Ranma 1/2

Disclaimer: I don’t own Ranma, Rumiko Takahashi does. I just borrowed some of the characters. Rated: NC-17

Shades of Home

Chapter 19

Steven had called them all into his office and he didn't look happy. Someone had played a trick on the man who had started the trouble with Ranma. Whoever it was had opened the combination lock on his foot locker and put a gag can in it. One of those cans that look like peanuts but has a spring loaded snake in them. It wouldn't have been bad except he'd jumped so hard that he'd fallen down and cut his head onthe next bunk over. Four stitches weren't much but still . . .

"So I want to know who did this. I'm not fooling around; we have enough trouble just now and we don't need this."

Leela admitted she had been the one who pulled the prank. "I never thought it would be bad. How was I to know the idiot would trip over his own big feet?"

"That's why we discourage pranks. Most of them turn out funny but every now and then they go sour, like this one." Steven reached into his desk drawer and took out a plain wooden ruler. "Put out your hand, Leela. You get two smacks."

Leela put out her hand. It wouldn't hurt much. Steven didn't believe in hurting them. He interpreted the rules as leniently as he could. They'd all heard Steven dressing Perkins down over Ranma; he'd been hoarse for a whole day.

At the soft pop of the ruler hitting flesh Ryouga went completely crazy. He grabbed Steven by the arm, flipped him over the chair and into the wall. He was getting ready to follow when Ranma tripped him. He fell to his knees and Kuno grabbed his right arm and the back of his shirt, Ranma got his left and wrapped his right arm around Ryouga's neck. Kuno had to put his knee in the small of Ryouga's back to bend him backwards, hoping to keep him from attacking Steven.

Ryouga struggled wildly, silently; he wanted to kill Steven. He was going to kill Steven; he had to.

Leela squealed, startled, everything had happened so fast she had no idea what was going on.

Steven picked himself up and added his body weight to the wrestling match. Ryouga fought in silence, pulling so hard that he dragged Ranma and Kuno across the floor. Steven used his superior size to good advantage, and with Ranma and Kuno's help, he got Ryouga in a Psycho Hug and bent him over so far forward that he accidentally cut his air off.

After a few seconds Ranma peered at Ryouga. "Un? Steven? I think you'd better let up; he's startin' t' turn blue. Not really blue . . . sorta gray around the edges. Damn! He's still strugglin'. Quit that, Ryu, you're gonna hurt someone."

Leela started to come closer. "No Leela, until we know what's wrong, stay away; he might hurt you. What the hell is going on with him? I've seen him like this once. He nearly killed Mousse . . . for hurting Akane."

Steven was still struggling to hold Ryouga. Kuno was sitting on his legs and having a hard time of it. Ranma still had hold of Ryouga as well.

"If we don't get him calmed down soon, we're gonna have t' sedate him. Leela, I changed my mind! Come here! Let him see you."

Leela came closer and squatted down where Ryouga could see her. "Ryu! Stop! You'll only hurt yourself! Stop! Please!" Ryouga didn't seem to hear her. "Ryu sweetie, stop, you're really scaring me!" Leela started to cry. "Ryu stop it." Leela reached out and gently touched Ryouga's cheek; she stroked it and he slowly stopped fighting.

Ryouga shook his head, he was coming to himself again. He slowly looked around.

"What . . . Oh, you . . . hit . . . Leela. I... " Ryouga focused on Leela touching him. "Leela! You all right? I didn't hurt you. Anyone? Did I? Uun, Steven? You're kinda squashin' me. Could you let me up? I'll be good! I promise!"

"Ok. What was that all about? How long have you been a berserker? You held out on us again damnit. How are we supposed to plan our strategy if we don't know everything?"

Steven was pissed. He was tired of all the secrecy on both sides.

"It doesn't happen very often. Last time was when someone hurt Akane. Before that someone hurt my Mom. I'm sorry! I thought I had it under control!"

Ranma eyed Ryouga. "I hope I never see that aimed at me! Damn, you got really strong. And stupid. No planning at all, just straight out attack on Steven. Not real good." Ranma analyzed the whole attack in just those few sentences.

Ryouga pulled his arms gently. "You can let go now. I'm Ok. I promise." Ryouga finally went limp in Steven's grasp. "I'm fine . . . I'm good. Please let me go."

Steven, convinced that Ryouga was really not going to attack anyone again, let go and stood up. As he did, he dumped Ryouga on his feet.

"That was interesting. I've never seen a berserker before. Damnit, if you can learn to call that . . . well . . . all I can say is, it could be devastating. But do you lose it like that or can you keep enough sense to direct your attack to a target."

Steven was not one to worry about what couldn't be helped, he was interested in anything that could help them in their fight.

Doris, watching from the doorway, just shook her head.

"And can you direct your berserkergang? You know quite well that we just freak you out and get out of the way. Manly, you're incorrigible. The poor kid is probably worried you'll send him away or lock him up, and you're talking about attacks."

Ryouga was stunned, they weren't going to do anything to him. Attacking a teacher was grounds for expulsion in Japan. Attacking the Headmaster? Can you say under the jail? But all he was worried about was how much control he had.

"When I get like that, all I see is a red haze. I think if I was pointed in the right direction I might go for a target, but I'd hate t' test that theory. And after, I'm pretty much worn out. You do whatever you're gonna, I'm goin' t' my room and take a nap." Ryouga just walked out.

Ranma started to follow but Steven stopped him, telling Leela to go after him and stay with him until he fell asleep. He told the rest of the teens to leave and 'go about your business' except for Ranma.

"I've gotten several E-mails from Tendo Nabiki. She's wanting you to come home for at least a day. Her sister is getting a little crazy. She doesn't understand how hard you're training and she says she needs to see you. I've made arraignments for you to go back to Nerima tomorrow. I hate to force the issue but you need to make a decision. You can't live with this hanging at loose ends and it's not fair to Akane either. Another question: how are the nightmares?"

Ranma pulled his pigtail, then he just flopped into the nearest chair.

"This isn't fair coming after Ryouga. But I've been tryin' t' see ya for the last day or so. You're a hard man t' find sometimes. I want my SP-24 back. I can't sleep, I keep havin' nightmares. With it, I sleep pretty good. Don't ask me why.

"And I don't think it's fair. All the Grunts carry knives and even guns, but we can't have them. Not that I want a gun, I barely know which end goes bang so I've got no business with one, but I'd like my knife back, please; or even if ya don't."

Ranma prepared for battle and was surprised when Steven just opened his desk drawer and tossed the SP-24 back to him.

"Thanks."

Ranma snapped the knife out of the air. While he was adjusting the straps that fitted around his thigh he went on, "I think you're right. I need t' see Akane. I've been thinkin' and talkin' t' Ryouga and I've made a decision. What happens between me and Akane depends entirely on what happens tomorrow. I'll go kinda late. I'd like t' get there about 6:00 P.M., please. That way she'll be out a' school."

Ranma stood up, clipped the last strap around his belt and left.

.

Ranma walked into the yard looking for someone, anyone; he heard breaking from the dojo so he knew Akane at least was here.

"Akane! Hey, you in there?"

Akane looked at Ranma for a moment then grabbed him and hugged him so hard his ribs creaked.

"Ranma. I missed you. Come into the house, I'll make you some tea. You have to tell me all about everything." Akane missed Ranma's grimace.

Akane dragged Ranma into the kitchen while she made tea, thankfully she didn't try to cook anything as Kasumi had left a cake.

Seated at the kitchen table while they waited for the water to boil, Ranma told Akane a very edited version of his story. He left out a lot of his time on the other side, just telling her that he'd been there longer than they knew because time ran differently.

"Geeze, Ranma, Daddy will really like to hear that you're coming back. He's been so down since Genma went away. He spends a lot of time at the Shogi parlor. He won't try to run the dojo and he won't let me run it. Like I'm not capable . . . Oh, the water!"

Akane poured the water into the tea pot and put it on a tray. Ranma reached out to pick up the tray so Akane could carry the cake. But he accidentally brushed against her side as he did so.

"Watch it! You didn't learn what to do with your hands yet, did you?"

Ranma said through clenched teeth. "Damnit it was an accident. I know what to do with my hands."

"You are such a pervert! Sit down over there."

Akane pointed to the opposite side of the table from her. Ranma sat, he was already regretting this, she was as 'don't touch me' as he was.

They managed to visit quite nicely for almost fifteen minutes; then Ranma happened to remark that it was too bad they couldn't find someone to run the dojo for them. He intended to say until Akane was older but she didn't let him get that far.

"What do you mean 'get someone to run the dojo?' I'm not good enough? I could do it if Daddy would let me, but he's just dead set on you running it." Akane was in Ranma's face

"Akane, get outta my face. I don't like it and it's not safe. I got too much a' that when I was a slave. It makes me crazy. If you think I'm gonna run the damn dojo you can forget it. I'm too busy at school and training'. It's to far."

Akane ground her teeth, this wasn't going as she had imagined it would. Ranma wasn't glad to be back home; in fact, he acted almost as if it was a chore to be here. And he was as big a pervert as ever. {If he'd just keep himself to himself.}

"You mean you're not coming back at all. I thought you would at least come back for a while. You ungrateful, self-centered . . . you can't come back just long enough for me to convince Daddy that you won't work out?!"

"What do ya mean won't work out . . . I work out all the time." Ranma looked at Akane's furious face and realized what she meant "Oh! Ya mean runnin' the dojo. I don't have time for that."

"Well, someone has to. You're just mean; all this talk of being with some super secret agency, like some spy or something. It's just nonsense."

"No, it's not. Ya just don't see it because it's Nerima. There's all kinds a' stuff goin' on and it's up t' me and the other's t' do somethin' about it."

Ranma rubbed his forehead, it was starting all over again. They couldn't be together for more than half an hour or so before they wound up fighting.

Ranma muttered, "damnit, uncute, crazy, thick as a brick, violent tomboy."

"I heard that. Ranma. You and the Hentai Horde are just alike. All you think about is . . . "

"I do not."

"Do to"

"I'm not gettin' in an argument with ya. I've gotta go back t' the Compound soon. Kuno's gonna be waitin' t' . . . "

Akane screamed, "Kuno! What are you doing hanging around with that crazy hentai moron?!"

Then Ranma put his foot in it bad . . . "Damnit Kuno's not that bad! All ya gotta do is get t' know him. He's got a brain . . . "

"No! He doesn't! He's the worst hentai I've ever met. He's more trouble than any two other boys put together. It's his fault we got engaged in the first place. If it wasn't for him and his stupid 'duel her' thing Daddy wouldn't think I need 'protection' and you're defending him, you won't come help me with the dojo. You just want to go off and forget all about your uncute fiancee. It's crap!"

Akane could see everything she ever wanted slipping through her fingers as Ranma refused to help her. Instead of coming back, he was hanging around with the source of a lot of her trouble.

Akane slammed her hands down on the table and tipped the tea pot. As Ranma reached out to catch it, she leaned over to catch it too; the result was that Ranma wound up with his hand somewhere it shouldn't have been. But this time, instead of booting him once and flouncing off in a huff, she completely lost her formidable temper.

Ranma thought he knew what was coming next; in his experience Akane would clobber him and run away. This time he was so wrong.

Akane grabbed the nearest loose object, which happened to be a bokken.

She hit him on the shoulder; she missed his head only because he moved it.

Ranma started to get up when he realized Akane was going to hit him again, but then he knelt on the floor instead. What was he going to do? Hit her back?

He didn't hit people he loved; not ever, not for any reason; not once. And surely not more than once.

"Akane . . . ow! Stop . . . Akane you can't do this! Ow! NO! Stop it. Ow!" His pleas fell on deaf ears. Akane was taking years of frustration and fury out on Ranma. "Please stop. Akane . . . you're hurting me! ... Akane . . . I can't do this."

Ranma did the only thing he could think of, he covered his head and took it.

As suddenly as she started, she stopped. "What . . . Oh, Ranma, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. But you know I wouldn't do that if you didn't make me."

"How the hell can I make you hit me? You can't do that any more; it was all I could do not to hit you back, and you know I don't hit girls. You done hittin' me now? Can I have the bokken?"

Ranma swallowed his own temper. He was really hurting. In fact he hurt so bad, he felt slightly faint, and that took a lot.

Akane gave Ranma the bokken. He looked at it for a moment and then broke it like a twig.

Akane put her hand out, but drew it back when she saw how very angry Ranma looked. He looked like he really was about to hit her, but he shook his head and smoothed his face out.

"I'm not gonna tell ya horror stories but they beat me in the other realm and I react badly t' bein' hit. You're lucky I could hold my temper. Ya got no self-control damnit. I hoped we could work this out, but I can see it's not happenin'"

"I'm not a pervert. Hell, I'm not really sure what a pervert does. I'm sure it's not accidentally touchin' ya. I've always said you're an uncute, violent, tomboy; built like a stick, thick as a brick. But now . . . well, I'm sorry I was rude t' ya. I'm sure my rudeness is at least half t' blame."

"I wish it was different; I really do. But I'm in a fight for more than just my life. It's serious and I can't afford this. You'll jump me over some petty thing and I'll hurt ya before I realize who it is. I love ya and I always will, but I can't be with ya.

“Ahh, this is just stupid."

Akane just stared at Ranma; then she exploded again."Who are you calling stupid? You just disappear, worry us all to death then come back with these wild tales and tell me you won't help me with the dojo; paw me and blame me for protecting my self." She reached out to smack Ranma.

Ranma back stepped.

"See! We can't be together. You'll always be hittin' me. You can't do that anymore. You'll catch me off guard and get killed." Ranma jumped backward into the yard.

"Baka!"

"Bitch!"

"Show off!"

"Violent . . . Damn . . . I'm not arguein' with ya. Our engagement is off, as of now. I'm really sorry. This is my fault. If I'd been smarter, or kept Pop under better control, this would never have happened."

Akane looked at Ranma, she felt stunned. What had she done? Ranma looked sick and white.

"Ranma! What have I done? I'm so sorry, let me . . . "

"Don't touch me!" Ranma jumped back right to the gate.

He turned and leaned against it for a moment, then he faced Akane with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I hate t' be touched almost as much as you do. I guess we're both messed up. See about therapy; maybe anger management or somethin'." Ranma let his tears trickle down his cheeks. "See I have grown up, some."

Ranma opened the gate; "By "Kane, try t' be happy." Ranma gave the gate a small pat and left.

"Here Ranma, what's the matter. You look like she put ya through a wringer."

The driver reached out to take Ranma by the arm.

"Don't touch me. It hurts. Just get me home."

Ranma staggered to the van and crawled into the passenger seat. All he could think of was part of a poem "Sad shades of home."

.

The driver looked at Ranma. He was already either passed out or asleep and the man decided to leave it that way. He went in the side door at the clinic and looked around.

"Excuse me, Miss. I need some help. Some psycho bitch beat up my passenger and he said to bring him here before he . . . um . . . not really passed out . . . kinda fell asleep, and I don't want to wake him till I find out if this is the right place."

Sunny was filling in for her Mother; she filled in once a week, when she went to dinner.

"Ok. I"m it for now. If it's really bad, I can get Maa Yao from her dinner. But I'll take a look first. He's in the van?"

"Yeah, I think that girl hit him with some kind of stick or something. He's got a bruise on his arm that really looks bad."

The driver showed Sunny to the passenger side door. She peeked in and gasped.

"Ranma, what happened to you? Who hurt you like this?"

"Akane. She lost her temper. She's never done this before. She usualy just smacks me once and runs off, but she . . . I don't know what I did, Sunny."

Ranma looked so sad and so hurt that Sunny nearly cried right there.

Sunny snatched out her cell phone and called Steven. "Come to the clinic right a way! Akane beat up Ranma. No, I don't know how!"

Sunny got two attendants to help Ranma into the clinic but he wasn't having any of that.

"I'll manage, just give me a minute. It's not really that bad. It's just . . . she's so strong."

Ranma collected himself and got to a room and up on an examination table.

Sunny whimpered, Ranma looked so white now that she had him in good light she was afraid he would pass out any minute.

"I don't know what hurts worse, what she did or that she did it at all."

Ranma started to peel his shirt off but had to stop a minute. When he moved, the forming bruises started to pull, he sighed and tried again. This time he made it by tearing the tank he was wearing. He threw it on the floor.

Ryouga walked in the door just then, and went ballistic. "Damnit, Ranma what truck ran over you? Who did that? I'll get them . . . "

"Shut up, Ryu. It was Akane. I really pissed her off this time. I'm not sure what set her off, but she took after me with a bokken."

"Ooowww! Ranma you look like a. . . . "

"Practice dummy? Punching bag?" Ranma questioned.

"How could you let her do that to you? You could have stopped her anytime." Sunny couldn't understand.

"Yeah, I coulda' but only by hittin' her. I don't hit girls."

Ryouga swallowed, then snarled, "Too bad! I woulda. No one should lay down and take it like that."

Sunny was fidgeting around, trying to get to Ranma. Ryouga was unconsciously trying to keep her from seeing him and kept getting in the way. She finally pushed him aside, fuming, "Ryu, get out of the way. I've seen people really beaten up before. I'm a healer . . . Ranma I don't believe you let someone do that to you. You must really love her to let her get away with that."

Ranma had laid down on the table with his arms stretched above his head, gripping the head of the table. He had stripes of bruises from just under his arms to the dimples in his lower back. He also had bruises on his forearms.

"Yeah, I guess . . . How bad is it?"

Ryouga described his injuries to him ending; "What the hell did you say she beat ya with? Ya look like . . . "

"It was a bokken. She beat me with a bokken so hard I nearly passed out in the car, I had t' sit on the floor. Why'd she do that? What did I ever do to make her hit me? I know we got off on the wrong foot and all but . . . really . . . I'm rude and uncultured and not romantic but . . . never mind. I'm really startin' t' hurt. Maybe we can talk later. Think about my questions. 'K?"

Ryouga grunted; their sessions weren't what you would expect, Ranma being Ranma, he reacted badly to having his questions turned back on him; so Ryouga knew he needed to come up with answers.

"Ok Ran-chan. I'll try to come up with some answers for you. Don't expect too much though. You think about it. I'm leaving now."

Ryouga left, heading for Steven's office to make a report. If Steven saw Ranma, he'd be pressing charges, and Ryouga knew Ranma didn't want that.

Sunny shut the door behind Ryouga and set up her things; a candle and some liniment, she was going to use the candle to help Ranma relax and the liniment would help her hands slide as she healed him

"Look at the candle. Concentrate on the flame. I'll begin to heal you in a minute. You need to relax first."

"I can't. I don't understand . . . I feel so bad. I love her so much. But I know we can't be together."

Sunny poured some of the liniment into her hands, rubbing them together to warm the liquid she asked, "How can you love someone who does something like that to you? It's . . . I hate to say crazy, but it is."

Ranma closed his eyes enjoying the soothing warmth that spread from Sunny's hands. The candle smelled good, overpowering the sharp smell of the liniment. The golden aura of her healing chi soothed his pain.

"Mmmmmm. That feels so good. I love her because I love her. But I can't be with her. We just don't get along. I'll always have feelings for her. But the heart is a big thing; there's plenty of room for everyone."

Sunny smiled. "Ranma you're wiser than you know. Go to sleep for a while." Ranma snuggled down into the padded table. "Sunny? Just rub my back for a little while . . . it feels so good."

She reached over his head to quickly heal his arms; Ranma twitched as she pressed her breasts into him. Then she obligingly stroked his back from shoulders to hips, admiring the firm muscles and soft skin.

"Ooohhh. Sunny I'll give ya about a million years to stop that. It feels so good. Your hands are so gentle and warm." Sunny found an especially sore spot."Yeah, right there."

Ranma fell asleep snoring softly.

~ * ~

Vignette

Ranma twitched slightly in his sleep. It was the beginning of a nightmare. He was stretched between horses again but this time instead of feeling like he was being torn apart he flexed his arms and legs; the ropes fell away as the sun came out.

Ranma rolled over and burrowed deeper into his blankets.

~ * ~

Steven had called another meeting.

"Damnit, I hate staff meetings they're boring! I could be studying for that last sciences test. I have to get this shit out of the way; I'm holding the rest of the group back. Why do I have to take calculus? What the hell am I ever gonna do with higher maths?"; Ranma complained, as he wandered around the room jittering.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Damnit Ran-chan, sit down and take a load off."

Danny hated to have anyone behind him; like most of the others did, and Ranma's path took him behind Danny, repeatedly.

"Sorry. I've still got to take the English competency test so we can get on with integrating with the support personnel and I'm nervous. Too much coffee, I guess."

Ranma sat down in a chair only to bounce up a few seconds later. "I know! Hey, we all have to take that English test. Why don't we see if Steven won't get the examiner to come in and we have the meeting in English in front of him? That should satisfy the requirement."

"Two minds with a single thought."; Steven's laughing voice preceded him through the door. "This is Mr. Thomas. He's going to sit in on our meeting; which we will be holding in English, thank you."

Mr. Thomas looked around at the group. "My name is Mr. Thomas; I'm the English language examiner. I'm not going to test you on a lot of fancy vocabulary; all I expect of you is the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation. Is there any coffee?"

Coffee was brought by Dorrie and passed around.

"Have some coffee Ranma?"

All the teens yelped or shouted some form of ‘no’.

"Huh? He can't have coffee? Why not?" Doris was confused; she knew most of the teens preferred tea but they drank coffee too.

Kuno explained the effect of too much coffee on Ranma.

"I'll put it this way. Last week Ranma had two double mochas and a piece of cake. Believe me, the devastation of Ranma on a caffeine and sugar fueled high equals the effects of C-4 on a wooden bridge. Give him something caffeine free, like herbal tea . . . or a sedative."

Everyone laughed including Ranma.

Steven started a run down of current business by announcing that the "Deamondex" had been compiled but they were having problems. Every entry had been contributed by people who had just sent in every thing they could think of.

"So here we are. We have several entries for the same critter. How we are going to sort them out I don't know; it's the same thing but with slightly different descriptions and different names. Any suggestions?"

Everyone looked around hesitant to make a stupid suggestion. Mr. Thomas wrote in his book.

Ranma got up and paced around the table.

"Ranma would you please sit down? You're making us all nervous." Steven was having trouble sitting himself. He and Ranma were very much alike; they both thought better on the move.

"Matte. Shimatta . . . Ch' . . . Nani . . . nani? I can't think. Something . . . " Suddenly Ranma smacked himself in the head; "Got it."

"What we need is a definitive set of descriptive . . . " Ranma switched to Japanese. "Scuse me?! I talk like I was taught by my Sensai, my English is good." Everyone had been staring at him open mouthed.

Ranma looked at Steven and Mr. Thomas "Somethin' wrong? K'so! I forgot we're supposed to only speak English. Shimaimasen . . . I mean, I'm sorry . . . won't happen again."

Mr. Thomas just shrugged. "I don't expect you all to only speak Japanese; I just expect you to be understandable when you use English. Go on with your ideas . . . please."

Steven nodded and started taking notes. He'd long ago decided that, when Ranma spoke in that tone of voice, even he should pay attention. Ranma wasn't stupid by any means.

"Uh . . . lost my train of thought. Oh . . . yeah . . . why not use biological Latin? Get some biologists to name everything; go through the files and just name stuff. You can't have two different descriptions when you use Latin. Translating from every language these guys all used to English has messed up things royally, but in Latin tessellated is tessellated, ya know? What cha think? Then all ya have t' do is sort then delete duplicate records . . . by hand I think. Just in case of translation errors making two different 'contacts' sound the same and get some game freaks to work up some visuals for the 'dex. Also we need to classify these things . . . I had an idea about that too.

"If you can shoot it call it vermin; if you can't but you can kill it with chi attacks it's a critter; if it can't be killed by anything but brute force it's a grizzly. What cha think?"

Everyone just stared at Ranma for a few seconds. Then they started a heated discussion of the ins and outs of exactly what needed to be done. Everyone liked the idea of Latin since it was a dead language and everyone agreed on the meaning of each word used; so that was an in.

But the meeting rapidly degenerated into a shouting match when they tried to decide what to do about pictures of the Contacts. Ryouga thought good illustrations should be used, Kuno insisted that only photos would do, while Ranma was all for computer generated pictures if real photos weren't available.

Steven finally broke it up by shouting, "Shimatta, nan da kor'ya? Urusai!! You're acting like a bunch of spoiled kids. We use them all, just as long as we get something that works." He took a deep breath then said, "Wauri. All this wrangling gets on my nerves. We still have a lot to go over and we're wasting time."

Mr. Thomas closed his note book and looked around. "You people are just down right scary. Talking about things that 'go bump in the night' like they were cockroaches or something. I'll pass you all in English; I haven't heard better in a long time. Just don't kill each other." He left, laughing softly.

His interruption cooled things off and they all got back to business.

Next, Ryouga had some ideas about how to get them integrated with the Grunts.

"I believe I'm one of the stupidest men alive for not thinking of it myself." Steven nodded to Ryouga. "He says we should let the Grunts shoot anything that is shootable and save ourselves for the things that don't die that easily; I agree with him 100%. It gives the men something they can be proud of and takes part of the load off us."

"The other thing he suggested is that you all should train with an established strike team. That would mean breaking you up for a while but I think he's right; you need to work with an established team to see how it works. I don't like breaking you up but it's the only thing that makes sense. Any objections?"

There were plenty but everyone saw the reasoning behind the idea and agreed; with some reservations.

Ryouga and Ranma both came up with the same one; the girls. How would they work with a bunch of men? But Steven had already worked this out too. Sunny wasn't combat personnel she was a Healer and stayed behind the lines. Leela would be working with an all female strike team. "And believe me when I say they're as good as the men. I would trust any of them at my back . . . and I wouldn't want to meet them in the dark if they were pissed at me."

~ * ~

Matte Wait

Nani What

K'so Shit

Shimainasen I'm sorry

Nan da Kor'ya What the fuck's this?

Urusai Shut Up!

Wauri My bad