A fan fiction based on the works of RumikoTakahashi, and, Hitoshi Okuda Ranma 1/2, and Tenchi Muyo. I have no rights to these characters. A Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!? Side Story. Three girls abroad. What's going on? This is an alternative universe story. Ranma was trapped as a girl from her first dip in the Nanniichuan. Why? Read the earlier chapters. See below for some highlights. Unable to carry out his plan to engage Ranma to one of the Tendo girls, Genma recalled that he had once promised Nobuyuki Masaki that if he had a daughter, he would marry her to Nobuyuki's son Tenchi. Well, as it so happens, he's recently acquired a daughter. Nodoka Saotome, along with Akane Tendo and Ukyou Kuonji are on their way to Jusenkyo in hopes of finding out what has happened to Ranma and Genma. At least Nodoka and Ukyou are. Akane just wants to get out of the house for the summer before her father sinks the place with his tears. Not to mention escaping from the constant combat zone her life has recently become due to a certain Kendoist, and her father's perverted Master. T.H. Tiger schell@interlog.com Plum, fill in Jusenkyo guide, looked over the dusty travelers standing in front of her. An older woman, dressed in a practical traveling kimono. A young girl, dressed every bit as unisex as Plum herself. Good stout trousers, and a heavy, long-sleeved cotton top that all but obscured her figure. The only concession she made to her femininity was the long shiny black hair that was drawn back into a single heavy pony tail that fell half way down her back. Last, and in Plum's opinion, definitely not least, was a very handsome boy. A little taller then the older woman, with a build and face to die for. His long chestnut hair was also drawn back in a pony tail, not quite as long as the younger girl. He had some sort of heavy, large-bladed weapon strapped to his back, and a bandolier of what Plum assumed were throwing weapons hanging diagonally across his chest. His eyes were a lovely sandalwood brown. While Plum was checking them out, three people in turn looked her over. They saw a young girl, dressed in an oversized, and very rumpled Chinese Mao uniform. Her fine brown hair was drawn back severely in a tight braid that fell half way down her back. Belying the severity of her hair style, she wore two bright red hair ornaments on either side of her head. They made a vivid splash of color on her otherwise drab exterior. Her eyes were lively and quick, and seemed to be measuring them carefully. Having looked the visitors over, Plum, for the first time by herself, launched into the delivery of the traditional greeting. "Welcome to legendary training ground of Jusenkyo. Here be many tragic tales . . . " Plum had said this so often in practice, she had no need to think of it. So while her mouth worked on an autopilot, she surreptitiously checked out the cute guy. To think she'd been mad at her father when he had drafted her to look after the valley. Meanwhile, he took some other customers around to some of the local hot springs. On a monkey hunt of all things. "Young lady!" A firm voice said, pulling Plum back from a just started daydream involving the handsome boy in front of her, some moonlight, and rice wine. Plum blushed as she realized the older lady had been addressing her for some time, and that she herself had long since stopped talking. "So sorry, what you say?" She asked politely, while inside she writhed in embarrassment at the thought of what the cute guy must think of her distracted air. She must look like she was brain dead. The older woman was again the one who spoke to her. "We are looking for two people, a young boy and his father. My husband and son. They would have been here about three and a half months ago. We have been tracing their journey. We know that they were in the village an hour north of here at that time, and that they were coming here from there." "This one is so sorry. This one was not here at that time. Honorable father is official guide. This one has only been here for last two weeks." Plum sighed to herself, Two, long, boring, dreary, lonely, boys free weeks. Her father was going to owe her big time. The older woman seemed to slump, and Plum realized that more then the journey was responsible for the worn look on her face. Plum's father had always told her to pay close attention to the people who came to the springs. To try and judge not only their pocketbook, but their emotional state. It saved a great deal of trouble in the long run if you could detect the ones who were likely to take a head long dive into one of the pools as a rather round about way of ending it all. Of course, as her father even more frequently said, there was nothing you could do about the damn fools who were the most frequent victims of the pools of sorrow, but at least you could try to head off the crazy ones. Plum did not think this one was crazy, but she was clearly under a great deal of strain. Her news had only added to that from the looks of things. "This one is sorry to distress you. If you wish to wait, honorable father will be back in a day or so. You may ask him about the young man and his father." Actually, Plum had no idea how long her father was going to be. How long did it take to spray a bunch of monkeys with cold water anyway? "Thank you. Is there somewhere safe we can camp while we wait? We have heard that this area is dangerous." Plum blinked in surprise. A cautious person visiting Jusenkyo. That was very nearly unheard of. Except of course for those few magic users who came here to gather the plants that grew no where else. For a second she was uncertain of what to suggest. She'd love to offer the cute guy the shelter of the guide hut, but four people would be a bit crowded in the one room shack. Somehow, she didn't think he'd be agreeable to sharing it with her while his companions camped outside. She could send them back to the village they had come from. Then, she could come and get them when her father came back. If she did that however, one of those boy crazy girls in the village would latch onto the cute guy. No way could she let that happen. Then, inspiration hit. "At end of valley is safe area. Many years ago, side of mountain fall off. Cover everything. No springs there. You wait for honorable father there, yes?" "Thank you that would be fine. Could you show us the way please?" Plum gladly escorted them down to the proposed camp site. As she walked, she delivered the standard lecture on the springs, and the various curses of the ones they passed. As usual, the three people did not believe a word of it. She sighed to herself. She had once asked her father why he did not do demonstrations. Tossing a mouse or something similar into one of the springs would save so much time and bother. He had not taken the suggestion well, and she had ended up receiving a stern lecture on how wrong it was to inflict a curse on an innocent animal, especially if you used one of the human springs. "Besides," he had finished with, "it would do no good. The watchers would just assume it was some sort of trick, and would learn nothing from it. You would have harmed the creature for no gain." Having heard tales of the fools her father had met over the years, Plum had to concede that he more than likely had the right of the matter. Fortunately, these three did not seem to have any interest in the valley's reputation as a training ground, and so it was unlikely she would have to deal with the consequences of their disbelief. When they reached their goal, Plum helped them to set up their tents and gear, trying to stay as close to the good looking young boy as she could. She was a bit dismayed to find that he was sharing a tent with the young girl. However, after observing them together, she came to the conclusion they must be brother and sister, or something similar, they certainly displayed little in the way of affection for each other. Indeed, the younger girl seemed to be looking at the boy with every indication of distaste. Eventually however, the camp was set up, and she could find no more excuses to stay. Much to Plum's dissatisfaction, despite her every effort, she had not succeeded in drawing more then a passing look from the cute guy. She felt a moment of doubt, maybe he was gay? That would explain why he was sharing a tent with the angry looking girl. It might even be why the other girl was angry. She knew she certainly would be in that circumstances. Plum dismissed the thought as soon as she thought of it. No guy that cute could be gay, she told her self resolutely. The gods would never be so cruel. It was all the fault of the stupid uniform her father insisted she wear. Bad enough that it was so drab, but it was two sizes too big on top of that. No wonder the boy hadn't given her a second look. He probably didn't even know she was a girl. Well, father might like sucking up to the local political officer, but she had a life. Or at least she would have, if she didn't have to wear butt ugly outfits day in and day out. She vowed to hunt through her meager wardrobe for something that would knock the cute guy's eyes out. Tomorrow when she came back to take them on a tour of the springs, he would see what a real woman looked like. That little silk number with the side cut to here that she kept hidden from her father ought to do the trick. One look at her in that, and he'd have no doubt of which sex she was. **************************************************** "Well, that must make you feel pretty good about yourself." Akane said sarcastically, as she watched the female guide walking away. Ukyou turned to stare at Akane, a questioning look on her face, "What?" "The way she was practically drooling over you." "I didn't really notice." Ukyou said, but the faint look of discomfort on her face belied her words. "Oh please, she couldn't have been more obvious without stripping down. Are you sure you don't like it?" Akane asked suspiciously. Ukyou sighed. Akane was about a subtle as a brick against the head. She'd been trying to find out if Ukyou was gay for the last four days. Ukyou had been hard pressed to keep her temper, made all the more short by her own self-doubt on the subject. "No, I don't like it, but it comes with the territory. I sometimes think that if I did want the attention, I wouldn't get it. I think the fact that I don't drool, or bleed from the nose, every time a cute girl looks at me, makes them all the more interested." "My, I'm glad to see you're so modest." Akane said sarcastically. Despite Akane's tone Ukyou was pleased to note there was a very faint touch of humor present in her words. And was that a faint smile on her lips as she turned away? Akane had started to relax toward Ukyou after the first time they had used a public bath together. Ukyou had a hunch that Akane had not really believed her to be female till then. She was still prickly as hell, but at least now she seemed to finally be coming around to regarding Ukyou as something other then a pervert who was just waiting for a chance to jump her. Ukyou's lips twitched toward a grin as she remembered that time in the bath. How Akane had stared at her suspiciously, not taking her own clothing off until Ukyou had stripped down completely. Anyone watching might have been justified in thinking Akane was the pervert, considering how intently she had checked Ukyou out. That recollection brought another one. Ukyou wore boxers and tied her breasts down as part of her disguise. She wondered what Akane's excuse was? While Akane's bindings were not nearly as stringent as Ukyou's, leaving the contours of Akane's breasts visible. They had to be more uncomfortable then a bra. As for the boxers, well, Ukyou had to admit that except when nature demanded otherwise, she actually preferred boxers. It could be that Akane just felt uncomfortable in panties, and maybe found the breast bindings offered more support for her martial arts training then even a sports bra would be. Still, Akane was a poor one to be casting stones, given her own masculine attire. Not to mention her attitude toward boys would seem to indicate she might find girls more interesting herself. "Well, I think if you have no interest in girls, the least you could do is let them know the truth before they make complete fools of themselves." Akane said, showing she was not ready to let the matter drop. "That is unless there is some reason you don't want them to stop?" Deciding she was not really up to another discussion of her gender preference, Ukyou switched topics. "Have you noticed Saotome-san? She looks so sad." Akane looked for a moment like she was going to resist Ukyou's attempt to change the subject, but the chance to bad mouth males proved too much for her. "Well finding out your husband and son are a pair of crooks would depress anyone. We've found three places where they either stayed or ate, and they ran out on the bill at all three of them. I'm thinking she's well rid of the pair of them." Ukyou nodded, but she couldn't help but feel there was more to it then that. You would have thought petty thievery carried the death penalty from the way Nodoka reacted to Genma and Ranma's behavior. As for herself, she had shrugged off the news. It was what she would have expected of the pair of them after all. "I'm going to go and do some practicing. You want to come along?" Akane asked, breaking into Ukyou's train of thought. "Sure. You want to spar?" While they had trained along side each other on several occasions, they had never sparred. Ukyou was feeling a bit rusty, and a good match would help that. To her surprise, Akane looked almost nervous at the suggestion. "Ahh, no, I don't think that's a good idea right now . . . The springs, we have to be careful. If we got too caught up in our sparring, we might lose track of just where we are, and fall in. Wouldn't want that would you?" Akane said this in the manner of someone searching for an excuse not to do something, rather then if she really believed what she was saying. "Oh please, you don't mean to tell me you really believe in that nonsense about them being cursed?" "Of course not!" Akane protested "Then come on." Ukyou wheedled, then she put on a smirk, and pushed one of Akane's buttons. "I promise I won't go too hard on you." "Too hard on me!?" Akane said in outrage. "Not on the best day of your life!" "Care to prove that?" Ukyou said with a smirk, drawing her main weapon, the oversized battle spatula she kept strapped to her back. Looking like a metal version of a typical baker's peel, it made a formidable weapon. Ukyou handled it with the competence of long familiarity, but on this occasion, she did not mean to use it. She leaned it against a nearby shoot of bamboo instead. "There, that should make things more even. Or would you like me to tie one hand behind my back as well?" As she said this, Ukyou made a come-on gesture with her hand, while falling into a defensive crouch. Akane glared at her. Taking the metal baker's peel from its position by the bamboo, she tossed it to the surprised chef. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you, and you'd better use this. You're going to need it." "Hee," Ukyou laughed. "Now who's being modest?" Ukyou held the baker's peel across her chest, and waited for Akane to make the first move. Despite her words of confidence, Akane moved in hesitantly, and her first few strikes were half hearted, and easily deflected by Ukyou. Ukyou for her part was puzzled, she had seen Akane working out several times. Her current effort did not even come close to approaching the competence she had shown on those occasions It was also annoying. Akane had been bending their ears the whole trip about how she'd been forced to fight countless duels against boys who wanted to challenge her for a date. Something set up by a nut bar at her school. Now it looked like that had been all hot air. Either that, or they had been total crap as fighters. As for the solo training katas Ukyou had seen. Well, it was easy for anyone to look good fighting against thin air. Now that she was facing a true opponent, maybe Akane was showing her true skill level, or maybe she was tanking it for some reason. This last thought caused Ukyou to frown in anger. She didn't need any gifts. She was more then capable of holding her own in any situation. Ukyou decided to end this unsatisfying match early, and her annoyance made her decide to do it in a way that would not be easy on Akane's ego. Moving in a smooth rhythm that could only come from countless hours of practice, Ukyou went on the offensive. She lashed out with quick sudden moves of her baker's peel while using her legs to attack low when Akane parried high. To her surprise, as she began to really push the other girl, Ukyou suddenly found Akane's style changing. Her moves were no longer hesitant. Indeed, Akane was almost negligently parrying Ukyou's best efforts. She flowed aside from the main thrust of Ukyou's attacks, while deflecting the baker's peel with a casual brush of her hand, or a well- placed finger. At the same time, she used both legs to deflect, or parry, Ukyou's kicks. Ukyou's eyes opened wide as she suddenly realized how strong the other girl must be in order to so casually deflect the heavy weapon. Not to mention her kicks, which Ukyou knew from past experience were more then adequate to break down the guard of most martial artists. Now she was annoyed for another reason. Akane did not seem to be taking her seriously at all. First she barely tried, now even though she was reacting much more positively to Ukyou's attack, she still was not giving it her all. While she was easily deflecting Ukyou's best efforts, she was making no effort to counter punch. Annoyed, Ukyou yelled out at her. "Come on, attack me. I'm not a china doll." Akane only smiled tightly, and did not change her style. "Fine then!" Ukyou switched to one hand usage of her main weapon. Locking the end of the baker's peel into the crook of her elbow for added leverage. With her free hand, she plucked several throwing spatulas from her bandolier. Akane's eyes widened, and she tried to back off to gain maneuvering room. Before Akane could manage to foil her plan, Ukyou threw a spread of the small weapons, designed to bracket the other girl and hold her in place while Ukyou attacked simultaneously with her baker's peel. It worked, pushed by the multiple threats, unable to dodge without taking a hit, Akane had to go on the offensive. She threw a punch that caught the incoming baker's peel square in the middle. The blow drove the weapon back toward Ukyou with a force that was like nothing the Okinomiyaki chef had ever experienced before. Ukyou felt a blow to her chest, and then was only vaguely aware of flying through the air. The strange floating sensation ended with a splash as she landed in one of the various pools dotting the valley, some thirty yards away from where she and Akane had been sparring. The shock of the cold water cleared her dazed mind. Her hands clutched at the ball of pain that seemed to fill her chest and made it hard to breathe. She gasped, and drew in a mouthful of water, choking and sputtering, she scrambled for the shore of the pool, and was vaguely aware of a hand grasping her collar, and the next instant, she was flying through the air once more, this time propelled by the grip on her top. She had a blurred impression of Akane's worried, fearful face hovering over her. The other girl's mouth moved, and as if from a great distance, Ukyou heard her asking if she was all right, and apologizing for not being more careful. Ukyou barely registered this. Her head was spinning, and her body felt heavy and unwieldy. Her wet clothes binding and pressing against her in an uncomfortable way. "Akane, what happened?" Nodoka voice called out in concern, and Akane looked up from the dazed form of Ukyou, to see the older woman rushing across the space between their campsite and her present location. "It's my fault." Akane said in a miserable tone of voice as Nodoka reached them. "I forgot to pull my punch, and I knocked Ukyou into a spring." "I thought you were going to stay clear of them?" Nodoka said reprovingly. "I know the guides explanation is ridiculous, but we heard too many warnings about this place on the way here for there not to be something wrong with them. You were very careless. Ukyou may have been poisoned." "I'm sorry, but I thought we were far enough away. I never meant to hit her that hard. It's been two weeks since . . . " Akane trailed off, and Nodoka looked at her with a question on her face. "Since what?" "Akane looked away from her, and seemed flustered. "It's nothing. I just thought I had more control then that. I guess I was wrong. It's just . . . " She trailed off, and her hand went to her face, brushing against it as if checking for something. It had the marks of a reflexive move, and Nodoka recalled Akane making it frequently during the last few days. However, Akane said nothing more, and Nodoka turned her attention toward Ukyou, who was coughing up water, and attempting to sit up. "Here, let me help you," Nodoka said. Kneeling down, she helped Ukyou assume a sitting position, and braced her in that pose with a hand behind her shoulder. "Are you all right?" "I'm fine, I was just surprised is all." Ukyou said in a strained voice. She looked across at the worried looking Akane, and said reassuringly. "I'll be fine in a little while. That is one hell of a punch you have there sugar. Remind me to be more careful the next time we spar. She gave a small chuckle that was interrupted by yet another coughing fit. "At least I landed in something soft." She finally managed to get out. "At least you didn't change into some sort of animal." Akane joked, her face showing her relief that Ukyou was all right. "Lets get you back to the camp." Akane helped Ukyou to her feet, showing no strain from having to support Ukyou's weight, and helped the dazed girl back toward their tent. Nodoka followed behind, a worried look on her face. She was still not sure Ukyou was none the worse for the experience. She vowed to keep an eye on the girl, to make sure the water from the spring had not poisoned her, or caused any other effect. Despite her determination to watch Ukyou closely, her eyes noted, but her brain dismissed the fact, that Ukyou's sleeves and pants legs seemed to be riding up a bit high, showing a strip of pale skin that was usually sheltered from the sun. ******************************************** "Nihao," a cheerful voice called out, causing Nodoka to look up from the meal she was tending over the campfire. Walking toward their campfire was Plum, the young girl who had guided them earlier in the day. "Hello dear. Nice to see you again." Nodoka looked the young girl over, taking note that she was dressed in a much more feminine manner then she had been earlier. The dress was a bit daring for Nodoka's taste, but at least it was a dress. She wished Ukyou and Akane would dress a little less manly. If they were her daughters . . . But they weren't, and she was hardly a shining example of parenthood anyway. Banishing these thoughts, She asked Plum, "What can I do for you dear?" "I'm off duty." Plum lied. "I thought I'd drop by and see if you were settling in, and if I could help you with anything. "She looked around, and asked. "Where are the others?" "Ukyou and Akane are over at the tent changing. Ukyou got covered in mud when she had her accident, and Akane got smeared while helping her." So, his name is Akane, Plum thought to herself, jumping to conclusions, based on her knowledge that there was only one girl in the group other then the one she was currently talking too. "What happened to Ukyou, is she all right?" Plum asked, as an afterthought. "She and Akane were sparring, and Akane knocked her into one of the springs. She was a bit shaken up, but--" Nodoka was cut off when Plum practically screamed. "A spring! What spring!?" Nodoka was a bit taken aback by Plum's scream, but she remained calm. Pointing at the spring in question, she said, "I believe it was that one over there." "Oh no, how tragic," Plum said. To lose your womanhood at such a young age." Inside, she was restraining an unworthy sense of glee. Her one fear concerning Akane was that despite her earlier wishful hope, he might be involved with the rather mannish Ukyou. If that was the case now, and Ukyou was cursed to turn into a boy, then the hunk would need a sympathetic, and female, shoulder to cry on. Nodoka was looking at her with a puzzled expression on her face. "What do you mean dear? Why should falling into the spring affect Ukyou's womanhood?" Nodoka's face brightened in understanding. "Oh, you mean that legend you were telling us earlier. You don't need to worry. Nothing happened. Ukyou did not change into anything." Nodoka spoke in a light tone, almost joking. She expected Plum to join her in the joke, but instead she looked very grave. "That spring is Nanniichuan, spring of drowned man. Whoever fall in that spring take body of a man who drowned there fourteen hundred and fifty-year ago. Very tragic tale." Plum said this as if by rote, and in a sort of sing song voice, then her tone changed, and she spoke in her normal cadence. "I don't mean to be rude, but Ukyou looked a bit masculine to this one. Maybe you just did not notice. We had better tell her what has happened before she finds out on her own." Plum said this in a serious tone, but inside she was wondering what sort of girl could not notice she had turned into a boy. Sure Ukyou was flat-chested, but not that flat. Nodoka stared into Plum's face, a look of skepticism on her face. This was taking a joke a bit far. Local stories were all very well and good. She was sure they helped the local economy a great deal, but surely the girl could not expect Nodoka to take her seriously. Well, one way to settle this. "Very well, why don't we go and check out Ukyou, and see if she's been turned into a boy." Nodoka could not quite keep the condescension she felt out of her voice, but Plum did not seem to notice, instead she headed toward the tent the two girls were sharing. Nodoka trailing along behind her. They had barely taken three steps when a scream ripped through the still valley air. Not a scream of pain or grief or terror, but one of out and out rage. A voice that Nodoka recognized as Akane in full outrage mode screamed, "you filthy, perverted, degenerate! How dare you?" The last time she had heard Akane that angry, a local boy in Japan had grabbed her bottom. Nodoka started to hurry toward the tent, afraid one of the local men has snuck into their camp. She just hoped she could get there before he was hurt too badly. She remembered how much effort it had taken to keep Akane off of the boy. This could be bad. There wasn't a strange green haired girl, and a ridiculously strong brunette, to help her pull Akane off of the boy this time She didn't make it. The side of the tent suddenly ripped open as a body came flying through the air in a high trajectory that took it over Plum and Nodoka's head. The glance Nodoka got as it flew overhead told her it was Ukyou. A second later Akane came storming out of the tent, literally glowing blue. "Come back here you pig! I haven't even started you son-of-a-bitch!" "Stop!" Plum shouted, placing herself between the outraged Akane and the sprawled figure of Ukyou, who Nodoka was running toward. "It's not his fault you didn't listen to this one's warning. If you fell into Nanniichuan, it's your own fault. Besides," Plum added, looking at Akane's heaving chest, "you've already found out that hot water cures it. This one have to warn you, if you get splashed with cold water, you'll turn back into a boy." "What the hell are you babbling about?" Akane yelled at the girl in her way. Sending Plum staggering with a sweep of her arm, she marched toward Ukyou, who was presently being overseen by a shocked Nodoka. Nodoka's shock could have been because of the unexpected behavior of Akane, but it wasn't. What had caused her shock was the sight of Ukyou's chest. When she had reached the fallen girl, her suit jacket had been open. Obviously because she had been about to change out of her wet clothes, and the wrappings she wore around her chest had slipped down around her waist, Ukyou no longer having the necessary means of holding them in their usual place. Nodoka stared at the bare, and most definitely masculine chest thus revealed in stunned surprise. "You bastard!" Akane yelled, reaching for Ukyou's throat, intending to pull the stunned youth away from Nodoka. "Akane! Stop!" Nodoka said in a very sharp, no nonsense tone. She grasped Akane's wrist in her hand. "No! I won't! That pervert has been laughing up his sleeve at us all week. "He watched me change! Hell! He was in the bathhouse with us. He watched us both! He even washed your back! How can you defend him?" Nodoka looked into the furious Akane's eyes, and saw little sanity there, but the mere fact that she was able to restrain the angry girl showed that somewhere, deep down, a seed of doubt must exist. The raw power she had witnessed, and the iron hard forearm she was currently gripping proved to her that Akane was restraining herself. If she wanted to, she could easily brush Nodoka's efforts to restrain her aside. "Akane think. We've seen Ukyou nude, you know she was a girl, is a girl." "It was a trick, a stupid pervert trick! I don't know how he did it, but he did it." "You're being foolish, you know that's not possible, Ukyou may have washed my back, but you washed hers. Can you honestly say that you think she was wearing a disguise?" Akane flushed at the reference to washing Ukyou's back, but the reminder was enough to break her out of her cycle of rage and denial. The angry look on her face did not disappear, but it grew confused. Akane clenched her fists, pulling her arm free of Nodoka, and took a step backward. She wrapped her arms around her chest, and Nodoka saw her knuckles go white as she gripped her forearms tightly. It was if she was trying to hold in an explosion. Finally, in a strangled voice she said. "How?" Nodoka looked over at Plum, a sorrowful look on her face. "It would seem we should have taken the stories our guide told us more seriously." "You can't be serious!" Akane demanded, "are you telling me that the spring turned Ukyou into a boy!?" "Wait, wait, what you talking about? You is one that fall in spring." Plum's Japanese suffered as she tried to understand what was going on. Akane looked at her in surprise, and repeated her earlier comment. "What the hell are you talking about? Ukyou fell in the spring, not me!" "As I remember it, you knocked me in." A rather weak voice said. "Ukyou, you're awake!" Nodoka exclaimed, looking down at the girl turned boy in her arms. She helped him to sit up, and almost his first reaction was to raise a hand to his chest, and pat it. "It's true!" He said in a stunned voice, "I'm a boy." "Plum no understand what going on! You always boy!" "No." Nodoka answered, she merely dressed like one." Plum looked down at the sprawled Ukyou, a look of surprise on her face, the look changed quickly to one of embarrassment, and maybe a little anger and denial of her own. She snatched the kettle from the nearby campfire, and before anyone realized what she was doing, dumped its contents over Ukyou, fortunately missing Nodoka. "Owwwww, you crazy jackass! Are you trying to boil me?" The now female chef demanded. Plum did not reply, instead, she reached forward, and hesitantly grasped one the most prominent proofs of Ukyou's current status. "Is true. You is girl." Plum said in a dismayed voice. Ukyou had gone rigid when Plum had grasped her, but only for a second, even as Plum snatched her hands away as if burned, Ukyou was replacing it with her own. "I'm a girl again." she said, her expression and tone of voice still rather stunned. Akane's expression was equally stunned, while Nodoka had a stricken look on her face. Speaking to Plum, but for the benefit of the other two girls as well, Nodoka said. "I think maybe you should tell us the stories of this place again, and this time I can promise you, we will listen most carefully." ********************************************* Out on the very edge of the earth's atmosphere, an object about fifty feet in length was suddenly outlined in a pale corona as it impinged on the upper wisps of air that made up the farthest reaches of the planet's area of dominion. Silhouetted by the light caused from the friction between metal and air, it was revealed as a rather elongated egg shape. Its matte black surface was peppered with what might have been at one time a sophisticated telemetry array, but which now consisted of nothing more then melted s