Papa’s Back

Chapter 6

Journey of Discovery Part 1

Disclaimer: I don’t own this series or any other series. I am just floating an idea. I am making no money, nor plan to, off this venture. If you think of suing me over this, then grow up.

I would like to first personally thank all of those reviewing my stories. I enjoy reading your comments, and try to correct the grammatical errors I miss with my final read-through as well as my spell checkers. The suggestions you all make will help make this story better for everyone to enjoy, as well as allow my to fix some plot holes I may unintentionally leave. If you find any, let me know, and I will correct them and repost the chapters.

---

Nabiki sighed as she slipped out of the bed once again, pausing to note how Ranma continued to sleep.

She wanted to smile at that, even crawl back under the covers and back into his arms. It wasn’t that far of a stretch.

At least ... it wasn’t considering what they had been doing.

She wondered how long it would be before he wanted to ‘start holding off’ again until they got married. Hell, they still argued over who changed their relationship from partners to intimate lovers.

And if he knew what she was doing now, that fight would pale in comparison to this.

But it had to be this way, it had to be done ... if for no other reason to have some room, salvage the honor of their friend, and bring some peace of mind.

If he knew, he wouldn’t like it, even if it was the only choice.

This was why she wanted to make sure that he didn’t.

As she left the room with what she needed, she didn’t catch the look of worry that grew on his face, before the moon was once again hidden by the clouds.

---

Shampoo sighed as she looked out the window of the airport terminal. I’ve been gone for too long.

I should have come sooner, even if Kasumi said she didn’t need me.

“This place is too noisy,” muttered a redheaded boy beside her.

“Be quiet, Xenma,” said Shampoo. “We came here to see your father.”

“Are we certain this guy actually exists, Mom?” said a purple haired girl with a pigtail.

Shampoo sighed. I just had to end up with twins, didn’t I? It must be what my Beloved referred to as ‘just desserts’ or something like that. “Listen Xenko, I have already explained this to you.”

“We know,” growled out Xenma. “Dad didn’t even know we existed, and before you could show us to him because of some deal you had with another woman he loved, some old pervert summoned a demon and killed them all.”

“Except for our half-sister,” added Xenko.

“That is correct,” said Shampoo, waiting for the customs agent to finish with their luggage—not that they would find anything thanks to Hidden Weapons techniques. “Despite our offers, she was sent to stay with her Aunt on her mother’s side. After what had happened, I agreed with the Matriarch that it would be best for her.”

“We could have met her,” said Xenko.

“And done what?” asked Shampoo. “We couldn’t exactly tell her why even her Daddy didn’t know she had siblings.”

Xenma sighed. “Drop it, Sister. We are here now, and she is surely old enough to hear the truth.”

“As is he.”

The two children turned towards their mother. “What do you mean?” asked Xenma.

Shampoo smiled as she pointed to a television that was reviewing footage from a recent Senshi battle. “What can I say,” she started as her children stared at the image, “I never doubted for a moment that he would not come back.”

As her children caught the first look at their father—granted he was wearing weird armor and slashing at some creatures—Shampoo had to wonder one thing.

Would the ghosts of the past haunt them today?

---

Few things could ever frighten a Senshi. They had all faced death—many having been brought back a few times—faced enemies of unimaginable power—often making it out by the skin of their teeth—and seen things inside themselves that they never wanted to admit—unless you got them really drunk.

But they all had to cower in fear at the sight of one pissed off parent in battle armor with a very sharp pole-ax that was still somewhat covered in the blood of the youma it had slaughtered less than an hour ago.

Ranma tried to control his temper, not wanting to yell. After all, he could understand the need to fight the darker forces of existence. He himself had done it a few times before he was stranded in Hyurn.

But to fight them in short skirts! “Mako-chan,” said Ranma.

“Um ... yes, Daddy?” gulped the tall Senshi.

“As soon as I can contact my Guard on Hyurn, we are making you some decent ... covering armor.”

The girls blinked at that. “Um ... Dad, you’re not mad we’re fighting evil for Love and Justice?”

“No,” said Ranma, flexing his armored left hand, his right holding the pole-ax tightly to keep from falling into a father-rage and killing whoever put his little girl in such a stupid outfit. “I’m pi...upset that you are wearing such a revealing outfit.”

Several of the girls face-faulted at that.

Haruka snorted. “I’ve been saying that for years.”

Rei glared at her. “Like we’re going to believe that you hate it.”

“I hate how it looks on me,” clarified Haruka.

Left unsaid was that she rather liked the way it looked on the other girls.

“But the Senshi outfit was designed to be perfect by the best mages in the Moon Court,” added Luna.

Ranma glared at the lunar advisor, his eyes taking a more feral and cat-like glare. “You’ll find Hyurn armor a bit more durable and powerful than whatever those long dead fools came up with. I for one will not have my daughter risking her life while flashing every pervert nearby.”

“But the disguise field prevents ... um,” puttered out Usagi as Ranma directed his glare at her. Eep! Mako-chan’s dad is scary!

Ranma sighed, reigning in his control, as he dismissed his armor and weapon, returning to his earlier outfit. “Well, at least now I know why your body is saturated with magic.”

“Uh ... yeah,” said Makoto, standing up. “Daddy, I am the beautiful sailor suited warrior of Love and Justice, Sailor Jupiter.” She finished it by transforming before him, trying desperately to make the light show as short as possible—and hopefully not get chewed out some more.

Ranma studied her body with a detailed eye. “Strange way to use a planetary mana tap...” he muttered, much to the surprise of the others.

“You can see the flows of magic?” asked Ami.

Ranma nodded. “It’s something high level mages are taught in Hyurn, allows you to see magical traps and the threads of spells you might need to deal with or enhance.”

Turning Makoto around, he studied the spells in greater detail, though the look made Makoto feel like her father was judging whether or not she was properly dressed for a date.

When he started to growl, she had to bite back a cry of terror.

“Did you know you had several outfit options besides the short skirts?”

The girls all blinked at that. “We do?” asked Rei.

Ranma nodded, his eyes still glowing with rage. “They were reset to what you wear now.”

Artemis sighed. “That may have been the Mage Council’s fault,” said the white mooncat.

“All males?” asked Ranma.

“The female members had a meeting they were attending when the issue came up,” said Artemis. “Only the males were there, and there had been some ... animosity about the fact that there were no male Senshi.”

“And you know this ... why?” asked Luna.

“I was playing around with the Mercury Computer when the girls had that sleepover a few years ago and found it by accident,” said Artemis.

“I knew I didn’t leave it in the bathroom,” murmured Ami. Her friends had teased her about that for months.

Ranma sighed. “I’ll have to study the spells for a while before I even try to change that little setting,” said Ranma.

“Why not do it now?” asked Rei.

“Because the last time I tried to do that without a full understanding, I ended up stuck in a harem girl outfit every time I shifted to my female form,” said Ranma. “Worst years of my life,” he finished, before beginning to mumble about perverted six-armed demons.

The girls could only stare as he walked off, continuing to mutter.

Makoto just sighed. She was eighteen and a fighter of evil ... and her dad was about ready to dress her up from now on.

Sometimes, I miss being an orphan.

---

Ranma looked over some notes he had made from observing Makoto’s magical armor—if it could be called that—as well as her focus, which she called a henshin rod.

He was familiar with both tools as well as the method that seemed to be powering them. After all, more than one warrior on Hyurn had tried to tie the mana of the entire world into a single weapon.

Said attempt usually ended up with Hyurn receiving a new crater that was wide enough to be in at least two time zones, and the resulting mess needing to be taken care of by every magic-user on the planet.

It was one of the few times the little armies weren’t fighting each other. After all, if they didn’t repair the damage, the planet itself could die or explode, and that was very bad for those in charge.

So the fact that someone had made it work was quite an impressive feat.

It was also one he hoped to keep away from Hyurn. He had enough trouble with wannabe rulers challenging him for power. It got so bad at times; the Royal Guard would often take bets on the numbers of and the time until they were killed by him.

And if some of the local mages learned of what the Senshi had, they’d stop at nothing to possess such a secret.

But for the moment, he needed to at least determine how to alter the settings on her focus so that it summoned a magic armor that offered more ... protection ... than a sailor fuku.

“Probably made by a previous life of Happosai,” he muttered, studying the rune-filled pages.

Letting out a sigh, he began to dive into the work.

Or at least he tried, considering that one of his hellhounds had just jumped through his window ... a closed window.

“Mental note,” he muttered, “teach Kaji to use a door.

“What have you got there, boy?” he asked, as the hellhound bounded gleefully over to his master ... complete with a large purple cat with bells in her hair.

Realizing what his faithful hound had brought him, Ranma could only utter a single word.

“Shit.”

---

Hotaru yawned as she prepared to go to sleep. The day had taken more out of her than she realized.

But she did get one good thing out of it.

Her bed creaked slightly as one large hellhound crawled onto it, before lying down beside her, careful not to stick her with his back spines.

Smiling, Hotaru cuddled up to her new pet/defender/magical mascot. “Goodnight Shinji, sleep well.”

Shinji licked his chops a bit, enjoying the fine meal he had eaten. Yes, he liked his new mistress very much.

That night, Hotaru went to bed very happy.

Little did she know, her parents would soon be supporting her new pet, especially after he ate any annoying pigeon that wandered near their house.

Stupid birds were always crapping on their cars.

---

“You’re very lucky,” said Ranma, looking across the table at a now human and fully clothed Shampoo. “Usually, the hellhounds will eat something that size.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to have guard dogs from another world,” muttered the Amazon.

Ranma shrugged.

“Where’s Makoto?” asked Shampoo.

“She’s staying with some friends tonight,” said Ranma. He didn’t mention that she was still a little weirded out by her own father slaying the enemy quicker than she could. Hell, he only summoned his armor when it looked like the things were going to make a break for it. Kami-sama only knew what that had just done to his career, let alone his private life.

Shampoo nodded, drinking some of her tea.

The sat in silence for a few more moments before Ranma spoke up. “Why are you here, Shampoo?”

The girl smiled, as she looked at her former Airen. It had hurt when she had been forced to leave, finally accepting that for the moment, they wouldn’t be together. Now? “What did Nabiki tell you about why we left?”

Ranma sighed for a bit. “Nothing really. I asked her once, and she told me it was best if I didn’t know. I let it drop after that.”

Shampoo nodded, silently cursing the long dead Kino for leaving this task up to her. “What do you know about Amazon laws?”

“Enough to stay away from anymore prize tables,” he chuckled.

Shampoo giggled a bit. Releasing a deep breath, she continued. “For a second failure to bring either you back to the village, or a child conceived by us, I would have been forever locked in my cursed form.”

Ranma cringed at that. Man, I was really an ass back then. “What changed?” he asked. “You certainly aren’t locked now.”

Shampoo nodded. “Great-grandmother explained this to Nabiki when she came to see what it would take to get us to leave you alone. I admit, I was a bit of a moron back then with my methods, but I did truly love you. Of course, getting you to love me back was proving problematic. So much so, that when she offered me another option, my great-grandmother took it.”

Ranma nodded, before he stopped, confusion running rampant. He was relatively certain that Nabiki hadn’t tricked him into sleeping with Shampoo; body types were too different. So then how?

“So, she got some ... samples for us to use for artificial insemination.”

Ranma blinked. “Where would she have gotten samples without me knowing?” he asked. He was relatively certain he didn’t remember her asking him to do that into a Dixie cup.

“She used a brand of condom that didn’t have any spermicidal gel,” added the embarrassed Amazon.

Ranma blinked as he thought back to before the Amazons had left.

And then the memories hit him like a train. It was shortly after Nabiki and he had been together for the first time—shortly after she explained what ‘friends with benefits’ meant—when something changed.

She began to do more work involving their encounters. She planned time for them to be together, locations they could go without interruption from family, fiancées, or rivals. She even took care of buying ... the ... condoms.

“I should have known something was up,” he muttered, setting down his tea and rubbing his head. “She didn’t ask for anything extra, even volunteered to do the clean-up and let me shower first.”

Shampoo nodded.

It was then that Ranma paled. “I ... I have other children?” he asked her.

She nodded. “Twins, a boy and a girl named Xenma and Xenko. There might have been more, but Mousse found the tank and he ... well, let’s just say that even his grandmother couldn’t protect him after that.”

Ranma nodded, hearing the last bit, but more focused on the first. He was beginning to understand now why Nabiki hadn’t told him this, even refusing to discuss it. After all, he’d never want to have his child not know him, as he had been forced to with his own mother. “Are they...”

“They’re here in Japan with me,” she said. “We’re staying at the house of some of our local tribe members who are trying to set up some satellite village here in case the communists decide to start something.”

“Can I...”

“I’ll bring them by tomorrow,” said Shampoo. “I don’t believe they hold you any malice for how they came into the world. At best, they might be upset that you didn’t bother to find out what happened to me when I left. But they understand a lot, especially what happened to you fourteen years ago.”

Ranma nodded. “Um ... I have a photo shoot I have to be at tomorrow, but I’ll be free after lunch. It’s at Tokyo Tower.”

“Okay then,” smiled Shampoo as she stood up. Walking over to him, she bent over and placed a chaste kiss on his forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Ranma. Take care of yourself.”

He continued to sit there as she left, even as Kaji came up and lay on the floor beside the chair. For Ranma, a new bombshell had just exploded in his life.

And for once, he wasn’t sure if he should be happy or upset with Nabiki for what she had done.

---

“OW! OW! OW!” cried Minako. “I’m sorry, Mako-chan!” yelled the blond.

Makoto currently had the girl in a headlock after Minako had mentioned something about ‘hot fathers’. Needless to say, Makoto was still very protective over her father and her ideals that he would not be dating, marrying, or sleeping with a Senshi.

That reminds me, I need to threaten Usa later on tonight. She’s always hitting on older men.

“Please stop it you guys!” cried Usagi.

“Yes, do,” growled out Rei. “I didn’t agree to have this little sleepover here just for Makoto to beat up anyone hitting on her father.”

The Senshi of Thunder blushed with embarrassment, as she finally let the Senshi of Love go.

Ami coughed a bit, gathering everyone’s attention. “Now, I was hoping Artemis could explain a bit more about our history.”

“Yes,” said Usagi. “Like how come Mako-chan’s father is so much stronger than us!”

“He can’t be stronger than Dumpling Head,” said Rei.

“WAH! Rei’s so mean!”

“Actually, he is,” said Artemis.

“WHAT?” yelled out Luna.

“But he doesn’t have a planetary mana tap,” said Ami.

“True,” agreed the white moon cat, as he avoided a slap from Luna. “But he does have mastery over what power he does have. His fighting skills as well as the assorted weapons, armor, and what power he uses are used in such ways that he could easily defeat you as you are now.”

“What does that mean?” asked Minako.

“I think it means that while we have a higher potential than Mako-chan’s dad does, we haven’t reached it,” guessed Ami.

“Correct,” said Artemis. “Right now, you guys are barely tapping into your true power.”

“But what about the Ginzuishou?” asked Usagi.

“That works on the equal exchange of life force for magic,” said Artemis.

“WAH! I’m going to die! I haven’t even gotten to third base with Mamo-chan yet!”

“Um, Usagi,” said Makoto, “life force is replenished by food and rest. Some people call it ki.”

“Really,” said Usagi. Seeing the tall Senshi nod, Usagi smiled. “Um ... okay ... could everyone forget what I said about Mamo-chan?”

“No matter how much I would like to,” said the now green Usa.

“So what you’re saying is that we aren’t currently using our powers to their fullest extent?” asked Rei.

Artemis nodded. “As you grow and skill and training, you can use what power you have with better results. I wouldn’t be surprised if youma that gave you trouble when you fought Beryl would be a cakewalk now.”

Luna sighed. “But Makoto’s father has had more fighting experience, more training, and apparently more reasons to use his powers than what you’ve had.”

“You guys talk like we might need to fight my father,” growled out Makoto, as she tried to remain smiling.

Of course, the peaceful image was somewhat ruined as she cracked her knuckles.

As the others shook their heads to agree that they weren’t, Makoto slowly lowered her hands.

“Why would we want to hurt a fish chip like him,” said Minako.

“DIE!” yelled the over-protective Senshi.

---

He stood at the pedestal, observing the stone giant before him. Though only the top half peeked above the darkness with the lower half hidden in the darkness, he still watched it.

It was made all the more impressive by the fact it was the one thing lit up within the underground cavern he was currently in, aside from the pedestal. He knew enough not to step beyond the pedestal, less he fall into the giant canyon that separated him from his goal.

“Report,” he said, smiling at the giant, and not sparing the figure fading into existence behind him a look.

“We have confirmed the Emperor’s location on a world called Earth,” said the green skinned figure. As he looked up towards the man, his face showed, seven eyes blinking, with two rows of two eyes above and below a row of three eyes, each one glowing an eerie yellow.

“Excellent,” said the man. “Soon, my Lord, we shall have what we need to return you to this world.”

The green skinned man nodded, before fading out of sight.

“Soon,” continued the man, “the Dark Chaos God shall walk over the lands of Hyurn, and slay the foul beast that dares control our people.”

For a brief moment, the eyes of the statue glowed.

“I understand, my Lord,” said the man, as he bowed, and stepped back into the darkness behind the pedestal.