"Um, Kyech-san, would you like some more nikuman?"
"Please."
"H-h-HAI!" a gushing Kasumi, her eyes spiralling with awe and delight at the impeccable manners the Dragonspeaker was demonstrating at the living room table, called out as she rushed into the kitchen to quickly prepare more of the stuffed meat buns.
The people now seated around the table were also in awe at Kyech continued to nibble away at the small mountain of nikuman that Kasumi had made for her as soon as At'at'at' had indicated that her friend was hungry. "No doubt, the girl's appetite is even bigger than yours, Ranma," Happôsai, who just couldn't make himself reach over to take one of the steamed buns to nibble on, mused as he puffed his pipe.
"With dragon's blood inside her, I'd agree," Ranma noted before she flashed Hakufu a warm smile. "You ought to see Fu-chan go at it at times, Jijii. She could easily outdo both Tô-chan and I at the table after a hard day's sparring."
"Well, I hope that when you and Tsueko-chan here do marry, Ranma, you both better get really good jobs," Nabiki warned. "The food budget alone between you two…!"
A smirk. "Already keeping it in mind." Ranma then blinked before she leaned over to tenderly kiss Nabiki on the cheek, that making her blush. "You're welcome."
The middle Tendô blinked, and then she looked at the smiling redhead for a moment before she turned to Indiana Jones. "Hijii-chan, how long have you and Ranma been in communication with each other?" she then asked, a knowing smirk crossing her face.
"Six months," the archaeologist replied. "Why do you ask?"
Nabiki blinked, and then she stared at Ranma. "Why?"
A sigh. "Nabiki, why am I so good at martial arts?"
"Because you do everything to practice every chance you…" A pause. "Oh!"
"Nabiki, you practice an Art as well," Ranma declared. "It's not a physical Art, but it is an Art. Just like Kasumi practices. I've always respected the dedication you two put into perfecting and expanding your skills. I also know how much you both chafe at the restrictions your father has forced on you both. That's the reason I did what I did three weeks ago. Hell, that's the reason I've always allowed you to get pictures of me in girl-form so you can sell them off to Kunô, not to mention do all you can to generate income for this household. Your dad's salary as a member of the Nerima ward council can go only so far, especially with a property this size and especially with all the extra costs my family's being here has put on all your heads. Believe me, I've always understood that fact. And I've been more than glad to help out in whatever way I can, even if…" A sigh. "…I've had to do it silently."
Nabiki blinked, and then she nodded. "Seeing it that way, Ranma-kun, I can certainly appreciate all you've done for us. And I thank you deeply for that."
"It still is quite inappropriate," Nodoka noted.
"But what could they do, Kâ-chan?" Ranma asked. "Kasumi just became of age not a few weeks ago." She then sneered. "Without even a damned birthday party thrown to celebrate it." A sigh. "So I was more than happy to give her a present she really deserved for all the things she's done here since her mother passed away."
Nodoka and Indiana perked. "And what's that?" the latter asked.
"Ownership of this house, not to mention full control of all the bank accounts Nabiki here set up in her father's name to support the household," Ranma replied in a whisper after taking a quick second to check on Sôun's ki signature from the nearby master bedroom. He was still asleep and still in a black hole of sorrow after what Akane had pulled on him with Happôsai's help. "Tricked him into signing all the forms by making him believe they were part of the forms needed so that Akane and I could marry and take control of the dôjô without having to pay inheritance taxes. He still doesn't realise what he signed. And if he protests even once, he's on the street."
Nodoka's eyes widened. "But, Ranma…!"
"Nodoka," Indiana cut her off. "Ranma's been telling me a lot of what's been going on in this household since he and his father first came here. Believe me, what Ranma helped arrange on Kasumi-chan's and Nabiki-chan's behalf is proper."
She stared at her grandfather for a moment, and then she sighed. "Still…"
"If he can't smarten up, he'll have to face the consequences," Ranma flatly stated. "I made it very clear to Tô-chan a long time ago that I was not going to tolerate being forced to clean up after him, so I won't do it for Tendô either. If he can't take it, too bad. And if he tries to force his will on me, he'll learn fast that he doesn't have a rock to stand on." A sigh, and then she perked as Kasumi returned to the living room with a new tray of nikuman for Kyech, who had pretty much wiped out the original serving. As soon as that was served and the eldest Tendô daughter seated on the floor between Kyech and Indiana, Ranma then took a deep breath. "Tendô no Mae."
Kasumi's cheeks instantly flamed on hearing Ranma address her as "Dame Tendô." "Um, h-hai, S-s-Saotome-ojôsan…?" she sputtered as she gazed on the younger woman.
A deep bow. "On behalf of my parents and myself, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful things you and your sister Nabiki have done to host and support us since we first intruded upon your lives," Ranma properly intoned. "Unfortunately, with your other sister Akane's decision to renounce her affiliation to the Tendô-ryû, the pact made between your father and my father has been, in effect, dissolved. Thus, we do not have any honourable reason or right to impose ourselves on you anymore, especially given the many incidents that have brought pain and disharmony on this household. With your kind permission, we'll take our leave at this time."
A nod. "While I understand the reasons you are doing this, Saotome-ojôsan, please know that you and your parents are welcome to visit us at any time in the future." Kasumi then perked. "May I inquire as to where you will go? I know of your own personal plan to live with Mago-ojôsan and her cousin in Kimitsu and your pending transfer to the Nan'yô Academy, but what of your mother and father? Where will they live?"
"With my mother in our home in Minakami, Tendô no Mae," Hakufu then spoke up. "My mother misses Ranma's parents very much and desires to have them stay with her until repairs to their own family home are complete."
Another nod. "That is a true relief to me." Kasumi then smiled. "I assume that Hiojii-san here will tell his granddaughter about this secret that may have affected his son and could easily come to affect your mother as soon as he deems it safe to do so." She winked. "Please, Ranma-chan. I want to know it as well."
A laugh. "As soon as Hijii-chan lets me do that, you and Nabiki both will be the first to know, Kasumi. I promise you that." Ranma then sighed before she gazed on Kyech, who was halfway through the second serving of Nikuman before she turned to Kyech's companion over two lifetimes. "At'-chan, do you Noukiites believe in take-out?"
The green-haired free warrior blinked. "'Take-out?'"
"Eating while on the road."
At'at'at' tensed. "But it would be an insult to the Lady Kasumi…!"
"At'at'at'-san, the fact that Kyech-san ENJOYS my food enough is more than a compliment enough for me," Kasumi interrupted. She then pointed towards the master bedroom as she winked at everyone else. "Besides, I do believe the sooner you all have left this place and join Tsueko-chan's mother in Minakami, the better. With you gone, Otô-san will be much easier to manage, especially concerning Akane's decision this morning."
Ranma then perked. "Kasumi, may I…?"
A nod. "Please do so, Ranma-chan. Your mother deserves to know."
Nodoka perked. "Know what?"
"I'll tell you in private later," Ranma warned. "Hijii-chan, your driver still here?"
Indiana nodded as he pulled out a cell phone. "I'll call him now."
Some minutes later, on the Kan'etsu Expressway past the Tokorozawa interchange…
"AKANE IS A LESBIAN?!"
Given the larger number of people that were being transported to the Mago residence in Gunma prefecture, Indiana's driver had been quick to get a van over to the Tendô dôjô so they could all travel to Minakami in comfort. Fortunately for the driver, there was a soundproof window separating him from the passenger compartment; this ensured that Nodoka's outraged shout didn't scare him into causing an accident. "Hai, Kâ-chan, she is," Ranma said with a nod. "As is U-chan. Shänpú is fully bisexual. And as of ten months ago, right after U-chan and I reunited, they have been in a warm and passionate relationship. One I wish not to destroy or hinder in any way, shape or form."
Silence fell as Ranma's mother considered what had just been revealed to her, and then she tightly gripped the familiar bundle that had been, for so long, her sole anchor to reality, dark thoughts looming in her mind as the images of her three would-be daughters-in-law flashed past her mind's eyes. It had been quite the scene at the gates of the Tendô home when Happôsai had presented the Saotome honour blade to Indiana only to have the archaeologist wave the sword back to Nodoka's hands. "The gift was always to her family, regardless of what they did with it afterward," the youthful-looking centenarian had stated with a smile and a wink at his granddaughter when he did that. On receiving that, Nodoka had nearly broken down and wept at her grandfather's show of forgiveness to her, and then vowed right then and there that she would do as Happôsai charged her the previous day: to truly be Ranma's mother, as Genma was clearly struggling now to be her father in this tumultuous time in all their lives.
She then sighed. "Why, Ranma?"
"Why what?" Ranma said as she looked at Nodoka.
"Why show such levels of forgiveness to those three?" Nodoka demanded. "Ranma, they used you to cover their own affair! Hurt you, lied to you, spat down on your honour and well-being just for their self-gratification! That is TOO forgiving, Ranma!" She then stared hopefully at Indiana. "Surely, Ojii-sama, you agree!"
"Actually, at first, I did," Indiana stated. "And when I found out how high the level of lies those three girls were heaping on everyone else actually were, I was ready to storm across the Pacific and bring it crashing down on everyone just to see to it Ranma came out of it unharmed." He then chuckled. "But Ranma has a good counter-argument to that, Nodoka. Just listen to what she has to say before you judge, okay?"
Nodoka blinked, and then she nodded before staring at Ranma. The younger woman took a deep breath. "Kâ-chan, at first, I was righteously pissed at all three of them for pulling that on me," Ranma then admitted. She then smiled at Hakufu as she squeezed the latter's hand. "But it was shortly afterward that Fu-chan and I met and began to train together." She closed her eyes. "And fall in love with each other, of course. And as that happened, I began to realise two things. One: I was using Akane and the others to spend time with Fu-chan, so whatever they did was being balanced at the same time by what I was doing to them in return. And two: with Haeko-obachan's help, I put myself in the shoes of my 'fiancées' to see where they were coming from.
"Akane and U-chan were both trapped in positions they didn't want to be in. Akane was being moulded to be one-half of the fulfillment of her father's dream. Everything she did against that was stomped down on hard by Sôun." A sigh. "Fortunately for her, the times she did have intimate relations with other girls — her best friends Sayuri and Yuka — before Shän and U-chan came along were easily dismissed as 'pyjama parties' before it could have become scandalous. As for U-chan, she had her whole life as a girl ripped away by her father just to get revenge on our family for what Tô-chan did to her. And as she discovered herself, she found herself equally trapped. True, as a 'boy,' she could easily get away with intimate relations as a girl. But her father knew all along that she was a girl and was expected to marry me. If she failed in either mission, she would be cast out of her family and shamed into never practicing her Art again. The overall Art she practices are adhered to by a very small, tight nit crowd. If U-chan was seen as an outcast, NO ONE would accept her as a student for fear of retaliation by the other families." Ranma then shook her head. "And no matter what I might feel for all three of them, Kâ-chan, I will NEVER do anything to see any person — friend or foe — stripped of his or her ability to practice his or her chosen Art regardless of cause or effect upon myself."
"But what if they are forced to pursue it?" Nodoka mused. "Granted, with Akane no longer a part of the Tendô-ryû, she could still face pressure from her father to come after you, even if Kasumi-chan threatens to throw him onto the streets to make him behave himself. And what of Ukyô? The dowry was taken by Genma and spent. She has a legitimate reason to seek vengeance for what Genma did to her family."
A smile. "That's where Shän comes in, Kâ-chan. Same-sex and multiple-partner relationships are allowed in the Nyûjiézú and I deeply suspect Shän has contingency plans in place to help Akane and U-chan if the worst case scenario happens."
"And what of Shampoo?"
Indiana cleared his throat. "I'm fully cognisant of Nyûjiézú law, Nodoka. The instant Ranma began a relationship with Tsueko, his marriage to Shänpú was instantly dissolved. Now, I'm not sure when Kelun will learn of this (if she doesn't already know), much less relay it to her fellow matriarchs, but once that information is public, Shänpú can go home with her honour intact." He then smiled. "With Akane and Ukyô accompanying her as heart-sisters — that's what they call lesbian relationships there — her standing as a warrior in that society will actually increase. And I don't think they'll care too much about what Akane's or Ukyô's fathers might demand." A chuckle. "Sôun is the disciple of Happôsai, for Heaven's sake! There's no way in Hell that any Nyûjiézú worth her salt would EVER care about the wishes of such a man. As for Ukyô's father, he wouldn't be able to get far with Shänpú's tribe, especially since I don't think he's nowhere close to being wealthy enough to get over to China and try to force anything on his daughter should she move over there."
Nodoka took a moment to absorb that, and then she nodded. "I see." She then turned back to Ranma. "But what of this Kunô girl, Ranma? She is also interested in you."
A shrug. "No official agreement of any sort has been made between her family and mine. Atop that, 'Dachi is, if not a lesbian herself, at least strongly leaning in that direction. Atop that, I think she's aware of my relationship with Fu-chan here thanks to Sasuke, her family's retainer. And since she's never done anything to Fu-chan, I think she's smart enough to realise that this time, she's lost out."
"I see. So all the honour questions have been resolved." A tired sigh. "A good thing, too. Even if my own family's honour is pretty much in tatters now that Ojii-sama has made the truth concerning his interaction with Obâ-sama known, there is still the considerable question of what Genma did while you were on your training trip. The bar bills and everything else. How are we going to deal with that?"
Ranma nodded as she reached over to gently grasp her mother's hand. "That's why I have to take up Tô-chan's pre-marriage name, Kâ-chan." Sensing Nodoka tense, her daughter gave her a reassuring smile. "It doesn't mean that I'm just going to walk out on you two once and for all, Kâ-chan. Relax." As Nodoka seemed to calm down, Ranma gazed outside the van at the passing countryside. "But when he died, Tô-chan's father Narinaga-jiichan stated in his will that if I was to gain any share of the family fortune (which he did want to give to me), I had to renounce the Saotome name." She sighed. "He knew the truth about your family's relationship to Hijii-chan and disapproved of the idea of your family forcing Tô-chan to renounce his family name because your family was of a socially 'higher' standing while covering up THAT!"
Nodoka winced. "I suppose I can't blame Genma's father for feeling that way now."
"And how big is this fortune?" Indiana asked.
"Twelve figures in American dollars."
The archaeologist's jaw hit the van floor. "A HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS?""
Ranma blinked. "Um, no! It was just a billion or so, Hijii-chan!"
Indiana stared at her, and then he laughed. "Oh, I get it now! Ranma, when you were showed the dollar figure, was there a dot before the last two numbers?"
She nodded. "Um, yeah. What did that mean, anyway?"
Indiana shook his head. "That's the division between dollars and cents in our currency, Ranma. Just like back in the old days, you divided the yen into a hundred sen, and then from there, each sen was divided into ten rin. An American dollar is divided into a hundred cents." He reached into his jacket to draw out a quarter to show to his great-grandchild. "This is twenty-five cents, Ranma. One quarter of a dollar. Just a little over 22 yen at the current conversion rate."
Ranma blinked, and then she blushed. "Oh…!"
"Oh, relax! It was an honest mistake," Indiana said as he slipped the coin back into his pocket. "Still, a billion dollars will keep you and Tsueko quite safe, plus give you the freedom to seek out your own destiny, whatever you wish it to be." He then winked as he raised a finger in emphasis. "Still, before that gets out into the open, you better get married to keep the gold-diggers away from you, Ranma."
Nodoka giggled on hearing that. Ranma moaned. "Fu-chan?"
"What is it, Ma-chan?" Hakufu asked.
"We're holding off on kids until we're both past thirty."
"Hai!"
"AWWWWWWWWWK!"
Everyone was quick to notice that BOTH Indiana AND Nodoka were frozen solid by that declaration. Seeing this, At'at'at' tsked. "They should learn better not to make such emotionally charged demands of their descendants," she mused aloud.
Kyech nodded, her face as neutral as normal…
Almost two hours later, the van pulled off National Highway 291 into the spacious courtyard of the Mago home, which was located close to the Minakami Onsen, the local train station and Hakufu's old junior high school, Minakami Junior High School. As soon as the vehicle stopped, the front door to the main house opened to reveal Hakufu's mother Goei. She blinked in surprise on seeing the strange vehicle there, and then her eyes widened in shock on seeing three familiar faces emerge from the passenger compartment. "NODOKA-CHAN!" she screamed in joy on seeing her old junior high classmate before lunging down to grab Nodoka in her arms and swamp her with a kiss that nearly made the other woman pass out from the shock.
As Ranma and Hakufu watched, Nodoka's eyes began to spiral as her whole body lost what strength it had. "Oh, my…!" she gasped as her brain started to short-circuit. "Haeko-chan's still as…passionate as ever…!"
Seeing that, Ranma and Hakufu giggled. "I can see we won't be having too many problems with parental interference in our relationship, Fu-chan," the former said as they gazed on each other. "Kâ-chan and Tô-chan can team up to keep your mom busy."
"True, true," the latter stated. "At least now, Mama won't embarrass herself anymore by chasing down every young thing that crosses her path!"
Goei's eyes suddenly glowed. "HAKUFU SONSAKU!" she screamed out as she seemed to loom over her daughter. "ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I'M OLD?!"
Hakufu didn't react to her mother's variation of Sôun Tendô's demon head assault. "No, Mama! It's just like we've all been saying all along. Why the heck are you chasing down people as old as me when you should be seeking out men and ladies of experience?" She then shrugged as she indicated Ranma's dazed mother. "Besides, both of Ma-chan's parents are still young and healthy! You can have all your fun with them!"
Goei blinked, and then she blushed. "Oh, my! That IS true…eh?!"
She then perked as Indiana, Kyech and At'at'at' emerged from the vehicle. Quickly getting back to her feet, Goei came over to gently grasp the archaeologist's hands. "Jones-hakase, welcome! It's such a pleasure to meet you at last!" She then turned and bowed politely to the Noukiites, who bowed and saluted her in return. "The same goes for both of you, Ladies! Please, make yourselves at home."
"Heaven's most sincere blessings upon you, Matriarch Haeko," At'at'at' replied.
Kyech then tensed. "Tsueko…"
Her hand came up to catch the foot of a flying girl looking like Hakufu save for her hair being done in a thick French braid and she being a year younger than Nan'yô tôshi. "OW!" the young attacker screamed out as the Dragonspeaker's hand came down hard on her foot, and then she collapsed face-first into the compacted sand of the front yard.
"…why is your sister trying to kick me in the face?" Kyech then asked.
Seeing that, Hakufu and Ranma moaned. "Oh, crap! Ken-chan, too?!" the latter asked.
Goei nodded. "Hai, Ranma-chan. It's happened to all of them."
Ranma and Hakufu exchanged a worried look. Indiana shook his head.
A little later…
"So they've all awoken to their potential, have they?"
"Hai, Jones-hakase, they have," Goei stated as she sipped her tea. Genma and Nodoka were seated to either side of their old classmate as they faced the archaeologist and At'at'at' across the living room table. Ranma was outside with Hakufu and the latter's five siblings, some of them engaged in a friendly free-for-all which was easily compatible to some of the more intensive morning spars between Genma and his child at the Tendô home. Kyech was seated on the porch watching events as she ate the rest of Kasumi's nikuman. Seated beside her and staring wide-eyed at the Noukiite was Hakufu's youngest sisters, twins Sôan Sonrô and Jinken Sonshôkô, both of whom were first-year middle school students who were only beginners at the martial arts but were showing promise with weapons (the former with a war fan and the latter a katana). "I had hoped that my other children would have been fully spared what happened to Hakufu, but shortly after Ranma-chan began to train her full-time, Chûbô began to pick up on her lessons at the dôjô. Shukuhitsu, Kisa, Sôan and Jinken all quickly fell in behind her; they've always held Ranma-chan in high esteem, especially since he was always very careful when he trained Hakufu and obviously cared for her." A tired sigh escaped the older tôshi as she looked outside to see Ranma grab the feet of both Shukuhitsu Sonyoku and her twin sister Kisa Sonkyô and send them for a merry-go-round spin that propelled them both into a nearby tree. Hakufu and Chûbô Sonken were engaged in a test of strength, their battle auras lighting up the sky as the ground around them boiled and shattered from the force of their power. "Eventually, a tôshi from Gogun took notice of Chûbô and challenged her to a duel. Chûbô beat him as easily as Hakufu defeated Hannô-san the second time she came back here to make up for the duel interrupted by Ranma-chan."
"Will you send her and the others to Nan'yô Junior High?" Nodoka asked.
A sigh. "I'm tempted to do just that, Nodoka, especially now that people at Gogun have taken notice of their presence here. While your child did assert that Ukitsu-san would prefer not to face off with Hakufu, that doesn't guarantee that someone else from Gogun — or Fates forbid, any of the other schools — might come here to seek them out." Goei then closed her eyes. "Chûbô is showing a little cockiness because she defeated that other tôshi so easily. I don't want that to become overconfidence that could end up hurting her at the end, to say anything of hurting her sisters."
"This crazy cycle doesn't seem to want to end," Indiana mused, shaking his head.
Nodoka perked. "Ojii-sama, you've encountered tôshi before?"
A nod. "Back just before I met your grandmother for the first time, both here in Japan and over in China before I had some rather interesting fun in India," Indiana stated with a roll of his eyes. "This was back in 1935. That's when I also met both Happôsai and Kelun Nyû." A shake of the head. "It was really sad, encountering people who had all those past lives come down on their souls like that, being made to act like it was eighteen centuries ago in a time when China was breaking apart."
At'at'at' stared at him, her eyebrow arching. "That was the time you encountered the Angels of the Spirit-Stones, isn't it, Master Seeker?"
Genma, Nodoka and Goei blinked. "'Angels of the Spirit-Stones?'"
Indiana sighed. "A Shivalinga stone that was stolen from a village in India by a sect of Thuggees that were worshippers of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death. They were also involved in a child-slavery ring and performed ritual human sacrifices." Another sigh before he gazed sadly on Nodoka. "It was a rough adventure, but not like the ones that would later come to affect your father, Nodoka."
"The Angels of the Box and the Cup of the Child of the Lord of Heaven," At'at'at' stated as she stared intently at the archaeologist.
"'The Box?'" Genma asked.
"'Cup of the Child of the Lord of Heaven?'" Nodoka added.
A sigh. "Do not ever speak of this to anyone. Alright?"
His granddaughter and grandson-in-law, as well as their host, nodded. Indiana took a deep breath. "The 'box,' as Kyech and At'at'at' call it, is the Ark of the Covenant. It is a container specifically constructed to hold the fragments of two stone tablets that were cut out of the rock by Jehovah — the God of the Jews and later the Christians and the Muslims — when he gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai in the wake of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt around 1450 BCE."
Everyone's eyes widened. "Two tablets touched by the power of Kami-sama Himself!" Nodoka hissed out, her hand covering her mouth. "How did you encounter this thing?"
"Well, that relates to why this particular incident is classified even to this day," Indiana replied. "You see, after they came to power in Germany in '33, the Nazis began a massive and secret project to locate mystical objects as a way of solidifying their rule over their homeland as well as assist them in their search for Lebensraum. The 'living space' they felt they needed that eventually launched World War Two in Europe." A pause. "One such expedition, led by René Belloq, a rival archaeologist who always grabbed things I was interested in, found the Ark in the city of Tanis, which is in the eastern part of the Nile delta in Egypt. It was buried there after the Egyptians sacked Jerusalem and stole the Ark from the First Temple in 980 BCE." A light smile crossed his face. "With help from friends, I recovered it from the Nazis and had it transported to America. To this day, it's in a warehouse in Area 51 in California." A shake of the head. "With the political state of Jerusalem — especially now — returning something like the Ark to the Temple Mound…"
"Could easily start World War Three," Genma finished.
A nod. "Hai."
"What of this cup?" Nodoka asked.
Indiana fixed her with a knowing look. "The Holy Grail."
Silence.
"That was the thing your father was always after, wasn't he?" Goei asked.
A nod. "Yeah. Two years after the mess with the Ark, I found out that Dad had been kidnapped by the Nazis to learn the location of the Grail, which was in a cavern in a mountain near Iskenderun in southern Turkey, close to the border with Syria." A sigh. "They were being supported by a traitor from America, a financier named Walter Donovan, who wanted the Grail for himself to achieve immortality. Well, when we finally found the Grail, it was being guarded by a participant of the First Crusade, who actually was one of three men who elected to guard the Grail for eternity if necessary."
"When was the First Crusade?" Genma asked.
"From 1095 to 1099."
Eyes widened. "This poor fellow denied himself the right to face the Final Judgement and his reward in Heaven?!" At'at'at' gasped. "Why?!"
Indiana stared at her. "Because he and his friends felt it was more important to ensure that something like the Grail never fell into the hands of an evil man," he stated. "I never knew the knight's name, but he was a very pious man. I'm not even sure if he survived the collapse of the temple when one of the Nazis — my dad's ex-lover, Elsa Schneider — tried to take the Grail out of the temple." He then reached over to gently squeeze the Noukiite's hand. "I'm sure that if he did die that day, he's with his friends in Heaven right now, At'at'at'. Don't worry about it."
"You drank from the Grail, didn't you?!"
He tensed, and then he nodded before staring at Goei. "Yeah. When we got to the temple, Donovan shot Dad in the abdomen, a fatal wound. That forced me to go into the storage chamber to get the Grail. Donovan followed me into the chamber where the knight was and selected the wrong cup. There were a dozen of them there, the real Grail and fakes to throw off thieves." A smirk. "To quote the knight, Donovan 'chose poorly' when he selected one of the fakes and drank water from it."
"He died, I hope," Genma stated.
"Disintegrated right before my eyes," Indiana affirmed with a nod. "I found the Grail — guessing that since Jesus was a carpenter, a simple wooden cup would be what he would have used at the Last Supper than some fancy gold thing — and tested it on myself before I took water out to save Dad." He sighed. "The Grail's power saved Dad's life but never affected his lifespan; he passed away in '51. On the other hand, me…" He waved to his own face in emphasis. "Here I am, a hundred-and-ten, and still as spry as I was when I had a nice little adventure in '57 during the Cold War."
"Is that also classified?" Goei asked.
"Somewhat. Have you ever heard of the Crystal Skulls of Akator?"
All three before him shook their heads. "Well, back in '57, I found out that a colleague of mine, Harold Oxley, found evidence of an alien life form — humanoid but not human and possessing great psychic powers — in a lost city in South America called Akator. The Soviets got wind of it and a colonel in their KGB, Irina Aleksandrovna Spalko, was sent out to locate these skulls in hope of using their power in an eventual war with the West. My old girlfriend — later my wife, Marion Ravenwood-Jones — and our son (who was working as Oxley's assistant at the time) traced down the skulls to Akator. Spalko and her people were right behind us and she tried to tap into the power of the one skull Oxley had found earlier. She ended up dying and the temple where the other aliens' bodies were placed by a tribe who came to worship them as gods was destroyed in the process, bringing down a whole damn mountain at the same time." A chuckle. "Marion, Mutt, Oxley and I barely got out with our lives."
Genma laughed. "Damn! Now I know where Ranma got it from!"
Indiana perked. "Oh, yes. Ranma did tell me of his adventures against the Musk and the Phoenix tribe in China." He then fixed Genma with a very deadly glare as he pointed threateningly at his grandson-in-law. "And believe me, sir, you and I will have a long talk about what you did to my great-grandson on your training journey!"
Genma found himself gulping as we…
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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