Chapter 5: One last Try

The Thing crawled along a power line looking for a weakness. The hunting had been very good during the Crisis, right up until that Earth Mage had seen the Thing and blown it to pieces. It had taken days to pull Itself back together. Now, the Crisis was dissolving; unless it could be restored, the Thing could not feed and would get weaker again. But it was still possible, the Event wasn't over yet; there was still half a day to go to push things to the breaking point again. All it would take is the right action at the right time – or rather the wrong action at the wrong time.

The Creature wound its way through the grid looking for a main junction. Finally it found one and prepared Itself; this would inflict almost as much damage as the Mage had, but the results would bring back the Thing and feed it for a long time. With a shudder, the gaki threw itself across the transformer and knocked out power to a good chunk of Nerima.

Kasumi woke up and immediately recognized that something was wrong – the sunlight was coming in the window full on. "No!" she whispered. She rolled over to look at the clock. A strangled cry of "Oh my!" escaped from her at the sight of the flashing digits. She scrambled for her watch.

Tofu heard her cry and sat up immediately. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's 7:30!" she said as she jumped up and ran out of the bedroom. She heard Tofu's dismay as she ran to Akane's room. She threw open the door. "Akane!" she yelled. Her little sister bolted upright like she was shot from a gun. "We lost power last night. Everyone has to be gone in half-an-hour! Wake everyone!"

"No!" Akane rolled over and leaped to the window. Throwing it open, she screamed for her fiancé: "Ranma!" Ranma appeared in the backyard. "We lost power last night!" she explained hurriedly.

Ranma looked lost for a moment and then drew himself up. He bellowed at the dojo "EVERYONE UP! WE ARE RUNNING LATE! WAKE UP NOW!" Lights were thrown on immediately. The pig-tailed martial artist turned back and looked up at Akane. "Get breakfast going!" he ordered. "Cheat! Cheat massively!" Akane nodded and bolted downstairs.

Before Kasumi left the window, she saw Hinako fly into the dojo. "All right, you delinquents! Up! We lost power last night! Skip the showers – hit the toilet then and wash your faces and arms! Move!"

Kasumi nodded to Sayuri and Yuka who were getting dressed hurriedly and went downstairs. In the kitchen, she found that Akane had pulled out every pot and pan that could be used for cooking and placed them on the countertop. Now, her little sister was spraying the pots and pans with cooking spray. "Akane?! What are you doing?"

"Cooking!" Akane said tersely. With that, she began breaking eggs into the pans where they began sizzling – without any visible heat source.

"Akane!" Kasumi exclaimed. "You'll wear yourself out before the test!"

"I'm stronger than that. I've got this!" Akane proclaimed stubbornly.

"She's got the first round," Tofu said firmly from the doorway. "I'll get the second. Between the two of us, she'll be fine. In the meantime, get the coffee ready. I'll cut the bread for sandwiches."

Nodoka flew into the kitchen and said: "Fruit! We need to get the fruit to the dojo now. Between that and the sandwiches, they'll be fine!"

Tofu began slicing bread faster than a machine. A thought seemed to strike him and he shouted "Maomolin!"

Instantly, the shape-shifted cat appeared in his human form. "Yo!"

"Can you drive?" Tofu demanded.

"No, but I can make a car drive itself," the cat answered.

"We have an emergency! Can you shuttle students to the clinic? We don't have enough toilets for one hundred and twenty-five people in the time we have. We'll get them food there."

"Done." With that, Maomolin vanished.

Ranma walked into the kitchen while speaking on his phone: "Mausu? I need you to steal a bus! Get Daran, we're gonna need two!"

Tofu dived for the phone yelling: "Don't tell him that!" He snatched the phone away. "RENT! Rent two busses." Tofu continued on the phone.

There was a screech of tires outside. Five seconds later Ciren burst into the house. "Everyone up!" she yelled.

"We're in the kitchen!" Nodoka shouted.

"Oh, thank the gods!" Ciren sighed loudly as she ran into the kitchen. "A transformer blew early this morning. I found out when I talked to Ojima. Konatsu was the one who warned me – Ukyo's group's moving, but she's only got twelve with her. Ojima's got officers moving across the Ward proclaiming the emergency."

Tofu hung up and looked at Ciren. "Did the transformer fail normally?" he asked.

"Not a chance," Ciren stated firmly.

"The gakis…" Tofu breathed out.

"Most likely. Ojima's taking it as a personal challenge. The bus schedules are all screwed up so he's declared only students and teachers are allowed to ride them. Normally, the merchants would be screaming, but they know what's at stake. Hell, the whole country knows, so no one's complaining."

Daisuke walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Ranma? Do you know the dojo has sprouted four sets of toilets in the basement?"

Tofu and Ranma both held their heads. "Maomolin…" Tofu groaned.

Maomolin appeared. "We don't have time to drive them, so I built a few Gates. Trust me, the students won't care."

"This one noticed," Tofu said while hooking a thumb at Daisuke.

"Do you care?" Maomolin asked.

"Hell no," Daisuke snorted.

"See? It'll be fine," Maomolin stated. Tofu let it drop.

Half-an-hour later, Mausu pulled up to the dojo driving a small police transport bus and he had four others following him. As he hopped out, Tofu gritted at him: "I said *RENT*!"

"Ah, ah, ah…" the little thief mock-scolded him. "You don't resume command until tomorrow. Ranma said 'steal'."

As Tofu did a face-palm, Sergeant Imia climbed out of another prisoner bus. "Of course," the big policeman started. "It's easy to steal something when it's actually handed to you."

"That too," the Mediterranean man admitted. He turned serious as he said to Tofu: "And how did you think I was going to rent a bus on half-an-hour's notice. Or steal one large enough for over a hundred people? Every bus is in use shuttling students on a short time table."

Daran walked over. "We'd get caught for sure. Then it occurred to us to cut out the middle man and talk to the cops directly."

"I believe Ojima told me that there's no way a bunch of damned ghosts was going to beat him," Imia said. "We have other prisoner vans backing up the bus routes."

"There are definite advantages to having a police inspector with the Sight," Daran remarked.

"Especially one who refuses to put up with crap," Imia added.

The gang of six sat in the back of the police wagon on their way to Nerima University. The bus carried thirty students all together. All of them were chatting quietly while marveling at their good fortune – despite everything, they were on time. The small bus drove steadily through the streets. Very quietly, Daisuke began to laugh.

"Are you all right?" Sayuri asked as she sat next to him.

Daisuke pulled himself together and replied: "Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't bloody believe it. I'm getting a private police escort to my test. After years of plotting my escape, Nerima is actually helping me leave."

"You're not out of here yet," she warned.

"But it's going to happen. I'm going to do great today. Good enough that I'm going to have my scores sent to TODAI," he said firmly.

Ranma was sitting with Akane across the aisle from them. He raised his eyebrows and noted: "Someone is feeling their oats today." Akane just grinned at her friend's confidence.

"Hmph, listen to him – he's going to leave and forget all about us." Yuka teased.

"That's the weird part," Daisuke stated. "I'm not going to forget you lunatics. I'm going to miss you."

"Love you too, jackass," Hiroshi smirked.

"You don't understand," Daisuke said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "All my life, I wanted out. I wanted away from my life, away from Nerima, and away from my dad. Now I just want away from my dad. I want my life to be my life, but I no longer hate Nerima."

"That was the difference between you and me," Sayuri told him. "I'm running towards something, something that Nerima doesn't have. I'm planning on coming back, at least to visit. You were just running away."

"Not anymore," Daisuke stated. "I'm going to get a life and I'm going to come back too. Hell, maybe I'll even move back one day. But not yet – what I want is outside Nerima too. I have to go to it. Then, we'll see."

"Looks like someone did pass a test," Akane commented.

Daran found Ranma, Hiroshi, and Daisuke during their lunch break. "How did it go?" he asked.

"Like yesterday – I'm glad the maths are done," Ranma answered.

"We've still got the sciences to do this afternoon," Daisuke added.

Daran nodded. "Where are the ladies?"

"Yuka's stomach is still a little quesy," Hiroshi replied. "Akane and Sayuri are with her."

"Did she do all right on the test?"

"She thinks she did. She held everything together during the test. It was afterward the bottom dropped out," Hiroshi said.

Daran muttered something to himself. He had a puzzled look on his face.

"What's up?" Ranma asked.

"That doesn't match her personality," Daran repeated louder. "Her big test was this morning." He looked at Hiroshi. "Does she normally get wound up after something has past?" he asked the young man.

Hiroshi's eyes narrowed a little. "No. She usually says 'What's done is done.'"

Daran nodded. "Thought so." He took out a set of sunglasses. "I'll be back." With that he strode off.

A little later, after the three ladies had rejoined the group, Daran came back with a sour look on his face.

"Trouble?" Akane asked.

"The gakis are still trying - they have a new tactic since they can't get global despair anymore," Daran responded. "They're hiding all about the campus. They can't bind together anymore, so they are more of a nuisance at this stage, but they can still draw some energy and make people sick, especially the Empathetics like Yuka."

"I didn't feel anything during the test," Yuka pointed out. "And I'm not Gifted." Daran rolled his eyes. Everyone else averted theirs. "I'm not," Yuka insisted.

"Keep telling yourself that," Daran said under his breath. Out loud he said: "Fine. Your guard was up because you were focusing on the test," he told her. "You weren't susceptible until you let yourself relax. Now the gakis are taking random shots at people to see who's open, but only a handful of students are vulnerable at this stage: those whose big tests are done. The real problem happens when everyone finishes this afternoon." He handed Yuka a sports drink. "Drink this and have a little food. You'll be up to snuff before the tests start again. Meanwhile, I've got to place a call to Ciren and Olaf."

Ranma looked thoughtful. "Call Mausu too," he said. "There are too many people, too much area, and too many gakis. We're not gonna solve this by force." Everyone looked at Ranma with wide eyes. Daisuke rubbed his ears and Sayuri faked passing out. "Stuff it," Ranma told his detractors. "Do you want to beat the gakis or not?"

Daran was grinning though. "What do you have in mind, Boss?"

"The problem is when people think it's over and crash, right?" Ranma asked him.

"Yep."

Ranma continued: "So we need to keep people psyched up until they get somewhere the gakis can't go – somewhere with a lot of positive emotion. We've got about an hour or so to set something in motion; actually, lots of somethings. One will not be big enough for everyone, so we need to find the leaders of the other study groups…"

Later that afternoon, Nodoka counted out the bills one more time and then handed the money to Soun. "Here you go, Mr. Tendo. Utilities and 5000 yen a day," she said with mock formality.

"Is there anything left over for you?" he asked.

"About 30000 yen, once everything is said and done," she answered. "Enough for a very nice dress for my date this Saturday."

"That will be some dress," Tofu noted. "Not bad, but you would have made more if you just worked on your Nuido."

"Perhaps," Nodoka admitted. "But I got to 'mother' one hundred and twenty-five students. There are no words for that – and no price could be put on it. For eight days, they were mine. Now I have to give them back."

"It's not over yet," Tofu cautioned. "They're all coming back here shortly."

"Yes, but their parents will be here to take them away. Then the dojo will be swept and that will be it," she mourned.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Nodoka went to answer it and was surprised to find Ukyo there with a stack of okonomiyaki. "Hi Ms. Saotome," the chef called out cheerily. "Special delivery for the Tendo Dojo. Mind if I bring it around?"

"Ukyo? What's going on?" Nodoka quizzed.

"I was told to bring a stack of pies here," she answered. "I've been invited to stay too, but I have a lot of big orders to fill across Nerima first. Konatsu and I will be by after we finish."

"By? For what?"

Ukyo grinned devilishly at her. "I think you'll find out shortly. The rest of the merchants are calling it 'Revenge of the Test Takers'. Maybe I'll bring the cart tonight – I'd hate to lose out on potential sales." With that, Ukyo was gone at hyper-sonic speed.

"Incoming!" Tofu yelled from the family room.

Kasumi echo'ed "Oh my."

Before Nodoka could turn away from the open doorway, Ranma and Akane appeared through the gate with several friends in tow. "Hey, Mom," her son called out. "We did great."

Nodoka was a little surprised. "You must have; you look very chipper. I thought you'd be tired."

"Oh, we're beyond wiped," Daisuke chimed in. "We're so wiped, we've come out the other side. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to grab the game consoles." With that, he slid by her and ran down the hallway.

Ranma gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and Akane kissed the other cheek. Then they guided her out of the way as eight other teenagers filed passed.

"Ranma? What's going on? Ukyo was just here," Nodoka pressed.

Ranma brightened. "Excellent! The appetizers are here."

From the family room, Soun called out: "You can't have the TV!"

"We don't want the TV," Daisuke explained. "We've going to use the dojo's projector instead."

"What are you delinquents doing?" Hinako demanded, obviously in her child form.

"Oh oh, gotta cut that off," Ranma said. "Excuse me, Mom." He then strode down the hallway.

Nodoka hurried after him. She got to the family room as Hinako asked: "Mr. Ono, what is going on?"

"We took the exams. It's party time, Miss Hinako," Ranma told her.

"No, you have school tomorrow!" the teacher responded.

Ranma pulled out a Game Boy Advance running Super Mario World. "What a shame," Ranma noted holding up the game. "I was planning on playing this there."

"Well you can't…Ooo! It's the latest Mario!" she said as she snatched it from Ranma and sat down on the couch. Ranma just smirked.

"I'm here!" Daran called out from the front door.

"Excellent!" Ranma yelled back.

Daran walked into the room holding an amp under one arm. "Where can I set up, Boss?"

"Opposite side from the projector," Ranma told him. "We'll have the dance floor on one side and the game room on the other. We'll stack futons to separate them and the food."

"Ranma! You'll wreck the floor!" Soun protested.

"Nope. Socks and bare feet only. It'll be fine, Soun. No worries." Ranma told him confidently. "I'm not buffing the floor for the next week to get the scratches out."

"Wait! You ordered Daran to play for your friends?" Tofu pressed.

"Ordered?" Daran cut in. "No, hired! A hundred kids can put together enough pocket change to hire a proper DJ."

"Especially, if their parents are willing to subsidize," Hiroshi put in as he came back for some stray cables.

"Make sure that TV still works," Soun warned him. Hiroshi nodded.

Akane walked through the family room with a futon from her room. "Akane! They'll get mixed up with everyone else's!" Kasumi objected.

"Already labeled, big sister!" Akane called as she walked out the back door.

"There's two cases of CD's in my car," Daran told Ranma. "Could you get them, please?"

"Done," Ranma said as he walked toward the front of the house.

"I think we just lost control," Tofu noted to Soun.

"I haven't been in control of this place for quite some time," the father replied.

"Well, excuse me," Daran said as he rotated his fedora. His form shrunk to become a Japanese man of average height dressed in flashy clothes. "But Alex the DJ has a show to do!" With that, he walked out the back door following Hiroshi who had an arm full of cables.

"At least the TV works," Nodoka commented.

"Thank heavens for that," Soun returned. With that, he sat down next to Hinako and flipped the channels.

"You looked puzzled," Kasumi told her husband.

"I'm not sure what I am," Tofu answered. Yuka passed through the room with another futon. Tofu looked at Kasumi. "You're not reacting one way or another though," he told her. "You could probably put a stop to it if you wanted."

"Why would I want to?" she asked. "My sister and her husband-to-be have as much right to the dojo as I do – maybe more. They worked very hard for the last week and now they want to throw a party and blow off steam. They have their own money. Somewhere along the line, they grew up. And I trust them and their friends."

"That's about the long and the short of it," Nodoka agreed as she turned toward the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" Tofu asked curiously.

Nodoka half turned. "Well, you see, you two are their siblings – you get to stand around in wonder as they grow up." She put a hand to her chest demurely. "I, on the other hand, am the recognized mother – and I will always be the mother no matter how old they get. So, I always get to mother them – and their friends. Now, if you will please excuse me, I have some coffee and hot chocolate to put on."

After a chuckle, Tofu and Kasumi walked out into the backyard and watched with amusement as students started to pour into the dojo. Somewhere above the din, they thought they heard a sound - something that might have been gakis whimpering...

Epilogue:

Ranma and Akane arrived home from school. There was enough time to get in a private lesson for Akane before Ranma had to get to the clinic and the two were eager to get started. However, they found Nodoka waiting for them with two letters as soon as they closed the door. "These came from NCT. Open them!" Nodoka commanded.

"But we already know we did well enough," Ranma told his mother. "We figured out our raw scores last month."

She hit him on the head with the envelopes. "Open it – both of you!" she commanded again. With a sigh, both teenagers took their envelopes and opened them. Then, they both stood silent as they stared at the percentile charts. "Well?" Nodoka prompted.

Akane and Ranma swallowed hard and compared papers. "Well?!" Nodoka demanded.

They both looked up at her. "We scored in the 90th percentile," Akane said in a small voice.

"Hah! I knew it!" Nodoka crowed. "I knew you were underestimating yourselves! You should be thinking about better schools! Ranma, call Tofu and tell him you need the night off! We need to look through the course catalogs tonight! Both of you should be reaching for the stars!" She turned from them and shouted at the ceiling. "You could be leaders in business or lawyers! I bet if you really applied yourselves, you could take it again and ace that test! Think about it! You could be doctors!"

Nodoka heard two thuds behind her and turned to see her son and daughter-in-law collapsed on the floor. They were both out cold. The sight shocked her and brought her back to herself. She sighed and said to herself: "Or your silly mother could shut up and let you be who you are meant to be." With that, she bent over and set about reviving her children.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I'm taking a short break and then I have a one-shot featuring Konatsu. Talk to you then!