Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Reluctant Bet (2nd Labor) ❯ Reluctant Backup ( Chapter 20 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Reluctant Bet segment 20 "Reluctant Reset"

Disclaimer: to be put in later.

What's happened so far: lots of stuff.

********

Target Timeline: 12 hours prior to Reset:

They were saying something, talking all together, but he couldn't pay attention to the words.

Jared looked at Akane and tried to keep a straight face, turned his head subtly aside so he wouldn't recall Scarlet quite so clearly, then saw Nabiki. He closed his eyes and took a few sharp breaths. But he just couldn't shake the image. Then Kasumi came in and she and Nabiki as the Tendo twins, both Akane and her identical double Scarlet and the bubbly Ranko nearby...

The redhead abruptly stood up and bowed. "I'm very sorry, I just can't take it. It's all too much, too soon, too recent. I tried, I honestly thought that I could keep busy, but this place..." he formed his hands as if holding pain, then dropped them. "I've seen every one of you die. Every sight, every smell, every sound and taste here is reminding me of that other place where I'll never again be, all those faces which I'll never see." He bowed again, low. "I am very sorry. I took this job thinking that I could do it. I was wrong. Please forgive me."

Shan put down her manga. "Where is airen going?"

The Ranma duplicate, who'd reached the doorjam, sagged. "Shampoo... forgive me, Shan. I don't know. I'm not even in a mood to fight tentacled, evil, things right now or I'd go out and find some. I feel so useless in this place. No one is killing anyone else and I just don't know what to do with myself."

Makoto frowned.

Urd looked concerned. If he wasn't in the mood to fight evil then it *was* serious.

The young man sighed. "I guess I'll just go take a nap. I'd sleep for a thousand years or more if I had the power, but I'm afraid it'll just have to be two hundred. Either way I'll just be occupying space, and perhaps some dreams may come to solace me. Oh." He dragged himself back
over to her, then touched Urd lightly on the shoulder. "Tag. If they don't like my Sleeping Beauty duty as Ranma you can fill in. Here, have a Ring of Ranma Impersonation. I enchanted it last night."

Makoto covered the doorway. "Sorry. I don't think so. You still owe me a fight."

The young mage looked at her seriously, yet wearily. "Makoto, I'm sorry, but I look on you and see the one who died. I loved her, and so I must concede to you a forfeit, albeit a hollow one. The only thing I want right now is to rest and, perchance, to dream." He nodded to the room. "Goodbye."

Shan got up to follow.

"Shan, I'm just going across the street. There's another vacant lot that I think I'll use. Check in on me if you like. But wake me before time and I won't be pleased. Besides, you'll need to go get Sakyo."

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

There was a odd thumping sensation as Jared flopped back onto the sofa. His eyes scanned the room. Bookcase, OK. Throw rug, OK. Chandelier not even moving. Black cat watching him from atop his TV, OK. Floor lamp, OK. Stereo, OK.

Eyes flicked back. He didn't have a TV. In this room at least. Much less a common housecat. Expecially not one that grinned at him and had a flash of plaid around the collar.

"How did you get in here?" Jared looked deeper, using magical sight. What he saw was unnerving.

"I let myself in. Surely one may ask why Jared Saotome is feeling put upon?"

"One may ask, but he first has to stop calling me Shirley."

A little electric sign in green neon appeared above the cat and began flashing the words 'Bad Pun.'

Jared pursed his lips as he considered the being before him. A black cat, talking with a Bronx accent, with shields as strong as he'd ever seen but still leaking magical aura sufficient that he almost expected his furniture to start behaving as in Disney's "Beauty & The Beast." That the cat was certainly NOT a cat, but an extension of something else was obvious to his senses. It was as if something had thrust the tiniest tip of its smallest finger into his presence.

And THAT was showing concern towards him, which was concerning in and of itself.

"Uhm, let me guess, the Jester? The one those Delphins Amazons call Toltiir - the Wishbringer and Mischievious Feline?" ~As well as Grey's sometimes tormentor and sometimes benefactor?~

Toltiir brought a little lace hankerchief up in a paw to dab at one of his eyes. "You've heard of me? I'm flattered. Let's stick to the question, bub, how come the Pheonix Mage - master martial artist and archimage and veritech pilot par excellence, is feeling all out of sorts. As far as mortals go, you've seem to have everything you could want."

The mortal shrugged. "Because power, although useful for building, accomplishing good, and doing all kinds of deeds for others, can be pretty amazingly useless as far as making the user happy. It does not in itself satisfy. It can only be used to accomplish that which will satisfy, and right now I can only grieve and hope to get over it that way, as I've no spells to make the loss of all I loved any easier."

He idly waved a hand. "Look around at this world. Money and power equate pretty well to the same thing here. Take a look and those who've got more money than they could possibly spend. Are they happy? No, the phrase 'money can't buy happiness' was not coined because it was false, you know. Most of those men are bitter and alone, with the kind of loneliness that doesn't end when you're surrounded by people."

Jared began idly tracing out a Sphere Of Containment with his foot. "Why even ask? I thought you were supposed to be such a hotshot. All knowing and all powerful."

"Omniscience ain't my thing. I can be, and frequently am, in a hundred billion places at once. I can travel across what you consider time or space or dimensional boundaries without much effort. I *am* an Elder, literally hundreds of thousands of billions of years old. I recall watching this universe form out of a Big Bang and hoping it would be less BORING than the one before it. I am, in fact, the Elder god of Mischief. At one time Chaos was my purview but that gets SO boring. If I don't put limits up, I could sneeze and wipe out several galaxies.

"Which can be a real pain putting them back together. Right now, a lot of those Yggdrasil based gods and pantheons are all in amuck because one of their tests is getting all bent around. And then I notice you, coming in here like a sad sack."

"You really don't know very much, do you kitty?" The mage rolled back, staring up at the ceiling he'd vaulted, sculpted and painted himself. "Do you know what hurts so much? It is love. Love is the very strongest force in life, and when it is blocked there is pain. I can no longer be with those I love, and their absence leaves me agony. I could of course kill that love, but a part of me would remain dead with it.

"To have had all I wanted, a warm haven of love and a job worth doing, that hurt to have all that and have it ripped away, to stand where space and time had both been shredded, with not even a path to reconstruct the loss... Mischief is an emotion, and implies good humor. You've GOT to know what it's opposite is. Look back on this and tell *me* which this event qualifies for." Jared finished tracing the runes but held off on the final stroke that would activate it.

"Yeah, I did. Look kid, I like you. I like a lot of people, but I like you. Y'got a sense of humor and some class. Understand you, no. The number of beings I understand completely ain't that high."

"You saw the place I came from, the home and niche I had never known before DESTROYED and you can ask that?" Jared made the final stroke and immediately began casting a more powerful version.

Toltiir looked unconcerned as the spell went out to cut off all dimensional piercings within ten miles. He looked somewhat bored as the most powerful Entrapment spell Jared knew was launched at his furry form.

"Done now?" The feline asked after the spell had been transformed into a rain of plush toys.

"It would appear so," Jared agreed and sat back down. Without an ability to up that spell he was left with either listening or fleeing, and somehow escaping seemed almost as useless as unnecessary.

"Observe," said the cat and tapped the TV set with a paw.

A funeral was being held. Jared saw Mina, and Lita, and the Tendo Twins...

"WHAT?!" The mage flew out of his chair and was grasping the set, having flung the feline off as he seized it.

A cartoon Bonk was heard and the cat reappeared, hopping to the top of a studio chair as a dozen high tech cyborgs wearing frilly nurses' outfits over their bulky, protruding limbs dabbed his small lump with cotton swabs and fanned him.

"Your home timeline wasn't destroyed, kiddo. They managed to seal it off to you, using a Buster style weapon that destroyed your existence in that plane. There's even a splinter of you that was knocked off that's now over at a place called the Masaki Shrine." The cat cocked a head at the Mage. "Are you listening or are you busy emoting?"

"Emoting, just a moment..." The mage clutched the TV to his chest and did a Soun Tendo moment, eyes sprouting twin waterfalls of joy. "Oh, They're Alive!!! I'm so happy!!!!

"Okay, I'm listening."

Toltiir caused a small pair of opera gloves to appear and applaud.

"Good. Now I generally don't get involved in the petty stuff except for a good chuckle. For that matter, I generally don't get involved in the big stuff either. You're sufficiently up there in power level that you attract big attention where you go, and as a result that attracted mine. Watching you putz around going into fits of depression ain't no fun."

"I'm sealed off from that plane? But that's okay, it would probably fall along the lines of demons slain without their real essences being disturbed. All that would do is bump me out for a hundred years. I could send a message..."

"Correct!"

A chocolate cigar appeared in midair that Jared carefully set to the side. Considering the one giving it, he could almost guarantee it did something funny.

The cat sighed. "Look. It ain't a problem. Them Yggdrasil type 're getting ready to reset this timeline anyway but it STILL ain't stable enough to backtrack the real Ranma to a point of stability. When that hits, your house and grounds will be bumped offplane to a storage area. Now some of the limits I've put on myself restrict what I can do fer ya, but it MIGHT be amusing to have you show up at your funeral during an attempt to wipe out your allies by that Nephelenia broad."

"Depends on if I was one of the speakers," Jared mused aloud.

The cat considered and a notepad appeared and scribbled the thought down for future reference. "I don't like her, she ain't got no sense of humor. Some sense of irony, so she ain't irredeemable, but when was the last time she cracked a joke that was funny to anyone else?"

Jared took a deep breath to calm himself. Reminding himself he was talking to essentially a nearly omnipotent child, or at least a being so alien that it had taken it millenia just to grasp the idea of manifesting a solid static form. Oh yes, he had heard of the Aramarian "paths of philosophy" and of Toltiir the Jester. Chaotic Nuetral Good with Lawful tendencies. The important thing here was that he played by Rules (though often they made no sense to anyone except the Jester himself) and that for the Elder - humor was everything.

"Oh, there's an idea. Thanks Celeste!" The cat glowed briefly as he spoke into a cellphone. The cellphone vanished a moment later.

"Hah?!" Jared was startled to see himself glow briefly. He quickly produced a mirror and spotted an alteration right away. "Those are the marks of a god such as Belldandy and Urd used to wear..." His voice trailed off as writing appeared in the mirror.

NAME: Jared Saotome
TITLE: God Of Crossovers, Pheonix Mage, other titles
METHOD OF TRAVEL: Mirrors
CLASSIFICATION: Second class, Limited license.
METHOD OF RECHARGE: Kissing

"This is essentially your training permit. Don't blow it." Toltiir nodded. "This ought to get you some help when time comes to return to your home plane. If nothing else, it'll torque some humorless" several odd symbols appeared in a word balloon "that your path has crossed."

Jared said nothing as he checked his "god markings" which were little four-pointed starbursts. "Uhmm...."

"You're through the Yggdrasil system, so... did I do something wrong?"

"No, hang on just a second though." The Mage cast a Minor Creation spell, garbing the little cat in a motley jester's uniform, modified for his feline anatomy.

The cat examined one of his sleeves and was about to make a change for preference when the mage pulled at least three super speed techniques and enchantments. The Elder might have stopped that too except that it was interesting.

The next thing he felt was a sharp tug on the undershorts he hadn't been wearing before the first spell garbed him.

Jared stepped back, dabbing his eyes. "There. Couldn't think of a better way to thank you than give you a wedgie, since it's probably been billions of years since you've had one."

The sensation of his own underwear constricting was expected, though the feline was grinning again.

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

"Oh, Jay-chan, how..." Mina sniffled, threatening to break down during their Scout meeting again. "I..."

"Be comforted, Mina. I'm alive, and I love you more than ever"

All the Sailor Scouts, the Tendo twins, and Scarlet reacted as if someone had run an electric current through the floor.

"Jay-chan?!" Amy started scanning, joined a moment later by others. "Low level dimensional aperature detected. There!"

"It's a pinhole provided by an... ally for communication purposes. The rules he follows won't let him directly assist me, but he pointed out that one of the gadgets I've picked up at Grey's office allow for communication in this method. At least until the batteries run out, which probably won't take long."

"You're in another timeline?" Susan considered. "Dimensional barrier?" This sort of thing WAS her area of expertise.

"Yes, it's either one of those temporary deals like if you kill an extraplanar being off their home plane, or the people that blasted me have an artifact they are using to block me specifically. Right now I'm helping out a few people, at the end of which I may be able to get help getting back to you."

"Jay-chan, the aperature is beginning to destabilize."

"I didn't think this would work terribly long. It was mainly constructed for communication with multiplanar beings. I just wanted to ... know..."

"Amy?" Susan looked thoughtful.

"He's alive!" Mina was throwing off the despair and turning perky again.

"Susan?" Amy puzzled over the readings her visor was giving her.

"He's alive!" (bounce, bounce, bounce)

"Did you get a fix on where the point of location was?"

"Yes!" Shampoo AND Mina were now bouncing. "He's alive!"

"I have the information, I just don't know what to make of it."

"He's alive!" Rei and Mina sang.

"I'd know if the barrier was against everything. To block a specific individual that they have the basic patterns for is much less tricky than to try to block everything. That means that while HE can't come HERE..." Susan let the thought hang in midair. "We ought to try just ONE individual, just to make sure. And as there is obviously a new enemy waiting to appear it can't be one of the Scouts. If the one we send can then return, then..."

A fifteen year old girl stood. "There is logically only one choice. One who is experienced enough if the boy is caught up in battles on other planes of existence, but not needed as part of your Sailor Scout group."

-------

Shan raised her staff, ready to teleport out and go fetch her sister when Jared swept in, blurring so fast that it looked like he was simultaneously hugging all the girls at once.

"Yippee!!!"

Shan touched her recently-kissed cheek in wonderous amazement.

Kasumi was burdened down with flowers and chocolates, still feeling the fast hug and smooch.

Nabiki's hair had been mussed, her stuffings squished. This was sufficiently amazing to her that she was lying on her back on the floor.

Ranko was holding a complete Pretty Sammy playset, still feeling her brother's hug.

Urd had been sufficiently agile to gain a much longer hug than most, yet still it wasn't *nearly* satisfying to her, more like sufficient to whet her appetite and open up channels of predatory impulse.

Genma had been recreationally booted across the horizon for his son's amusement and Soun sat with a chocolate cigar in the place of his regular cigarette.

Jared paused to give extra snuggles to Shan, then whipped over and led Belldandy through a quick waltz, her eyes still wide from the brief moment of joyous cuddling she'd been treated to.

Her cheek had been smooched. It glowed.

"Uhm, Jay-chan?" Belldandy was curious though not complaining, her breath coming a trifle quickly.

Urd was contemplating how she could claim that kiss she'd been deprived of.

Jared wore a BRILLIANT and glowing smile.

"Oh, yes, I've got to go fetch Sakyo. Gotta get those backups done!" Jared reluctantly detatched himself from his dance partner and bowed. "I'd better pack a few things!"

Urd blinked as Jared left. "He had god markings?"

Belldandy nodded. "Isn't that nice?"

"I wonder if that will have any effect on his performance as Ranma," asked Urd speculatively.

Nobody present had an answer.

-------

Jared opened the Worldgate and disappeared from a world where he portrayed a sixteen year old boy named Ranma Saotome. He reappeared on a world known as Terratwo, in a nation known as Japoness.

"Sakyo Kuonji's the one to find,
Her direction, bring to mind."

"If anyone had told me I'd be looking for errant androids three weeks ago," the Mage commented as a glowing arrow appeared, "I'd have assumed they were nuts."

"Zephyr wind that blow on high,
Lift me up that I may fly."

The Mage grumbled a bit on having to continue flying through this little sidetrip but allowed himself a smirk at the thought of popping in and checking on Doctor Lorelei. If what he THOUGHT was going on WAS going on, well, he could take care of that fairly easily.

The sight of the factory brought him up short. Typical psuedo-Edo period (or was it Meiji? obviously the builders hadn't known either) long mainly-automated factory. Centralized computer in that big tower, special cooling systems, and the required plasma discharging grounds that would keep the frequent plasma storms from cooking all the delicate electronics. That wasn't the concern.

A smouldering marionette turned out on closer inspection to be some spy creation in high tech black armor, probably New Texas from the model type. That it was still smouldering indicated that it hadn't been there more than five minutes. Also that something had disrupted it sufficiently that the self-destruct device hadn't gone off.

Plasma discharge mines ringed the factory, just inside a tall chain link fence. Posts inside the layer of mines obviously had anti-air lasers, and beyond THOSE were a spiky set of arches that he tentatively identified as EMP bursters with overlapping fields of coverage. There were also little pieces of metal that he could easily figure out as being spy marionettes who had been cleaned up.

A single path wound through the defenses, and it was this that most gave him pause.

Scan plates ready to identify human vs marionette obviously, and a riddle over a keypad. That he RECOGNIZED the riddle was also surprising, but he realized that Sakyo probably had intended for Grey to come here.

"A life without breath,
as cold as death,
never thirsty, ever drinking.
Clad in mail, never clinking."

Jared tapped out the answer, having read the Hobbit ages ago but realized that probably that no one on Terratwo had. The next archway hummed slightly, and likewise was quite familiar to him.

"Shifting forms from girl to boy,
Your embrace defines the form,
With it go from curse's toy,
Once again to stand as norm."

Again a quick answer. The humming stopped only to restart as Jared passed it by. The third archway instead was a portion of song lyrics, with the passcode being the part that needed to be entered.

"Black furred stray cat strutting on a fence,
Ain't got enough dough to pay the rent,
I'm flat broke but I don't ______,"

Again Jared passed it and heard clicks and beeps proceeding him. A banner unfurled, reading "Welcome, Grey!"

Jared frowned and pursed his lips slightly. Well, Sakyo would just have to be disappointed. He walked up to the doors, unsurprised that they swished open at his approach. The room thereafter had dim lighting, but he detected no danger from any of the various pods surrounding him.

Then the lights came on and he stumbled to stop, inhuman dexterity or not.

Crystal coffins in various stages of finishing were EVERYWHERE. And the people in these coffins he recognized.

To his right: Belldandy, Urd, Kasumi, Nabiki, Ukyo, Shampoo, Akane, Kodachi, Kaori Daikokuji, Azusa Shiratori, and the oddly out of place Anni-puma and Unni-puma.

To his left: Serena, Susan, Amy, Lita, Rei, Mina, Haruka, Michelle, Holly, Mihoshi, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Soryuu, Misato, and even Lorelei-sensei.

Straight ahead: Cutey Honey, Kiyone, Tsunami, Achika Masaki, Kei and Yuri of the Dir... Lovely Angels, Nuku Nuku, Kanuka Clancy from Patlabor, even Deedlit and Pirotess.

All around were characters he recognized but couldn't place the names for. Series like Gundam and City Hunter, among others. There was Rally & Minnie May from Gunsmith Cats, what looked like Lisa Hayes and Minmei from Macross, four Knight Sabers and five Sexaroids from Bubblegum Crisis, Amelia and Lina and Sylphiel from Slayers just beyond the Sailor Scouts.

His glazing over eyes took in the appearances of Rune Venus, Ifurita, Afura Mann, Miz Mishtal, and Shayla Shayla in a row behind the Nerima crew. What looked like Princess Leia Organa and Princess Amidala occupied capsules near what looked like famous actresses. The problem was that he was going so badly into shock at this point that Jared's mind was refusing to compute.

All were wearing leotards that left their arms bare. All had those odd upper arm vents that marked them as marionettes.

There was a ratcheting noise as the lids came open on the coffins. There was an eerie synchronous opening of eyes all around him.

"Uh oh," said Jared as the shock wore off.

"Oh crap," said Sakyo, preparing to beat her head against a nearby wall. "Why me?"

"Master..." "Airen..." "Darling!" "Beloved..."

Jared had run fifty yards before he remembered he could teleport.

-----------

Target Timeline 6 hours to 2nd Reset:

Time didn't flow at the same speed on different timelines, hence the old tales of spending a night in the Faerie Realm to find twenty years had passed when the traveller returned home. So while a certain Mage spent an uncomfortable amount of time dealing with yet another complication in his life, on the Timeline of the Second Labor: hours had passed without event, and Akane's little breakdown had faded into sleep. Once the concept of a Reset had been explained to them, Nabiki and Kasumi were in the process of having a sleepless night.

Akane woke up and looked at the pajama clad redhead sleeping nearby. Her finger reached out to delicately brush the other girl's cheeks. So as not to disturb her, Akane's voice was a barely breathed whisper. "Kawaii... but so infuriating sometimes."

Akane looked around a little groggily still. She was in her bed where Kasumi and Ranko had carried her. Ranko had fallen asleep in a chair, having promised Akane not to go far away. Ranko kept her promises.

Akane felt herself blushing as she studied the fourteen year old shivering in the chair next to the bed. Then, carefully, moved the girl to her own bed without waking her. She'd protect Ranko, even from herself if necessary.

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

Olympus:

Ares was a little taken aback as a little black cat ran circles around while "Pop Goes The Weasel" played from midair.

After a moment the vision passed, but Ares was left with an uncomfortable feeling. "This MEANS something."

Aphrodite mumbled something from their bed, it being one of their frequent trysts.

***********

Asgard:

"Got it! Something just broke the cloaking fields!" Celeste chuckled in glee. "ARES is the culprit just as... Oh heck, I owe Urd a pint of mead. That was his weapon."

"Oh dear. It looks as if he got a little carried away in his extracurricular activities." Belle frowned ever so slightly. "Oh well, I'm sure it will work out somehow."

"I wonder if the other Belldandy or Urd will get the 'god of war' portfolio?" Celeste tried to picture either in the role. The mind boggled.

Belldandy smiled and continued to work on backup files. How nice, one of her other selves might regain goddess status soon. And if not, she was sure a suitable candidate could be found.

Celeste briefly pictured herself in the role. Well, nothing was definite. Ares had been in hot water before, and he usually weaseled out of it. Why should this time be different?

*********

Amaterasu stretched and set a button on the countdown, then reached over to toggle the old-fashioned intercom that linked to the archives. "Celeste, you've got five hours, thirty minutes, forty five seconds before the Second Labor Timeline resets."

"WHAT?!" Celeste's voice returned. "C'mon, I've got other Timelines to check out and backup! I need more time!"

"You can read those shojo manga later, right now both of you need some downtime. Get some rest, be back in five hours."

"FIVE HOURS?! I'd need to use a potion to get any sleep in that time!"

Amaterasu smirked. "Would you *really* rather I have Kitchiri oversee the reinstall?"

There was a brief silence from the intercom. "That's hitting below the belt."

"I take it that's a 'no'?" Amaterasu drummed her fingers together, waiting.

"Five hours then. But I'd better get some decent downtime after this is all over!" Celeste sounded a bit grumpy.

"Don't worry about it, Ce-chan, it isn't likely to be THAT bad."

*********

A Sabre Marionette J Timeline:

Gennai and Lorelei looked up from their work.

"Is that a siren?" Gennai asked, crossing over to a window. Lorelei saved her work and slid it back into its secret compartment.

At the Gates of Castle Japoness, Baiko and Tamasaburo, the elite marionettes charged with protecting the greatest treasures of their nation, stepped out of hiding and crossed spears, watching the trail as a plume of dust raced toward their location accompanied by a siren-like
screaming.

"......aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"

The sound grew in the distance and the pair crouched, prepared to battle with their electronic lives until they were extinguished should this prove to be the threat they feared it might be.

"...aaaAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

The duo leveled their eyes and uncrossed their spears, setting them to receive whatever raced toward them at such a velocity.

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!........"

The pair of guardian marionettes were blown aside like chaff in the wind of the thing's passage. The spreading dust trail split into three seperate peaks and entered in at seperate entrances of the castle, crossing every floor and entering every room until suddenly they blew simultaneously into the lab where Dr. Lorelei and Gennai stood.

"HELP ME! SAVE ME! HELP ME! SAVE ME! HELP ME! SAVE ME! HELP ME! SAVE ME!!"

A trio of chibi-Jareds raced about the room, running on walls and across equipment, bouncing off ceilings and darting between legs. Then finally, by unspoken signal, diving simultaneously into the three pockets of Dr. Lorelei's lab coat, and disappearing entirely.

There was a long minute as the dust settled where nothing was said. Both looked to the door, blown off it's hinges, then Lorelei got brave enough to lift the flap slightly on one of her side pockets.

"There's no place like home! *click* There's no place like home! *click* There's no place like home! *click*..."

She dropped the flap and looked at Gennai, who was torn between terror and amusement.

Lifting the other she heard. "I'll do the katas, I'll wear lead weights, I'll swim the ocean blue, just let me get some sleep...."

Gennai was chortling, fighting laughter. They were either all dead or had nothing to worry about, and it just seemed so ridiculous!

Lorelei appeared puzzled as she lifted the flap of her breast pocket and heard nothing. She peered more closely, still nothing. "Are you in there?" She asked.

"Shhh!" Her pocket whispered back. "I'm hiding."

Gennai turned his back so he could laugh out loud.

"I KNOW you're hiding, it's obvious." Lorelei rebuked her breast pocket. "But why couldn't you hide in someone *else's* clothes?"

"Because I need a real bio-signature to disguise me, and I'm sure not going to hide on some *guy's* body! Yech!"

Lorelei removed her lab coat and held it out at arm's length, commanding it. "Okay you! Come out of there right now and tell me what is..."

She was interrupted by shouts from within the building.

"Hang on, gang! I've got a signal!" Suddenly the door was filled with adolescent girls in skating costumes. One of them with long blonde ponytails pointed at the doctor.

"For the crime of luring away our Master, for kidnapping our beloved Jay-chan, in the name of the Moon, we shall punish you!" Ten or so girls went into poses.

Lorelei dropped the coat and stood back three steps, terrified.

"You can't know what it's like." The coat was muttering. "Having all that care and affection! So many cleaning up after me and fixing me meals night and day! Every ONE of them sewing wedding dresses. I couldn't take it any longer...."

"Oooooohhh, we're sorry!" The lab coat was suddenly surrounded by cooing Sailor Scout marionettes, who were picking it up gently and with concern.

"Hey!" The Sailor Venus marionette cried out. "I know what this needs! A Wild Sex Marathon!"

"AAAaaghhhh!!!!!" Three chibi-Jareds simultaniously leaped out of pockets of the coat as if electrified, combining into one and diving out the window.

A cheer went up from outside.

A winged woman with whom Lorelei was unfamiliar looked in the window. "The plan worked. You guys can come out now."

Mercury marionette pumped a fist. "Yes! Remember now, this bumps me up in the marriage queue to only third!"

"I won't forget." The woman replied, departing from the window to show a veritable army departing the castle with a carefully secured load. The Scouts also departed, talking among themselves.

Lorelei looked to Gennai, who was weak with laughter, pounding the floor with his fist as tears streamed down and wet his beard.

*****

Sakyo settled down near a spire, gazing out at the crowd of marionettes. "Nice illusion."

The windswept stone didn't answer.

"Don't worry, none of them were quite finished. Some have radar and sensor suites but they're not fully connected. They also don't have your profile and so aren't quite sure of what you're capable of."

More silence.

"On the other hand, *I* am familiar with at least some of your capabilities, and know enough to use a gravimetric proximity scan. I can also scan the subetheric wavelengths, use random frequencies on a radar pulse, and at this range detect the slight noise from your heartbeat and respiration. You might also want to correct a faint variance in the local magnetic field caused by your cloaking device."

"Invisibility spell," corrected Jared, dropping the pretense but not the spell. "Why the androids?"

"Do you understand what Shan and I are?" Sakyo paused but got no answer from the Mage. "We are cyborgs at the simplest definition, though magic was also used both for our original construction and our upgrades. My biological parts are cloned from one of Ukyo Kuonji's eggs, my main memory template is drawn on Ukyo Kuonji's mental patterns. I am partly her daughter, partly her twin. Edema tells me my soul pattern is as Ukyo's daughter, so maybe that's a working definition...

"We have a human, organic, brain." Sakyo tapped her head. "We also have a computer brain." Sakyo touched briefly midway down her sternum. "Until we reach a certain level of experience, it is the computer brain that is the main area of storage then the organic brain sophistication is able to handle the load."

"So, you're saying that what I did was cancel out the computer brain, overloading the human one in Shan?"

"Just a theory, but it fits all the facts." Sakyo sighed as the illusionary Jared was hauled away kicking and screaming. "That's why I was concerned. My programming is in keeping with the purpose for which I was crafted. To serve and to love my Master, not unlike the marionettes here.

"Yet I have little reliable data on Grey. I have scanned his log, met a few whom he has interacted with on a frequent basis, and learned some of his history. He has many faults, many problems, and many other things I do not understand."

"Obviously. I knew you didn't understand his tastes when I saw Naga from 'Slayers' and Mihoshi from 'Tenchi Muyo' in the crowd. And c'mon, Lina Inverse? Lum? Akane Tendo? Hair trigger tempers and people who flinch at loud noises don't get along that well."

Sakyo shrugged. "I tried all the major characters in my source material, figuring that these were the most popular archetypes, and based their personalities on what I could observe. Certain that even if I malfunctioned, he wouldn't be alone if just ONE would manage to stay true to her cause. A few of them are based on downloads I made that I had permission to do, these are more complete copies though they're still marionettes. Usagi, Urd, Ukyo-mother, Belldandy, Kasumi, Nabiki. Something odd happened with the Sailor Marionette series that I still don't understand, but the rest are standard marionettes more or less."

"So you sought to make a backup contingency, in case you were destroyed or reprogrammed."

"I know enough. I realize you might discount it because it's a programming line, but I deeply care for him and want him to be happy." Sakyo sighed. "Your turn, Mage. Why did you come here to Terratwo?"

"I came because I had to. Shampoo and the others have lived out one reset without access to their backup memories, but their lives are good this time, their *persons* are good, their souls pure and untainted even by their typical flaws. It would be a tragedy to waste that. Remember, I was there, I know of your arrangement. I was wondering if I could prevail upon you to make another set of backups. Perhaps you could even blend the goodness with the experience. I don't know. I only know that what is now deserves to be preserved. I would even break the rules of the labor to see that it happened."

Sakyo directed a piercing gaze toward him. "You don't expect to be alive very long. Do you?"

He smirked. "I have every reason to go on living. Every source and reason for joy I had ever wanted is mine again. But Napoleon once said that a general who loves his troops too well will never win wars. It is also the case that those who won't risk their lives for what they believe in often find those lives empty, without belief in them." His lips turned up in a genuine smile. "And no amount of external wealth or comfort will compensate when you are empty within."

Sakyo found herself momentarily wishing that she could back this man up. There were those who would gain by having a few of those qualities uploaded. She squashed the thought, still fearful of him.

The Mage crossed his arms, continuing to gaze out upon the world, his chin held high in the breeze. "Grey gave me power to defeat an enemy I might not have otherwise, which battle's success gave me untold blessings in the form of friends filled with genuine caring and things to do worth doing. That's a hefty favor to repay, and I'm not making it any better by hanging around stealing all of his love interests - however unintentionally it may be."

Sakyo hmmphed but was not so impolite as to loudly agree.

Jared put his hands behind his neck and stretched in an unconscious imitation of Ranma. "Fortunately for me perhaps, though, is that Grey has an array of foes set up that are fit to extinguish any hope he may yet find in life. Favor for favor. He gave me help to lead a life worth living, I can help him in his." His lips quirked into a grin again and he shot a look sideways at Sayko. "Besides, I fight evil. It's what I do, and I'm fairly good at it. I don't know if I will succeed or fail this time, but I should be untrue to myself if I did not try."

The clone daughter of Ukyo Kuonji blinked her eyes at him. Okay, she was finding it hard to bear a grudge against someone willing to risk destruction to aid her Master. In *spite* of all the marionettes.

The redhaired mage dropped his arms to his hips. "So I take on Grey's enemies. It ought to be sufficient if I can hunt down the ringleader and lop off his head."

Sakyo's eyes widened.

"Yup." The mage looked at her. "Ares, Greek patron of Conquest and Bloodlust, is going to die. I wouldn't take him on if I didn't think I had a good chance."

The Mage drew in a very long and shuddering breath, dealing with crippling emotions not yet fully banished as he peered away. "It was he who used that weapon on me that cast me from my beloved Sailor universe. For that alone he deserves every effort at my command to end his disgusting life."

Jared drew in another very long breath and said. "The word is that there'll be a reset soon. Thor put the fear of gods into Genma, and Ares armed Akane with a souldrinker weapon, proving how unfair this all is. My Bell and Urd are mortal incarnations, and so don't count, but direct intervention by those two corrupted the line further. It has destabilized. You will be needed to perform backups soon, if you are to do it at all."

Sakyo nodded. "And you'll need me to restore their memories after a reset. I had thought to do so after the Labor was completed so that I myself didn't interfere over much with it, but I see your point. I cannot travel the planes myself. Shall we go?"

He nodded agreement. "Yes. And if nothing else, Shan will need her sister when I go to Olympus to lay public grievance and demand single combat with Ares. Shan will very much need your comfort at not being able to attend, but the allies he could call on if it were *not* an official one-on-one duel far outweigh any that I could bring with me. There are more experienced, more powerful, cruel and ruthless Ifurita cyborgs out there in that wide multiverse."

Sakyo offered agreement, yet no words.

Jared grimaced as his connection to the illusory self was cut. They'd figured it out and they'd be looking for him again. And this time would not be put off by simple measures.

Time for decisions to be made.

Cloak billowing in the dry wind, he stepped up to a boulder and stretched forth his hand, sculpting it via magic into a statue of himself, bearing an inscription upon its base, which read:

"Lost Times, by Jared Ornstead.

The times we've shared, the times we've won
The summer's long twilight has passed and begun.
Our skies are now filled with remembered pain
As autumns fair weather is spoiled with rain.

The long day is over, the long night begun
Our friendship, once sparkled, now fades with the sun.
A single musician still sings of the day
But who is now left who remembers the way?

These hands that I see, these hands that I hold
The strength now within them to conquer the cold.
The gold of the sunset, now passed and begun
Once weaving the dance of the old and the young.

A cry in the moonlight, a cat in the sun.
A seeker, to find me, must know where to run."

The mage half turned away from his handiwork, then scowled and again faced it. "What was I thinking?" He waved a hand and erased the inscription, causing new lines to glow and carve themselves in the base. He spoke aside to Sakyo. "This was originally 'Father's Cool Head' but I think I'll adapt it slightly."

"Jay-chan's Cool Head, by Jared

And children begin
and beginning again
To remember the time
when memories swim.

Of futures and pasts
all mingled together
and they find enough time
to remark on the weather.

"It is wonderfully green"
They swam as they said
For none of them knew
of the dangers ahead.

The dangers of strangers
and ribbons of dread
all mingled somehow
with the plans in their head.

"We'll do it together!"
they sang as they said
For nothing was trusted
more than Jay-chan's cool head."

He nodded. "Suitably nonsensical and obscure for this task." The statue, of white stone, began to give off it's own inner glow. Jared took the cyborg's arm. "Come, Sakyo, there is much to do."

"The poem," she protested, as the Worldgate began to form. Thinking of three units that hadn't been ready, Sakyo sent a quick transmission squirt towards the factory. If she didn't return, Doctor Lorelei would be granted entry and would find the message. Backup contingencies was a major part of Sakyo's life.

"The first I wrote long ago for a girl by the name of Rebecca. It seemed appropriate at the time, but doesn't suit just now. The second is a better choice." He laughed. "Besides, I recognize bravery, loyalty and love. It doesn't matter if they are a line of code, to the one feeling them they are the same. They had to have a *chance* to join up with me. Provided they can solve the riddle of the poem they'll catch up with me."

His voice came from within the worldgate as it began to shut. "Nobody deserves to be deprived of hope."

***********

Asgard, the Three Goats Tavern:

"Aw, c'mon, Ares. Just a little wager..."

"That I can't defeat the person you choose to fight me in ritual challenge?" Ares didn't know about this. Crafting that rune weapon had taken a lot out of him. "What stakes could you possibly offer me to make it worth my while?"

Hephaestus, he who didn't hold a grudge, grinned. "It seems a rune weapon was just recovered by a Belldandy on the timeline of the Second Labor. A souldrinker. Naturally, for identification purposes, it was handed to me..."

"And if it mysteriously disappeared," Ares considered this. The plan had almost worked. Maybe if he tried again at a different angle. "I still don't know about this."

"Ah, I know better, of course, but another might think you were... chicken."

Ares scowled. "WHO am I to battle?"

Hephaestus waited until Ares was quaffing a brew, then made sure he was out of the line of fire. "Kasumi Tendo."

*SPPLUUUUURRSSHHHH!*

Ares continued to cough up foam. "Ka-kasumi Tendo?! You've GOT to be kidding! No, wait a minute. You don't HAVE a sense of humor. What is it, one of the psychotic ones?"

"Not quite. Just one who studied a few years of martial arts. It's just that I think you've gotten away from your main field of endeavor. Conquest, battle, martial prowess."

"Hmmm," said Ares. Hephaestus didn't lie, being a good little god of smithery.

"Besides, Thor said you couldn't do it."

"WHAT?!" Ares snarled, said snarl being at least partly because some of the beer had gone up his nose.

"I believe his exact words were 'that lazy idiot has gotten so far into Machiavellian intrigue that Kasumi Tendo could probably beat him in one on one combat.' Well, what could I do, the honor of Olympus was at stake so I bet that you could!" Hephaestus shrugged. He hadn't lied. Not told the whole truth, but he hadn't lied either.

"Which Kasumi Tendo?" Ares frowned, not wanting to bring his favorite runesword to a fight where Kasumi was a Glitter Boy powerarmor pilot.

"This one," said Hephaestus, displaying an image of Kasumi Tendo in her home, sweeping the floor.

Ares frowned. "Okay, let's go and get this over with." ~Can't pass up an opportunity to show up that thundering clown at any rate.~

***********

Target Timeline: 3 hours to Reset:

Ukyo and Shampoo could be quite stealthy when the situation called for it, Ukyo having a slight edge. Which was why Sakyo was in her normal form of Ukyo's twin as she crept from one room to the other.

Ukyo, Shampoo, Kasumi, Nabiki, Makoto, and Shan were quickly and quietly the recipients of five minutes with Sakyo's hands cupping their heads. (This had surprised Jared as he hadn't realized Shan needed to sleep.) Belldandy didn't stir, nor did Urd. Finding Ranko and Akane in the same bed was quite startling, but after a moment's thought backups were made of both of them as well. She'd have to sort through their files later to learn how THAT unlikely event had occurred.

Sakyo slipped away at the end of that period, and she waved to the waiting Jared that backups had been made of the individuals in question.

Fifty minutes to perform the backups. Twenty minutes of sneaking. Then, as Kasumi and Belldandy were now awake, fifteen minutes of explanations.

Jared cast an admiring glance towards Sakyo as the cyborg related her experiences to her audience. He had never met Hephaestus but had to admit that these modern-day Galatea had a certain symmetry. Shan was the raw power of an Ifurita model, but one that could evolve and add attacks and defenses far quicker than a more typical unit. Yes, there were more powerful units out in the multiverse, but Shan had the *potential* to outstrip all of them. It might take centuries to do it, but she didn't need to be wound up and could exchange her internal powerplant for another in five hundred years when the current one wore out. She was a cyborg, not an android, but her organic parts had been upgraded through enchanment and could last as long as the cybernetic parts.

Sakyo was only of slightly higher than normal human strength, but had the ability to gain skills and transform her outer appearance. Find her the right "donor" and she could potentially duplicate any group of skills. As long as the donor was female and willing or unconscious, Sakyo could add another persona with all the skills and memories. Like Shan, Sakyo was potentially immortal, so anyone joining that gestalt could also become immortal. She couldn't upgrade her power level or duplicate powers the way Shan could, but Shan couldn't learn skills to the extent of Sakyo.

A sort of balance. One had the power. One had the skills. One was completely, even inhumanly, loyal to him. The other just as loyal to Grey. Which would have been a major paradigm shift for Grey if he were in a condition to know it at present.

Symmetry, of a sort. Symmetry was nice.

Nabiki and Shan joined the group prompting another spate of explanations.

"Less than an hour now," Belldandy remarked as she observed the clock. "Oh dear."

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

A Very Scary Timeline:

"Oh dear. Oh my." Kasumi was the only one home, and now here came a dojo challenger. And one who had challenged HER. "I really don't like violence."

"Which puts me at an advantage, as it has in every other world we've met," Ares grinned back at the fidgeting girl. "I hate you, you know. And all the other little 'couldn't hurt a fly' types. Heck, I've stalked and killed your entire family, except for Akane on two other timelines. In those I've merely allowed anger and the desire for revenge cause her to destroy herself."

"Oh." Kasumi seemed to think about this. "That isn't very nice."

"Not nice is the way I like it, and the ladies seem to enjoy it," Ares sneered and drew his runesword. "Now don't worry, I'll give you a pleasure few mortals have enjoyed before you die, eh."

"Do you accept this match, then, Ares?" Hephaestus looked towards the massively muscled Greek god.

Ares finished scanning with senses few mortals possessed. No magic, no psionics, no rune weapons, no damn Glitter boys or other high tech battlesuits. This'd be easy. "I am. Get it over with. Funny, Heph, I thought you were too much a pussy for slaughter."

"Kasumi Tendo. Do *you* accept?"

Kasumi weighed the two strangers briefly. "What are the stakes in this battle?"

"If he wins, he is given free reign on this timeline. If you win, he will be no longer be the God of War & Conquest for a mortal lifetime."

"WHAT?!" Ares yelped like a scorched dog. "What do you mean by that?"

"Not that I could do it on my own," Hephaestus said with a shrug. "Don't tell me you're chickening out now..."

Another quick scan but nothing was revealed out of the ordinary again. "I'll get you for this game later Heph! Still the stunted little dwarf with stunted little jollies, or so your ex-wife says in my bed."

"I... regretfully accept," Kasumi said with a sigh. "It seems I have no choice."

"Don't worry, mortal. This won't hurt for long." Ares decided where to put the first cut.

Hephaestus slashed the air. "Then BEGIN!"

"HOKUTO ZAN SHAI KEN! Ah ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta
ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta ta AH TAAAAAA!"

Ares blinked. Why was Kasumi Tendo, a weak little Japanese housewife, now standing BEHIND him? Some sort of trick? "Whatever that was, all you did was scuff my armor. Now you die!"

Kasumi exhaled. "I'm really sorry about this. But you are already dead."

"How foolish..." Ares began.

*SSSSHHZZZZZZTTTT* *SNAP!* *CRACKLE!* *POP!* *BUKOOOOOSH!*

Athena threw off her cloak and entered the dojo. "As I told you earlier, Kasumi-san, Ares would not die no matter what technique you used. However, per the terms of the challenge, he is stripped of his godhood for a mortal lifetime. I choose Ranma Saotome of the universe dubbed the 'Mirror Homeplane' for the mortal whose lifetime the sentence will be. And we need a new god of Conquest & War..."

"Not for me, thank you. I have enough problems," Kasumi said as she eyed the mess. "If this Ranma fellow is the length of imprisonment, then HIS Kasumi would be a better choice."

"Sounds wise," agreed Athena.

"In the meantime," Hephaestus said and held up a cubelike device, "I think some little girl is going to enjoy having a new plushtoy. Perhaps after a mortal's lifetime you'll rethink some of your positions, eh, Ares?"

The cute little pink elephant was eventually named "Jean-Paul" by Azusa Shiratori who kept it for many years.

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

Target Timeline:

"Five," Belldandy counted off.

"Ranko, there's something I wanted to say to you," Akane stepped close to Ranko. "I love you. I want to hold onto that love."

Ranko looked embarassed. "But Akane, I don't think I can feel that way about you. I-I'm sorry."

"Three."

Akane smiled sadly and reached out to brush Ranko's cheek with her hand. "I know. I love you anyway."

"One."

"Goodbye, Ranko-chan," Akane leaned forward as if to kiss her beloved goodbye.

"Res-"

==============================

H eh. expected me to have Akane an evil ogress? Too much humor potential in this setup.

Next chapter: Reset gone wrong.