Astral Minds

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and all related characters do not belong to me. None of the X-Men belong to me either.

* *: Thoughts

Capital letters: Shouting or loud noises

{ }: Author's own thoughts

_ _: Stressed words

[ ]: People speaking on TV

< >: Psychic Projections

Chapter 7

The New Student

Ranma yelped as he was once again shocked by the wires that he was trying to connect to the back of a control panel. "Shoulda seen that one coming." He muttered as he rubbed his hands. He let go of the wires and used his telekinesis to connect them instead. Beast was over on the other side of the dojo connecting wires and such to other things. Ranma had learned a great amount of technological intelligence from the Beast and was enjoying hooking up his own danger room in the dojo. "How's it going over there Hank?" Ranma called over to his companion.

Beast didn't look up he was to into what he was doing. He just gave the pigtailed martial artist a thumbs up and continued working. Ranma chuckled and got back to work on what he was doing. He couldn't wait to test it out. It would make training Marina easier that eating pie. Not to mention the things he could do for himself with such technology.

Ranma was busy screwing the panel onto the wall of the dojo after having connected the right wires to the correct ports and such when Marina entered the room. Ranma wasn't using his telepathy at the moment, he was among friends so he felt he really didn't need to use it in the house, except around Genma. "Hi Ranma." Marina said from behind him. Ranma waved at her but didn't turn around instead he shuffled over and began to work on the next panel.

Marina frowned. That was not the response she had been looking for. She and Nodoka had been sewing and stitching her new outfit all morning and she wanted his opinion on it. Instead Ranma was engrossed in his work. She swore he picked bad habits up off of people like nothing. She stalked towards him and grabbed him by his shoulders. "I said: Hellooo Ranma!" She said this in a sultry purr and Ranma's eyes went wide he hadn't been expecting this. He turned around and looked at Marina who had backed up and was smiling. She spun around and winked at him. "What do you think?" She asked.

Ranma looked her over from head to toe. She had on a blue skintight kevlar gene masking outfit on. She had modified it slightly to match her taste in clothing. It looked really good. It had yellow patterns running down the front and back, as well as the arms and legs. It had cuts in the sides of it that showed off her emerald green skin. When she spun around Ranma could see that there was a large slit at the back that ran from the edge of her shoulders to the small of her back just above her butt, which Ranma couldn't help but notice in the skin tight kevlar.

"It looks...great!" Ranma said looking her over once again.

Marina squealed in delight and jumped at Ranma to give him a hug. "I _knew_ you'd like it!" She said. Ranma couldn't help but smile. The girl had opened up a lot considering how little time she's been around. It made him feel good to know that she was happy.

"I made one for you too." She said. "Me and your Mom modified the gene masking outfits Hank gave us to fit each others personalities." Ranma looked confused.

"My personality?" Ha asked.

Marina grabbed his hands and pulled him to his feet. "Come _on_ Ranma! Stop stalling! Come try it on." Ranma reluctantly followed.

A very short while later Ranma came out of his room with his new suit on. It was skin tight just like Marina's but apparently they had to be if they were to properly mask the fact that he was a mutant. He had looked in the mirror and had to admit though, He did look good. Marina was an excellent seamstress. "How do I look?" He asked. Showing off his suit, with an uneasy half smile.

Ranma wore a red kevlar suit that had patterns on it similar to Marina's only his were black, he had black arm bracers on his forearms with red on them. Three black belt like things ran across the top of his chest though they didn't serve any real purpose, they appeared to be there just for looks. He wore boots but they were light weight and the legs were mostly black. He had a red X on his right breast with black in between. Thankfully though Ranma's didn't have the large patches cut out on the back and sides.

"You look amazing." Marina said. "You can put your normal clothes on overtop of it all. Beast suggested that if we were to ever fight off any villains or Sentinels than we should do so just in our Masking suits. Said it would be best if we kept our identities secret. For safety reasons." Ranma nodded.

"Yeah I already know. Did Hank give us any extra suits just in case we got any new recruits?"

Marina nodded. "We've got five extras. Three male and two female." Ranma smiled.

"Great! This thing will adjust to whatever body I'm in right?" Ranma asked. Marina looked a little confused for a second and then nodded.

"Oh yeah the curse! Yes it adjusts. I looked after that, well, not really it was Hanks idea." Just then Nodoka, Ranma's mother, came up the stairs. Her jaw dropped when she saw the two teenagers standing there in the gene masking suits.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO STILL DOING HERE! YOU SHOULD BE AT SCHOOL!" Ranma winced.

"Uh, We forgot?" He supplied weakly.

Nodoka frowned and pushed Ranma into his room. "Get changed as fast as you can and get to school NOW!" She did the same to Marina.

Ranma threw his clothes overtop of his gene masking suit as fast as he could and met Marina out in the hall. They rushed down the stairs together and met Nodoka who had their lunches and a glass of water. She splashed Ranma with the water, turning him into his female cursed form, and gave them their lunches. Ranma and Marina ran out the door and then Ranma jumped to the rooftops after grabbing Marina in her arms. They leapt across Juuban headed for Nerima.

When they got to the class they were told to wait out in the hall for being late. They moaned and did as they were told, picking up two pails filled with cold water on the way. When they got out in the hall a girl walked past them and into the same classroom.

"Who's that?" Asked Marina after the girl closed the door behind her. Ranma shrugged.

"Beats the hell out of me. I've never seen her before. She must be new." Marina nodded and just stood there for a moment.

"Ranma?" She finally asked.

"Yeah?" Ranma wondered looking at her inquisitively.

"I..." Marina was cut off as the door opened again and the same girl walked out into the hall with two pails full of water. One in each hand. "Never mind." Marina said, not wanting to finish what she was saying with the new girl there.

Ranma smiled at the girl as she walked by and stood by Ranma. She had an air of confidence around her, her long silky black hair cascaded openly down her back, she was lithe and looked as though she worked out. She had vibrant green eyes and she had a pierced nose with a ring through her left nostril. Ranma had to admit she was very beautiful.

"Hi." Ranma said. Setting down one of her buckets and extending a hand towards the new girl. "I'm Ranma Saotome. What's your name?" The girl looked at the hand a little cautiously and then smiled, grabbing the hand in a firm handshake.

"I'm Leyu Yoshida." She said with a small smirk that reminded Ranma of the girl Nabiki that was in her previous class. He had been transferred up a grade but had asked the principle if he could stay back with his own age group. She didn't feel comfortable up with so many strangers. He'd rather hang around with Marina. Besides, Kuno and Nabiki kind of freaked him out.

"Your new here eh?" Ranma asked as he let go of the handshake and picked up her bucket again. "I just started a couple of days here myself." Ranma then leaned forward and pointed at Marina. "She's new here too. Her names Marina." Leyu set down one of her buckets and extended the hand to Marina who happily accepted it

"Hi."

"Hello." Leyu pulled back her hand from the seemingly normal looking girl and stared at her hand confusedly. Marina although looking perfectly normal, felt oddly different, like something metal, or bone or something. She smiled, picked up her bucket and just stood there. Ranma was about to say something but he heard something in the distance and then the floor started to shake. It started off as just a small tremor then it escalated into something that shook the very foundation, threatening to knock both Ranma and Marina off their feet.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!?!" Marina yelled over the noise that accompanied the shaking.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Ranma yelled as well. Just then Leyu dropped her buckets and ran down the halls in search of a bathroom. "HEY LEYU WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?!" He called out to her, but she was already gone and not listening anyway. Ranma took off her shirt and dropped her pants. She had her gene masking suit on underneath and then she ran over to the nearest boys bathroom. She splashed herself with warm water, turning into his male form, and ran towards where she heard the noise at first. As he ran past Marina, who was also taking off her school clothes to reveal her Kevlar uniform, he dropped her telekinetic projection of normalcy and motioned for her to follow him.

As the two ran through the hallways they could see many students stumbling down the halls towards the noise. He had already did a mind scan to estimate the extent of the damage and to figure out what they were dealing with and he was a little surprised at what it was.

Ranma stopped in his tracks and stopped Marina as well. The floor just stopped. They were on the third floor right at the moment and once they got to the end of the hall it just stopped and they came upon a huge amount of wreckage. Ranma looked over to the right of the wreckage and his face fell into a worried frown. "Oh crap." He noted to himself.

Marina looked over at what Ranma was looking at and put on an expression very similar to that of Ranma's own. Out in the schoolyard was a huge monster. It was purple, blue, and black in colors and stood about two stories tall. It had two heads that were exactly the same and equally hideous. It's features reminded Ranma of a Japanese style dragon mixed with some sort of fish. It stood on two feet though and had fairly human looking musculature, other than the rock like patches of armor plating on it's back, arms, legs and head.

"That's a student." Ranma said.

"WHAT?" Marina asked incredulously. "How could that thing be a student?" She asked. "It's HUGE! Not to mention ugly!" Ranma put up a hand to shush her.

"Mutant powers develop at adolescence. We're in a high school, there's bound to be a few mutations here and there. I just never thought they'd be this extreme or this fast!" Ranma jumped down to the ground below and sent a mental message out to the oversized mutant. He carried Marina down with him. <"What happened?"> He asked the creature. It looked over at him and roared angrily. Ranma could hear it's thoughts though and knew what it was mad about.

"Marina look through the ruble and try to find some survivors. I'm sure there was some people hurt in the wreckage." Marina nodded and rushed to the wreckage, ripping up blocks of cement and clearing as much stuff away as she could, looking for people.

<"I know you're upset. I know you just want to be normal, but this is what you are!"> Ranma said to the creature in his mind as he cautiously walked towards it. <"I just want to help you Daisuke."> The two headed Daisuke monster let off a scream of rage and rushed towards Ranma. Ranma was about to mind spike him unconscious when a blast of subatomic heat ripped through the air and slammed into the creatures chest.

Ranma whipped his head around to see what had done that and saw a girl flying through the air, an aura of fire surrounding her. She was headed towards Daisuke "Destroying a school goes pretty low monster!" She screamed as she hurled through the air getting ready to attack again. Ranma looked towards Daisuke the monster and noticed that he was struggling to get up from the blast. His chest was smoking and he was glaring daggers at the flying woman from both sets of eyes.

Ranma put up a TK force field in front of him and the monster just as the girl threw another sub atomic flame blast forth. She stopped in mid flight when she saw her blast just stop. Ranma pulled down the barrier and sent a mental message towards the girl. <"Don't hurt him he's just confused!">

Leyu Yoshida, a.k.a. Sunpyre, stood shocked in mid flight as she felt some boy's voice inside her head. She was merely trying to banish the monster before it could hurt anymore students, now this boy was telling her that she couldn't. "Get out of my head!" She screamed as she reared back to throw another blast at the two headed monster. Ranma threw out a mental confusion attack that he was still playing around with and Leyu's arms froze up and she then dropped to the ground.

Ranma had already read her mind and knew that she was Leyu. He jumped forward to intercept her before she hit the ground and then set her on her feet. "Leyu..." He began.

"How did...?"

Ranma put up a hand and smiled. "I'm a mutant like you. I'm a telepath. This isn't some random monster. It's a mutant. Like us. His name is Daisuke and his X-factor has just kicked in." Leyu looked up at the two headed monster and stared confused.

"What can we do?" she asked. Ranma thought for a second as he stared at the huge monster. It was breathing heavily and appeared to be tired. Ranma looked over to Marina who was still digging through the rubble and then. Glared at the monstrous form of Daisuke. Ranma powered up a T.K. blast and hurled it at the two headed mutant. Leyu was confused as to what Ranma was doing but when the telekinetic blast hit the monster it just disappeared. "W...where did he go?" She asked Ranma. Ranma smiled and gave a mental call for Marina to join them.

"Why don't we get out of class early today?" Ranma asked. Marina and Leyu followed him and they ran away in the direction of the school gates.

***************

Ranma, Leyu, and Marina landed in the Saotome front yard about ten minutes later. Ranma had used his telekinesis to mask their presences from any prying eyes, and to fly them across Nerima and into Juuban. "Some trick." Leyu noted as she looked around. Beast, hearing voices outside, came out of the dojo/danger room to see what was going on.

Ranma waved to Hank. "Hey Hank. Could you go get my mom? I need to talk to her." Beast nodded.

"Sure. I guess I could." Hank then entered the house and soon came out with Nodoka in tow.

"Ranma? What are you doing home so soon?" She asked.

"I've found a couple of new Mutants today mom. I was wondering if they could stay with us until they could control their powers." Nodoka nodded.

"Of course dear. Any friend of yours is welcome in my house as long as they like." She said with a smile. She then directed her eyes to the girl in the red and white costume with the mask. "And your name is?" She asked her.

Ranma cut in. "Actually mom. The kid I was really wondering about is a little more difficult to room." Ranma lowered his Telekinetic masking field and hovering in the air above them was a two story tall monster with two heads and rock like armor plates covering parts of it's body.

"Oh My!" Nodoka said with her hand covering her mouth. " It certainly is...BIG!" The woman then composed herself slightly and blushed. " I don't think even the dojo could accommodate him." Ranma set the monstrous form of Daisuke on the ground and he just sat there slumped over with a sad look in his eyes. Nodoka couldn't help but notice how humane those eyes were. Ranma had already calmed him down with a little psychic cooling so he was virtually harmless at the moment.

Just then the worst thing that could happen, happened. Genma walked out of the house intent on going over to the nearest bar and getting drunk. He stopped in his tracks however when his gaze fell upon a huge two headed monster sitting in his front yard. He saw Ranma, Marina, Nodoka, and some other mutants standing by it and he growled.

"RANMA!!!" He yelled. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! NOW YOUR BRINGING HOME THE BIG ONES! I AUGHT TO DISOWN YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL MUTANT FREAK OF A CHILD!!" Ranma heard his fathers ranting loud and clear. To be perfectly frank it was the last thing he wanted to hear.

Ranma whipped his head at his father and growled himself. "THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT WITH YOUR BITCHING AND WHINING ABOUT MUTANTS!" Ranma then lifted Genma into the air with his telekinesis. "I should have done this a long time ago!" he said.

"PUT ME DOWN! DON'T YOU DARE USE THOSE HELL BORN POWERS ON ME! I'M YOUR FATHER!" Genma yelled, he then found himself paralyzed. Ranma shut his eyes in concentration. Genma started to spasm in the air and then Ranma finally set him down. Nodoka ran over to her husbands side and felt his pulse. Sure enough he was alive but she was still worried as to what Ranma had done to him.

"Ranma..." She began. Ranma held up a hand to stop her.

"Don't worry about that fool. He'll be fine. Though his view on mutants will be a hell of a lot different!" Ranma then turned back to the matter of the mutated Daisuke. He turned to Beast. "Is there anyway that we could provide Daisuke with some sort of shelter and a gene cloaking suit?" He asked the bestial mutant.

Hank put his hand on his chin and looked thoughtful. "I think." He said. "That we may be able to set up an establishment somewhere underground given time. How long did it take the boy to mutate to such a large frame?" Ranma shrugged.

"Just a couple of minutes I guess. It might have been instantly. It caught everyone by surprise." He replied. "Why what does that got to do with anything?"

"Well If the boy's mutation came fast like you said it had than he may be able to control his size or even be able to turn back into his original self." Beast said. "But don't take my word for it. I'm just the scientific genius."

Ranma looked interested, Daisuke even more so. "I can change back?" Daisuke asked in a gravelly and equally monstrous tone as his appearance. It seemed to echo because both heads said the same thing at the same time.

Hank looked up at the extremely mutated youth and shrugged. "You might be able to. It all depends really."

"On what?" Both Ranma and Daisuke said at the same time.

Hank smiled. "On whether or not my guess is anywhere near the correct answer." Ranma and Daisuke groaned. Daisuke sounded low and it reverberated off of the walls and almost seemed like it echoed inside their heads. "Just trying to lighten things up." Beast said. Nobody said anything. They just all glared at him. "What!?"

Ranma looked over at Daisuke and noticed something that he hadn't before. "What's that?" He asked. Beast looked up inquisitively at the boy.

"What's what?" He asked.

Ranma walked towards Daisuke and pointed directly at what he had saw. "What is THAT!?" Beast followed Ranma's hand and looked at what he was pointing at. They appeared to be three slits in Daisuke's Chest area.

Beast reached forward and lifted one of the flaps up. "Oh my. These appear to be gills."

"Gills eh? You thinking what I'm thinking Hank?" Ranma asked.

"Oh I think I've got a good idea, after all you are projecting that very thought into my mind."

"What? What are you two thinking?" Marina asked.

Ranma smiled at the snake skinned girl that was his best friend. "How do you hide a two story tall monster with gills?" He asked.

Hank supplied the answer for her. "Tokyo Bay. It's deep enough to hide Daisuke and his gills will allow him to breath underwater until we can make up some sort of underground or subterranean housing for him."

Ranma nodded. "Right! And then we also have enough time to make a gene masking suit that'll fit him." A groan sounded off near the house and everyone turned their heads to see Genma getting up. "Oh lucky us!" Ranma said sarcastically before walking over to Genma. He put a hand on Genma's shoulder and smiled at the man. "How yah doing Pop?" He asked.

Genma looked up at Ranma and then past him to gaze on his friends. "Shouldn't you kids be at school?" he asked. Ranma smiled and sighed a HUGE sigh of relief.

"Thank god it worked." He muttered to himself. Genma yawned and looked confused.

"What worked boy? You finally figure out that new technique I showed you?" Ranma smiled.

"Yeah! That's it. New technique."

Genma stood up and shook his head. "You'll have to show me later. In the meantime you have to get to school. I don't want to see any reports coming in that you and Marina are skipping." Genma then walked over to Marina and smiled at her. Marina was nervous at this advance since she knew that she didn't have Ranma's telekinetic illusion on at the moment. Genma put his arms around her in a...HUG!?! Marina nearly passed out from confusion or something. It was such a huge and quick change that it was mind blowing. "Now Rina." He said in, what she could almost discern as, a loving tone. "My favorite little girl shouldn't be skipping out on her studies like this. It's not how a young woman should act."

He let go of her and smiled before heading into the house. Marina stared after the man confused. She then frowned and turned around to glare at Ranma she grabbed him by the skintight Kevlar and shook him. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!? THAT WAS THE WEIRDEST MOST UNCOMFORTABLE...!" Ranma put up his hands in an innocent gesture.

"HEY! I just gave the old fart a few different views on mutants and education and all! You of all should be happy! At least he isn't thinking murderous thoughts towards you anymore! That should be a little bit comforting!" Marina's glare lost all of its edge and she let go of Ranma's suit. The boy smoothed it out and smiled giddily.

"Just make sure he doesn't hug me again!" She said. Ranma snapped his fingers and smiled even wider, if a little silly.

"Done!" He said.

Hank cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Now that we've all gotten the fat idiot, that is Ranma's father, off our case; can we get back to the task at hand?" He said pointing to Daisuke who was drawing pictures in the lawn with his huge claws in boredom.

Ranma chuckled. "You might want to take back that idiot comment. I also gave him a college education in business and physical fitness. As for the fat part."

A scream echoed throughout the Saotome household and Genma ran out the door. "NODOKA I'VE GOTTEN FAT!!! WE NEED TO ORDER SOME EXTRA EXERCISE EQUIPMENT! RANMA! WE WILL BE TRAINING AFTER EVERY MEAL FROM NOW ON!" Ranma smiled at Marina.

"I think it's safe to say that we'll be seeing a new Genma Saotome from now on."

***************

Leyu Yoshida flew through the air alone in the guise of Sunpyre. She had been a mutant for a mere four years. Her powers developed earlier than most mutants did. She had her head filled with spandex superherodome by her older brother Shiro who had developed a similar power as hers when he was 15. He made a costume and went out as the costumed hero Sunfire. He dedicated using his powers for good and saving people's lives. She idolized her brother since she was nine years old because of that and always wished that she could be like him when she grew up.

Every morning from then on she would hold her toast over her hand hoping that she would develop some powers and toast it with them. She would jump off the porch at her house into piles of snow hoping that she would be engulfed in sub atomic flames and take of into the sky. Many of the times her brother would watch her do these things and laugh at her when she failed. He couldn't help it. She looked hilarious when ever she creased her face in absolute concentration or came up covered head to toe in snow.

When she got a little older Shirow moved out of the house. He wasn't there to carry her around Tokyo through the air, he wasn't there to laugh at her misfortunes. The only times she got to see her brother was when he visited... occasionally or when she saw Sunfire's picture in the paper. But then he stopped visiting and he stopped appearing in the papers. That was also about the same time that she developed her powers. She had left home herself soon after making her own costume similar to Shirow's She was determined to find him. She had a horrible feeling that something bad had happened to her older brother. She now spent most of her time looking for him. She hadn't gotten any leads at the moment though. She was still running blind in a hurricane as to the situation of her brother's disappearance.

She landed on the roof of the apartment building that she was currently taking up residence at and sighed as she sat down on a wooden crate and took off her mask, which looked similar to the features of a dragon with dark lenses for eyes. She looked up to the sky forlornly. "Where are you Shirow?" She asked to no one in particular hoping that she would get some sort of answer. Some sort of sign that might give her an idea as to where he might have went.

"I'm sorry about your brother Leyu." came a voice behind her. Leyu shot to her feet and charged up an atomic flame in her hands ready to let loose on whoever it was that had snuck up on her.

Ranma didn't even flinch. Having already known what Leyu was going to do. "I know your a mutant. I know what you're looking for. I'm asking you to join me. I'm merely putting together a group of people to fight for right and justice, Human's and mutants alike. Much like Shirow did."

"What do you want!" Leyu asked, not letting her flame die down.

Ranma smiled and held out a hand to her. "I want to help. That is, if you'll help me. I have the resources and the contacts that may help in finding your brother. If you join my X-Men I'll do everything in my power to help you. I promise."

Leyu didn't know what to do. She had met this boy only this morning. She had just about killed an innocent mutant if it wasn't for him stopping her. She wasn't sure what to do. This boy promised to be able to do what she couldn't for the past four years of her life. His offer was tempting and a lot of the situations she had been in as a super hero would have been much simpler with a team. She looked at the hand Ranma held out to her cautiously. She also looked at the boy who owned that hand. She smiled as she got a good look at the Kevlar coated man in front of her. He was well muscled and his facial features were handsome. She grabbed his hand and shook it. Powering down her atomic flame as well.

"I'll accept your offer." She said. *There's always _some_ perks.* She noted in her mind.

Ranma smiled nervously as he read those thoughts in her head and wondered if this was a smart idea.

"Welcome to the Japanese branch of the X-Men Sunpyre." Ranma said giving her a firm handshake. Sunpyre returned the handshake with pleasure.

****************

Ranma entered the Saotome home soon later with Leyu Yoshida in tow. Marina was having a game of Shogi with Hank, and Nodoka was in the kitchen. "I take it Daisuke has already gone to Tokyo Bay?" Ranma asked. Beast looked up at Ranma and nodded.

"Yes he has. He wasn't to happy about having to hide away in the water for so long but he seems to be dealing with becoming a mutant pretty well." Hank didn't notice Marina take a few pieces off of the board and throwing them into the pond. Ranma smiled both at what Hank said and Marina's desperation for a win, apparently they had been playing a while and she hasn't won yet.

"That's good news. I'm going to need a gene blocking suit for Leyu here." Ranma said. He then took the girl upstairs to get one of them. Marina eyed the girl with Ranma with distaste. As she followed behind the boy. She looked down at the board again and noticed that a few of her pieces were missing. The fact that Hank had just swallowed something didn't escape her either.

Ranma handed Leyu one of the Gene blocking suits out of the closet. "You should wear this at all times Leyu. It hides the fact that your a mutant from sentinels." Leyu took the kevlar suit and stared at it in confusion.

"What's a sentinel?" She asked.

"It's a robot that stands several stories tall that tracks and eliminates mutants systematically. They are being made in the USA by the dozen and Japan is in talks with getting some for themselves. If they do get some then no mutant is safe in Japan." Leyu took this all in with just a little hesitation to believe it. It was pretty odd.

"Ranma? Wasn't there a girl at school with the same name? I met her out in the hall with that Marina girl, though she looked normal at the time. Is that another mutant ability of yours? To change into a girl?" Ranma chuckled and shook his head.

"Not everything strange that happens is a mutant ability. I got this curse in China that changes my sex with different temperatures of water. It's no big deal. I use it mainly to cover up the fact that I'm a mutant."

Leyu nodded. "Oh. Right." She folded up the suit that Ranma had handed to her and turned around to leave. "Say Ranma?"

"Uhh yeah? Ranma replied already knowing what she was going to say. Not really wanting to answer such a question. Since he didn't know her too well yet he decided to keep her at arms length for the moment and keep a mental tabs on her.

"Do you...?" Just then Marina came running up the stairs.

"Ranma! Nodoka says dinner's ready. She want's to know if your _friend_ will be staying." Ranma shook his head.

"No she has to go right now actually. She's got rent to pay on her apartment that she's been putting off." He said hoping that he could get her to leave without there being a cat fight break out between the two girls. He had already sensed Marina's jealousy towards the girl, and Leyu's attraction towards him.

Leyu looked at Ranma inquisitively. "How did...?" She asked. Ranma just smiled and pointed to his head. The three teens then walked down the stairs together, Marina staying a little closer to Ranma than usual. When they got to the bottom of the stairs Leyu parted and headed towards the front door.

Nodoka set the food she had prepared and looked around. She groaned and looked to Ranma. "Ranma go get your father off of that blasted Ab roller and get him to the table. He needs to eat. Why did you have to make him so obsessed about his body's appearance?" Ranma got up from the table and shrugged.

"Figured I was doing you a favor mom." He said before rushing out to the dojo/danger room. Nodoka blushed a little and continued to set the table for everyone.

*****************

Meanwhile underneath Tokyo bay. Daisuke swam beneath the waters using his humongous appendages. In a way he felt free here. He had always loved the water and has always excelled at swimming, but in the light of his mutation he was now able to stand extreme depths. He was currently on the bottom of Tokyo Bay. He had to, he was to big to be on land without being noticed. As he glided through the waters he opened both of his gigantic mouths to engulf schools of fish at a time. In a very short time he had grown quite a taste for raw fish. In a way he felt better than he had in a long time. He felt free. Free from all of life's little worries.

Daisuke looked up to the surface of the water and smiled mischievously. His eyes narrowed and he shot upwards towards the small wooden fishing boat that had it's nets hung over the side in the water. He lay just under the water and waited for just the right moment.

***************

Hiroki Mensuri was a simple man. He was also a poor man. A simple fisherman. He could barely get by with the pay he got for his catch. He never seemed to have any luck either so her spent most of his days just letting the nets sit while he played a game boy that had been a gift for his son a few years back when he had a better paying job.

"Damn it!" Hiroki shouted as he thumped his fist on the side of the boat. He was currently playing the latest Pokemon game and was having the worst of luck yet. He just couldn't seem to catch any damned Rapidashes.

When Hiroki's fist collided with the wooden side of his boat though the entire boat jerked. In that direction. "What the?" The man said, as he stood up surprised. "I didn't know I had it in me."

Hiroki was wrong about that though and the boat jerked again. "Wait a minute." Hiroki muttered. He walked over to the side of his boat where his net was draped over but was stopped when the entire boat started moving sideways. It was going pretty fast and he was knocked off of his feet and onto his butt when it first jerked forward.

****************

Daisuke was having the time of his life. He could hear the little Japanese fisherman from underneath the water and had to fight just to keep from laughing. Though he wondered what that would sound like in his new voice. Or rather voices if you thought about it.

"WOAAAAHHH!" The fisherman screamed as he tried to get to the other side of the boat to see what was pulling him so fast. He finally got to the edge and looked down into the fairly murky waters.

Daisuke couldn't help it anymore. The moment he saw that look on the fisherman's face he burst out laughing and sunk down into the water. The laugh however sounded a whole lot different to poor Hiroki's ears. Hiroki backed up to the other side of his little boat and screamed.

"GOJIRAAAAAA!!!!"

Daisuke decided to put on a little bit of a show. And leapt out of the water a few hundred yards from the lone boat. He straightened his monstrous legs and touched his toes before righting himself and diving back into the bay.

Hiroki screamed again as he saw this and stood terrified on the deck of his wooden fishing boat just staring out in the distance where the monster had disappeared. "Gojira has two heads... and no tail!" Hiroki pulled up the net that had been grabbed by the two monstrous heads and stared in horror at the rips and tears in it.

"Money be damned! I'm never fishing again!" With that Hiroki pulled the motor to his boat and set off for land as fast as he could.

****************

Later that evening Marina Kitata sat in the Saotome home living room with Genma, Nodoka, Hank, and Ranma watching the Television. They were currently watching a special news bulletin that had come up. Marina stared in horror at the screen.

["Today in the Nerima district another mutant rampage has occurred. This time at a school. We have that story live with Saeko. Saeko?"] The screen then changed to show a Japanese reporter standing in front of a pile of rubble.

["Thank you Naomi. I'm standing here at a pile of rubble that was once the west side of Furinkan high school in Nerima district; Tokyo. Seventeen students were injured in the rampage here earlier today. Six were hospitalized and two are now dead, as well as one teacher who was only three weeks away from her retirement. One student who was in one of the classes that is now rubble, Daisuke Sugiki, has still not been found. Back to you Naomi."]

Naomi faced the camera and smiled. ["In light of this horrible rampage the Japanese government has vowed to put a stop to the mutant problem and has signed a form mere hours ago ordering two hundred Sentinels, which have been successful in seeking out and destroying over four thousand mutants in the United States."]

Ranma frowned as he watched the screen and listened to the words of the woman that was portrayed on the screen. "This is bad." Ranma noted. Genma and the rest nodded.

When will you have a gene blocking suit done for Daisuke Hank?" Marina asked. Beast shrugged his massive shoulders.

"It could be a couple days. I sent the measurements to Xavier but he said that it may not be till Monday that it'll be ready." Ranma nodded.

"Well I don't think that Daisuke will have too much to worry about. The Sentinels will stick mainly to the land. That's where the highest percentage of Mutants are located. But we should also get some extra's just in case we meet any unfortunate mutants along the way. I think we're going to have to spend a lot of our time fighting these sentinels if we really want to help anyone." Ranma said. He then sighed. "This is pointless. We are actually just the next evolution of the human race. A huge percentage of the human race is mutants."

Hank put a comforting hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Cheer up Ranma. We can't save everyone but we can try. We can definitely save a few. After all a few people can make a huge difference." Ranma nodded.

"I pray you're right Hank. I really do."

*****************

Elsewhere across Juuban and in the living area of Nerima. Leyu Yoshida stared at the TV in wonder. "Wow! He was right. He was telling the truth." She turned off her television and then folded up her Sunpyre costume. She looked at the kevlar gene masking suit that Ranma gave her and then glanced at the TV. She took off her nightgown and slipped on the Masking suit. She then lay down in her bed and pulled the sheets up over her shoulders.

"God help us all." She said before nodding off.

*****************

Authors notes: {I don't think there's a whole lot to say except that this is so far my favorite chapter of Astral Minds. I'll bet nobody thought that Daisuke would be the next mutant to come around, or that he would have such a huge and monstrous mutation. I like the part with the fisherman. That was cute. But where are the Amazons? What is it that Marina was trying to ask Ranma out in the hall? Where's Kuno? What is Nabiki going to do to Ranma? Bet you forgot about that last one or something eh? When will Ryoga get there? Well I'm going to answer a lot of these questions in the next chapter. I'll be doing Astral Minds more often now. If I don't get chapters out often enough, my brother Jacob will try to write them. You don't want that trust me. I've been writing fanfics longer than he has(never). So Astral Minds will update a lot more regularly, but I'll have to slow it down eventually because I'm following bot Ranma and Ultimate X-Men. I'll scan some ultimate pics onto my site soon, as well I'll do a few sketches of my characters with their new costumes. I'll do that as soon as I get a new sketchbook. You'll like Daisuke. He looks hella cool. I'll be doing a little bit of Adamantium Rage as well. Dragon's Bond will not be updated for a while though. I need to watch the Slayers series again and get caught up, as well I need to touch up the old chapters. Animeaddiction will be putting out a special chapter of Ranma In Black on his sight soon and then I'm going to be continuing that. Sweet eh? Yeah that's what I thought. As always here's hoping you keep reading.}

Morden Night: anime_morden@crystal-tokyo.com

http://josh_vh.tripod.com/mordensranmapage/

Peace all.