Wild Boot
by Rarstarr

Reboot and Ranma 1/2 are the property of Mainframe Entertainment and
Rumiko Takahashi respectively and used here (respectfully) without
permission.

I'd like to thank my prereaders: Jin, David Johnston and Shane Burton

I welcome any Comments, Criticism or MSTs. All parts to this and other of
my stories may be found at:
	http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/

-----

Kasumi: I care for Mainframe
	Its people, places and resources.
	My format: Command.com
	To direct and guide,
	With the aid of my family and friends.


v 1.8.1: Nullzilla

	The one binome wearing the lab coat turned away from the complicated
machinery. "Igor, throw the switch!"

	"Yeth mathter." Igor, a misshapen zero binome picked up a small
hemispherical dome with a lever poking out of it and tossed it across
room.

	The doctor caught the switch. "Thank you Igor." He reached for the lever
and, with a dramatic pause, pulled it. The great machines surrounding
them crackled to life and electricity arced across the room to strike a
figure lying beneath a sheet on the table.

	Slowly the figure stirred and rose off the table. "It compiles! It
compiles!" The figure collapsed back onto the table. "It doesn't do
anything, but it COMPILES!!"

	"Frankennome's Monster, tonight on MMN, the Monster Movie Network." Mike
announced, the scene vanishing from his screen.

	Kodachi cackled and clapped her hands, then turned at look at the
ornately framed mirror floating beside her.  The mirror did not reflect
the virus and the gloomy lair behind her, but instead showed an image of
a wondrous system, larger than Mainframe. "Ah, the Supercomputer, where
my Ranma comes from." Kodachi sighed.

	Mr Turtle snapped at Mike the TV, who nodded in answer. "He's right,
best to take your mind off Ranma for the moment." His screen fuzzed for a
moment. "Showing for the twenty seventh time by popular demand, 'The Ride
of the Valkyries'!"

	On Mike's screen the image of a stage appeared and a large female one
binome walked out. She was wearing armour, a winged helmet and a cape.
Her voice started singing a nonsensical series of syllables, hitting
higher and higher notes until she hit a crescendo.

	Kodachi slapped her hands across her ears while Mr Turtle did his best
impression of a dead fish. Unnoticed by all the mirror shook for a few
seconds before shattering.

	"My mirror! Look what you've done?!" snapped Kodachi leaning forward to
tower over Mike.

	Mike looked, and didn't understand what he saw. Through the broken
mirror he could see not the lair, but a strange swirling fractal pattern.
>From out of the colours a black shape swam, its long tentacles reaching
out through the mirror frame to wrap around the virus.

	Kodachi screamed once as she wrestled with the invader and her two
caregivers watched in horror as the thing's tentacles pried at the virus'
mask. Bright light filled the room as it came free, then vanished
suddenly as the mask reattached itself. A groan issued from the prone
form lying on the floor, but of the invader there was no sign. For all of
two nanos.

	Kodachi's second screech rent the air. Her smooth skin bubbled and
twisted, forming ridges covering her body. Energy crackled along her
finger nails as they extended, changing from black to a blood red.
Standing the cirus stood and looked around, her face a picture of demonic
rapture.

	Mike and Mr Turtle backed away as the infected virus approached them.
Kodachi leaned forward and hissed at the two, her clawed hands reaching
back, ready to strike.

	Suddenly the virus was tackled to the ground by a wave of nulls. The two
sprites glanced at each, surprised by the turn of events, then turned to
see more and more nulls flooding into the room to attack the infected
virus.

*****

	Sasuke turned to the vid-window. "Phase one complete boss!" he reported
to Kuno.

	"Good, proceed to phase two," Kuno returned, and closed off the
vid-window.

	Sasuke turned to Gosunkugi. "Begin phase two!"

	The larger robot nodded. "Right phase two." He turned away, paused, then
turned back. "Ah... which one was phase two?"

	Sasuke sighed. "Read nibbles the book."

	"Oh, right." Gosunkugi wheeled over to the crib holding a small blue
null. Pulling out a thin book he opened it and started reading. "The Null
prince. Once upon a time there was a null prince..."

	The null lay calmly while the robot read, lulled by his voice. Suddenly
it sat upright and squealed. It hurried over to one of the crib's bars,
ate through and zipped off into the distance.

	Gosunkugi watched as the pet left. "Ah, Sasuke, what phase is taking
Nibbles for a walk?"

	Sasuke tapped his collar for a moment. "There is no phase for taking
Nibbles for a walk, she's run away."

	There was a pause. "RUN AWAY?!" chorused the pair.

*****

	"AHAHAHAHAHA!!!" cackled the Command.com as squeals filled the room.

	Ranma glanced over at Akane. "Your sister sure enjoys her work."

	The lab held the three sprites and RyoGA comfortably, and while Ranma
and Akane were watching the experiment with interest, the game sprite was
looking slightly ill.

	"What are you doing to those poor things?" he asked, pointing to the
nulls Kasumi was electrocuting.

	Ranma turned to RyoGA while Kasumi shut off the machine. "Okay, when the
User wins a game the sprites inside get nullified, right?"

	"Except the game sprites," RyoGA pointed out.

	Ranma acknowledged the point with a nod. "Right, which is part of our
theory. If a game sprite's data is saved, then maybe so is a system
sprite's. If we can somehow recreate that data or get the null back into
the game that created it then we can restore a nullified sprite."

	"Has that ever happened?"

	"No," Kasumi answer. "Nulls avoid games, so none have been restored. Its
a pity, we lost many games before Akane grew up and Ranma arrived."

	"And lost many friends," Akane added sadly. She sniffed, then slammed
her fist into the wall. "Damn mother!" she spat.

	Kasumi crossed the room. "It wasn't her fault Akane, the experiment just
got out of hand."

	"The sister city was nullified along with the everyone in it and you
call it 'out of hand'?" Akane demanded.

	RyoGA glanced questioningly over at Ranma, who could only shrug in
answer. Before the scene could be played out the screaming of nulls
interrupted them. Everyone snapped around to look at the cage containing
the energy sucking creatures. All the machinery was deactivated, yet the
nulls were excitedly bouncing themselves off the walls.

	"What's up with them?" Akane asked.

	"Glitch, scanner!" Ranma ordered. The keytool's disc increased in size
slightly and then started displaying a series of power bars. "Hmm,
there's some kind of signal. Looks like it coming from Lost Angles."

	"Lost Angles?! Come on Ranma, we'd better investigate." Akane headed out
the door, the Guardian not far behind.

	RyoGA leapt to his feet to follow them, but was restrained by Kasumi.
"Let them deal with it. You're still new to the system and have to learn
our ways."

*****

	As Mike and Mr Turtle dashed across the bridge leaving Lost Angles they
saw two pairs of sprites heading towards them from different directions.
The pair slowed as Akane and Ranma swooped down and the two bots rocketed
over to land with a roar.

	"Have you seen her?" Sasuke implored the other four.

	"Who?" Mike, Akane and Ranma chorused.

	"Nibbles!" Sasuke and Gosunkugi replied.

	Akane giggled. "You lost Kuno's pet null?!"

	"Oh boy, are you two in trouble," Ranma added.

	"Ah, excuse me," Mike interrupted, "but we have bigger problems."

	"What?!" the other four demanded.

	"Sasuke, Gosunkugi," he started grandly, "you came looking for one
single null, well how about four million! May I present, Nullzilla." He
stepped aside and gestured behind him.

	The four sprites stared in shock as a massive form, taller than the arcs
of the bridge across to Lost Angles stomped towards them. Even from this
distance its could be seen that its "skin" was a multicoloured mass of
seething nulls.

	"Let's get out of here!" Ranma exclaimed.

	"I second the motion!" Mike announced.

*****

	The defenders of Mainframe clustered around the table like window. RyoGA
and Kasumi had met Ranma, Akane and Mike as they entered the Principal
Office, while Shampoo and Nabiki had arrived not long after. They all
stared down at the images on the window.

	The major display showed Nullzilla stumbling through Mainframe's
streets, smashing into buildings. Next to that sat a wireframe diagram of
the monster. Deep inside was the figure of Kodachi, twisting and turning.

	"Why nulls attack crazy virus? Shampoo thought virus control nulls?"

	Kasumi looked up. "If what Mike says is true then it is possible that
the nulls are not attacking Kodachi, but protecting Mainframe from her.
Whatever came out of her mirror--"

	"--and it wasn't Alice!" Mike interjected.

	"Whatever it is, obviously is so dangerous that the nulls are willing to
drain their mistress to stop it."

	Ranma frowned. "Unfortunately Kodachi's attempts to escape are causing
the mass to lash out wildly."

	"So it comes down to a question of which goes first," Nabiki pointed
out, "Kodachi's trans-finite powers or Mainframe."

	Everyone around the window fell silent, staring at the monster as it
knocked down another building.

	"I have something for just such a situation," announced Kasumi.

	"You are prepared for a giant monster made entirely of nulls stomping
around Mainframe?" Ranma asked after everyone had picked themselves up
off the ground.

	"That is correct," Kasumi nodded.

	"How... Never mind. I'm not going to ask, I wouldn't like the answer.
Let's go."

	With a bright smile Mainframe's Command.com turned and led them to a
wall. She glanced round then threw out her arms. "Open sesame please."
The wall separated, revealing darkness beyond. Kasumi strode purposefully
into the darkness, shortly followed by the others.

*****

	The walls were panelled in an expensive oaken texturemap. Along one wall
was a series of portraits of Ranma, Akane, Shampoo, Nabiki  all smiling
happily and Mike, who was sticking his tongue out at the camera. A large
desk sat back to one wall opposite a couch and chair with a Icon mat
sitting between them.

	Kasumi and RyoGA walked around behind the desk, the former taking a
seat. The pair looked across at the others. Each had changed into a tight
fitting outfit. Ranma's was a nice navy blue and white with a helmet
shaped like a yawning ape head. Next to him Akane wore a beautiful gold
and brown, and her helmet had a reptilian look to it. Shampoo, bouncing
happily on her heels, was clothed in a yellow outfit with brown spots,
and her helmet looked a little too much like a cat for Ranma. Looking
very bird-like, Nabiki's uniform was  light grey and brown, and finally
Mike wore little more than a dirty grey helmet with a long rodent nose
between his antenna.

	"Mmphf hmf mumf!" Ranma mumbled, then reached up and tore away the face
plate from his mask. "You can't talk in these things!"

	"Are you prepared?"

	"Ready!" the five sprite chorused.

	"Hey, what about me?" RyoGA complained.

	Ranma smirked. "You get to sit on sidelines and make snide comments when
we get into trouble while not actually getting into the fight."

	"Why you..!" growled the game sprite.

	Kasumi cleared her throat. "Please, we don't have time for this. Can
everyone get to their places, please?"

	Ranma and Akane headed for different parts of the wall while Shampoo and
Nabiki took a seat on the couch. Mike just stood on the mat looking
confused.

	"Defenders are go!" Kasumi cried, stabbing a button.

	If you had blinked, you'd have missed it. The section of wall that Ranma
leaned against flipped backwards, sending him sliding headfirst out of
the room, Akane was spun out of sight while the couch and the two sprites
on it disappeared into the floor to be replaced by an empty couch seconds
later. When the mat fell away beneath Mike he treaded air for a few
seconds before dropping out of sight.

	Kasumi looked at RyoGA. "Now we wait."

*****

	In a hanger within the Principal Office four tubes descended one by one
from the ceiling to deposit Ranma, Akane, Shampoo and Nabiki. The fifth
tube didn't descend, instead dropping Mike the height of the hanger.

	Ranma looked at the others and nodded. "Okay, lets do it!" He held his
hands before him. "Primal Fury Mode!" Blue light exploded around him.

	Akane mirrored Ranma's stance. "Vicious Raptor Mode!" Swirls of golden
light built up around her.

	Crouching low Shampoo gave the cry, "Speedy Feline Mode!" and was
consumed by yellow light.

	With a roll of her eyes Nabiki held up her arms as if they were wings.
"Soaring Falcon Mode!" She vanished in a burst of brown energy.

	"Self-absorbed Rodent Mode!" Mike announced distastefully, and disappear
in a small grey explosion.

	The five clouds of energy swirled and slowly coalesced into the forms of
five large robots.

	In the place of Ranma stood a large blue and silver robot. Its torso and
limbs looked muscular, and the head appeared to be wearing a helmet with
bars circling the mouth and a pair of antenna sticking up from domes
covering the ears. Large flaps on the back were cover in what looked like
a dark blue fur.

	Next to it stood a decidedly reptilian humanoid robot almost as well
built as its neighbour. Its face was designed to cause fear, with wicked
red eyes and fanged teeth. Long fingers held a long sword made from a
series of pyramids and a strange spinning shield-like device. Its colour
scheme was a mix of browns and blues with gold trimming.

	Shampoo had been replaced by a yellow and brown spotted humanoid cat
robot. It was slightly smaller than the previous two, but was also
sleeker and looked more innocent. In one hand it held a long spotted gun.

	The fourth robot in the line-up was avian, and looked female. Her head
was crowned by a beak and covered by a grey feathery texturemap. Small
wings poked out the side from her back, and wise eyes gazed out at the
world.

	Last, and smallest, the robot on the end looked like a wise-ass. His
arms and back were done in a dirty grey bitmap, while the rest of his
body was metallic silver and gold. The face was very rodent like.

	Ranma's robot turned to the others. "Nabiki, you and I will attack from
the air, everyone else, tackle his legs."

	"Right!"

	"Prime jets on!" Ranma yelled, the rocket pack on the back of his robot
exploded to life. He and Nabiki soared along the exit tunnel, the others
running along behind them.

*****

	Meanwhile Sasuke and Gosunkugi hovered like a pair of flies around
Nullzilla.

	"Do you see her?" Sasuke asked.

	Gosunkugi slid right a bit then back. "Yeah, I think so." He leaned
forward and promptly smashed into the monsters side when it moved.

	As his partner dropped towards the ground Sasuke flew over to look. "Its
not her!" he yelled and was slammed out of the air by Nullzilla's arm.

	The crash of Sasuke hitting the ground echoed off the surrounding
buildings. Moments later the two bots were flattened beneath Nullzilla's
feet.

	"I hate nulls," Gosunkugi commented.

*****

	The five robots met up with Nullzilla deep in Kits sector. It was
stumbling around near the housing area as sprites ran screaming on the
ground.

	"My house!" Ranma cried as the monster lumbered towards said building.
"No one destroys my rooms!"

	"Except Ranma himself," Nabiki added.

	A pair of missile launchers unfolded from the back of Ranma's robot.
"Prime missiles: launch!" Both missiles shot away and arced through the
air to slam into the side of the monster. It reeled and turned to face
them.

	Akane, Shampoo and Mike all let loose with their long range weapons from
the roofs of nearby buildings. Nullzilla headed towards them as Ranma and
Nabiki continued to strafe the creature.

	"Is no good," Shampoo announced. "Nullzilla just absorb attacks."

	Ranma pulled up. "Shampoo's right. We've got to try something else."

	"Didn't Kasumi say we could combine these mecha?" Akane asked.

	Ranma's robot scratched its head. "I don't see how?"

	"We were supposed to yell that special phrase," Nabiki supplied.

	Ranma nodded. "Okay, lets try it."

	The five bots jumped towards each other. "Beast Warriors, Maximise!"

	A few seconds later a giant robot the size of Nullzilla stood on the
streets of Mainframe. It was the combination of the five robots, but
looked nothing like them, for one thing, it was much, much bigger.

	"Neat," Ranma said with a whistle. The robot took a step forward then
pitched wildly backwards. "Does anyone know how to drive this thing?"

	"Oh great," Akane commented snidely, "maybe we should put out L plates."

	Managing to get control of the robot, Ranma dashed forward and jumped to
deliver a devastating leap kick to the robot, knocking it over onto the
apartment building.

	"No!" screamed Ranma. "I just redecorated."

	"Shampoo no call that redecorating."

	Nullzilla got back to its feet and replied with a punch.

	Mike started commented as their robot was beaten. "Its a left, then a
right, and a wicked uppercut..."

	"MIKE!" the other four exclaimed.

	Nullzilla knocked the robot to the ground then leapt over and body
slammed it. The monster's fist raised, but the robot blocked it, and
shoved the monster off.

	"We need a weapon!" Nabiki yelled as the robot got to its feet.

	"Use the matic!" urged Kasumi over the radio.

	"What?" the defenders cried.

	"The disruptomatic, use it!"

	The robot patted itself down. "What disruptomatic?" Ranma asked.

	"We don't have one!" added Akane.

	"Err.. wait a sec." Back at the Principal office Kasumi touched a
control on her desk console. The image on the screen changed to show a
very large display case in the hanger bay. In one corner of the cover the
words 'In case of Nullzilla break glass' could be seen and within the box
was a massive axe, big enough to be held by the giant robot. "Oh my."

	Ranma was relieved when the radio crackled to life. "I sent RyoGA with
the disruptomatic!"

	"Command.com did what?" Shampoo demanded.

	"We're dead," Nabiki groaned.

	But Ranma grinned. "Time for the Saotome desperation move!"

	Nullzilla, still get to its feet was surprised when its opponent held up
its hands in a T. "Time out!" Ranma yelled. "We need a break."

	Much to everyone's surprise Nullzilla nodded and the pair settled down
to wait.

*****

	Time passed.

*****

	The giant robot tapped its foot and glanced at its watch. "Where is that
sprite?"

	Meanwhile Nullzilla had taken out a paddle ball and was having fun
batting it around. Strangely he was holding the ball, not the paddle.

*****

	Time passed, but then that's its job.

*****

	The robot and Nullzilla sat atop small buildings, a larger building
between them. Both held a bunch of rectangles in their hands.

	Nullzilla held up a hand and extended three fingers. The giant robot
shook its head. "Go fish." Grumbling the monster reached out to take a
card from the centre building.

*****

	Time passed, illegally on the inside.

*****

	The shape of the Disruptomatic could be seen soaring through the air
towards the battlefield.

	"About time," announced Ranma.

	The giant robot stretched out its hand and the axe flew into it,
connecting to the mecha with a satisfying clunk. Ranma leaned forward and
touched the radio controls. "Where've you been dog boy?"

	Akane malleted him. "Don't call him dog boy!"

	"Shampoo agree, she never like that show."

	The others gazed at the Amazon sprite. "Huh?"

	Shaking his head Ranma turned back to the radio. "RyoGA, go long the
corridor then take the arm elevator to level 27 and... why am I telling
you this? You'll just get lost anyway."

	Holding the axe in both hands the giant robot went into a ready stance.
Nullzilla, realising the fight had resumed, dove forward to attack. The
giant robot swung, and Nullzilla was cleaved in two by the mighty blade.
Nulls poured like water from the monstrous form, splashing against the
buildings before spreading out and disappearing back from whence they
came.

	The foot of the giant robot crashed down next to the prone form of
Kodachi virus.

	"We'd better get down there and see what's wrong with her," Ranma
announced, getting out of his seat.

*****

	Glitch's beeping didn't seem to disturb the unconscious virus.
Cautiously Ranma creeped forward, keeping one eye on his keytool and the
other on Kodachi.

	"She seems normal, well as normal as Kodachi gets," he commented.
"Whatever infected her seems to have gone."

	Over the comlink Nabiki put voice to his unsaid thought. "Where?"

*****

	Kuno walked into Nibbles play room. Supposedly his two hench bots were
in here talking care of his pet, but the room was surprisingly empty. He
paced over to the crib and smiled to see the null still in there.

	The virus smiled "Ah, there you are, mother."

	Above him a black spiral made of spheres burnt through the roof and
floated silently down unnoticed. The first Kuno knew of its presence was
when black tentacles wrapped themselves around him.

	Wrestling with the creature, Kuno fell to the ground and Nibbles
screeched as he battled. Silence descended as the null shot into the
darkness. Kuno stood, but it was a different Kuno. His skin was jet black
and his eyes glowed with malice.

-----

Author's Note:
	Thanks to my friend Shane for the idea of using the Beast Wars
characters.
	Two to go. Hehe.

-----------
Rarstarr,
David Farr
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
djfarr@ihug.co.nz