Third Labor, chapter 7
"Scrambled Identities?"
well, heck it *is* supposed to be an SI after all...
Disclaimer: [Xover][SI][Ranma][Sailor Moon][Sabre Marionette
J][OAI][etc]
---------
The Pheonix Mage awoke and immediately summed up his
situation in one word: "Mmmrrrrff?!"
"Don't worry, Jay-chan!" Mina made a muscle gesture. Jared
idly wondered where she had gotten the nurse's outfit from.
"You'll feel better soon with NURSE MINA on the job!"
Situational analysis: That battle and particularly the
amount of energy he'd put into that last spell had reduced
his capabilities to near invalid status. Maybe he'd overdone
it a little, just a little mind you. Spell points were
zilch. Silver Millenium abilities: drained to near nothing.
Magical items - temporarily offline. Chi level- barely
enough to keep him from slipping into a coma. Wrapped in
bandages - not unexpected with Nurse Mina. Mina Lovejoy
tended to have far more enthusiasm than talent in such
endeavors. Or was this the marionette?
If it had been anywhere near him at the time, he'd used it.
It had been a TOUGH fight, and his opponent had been tougher
than the average duke of hell. At least the ones he'd
remembered fighting. Any resource he could tap into had been
put into that last attack. His eyes went to the side.
Belldandy was sleeping, which meant exhaustion, which meant
that she had been the one to get Shan to where she could
cross dimensions and assist him. He'd have to thank her
later.
Shan was sleeping, which also meant exhaustion, which wasn't
surprising. She'd never gone to Super Sailorjin mode before,
much less Sailorjin II. Once she had done a new technique,
she'd be able to get the energy cost down but the first time
ended up draining her pretty badly.
Jared immediately tried to free himself. Not that he didn't
appreciate Mina's intentions, no not at all. It was her
execution of those intentions he found worrisome. "Mrfffg?!"
"Oh, they're all helping with the refugees." Mina shrugged
as she filled a hypodermic. "I *think* this is the stuff Amy
said to use. Anyway, they're organizing the refugees into
camps - and there's just a *lot* of medical problems they're
working on. We're fleeing ahead of the main forces, of
course. Though that girl Makoto is still spoiling for a
fight. But don't worry, they left me and Scarlet and a lot
of others who're taking care of you!"
Looking at the horse needle in Mina's enthusiastic but inept
hands, Jared suppressed a whimper. Torture by goblins didn't
seem so bad.
"Okay, Jay-chan! Time for your medicine! Jay-chan? Where'd
you go?" Mina scratched her head. That's funny. He had been
lying there a second ago.
It was here that Jared learned the usefulness of many of the
Anything Goes techniques, neglected previously as he'd never
been much of a villain, vagabond, or fugitive. As he clung
to the ceiling of their large tent, in agony and terror, he
learned many of the fundamental secrets of pushing yourself
beyond all human limits because otherwise you'd be dead.
~Odd, so *that* explained some of Genma and Happosai's
training techniques. You really *can't* learn this advanced
stuff without your life being in danger from forces beyond
your control.~
His fingers slipped a few inches on the slick fabric, and he
nearly fell on Mina's head. She was peering around
worriedly, checking under sheets and in the other beds.
Creeping down silently, he went in and hid himself in a
place she'd already looked. Mina immediately turned about
and swept the blanket off from him, revealing the bound-up
mage desperately trying to pretend that he was Belldandy's
pillow.
"Aha! Don't forget, Jay-chan, you used the trick of hiding
where I'd already looked the last time I wanted you to judge
our bathing suit competition!"
Whimper. ~You know, when Happosai endangers the lives of
others he at least uses the opportunity to do the things he
enjoys as the way of getting the masses properly enraged.
Genma too, for that matter. No *wonder* Soun's daughters
didn't learn much of anything from him.~
The needle came lowering down.
A quick panda sign got whipped out. [Say, isn't that the
Three Lights over there?]
"Who? Oh come on, Jay-chan. It's just a little vitamin
shot." Mina waved the bulky syringe.
As this was the sort of needle you used in veterinary
medicine, Jared was considering options. [Oh no! Look, it's
Akane!]
"Good try, Jay-chan, now just take your medicine!"
"Hi! Oh my!"
Mina whirled to confront the intruder and quickly realized
that it was Scarlet, not Akane the Hentai.
By the time she'd turned around, Jared had discovered his
monk abilities of Run Very Fast and Move Silently were still
intact.
--------
Elsewhere:
The Binding wasn't intelligent per se, but it was developing
one as it grew more complex. It had originally been a Wish
granted by an immensely powerful being and had functioned
much like a computer program, but one that could learn and
adapt in the course of performing its duty. Naturally it
wanted to do this in the most efficient manner.
So, upon Grey's death, it had been resurrecting him but
imposing the only changes it could within its programming
limitations: physical. Because heavily armored cyborgs
tended to last longer, it generally went with those forms.
An errant piece of data, and continued influence from the
Discord curse, caused the program to evaluate and respond by
shifting the Host in another approach. As cyborgs were not
lasting so long, and the memories were sufficient to cause a
reset, something to minimize danger would be appropriate.
--------
Grey came up coughing water. That had been difficult. It was
all he could do to keep his mind intact through all that.
Without the meditation techniques of Frostbite it would have
been impossible to go through the experience. Something odd
with the Binding though, in that instead of rebuilding him,
it was relocating him.
As the coughing fit passed, a few details began to
penetrate. A furo, and a familiar one. The Tendo house. Grey
pulled himself out of the water, a nasty feeling settling
into the pit of his stomach. Female. He'd been female a few
times. Never enjoyed it. It was like wearing wool or
something, it was just uncomfortable. It wasn't him.
So, a quick splash of hot water and...
Nothing. Grey frowned. ~Okay. Don't panic. i've been a girl
before. Not my cup of tea, but at least i'm not crippled,
seem to be in good shape (wince) and... that was a heck of a
lot of water i just coughed up. Oh man, i got inserted into
a dead person! Long hair so it isn't Nabiki. Okay, i can
deal with being Kasumi. Weird, but i can deal with it. i
like cooking anyway, though those Japanese dishes are *not*
an option. Or... Ugh. What if i'm KIMIKO?! Other than Soun's
wife is gonna be frigid and not fulfill some of her wifely
duties?~
Grey nodded. ~That might be it. i've seen timelines where
she died of cancer, or an illness, or miscarrying another
child, or protecting her house from a burglar. In this one
she drowned. Hmmm. This might be fun, raising the Tendo kids
and solving a lot of problems. i've had brief experiences
raising kids, mainly when the Senshi were turned into
babies. Have to do some research...~
Grey unsteadily supported herself, going out into the
dressing room, looking into a mirror...
and screaming in sheer naked (literally) horror!
----------
Third Labor timeline:
Jared fled. He was exhausted otherwise he'd have been much
better at it. Following him was a pack of would-be nurses.
Truly, the path to hell had good intentions involved.
Nurse Mina was concerning. Scarlet as a would-be angel of
mercy was alarming. The Dirty Pa... Lovely Angels dressed as
miniskirted nurses was downright frightening!
And some of the others who were trying to be Florence
Nightingale (or Major Hotlips Hoolihan) and nurse him back
to health were WORSE!
The marionette version of Lina Inverse was strange and
hadn't gotten off a spell right yet. Inexperience, he
expected. Hephaestus had modified a marionette into a
sorceress (twice in fact) and Bast had seen the Dirty Pair
and had supplied...
Jared could have kicked himself. He tended to rely on magic
and high powered attacks. He still had those PokeBalls!
"MUGHI! I choose you!"
"Bwaaa?!" Something very much like a mutant cat appeared out
of the thrown PokeBall. "Murfff?"
Jared flipped onto the cat-things back. "Full speed.
THATAWAY!"
"Mugghhiiii!" The Lovely Angels went into full-blown Cute
Mode. "Over here!"
"Eeeep!" Jared leapt off of Mughi as the cat changed course.
Okay, maybe that hadn't been his best idea.
Rolling on the grass, he pulled out a substitute mount.
"ROSHI! I choose you!"
Mink stepped out of the crowd of nurses and snorted flame.
Jared sent a hesitant glance to see the semi-pterodactyl
shaking its head at him vigorously. "Big help you are."
"Griffin?" He tried desperately, calling forth a golden
furred lion and eagle hybrid.
"Just wing it, would you Kei?" One of the Lovely Angels
asked of the other, as the latter pulled out her incredibly
powerful laser pistol.
"Pegasus?" He tried his next to last PokeBall of that day,
only to have the equine immediately subject itself to the
dazing caresses of a dozen horse-crazed teenage girls. ~I am
beginning to think I am losing the war against cute.~
The depleted Mage took a step back as the crowd of would-be
nurses stepped forward. No magic, no... Hey! He was a druid
of surpassing level! He could call on elementals without
using spells or anything! Just summon them because they
liked and trusted him so much! The badly drained spellcaster
knelt and put his hand on the ground. "EARTH!"
A huge earth elemental of surpassing size and power loomed
halfway up out of the soil's embracing grip, took one look
at the advancing crowd of nurses and help up a sign. "Sorry.
I like and trust you but those girls *scare* me."
Situation Analysis: I am about to be killed by the girls who
love me most. Mina has a syringe that compares to medicine
the same way the Spanish Inquisition compares to asking the
time of day. I'm immune to normal weapons, but then so is sh
e from what I've done to her and thus she can hurt me even
with mundane objects, the energy of her enchantment
equalling mine. Luckily, I'm immune to poison (three ways)
and disease (two ways), so *maybe* it would be best just to
subject myself to their efforts and live through it, rather
than injure myself trying more to escape it.
At that moment Naga, the White Serpent exited the tent,
having changed her usual black,
barely-adequate-and-not-quite-that micro bikini for a white
one of the same style and added a nurses cap to the top. She
began her crazy noblewoman laugh and twirled a pair of
handcuffs. "Well, if our patient is reluctant maybe we had
better restrain him, no?"
Kodachi stepped up to her side, dressed demurely (which
meant without a doubt that she was wearing something kinky
underneath and just waiting for a moment to dramatically
swep this off) in a white nurses gown and snapping on a
latex glove that went clear to her elbow.
Jared sweatdropped.
The Akane (non hentai) marionette type exited the tent
bearing a tray full of steaming filth. "Hey everyone! I
cooked breakfast for our patient."
Acting without hesitation, Jared snapped the next PokeBall
off his belt. ~Desperate times called for desperate
measures.~ "Mara! I choose you!! Get me out of here!" That
required a little extra thought. "Umm, nothing evil. I
couldn't handle it just now, and um, try to keep me on this
planet, just away from them. Okay?"
---------
Kasumi was the first one into the bathroom, having heard the
wailing of a lost soul. "What's wrong, Akane?"
The blackhaired girl in the bathroom pointed shakily at the
mirror. "That... i... it... horrible. Horrible. It's... a
nightmare. It's got to be."
Kasumi looked into the mirror but couldn't see it. "What is
it, Akane? Did you see something?"
"i... Kasumi! It's..." Akane shuddered.
Kasumi was shocked. Her tough little sister was crying and
looked decidedly ill. "There, there, Akane..." Kasumi noted
that Akane flinched at the sound of her own name. How odd.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be all right."
Akane glanced again at the mirror and shuddered. "Somehow i
doubt that, Kasumi."
---------
Asgard:
"AAaaaaaaaaaaa!" Celeste said, summing up the situation
quite well.
"What's wrong?" Belle was working with the log system and
hadn't noticed anything particularly wrong as of yet.
"Grey's dead in two timelines. His android girlfriends have
just dug themselves in and are preparing to shut themselves
down. Terratwo is about to go to outright war, and the
Pheonix Mage is... well he's not in Terratwo anymore."
Celeste started checking files. "Where's the Third Labor
timeline, is he still there?!"
"It'll be awhile before we rebuild datalinks," Belle
remarked. "Trying to track the Pheonix Mage is difficult at
best. Though that call from Urd tells me where he *was* at
least."
---------
Another universe entirely:
"Okay, I take it this family meeting is what to do about
Akane," Nabiki flopped down into her chair. "She tried to
hang herself from the stairway yesterday. Lousy job of it,
didn't know enough not to use stretch pantyhose."
"She tried sticking her head in the oven the day before
that. Oh, that was in the morning. In the evening she'd
recovered enough to go lie down in the street." Kasumi was
fretting. Nice girls didn't repeatedly try to commit
suicide.
Nabiki held up a hand. "Waitaminute, isn't the waterheater
gas and the stove electric? And we don't get any traffic
around here normally."
"Well, Mrs Yamani *did* manage to run over her with a
bicycle, but it wasn't quite the effect Akane was trying
for." Kasumi continued to fret. "Oh dear. Do you have any
idea why she's doing it?"
"And at school she threw herself from the roof. TWICE. The
first time she landed on Kuno. Akane also tried to find the
family cermonial tanto. I've hidden it of course." Nabiki
shrugged. "Maybe the stress of school with Kuno's challenge
just got to her."
"Kasumi! Nabiki! I can't believe my little girl would even
consider such a thing," Soun drew as much stoic dignity
about himself as he could.
Akane stuck her head in the doorway. "Kasumi? Where are all
your knives? i've been all over the kitchen and i can't find
any."
"They're... out to be sharpened! Yes, that's it." Kasumi was
sending little sweatdrops everywhere.
"Oh..." Akane looked disappointed. "Well, i'll be in my room
if anyone wants me."
Akane trudged up the stairs while three family members
watched her.
"Kasumi, have you removed all sharp edges from her room?"
"Yes, Nabiki." Kasumi sighed. "What are we going to do?"
"Oh my," said Soun.
----------
Third Labor timeline:
Mara (aka Marller) was OUT of that damn PokeBall! Finally.
She'd been in there since halfway through the Second Labor!
His wish had been clear, however, and she was bound by that
damn sphere herself. The PokeBall was one of several "knock
offs" developed by Raphael that used magic instead of some
alien technology. Among the alterations was a Compulsion To
Obey. This rankled but Mara didn't see a choice but going
along with it for now. Though being a Demon First Class, she
also *had* to twist it. The planet was Earth. There were a
LOT of Earths. She had to go with him (he was still holding
that damn PokeBall and she could feel her connection to the
damn thing still) which meant a hostile environment version
of Earth was out of the question. And he'd said nothing Evil
which precluded a lot of other possibilities.
Which meant... Mara sent her consciousness out to the
nearest clusters of stable lines that had Earths...
"Toriohime! I choose you!" (poof!) "Windy, return to your
power contained!" (poof!) "A-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-TA!" (poof!)
"Anpanman, you're here!" (poof & shudder) "Saint Tail! Stop
right there!" (poof!) "You blockhead!" (poof!)
Ah, Mara snapped her fingers. PERFECT!
----------
Nerima, a Ranma/Akumakun timeline:
"Akane? May I come in?"
"Uhm, sure, Kasumi."
Kasumi entered her youngest sister's bedroom and immediately
started cataloging the changes. It was almost as if Akane
was divesting herself of as many female influences as
possible. The room looked spartan compared to Akane's usual
clutter. Akane herself was in a lotus position on the floor.
"Errrr. Akane. I don't know how to put this..."
"What is it, Kasumi?" Akane looked up at her big sister for
a moment.
"Akane, I understand that you were injured at school today."
Kasumi began fidgeting again, not sure how she could handle
any of this.
"Yeah. Kuno. What a wimp. Freaked at the sight of a little
blood." Akane shrugged, then winced and her hand shot
towards her ribcage.
"Nabiki said that you let Kuno-san hit you, that you impaled
yourself on his blade stating that the only way he could
have you was in death." Kasumi winced. Nabiki's description
had been quite graphic.
"Yeah. Geez, you should have seen him. Damn near went into
catatonia. i tried to get him to complete the second thrust
but he was MOST uncooperative." Akane shook her head.
Kasumi nodded at the confirmation. From what Nabiki had
said, Tatewaki Kuno was likely still curled up in a ball and
mouthing denials. "Akane, I'm... sorry."
Akane stared at KASUMI crying. "Oh geez. Don't do that. What
have you got to be sorry about?"
"But I've obviously failed to raise you or Nabiki well. I've
failed Mother's trust. Nabiki is just a greedy skinflint
with a need to prove her intellectual edge at the cost of
others, while you're a violent maniac who's trying to kill
herself!"
Nabiki, listening at the wall, frowned at this summation of
herself.
"Oh, don't say that, Kasumi. You did everything you could
but you were just a kid yourself." Akane looked at the tears
for a moment more. "Well, i don't like the idea of suicide
but living *this* life is just unbearable. Please don't cry.
Kasumi... if i could do something for you, i would..."
"Promise me..."
Akane blinked. "Promise you what?"
"If you care at all for me or Nabiki, for our family,
PROMISE me you won't go killing yourself." Kasumi stared
tearfully at her little squirming sister. "Promise me, or...
I'll join you!" ~Please please don't call my bluff.~
"WHAT?! THAT'S CRAZY!"
"It's my failure and my responsibility," argued Kasumi.
Akane stared for a moment then mumbled something under her
breath.
"What was that, Akane?"
"All right, already. i promise that i won't intentionally
kill myself." Akane's head lowered. ~Damn, i seem to have
gotten Ranma's vulnerability to crying women.~
Nabiki silently applauded Kasumi. She hadn't mentioned some
of the things that had frightened off the horde of hentai at
school. One of whom had glomped Akane only to find she was
in the process of pouring gasoline over herself.
The school was scared. Heck, KUNO was scared. Glomp or hit
on her, and poom - off she'd go to end it all. She was quite
obviously not taking care of herself, no makeup, it looked
like she'd stopped trying to brush or clean her hair, had
rings under her eyes and a tired/depressed air about her.
And then there had been Daisuke. Daisuke had groped her,
figuring Akane was too far gone to care. She had reached
down, grabbed his nuts, and had then... Nope. NOBODY wanted
to date Akane anymore.
The paramedics had packed everything in ice, and they'd been
able to reattach his... and the doctors said that there was
a good chance he'd regain sensation!
Nabiki had to admit that watching Kuno squirm on hearing the
details, well, *that* part had been fun. Kuno now looked on
Akane with fear. And if Nabiki enjoyed twisting the knife on
a few people, pointing out that it was *their* actions that
had caused her little sister to be changed from the cute
tomboy to someone who didn't care if she (or anyone
accosting her) lived and would prefer not making it through
another day, well that was just Nabiki's fun.
Though it had taken today's events to break through the
usual denials from Kuno. He had had *Akane's* blood on his
hands, literally.
Yuka and Sayuri were afraid to come anywhere near the
friend. Akane just didn't seem like the same person.
---------
An SMJ Timeline:
Everyone watched the girl in the strange clothing nervously.
She walked in an odd manner around the smurf on the floor,
eyeing him critically, before nodding. "Yup. I can fix this.
You want to be human, right?"
"Yes! Yes! No more singing at night and unaccountable
cravings for whatever a 'smurfberry' is. No more being
stepped on or chased by cats. No more being a deformed blue
munchkin!"
"Sounds like a yes to me." The woman raised slender limbs
the color of dark chocolate over her head, and a glow
gathered between her hands.
"Building blocks of life now heed,
Double helix hear me plead,
Change this one who's smurf in form,
To human variable now conform!"
Ieyasu looked up from where he was kneeling. "I'm...."
"Human." Edema nodded. "Ah well, we can't all have the grace
and innate beauty of a dark elf, can we? Oh ho ho ho ho ho.
Errr. Sorry about that. I just watched a 'Slayers'
marathon."
"How can I repay you? That..." Ieyasu wasn't sure what to
say.
"Forgive him, he's a bright elf. They always think they know
better than everyone else what's good for everyone else."
Edema shrugged. "Not that most dark elves are any better. I
left my homeland 'cause I couldn't stomach that sort of
thing. Hoighty toity light elves, nasty vicious dark elves.
Silly really. Two sides of the same coin and pride is the
foundation of both."
"ahhhh..." None of those present were quite sure what to
make of this.
"Oh, is this your attempt to rebuild Banana?" Edema crossed
to the table.
"Well... that is..." Gennai began to get nervous now.
"Hey, just because I'm an archmage who grew up in a
psuedo-medieval setting doesn't mean I can't ask questions.
I asked Celeste. Nice girl, if she'd get over the weird
clothes fetish and relax a little."
"Weird clothes?" Gennai looked at the stiletto heeled calf
length boots, the green and gold clothing that didn't hide
much of the girl's dark skin, and the tattoo on her left arm
depicting the silhoutte of a woman dancing. He spent a
moment wondering what this woman(?} considered odd clothing.
Edema saw him stare and tapped the tattoo. "My patron. The
Dancer, the Moonsword. I'd say the elven name but you humans
never pronounce it right. Now let's see. You've got partial
brain tapes and you use these to simulate engram patterns,
right? Giving the android partial memories of the original
Grey. Except that it didn't work too well with the second
Ginseng, did it?"
Nobody refuted that.
"Let *me* try," suggested Edema.
"Gather here the spirit trace,
To this golem give embrace,
a quickening of mind and heart,
reborn now within this part!"
Ginseng3 gasped and spasmed, then seemed to go to sleep.
"That might do it," suggested Edema. "Now for how you're
going to pay me back."
The nervous tension in the room grew palpable.
"You're going to take a DNA sample from me," said Edema,
throwing her hair back and smirking. "Because if that
Mage-boy comes back here and finds a lot of half-drow babies
it's gonna put a major torque in his shorts!"
"But we don't want trouble..." The human again Ieyasu said.
If it meant giving up his humanity again to safeguard his
people he'd do it in a heartbeat. He'd been willing to die
to bring back human women and rescue Lorelei. Having done it
before, he'd do it again.
"Nah, he'll probably just cast a spell to change 'em into
half bright-elves, or whatever they call them in his neck of
the woods." Edema shrugged. "And don't tell me you couldn't
use the genetic diversity. Six guys and one woman don't
exactly fill your genetic cup to the brim. Especially when
NONE of you were genetic experts."
"Well, that's true." Ieyasu nodded.
"What do you mean?" Otaru asked, confused. But then he'd
been lost early into all of this.
"None of the six guys who landed on Terratwo was an expert
at genetic engineering." Edema gave a "what can I say"
gesture. "The six guys were an 'away team' - a geologist, a
biologist, a botanist, an engineer who happened to be a
robotics expert, a security guard/communications officer,
and a pilot. The ship's computer went nuts before the
genetics experts or anyone else was ready to leave, just the
scout team that was supposed to decide where to put the
colony. Otherwise they'd have been able to take the Xs from
two guys and try to make a woman."
"We did. But in those days the machines were breaking down
and it would be a slow road to rebuild our technology to
that level. We ended up using the mongrelizing clone process
that was originally intended for taking a couple of animals
and recreating enough of them to make a viable species. The
clone banks and genetic samples were all on the shuttle,
otherwise we would never have made it past that first
generation." Ieyasu sighed. "It was a hard time and tempers
frayed, causing our split from a single colony to the six
countries we have today."
"True. Now your timeline has seperated enough for me to do
this, mind you - once I leave your land I won't return.
You'll never see me again." Edema paused to smile openly.
"Except perhaps in the likeness of the occasional
darkskinned whitehaired child."
--------
Elsewhere:
The note read:
"Tendo,
Boy got injured while training. Dropping him off while I
attend to other business. Proceed with Plan.
Saotome."
Soun glanced down at the heavily bandaged boy sleeping
peacefully on his front porch and began to cry tears of
happiness. Why, they weren't due to arrive for weeks yet!
And Genma's handwriting had improved immensely! He tiptoed
away from the darkhaired boy so as not to wake him and give
him an early start, I mean startle him needlessly, and went
to find his daughters.
"Kasumi?" He looked to find the kitchen empty, ingredients
left in haste. Kasumi left a mess in the kitchen? Was the
Apocalypse coming? Plodding up the stairs he opened the door
to Nabiki's room. "Nabiki?"
His middle daughter emerged from her sleep looking terrible.
Eyes closed she muttered. "It's five o' clock in the
morning. Couldn't it wait, Daddy?"
"Have you seen Kasumi or Akane out?" He should've known it
was a ridiculous question, but Nabiki often answered them
anyway.
She looked out of her window, not stirring from her bed.
Then her eyes grew slightly larger and she rushed over to
the window, followed by her father. "So *that's* what she
wanted the extra bricks and boards for. I thought she was
going to go back to martial arts practice with them."
Soun looked out the window and became instantly terrified,
turning himself about and rushing downstairs. Nabiki merely
opened the window and leaned out, calling down. "Akane, I
thought you'd promised not to *do* that anymore?"
Akane glanced up from where she was losing the struggle with
Kasumi for possession of the rope. "Oh, hi Nabiki. No, This
isn't covered under the promise at all."
Nabiki took in the scaffold and trap door, with newly
painted sign which proclaimed "Hang the Psycho-bitch, only
5,000 yen (payable to Nabiki)."
"This most certainly *is* covered under your promise!"
Kasumi objected, yanking away the rope her kid sister had
been trying to tie into a noose. "You said that you wouldn't
ever kill yourself."
Akane pointed to the lever, almost six feet away from the
trapdoor. "Do you think i'm pulling that by myself? No, i
was just helping Nabiki out with her money-hungry schemes.
This way i'm out of the picture and make Nabiki and someone
else happy! i figure i want to die and if someone wants to
pay for the privilege of killing me i *wouldn't* be doing
the dirty deed myself."
Nabiki felt oddly used and soiled by that statement. Sure
she liked money, but to be used as her sister's excuse just
felt... wrong. Did Akane really see her like that? The
thought made Nabiki sick. This being the third time in the
past week that Akane had made a reference to this image of
her shorthaired sister, and the apparent sincerity in each
case, had been giving Nabiki some painful soul searching.
"Akane! How could you?"
Akane blinked with a sincerely puzzled expression. "Was it
too cheap?"
"AKANE!!" Soun bellowed, exploding out from the lower level
of the house, enveloping her in a restraining hug and
washing her hair with his tears. "PLEASE! Don't kill
yourself. You have to think of the future of the school!"
sob. "And just as things were about to go so well for us."
"Screw the school. Has the Anything Goes made *one* person
happy? Has it ever saved a life or served a greater purpose!
The Anything Goes Style was created by a perverted little
monster for the purpose of stealing underwear!" Akane
protested from within the glomp. "If you want the school to
continue TEACH STUDENTS!"
"B-b-but..." Soun was beginning to register Akane's words.
"But what do you expect of a style developed by HAPPOSAI?!"
Soun shrank back as if a hot iron had been applied. "No!
Don't say that name!"
Akane frowned. "Well, if you're going to be THAT
unreasonable, there's only one avenue left open to me..."
A little later, with a moan, a young man wandered over to
the source of the shouting. Blearily, the youth took in the
sight of Soun holding a squirming Akane helpless, Nabiki in
her pajamas sitting on the scaffold steps, Kasumi standing
by with a partially tied noose, and very deliberately read
the sign. Then he looked back up, holding his head to reduce
the pain. "Wow, Nabiki! What blackmail material did you get
over everyone *this* time? Only don't you think that's a
little cheap? I mean you'll only get to hang her once, don't
you think you could get more for it?"
Nabiki's iron control faded and her lips trembled.
Unfortunately, at that moment Kasumi chose to speak almost
the exact words she was thinking. "Wow, Nabiki, even total
strangers believe you are capable of doing this for money."
"Or spite." The former redhead interjected, searching
through his pockets. "Who knows? Akane might have snubbed
her sister at a party or something. I'm sorry, I don't have
the 5,000 yen on me at the moment..."
Nabiki closed her eyes and shuddered, while Soun and Akane
ceased struggling to regard the boy.
Rather too out of it to notice the response he got, the boy
went on. "But really, don't you even want to cover funeral
expenses? Oh, I forgot, you'll probably have a 'dismember
the body' party or something and charge admission, then sell
the remains by the pound. Never let a resource go to waste,
that's Nabiki."
Soun began to wail about his daughter having arranged all of
this to make money.
The Ranma-lookalike watched in puzzlement as the middle
Tendo broke out bawling and ran into the house. "Was it
something I said?" He asked, honestly puzzled in his hazy
confusion why she would act like that.
Then again, in his state of being newly on the recovery from
being nine-tenths dead himself, the harshness of his own
words escaped him. At this point he didn't even realize that
he was disguised as Ranma Saotome. Yawning, the bandaged
youth wandered over and took Kasumi by the hand, guided her
down to the grass, curled up around her and went back to
sleep.
Kasumi was sitting there stiffly, blinking her tumbled
brains out.
Soun began the ever-so-classic wail about the houses about
to be joined.
Akane found herself free to go, and began to wonder what to
do with herself. Then she noted the boy was wearing a sword
and that it was Ranma. Sword wielding Ranma? How odd. Not
that she hadn't seen stranger things.
Asleep with his head in her lap, the boy mumbled something
that began with "'sumi-chan..."
----------
RIFTS Earth:
Apple hesitated. "So... Master has a native version?"
The girl leaned back against the wall and seemed to
contemplate the ceiling. "He and thee have bound thy
essences twice. And like he, thou dost continue to gather
fragments of thyself that be scattered through the
timelines."
"What exactly is your tie to Master," Grape asked, "you...
aren't a fiancee, are you?"
"Bragi's balls, child, NO. I've already got enough on mine
plate. And before thee ask, NOT that fellow." She shook her
head. "What his local Analogue be is what they call a
techno-wizard. When the Wanderer doth return, he shall merge
with the local and add to the gestalt."
"Then Master will return?" Honey asked of the stranger.
"Aye," said the woman, holding up a finger. "First the Life
Line spell. Cast once when thy current versions first did
meet, then renewed by thee in the next timeline. It is this
which, more than anything else, marks you as incompatible
with thy Senshi identities. Sworn to someone other than thy
princess, after all, is not in keeping with those
identities. Seek thy hearts, do you not see the words
emblazoned within? Thou art sworn to serve him as thy
liege."
The marionette identities had little problem with this. Some
of the others did.
"Second," the woman said, holding up a second finger. "The
ties were reborn when the cat did his own deal with thee.
Merge with thy other selves in the land of the Pheonix Mage,
or thy lives and his would be forever bound together."
A few aspects remembered that, for others this was news to
them.
"Third," the woman added a third finger to the two she held
up. "Thee may be interested to see what the local aspect of
this Grey is doing... and who he be with." Fleece grinned.
This would cement the deal for sure. If only she could get
her translation lens to work properly. It seemed to be stuck
on broken Shakespearean English for some reason.
----------
"Please, please, kill me! i'm an uncute brute, i'm a vicious
violent thug, the world will be a better place without me!"
Jared stared at Akane for a moment, then looked around to
see if Rod Serling was waiting in the wings or something.
"Uhm..."
"PLEASE KILL ME! i don't deserve to live! i'm a horrid
person. i can't cook, i'm manipulative and vain and evil!"
Jared starts backing up, *really* wishing he could cast a
few spells right now. Detect Lie, Detect Evil, Detect
Invisible... "Wait a minute, errrr, something isn't right
here."
Akane pulls out a mallet. "C'mon. i'm armed now and
attacking! You can do it! Just one quick thrust and you can
claim it was self defense."
Jared's sword was out and lopping the top of the mallet off
in a single quick stroke. Which immediately came down on
Akane's head and knocked her out.
"What the heck?!" Jared stared puzzled as Akane recovered
from her faint. "Why? How? What?!"
Akane frowned and tried another tack. "What, are you a
coward then? Not much of a man at all are you?!"
Jared gripped the sword a bit tighter until he noticed
Akane's grin and that she was watching the sword. She...
genuinely wanted him to kill her?
Seeing him hesitate, Akane tried some more. "Coward! Little
girl! Instead of doing something heroic like saving the
world from an insidious cancerous evil, you choose not to
face your responsibilities. Are you TRYING to be like your
Oyaji!"
*CLANK!*
Jared lowered the blade, having used the flat to knock Akane
out again. "This has just gone beyond weird into the realm
of ludicrous. I must have gotten hurt worse than I thought."
He pulled out a PokeBall. "Mara! I choose you!"
"Yes!" The gloating demoness materialized in a swirl, then
turned sultry eyes on the mage. "Anything I can do for you,
lover boy?"
He immediately grew suspicious. "Oh, yeah. I should have
realized. Tempting me to break my marriage vows would be
evil, and of particular satisfaction to *you* because of how
much it would hurt Belldandy. No thank you."
Mara acquired the typical 'what a wonderful idea'
expression.
Jared waved the thought away, not having noticed. "No, I was
going to ask. What did you do to me, where am I, and why is
Akane acting less evil this time? I believe I've actually
seen remorse in those eyes and self-loathing, both of which
she's normally too impenetrably proud to feel." He
considered thoughtfully. 'Though if she *were* to feel them
she's got enough evil deeds stacked up to feel potential
remorse over that could explain why she'd be acting like
this."
He shook his head. "I've been around Scarlet too long. It
used to be a reflex action: see Akane, kill Akane. As
natural as breathing. But something's gone wrong here." He
regarded the demoness with a wary eye. "So what is it?"
"Well, for one thing," Mara said thoughtfully, producing a
mirror.
Jared frowned, glanced into it, then squeaked. "WHAT?!
What's the meaning of this?"
Mara waggled a finger. "You're hiding, remember. This was
the nearest timeline that didn't have evil dominating,
habitable, and where my meager abilities could hide you. And
it's a pretty damn good disguise, if I say so myself. With
the amount of manna I've got right now, you should be
grateful."
"So you made me look like *Ranma*?!" Jared frowned then gave
it up with a sigh.
"Hey, it's difficult to see anything from the bottom of
stuffspace but I overheard enough that you're familiar with
the role." Mara shrugged. "Until I find a way to get that
PokeBall away from you, I'm stuck with you."
"Mara, return," Jared/Ranma said, holding the PokeBall up
and waiting until the demon was sucked inside. Actually,
this wasn't bad. He might be able to make it work. Now if he
could just figure out what the heck he'd walked into...
-----------
Jared sat back in the tub, confused by the events of the
day.
*SHHOOOSH!*
Jared slowly brought his head up to see Akane standing in
the doorway. He was ready for it. He knew the scene by
heart.
"Oh sorry. i didn't know it was in use. My apologies." Akane
bowed and closed the door. There came the rustle of clothes
being put back on and the outer door opening and closing.
Jared realized his jaw was hanging down so far that he was
taking in water. That had been...
Akane making a mistake. Taking responsibility for it. And
apologizing.
"Arrggghhhhhh! How OOC can you get?!" Jared asked the
ceiling, almost expecting a reply.
-----------
Jared got up with the sunrise, feeling better, and realized
someone was practicing katas below in the yard. Akane. Or
whatever that smiling THING was.
"Hey, brother-in-law!" Akane called out, apparently seeing
Jared at the same time. "Wanna spar?"
Jared nodded, THIS was at least in the usual script. Then
realized he had just agreed to the sparring match. "Oh my."
"Don't worry, Kasumi," Akane called into the house, "i won't
rough up your fiance!"
"Confident, are you?" Jared said, taking a stance. Then
frowning. Akane's center and breathing didn't match the
profile he was expecting. Not in his class. Not NEARLY in
his class. But sufficiently good that she would have given
Ryoga Hibiki a hard time. Both of the combatants noted the
presence of two girls and an older man watching from the
sidelines and dismissed them. Akane bowed deeply, but her
eyes never moved from her opponent.
Jared bowed back, not as deeply, but also not taking his
eyes from his opponent. They simultaneously went into
"ready" stances and held position in a psychic duel.
A leaf blew between them.
Akane all but exploded towards Jared, rotating for a flying
kick that Jared immediately realized was feint for an en
passant manuever. Jared ducked and rolled, avoiding the
grab, and bounced into his own attack.
"Oh... MY!" Kasumi said as the two fighters blurred into a
series of punches, counterpunches, kicks, blocks, and other
manuevers that Kasumi couldn't immediately name.
"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Akane announced, throwing
twenty five punches a second towards Ranma.
"Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire," said "Ranma", blocking
with the same technique and wondering how the heck Akane had
learned AMAZON techniques. Though she wasn't nearly as fast
as she should be.
"Bakusai Tenken," tried Akane, blowing a huge divot in the
ground. Then spitting as she'd had her mouth open during
that and had swallowed dirt.
Jared backed up. Yes, if he went all out the fight would be
over. Yet he was "Ranma" for the moment and Ranma only
fought full out in very rare circumstances. Besides, he was
learning more about this odd Akane, though none of it made
any sense.
"Shi... shi... hokodan!" Akane fired off a quick burst of
green chi.
Nabiki openly stared. Akane... had gotten good. REALLY good.
One could tell that she was going all out, that Ranma
wasn't, but what Akane was doing was still quite impressive.
The two came to a stop. Jared had nearly died recently, and
so was somewhat out of breath. Akane trembled on the edge of
exhaustion and panted heavily.
"Not... (pant) bad... (gasp), Ranma." Akane said. "But try
this!"
Seeing that Akane was about to try the Grandmaster Blow, and
botch it, Jared moved. He leapt up, landed behind Akane and
tapped her in the back of the head.
"I know what you planned," Jared said in a low voice, eyes
narrowed. "You planned on our fight increasing in speed and
severity until I accidently killed you."
Akane panted and quietly agreed. "You gonna do it, Ranma?"
"Nice try," mumbled Jared/Ranma.
"Akane?! When did you learn those techniques?" Soun had been
rather amazed at the performance of his youngest. That
Genma's son was good was only to be expected.
"Recent developments. This was the first chance i had to try
them out like that." Akane made a gesture towards her
opponent, and not an impolite one. "Though Ranma here is
*much* better than I could be. I've never had nearly the
sort of focus he has for the Art."
Jared staggered again, surprised anew. Akane was being
generous? Humble? Honest?
"So, son, have you decided yet which of my little girls
you're going to make happy?" Soun turned his attention to
the most important matter now that Genma's son was conscious
and cognizant.
Akane blurted out quickly: "Oh, he wants Kasumi!"
"Huh?!" Again Jared staggered under a scene going completely
different from what he expected.
Kasumi and Nabiki blinked.
"Oh yes," Akane said. "Since i promised i wouldn't kill
myself, i shall instead shave my head and become a nun -
dedicating myself to a life of privation and suffering in
the cause of helping others. In such a way, perhaps i can
make up in some small measure for being such an evil
psycho-bitch."
Everyone present sweatdropped. Jared considered facefaulting
but he still wasn't completely recovered from his battle
with the demon.
"Besides, Ranma has been horribly abused all his life by his
father and to heal him of those experiences requires a
gentle touch. That's Kasumi. Nabiki couldn't be kind and
gentle if you paid her."
"Urk," Nabiki said, leaning over and clutching her chest.
"Kasumi likes to cook, Ranma likes to eat, Kasumi's gentle
and thoughtful, Ranma's got a lot of experience with the Art
but not that much with Life." Akane shrugged and smiled
playfully. "Kasumi's beautiful and intelligent, kind and
talented. Her strengths compliment Ranma's, instead of
competing with him. It's a good match, don't ya think?"
"WHAT?! How can you join a nunnery?!" Soun focussed on the
bit that Akane had hoped would be overlooked during her
recitation of why Kasumi was the best choice. "I forbid it!"
"Well, put that way, it does sound logical," agreed Jared
absently.
"Oh my," said Kasumi, blushing prettily. Akane might be a
suicidal maniac, but she certainly had made a good argument.
"No!" Nabiki snuggled against one side. "I can be the kind
and nurturing type too!" Besides, after all these
relevations about how people viewed her as a heartless
mercenary, Nabiki just wanted someone to hold her and give
some degree of comfort. Unfortunately, the guy wasn't
responding.
"Well, son?" Soun asked Jared before turning his attention
back to Akane. "Don't think that this is the end of this
conversation, young lady!"
Jared blinked. "I'm sorry. What was the question?"
Soun facefaulted, then did his best Looming Horror look.
"Which of my daughters are you going to marry?"
"You want Kasumi!" Akane suggested. "I mean look at her.
Beautiful, graceful, intelligent, a good cook! Okay, she's a
bit shy, tends to be in the background. That's why you're
perfect for her! She needs to get out more, get more
excitment into her life, and she's such a caring person that
someone who can care BACK is ideal."
Everyone stared a moment at Akane, who just said "what?!"
Soun was about to speak again when Akane continued. "On the
other hand there's Nabiki. A heartless profiteer with no
sense of honor. A flawed soul doomed to loneliness whose
dreams of conquering the business world will have her a Wall
Street Privateer by 24, and a has-been eating out of
trashcans by 29." Akane spoke from experience, having
witnessed the rise and fall of Nabiki Tendo a few times.
Eventually she fell, her habits by the time of the failed
first wedding between Ranma and Akane having reduced her to
a mercenary shell, and being able to trust no one or nobody,
and not being trusted by anyone eventually reducing her to
the insane wretch he'd seen on six different timelines. Not
pretty.
As this occurred to her, it also occurred that this might be
it- the reason that HIS spirit had been reincarnated into
the body of a recently drowned Akane. Maybe the family got
even worse off without Akane (as hard as that was to
believe) so...
"Oddly enough, I can see that happening. Where nobody trusts
her, nobody likes her, and she turns her back on the world
itself. Rather like Gollum in the Hobbit..." Jared(Ranma)
nodded.
Nabiki twitched a few times. This guy wasn't responding to
her hug. Not good. Her family hadn't noticed. Bad. They were
casually discussing her as if she had become some loathsome
little creature to whom profit was the only good. She'd had
enough self-doubt and guilt eating away at her for the past
week that she wasn't able to dismiss the concept out of
hand. She had some friends, but they tended to be more like
casual acquaintances and colleagues. Henchwomen perhaps...
"Oh my," Kasumi said, still blushing over Akane's earlier
words. "I..."
Jared thought for a moment. "Uhm, Mister Tendo. I'm really
tired right now. I haven't nearly recovered from my
injuries. I think I need a quick lie down."
"Oh..." Soun frowned, but the boy *did* look pale. "Okay,
son, but by dinner tonight, we'll need your decision."
---------
Third Labor timeline:
The silver dragon dropped out of the sky and considered the
mesa below her. If she understood right, this particular
mountaintop would remain unclaimed for several hundred
years. Even when the Anasazi broke up into their smaller
tribes, and the Hopi occupied the three mesas far to the
South, this land would remain clear. Particularly if she
took action NOW.
That Pheonix Mage had promised. SHE had not. And it was HER
consort- Nebula, Princess Serenity's father, that was going
to need help here.
The dragon shifted into a silver haired girl, who had
eschewed her normal gowns for clothing that was a little
more practical in the unhewn wilderness. HER association
with the Pheonix Mage had not been as a wife or lover.
(Well, it had looked likely briefly, then the Mage had found
a way to deflect at least one suitor.)
This looked like an ideal place to put a city where allies
would abide until called centuries hence.
As a group of Amazon refugees gated in, Queen Serenity
summoned power.
---------
Back in the Ranma/Akumakun timeline.
Kasumi was starting to put dinner on the table. "Ranma, what
was that you were doing earlier?"
The displaced mage took a moment to recognize that she meant
*him*, then spent a moment fruitlessly churning mental
wheels still loose from the overwheming strain he'd put them
under during the fight. In an odd moment of unrelated
insight, he discovered this was pretty close to what Shan
must feel absorbing techniques, only she had more practice
with it than he did.
He roused himself from the introspective stupor a bit before
Kasumi began wondering if she should repeat her question.
"Sorry, 'sumi-chan. What was I doing earlier that drew your
attention?"
She blinked. "The part where you were glowing and floating
off the floor."
Nabiki and Soun refocused their attention away from the
meal. Jared/Ranma relaxed. ~Whew!~ "Oh, that was nothing. A
chi meditation technique I picked up to reharness internal
energies. The glowing comes from a techique called Dragon
Chi, where you tie into the natural flow of power in the
world. I use it to divert a portion for rebuilding my
reserves, which are pretty badly depleted." He sniffed at
the meal. ~Hmm, smells delicious.~
Kasumi joined the others, kneeling at the table and removing
the cover from a steaming rice and pork dish. Taking his
plate to serve him, she asked. "And the levitating?"
The mage had to chuckle. "Um, I learned how to do that
studying a Flying Dragon style of kung fu, and it keeps
cropping up at the oddest moments." He sighed, thinking back
to his early pre-saving the world adventuring days. "Once or
twice when we've been low I've sat out on a street corner
with a sign 'Will Levitate For Food.' It's worked pretty
well. But really, when we've got some operating cash I FAR
prefer to set myself up as a confectioner or a Martial Art
performance cook. Cutting salads while I and the ingredients
are both in mid air is impressive, but it doesn't taste
nearly as good as yours."
"Wasn't it Akane who used the chi blast in that sparring
match you had?" Nabiki intruded, determined not to be left
out in this conversation. "How was it your reserves got so
low?" She spent a moment on how to insinuate a come on in
that question and failed, determining that she may as well
let this one slide to build a 'trustworthy confederate' role
which she could work on and expand. She wasn't out of this
by a long shot!
Ranma looked at her, as if surprised to see her (which, in
his muddled condition, he actually was having some
difficulty keeping track of some things like that). "Hmm?
Oh, no. It wasn't the fight at all. I'd been killing demons
and the last one wouldn't go down without a battle royal. I
got him, but not before he'd destroyed a couple hundred
people. Kasumi, can I have some more rice, please?"
A cold wind blew through the house as all of the others sat
like icicles.
Jared was torn. It had been two full days since the battle,
and his recovery left much to be desired. Chi was burbling
back, more slowly than he would've liked, but it was coming.
Magic potential, on the other hand, was dribbling in in
unsatisfactory amounts. He had some natural abilities
restored, but nothing in the way of spell points yet, and
those were important.
He began to consider his 'godly recharge' and wondered if he
stole a few kisses if it would be taken wrong.
----------
The refugees looked over their new cities in wonderment.
Queen Serenity had meant to go forward a mere two hundred
years to 411 AD. Instead, the gateways centered on her had
carried the refugees to the North American continent- but in
the year 911 AD instead - seven hundred years after China
had fallen to evil.
Other refugees had been culled from other disasters, as not
everyone had been able to follow the signal precisely. When
Korea had been besieged and finally crushed by the hordes,
the marionette sorceress Lina had brought a small army of
refugees forward. When the divine wind had failed and Japan
had largely been crushed and ransacked by the Chinese,
another small army of women and children had been plucked
forth by Deedlit and Pirotesse. When the darkness sent
raiding parties into Russia, others brought a few survivors
forward in time.
So it was that nine mountains each had a single village.
Each village had its own customs or language. Each also had
something in common.
A pledge, an obligation of honor, a prophesy to be
fulfilled.
------------
RIFTS Earth: about 75 miles from New Phoenix
As his wives/marionettes/companions, they had had little
trouble going through Grey's things. That had produced a
small amount of gold, among other things, and the group had
quickly found and bought a vehicle capable of taking them to
the location on their maps.
They had changed as well, the mergers of their various
aspects producing a different being than the ones who had
arrived. Though they were not completely merged mentally or
personally.
Rei Hino was Rei Hino. She had gone through two lifetimes as
a sometimes-psychic reincarnated girl of a vanished Moon
Kingdom, and once as the Princess Mars *of* that kingdom.
Melon had vanished for the most part, having had only a tiny
amount of time aware in that incarnation. She had become
wholly human, and therefore the most vulnerable of any of
the travellers. Without a hensshin pen or other means of
transformation, Princess Mars remained an unrealized
possibility.
Grape was Hotaru was Saturn, and while she preferred the
name Hotaru, was a human seeming cyborg with the strength
and speed and endurance of a Sabre Marionette. So she might
*look* like a thin 13 year old girl, but she could lift the
Mountaineer ATV they were riding in despite the size and
mass of the vehicle. She could also use her vibro-halberd to
slice and dice with great effect. Grape hadn't been awake
that long, but her programmed personality and its directives
(emphasizing her role as a Protector) were strong. Saturn
was strong enough to manifest to some degree, evidenced by
her clothing altering to her seifuku. The sound of Saturn
arguing with Grape was frequently heard as the young girl's
voice altered to fit whichever persona was speaking at the
time.
Apple had spent a small amount of time awake, but she had
apparently come to an agreement with Makoto Kino and Sailor
Jupiter. Somehow, and she wasn't sure how, the two others
were dormant within her. Apple was still a marionette
android, and was still Apple, and the other two would come
out when they were ready. The merger had been "forestalled"
as Apple would stay. The others would have liked to have
learned how to do this.
Blueberry aka Princess Mercury aka Ami Mizuno was asleep,
had been groggy and ready to fall over when they'd gotten
her to the ATV, and it was anyone's guess how she'd wake up.
Honey had vanished two hours after they'd left the ruin and
only Sif's presence had kept anyone from panicking. When
Honey had rejoined the group, she'd added another aspect to
herself. They currently weren't adding their own arguments
to Grape's muttering as Rica (Ree) Fukami was driving the
vehicle. Considering that there was no road and they were
going around sixty miles an hour, the "Glitter Boy" pilot
was left in the driver's seat in more than one sense.
---------
Jared got up off of the futon, slipping off the Synaptic
Teacher. Sakyo had downloaded all of Lorelei's technical
knowledge into a format which his superspy electronics had
been busily translating into a format he could use, and he'd
been looking for an opportunity to absorb it.
It convinced him of several things. One was how enormously
complicated a maiden circuit actually was (he rather
suspected the reason most failed to work was a call to
Yggdrasil's system for a living soul to inhabit an android
body was something Lorelei didn't have the religious
perspective to understand), and the other was a desperate
and growing need to understand MORE of this technology. Dr.
Lorelei, while smart, hadn't been the one to develop
marionettes to the level they were now. Also if he was to
be going that route (and having as many marionettes as he
did it was only polite and proper manners to know how to
maintain and fix them to a greater extent than he was
presently able) but if he was going this route it became an
item of concern to acquire most or all of Geltland's
technical advancements before the dissolution of the
country's central authority wiped them all away.
He could think of a dozen uses for their plasma technology
just offhand, and it would be handy in a dozen ways to have
technology an electrical storm of whatever intensity
wouldn't shut down. It became a mission priority to acquire
them at first possible opportunity.
He became aware of Soun sitting crosslegged next to his bed,
flanked by his three daughters. "Well?" The old man paused
to take a deep drag of his cigarette and then dramatically
snort smoke out of his nostrils. "You've had your after
dinner nap, I see. And you don't appear to be lightheaded or
confused at the moment." The elder Tendo leaned forward and
exhaled smoke next to Jared's face. "So which of my..."
The old man blinked in surprise to find that he was talking
to thin air, and Ranma was hanging out the window by his
toes, gagging from the cigarette smoke. One of the feet
released its hold to raise up a panda sign. [They don't
smoke, do they? Because if they do the deal's off.]
Soun looked down at the cigarette hanging out from his face.
Kasumi shook her head slightly while Nabiki held out an
ashtray. "Oh, father, father, father..." The Tendo patriarch
shrank in on himself a trifle to hear his eldest daughter's
slight rebuke.
Jared pulled himself back in the window, sitting near the
sill in an effort to stay clear of the lingering smoke.
~Once more into the breech.~ "Well..."
"Hang on," Akane said. "Ranma's right 'Daddy' - that *is* an
annoying, teeth staining, tumor causing, smelly, puking,
habit of yours. i don't mind dying, but lung cancer's a
pretty nasty way to go. So...
Sylph's wings beat a gentle breeze,
Cool and blow and lightly tease,
Influence foul from the air cleanse,
To help the health begin to mend."
"Clerical Magic?!" If Jared had been flabbergasted by Akane
being humble, repentant, and praising her sister's pluses
over her own, this had thrown him into downright
astonishment. White magic? Akane?!
The others noted that Akane's hands had briefly glowed, then
a cool breeze wafted through the house.
Soun sniffed, and recognized the scent of pine needles and
fresh tilled earth. It reminded him of his wife, and of
their honeymoon.
Kasumi closed her eyes as she noted the scent of lavender,
and of fresh baked bread. The air seemed purer and more
refreshing somehow, the scent of cigarettes banished without
a trace.
Nabiki stared at Akane, noting the cool wind that playfully
tugged at her clothing and ruffled her hair, carrying the
faint scent of sandalwood soap and the sound of children
playing.
All three native Tendos came out of the trance with a start.
"AKANE?! WHAT?!"
Akane shrugged. "Hey, i told you, didn't i? i'm going to
become a nun and devote myself to helping the poor and
repentant. In this way, i shall make up for the evil that i
have done."
Jared nodded. If AKANE were getting clerical spells, that
might indicate a profound religious experience - now that
she wasn't trying to kill herself to atone for it, she was
following a more proper path for such things.
Smiling, and wanting to do something in turn, the disguised
redhead crossed over to Akane and tugged open the front of
her gi, exposing her sports bra and the ugly wound caused by
Kuno's blade and given minimal attention in the days since
then. "I think I can do something about this." Ignoring that
if she could cast 'Cooling Breeze' she could cast 'Cure
Light Wounds', Jared laid his hand over the wound site.
Jared had a chi technique that would do, but instead relied
upon an ability gotten as a monk so as not to tax his
recovery. Jared also ignored Akane's startled look going
towards heavily annoyed. He closed his eyes and the hand
glowed softly for a few moments. When he removed it the
wound was gone, and he calmly turned his back and crossed
back to the window while she again shut the front of her gi.
Akane's efforts to straighten out her clothing were
interrupted by both her sisters leaning over and yanking it
open again, examining the smooth flesh of her ribs where the
wound had been, and not even a scar remained.
"Great," Akane muttered. "First Ranma, now my sisters. Are
we gonna sell tickets for *this* now- come grope Akane
before she can 'hie me to a nunnery'?"
Kasumi was blinking madly. Her little sister had been
lackadaisical at best about caring for her injury, and
*wouldn't* go to Dr. Tofu about it as she'd asked. Now it
was clean and unblemished flesh, a far cry from the
festering condition she'd been concerned about. Kasumi began
to look at Ranma and blinked prodigiously.
Nabiki was recalling in all the gory detail how that blade
had went into her sister's chest, and wasn't having any
peace of mind running her hands over where that ugly wound
had been. Neither her eyes nor her fingers were telling her
that ghastly hurt was there anymore, and she couldn't
believe it.
Nabiki grew VERY quiet and still as her sister finally
yanked her gi shut. A miracle, there was no other word for
it. She had witnessed a miracle take place in her own house.
Two if you count Akane's breeze. Nabiki drew a VERY deep
breath and shuddered from her head down to the tips of her
toes, drawing her knees up and hugging them as she glanced
sidelong at her kid sister and potential husband.
It was one thing to be held in low regard, another to be
insulted. The evident sincerity of their low opinion hurt
alot. But when both her sister and their house guest who'd
been holding those low opinions start performing miracles,
it was time to take a *serious* look at herself, and maybe
consider that it was time to change.
Soun had fallen over backwards when his soon to be future
son in law had started undressing his little girl. He now
sat up, having missed the point of the whole thing, and
coughed into his hand. "Congratulations, my boy. So it's to
be..."
"NO!!!!!" Both Akane and Ranma shouted simultaneously.
"I'm going to be a nun, dad." Akane reminded, pulling the
ties on her gi even tighter.
Ranma produced a certificate. "I'm a certified medical
doctor, with credentials in surgery and related fields. No,
I was in a strictly medical capacity when I did that, I
assure you. You'll find her wound amply taken care of."
Kasumi's eyes were attempting to use all of the landscape of
her face. "You're a doctor?" She asked softly.
"At sixteen?" Nabiki put in, more than a trifle stunned by
this as well.
~Slip up.~ Jared reminded himself.
"Well, he's all the better for Kasumi, then." Akane put in
gladly. "Just think, you want to go into medicine, don't you
sis? This'll be perfect. You can borrow his medical
reference library to study from and he can help you with
your training!"
"How did you get to be a doctor?" Kasumi asked,
unconsciously moving toward him.
He based his explanation as close to the truth as possible.
"Um, well, you see caring for injuries is your basic,
standard fare for adventurers, I mean wandering martial
artists. A study of natural things was a hobby of mine, then
there's a martial art that teaches atemi and shiatsu
attacks, and by the time you've mastered it you're as
familiar with nerves, blood flow and all that as any
surgeon. From there it wasn't a big deal to pick up a
license. You can skip most of the college courses by passing
yourself off as a foreign doctor seeking to certify here,
and just needing to brush up on a few things, which I did.
I'm more into herbs than your prescription drugs, because
herbs were more available and frankly have fewer side
effects, but I'm competent at least in most things."
Jared lowered his hand and touched a control on his waist,
causing the concealed superspy toys to go into secret motion
as he went on. "In fact, you can look me up, I'm certified
in the local board. I even have a patent on a new surgical
technique that's for dealing with restoring function to
paralyzation victims." On impulse he went a little
overboard. "There's a few international organizations
reviewing my cures for diabetes and senility, too. I'll let
you know how that goes."
Jaws had dropped universally to the floor, and Soun was
having visions of yen signs and a wealthy retirement rich
beyond his previous imaginings dance around his head.
Kasumi found herself fighting the urge to give a glomp,
whatever that was.
Nabiki was sorrowing that from now on he'd think she was
after his money, and found herself *more* interested in
proving that she was not and yet getting him anyway. The
difficulty of doing this surrounded her.
"So it's settled then." Akane beamed gladly. "He can support
Kasumi. She's just the sort of person he needs and vice
versa. They'll be perfect together, while I become a nun and
visit the sick and afflicted, removing what suffering I
can."
"It sounds like a good plan. Good luck, Akane." Jared began,
only to still himself as a dimensional tracer found its mark
and he could suddenly *feel* himself pinpointed by an
outside force. Whether it was friendly or an enemy,
however... His hand began to rove near Mara's PokeBall.
Soun noted that the decision was about to be put off again.
"RRRRAANNNNMMMAAAA!" The Demon Head began to form.
Jared gave him a level gaze, spreading his feet wide into an
appropriate stance while his fingers strayed near his
katana's hilt. "Mr. Tendo, if you use force to get your way
I shall use force to resist you. I consider this fair
warning. If you want my cooperation there are many tools
with which to get it, these include persuasion, logic,
reason, even kindness and love unfeigned. But force and
intimidation tactics will be met in a like manner. That is
only simple justice." He gave a grave and serious nod. "I
thank you for your hospitality, but..."
The youth blinked to find Soun wrapped around his waist,
bawling his eyes out and begging him to stay.
---------
"Trace Completed!" Celeste shouted, joyous in being able to
do this and clear up one of the dimensional messes going on.
Also, the fact that Jared's Belldandy and Urd companions
were hanging onto her seat's back in anxious concern was a
motivation. *Nobody* would ever want to disappoint Belldandy
in any way, no matter her guise, and the fact that Urd was
now newly reinstalled as a goddess second class, limited,
primary sphere Alchemy, had a little to do with it as well.
Nobody likes to sip a drink and wake up the next day an
entirely different race or gender. That Urd had retained her
side hobby and was now Mistress of the Harem as her
secondary sphere had a few unwed females scurrying for
cover.
"Knight Sabers! Go!!" Sylia Stingray informed her group, as
the dimensional access port opened to a size able to admit
them.
"Laser Angels, To The Hunt!!"
"Scout Planetary Teleport!"
"Lock & Load!"
"Raywing!"
"Thundercats, Ho!"
And a dozen other group phrases that led up to the largest
collection of highly trained (in violence, not in medicine)
nurses able to devastate planetary environs ever assembled
going off to the target timeline to "rescue" Jay-chan.
"First one to get his lips gets to cuddle him for the whole
night!" Yuri challenged the rest as the two Lovely Angels
skipped ahead of the rest.
=====
Toriohime (Bird Princess) is from an old series by the guy
who did "Gegege No Kitaro" - "Akumakun". "Anpanman" is from
the series of the same name. "Saint Tail" is another one of
those "Magical Princess" shows aimed at very young girls.
Next chapter, The Abduction of Jay-chan!
Will the real Ranma stand up!
And what do you with a drunken Ami?
-------------------------------
"Don't forget that for the acorn to
become the mighty oak, it starts with a
little nut that decides to stand its ground."
-Anonymous
metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/