Founding Fists
Chapter Two - And Effect

Standard Disclaimer
See last chapter.

Story by Omega Point and Immortal Wanderer

*******
It had been two days since the passing of Akane and Kasumi; the various
members of the Tendo household were taking it differently. Soun was on
the verge of total breakdown: he'd mentioned something about vengeance to
Ranma, and not a word since, weeping in one of the rooms of the house.
Genma the emotionally oblivious opened his mouth to make a suggestion
involving Nabiki and Ranma. The suggestion didn't make it beyond the
first syllable as the remaining 3 members of the household, and Tofu,
immediately gave him a look that got through to even him. He promptly
changed his speech to the effect that he was going on a LONG training trip
and didn't know when he would be back. Nabiki was totally distraught, she
was at a total loss as to what to do, guilt ridden for the lack of nice
things she had done for her sisters, and in particular the horrible things
she had done to Akane, such as using her as a source of money, and admittedly
entertainment.

Tofu and Ranma were another problem: both of them were more than
slightly unstable at the moment. They had both lost their loved ones,
never actually having told their respective partners. Ranma was
reverting to Nekoken at the mention of Akane's name and would start
shredding inanimate objects given the lack of hostile targets; the rest
of the household was thankful for the fact at least it wasn't them
being shredded. Tofu's presence was much appreciated at this time, as
he was able to approach Ranma and apply a pressure point to send him
unconscious. Upon awakening, Ranma would be relatively normal, if
incredibly depressed- enough in fact to make Ryoga look cheerful. Tofu,
on the other hand, was very silently moody, and was in a state of internal
turmoil, with the impact of his recent oaths and the loss of Kasumi.

"Airen, come on date with Shampoo." Leaping to glomp Ranma, the blue-
haired Amazonian female demonstrated once again why she was not noted
for her intelligence. With Ranma's mind unstable due to the repeated recent
reversions to the Nekoken, and his natural association of Shampoo and cats,
his sanity was gone in an instant.
Shampoo never had a chance, not even coming close to embracing Ranma
before finding herself on a nice parabolic arc back towards the
entrance. Fortunately, some small part of Ranma's instincts remembered
that she wasn't really a threat, so the claws weren't out and he padded
over to check on her afterwards, nuzzling her head to check for
consciousness.
Nothing if not persistent, Shampoo thought this would be a great
opportunity and moved to wrap her hands around his head. Ranma's growl
at the beginnings of that movement finally got through, and her hands
decided to stay
where they were. Turning around, Ranma moved back to his original spot,
circled for a bit, and curled up. Tofu carefully poked Ranma, knocking him
out
cold.

"That will keep him out for ten or so." Tofu commented to Nabiki
"What you do to Ranma" Shampoo demanded
"Knocked him unconscious so that his normal self can re-emerge." Tofu
replied
"Don't even think about anything to do with relationships right now,
Shampoo, next time you may be killed." Nabiki warned, tone menacing,
realising just how Shampoo intended to take the renewed defeat at Ranma's
'hands'. "Believe me,
that wasn't personal, he meant nothing by it. Don't even think of
bringing up any Amazon laws right now."
"Ranma must love me. He defeat me again." Shampoo carried on,
blatantly ignoring the uncharacteristic behaviour of Ranma and Nabiki's warning.
Seeing nothing for it and knowing that a detailed explanation while
Ranma was awake could likely prove hazardous, Nabiki decided to set
things straight. "Look, Shampoo, there's been things happening here. Dr
Tofu, would you care to explain?"
"I'm no longer a doctor, Nabiki, but yes, I shall. I don't see any other
options, do you?" Nabiki shook her head, so Tofu continued and explained
the event's of the last two days.

Nabiki and Shampoo listened intently to Tofu's rendition of events,
Nabiki, having heard it twice before, listened just as intently as the
first hoping for some clue as to the reason for the murder of her
sisters. Also to see if it could trigger some idea of how she could help
Ranma
and Tofu, or find this being. As the tale reached its conclusion, Nabiki
went and checked on her father and collected some refreshments from the
kitchen, lingering as little as possible due to the memories of Kasumi
threatening to overwhelm her, far more than Tofu's tale had. Thus it was
with watery eyes that Nabiki set the tray down on the table. Ranma had
started to stir.

"I do it again?" Ranma needlessly queried, glancing at the circle of
nodding heads, "Guess so."
Shampoo went to speak, then stopped as her brain went into overdrive
over what to call him, "Ranma beaten badly?" Nabiki looked at each,
beyond horrified, then shrugged; whatever happened was going to happen, all of them
were unsure of how Ranma would take the question. Tofu surreptitiously
slid behind Ranma; anyone else would most likely have provoked a
reaction, but somehow the shared emotion and having fought
simultaneously if not actually together against the guardian had
convinced Ranma's subconscious where the Cat fist lurked that Tofu was
a friend and to be trusted.
"Shampoo, your Great grandmother would've had trouble!" Ranma wasn't
far from being right with this statement- while the old ghoul might have
managed to defeat the guardian at the point Tofu and Ranma battled it, it
would have been close and now there was already less of chance of
victory, with the creature gaining more power by the hour unbeknownst to
Tofu and Ranma.
"If it wasn't for that accursed Nekoken and Tofu, I would've ended up the
same as Akane." With that Ranma took off, with his eyes starting to
water. Shampoo moved to follow and found that her legs wouldn't move.
Seeing Shampoo's expression, "No, you will leave him alone he needs
friends now not people wanting more. I'm not letting you alone with him
anytime soon." Tofu very protectively warned. "He may react violently
towards you, which he would probably regret and he's got enough problems
as it is. You'll be able to move shortly, don't do anything stupid."

Shampoo, not having a clue about what she should do, headed back to the
Cat-Café to talk to Cologne. Tofu and Nabiki paused in thought before
simultaneously speaking "Did you-" Tofu stopped and motioned for
Nabiki
to continue "-notice that Ranma could say Akane's name without going
crazy?"
"Yes, unlike whenever one of us have said it in his presence."
"Do you think he's gained enough control to avoid the Nekoken from
taking over during conversation?"
"No, unfortunately, I don't think so, and I don't want to give it a
try."
"Neither." A silence followed Nabiki's agreement as Tofu started going
introspective, thinking of the implications of his new oaths. Nabiki
started to get the glimmer of an idea but it was elusively avoiding her
conscious thought.

Ranma having spent a few moments attempting to make himself
respectable, namely drying his eyes and waiting till he was sure that
Shampoo had left the building (over-estimating greatly on the side of
safety), returned to the sitting area.
"What are we going to do?" addressing the two seated people, primarily
Tofu.
A totally uncharacteristic reply was delivered from Tofu, voiced in a
deadpan voice, "We fight."
Nabiki shrugged, feeling the hopelessness, "The cat, I take it, but where
and how?"
Nerima's resident female Amazons chose this moment to enter the room.
"Don't either of you know how to knock!" an irate Ranma snapped.
"Would you accept our help if we did?" No response was forthcoming,
"As I thought."
"Tell me exactly what happened to-" The old ghoul temporarily trailed
off due to Nabiki and Tofu holding their hands out warningly. Looking
around at the shredded piles of furniture, she was about to try a
different tack, then looked at Tofu curiously "And how are _you_
relieving your stress?"
Nabiki gazed across the room at the far end, Cologne followed it, seeing
beyond the remains of a chair several beams of wood, some broken and
others covered by small deep indentations.

One question remained for the moment, finding out all the details of the
previous days could come later when Ranma wasn't present.
"What do you plan to do?"
Tofu started before Ranma had a chance, "I'm going to hunt that creature
to the ends of the earth, this I vow.
"I've already given up my previous life, my only other vow is to prevent
harm to innocents occuring through inaction on my part."

Ranma continued, "I will be there the entire way, that creature will
wish it had never been." Pausing, something clicked in Ranma's mind,
simultaneously an identical thought struck Nabiki together they turned
to Tofu. "Where did you learn to fight?"
"I had some training in using pressure points for other than healing
but I shut them out of my mind when I stopped and took the Hippocratic
oath."
The old ghoul smiled, "That would explain your ability, but will you
and Ranma (How she restrained herself from saying son in law she didn't
know) be enough to defeat this creature, Shampoo described to me?"
"We will be!" Ranma stepped in, saving Tofu from giving a more honest
answer.

Nabiki while have listening to the discussion was having a far more
vigorous argument with herself.
"Activate the network."
"I don't need money, I want my sisters."
"Think what is the network for?"
Puzzled by her own request she does so. "Oh, Information not cash."
"That's right but don't forget you may still need money to help finance
this place and the search."

Nabiki speaks out loud, "I have a small project that could be of use."
A look of dread crosses Ranma's face as a breeze blows indoors.
"I've been doing a little negotiating with the other information
brokers across the world and got most of them to agree to help me."
Ranma's face becomes more concerned having a fair idea of what was
about to be said. "How many mercenaries, how did you do it and how does
it help us?"
Ignoring the order of the questions Nabiki responded, "Same way I get
anyone, I knew more about them then they did me, and as for how many, I
have 57 regions across the globe, each of which have between 40 and 130
information brokers in each."
Three large holes appeared in the floor caused by the impact of Ranma,
Tofu and Colognes heads, Shampoo just sat their not quite catching on
the implications of this revelation.
"Oh, and the use Nabiki continued I think I should be able to track
something as distinctive as that creature without many problems."

"Back to the issue of whether Ranma and Tofu can handle this creature
cat" Cologne temporised trying to recover from the shock of how badly
understated the rumours of Nabiki's mercenary habits were.
"Ranma and I will be ready." Tofu responded reiterating Ranma's
sentiments.
"Well we will be going then, you know where to find me if you realise
that you need the training." Motioning to Shampoo, who had managed to
go the entire conversation with out saying a word, more due to
intimidation of her great grandmother who had wanted to access the
situation without interruptions and needless chaos, than any lack of
intelligence. The old ghoul decided things were promising with Akane
gone Shampoo stood a good chance provided she was restrained for a
while Ranma could strengthen the tribe.
"We can manage ourselves, ghoul." Ranma called, unwisely as it
justified Cologne's parting shot.
"Good luck then, Son-in-law."
Quivering on the verge of losing himself to the cat fist, Ranma made a
declaration that he wished he'd made much earlier, "It's always been
Akane I wanted."  Before his personality was completely consumed by
that of a feline.
"I know" Cologne shook her head and leaves dragging Shampoo with her.
Tofu having predicted the result of Ranma's barb had already knocked
him unconscious. Cologne's thoughts continue *but with Akane gone my
Shampoo has a chance, but you have to survive this first.*

Nabiki headed off and made some phone calls ignoring Soun's continued
crying, clearing an area of shredded furniture, she prepares for
setting up the network. Tofu asks if she needs a hand, she smiles and
says "You might want to go help at the door." Tofu baffled walks over
to the do and opens it just as the first of many boxes arrive, along
with two of Nabiki's hence girls. Boxes being empted with the contents
set up phones, computers, and faxes. Some men entered to add additional
wiring into the room and finally Nabiki and the girls sat and after
Nabiki giving commands to make a drill sergeant proud, they got to
work.
Ranma wakes and upon seeing the seen unfolding before him, calls to
Tofu, "I think we'd better get some practice cause I don't think she'll
take long."