Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Hand Maid May Fan Fiction / Gatekeepers Fan Fiction ❯ Retake ❯ Touching Base ( Chapter 7 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Metroanime 
Nabiki dies but she gets better. Yuka & Sayuri figure things out. The Emperor's new groove
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Hand Maid May Fan Fiction / Gatekeepers Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Sci-fi / Mecha / Martial Arts / Fantasy / Comedy / Angst / Adventure | Type: The Bet | Uploaded On: 09.25.2002 | Pages: 9 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Completed
Nabiki dies but she gets better. Yuka & Sayuri figure things out. The Emperor's new groove
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Hand Maid May Fan Fiction / Gatekeepers Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Sci-fi / Mecha / Martial Arts / Fantasy / Comedy / Angst / Adventure | Type: The Bet | Uploaded On: 09.25.2002 | Pages: 9 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Completed
Chapter 7: Retake
"Dear Great Grandmother,
"I never thought of my time training under you in our village was particularly simple or relaxing. Then I got out here in the outsider world chasing that redheaded girl."
Shampoo stopped writing for a moment as she considered how to put this.
"I am thoroughly confused. This situation has escalated into insanity beyond anything dreamed up by Mousse." Shampoo considered explaining that further but decided that Mousse tendency to go off proclaiming his love to livestock and spout about how he was the only one for Shampoo while throwing daggers at anyone even trying to be friendly was well enough documented.
"First the redhaired catgirl who defeated me and saved my life from the monster turned out to be a fairly handsome boy. I have given him the Kiss Of Marriage now and he is my Airen, which at least resolves what to do there. Maybe.
"However, between the time I was here and chasing the redhead, and before I discovered she was a he, I was also defeated by some American boy.
"It's not my fault!
"So, I've got two airen. Both are strong warriors. One's a little weird and the other's a LOT weird. One turns into a girl and has a number of girls hanging around him and I'm a little confused by the relationships here. There's talk about Ranma (the one with the confusion about his gender) being engaged to three different girls, none of whom want him, and he's not too happy about this himself. You ask a different girl about who's engaged to him, you get a different answer. Heck, ask *anyone* who knows them and you get a different answer.
"Same with who's engaged to Other Airen named Greylle. There is apparently no formal arrangement for him to marry someone, but if you ask about girlfriends you'll get different answers - sometimes it depends on what time of day you ask the question!
"Greylle-airen vanished. The people agree that it is some kind of secret mission for the Japanese government, but will be coming back to the school after a month.
"Ranma's a lot cuter, and unspoken for, and so I decided that of the two I'd pursue Ranma. Besides, he's actually here, and while he's a bit slow we have a lot in common.
"I'm being assisted in my pursuit of Ranma by three of the girls he's engaged to. It is a very strange situation, but I find myself warming to the idea of having friends. Some of the girls here are very nice, if a bit scatterbrained and weak outsider women.
"I'm friends with the oldest one now, she's showing me how to make the kind of food that Ranma-airen likes.
"Just three days after other airen vanished, some new girls started up at Ranma's school. Ranma did not take well to the idea that one of the girls was stronger than he was. Usagi, I think her name is. He keeps challenging her to arm-wrestling, and she keeps refusing after beating him the last fourteen times - stating that she won't learn anything new from it. She is a very strange but very strong girl." Shampoo briefly considered saying something about deciding not to challenge this girl herself as she already had enough going on that giving some oddly strong girl the Kiss Of Death wasn't something she wanted to do. She decided against it, her Great Grandmother could be unpredictable at times.
"Hope everything is going well at the village.
"-Shampoo."
------------
Retake chapter 7: Touching Base
Disclaimer: an unintended fic, written to be humorous and entertain only.
------------
"Aw come on, one more time!"
"No, Saotome-kun. I do not think that anything has changed to where the outcome would be affected."
"Stop whining, Ranma, she's beat you 14 times already." Akane frowned a little, remembering that it had taken her only seven times to decide she just wasn't going to beat Usagi in armwrestling. Though as soon as she'd built her strength up some more!
Usagi puzzled over this behavior. Perhaps it would be better to agree to the match and allow Saotome-kun to win?
Rei and Makoto, this being their first day, puzzled over this development.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIEEEE!"
Eyes, both psuedo-organic and organic, flicked up to track a rapidly moving incoming body.
Ranma leapt to the side. Usagi, Rei, Ami, and Makoto moved as one to different positions from where they could coordinate assaults if this proved to be a threat to themselves. Akane blinked for a moment and was then sent by a small explosion of newly created gravel to land on her posterior.
"You haven't changed, Ranma! Still good at running away."
Makoto brought her hand into connection with Ami's and established a datafeed for communication purposes. *This is neither in my engram downloads nor personal database. I have only been active for 25 hours, 14 minutes, 17 seconds. Explain?*
Ami nodded. *The discovery of partial data collection from computer scans during the so-called Third Labor was fortuitous, unfortunately we still experience gaps. This is, however, why we are attending Furinkan and associating with humans. There is currently nothing in my database to explain this behavior. Estimate 97% chance of hostilities, extreme likelihood of physical conflict being used for resolution of same.*
Makoto nodded fractionally herself. *Preparing battle analysis routines. Will add to own combat potential. Disengaging comlink.*
"You?!" Ranma said, staring at the boy in the crater.
"Someone ELSE you're engaged to, Ranma?" Akane picked herself up and dusted off the contact point.
Ranma started puzzling over it. "Uh, yeah, sure, sure, he's..."
"Don't strain your brain, Ranma," said Akane. ~Not like that would take effort.~
Ami briefly wondered if Ranma had been brain damaged. Slurred speech + short term memory problems + limited attention span? The amount of violence endured by a martial artist indicated that there was a distinct possibility of repetitive concussion injuries, and the symptoms were in keeping with such a diagnosis. Treatment of such was possible, but she would need to confirm this initial analysis before suggesting it.
"Just tell me one thing, Ranma. Why did you run out on our fight?"
"Airen run out on more fights than with Shampoo? That very bad." Shampoo landed nearby from one of her roof-hops. "Shampoo have to break you of bad habits taught by ben dan father."
"'ben dan?'" Akane asked.
"Chinese for 'baka'," supplied Ami.
"You got that right, sugar," Ukyo suggested. She wasn't sure of her own place in this whole mess. She understood that the girl with the purple hair was her rival for Ranma, sort of, but Shampoo herself was confused about some point of Chinese Amazon law regarding her relationship with Ranma much as Ukyo herself was, so nobody had gotten openly confrontational about it. Well, at least not much. Besides, if somebody wanted to rag on Genma Saotome - Ukyo was quite willing to agree with 'em. "He's a 'ben dan' influence on poor Ranma-honey if ever there was one."
The crowd of regular students tried to listen to both Ranma's verbal sparring with Ryouga and the discussion with the various new girls vs Akane.
Kuno, currently in Happy Valley Sanitarium, was currently on medication and not available for comment. Just in case the gentle reader was interested.
"Very bad sense of direction," summed up Hiroshi upon hearing the details of the "missed" challenge fight.
"Maybe sometime we all get together teach stupid monster not to go putting foreign objects in mouth?" Shampoo shuddered as she recollected one of the times she'd been halfway swallowed.
"I'll go for that," agreed Nabiki. She wanted to make it absolutely clear that she was *not* a chew toy.
"No matter what it takes, Ranma. I shall destroy your happiness!"
"Good luck finding any 'happiness' for you to destroy," grumbled Ranma. "Man, this place is even worse than that reform school we attended together."
Ryouga blinked. "It can't be THAT bad."
"Wanna Bet?" Ranma shook his head.
"Enough talk, Saotome! Prepare to die!"
------------
"And exactly how do you hope to justify these expenses? You may be Emperor, but don't forget that we have to maintain our budget and account to the public for everything. 220,000 yen and for what? A hidden elevator to some underground shelter?"
Naruhito shrugged. "Honestly, it's my first time here, Sanada-san."
The elevator doors dinged and opened.
Sanada blinked. "How much did you spend on this? My office only found 220,000 yen in this 'Advanced Technological Research'."
"That's it so far. Mainly we've been paying for the land for the access tunnels." Naruhito stepped out into the spartan white corridor that seemed to stretch off into the distance, lit by tiny squares near the floor. The ceiling was a full 12 feet up, and shaped like a dome. The floor made of the same fused white rock.
A shape slowly moved forward, causing Sanada a brief moment of panic and an exclamation of interest from the Emperor. It was about five feet across and spider-shaped, a collection of struts and motors and boxes. "Good evening. Master is this way. One of you is designate: Emperor?"
"That would be me," acknowledged Naruhito as he began following the device down the corridors. "Your voice is a little difficult to understand."
"Am designate repair/construction. Speech centers not priority," replied the spider. "Reference Workspider 01 for individual reference."
"I see," said the Emperor, fascinated and wondering if he could get one himself. "Did you build the corridor here?"
"Affirmative," Workspider admitted with a trace of pride. "Master commended me on job well done."
Sanada realized he was being left alone and hurried to reach the two. "This isn't a remote controlled device?!"
A cluster of sensors turned towards the individual. "Negative. Self is entirely self-contained, though in constant communication with main computer system. Complex is now 35% operational."
"What's down there?" Naruhito pointed to a side corridor.
"Marionette Nanotanks. Currently artificial tissues and skin are being added to the frames for units designated 'Haruka' and 'Michiru'. 65% complete. Programming and engram development is at 97% and should be completed within 27 minutes 14 seconds."
"And down THIS corridor?" In some ways the Emperor felt like a kid in a toy store. The agreement they'd come to with this Greylle person was that the other would allow use of some of this technology but actual commercial release was to be more regulated due to some factor called "technological shock" where the society wasn't even ready for the implications of a new development.
"Bulk Fabrication. First release of new technology is to be a new battery prototype that is 150% more efficient than currently available. 250 units are ready for delivery."
"This room?" Sanada pointed, a little shakily, at a closed door.
"That room is for purging of organic wastes." Workspider seemed to hesitate briefly. "Computer informs self that common usage term is 'toilet'."
Workspider came to the end of the main corridor and indicated a passage with one foreleg. "Master is 15.278 feet that way. This unit needs to finish recharging. Have a nice day."
-------------
There was the sound of breaking glass and falling pieces of brick.
"Did you *mean* to throw him into the school?" Usagi asked, wondering about the protocols of these challenge duels.
"Great going, Ranma!" Akane's voice was full of sarcasm.
"Hey! It's not my fault!" Ranma looked around. "He's the one who started it!"
"RANMA! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU COWARD?" (CRASH! SMASH!) (Tinkle)
"See! He ain't hurt or nothin'!" Ranma pointed to the school. "Ryouga can take it!"
(Crunch. Shatter. Groan.)
"Sounds like we might miss school tomorrow," opined Hiroshi.
"School called on account of lack of building? A distinct possibility," agreed Daisuke.
(Groan. Crash. Shatter.) "SAOTOME! WHERE ARE YOU HIDING?"
"I don't believe this," groaned Akane. "Ranma, can't you take your fights somewhere that doesn't have breakable things?"
"Where would *that* be? I'll just go get him, be just a moment. He's got *no* sense of direction." Ranma ran into the school.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Akane as she followed.
"Then why is she going after him?" Usagi asked Ami.
Ami shrugged. Humans. Who could figure them?
--------
"This looks like..." Sanada-san wasn't that familiar with anime, though he thought he'd seen this somewhere before.
"It's just a high speed transport, maybe Mach 5 if everything goes well. VTOL configuration and a high speed config. Not terribly well armed or heavily armored, but it's not meant as a combat vehicle - just to get you in and out in a hurry."
"I'm not familiar with the design," admitted Naruhito. "I was expecting the 'Arcadia' from 'Captain Harlock.'"
"Much later. i haven't even started drawing up the plans yet. R2? Can you finish for me?"
(Wooop-ding-ding-buzz.)
"Marionette?" Naruhito asked.
"Nah. Robot. Female androids are marionettes. Male androids are mannekin. Genderless without the fleshy bits: robots." Greylle yawned. "Sorry, i've been working almost nonstop since that morning."
(Woopa-woopa-ding-ding-dong.)
"i'll worry about that if i *do* put stairs in, R2." Greylle gave an apologetic look to his two visitors. "As it is..."
"Warning," interrupted a female voice from midair. "Large explosion located on planetary surface."
"Huh?" Greylle frowned. "Computer. Exact nature and location of explosion."
"Location: Furinkan Senior High School. Origin of explosion coincides with tanks of natural gas used for supplying kitchen area and water heaters."
"Excuse me, gentlemen. It appears that i need to make an appearance."
---------
Yuka and Sayuri stared. "You... saved us, but..."
Makoto flinched and pulled a shard of wood out of her chest. "This is unpleasant."
"You're... like Mighty Tetsuwan (Astro-boy)!" Yuka exclaimed, causing Sayuri to fall over.
Makoto cocked her head slightly as she processed that. "Actually... there *are* parallels. Fascinating."
Then a dragon did a flyby over the flaming area of the school.
"Is that a dragon?" Sayuri said, matter of factly now that she was beyond being stunned.
"Neat! Just like in 'Dragon Century'. That's an Ice Dragon. Isn't that neat, Sayuri!"
"Yuka, the boys will think less of us if you go showing off that you're a closet otaku."
Usagi touched Ami's hand to initiate a data transfer. *Otaku?*
Ami responded along the same link. *Term not in my database. Seems relatively friendly and able to adapt to situations outside the typical paradigm.*
Usagi nodded and broke the connection. The human designated Yuka appeared to a potentially useful contact.
"It appears that Ryouga Hibiki survived," Ami said. "As well as Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo."
"Could someone put out the fire in Akane's hair?!"
(Shooosh!)
"Could someone chip Akane out of the ice?!"
"What about Ranma?"
"Oh let him get himself out of it, he got himself into it!"
"Has anyone seen Nabiki?"
---------
Greylle had flown back, then returned in human shape. Having to find out what the crap was going on. That Ryouga and Ranma's battle had gone through a set of walls, and that Ryouga had then thrown dozens of those bandanas.
Right through a set of pipes that took gas to the kitchens, to the science rooms, and to the water heaters.
"Nabiki... Nabiki..." Akane was digging through rubble with her hands.
"Ryouga, you jerk!"
"SHUT UP, RANMA!" Akane left the rubble to scream into Ranma's face. "THIS IS *YOUR* FAULT! It was *your* fight. *Your* rival. *You* that all the vengeance is about. *You* who fail to do anything about *your* problems!"
Greylle looked about, then gestured to Ami. "Ami. I need you to scan for lifesigns."
"Negative. There is no one alive remaining," Ami responded.
"Pinpoint Nabiki's location then."
Ami went through the rubble, then found the appropriate point.
Yuka and Sayuri sidled closer, nervous as all get out, but aware that something was about to happen.
Greylle dug the body out then set her out in the grass. "i'm probably going to regret this." He quickly began laying strips of paper out.
"What are you doing? Are those ofuda (wards)?" Sayuri asked finally.
"Yeah. Let's see. 'Raise Dead' is out, don't have enough intact of the body. Not high enough level for 'Resurrection' or 'Reincarnation' unless i had an artifact."
Akane got closer herself, though after the first glance she refused to look again. "What are you doing?"
"Bringing her back," said Greylle absently.
"There's a martial arts technique for THAT?!" Ranma was intrigued to say the least.
"Ranma, not everything in life is martial arts," said Greylle tiredly.
Ranma blinked. "What else is there?"
"Life, death, and magic," answered Greylle while Akane was ready to beat the snot out of her fiance. Though he was generally opposed to this sort of behavior between fated lovers, he was able to see her point in this instance.
"RANMA YOU... 'bring her back'?!" Akane suddenly caught up with what had been said.
"Yeah," Greylle turned to Ami. "i need the systems prepped. Need the spare nanotank brought online and ready. We'll stabilize what we can, cyborg systems until i can generate flesh replacements."
"Uhm, excuse me?" Akane reached out and grabbed Greylle, shaking him briefly. "Did you say..."
Greylle did *not* know Baseball Martial Arts. So far he'd been faking the whole thing, using draconic strength, speed, and durability, plus other talents such as trying to focus his flight ability on a baseball to produce a "double curve" pitch. He didn't know what side-effect this would have, but it was better than having his shirt ruined.
"Anger turn against its source,
tripled now by magic force,
Rebuke."
Akane staggered back, eyes widened and gasping. She finally sat down on a chunk of wall and stared.
"I have *got* to learn this guy's special manuevers," mumbled Ranma.
--------
"So I'm dead?" Nabiki sulked for a moment, then got a very alarmed expression. "Waitaminute, that means... uh oh."
"Daughter, I am very disappointed in you."
"It's not my fault!"
"Do you know what the odds are playing on you managing to land a kiss? 30:1. Seducing him? 200:1. Overcoming his image of you as a manipulative, self-serving, honorless, bottom-feeding, hurtful, money-grubbing, parasite? 500:1." Kimiko shook her head. "With odds like that, do you realize how much I could make?"
"Urk!" Nabiki wasn't sure what hurt more. That her own mother was placing bets on her, or that she had such long odds against being able to overcome the Mercenary Ice Queen image. No, it hurt more that her own mother was viewing her as something less than her darling daughter. Considerably less. Could she help it if she liked money?
Kimiko held her hands up and implored the heavens. "Goodness. The odds of you actually dragging him to the altar? 50,000:1 currently. The odds of AKANE managing it is considerably better. Kasumi has better odds than that."
Nabiki gestured at the crowd of people. "But I'm dead. What can I do about it? I mean look at my body there. I was just trying to get a decent look at the fight so I could fix odds, and look what happened to me. Flash-fried, hit by shrapnel, and half a building fell on me. If they hadn't identified it as me, *I* couldn't have."
"That's okay. As soon as he figures out the spell, he'll bring you back." Kimiko waved it off. "Providing the side effects aren't too bad. Pity he didn't stay a dragon, he could see you then. As it is, you'd have to be within six feet of him for him to sense your presence."
"Dragon. HE'S a dragon?!" Nabiki pointed. "I thought he was an alien timetravelling prince here to keep the world from being destroyed!"
"Well that too," Kimiko said, aware that she might be giving out details she'd be best holding off. "Hmmm. Maybe we ought to shift the odds some. In your favor for once."
"How's that?" Nabiki went back to sulking. Despite being a disembodied spirit- it really turned her stomach to see her body like that.
"You'll see."
"Mother, you're scaring me."
---------
Greylle let out a deep breath, centering himself, and brought his hands up. This was far from ideal, but it was all he could think of. Besides *he* must be guilty of this, somehow, otherwise Ranma and Ryouga fighting wouldn't have gone this far.
The ofuda flared to white radiance, forming a circle of light that surrounded the burned girl.
The assembled audience still watched, most coming to the conclusion that the gaijin being able to do things like this was why all those important visitors had come to see him.
"Torn early from this life,
Unfair thy fate,
Nabiki Tendo return to strife,
until at least appointed date,
Raise Dead!"
The corpse spasmed.
"Usagi, carry her. Makoto, that spell is fairly draining, if you can help me get to the lab..."
--------
"Waitaminute, *that* is not exactly alive!" Nabiki pointed. "And I'm still here!"
"Were you paying attention?"
"Yes, yes, YES! Three parts yerba root added to the mix on the night of a full moon, bring to a boil, and then strain through a wire mesh." Nabiki threw her spectral hands up in frustration.
"Then add it to a beverage. If you drink the stuff without mixing it, it tastes like crap. Or so I'm told, I've never tried it myself." The girl with the petite figure lectured her new student. "Oh, and Urd says not to use a carbonated beverage. Something about weird side effects."
"Fine, fine. I don't know where I'd get half the ingredients." Nabiki kept sneaking looks at where her body was being carried off. Though the way Ranma seemed torn between finding out what was wrong with Akane and following those girls carrying off her body was heartening. "What the heck does it do anyway?"
"Hmmm. Oh just a generic attractiveness potion." The girl waved it off. "Typical thing, try to get someone to take it unwillingly and you have ridiculous coincidences screwing it up."
"Then what good is it?" Nabiki kept glancing away. "My body was awfully darn messed up."
"Don't worry, don't worry. By the time you've rejoined that form, you'll have gotten some first rate instruction in magic." The woman shrugged. "I heard your mother tried to get you some combat training and they basically chewed you up and spit you out."
"Yeah. So what do *you* get out of it? You don't strike me as being that generous." Nabiki could sense a fellow mercenary in the redhead.
"I get the formula for a potion that increases my breast size!" Lina chirped before going into an insane laugh.
Nabiki frowned. Not that *she* needed it, but maybe she could get the recipe for that potion. It could have major possibilities.
-------
"What do you mean she's dead?!" Soun was going higher and higher into shock.
Ranma put a badly burned right arm on the table.
"Oh my," said Kasumi. Then she decided that this wasn't sufficient and fainted.
Soun had done something similar on the other side of the table.
"Shut up, Ranma, Greylle-sama said he'd bring her back. So far *he* hasn't lied or tried to pull one over on me." Akane grumbled. Why did everyone insist that *she* had to marry this boy?
Soun was beginning to recover when he heard the 'sama' added to the gaijin's name. For *Akane* to use that sort of honorific with a boy her own age was nearly impossible. Then the rest of the statement registered. No, it was too much to hope for. Clearly his little girl was dead.
Ranma grumbled. He *had* to learn those special techniques!
Soun's head came up, and he was going beyond demonhead. His little girl had died because of Saotome's fight?! "Sa-o-to-ME!"
--------
Yuka and Sayuri were typical high school girls, and Akane's friends. Well, at least Sayuri was. Yuka was a closet otaku who'd given up on "all that stuff" because she had reached an age where you weren't supposed to pay that much attention to anime or that kind of thing.
Except now she'd been dropped into "Captain Tsubasa meets Giant Robo meets several different Tezuka series." Yuka had been expecting a kindly and doddering mad scientist with a bulbous nose at any moment.
"You should not be here," stated Ami, glancing back at the two.
"Hey, I gotta see this. Hidden underground bases, secret government organizations, and the tragic love affair between Nabiki and her foreign hero cut short," Yuka gushed with a sparkly look to her eyes.
Ami scanned but did not detect a fever. The other human, Sayuri, was looking frightened. Perhaps putting the two at ease would be an acceptable compromise? Obviously they did want to check on their friend, and the two *did* help discourage some of the others from following. "This way."
The room Ami led the two into held two girls sleeping in tubes. From there another door led to a room with a lot more tubes, these mainly unfinished, and a large upright tube in which floated a very familiar form.
"Man, she's really badly burned." Sayuri looked quite ill as she catalogued the injuries of the figure floating in the tank.
"Nabiki Tendo is still alive, though barely and only due to the operation of three spells. She has at present received: a Raise Dead, Protection From Evil, and Cure Light Wounds. As the effects of a Raise Dead are so draining, the Commander is resting." Ami had decided that a prior command that they refer to him as something as other than Master was acceptable and had settled on this as a substitute.
Yuka nodded. A foreign commander in a top secret government installation. Where was Giant Robo?
Ami noted that Yuka had acknowledged that she understood. Sayuri looked in shock. Further dialogue was needed? "Nabiki Tendo's condition is stable. As you can see, she is missing both legs and one arm, there was considerable damage to her skin - 90% of which was covered in 3rd degree burns. After the spells, her skin is mostly recovered, however the regeneration of skin in her face, eyes, ears, and the missing limbs would require the use of a Regeneration spell, which currently the Commander cannot access unless Project Moonshot occurs."
Yuka looked over the tube. "This looks just like the Bacta Tubes they used on Luke Skywalker in that movie!"
"The gel is composed of nanites programmed to repair flesh plus an analgesic medium. Her lungs were burned also so special preparations had to be made. The tube attached to her remaining arm carries nutrients, nanites, and directly oxygenates the blood." Ami noted that the Sayuri unit was still quite nervous, though the Yuka person was far more focussed and energetic.
Yuka obviously thought of something. "You're gonna rebuild her!"
"Well, yes," agreed Ami.
"Better! Faster! Stronger!" Yuka was on a roll now. Nabiki's life was being saved by her foreign lover and now she would become an agent of this secret government organization which fought evil criminal organizations worldwide.
"That might be a good idea," agreed Ami. Humans tended to be fragile in the first place. A few improvements certainly would be merited.
"The Six Million Dollar Girl!" Yuka posed triumphantly. "Adjusting for modern rates of exchange of course."
----------
Nabiki stared. "They're not serious are they?"
"It looks like Yuka's convincing that marionette to turn you into a cyborg." Lina frowned. "You wouldn't be able to cast spells like that. All that machinery inside you would tend to disrupt the mana flows. Well, looks like my job is done then."
"What?! I almost got the hang of this 'Lightening' spell!" Nabiki wasn't happy. Did this mean she had to go back and train with the Valkyrie? That was bad.
"Like I said, you get turned into a cyborg, magic isn't an option. Normally at least. When they get you rebuilt as human, I'll just do a Dream Message and teach you the rest. At least until you can cast a Drill Brand or Fire Ball. Then you're on your own." Lina pointed. "Look at that. They didn't have bionic breasts in those old TV series, did they?"
"Yuka no hentai," proclaimed Nabiki, floating over the girl's shoulder and looking at the displays she was discussing with the marionette. "How can I stop them from making me the 'Bionic Woman' of this setup?"
"I'm just an astral projection, and you're just a ghost. Try to enter your body again and you'll be stuck and zoned out of your mind on those medications they've got you on." Lina considered. "You can probably try to communicate with Greylle, or you could spontaneously master a higher degree of magic than I've been able to teach you, or you can try and possess one of the androids, or you can pray."
"But he's asleep and I'm a ghost. HOW can I communicate with him?"
"Enter his dreams, just be sure..." Lina looked around but Nabiki had already dove through a wall. Well, considering what Yuka was suggesting for Nabiki's new "accessories" Lina could kind of understand the panic. "Just be sure you don't get trapped or altered when you're in someone else's dream."
----------
Ranma had fled, Genma was hiding, Kasumi was missing. Soun had outfitted the dojo for a funeral and placed the remains of his second oldest daughter in a casket. Akane was looking for Genma since she knew where Kasumi would eventually turn up.
Genma snuck into the dojo and stopped as he realized that Soun was in there.
"Old friend, how could you have raised your son to be so irresponsible?" Soun hadn't bothered to look in his old friend's direction. How many 1500 pound bear-critters could there be in his backyard right now?
Genma looked thoughtful before he pulled out a sign. [Like Father, Like Son?]
"True," Soun deflated a bit after he'd turned to read the sign. This had brought other details to his attention. "By the way have you seen Kasumi?"
Ignoring the hand that popped out of his mouth with a sign reading [Help!], Genma-snorlax shrugged and tried to look innocent.
"Old friend, we went through Hell together with the Master, forging bonds of friendship that have withstood the passage of time, have we not?"
[Oh yes. Definitely.] Genma's sign was a little shaky as if something he had eaten recently was disagreeing with him.
"Then would you kindly STOP SWALLOWING MY DAUGHTERS WHOLE!" If he weren't feeling so tired and put upon, this would have been accompanied by a full blown Demon's Head technique.
[You want me to chew?] Genma's sign asked.
"NO! I don't want you swallowing them at all! And let Kasumi go *now*!"
Kasumi was briefly spat out, covered in drool and other slimy substances, her clothes largely eaten away. She considered saying "oh my" but it came out considerably harsher than that.
[But they taste so *delicious*!] Snorlax-sign flipped. [Can I at least lick them?]
"Well, I suppose..." Soun reluctantly agreed.
Kasumi stared briefly at her father, then took the shreds of her dignity (and clothes) to hunt for the bath. Marriage to that gaijin and moving away was beginning to look more and more like a good idea. Far far far away.
---------
"No no no, because she's so cold and unfeeling, you'd *need* to set her libido that high. Just to bring her up to normal," argued Yuka.
Ami *still* wasn't sure about this.
Sayuri still had serious misgivings about being anywhere *near* this place.
"And I really think that while we're at it, we should redesign..." Yuka's voice trailed off as someone walked into the room. "Uhm..."
The dog marched in from a side room, gave a sharp salute to Ami, bowed elegantly to Yuka and again to Sayuri, then continued along his path to the room containing the two sleeping girls.
"That was a beagle." Yuka declared. "A beagle in the uniform of a WWI flying ace..."
"Yes. An early model to test the process of building rudimentary AI units," Ami looked over to where the bipedal beagle had exited. "However there appears to be something wrong with the unit as he is frequently lost in elaborate fantasies. He has downloaded the appropriate skill packages but some of the personas seem to serve no useful purpose."
---------
Nabiki had drifted through the wall in the direction Lina had indicated.
Then she'd come to a complete stop and had forgotten about the problems going on behind her.
The dragon was here too. Not that Nabiki was stopped because of that. She couldn't know that he'd taken to sleeping in dragonform because Ami and Usagi *still* tried to do all sorts of strange things if he tried to sleep in humanform. Nabiki couldn't know that Workspider had accessed a file of a story by a guy named JRR Tolkein and decided that a picture there of a dragon's bed was accurate.
Nor could Nabiki know offhand that everything making up that dragon's bed was synthetic, crafted by taking various raw materials and altered to energy and then reconsituted. Nabiki wouldn't have likely understood the process immediately anyway.
What she *did* understand was that she was looking at diamonds and emeralds and rubies. Gold and silver and other sparklies. Enough to form a bed for a 52ft long lizard.
Immaterial hands attempted to scoop up a double handful of golden coins. Her hand passed through a ruby half her own height. Nabiki screamed in frustration before she got a shiver up her spine.
Turning, she found a huge eye regarding her.
*Now this is interesting. Nabiki Tendo, astrally projecting? i don't think i've seen *that* before.*
"Uhm well..." Nabiki tried to regain equilibrium.
The dragon licked his lips then yawned to show long sharp teeth. *So, Nabiki Tendo, why dost thou beard a dragon in its lair.*
"Uhm," Nabiki's eyes kept getting caught by all the glittering riches around her and distracting her. "Errr."
*Or is your presence here but a dream? Though dragons don't dream in the same manner as humans. Most curious.*
"Well, if *your* body was as messed up as mine is you wouldn't want to be there either." Nabiki scowled. "That's right, Yuka and Sayuri! They're convincing one of your dolls to make 'improvements' in me! You've got to stop them!"
*What's in it for me?*
Nabiki gasped. "But..."
*Beware, Nabiki Tendo. Lest you be treated as you treat others.* The dragon looked away briefly. *Yet I suppose that i must interfere. You should regain your mortal form as soon as possible. Eventually the Protection From Evil will run out and you don't want anyone else entering your form before you return.*
"Uhm..."
The dragon slowly lifted himself off his "bedding". *Do not worry, Nabiki Tendo. Payment will be deferred until later. Now go, i shall restrain those wild impulses which worry you so much.*
------
"So you'll mainly communicate with me through a 'sacred mirror' from now on?" Hotaru looked more than a little uncertain.
"Yes," said the image in the mirror. "Mainly on an 'as needed' basis. This way you have to rely mainly on yourself and you'll develop your skills better as a result."
Hotaru was *very* uncertain about going mainly solo. She also had other issues and concerns to address. "Well, can you show me my fiance? I deserve to know *that* at least."
The image of Amaterasu cleared, becoming the image of Greylle in his new human form.
Hotaru stared for a moment. "He looks... interesting."
"Hotaru-chan, you'll find him more interesting when you get older. Keep in mind, less than a decade seperates your births. With a lifespan measured in centuries that shall become less problematic as the decades accrue."
----------
"Okay, he's got enough room. Send all of Greylle's stuff from storage to one of the rooms he's using in that timeline. Because otherwise he's cut off from his personal belongings until he comes back. No, no, no. Don't send *that*. Yeah, just the stuff that's rated less than a Class 4 Hazard. What do you mean 'too late'. Those bracers? No, they weren't classified. Uh huh. Goodbye." Urd hung up the phone, sat back, and shrugged. Why hadn't the boy figured out any of those wonderful little *extras* she had added to his humanform? Or more importantly: used them.
Yeesh, there were times he was as pathetic as Keiichi. Speaking of which, maybe she ought to see what Bell and he were doing on that island...
Oh ho! Now *that* was about time!
---------
Yuka and Sayuri leapt as one as Greylle entered the room, yawning and stretching. And shirtless as he hadn't expected anyone to be here besides his marionettes or one of the 'bots. "Ami? When did you build doubles of Yuka and Sayuri? Oh, never mind. Outfit them with some of the Knight Sailor powerarmor when it finishes, will ya? That way we can send them as a Rapid Response team per that deal with the Diet."
Sayuri was about to protest when she found Yuka's hand abruptly covering her mouth.
"Oh, and don't make too many changes in Nabiki Tendo. She's floating around here in astral form for some reason. Just use partial bionic conversion to reinforce her frame enough to support the replacement limbs. If she's going to be doing astral projection and stuff, she's gonna need psychic circuits and supporters. Nabiki, if you're still around and listening: it'll take me a month to set up a healing chamber to the point where i can regenerate limbs. So you'll be stuck with the bionics at least that long." Another yawn. "Did Workspider finish the bath?"
"Not yet, sir," indicated Ami. "Other priorities needed to be addressed. Nabiki will finished by morning, however."
"Good enough."
-------
Workspider was a fairly simple AI robot. The first thing that Greylle had built after the elevator had been crafted, though he'd left room for upgrades. He'd used basics from a brief stint on Rifts Earth, combined with elements from Terratoo.
The result was a Neural Intelligence robot installed in a spiderlike eight-limbed frame. The rear four legs had grippers based on Vice-Grip pliers but also had roller wheels that could be rotated down below the "jaws". The front four legs had gripper/manipulators and a similar arrangement where a tool/hand could be rotated into place. One had a plasma welding torch, another could extend a light-sabre like cutting tool, another had a "shovel hand" to dig with, and the fourth had a set of delicate manipulators for precision work.
Workspider was *not* a combat unit despite having the *physical* potential for it. Its programming was entirely oriented to building things and being useful. This was its simple purpose in life, and actually made Workspider happy in as much as it was currently capable of happiness. It knew it was programmed to be that way, and that it had been built for that function, and could care less about its lack of freedom or career options. Asimov would have found his Three Laws Of Robotics hardwired in place and would have been delighted.
The robot Workspider recharged its batteries and tried to scan files and come up with other ways it could be useful. It did the electronic equivelant of "ooh" and "aah" as it considered various upgrades to itself. An outer skin would keep dust from getting in its joints, so that was a definite consideration. Memory upgrades would also be helpful. Though *other* units seemed to be something to consider adding.
Not more copies of itself, to be sure. Nor combat units. A Med-bot to take care of problems like that young lady's wounds. Repair-bots. Travel time being a factor, perhaps an AI in some form of transportation.
It didn't understand magic. There were records and images of it, but it lacked the ability to manipulate those forces, therefore these were considered interesting but nothing that could be dealt with at present.
A probe extended to the fabricator as a decision was made. Files were accessed and transferred. As parts were fabricated, they were taken away by the manipulators and fitted together. The Master had been quite busy, so approval could be sought later. In the meantime, some help around the tunnels was required. As for the design, the possibilities seemed best filled by marionette technology. The unease of the human units Yuka and Sayuri had been well noted. Particularly the Sayuri unit. Causing a human distress was not something Workspider wanted to do if it could be helped.
Workspider considered and decided full blown AI wasn't indicated by the basic design, but it *did* increase the adaptibility of the unit. Odds were weighed with mechanical precision. Add. Basic engram of original scanned would increase the adaptibility and therefore usefulness.
The first unit was built and considered itself for a moment before calmly going over and beginning to work on the nanotubes so that it could finish itself. By the time it had done so, three more units had been assembled.
--------
Ranma was doing something he was *not* used to doing. Sulking.
It was late and he was getting heat from two of the girls. The third was dead, and he could admit (to himself if nobody else) that he might have had some wee tiny little smidgen of responsibility in her getting to that condition.
He'd done the best that he could, it was just that once those pipes had started exploding the surroundings had started coming apart.
It was just as well that he was persona non grata in the house, he had a lot to think about. Even if the blonde pretty boy hadn't been completely honest, what he'd accomplished had impressed Ranma. In a tiny little miniscule manner, of course. If it had been martial arts, it had been a *lot* more impressive than that crap with the moose.
If he ever saw another damn moose it would be too soon. Pops was still giving him grief that he'd gotten his ass kicked by a moose. Next time he saw one: they'd be cleaning up moose splat for blocks!
Ryouga was gonna get his butt kicked too. What was with using the Iron Cloth manuever on thrown projectiles? Didn't he know how damn dangerous that could be. It was *Ryouga's* fault that he was up here on the roof, Ryouga's fault that everyone in the house was blaming Ranma for the death of that Nabiki chick, Ryouga's fault that that girl died! The only person not blaming Ranma for this spate of current affairs was Shampoo, who had snuck him out a blanket.
Standing up, Ranma raised a fist to the Heavens. "RYOUGA HIBIKI! YOU SHALL PAY FOR THIS!" Hmmm. Gee, that felt better. No wonder Ryouga was always pulling that crap.
---------
Sayuri had known Yuka for years. Both had been into shojo manga and magical princess series when they were younger. "Rose of Versailles" had been something they'd heavily fantasized with and had even collaborated on a dojinshi together when they'd been younger. They hadn't sold it or distributed it very widely, they'd just done it out of sheer enjoyment.
Sayuri had grown out of it, turning her attention to things more in keeping with the typical teenage girl. The occasional shojo story might be read, but one couldn't get too much into it and risk becoming unpopular. Heavens no.
Yuka had put on the mask of respectibility. That's all it had been, a mask. Now the mask was off and the inner otaku revealed.
"We're going to lose popularity," cautioned Sayuri on the way home.
"Who cares?" Yuka said with a smile.
"*I* do. And you should too."
Yuka shook her head. Martial arts had never interested her. Fantasy, to a lesser extent. On the other hand, sentai series with beautiful young girls protecting Tokyo was a fish of a markedly different color. "We'll be more popular than ever if that's what you want."
"How do you get *that*?!"
"We keep our secret identities until the Menace shows up, then we reveal ourselves when the Menace is beaten."
"We're gonna get killed by the first Monster Of The Week!"
"No," disagreed Yuka. "It'll go after Akane first. All the weirdness like that Hentai Horde does. Then we go into action!"
Sayuri looked at her friend as if she'd gone nuts. This was pretty much her opinion at the time. "Even with this 'power armor' stuff, do you honestly think we can fight?"
Yuka shrugged. "Worry about that when we've *got* power armor."
"What's this 'we' you refer to?"
Yuka put an arm around Sayuri's shoulders and winked. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."
"Couldn't we just do karaoke instead?"
-----------
In an early morning dawn, several things were occurring. Besides a WWI Flying Ace preparing to go look for the Red Baron and coming home several hours later with several pizzas of the same name because the skies of 1992 Tokyo were mysteriously clear of red triplanes.
Besides many mysterious figures leaving Furinkan High School, their mission complete. Well, mainly.
And definitely besides Soun getting drunker than a sailor on his first shore leave while alternately ranting about Saotome raising his son to be such a reckless fool, then going on about how the only way to fix this mess was to have the wedding of Ranma and Akane *at* the funeral of Nabiki.
Something more eventful than Kasumi sneaking downstairs and trying not to awaken Mister Saotome because she was really a lot more than merely tired of scraping drool off of her.
No this was nearby but not quite at the dojo yet.
Nabiki had listened to the talk. Temporary repairs and enhancements. At least a month to get the chamber where it needed to be before limbs and life threatening injuries could be repaired. From what she understood of Shard's often mangled Japanese: he had to build the machines that would build the machines that would eventually be the healing tube. Then, when it *was* finished, it would take over a week for her to be healed to where she could rejoin society.
In the meantime she had cyborg systems that *looked* mostly normal. The clothes were a little strange, Usagi had come up with *this* outfit based on some files she kept consulting. Nabiki wondered what kind of strange anime series had been in those files. Or maybe it was a fighting game. It had that odd impractical-but-flashy look to it.
While walking alongside "the time-traveling alien prince", she wondered what she could do.
>Query: Diagnostic.
>RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC. Cyborg Parts OK.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow, which she realized was also artificial. This had possibilities.
>Query: Detail.
>RUNNING...
>MULTI-OPTIC EYES, Mk III. Telescopic Vision 8x. Macro lens x16. Passive Night Vision: skipped - ambient light too high for test mode. Thermo Imaging: skipped - ambient light too high for test mode. Light Filters: active. Targetting display: inactive.
>BIONIC HEARING. Amplified Hearing: at default setting. Ultrasonic Hearing: default off.
>STRENGTH LEVEL: Rated at 30. Right arm and legs only. Left arm rated as 8.
>GRAV SYSTEM: offline
>TOXIC FILTER: online, inactive. No dangerous micro-organisms or substances detected.
>BIONIC LUNG (RIGHT): online, active.
>BIONIC SPLEEN: online, active
>SENSOR SUITE: Radar: online, inactive. HAZMAT Detection System: online, active - no hazardous materials/conditions detected. Gyro-compass: online, inactive. Tactile sensitivity: 1/1.
>HEADJACK: online, inactive.
>INTERNAL BATTERIES: 98% charge
>BIO-COMP: active
>TRANSCIEVER: online, active
>DEFENSE SYSTEM: online, inactive
>OVER 18: online, inactive
Nabiki frowned thoughtfully while half-listening to the gaijin explain that he suspected that Ami and Usagi had taken some liberties but he was reluctant to yank her insides out looking for them.
>Query: Headjack
Nabiki blinked as a display letterboxed into her field of vision. A headjack apparently gave her the ability to hook directly into machines equipped for such, and she could even download information directly through such a thing.
Which led her to wonder about some of the other things on the list. A brief check of "Amplified Hearing" had her clutching her ears and crouched onto the ground.
Greylle sighed and whispered to her. "Nabiki, experiment at a different time. Use default settings for now."
Nabiki nodded then looked relieved as she got it under control. She *definitely* would have to check some of this out. "What's the defense system anyway?"
"Hmmm. Oh don't worry. That was something i added. Minor forcefield projection ability, but it'll only activate when you're in immediate physical danger. The problem is that it'll exhaust your batteries if you keep it active for long. If you check your pockets you'll find a recharger, just plug it in overnight while you're sleeping."
Nabiki pulled a power cord out of her pocket. "Uhm... Do I want to know where it gets plugged in?"
"Belly button, same as Usagi and the other marionettes. i used most of the same systems since i want to keep a supply of spare parts handy for quick repairs." Greylle considered. "Oh. No, it'd be fairly impractical to put it on your back, you'd need to get help every night..."
Nabiki glanced to the side. Was he *that* clueless? Looked like it. Oh well.
Stopping at the main gate, Greylle gestured. "Are you ready to face your family?"
Nabiki nodded, smirking. This could be fun.
=============
end chapter 7 retake.
"Dear Great Grandmother,
"I never thought of my time training under you in our village was particularly simple or relaxing. Then I got out here in the outsider world chasing that redheaded girl."
Shampoo stopped writing for a moment as she considered how to put this.
"I am thoroughly confused. This situation has escalated into insanity beyond anything dreamed up by Mousse." Shampoo considered explaining that further but decided that Mousse tendency to go off proclaiming his love to livestock and spout about how he was the only one for Shampoo while throwing daggers at anyone even trying to be friendly was well enough documented.
"First the redhaired catgirl who defeated me and saved my life from the monster turned out to be a fairly handsome boy. I have given him the Kiss Of Marriage now and he is my Airen, which at least resolves what to do there. Maybe.
"However, between the time I was here and chasing the redhead, and before I discovered she was a he, I was also defeated by some American boy.
"It's not my fault!
"So, I've got two airen. Both are strong warriors. One's a little weird and the other's a LOT weird. One turns into a girl and has a number of girls hanging around him and I'm a little confused by the relationships here. There's talk about Ranma (the one with the confusion about his gender) being engaged to three different girls, none of whom want him, and he's not too happy about this himself. You ask a different girl about who's engaged to him, you get a different answer. Heck, ask *anyone* who knows them and you get a different answer.
"Same with who's engaged to Other Airen named Greylle. There is apparently no formal arrangement for him to marry someone, but if you ask about girlfriends you'll get different answers - sometimes it depends on what time of day you ask the question!
"Greylle-airen vanished. The people agree that it is some kind of secret mission for the Japanese government, but will be coming back to the school after a month.
"Ranma's a lot cuter, and unspoken for, and so I decided that of the two I'd pursue Ranma. Besides, he's actually here, and while he's a bit slow we have a lot in common.
"I'm being assisted in my pursuit of Ranma by three of the girls he's engaged to. It is a very strange situation, but I find myself warming to the idea of having friends. Some of the girls here are very nice, if a bit scatterbrained and weak outsider women.
"I'm friends with the oldest one now, she's showing me how to make the kind of food that Ranma-airen likes.
"Just three days after other airen vanished, some new girls started up at Ranma's school. Ranma did not take well to the idea that one of the girls was stronger than he was. Usagi, I think her name is. He keeps challenging her to arm-wrestling, and she keeps refusing after beating him the last fourteen times - stating that she won't learn anything new from it. She is a very strange but very strong girl." Shampoo briefly considered saying something about deciding not to challenge this girl herself as she already had enough going on that giving some oddly strong girl the Kiss Of Death wasn't something she wanted to do. She decided against it, her Great Grandmother could be unpredictable at times.
"Hope everything is going well at the village.
"-Shampoo."
------------
Retake chapter 7: Touching Base
Disclaimer: an unintended fic, written to be humorous and entertain only.
------------
"Aw come on, one more time!"
"No, Saotome-kun. I do not think that anything has changed to where the outcome would be affected."
"Stop whining, Ranma, she's beat you 14 times already." Akane frowned a little, remembering that it had taken her only seven times to decide she just wasn't going to beat Usagi in armwrestling. Though as soon as she'd built her strength up some more!
Usagi puzzled over this behavior. Perhaps it would be better to agree to the match and allow Saotome-kun to win?
Rei and Makoto, this being their first day, puzzled over this development.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIEEEE!"
Eyes, both psuedo-organic and organic, flicked up to track a rapidly moving incoming body.
Ranma leapt to the side. Usagi, Rei, Ami, and Makoto moved as one to different positions from where they could coordinate assaults if this proved to be a threat to themselves. Akane blinked for a moment and was then sent by a small explosion of newly created gravel to land on her posterior.
"You haven't changed, Ranma! Still good at running away."
Makoto brought her hand into connection with Ami's and established a datafeed for communication purposes. *This is neither in my engram downloads nor personal database. I have only been active for 25 hours, 14 minutes, 17 seconds. Explain?*
Ami nodded. *The discovery of partial data collection from computer scans during the so-called Third Labor was fortuitous, unfortunately we still experience gaps. This is, however, why we are attending Furinkan and associating with humans. There is currently nothing in my database to explain this behavior. Estimate 97% chance of hostilities, extreme likelihood of physical conflict being used for resolution of same.*
Makoto nodded fractionally herself. *Preparing battle analysis routines. Will add to own combat potential. Disengaging comlink.*
"You?!" Ranma said, staring at the boy in the crater.
"Someone ELSE you're engaged to, Ranma?" Akane picked herself up and dusted off the contact point.
Ranma started puzzling over it. "Uh, yeah, sure, sure, he's..."
"Don't strain your brain, Ranma," said Akane. ~Not like that would take effort.~
Ami briefly wondered if Ranma had been brain damaged. Slurred speech + short term memory problems + limited attention span? The amount of violence endured by a martial artist indicated that there was a distinct possibility of repetitive concussion injuries, and the symptoms were in keeping with such a diagnosis. Treatment of such was possible, but she would need to confirm this initial analysis before suggesting it.
"Just tell me one thing, Ranma. Why did you run out on our fight?"
"Airen run out on more fights than with Shampoo? That very bad." Shampoo landed nearby from one of her roof-hops. "Shampoo have to break you of bad habits taught by ben dan father."
"'ben dan?'" Akane asked.
"Chinese for 'baka'," supplied Ami.
"You got that right, sugar," Ukyo suggested. She wasn't sure of her own place in this whole mess. She understood that the girl with the purple hair was her rival for Ranma, sort of, but Shampoo herself was confused about some point of Chinese Amazon law regarding her relationship with Ranma much as Ukyo herself was, so nobody had gotten openly confrontational about it. Well, at least not much. Besides, if somebody wanted to rag on Genma Saotome - Ukyo was quite willing to agree with 'em. "He's a 'ben dan' influence on poor Ranma-honey if ever there was one."
The crowd of regular students tried to listen to both Ranma's verbal sparring with Ryouga and the discussion with the various new girls vs Akane.
Kuno, currently in Happy Valley Sanitarium, was currently on medication and not available for comment. Just in case the gentle reader was interested.
"Very bad sense of direction," summed up Hiroshi upon hearing the details of the "missed" challenge fight.
"Maybe sometime we all get together teach stupid monster not to go putting foreign objects in mouth?" Shampoo shuddered as she recollected one of the times she'd been halfway swallowed.
"I'll go for that," agreed Nabiki. She wanted to make it absolutely clear that she was *not* a chew toy.
"No matter what it takes, Ranma. I shall destroy your happiness!"
"Good luck finding any 'happiness' for you to destroy," grumbled Ranma. "Man, this place is even worse than that reform school we attended together."
Ryouga blinked. "It can't be THAT bad."
"Wanna Bet?" Ranma shook his head.
"Enough talk, Saotome! Prepare to die!"
------------
"And exactly how do you hope to justify these expenses? You may be Emperor, but don't forget that we have to maintain our budget and account to the public for everything. 220,000 yen and for what? A hidden elevator to some underground shelter?"
Naruhito shrugged. "Honestly, it's my first time here, Sanada-san."
The elevator doors dinged and opened.
Sanada blinked. "How much did you spend on this? My office only found 220,000 yen in this 'Advanced Technological Research'."
"That's it so far. Mainly we've been paying for the land for the access tunnels." Naruhito stepped out into the spartan white corridor that seemed to stretch off into the distance, lit by tiny squares near the floor. The ceiling was a full 12 feet up, and shaped like a dome. The floor made of the same fused white rock.
A shape slowly moved forward, causing Sanada a brief moment of panic and an exclamation of interest from the Emperor. It was about five feet across and spider-shaped, a collection of struts and motors and boxes. "Good evening. Master is this way. One of you is designate: Emperor?"
"That would be me," acknowledged Naruhito as he began following the device down the corridors. "Your voice is a little difficult to understand."
"Am designate repair/construction. Speech centers not priority," replied the spider. "Reference Workspider 01 for individual reference."
"I see," said the Emperor, fascinated and wondering if he could get one himself. "Did you build the corridor here?"
"Affirmative," Workspider admitted with a trace of pride. "Master commended me on job well done."
Sanada realized he was being left alone and hurried to reach the two. "This isn't a remote controlled device?!"
A cluster of sensors turned towards the individual. "Negative. Self is entirely self-contained, though in constant communication with main computer system. Complex is now 35% operational."
"What's down there?" Naruhito pointed to a side corridor.
"Marionette Nanotanks. Currently artificial tissues and skin are being added to the frames for units designated 'Haruka' and 'Michiru'. 65% complete. Programming and engram development is at 97% and should be completed within 27 minutes 14 seconds."
"And down THIS corridor?" In some ways the Emperor felt like a kid in a toy store. The agreement they'd come to with this Greylle person was that the other would allow use of some of this technology but actual commercial release was to be more regulated due to some factor called "technological shock" where the society wasn't even ready for the implications of a new development.
"Bulk Fabrication. First release of new technology is to be a new battery prototype that is 150% more efficient than currently available. 250 units are ready for delivery."
"This room?" Sanada pointed, a little shakily, at a closed door.
"That room is for purging of organic wastes." Workspider seemed to hesitate briefly. "Computer informs self that common usage term is 'toilet'."
Workspider came to the end of the main corridor and indicated a passage with one foreleg. "Master is 15.278 feet that way. This unit needs to finish recharging. Have a nice day."
-------------
There was the sound of breaking glass and falling pieces of brick.
"Did you *mean* to throw him into the school?" Usagi asked, wondering about the protocols of these challenge duels.
"Great going, Ranma!" Akane's voice was full of sarcasm.
"Hey! It's not my fault!" Ranma looked around. "He's the one who started it!"
"RANMA! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU COWARD?" (CRASH! SMASH!) (Tinkle)
"See! He ain't hurt or nothin'!" Ranma pointed to the school. "Ryouga can take it!"
(Crunch. Shatter. Groan.)
"Sounds like we might miss school tomorrow," opined Hiroshi.
"School called on account of lack of building? A distinct possibility," agreed Daisuke.
(Groan. Crash. Shatter.) "SAOTOME! WHERE ARE YOU HIDING?"
"I don't believe this," groaned Akane. "Ranma, can't you take your fights somewhere that doesn't have breakable things?"
"Where would *that* be? I'll just go get him, be just a moment. He's got *no* sense of direction." Ranma ran into the school.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Akane as she followed.
"Then why is she going after him?" Usagi asked Ami.
Ami shrugged. Humans. Who could figure them?
--------
"This looks like..." Sanada-san wasn't that familiar with anime, though he thought he'd seen this somewhere before.
"It's just a high speed transport, maybe Mach 5 if everything goes well. VTOL configuration and a high speed config. Not terribly well armed or heavily armored, but it's not meant as a combat vehicle - just to get you in and out in a hurry."
"I'm not familiar with the design," admitted Naruhito. "I was expecting the 'Arcadia' from 'Captain Harlock.'"
"Much later. i haven't even started drawing up the plans yet. R2? Can you finish for me?"
(Wooop-ding-ding-buzz.)
"Marionette?" Naruhito asked.
"Nah. Robot. Female androids are marionettes. Male androids are mannekin. Genderless without the fleshy bits: robots." Greylle yawned. "Sorry, i've been working almost nonstop since that morning."
(Woopa-woopa-ding-ding-dong.)
"i'll worry about that if i *do* put stairs in, R2." Greylle gave an apologetic look to his two visitors. "As it is..."
"Warning," interrupted a female voice from midair. "Large explosion located on planetary surface."
"Huh?" Greylle frowned. "Computer. Exact nature and location of explosion."
"Location: Furinkan Senior High School. Origin of explosion coincides with tanks of natural gas used for supplying kitchen area and water heaters."
"Excuse me, gentlemen. It appears that i need to make an appearance."
---------
Yuka and Sayuri stared. "You... saved us, but..."
Makoto flinched and pulled a shard of wood out of her chest. "This is unpleasant."
"You're... like Mighty Tetsuwan (Astro-boy)!" Yuka exclaimed, causing Sayuri to fall over.
Makoto cocked her head slightly as she processed that. "Actually... there *are* parallels. Fascinating."
Then a dragon did a flyby over the flaming area of the school.
"Is that a dragon?" Sayuri said, matter of factly now that she was beyond being stunned.
"Neat! Just like in 'Dragon Century'. That's an Ice Dragon. Isn't that neat, Sayuri!"
"Yuka, the boys will think less of us if you go showing off that you're a closet otaku."
Usagi touched Ami's hand to initiate a data transfer. *Otaku?*
Ami responded along the same link. *Term not in my database. Seems relatively friendly and able to adapt to situations outside the typical paradigm.*
Usagi nodded and broke the connection. The human designated Yuka appeared to a potentially useful contact.
"It appears that Ryouga Hibiki survived," Ami said. "As well as Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo."
"Could someone put out the fire in Akane's hair?!"
(Shooosh!)
"Could someone chip Akane out of the ice?!"
"What about Ranma?"
"Oh let him get himself out of it, he got himself into it!"
"Has anyone seen Nabiki?"
---------
Greylle had flown back, then returned in human shape. Having to find out what the crap was going on. That Ryouga and Ranma's battle had gone through a set of walls, and that Ryouga had then thrown dozens of those bandanas.
Right through a set of pipes that took gas to the kitchens, to the science rooms, and to the water heaters.
"Nabiki... Nabiki..." Akane was digging through rubble with her hands.
"Ryouga, you jerk!"
"SHUT UP, RANMA!" Akane left the rubble to scream into Ranma's face. "THIS IS *YOUR* FAULT! It was *your* fight. *Your* rival. *You* that all the vengeance is about. *You* who fail to do anything about *your* problems!"
Greylle looked about, then gestured to Ami. "Ami. I need you to scan for lifesigns."
"Negative. There is no one alive remaining," Ami responded.
"Pinpoint Nabiki's location then."
Ami went through the rubble, then found the appropriate point.
Yuka and Sayuri sidled closer, nervous as all get out, but aware that something was about to happen.
Greylle dug the body out then set her out in the grass. "i'm probably going to regret this." He quickly began laying strips of paper out.
"What are you doing? Are those ofuda (wards)?" Sayuri asked finally.
"Yeah. Let's see. 'Raise Dead' is out, don't have enough intact of the body. Not high enough level for 'Resurrection' or 'Reincarnation' unless i had an artifact."
Akane got closer herself, though after the first glance she refused to look again. "What are you doing?"
"Bringing her back," said Greylle absently.
"There's a martial arts technique for THAT?!" Ranma was intrigued to say the least.
"Ranma, not everything in life is martial arts," said Greylle tiredly.
Ranma blinked. "What else is there?"
"Life, death, and magic," answered Greylle while Akane was ready to beat the snot out of her fiance. Though he was generally opposed to this sort of behavior between fated lovers, he was able to see her point in this instance.
"RANMA YOU... 'bring her back'?!" Akane suddenly caught up with what had been said.
"Yeah," Greylle turned to Ami. "i need the systems prepped. Need the spare nanotank brought online and ready. We'll stabilize what we can, cyborg systems until i can generate flesh replacements."
"Uhm, excuse me?" Akane reached out and grabbed Greylle, shaking him briefly. "Did you say..."
Greylle did *not* know Baseball Martial Arts. So far he'd been faking the whole thing, using draconic strength, speed, and durability, plus other talents such as trying to focus his flight ability on a baseball to produce a "double curve" pitch. He didn't know what side-effect this would have, but it was better than having his shirt ruined.
"Anger turn against its source,
tripled now by magic force,
Rebuke."
Akane staggered back, eyes widened and gasping. She finally sat down on a chunk of wall and stared.
"I have *got* to learn this guy's special manuevers," mumbled Ranma.
--------
"So I'm dead?" Nabiki sulked for a moment, then got a very alarmed expression. "Waitaminute, that means... uh oh."
"Daughter, I am very disappointed in you."
"It's not my fault!"
"Do you know what the odds are playing on you managing to land a kiss? 30:1. Seducing him? 200:1. Overcoming his image of you as a manipulative, self-serving, honorless, bottom-feeding, hurtful, money-grubbing, parasite? 500:1." Kimiko shook her head. "With odds like that, do you realize how much I could make?"
"Urk!" Nabiki wasn't sure what hurt more. That her own mother was placing bets on her, or that she had such long odds against being able to overcome the Mercenary Ice Queen image. No, it hurt more that her own mother was viewing her as something less than her darling daughter. Considerably less. Could she help it if she liked money?
Kimiko held her hands up and implored the heavens. "Goodness. The odds of you actually dragging him to the altar? 50,000:1 currently. The odds of AKANE managing it is considerably better. Kasumi has better odds than that."
Nabiki gestured at the crowd of people. "But I'm dead. What can I do about it? I mean look at my body there. I was just trying to get a decent look at the fight so I could fix odds, and look what happened to me. Flash-fried, hit by shrapnel, and half a building fell on me. If they hadn't identified it as me, *I* couldn't have."
"That's okay. As soon as he figures out the spell, he'll bring you back." Kimiko waved it off. "Providing the side effects aren't too bad. Pity he didn't stay a dragon, he could see you then. As it is, you'd have to be within six feet of him for him to sense your presence."
"Dragon. HE'S a dragon?!" Nabiki pointed. "I thought he was an alien timetravelling prince here to keep the world from being destroyed!"
"Well that too," Kimiko said, aware that she might be giving out details she'd be best holding off. "Hmmm. Maybe we ought to shift the odds some. In your favor for once."
"How's that?" Nabiki went back to sulking. Despite being a disembodied spirit- it really turned her stomach to see her body like that.
"You'll see."
"Mother, you're scaring me."
---------
Greylle let out a deep breath, centering himself, and brought his hands up. This was far from ideal, but it was all he could think of. Besides *he* must be guilty of this, somehow, otherwise Ranma and Ryouga fighting wouldn't have gone this far.
The ofuda flared to white radiance, forming a circle of light that surrounded the burned girl.
The assembled audience still watched, most coming to the conclusion that the gaijin being able to do things like this was why all those important visitors had come to see him.
"Torn early from this life,
Unfair thy fate,
Nabiki Tendo return to strife,
until at least appointed date,
Raise Dead!"
The corpse spasmed.
"Usagi, carry her. Makoto, that spell is fairly draining, if you can help me get to the lab..."
--------
"Waitaminute, *that* is not exactly alive!" Nabiki pointed. "And I'm still here!"
"Were you paying attention?"
"Yes, yes, YES! Three parts yerba root added to the mix on the night of a full moon, bring to a boil, and then strain through a wire mesh." Nabiki threw her spectral hands up in frustration.
"Then add it to a beverage. If you drink the stuff without mixing it, it tastes like crap. Or so I'm told, I've never tried it myself." The girl with the petite figure lectured her new student. "Oh, and Urd says not to use a carbonated beverage. Something about weird side effects."
"Fine, fine. I don't know where I'd get half the ingredients." Nabiki kept sneaking looks at where her body was being carried off. Though the way Ranma seemed torn between finding out what was wrong with Akane and following those girls carrying off her body was heartening. "What the heck does it do anyway?"
"Hmmm. Oh just a generic attractiveness potion." The girl waved it off. "Typical thing, try to get someone to take it unwillingly and you have ridiculous coincidences screwing it up."
"Then what good is it?" Nabiki kept glancing away. "My body was awfully darn messed up."
"Don't worry, don't worry. By the time you've rejoined that form, you'll have gotten some first rate instruction in magic." The woman shrugged. "I heard your mother tried to get you some combat training and they basically chewed you up and spit you out."
"Yeah. So what do *you* get out of it? You don't strike me as being that generous." Nabiki could sense a fellow mercenary in the redhead.
"I get the formula for a potion that increases my breast size!" Lina chirped before going into an insane laugh.
Nabiki frowned. Not that *she* needed it, but maybe she could get the recipe for that potion. It could have major possibilities.
-------
"What do you mean she's dead?!" Soun was going higher and higher into shock.
Ranma put a badly burned right arm on the table.
"Oh my," said Kasumi. Then she decided that this wasn't sufficient and fainted.
Soun had done something similar on the other side of the table.
"Shut up, Ranma, Greylle-sama said he'd bring her back. So far *he* hasn't lied or tried to pull one over on me." Akane grumbled. Why did everyone insist that *she* had to marry this boy?
Soun was beginning to recover when he heard the 'sama' added to the gaijin's name. For *Akane* to use that sort of honorific with a boy her own age was nearly impossible. Then the rest of the statement registered. No, it was too much to hope for. Clearly his little girl was dead.
Ranma grumbled. He *had* to learn those special techniques!
Soun's head came up, and he was going beyond demonhead. His little girl had died because of Saotome's fight?! "Sa-o-to-ME!"
--------
Yuka and Sayuri were typical high school girls, and Akane's friends. Well, at least Sayuri was. Yuka was a closet otaku who'd given up on "all that stuff" because she had reached an age where you weren't supposed to pay that much attention to anime or that kind of thing.
Except now she'd been dropped into "Captain Tsubasa meets Giant Robo meets several different Tezuka series." Yuka had been expecting a kindly and doddering mad scientist with a bulbous nose at any moment.
"You should not be here," stated Ami, glancing back at the two.
"Hey, I gotta see this. Hidden underground bases, secret government organizations, and the tragic love affair between Nabiki and her foreign hero cut short," Yuka gushed with a sparkly look to her eyes.
Ami scanned but did not detect a fever. The other human, Sayuri, was looking frightened. Perhaps putting the two at ease would be an acceptable compromise? Obviously they did want to check on their friend, and the two *did* help discourage some of the others from following. "This way."
The room Ami led the two into held two girls sleeping in tubes. From there another door led to a room with a lot more tubes, these mainly unfinished, and a large upright tube in which floated a very familiar form.
"Man, she's really badly burned." Sayuri looked quite ill as she catalogued the injuries of the figure floating in the tank.
"Nabiki Tendo is still alive, though barely and only due to the operation of three spells. She has at present received: a Raise Dead, Protection From Evil, and Cure Light Wounds. As the effects of a Raise Dead are so draining, the Commander is resting." Ami had decided that a prior command that they refer to him as something as other than Master was acceptable and had settled on this as a substitute.
Yuka nodded. A foreign commander in a top secret government installation. Where was Giant Robo?
Ami noted that Yuka had acknowledged that she understood. Sayuri looked in shock. Further dialogue was needed? "Nabiki Tendo's condition is stable. As you can see, she is missing both legs and one arm, there was considerable damage to her skin - 90% of which was covered in 3rd degree burns. After the spells, her skin is mostly recovered, however the regeneration of skin in her face, eyes, ears, and the missing limbs would require the use of a Regeneration spell, which currently the Commander cannot access unless Project Moonshot occurs."
Yuka looked over the tube. "This looks just like the Bacta Tubes they used on Luke Skywalker in that movie!"
"The gel is composed of nanites programmed to repair flesh plus an analgesic medium. Her lungs were burned also so special preparations had to be made. The tube attached to her remaining arm carries nutrients, nanites, and directly oxygenates the blood." Ami noted that the Sayuri unit was still quite nervous, though the Yuka person was far more focussed and energetic.
Yuka obviously thought of something. "You're gonna rebuild her!"
"Well, yes," agreed Ami.
"Better! Faster! Stronger!" Yuka was on a roll now. Nabiki's life was being saved by her foreign lover and now she would become an agent of this secret government organization which fought evil criminal organizations worldwide.
"That might be a good idea," agreed Ami. Humans tended to be fragile in the first place. A few improvements certainly would be merited.
"The Six Million Dollar Girl!" Yuka posed triumphantly. "Adjusting for modern rates of exchange of course."
----------
Nabiki stared. "They're not serious are they?"
"It looks like Yuka's convincing that marionette to turn you into a cyborg." Lina frowned. "You wouldn't be able to cast spells like that. All that machinery inside you would tend to disrupt the mana flows. Well, looks like my job is done then."
"What?! I almost got the hang of this 'Lightening' spell!" Nabiki wasn't happy. Did this mean she had to go back and train with the Valkyrie? That was bad.
"Like I said, you get turned into a cyborg, magic isn't an option. Normally at least. When they get you rebuilt as human, I'll just do a Dream Message and teach you the rest. At least until you can cast a Drill Brand or Fire Ball. Then you're on your own." Lina pointed. "Look at that. They didn't have bionic breasts in those old TV series, did they?"
"Yuka no hentai," proclaimed Nabiki, floating over the girl's shoulder and looking at the displays she was discussing with the marionette. "How can I stop them from making me the 'Bionic Woman' of this setup?"
"I'm just an astral projection, and you're just a ghost. Try to enter your body again and you'll be stuck and zoned out of your mind on those medications they've got you on." Lina considered. "You can probably try to communicate with Greylle, or you could spontaneously master a higher degree of magic than I've been able to teach you, or you can try and possess one of the androids, or you can pray."
"But he's asleep and I'm a ghost. HOW can I communicate with him?"
"Enter his dreams, just be sure..." Lina looked around but Nabiki had already dove through a wall. Well, considering what Yuka was suggesting for Nabiki's new "accessories" Lina could kind of understand the panic. "Just be sure you don't get trapped or altered when you're in someone else's dream."
----------
Ranma had fled, Genma was hiding, Kasumi was missing. Soun had outfitted the dojo for a funeral and placed the remains of his second oldest daughter in a casket. Akane was looking for Genma since she knew where Kasumi would eventually turn up.
Genma snuck into the dojo and stopped as he realized that Soun was in there.
"Old friend, how could you have raised your son to be so irresponsible?" Soun hadn't bothered to look in his old friend's direction. How many 1500 pound bear-critters could there be in his backyard right now?
Genma looked thoughtful before he pulled out a sign. [Like Father, Like Son?]
"True," Soun deflated a bit after he'd turned to read the sign. This had brought other details to his attention. "By the way have you seen Kasumi?"
Ignoring the hand that popped out of his mouth with a sign reading [Help!], Genma-snorlax shrugged and tried to look innocent.
"Old friend, we went through Hell together with the Master, forging bonds of friendship that have withstood the passage of time, have we not?"
[Oh yes. Definitely.] Genma's sign was a little shaky as if something he had eaten recently was disagreeing with him.
"Then would you kindly STOP SWALLOWING MY DAUGHTERS WHOLE!" If he weren't feeling so tired and put upon, this would have been accompanied by a full blown Demon's Head technique.
[You want me to chew?] Genma's sign asked.
"NO! I don't want you swallowing them at all! And let Kasumi go *now*!"
Kasumi was briefly spat out, covered in drool and other slimy substances, her clothes largely eaten away. She considered saying "oh my" but it came out considerably harsher than that.
[But they taste so *delicious*!] Snorlax-sign flipped. [Can I at least lick them?]
"Well, I suppose..." Soun reluctantly agreed.
Kasumi stared briefly at her father, then took the shreds of her dignity (and clothes) to hunt for the bath. Marriage to that gaijin and moving away was beginning to look more and more like a good idea. Far far far away.
---------
"No no no, because she's so cold and unfeeling, you'd *need* to set her libido that high. Just to bring her up to normal," argued Yuka.
Ami *still* wasn't sure about this.
Sayuri still had serious misgivings about being anywhere *near* this place.
"And I really think that while we're at it, we should redesign..." Yuka's voice trailed off as someone walked into the room. "Uhm..."
The dog marched in from a side room, gave a sharp salute to Ami, bowed elegantly to Yuka and again to Sayuri, then continued along his path to the room containing the two sleeping girls.
"That was a beagle." Yuka declared. "A beagle in the uniform of a WWI flying ace..."
"Yes. An early model to test the process of building rudimentary AI units," Ami looked over to where the bipedal beagle had exited. "However there appears to be something wrong with the unit as he is frequently lost in elaborate fantasies. He has downloaded the appropriate skill packages but some of the personas seem to serve no useful purpose."
---------
Nabiki had drifted through the wall in the direction Lina had indicated.
Then she'd come to a complete stop and had forgotten about the problems going on behind her.
The dragon was here too. Not that Nabiki was stopped because of that. She couldn't know that he'd taken to sleeping in dragonform because Ami and Usagi *still* tried to do all sorts of strange things if he tried to sleep in humanform. Nabiki couldn't know that Workspider had accessed a file of a story by a guy named JRR Tolkein and decided that a picture there of a dragon's bed was accurate.
Nor could Nabiki know offhand that everything making up that dragon's bed was synthetic, crafted by taking various raw materials and altered to energy and then reconsituted. Nabiki wouldn't have likely understood the process immediately anyway.
What she *did* understand was that she was looking at diamonds and emeralds and rubies. Gold and silver and other sparklies. Enough to form a bed for a 52ft long lizard.
Immaterial hands attempted to scoop up a double handful of golden coins. Her hand passed through a ruby half her own height. Nabiki screamed in frustration before she got a shiver up her spine.
Turning, she found a huge eye regarding her.
*Now this is interesting. Nabiki Tendo, astrally projecting? i don't think i've seen *that* before.*
"Uhm well..." Nabiki tried to regain equilibrium.
The dragon licked his lips then yawned to show long sharp teeth. *So, Nabiki Tendo, why dost thou beard a dragon in its lair.*
"Uhm," Nabiki's eyes kept getting caught by all the glittering riches around her and distracting her. "Errr."
*Or is your presence here but a dream? Though dragons don't dream in the same manner as humans. Most curious.*
"Well, if *your* body was as messed up as mine is you wouldn't want to be there either." Nabiki scowled. "That's right, Yuka and Sayuri! They're convincing one of your dolls to make 'improvements' in me! You've got to stop them!"
*What's in it for me?*
Nabiki gasped. "But..."
*Beware, Nabiki Tendo. Lest you be treated as you treat others.* The dragon looked away briefly. *Yet I suppose that i must interfere. You should regain your mortal form as soon as possible. Eventually the Protection From Evil will run out and you don't want anyone else entering your form before you return.*
"Uhm..."
The dragon slowly lifted himself off his "bedding". *Do not worry, Nabiki Tendo. Payment will be deferred until later. Now go, i shall restrain those wild impulses which worry you so much.*
------
"So you'll mainly communicate with me through a 'sacred mirror' from now on?" Hotaru looked more than a little uncertain.
"Yes," said the image in the mirror. "Mainly on an 'as needed' basis. This way you have to rely mainly on yourself and you'll develop your skills better as a result."
Hotaru was *very* uncertain about going mainly solo. She also had other issues and concerns to address. "Well, can you show me my fiance? I deserve to know *that* at least."
The image of Amaterasu cleared, becoming the image of Greylle in his new human form.
Hotaru stared for a moment. "He looks... interesting."
"Hotaru-chan, you'll find him more interesting when you get older. Keep in mind, less than a decade seperates your births. With a lifespan measured in centuries that shall become less problematic as the decades accrue."
----------
"Okay, he's got enough room. Send all of Greylle's stuff from storage to one of the rooms he's using in that timeline. Because otherwise he's cut off from his personal belongings until he comes back. No, no, no. Don't send *that*. Yeah, just the stuff that's rated less than a Class 4 Hazard. What do you mean 'too late'. Those bracers? No, they weren't classified. Uh huh. Goodbye." Urd hung up the phone, sat back, and shrugged. Why hadn't the boy figured out any of those wonderful little *extras* she had added to his humanform? Or more importantly: used them.
Yeesh, there were times he was as pathetic as Keiichi. Speaking of which, maybe she ought to see what Bell and he were doing on that island...
Oh ho! Now *that* was about time!
---------
Yuka and Sayuri leapt as one as Greylle entered the room, yawning and stretching. And shirtless as he hadn't expected anyone to be here besides his marionettes or one of the 'bots. "Ami? When did you build doubles of Yuka and Sayuri? Oh, never mind. Outfit them with some of the Knight Sailor powerarmor when it finishes, will ya? That way we can send them as a Rapid Response team per that deal with the Diet."
Sayuri was about to protest when she found Yuka's hand abruptly covering her mouth.
"Oh, and don't make too many changes in Nabiki Tendo. She's floating around here in astral form for some reason. Just use partial bionic conversion to reinforce her frame enough to support the replacement limbs. If she's going to be doing astral projection and stuff, she's gonna need psychic circuits and supporters. Nabiki, if you're still around and listening: it'll take me a month to set up a healing chamber to the point where i can regenerate limbs. So you'll be stuck with the bionics at least that long." Another yawn. "Did Workspider finish the bath?"
"Not yet, sir," indicated Ami. "Other priorities needed to be addressed. Nabiki will finished by morning, however."
"Good enough."
-------
Workspider was a fairly simple AI robot. The first thing that Greylle had built after the elevator had been crafted, though he'd left room for upgrades. He'd used basics from a brief stint on Rifts Earth, combined with elements from Terratoo.
The result was a Neural Intelligence robot installed in a spiderlike eight-limbed frame. The rear four legs had grippers based on Vice-Grip pliers but also had roller wheels that could be rotated down below the "jaws". The front four legs had gripper/manipulators and a similar arrangement where a tool/hand could be rotated into place. One had a plasma welding torch, another could extend a light-sabre like cutting tool, another had a "shovel hand" to dig with, and the fourth had a set of delicate manipulators for precision work.
Workspider was *not* a combat unit despite having the *physical* potential for it. Its programming was entirely oriented to building things and being useful. This was its simple purpose in life, and actually made Workspider happy in as much as it was currently capable of happiness. It knew it was programmed to be that way, and that it had been built for that function, and could care less about its lack of freedom or career options. Asimov would have found his Three Laws Of Robotics hardwired in place and would have been delighted.
The robot Workspider recharged its batteries and tried to scan files and come up with other ways it could be useful. It did the electronic equivelant of "ooh" and "aah" as it considered various upgrades to itself. An outer skin would keep dust from getting in its joints, so that was a definite consideration. Memory upgrades would also be helpful. Though *other* units seemed to be something to consider adding.
Not more copies of itself, to be sure. Nor combat units. A Med-bot to take care of problems like that young lady's wounds. Repair-bots. Travel time being a factor, perhaps an AI in some form of transportation.
It didn't understand magic. There were records and images of it, but it lacked the ability to manipulate those forces, therefore these were considered interesting but nothing that could be dealt with at present.
A probe extended to the fabricator as a decision was made. Files were accessed and transferred. As parts were fabricated, they were taken away by the manipulators and fitted together. The Master had been quite busy, so approval could be sought later. In the meantime, some help around the tunnels was required. As for the design, the possibilities seemed best filled by marionette technology. The unease of the human units Yuka and Sayuri had been well noted. Particularly the Sayuri unit. Causing a human distress was not something Workspider wanted to do if it could be helped.
Workspider considered and decided full blown AI wasn't indicated by the basic design, but it *did* increase the adaptibility of the unit. Odds were weighed with mechanical precision. Add. Basic engram of original scanned would increase the adaptibility and therefore usefulness.
The first unit was built and considered itself for a moment before calmly going over and beginning to work on the nanotubes so that it could finish itself. By the time it had done so, three more units had been assembled.
--------
Ranma was doing something he was *not* used to doing. Sulking.
It was late and he was getting heat from two of the girls. The third was dead, and he could admit (to himself if nobody else) that he might have had some wee tiny little smidgen of responsibility in her getting to that condition.
He'd done the best that he could, it was just that once those pipes had started exploding the surroundings had started coming apart.
It was just as well that he was persona non grata in the house, he had a lot to think about. Even if the blonde pretty boy hadn't been completely honest, what he'd accomplished had impressed Ranma. In a tiny little miniscule manner, of course. If it had been martial arts, it had been a *lot* more impressive than that crap with the moose.
If he ever saw another damn moose it would be too soon. Pops was still giving him grief that he'd gotten his ass kicked by a moose. Next time he saw one: they'd be cleaning up moose splat for blocks!
Ryouga was gonna get his butt kicked too. What was with using the Iron Cloth manuever on thrown projectiles? Didn't he know how damn dangerous that could be. It was *Ryouga's* fault that he was up here on the roof, Ryouga's fault that everyone in the house was blaming Ranma for the death of that Nabiki chick, Ryouga's fault that that girl died! The only person not blaming Ranma for this spate of current affairs was Shampoo, who had snuck him out a blanket.
Standing up, Ranma raised a fist to the Heavens. "RYOUGA HIBIKI! YOU SHALL PAY FOR THIS!" Hmmm. Gee, that felt better. No wonder Ryouga was always pulling that crap.
---------
Sayuri had known Yuka for years. Both had been into shojo manga and magical princess series when they were younger. "Rose of Versailles" had been something they'd heavily fantasized with and had even collaborated on a dojinshi together when they'd been younger. They hadn't sold it or distributed it very widely, they'd just done it out of sheer enjoyment.
Sayuri had grown out of it, turning her attention to things more in keeping with the typical teenage girl. The occasional shojo story might be read, but one couldn't get too much into it and risk becoming unpopular. Heavens no.
Yuka had put on the mask of respectibility. That's all it had been, a mask. Now the mask was off and the inner otaku revealed.
"We're going to lose popularity," cautioned Sayuri on the way home.
"Who cares?" Yuka said with a smile.
"*I* do. And you should too."
Yuka shook her head. Martial arts had never interested her. Fantasy, to a lesser extent. On the other hand, sentai series with beautiful young girls protecting Tokyo was a fish of a markedly different color. "We'll be more popular than ever if that's what you want."
"How do you get *that*?!"
"We keep our secret identities until the Menace shows up, then we reveal ourselves when the Menace is beaten."
"We're gonna get killed by the first Monster Of The Week!"
"No," disagreed Yuka. "It'll go after Akane first. All the weirdness like that Hentai Horde does. Then we go into action!"
Sayuri looked at her friend as if she'd gone nuts. This was pretty much her opinion at the time. "Even with this 'power armor' stuff, do you honestly think we can fight?"
Yuka shrugged. "Worry about that when we've *got* power armor."
"What's this 'we' you refer to?"
Yuka put an arm around Sayuri's shoulders and winked. "Trust me. I know what I'm doing."
"Couldn't we just do karaoke instead?"
-----------
In an early morning dawn, several things were occurring. Besides a WWI Flying Ace preparing to go look for the Red Baron and coming home several hours later with several pizzas of the same name because the skies of 1992 Tokyo were mysteriously clear of red triplanes.
Besides many mysterious figures leaving Furinkan High School, their mission complete. Well, mainly.
And definitely besides Soun getting drunker than a sailor on his first shore leave while alternately ranting about Saotome raising his son to be such a reckless fool, then going on about how the only way to fix this mess was to have the wedding of Ranma and Akane *at* the funeral of Nabiki.
Something more eventful than Kasumi sneaking downstairs and trying not to awaken Mister Saotome because she was really a lot more than merely tired of scraping drool off of her.
No this was nearby but not quite at the dojo yet.
Nabiki had listened to the talk. Temporary repairs and enhancements. At least a month to get the chamber where it needed to be before limbs and life threatening injuries could be repaired. From what she understood of Shard's often mangled Japanese: he had to build the machines that would build the machines that would eventually be the healing tube. Then, when it *was* finished, it would take over a week for her to be healed to where she could rejoin society.
In the meantime she had cyborg systems that *looked* mostly normal. The clothes were a little strange, Usagi had come up with *this* outfit based on some files she kept consulting. Nabiki wondered what kind of strange anime series had been in those files. Or maybe it was a fighting game. It had that odd impractical-but-flashy look to it.
While walking alongside "the time-traveling alien prince", she wondered what she could do.
>Query: Diagnostic.
>RUNNING DIAGNOSTIC. Cyborg Parts OK.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow, which she realized was also artificial. This had possibilities.
>Query: Detail.
>RUNNING...
>MULTI-OPTIC EYES, Mk III. Telescopic Vision 8x. Macro lens x16. Passive Night Vision: skipped - ambient light too high for test mode. Thermo Imaging: skipped - ambient light too high for test mode. Light Filters: active. Targetting display: inactive.
>BIONIC HEARING. Amplified Hearing: at default setting. Ultrasonic Hearing: default off.
>STRENGTH LEVEL: Rated at 30. Right arm and legs only. Left arm rated as 8.
>GRAV SYSTEM: offline
>TOXIC FILTER: online, inactive. No dangerous micro-organisms or substances detected.
>BIONIC LUNG (RIGHT): online, active.
>BIONIC SPLEEN: online, active
>SENSOR SUITE: Radar: online, inactive. HAZMAT Detection System: online, active - no hazardous materials/conditions detected. Gyro-compass: online, inactive. Tactile sensitivity: 1/1.
>HEADJACK: online, inactive.
>INTERNAL BATTERIES: 98% charge
>BIO-COMP: active
>TRANSCIEVER: online, active
>DEFENSE SYSTEM: online, inactive
>OVER 18: online, inactive
Nabiki frowned thoughtfully while half-listening to the gaijin explain that he suspected that Ami and Usagi had taken some liberties but he was reluctant to yank her insides out looking for them.
>Query: Headjack
Nabiki blinked as a display letterboxed into her field of vision. A headjack apparently gave her the ability to hook directly into machines equipped for such, and she could even download information directly through such a thing.
Which led her to wonder about some of the other things on the list. A brief check of "Amplified Hearing" had her clutching her ears and crouched onto the ground.
Greylle sighed and whispered to her. "Nabiki, experiment at a different time. Use default settings for now."
Nabiki nodded then looked relieved as she got it under control. She *definitely* would have to check some of this out. "What's the defense system anyway?"
"Hmmm. Oh don't worry. That was something i added. Minor forcefield projection ability, but it'll only activate when you're in immediate physical danger. The problem is that it'll exhaust your batteries if you keep it active for long. If you check your pockets you'll find a recharger, just plug it in overnight while you're sleeping."
Nabiki pulled a power cord out of her pocket. "Uhm... Do I want to know where it gets plugged in?"
"Belly button, same as Usagi and the other marionettes. i used most of the same systems since i want to keep a supply of spare parts handy for quick repairs." Greylle considered. "Oh. No, it'd be fairly impractical to put it on your back, you'd need to get help every night..."
Nabiki glanced to the side. Was he *that* clueless? Looked like it. Oh well.
Stopping at the main gate, Greylle gestured. "Are you ready to face your family?"
Nabiki nodded, smirking. This could be fun.
=============
end chapter 7 retake.