"Kyaah!!"

Nabiki listened absently to the sounds of sparring from the dojo, hearing Akane's shouts of rage as she continued to miss Ranma. Not attack, not fight, but miss.

"Ranma, you idiot, why aren't you fighting?"

He mumbles something that sends Akane into a blind rage, and there is a loud crash. Left wall, between the third and fourth supports. Right in the direction-

~Splash~

-Of the koi pond. Now there will be the inevitable , "What did you do that for?" and the follow-up, "As if you didn't know!" exchange.

How tiresome.

Without looking up, Nabiki flipped to the damages page of her noteboook and made an entry for 17,450 yen. Wall repair, dojo. Sighing, she marked it off the capital column of her notebook, noting worriedly that the home finances were dropping badly, and even her efforts to keep the dojo afloat were starting to fail. There weren't that many people who owed her money right now, and Ranma and Akane were fighting even more than usual lately. Then there was the arrival of the ninth fiancee last week- something about paying a sushi bar debt with another engagement. She honestly didn't care any more what the whole issue had been about- by now her opinion of her father's old friend had pretty much hit the rocks. Nothing he had done could surprise her anymore.

Nabiki suddenly found herself staring at the page and not comprehending what she was seeing- the shock was so profound, she was stunned into incomprehension. Finally, she realized with dawning horror what she was seeing.

Four days. At this rate, the dojo would go under in four days, unless some sort of money came in- not likely, with Daddy no longer teaching- or Ranma and Akane stopped fighting long enough for the dojo to recover.

She snorted. There was more chance of Daddy becoming a grief management counselor than that happening. She checked her figures again, knowing full well what she would find. After confirming this nightmare, she flung the notebook across the room in anger, watching some of the leaves rip out and flutter to the floor from the violent gesture.

Damn them. They were tearing the dojo apart. They were tearing the house apart. But what galled her the most was, ever since Ranma and his lazy father had shown up, they were ripping this family apart. And Daddy wouldn't do a thing about it.

There was a knock on the door. "Special Delivery!" Shouted a male voice.

"Oh, my," Said Kasumi, putting the broom back in the closet. "The mail is here already."

Nabiki sighed, watching her sister walk to the door. Collapsing back onto the couch, she missed the startled gasp Kasumi gave as she took the envelope and read the return address. Nabiki realized that something was wrong when the mailman said goodbye, and Kasumi didn't answer.

Looking up at her older sister in surprise, she saw Kasumi's face was almost ash gray. The manila envelope in her hand was labelled in a brownish color that she recognized instantly as dried blood. Written in Mandarin.

Oh, shit. Let me be wrong, this can't all happen at once, please let me be wrong-

"Nabiki- it's from the temple."

Nabiki felt her heart sink inside of her, even though she had known what it was.

"It's- it's Roichi and Kauruu." Nabiki said numbly. This can't be happening, not again, Kami, not again…

Kasumi nodded silently, as she walked over and handed her sister the letter. "Yes."

Nabiki slowly opened the letter, not even registering the fact that her sister picked up the notebook and the pages she had thrown.

"Nabiki- I-I'll take care of the finances while you're gone." Nabiki said nothing, perusing the letter in growing horror. Nothing could have prepared her for this. "Kasumi- It's an emergency. Get Daddy and Akane. Leave the Saotomes out of this meeting."

Kasumi nodded and left.

"Well, now, Nabiki, what's this all about?" Daddy said, smiling indulgently. She felt his pain about Mother, but sometimes she wanted to wipe that mask right off his face. Today wasn't one of those days, but it was going to happen anyhow.

"Dammit, Pop, what're you-" Ranma shouted, cutting himself off in mid holler as he flew through the door screen after tripping over his father's outstretched foot. He landed right in Kasumi's lap. "Get out." Nabiki said coldly, glaring at Ranma with a fury she had never unleashed around him before. He looked at her mutely, then started to get up, when Daddy said, "No, Ranma, you don't have to go."

"Don't you think you should know what this meeting is about before you decide that?" Nabiki snapped at her father angrily. Damn it, this was a family matter.

"I know exactly what this is about." Said Daddy softly. Too softly.

Nabiki's furtive glance to her sister confirmed the truth of this as Kasumi nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Why, father?" Kasumi stepped in suddenly. "This is family."

"Because Ranma is family- or soon will be. And because we've kept him in the dark long enough- he should know what he is getting into."

Mr. Saotome looked in from the door- and Daddy waved him off. "Just Ranma this time, friend. There are some things I would prefer you didn't know. Please respect that."

After a pause, Mr. Saotome nodded and left.

"Know what?" Ranma asked suspiciously.

"There is a lot of background to this story- but before I begin it, I have to ask you. Will you- For the sake of Akane- aid my daughter Nabiki in what must come in the next few days, weeks, and possibly even months ahead?" Daddy is being more serious than I thought him capable of… Maybe some of the old Father is still left in him somewhere.

"In order for you to fully understand just what you are getting yourself into, I must first go back to the time before I married my wife, Reiko."

"I was a lot younger then, and full of youth's confidence. I never thought to fear anything, because I, in my confidence, felt that I could deal with anything that should arise. Reiko was everything that I could ever desire in a woman- She was beautiful, kind, and highly skilled in the Art, almost more so than I was. This was back even before our years of training with the master on his journeys, the very time in fact when I first met the master, and a pupil of his named Genma Saotome."

Ranma looked at Daddy with some surprise. I suppose his father never told him how he and Mr. Saotome met before.

"Genma was much farther along the path than I was, and I envied him his prowess. Master Happosai offered me the chance to study under him after Genma quite neatly mopped the floor with me. It became my sworn duty in life to beat Genma, to defeat him in unarmed combat.

"And so I trained." Daddy's eyes are focussed off on that distant point they look at whenever he tells any story of his youth. "I trained long and hard. Your father and I have told you of many of the rigors of the training journeys that we went through with master Happosai, but I must admit that there were many rewards to working under his tutelage. If there hadn't been, we certainly wouldn't have tolerated the treatment we received at his hands; Genma and I had at least that much self respect. Although after a time, even the benefits of his training seemed outweighed by the suffering we went through at his hands and as a result of his actions; but you know the story behind that. There was a point before that, however, which I requested that Master Happosai take me, and me alone, on a training trip, without the company of Genma.

"At first, Master Happosai was reluctant. He felt that I was not ready for the rigors of enduring such training alone. But I insisted, and begged him so, until at last I revealed to him my true purpose for wanting this training trip- That I wanted to become his greatest pupil, even greater than Genma. And at last, he capitulated to my request.

"As promised, that trip was arduous, full of danger, GENUINE danger. For now, instead of forays into the city to build up our stamina, endurance, and strength by assisting him in his heists, he took me out into the wilds of China, through the Baiyankala mountain range, and past the springs of Jusenkyo, until at last we reached the Arctic Steppe of Russia.

"What he revealed to me there he swore me to secrecy, that I should only reveal its secret to one who would be embroiled in the bitter struggle there and here. For it was there he revealed to me a past civilization whose youngest ruins stand millions of years abandoned ere men stood upright and walked the face of the earth, but the descendents of which still prowl the broken cities like panthers in deepest jungle. These cities lie deep underground, where warmth still remains amidst that frozen waste, but even that warmth is erased by the icy coldness of their hearts.

"Their power surpasses any might which I have seen before and will ever see again. I was highly skilled, a seventh Dan black belt in Kenpo, yet against their powers I was as but a child. It was a much humbling experience. There were creatures there which master Happosai himself could do no battle with, but only flee from to survive their wrath. But during our journey there, we encountered something which we had been unprepared to meet, and even Master Happosai had to admit that it was only by sheer luck that we were there to uncover this in time to save our world."

Nabiki gasped in surprise as the old lecher dropped down from somewhere into her lap. He didn't even bother to cop a feel as he stared down Daddy mercilessly. "Soun, there had better be a damned good reason-"

Nabiki pulled out the envelope which had caused all the upset in the family; Akane, silent until now, burst in with, "Is that from-"

"Yes." Nabiki interrupted. "That's why the gathering."

Happosai gazed at the brown-tan envelope with a curious mixture of shock, disbelief, and waxing horror. "By all the gods above, below, and within- it's happening once more…" He whispered.

Daddy nodded softly. "Yes. And we need Ranma. Because Reiko is dead and without her, there is no-one left to prepare my daughter for what is coming."

"What's this got to do with Akane?" Ranma demanded, his eyes narrowing.

Daddy sighed; I know where this is headed. "There is much more yet that I have to tell you. You must be patient."

"Ranma, I realize that you have a low opinion of me because of my behaviors. While it is true, I am no moral paragon of virtue or decency-"

"Got that right," muttered Akane.

"-you must listen to what Soun has to say. Because I know you boy- you are me when I was younger. Full of the same fire and strength and determination and even more raw talent than I ever had. It has been my pride and joy to train you in what little I was able. But there is so much more that you must do and learn and in so short a time it terrifies me. Because now it lies in your hands. Yours and the most skilled daughter in the Art that Soun has."

"But Akane-"

Daddy and the freak answer at the same time. "Not Akane."

Ranma looked surprised. "Not Akane? But then who?"

I sigh, having known all along that this was coming. And Daddy and Happosai both are looking at me, as are Akane and Kasumi. "Her?!" Ranma yells incredulously. "You've GOT to be kidding. Unless you need an extortionist or-"

Nabiki snarled angrily at this comment. All he could do was insult her and at a time like this-

She suddenly realized that her fist was extended and Ranma was on the floor, a swelling knot in the side of his head and a glazed look in his eyes. 'Ouch…" he whimpered.

Daddy only nodded approvingly. "Yes, Nabiki. And I'm sure you see why."

Ranma sat back up, looking at Nabiki with suspicion as he rubbed the side of his head. "Okay, so why didn't you mention this before? About Nabiki, I mean."

"Because that would have led right into the conversation we are having right now. But there is much more.

"As I said, we were in this forgotten city of ruins. Master Happosai was training me by having me fight and aiding me with some of the weaker ones. Yet even these were too much for me to handle until the end of that trip. And never did we dare take on one of the Greater Cthulhu."

"Cthulhu?" Ranma said in shock. "You mean like the stuff that Lovecraft guy wrote about?"

Daddy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Mmmm… Not quite. Master Happosai was a contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft, who himself was a historian. But these creatures of which we speak were collectively far mightier than the Old God Cthulhu of which Lovecraft wrote. It was in Lovecraft's name which Master Happosai dubbed these creatures Cthulhu."

Ranma shuddered- and understandably so. The monstrous Cthulhu of Lovecraftian lore was a horror to read about.

"There is one thing which Lovecraft was nearly dead on the mark about- A book called the Necronomicon. But in the index of the book was also something that was invaluable to us- A direct translation of the language of the greater Cthulhu into Japanese. I would not hazard a guess of how many brave men were killed gaining that information. And it was in this language that Master Happosai began to train me."

"I believe my direct quotation was, 'Know thy Enemy, and know thyself. Thy enemy's thoughts shall reveal to you the path to defeating him.'" Happosai interjected.

Daddy nodded. "Even so. And we spent almost a year in that accursed place, lurking in the shadows, honing our skills, not mine alone, until one day by chance we stumbled on a sight that met our eyes with welcome- A human face.

Happosai shook his head. "She was naked, surrounded by the Greater Cthulhu of that place, who were meeting in a sort of council. The Cthulhu were conversing amongst themselves, and I shall never forget the words out of the greatest one of them: 'Rak megkh datch naru, yala maknagash cheirogk.'"

Daddy sighed. "She is ours, and she will take the world from them, and give it back to us."

Happosai nodded, and Daddy continued. "The actual translation is somewhat fouler than that, with no actual equivalents in Japanese, but this was the intended meaning of that sentence. I looked on her with pity, for I could only imagine the horrors which these would inflict upon her innocent human frame. And so Master Happosai and I devised a plan."

Happosai said, "The plan was as simple as it was foolhardy. I would cause a major uproar in another part of the ruins, one so great that the greater Ones would have to attend to it. When they left her alone, Soun would get her and rescue her from their clutches, and then we would meet up and escape the city, taking her with us."

"And it worked." Said Daddy. "Had we any idea of what forces we were to unleash, we never would have made the attempt, though it might have cost humanity its very existence. The greater ones were called upon not fifteen minutes later by a challenge spelled out by the mangled body parts of some of their lesser brethren. And they left to attend to this menace from the outer world. And as soon as the left, I walked into the center of the room. "She was stretched out on a stone block, basalt, I thought at the time, although now I know better. She was achingly beautiful, so much so it broke my heart merely to look at her. But I steeled myself to the task at hand and, averting my eyes, I reached down to pick her up.

"But as soon as I touched her, she opened her eyes and gasped, and I looked back at her, directly into her eyes. And it was this that saved me, I think. But I will come to that in time.

"I," Happosai added, "Was more than a little occupied at the time. I had once fought a Greater Cthulhu, in my youth, and barely escaped with my life. To this day I bear the scars from that first battle- But now I was embroiled in a fight with seven of them, all seven of the Greater Cthulhu which ruled that ruined place by force of fist… Er, tentacle, or whatever." Ranma chuckled at this.

"And you beat them?" Ranma asked, almost hopefully, even eager sounding.

"I was outmatched from the very beginning. Even now, I wonder how I survived as long as I did, before finally I was caught by the biggest. "I struggled and fought with all my might, but the thing laughed off my chi blasts as though I sneezed at him. And he crushed the life out of my body and left me there, dead."

Ranma looked at Happosai with outright disbelief. "So he killed you, huh."

"Yes."

"Somehow," Ranma said with a smirk, "I find that hard to believe. Considering that you're sitting here telling me all this, I mean."

Daddy shook his head. "Ranma, had you been there when I found him, you'd have known. Master Happosai was dead. His ribcage was crushed, the consistency of cottage cheese. Blood was everywhere, his pupils did not respond to the light, and he neither breathed nor did his heart beat. He was dead."

"Then how-"

"I'm getting to that. As I carried this woman away from the ruins, I stumbled and fell over some debris that may have once been a statue. I turned and fell so that she would land on top of me, rather than the other way around, so that she wouldn't be injured. But as I stood, my eyes fell across a strange mass of dark color under some rubble. Thank all of the heavens that I did."

"What did you find?" Ranma asked.

"Not what, but who. I found a young man, seemingly, sleeping. As I touched him, his eyes came awake with terror, and had he not stopped his fist I would have been struck a vicious blow, because I didn't even see it coming."

"A human? It these ruins?"

"Yes- A man named Tofu Ono."

Ranma's jaw dropped, nearly to the floor it seemed. "You mean DOCTOR TOFU?!"

"Yes. He means me."

All eyes turned towards the doorway, where Tofu Ono stood. "I see you received a letter as well. I was just coming to discuss it with you, Soun, but I see that the discussion is already underway. Since I have a stake in this as well, may I join you?"

Soun nodded solemnly, while Ranma watched in amazement at Tofu's control in the presence of Kasumi.