Reunion


Ranma decided that as long as he had the three bodies here together, he
ought to get used to controlling them. He had been able to spar against
five unseen foes by manipulating weapons with the Juushin Jisei... this
was just an extension of that, though an important one.

Ranma took the three bodies to the base of yet another mountain, hoping
for some undisturbed sparring time. This time, his senses remained
stretched about him, as he was no longer observing the reactions within
his body.

Ranma began sparring, steadily working on controlling the three bodies
at once. He discovered that the human body he was in was stronger than
either of the other two, in spite of their greater mass, emphasizing the
difference his ki made. 

Realizing this, he pulled out of the body, and floated above in tiger
form, as he controlled the sparring going on below. After nearly an hour
of sparring, the bodies below him were moving fluidly, and fighting in
something that actually approximated his style, though all three were
slower and less powerful than when he was within them.

This made him realize that without his ki, these bodies might be more of
a hindrance in a fight, than a help. However, the slight drain he was
feeling after only an hour out-of-body, made him remember that all three
bodies were generating ki. If he could only harness the ki of the
body... That was when he realized a vital point. He had to master this,
or Ranko would have to do what he was doing... roam around as a being of
pure ki inhabiting bodies. Unless she could fully master and control the
ki the body generated, and use it instead of supplying her own and
supplementing it with the body's...

He moved the tiger and dragon each to one side, then focused on the
human body. He started, by trying to get the body to generate a ki
aura... but with no results. So then he shifted, and thought, maybe I
need to be more in tune with it. He reached out with his sixth and
seventh senses, focusing on the body's senses, on the miniscule flows of
ki from the eyes, and the brain...

Suddenly, he was looking out across the rocks, instead of down at them.
He flicked his gaze upward... had he been drawn into the body by trying
too hard? His gaze met the gaze of the ki form, floating in the air
above him. The ki figure did not move. Then he looked at his hands, and
trying to pull up ki, and his hand flared with blue light. He leapt
lightly into the air, and studied the ki figure. He tried to move it,
and nothing happened. 

He realized, finally, what had happened. He had tuned in to the body,
until it had pulled his spirit out of the body. He pulled himself free
from the body, and drifted up, and fell back into his ki-form. Well, at
least that explained how to work with Ranko... if she used his exit to
the spirit-form and entered the body... or if he left her with their
body, and did the same himself, then the body would be really theirs.

That still didn't get him where he wanted to be, and he went back to
work, trying, from a distance, to convince one of the bodies to use some
of its ki, to get a flicker of aura. As the light slowly failed, he gave
in, and brought the bodies back to the water.

When he reached the side of the water, after a mighty bound, he was
startled to find several tents set up there, and a fire, and five people
around it. One of them had brilliant red hair. She leapt up when he
appeared, and was about to run to him, when the tiger landed behind him.
They all jumped up, staring, and then the dragon descended behind the
tiger. Ranma just stared, stupefied. How had she known? He had planned
on giving her several months to get adjusted... and who were these other
people? He recognized only Ranko and Xian Pu.

Ranko shook off her surprise, and leapt for him, wrapping him in a hug,
squeezing him tightly, feeling the strength, the realness of his body.
"You did it! Wow, already? I love you, brother."

He put his arms around her slowly, still staring at the group. "I love
you too, Ranko-chan. But... but who are all these people?"

The young woman he didn't know stepped forward, her hair long and dark.
"I'm... I'm Kuonji Ukyou."

His eyes widened, flashing with sudden delight "Ucchan...," then they
darkened again, and he shook his head, "You can't be... Ukyou's a guy...
Oh, no, tell me you didn't fall in the Nyannichuan?"

Ranko spoke up, looking up at him. "She was always a girl. Papa-san
admitted that he knew." She released him and stepped back, and he
stepped towards Ukyou, staring. 

"Ucchan?" He still looked confused. She ran up and hugged him tightly. 

"Ranchan... its been so long. Its good to see you again." Then she
turned, and left his side, to go to Ryouga, and pull him forward. "This
is Ryouga. He was my best friend from middle school. He came with me, to
help me."

Ranma looked at him. Ryouga looked strong, and fit. "You're a martial
artist, huh?" Ryouga nodded. "Thought so. You look it." 

Then Ranko was pulling Mu Suu forward. Mu Suu stepped up, and bowed
deeply. "This is Mu Suu, Ranma."

Ranma bowed back. "I am honored to meet you. You're a Master of Hidden
Weapons, eh?"

"Kho Lon told you?," Mu Suu asked, surprised. He hadn't really expected
Xian Pu or Kho Lon to have wasted words on him around Ranma.

"Nah. Its just, you'd have to be, to be carrying that many." Mu Suu
prevented his jaw from dropping through sheer force of will. He stepped
back, then Xian Pu bounded up. 

She had waited until last, because she wanted to hold him the longest.
She hugged him tightly, glad that the events of the day had given her
sufficient reason to do so. He felt strong, and solid. It was like
hugging a warm statue. She stepped back. "Aren't you going to introduce
us to your friends?," she asked, batting her eyelashes at him prettily.

"Uhm... right," he said slowly, a glint of amusement in his eyes. The
ten foot half-tiger, and fifteen foot half-dragon stepped up to either
side of him, and then all three said, in a curious unison, "Hello, I'm
Fey Ranma." They bowed, in perfect synchronization. Ranko clapped, Xian
Pu gasped, Ukyou, Ryouga, and Mu Suu just gaped.

Ranma took Ranko's hand, and pulled her close so he could look into her
eyes. "There's someone I'd like you to meet, too," he said, then 
released her hand, and leapt to the rock in the depths of the pool, and
pulled out a deep blue flute, and began playing.

All five watched, shocked, when the neriad cleared the surface. Her hair
was swept back this time, exposing her generous assets, and Ryouga fell,
stunned. She called out to Ranma, in a voice like running water, and he
paused in his playing, and stood, and gestured to his sister. She leapt
lightly across the water, and then he cast his spell. To Xian Pu,
watching from the shore, it was like a bell of doom, tolling for her. He
was standing there, looking upon the exposed beauty of a goddess,
against whom she could not hope to compete, and showed not the slightest
disturbance, not the least discomfort. How then could she hope to win
him? This was beyond iron will, of which his Lady had written. This was
will of diamond, or something harder still. She could only hope, and
pray, that he would soften after he freed his Dragon Lady.

"Lady, this is my sister, of whom I spoke to you."

Ranko sat on the edge of the stone, looking at the beautiful neriad. The
Lady swept up close to her, and then looked between them. 

"You are beautiful as well, child. Will you dance together for me?"

"We will," Ranma replied. Before he could act, she spoke again, glancing
between the two of them.

"But... but you are both fierce tiger," she said. "You are one spirit!"
Her surprise and astonishment shone through her eyes.

"Yes," Ranma said, smiling, "we are one." He turned to Ranko. "By dance,
she means she wishes to see a kata. Aerial, on and above the water,
alright?" At her nod, he tensed, and she tensed with him, and together,
they launched into an aerial kata. 

All four of those on the shore were stunned. It was the first time
anyone had ever seen the two spar, and it was amazing, and very like an
aerial ballet. The still surface of the water began to seem like a
solid floor, for they would land on it, and leap again, leaving only
the very lightest of ripples. Ryouga was grateful for it, for it was so
amazing it held his attention, keeping it from wandering to the water
spirit and knocking him out again.

The neriad too, was entranced, though she alone could truly see the
oneness of spirit that allowed, indeed defined, the tremendous display.
Finally, the tiger and dragon leapt to join the dance, and now it was
truly unbelievable. To see a fifteen foot dragon set one massive clawed
foot lightly on the water and leap again, it verily hurt the mind. 

The watchers on the shore might have been able to trick their minds into
believing the surface of the lake to be solid, were it not for the
unbelievably beautiful water spirit, that bobbed lightly, moving back
and forth, swaying gently as the water rippled about her. She was the
final piece that made the whole scene utterly surreal.

Finally, the tiger and dragon leapt back to the shore, and Ranko and
Ranma landed together on the rock, holding each other's hand, one foot
on the stone, the other held high, knee bent, and their free hands
curled under their chin, with their elbow resting on their knee.
Everyone burst into applause. They grinned, then slid into lotus
position, back to back, and pulled out their flutes. Ranko's
flute was golden, the original Dragon Fang, while Ranma's was deep blue,
the wakizashi he had made. He held out the wakizashi to her over his
shoulder, and she nodded, and handed the Dragon Fang back to him over
her shoulder. 

She understood immediately the significance of the seemingly pointless
exchange. The Dragon Fang was, in a sense, the symbol of the office he
held, the Lord Fey's weapon and scepter. By accepting it back, he was
both saying that the wakizashi was hers now, his gift to her, and, in a
deeper sense, and one that touched her heart, he was silently informing
her that he had no intention of taking his body back from her. He had
made a new form for himself, and would allow her to keep the body that
had been theirs since childhood. In a way, it was an offer of equality,
of assuring her that she need not always stand second to him.
 
They began softly, notes only barely audible, slow and long, like a
gentle murmuring, building to the rushing of water in a trench too
narrow to hold it all, fading to the slow rumble of water overflowing
its banks, moving slower, but powerfully. Ranko spun her harmony over
and under Ranma's melody. Then they joined each other, playing in
perfect unison. 

The neriad could see Ranko's eyes twinkling, as they were suddenly
joined by a slow deep drumbeat. Ranko took off again, weaving a flight
of fantasy around Ranma's more sedate, steady melody. She was joined by
the trill of a piccolo, as Ranma's melody was suddenly supported by a
clarinet. 

All the watchers looked about them for the players, but neither player
nor instrument did they see. A violin picked up Ranko's flight, followed
by a viola taking up Ranma's. A snare drum picked up the rythym, as the
music intensified. 

Ryouga was beginning to sense the ki in the notes as they washed over
him, while the neriad could see that the notes were beginning to be
infused with magical energy. Light droplets started leaping from the
water into the air, as if it were raining, though no water was coming
from above. 

A koto joined in, lightly plucked, followed by a shakuhachi, a 
traditional bamboo flute, its haunting sound complementing the koto, and
lending a more Japanese air to the tune. The rising water thickened,
becoming two sets of thin ropes of water winding about each other,
though never touching, about a foot apart as they spiraled upward. The
rising water intensified again, forming two upward flowing columns of
water, moving slowly about the pair of musicians. 

The music became steadily more focused, as each musician's set of
instruments focused on their theme, reducing, though not eliminating,
the connection between the two melodies. As it did so, the columns
gained more definition, until they were water in the shape of Ranma and
Ranko, dancing on the water about them.

The two clear blue figures came together, giving the four on the shore a
curious view of Ranma and Ranko, rippling as they were viewed through
these watery versions of themselves. The two water figures bowed, then
took each other's hands, and began to dance, as the music became
suddenly suited to elegant ballroom dancing, of the fashion popular at
the Court of Farallon. 

They crossed the water in a long glide towards the shore, then Eki-Ranma
spun Eki-Ranko, spraying the four watchers with light droplets, then
swung her back towards the center of the pool. They danced in a long
circle around the stone, then stopped, and bowed deeply to each other,
then bowed together to the watchers on the shore, and lastly to the
water spirit, before collapsing back into the pool, causing a large
ripple to spread, as the music faded, one instrument after another
falling silent, until it was again only two flutes, and they too grew
quieter, and finally stopped. Ranma and Ranko put their flutes away to
loud applause.

The Lady swam up to them. "Thank you. That was beautiful. I assume,
fierce tiger, that this means you are leaving?"

"Yes, Lady. My purpose is achieved, and though I had thought to give my
sister more time amongst her new friends, I will go with them now. Yet
would I leave you something to remember me by, Lady. I know you saw the
threads of magic in the music. It was for more than what you saw... it
was also for this." Ranma reached out and set a lotus blossom on the
water, brilliant red in the center, fading to pink and finally white on
the outside edges. "This is a memory blossom... pluck a single petal,
and cast it upon the waters, and the waters will replay for you this
last dance of ours, and the music we played for you. It will regrow the
petal in a week." She reached out her hand, and pulled it to her,
caressing it with a long delicate finger. 

"Thank you. I will remember you always, my fierce tiger spirit." She
took the blossom, and holding it up in one hand, she sank beneath the
water until only the blossom was left on the surface, and she was gone. 

Ranma and Ranko leapt for the shore. They were immediately surrounded by
exclamations of congratulations, wonder, and amazement. Ranma grinned,
and pulled out three minature lotus blossoms, crystal. He handed one to
each of the girls. "Set them on still water, and you too can relive that
dance. You didn't really think I'd forget you, did you?" Ranko grabbed
his head, pulling it down so she could kiss his cheek. 

"Thank you, Ranma. That was sweet, and fun. A fitting gift for a
water-spirit."

"And for a spirit of fire, Red-chan," he grinned, and kissed the top of
her head.

"But I guess you weren't really thinking, Ranma." She grinned up at him.
"After all, if the girls want to remember, and watch you, mightn't the
guys want to watch me?" She too produced three miniature lotus blossoms.
Ranma looked delighted. Ryouga blushed, as he took his, and Ukyou gave
him a mock glare, and then spoiled it by giggling. Mu Suu fairly shone
as he took his, and tucked it carefully away.

Ukyou looked at Ranma for a while, before finally working up the courage
to ask... "Ranchan, where did you learn ballroom dancing?"

"Oh... I had to learn. All these stuffy parties I had to go to while
getting to know the nobles of the Five Kingdoms. It was either dance
with pretty girls, or listen to the blatherings of idiots. The trials of
being an ArchMage." He sighed dramatically.

Ryouga asked the next question. "Where'd you learn to do the thing with
the water?"

"Huh? Oh, I didn't. I've never done that before. It was pretty cool,
huh? I used the music as a focus to shape the magic to make the forms,
and we let our ki ride the melodies to infuse the forms."

"You made that up? On the spot? I didn't see you discussing it..."
Ryouga was curious and impressed, not skeptical but wondering.

"Oh. Well, we did discuss it. Our spirits are one, really, so we can
talk, no matter where we are, spirit to spirit."

"You play more than flute, that just magic, or you really know how to
play?" Xian Pu asked, hiding her annoyance at having to speak
Japanese to be polite.

"My twelfth year... Alana had run out of martial arts masters to teach
me, so she brought in some rather esoteric martial arts masters..." He
looked speculatively at Ukyou. "Hmmm. Ukyou, your family is the only one
to practice Martial Arts Okynomiyaki, right?"

"Yeah, its our family art. We're the only ones I know of."

"I think your father was one of my masters. Made me learn to make them
on the beach. Made me find the place on the planet that had the biggest
waves and breakers first, too."

"That sounds like Dad alright... but why didn't he attack you?"

"Oh... Probably cause I was just Lord Fey to all my masters. Anyway, I
learned a bunch of cooking martial arts, then I learned musical martial
arts. I can use a violin like a bow, among other things. So yeah, I can
play all those instruments. Anyway, I reckon we'll go ahead and sleep
here tonight, since you've gone to the trouble to set up your tents.
Tomorrow, we'll go to one of the mountains I've been practicing at.
There's something there I want to show you, Ranko. Then we can decide
together what we want to do."

"What about you," Mu Suu asked. "We did not bring an extra tent."

"So? I haven't been using a tent the whole time I was here, why should I
start now?"

"I asked, because there is room in the our tent. The tents are the same
size, and can fit three each, comfortably."

"Oh. Well, sure, why not." He clapped the two guys on the back, then
stopped, and looked closely at Ryouga, who eyed him back nervously.
"Hey Ryouga, when'd you get cursed? What do you turn into?"

"Huh? I'm not cursed. I don't turn into anything."

"Really? Ranko, come here, I want to compare." Ranko walked over, and
stood quietly as Ranma studied them both. "Well, you're right, its not a
Jusenkyou curse... so what is it?"

"I dunno. I tell you, I ain't cursed."

"I bet I know what it is," Ukyou piped up, "In middle school, before I
met him, Ryouga was called the 'Lost Boy.'" Ryouga blushed. "He only
managed to find his way home about once a week. I often thought he must
be cursed. He gets lost in a room with only one door, and that's more
than just a bad sense of direction."

"You... you really think its a curse? Do you think there might be
a cure?" Ryouga looked hopeful.

"I dunno. I never really tried to cure a curse before. But tell you
what, why don't you come with me when Ranko and I go to free the Lady
Alana. She's a dragon, and very old, and assuming she doesn't kill us
when we set her free, she might be able to help, or know who could."

"That'd be great, man. Thanks."

"No problem. Any friend of Ucchan's is a friend of mine."

---

Nothing dared disturb their slumber that night... not with the massive
tiger and dragon watching over them. So they woke in the morning feeling
refreshed and clear-headed. The four travelers watched in startled
wonder as Ranma and Ranko pulled a table and mats from nowhere, and
proceeded to cook a very impressive breakfast in a surprisingly short
amount of time. After they had all eaten, they set off in the direction
of the mountain Ranma wanted them to see. 

They moved slowly, land-bound, since Ranma wanted to take the time to
get to know Ucchan again, and her and Ranko's friends. The tiger loped
ahead of them, and the dragon strode behind.

Ranma listened and commented, as Ryouga and Ukyou told the story of
their journey. Ranko told of her meeting with Mu Suu, who blushed 
terribly through the first part, not looking at Ranko or Xian Pu. Then
Ukyou told the story of her meeting with Ranko, and watched in surprise,
as Ranma took the news of their engagement by Genma and her father far
calmer than Ranko. 

She understood better some of what Xian Pu had said, when he listened to
the end, and then spoke in a calm, hard tone. "I will not hold myself
bound by my father's foolish promises. I have seen what he did. Were I
to try and uphold the promises he has made for me, I would end up
marrying at least fifteen women. That, I will not do. I do not need his
name. I have my own now. Regardless, I can consider no tie binding until
I have fulfilled my duty, and freed Ranko and the Lady Alana from their
bonds."

Ranko blushed, as she realized the truth of what Xian Pu had said back
in the village. Ranma had just placed her name before the Lady's.

Ranma took Ukyou's hand. "I am terribly sorry for what my father has
done to you, Ucchan. Believe me, I will do all that I can to help you. I
will not try to make restitution for all my father's misdeeds though.
That is for him to do, should he wish to have a son again. I will do all
I can for you, not as one who has been wronged, but as my friend."

Ukyou smiled at him, and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Thank you,
Ranchan. You were always a good friend." Ukyou didn't notice the look of
pain on Ryouga's face, though Ranma did.

They stopped midday, and ate again, and reached the base of the mountain
around mid-afternoon. They worked their way carefully through the mounds
of stones, until they came to where Ranma had been exercising the day
before. It was easy enough to tell the place. Deep gouges in the stone
left little doubt. 

Ranma stood in the middle of the debris, examining the ground. "They've
been taken."

"What have?," asked Xian Pu. "What was here?"

"Hmmph. I wanted to show you, not tell you. I wonder where they went."

"I'm sorry about that," Prince Herb said, leaping down from a stone. "We
didn't realize that you would be back for them. When you did not return
that day... I'm afraid we assumed..."

Xian Pu looked startled. "I know you... You're the Musk Prince!"

He bowed to her. "I am indeed Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty." He
looked at Ranma, then across the group. His mouth fell open when he
looked at Ranko. "You... you are the vision of loveliness that he tore
from the stone. You are even more beautiful in the flesh."

Mu Suu stepped in front of her. "Stay back, Musk. She is under the
protection of the Joketsuzoku Nichiezu."

Ryouga looked at Xian Pu and Mu Suu, who bristled with anger and
nervousness, and Herb, who's face had darkened. "Seems to be a bit of
hostility here."

Two more figures dropped into place behind Herb, two men, dressed in
animal skins.

There was a fluttering of wings, causing most eyes to glance up, to see
Lady Kima settling on a stone. "Of course there's hostility. They're
sworn enemies, after all."

Xian Pu looked up in shock. "You... you are real? But the phoenix people
are just a myth!"

"No," Kima laughed, "We are no myth, I assure you."

Ranma looked up at her. "Ranko, this is Lady Kima. She was my
executioner, when first we met. She had me slain me for setting foot on
the wrong pile of rocks." He grinned at Lady Kima's look of shocked
dismay, and Prince Herb's look of lust tinged with fear, as Ranko's aura
burst free, blue flames roaring about her, forcing everyone to step
away, as the chips of rock that had been torn from the stones by Ranma
were swept aside as by a high wind. 

"You! You hurt Ranma!" Her aura suddenly swelled nine feet, becoming
cat-like, and then she swelled into it, suddenly a very feminine
half-tiger. "You dared hurt my Ranma?!?" she screamed in her fury, and
her aura swelled again, and she grew into it, becoming a fourteen foot
tall half-dragon, reaching out with a massive claw towards the Lady
Kima, who spread her wings, and would have leapt into the air to escape.

She was too slow, as Ranko blurred, her claw wrapping about the Lady,
lifting her up. Then she seemed to slump suddenly, and turned to Ranma,
still holding the Lady Kima. Kima was struggling desperately, fear
etched on her features, but Ranko didn't seem to be having any 
difficulty keeping her grip. She reached out, and set Kima on a 
different stone. Kima looked frightened, but didn't try to flee. She had
realized that massive as Ranko was, she was still far faster than Kima.

Ranko's voice echoed within itself, as she spoke. "That wasn't very nice
Ranma." She seemed to collapse back, wings and mass evaporating as she
became the cute little redhead again.

"I know," he replied, "But I want to make sure that Lady Kima and Prince
Herb have a very clear idea of what exactly they are facing." He turned
to face both of them, noting in passing that the look of lust on Herb's
face had given way to glazed look of fear. 

"Mu Suu was correct, but he also had it a bit backwards. The Nichiezu
are in fact protecting Ranko, because they know if she is hurt I will
destroy them. But as long as we are with them, they are under our
protection as well. If you attack the Nichiezu, and they ask for our
aid, we will give it, and you will face the fury of two dragons. So I
suggest you forget your enmities for a while." They both looked pale and
frightened.

The group watched in silence, as Ranma turned his attention from
the mutual enemies, and prowled among the stones. He was followed by
most of the party, but Lady Kima and the Musk took the opportunity to
slip away. Ranma looked until he found two stones that looked right.
He looked at Ranko, and she smiled, and moved to stand beside him. 

They began running around the two stones, then leaping and bounding
around them, bouncing off the other standing stones, and then they
blurred with a pair of sharp cracks, and a blue glow started to trace
their movements, and then large chunks of stone started to fall away
from the two stones, and were smashed to powdered rubble before reaching
the ground. 

The chips of stone started falling smaller and faster, and the stones
almost seemd to be melting, as if the forms of Ranma and Ranko had been
hidden within the stone, and they were just brushing off the concealing
mould. The forms that they took were those of Ranma and Ranko in their
triumphant pose the night before, hands outstretched to clasp one
another, though not touching. 

When they finished, Ranma and Ranko stood proudly, each by the other's
statue, and they pushed them together, and shifted them slightly, and
the statues' hands clasped, and fit together perfectly.

Once more they were surrounded by applause. "So, what are we going to do
with them?" Ranko asked.

"I figured we could put them as the centerpiece to a pool in the
wisteria garden, with another lotus blossom."

"Oh, wow, I bet Lady Alana would love that."

"I'll just store them away for now, though." Ranma waved his hand at
them, and they disappeared, eliciting gasps of surprise from the others.

"Now, as I said earlier," Ranma continued, hopping up to sit atop a
stone, looking down upon his friends. "We need to decide what to do from
here. When are you all expected back at the village?"

"Not for a week, at the earliest. They won't worry until three weeks
have passed without word," Xian Pu replied, in Mandarin. To heck with
being polite, she wanted to be understood.

"And you've been away from the village for how long now?"

"Today is our second day out," Ranko replied.

"Then as I see it, we have three options. We can either wander about,
doing who knows what, or we can go back to the village, or..."

"We can go free Dragon-Mama-san!" interrupted Ranko, smiling with
delight.

"Exactly. But do your friends wish to come with us? I suspect Ryouga
will..." Ryouga nodded. Ranma continued, "since it is the best chance
for him to get a cure. What about the rest of you?"

"I would love to see your castle," Xian Pu replied, eyes shining with
eagerness.

"I too would like to see your home, Ranchan," Ukyou smiled up at him,
"especially if it means getting Ryouga cured." Ryouga felt a little
disturbed at this. Did Ukyou mean that she would be happy to see Ryouga
cured, because she liked him, because she would be happy for him... or
because she was tired of having to help him, and deal with it, and
would be happy for herself? Did she see him as a burden? He shivered.  

"And you, Mu Suu? How do you feel about coming to our world for a
while?"

"No objections."

"Wonderful." Ranma looked around quickly, until he found a large stone
that was significantly larger than a normal doorway, He sliced it, to
form a single smooth plane, then etched a complex design into it, like
the outline of a door jamb, but filled with intricate sigils. Then he
stopped, and looked over at Ranko.

"I know you're not too happy with him at the moment... I'm not either.
But I want Genma-san to be with us. I want him to see that all that I've
said is true. I want him to really understand that I don't need him
anymore, so he stops trying to use us. You okay with that, Ranko-chan?"

"Yeah. He needs to see it with his own eyes."

Ranma nodded, and a panda appeared beside him. He looked around, and
growfed in surprise. "You're coming with us, Genma-san. We're going
home, to free the Lady." Ranma reached out and opened the door in the
stone, revealing another stone wall several feet away. He pushed Genma
through, then turned. "After you," he said, gesturing to the portal. As
they passed through, he reached out with his ki, and the dragon and
tiger burst into brilliant blue flames, and fell to ashes.