===========================================================	Dungeon Keeper Ranma
	Chapter 10: Homecoming
	By A-kun
	===========================================================

	The Gate Gem was an awesomely powerful artifact.  It had moved 
the lost continent of Atlantis to another dimension and was moving the 
now-renamed continent of Harmonia back to Earth.  The Gate Gem, 
however, modified the tectonic plates so that there would be no 
earthquakes or volcanoes erupting along or in the Pacific Rim for eight 
hundred years.
	The Atlantians who'd created it had wanted to make sure they 
weren't on or around a fault line, after all.  Because that was one of 
the key reasons they'd left.
	The continent appeared halfway between Hawaii and Japan.  Yet, 
despite this, the entire world took no notice, as Ranma had cast a 
barrier against detection.  The only people who might see the continent 
had to view it with their own eyes.
	Ranma had advised doing that as he knew the media and governments  
of his world would otherwise storm the island.  They had to prepare for 
the homecoming before they 'appeared' to the world.
	To be honest, Ranma wanted to take care of things back in Nerima 
first.  The last thing he wanted to do was wait around for 
applications for diplomatic status to come via Japanese Post, then 
having to deal with all of the other nuances of being a diplomat while 
trying to see his friends and family in Nerima.  He was certain that he 
should go alone, though.
	However, his ability to teleport refused to get him past the 
beaches of Harmonia.
	Ranma slapped his forehead as he realized that he hadn't mastered 
the actual teleport spell, but rather the ability that his imps had.  
That meant he had to create a Dungeon Heart in Japan, which wouldn't be 
that big of a problem.

	"Ah, good ole' Nerima..." Ranma sighed.
	He walked around, wondering how long it'd been since he was last 
in Nerima.  It seemed like a lifetime ago.  He noticed he was near the 
Ucchan.  He wondered if it was still open.  He hadn't been in Nerima 
for an entire year, so it wasn't too unlikely that some of his fiancees 
had moved away.
	Circling the corner, he saw it just as it had been when he'd 
left.  He entered.
	Ukyou looked pretty much like she had a year ago.  She turned to 
see who it was and caught her greeting before she could speak it, 
"Ranchan!  You're back!"
	"Ucchan!" Ranma replied as Ukyou leapt towards him and hugged 
him.  A quick glance told him that she'd just opened.
	"How did you get back?  Happousai said he'd banished you, but 
Cologne was uncertain about what he had done.  Apparently, the old man 
boofed it pretty bad.  Cologne thought that it might have thrown you 
into a far country or even out into space!" Ukyou declared, 
gesticulating wildly. (No, not MASTURBATING wildly, you perverts!)
	"Actually, space and country aren't that far away from what 
really happened.  Sorry that I've been gone a whole year..." Ranma 
started.
	"A year?  What are you talking about?  It's only been two 
weeks." Ukyou responded.
	"Two... weeks?" Ranma asked.
	Ukyou nodded and pointed to the calendar.  A red circle 
surrounded the fifth with the words "Happousai plan".  Roughly two 
weeks had been marked off.
	"I guess time moves differently." Ranma commented.
	"So, where did you go?" Ukyou inquired.
	"It's a place called 'Harmonia', but it's actually Atlantis.  
They took off for another dimension a really long time ago.  It took me 
an entire year to get back, because I had to con-" Ranma paused 
slightly.  He wasn't sure if he should tell anyone he went about 
conquering entire nations, "-llecting these things called portal gems."
	"Conllecting?  That's not a word, sugar." Ukyou told him.
	"Sorry, I got confused for a second." Ranma apologized.
	"You're a terrible liar, hon." Ukyou informed him.
	"Well, I'd rather not say what I had to do to get them or else 
you'll think badly of me." Ranma told her.
	"I don't think I'd ever think too badly of you, sugar." Ukyou 
answered.
	"Anyway, I met a lot of nice people," Ranma started, trying to 
evade the fact that he met them after he'd conquered a land, "had some 
fights," brutally murdered a few keepers, lords and their loyal guards 
and banished numerous keepers, "and made some money while I was at it."
	"Really?  How much?" Ukyou asked.
	"Well, this isn't a scratch." Ranma said, producing a bag of 
golden coins and dropping it on the table.  Ukyou looked at the coins, 
which would have been easily worth between nine hundred thousand to two 
million in yen.
	"You made more than this?!" Ukyou asked, trying to pick her 
metaphysical jaw off the ground.
	Ranma nodded.
	"How in the world..." Ukyou began, picking up a coin with a dragon emblem.
	"It was after the fights." Ranma white-lied.  It was the truth for the most part, the coins actually were from the fortresses that he'd conquered.  His own gold had his mark on it, which was why he didn't bring that along, "I also became close to the king and his children."
	"That's so amazing..." Ukyou said.
	Ranma was ready for more praise.  He liked it from everyone, but 
especially those who knew him before he'd become a keeper.  It startled 
him when she began crying.
	"Ucchan?  What's wrong?" Ranma asked.
	"I.... I don't deserve you......" Ukyou whimpered.
	"Huh?!  Where the heck did this come from?" Ranma inquired.
	"You've come back so handsome, strong, confident... and now 
you're rich.  I... I..." Ukyou tried to explain.
	Ranma realized what it was.  He had feared, when everyone saw his 
new powers, that he would be seen as some sort of god.  His men had 
grown to have the same mind set.  Ranma didn't like being seen as some 
sort of diety.  He was still Ranma Saotome.  He was just a lot more 
now.
	For Ukyou, though, it was the wealth.  If she continued to pursue 
Ranma, she was inwardly doubting if it was truly him or his money.  To 
prevent herself from being too tempted, she was willing to break up 
with him.
	Ranma hugged Ukyou, letting her sob against his chest.  
	"Ukyou, listen.  You aren't shallow for desiring the money that I 
have.  In fact, that you were willing to give up on me because you 
feared all that I had makes you a much better person." Ranma told her, 
"Don't doubt that."
	She looked up into his eyes and was about to protest, but he 
silenced her with a kiss.  She melted into it.  She didn't even notice 
or care that two tiny green men appeared near her door, took down the 
store curtain and locked the door, before heading into the kitchen to 
clean up and reinforce the walls as Ranma carried her upstairs.

	Two hours later, Ranma found himself standing at the front of the 
Tendo Dojo.  He'd washed up pretty thoroughly and he was sure that if 
he smelled like anything, it would be brimstone (he'd stopped to visit 
a dungeon near lava to pick up some more coins).
	He exhaled, then focused, before opening the gates.  He walked to 
the front door, and for the first time in a very very long time, 
knocked on the door frame, before opening the door and called out, 
"'scuse me."
	In the living room, the entire Tendo family and the two remaining 
members of the Saotome family heard the call.  Everyone's eyes snapped 
wide open as they tried to figure out who's voice it was and their eyes 
widened further as they realized who said voice belonged to.
	"It couldn't be..." Soun began.
	"It is!  Ranma!" Kasumi declared, standing up just as Ranma 
entered their view.
	Then, just as the two families were about to do a combined group 
hug, the moment was spoiled by a bandaged old pervert splashing Ranma 
with cold water.
	"RANMA!  I MISSED YOU!" Happousai cried, lunging for the new 
bosom.
	And he quite probably would have made it, had Ranma not sensed 
his presense, used his ki to evaporate the water, then punted Happousai 
for a two city field goal.
	"The ONE THING I did NOT miss." Ranma commented, before turning 
back to the surprised two families.
	"Ranma... you didn't-" Genma began.
	"Huh?  Oh, yeah.  Neat trick I learned in Harmonia.  You wouldn't 
believe how many times something'll splash you there." Ranma responded, 
waving the question aside.
	"Harmonia?" Nabiki asked.
	"It's a loooong story and I've been on my feet for a while." 
Ranma replied, as he motioned everyone back to the table, "For one 
thing, I've been gone a lot longer than you all think..."
	Happousai, meanwhile, was not happy.  That miserable ungrateful 
little punk hadn't even let the aged master touch what was properly his 
until he released Ranma from his school.
	Yes, Ranma was going to pay dearly.  As soon as Happousai 
recovered and managed to get to Nerima district, Ranma was going to 
pay.  Happousai looked at his landing spot and with some quick 
calculations, added in the fact that he'd have to dig himself free 
first.  Four, maybe five days, tops.

	Lundar was enjoying a good book.  It had been quite a while since 
he'd been able to sit down and simply enjoy such trivial desires.  Yes, 
indeed.  After almost a year of campaigning against King Reginald and 
the other keepers, Lundar was finally getting back to his second love: 
Reading.
	The thing that he'd liked most was that he was finally getting 
new books.  Before Ranma had come, Lundar only had the same five 
hundred thousand or so books and read most of them four or fives times.
	Lundar's eyes widened as he felt something.  No, LOTS of 
somethings.  He'd become tuned with the Primary Dungeon Heart that 
Ranma used, so much so that he could feel when other Dungeon Hearts 
moved.
	But Ranma hadn't known about Keepers or Dungeon Hearts, so how- 
Lundar's mental question came to a screeching halt as he recalled what 
he'd told Ranma when they'd started out:
	"But you are not of this world.  I can sense that.  Someone has 
banished you here." Lundar murmurred.
	"...On top of that, Keeper, if this Dungeon Heart is destroyed, 
you shall be banished from this land into one at random..."
	All the enemy keepers had somehow been banished _back_ to Ranma's 
world!  Even if it was against Ranma's prior wishes, Lundar had to 
alert him of the threat plaguing his land.  But, Ranma had warned that 
his world had unusual dangers that Lundar and such would not be ready 
for.
	"Horny!  We must go to Ranma immediately!" Lundar called, 
entering the Reaper's personal room.
	"I did not hear him call.  And believe me, I would know." Horny 
responded, before sipping on a fruity drink with one of those little umbrellas in it.
	"Yes, but all the keepers we'd slain were banished HERE!" Lundar 
explained, bearing witness to the infinitely rare scene of Horny doing 
a spittake.
	"WHAT?!" Horny asked, looking over at Lundar, before relaxing.
	"And Ranma didn't bring any protection!" Lundar continued, still 
panicked.
	"You're right, he might knock up some of the female keepers.  
Lundar, have you forgotten?  Keepers do not exist on this world, thus, 
even if they managed to build a dungeon, there is no way they could 
have very much in the way of creatures because there are no portals." 
Horny responded.
	Lundar stared Horny square in the eye, "You know nothing of 
Portals, do you?  Unless an active portal gem is in the area to prevent 
it, a keeper can MAKE his own portals and without the limitations of 
fifteen creatures at a time!  Not to mention, all the portal gems were 
fused into the Gate Gem, which, while it does retain that power, is 
still at the same scale!  He could block the ones in his city, but 
that's it!"
	"But what about money?  How would they pay their creatures?" 
Horny asked.
	"I've done some research on that too, but I learned about it a 
bit too late for it be anything of trivia until now.  When a Dungeon 
Heart transports itself or creates a faxsimile, it changes less 
valuable minerals, plants and most insects into gold or gemstone and 
gathers them into a tight spot, which we know as gold or gem veins.  
And even if there aren't enough of such things, they can still use the
Create Gold spell." Lundar explained.
	"SHIT!" Horny cried as he realized Lundar was right.
	With that, the two teleported away.

	There were many people in Nerima that had _not_ missed Ranma 
Saotome's presense.  This group of people was almost entirely made up 
of Ranma's rivals, but also included those who simply thought he was 
the source of the problems that made Nerima noisy (i.e. the citizens of 
Nerima).  Most of them, however, simply figured Ranma had gone on a 
training trip, and thus would be back.
	Ranma's primary rivals in particular were very happy.  They were 
all very delusional, so they believed that Ranma had fled from them, 
knowing their eventual victory was at hand.  All of them had ignored 
the fact that they'd aided Ranma in getting back at Happousai (someone 
they all considered worse than Ranma) and the fact that Cologne 
reminded them constantly (with the aid of daily beatings) that Ranma 
had not fled, but rather had been sent to a random location.
	Tatewaki Kuno was especially glad to see that the foul sorcerer 
known as Ranma was gone.  It meant that the pigtailed girl and Akane 
Tendo were now his by default.  It was a bit disconcerting that he had 
not seen the pigtailed girl in some time, but she often vanished for 
weeks at a time, no doubt to compose herself so that she would be able 
to confess her feelings.
	Then, Tatewaki saw her: The pigtailed girl.
	Yes, there she was, dashing past him with a sack on her back, a 
pickaxe in hand, dancing and hopping on the ground.  She seemed a bit 
shorter than before, but her features were unmistakable.
	"AH, PIGTAILED GIRL!  COME, LEAP INTO MY ARMS!" Tatewaki cried, 
leaping at her.
	She didn't react like he thought she would.  Before he was even 
halfway to her, she did a backflip and vanished in a burst of green 
sparkles.  Tatewaki blinked, then slammed facefirst into the asphault.
	It did not take Tatewaki Kuno long to go through an insanely long 
list of incorrect answers (the pigtailed girl loved him, the pigtailed 
girl was under the enslavement of that foul sorcerer Ranma Saotome, the 
pigtailed girl did not have the chance to confess her love to him) to 
come to a surprisingly correct conclusion: Ranma Saotome was back.

	Mousse was glad that his first and foremost rival for Shampoo was 
at last punished for his inherently evil nature.  Surely, without 
Saotome around, Shampoo would confess her feelings for him.
	"SHAMPOO!  THE FATHER OF YOUR CHILDREN IS HERE!" Mousse cried, 
jumping towards Shampoo.  He had his glasses on, because he'd spent 
four weeks recovering from hugging and kissing Cologne the last time 
he'd tried this without his glasses.  (One week to recover physically 
and four to recover mentally.)
	He predictably ran facefirst into a serving plate.  Shampoo 
snorted, "Ranma is back?"
	"No, but I am!" Mousse responded, recovering from the injury.
	"Then father of Shampoo's children not here." Shampoo responded, 
smashing Mousse out of the open door with a well-placed spinning knee 
to Mousse's face, with a grace found only from having done it over 
three thousand times before.
	Mousse groaned as he opened his eyes.  It seemed that he'd been 
hit rather hard this last time.  He was seeing miniature Saotomes.
	Mousse shook his head, but the delusional Ranmas didn't vanish.  
They instead continued dancing in front of Mousse for about two 
minutes, then vanished in a flash of green energy.
	Mousse went through an short list of incorrect answers (Shampoo 
loved him, Shampoo was under the influence of Ranma's evil 
machinations, weird-looking Ranmas were dancing, weird-looking Ranmas 
vanished in a style reminiscent of Star Trek) and came to an 
unsurprisingly wrong conclusion, "AAAAAAH!  ALIENS THAT LOOK LIKE 
RANMA ARE INVADING NERIMA! AAAAAAAAAH-URKLE-*"
	Cologne sighed.  Apparently, not having Ranma to blame his 
problems on was driving Mousse insane.

	Ryoga was a mixture of exceptionally happy and a bit frustrated.  
On the one hand, Akane was now free and once he worked up the courage 
to face her (and found her house), he'd win her heart for sure.
	On the other hand, Ranma was an okay guy sometimes and was one of 
the few people Ryoga knew enough about to talk with casually.  Ranma 
kept his skills sharp and gave him the determination to continue 
training.
	Ryoga was finding himself missing his oft-time friend/rival.  
Ranma could infuriate him, but he was also one of the few people who 
would actually help him find his way, rather than just point in the 
wrong direction (in Ryoga's mind, it didn't matter if it was the right 
direction or not if he didn't get there) and probably laugh at him 
behind his back.
	Ryoga was lost in an alleyway behind Doctor Tofu's clinic when he 
spotted something small and green.  It had bulged eyes, looked vaguely 
humanoid and had something long in it's hand.  It turned to him, then 
started giggling.
	Ryoga did the sensible thing.
	Ran off screaming.
	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! ANAL PROBING ALIENS!!"
	He only stopped when he was sure that there were no more aliens 
around.  He'd heard all about aliens and their tendency to do anal 
probing on people (even if he didn't know what it was, it didn't sound 
like it was likely very comfortable).
	He looked around for the alien or anything similar.  He sighed in 
relief.  No anal probing aliens in the vacant lot, just Ranma.
	Ranma?
	"Saotome!  How dare you trick us like that!  We thought you were 
thrown across time and space and here you've just been in this vacant 
lot!" Ryoga growled, kicking Ranma in the head.
	Ranma yelped and turned around.
	Then Ryoga noticed Ranma was short and green.
	He ran off screaming again.
	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!  ANAL PROBING ALIENS HAVE CLONED 
RANMA SAOTOME!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Ryoga shrieked.

	Nabiki had heard some tall stories before, but the slapdash story 
Ranma had half-lied through was pushing it, even for Nabiki's limit, 
"Oh, come off it, Saotome, there's no way you could have gone to 
another dimension-"
	Horny and Lundar appeared, "Keeper!  We have grave news!"
	"A MONSTER!" Soun yelped at the sight of Horny, before 
whimpering, "Don't eat my little girls!"
	"I don't eat humans." Horny explained, mentally adding, 
"anymore".
	Ranma sighed and slapped his forehead, "Great timing there, 
Lundar.  And didn't I tell you to stay back in Harmonia?"
	"Yes, but as I said, we have grave news!  Your rival keepers have 
found their way here, they can create gold, and they can construct 
their own portals!" Lundar explained, giving Ranma the cliff notes on 
the situation.
	"Ah, man!  Just my luck!  Guess we'll have to hunt them all 
down." Ranma sighed, hopping to his feet.
	"Wait, keeper?  Rivals?  Hunt down?!  Ranma, what have you been 
up to?!" Akane angrily demanded, using her usual formula (everything 
was Ranma's fault) to get an impossibly correct answer (for Akane
Tendo): Ranma was hiding something.
	"Look, I ain't got time for this.  Let's just say that if I don't 
hunt down these guys, it's likely things ain't gonna be too peaceful 
anywhere." Ranma responded, preparing to teleport away with Lundar and 
Horny, creating a teleportation circle.
	Ranma was as surprised as everyone else when Nodoka surged 
forward and grabbed Ranma's arm just as the teleportation spell 
activated, halfstepping into the teleportation circle as she did.  She 
had been meaning to add some words to the action, but something 
happened that cut her off.
	"No, wait, IT'S DANGE-" Lundar began.
	Back at the Tendo Dojo, everyone stared at the spot where Ranma, 
Nodoka, Lundar and Horny had been.
	"Um, it looked like something bad just happened." Nabiki noted, 
looking at the burn mark on the ground, where Nodoka had been.
	"NODOKA!" Genma yelled.

	There's a little known fact about teleportation spells.  For the 
most part, teleportation spells are simply supposed to move Object A or 
Person A to Location B.
	Personal teleportation spells worked very cleanly, transporting 
the person and every non-living thing they were carrying or holding to 
the desire location.
	Teleportation circles are another story.  They operated by taking 
everything _within_ the circle to the desire location.  It could be 
very messy should someone halfstep into the circle just as it 
activated, which was why everyone in Harmonia knew not to interupt 
teleportation circles.
	Nodoka Saotome was not from Harmonia, however, thus she didn't 
know about that particular rule.  The half of her that was not in 
the circle had been disintegrated.
	Nodoka had some things going for her, despite this major blunder.  
The person she was holding onto was Ranma Saotome, the person who 
happened to be casting the spell.  Ranma Saotome was connected to the 
most powerful Dungeon Heart in existence and had been teleporting to 
said Dungeon Heart.
	A little known fact about the Dungeon Heart was that it could be 
used to revive, restore and regenerate fallen creatures who were allied 
to it's Keeper.  Nodoka was VERY loyal to her son, thus the Dungeon 
Heart accepted her as it would one of Ranma's minions.
	Since Ranma had teleported so that he would appear over his 
Dungeon Heart, the effect was just as instantaneous as Nodoka's loss of 
half of her body.
	However, due to the fact that the tremendous shock alone of both 
processes (losing half of one's body and then regenerating it in the 
span of three seconds) could have lead to Nodoka's demise, the Dungeon 
Heart had to do a more complete regeneration in order to make certain 
that Nodoka didn't die from the restoration.
	Nodoka Saotome blinked and looked down at herself as she and 
Ranma appeared over his Primary Dungeon Heart.  Ranma, Lundar and Horny 
had been expecting to see half of a middle-age woman, but instead saw a 
full TEENAGE woman.
	"M-m-m-m-MOM?!" Ranma blurted out, shocked at the sight of an 
eighteen year old woman who looked like sort of like his mother, but 
more like a slightly older sister to his female form.
	"Wh-wh-what just happened?" the renewed Nodoka asked.
	"Ordinarily, you would've been cut in half, but it would seem 
that luck was on your side.  Ranma's Dungeon Heart restored you to 
life, but it would seem that it went further..." Lundar commented.
	"Further?" Nodoka inquired of the mentor, still very shaken by 
the experience.  She'd FELT half of her body disappear and then regrow, 
then it had tingled all over.
	"Having half of your body destroyed and then regenerated so 
quickly would have killed just about anyone over twenty, so the Dungeon 
Heart continued the regeneration until you were young enough to 
withstand the shock." Lundar responded.
	"But, it's never done anything like that before!" Ranma 
protested.
	"Hmmm, it may have responded to your desire to keep your mother 
alive.  In any case, Keeper, she's had her youth restored.  She's no 
older than eighteen." Lundar answered, before adding in, "And half-
naked, I might add."
	Ranma quickly summoned a robe and wrapped it around his mother.  
The last thing he wanted to do was ogle his own mother, even if she was 
young enough to be his sister.
	"Ranma, I think I'm going to have a nice lay down." Nodoka 
announced, before fainting dead away.
	Ranma caught her before she could touch the floor.  He turned to 
Horny, "Take her to the Keeper bedroom.  She needs to sleep."
	Horny nodded numbly, still shocked himself that the Dungeon Heart 
could restore someone so fast, let alone give them their youth back.
	"This is turning out to be a rather big headache.  We should 
probably contact Reginald.  We'll need to keep the world away from 
these incidents for a while." Ranma commented.
	Lundar nodded in agreement.

	Keeper Morgana was infuriated.  Not only had this evil gnome-imp-
thing come bursting into HER Dungeon, but he'd fondled every female in 
her Dungeon.  And the flurry of spells she and her Mistresses were 
tossing at him, which should have been attracted to him in the first 
place, were missing!
	"Heya, sweet cheeks!" Happousai said cheerfully, as he glomped 
Morgana's ass again.
	"DIE YOU DEMON!" Morgana roared.

=======================================================================

	Explanations

	Q. Why do that to Nodoka?
	A. I've always felt that what Genma did to Nodoka (leaving her 
all alone at home for ten years) was something that needed to be 
corrected.  Thus, I restored her to her youth!  Let's see if Genma can 
convince her to remain married to him when she's full of teenage 
hormones once again!

	Q. What's up with the 'alien Ranmas'?
	A. The imps Ranma creates fresh still resemble normal Imps, but a 
lot of his older imps have already begun (or finished) transforming 
into miniature versions of Ranma (about half his height).  The last 
thing to change is their skin tone, so some of them are still green-
skinned.  The ones that are confused for normal Ranmas are the ones 
who've already finished their transformation.

	Next time, on Dungeon Keeper Ranma!
	Keeper Morgana and her dungeon of Mistresses continue to hunt for 
Happousai!
	Nerima is in a panic at the numerous sightings of miniature Ranma 
Saotomes (and pigtailed girls), aliens, and alien Ranma Saotomes (and 
pigtailed girls)!
	Nodoka recovers from her shock!
	The U.N. meets King Reginald and Keeper Ranma!
	And the War of the Keepers begins!