The world didn’t seem to be ending and I didn’t recognize anything in Tokyo for the moment, so I closed the portal so we could have dinner.

  Pyrrha agreed to stay in the onsen even if she looked momentarily annoyed when Alma let it slip that she was sleeping only a few doors down from me. Apparently she hadn’t let the fact go quite yet that Pyrrha had stolen a march on her by becoming my partner for the Beacon entrance exam.

  Pyrrha, on the other hand, generally seemed perfectly happy to take a step back and play the long game now that she had her foot in the door. It might have also had something to do with the fact that she was quietly thrilled to get a temporary ring set. It actually required some explanation as apparently this version of Remnant, or at least Mistral, didn’t have the tradition of wedding rings, but when it was explained, she just blushed and then smirked.

  The dinner that evening was pleasantly relaxed while Thea started downloading data from the primitive internet, getting the exact year, local, and global situation.

  Wifi wasn’t actually a thing quite yet, so said data download did require having someone find a phone line she could connect a temporary dock to. Ahri volunteered and was back within 5 minutes.

  Then Thea had to simulate a dial-up modem to connect with this world's internet. Something that appeared to almost physically pain the artificial intelligence. I was actually shocked when I heard our cinnamon bun mumbling curses as she waited for the 20 kb/s download of an address table to happen.

  The speed didn’t surprise me, per se, but I had forgotten how slow the internet was in 1995. A semi-high-end five gigabit connection in 2025 was a quarter of a million times faster than standard connections right now.

  The comparison was all the more direct as there had only been a relatively short thirty years between this world and FEAR. It really just drove home how incredibly fast technology had boomed.

  What I should have remembered but didn’t, because of my preoccupation with the new world, was that Ahsoka was a woman of her word. Thus upon returning to my room that evening I was properly surprised by a very naked alien smiling a bit nervously as she laid on my bed.

  Apparently she had requested her first night be private, as none of the other girls joined us and I didn’t even feel Alma watching.

  I was man enough to admit that I stared. She was way hotter than she looked under the robes she liked to wear. Looking up, I made sure I smiled and winked. “Wow, just wow…”

  That got her to smile back and break a bit of the tension, but a moment later it was back. She visibly hesitated, but taking a deep breath while her eyes were closed, Ahsoka centered herself. Then looking me in the eyes she explained, “You know I am experienced, right?”

  I nodded, a bit confused about the concern in her tone. “You are 34 now, right? You left the Jedi order over a decade ago, so I would have been surprised if you weren’t.” Then I smiled softly, “And to be blunt, neither was Ahri. The rule is just to stay faithful to the family now that you have joined.”

  That got her to finally relax with a long exhale, “Yeah, that I can do.” Ahsoka then smirked at me, obviously gathering her confidence. “You know the best thing about having a Togruda lover?”

  I raised my eyebrow, as I slowly took off my shirt and sat down on the bed next to her smiling. “No…”

  Moving forward, she kissed me before she whispered into my ear. “A higher body temperature and built in handlebars…”

  The following few hours were fun.

  The next morning we all ate breakfast together and I was extremely happy to see my wives welcoming Ahsoka. They circled her at the table, making it very clear she was one of them now. Amy in particular looked thrilled to be able to cuddle with the alien even if Ahsoka wasn’t as into females as she may have liked.

  I also noted that Fleur was studying Ahsoka while Holly, Alma, and Pyrrha looked a bit envious.

  I had expected the reaction from Alma and Pyrrha, but Holly was a bit surprising to me since she had been hiding her interest a bit better. Then again, canon Harry wanted a family more than anything, so it made sense she wanted to belong.

  After breakfast we went back to the sofa room in the onsen and sat down.

  Thea seemed extremely pleased with herself as she made her drone bounce. “I have confirmed several anomalies that exist around the edge of Tokyo. However, apparently there is some sort of masquerade going on as there was no concrete information… aside from a lot of conspiracy theories or rumors on message boards.” Then she paused and considered again, “Or, the internet just has bad data.”

  I nodded in understanding, “Yeah, nothing new there.” While Taylor snorted in amusement.

  Thea just made her avatar smile wider. “Regardless, while I was unable to confirm the existence of the supernatural, I did manage to find several points of interest we should look at. Most of them are in the districts surrounding Tokyo while there is one closer to downtown. I recommend we scout the area and look for anything that seems out of place.”

  I glanced at the other girls before I shrugged. “As long as we are careful, that sounds good to me. We should be ready to portkey out at any moment, but being there in person will allow us to better use our more esoteric abilities.”

  There was a chorus of agreement, and I was about to get up to prepare to leave when Tonks and Fleur came to me.

  Tonks was the one to speak up for the two of them, and seemed a bit nervous based on the fluctuating color of her hair and the fact that she kept biting her lip. “Max, we would like to request the alterations needed to get chakra.”

  I stopped and studied the two of them. “Are you sure?” I glanced around at my girls, then continued. “This is a big decision. We would need to modify your body more or less permanently and you would be forced to stay with us a lot longer to train it properly. It can be dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing.” I then snorted, “Actually, it's just like magic in that respect.”

  Tonks huffed, but I could see the tension in her shoulders. “Please, what kind of man would turn away a Metamorphmagus and a Veela.”

  I frowned, actually a little offended. “This is not about being attractive nor collecting more girls. I am not that shallow.”

  Internally, I couldn’t help but cringe and add, ‘not anymore’, but I didn’t let it show on my face.

  Continuing, I focused on them. “This is about knowing what you are getting into. Both of you have been hurt by being near us and I… well I have started to care about you both. I don’t want to put any of my girls into danger, but the worlds we visit have been just that to one degree or another. So we train hard… really hard. I don’t want to force anyone to do anything or…”

  I stopped myself from continuing, cutting off another mini rant, and then just sighed. “But in the end it is up to you.”

  The two of them looked at each other before they visibly relaxed. Tonks seemed relieved. “We want that strength. I became an auror because I wanted to be able to help people.” Then she got a bit sheepish and her hair cycled to be yellow, “And because it was kinda cool,” before it went back to the reddish pink I associated with determination. “So even if I was a bit… overwhelmed with what happened to me, my goal hasn’t changed. I am ready…”

  As Tonks trailed off, Fleur looked intently at me. “You do not understand me, Monsieur Max. I have spent my entire life trying to prove that we Veela are more than a pretty face. You offer me power, asking almost nothing in return. You are a good man.” I wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret her look as she then glanced at the rest of my girls, eyebrows raised. It might have been a challenge, but it also seemed more smug than that, especially as she looked at Pyrrha. “What happens after that… well, we will see.”

  Pyrrha stepped up next, looking focused. “This Chakra they’re talking about was what helped you fight at a senior hunter level without any aura, correct? If so, I would like to gain it as well.”

  I considered giving her another warning or asking her to wait, but she had already heard everything I had told Tonks and Fleur. Since that hadn’t changed anything, I just gestured for Amy to come over so the two of us could get to work.

  In the end, it was another hour or so before those three, along with Alma, got Chakra. Pyrrha also got magic, but it had been incredibly difficult. Way harder than it had any right to be, and I had to wonder if aura or maybe her semblance had anything to do with magic.

  In fact, now that I thought about it, the girls from Earth Bet, who I had given the equivalent of crystalline structures to their souls so they could keep their powers, had also been harder to give magic to, especially when compared to Ahri, who had practically taken to it like a fish to water. Maybe all of these individual abilities or superpowers, like in the MCU or DCU, were magic being forced into a person’s soul in one particular way.

  My suspicion seemed to be partially confirmed when Alma declined Hogwarts magic when she found her control slipping as we were working. We could only assume that it was too close in nature to her psychic powers, and so she decided to hold off until she had a better foundation to work off of.

  What I wasn’t expecting was for Fleur to interrupt our work, staring wide eyed and gesturing towards our borrowed pensive we kept in the corner of the library. “You have a Pensieve?”

  She was shocked enough that her french accent actually bled through the universal translation ability we had given her.

  Tilting my head, I nodded, unsure why she was so frazzled. “Yeah…”

  Taylor glanced back and forth between her and the fancy bowl as she added, “We have been using it to review our studies and view our battles from a third person perspective, it is how we have been improving so quickly. Also reviewing our studies at 10 times the speed has allowed us to learn much quicker.”

  Fleur shook her head, her long blond hair swaying. She looked hesitant as her mind raced with what must have been possibilities with the rare artifact, and then her entire demeanor turned determined. “There is another use… it is, you might say… dangerous. And one I would like to try…”

  Sabah sat up and looked over at her, concerned. “What do you mean? Dumbledore let us borrow this. He didn’t mention anything about it being dangerous.”

  Fleur winced, and then took a deep breath. Snapping her eyes open, she looked deeply into mine. “There is a way of swapping the point of view to being that of the memory’s donor. It can still be played at multiple times normal speed. It can build muscle memory and even pass over some muscle memory… but it has to be done in small segments or there can be… personality and memory bleed over.”

  I was about to declare how useful that was right up until the end, and I winced.

  Most of my girls did as well. None of us had come from particularly good backgrounds, and I was pretty sure that making others go through what were essentially traumatic pasts was… less than ideal.

  Still, I couldn’t help but immediately compare this to the hypno-indoctrination that the Imperium of Mankind did in Warhammer 40k. Actually, in that reality, the personality bleed-over might have been a feature, not a bug.

  While I was still silent considering that, Amy spoke up. “So, you are suggesting that we let you use our memories of Anko’s training so you can catch up quicker.”

  Fleur looked sheepish, understanding that she was asking to basically skip some of the training we had done, but she still nodded. “Yeah, I know I am asking for even more help.” Then her aristocratic air cracked for a moment and she showed how shaken she was by what happened in FEAR. “I want to be able to… do something… to help sooner.”

  I had to interject at that point. “You do understand that you were being pinned down by over a dozen highly trained professionals and super soldiers in an area you couldn’t retreat from. That was bad by just about every metric. I am confident you can learn quickly without it.”

  However, even as I spoke, I couldn’t help notice that Sabah flinched as she was reminded about what had happened in the ATC headquarters.

  Fleur nodded, but it was Tonks that answered, her hair an even more determined red. “Yeah, but not only did you all handle it, you did it with ease. We also saw through Thea’s cameras what you did to those grimm back on Remnant… ” her voice trailed off for a second before she firmed up again. “We want that. We understand it won’t be instant, even with the Pensieve, but we are willing to work hard to catch up.”

  I studied them both for a moment before I turned towards Pyrrha. “And are you interested in getting a head start for chakra and magic despite the risks?”

  Pyrrha just nodded, smiling.

  Internally, I couldn’t help but note these three women were similar in the choices they had made in canon. Both Tonks and Fleur had joined a war they could have potentially run away from, and Pyrrha was a woman who let Ozpin experiment on her soul just to help others. They were not going to be dissuaded by risks.

  Tonks grinned. “And don’t forget, I would be more than happy to share my memories with all of you in return.”

  I hadn’t considered that. Tonks was a trained auror, despite her clumsiness, and learning from her was more than welcome.

  My eyes narrowed as I remembered that we also had access to Tom’s memories. We were planning on studying them to learn spells, since as absolutely vile as he was, he was also a magical genius with unprecedented magical control. Something that had let him fight somewhat evenly against Dumbledore, despite the fact that Dumbledore had 3 additional decades of magical training. Learning that type of control could be game changing.

  Then again, we would need to be incredibly careful there. The idea of his thoughts worming their way into our minds was horrible enough that it made me cringe. Living through them briefly had nearly incapacitated Ahri so it was definitely worth being excessively careful.

  I looked around the room and everyone seemed just as cautiously interested as I was, so I nodded. “Those that want to try, can test it out. Let’s do just 1 day of Anko’s training for now and see what happens."

  The girls all agreed, so I turned my thoughts towards our first expedition outside in this new world. “We just got out of two dangerous worlds, so I want anyone who needs rest to stay here.”

  Then I shrugged. “Or if you just want to take a break and work on one of your own projects.” then I made a sheepish smile. “But I would like it if Taylor and or Hinata came for scouting, Ahri came for illusions, and Ahsoka and or Holly for power. That said, anyone else who wants to come, please do, I plan on stopping by a bakery or restaurant while we are out and we can make it a date.”

  Ginny, Lara, Hermione, and Amy perked up at that, each saying, “I’ll come” or “Yes”.

  That left Thea, who didn’t quite yet have that option without a human-looking body. Chell declined after quietly explaining she wanted to focus on her studies of the portal gun and pokeballs. Sabah also decided to stay, as she wanted to finish the four new sets of basilisk coats and enchanted clothes. Pyrrha, Tonks, Fleur, and Alma were already going to be busy spending the day reviewing Amy’s memories of training with Chakra that she left in the Pensieve for them.

  However, before I could open any portals, Ahsoka spoke up. “Max. If it’s alright, I would like to stay and try to communicate with the jedi holocron again. Last time it gave me some meditation techniques, but refused to actually open fully.”

  I blinked in surprise as I hadn’t been involved with that, but smiled as I nodded. “Of course, that isn’t a problem. I hope it goes well.”

  I wasn’t sure if she wanted to test something now that she was essentially married to me, or if she just wanted to see if anything changed after doing the meditation she mentioned. Either way, I was happy she seemed to be figuring things out.

  And with that, the nine of us headed out to look around Tokyo.

  Popping out at the edge of a park, we headed vaguely east towards downtown Tokyo.

  Besides Hinata, who fit in extremely well as she looked basically like a Japanese princess, the rest of us got quite a few curious glances for obviously being foreigners. But with Ahri hiding her tails and ears, we were all clearly human and no one gave us any trouble.

  Honestly though, it was a peaceful morning and I was starting to think that, despite starting in one of the locations that Thea’s research had suggested was one of the central places for strange happenings, nothing was actually going on.

  Stopping for a leisurely lunch in a cafe, we ordered a large amount of food, discreetly sending some home for those who had stayed behind.

  During that time, Pyrrha even took a break to look around. I think the idea of a world completely without grimm was hitting her hard, as she just stared at the skyscrapers in the distance for a while. Still, after an hour or so, she eventually decided she needed to go back to training.

  The next hour of wandering around town was also uneventful, and I was considering just moving on when we heard an explosion next to us.

  Dropping into combat stances, we all waited, when suddenly a dark-purple haired woman in a purple chinese dress burst through the wall next to us, chasing a red haired woman wearing a red and black kung fu shirt and pants.

  The two fighters quickly jumped over us. The purple haired girl, who I almost immediately realized was Shampoo, attacked with a flurry of strikes, obviously attempting to cripple or kill Ranma in his female form.

  However, despite being on the back foot, it didn’t stop Ranma as he spun around and kicked her away, causing Shampoo to come flying towards me.

  I was surprised, but it wasn’t fast enough to catch me unaware. However, as I prepared myself to catch her, Shampoo spun herself around, twisting so her legs came up into a crouch towards my face, an obvious telegraph that she intended to kick off of me to continue her attack on the female Ranma.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Even as I adjusted, I recalled what I remembered from the anime and found I could sympathize with both Ranma and Shampoo right now.

  Ranma had been starving and hadn’t realized the food that had caused this mess was special. It didn’t change the fact that he was a bit of a jerk for not asking, but he was raised by a father who was an unrepentant thief.

  On the other hand, Shampoo was raised in an ancient amazonian culture where honor was everything. With that much dishonor from having her celebration banquet for her tournament win stolen right in front of her, she had to fight girl Ranma. Then to her shock she was surprised and beaten soundly. At that point, killing the girl that dishonored her was the only way to avoid permanent exile.

  Eventually Shampoo would find out that girl Ranma was actually a boy and then be honor bound to marry him instead and bring a strong warrior into the tribe. While it sounded terrible, she did apparently fall for him over time, but in my memory of the story he never really gave her a chance.

  Regardless of me knowing all of that, it still didn’t mean that I was just going to let her kick me in the face. Stepping to the side, I struck Shampoo’s feet so she would spin slightly and could land standing up.

  However, Taylor decided to be a lot less accommodating than I was and, with a scowl, kicked her leg out just a bit to ensure that Shampoo landed on her butt in a nearby puddle.

  Shocked, and then furious, Shampoo shot back up. “What you do that for, lanky girl?” she exclaimed in what I assumed was broken Japanese… or it might have been broken English, it was hard to tell on our end. “You want start fight?”

  Scowling down at Shampoo’s purple head and crossing her arms beneath her breasts, Taylor used all of her height to loom over the girl. “We are not spring boards for your battle.”

  That seemed to have shocked Shampoo a little as she visibly backed down. She then switched to her native Chinese and I couldn’t help but note how much more elegantly she spoke in her native tongue, “I, Xian Pu, am sorry, I have been searching for the woman who dishonored me and I nearly had her. I apologize."

  Ah, so her name was actually Xian Pu… that made a lot more sense than Shampoo for a warrior woman in rural China.

  Glancing around at my girls, it was once again clear that no one but Amy, the otaku, realized where we were. Her eyes were bright in fascination seeing another world from her Anime.

  I sighed, considering if we should just move on, but it wasn’t a big deal to help a little and this part of the Ranma 1/2 storyline had always bothered me.

  Calling up to the redhead peeking out of the bushes a few hundred feet away, I said, “Hey, Ranma. Why haven’t you explained that you’re a boy yet? Also, would you like help with your curse?”

  The female Ranma’s voice was just barely audible from where she was hiding, but it was clear how frustrated she was. “What the hell? How do you know that? And what do you mean you can help?”

  From inside the broken wall, we heard several gasps as the Tendo family stuck their heads out of what I now knew was their family Dojo.

  I momentarily wondered if it would be better to not get involved. This slice of life slash romance anime turned out well enough without us butting in. It also didn’t have anything we needed.

  I mean, this story did have an absolutely ludicrous number of powerful artifacts that Ranma and Company randomly come across, but they wouldn’t show up for quite a while, perhaps months. And again, there was also nothing that I could remember that would specifically help Thea or me.

  Plus there was a reason that this entire region was known as a chaos magnet. I was pretty sure that in canon, Ranma’s friend group was even referred to as the ‘Furinkan district wrecking crew’.

  However, I just couldn’t ignore Ranma’s confused and frustrated face as he warily approached us. Overall, he was a good kid… which was a bit weird to say since I wasn’t actually much older, but still.

  As we walked up to the broken wall, I quickly and quietly explained the premise of this world’s story to my girls. “Ranma here fell in a cursed spring, the ‘spring of drowned girl’. He changes genders when dunked with cold water and changes back with hot water. His father fell in the ‘spring of drowned panda’. His father also engaged Ranma to multiple girls because he is a con artist. The engagement they are most serious about is one with the Tendo family who owns this dojo, even if the youngest daughter Akane and Ranma don’t get along quite yet. It is a comedy, but the power scaling eventually gets pretty high. That said, we appear to be pretty close to the beginning…”

  Now understanding a little better, my girls politely introduced themselves before we were then invited inside by the eldest Tendo daughter and mother figure, Katsumi, for the trouble of getting caught up in everything, probably because she was excessively nice.

  Thus we all filed into the Tendo dojo and accepted their offer of snacks while, with a wave of her wand, Holly repaired the Tendo’s wall and house.

  That got the Ranma crew to momentarily gasp in shock and Katsumi thanked us, but maybe because they had gotten used to the idea of Ranma’s curse, it only surprised them for a bit.

  Once everyone was either sitting around their living room with crossed legs or kneeling in seiza, depending on how formal they were, I sighed and gestured towards Ranma. “Ok, we aren’t sticking around for long, but long story short. We might be able to help you with your curse. We had contact with a seer that…”

  I was almost immediately cut off by a scoff from Akane. “Do we look stupid to you? Why would we believe you could see the future?”

  However, that was when a piglet came bursting into the room only to be picked up by Akane with a cry of, “There you are P Chan,” before hugging the pig to her chest.

  I instantly recognized him as Ryoga, the perpetually lost boy who was cursed to take the form of a little pig when splashed, but his refusal to tell Akane his other form so she would continue to cuddle him was a bit creepy.

  Ranma’s eye twitched as he saw Ryoga in her arms so apparently he already knew at this point, but he decided not to make a scene out of it. I vaguely remembered him trying to explain it and being ignored by Akane. Instead he leaned back, making his girl form’s breasts strain against the fabric. “Yeah, what kind of suckers do you take us for?”

  I blinked and momentarily wondered if perhaps Ranma enjoyed being a girl as a useful tool. Especially since, despite all of his complaints, he was watching me apparently trying to catch me staring. Ranma was also known for flirting with boys in his girl form so they bought her things, food especially.

  However, why he thought I would be flustered at his female body when I was surrounded by beautiful women was beyond me.

  I sighed, before simply shrugging. “I have no idea why you think that seeing a possible future is impossible, when you were literally cursed by a spring that can change your gender, physical height, and even species.” Then I scoffed. “Yeah, it's a bit weird that you turn into a girl when hit with cold water, but it is a hundred times weirder that your father turns into a panda. Regardless, we should be able to help with that part at least. Didn’t you see Holly here fix your wall with a wave of her hand?”

  That made the Ranma 1/2 group shut up for a minute gaping like fish trying to come up with a rebuttal. My girls behind me just laughed quietly, obviously amused at the show while they munched on their snacks.

  However, once Ranma and Company got over the surprise, it finally got them to be a lot more serious. I assume they hadn’t believed me up until this point.

  Opening a portal outside the room, I quietly asked for Fleur to step through and join us.

  I was actually impressed when I saw Ranma, his father Genma, and Xian Pu, all twitch like they felt something change. Maybe detecting the air pressure shift or sensing the presence of a new person.

  However, when Fleur stepped in the room and knelt down, any seriousness quickly bled off to be replaced with blushes on Ranma, Genma, and Akane’s father Soun. I even noticed a small blush appear on Xian Pu and even Akane herself.

  Then Akane noticed how the boys were reacting and we could all watch as her face turned into a scowl. Leaning over, she smacked Ranma across the back of the head. “Stop Drooling, you idiot!”

  Of course Ranma proceeded to then hotly deny it, getting up and yelling in her face, “You are so NOT cute!” and so I had nearly another minute where no one could get a word in edgewise.

  That small blush on the girls did make me pause. In canon, both girls had some romantic interactions with Ranma in her girl form. So the two of them were at least slightly interested in girls. However, that only highlighted Akane’s constant quips about how Ranma was a pervert because he MIGHT have ‘done stuff’ with herself as a girl, along with flirting with guys, more than a little bit hypocritical.

  And to be honest, I disliked Akane’s character for a much more straightforward reason. Not to ignore Ranma’s insults, but the fact that she was openly violent to him outside of spars made them one of my least favorite anime couples. She was also quick to blame, slow to forgive, and was a bad enough cook that her food was actually toxic…

  Glancing over at Xian Pu, I couldn’t help but feel that she was the far superior choice. She was older, more attractive, a good cook, and a much stronger martial artist.

  Yet, even when I first watched Ranma 1/2, I kind of knew that Xian Pu never really had much of a chance against Akane, if for no other reason than Ranma and Akane’s parents were dead set on them being matched together.

  Xian Pu also had to fight against social stigma, as there was also the uncomfortable truth that the Japanese generally didn’t like foreigners. They even had a semi-derogatory term, ‘hafu’, for half Japanese people. So, while they were way more polite than just about anyone else on Earth, there was definitely an ‘outsider’ vibe any time we visited Japan in any of the realities.

  As I watched, Ranma tried to grab P Chan out of Akane’s arms so the little pig wasn’t pressed against her breasts, only to be smacked across the room. Ranma ended up with his head stuck through the paper door, and when he finally pulled his head out, the two then pouted and turned away from each other.

  I shook my head. Despite their antics, the Ranma ? characters were funny and strangely endearing in a ‘can’t look away from the trainwreck’ sort of way. Probably best to help and then just leave before we get roped into anything too crazy.

  Gesturing towards Fleur, I did a quick series of introductions. “Everyone, this is Fleur. Fleur, this is Ranma, his father Genma, Soun Tendo and his three daughters Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, and Xian Pu. Ryoga is currently the pig.”

  Akane practically exploded. “What are you talking about, this is my little P Chan!”

  Interrupting her with a raised hand, I frowned. “You are being rude.”

  That got Akane to finally shut back up as the ingrained Japanese politeness came to a front.

  Turning back to Fleur, I smiled. “Thank you for coming.”

  Nodding graciously, the french beauty ignored Akane’s death glare, instead forcing the entire room to flinch back as she flared her presence, bowing at them in greeting before turning towards me. “It is nice to meet everyone, but may I ask, why did you ask me to come?”

  I gestured towards Ranma, Genma, and Ryoga. “Those three have been cursed to change forms when hit with cold water.”

  Fleur blinked and whipped out her wand, making everyone flinch, only relaxing as she continued to swish it back and forth with nothing happening except a growing frown.

  Frustrated, she turned towards me. “I can see what you mean. It is a powerful curse, I am not sure what I can do. Maybe if I had a few weeks to study it, but it is… you might say, unlikely.”

  Akane was finally done waiting as she spoke up, “It is true that this pervert and his father have been cursed, but why did you call my P Chan, Ryoga?”

  I glanced at Akane and then Ranma before looking down at the furiously glaring P Chan.

  Ranma looked frustrated as apparently he had already tried to explain this in the past, while P chan looked like he wanted to attack me then and there.

  Not even bothering to pull out my wand, it took just a flick of my hand to shoot a stream of warm water at the piglet, who squeaked and tried to jump out of the way. Unsuccessfully I might add, as it was trivial to adjust my aim to hit an opponent who only bothered to jump up two feet.

  Suddenly, with a poof, a rather naked Ryoga appeared, wearing nothing but his headband. Akane screamed, slapping him across the face, which sent him into the door and made another hole next to Ranma’s previous one. Kasumi gasped slightly, putting a hand on her cheek while looking away, while Nabiki pulled out a camera and snapped a photo of Ryoga’s butt, probably for blackmail.

  Stifling a chuckle, I summoned Nabiki’s camera into my hands to delete the picture while I gestured to Fleur. “Sorry, Fleur, could you transfigure some clothes for him?”

  Fleur nodded. “Of course.” Then she smirked, eyes twinkling slightly in amusement as she spoke to Ryoga. “And don’t worry monsieur, you have nothing to be ashamed of down there.”

  After Ryoga was dressed, there were several minutes filled with yelling before the house once again calmed back down.

  During that time, Fleur spent more time analysing the curse before she sighed. “I am not experienced enough to remove it. It is very old and very powerful.”

  I agreed after doing my own study of their souls. “Yeah, I am not sure if I can do anything either, not without a lot of research. The curse is wrapped all the way around their souls, and pulling it out might do more harm than good.”

  I could see all three cursed men slump. Ranma was staring lifelessly at the ceiling.

  Then I shrugged. “Plus, to be honest, I don’t care enough to spend the months it might take to find a solution.”

  Ryoga was furious, eye twitching. “So you humiliate me and then you are completely useless.”

  I raised my eyebrow. “I didn’t say that, and that isn’t even why you are mad. Hiding who you were because you were lonely and a pretty girl was showing you some affection is not a good reason to trick her.”

  Then I glanced at Akane. “Then again, she really should have listened when Ranma tried to explain. Cuddling a pig and trying to sleep with it is kinda weird, regardless of how clean it is.”

  Akane once again flushed red and I tilted my head to avoid the tea cup thrown at my face.

  Ryoga pointed at me, now apparently past furious and back to a cold anger. “I am gonna make you regret that.”

  Then he jumped at me, obviously planning on punching me through the door and into the courtyard behind us, to beat me up out there.

  What he didn’t expect was for me to simply stand up, deflect his palm, twist his arm around, then slam him back-first into the ground hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs.

  Looking down at him, I couldn’t help but scoff before glancing around the room. “You are all strong and the future we saw had you getting strong enough to even challenge gods. But right now, you are not anywhere near that level.”

  Then I smirked. “From what I have seen, none of you, Genma and Soun included, stand a chance against me, let alone all of us.” Then I snorted. “Especially since several of my girls are stronger than me.”

  That got the tension in the room up again, which was probably a good reaction from life-long martial artists, but I waved for them to relax, kneeling back down on my cushion. “Let me finish. I am not sure I can break the curse, but I absolutely can do something to help.”

  That made everyone blink in surprise at the tonal whiplash. Calling Sabah via radio to come down when she had time, I pulled off Ryuga’s yellow bandana and smacked him so he rolled back across the room to a place on the side. I then took out my Sharpie with chakra infused ink. Slowly tracing out the runes, I layered in an unbreakable enchantment, a binding enchantment, a retrieval enchantment, and finally an overcharged waterproof enchantment on the bandana.

  Over my shoulder, Hermione watched with interest and gave a suggestion about intent for removal so it couldn’t be stolen, as well as adding cleaning charms, while Fleur just studied my work while looking impressed.

  Then, after Sabah appeared, she took the bandana, pulled out her thread, and using acromentula silk, permanently embroidered the runes in.

  Finally finished, I gestured for Ryoga to step forward.

  While he was hesitantly studying what I had done, I snapped out my hand and pricked his finger with a needle, letting a few drops of blood fall on the polka-dotted cloth.

  Ignoring his shout of outrage, I gestured for the boy to put it on. “With that, it is indestructible by any normal means. When you are wearing it, no water will be able to touch your skin, even if you swim in the ocean…”

  I was not surprised that Genma, the shameless martial arts thief that he was, immediately ripped the bandana out of Ryoga’s grasp and attempted to put it on, only to have it disappear and reappear in Ryoga’s hands.

  I smirked and glanced at the old man before returning my attention to Ryoga, “It also can’t be removed by anyone but you, or stolen, as it will appear in your hand whenever you wish for it.”

  An absolute silence settled in the room… for an entire five seconds, before Ranma practically teleported into my face. “You HAVE to give me one of those, I will do ANYTHING to be able to stay a man.”

  I scoffed and grabbed the elastic hair tie he was using for his trademark pigtail. “Don’t worry about it. You haven’t exactly made the best impression, but I can’t help but be entertained by your antics.”

  A few minutes later, with help again from Sabah, I handed the finished hair tie back to a now ecstatic male Ranma, having changed back while we worked, who promptly returned it to his hair.

  To the side, I could see Genma plotting and I scowled. “You, Mr. Saotome, on the other hand, are a scoundrel and a thief. That is to say nothing of the child abuse that your training methods involved while Ranma was growing up…”

  Genma’s face went blank and I could see him trying to figure out how to get what he wanted out of me while completely ignoring any wrongdoing of his own. It was clear he had long since justified it to himself.

  I paused and then considered my options before I smiled. “You know what? I will enchant your glasses. I will even have Amy here grow your hair back. But you will take an unbreakable oath to never steal from anyone again, pay a fair market value for anything you use, and make up for your past crimes. Finally, you will give a certain item I’m going to make to your master Happosai. That serial underwear thief, peeping tom, and young girl molester probably just deserves to die, but I know you aren’t strong enough to beat him, and we aren’t waiting around until he shows up.”

  Soun and Genma both cringed when I told them that Happosai was coming back, but after a moment, Genma nodded and handed me his glasses.

  Even a thief and con artist like Genma couldn’t really defend anything Happosai did.

  Temporarily enlarging the glasses so I had more room to work with the thin metal frames surprised everyone a bit, but soon enough, Genma took the oath before I handed the glasses back to him.

  Then, turning to Sabah, I asked for her to transfigure a lacy bra. Taking the frilly white undergarment, we got to work, with a few further suggestions from Hermione. However, what I didn’t expect was Fleur to get so involved this time.

  Apparently there was already a curse you could put on someone for trying to steal a girl’s underwear or perve on them… then again, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised Veela had created such a thing, as it was something they had probably had to deal with often.

  The curse in question started out by causing increasingly bad luck which switched to extreme pain, almost on par with the Cruciatus Curse, if the person kept trying regardless.

  This enchantment took a solid ten minutes, but hardly anyone noticed as Ranma, Ryoga, and Genma were celebrating their freedom from their curses by repeatedly dunking themselves and splashing about in the courtyard pond without changing form.

  Rolling my eyes, I called Genma back over. “I am giving this to you.” I said, while handing the bra to him.

  Genma looked confused and I rolled my eyes. “We both know that Happosai is an underwear thief, but he is also a master martial artist well above any of your levels. So the easiest way to get him cursed is to have him steal something he thought he wanted.”

  I gestured at the bra. “This bra will latch on to the first person that steals it and then transform into a collar that he will be unable to notice and cannot remove. It will stop him from any of his antics towards an unwilling female, in a very painful way.”

  Slightly malicious smiles appeared on my and my girls’ faces, and everyone else flinched. I continued, “Just make sure that you hang it up in one of the girl’s rooms or something, so when Happosai reappears, he thinks it’s theirs.”

  I then turned to Xian Pu, who had been surprisingly quiet and thoughtful this entire time. “I am not sure what exactly you want, but you should have realized by now that Ranma was originally a man, not a woman. Your tribe knows about the cursed springs of Jusenkyo, so I suspect that you can just annul the kiss of death. You can probably even get it changed to be a kiss of marriage, if you want to chase the idiot. That said, I think you can do much better for yourself.” I made a skeptical face as I pointed out the door at the still celebrating Ranma splashing in the pond.

  The yelled “HEY!” from Ranma was hilarious as he came running inside, clothes sopping wet, but still unchanged. Meanwhile Xian Pu still looked unsure.

  Then I shrugged. “Or if you can convince his other fiancees to share, then everyone can win.” I said, while gesturing to my wives. “We certainly made it work.”

  Akane practically choked, but Xian Pu just tilted her head to study us before looking at Akane.

  Akane glared back at her and then glanced around at my girls before muttering “Perverts!”

  That got my hackles up and I stared Akane down until she turned away.

  I am not sure what Xian Pu was thinking, but she apparently made up her mind about something as she smirked at Akane before nodding and standing up to leave. “Xian Pu understands, Xian Pu will consult with the elders about procedures.”

  Jumping out the window, she quickly located her bike before zooming away faster than I would have thought possible without our cheats. Apparently these martial artist’s chi wasn't that far off from our chakra.

  I wished her any luck I could. She was my favorite of the fiancees. But then again, Akane’s oldest sister Kasumi had been the most attractive female in the room to me, so it might have just been the fact that I preferred mature women and Xian Pu was clearly 2 or 3 years older.

  Looking back to address the Tendo sisters, I shrugged. “Well, we are headed out. We have other sites that we want to investigate.”

  Nabiki narrowed her eyes while smiling. “And what are you looking for, if I may ask?”

  I was amused, “We are looking for sources of healing and soul energy for my own issues.”

  Nabiki’s smile just grew. “And what would you be willing to pay for information like that?”

  I sighed, still amused, having already expected that from the money-obsessed middle sister. The fact that I helped her family didn’t mean a thing to her.

  Gesturing, I dropped three small gold coins into her hands while looking her in the eye. “Pure gold, probably worth a hundred thousand yen at a minimum. Don’t waste our time, please.” It was only about 800 USD which meant more back in 1995 especially for a teenager, but still almost nothing for us.

  Even still, I could see the Ranma 1/2 crew’s jaws drop, but Nabiki’s eyes narrowed in bright interest. “There have been what people have been calling Youma attacks downtown recently. I have also heard reports of events in the west, around the Sarayashiki prefecture, and also on the east side of Tokyo, near Karakura town.”

  I blinked as the mention of Youma attacks sounded like Sailor Moon. The other two places also seemed familiar, but I didn’t instantly recognize them. I would have to think about what those could be.

  Then Nabiki smiled. “Would you perhaps like a guide?” she whispered huskily while emphasising her chest.

  Checking her out since she was trying to seduce me so blatantly, I could admit that she was attractive, but again, nowhere near my girls’ level. And, while I didn’t mind an entrepreneuring type of woman, I knew she was most known for her scams and selling unsolicited photos of Ranma’s girl form and Akane to their admirers. That was something I had no respect for.

  Shaking my head, I decided to twist the knife a bit. “Sorry, I prefer my wives to be smart, kind, and strong, and you really don’t have any of those attributes. Hell, I suspect you would sell our secrets just to make another hundred yen, which is a liability. Plus, to be blunt,” I added while reaching out to kiss Taylor’s hand. “My wives are prettier.”

  That got Nabiki’s face to switch rapidly between emotions before she stormed off. However, to my surprise, Kasumi simply watched and smiled. Maybe the oldest sister was just as done with Nabiki’s antics as we were.

  Shrugging, my girls and I waved goodbye before deciding to go for the west side of town first since it was closer. It also gave me more time to consider what to do if this world indeed involved Sailor Moon and their story’s apocalyptic threads.

  Sarayashiki prefecture was also tugging at something in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t remember what series it was from.

  As we walked to the train station, I did note that we could move faster via portals…or even just jumping across the rooftops, but I was enjoying our afternoon stroll together.

  And from the smiles on my girls’ faces as a few of them linked arms, I wasn’t the only one. Grabbing Taylor's hand as my first walking partner, I was reward with a happy blush.

  Interlude Pyrrha.

  Pyrrha hadn’t been sure she believed that they had really left Remnant… right up until she looked at what they called a skyscraper and saw an intact moon behind it.

  She didn’t even think the others had noticed something strange with the moon.

  That was when she realized and her mouth dropped open… this was how the moon was supposed to be.

  Grimm Bait, even the buildings were impossible. They were too weak to withstand any sort of attack. They didn’t even have shutters they could drop down in front of the windows.

  That was when it slowly started becoming real to her.

  She had gone back into her room in the onsen and just laid down, staring at the ceiling for a long while until Max and the others came back for dinner.

  Really, she had chased Max because he was hot and he treated her like she was just a normal girl.

  Yeah, she knew her standards were kinda messed up, but after years of every guy her age either being a massive prick when she beat them, too intimidated to even talk to her, or just blindly in awe of her fame, she wasn’t exactly… picky.

  The fact that his girls were clearly enamored with him and were well taken care of and happy had made it a much less risky prospect. Especially as she was pretty sure she could have fought her way out if he had meant to do her harm.

  The thing was, while she still definitely had a crush on Max, she also was incredibly interested in the new worlds she would see.

  That was to say nothing of the fact that she was already getting stronger.

  Putting a leaf on her hand and slowly getting it to stick and spin with Chakra was exciting, and that was just a basic application.

  Yeah, coming along was a good choice, she affirmed in her mind. Pyrrha Nikkos did not lose.

  Staring at Max, Pyrrha saw a shiver run up his back at that declaration, and she smiled.

  Interlude Sabah:

  Sabah frowned as she looked down at the Ofuda.

  Everyone had repeatedly told her that Fleur and Thea getting hurt wasn’t her fault… that she had simply been overwhelmed.

  But that wasn’t true. She could have done better if she had just trained harder.

  Lifting one of the Japanese paper talismans with her power, she tried to activate it with her magic without touching it with her hand or using her wand.

  It didn’t react.

  Slowly, she narrowed her eyes at the charm.

  It still didn’t do anything.

  Glaring harder, she focused on how much she wanted this to work.

  Magic, more than anything else, worked on willpower, and she wanted this to work.

  …Needed it to work.

  She HAD to make these charms into an impenetrable wall.

  But still, nothing happened for the 73rd time today.

  Catching her breath, Sabah took a break and considered the charm in front of her again.

  What if she needed to stretch her magic out to touch it?

  She considered imagery that might help. A finger to touch it? A pointer like a computer?

  That was when the image of a needle and thread came to her. Those were almost a core part of her being. If she couldn’t do that, she wouldn’t be able to do it at all.

  Focusing down again, she wanted this to work, she needed this to WORK.

  She envisioned herself standing at the center of her Family, defending them from any who wished them harm.

  Reaching out with her intent and magic like a thread, she willed the Ofuda to activate.

  Suddenly, the paper glowed an ethereal blue, along with nearly a foot of air surrounding it. Lasting a solid ten seconds and requiring almost no power to maintain after the initial burst.

  Smiling, Sabah noticed that she had started sweating, but she didn’t let it ruin her mood as her grin just grew wider.

  It was possible! Now it was just a matter of doing it rapidly and on command.

  No one she was protecting would ever be hurt again.

  AN:

  Infinite thanks be to my beta (who may or may not be my wife), it is the main reason the quality has improved recently…

  1) I was trying out the smaller chapters again… and immediately failed. Maybe the next one will stay in that 3-5k word limit.

  That said, part of the issue and why this chapter feels rushed to me is I didn’t want to stay focused on Ranma 1/2 for too long as there is a lot going on here.

  2) Recommendation:

  I was going through some of my previous favorites and found this one.

  A Young Vampire's Cohabitation Arrangements by WrandmWaffles

  I felt it captured Tanya’s personality a lot better than the vast majority of fanfictions and I loved her pragmatic approach to everything including her relationship with Harry Dresden. Knowledge of Dresden Files not required.

  3) Power scaling rant:

  I got a lot of good comments in the last chapter but one thing I was surprised by is that I got 3 different comments/reviews that the growth curve was painfully slow. The thing is, I am going to take this as a compliment. I was going for slow and believable power growth… so, success?

  On the other hand, it shows I may not have been clear on their current strength which is my failing as an author. They have been fighting stronger and stronger opponents, so it may not have been obvious that they have grown.

  So to clarify:

  *There is no one on Remnant that could stand up to the Family together besides Salem and Oz. *There was no one, including Alma, or group that could have stopped the Family in FEAR.

  *Together they are getting very close to top tier ANBU strength, AKA stronger than almost everyone in the Elemental Nations except the Kage, Akatsuki, the activated Jinchuriki, and a few other S tier threats.

  And, slight spoilers so stop reading if you don’t want to know:

  They are about to get another massive power boost in a few chapters. Then another one in the not so distant future.