Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Bubblegum Crisis/Ranma 1/2: The boomer that just won't die part 6/8



  Nene looked at the line up, wide eyed. What the hell was Ranma doing 
in that line up?
  "Are you sure they can't see through the window?" a short stocky man 
said nervously.
  Daley nodded, "Uh huh,"
  Nene had walked into the room when she saw everyone on the other side 
of the one way mirror enter that room. Ranma was one of the few people 
among the line up. "What's he doing there?"
  "Who?" Daley asked, turning toward Nene, a bit curious.
  Nene quickly swallowed. She shouldn't have said that aloud.
  Ranma's eyes widened as he caught sight of Nene through the mirror 
"Hi, Nene,"
  "H-how does he know you're in here?!" Daley said, shocked. 
  Nene swallowed again.
  "Hey, how come I'm in here, Nene? I didn't do nothin'." Ranma said. 
"All I was doing was walking down the street when I got picked up,"
  Daley spoke into the microphone, "Well, it's because you fit the 
description the victim has described,"
  Ranma jerked a thumb toward this tall burly fellow right next to him. 
He was so tall that Ranma would have to crank his neck back in order to 
see the man eye to eye, "Um, exacly how do I fit in the same description 
as this dude here?"
  "Can you recognize who your assailant is?" Daley asked the short man, 
ignoring Ranma. He was going to talk to Nene about him later, and on who 
he was. The short man was very nervous, fidgeting. 
  "I'm not too sure," the man said.
  Daley leaned forward. God, he couldnt' believe he was reduced to line 
ups while his partner was on vacation, "Everyone, please turn toward 
your right.....okay, now to your left,"
  Ranma's stomach grumbled. God, he was hungry.
  "Man, I'm hungry," Ranma said to himself.
  "Sir, will you please do us a favor and....shut up!" Daley said, a bit 
annoyed. He didn't really care if Ranma knew Nene. Ranma had fit the 
victim's description and could be the assailant. There were pretty much 
no one that could be trusted nowadays...except Leon
  Ranma took offense. Not only had he been wrongly arrested, but now 
someone was telling him what to do. He took a step forward, toward the 
glass, "Hey, I don't need to shut up if I don't want to. I could go on 
talkin' if I wanna." He wasn't violent, but rather, he didn't like being 
told what to do.
  The short man got even more nervous, "C-can he b-break through the g-
glass?"
  Daley shook his head, "No. It isn't humanly possible,"
  "Don't bet on it," Nene commented to herself.  Daley had heard and 
gave Nene a curious look. 
  "Is there something to this guy we don't know about?"
  Nene wondered what she should say. She shrugged her shoulders.
   "That's him," the victim said, pointing toward a man at the end of 
the line up, not Ranma. "I recognize that tatoo,"
  Daley nodded, "Are you sure?" 
  The man nodded.
  About a half hour had passed since the round up and Ranma's release. 
Ranma was on his way out of the police station when Nene walked up 
behind him.
  "Ranma,"
  "Eh?" he turned around and saw Nene, "Oh, hiya, Nene. What's up?" 
  "How did you see through that one way mirror?"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Huh? That was a one way mirror?"
  "Nevermind," Nene knew that there was so much to Ranma, and Ryoga, 
that she had yet to understand or comprehend.
  Ranma's stomach grumbled.
  "You're hungry," she said. It was a statement, not a question.
  Ranma nodded "Starvin',"
  "Um, I'm on break now," Nene dared to say, "You want to go grab a bite 
to eat?"
  Ranma's eyes lit up. 
  "I take that as a yes," Nene said, almost couragously. She smiled and 
said, "All right, I know this nice restaurant around the corner. We 
could eat there,"
  Together, they left the station.

  Nene nearly mowed into Ryoga with her little scooter if it weren't for 
Ryoga reacting in time and grabbing the scooter before it hit him. She 
hadn't been paying too much attention to where she was headed since her 
mind had been on Ranma. She was also thinking about all her female co-
workers coming up to her and asking her who that cute man she was with 
during her break. 
  Ryoga casually held a hand and grabbed the handle bars with one hand, 
and Nene in the crook of his elbow since she had gone flying due to the 
forward momentum.
  Ryoga blushed as he put Nene down on her feet, "I'm sorry. I should 
have been watching where I was going,"
  Nene gave Ryoga a curious look. Of course he should had been watching 
where he was going. He was standing in the middle of the street. Was he 
crossing? Or was he unaware that it was a street to begin with?
  "Um, where were you headed?" she asked curiously. It never failed for 
her to meet either Ranma or Ryoga sometime through the day, yet she 
could never really understand where they go when they're not bumping 
into each other.
  "Nowhere in particular, I was looking for a good place to camp out," 
he said, "You wouldn't happen to know of any good parks around here" He 
didn't bother to tell her that getting there for him was a whole 
different story. 
  "Camp out?" Nene said, "You mean you need a place to sleep?"
  Ryoga nodded.
  Nene contemplated if she should allow Ryoga to crash at her place. He 
was a nice guy and her friends trusted them, even though they knew 
little about them. But then again, because they were there, their 
apartments and penthouse got trashed, even though it was Genom's fault.
  But that wasn't what really worried her. Ryoga, afterall, was a man, 
and she, a woman. The thought of what could happen made her heart skip a 
beat.
  Ryoga, a bit nervous, tried to break the silence, "So, um, have you 
seen Ranma around?" He had been looking for Ranma all day since he had 
left when he accidentally revealed a part of their....of his curse.
  Nene shook her head. She took a deep breath and figured she might as 
well help Ryoga out. Sure, he could take care of himself, but it would 
probably do him some good to sleep with a roof over his head, like when 
he stayed over Sylia's penthouse with Ranma and everyone else.
  "Um, you're welcome to crash at my place if you'd like," she offered, 
a bit nervous.
  Ryoga started to panic, "Y-you want me to w-what?" Thoughts raced 
through his mind. He had seen movies where women offered to let the man 
crash at their place, and the man did something else other than sleep 
there. 
  Nene noticed his nervousness and relized he, like her, was a bit 
inexperienced with this kind of thing, "Or perhaps not. I mean, it is a 
nice night to sleep under the stars afterall,"
  Ryoga, forgeting his nervousness, "Yeah, it is. Hey, would you like to 
sleep with me then?"
  "What?!"
  "Yeah, since you said it's a nice night out. Instead of going home and 
sleeping, why not sleep under the stars. But then again....I don't have 
two sleeping bags..." He began to think of how he would go about getting 
another sleeping bag, totally clueless of the ambiguity of his words.
   Ryoga walked off absent-mindedly, leaving behind a bewildered Nene.
  Although Nene was bewildered, she couldn't help but admit that she had 
been glad she went to work.

  Madigan was looking at the screen in her office. There had to be a way 
to stop Ranma and Ryoga. There had to be. She shuddered at the thought 
of how they could survive all the firepower Genom had thrown toward 
them. 
  There was a knock on her door.
  "Come in," Madigan said, her voice exasperated. When Carper entered 
the room, she wished she hadn't sounded so annoyed. It wasn't his fault, 
afterall. 
  "Would you like me to come back at another time?" he asked, a bit 
daunted when Madigan's beautiful yet cold eyes rested on him. When she 
shook her head and indicated for him to have seat, he did as he was told 
and then said, "I've sent out several boomers to track Ranma and Ryoga 
down like you've said. So far, there are no words as to their 
whereabouts but our scouts should find them very soon. They couldn't've 
gone far"
  Madigan nodded. That was good. She needed to hear some good news.
  There was an awkward silence. 
  "Um, well, I guess I better get going now," Carper finally said, 
getting up out of his seat. He didn't know if he should wait for Madigan 
to excuse him or not. He assumed the former and waited for her to say 
something. When she didn't, he said, "Well, I'll talk to you later,"
  "Wait,"
  Carper stopped halfway to the door.
  "I wonder if we'll ever stop them?" she said, more to herself than 
Carper. It was as if she was thinking aloud. Her eyes were on the screen 
as it replayed Ranma and Ryoga's initial battle, when they had first 
met. It scared her that those two people had gotten much stronger since 
that recording.
  Carper turned around to face Madigan's back and said, "Don't worry, 
we'll stop 'em. They're not unstoppable. Perhaps close to it, but not 
unstoppable." He wondered why he had said that last comment aloud.
  "They scare me," she said, her cool fascade almost breaking down "It's 
hard enough dealing with Ranma, but we also have to deal with Ryoga 
also, and now Akane..."
  Carper sympathized with Madigan and he said, "I understand by what you 
mean. They scare me also. But sooner or later, we'll find their 
weakness, and we can exploit it."
  Madigan almost laughed, but in a fit of hysteria, "Yeah, we've found a 
weakness. Ryoga has a bad sense of direction, but how can we use that to 
our advantage? Sure, if we drop him off in the middle of, say, China, we 
probably won't have to worry about him making his way back to Japan for 
a long long time, but I'll be damned if he'll stand idly while we grab 
him and whisk him off to China. Heck, even if we do grab him, have you 
seen how strong he is? All our boomers clipped together won't be strong 
enough or capable of holding him down."
  There was a beep.
  "What's that?" Madigan asked.
  Carper looked down at his pager, "Yes, the scouts have found them."
  "They have?"
  Carper walked over to the screen and pushed a button on the terminal. 
  "Yes, they have"

  Ranma was walking down the street, Akane by his side. After he had 
left AD Police station several hours ago, he ran into Akane. She had 
been with Linna at the time, but Linna left when she was expected at 
work shortly after.
  Akane said, "What are we going to do?"
  "Eh?" Ranma was a bit puzzled, "What do you mean by that?"
  "Have you wondered what we would be doing, say, a months from now?" 
she asked, "It's not like we're going to mooch of the girls' kindness. 
It doesn't help that we have no jobs, no home, no money...."
  Ranma smiled, "We have money, plenty of it. I got a whole bunch of 'em 
from one of my, ahem, visits at Genom Tower,"
  Akane gave Ranma's side a nudge, "That may be true, but dontcha think 
it would be better if we, say, earn our money. We're not animals, 
y'know."
  Ranma chuckled, "So I guess we should return the money?"
  "Nah. If I could do anything about it, I would rob 'em blind, 
considering what they've done," Akane said, her anger almost rising. 
  She and Ranma continued down the street, enjoying theselves, enjoying 
each other's company when all of a sudden, Ranma stopped.
  He turned toward a towering building and looked up toward the roof. 
  "What are you doing?" Akane asked, her eyes narrowing on him. "Why'd 
you stop?"
  Ranma looked up toward the roof. He could have sworn he felt something 
lurking in the darkness, watching over him. "I dunno, but I have this 
funny feeling something's following us," He pointed toward the roof, "Up 
there,"

  "Shit, he knows he's being followed!" Madigan said. She almost ducked 
behind Carper, almost scared that Ranma could see right through the 
camera mounted boomer and right at her. She didn't know whether to 
scream in hysteria and shock or be extremely scared that Ranma had 
realized he was being followed and wasn't even worried about it.
  "How does he know he's being followed? The boomer is no bigger than 
small dog," he said, shocked. It was a surveillence boomer, not some 
combat one, meaning the size was very small. "The boomer must be, what, 
at least sixty feet away from him, up on the roof, where it was pitch 
black, yet he could still see it!"
  "Well, now that we know of his location, perhaps it would be prudent 
to send a squad of boomers to attack them, ne?" Carper asked, awaiting 
orders. He had anticipated the scouting boomer finding Ranma, but not so 
soon. It would take a short while for him to compile all those boomers 
for the offensive attack.
  "Fine," Madigan said.
  "Do you think we should accompany them?" Carper suggested, "I mean, it 
would probably be better off with us giving instructions from there 
instead of from this office. It'll be easier for us to incorporate some 
strategy instead of sending all those boomers in blindly"
  Madigan nodded.
  "You're right. Let's go"

  "You're being paranoid," Akane said.
  Ranma turned toward Akane and followed her down the street. It didn't 
really matter if he was being followed or not. He was capable of 
handling anything and everything. Except for cats that is.
  Ranma's stomach grumbled, "Yo, Akane, you hungry? Let's go get some 
grub,"
  "Me? I'm not hungry."
  "Oh yeah, I forgot you don't get hungry," Ranma said, realizing 
something "Well, how about we go get some food anyway? I'm starving. I 
could eat a horse,"
  "I don't doubt it," she said teasingly. For some reason, she didn't 
feel all that uncomfortable being alone with Ranma now. Although he had 
remained almost the same over those many years, he seemed easier to get 
along with, like nothing really bothered him.
  Ranma chuckled, "Well? How 'bout it?"
  Akane shrugged her shoulders. Even though she didn't need to eat, she 
would give it a try regardless. Lisa had mentioned that she was very 
very close to human, even capable of experiencing feelings, so it wasn't 
all that far-fetched that she could taste food. "I guess so,"
  Together, Ranma and  Akane went to the first restaurant they came 
across. It was a rather expensive looking restaurant but that didn't 
bother Ranma. He had plenty of money on his person, all of it stolen 
from Genom.
  Akane felt this slight flush envelope her when she noticed that almost 
all of the females in the dining area had turned their attention onto 
the both of them, especially Ranma.
  Ranma was totally oblivious to the stares. Having girls look and stare 
at him never bothered him. He had girls that did everything they could 
to get him to marry them. Now that was something to worry about. 
  He and Akane both sat down and ordered their meal. When they patiently 
awaited their meal, a silent awkwardness ensued between the two. It was 
broken when Akane said, "Do you miss everyone?"
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah, even Happousei, in a way. It's weird. I miss 
those hectic days where something new happens every morning. I miss the 
morning sparring, the perverted little lech trying to splash me with 
water, fights with Kuno and Ms. Hinako, and, well, everything from 
before Nerima got destroyed,"
  "You've changed,"
  "Of course I have," he answered, "Wouldn't you after seeing everyone 
you cared for die in one fell swoop of violence?"
  Akane nodded, "I guess you're right. It's a bit hard getting used to 
it though. It's as if you've grown more...mature. But it's strange. 
Nothing seems to bother you anymore...."
  Ranma sighed, "I guess you're right about that. But I guess over the 
years, doing nothing but training in the mountains do that can do that 
to a person. It gives you a lot of time to contemplate about life, and 
how we shouldn't squander it. That's all. I'm going to enjoy life for as 
long as I can."
  "That's good to hear," Akane said with a  warm smile. When she saw the 
waiter coming back to the table with their food, she said, "All right. 
Let's eat."
  They eat their food, indulging in some light conversation, mostly 
about how Ranma missed the good old days. With Akane, it felt like 
talking about a week ago. When they were finished, Ranma paid the bill, 
leaving behing a huge tip. 
  Ranma and Akane both enjoyed the evening out, but it was ruined by yet 
another encounter with boomers.
  The two crossed the street, about to head back to the Knight Saber's 
headquarters. It didn't bother them at all that Genom knew of their 
whereabouts. The Knight Saber could could take on anything Genom threw 
at them, provided Ranma and Ryoga were there to lend a helping hand. 
They didn't quite make it across the street when Ranma stopped abruptly. 
He reached out and grabbed Akane's arm, also stopping her.
  Akane said, "Why'd you stop?"
  A missle struck the ground right in front of them. It would have 
easily destroyed Akane and seriously hurt Ranma had it hit its intended 
targets.
  Ranma pointed toward the huge gaping hole in the ground, "That's why." 
  He and Akane both turned and looked down the street, only to see 
dozens upon dozens of boomers swarming in from the distance, some 
hovering, some walking, all of them carrying heavy artillery. Most of 
them looked like anti-tank boomers, like some kind of upgraded 'BU-12b' 
and 'Doberman'. 
  A boomer near the front of the line crouched and fired a projectile 
from its missle launcher. Ranma ducked under the projectile, the missle 
exploding again a building about a hundred yards away. The explosion 
caused many people to come out of the restaurants and look. When they 
caught sight of the boomers, they started to panic and run down the 
street.
  "C'mon, let's get outta here!" Ranma quickly said, his hold on Akane's 
arm tightening "I may be able to take them on, but you'll definitely get 
hurt in the process. We better get them to follow up back to the 
headquarters. Ryoga's there and could help out."
  Another boomer fired a missle. 
  "There are people around!!" Ranma's eyes widened. He realized there 
were innocent people around and that any strafing missle would injure 
dozens. Ranma, realizing that he had to stopped the missle, ran straight 
toward it to intercept it. Knowing that he had to take the hit so no one 
else would, he crossed his hand over his front to protect his face and 
chest and ran straight into the missle. He absorbed the blow...barely.
  Ranma, singed and a bit bruised, shouted, "What the hell's wrong with 
you?! There are innocent people around!!!"
  Another missle. Another explosion absorbed.
  "You goddamn assholes!!! You're gonna kill someone!!!" he shouted, 
furious. He didn't care that he was being targeted, but what bothered 
him was that the bomer paid no attention to the damage and death a 
single missle would cause.
  Carper and Madigan looked at each other. They were both in the far 
rear of the group of boomers but had heard Ranma's shouts. They hadn't 
seen what was going on in the front lines, but could easily hear the 
damage being caused.
  "What are we going to do?" Madigan asked Carper. She, nor Carper, 
wanted innocent people to die. 
  Carper shouted, "Hold fire!"
  The boomers did as they were told. Ranma, noticing them stop for a 
moment, knew this was the best time to get away from the crowd of 
panicking people. He quickly ran toward the sidewalk, knowing a strafing 
missle would hit a building, not a group of people hussling into the 
streets. He then proceeded toward the group of boomers ahead of him. He 
had to get as close to the coomers and as far away from the people as 
possilbe.
  "Oh shit! He's coming this way!!!" Madigan shrieked. She had made it 
to the front lines just in time to see a Ranma charging from a hundred 
or so yards away. Panic-filled, she immediately shouted, "Fire!!!"
  The boomers opened fire, letting loose hot bullets, raging missles, 
energy intense lasers, all with the intent to kill, not one of them 
conscious about the death and destruction they would create. 
  Ranma, reacting on instinct, jumped high into the air and fired a 
single ki-blast at the front row of boomers, destroying one instantly. 
  Madigan, realizing Ranma was counter attacking, quickly took cover 
near the back of the group, where Carper was. She almost hid behind him 
as she heard the carnage ensuing, buildings going up in flames or 
toppling over.
  "No!!!!!!" Although they couldn't see anything, Madigan and Carper 
both heard Ranma cry aloud.
  
  Ryoga looked up at the sky and noticed this odd shade of red, like 
there was a fire somewhere off in the distance. Nene was by his side. 
Even though he had absentmindedly walked off, Nene had ran after him. 
She knew of Ryoga's lack of direction and wanted to walk with him to the 
park so he wouldn't get lost. Besides, she didn't mind being around him 
and she didn't need to check in with her friends for a little bit 
longer. She didn't doubt that her friends would be worried by now and 
might actually be looking for her.
  "Hey, look at that," Rygoa said, pointing upward at the column of 
smoke in the distance. It was probably about a mile or so away from 
where they were.
  Nene's eyes widened, "Looks like a fire or something,"
  Ryoga's eyes narrowed, "Or perhaps Ranma,"
  Out of nowhere, a missle hit Ryoga in the back, sending him sprawling 
forward. Nene was knocked away from him due to the shear proximity she 
had been when the projectile hit its target. She rolled to her feet and 
caught sight of Ryoga getting back up, looking seriously peeved.
  "Okay, who the hell did that?!" he spat, turning around toward where 
the projectile had come from. His eyes rested on several boomers 
emerging from a dark alley. He didn't even bother asking questions. All 
he did was send a single ki-blast right at the lead boomer. The 
explosion created this superheated dome of energy, engulfing every 
boomer. When the smoke cleared up, all that remained were the melted 
remains of what had been boomers.
  "Where did they come from?" Ryoga asked, looking over his shoulder at 
his singed shirt. He started brushing off the soot that the explosion 
left behind.
  "Perhaps they followed us," Nene commented. She slowly walked toward 
the pile of rubble, glad and feeling protected when Ryoga followed 
behind her. It was as if she had her own personal superboomer following 
behind her.
  Ryoga looked down at the debris, "We were followed?"
  Nene nodded, "Perhaps. I wouldn't blame Genom for taking the extra 
precaution. If I were Genom, I wouldn't letcha outta my sight." She 
wondered if she have done that even if she weren't Genom. Most likely 
since Ryoga was easy on the eyes.
  "You don't think Genom had Akane followed? Do you?"
  "Perhaps, and Ranma also," Nene said, starting to realize what Ryoga 
was implying.
  Ryoga turned around and looked at the sky and noticed this huge column 
of light shooting high into the sky, like some beam of light being cast 
down from the heavens, shoothing through the coluds above.
  Ryoga's eyes sombered, "Oh no,"
  Nene's heart skipped a beat. Seeing Ryoga worried seemed to terrify 
her.
  "That's Ranma's," Ryoga said. There was nothing else it could be. 
Nothing could generate energy like that, even at such a distance. He 
remembered having seen Ranma's aura flaring, but not as bright as now, 
when he and Ranma had seen  what had remained of their home and Akane's 
limp body among the rubble. He realized that if he and Nene had been 
followed and attacked, Ranma and Akane could have been followed and 
attecked also.
  "I have to get there, and fast...Akane could be hurt." Ryoga said. He 
assumed the only thing that could cause Ranma's ki to flare like that 
was if something bad had happened to Akane. And if that were true, he 
would kill Ranma for letting something bad happen to her once Ranma 
calmed down.
  "She could be hurt?" Nene asked. She followed behind Ryoga as he ran 
down the street, knowing that she wouldn't be able to keep up. Ryoga was 
in perfect shape and could probably run forever. It didn't help any he 
could run faster than the normal person.
  Ryoga stopped and turned around, "That's the only thing I could think 
of that could cause Ranma's ki to flare like that. If she's hurt or 
dead, I'll kill him," 
  "It shouldn't be that bad," Nene said, catching up, panting, "Akane's 
a sexaroid. Even if she gets hurt, she'll slowly heal herself up, given 
the time to do so," She remember hearing about a new breed of sexaroid 
that could do that, and it was most likely that Akane had the same 
function.
  "S-she could self heal?"
  Nene nodded, "Well, I'm pretty sure she could. Even if she took 
massive damages, she's still a machine. Her body will shut down. She'll 
still be alive, but her conscious will be in some for of stasis."
  That seemed to make Ryoga relax for a moment. It didn't last long 
because his eyes widened.
  "Oh shit!" he said, voice filled with concern, "Ranma doesn't know 
that! He'll probably go insane and end up killing a lot of people if he 
thinks Akane is dead!"
  A large lump formed in Nene's throat. She didn't like the thought of a 
rampaging Ranma. It scared her more than an army of rampaging boomers. 
She said, "What the hell are you waiting for? Get the hell over there 
and tell him before he does something stupid," 
  Ryoga nodded before he turned around and raced down the street, in the 
right direction for a change.
  Nene stood there, looking at the sky. The aura she could see was 
unbelieveable, and very scary.
  Even the sound of Priss' screeching tires as she pulled up next to her 
didn't seem to startle her. 
  "Where have you been?" Priss asked, exasperationg in her voice. She 
noticed Nene was looking at something. When she followed Nene's gaze, 
her eyes buldged out at the sight of the column-like beam of light "Hold 
shit, what the hell is that?"
  "T-that's Ranma's aura!" Nene replied, still staring. When she 
realized that Priss was there, she turned toward her and quickly said, 
"Priss, Ryoga went there to stop Ranma. He said that for something like 
that to happen, Ranma must have gone beserk. Ranma might end up killing 
people if we don't stop him."
  "What?!"  Priss said through her helmet, "R-Ranma went beserk? The the 
hell are you talking about? He isn't some boomer!" 
  "No, he's worse. He's a person that doesn't know Akane can self-heal 
if she gets hurt....or that she'll shut down for a while when badly 
damaged," Nene replied matter-of-factly. 
  Priss didn't like the thought of that, not one single bit. "I-I better 
go after Ryoga!" She jerked back on the throttle and peeled out for a 
second before she went racing down the street toward the flaring aura in 
the distance.
  Nene, realizing that she wouldn't be able to make it there on foot, 
decided to get to the nearest phone to tell her friends of what was 
happening.
   
  Ranma went totally beserk at the sight of seeing Akane die for the 
second time. As he held her limp body in his arms, he lost totally 
control of when kept him sane all these years. Everything came rushing 
in a deluge of emotions as he had to experience the pain of losing the 
love of his life a second time.
  He ki flared magnificently, so magnificent that a massive column of ki 
shot up toward the sky, splitting even the clouds looming above.
  If the boomers surrounding were able to experience fear, they would 
all cower as they saw their target start glowing a terriffic shade of 
blue, his arua surrounding him, enveloping, rising high into the air, 
the light blinding.
  Ranma slowly got up, no longer in control of his body, no longer 
caring. He had let his emotions take control of him, his ki growing 
exponentially.
  "Akane!!!!" he screamed, raising his hands toward the heaven, almost 
cursing God for taking her away from him for the second time. He turned 
toward the group of high tech-boomers "You're all going to die!!! You're 
going to wish you were never created!!!"
  He ran toward the nearest boomer at lightning speeds, his arms glowing 
as a massive ki-blast expanded in his hands. Before any for the boomers 
could react, Ranma struck a boomer's chest with an open palm, releasing 
his ki-blast upon contact. The blast exploded outward, taking everything 
in its path, even Ranma. But Ranma had remained unscathed. Buildings 
crumbled from the shear shockwave, windows shattering, the ground 
shaking.
  The rest of the boomers immediately opened fire on Ranma, spraying the 
proximity with everything they've got, missles, bullets, lasers, bombs, 
gernades...everything. Ranma stood still, every projectile hitting him, 
yet causing him no harm.
  "My face is the last thing you'll see before you cease to exist!!!" 
Ranma said, as everything exploded in front of him, nothing touching 
him, his aura unpenetrable, melting every single projectile before it 
touched him.
  He ran forward toward the closest boomer and grabbed its arms, ripping 
if off its torso as it continued to fire at hime. As bullets continued 
to spray toward him, Ranma took the boomer's arms and hit the armless 
boomer with them, knocking the head off with an easy swing.
  Even though the boomer would no longer function, Ranma would utterly 
destroy it. As the boomer fell backward, Ranma threw the arms away and 
planted both hands on the boomer's chest, sending two ki-blasts into it. 
The dead boomer disintegrated into nothing from the extreme heat, 
melting into nothing but a pile of goo.
  "Stop him!!!" Madigan said, taking many steps backwards as she saw 
Ranma ravage the third and then the forth boomer with massive ki-blasts.  
Her heart beat rapidly, knowing that within moments, she was going to 
die. As she saw Ranma rip another boomer's arms off, then its legs, and 
then the head, and then finally destroying the torso with a flurry of 
punches, she froze, terrified beyong belief.
  Carper grabbed Madigan's hands, "We have to get outta here, and 
fast!!! He'll kill us!!! He'll kill us!!! He's gone beserk!!!" He tried 
to tug Madigan away but she was frozen from fear, fear of death.
  None of the projectiles were hitting him, all of them melting before 
they could touch him due to his aura. He was literally, unstoppable, 
like a god "You're all gonna die!!! Every one of ya!!!!" he said as he 
grabbed another boomer's rifle, shoving the weapon into its mouth and 
opening fire, blowing the boomer's maniframe through the back of its 
titanium skull, grabbing the boomer by its arms so it wouldn't fall, 
only to send a ki-blast right into its chest, incinerating it. He then 
proceeded toward the next boomer, destroying it with easy, then moving 
on to the next. He didn't bother to even destroy the boomers, but 
rather, utterly incinerate them, turning them into melted metal or 
something that of nuts and bolts, not even stopping when the boomer was 
not functioning, venting his frustrationg and hatred and emotions into 
its totally destruction.
  "The bullets aren't hitting him!!!" Carper said, giving Madigan's arms 
another tug, "We have to get out of here!!!" When she stood completely 
still, Carper gritted his teeth, knowing that he was going to have to 
carry her to safety...if there was such thing as safety from something 
like that monster destroying all those boomers.
  Ranma continued to ravage every single boomer in his path, destroying 
each and every one one by one, taking his time, making sure nothing 
would become of what remained of the destroyed boomers, not beothering 
to destory several at once due to the chance that one of them could 
survive.
  The massacre lasted no more than a minute, and Carper couldn't get 
far, what with carrying Madigan and his legs trembling from fear. Pretty 
soon, nothing but silence.
  Carper didn't dare to look back, knowing that all the boomers were 
destroyed, not Ranma having fallen. He knew, without a doubt, that Ranma 
was still standing. As Carper tried to run away, he regretted ever 
having attempted to stop Ranma. He and Madigan should have left him 
alone. He should have given up and resigned from Genom, knowing that it 
was useless to attempt to stop Ranma...but he had been arrogant...and he 
was going to die because of this.
  Carper was stopped as he fell forward, tripping over his jello-like 
legs. He and Madigan tumbled forward onto the ground. Madigan quickly 
sat up, realizing what had happened, but soon sated scooting backwards 
as she caught sight of Ranma.
  "S-stay away from me!!!!" she shouted through terrified lips, tears 
flowing from her eyes.
  Carper quickly crawled to her side, only the look up and catch sight 
of his destruction.
  Ranma stood before the two terrified people, his arua blazing "It's 
useless running!!! You two are going to die!!! Accept it!!! No matter 
how hard you run, or for how long, you will never escape my blast!!!"
  He closed his eyes, concentrating all his ki into one final blast, 
knowing that this blast would destroy him and everything in his path. He 
didn't care anymore. He had nothing to live for.
  "Sep-" he slowly started, bringing his hands forward, his palms facing 
the Madigan and Carper "puk-"
  Ryoga caught sight of Ranma as he rounded the corner, grateful that 
his lack of direction didn't lead him somewhere he didn't want to be. As 
he saw Ranma standing before two individuals, he knew, that Ranma was 
going to summon his strongest ki-blast, the same kind of blast Ryoga had 
witnessed while he and Ranma were in the slums.
  "ku" Ranma slowly said, his arua slowly starting to turn red, 
electiricty shooting back and forth between his fingertips.
  "No!" Ryoga said, his tears flowing from his eyes as he saw Akane's 
limp body in the middle of the street, surrounded by what remained of 
the boomers. But he didn't bother to stop by Akane's side. He had to 
stop Ranma, and fast. If Ranma pulled off his blast in a city this 
densely populated, millions would die "Stop!!!"
  "Mo-" Ranma slowly said, his arua starting to turn gold "kou Takabi-"
  "ShiShi Hokodan!!!" Ryoga shouted, knowing he was too far to stop 
Ranma. The only way he could stop him was to hit him with one of his own 
ki-blasts. A massive ball of energy erupted from Ryoga's hands, heading 
straight toward Ranma's back at deafening speeds, the ground melting 
from below it.
  The blast struck Ranma's back directly right before Ranma released his 
strongest ki-blast ever. The blast Ryoga had send from his hands should 
have killed Ranma instantly, but Ranma only staggered forward from the 
impact, losing his concentration. But he quickly recovered, wanting to 
kill these two terrified individuals for taking Akane's life from him. 
He didn't care that he had just been struck in the back with something 
meant to kill him. He didn't even feel it, having gone over the edge to 
care anymore.
  Madigan and Carper's eardrums popped burst from the deafening sound of 
Ryoga's ki-blast hitting Ranma's back. The winded created from the 
impact caused them to almost be blown backwards, but Ranma's body 
protected them.
  Ryoga, while still running toward Ranma, saw him as he was beginning 
to attempt another blast "No!! Stop!!! ShiShi Hokodan!!! ShiShi 
Hokodan!!! ShiShi Hokodan!!!"
  He threw three consectuive ki-blast one right after another, each one 
hitting Ranma squarely on his back, every single one enough to kill him. 
But Ranma still remained standing, only staggering forward from the 
impact. But by the time the third blast was supposed to hit him, Ranma 
turned around and swatted the ki-blast out of the way, sending it into a 
nearby building, destroying it completely.
  Ryoga almost skidded to a halt as he caught sight of Ranma in his 
rage. He saw Ranma peering at him through piercing eyes, revenge and 
death eveident in his pupils. For the first time in his life, Ryoga was 
scared, even taking a step back. But he had to stand his ground.
  Ranma walked forward, ignoring Madigan and Carper. He would take care 
of them later. It didn't matter if they ran. They won't escape his 
blast.
  "You stay out of this, Ryoga!!!!" Ranma shouted, his voice not his 
own.
  Ryoga's visage hardened, "No!!! I can't let you-"  
  His sentence was cut short as Ranma lunged forward, running toward him 
at intense speed, and grabbing Ryoga by his throat with one arm and 
lifting him up. Ryoga, even with his intense strength and attempts to 
prevent Ranma from squeezing, found Ranma's grip almost overpowering. He 
could feel himself slowly starting to go into unconsciousness as the 
circulation of blood to his brain was being stopped.
  Ryoga closed his eyes and raised a hand pointed it toward Ranma chest, 
releasing yet another ki-blast. The blast hit Ranma chest with such 
impact that Ranma was blown backwards. Unfortunately, he didn't let go. 
All he did was stagger backwards.
  "Kashuu TenshinAmaguriken!!!" Ranma shouted as he released his grip, 
punching Ryoga hundreds of times before gravity took its course and let 
Ryoga fall to the ground. When he did touch the ground, Ryoga keeled 
over, blood flowing from his mouth.
  "I-I won't let you do it," Ryoga said, his vision blurring. Everything 
when white as Ranma slammed his elbow right into the back Ryoga's skull, 
the force of the impact sending Ryoga's body right into the asphalt. 
Ryoga should have lost consciousness but he could allow himself to black 
out. Slowly, he rose to his feet, catching sight of Ranma's back as he 
started walking toward where Madigan and Carper were, the two of them 
still cowering.
  Ryoga staggered forward and tapped Ranma on his shoulder. When Ranma 
turned around, Ryoga struck Ranma in the face with all his might, enough 
power behind his punch to destroy an entire mountain. The impact of 
Ryoga fist hitting Ranma face sent such a shockwave that windows of 
building from miles around shattered from the vibrations, people 
probably getting heart attacks because it would cause their hearts to 
skip a beat, the ground rippling like a ripple in a pond.
  Ranma staggered backwards, but immediately regained his balance. He 
immediately went into a crouching position and sweeped one of Ryoga's 
legs out, causing Ryoga to tilt backwards, balancing on one leg, only to 
have Ranma follow the sweep up with a wicked ax kick right into Ryoga's 
chest, him slamming bodily into the ground once again.
  Ryoga knew he had lost. He could feel himself losing consciouness and 
fast. Everything had already gone black and he knew that several ribs 
were broken. It hurt to breath, and he wouldn't be able to fight anymore 
in this condition.
  But before everything went black, he said, "Ranma, Akane's still 
alive...."
  He closed his eyes as darkness descended on him.
  What Ryoga had said seemed to snap Ranma back to reality "S-she's 
alive?" His aura died down to a bluish hue as he ran toward where 
Akane's limp body way, running in the opposite direction for Madigan and 
Carper, but not before he turned toward them and said, "You better pray 
she alive!"
  Ranma ran over to where Akane was, kneeling down next to her. He felt 
for a pulse, but there was none. There hadn't been a pulse before when 
he checked for it. He pressed his head up against her chest, listening 
for something, like a heartbeat, hearing nothing.
  "They're dead," Ranma said, his sense of rage starting to come back. 
Akane was dead and he would have his avenge. It wasn't even him who was 
speaking but rather another part of Ranma, the part that he kept buried 
deep within him.
  Just as Ranma got up to proceed toward Madigan and Carper, his aura 
flaring up, Priss rounded the corner on her motorcycle. She was forced 
to skid to a halt, almost ramming into Ranma. She lifted the visor of 
her helmet and said, "Ranma, thank god we've found you. There's some 
important things I want to tell you,"
  Ranma just looked at Priss, almost not recognizing her "What do you 
want?"
  He looked over Ranma's shoulder and saw Akane lying motionless in the 
middle of the street, in a small puddle of oil, which resembled quite 
like blood "A-Akane..." she said, hopping over her bike and proceeding 
toward Akane, taking off and dropping her helmet on the ground.
  Ranma stepped in front of her protectively, wanting no one near her, 
"Stay away from her!"
  "Ranma, I'm here to help," Priss said, looking up into his eyes. As 
she gazed at him, there was something to him she couldn't recognize like 
this man was someone she had never seen before. His eyes were cold, 
merciless, not like the warm and soft eyes that Ranma had. 
  Ranma's head tilted toward one side as he looked at her, "How?"
  She looked down toward Akane, her eyes sympathetic as she said, "Akane 
isn't dead. She has redundancy backup systems. She, like every advanced 
form of boomer, when damaged to a great extent, will shut itself down so 
its internal systems could start regererating its broken circuitry...to 
an extent. She'll live, but were going to have to fix her."
  "S-she'll live?" Ranma said, his eyes widening.
  "Yes, but she won't be able to function like she quite could," Priss 
continued, "Some of her motor skils will probably be problematic. It'll 
be akin to learning to walk once again. But, if we replace all the 
damaged internal motors, the things her internal system won't be able to 
regenerate, she'll be as good as new, even better if you replace them 
with better parts"
  Ranma smiled, almost back to his normal self, "She's going to live!! 
She's going to live!!" 
  Priss caught sight of Ryoga lying motionless in the middle of the 
street and said, "W-what happened to Ryoga?!" She ran passed Ranma, whom 
was now kneeling over Akane's still form, and up to Ryoga, sitting him 
upright, his head leaning against her shoulder, "Ryoga, are you all 
right?"
  Ryoga said nothing. Blood gently trickled down his mouth, some of it 
on to Priss' motorcycle outfit. His breathing was eradicte, unsteady, 
forced "What happened to Ryoga?"
  "I don't remember. I think I was too angry to know what I did" Ranma 
said, trying to remember "Don't worry, he'll live. He heals quickly. The 
only way to kill him, aside from dropping a nuke on his head is to kill 
him while unconscious, otherwise, he'll be back to his normal annoying 
self"
  She could see blood soaking into Ryoga's shirt up by his chest. One of 
his ribs must have broken past his skin "Some of his ribs must be 
broken," she said, concern in her voice.
  Ranma walked over to where Rygoa and Priss were and kicked Ryoga in 
the leg, "Yo, Ryoga, wake up. Get up. Enough of the melodrama, man"
  "He can't because he's unconscious and hurt!" Priss said, her fists 
tightening at the thought of how cruel Ranma could be toward Ryoga, even 
if they hated each other.
  Ranma smirked, "It's better he remain that way, but I'll cure him. 
Here, give him to me," Ranma picked Ryoga's still form and threw him 
over his shoulder, casually heading toward a restaurant that lined the 
streets, now deserted after its customers witnessed the carnage right 
outside.
  "I'll be back in a moment," Ranma said over his shoulder, "Please, 
look over Akane for me" 
  Priss watched as Ranma entered a restaurant, Ryoga slung bodily over 
his shoulder, only to see Ranma sent flying bodily from the restaurant 
and slamming into the adjacent building moments later, Ryoga no where in 
sight.
  "What the?" she said.
  Ryoga emerged from the restaurant, perfectly all right except for the 
blood stain on his shirt and a bit damp, glowing red, "How dare you 
break one of my ribs!!! I'll kill you!!!"
  Inside the restaurant, Ranma had entered the kitchen and splashed 
Ryoga with cold water, turning him into his cursed form, only to splash 
him with warm water a second later, turning Ryoga back to his orginal 
form, but this time, totally healed of his wounds.
  Ranma casually hopped onto his feet and said, "You moron, I was the 
one who just saved you! If it weren't for me knowing the extent of your 
curse, you would still be unconscious. I was the one who cured you, and 
this is the thanks I get?!" He ran toward Ryoga and punched him in the 
face, sending Ryoga flying bodily right back into the resaturant.
  "Curse?" Priss said to herself for she had heard Ranma and Ryoga's 
conversation. She remembered hearing about Ranma being cursed in some 
way, but didn't exactly know how or why or what it is. "What curse? And 
how did Ryoga getted healed like that? And why is he wet?"
  Ranma was standing at in front of the restaurant, instigating Ryoga, 
"You're a moron!!! You're so damn slow! How can you not avoid my punch?! 
I was running at you from across the street!"
  Ranma even went as far as to hook both his index fingers in his mouth 
and stick out his tongue "Beeee!"
  But as he did so, a ki-blast erupted from the restaurant, hitting 
Ranma in the chest. Ranma clutched his chest in pain, falling to his 
feet.
  "Ha, if I had put a fraction of what I could have into that blast, you 
would be dead right now!" Ryoga said, stepping out into the street, a 
smirk on his face.
 "What the hell are you guys doing?!" Priss shouted toward them, unable 
to understand exactly how they could continue fighting like they always, 
as if nothing had happened "Akane needs our help!" 
   Ranma and Ryoga stopped their fighting at the sound of Akane's name, 
both of them focusing their gaze toward her, their eyes piercing.
  Ryoga nodded as he said, "You're right, Priss. She needs our help," 
  "And how are we going to do that?" Ranma asked.
  Ryoga had a defeated look on his face, for he had no idea how to go 
about helping her. It was beyond his knowledge, "I dunno..."
  "Do you have any ideas?" Ranma asked Priss, only to have her shake her 
head in defeat. When Ranma asked if Nene or Sylia could perhaps help, 
Priss couldn't answer for them. Even though they did know quite a bit 
about boomers and how they worked, the technology used for Akane might 
be beyond they experience.
  Ranma snapped his figers as an idea came into his mind, "I know! We'll 
take her back to Genom Tower. If they built her, then they'll be able to 
fix her." Without even waiting for a reply, Ranma walked over to Akane's 
still body and, ever so gently, picked her up, her head. While carrying 
her, he headed toward the looming Genom Tower in the distant horizon.
  "I'm coming with you," Ryoga said, immediately following step right 
next to Ranma. Ranma didn't refuse, nor did he want to. 
  He walked by Madigan and Carper, who had remained where they were, 
watching everything, hearing everything. He didn't even bother to glance 
in their direction, his purpose to get Akane back to Genom Tower. He 
even knew exactly who he was going to ask to help, that young scientist 
that had brought Akane back to life in the first place, Lisa.
  The two of them proceeded toward Genom Tower, leaving behind Priss to 
watch them as they got smaller and smaller as the distance between them 
increased. As she stood there, watching, she knew there was really 
nothing she could do. She couldn't stop Ranma or Ryoga, and they could 
pretty much whatever they wanted. But one thing truly confused her.
  "Weren't they just trying to kill each other?!" she mutted to 
herselfl, staring. 
  Not too long after they rounded a corner, Priss turned her attention 
toward Madigan and Carper. Her eyes creased, her visage cold, "You're 
coming with me. I dunno what we're going to do with you two, but you're 
gonna pay for all the trouble you've caused"
  Madigan and Carper both turned their attention toward her. It took a 
short while for the two of them to realize that they were the only ones 
remaining and Priss was all alone. 
  They both stood up to face her as Priss made her way toward them.
  Priss, without even thinking twice, punched Carper in the face, hard. 
He had been caught totally off guard, falling backwards onto his back, 
his mouth all bloody, "You son of a bitch!" she spat.
  "C-carper!" Madigan shouted, taking a step forward, only to see Priss 
blocking her path.
  Priss smirked and said, "I've been wanting to do this for a long long 
time!"
  And then punched her. "Take that, you bitch!!!" She was about to punch 
her again if it weren't for the fact that Madigan fell to the ground 
unconscious. She contemplated giving her a few good swift kicks in the 
ribs for good measure but chose against that.
  Carper got back to his feet, furious, his fists clenched tightly, his 
knuckles whitening.
  Priss' brow creased menacingly as she rolled her sleeves up. She was 
going to enjoy knocking some scense into this man if it was the last 
thing she did. Sure, he would put up a fight, perhaps even get a good 
shots in, but she was way too angry to care. She would show him a world 
of pain.
  She taunted him, "C'mon, asshole, take your best shot." Her fists were 
clenched, cracking her knuckles. She was mentally assessing her 
opponent. Although Carper was heavier, stronger, and taller, she was 
more experienced at hand-to-hand combat, and she had been in fights 
before. 
  Carper took a step forward, not caring about the fact that Priss was a 
female. 
  He took a wild swing at her, his punch faster than Priss had expected, 
grazing by her face by inches. Luckily, she had reacted in time to 
sidestep at the last moment and then counter attack.
  He didn't even get a chance to react to Priss' counterattack when 
Priss brought her front leg up right into his groin, sending him keeling 
over in pain and gasping for breath. While he was on his hands and 
knees, that was when a elbow rained down on the back of his head, 
knocking him unconscious.
  "You stay down!"  

  Lisa was startled by the sudden appearance of Ranma. She was in the 
laboratory alone collecting data on the heat resistance of a boomer's 
exoskeleton and on how to improve it. She didn't really want to help 
further the destructiveness of the boomers being created, but she needed 
the money. 
  Ranma entered the lab, Akane in his arms, Ryoga following behind.
  Lisa's heart lept into her throat as she caught sight of Ranma "R-
Ranma. W-what are you doing here?"
  Ranma gently laid Akane down on the same stainless steel table wher 
Akane had first came to life "You've gotta help her! Please!" He walked 
around the talbe to stand before Lisa, his presence almost overwhelming. 
There was this strange aura surrounding him that she couldn't see, yet 
she could feel.
  Lisa gazed down at Akane, shock showing on her face at the sight of 
how damaged Akane was. She could even see the mechanical insides that 
kept her alive, her inner circuitry melted or cut, and her exoskelital 
armor riddled with bullet holes. It wasn't a pretty sight. And knowing 
that Akane was considered her greatest achievement, made Lisa want to 
cry.
  "Please, help her. I don't know what to do or who to go to but you," 
Ranma said pleadingly.
  "She's taken quite a bit of damage. A majority of all her motors and 
gears and circuitry would have to be replaced" Lisa said sullenly. Even 
though everything looked bleak for Akane, Lisa wouldn't let Akane cease 
functioning.......not without a fight.
  "Can you help her?" Ryoga asked.
  Lisa nodded, almost glad that her experience gave her the knowledge to 
do such a complicated procedure, and to also see Ranma's face turn from 
pleading to that of shear relief. She smiled back, glad to be able to 
tell him she was competent enough to save Akane.
  "How much time will you need?" Ranma asked, "I mean, we broke into her 
by force, and pretty soon, they'll be swarming this entire floor."
  "I dunno, about five hours," Lisa said. She didn't really care that 
she was doing this for the enemy of the company she worked for. It 
didn't really matter to her. She cared too much about her work to care 
about Genom. Actually, she didn't really care all that much for Genom. 
It was the money that kept her from leaving, that and her love for 
working on complicated machinery and bringing life into them. It was 
just that Genom provided both that made it seem worthwhile for her "I 
can probably do it in four if I tried,"
  Just as Ranma was about to say his thanks, an alarm sounded.
  Ranma smiled, and then said, "Well, it seems that Genom finally 
realized that we're already in the building. We'll keep all those 
boomers distracted while you do your job. Take your time,"
  "B-but how will you be able to stop them for a few hours?" she had to 
ask.
  Ranma smirked, back to his carefree self, and said "Don't worry. I can 
keep them distracted for much more than the necessary time...since I 
won't be doin' this alone, right Ryoga?"
  Ryoga nodded. Ranma didn't even need to ask for his help. He would do 
anything to help Akane out. And if that meant fighting boomers for an 
extended period of time, then so be it "We'll keep them more than 
distracted"
  Lisa watched as Ranma and Ryoga proceeded out of the laboratory, 
leaving her alone to do her work. But as they were leaving, Lisa heard 
the two of them arguing.
  "This time, don't throw your damn ShiShi Hokodan's like last time. 
Y'hear, pig boy?!"
  "Don't call me that!!!"
  
  Ranma and Ryoga entered the laboratory just as Lisa were finishing her 
final repairs.
  "I can't believe it. You actually headbutted a boomer to death," Ranma 
said, his voice showing that of bewilderment "But then again, you have a 
hard head so that's probably understandable"
  "You take that back!" Ryoga spat vehemently.    
  Ranma ignored Ryoga and turned toward Lisa, "Is everything okay? We 
figured we should check up to see how you were doing."
  Lisa wiped the sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her lab coat, 
her face a bit dirty from some grease and oil she had to dig through to 
remove and install some parts. She had heard what Ranma had said upon 
entering and wondered if what he said was true, that his friend had 
headbutted a boomer to death. It only took her a moment to realize that 
it was quite possible.
  "I'm not going to ask what that you were talking about before," she 
said "But anyway, Akane is almost all repaired. There's just a few more 
things I have to do and she'll be as good as new, perhaps even better. 
It'll probably take her a while to get used to the new body because I 
pretty much reconstructed an entirely new exoskeleton for her."
  Lisa walked around to the computer and typed in a few numbers to 
recalibrate the stimulus sensitivity now that the sensory input devices 
were more precise. After that, she fiddling with several other 
parameters that would help Akane function better. Lisa had done things 
to Akane that she had only dreamed of, too scared to actually suggest 
those idea to Genom, scared that they might abuse the ideas.
  "Akane's going to be fine," Lisa added, smiling, satisfied with 
herself. The bliss that she was experiencing even made her more relaxed. 
She even bothered to ask Ranma a question she had been meaning to ask 
since she first met him. She had been very curious as to how Ranma 
became the way he was.
  "Ranma," she started.
  "Yeah?" Ranma turned his atttention from Akane and onto Lisa.
  "There's something I've been meaning to ask you," she said, a bit 
nervous "Um, this had been bugging me for quite some time, but I guess 
now is better than never,"
  "Sure, what is it?"
  Lisa took a deep breath and then said, "It's just some questions I've 
been meaning to ask. That's all."
  "Sure, go right ahead and ask." his voice was soft.
  "Where do you live?"
  "I used to live in Nerima District, before those boomers destroyed my 
life. After that, I went to China and trained in the mountains. I came 
back to Japan only recently." came the reply.
  "Did you have a family there?"
  Ranma replied, his voice almost stoic "I was betrothed to Akane. I 
lived with Akane's house with her father and two sister and my pop. They 
all died during that massacre."
  "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Lisa apologized "Maybe I should stop 
asking questions,"
  "No. Don't worry about it. Go right ahead and ask. It's not like I'm 
got anywhere to go after this."
  "Did you and your father get along?"
  Ranma thought about that for a moment, turning toward Ryoga, "Did my 
pop and I get along?" When Ryoga shrugged his shoulders, Ranma turned 
toward Lisa, "I don't really know. I mean, there were more times than 
not that I wanted to kill him. Because of him, I ended up getting 
betroth to several fiancees"
  Lisa smiled, knowing that all her questioning had finally gave her the 
answer "That must mean you're Ranma Saotome, ne?"
  "Yes, how did you know?"
  "When we first met, you said your name was Ranma, and that was it. 
Even though I only had your name, I recognized your face. I've seen you 
before, and it turns out, that I've met you before," Lisa said, 
wondering how Ranma was going to react. When he was about to ask how, 
she continued on, "I lived in the same town as you but I moved shortly 
before the massacre. I once helped you out. If I remember correctly, two 
sisters had come to claim the....what were you heir to...oh yeah, the 
School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Anyway, I remember, when I was 
very young, helping you out with your practicing. You were training 
yourself to be faster. Well, I was one of the little kids who threw 
bricks at you, while you were in your cursed form, yes, I know that 
you're cursed, and I was the one who managed to hit you in the face with 
the brick."
  Ranma's eyes lit up, "That was you? I remember that day. That was, 
wow, a long long time ago. Yeah, these two illegitamate daughters of 
Akane's father showed up at the school and claimed themselves heir to 
the dojo. What were their names...oh yeah, Natusumi and Kurimi. Well, 
when Akane and I fought, we lost. So, I figured I must train my female 
side to be faster, and one of the tasks was to have it where a a bunch 
of little kids threw bricks at me and I had to smash them with my fists 
so they won't hit me. Of course, one hit me in the face, and the next 
thing I remember, I was being pummeled by dozens of school kids. And you 
were the one that hit me in the face with that brick?"
  Lisa looked down at the ground, "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to"
  Ranma laughed aloud, "That's so cool. What a small world!"
  "Well, it was kinda hard not noticing you," Lisa added. 
  "How come you bring this up now?" Ranma asked.
  Lisa replied nervously, "Well, I didn't really know if it was you. I 
mean, the name sounded familiar, and so did the face, but it was so long 
ago. I assumed it might be you, but I wasn't too sure. That's why I 
asked you those questions. It helped confirm that my assumption was 
correct."
  "Well, I guess we finally meet again then. That brick that hit me 
really helped humble me." Ranma said.
  "By the way, how did the match go? I mean, I remember you were doing 
this all so you can have a rematch." she asked, speaking to him as if 
she had known him all his life. It was unbelieveable, knowing someone 
like Ranma. And the thought that Ranma remembered her made this day the 
happiest day of her life. Not only did she get to work on and fix her 
pet project and add things to it that she only dreamed of, but she and 
Ranma actually knew each other, albeit slightly.
  Ranma smirked, "We won. We got the dojo back."
  Lisa, for some reason, knew that Ranma would have won. Now that she 
knew that Ranma was from her past, she could let go of that nagging 
feeling she had ever since she met him. That allowed her to get back to 
repairing Akane. All she had left was activating Akane, which she did, 
pressing a button "Well, Akane's been repaired. She's as good as new, if 
not better"
  Ranma smirked and said jokingly, "Hey, maybe you could reprogram her 
not to act so much like an uncute tomboy"
  Akane's eyes opened as she sat upright. She looked around the room to 
survey her surroundings. When her gaze rested on Ranma, her brows 
creased as she got onto her feet and punched Ranma in the face, hard.
  "I heard that!!!"  



-OneShot
Jeffrey Keith Wong
http://www.li.net/~jeffwong/index.htm
Site updated May 30th.