Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ The Sleeping Giant... ( Chapter 80 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

4:54 PM--South China Sea, Japan.

Frank stood atop the bluff overlooking the beach and stared out at the ocean with a pair of specially made high-tech binoculars, scanning the coastline for the inevitable wavemark.

"Time to arrival?" he asked.

"Six minutes, thirty-two seconds," came the instant reply from his only companion, "We have the area cordoned off and all potential civilians have been cleared on a pretext of chemical contamination, as you requested. All forces are on standby awaiting your go ahead."

"Tell them to hold off until I green light the operation," Frank replied, adding in a more sour undertone, "I don't want any gung-ho hotshots acting prematurely. This guy set the definition for the word 'tough', and nothing short of a baby nuke can scratch his hide. The popguns these people use wouldn't do much more than annoy the sucker, just like all the previous occasions when we did this dance."

"Only this time you're the one in charge, Boss," his companion said, "Magnus has given you full authority to handle this any way you like. Right now, even the Prime Minister and full Diet couldn't stop you if they tried…"

"That's because I know what I'm doing this time," Frank replied with a dull snort, "That sucker is on a direct course this way, and at the rate he's moving he's definitely got a destination in mind. Have you finished those calculations?"

"Sure have," the feminine voice replied, "If he keeps to his present heading he'll be headed into the suburbs outside Tokyo, and my estimate puts his probable goal to be in Nerima."

"Nerima?" Frank lowered his glasses with a puzzled look, "What's he want there of all places?"

"Unknown," the voice informed him, "But my calculations put him square in the middle of the place, and once he hits land he can be there in a half an hour."

"Then we'll just have to be a little faster," Frank frowned before sniffing, "Nerima…why am I not more surprised? I've been avoiding that place ever since his last big appearance."

"By the way," the tone of his companion took on a decidedly frosty edge, "Those two new admirers of yours are still watching us from what they seem to think is a discrete distance…"

"Leave them alone," Frank instructed, "They're not doing us any harm, and pretty soon they'll have something else to worry about besides us. Besides, I kind of like that cute one, and it's nice to know I'm not losing my sex appeal, even at my age."

"Whatever," the feminine voice grunted, "By the way, those MIB guys are here."

"I can hear them driving up," Frank replied, raising his binoculars to his eyes once again as he used the Thermoptic imaging scan to check for slight wave formations, "Tell our forces to mobilize around Nerima. I want complete containment, total news blackout, the works. If necessary, start evacuating civilians from the probable area you estimate to be ground zero." He paused another minute before he spoke again, "Greetings, gentlemen. You've been expected."

"We figured as much," said one of a pair of men in three piece suits wearing dark sun glasses who got out of a black sedan car and moved to join Frank in his lonely vigil, "Long time no see, Stein."

"Too bad it couldn't be longer," Frank replied without turning around, "Who's the rookie?"

"Me?" said the other man in a three-piece suit, surprised at being singled out in such an off-handed manner, "Ah…I'm nobody…"

"That's Jei," the first man said, "He replaced Toe several months ago. Refer to me as Kei, like always…"

"Fine," Frank snorted, "Just call me Steen-berg instead of Steinberg. Now what are you clowns doing in this neck of the woods? I'm running this show, not the MIB. Monsters are my specialty, this isn't an Alien encounter."

"Maybe so," replied Kei, "But we've been informed that this Monster's activities may impact on the suburban areas where many Relocation cases currently reside. Given the nature and status of some of the resident Aliens living around the Tokyo area we'd like, if at all possible, to avoid an interplanetary incident. The last thing we need is for some power like the Jurai or Oni to show up demanding to know what became of their citizens. Big G has been known to get a little out of hand whenever he plays tourist."

"Point taken," Frank replied, lowering his glasses as he studied a particular wave-form, then raised them to his eyes again and took a second measurement, "By the way, boys, say hello to Shelly. She's my coordinator to the other agencies we have deployed out in the field."

"Ah...?" the younger of the two dark-suited men looked around, wondering to whom the giant man could be referring. All he could see on hand was some manner of vehicle that resembled a motorcycle in the same way that that a Chihuahua resembles a Rockweiler.

"Relax, Slick," Kei replied, "He's referring to the motorcycle."

"Pleased to meet you," said the huge motorcycle, "I'd shake hands but…well…I don't have any."

"Model Twelve Self Autonomous Mobile Support Processor," Kei explained for the benefit of his companion, "Like the kind used by the Knight Foundation--Excuse me--Foundation for Law and Justice, go figure! Only Frank's version is more sophisticated."

"She'll do everything for you but blowjobs," Frank noted in passing, ignoring the rude comment made in response to this characterization, "Now that we've got that out of the way, scan that area over there and tell me what you see."

He passed the special binoculars over to Kei, who adjusted them to suit his own more limited vision then said, "That's him all right, big as life and twice as nasty."

"Him?" Jei asked, "Just what exactly is this thing you guys keep…omhigod…"

Not half a kilometer away from the shore a sudden explosion of bubbles erupted from the ocean depths as the water level seemed to bob and weave dramatically, and then very slowly something began to arise from those depths that looked like the top of a small island.

"Right on cue," Frank said, "Big G is punctual, I'll give him that…"

Jei's mouth hung open as the island continued to rise until it was no longer visible as an island but rather resembled a large atoll with two luminous eyes that were the size of tractor tires.

"Ugly, isn't he?" Frank sniffed, "And I ought to know. I'm something of an expert on ugly."

"Oh, I don't know," remarked Kei, "Compared to some of what we have to deal with on a daily basis he could almost be handsome."

"He…ha…who…how?" Jei remarked.

"You've been keeping him on a steady diet on that Island?" Kei wondered more matter-of-factly.

"Enough to make him manageable," Frank replied, "I only work with the Morpheus Foundation as an outside consultant, but I've made a pretty thorough study of the guy. We're old adversaries after all with a working relationship, monster to monster."

"Any chance he might recognize you?" Kei asked.

"Hope not," Frank replied with a snort, "I'm the one who gave him his last Rectal Examination, and if you think it's easy doing that with somebody his size…" he shook his head and murmured, "My old buddy Igor had it right…there are some things that a man just was not meant to know about…"

"Ah…?" Jei stared off at the creature, which by now was emerging from the water with an almost audible sucking noise, its huge mass thrusting itself so forcefully that it all but created a tidal wave on the defenseless beach before it.

Meanwhile, Natsumi and Miyuki had been watching Frank' meeting with the men in black with considerable interest, especially as Natsumi had first proposed the notion that the three men might be conducting a drug deal, which same Miyuki was not so quick to surmise, murmuring, "Somehow I don't think they went to all this trouble just for that. Clearing the beaches of outside observers…it's like they're expecting something to happen and don't want any witnesses."

"You mean like us?" Natsumi said somewhat uneasily, though as usual she tried to cover for her uncertainty with a nervous chuckle before she asked the next obvious question, "Well, if it's not something like drugs, what are they doing all this for? I mean, in the middle of the day they just up and close down one of the most popular beach resorts in all of…"

That was when Miyuki gave a sharp gasp and straightened up, adjusting her own binoculars as she stared out at the ocean and gasped, "What is that?"

Natsumi sat upright on the hood of their car and tried to follow her friend's gaze with unaided eyes, only finding the foaming mass out at sea when it became so noticeable that she was given to speculate, "Maybe a submarine breaking the surface?"

"That's no submarine," Miyuki slowly lowered her binoculars, her face as bereft of emotion as her voice, "It's moving towards us."

"Towards us?" Natsumi shaded her eyes with her hands and started, seeing a dome-like crest appear as though an island were rising from off shore, thrusting itself up higher and higher until she stared without comprehending, her expression as stunned with disbelief as Miyuki's.

"Gentlemen," Frank said as he turned and walked back to his motorcycle, putting away the binoculars before reaching for his goggles, "I do believe it's time we move on from here to our next critical locale."

"Good idea," Kei turned and walked back to the car, "You coming, Slick?"

"Ah…ah, yeah…" Jei very slowly followed his partner's example.

"See you in Nerima, Stein," Kei nodded to Frank before getting into the car and starting up the engines.

"Not if I see you coming first," Frank growled sourly as he started up his own engine then said, "Let's rock and roll, Shelly-chan. Big G is on the move and he's not doing any sightseeing."

"Boss," the Motorcycle Autocomputer spoke into his ear mikes, "I've just computed new data from our agents in the field. Looks like Big G isn't the only one on the move…there are reports from Nerima that say they have their own resident Lizard problems."

"What?" Frank growled, "You sure about this?"

"The reports say that a few hours ago a giant lizard appeared at Furinkan High School, newly hatched from an egg no less that had some Greek symbols on the side that they think might have spelled the name 'Typhon.'"

"WHAT???" Frank's reaction this time was more violent.

"Don't shout at me!" Shelly protested, "I've already contacted Doctor Bashiro and he confirms that one of the eggs held in storage was recently found to be missing, but he can offer no explanation as to how or why it vanished without anyone becoming the wiser…"

"What's the matter with those people?" Frank all but swore, "Can't they keep anything locked up…?"

"Uh…Boss?" Shelly replied, and Frank broke off on his angry tirade as he sensed without turning around that SOMETHING BIG was looming just behind him.

"Uh oh," Frank replied, giving into impulse and looking over one massive shoulder to see the huge head that was trying to orient on him with a particular intensity that was quite disconcerting. Since the bluff the big man was currently perched upon brought him closer to eye level with the creature this was not as difficult a job, in spite of the fact that--compared with "Big G," Frank was barely an eye-speck.

Without another word he gunned the engine and took off, popping a wheelie. A massive roar could be heard throughout the county as recognition finally set in and the so-called King of the Monsters identified one of his least favorite subjects and prepared to make known his particular displeasure. The fact that his quarry went from Zero to Sixty in four-point-two seconds alone prevented the huge reptile from the immediate fulfillment of this singular objective.

Meanwhile, two women perched atop the hood of their car watched as the big man on the motorcycle hastily put some distance between himself and the thing that simply defied rational analysis. As the huge creature began to move its way around the cliff bluff that thwarted its forward movement, seeking an easier path towards dry land, this just happened to bring it closer to where they were parked, which prompted Natsumi to say, "Miyuki-chan?"

"Hai?"

"LET'S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Natsumi screamed as they both rolled off the car and Miyuki started her engine, managing to get them going in such time that she managed to back out of the way from where a claw the size of a very large house came stomping down as the creature sought to climb its way up the side of the low hill.

Miyuki performed a near miracle of driving and got away just in time while the creature ignored them completely and sought the more annoying specter of the man on the motorcycle. Unnoticed by almost everyone its scaly spines began to glow as though manifesting a battle aura, and then the race was on to see who would make it first to Nerima…

Sometime Earlier in the day: 2:14 PM--Nerima.

"Thorilla?"

"Don't get started on me," Thor-chan growled, "It's not my fault Sif misidentified me with that Harpy."

"Who is Thorilla?" Urd asked as the three of them moved through the city sewer system following the trail left by the device Hercules still carried.

"Long story," Thor-chan growled, "The short version is that she was this crazy chick from an alternate dimension where everything was topsy turvy…you know what these alternate dimensions can be like. In some versions that blond guy from the comics is me and he speaks in Iambic Pentameter like a refugee from Shakespeare, and in other versions somebody else found my hammer in a cave and became Thor while I was stuck incognito trapped in the body of a mortal."

"And in the version this Thorilla came from?" Hercules asked.

"A complete reverse of the natural order," Thor-chan huffed, "A world where women were the dominant sex and guys like us were pussy-whipped and struggling for recognition…"

"What?" Urd blinked, "How's that again? Are you pulling our legs?"

"Don't I wish," Thor-chan said gruffly, "I have trouble believing in it myself, and I briefly crossed worlds with Thorilla and got the story first hand! In their world women take it for granted that they're the superior sex because somewhere way down the line in prehistoric times the culture that emerged in Europe was organized around the concept of the Great Sky Mother and not the Sky Father like in our version of things. In that world, the Vikings are like the Amazons and the Amazons were like the Vikings."

Hercules took a moment in which he tried to picture the concept then shook his head with a shudder muttering, "Zeus in drag…and Hippolyta a guy? No way can I see that…!"

"Anything you say," Thor-chan paused before maliciously adding, "Heraklina."

Hercules winced while Urd gave him a wry look then mused aloud, "I think I'd like to see that for myself. Next time they let me near the Hall of Records I'm definitely going to cross-reference the Paratime Universal Archive."

"Just be sure to give my regards to your counterpart," Thor-chan sniffed, "You two have a lot more in common than you could ever imagine."

"So…" Hercules said as Urd slowly reflected on that with a puzzled look, "In the world where this…other you comes from she's the heroic type, which means that Sif is a guy…?"

"I don't blame you for doubting me," Thor-chan grumbled sullenly, "When I got back I got the story first hand how that crazy maniac behaved while I was in her world. Sif was pretty tight-lipped on the details, but I kind of got the impression that something happened between those two that made her eye me like it was my fault months after it happened."

"So…why Thorilla?" Hercules asked, "You could have come up with a better alibi than that, even a better name, like Thorda?"

"You don't know Sif like I do," Thor-chan sighed, "When she gets an idea in her pretty head it's usually better to just play along and not put up too much resistance. It also saves me on a ton of Aspirin the way she keeps borrowing my hammer to nail me. I swear, sometimes I should just give her the damned thing and make it official…"

"Hold up," Hercules urged, raising a hand to stop their forward advance as he stared at the device he carried, "I think we're close to the Big T-Rex. Just a couple turns further ahead and we should spot him."

"And what do we do when we find him?" Urd asked.

"One thing at a time," Hercules said, "Those mortals seem to have some kind of a plan in the works, and the brainy one in the Chinese outfit seemed to think we could lure it out into the open to trap him, once we get enough fish to serve as the right temptation."

"Leave that part to me," Thor-chan replied, "I've already put out a request to an old buddy of mine, and don't bother asking how I convinced him I was the genuine Thor."

"That just leaves one problem," Urd replied, "That device you have for containing the creature once we get it out into the open…?"

"Heph was pretty specific about the limitations of his containment device," Hercules replied, "And I generally take his word when it comes to technical stuff. That thing was already too big to fit inside the dimensions he allocated. I was supposed to capture it when Typhon was still in the egg, but somebody got in the way and delayed me from arriving in time," he glared in Thor-chan's direction.

"Oh, so now it's my fault, huh?" Thor-chan snorted, "So what do you plan to do about it now, big boy? Call on one of your relatives for back-up?"

"You got a better suggestion?" Hercules replied, "Like maybe one of yours?"

"Well why not?" Thor-chan sniffed, "At least I get along with my family, unlike that incestuous bunch of narcissistic hillbillies you laughingly call your immediate relations…"

"Hey!" Hercules rounded on the transgender Thundergod, "I'm the last one to defend the honor of my family, and most of my relatives would give Oprah Winfrey nightmares! We put the Funk in dysfunctional, but even I have to admit that that one or two of them can be pretty handy to have as allies on special occasions…"

"Boys!" Urd interposed herself in what was developing into yet another angry confrontation, "There's a much easier solution to all of this. I'll just take that device to my sister Skuld and let her work on expanding the containment field and that should resolve the size problem. I may not always see eye-to-eye with my little sister but I respect her genius, especially if I can convince her to work together with her friend, Megumi."

"Well…" Hercules thought about it then exchanged looks with Thor-chan, who shrugged and said, "Whatever…just so long as we catch the big Iguana and return him to wherever it is these Mortals keep their pets."

"Fine," Urd smiled as they started forwards again, "Now if that's finally settled I'll just have a look at how big the creature's grown so I can tell Skuld what sort of adjustments to make and…"

She stopped in her tracks as she rounded a corner, her fellow Gods crowding up behind her as they all stared at the sleeping form in front of them with rounded eyes and for a moment only silence filled the chamber…besides a loud rumbling snore from the creature that is.

"Oboy," Hercules finally said aloud, "It's gotten bigger."

"Yeah," Thor-chan said in almost mute agreement, "That's…pretty big all right…would you say maybe a hundred fifteen feet from nose to tail?"

"Sounds about right," Hercules agreed, "I mean I've seen bigger, of course, but at the rate its growing I don't think it'll stop anytime soon."

"It ain't natural," Thor-chan agreed, "Gotta be some kind of magic growth acceleration, but to fill that gullet takes a lot of fish. I just hope my buddy Aegir can come through in time…"

"Skuld is not going to like this," Urd murmured faintly, then by mutual consent the three deities took their leave of the spacious storm drain reclamation chamber which was all but filled to capacity by the giant creature…and one semi-conscious mortal.

Ukyo did not remember when she had lost consciousness, only that a piece of debris had creased the back of her head at some point when the creature was digging its way into a building. She reflexively reached up to feel the resulting lump then took stock of her present whereabouts, noticing the smell immediately before she took notice of the warm leathery thing on which she was reclining.

The creature was fast asleep in a chamber that was normally a part of the water reclamation system in Nerima, and at present it all but filled the alcove to capacity. Ukyo hoped that it would not rain anytime soon as the likely rush of water would most probably back up, not to mention drown her, with the baby covering the intakes…

She had to check herself and mentally ask the question that everyone else had been asking all day about why she was so insistent on treating the gigantic creature like it was a human baby. True, the creature was newly hatched and behaved around her in a docile and affectionate manner, but to everyone else it was a rampaging instrument of wanton destruction, and she had to admit that there were valid reasons for this opinion.

But then she looked into the sleeping, innocent face of the creature against whose foreleg she was snuggled so warmly and found her objections dissolving like mist. True, that face was now several times longer than her own body, but composed and relaxed as it was she could see the gentleness there, the face of a creature that intended no one any harm but was simply trying to exist in a world to which it was a total stranger. The creature was not responsible for its actions, could not hope to understand that what it was doing was endangering others, could only sense the hostility that some were directing towards it for merely obeying the call of its own nature. The thing hungered for food and needed a lot to sustain its growth, which was phenomenal to be certain, but was also not of its own devising and could only be treated as a facet of its overall nature.

"Poor baby," she said aloud, her voice almost totally drowned out by the sound of its throaty breathing and the thunder of its heart, which she could feel as well as hear beneath her skin. She reached out to pat its muzzle with a hand and felt the smooth scales of leathery surface respond to her caress as the creature all but shivered with a kind of knowing pleasure that radiated security and comfort.

What was she to do in this situation? Ukyo knew the others were doubtlessly worried about her, that Perfume and Ranma would virtually tear the walls of the sewers apart trying to find her, and that Nabiki was probably devising a strategy to find and liberate her friend. As for the others, those strange beings calling themselves gods, they were mostly concerned with heading off a crisis they believed was caused by the very existence of the creature. She knew that, one way or another, the problem would not be solved so long as her baby remained in Nerima.

But how to make Baby leave on his own? That was the million-yen question to which she had no immediate answer. If she knew something about the psychology or behavior of giant lizards she might possibly be able to convince him to head out towards the sea where there would be enough space and all the fish he would ever require for him to sustain a comfortable existence. He was at least as big as a blue whale and probably had a capacity for survival in deep places beyond the realm of human perceptions or else how could such a creature have existed for millions of years? He might be the last of his kind, a rare and endangered animal, and as such had to be protected for the good of the environment. If only there were some way to make him understand that his best interests lay elsewhere…but how to communicate this thought to him?

"I won't let anything happen to you," Ukyo promised the creature, and it almost seemed to her as if he understood her intentions as it began to make pleasurable sounds in its sleep, and she felt something like pure love radiate outward from its very being.

Ukyo considered taking advantage of its slumbering state to escape, but then thought better of it. She was in no immediate danger and, if anything, she sensed that the creature would actually fight to protect her. She was no Fay Wray to King Kong, and this was not some rubber-suited Monster Movie, this was reality, or as close to it as she could recognize. Thinking this, Ukyo stretched out on the creature's arm and contemplated the peaceful face with its massive row of stalagmite-like teeth within easy reach of her fingers and felt oddly safe and well nurtured by its nearness. Absently she placed her hands over her own belly and wondered if the life growing inside her would feel this sweet when she became as far advanced as Shampoo was, and she drifted off to sleep with that thought, dreaming dreams of prehistoric days when life had been simple, only a matter of eating and sleeping in the sun, before there were any humans in the world or those annoying pests who styled themselves as gods and wondered in bliss if this were Eden before the fall. It was a very nice dream, and the fact that she visualized herself with claws and a tail hardly disturbed this pleasure as her spirit roamed through the primitive veldt a full head and shoulders taller than the tallest of conifers, a Queen among giants, which was the natural order of all things…

Perfume paused where she was, having followed a different route from that of the Gods to finding their quarry. The lizard had not been difficult to track so much as it had been difficult for her to filter out the stench of the waterway that she had followed in order to reach him. She silently thanked the strange silver-haired girl for the donation of her Nanobots else she would doubtlessly have been wracked by allergies caused by the hundreds of chemicals that saturated the air, to say nothing of the pollen-bearing moss and fungus that grew so abundantly everywhere. It was almost with relief that she picked up the tangy, acid-like smell of the creature, finding this otherwise unpleasant scent far more palatable than the others that it displaced.

Of course, finding the creature itself proved to be less of a challenge than accepting what she saw as she looked down from the storm drain to the chamber that opened out below her. The entrance was all but blocked by a part of the creature, and from what she could see of it Perfume determined its size to be at least twenty times as great as when it had vanished into the system.

Now Perfume was faced with a dilemma, having come this far and knowing beyond certainty that her beloved wife was in the next chamber in the company of the creature. All she would have to do was somehow crawl through the narrow space not covered by its mass and she would be reunited with Ukyo, whom she knew to be alive as she would surely sense if the Okonomiyaki chef had been harmed in any way by the creature.

The problem was that she had doubts that Ukyo would be persuaded to leave at once, judging from her odd behavior earlier in the day. The creature had acted to protect her when it spirited her off, and Ukyo was treating the dragon as though it were a child's pet in need of protection. Just finding Ukyo would not be the same thing as convincing her to leave the company of her pet so that others might dispose of it. She needed a better argument to win her wife's cooperation. Ukyo was as stubborn as any of her countrymen, and would doubtlessly insist on staying beside the creature to protect it from any harm, which would obligate Perfume in turn to either knock her out or support her wife in this strange obsession, not a welcome prospect in either event.

Besides that, there was the plan that Nabiki was hatching which had at least the potential to separate Ukyo from the creature. Knowing its location was the first step in that plan, and Nabiki was counting on Perfume to report back with the news. Perfume respected her wife's iinazuke's iinazuke enough to believe that the plan might work given everyone's complete cooperation.

Perfume was an Amazon Warrior who knew the value of leadership enough to follow orders. She was also a woman devoutly in love with another woman and willing to do anything in order to protect her, so the conflict of her loyalties and emotions waged on for the space of several score heartbeats. What decided her in the end was realizing the risk involved in directly confronting the creature on her own…most particularly the risk to Ukyo should the confrontation turn violent. Better by far to stick to the plan and hope for the best than to rush in there like a lovesick fool and risk everything on the hope that she all by herself could make a difference.

This decided, Perfume withdrew, marking the location in her mind as she sought out the rest of the party. Ukyo would be saved, she silently vowed, one way or another, but for now she had to place her trust in Nabiki…

Aiko finished planting the old pervert against the wall of the nearest building for the third straight time in as many as a dozen minutes then said, "Explain to me again why we need this old fart? I'd just as soon put him into orbit…around Pluto."

"He's the only one among us who has actually seen a creature such as this before, Aiko," Beatrice replied nonchalantly, "Besides which, he is practically harmless for all his peculiar fixations…"

"Harmless?" Sif arched an eyebrow, "If he comes at me again he's going to see the undersides of Niffleheim. How can you put up with such a disgusting creature?"

"Well," Nabiki shrugged as she surveyed the area that she had selected for baiting their trap, "Gramps can be pretty annoying at times, but he knows a lot of useful information, so we basically keep him around in spite of his quirks."

"Quirks?" Ranma tossed a warning glance over his shoulder as he saw the little man recover and he edged more protectively close to Nabiki just in case the pervert made another grab for his iinazuke.

"Why does everyone always pick on a poor old man who merely wants to enjoy a few of life's pleasures in his old age?" Happosai asked, then before anyone could reply he leaped at Sif, only to check himself and make a dart towards Beatrice, planting himself over her armored chest and nuzzling his face in the exposed areas of her generous cleavage.

Beatrice's eyes went wide, but Aiko moved one step ahead of her and pounded the little man flat with a hammer-like blow of her fist, her face set in an angry snarl of outrage.

"You keep away from her, you got that?" Aiko hissed between clenched teeth, then blinked her eyes as she saw Happosai begin to move, "What's it take to keep you down, you old fossil? That should have split your skull in half!"

"He's not entirely human it would appear," Beatrice said as she regained her composure, giving Aiko a sidelong glance of appreciation before turning her attention back towards the man laying at her feet, "You say he is three hundred years old and survived being trapped in a cave without food and water for a full decade?"

"That's what my father and uncle say," Nabiki replied, giving the whole exchange a tolerant glance of barely contained amusement, "I've had my own theories about how Gramps seems to keep coming back like the Energizer Bunny and at present I'm leaning in favor of the notion that he is possessed by a demon of lust. Sometimes I'm not sure who is in control of their relationship, the Demon or the Pervert."

"Some heir you are, siding with these outsiders against your own Master," Happosai said resentfully, "One of these days I'm going to teach you some respect, Great Great Granddaughter…"

"Yeah, right," Nabiki sniffed, "Now all we need is for the other teams to report back and we can get this show on the road. You sure this creature will keep right on growing until it's as big as a skyscraper?"

"That's what happened the last time," Happosai replied, "Shame about the mess it caused before the army and some government people finally brought it under control. Gave a great boost to housing industry in Nerima…"

"Just the pertinent facts, please," Nabiki pleaded, "Now…you're saying this happened in the days when my father and uncle were just a little older than me and Ranma? Why don't they remember more than the bare minimal details?"

"Some strange guys in suits came along and made everybody forget," Happosai said with a puzzled expression, "It seemed pretty strange to me that folks could forget a thing like that, but whatever was done to their memories didn't seem to affect me in the least…"

"That would be the MIB," Beatrice remarked, "They do that sort of thing all the time to people's memories. They have these devices called Neuralizers…"

"Oh yeah," Aiko snorted, "Bloody things gave me a headache when they tried to use them on me and Beiko…didn't work on us, though."

"It seems that I am naturally resistant," Beatrice said with a sly look at Aiko, "And you need a mind in order to forget things." Aiko bristled at the insult, but Beatrice continued, "The Neuralizer acts to inhibit short or long-term memory according to the strength of the setting. A flash of energy is carried along the optic nerves to disrupt the neural pathways having to do with RNA memory implantation. It can literally wipe out memories, but not the neural passages themselves, which remain folded in their pre-set patterns so that it is possible to reverse the process in certain cases."

"Why would they do that?" Ranma wanted to know, "Force people to forget things?"

"I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head," Nabiki eyed Beatrice with a guarded expression, "And you're saying they could do this to the entire population of Nerima?"

"Through television," Beatrice replied, "Selected impulses channeled along on a carrier wave frequency at certain timed intervals combined with key subliminal messages to create a specialized blockage of certain memory associations so that the ordinary person will be unable to concentrate and recall certain things when they are mentioned. This was done after the incident with the Oni last year where Ataru Morobishi won the hand of their Princess Lum and saved our planet from colonization."

"Ataru…" Ranma frowned, "What was that name again?"

"Morobishi," Aiko replied with a snort, "You see? You hear the name once and suddenly you block it out of your mind. The same thing happened the first time Ceiko's people attacked Earth…"

"Indeed," Beatrice sighed, "I used to wonder why we two out of all the people in Graviton City could remember that this occurred when everyone else eventually forgot it had ever happened, which was odd considering the amount of property damage and loss of life inflicted. Of course, at the time we were both rather occupied with other matters…"

"Yeah," Aiko snorted, "Good thing my folks didn't let me watch a lot of TV at the time, not that it would've made much difference in my case…"

"Yes," Beatrice observed, "Kryptonian DNA coupled with your divine birthright gives you an almost Eidetic memory, while my Nanobytes maintain the structure of my memory passages and insulate me against the effects of the Neuralizer, so while everyone else succumbs to selected amnesia, we are able to remember key incidents in detail."

"But why do they do this?" Ranma asked in mounting frustration.

"To keep us ignorant and blind to what's really happening in the world, Ranchan," Nabiki said sourly, "Men in power have always dreamed of having the ability to control the thoughts of their citizens, and the ability manipulate memory is the ideal key to any successful tyranny…"

"Only it's not a single government doing this," Beatrice replied, "The MIB function independently of any elected authority. It is a worldwide organization with vast material resources and the manpower needed to keep the peace and protect the Earth from what they term as the Scum of the Cosmos. They function with complete anonymity like a paramilitary police force with the power to not only enforce their will but to eliminate all evidence of their existence. They were founded to act as the intermediaries between the Earth and all alien contact situations and consider themselves the first line of defense against invasion and subversion…"

"Sounds to me as if they put themselves in a position to act like Gods," Nabiki noted, then to the blond she added, "No offense intended of course."

"None taken," Sif replied, "I'd be the first to admit that my people are a bit high-handed in that regard, not that we need to be all that manipulative. Still, it is annoying to consider that a group of mortals feel they can act autonomously to decide the fate of their fellow mortals…"

"The MIB do not consider themselves as gods," Beatrice assured everyone, "And it is against their official charter to interfere in the politics of civilian elected government. Their aim is purely to act as a combination police force and Witness Relocation program for alien visitors living as residents on this planet…"

"Maybe so," Aiko frowned, "But they were one of the reasons my parents decided to move to Japan in the first place. They were getting a lot of heat back in the states from guys like the MIB, all because Dad's an alien who landed on the Earth decades before the MIB was founded."

"And for a while there he had too high profile a career for their liking," Beatrice noted, "But they let him and your mother act freely now since they have chosen to be more circumspect in their approach to handling crisis situations. I don't blame you at all for being resentful of this fact, Aiko, but you must understand that they are one of the many reasons the authorities here allow you free reign in your activities. Until recently I could buy my way out of legal troubles for my excesses, but you are virtually untouchable by the legal system because of your parents, not to mention that normal facilities had no way of containing a being of your nature."

"So the MIB seeks to keep us dumb and happy while looking after what it considers to be our own best interests, eh?" Nabiki frowned, "I definitely don't like the sound of that at all…"

"Nihao!" Perfume called out as she came trotting up to join them, followed by Akane and Ryoga.

"Did you have success in locating Ucchan?" Nabiki asked, seeing that the Amazon was in better spirits than would surely be the case had she grim news to report.

Perfume nodded, "Yes, I found the spot where the dragon is, and like you suspected, it's taken refuge at a terminus point in the sewer system. I wanted to go all the way in there and confirm that my Airen is all right, but I'm pretty sure I'd know it if Ukyo were badly hurt or…worse. All we need to do now is find a way to lure the dragon away from my Ucchan…"

"Dragon?" Ranma replied.

"A close enough analogy," Nabiki nodded, "Good work, people. Now stand by for phase two of the plan. Once the gods get back from their recon…"

"Somebody mention us?" asked Thor-chan as she and Hercules appeared from seeming no where.

"Speak of the devil," Nabiki smiled, "In a manner of speaking. You have any trouble finding him?"

"Couldn't miss him if we tried," Hercules nodded grimly, "He's back there all right and as big as a ten story building. We figure he may be as much as forty meters now and still growing."

"So big?" Nabiki frowned, "I didn't think he ate that much fish! He must have a mass conversion rate that's close to ninety percent efficient…"

"Ninety-three-point-seven," Beatrice replied helpfully, "Only I doubt the creatures growth is entirely proportional to the amount of raw food being consumed. Some of that mass may be added by a virtual conversion process that is entirely magical in nature…"

"Can't you just for once use plain Japanese?" Aiko sniffed in exasperation, "Say it's magical and leave it at that. The rest of us don't have multiple degrees in biology and other fields of science, Beiko."

"I'm still not clear on this, though," Nabiki insisted, "Why is the creature doubling its growth every half hour? It's already a thousand times as big as it was when it hatched around noon time."

"Perhaps its development is being deliberately enhanced," Beatrice mused, "I suspect a hidden party is involved that has been engineering the entire matter for an as-yet unknown purpose. It might also be a part of this creature's natural growth cycle manifesting as a steady size increase upon a very slight bell curve…"

"Does that mean it will eventually reach a size limit…or just keep growing?" Nabiki wondered.

"Oh, there is definitely a limit involved," Beatrice replied, "But I would speculate that it will be another hour and a half at least before it comes near to achieving this, by which point it could very well be as long as a full hundred meters."

"That makes him in the same class as Fafnir," Thor-chan concluded.

"Atlas could probably wrestle him like an alligator," Hercules mused, "Anybody else…forget it."

"But doesn't this violate some basic rules of Physics such as the Inverse Square Proportion?" Nabiki wondered, "A thousand times the size versus only a hundred times the width and density of bones and muscle…"

"The rule you refer to would only apply if you compared the creature's biology to our own," Beatrice noted, "But nature always seems to find a way beyond the limitations we would impose upon it, such as with the Bumblebee. Bone, muscle and sinew do not necessarily have to be composed in the same way in this creature as it would be in us. Indeed, I imagine at full size the cartilage alone will be comparable to the tensile cohesion of Platinum and more than easily compensate for the stresses imposed by its mass…"

"There you go again," Aiko rolled her eyes, "Can't you just let us take your word for it and spare us the technical mumbo jumbo?"

Rather than be annoyed at the interruption, Beatrice smiled at the redhead before continuing, "Aiko can vouch me on the fact that we encountered creatures of about this size and greater on some of the worlds we visited during our three month odyssey in space. In fact, for a brief while there we were even earning a living as professional Monster Chasers capturing specimens for a traveling Xenobiological menagerie…"

"Can the travel talk," Hercules said as he raised a hand to cut short the lecture, "That thing isn't getting any smaller while we stand around here. Now are we going to do this thing or what?"

"Well excuse me 'Mister 'I've got my own TV show and you don't'," Thor-chan snorted, "I'm ready to do my part in this fix. Give me another minute and I'll whip up that bait you wanted."

Thor-chan stood away from their group and lifted her hammer, then called out the name "Aegir!" and swung the hammer in a rapid arc that kicked up a wind suddenly, and a moment later, the heavens opened up to create a temporal portal.

The clear sky they had been enjoying darkened abruptly and Nabiki looked up with alarm as she felt the first rain drops begin to pelt her on her head, even as Perfume reacted with a start of alarm at her own awareness of the impending deluge. Ryoga stepped forward and unslung his umbrella to hold it up over her before her curse could be activated and Perfume flashed the lost boy a winning smile of gratitude that caused Akane to frown a little.

Unfortunately, no such umbrella was available to Nabiki, and with a sigh of resignation she felt herself shift genders and mass so that she soon stood even taller than Ranma with much broader shoulders.

The reaction of the gods was immediate, but Hercules was first to say, "Holy Chaos!"

"Oh my," Sif blinked, taking in Nabiki's transformed dimensions with a studied look that brought a frown from Thor-chan's direction.

"What the hell?" Aiko looked Nabiki up and down with a very different kind of appraisal, one that did not elicit any such jealous glance from Beatrice as the silver haired girl gave Nabiki her own quiet appraisal, then smiled in realization.

"Jusenkyo?" she asked.

"You know about that?" Ranma asked.

"Of course she does," Nabiki said in disgust, "Everybody knows about Jusenkyo! Why should you be the lone exception?"

"I'm sorry," Beatrice replied with a sincerely apologetic smile, "I didn't mean to make you feel awkward, it's just that I've only read about the place once, I've never been there or actually met anyone who has until today. You change into a boy when you get splashed with cold water?"

"And I change back into a girl with hot water," Nabiki looked down at himself with disgust, "Makes life pretty interesting, and I seem to have a certain talent for pleasing the ladies…"

"Nannichuan," Hercules murmured, "You have any idea how long I searched for that place when I was still mortal?"

"If she has the guy curse…" Thor-chan murmured slowly with a speculative interest, then caught the glance Sif turned on her and promptly returned her attention back to the dimensional portal through which was now raining an endless stream of fish, which she aimed at a clear area in the center of their containment zone.

After several long moments a considerable pile of assorted seafood was assembled, forming a fifteen-foot high mountain of fish, some of which were still moving as if only recently netted, and then at last Thor-chan closed the portal and cut off the remaining supply. As the storm clouds faded away and the sun returned to the clearing Ranma and others held up their noses and winced, all except for Perfume, who alone seemed to regard the smell of fish as appealing.

"Nice work," Nabiki complimented.

"You had doubts?" Thor-chan grinned proudly.

Nabiki glanced around at his companions and said, "Could I trouble anybody here for some hot water? I'd like to be myself when we get to the final phase of my plan…"

"Allow me," Sif held up a hand and conjured a teakettle into existence, then passed it over to Nabiki, who poured it over his head, changing back to normal.

"What about you?" Hercules murmured to Thor-chan, "Need a dash of hot water?"

The redheaded Thundergod almost panicked, "Are you nuts? With Sif present…" she suddenly smiled a nervous look of innocence as the blond haired goddess who was her wife turned another puzzled look in her direction.

"Thank you," Nabiki said in relief as she handed the kettle back to Sif, who made it vanish to wherever it had been conjured, "Now all we need is a way to catch the creature once it gets a whiff of all the seafood."

"Urd should be back soon enough," Hercules replied, "She went to consult with her sister about fine-tuning Heph's device to make it work even better."

"Indeed?" Beatrice said speculatively, "I would have been more than willing to offer my own services in that regard. I'm pretty handy at adopting strange technologies to suit short-term needs…"

"Yeah," Aiko sniffed, "You could probably make an atom smasher out of a box of Kleenex."

"Ah…" Perfume stepped forward as Ryoga put his umbrella away, "Excuse me for bringing this up…but those…things you used to heal me a while ago…"

"My Nanobytes?" Beatrice replied, "You have a question on your mind? I assure you there is no danger of unpleasant side effects…"

"That's just it," Perfume said, "I feel better than fine, in fact…you um…may have helped me to overcome a lifelong problem…"

"I see," Beatrice smiled, "No need to thank me just yet. The Nanobytes I donated to you have a short life, but while they are inside you they have no doubt been analyzing the data and have effected repair work to improve and refine your neural structure. They did something similar to me when I first adapted to having them inside me…Aiko will testify that I used to be rather high strung and given to volatile mood swings…"

"Not to mention homicidal urges," Aiko muttered under her breath.

"What she doesn't seem to have comprehended is that the Nanites have stabilized certain key elements of my brain chemistry so that I now produce a healthy balance of Seratonin and other important hormones necessary to calm and rational function. That is why you have noticed that my behavior is so much more sane than what you are used to, my dear Aiko. The Nanites have corrected my genetic predisposition to Psychosis…"

"Wow," Hercules mused, "If you could bottle and sell that I'd take a dozen doses and pass them around to some of my relatives just to see if sanity is contagious."

"I don't know," Aiko said dubiously, "The way you talk about those Nano thingies it almost makes me wish for the old you…"

"I don't think you really mean that, Aiko," Beatrice smiled in a way that made the air between herself and the redhead seem to sizzle, "In fact, my being sane has allowed me to realize something very important that I should have seen before…"

A sudden burst of thunder with the hint of Ozone and everyone turned to see a very angry Thor-chan glaring down at a crisp-fried Happosai with her hammer raised to finish the task.

"For the last time, you little pip-squeak, hands off the merchandise!" Thor-chan growled in menace as Happosai just groaned before her.

"Grandfather," Nabiki sighed, "There is a little thing called Hubris that I think you should be mindful of in the near future if you want to survive what is left of the day. Living dangerously like that will not help us end this crisis."

"Now she tells me," Happosai said weakly, barely able to move so much as a finger while his body healed itself back at a fantastically accelerated rate that proved once and for all that he was only nominally human.

Hercules smiled as he glanced at Thor-chan and murmured, "Not that I approve of the little twerp, but I can't say as I entirely blame him for copping a feel there, good buddy. You look absolutely darling."

"Just keep it up laughing boy," Thor-chan glared back, "Payback's a bitch, and so am I, for that matter."

"Let's just concentrate on coming out of this alive, shall we?" Nabiki urged the others, turning to look at the pile of fish as she added, "Everything's in place except the last key players and ingredients. When the others return, along with your friend, we'll be ready to ring the dinner bell and bring the curtain down on this little melodrama."

"And what about Ukyo, Oneechan?" Akane asked, "Will she be all right?"

"I sure hope so," Nabiki could not help noticing the worried looks in either Ranma or Perfume as she added, "In fact, I'm counting on it since she seems to have a special rapport with the creature."

"We'll do our part," Hercules noted with a slight smirk, "For the Halibut."

Thor-chan and Sif both winced as everyone else turned blank looks towards the man god, except for Beatrice, who softly commented, "That's fishing for a rebuttal if I ever did hear the straight line."

Aiko gave both her and Hercules wary looks then grumbled, "Are you sure you two aren't related?"

"Not as yet," Beatrice replied with a smile that would have done justice to the Mona Lisa, "But one can always hope for the future."

To that, the redhead could not formulate a reply, but she privately decided that-when it came to a predatory nature-the creature known as Typhon had nothing on the silver haired girl who was making her feel so vulnerable and nervous, not that she would have admitted to that effect as she decided that the strangeness of the day was affecting her own thinking. There was no way in hell she could be this shaken up by her nominal rival unless it meant that she was secretly starting to li-ah…notice that when she smiled she looked a lot like their beloved Ceiko. It was a ridiculous concept, of course, but she was starting to grow anxious for a bit of monster whupping, or anything that might take her mind off this bizarre turn of events that was making her behave in so peculiar a manner.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them all, a figure was watching them from afar and glaring.

"So, little brother," the figure muttered under their breath, "You're so set on interfering with my plans, are you? Well, we'll see about that when my little friend gets here to join the fun, and then you and your mortal friends will see that it really isn't nice to mess with Mother Nature…or her understudy…"

Continued

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