as their former classmate jumped up on the girl's shoulder.

"Don't make a scene," Chao told her.

"But–" Konoka protested only to have Ukyo grab her arm and start pulling her up the stairs. Ukyo quickly unlocked the door and practically shoved a still resisting Konoka inside. Ranma quickly followed inside, hoping to calm the girl who seemed to be having second thoughts about staying behind again.

"But your father—" Konoka protested, annoyance very clear now.

"I promise will find him as quickly as we can," Ranma assured her. "And then we'll come right back here. If anything happens before then, just summon me with the pactio card. Don't even bother to explain."

"Fine," Konoka agreed, although it was clear she was pouting now. Ranma actually had to resist smiling at the sight which probably would have only made the situation worse. Besides, he did feel a bit guilty about leaving her like this. But what choice did they have.

Well, now to hurry off before she changed her mind again. After all these years, it was finally time to find his father again.

Genma had a bit of a problem. He was decidedly too sober considering the rough fight he'd just had in the arena that day. He'd promised before he'd gone out not to put anything on a tab, this time, but his resolve was fast wavering. Not one person had taken him up on the 'buy the victorious fighter a drink' angle today, so he'd been forced to move on to his fallback. Unfortunately, the old picture he'd saved of his son rarely worked very well in his cursed form, why would a bear man have a human son after all?

Since this didn't seem to be one of the exceptions, he was considering leaving and trying another place. But that would be less time for drinking before curfew. This whole slavery thing really was just one huge hassle. Maybe he should just start up a tab after all. He might be able to keep that little indiscretion a secret, and after all, he deserved this after a hard day's work, right?

Before he could decide what to do a dark-haired girl walked up and grabbed the picture he'd been showing around to the other patrons. She looked way too young to be in a place like this, until Genma remembered this place doubled as an inn. Hard to forget that after the time he'd woken up after getting a little too drunk to find himself stuffed in a bed and charged for a night's stay as well.

"This is your son?" the girl asked. "What's his name?"

"Ranma," he announced, "he's my pride and joy, and probably right around your age right now."

He saw the girl's face light up at that. Maybe he'd be getting a drink out of this after all.

"I have something important to discuss about your son," the girl then told him eagerly.

Uh oh. Warning signs were starting to blare in Genma's head. A drink was one thing, but she was getting way too into this. It was looking very much like she was one of those girls that wouldn't ever leave him alone. This might be more trouble than it was worth. Perhaps he should let her down gently before she became too obsessed.

"I should warn you that the boy has a fiancée," Genma told her. Seeing her face fall Genma tried to quickly tried to reel her back in, hoping to still get something out of this. "Of course they're not married yet or anything, so if you just wanted a date or something, I'm sure Ranma would give you a very memorable one."

Genma didn't think she'd heard a word he said after that first bit. She looked downright devastated. He was obviously right to have put the brakes on this before it got out of hand, but it looked like she'd now become a dead end as far as funding was concerned. Still, it was probably for the best. Didn't want any other complications for the future Saotome/Tendo pact.

On the other hand, supposedly very few people from this world ever traveled to the other one. So once he got home, he'd probably never see her again. So if you looked at it that way, it wasn't really much of a problem at all.

"No need to get so depressed," Genma told her, putting a hand on her shoulder in hopes she'd actually listen this time. "That was just an offhand comment before he was even born between two old friends who had far too much to drink."

"Wait, so he doesn't have a fiancée?" she quickly asked, looking very worried about what the answer might be.

"I don't think you could really call that any sort of binding agreement," he said. "Tendo probably doesn't even remember. So if you wanted to discuss other arrangements, I would be neglecting my duties as a father if I didn't consider them."

"What do you mean, 'other arrangements?'" she asked.

"Huh? Aren't you interested in my son?" Genma asked in confusion. "You were so eager I was sure you wanted to set something up between you."

What had she wanted to talk about if not that? Although she certainly looked intrigued by the suggestion now that Genma had brought it up.

"Actually, I do have a friend that would be just perfect for something like that," she told him. "But I've never done something like this before. I'm not sure exactly how it goes."

"I'd be happy to discuss the details," Genma told her, trying to get to the payoff. "But it's rather thirsty work, and I'm afraid I'm short on funds right now."

"Will this be enough for that?" the girl asked, holding out some coins that Genma quickly estimated would be enough for several rounds.

"Enough to get started anyway," Genma assured her as he swiped the coins, almost rushing up to the bartender with them. If he played his cards right, there may even be more where that came from. Looks like he might be keeping his promise after all.

It had been very easy for Ranma to get a lead on his father's location. First place they'd asked for a fighter that matched the description of his cursed form had gotten three people telling him he was on a team owned by a Mr. Moretti. One of them had even pointed them to the estate. Of course, getting in the front gate proved to be the real issue. Ranma had been arguing with the guards for close to half an hour and some messages had been sent back and forth, but they still wouldn't open up.

"Can't you at least tell me if he's even in there?" Ranma complained, at this point really tempted to just force his way in.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Moretti is out of town at the moment, and I can't allow anything of the sort without his approval," the man insisted, sounding more annoyed than truly sorry.

Ranma then spotted another man, this one in a butler outfit walking toward the gate from the entrance to the estate and hoped this one would be bringing a useful message. Although now that Ranma saw him, he actually looked familiar. Wracking his brain he finally placed the man just as he reached the gate.

"You're the Jusenkyo guide!" Ranma said excitedly when he saw him.

"Yes, how do you know that?" The man asked, his Japanese much improved since the last time Ranma had met him.

"It's me, Ranma," he announced, hoping the man remembered him as well.

"Ah!" he said in surprise. "I heard someone was asking after Genma, but I didn't expect it would be you! I'll be right out."

He quickly got the guards to open the gate for him and walked out to their small group. "I assume you are looking for your father?" the man asked.

"Yes, is he in there?" Ranma questioned him.

"No, he's out drinking," the man replied. "Probably putting it on a tab again, despite what he promised."

"Spending money he doesn't have getting drunk?" Ukyo asked. "Let me guess, then he runs off without ever paying?"

"Hey, my father wouldn't do that!" Ranma protested then turned to the Jusenkyo guide. "Tell him."

"It's not like he steals from them," the man explained. "Mr Moretti will pay any tab he creates in town. He just charges an exorbitant fee for the 'service.' It's his way of making sure your father never buys his freedom no matter how much his prize winnings are."

"That sounds awfully dirty," Ranma said darkly, wondering if he needed to have a 'talk' with this guy when he got back.

"Yes, I've never known any slave of his to actually pay off their debt," the man told him. "I know if it weren't the tab he would probably just find some other excuse to keep him in debt. I just wish your father wouldn't make it so easy for him."

"Well, do you know where he is or when he'll be back?" Ranma asked hopefully, not liking this delay at all when he was finally so close.

[Ranma, I found your father,] he heard Konoka speak into his mind. [He's here at the inn.]

"He's back at the inn?" Ranma replied, as much from pure surprise as it was for the benefit of the rest of the group.

[Yes, I'm summoning you now. And don't worry, I made sure he didn't have too much to drink first,] she said as Ranma felt himself being teleported again. Soon, he was back at the inn, standing in the room they'd gotten for Konoka with the girl in question standing next to a large panda-man.

"Pops?" Ranma asked hopefully.

"Took you long enough to get here," his father replied. "You must have been slacking on your training. To think my own son would care so little about his father."

His words may have been spoken as sternly as the man could manage, but Ranma's eyes managed to pick up some moisture in his father's eyes even if his own vision might have gotten just a bit distorted right then.

"I've been training plenty hard," Ranma insisted. "You won't be disappointed. It's a bit strange seeing you in your cursed form though. You aren't stuck like that, are you?"

"Oh, yes, maybe this would be better," Genma said, suddenly changing into his human form, despite not having any water on him.

"How did you do that?" Ranma asked in surprise. "And can you teach me?"

"Something North did in his experiments," he told Ranma. "I may have picked up a bit of magic here, but I don't have a clue how he did it. Water still changes me whether I like it or not, but I can change on my own if I put some effort into it."

Ranma cursed his luck that the man couldn't have done the same thing to him instead of going the other direction with his curse, but at least that part was over, so no use worrying too much about it now. Instead, he should just be happy to have found his father.

"Come on, hug or something," Konoka prodded them, after the two had just been standing there at a loss of words for a bit too long for her tastes.

"Come now, girl. We're men. We don't need displays of emotion like that to convey our feelings," his father boasted, his words maybe a bit hurt by the fact that he had to wipe some tears from his eyes at the same moment.

Ranma was actually seriously considering taking her advice anyway when the door flew open and Ukyo charged in, battle spatula already drawn. Wow. He'd sure gotten back quickly. Ukyo swung it at the older man, who despite his surprise, managed to just barely evade the swing. Ranma wondered if he should step in as Ukyo continued to press his assault. On the other hand, he just recalled there was someone else who might not be too happy to see Ranma's father.

[Hey, Ranko], Ranma called out. [You've been awfully quiet lately. This isn't hard on you or anything, is it?]

Even if he didn't know what he was doing, Ranma's father kind of was the man that had sealed her inside Ranma.

[I want you to give him one good punch for my sake, Nii-san] Ranko answered.

The request surprised Ranma a bit. He didn't really want to attack his old man after just finding him again, but it was just one punch. Ranko deserved that much. So Ranma waited until a moment for his father to be distracted dealing with another swing from Ukyo's spatula to charge in and land a punch right in the larger man's gut that doubled him over. What's more, the surprise attack left him unable to avoid Ukyo's blow as the flat of his spatula slammed down hard over the man's head. Ranma had done his duty, but now stood between Genma and Ukyo, making sure his friend stopped his assault.

[Feel better now?] Ranma asked Ranko.

[I didn't even really care,] Ranko replied. [I just wanted to see if you'd do it. I thought you would, probably.]

Ugh. It seemed his inner demon was as unpredictable as ever. But at least it was good news that this wasn't stressing her out too much. It looked like he had enough on his plate convincing Ukyo not to kill the man. Looking at the boy's face, this might prove quite the challenge.

"What was that for?" Genma asked with a groan, rubbing at his head as he stood back up.

"You deserved that much," Ranma answered, "but you got in your revenge, Ukyo. So leave it at that."

"Ukyo?" Genma, looking a bit nervous. "As in Kuonji Ukyo? I knew that spatula looked familiar."

"That's right, Genma," Ukyo practically spat. "And it'll take a lot more than that to make up for running out on me and everything else he's done."

"Now, now, I can explain," he quickly replied, looking to Ranma as much as Ukyo. "His … um … weren't you a girl?"

"Jusenkyo, but don't worry about that," Ukyo said. "I want to hear your sorry excuse for … well … an excuse."

"Ranma, you have to understand, his father was talking all sorts of crazy stuff about magic and partners," he began. "Well, I guess it doesn't seem so crazy now, but at the time, he sounded like a real nut job."

"That's my father you're talking about," Ukyo said dangerously, as he was disappointed to see Ranma to reposition as Ukyo tried to circle around him to get at the man Ranma was protecting.

"Magic does sound crazy if you don't know it really exists," Konoka said diplomatically. "I'm sure that's all Mr. Saotome was trying to say."

"Exactly," Genma agreed. "He sounded completely deranged and obsessed with Ranma. So it was for the boy's own safety that I had to get him out of there."

"And taking our yatai without fulfilling your end of the bargain was part of keeping him safe?" Ukyo raged.

"Boy had to eat," he said with a shrug. "Besides, you're both here, why not just do that partner thing now?"

"We already have," Ukyo informed him smugly.

"See? Then no harm no foul, right?" although his words did nothing to calm Ukyo.

"You think you can wipe away all my years of suffering, just like that?"

"Come on Ukyo, you got in a good blow, and my old man's right about it working out. Can't you just leave it at that, for my sake?" Ranma pleaded.

Ukyo was conflicted. This was a direct request from Ranma, and he knew how much Ranma had been looking forward to seeing his father again. But there was no way his vengeance would be sated with just that. Still, he just couldn't bring himself to say no to Ranma right now.

"Fine, I'll let of the hook for now," Ukyo agreed. "But I'll be keeping an eye on you."

Meeting the man again made Ukyo all the more certain he was as slimy as Ukyo had always knew he was. Ranma could have his reunion tonight, but there was no way the man wouldn't mess up again and give him an excuse for his real vengeance.

So that's what Ukyo did, staying back and watching like a hawk as the two caught up. It grated on his nerves to see the man enjoying himself, even if, after hearing the two talk, he did had to admit that Genma probably really had been ignorant of magic the last time they'd met.

"As much as I'd love to continue this all night, I really do need to get back before I get charged for being late," Genma finally announced. "Besides, I have another fight tomorrow, assuming Mr. Moretti finds me a new partner."

"Something happen to your old one?" Ranma asked.

"Got injured in today's fight," Genma replied with a shrug.

"Well, maybe I could be your partner," Ranma suggested eagerly. "We could show them what a pair of Saotome men can do."

"Hmm, it would give me a chance to see how seriously you really have been taking your training," Genma agreed. "Alright. I'll see what I can do. Rest up and come prepared for a fight. As easy as it would be for me to win on my own, I'm not going to coddle you. I'll expect you to pull your weight."

"You don't have to worry about that," Ranma assured him.

Once Genma left, actually getting that sleep wasn't quite as simple as that. There was a bit of a long 'discussion' about sleeping arrangements, and the only compromise they could finally all accept was that they'd all share the single room they originally paid for. Konoka got the bed, while Ranma and Ukyo settled in on different parts of the floor.

Ukyo slept very lightly, making sure to redirect Konoka back to the bed whenever she got up, much to the girl's consternation, but she must have been working on her stealth during the night, because when morning came, Ukyo woke to find Chao with the whole bed to herself and Konoka curled up against a still sleeping Ranma.

Ukyo quickly marched up, grabbed the girl by the back of her shirt and practically tossed her back on to the bed, just missing a startled Chao as both the girls were woken up by the action. Even Ranma started to stir a bit, and was quickly brought to full wakefulness by a knock at the door.

"Is there a Ranma here?" an unfamiliar male voice called out from the other side.

"Yeah, I'm here," Ranma answered, opening the door just a crack and peeking out.

"I'm here on behalf of Mr. Moretti," the voice answered. "We have to discuss the terms of your participation as a temporary member of the arena team he owns."

"So you'll let me fight?" Ranma asked, now opening the door enough to let the man in. He was a tall, well-built man in a black suit, a fashion that had until Ukyo hadn't seen on this side of the portal.

"With a couple of conditions," the man answered. "This is Mr. Moretti's team, so all winnings will belong to him. We're allowing this as a favor to you and Genma, so there will be no compensation for you."

"That's fine," Ranma agreed. "As long as I get to fight."

"Additionally, it should be noted that a loss due to your own failures in the arena would cause Mr. Moretti to lose out on potential winnings, so in that case, you would be responsible for paying back the prize money a win would have generated."

"Wait, so Ranma gets nothing if he wins and has to pay you if he loses?" Ukyo complained. "How is that fair?"

"I wasn't planning on losing anyway," Ranma declared confidently. "I'm in. You need me to sign something?"

"No need; a verbal agreement is plenty," he answered. "Very few people try to back out on a deal with Mr. Moretti, and none of them do a second time. You have three hours to get to the arena. Make any preparations necessary before then."

He then let himself out and shut the door behind him. Ukyo didn't like the guy or the agreement he'd pushed Ranma into, but as long as Genma didn't ruin things for him, Ukyo trusted that they wouldn't end up owing any money.

"Guess I should grab some grub and then start warming up," Ranma announced. "You want something from downstairs, Konoka? I can get you something for lunch too. I don't know how long we'll be out."

"What? You're not going to leave me behind again, are you?" Konoka protested.

"Your bounty didn't disappear overnight," Chao pointed out, earning the ermine a scowl from Konoka.

Unsurprisingly, convincing Konoka wasn't a simple task. In fact, even with the three hours they'd been given, Ranma barely ended up with any time to warm up before he was due at the arena. Then they realized they didn't even know where Ranma was supposed to go. They were starting to worry he might be late before they finally worked it out and parted ways. With Chao riding along on his shoulder, Ukyo then went to try to buy a ticket, quickly spotting a line she assumed was to buy them. Especially given a very familiar robe he spotted on someone already standing there.

Letting out a sigh, Ukyo walked up the figure. "If you insist on being here, we may as well stick together," Ukyo announced, being treated to a slightly chagrined Konoka turning to look at him.

"I just had to see Ranma fight," she replied as way of explanation.

"You really should be more careful, but at least try not to make a scene,' Chao warned her.

Soon enough their group was through the line and spending too much of their little remaining cash for Ukyo's liking on tickets to the event. They did get some seats pretty close to the front though seeing as the arena wasn't all that full. Although they soon had a familiar face seated behind them as the same man from earlier this morning sat down.

"What are you doing here?" Ukyo asked sourly.

"You and your friends don't really look like the types that could afford to pay if you mess this fight up," he answered, pointing off into the stands. "Mr. Moretti just wants me to make sure you don't try anything foolish like running out on a debt."

He was pointing at a cordoned off section of the area with an actual table. There sat a thin, graying man in a pinstripe suit and holding a cane with gems big enough for Ukyo to see from here. He was being served food and drink by two well-endowed and rather scantily dressed women while a several more hired muscle stood around guarding him. That must be the infamous Mr. Moretti.

"Ranma won't lose," Konoka insisted. "So stay here and watch if you want."

Even when it was about time to start, the arena barely had a third of the seats filled, but they were treated to more company as a young black-haired girl around his age hurried up to him.

"Mind if we sit here?" she asked.

"We're here to watch the fight, not chase whatever guy happened to catch your eye," a blonde girl told around the same age told her as she walked up.

"Maybe you are," the first girl said as she sat down next to him, despite Ukyo not having replied yet, "but why would I want to see some fat old bear fight?"

"Because he's one of the best fighters in the league," the blonde girl said. "If his team could find a proper partner for him, he'd probably have a couple of championships already."

Ukyo wasn't quite sure how to react to the two cute girls that had sat down next to him, one of which was clearly showing interest in him, but thankfully, he didn't have to worry about it for long as the announcer was now introducing the sides.

"We have an exciting match for you today, with two of our top ursine fighters clashing in a huge rematch," he declared, trying to fire up the audience. "If you'll recall, Genma lost to the then newcomers in a surprise upset, but he's hoping time and a new partner will redeem him in this match. So let's meet our competitors."

Genma and Ranma walked in from one side, while from the other side came an unarmed brown colored bear demi-human that looked about half again as large as Genma's cursed form. Next to him walked a sword wielding human that was nearly as big. Both were heavily muscled and certainly looked intimidating.

"Looks like they just grabbed some kid off the street to be his partner," the blonde girl said with a sigh. "Does his team even want him to win?"

"Oh, but he's pretty cute too," her friend said. "Maybe it was worth it letting you drag me hear after all. He might need nursing back to health after this fight."

"He's not going to need any nursing," Ukyo snarled out, very much wishing now this pair hadn't chosen here to sit. Besides, if anything did happen to Ranma, he wasn't about to let this girl anywhere near him.

There was no chance to tell them off any further though, as they chose that moment to start the fight, and Ranma was off in a flash, charging right into the center of his two opponents and meeting them with a whirlwind of blows that neither looked at all capable of dealing with. The human of the pair backed away defensively looking to still be in shock from the ferociousness of Ranma's opening attack, but in doing so, he seemed to forget that there was another opponent as Genma casually walked up behind him and whacked him on the back of the head, knocking him out.

That made for almost a simultaneous KO as Ranma finished with the demi-human he was fighting. Stunned himself, the referee took a moment to begin the count, but neither of them so much as stirred before it finished. As soon as the count finished the crowd went wild. Ukyo could hardly believe it was this noisy even with all the empty seats.

"Wow, I don't know who that kid is, but he may be even better than Genma," their blonde neighbor said, admiration clear.

"Cute and strong," her friend added. "You can drag me along to any of his matches. Let's hurry up and head outside. Maybe we can catch him leaving."

Ukyo was glad to see the pair get up and leave. She had had it up to here with this girl. She was kind of surprised Konoka hadn't had anything to say to them only to see the girl had been distracted waving wildly toward Ranma. What part of keeping a low profile did she not understand? Somehow, Ranma actually spotted them, headed to the edge of the arena and leaping over the front rows to land next to them.

"So, what did you think of my performance?" Ranma asked proudly to them.

"You were great!" Konoka quickly answered earning a smile from Ranma.

Ukyo supposed it was too much to hope Ranma would have told her off for sneaking out here. He was too soft on the girl.

"Heh, they weren't even very tough," Ranma boasted. "Kind of wish they were a little stronger so I could show off a bit more."

"Ah!" Konoka called out in surprise pointed to behind Ranma.

Ukyo looked to see a screen showing Negi being interviewed, aged with magic like the first time he'd seen him. Wracking his mind he tried to play back what they'd been talking about. Something about a young fighter blasting his way on to the scene.

Anyway, they all listened raptly as he called out specifically to Makie and Yuna, telling them to meet at the opening of the Ostia tournament in a month.

"Well, now we know where they are," Ranma said cheerfully once the interview had finished. "Works out nicely too. I'm already fighting, so I can just join that tournament he was talking about and meet up with them there."

"And Mr. Moretti would be more than happy to help you get there," came a new voice as one of the girls that had previously been serving the man in question suddenly draped herself around Ranma. Just let him handle all the fighting details and marketing and he'll make sure you qualify for it."

"And he's just going to help out of the goodness of his heart?" Ukyo asked angrily, dragging the woman off a suddenly very red-faced Ranma, only to have Konoka sneak in to vacated spot and latch on to Ranma protectively as she glared at the woman. Ukyo wasn't even certain this was an improvement.

"But if you help your father win fights, you'll help pay his way to freedom much faster," the woman added seductively. "You wouldn't abandon your own father, would you?"

"Well, no–" Ranma began only to be cut off by Chao.

"We want 20% of the winnings," Chao cut Ranma off to say.

"That won't be happening," the man behind them replied, taking over for Moretti's bimbo. "Your father's team is property of Mr. Moretti and all prize winnings go to him. And don't think you can go starting your own team. I think you'd find it hard to locate enough matches to qualify for the Ostia tournament without Mr. Moretti's blessing."

"You're forgetting, we'd like to help free Ranma's father, but we can just go to Ostia even if we don't make it into the tournament," Chao negotiated. "We don't actually need you. I'm sure your boss would be real thrilled to lose out on a fighter like Ranma and all that 'marketing' money over little thing like 20% of the winnings."

"Fine, we accept your terms," he told them, actually smiling a bit.

"It's a deal then," Chao told them. The pair nodding to each other before he and the bimbo turned to walk off.

"Just make sure you're back here same time tomorrow for your next match," he called out as he walked off. Leaving most of their group stunned at what had just happened so fast.

"For someone who doesn't like to interfere, you sure like to interfere," Ukyo quipped.

"I want a roof over my head and three square meals a day," Chao answered. "Protecting causality can shove it if it interferes with that."

His own stomach choosing that moment to rumble, Ukyo couldn't exactly argue with that.

Ranma and his father had won more than a dozen matches over the next three days. Their team had been kept so busy that it felt like they hardly got a chance to talk, but today they finally got a break. Some sort of local holiday, so Ranma was planning to use the time to fullest, having met up early with his old man.

They were currently in a training arena that was the personal property of Mr. Moretti, figuring they could get some practice in on their day off. It was magically enhanced with shields and everything to prevent damage to the surrounding area. Ranma may not like dealing with a guy that owned slaves, much less Ranma's father, but a perk like this wasn't half bad.

"So, you going to meet back up with mom once we pay off your debt?" Ranma asked.

"Of course," his father answered not looking all that enthusiastic. "It's just … well … it might be a delicate matter and all if she's living on the clan grounds. My memory may have been altered, as you claim, but I'm pretty sure the part about not wanting to run into them again is real. So finding a way to meet up with her might be a delicate matter. And there are other concerns as well."

"But you'll still do it, right?" Ranma pushed, not having expected him to hem and haw so much about it. His mom and been so happy to see Ranma again, and he just knew she'd want the whole family back together.

"I'm not saying I won't do it," he snapped back. "And anyway, we should be focusing on training right now. That's the important thing. You've missed out on years of my tutelage, and there's no telling what bad habits you've gotten into."

"Heh, not like we need to worry too much about that. None of our opponents are even a challenge," Ranma boasted. "I don't even know how you ever lost any of your matches."

"Well, aren't you the prideful one after less than a week of fighting?" his father responded. "First off, don't disrespect your father. I'm skilled enough not to lose to any of the people we're fighting, even on my own. It's just that, sometimes I'm told it's more profitable if I lose, and I don't exactly get a lot of say in the matter."

"You mean they tell you to throw the match?" Ranma asked in shock.

"That's not something we should really be discussing out loud," he replied looking around a little nervously. "Besides, the bigger point is that you're not on my level yet. You may be supercharged with demon power, or whatever, but you don't even do anything special with it. If you'd been trained into a real martial artist, you'd have come up with a proper trump card or two by now."

Ranma was starting to have second thoughts about explaining so much to his father if it was just going to lead to lectures. Ranko was really about the only thing regarding the clan he'd held back, and only because it was what she wanted.

"Magic isn't so easy that the strongest and fastest person always wins," his father continued without pause. "You never know what kind of trick your opponent will have up their sleeve, and if you don't have any of your own, you're just asking to be humiliated."

Even coming from a man he respected so much, Ranma didn't like being talked down to like this. Still, there was a ring truth to his words.

[What do say, Ranko? Want to try and come up with a trump card. I can tell that demonic energy of yours isn't quite like normal magic. Figure there has to be something special we can do with it.]

[Hmm, I'll pass.] Ranko replied, sounding as if she hadn't even really considered it that long.

[Huh?] Ranma asked in surprise. [Why don't you want to help? I've used your power plenty of times now. Nothing bad ever happens. I thought you'd stopped worrying about it.]

[Yes, but even though I'm helping you win your fights, you never reward me, so I'm on strike. Until I get a share of the prize, I'm not helping you anymore, probably.]

As emotionless as she always sounded in Ranma's head, it was hard to remember she was just a kid, probably a few years younger than he was. Ranma wasn't really an expert on kids, but stuff like this probably was pretty normal.

[Um, I don't mind giving you a reward, but what do you even want?] Ranma asked.

[Ice cream,] she quickly answered, reinforcing Ranma's opinion that this was just a childish outburst.

[I really don't mind, but how do I even get you any?] Ranma asked. [Do I just need to meditate and try to imagine it or something?]

[I taste whatever you taste,] she answered. [Just buy some and eat it.]

If buying himself some ice cream was all it took to reward Ranko, it was going to be pretty easy for him to keep her happy. Of course he didn't exactly want to spoil his newly refound masculinity by being seen eating ice cream as guy. He briefly considered whether it was worth the extra risk of briefly dropping this 'disguise' and going back to his cursed form. Well, if it was just himself he was risking it would be one thing, but he didn't want to get anyone else in trouble over it. He'd just have to bear it and have his treat like this. For Ranko's sake obviously.

[Sure, no problem.] Ranma told her. [I can get Konoka, and the others together after training and we can all go. I'm sure they'd enjoy it too.]

[Inviting other women to our date, Nii-san? I thought you were better than that, probably,] Ranko declared.

Ranma was starting to get used to Ranko's quips, and he was about 90% sure she was joking, but before he try to remove the last of that doubt, a furry foot slammed into his head, sending him tumbling along the arena floor before the magically reinforced edge brought him to a rather painful halt.

"I see you also space out and let down your guard," his father said with a smirk as he crossed his arms in front of him and looked down at Ranma. "You've still got a long way to go as a martial artist."

[What do you say you end your strike a little early and we thank him properly for the lesson?] Ranma asked.

He'd barely even sent the request when he felt the floodgates open and the power start to flow into him. As he stood up, Ranma got a smirk of his own to match the man in front of him. Father or no, nobody got away with a cheap shot like that.

After Ranma had gotten his revenge, they had a pretty productive day both in training and in just catching up on things. Sadly, his old man's time was up and he had to return to his housing, leaving Ranma to think over his suggestion. Just what kind of special move could he come up with? He was still thinking that over when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him.

"Ranma! I got a response from Negi-kun!" Konoka called out as she ran up to him, continuing as soon as she reached him. "Secchan is safe with them. They've already found most of our classmates too. They're fine with us showing up at Ostia for the tournament."

It had been a little harder than they expected to get in touch with Negi after his message. Sure, everyone seemed to know about him, even if he was going by Nagi. Still, convincing anyone they actually knew him so they would pass on a message over the flood of fan mail he was getting had been a bit of challenge, so he was glad they'd finally succeeded.

"That's great," Ranma told her happily. "But where are Ukyo and Chao?"

Ranma didn't like the least disguised member of their group running around on her own, even if they hadn't had any trouble with bounty hunters yet in Aethiopis.

"They left me at the entrance to run off and buy tickets to tomorrow's match," Konoka answered. "We got held up with the message so we were already late for the start of advance sales, they didn't want to waste any time getting there."

"Can't you just buy them before the match like you usually do?" Ranma asked curiously.

"Don't you realize how popular you're getting?" Konoka asked. "You sold out your last match, and as long as you keep winning, it's only going to get worse. If we don't buy them in advance, we may not be able to get good seats."

"Well, if I've got that many fans, then I'll just have to give them a good show tomorrow," Ranma said proudly. "Anyway, don't spend too much on the matches. We'll need to save enough for two tickets to where Negi and the other are."

"Two tickets?" Konoka asked.

"Yeah, I'm not letting you travel all the way on your own. I should be able to convince Ukyo to escort you though. Hopefully we'll have enough to get you going within a day or two."

"I'm not going anywhere," Konoka said.

"Why not?" Ranma asked, genuinely confused. "Aren't you eager to catch up with Setsuna and the others?"

"I am, but Secchan is already with Negi and the others. You didn't abandon me, even when you were risking information on finding your father, so I'm not going to abandon you now. It's not too long until we'll all be able to meet up in Ostia."

"Aw come on, I already told you that was just me acting without even thinking about it," Ranma said, a bit embarrassed she kept making such a big deal about that. "I don't want you to stay here because you feel you owe me or anything. If anything, even with that I'm still the one who owes you for everything you've done for me."

"It's not about owing you. I care about you too, so I'm going to act by staying here. No need to think about it any further," Konoka insisted, turning his own words back on him playfully.

"Fine, you win," Ranma said, realizing there was no way he'd be able to talk her out it now.

Besides, he was touched she cared enough to stay even now, and he'd be glad to have her and Ukyo around. With friends like her and Setsuna made Ranma really regret cutting himself off from his classmates all these years. And if any other bounty hunters made a move for Konoka, they weren't going to get off as easily as the last ones.

Ku Fei was in a bit of a bind. Fate and some of his minions had tried to kidnap Asuna. Thankfully, they'd managed to protect her and even learn a thing or two about his plans, thanks to Honya's artifact. No, the real problem was that with this proof that they were all still in danger, it had been decided they needed all the power they could get, and part of that was getting everyone who didn't already have one a pactio.

Kaede was holed up with Negi right now, but Ku Fei knew it wouldn't be long until someone remembered she didn't have one either. Sure enough, they'd barely waited long enough to see Kaede's new pactio before Asakura brought it up.

"So, I guess Ku Fei would be next then?" she announced, giving the Chinese martial artist a very strong urge to flee.

"Um … you know … I kind of prefer to just fight with own abilities. It's sort of the pride of a martial artist thing," she insisted, as she backed away, ready to turn and run at the first sign they'd try force, which she wouldn't entirely put past her classmates.

"That may be," Asakura said. "But don't you think it's worth at least having the power in case you need it?"

Ku Fei was desperately trying to come up with a better excuse when Haruna decided to but in to the conversation. "Now, now, don't tell me you can't see what this is really about?" she asked Asakura. "I thought your senses were better than that."

"Ooh, now you've piqued my interest," she declared. "So tell me. What is it about then?"

Ku Fei was actually curious just what Haruna had gotten into her mind, so against her better judgment, she stayed quiet and waited to hear what Haruna had to say.

"It's not about the pactio, but who she'd be getting it with," Haruna explained.

"Of course!" Asakura quickly agreed. "She wants to stall until Ranma gets back."

"Heh, glad to see you didn't completely miss it," Haruna nodded. "I was starting to worry you were slipping."

"Wait, what does Ranma even have to do with this?" Ku Fei protested, done with just letting them say whatever nonsense they wanted.

"There's no point in denying it," Haruna argued. "It's obvious you're Team Ranma instead of Team Negi."

"I'm not Team anyone!" Ku Fei shouted back. Her Japanese may not be perfect, but it was pretty obvious what they were implying.

"Really?" Asakura asked skeptically. "You seemed to be getting along quite well with her since you two started training together. That might not have been too suspicious, if you hadn't started acting so oddly to her around the time of the trip."

"That's for sure," Haruna added. "All that staring at her and nervousness whenever she looked your way? It seems our little Ku Fei must have realized her feelings."

"That was just because of something Cologne had said!" Ku Fei swore, more than a little terrified they'd not just caught onto that but were building the picture they were from it. A pactio with Ranma would be even worse. There was no way her classmates would keep that secret from Cologne, and then the woman would be telling everyone they were married.

Ku Fei noticed that they'd started drawing a crowd from their other classmates, having apparently decided this was more interesting than Kaede's new pactio. She should have kept her voice down. This was only getting worse and worse. She had to think of something quickly to get them all off her back.

"I don't even like girls like that!" she told them all. Technically, Ranma may not even be a girl, but very few of them knew that, so maybe it would work. "She's just really easy to talk to, since we both have so much in common being fellow martial artists."

"Oh, so it's just about being martial artists?" Haruna asked slyly. "So you'd be just as friendly with any martial artist?"

"I don't think …," Ku Fei began only to pause when she saw the evil grin already forming on Haruna's face. Her instincts were telling her she didn't want to finish that sentence. No, she needed to continue a strong offensive. "Sure. Once I got to know them, I think I could get along that well with just about any martial artist."

There. That should shut them up. How would they even prove otherwise? But that grin that was just being hinted at before was in full display on Haruna's face now. "Well, there are plenty of martial artists here in Ostia for the tournament. If that's true then take one out on a date and prove it."

"A date?" Ku Fei said dumbly. "I can't do that!"

"What do you think, Asakura?" Haruna asked.

"It does seem like she's very against going on any dates," Asakura answered. "At least if they're not with a certain classmate of ours."

Somehow it felt like Ku Fei had dodged one trap just to fall into an even bigger one. Was that earlier smirk just a feint? It felt like some kind of verbal combat, and unlike the physical variety, it seemed she was badly outmatched in this one. She could still try to worm her way out of this, but she got the feeling that no matter what she tried to say, she'd only make things worse.

Ku Fei would wager a year's worth of meal tickets that matter how she tried to turn down the date Haruna would just spin it into her being madly in love with Ranma. Already it looked like the crowd was starting to buy that notion. No, as much as she hated to do it, the best thing may just be to accept the challenge head on.

"Fine! I'll go on this date, but when I prove that I'm right, you'll drop this whole thing!" Ku Fei then turned and started heading for the exit to Haruna's ship, not wanting to give Haruna a chance to say anything else. "Let's' get this over with."

She then quickly left the ship and set a brisk pace toward the center of the city. She hadn't put much thought into it beyond wanting to get out of there quickly, but the decision paid off as only Haruna and Asakura followed her. If she'd given them time to think about it and talk it over, Ku Fei was certain the whole lot of them would have insisted on coming along. Only those two had been quick enough to follow though, and with all the twists and turns Ku Fei had already made through the streets, it was unlikely any of the others would be able to catch up now.

"Where are you even going?" Asakura asked, grabbing Ku Fei's arm and pulling her to a stop, obviously struggling to keep up. Haruna looked to be in even worse shape, panting quite loudly as she rested during the brief stop. "Shouldn't we slow down and plan this out? How do you even expect to find a martial artist in this crowd?"

Asakura was right that there were hordes of people about enjoying the festivities, and most of them were just ordinary civilians.

"I can tell," Ku Fei answered. Unless they were deliberately hiding it, it was fairly easy to spot someone else with training. Ku Fei could see a few of them mixed in with the crowds from here. She was having second and maybe even third thoughts about this whole thing, but she was too stubborn to give up now. Best to just pick one and get it over with.

Scanning her options, she locked onto her target. A figure up ahead looked to be the most skilled person in sight, was about her age, and most importantly, a guy. That last bit was necessary if she wanted to actually convince them of the fact that she didn't like girls. Well, nothing to do now but go talk to him.

So, here they were in Ostia. The city was certainly impressive, and a lot busier than Aethiopis had been. Ranma was standing protectively by Konoka as they walked along the streets. She still had the illusion of animal ears and tail Ranma had cast on her, but even if there hadn't been any problems in Aethiopis, he was worried it wasn't much of a disguise. Ukyo stuck closely to his other side while Chao rode along on his shoulder.

"I want to go find Secchan and the others," Konoka then announced.

"That's what we're doing," Ranma said in confusion.

"No, I mean I should go," Konoka told him. "You should probably check in. You kept going on about us getting here so late."

It had annoyed him. Mr. Moretti hadn't let them go until the last minute, wanting to milk every yen he could from the regular fights before sending them off the big tournament. His father hadn't even been able to come with them. Mr. Moretti had been too cheap to let them come aboard his personal airship without a ridiculously huge fee, but wouldn't let his father go any other way because he was a 'flight risk.' They were scheduled to be arriving later this afternoon.

"Yeah, we're kind of pushing it, but it's not like we're right down to the wire," Ranma argued. "I've got a few hours left to blow, so I'd like to meet up as soon as possible. Besides, I don't want you wandering around without me. What would I do if you got hurt or something?"

"Please?" Konoka asked, pouring on the puppy-dog eyes. He'd gotten to know Konoka well enough that internal alarm bells were warning him something was off about this whole situation and he probably shouldn't agree to anything, but he'd have a tough time saying no to her even if he didn't already owe her so much.

"Oh for crying out loud, just say yes already. I can't stand to watch this," Ukyo said with a sigh. "I'll keep her safe for you."

"And I'll watch over both of them," Chao added, leaping the gap from Ranma's shoulder to Konoka's.

"Fine," Ranma agreed. "I'll go sign in first, but then I'm coming right after."

"Thank you," Konoka said with a smile, already hurrying off. "No need to rush though."

Well, Ranma was sure he'd figure out what that was about soon enough. For now though, he'd do as she said. Now, if only he knew where the signups actually were. Not having any better ideas, he chose a random direction that looked promising and set off, but hadn't made it very far when a voice called out to him.

"Hey, wait up," he heard someone say, turning to see Ku Fei marching up to him. "I can see you've put a lot of work into your martial arts."

"You bet," Ranma told her proud at how far he'd come since they'd last sparred and glad that he was being noticed for it. "I should be more than ready for the tournament. At least once I figure out where I need to go to sign in."

"I can show you that," Ku Fei offered. "It's not far from here."

"Thanks," Ranma said, but now he realized there was something strange about this. He wasn't in his cursed form right now, and he was pretty certain Ku Fei had never seen him like that before.

"So how did you find me?" Ranma asked curiously. "Someone point me out or show you a picture or something."

"It was obvious from your movements," she boasted. "Not exactly hard to pick you out in a crowd."

Okay, Ranma had to admit he was impressed. Sure Ku Fei actually knew about the Jusenkyo curse, but even if she'd been on the lookout for him, to recognize him just by the way he walked around? Ranma wondered if he could do the same with Ku Fei if she was magically turned into a guy he'd never seen, and he had to admit, he wasn't confident he could.

"Oh, but …um … after you finish your paperwork, would you … uh … like to get something to eat?" Ku Fei asked.

"We just meet up and you want to jump straight to lunch? Aren't you skipping a couple of steps there?" Ranma quipped. He was almost never against a good meal, but Ranma figured she'd want to ask about Konoka or what they'd been up to, or something of the sort first. He supposed she'd just rather talk over a meal. Nothing wrong with that.

In response, Ku Fei took a step closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Glance over at the wall to your right, but pretend you don't see them. They're the reason I'm doing this. Please, just have lunch with me and don't ask any questions."

Now that it was pointed out, Ranma did spot Asakura and Haruna peeking around the corner of the wall. That would explain why Ku Fei seemed a bit nervous this whole time. If that pair was up to no good, Ranma could hardly help but feel a bit nervous himself. Well, he'd play along for now. Ku Fei understood a lot better than he did whatever this was that was going on, and he'd rather not risk the whole thing blowing up in his face because he decided to stick his nose in it.

"No problem," Ranma told her. "Just lead on."

Ku Fei realized this whole thing must seem pretty crazy to this guy, but somehow she hadn't scared him off. That was good, since it had taken more out of her than she thought it would just to ask the guy to lunch, and she did not want to start over with someone else. After she'd let the guy sign in, she found a nice little outdoor restaurant set up to allow for viewing of some of the lower level fights some people were putting on to take advantage of the draw of the main tournament. So the pair of them ordered lunch and quickly got to talking.

Now Ku Fei needed to put on a show for her two classmates, who must have actually managed to find a spot to spy on them where Ku Fei couldn't see them. Honestly, this proved to be a lot easier than she thought it would be. The two had quickly gotten into the matches they were watching, discussing the merits of each fighter and debating where they made mistakes and what they should have done instead. She was actually enjoying this lunch quite a bit, so it shouldn't be too hard to convince Asakura and Haruna she'd been telling the truth.

Honestly, it was a bit of a relief for Ku Fei too. There was a small part of her she hadn't even really wanted to acknowledge that was wondering if they were seeing something she just didn't want to admit herself. Maybe she really had been starting to like Ranma. So the fact that she was hitting it off so well with a guy she just met and hadn't even managed to exchange names with was a pretty huge relief.

It just goes to show that the way she was with Ranma was just two martial artists enjoying a shared interest. This wasn't any different at all than when she was with Ranma. In fact, she could easily imagine having this exact same conversation with Ranma. So, easily proof as far as she was concerned that there was absolutely nothing between her and her classmate at all. As much as she enjoyed being with Ranma, that was just because she was fun to be around. It didn't mean she was attracted to her.

Yes, just two, completely platonic martial arts friends. That's all they were.

Haruna was feeling pretty letdown with how things were going, and after she'd found a great spot to spy on them too. She and Asakura were crouched with a wall to their back behind some weird kind of shrub-like plant. It was very dense, but neatly cut to make a wall barely an inch thick. So once she'd poked a hole through it, she'd had the perfect peeping spot. If there was one downside, it was that it was far enough that they couldn't make out much of what was being said, but at least that let her and Asakura whisper back and forth without risking being caught.

No, it wasn't the spot that had anything to do with her disappointment. It was that Ku Fei wasn't giving her much material to work with. She'd started off well by picking a guy that even looked a fair bit like Ranma, especially in the eyes. Good fodder for teasing, but she might be losing the war here. Ku Fei really was getting along unbelievably well with this guy.

She was actually starting to believe Ku Fei's story that she was just in love with martial arts and that was all it was between her and Ranma. She'd been convinced the weirdness with her around Ranma was her realizing she was attracted to the girl, but Haruna was getting a front-row seat into what Ku Fei actually looked like when she was into someone, and it was quite different.

Poor girl probably didn't even realize it herself, but it was pretty obvious between the difficultly making eye contact and having turned almost red as a beet just from brushing hands when they'd both reached for the bread they'd been given as an appetizer. Yeah, this guy was clearly her type from a physical side. Not bad taste either. Easy on the eyes and that skin color gave him an exotic look. A little short for Haruna's tastes, but Ku Fei wasn't exactly a tall girl, so it wouldn't be as much of an issue for her.

Haruna had never seen her behave that way around any of their classmates, including Ranma, so she'd probably been telling the truth about not liking girls like that. And Haruna knew she wasn't the only one thinking Ku Fei probably hadn't even been lying with the Cologne excuse since Asakura was already scribbling down theories as to what it was the woman had told Ku Fei.

Well, great for her, and Haruna would look into that too later, but for now, she was beyond bored with this whole thing, and she didn't think anything could save it.

"I think she still hasn't even realized who she's with," a voice whispered from her left. Wait, her left? Asakura was on her right. Looking to her left she saw two other figured crouching next to them, one of which she immediately recognized.

"Konoka!" she cried out a bit louder than she'd planned she was so surprised. She briefly peeked through the hole to make sure she hadn't given herself away before looking back at the girl in question.

Yes, she had some fake ears and tail, probably as part of a disguise, but it was definitely Konoka there, with a guy next to who for some reason had that ridiculous weapon of Ukyo's strapped to his back. And there was Chamo on Konoka's shoulder. No, as she looked closer that was a different ermine. She had so many questions about this situation she didn't even know where to start.

"Weren't you supposed to be with Ranma and Ukyo?" Asakura asked, saving her from having to decide. "What are you doing here?"

"That's right," Konoka answered. "That's Ukyo right there. It's … uh … disguise magic. Speaking of which, shouldn't you guys have some sort of disguise if you're out like this. We spotted you two sneaking around and followed you, and here we are."

Urk. Ku Fei had left in such a rush, none of them had even thought of it. Haruna had been doing just fine without any disguise before she'd met up with the rest of the group, but she had to admit that doing so in the middle of an event this big might be pushing her luck. She wanted to point out the cat stuff wasn't exactly much of a disguise either, but something else hit her that pushed that thought way out of the way.

"Wait, if that's Ukyo, and you were with Ranma too, then …" peeking back through the hole she looked again at the guy Ku Fei was with. "No way."

Turning back to Konoka she saw the other girl just nod with a huge smile on her face. One that was now being mirrored by Haruna.

"Shouldn't we break them up or something," Ukyo complained to Konoka, glaring at the pair they were spying on. "You can't like this anymore than I do."

"Well, it's not ideal," Konoka admitted, "but this is just too funny to stop it. Besides, I trust Ranma."

"Fine, have your fun, but I'm not going to watch this anymore," Ukyo complained. "I'm heading to the meeting place. Come find me when this over."

Their disguised classmate then slunk off around the corner of the building and took off, thankfully not being enough of a spoilsport to actually break up their little game.

"Anyway, you sound really confident about Ranma's loyalties," Asakura asked eagerly sliding up closer toward Konoka. "Anything happen while you were off away from the others to give you that level of trust?"

"Hey, back off," Haruna hissed, pushing Asakura back to the right as she was being crowded away from her spot. She was interested in interrogating them all later, but for now, she wanted to go back to watching her new favorite show. She'd have so much material for Ku Fei now. 'Fated partner that you managed to pick out in a huge city even when you couldn't recognize her.' Yes, this stuff practically wrote itself. This was perfect.

Konoka then leaned over and began whispering in her ear. Listening to her suggestion, Haruna realized she'd have to make a mental correction. Things weren't perfect … yet, but with her classmate's brilliant suggestion, they might be soon.

Getting out her sketchpad, she quickly scribbled out a note. Then, trading the pad in for her artifact, she drew out a bird, using the artifacts power to bring it to life. Then, tying the note to it, she sent it off with the message. Now, to just sit back and wait.

Setsuna was rushing full speed toward the restaurant mentioned in the letter, she hadn't even paused to tell Negi or the others she was leaving. She'd heard from Negi that Konoka and Ranma would be returning soon, but she hadn't heard a whisper of this major event that had apparently taken place.

The letter that was now crumpled up in her hand had claimed that when Ranma was visiting her family, she'd been roped into an arranged marriage. Now the guy she was engaged to had her locked away for her own safety and wasn't telling anyone where she was.

Now Setsuna was trying very hard not to immediately assume the worst about this guy. Konoka's grandfather had not too long ago been arranging meetings looking for a potential husband for Konoka, so she had long since resigned herself to a possibility of an important person being married off like this. Also, as wanted individuals, this was a very dangerous time, and she would be lying if she said she hadn't at least considered keeping Konoka in a secure location.

Even so, not letting Ranma's friends so much as see her was taking it much too far. That was already a huge mark against him, and you could be certain that Setsuna would not be supporting this … arrangement if she didn't honestly believe he would truly make Ranma happy. Setsuna actually caught herself hoping that she did find a reason to protest the engagement, but tried to shake the thought. She should be wishing for her friend's happiness. Even if it wasn't this guy, she should want her friend would find someone she truly loved to marry, but for some reason, she couldn't quite bring herself to hope for that.

"Secchan!" came a cry that jarred her from further introspection as Konoka dove right into her, nearly knocking her over in surprise as she wrapped her into a hug. "I'm so glad to see you again."

"I'm glad to see you're safe as well, Ojou-sama," she answered warmly, "but is it true about Ranma? And where is this guy she's engaged to?"

"He's right there having a date with Ku Fei," Haruna told her, pointing to a table where Ku Fei and a guy she didn't recognize. The two had also spotted them and were getting up to head their way.

A date? The guy was engaged to Ranma and he was here on a date with another one of her classmates? Who did something like that? And now this guy was walking right up to Setsuna with a huge friendly smile on his face. Was he actually planning to hit on her too? Any thoughts she had of even considering him worthy of Ranma were long gone as she marched up to meet him.

"I heard about what happened from Konoka and the others, and I refuse to accept this," she said in as commanding a voice as she could manage.

"Sorry, I really didn't think you would take this so badly," he answered, actually looking a little hurt by the response. Not that Setsuna felt the slightest bit guilty for slamming the door shut on him before the playboy even got the chance to make his move. "Still, probably best to keep things like this for now, given everything going on, you know?"

"For now, huh? And just how long do you expect that to be?" Setsuna interrogated him, getting right up into his face for effect.

"Honestly, I was kind of hoping to see how long I could get away with it," he told her, only making Setsuna fume all the more.

See how long he could get away with it? Setsuna wasn't about to stand there and listen to that, even in jest. And it sounded like he was serious about locking Ranma away. Her friend had only just started to open up to people, and now he wanted her physically locked away? Setsuna didn't even want to think of what that might do to Ranma.

"That's it," Setsuna said, holding a hand threateningly over her sword. "I refuse to accept this union. You are going to break it off with Ranma immediately."

"Huh?" He said in bewilderment. "That's … uh … not possible. Do you really know what's going on?"

"Don't tell me it's not possible," Setsuna shot back, refusing to back down. "I don't care what agreement you have to break, or who you upset doing it. I refuse to accept this."

"You tell him, Secchan," Konoka cheered her on, only adding to her already firm resolve. "Let him know how you really feel."

"I should have known you were behind this," the guy then said to Konoka, "and don't think I won't get you back for this."

"You stay away from her!" Setsuna shouted, stepping defensively in front of Konoka. This guy was actually threatening her on top of everything else. She was now very eager to take this beyond words. "And if you won't give up on Ranma peacefully, then I challenge you to duel! If I win then you give up on her forever!"

"Hold on just a minute!" Haruna quickly cut in before anyone could respond. "I appreciate you're trying to look out for Ranma and all, but don't you think it's a little unfair to demand he give up on Ranma forever like that? He's known Ranma much longer than anyone here. You're just her friend. I don't see how you even have a leg to stand on with this challenge."

Setsuna wasn't very close to Haruna, and new she had a reputation as a bit of a gossip and even a troublemaker at times. Still, she was shocked that her classmate would stand against her like this. And the words stung. She hadn't known that this guy had known Ranma for so long, and it was true that Setsuna had befriended her only months ago. Had she gone too far? Should she listen to Haruna and back down?

But no, even as her mind was frantically asking these questions, Setsuna knew deep down that there was no way she could.

"Ranma is much more to me than just a friend," she declared boldly. "I may not have known her as long as you, but she's a very important person to me, and I will not withdraw my challenge."

"Nicely said, Secchan," Konoka said in delight, smiling so brightly it as almost blinding. Even with the emotional haze she'd been working under, it was starting to trickle through to her that something about this whole situation was off. Konoka was a naturally cheerful girl, and could be hard to understand at times, but Setsuna couldn't explain why she was this exuberant, given the situation.

Meanwhile, the target of her challenge was fidgeting uncomfortably with his hand behind his head, the mannerisms as a whole looking eerily similar to those Ranma would use.

"It's good to see you again, and I'm happy you feel that way, but I really think you should calm down at let me explain. It looks like the two of us got caught up in the middle of one of Konoka's pranks," then, leaning in to whisper so as not to be overheard he continued. "Anyway, this is what I actually look like. I'm sort of half-cured now."

See her again? A prank? Half-cured? Setsuna's memories immediately shot back to a certain discussion on Jusenkyo, and it was looking as if Ukyo's addendum to Ranma's confession might not have been true after all. Quickly Setsuna tried to recall exactly what she'd done and said over the last few minutes so she could determine just how badly she'd humiliated herself, but her classmates were all too eager to assist her on that front.

"A public confession and a challenge over Ranma's hand in marriage," Asakura said with a smirk, scribbling down notes. "This is quite the scoop. It may make for my most popular issue yet."

Wait? A confession? Setsuna could see how it would look that way. In fact, it would be hard to convince them that wasn't the case at this point. And how was Ranma taking it? She … or was it he? Well, Ranma looked uncomfortable and more than a little nervous. Setsuna's stomach dropped, bracing herself for a rejection she now feared might be coming? Wait … rejection? That sounded like she was actually hoping Ranma did take it like a confession. She just didn't want to make things awkward between them, right? Well, she needed to clear things up quickly if she wanted to prevent that.

"I mean … that's … but I was trying to …," Setsuna sputtered out, unable to even finish a coherent sentence. This wasn't helping at all.

"I think we broke her," Haruna declared with a smile. "And she's not the only one either, isn't that right, Ku Fei?"

Setsuna had almost forgotten about the girl in question, as quiet as she'd been during this, but looking at her, she appeared as if she'd been frozen completely stiff, only now having the spell broken.

"So, you're really Ranma?" Ku Fei asked.

"Yeah, I thought you said you'd figured it out," Ranma replied.

"Isn't that great," Ku Fei, Haruna said, needling her with her elbow. "Even when you have no idea it's him, the strength of your love draws you straight to Ranma the moment he returns to the city. It must be fate, huh?"

"But … I … I can't form a pactio!" Ku Fei insisted, then immediately turned and sprinted off fast enough that Setsuna doubted she could catch the girl if she wanted.

So she simply watched her go a little envious that she hadn't thought of that from the start.

"I guess we're back to you then," Asakura declared as all eyes turned back to her. "Do you have a statement to make regarding your confession?"

She wanted to answer, but she wasn't confident she could form a sentence that made any more sense than her last attempt. She didn't know how much more of this could take.

"Hey, leave her alone," Ranma declared, stepping between them. "Haven't you picked on her enough?"

"Aww, but I don't wanna stop now," Haruna whined.

"No, Ranma's right," Konoka agreed. "We had our fun, but Ranma and I need to catch up with Secchan now. So go on ahead and we'll catch up to you."

The sight of her friends defending her like that probably did as much for helping Setsuna calm down as her other two classmates reluctantly departed. Not that she ever should have doubted they would. Konoka may like her games, but she was always there for her when it mattered. And no matter how awkward and humiliating that experience had been, Ranma was too good of a person to let that come between them.

Setsuna was thrilled that both of them were back safely, and Konoka was right that they had a lot of catching up to do.

It was great catching up with Setsuna. Ranma told her all about their encounter with the now cursed Chao, meeting up with his mother, escaping from his clan, and then finding his father again. In return, he heard about some of Setsuna's travels before meeting up with Negi and the others as well as Fate's reappearance, his attempt to trick Negi into a magical geis that would prevent him from interfering with his plans, and how he'd tried to kidnap Asuna when that failed. Looks like there was plenty of excitement on their end too.

Ranma only hoped they got over this bit of awkwardness between them quickly. Sure, he was happy to find out that Setsuna cared so deeply for him, but how was he supposed to react to a confession like that? Was she expecting some kind of answer? She hadn't known he was even there when she said it, and Ranma wasn't even certain she'd meant it like that, so maybe she'd rather Ranma pretend it didn't even happen.

He just couldn't make up his mind whether or not he should bring it up, and who was he even going to ask about it? Konoka would probably be his best bet, but Ranma had a feeling it might be some time before he got her away from Setsuna long enough to ask her. And what if she did say to talk with Setsuna about it? What would he even say? Obviously Setsuna was a very important person to him too, but did he really have feelings for her that way?

Weren't you supposed to just know it or something if you were in love with someone? So if he wasn't sure then that meant he wasn't? That sounded right, but Ranma wasn't at all confident about that answer. Neither his life on the road with his father, nor his school years had really taught him anything about love.

[They still don't have my approval to be your girlfriend, Nii-san] Ranko spoke to him, while Setsuna and Konoka were temporarily engrossed in their own conversation.

[Oh?] Ranma replied. [I need your approval?]

[Yes,] she answered, the lack of her usual 'probably' standing out. Did that mean she seriously felt that way and wasn't just teasing him? She could be a bit protective at times, so it wouldn't completely surprise him, but on the other hand, he'd just about decided that she was almost never serious about anything she said.

[Well, I don't even know if I want that or not anyway,] Ranma admitted. [You wouldn't happen to know how to tell if you … you know … like someone that way?]

[How would I have learned that if you never did?] she asked, making a good point. Guess Ranko wasn't a good person to ask to explain something like that.

[Then I guess it's too early to be talking about girlfriends or anything like that, since I've still gotta figure out how I even feel about Setsuna.]

[And what about Ku-Fei?] Ranko asked.

[What about her?] he responded in confusion.

[Hmm … maybe I was wrong. It looks like I do know more about love than you, probably.]

Was Ranko trying to suggest that Ku-Fei liked him too? Now he just knew she was messing him. They were training partners, buddies even, but Ranma would have noticed something by now if there was more to it than that.

At this point, Setsuna led them up to a fairly large flying ship of all things. "Is this where you're staying?" Ranma asked, gawking at it a bit.

"Yes," Setsuna answered. "Haruna purchased the ship somehow."

That's a story Ranma wanted to hear at some point, but for now, he was more interested in having a look at this thing. Skipping the ladder, he scooped up Konoka and hopped right up on to the deck, startling Ku Fei, who had made it back before them and took one look at him before darting through a door to the inner part of the ship.

This reaction earned a chuckle from Chao. Okay, Ku Fei was acting a little weird lately, but even with Ranko's teasing, Ranma didn't buy for a minute that it meant she liked him that way. Ku Fei had always been a bit strange, but Ranma was sure she'd get over whatever this was.

"I'll go check on her," Chao offered, hopping down from Ranma. "Everyone was so busy enjoying the show back at the restaurant, no one even bothered to ask about me, and I didn't want to spoil the moment with my own big reveal. Still, Ku Fei is one of the people that most deserves to know I'm here, and I have some things I want to talk to her about anyway."

With Chao running off after Ku Fei, and Setsuna landing next to Ranma, he set Konoka down and decided he may as well announce their presence. "We're back," he called out loudly. Almost immediately Ranma heard the sound of running footsteps as Negi sprinted around a corner and ran up to them. Asuna and Kotaro followed a short distance behind.

"Konoka! Setsuna!" Negi called out excitedly. "And is that really you, Ranma?"

"Yeah, it is," Ranma answered.

"I heard about some of it from Ukyo and Ku Fei, but it's so good to see that all of you are alright. And I'm glad about your –"

"Disguise," Ranma quickly cut in. Kotaro may be the only person here that didn't know about Jusenkyo, but who knew when the rest of their classmates might show up and overhear. Just because his friends had been cool about the whole thing, didn't mean he wanted to risk the whole class finding out.

"So, you're in the big tournament too?" Asuna asked. "I suppose it's good to have two chances at the prize money, but I don't want you doing anything stupid if you meet before the finals. That money is too important to have the winner so beat up they lose the next round because you two went all out for the sake of your pride."

"What, you want one of us to just give up or something?" Kotaro asked, the dark haired boy looking none-too-pleased by the thought. "Of course we'll go all out if we fight. It would be disrespectful to all the fans if we didn't. Besides, it doesn't sit right with me either."

"I'm with the furball," Ranma agreed. "Even if they are a little worn down, it's not like there's anyone else in the tournament that can handle the winners."

And by winners, Ranma meant him and his father. No one in their qualifying division had been even close to a challenge for the pair. Even if the other divisions were twice as strong, Ranma wouldn't be worried. Besides, Negi's team was supposed to be undefeated, and he'd seen both of them fight. That only made Ranma all the more certain of this:

"I doubt there's a single team that's a real challenge anywhere in this tournament," Ranma continued.

"Oh, is that so?" a new voice said, coming from right behind him, causing Ranma to jump and spin around. Getting snuck up on was a very new experience for Ranma, and seeing how large the well-muscled guy behind him was, it was all the more surprising. He'd have to pay more attention to stuff like that now that he didn't have his cursed form's enhanced hearing.

"Rakan!" Negi said. "What are you doing here?"

"More importantly, what exactly did you mean by what you said?" Ranma asked, even though he already had an idea of what it was. He didn't recognize this guy, but all his instincts were saying he was very strong.

"Well, I wanted to keep this a secret as long as possible. More fun if it's a surprise, but since you idiots don't look like you're going to take this seriously otherwise I'll just announce this now. I'm going to be joining the tournament."

"What?" Negi cried out in surprise. "Why are you joining? To help us win the prize money?"

"Help you win the prize money?" Rakan replied. "Why should I give you anything if I'm the one that wins?"

Well, wasn't he just mister generosity. This tournament may have just got a lot more interesting. Ranma was looking forward to seeing just how strong this guy was. As a bonus, if this guy was as strong as Ranma's instincts were telling him he was, it may be a chance to see what his father could do when he was serious.

"Putting aside how heartless you're being when we're trying to buy our classmates out of slavery," Asuna said harshly, "how can you even join the tournament. Isn't it a little late to decide you want to be part of it?"

"Tournament rules. During the preliminaries, you can still change your partner as long as one of the qualifying members of the team sticks with it. Wouldn't be much fun for the fans if some of the teams were short a member right from the start because of injury."

"Wait, but if that's the rule, then we can use it too," Konoka pointed out. "Negi and Ranma could team up in the tournament."

"Oh? I hadn't thought of that," Rakan said slyly, not fooling anyone with the act. That must be what he wanted all along when we brought this up.

"Hold it just a minute," Kotaro protested. "I'm Negi's partner. While you were off having fun and visiting your family, we've been hard at work training. Even using one of those magical time thingies to get extra training time. I can sense you haven't been slacking off too badly, maybe you're even still a match for me. But you haven't built up any teamwork with Negi, so I'm still the best choice."

"Ranma has grown a lot more than you think," Konoka quickly declared, jumping in before Ranma even got a chance to defend himself.

"My senses are pretty sharp," Kotaro argued. "And from what they're telling me, there's no reason to change up teams."

"I can give you a reason if you want," Ranma said threateningly, not liking the idea of this brat years younger than he was looking down on him.

"I'm sure you're both very strong," Negi cut in, trying desperately to diffuse the situation. "We still have time to make a final decision, so there's no need to argue about it now."

"Nah, I don't like waiting," Rakan declared. "So why don't we just have a match right here to decide who should be Negi's partner. My senses tell me it could go either way, but my gut says there's more to Ranma here, and I've learned never to question my gut."

Could this guy actually sense Ranko's power, or was he just that sharp? Ranma really needed to find out just who he was at some point, but for now, he had a fight to win.

[So, what do you want in exchange for some of your power for a quick match?] Ranma asked Ranko. He was sure he could win even without her help, but he'd much rather make it as decisive as possible.

[Take as much as you want, Nii-san] Ranko answered. [Just take him down hard. I don't like the way he talked to you, probably.]

Well, if Ranko was going to be this cooperative, Ranma would show this brat a lesson he wouldn't forget. "Okay, I'm ready for this. Let's do it."

"Come at me whenever you like," Kotaro said smugly, relaxing as if he was taking a stroll instead of getting ready for a fight. "I'm ready for you."

Well, he asked for it. Charging up with Ranko's demonic energy, he put as much speed into his first instant movement as he could, appearing in front of Kotaro, Ranma grabbed his arm and hurled him over the side of the ship. Not waiting for him to land, Ranma leaped after him, catching up when he'd barely cleared the railing and hitting him with a brutal kick that smashed him into the pavement below.

Ranma then touched down lightly on the railing to the ship, enjoying his handiwork as the others ran over to the edge to check on the results.

"Kotaro! Are you okay!" Negi called worriedly, looking down at the crater Kotaro was still lying in.

"I don't know if I'll be getting up for a while … or ever," Kotaro said with a grimace of pain after his first attempt to do so, "but I'll live. The tomboy made her point. I guess I can hand Negi over."

"Tomboy?" Konoka parroted disapprovingly. "You shouldn't say that about a girl."

"Come on," Kotaro protested. "There's nothing girly about her. She's even disguising herself as a boy."

"Ranma has plenty of girly qualities, right Secchan?" Konoka asked. "Remember how she looked dressed up in Cinema Town?"

"Why are you asking me that?" Setsuna protested, turning beet red. Ranma was struggling not to match that shade. The whole tomboy thing bothered Ranma a lot less than Konoka's attempt to defend him, but it was hard to stop her when she got like this, and she meant well, probably, to take a page from Ranko. Well, Ranma may still be able to wiggle his way out of this, even if Konoka didn't look like she was about to stop explaining to Kotaro just how 'girly' Ranma was.

"My dad was supposed to be getting in around now," Ranma declared. "I should go explain to him about the whole team-changing idea. You want to come too, Setsuna?"

"Secchan and I need to catch up with Negi-kun and the others," Konoka answered for her, latching on to the flustered girl. "And we still need to finish setting Kotaro straight. You go on ahead."

Ranma and Setsuna exchanged a looked that passed for a silent conversation. Ranma apologizing for not being able to save Setsuna from this, and Setsuna thanking him for trying and urging him to escape while he still could.

With that being done, Ranma dashed off, not too much slower than he'd been moving in the fight with Kotaro. He only had to go to the next section of docks to find Mr. Moretti's private ship, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect, as his father was disembarking. Ranma hurried up to the man, noticing that he was actually starting to get used to his cursed form.

"Got something to talk to you about, Pops," he said.

"Ah there you are, Ranma," he answered. "You did take care of the paperwork already, right?"

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that, though. I met up with some of my friends. A couple of them made it into this tournament and they're pretty keen on the idea of switching up teams. They think me and Ne— *cough* Nagi," Ranma corrected himself, remembering he should use the fake name Negi had as part of his disguise in public, "have a better chance of winning this. I'm not convinced though. I saw some of his fights, and he's gotten better, but I still think my best shot of winning this is with you."

"And right you are to realize that," his father said proudly. "Thanks to my training, you'll probably be able to win this mostly on your own, but with this much prize money, it's important to have my experience, wisdom, and skill available should things get dicey."

"I'll tell them I'm staying put then," Ranma agreed. "We'll take care of this Rakan guy ourselves."

"Of course we … Rakan, as in Jack Rakan?" his father then asked.

"Yeah, he looks really tough. I hate to admit it, but my instincts were telling me I'd be in trouble even if I fought him seriously. So I'll be counting on you to help out on this one. Better head back and let them know. I'll catch up with you again soon."

"Hold on there, boy," Genma called out to him stopping Ranma as he'd turned to run off. "This could be the perfect opportunity."

"For what?" Ranma asked in confusion.

"I haven't yet had the chance to see how you fight when winning is a real struggle. Jack Rakan is a legendary gladiator, and if you were to fight now, you wouldn't even stand chance. Even with the help of your friend, your chances are slim. If you do switch teams, that will give me the perfect vantage to watch the fight and find the flaws in your training so I can correct them."

"But what about the prize money?" Ranma asked, reminding his father before he got too carried away with the martial arts side of things. "If we don't win, you'll still be stuck as a slave."

"Believe me, that's still important, and I'll be training you harder than ever to see that you win it. Still, as huge of a sacrifice as I'd be making, I'm still willing to risk it for the sake of your training."

"You're really sure?" Ranma asked, moved by his old man's commitment to martial arts, but not convinced himself this gamble was the best idea if Rakan really was as tough as it sounded like he was.

"I am, but you'd better not make me regret this with an embarrassing display," his father said sternly.

"I won't, but I guess we should make sure Mr. Moretti will even let us do this, though," Ranma answered.

"Don't bother," said a voice as a suited man walked up to them. It was the same guy he'd dealt with several times already, and Ranma was really starting to think it was about time to figure out what his name was. "Let me get this straight. You want to team up with current international sensation Nagi Springfield to fight the infamous Jack Rakan?"

"That's right," Ranma confirmed, forgiving the obvious eavesdropping for now since it was convenient for him.

"I don't even need to check in for this one, you run right over to the tournament headquarters and make the change."

"And don't dawdle," he father added. "We can't afford to waste a second on your training."

Ranma was looking forward to it. He may not know much about confessions or how to respond to them, but training was something he could definitely wrap his mind around. Legendary, or infamous, or whatever this Jack Rakan guy was, Ranma wasn't going to go down easily.

Author's Notes:

Well then, this one certainly took a while to get out. I don't even have any good excuses. I was and remain determined to finish it. So I kept poking away at the chapter off and on, even if it was just a few hundred words here and there. Although writing that way and taking so long between chapters probably isn't the best way to keep the story consistent, so if you're the type who enjoys hunting for plot holes, this chapter would probably be your best target. I found a couple of really dumb ones when I went back and proofread it (that were thankfully quick and easy fixes rather than rewrite the chapter level,) but I wouldn't be surprised if I missed some. A thanks to Treant Balewood for giving me a second set of eyes on that front.

Now, I should probably comment on the chapter itself. One of the trickiest bits is that I know from reviews/PMs, that a number of people reading this story aren't terribly familiar with the Negima side of things. This story primarily follows Ranma as the MC, and with everyone splitting up, it might be even harder to follow than usual for readers, since I'm not about to rewrite everything Negi and the rest are doing when it's pretty close to the canon version. I try to throw in quick comments and summaries here and there, as you saw in this chapter, but that's all I'm likely to do.

Still, if you'd rather pass on wiki readings to catch up, I wouldn't worry overmuch. If it's important to the story I'll try my best to go into enough detail for people to follow along.

I'll finish with a note about the story some of you may find interesting. If you remember Felecity from way back in the Prologue (the cat-girl used to form Ranma's spring) I originally planned for her to be involved in the chapter where Ranma and Genma met up again. The idea would have been she'd have been sold to the same guy as Genma and the Jusenkyo guide. Genma would have regailed her with talk of his gallant son and convinced her into put all of her wages into paying off his slave debt, with of course marriage to Ranma in exchange.

I left it out because the cast is so large it's hard to manage already. Plus, it's possible that many have noticed I'm already leaning toward a certain pairing, and I think it's pretty obvious at this point that it's Ranma + Akane. (That's a joke in case you're worried.) I think it's a little late to be adding another also ran, especially at the expense of other non-OC characters. So I'll offically say she's alive somewhere, but probably isn't going to appear again.