Ranma of the Shield

Ranma and his companions entered the palace again around noon, he was back in his male form and ready for whatever happened. Glancing from the bird which was on his head to the slime attached to his shoulder he looked to Raphtalia and asked "Why did you name them Suu and Firo?"

"Did you not like the names Ranma" she asked worried.

"No, no its just that," he patted the slime on his shoulder now called Suu, whilst the baby chick called Firo sat calmly on top of his head make *Pii* sounds occasionally. "Why did you give the slime and the bird feminine names?"

"Ah that" she was quiet for a moment "I don't know it just felt right"

Shaking his head he decided to ignore it and continue as if nothing happened, he had asked Raphtalia to name them and she had. "Um Ranma do...do you like monster girls?"

"What the hell kind of question was that" Ranma thought. "I don't judge any girl based on what they are, its what they do that counts." Perfect answer, he was getting good at hard questions.

Raphtalia frowned apparently not satisfied "Well what kind of girl do you like?"

He forced a panicked expression off his face "Um is that a trick question?"

"No its an honest one master."

"Stop calling me that" he pleaded.

"What kind of girls do you like?"

"We are about to walk into a court whose king is completely hostile to us, can this wait til camp?"

"No"

...women…

"I like girls that are strong, sure of themselves, willing to call me out on my bullshit but for the love of god don't abuse me for it. I girls that can overcome challenges, that will stand by me side." A thought struck him and he did not question it "Generally I like girls like you"

That apparently was the answer she was looking for as her face seemed to brighten and she moved swiftly to hug him for an instant and let go, and the best part about it was he really meant those words. Raphtalia was a strong beautiful amazing female, who he did not mind being around. Now the only problem was the gnawing fact that she was still ten years old. That made acknowledging the way his body reacted to her really hard to do, especially when he remembered her hands tracing every part of...

Ranma flicked himself in the head causing a surprised *Pii* from Firo, now was not the time for such thoughts. Right now they were going into a place where he needed to be ready, the doors opened and everything looked pretty much the same as the first time he had arrived here. Nobles off to either side, the king and his assistant near the throne and the three hero's already standing before it waiting.

Ranma waved to Cyril as he passed him and the Captain gave him a nod of encouragement, they both shared a small smile at what had passed between them yesterday. Raphtalia stepped off to the side as Ranma moved to his spot before the king, whispers were already going around the court about the monster baby sitting on his head and the slime on his shoulder.

Said monsters were eyeing everyone with interest though Firo seemed most interested in the brightly colored banners.

"You dare bring monsters into my court!" the king snarled.

Ranma just gave the king his best screw you smile and flipped him the bird, Ren choked back a laugh at his antics. While Motoyasu studiously avoided looking at his fellow hero and Itsuki rolled his eyes as if such things were beneath him.

"Get those things out of my sight right now"

"Then you should just close your eyes oh king" Ranma told him in a serious voice.

"Are you"

"Yes I am mocking you do you really have to ask?"

The king seemed to arrest his motion to call the guards over; even he was beginning to realize the depths of Ranma's power. Even if he thought it was from a dark source he had to at the very least understand that Ranma was not someone that could be easily struck at.

So he did his best impression of an actor and pretended that Ranma did not matter to him, he motioned to the assistant who handed Ranma a pitifully small coin pouch "For efforts in the battle against the wave… 5 silver"

People started murmured around him and perhaps it was his imagination but some of the nobility next to Cyril were giving the king disapproving glares.

The kings voice got louder as the assistant handed Motoyasu a huge back "For completing requests and in expectation for Motoyasu-dono's other great deeds, we award 4,000 coins."

Ranma felt like snickering he had gotten more than ten times that much, but all he did was keep his annoying smirk not even blinking at the how badly the king was trying to screw him over.

"Next is Ren-dono, for displaying similar bravery during the wave and completing requests, we award 3,800 coins" Ren looked down at his bag then over to Ranma. He looked like he was about to say something about what was happening but Ranma very gently shook his head. Ren caught the motion and raised an eyebrow.

"Its fine" Ranma mouthed

The sword hero nodded and did not say anything more "Itsuki-dono... Your heroism echoes throughout the country. For your great work in times of strife, we award 3,800 coins."

"Funds have been taken from shield to repair the damage done to my garden during the duel, you will need to work harder."

The king gave him a superior smirk at his words no doubt thinking how clever he was, ...and then Suu spit slime in his eyes. Ranma was treated to the sight of the king rolling around on the ground clawing at his eyes and screaming in pain.

Guards reacted on instinct several hauling the king back four trying to apprehend the culprit, Ranma saw the exact moment when their conscious mind reasserted itself and told them that it was a horrible idea to try and grab the hero of the shield. Unfortunately for them that came too late, four lv 70 guards went flying, two through stained glass windows, one was tangled up in the chandelier above and the last was twitching in an imprint on the solid stone ground.

Ranma looked up calmly into the silence "Hey Ren do levels mean more to hero's than others? I mean they were supposed to be lv 70 for crying out loud."

"I do believe that hero levels do more than normal ones but I mostly think you have a ridiculous head start in terms of power."

"I see thanks"

The king had stopped yelling as he realized that it was not acid that had been thrown in his face just slime, normal everyday slime. He scrambled to his feet face a mask of rage "Get out, Get out, Get out of my castle!" he roared like a five year old.

Ranma gave him a mocking bow "As you wish king"

Ranma

Exp 7000

Lv 36

Raphtalia

Exp 5000

Lv 32

Firo

Exp 5000

Lv 18

Suu

Exp 5000

LV 18

Damn those guards gave great experience but really the diamond dog was way tougher, perhaps monster levels meant more than human levels in some cases as well.

Ranma's head suddenly got a lot heavier, the chick on his head looked like she doubled in size *Pii* it said in excitement. On his shoulder Suu had grown as well, it had gone from palm sized to basketball sized in the course of several seconds *Bloop* it said.

Ranma did an about face and marched out of the room muttering about levels and how they made no biological sense.

Raphtalia looked something between horrified and amused, as Ranma stepped outside the the throne room he noted Cyril starting to follow them. So he waited until the man had caught up before walking. "Sorry" he said "Did not expect that."

Cyril looked like he had been about to have a heart attack "Scared me out of five years of my life. I thought i was going to have to fight you for a second, then I remembered slime's have to take some time to for their bodies to become acidic. By the way where did you get a Philo Rial chick?"

Ranma and Raphtalia traded a look "No where important" they said at the same time.

"I see"

"Thank you by the way" Ranma told him "I was not sure what she was."

"Well I can tell you from experience that they are great friends if you treat them right" he scratched the head of Firo and the chick made pleased sounds. "Granted I have never seen them grow like that over the course of several seconds but..you are a hero so really anything could happen."

Ranma held back a gulp at that thought, "What are you plans now?"

"I'm thinking of dashing to Ryute and the scene of the wave and and get some new shields, then head back here grab her armor" He pointed at Raphtalia "After that we have a monster to hunt down."

Cyril sensed the sudden shift in atmosphere as Raphtalia's face darkened "Which monster?"

"The Cerberus of the wave"

"Ah that thing" the Captain's eyes went distinct "I lost quite of few men driving that thing off"

"Do you know where it went?"

"No but one of our trackers Antillus Crassus lost a friend to it last I heard he was near Fura following a lead."

Ranma stopped and pulled out a map "Can you mark where that is?"

Cyril made a few motions with a pen and ink circling a space "You take the main road to here, and turn off here and several miles later you will find Fura."

"Thank you Cyril"

*sigh* "Before you go do you have any ideas how to get someone off a chandelier that is forty feet in the air?"

"You could get someone to jump up there, that's what I would do."

*sigh*"Never mind"

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With that they parted ways as Ranma exited the castle hopefully for the last time until the next wave and made their way to camp. After packing everything up and making sure Suu and Firo were fed. Which was fairly easy, Ranma would go out hunted and return with anything he had found this time being over one hundred balloon corpse's and Firo was devour the meat and Sue would take everything that was left, bone's skin, ect. He had tried to offer it normal meat but it seem perfectly happy with the leftovers.

That did take awhile but to his surprise both of them ate until there was only twenty left, Firo then very much like a baby simply dropped over and fell asleep. Suu did not have any physical change whatsoever from all that food and Ranma after thinking about it moved the remaining twenty balloon's over to it. The slime devoured each and every remaining one over the course of the next hour. Raphtalia was given some martial arts lessons during this time and once everything had been taken care of they left began to make their way to Ryute.

Out of mutual understanding they moved at a good but slow pace, there was no wave or major threat right now so slow walking was fine. Firo woke up around the evening hours and seemed to be extremely energetic. Since they were going at slow pace Ranma put down the baby Philo Rial and let it waddle around beside them. Suu seeing that plopped down as well and bounced along beside its fellow monster.

Ranma watched them in fascination as the slime propped the baby bird up whenever it seemed to be about to teether over. Raphtalia seemed just as intrigued by this behavior as well "What do you think" he found himself asking her.

"I have no idea, monster raising was never something that came up in my childhood"

Ranma frowned looking at the two's antics "Weird"

It was dark when they made camp and after setting it up they quickly went to sleep, Ranma himself was still recovering from the healing he had done at the wave. Even though it did not affect him much he was only around ninety percent, it would take one or two days to return to one hundred.

He woke up the next morning warmer than he should have been, he tried murmured something and got a mouth full of feathers. He instantly came awake sputtering and coughing, Firo had gone to sleep next to his chest and Suu had apparently appointed itself Ranma's pillow so she had been under his head the whole night.

Firo had grown overnight, her feathers had become whiter most of the pink fading, her tiny legs were now long enough and large enough to support her weight. In fact from Ranma's practiced eye they looked like legs designed for immensely powerful kicks. He gently touched the long legs feeling out the sinew and bone, tracing the muscles. Holy crap if her growth continued like he thought it was going to one day his kick was be weaker than hers.

*Pii* Firo said in a sleepy voice blinking awake. The bird turned its now lengthened, ostrich like neck towards him watching him with large trusting eyes.

"Good morning" he said scratching Firo's head.

*Bloop* Suu bounced beside him. "And to you to Suu" the slime bounced happily at his words. "Are you going to grow this fast too?"

*Bloop*

Raphtalia sat up after hearing the noise he was making "Morning Ranma"

She flinched slightly at seeing Firo "Wa?"

Ranma shrugged as well "Good morning to you too and no I don't understand either….unless the demon trainer shield had something to do with it. Now that I think about it that makes the most sense.

*Gu* Firo said making a new noise, a growling sound emitted from her stomach.

Right just because she was going at a fast rate did not diminish the need for food, in fact it probably just increased it. He got up "I'll go hunting be back in a half an hour"

*Bloop*Bloo* Suu said hopping up and down "Ok you can come too" he told it.

The slime jumped onto his chest flattening and spreading out until the slime wrapped around chest and back like armor. Well an armor with two eyes in the center of his chest, he checked the status window "Hey my defense and elemental resistance went up cool"

Raphtalia just stared at him "Aren't you worried Suu will digest you?"

"Nope, the power ki is awesome and besides Suu would not do that, right Suu?"

*Bloop*

"See bloop"

*Gu* Firo said stomping her foot on the ground in an almost jealous manner "What you want to come to?"

*Gu*Gu*Kewk* "Ok, I guess we are all going hunting" Raphtalia smiled and for some reason it caused one of his own to spread. Man the smile was pretty, "So off we go I guess."

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They hunted until Firo and Suu could eat no more, both monsters gained four levels and both grew again. Firo this morning had been at Ranma's chest, now it was as tall as his neck and giving more muscles and feathers by the second. Suu did not seem to change at all but Ranma noted that it form would shift violently when returning to ball form as if trying to change something. On a side note as Suu's level went up its defense and elemental resistance it gave him a boost as well when she was in her armor form.

When the baby and the slime were finished Ranma and Raphtalia shared a meal together as the two rested. At first they had been across the fire from each other but Raphtalia got a determined look on her face and had crossed over to side very, very close beside him. He found himself not minding in the slightest and what's more grateful that she was doing it. The hell was wrong with him?

After that they began to walk again and by midday they were close to Ryute Village, Firo had grown even more. The village looked like it was doing well, thanks to his efforts during the wave there was very little in the way of rebuilding to be done. The villagers were among the bodies of the destroyed monsters, harvesting valuable parts, chopping up some of the more animal like ones for meat and burning the bodies to ash when they were through.

At first they were so busy that no one bothered to give him a second glance, at least until one of the kids there said something. Eyes turned to him and after a moment of quiet hundreds of voice joined as one in a shouts of joy. The surged toward him causing Firo to jump around nervously but many just wanted handshakes or to slap his back, voices cried out there thanks and children gave him hugs.

At first he was stunned by the reaction, never in his world had he gotten such a greeting. More often than not he had been punished in some way for his actions even if they were in self defense. The general consensus of these worlds' words was "Thank you Shield Sama"

He let the sudden flood of thanks go on until Firo made an impatient snort and stomped the ground hard enough to kick up dust. The people of the village realizing that it was enough and knowing they had more work to do themselves let Ranma move on to where the monsters lie. Firo walked over to them as well and began to eat before Ranma could tell her that eating this flesh might not be a good idea.

He waited but nothing bad seemed to happen so he left her to it, he went among the monsters gathering and absorbing what he needed to while Suu bounced along behind him and Raphtalia worked on her Katana forms.

Requirements for Netherworld Locust Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Netherworld Bee Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Netherworld Corpse Eater Demon Shield has been unsealed

Requirements for Bee Needle Shield has been unsealed.

Bee Needle Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Attack +1

Netherworld Locust Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Defense +6

Netherworld Bee Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Agility +6

Netherworld Corpse Eater Demon Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Decay Prevention (S)

The hell was decay prevention? Ranma wondered at he finished gathering what he could from this area. From there they made their way to the Chimera corpse where another group of villagers were in the middle of disposing of it. They were more than happy to let him grab some stuff off it and were also grateful to Firo and Suu who started munching on the remaining meat on the boss.

Requirements for Chimera Meat Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Chimera Bone Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Chimera Leather Shield has been unsealed.

Requirements for Chimera Viper Shield has been unsealed.

Chimera Meat Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Cooking Skill+

Chimera Bone Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Darkness Resistance (M)

Chimera Leather Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: Defense +10

Chimera Viper Shield

True power sealed... Equipment bonus: [Change Shield] skill, Antidote Mixing+, Poison Resistance (M)

Special Effect: Poisonous Snake Fang (M), Hook

More shields with cooking bonus, well at least he was become quite the decent chef as of late, the last shield was interesting especially the antidote mixing part, and the poison resistance. He switched the stone hide to the Chimera Viper Shield, despite the other shield being better he wanted to see if upping his proficiency with it would unlock the True power of the shield. From what he was coming to understand the permanent bonus of true power were going to become important. Given how many monsters he could kill in a day and how fast he could do so gaining proficiency was not as time consuming as it might be especially when he used shields that were not already strengthened like the Stone Hide. It seemed if the shield was strengthened it made the proficiency growth slower.

Evening was falling by the time he was finished and Firo was the size an adult Philo Rial, he was not kidding. She had grown until she was a head and a half taller than him now with all white feathers. Its wings were fully grown though like and ostrich they would not get her off the ground. The area of her neck under her beak had a slight bushier plumage, her body was now tight with power and muscle especially around the legs and her affectionate bumps had knocked him over several times before he figured out how to brace himself for it.

So the way back moved a log faster than the way there, in fact several time Firo ran ahead of them really fast then turned around and ran back. The Philo Rial seemed to have boundless energy.

"So this is the power of a hero?" Raphtalia said out loud

"Making monsters grow since 1985." Ranma said

"What?"

"...sorry...bad joke"

*Bloop*"

"Thank you for finding it funny Suu"

"You can actually understand it can you?"

Ranma grinned "That's for me to know and you to find out."

*kewwek* Firo squawked as she bumped into the shield hero.

"Don't worry, just because you leave my sight doesn't mean I forget you"

*Gu*

"Ranma we still have a day left until the armor is finished"

He nodded "What are we going to do?"

"We are going to send an entire day devoted to martial arts" he looked over at Firo" And see about teaching her the proper way to kick, if she does not already know it by instinct."

*Bloop*

"Sorry Suu I don't know what I can teach you right now you don't have any arms and le…"

Ranma trailed off as the slime began to shake violently, there was a pulsing sound and of all things Ranma felt the creature gathering ki within itself. That was new, he had not yet seen or felt a monster that used anything other than mana.

The slime abruptly dropped into a very large pile of slime and out of it a long thick tornado like swirl of water and slime rose up. It spun until it resembled a see through oval, slowly the large egg shaped slime began to take a new shape. Mass of shifted and Ranma could only watch in abject shock. The cocoon srank inward the slime swirling and swirling and it took a moment but over a short amount of time it began to take on a humanoid shape.

It started at the extremities, fingers began to take shape, masses of slime compressing to resemble arms and legs. There were no feet just legs rising out of a puddle of slime on the ground, the head formed next a very pleasant feminine face with greenish blue eyes its yellow and green feeler still on the top of its… of her head. Other longer almost tentacle like appendages which were green color fell around her body like hair. Her chest curved out into boobs about a size larger than Ranma's girl from and the apex between her legs took on the proper shape as well. There however were no naughty bits attacked thank god, Suu's breasts looked like that of a barbie doll. The slime spun around once as if testing her new form and Ranma got an eyeful of a butt that looked normal and pleasant...for a slime anyway.

*PU?* Firo exclaimed.

"What in the name of all the gods" Raphtalia whispered

Ranma himself was speechless then to top it all off Suu said "Arms and Legs"

"you..you can talk?"

"Can talk" she repeated.

"What the hell?"

"What the hell"

"You're repeating me" Ranma muttered.

"Repeating me" she said

Ranma turned to Firo "Are you going to turn into a girl too?"

*Gu*

"I am not reassured"

Suu seemed to glide over to him, probably because where her feet should have been was a pool of slime that moved for her. "What are you" he started to ask but was interrupted as Suu's arms encircled him and pulled him into a hug. Or at least that might have been what she was attempting to do, the outer layer of her new from was not as solid as her original. Probably because she was not used to it yet, so she pulled his head right through her chest. He did not panic at this, he could hold his breath for long periods of time. He had been forced to learn how when pop made him swim from japan to china due to the old man losing their ticket buying money in a game of shells.

He could vaguely hear Raphtalia's startled yell and the sudden squawking and flapping of Firo through the sound dampening liquid but he held his cool. He could almost feel Suu panic for a moment while he waited and pull him out making noises of distress. He...she actually, Suu was a water based life form, shook her head to get the slime out of her hair. The slime girl whimpered as Ranma turned her eyes back to her. She held up a hand stalling Raphtalia as the girl was about to unleash a furious tirade.

Suu had used ki to gain this form, no other monster she had seen was capable. Suu was mimicking her words, Suu had seen her use ki so what if?.

Gently Ranma smiled at the slime girl "Watch" she said closing her eyes and focusing ki to her skin "Copy me"

Suu tilted her head and went through the motions of taking in a cleansing breath even though she did not breath like Ranma or her companions. There was a shift in the energy of the slime a build up just under the surface of the skin. Ranma placed her hand on the girl's shoulder and did not sink through. Suu squealed with delight and and repeated her attempt at a hug this time giving the martial artist a strange but pleasant marshmallow hell. All hail the art of holding ones breath.

Suu let her go gliding a step back looking down at her from and flexing her fingers as if trying to get used to the sensation.

"Master" Raphtalia said her voice dangerous.

Ranma felt her back straightened in fear "yes" she said meekly turning to the girl.

Her face was, not precisely angry no rather it was a mask of jealous envy "Um just so you know I did not teach her that."

"Suu is a her now?" Raphtalia asked.

Ranma looked behind her "She is more stacked than I am so ya."

"Is that what you like girls with big boobs?!"

"How did you get that out of this conversation?" Ranma yelled back

"You-you never let me do that."

"One you haven't tried two you are ten years" Ranma was cut off as the Raccoon girl reached around her neck and pulled her very close into her well formed chest. The hold was tight and possessive and Ranma decided the best way to defuse this situation was to say nothing. Besides this did feel rather nice, especially compared to the "you jerk hammer blow"

*Gu* a force bumped into them as Firo feeling left out made her own annoyance known. Blindly as Ranma was currently buried inside a soft dark void she reached out and managed to run her fingers through the birds feathery head.

*Bloop* Suu said as her new tentacle like appendages encircled all of them as she joined this impromptu group hug. Unfortunately the slime girl had no context of what was appropriate to grab and what was not.

"Whaaa" Raphtalia squealed as all three of them were were picked up off the ground "Suu" Ranma said calmly ignoring the feelers going across her chest and legs.

*Bloop*?

"Please put us down"

"Gut down" Suu repeated

"Yes"

The slime did so "Not to self see if you can teach what not grab" Ranma muttered as the three of them collected themselves. "Ok" Ranma said "We are not going to freak out" all three of them were looking at him "Please sit"

Firo and Raphtalia did while Suu's lower body melted so that her legs turned into goo. "Close enough" Ranma said "Ok so I am officially confused and I want to clear the air"

*Gu*

"Air"

"Yes master"

"For the last time its Ranma not master," she shook her head "Ok Suu I am going to assume you can understand me even if you only seem to be repeating things back."

"Yes Master" Suu said.

Ranma half glared at Raphtalia "You are a terrible influence"

The girls ears drooped "Sorry"

"Ok first Raphtalia are you a ten year old or adult because I am very confused and wondering if I should be somewhat disturbed at how much I react touching you."

The ears went straight back up "You like touching me?"

"Brutally honest, brutally honest have to be brutally honest" Ranma repeated in her head "Yes I do and that is why I am wondering if I should be disturbed."

Raphtalia face seemed to glow with happiness as she spoke "I believe Ranma that my mind has caught up with my body"

"Ok then thats one thing off the list of possible problems, next Suu?"

*Bloop*

"Can you do this?" Ranma got up suddenly blurred into a series of maneuvers and strikes, Suu reformed her legs and copied him movement for movement to absolute perfection. "Raphtalia why are slimes considered weak if they can copy anything they see?"

"Um master I don't think there has ever been a slime like this, I just assumed it was something you did."

Ranma nodded "That is very possible" she looked at her shield "I have yet to see limits on this thing."Again she got her mind back on track "Firo"

*Gu?*

"You're a good girl"

The *Kewk* sound came out again as the bird trotted over to him bumped heads with her affectionately. The force of the blow would have given normal people a concussion but to Ranma it was a nice bump.

*Bloop*

"Oh no"

Suu attempted to do the same thing and Ranma got to find out what the inside of a Slime girl's head looked like. Extracting herself from that Ranma looked around at her companions and found herself starting to laugh while not quite understanding why, it felt really good.

The martial arts training the next day went very well Raphtalia was an excellent study and had clearly been spending time outside of their sessions practicing. Firo as it turned out already did know how to kick so that was good. Ranma moved on to endurance and strength, so far eight trees had fallen to the Philo Rial's legs.

Suu, well Suu was a strange case, anything goes was a martial art whose ultimate form was copying your opponent. Suu was better at it than him, no better to say she was eons better than him she saw things one and could do it. Well any physical thing, after seeing Suu copy Moko Takabisha an incident that had nearly blown his nuts off, literally head had tried to see if it applied to magic. No as it turned out she could not copy magic spells, but still the physical thing was cool. Now he just had to teach Suu why and when to use what he was teaching her. Long story short the day was a success except for Suu randomly firing off ki blasts out of her mouth but he was pretty sure that he impressed upon her the danger of such actions...he hoped.

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They entered town the next morning to get the armor for Raphtalia Suu, and Firo at his side, needless to say they attracted alot of attention.

"Um master are you sure its a good idea to bring Suu and Firo along?"

Ranma too noted what had companion saw, stare's lots and lots of stunned silent stares. "Well since she decided this morning to take a from as flat as a ten year old ya I think its fine."

*Gu*

"And we couldn't leave Firo behind isn't that right girl?"

*kewk*

Raphtalia sighed, they were close Oyaji's weapon shop now and despite the people's new found fascination/Revulsion with a Suu there were people still going about their jobs. A wooden cart entered the street behind them and rumbled away. At that sound Firo turned to stare at the cart and by thunder she had a completely jealous look .

*Gew* she kawed stomping the ground in frustration.

"What's wrong?"

"GU!"

Ranma looked from the wooden cart to the Philo Rial "Are you made that there is another of your kind pulling a cart?"

The bird shook her head resolutely "Well what is it?

*Gu*

"That does not help"

Firo flapped her short wings in an annoyed fashion and stomped her feet again "I'm sorry I don't know what is wrong"

The bird sulked the the rest of the way to the shop with nothing that any of them doing helping her bad mood. The shop looked a busy this morning; there was even a line of adventures with items ready to buy.

"Hey boy how are you" Oyaji trailed off as Suu walked in beside the martial artist "...boy you were gone for three days...three days. Where in the hell did you get a monster that only exists in erotic fiction."

"...come again?"

The old man massaged his forehead as the rest of his customers quickly paid for their equipment and left though not without many, many incredulous looks at Suu who paid them no mind. She seemed perfectly fine to stay by his side and say nothing "She copied one of my abilities and one day later here we are now."

"I dont...you can't….never mind" Oyaji shook his head "You know what I don't care, your armor is finished."

Raphtalia's excited look was more than worth what it had cost to make, the Darksteel armor was was as black as her katana. The undershirt was leather and jet black scales of steel were forged into its outer layer while silk coated the lining next to the skin. It was a perfect fit quite a ferocious looking armor and accented her beauty with just the right amount of danger.

It felt good to look at her now to let his gaze linger on her figure and not feel like he was doing something wrong. He had never truly understood why men preferred women in skimpy clothing; if they wanted to see them naked just tell them. No Ranma preferred this, a women in armor a girl who not only looked good in it but wore because she was going to use it. That pretty much how his mind worked, women were at their sexiest either naked or ready for combat. A cynical person might say that such a desire was born out of his trauma from a terrible childhood and an abusive finance and they would probably be right, but Ranma would still flip that person the bird anyway.

Raphtalia seemed to sense his gaze, now that he did not feel the need to shy away from her return look he let his posture and gaze reflect how much he was enjoying this. In his world such a stance would earn him a beating faster than you could say Mallet. Here Raphtalia 's mouth tilted up in a smirk clearly enjoying the affect she was having on him.

"Will I be seeing you before the next wave?"

"I don't think so I'm going monster hunting and I don't know how long we will be gone."

"I see well make sure to stop by after the next wave I might have some stuff for ya"

They bumped fists "Count on it"

As they exited the store another cart passed by and Firo stomped her foot on the ground squawking in indignation. "I don't get it," Ranma sighed "What do you want?"

Firo growled at him, a strange sound coming out of a beak "Why are mad? I know you understand me but I can't understand you." Firo dropped her head as if saddened and did not raise it until they exited the city.

"Note to self" Ranma muttered "Find out what Firo Wants...somehow" shaking his head he said out loud "Onward to Fuma, granted this will take a couple of weeks walking."

"It will be a good time for you to train us uninterrupted" Raphtalia pointed out "And you can do some more magic training"

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around"

She grinned "You mean besides eye candy?"

"That helps too"

And so the shield hero and his companions began their quest to kill the Cerberus of the Wave.

They made excellent pace once they got on the road, though Firo often ran ahead of them then circled and came up from behind. The girl had a lot of energy and from what he had seen of Philo Rial she could run for hours before becoming tired.

As fate or more likely a board universe they met someone not an hour into their journey Ranma grinned "Hey Motoyasu hows it going?"

The man jumped two feet back as if stung by a bee, "You"

"Me" Ranma answered.

"What are you doing here?"

"Heading to Fuma, where is Mein?"

"No of your" he trailed off as he sighted Suu.

The slime stared back at him with the same smile she gave to everyone, Firo stormed up beside him and gave Ranma a bump of affection. "Wh, how, that...that"

"Strange I know" Ranma answered

"That's no fair"

"...pardon?"

"You, you have a slime girl? Where is the justice in this world I wanted one."

Ranma blinked "Huh?"

"You get dark powrs, a slime girl who you can do whatever you want with, what's next enslaving an angel so you can stomp on another of my dreams."

"Ya know" Ranma said in a deadpan voice "When I woke up this morning I did not think to myself what are the Spear hero's fetishes? In fact I am sure I could have live my whole life without knowing ….thank you for my future nightmares have a good day."

Raphtalia gave the spear hero her choicest glare "Disgusting"

Suu copied her "Disgusting"

*Gu*

Ranma looked from Firo to the Motoyasu "She called you disgusting as well, In case you did not understand that."

"Shut up you trash spear, I don't care what you or that fat bird think. In fact I am going to get stronger so that when we meet next I will pin you to the earth and stomp on your"

Motoyasu did not realize that as he had been yelling he was moving closer to them, so it was a complete surprise when Firo's foot flashed out in a kick that hit square on her target. The Spear hero's eyes when white " balls" he whimpered as he went flying five meters into the air and down to a harsh landing.

"Good girl" Ranma said patting the Philo Rial's head "Very good girl"

Raphtalia did not bother to hide her amusement and satisfaction at seeing that incident.

Ranma looked around at his companions "Well moving on" and began to walk away from the moaning hero of the spear. The girls and the bird did not object to it, however for the rest of the day both Ranma and Raphtalia had smiles plastered to their faces while Firo preened herself pleased that her behavior had been appreciated.

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They stopped near evening which gave Ranma enough time to tire them out in training, however because of that there was no time for magic training. If he wanted to do that he would have to stop them earlier, good to know.

Shrugging out of his clothing he stepped into the pool beside where they had camped, the cold water was wonderful on the skin as his body changed from he to she. No sooner had she settled down when there was a squawk and the sound of bushes rumbling. Firo burst out of the brush leaping high into the air coming down in a cannonball like fashion.

Ranma held her breath as a wave of water washed over her drenching her completely, she popped back up for air red hair plastered to her body. "Hello to you to Firo"

"Gu" She said as she splashed around a little before swimming up to her and splashing water on to Ranma with her wings.

She started laughing "Stop, stop you got me."

"Master are you alright?" Raphtalia said as she walked towards the pool naked as the day she was born.

Ranma started at her for several seconds mouth open, heart pounding, thank god she was a girl right now otherwise a very natural, very embarrassing reaction would have happened.

She turned away face flushed red, the Raccoon girl giggled as she stepped into the pool and sank down until her chest was covered by the water. "Enjoy master?"

The redhead turned away face still crimson "That was unnecessary" she squeaked.

Raphtalia blinked and laughed again "I don't think I ever heard your voice break before master"

*Bloop* another feminine form emerged as Suu glided over the ground to them. As she entered the water her form melted into mass of slime floating on top of the water. Her two dark eyes remained steady following them taking in their antics.

"Can I ask you a question?" Ranma said after her face managed to return to normal.

Her eyes sparkled "Yes?

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because I want to"

"I think I raised you wrong"

"You only had a couple of weeks"

Ranma sighed "Aren't you embarrassed?"

Her reply was quick and without any hesitation "As long as its you master none whatsoever'

*Thump*Thump* went her heart "I uh.. I mean…" Ranma closed her mouth at a complete loss for words.

*Pu* Firo interrupted the moment much to Ranma's relief as she started splashing them with her wing beats. That quickly dissolved into a water fight, Suu won as she could apparently fire out the water she absorbed at high speed and strength.

Thankfully things did not get more awkward save for at the end when they were all clean and Raphtalia had made it a point to walking right in front of her with that hip swaying walk that even Ranma could not do, even as a girl.

Dinner was eaten and people turned in for bed, Suu morphed back in a ball form so she could take up her self appointed spot as her pillow….*Splash*...his pillow. Firo had made her bedding ground so close to him that the feathers would act as blankets.

Raphtalia had used to have her pallet about two feet away from him but since Suu and Firo were clearly invading his personal space and he was not complaining she was starting to as well. Now a days she slept snuggled into his back, he often had nightmares of Akane finding him in this position but upon waking up the next day would feel grand to know that she was nowhere near him. Before he went to sleep he glanced over at the Racoon girl, she was becoming incredibly bold and he blamed himself for all the times he had walked around the camp nude as a she. Sighing at his own bad influence he shook himself off and closed his eyes for some well deserved rest.

Something was off his body told him as his metal clock went off at the rising sun's light touched his skin. The feathers that had been touching his skin when he drifted off were gone and he was sure there had not been a warm small weight that his arms had been encircling. The form against his chest felt like a human body but he could still feel Raphtalia against his back.

Blinking open he checked to see what is was, now there are many ways to wake up in the morning but going to sleep next to a bird and waking up with a blond winged child who was stark naked was not a particularly good one. The girl in his arms was half his height with long blond hair that fell around her neck and shoulders. Small white angelic wings were curled up against her back and an her sleeping face had a practically glowing smile as she unconsciously buried it in his chest.

…..the forest around them were woken up as Ranma's voice rang out "What The Fuck!"