Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Reluctant Bet (2nd Labor) ❯ Reluctant Demon ( Chapter 13 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Reluctant Bet segment 13: "Reluctant Demon"

Disclaimer: (n) 1) fanfic usage: to indicate that the work following the disclaimer is copyrighted by other persons. 2) one who disclaims. 3) legalese jargon written in exceedingly tiny print at the bottom of ad copy.

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Japoness, Terratwo:

Jared got one look at the creature before him and leapt, shouting, to grapple with it, laughing and truly smiling with real joy for the first time since any of those had known him as he tumbled about, joining the feline they'd found in a surprising display of catsplay.

A second such cat merely looked on in amusement and sat down next to a Belldandy.

The redhead turned a shining face to his startled audience as the overgrown kitten attempted to bite his head. "It's a *Cathian Beast!*" He exclaimed joyfully, then turned back to mock-fighting with the animal as if they were kittens from the same litter. As a small dust cloud arose from their play, the mage's voice within could be heard to exclaim. "I didn't think they existed outside of the Isles of the Shadowed Sea! How wonderful! But how could they have got one here? Aw, it doesn't matter. I don't care." They rolled out of the tussle with the cat perched firmly atop the druid's chest. Jared was laughing as he began vigorously scratching the black-furred animal under the chin.

This got some amount of wonderment, as the sunny cheeriness of the young mage was strongly at odds with the utter solemnity he'd displayed beforehand.

The mage swept the four foot long kitten around in a sudden reversal and began scratching its ribs, to which he was replied with rumbling purrs. The youth turned a sunny gaze upon his traveling companions. "The Cathian is a strain of cat I've never known outside of certain dangerous spots in an enchanted island chain. They're stronger than tigers, fast as cheetahs, agile as any cat you can name, and fight in prides like lions. You might say they're all the best cats rolled into one - as well they need to be. In the place where they live their natural prey is hydras, ettercaps and owlbears. They've *got* to be the best. My own cathian stayed with me for years, and could survive more trouble than any three paladin's warhorses." The druid moved the oversize kitten to his lap (overflowing both sides) and was stroking it, turning a glad and a happy face to his partners. His sigh, while pained, showed some break in the feeling. "Good ol' Longdash carried me out of a few fights I couldn't finish, sometimes riding along his back, sometimes unconscious in his teeth. It..." He gave a long breath and a very firm nod. "It seems right that when he be replaced it be by a kitten, and a girl at that. The whole cycle of renewal and rebirth all over again, both of nature and of a pheonix." He gave the cat a hug, breathing into its fur.

Bast, who observed from a long ways away, smiled a very satisfied feline grin.

------------------------

An Entirely Unrelated Timeline:

Akane Tendo spun her red-painted JW-620 Gunbug into a canyon. "He's on my tail, I can't shake him!"

The SAMAS fired two quick bursts, one of which spanged off her tail rotor.

"Ahhh! Where are you guys?!"

"I'm en route, Tendo. Problem is that SAMAS are coming off that transport thicker than ticks on a cawrat!" Ukyo shot a SAMAS into flaming wreckage, then narrowly avoided a large missile. "Crap! Akane's only got a Gunbug, I've only got this Skimmer. We need some support! Shampoo, where's that Glitter Boy of yours?"

"Jones here," Shampoo's voice broke over the channel. "I've got my own problems. This power armor isn't the most manueverable thing, you know. Lot of punch, good shielding, lousy speed."

The sound of an explosion ended Shampoo's transmission.

"Akane, we wouldn't BE in this mess if you hadn't flattened Ranma!"

Akane's Gunbug flipped out of the canyon and into swarms of SAMAS units. She felt her ship shudder as it took another major hit. Red telltales began flashing. "Ukyo?"

"Ahhh! What is it, Akane?"

Akane noted the squeal of missile lock-on and that there were now dozens of the red telltales flashing alerts. "Ukyo, I've always loved you..."

"What?!"

"That's why I was always so jealous of you and Shampoo flirting with Ranma. I'm sorry..." Akane closed her eyes as the missiles approached.

"Miss Tendo!"

The missiles were almost there, she knew they were about to hit!

*BONK!*

Akane sat up, rubbing her head and blinking.

The teacher frowned down on his student. "Stop sleeping, Tendo-san. You are here to learn! Or do you want bucket duty?"

Akane stared around the classroom, eyes wide. "Uhm, no sensei!"

-------------------------

Japoness, Terratwo:

"That's it?" Jared Saotome, Pheonix Mage and martial artist extraordinaire, looked across the city at a nominally Japanese castle. He was not impressed. "All of you stay here, this is something for me to accomplish."

"Cutey Flash." Sakyo leapt, spun in midair, and came down wearing a ninja night suit or a fair approximation of one.

Jared blinked, having had a nearly identical twin to Ukyo Kuonji twisting nude in midair over his head briefly. "Uhm."

"I have Ukyo's skills, but more important, did you know that there is currently an alert going on at that castle?" Sakyo regarded Jared unblinkingly.

"Alert? They're broadcasting some sort of alarm?" Jared didn't see anything amiss.

"They're using a simple cypher. It seems that one of their labs was broken into by a shinobi. Hmmm." Sakyo flipped again, this time changing to Ukyo's usual okonomiyaki seller's outfit. "The lab itself was ripped apart and someone was attacked. They're using a code phrase here meaning Traveller. They're currently searching but believe the attacker is a... odd word here... operative from another nation who has stolen some sort of secret."

Audible and visible alarms began going off. Searchlights plying the sky and a loud clangor mixed with shouting.

"What's the odd word?" Jared began putting a few details together.

"'Marionette' - it refers to a type of puppet but I'm not sure..."

"A marionette is a female shaped android in any of the SM(X) timelines," Urd announced as she companionably slipped an arm around both Jared and Sakyo. "They're usually simple AI devices. A few though, carry something special!"

"Maiden circuits, aka virgin circuits, aka otome kairo." Jared finished. "I've seen the anime. Though that was a few lifetimes back." Jared winced as he realized that his normal abilities to sense chi wouldn't have helped much. Nor would he have been prepared for a class of enemy who could neither be smelled, sensed, detected as magic and didn't even particularly need to breathe or move around, but could stay unmoving as silent guardians for hours.

"Do you want to wait until after the alert before sneaking in?" Sakyo considered the mage.

"I could just blast it open," suggested Makoto hopefully. "A Supreme Dragon or Dodonpa ought to do it."

"Maybe a solution that doesn't vaporize the castle?" Urd suggested politely.

"I could try running a distraction." Shan had noted a complete lack of air mobility, and was counting on that to give her an advantage.

"Hey, maybe we should just call it a night. They're not going to be relaxing any after all that!"

Jared considered. Yes, he could go back to Ye Olde Adventurer's Approach(1). But if he could remember correctly, the Japoness were the good guys. On the other hand, he had heard during Grey's first Labor of the Binding. Blasting the castle and the hillside it was on into a bubbling magma pool wouldn't kill Grey or at worst it would be a momentary inconvenience.

Heck, he'd just wanted a shoulder to cry on to help deal with his OWN grief and here he had found enough adventure to take his mind off THAT. How nice.

"Maybe, we could just ask them nicely," suggested Belldandy.

"Say, err. Jared-san. If we're not going to attack them. A show of strength might be advisable anyway." Shan held her hand up and smiled cutely.

"Any ideas?" Jared continued studying the castle as if to apprise its weak spots.

"How'd you like to spar?"

(1) Ye Olde Adventurer¹s Approach: Kill anything stupid enough to get in your way.

-------------------------

Target Timeline:

Kasumi happily hummed as she cooked.

Amaterasu happily hummed as she did the laundry.

Sylph happily hummed as she sent a gentle breeze blowing through house and yard.

Birds and deer frolicked on the lawn for no immediately identifiable reason. Some of whom were happily chirping.

Nabiki came home, saw all this, and ran upstairs for her camera. It was a Disney moment.

Akane came home, saw all this, and immediately stormed out to challenge the weirdo hanging around in THEIR backyard causing MORE weirdness.

Amaterasu Omikami was caught a bit off guard and wasn't prepared at all for a five foot tall Japanese girl yelling at her. She overreacted a bit. It didn't help the mood that when Akane realized a spell was being cast, she attacked instead of fleeing.

"Hate doth stain the mind and soul,
Mental poisoned candy,
So anger does not take its toll,
to make the beast quite dandy,
Fit now ye into new role,
And into this container handy."

Nabiki, watching from the window (where she had hoped to get pictures of glowing goddesses sunning the drying laundry) dropped her camera as she realized Akane had just been stuffed into a pokeball.

After a few minutes, the ball stopped blinking.

-----------------

Terratwo:

Jared had gone lightly at first, not expecting much of the Shampoo lookalike.

He'd been pleasantly surprised.

As soon as he used a manuever, Shan had apparently memorized it and adopted it into her library of martial arts techniques. And that staff of hers...

Jared's eyes widened and he flipped back as a connection was made. THAT was a Powerkey Staff. Which meant he wasn't just fighting Shampoo. He wasn't just fighting a cyborg Shampoo. He was fighting a "demon-god Ifurita" version of Shampoo. As soon as he used an attack or defense against her, she had analyzed it and added it to her arsenal.

He flipped up into the air, to end up standing in midair. Shan did the same.

Jared noted the grin on Shan's face. She was apparently enjoying the match. He was too, but it was time to shift things out of "first gear" and get into the serious stuff. The simple martial arts with flight added was satisfying but they also wanted to make a statement to the castle.

Shan had gone into Battle mode and was concentrating solely on the fight. Everything else was of little consequence. Every movement and command phrase, each flicker or nuance of chi, every trickle of manna or psi, was observed and the patterns analyzed. Techniques were added to the library immediately.

Shan already had all of her mother Shampoo's old tricks and styles, backed by the greater strength and chi generators she had. Then she had fought Haruka Uranus, picking up more techniques. Then she had briefly been caught in a scuffle with several of the other Z Warriors. She had been quickly overwhelmed but had added some powerful special moves to her database.

Jared blinked as Shan seemed to vanish in a blur, but he had a chi technique for that. "Seeker!" The chi blast wavered then started hunting down the zigzagging blur that was Shan, finally being caught on a whirling staff.

There was a brief lull as the two drifted in midair, assessing each other before mutually grinning and taking the fight to the next level.

"METEOR SWARM!"

"KAME HAME HA!"

"GATLING FIREBALL!"

"BIG BANG ATTACK!"

-------------------------

In Castle Japoness, the display had not gone unnoticed. The moment the two had flown up, sensors had picked them up.

Technicians scanned the scene. "Power level being displayed currently 242 times that of a Sabre Marionette Type O. Three hundred twelve. Five hundred seventy five."

Religion had not followed the Mesopotamia on its journey to the stars, or rather, it had not been much included by any of the survivors. Faust had had no use for such things, and Ieyasu had not been terribly religious though he'd given a nod to the Shinto faith. Lorelei, having been born on Earth and cryogenically preserved since the Landfall 300 years previously, knew something of a few faiths that she had encountered. And while she was trapped within stasis by the insane ship's computer, had spent some time in prayer.

Lorelei was praying now.

"Power level evening out at..." The tech's voice drew out to a ragged gasp briefly before he forced himself to continue. "Power level off the scale. Recalibrating."

Two bright pinpoints of light became beams which parried each other in midair.

"Power level now showing at (gulp!) one point seven kilotons."

Lorelei listened, noting that the two in the sky were putting out rough levels of power sufficient that they qualified as nuclear weapons in destructive potential.

"What can we do?" Cherry chewed her lower lip. "They've got higher battle ratings than Bloodberry! Not to mention those still on the hill."

"What about those on the hill, Cherry?" Lorelei immediately turned to one of the displays and began fiddling with the controls.

"There are occasional flickers of high energy potential from someone in the group. Energy type uncertain but similar to the energies being discharged."

Otaru and his other two marionettes entered. "What's going on? Doctor Lorelei, we could find no trace of the thief..."

"Otaru, can you do something for me?" Lorelei gestured. "Can you extend an invitation to our guests to visit the castle."

"Doctor Lorelei!" One of the technicians went into shock briefly. "I see... with that sort of power output, inviting them inside only puts them closer to our weapons."

"True," allowed Lorelei. "I was mainly thinking that if they sought it, this castle would already have been destroyed. Best to see what they want, and then see if we can convince them to leave willingly."

-------------------

The fight came to one of those natural pauses that proved they were not serious about maiming each other, and wanted to keep things under at least moderate control.

"You're very good." Jared commented, wiping a little sweat from his forehead.

"Jared is not bad either." Shan addressed internal healing progress.

Jared's lips quirked. "But both you and your master are still missing one key element, without which you don't deserve to be called knight, much less Jurai's emperor."

Shan giggled.

His plain clothes had been burned away early on, and he was now left in his hero outfit of jewels, cape and armor. He slapped down his pearl visor, speaking in a garbled voice as he held forth his hand. "But you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this! Join me, and together we shall rule the galaxy as... um, close relatives!"

Shan laughed, though her face hid mischief. Then she suddenly unleashed a blast in beam form that carved out a cliffside on far distant Japoness Fuji after Jared dodged it.

Jared crossed his arms and turned sidelong to her, refusing to respond as yet to the attack, though keeping her warily in view. He winced as he realized the beam had actually struck her intended target and had carved out the phrase "Use the Farce" in the granite face. "Yes, you are missing something. A weakness so broad I doubt you're even aware of it. Something so fundamental it is too big for you to see. And you'll never learn what it is by fighting against it."

Shan stopped, sensing he was somewhat serious about this.

Still keeping tabs on her, the mage closed his eyes to slits and lowered his head for dramatic emphasis. "What you are missing is a noble heart that respects chivalry." Suddenly he twirled to face her full on, thrusting his hands forward as he yelled out the attack.

"Anti-Technology Sphere!!!"

The globe was centered in the air just before her, catching her well within its radius without offering Shan any chance to resist it as a direct attack. The cyborg's technologically based systems ceased instantly as if they never were. The mage swept over, caught her, and held her limp form in his arms as he lowered them both dramatically out of the radius of the effect.

He smiled at her as Shan's functions came back online. "You see. You simply didn't deserve to win."

Internal systems rebooted. Confusion and weakness cleared. Shampoo's memories provided the appropriate response. "Wo da airen!"

Jared blinked. "Huh?"

"Wo ai NI!" Shan shifted forward kissing the Mage full upon the lips while he was still trying to figure out what was going on.

Makoto smirked and launched herself. Well, if THAT was the conventions of sparring, she'd HAVE to see if he was too tired or if he could give HER a good fight now.

-------------------------

Target Timeline:

Kasumi looked around. Something was missing.

Dinner was on the table, check.

Mister Saotome was looking at the bamboo stalks in front of him with a twitching eyebrow and distasteful expression. "Uhm, Kasumi, I can't eat..."

*SPLASH!*

The panda shrugged and started eating. Nabiki put the glass of water down and pointed out that feeding Mister Saotome this way was cheaper.

Her father was crying about something. For a brief moment, Kasumi considered telling her father to go grow a spine, but he'd probably take it the wrong way.

Nabiki was munching on a carrot stick with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Amaterasu was daintily plucking out bits of vegetable and looking as thoughtfully distracted as Nabiki. Then the dynamics changed slightly as Genma Saotome attempted to steal food from the plate of the Japanese sun goddess.

"Don't you know that's rather rude,
So I'll adjust your attitude,
Whenever you shall seek to steal,
you'll come the worst out of the deal."

Akane was...

"Where's Akane?" Kasumi looked around.

"Oh yeah," Amaterasu pulled a ball out of a kimono sleeve. "Akane, I choose you!"

Akane glowered at the goddess but sat down. "Akane. Ne Ne." Her eyes widened. "Aka?! ne? NE! NE!!"

The goddess wasn't impressed. "Just eat your rice, Akane."

"AKA?! A! KA!"

"Akane! Such language! At the table it isn't proper." Kasumi frowned slightly.

Nabiki blinked. "You actually understood that?"

Amaterasu regarded Akane out of the corner of her eyes. "You do realize your transformation is tied to your behavior, don't you? The more you struggle, the more angry you get, the more you transform. This is meant as a lesson in control."

"How about that, sis, special training." Nabiki smirked. If Akane weren't actually hurt, then she wasn't as concerned. Hmmm. If she could get Amaterasu to turn that pokeball over to HER...

Sudden image of Nabiki shaking down a delinquent debt, pulling out a pokeball, then Akane beats up the boy while Nabiki smirks in the background.

The phone rang. Kasumi went to answer it, only to be told it was for their guest.

Amaterasu came back into the room a few moments later. "Sorry folks, it looks like that reset is scheduled for two days from now."

"Akaa?"

"Oh dear, oh my." Kasumi hoped that Sakyo could make another backup soon.

"Here, Kasumi. When the pokeball vanishes, that means that Akane's learned to control herself and is free of the curse." Amaterasu flared and vanished.

Nabiki stared covetously at the sphere in her sister's hands.

"Aka? AKANE!" Akane started jumping around and threatening the ceiling.

"Hey, Akane, are you starting to get... furry?" Nabiki let herself smirk as her youngest sister yelped and went rushing for the bathroom.

"Nabiki," chided Kasumi. "That wasn't very nice."

Nabiki shrugged. Not nice, perhaps, but she thought it amusing.

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Japoness, Terratwo:

Jared watched the tape, flanked by Sakyo and the only living native woman on this world- Doctor Lorelei. Urd watched over their shoulders.

"That's her!" Doctor Lorelei pointed to the display, which showed a kunoichi whose costume seemed to electronically blend into the surroundings. "You can only spot her briefly when she moves from different surfaces quickly. Her ninja suit has a chameleon capability, quite advanced. She also didn't show up on: motion detectors, infrared, ultraviolet, or mechanical power source trackers. At the very least she should have triggered the pressure sensors in the floor. When Nagoshima saw this originally, he put it down to a sensor malfunction."

"Analysis?" Jared's eyes went back to Sakyo. Privately he thought about working out a few measures against hi-tech security measures now that he knew it could be done.

"High level operative. Not likely to be of Terratwo as the technological level of such a complete chameleon field is beyond them. Identity unknown."

"But you have suspicions." Jared knew that tone of voice. He'd used it himself when he suspected something but didn't have enough evidence to be sure.

"The three forces who originally disturbed the timeline Grey was to repair included a kunoichi among their number," Urd suggested.

Just a moment." Sakyo pushed her skin about halfway down her arm and pulled out a plug. With a deft movement she unhooked the cord leading to the keyboard and clicked it into place in the receptacle.

"Uhm, do you..." Doctor Lorelei stared as the screen erupted into thousands of colors briefly.

The lab appeared on the screen. A shadow solidified, read something off a display, then stood next to a largely concealed shape. A hissing noise from the speakers as the figure did something then exited. The images went into a loop.

"Enhancing audio," said Sakyo.

The scene replayed, this time with the audio understandable. The voice of the kunoichi had some sort of electronic distortion still, but they could make out the words and tone of utter contempt. "For the crime of Off Original Characterization, you must be punished. In the name of the True Matrix, I sentence you to a slow and lingering death. Unfortunately, as I don't have the time to give you the 'Death Of A Thousand Cuts' I'll have to settle for this: 'Valley Girl'."

The display ended with the ninja fading once again into the woodwork.

"The phrase 'Valley Girl' is the passcode we came up with for erasing the biochemical information stored in the human brain of the Stranger. We were still a bit paranoid about alien invasions." Doctor Lorelei carefully didn't mention that they still WERE.

Jared, who had an ESP spell going, carefully kept his face neutral.

"Excuse me, would any of you like some tea?"

Three people jumped slightly at the gentle soprano intrusion. Sakyo merely stared.

"I don't drink tea, sorry." Jared glanced at the marionette briefly, some reddish-violet eyed blonde in a kimono. ~Why the sudden surge of guilt and panic in Lorelei?~

Lorelei nervously smiled and inclined her head. "Actually, Banana, could you wait over there?"

"Okay."

Jared's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he heard the note of disappointment in the marionette's voice.

The confirmation came from the screen as it displayed Sakyo's scan. [Soulscan ID match. Astral pattern and overdimension pattern match. Identity: Grey.]

The blonde girl seemed to fidget under the stares of the three offworlders. "I didn't mean to screw something up. Did I do bad?"

"Couldn't be," murmurred Urd.

"Banana. Could you go get us that tea now?"

"Wai wai!" The blonde immediately went to cute-as-a-dozen-kitties mode and scampered off.

"Goodness gracious." Jared pointed at the door the girl had just *skipped* through. "THAT was Grey?!"

"Yes, that was a common Jin-goro model marionette chassis. Fairly advanced commercial model." Lorelei let out a puff of breath. "At least we managed to convince Lime not to name her Labman. It's odd, with the memory purged like that, you'd think that the marionette brain would be the only one functioning at least briefly, but she's like a human child in many respects."

"Memory is not the only aspect of having a personality, though I would suspect that your standard Marionette brain comes complete with purpose. And with purpose all other things fall in line if they function at all." Jared directed a look at Lorelei. "The function of marionettes is to serve, right? An ingrained directive hardwired in?"

"To some extent, yes..." Lorelei was looking quite nervous now. "Though the pattern would have the person awakening them as their 'Master' and Banana just seems eager to please everyone."

Urd remembered to blink. "Toltiir's Binding will activate at some point, and Grey's mind will return. The body, though, that might be stuck for awhile."

"Huh? I thought it would all be negated." Jared turned to Urd, glad that SOMEONE knew what was going on.

"No. The Binding is the result of a Wish that had numerous riders and provisions attached. His mind and personality will shed changes from an outside influence before they can alter anything. However, wiping memories became a necessary provision after the flayworms. He couldn't remain sane and competent and still have those memories so the compromise that the Binding settled on was to dull memories. Now, whenever he goes through something so traumatic his mind can't handle it, the memories fade. So mindwiping him likely didn't get blocked." Urd shrugged. "I had to work with the boy after he came back from that mission. The past USED to be my specialty. Anyway, his APPEARANCE was something largely left open in his phrasing - just as long as he wasn't crippled in some manner."

"And the mindwipe only partially worked, seeing as how that was more like a four or five year old personality - not a newborn." Jared shook his head. "Technology: enabling you to screw things up much more efficiently."

The blonde girl came in, carefully moving with a tea tray. Her tongue was stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she attempted this Herculean (for her) task.

"The body, however, is likely to remain as is for awhile. Doctor, were any of the devices recovered from his original cyborg form?" Sakyo gestured to the screen. "I saw that the agent placed some sort of bomb in your lab. I take it your fire retardant measures allowed you to salvage something?"

"Bits and pieces, and the scans and datafiles are scattered." Lorelei was not immediately willing to surrender what she saw as valuable data.

"Urd, what exactly was Grey's mission? I know he tends to pull a 'Ryoga' whenever he goes dimensionally travelling, so what was he SUPPOSED to be doing?"

"Placeholder on an unstable timeline. It's currently borderline, but has an empty spot where there should be a Ranma. He was portraying the character of Ranma Saotome until such time the line stabilized and the real Ranma could be placed back in and restabilized." Urd shrugged, causing one of the guards to nearly faint.

"Where's the real Ranma?" Jared took a cup absently from the "tea-girl", only to realize that he'd been handed a cup of hot water. ...Sighing, he cast 'Metamorphose Liquids' and was left with a steaming cup of flower nectar, thinking he'd need the mood lift. Only *knowing* that he was on this lab's scanners prevented him from going into little kid mode and sucking down a Potion of Good Humor, the ones that came in frozen form on a stick.

Only the explanations involved would probably cancel out all of the theraputic value.

"Getting therapy actually. Last I heard Diana was taking care of him." Sakyo smiled a little uncertainly at the girl handing her a cup of tea.

"Thank you, Banana," Lorelei smiled at the marionette who giggled and bowed in return.

Jared's hair toinged at the giggle, but he recovered quickly. "Uhm, Banana, give me a high five, will you?"

Banana looked a little puzzled but lightly clapped her hand to one of Jared's.

"I'm invoking a tag-team precedent set by Hercules where he got Prometheus to accomplish something he could not during HIS Twelve Labors. As Grey, currently aka Banana, is clearly incapable of carrying out his mission, I will have to substitute." Jared smirked. This also just COULD be fun. Himself as Ranma? Well, he HAD wanted to get his mind off the terrible loss he had just suffered and being busy seemed a good way to do that.

Banana tilted her head to the side and smiled. One of the people was smiling now. Maybe that meant she had done good!

The only young man present slapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Only before I leave let me do at least some of what I came for. Grey.. err, Banana, I owe you a debt. I am not the only one, but I shall attempt to repay on behalf of us all." He hid the wince of emotional pain at the memory of those not here as he stepped forward and placed his fingertips on either side of the girl's head. They glowed for a moment and then he snatched them away, holding his fingers as if stung.

Banana just blinked at him girlishly. "You okay?"

Jared rubbed some of the hurt out of his hands, regarding the marionette before him while he spoke to the others. "There's more than just the Binding. When I tried to polymorph him... her, back to her true form... Well, it failed to work. Hang on just a second."

"There's a couple of problems with that. One is that he doesn't have a single *true* form anymore. He's gone through a lot of bodies before this mission. The cyborg ones just seem to last longer." Urd shrugged.

He gently took hold of Banana's chin and tilted her head just slightly to the side. Banana blinked and looked slightly concerned. "Ah! There's the problem. A Widdershins curse, fairly mundane - in fact amatuerish, really. But it looks like one of the pagan deities whose shorts he torqued has fixed some bugs and directly empowered it." The mage looked at Sakyo and the scientist. "You might say it was an Anti-Binding. Where Toltiir's Binding essentially preserves him, this does the opposite, but can't counteract anything directly held under covenant by the first."

"Lay you odds it was Senbei and Marller," commented Urd in a low voice.

The mage stepped back and put both hands on his hips, regarding the girl. "You might say it was a curse of Out-Of-Characterness."

Again the mage approached the girl and placed both hands on either side of her head, considering the problem aloud. "Okay, let's see. This has got to work within them both or it won't work at all. Toltiir's spell has been returning him lately to a cyborg, and this new one won't let him be restored to anything that fits his self image as of the time it was placed. So for right now there's a balance as both curses are halfway satisfied. She's a cyborg - just one she couldn't possibly relate to from her previous point of view." The mage sucked in his lower lip, considering. "But before he got devoured alive, Toltiir's curse made him into an Incubus. Alright, I think I have an avenue of approach." He released the girl and removed himself a ways.

Lorelei could recognize another dedicated specialist at work and stayed out of the way.

"What's an incubus?" Sakyo asked, puzzled. There was nothing in any of the stored memories to give her details.

Jared gave half of a smile. "A certain class of demon. When innocent little girls have naughty dreams in the middle of the night, and are vulnerable to that sort of influence, an incubus is what shows up to fulfill those dreams, attempting to destroy her soul. A succubus does the same thing for men. So Grey became the only sex demon who wouldn't indulge - a delicious irony by Toltiir's standards. And no, Doctor Lorelei," Jared directed a comment that way. "Grey was and always has been harmless, no danger to anyone and a considerable help to most - which is why he has such allies as he does. He was born a human and everything else has been a string of bad luck that's led up to here."

The Mage turned back to his work. "Okay, I think I've got it. Banana, if you will forgive the motion." He approached the blonde marionette and placed two fingers against her breastbone. Watching her carefully all the while, he chanted.

"Casualty of love and war
shorn of family, home and more
all your past reduced to lore

Living heart within this core
Surge within and beat once more
Overcome this shell you wore

Blood and veins resume their pace
Flesh and bone restored to place

Heritage of past resume
Borne of love twix hope and doom

Split between opposing wholes
Find within your own true poles

Healing conquor hurts and sore
Rise with power to even score
A soldier, casualty no more."

Urd nodded from her place. "That's the way a master mage does it."

The other Urd looked at her jealously.

Banana rippled within rings of white light arising from a luminous cloud around her knees and racing across her body. Her hair flew up and began to sparkle, spreading out and fanning across her body. Though when it was all over the only visible changes were the lack of vents on her upper arms, her gasping mouth revealed cute little fangs...

... and a pair of blonde bat wings springing from her upper back, bound awkwardly by the clothes there. Banana had dropped to her knees and stared at the floor, blinking, then up at the others around her with a blank expression.

Jared let out a VERY long breath, and nodded. "It worked." He chuckled a bit, seeing the other's looks. "Don't worry. In order to change him at all I had to go in a direction both curses wanted to go. This is now her new base form. I went with the best I was able, going through the original demonic form along what path the new one would allow. She's now alive, though *male* is something Toltiir's curse will have to fight with the other one about."

"She's a demon?" Lorelei pressed, looking a little sick, and frightened too.

Banana continued to blink and look around her as if unsure of what had just happened.

The mage spared her a reassuring look. "Half. Alu-Demon, the natural offspring of a Succubus and a mortal male." He smiled. "You see the central weakness of all evil is that it turns upon itself, contrary to it's own goals. Just about everything they ever do has consequences that turn out to do a little good here or there. They can't help it. It's as central an aspect as any other you'll find with evil." He waved a hand indicating the former Grey, though he glanced toward Urd a little secretly. "Witness this case, the offspring of a demon and something else. She is free to choose between right or wrong and she has power that is not dependant upon committing acts of evil. As an Incubus Grey held no more power than an ordinary man because the powers of that form were dependant upon destroying women - an act which he refused to do, so he never got charged up to use them. The powers of an Alu-Demon are less and fewer, but as they aren't dependant on anything she can use them as she likes."

"Powers?"

A shrug. "Well, in spite of the size of her wings, she can fly. She can see into the infrared spectrum quite well, has quite an aptitude for magic, and her skin will repel blows as well as a suit of Turkish chainmail. There are other things but nothing you really need to know." ~Like the ability to shapechange into any humanoid form of approximately her own size and weight, including exotic forms like sylphs and mermaids, or taking the appearance of someone else. The ability to read unprotected minds, or give suggestions, charm others... No, you'd freak if you knew even half of what she was capable of. Just the fact she's not hurt by any unenchanted weapon would set every government you HAVE on this world to trying to control and/or duplicate her.~

"So, Grey, are you feeling better?"

Banana blinked up at the Mage. "Master?"

Jared proved he was in an anime universe by immediately facefaulting into a classic Takahashi pose.

Unable to deal with the cutely smiling marionette, Jared turned his attention to the fear seeping off the natives.

"Doctor Lorelei," Jared finally broke in, interrupting her suspicious thoughts and rubbing his brows as if tired. "Would you please kindly lower your guard a trifle? While I hold no objection to going somewhat out of my way to make you comfortable, I prefer things to be as honest and open as possible. Yes, you have reason to be suspicious. We are unknown to you and unexplainable in many ways. You naturally feel caution. But that is carrying it a little far."

He raise his head and met her eyes. "I will be honest with you. It would have been far *easier* for me to sweep in with overwhelming force, subdue your entire kingdom in an hour, depopulate and destroy all of the others, and if necessary sterilize all life from off this planet to get what I want. I could still do so, and stand ready to prove it if you think I might just be bluffing. *BUT!* I have no *intention* of doing anything of the kind, because I far prefer to build things up and help out good forces as I find them. In fact I've been bending over backwards to make you feel as comfortable as possible while still dealing with me seriously."

Jared was aware of most eyes in the room directed towards him. Most because Banana and Lime were playing like little children with a cat's cradle that Lime had wanted to share with her new friend.

His blue eyes bored into hers. "I am a World-Class mage and not too shabby in other areas either. I've just successfully fought a soul-devouring evil which destroyed a thousand year old interplanetary kingdom of magic. I've stood on the plains of hell and slain an arch devil with my bare hands, alone against him and an army of the worst pit fiends. I fought in a war against Techno-giants with a multimillion starship fleet capable of vaporizing all life on a planet in a matter of moments. There are BIG, BAD, UGLY things out there and you would do right to fear them! But you just *happen* to have run into the Good Guys!"

Cherry moved over to the side trying to quiet the two children as Lime started talking to Banana about some of the wonderful games she'd gotten to play and how great it was to have someone like Otaru as a Master.

Jared turned away and shook his head, sweatdropping a bit. "I know that you are wearing panties that are green with lace panels on both sides. I know that you are in love with Otaru but hiding it because you know he isn't in love with you. I could show you your own past in a mirror or *take* you there to babysit your four-year-old self for an evening while your parents went out for a night on the town. There's any number of things I could do to demonstrate my power, or I could just skip all that and make every man, woman and android in Japoness *firmly* believe that I am their ruler and always have been. I have fought things that have done exactly that. You might have noticed that I'm not doing any of those things, though."

Banana mentioned how much she liked to cook, which got Cherry's attention. Cherry made a remark about how Banana would have to find out what kind of foods her Master liked so she could prepare them.

The mage placed his hands on a sill, ignoring the feeling of Impending Doom for once, and looked out the window. "There are things out there that can destroy a world on a missed shot. You don't want to meet them. That is, in part, what my friends and people like us do for a living. We *fight* those things that destroy all that is good. We stop them and make them die instead. You are, for all your technology, just an ordinary world filled with ordinary folks. There's not much here to attract attention, and that's good. Frankly, the less you remember of us the less danger you'll be in. Grabbing our genetic codes is the most likely thing I can think of to draw a great deal of attention by powerful sorts who think a lot of carnage, gore, and needless suffering is an entertaining way to spend an afternoon. You will be unable to resist them. You cannot create clones of us that could resist them, our skills don't translate like that."

He once again met the scientist's eyes, noting the conflicting emotions there. "But if you do get attacked, that's what my friends and I make ourselves available for, to fight off things like that. Do you need your Shogun raised from the grave? I can do that."

Otaru blinked as he tried to digest the concept of Lorelei LOVED him?

Banana wondered why her Master shuddered when he looked at her. Maybe he didn't like kimonos? Hmmm. Well, it wasn't like Lime and Otaru. He was her Master, and she hoped he was a good Master, but love? Banana wasn't even sure what love was.

Jared noticed the way "Banana" was looking at him again and twitched slightly.

----------------

Target Timeline:

"Now I have you," said Starch menacingly.

"Okay, ye've got me." The leprechaun sighed and looked around at the cave. "I certainly wasn't expecting THIS kinda welcome for a tourist Sidhe. So I take it ye'll be wanting my pot o gold now."

"Not quite," Starch said, producing a pair of knives. The leprechaun backed away fearfully, deeper into the cave. "Hey now, there be'en no cause for...

"No! NO! NOoooooooooooooooo! Don't! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA......kkk."

Starch stepped outside the cave, wiping blood the color of mint off her hands and mouth. "He's lost his lucky charms," she singsonged. "And frankly they were over-rated."

----------------

"AKA! AKANE! NE? NE!" Akane pointed to the sphere in Kasumi's apron pocket.

"Oh my, Akane. Your ears are getting pointed."

Akane clapped her hands over her ears and whimpered. "Kakakakaka. Ne."

"Well, maybe if you asked Amaterasu-san to change you back..."

Akane frowned. No WAY she'd let that woman get away with this. "NE! AKANE! NE!"

"Oh dear. So what were you wanting again?" Kasumi looked expectantly at her dear sister.

Akane reached out to grab the pokeball. Unfortunately she got sucked inside the moment she did this and only had time for a startled "AKA?!" before the ball settled once more into Kasumi's apron pocket.

Kasumi considered for a moment before deciding she might as well get back to work. Dishes needed to be done, and she wanted to varnish the upstairs hall tomorrow, which meant cleaning it tonight.

--------------

"So what does the simulation say if we backtracked Ranma and put him in now?" Athena sat back on a couch and considered her cousin/brother.

"If we try to stabilize it now, it will become a crossover universe." Apollo shrugged. "Genma tries to send Ranma to steal food from some campsite he runs across while travelling. Ranma is caught but the guy doing the catching sees potential in the little boy. The catcher approaches Genma who offers to sell his son.

"Arsene Lupin III is many things, but an idiot isn't on the list. On hearing the boy is being starved regularly in the name of training, he arranges for the sale and to have it videotaped and witnessed. When Genma protests that his boy has been stolen, Lupin sends the tape to a few major television stations who determine that it is real.

"Lupin tries to leave the boy behind at a 'safe house' where Ranma can be cared for, except that Ranma has other plans. The five year old grows up, learning martial arts AND the sort of arts that one would expect from the likes of Goemon, Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko. Actually, seeing Lupin caring for the boy warms Fujiko's larcenous heart towards the master thief a bit more than you're used to seeing.

"Finally though, Lupin's apprentice is deemed old enough to return to his homeland. He's started collecting his OWN gang though, following a trip through that Amazon village. Shampoo starts out after the thief, only he not only saves her life but gives her the treasure back since it means so much to her. Then he runs into Ucchan. When he reaches Japan, he still isn't sure WHAT he wants to do for the rest of his life, though something along his sensei's path or maybe James Bond's lines intrigues him.

"Then he runs into his mother, who introduces him to his father, who introduces him to the Tendos, who aren't quite ready for someone as slick as Ranma Saotome- Lupin's heir. In the meantime, Shampoo has left her home village again to seek out the thief again - this time to repay the debt for saving her life. Ukyo, on the other hand, is still trying to find the thief who stole the yattai. Ranma stated, of course, that petty theft was quite below his standards.

"Ranma gets upset about the engagement, especially as a dojo sounds WAY too provincial by his standards. He thinks the three girls have some potential, however, and agrees to think about it. Threats he merely laughs at, and repeated attempts to use the Saotome family honor argument are deflected by someone who studied verbal sparring at the hands of masters."

"So... it's not a Darkline?" Athena opposed thieves on general principles, but allowed they had their uses.

"Well... no. Until Ukyo tries to kill Ranma and gets Inspector Zenigata."

"Zenigata dies?! That's impossible. Roaches would be in awe of his ability to survive!"

"She gets lucky, he gets unlucky. It's better than the original ending, I'll grant it that." Apollo shrugged. "Oh well. We can always restore to that if we can't make it behave better."

"Two days before we Reset, whether we have a Ranma in place or not."

-----------------

Weird ideas section:

Akane makes mistakes, but so does nearly everyone else. Amaterasu mishandles the situation. Jared mishandles HIS situation. Banana doesn't have a clue. Doctor Lorelei screws up a LOT. Shan makes a commitment based on incomplete or faulty information. So don't tell me that only Akane is making mistakes in this story.

My bashing of Akane continues with a teacher and Amaterasu in this chapter.

Akane gets pokemoned! Will she get special training at the hands of Kasumi and get cute and cuddly, or will she learn to not react quite so immediately?

Some scenes by Skysaber. Could ya tell? i guess i'm not the only one who sees Lorelei being interested in Otaru in Sabre Marionette J.

The Ranma Lupin concept came about during a phone conversation.