"Ranko, honey," Akane called out, knocking on the
door. She knew Ranko resented being treated like a
child, but Akane really couldn't help herself at
times. She was rewarded with a kind of mumbled
response. "You have classes today."
"So?" she protested from the room. Akane arched an
eyebrow. Whatever part of Ranma's personality that
made him a morning person did not seem to have made it
into Ranko's make up when they were split by the twin
water.
"I'm sure Ranma would be glad to wake you up," Akane
said smirking. The muttering in Ranko's room got a
little louder.
"All right, all right," Ranko protested. Akane could
hear her sitting up and stretching and smiled as the
girl padded to wearily to the door and opened it.
Ranko stood there in her long Utena T-shirt, blinking
awake reluctantly. She was still wearing her dark red
hair in imitation of Nabiki's helmet style, though at
the moment the hair was mussed and wild from a night
in bed. And of course the marks. The blue triangles at
her eyes and the white dot in the center of her
forehead.
"What do I need to go to college for anyway?" Ranko
asked. "It's not like I'm going to need to know what
an hippo bowl is. Or the hospital's law. Or who Duke
Fergy is and what he had to do with the War of
Lilies."
"Do you mean hyperbole, l'Hopital's rule, and Duke
Ferdinand who's assassination started World War I?"
Akane asked, smirking. Ranko crossed her arms and
glared. "You're taking three classes, Ranko. Ranma and
I each have a full load."
"Yeah, yeah," Ranko muttered. She continued muttering
angrily in Chinese as she walked back into her room to
get ready for the day. Akane cleared her throat and
Ranko turned to look at her.
"My Chinese class has been going quite well," Akane
said. Ranko blushed and laughed nervously as she
turned back to her morning habits. Akane smirked as
she walked away from the girl's room to go speak to
her husband.
Ranma was wrapping up a kata as she came into the
dojo. She took a moment to admire his form and leaned
against the wall. He finished the kata and looked to
her as he finished the kata step perfect. Behind him,
the phantom afterimage of his high-speed passage
swiftly faded into nothing.
"Need me to wake her up?" Ranma asked.
"No, she's up," Akane said. "She's complaining about
having to go to school, but she's up."
"Think she's any feeling any better?" Ranma asked
seriously.
"She seemed okay," Akane said. "But basically she
just got told that she'd be a child for the rest of
her existence. From her perspective anyway."
"Maybe we should take a day off and just go do
something," Ranma said.
"That'll just make her feel more like a child," Akane
said. Not mentioning the way she acted on waking Ranko
up.
******
Ranko looked at the outfit Shampoo had made for her,
and Nabiki had apparently enchanted. That was big,
Nabiki still did not like magic. So the fact that she
had gone ahead and enchanted the outfit showed what
she thought. Then again, it was probably because
Nabiki still felt partially responsible for her
"birth."
She had planned to wear it when she finally was
declared an adult by Amazon law. That would never
happen now. The Amazons didn't want her, aside from
those few that lived in Nerima, and most of them
weren't real Amazons.
She glanced back at the letters Nabiki and Shampoo
had written to her. One was in Japanese and the other
in Chinese. They both said practically the same thing.
Basically to ignore the old idiots on the council and
just got on with life.
"You are a very courageous warrior," Shampoo said.
"Forget what the council says. They are, many of them,
too hidebound." Nabiki was more succinct.
"Just wear the damn outfit," Nabiki said. Ranko liked
that about the other woman, she knew how to make her
point. But she couldn't do that, the garb was for an
adult, fully accepted, Amazon warrior. Ranko wasn't
even a person by the Council's standards. She was a
product of the pools and that was it.
Ranko stuffed the outfit's box back into its keeping
place and dug out some sweats and another T-shirt. The
t-shirt was silver on black and portrayed an obviously
female werewolf with the English words "Black Furies"
pasted across the back. Then it was time to fix her
hair and on to meet Ranma and Akane before the three
of them went to college.
She glanced at the box holding her aunts' gift and
sighed before shutting off the room light. These
"modern" clothes had an attitude she liked, and she
wouldn't give them up. It didn't mean that she didn't
still want that outfit. Despite knowing she'd never be
able to wear it now.
******
"I thought this was supposed to be an advanced
engineering school," Skuld mumbled as she sat in the
back of one of the classes. "Even Keiichi is light
years beyond this stuff. Feh."
She scrunched up her brows in frustration and quietly
left the auditorium. Even if it was simple stuff she
wasn't about to interrupt a bunch of students in
learning about the glories of technology.
After all. She wasn't Urd.
She kicked a stone across the courtyard as she looked
about for a convenient pool of water to port back home
with. She just bet that the other classes weren't any
better. She just bet that the literary department had
probably never even heard of Snorri Sturlson or the
Elder Edda. She paused.
"Okay," she admitted. "That's a little harsh."
She looked up at a trio of students apparently
meeting for lunch. At least two of them seemed related
somehow, and the other two were definitely close. Very
close, but Skuld wouldn't have looked long enough to
notice that if she hadn't caught a glimpse of one of
the girls' faces.
The girl, a Japanese-Chinese girl with dark red hair
and a rather unsatisfied expression on her face that
Skuld could appreciate, had a trio of blue marks on
her face.
"Another goddess down here?" Skuld blinked and took
out her analysis goggles. She slipped them on to
ascertain whether she was just seeing someone with odd
tastes in tattoos or if, yes it was another goddess
hanging around with those two mortals.
As she activated the goggles her eyes threatened to
bulge out of their confines. Skuld nearly walked into
a tree in her surprise. She had to correct her first
estimation. There were no mortals in that little
group after all. In fact, life patterns indicated
that the guy was the goddess's father.
~I wonder what they're doing here,~ Skuld wondered.
She blinked a couple of times and then smiled broadly.
~This is just like one of those American Nancy Drew
books! Cool!!~ Never mind the fact any group sent by
heaven to Earth would probably be looking to avoid
attention. Skuld had been bored, now she had
something to do.
She noticed the guy turning in her direction and
quickly ducked behind a tree, damping her aura as she
did so. When she next peeked around the tree they
were gathering up their lunch trays. The two humans,
obviously lovers if not married, talked for a few
moments to the goddess and then the three of them
traveled off to their various classes.
It took Skuld all of two seconds to decide which to
follow. After all, the goddess was a fledgling and
less likely to spot her than the other two.
~Black furies?~ she thought, reading the back of the
girl's shirt. ~Feh, Sons of Ether are better any day
of the week.~
******
Ranko leaned into her hand and yawned as she tried to
listen to the teacher lecture about world history. To
tell the truth this class really bothered her. It
sort of rammed home the fact that her memories were
completely screwed up. Then again, studying with her
"father" showed that, even with swiss cheese memories,
she knew more than he did.
That was really pathetic actually.
Ranko grimaced as she listened to the teacher talking
about the Japanese conquest of eastern China during
World War II. To think that this little island had
ever reached such power, it was almost unfathomable to
her.
Even more disturbing was the fact that America had
then beaten Japan in the war. Even after Japan had
gotten the first major shots into the war. With the
gaijin fighting another war at the same time. It was
more than a little surprising.
Ranko shivered and scratched the back of her head,
stretching back. She felt a little nervous for some
other reason, a little tickling at the base of her
skull that told her she was being watched. She
glanced around the lecture hall for a moment, and
fought down the twinge of fear she felt.
She didn't see anyone that looked threatening, but
moved cautiously, none the less, as the class ended.
Collecting her books she slung her bag over her
shoulder and walked to the door watching for anybody
staring at her.
~I'm losing it,~ she thought irritably, slamming her
fist into the wall to her side. She grimaced
irritably and shook out her hand from the hit.
Another reminder of the reason why the Amazon's
wouldn't let her even try to take the trials.
She stalked irritably down towards the computer lab,
thankful to Nabiki for introducing her to the
internet. If she was lucky, then there would be a new
move on the White Wolf game up and she could work out
her frustrations a little by writing a good combat
post.
~I'm turning into one of those weak-kneed techno
dependants.~ Ranko sighed guiltily as she considered
the Amazon council's probable reaction to her
enjoyment of the online community. Despite this, she
sat down at a computer and proceeded to hunt and peck
the proper keys to pull up her mail account.
~Post up!~ Ranko mentally chimed as she bent forward
to read the post. ~Let's see what miss 'Greatest GM
in the Universe' has for us now.~
She only put up with computers because of this game.
Since finding it two years ago she had felt less like
a cripple. Suddenly the huge leaps, superhuman speed
and strength, all those things that the transformation
of her chi into...whatever...had taken from her. It
was all hers again. Sort of.
There was a private email after that, from the devil
tiger's player. Someone going by the name
"Bloodletter." That she opened just as eagerly, if
with some trepidation. Bloodletter and her's
friendship seemed mostly based on shared misery, and
that was sometimes a let down.
This time it was just game talk, she was giving Ranko
some forewarning of stuff her kuei jin would be doing,
but at the end of the private mail was a quick
question about her quest with the Amazons and Ranko
twitched a little irritably.
That was the problem with the sort of my problem, your
problem friendship she had with the woman. Bad news
eventually got dredged up. She sent a reply out,
editing out Bloodletter's stuff and turning into a
mail to all the players. She figured she might as
well apologize in case she had gotten or was about to
get snipey.
"Guncat?" she blinked. ~What's Guncat doing up,
isn't it like the middle of the night over there?~
She read the response and smirked.
"You Idiot!!" Annie shouts. "You're going to let
every damn ghoul in the place know we're here!!"
Annie growls irritably and proceeds to lay down
covering fire for whatever the stupid dog doesn't
notice. Using her specially made...
Guncat's bastet loved her guns.
Then again, considering the ultra technical nature of
some of her posts, so did Guncat. Neobomb did the
same thing with her creations, and Ranko had to admit
her fighting posts were rather choreographed. The
things Bloodletter got obsessive about
were...disturbing. She shrugged, that's what the game
was for after all, letting yourself go.
That feeling of being watched persisted and Ranko
looked up to glance around the room. The only thing
unusual she found was what looked like a fourteen year
old kid at a computer a few rows back. She skipped
over the girl after a moments inspection of the back
of her skull. She shrugged the feeling away again.
******
Skuld glanced away from the computer and back towards
her quarry. She relaxed upon seeing that the redhead
with the helmet cut was still there, and typing at an
abysmally slow rate. Skuld rolled her eyes and turned
back to the school computer to pull up another
internet window while the first tried to pull up
Yggdrasil.
Skuld glanced over her mail and growled as she came
to one mail.
"Ha!" she snapped. "I knew she'd do that!" She
covered her mouth and laughed nervously at the people
next to her. Glancing back she saw that the redhead
hadn't seemed to notice her at all.
~That werewolf,~ she thought, smirking. ~Always good
to get the bad guy's attention. Of course Guncat's
probably going to post something like...there it is
already. She's up late.~ She read the post and
huffed a little irritably. ~Doesn't she trust me to
handle the security system, sheesh.~
She glanced back to check on the mystery goddess's
position and noted her collecting her things. Skuld
twitched and bent forward to finish up her task of
replying to the general carnage in the game and then
sign out of both windows before getting out of her
chair to get back on the redhead's tail. Her
neighbors were left staring in shock at where Skuld
had displayed a typing ability that nearly pushed the
keyboard's limits. And it was obvious she was holding
back.
******
"Skuld said she'd be on campus today," Belldandy said
Keiichi as she moved into step next to him.
"Maybe she decided to stay home after all," Keiichi
said hopefully. Indicating that he hadn't seen the
young goddess either.
"I hope nothing is wrong," Belldandy said.
They passed a younger student, she almost looked like
she still belonged in high school actually. The woman
paused in her task, pinning a poster to a bulletin
board, and turned to face them, a puzzled look on her
face. There was an economy of motion to her actions
that was easily evident.
"Excuse me," the woman said warily. Belldandy and
Keiichi turned to face her, also cautious. Encounters
like this rarely meant good news.
"Hey, Akane," someone shouted down the hall. The
woman turned toward the voice and smiled as she walked
to meet the speaker. A young man a little taller than
her. Where the woman seemed graceful and economic in
her motions, the young man seemed to almost be made of
air.
"Ranma," the woman, apparently Akane, responded
cheerfully. Then she frowned. "I thought you were
still in class." She didn't say anything more with
the witnesses right there. The young man, apparently
Ranma, laughed nervously and scratched the back of his
head.
"They let out..." Ranma's voice sort of trailed off as
he saw Belldandy. Keeping his eye on Belldandy, he
inclined his head toward Akane. "Am I seeing what I
think I'm seeing?"
"Looks like it," Akane said, again looking at
Belldandy.
"Excuse me," Keiichi said. "But what's the deal?"
"Do we know you perhaps?" Belldandy asked, starting
to open up her senses. She wished that Skuld had been
there so she could ask for a more detailed scan of the
pair.
"Sorry," Ranma said shaking his head clear. "But
where did you get those marks on your face."
Belldandy's eyes widened as she felt the power
emanating from the two.
"Ranma!" Akane gasped, jabbing him with an elbow.
"Listen pal," Keiichi said moving up into Ranma's
face. "It's sort of rude to talk about people like
that."
"Hey, I was just askin," Ranma started.
"Keiichi be careful," Belldandy said, watching the
two carefully. Keiichi glanced back and saw
Belldandy's serious, cautious face and wondered what
he had just gotten himself into.
"Please excuse my husband," Akane said
apologetically. "His father didn't really bother to
teach him about dealing with people. I'm Saotome
Akane." She bowed with a cheerful, disarming smile.
Belldandy relaxed marginally.
"I suppose that's okay," Belldandy said.
"You haven't said what your problem is," Keiichi
said. Ranma and Akane looked over him in a manner
that made him uncomfortable.
"Ya got an impressive aura guy," Ranma said. "But
you ain't a fighter." There was no threat in the
sentence, just a statement of fact. Keiichi sweated
anyway.
"Ranma," Akane said warningly.
"Yeah, I know," Ranma said, sighing. "Look it's just
that we know someone with those same marks almost.
'Cept the one on the forehead."
"Oh," Belldandy said, relaxing a deal more at that.
"Who would that be?"
"She's my...daughter," Ranma said hesitantly. "Sort
of." Belldandy and Keiichi stared at him in shock for
a moment.
"You two have a..." he glanced around nervously.
"...a kid that looks like Bell?"
"It's a long a story," Akane said. "We were just
wondering if you could help us with her."
"Is something wrong?" Belldandy asked, still
surprised.
"Do you know how to use your...umm," Ranma shrugged.
"Life force, ta do stuff?"
"Of course," Belldandy said. "You're saying she
can't use her mana?"
"Mana?" Akane said, blinking. "As in from heaven?"
Belldandy blushed and Keiichi swallowed.
"I don't know about that," Ranma said, getting a
surprised look from Belldandy. "Saffron had the same
stuff, and he didn't seem very heavenly." Keiichi
heard Belldandy's gasp of shock and recognition and
took on a resigned look.
"You know what he's talking about, Bell?" Keiichi
asked.
"Saffron is a god that went rogue and became a
dictator of a small midgard country," Belldandy
explained. "He was defeated and forced into a new
incarnation by a human named Ranma Saotome, almost
five years ago. He was torn limb from limb in fact."
~This guy tore a god limb from limb,~ Keiichi
swallowed nervously but placed himself firmly between
Ranma and Belldandy. Ranma smirked, and Akane rolled
her eyes. Both seemed to approve of the motion
though.
"The jerk almost let Akane die anyway," Ranma said.
"Can we get past the introductions without a fight?"
"We're just hoping you know something about how to
help Ranko," Akane said.
"Certainly," Belldandy said. "Keiichi, it's fine.
Saffron was a rogue, almost as bad as a demon."
"Are you sure?" Keiichi asked.
"As if we'd threaten anyone that seems so much like
Kasumi," Ranma said.
"They don't know who Kasumi is, Baka," Akane reminded
him. Belldandy smiled at the affection in the
apparent insult.
"Well, we don't have any more classes," Keiichi said.
"I'll talk to her if you like," Belldandy said.
"She's gonna be at this restaurant that belongs to a
friend of ours," Akane said. "Would you join us for
lunch?"
"That would be nice," Belldandy said, completely
relaxed. There was certainly no hostile intent coming
from these two. "So, Ranma-san, how old is your
daughter?"
"Four or twenty" Ranma said. "We're not sure which
it should be." Belldandy and Keiichi stared at him
for a moment.
"It's a long story," Ranma and Akane said together.
******
Mara yawned and stretched, fed up with pacing the
room and thinking of a new plan to split up Belldandy
and Keiichi. She popped a couple joints and sat down
at her computer. Pulling it up she happily noted a
string of new messages.
"All right!! Post up!" she called out. After
finishing with the game stuff she got to Wldchld14's
response to her private mail. It had a new subject
header, none of her text was there, and it was sent to
all six of them.
The council says that even if I was strong enough to
take the trials, that I ain't really a person so no go
either way.
There was already a reply up, and Guncat was as
succinct as ever.
That sucks.
"What's she doing up?" Mara asked as she sent out her
condolences, and a thinly veiled offer to bring about
some retribution. Then it was time for work again,
she sighed irritably. She was really beginning to
hate her job.
As soon as she disconnected the computer her phone
started ringing. Mara sweatdropped and hesitantly
picked up the phone.
"Hello?" she said hoarsely.
The next thing she knew was that her ear drums were
being blasted out as some greater demon went about
lecturing her about tying up the phone lines. Then
the assignment came, no she wasn't being reassigned.
This new one could actually help her first one.
"You want me to convert a goddess?" she said
uncertainly. "I already know her?"
Her computer started spontaneously printing out a
file, sending the pages flying about the room, as her
superior continued to shout in her ear. After she was
allowed to leave she collected the scattered sheets of
paper and tried to arrange them in proper order.
"Wild child is a goddess!" she screeched. She
swallowed nervously and sat back down at her computer.
It was like with her sister all over again. The
bosses wouldn't allow her any friendships it seemed.
She hesitated before starting to send another mail.
Hey, why don't we meet...
******
Skuld turned the corner and looked up and down the
street for any sign of the redhead. It was like the
goddess had just vanished, but Skuld's goggles hadn't
registered a teleport, or a spell or anything like
that.
"Ahh, nuts!" Skuld said. Then someone leaned on her
shoulders from behind.
"What's your deal, kid?" a voice asked. Skuld
laughed nervously and turned to see the redhead's
elbow on her shoulder, with the other goddess's chin
cupped in her hand.
"How'd you do that?" Skuld asked. "I didn't get any
readings on any sort of spell." The redhead arched an
eyebrow and pointed to a shallow alcove just around
the corner.
"Now, why are you following me," the girl asked.
"Ummm..." Skuld blushed nervously and muttered
something.
"What?"
"I was bored, okay?" Skuld said. "And I was
wondering what you three were doing here."
"Three...?" the girl frowned and then nodded as she
figured it out. "You mean Ranma and Akane, right?"
"Your father and that valkyrie, and you," Skuld
nodded. She firmed up her courage. After all, she
was thousands upon thousands of years old. Even if
she wouldn't remember most of that time until sometime
after she finished growing in her current incarnation.
"Now what are you doing here?"
"Akane's a valkyrie?" the girl blinked.
"Yes," Skuld said uncertainly. "And your father's an
einherjar." The strange goddess's eyes narrowed.
"Those better not be insults," she said. Skuld
tipped over and planted her face in the ground.
"What kind of goddess are you!?" Skuld demanded,
putting herself right in the other's face.
"Goddess?" the girl said. She blinked and then
gasped as if she suddenly noticed something. "Hey,
you got marks on your face just like mine." Skuld
held out her hands, fingers, mouth and eye twitching.
******
"Welcome to Ucchans," the woman behind the counter
said. "Oh, hi, Ranko-chan, who's your friend?" Ranko
shrugged as Ukyou narrowed her eyes at the
similarities between the two girl's life forces.
"Hey, Ukyou," Ranko said, then looked to Skuld.
"This is Skuld, she's a little crazy, but she thinks
I'm a goddess so she can't be all that bad."
"I am not crazy!" Skuld insisted angrily.
"Well, you got Ranma's ego," Ukyou said jokingly.
"That's for sure." Ranko groaned as she sat on the
stool and put her head down on the counter.
"Hey," Skuld said.
"You always say that," Ranko muttered. She picked
her head up and looked around. "Ryouga's lost again?"
"You got it kiddo," Ukyou said. "Since this morning.
Interested in babysitting?"
"Did you hear me?" Skuld demanded. "I said that I'm
not crazy."
"I didn't say you were," Ukyou said. Ranko gave her
a look.
"Come on," she said. "You don't believe her do you?"
"It's true!" Skuld insisted.
"Stranger things have happened," Ukyou shrugged.
"The Amazons called me an 'object'," Ranko reminded
her. "I can't even channel enough chi, or whatever,
to shatter a brick any more."
"You're a little too hard on yourself," Ukyou said,
shaking her head.
"That's what everybody else says," Ranko muttered.
Ukyou sighed and turned to Skuld.
"If Ranko's a goddess," she said. "I suppose that
makes you one too?"
"That's right," Skuld said, nodding proudly. Then
clamped her mouth shut. "But I'm not supposed to tell
anyone, da...rn it." Ukyou smirked.
"Ukyou, I'm going to use your computer," Ranko said.
"Okay?"
"Sure kiddo," Ukyou said. "What do you want on your
okonomiyaki."
"I'll wait for Ranma and Akane to get here," the
redhead said, disappearing into the back.
"How about you?" Ukyou asked. "What can I get her
holiness?"
"Do you have any ice cream?" Skuld asked. I few
seconds later Skuld was looking at the first ice cream
okonomiyaki she had ever seen.
"It's an okonomiyaki shaped sundae," Ukyou said.
"Cool huh?" Skuld sweatdropped.
******
Keiichi had quite rightly concluded that the two
people walking next to him and Belldandy had a
weirdness factor that challenged even his day to day
life. What really made him twitch was how calmly they
explained Ranko's "birth."
"So she's like a clone then?" Keiichi asked,
remembering with a shiver the trouble they had with
two Urds running around.
"No, the twin water allows for the creation of a
whole new person," Belldandy explained. "The fact
that she has..."
Belldandy paused, uncertain of whether or not to pass
this information along or not. The two of them would
eventually be called to heaven as well, immortals were
not supposed to run around Earth without a reason.
Still...
"The fact that she changed proves she has her own
soul," Belldandy said.
"We know she's got a soul," Ranma said. "And don't
tell her she's some sort of copy either."
"He didn't mean anything by it, Ranma," Akane said.
"Yeah, I know," Ranma said. "It's the ones that
don't do it on purpose that are the worse though, you
know?" Akane nodded in agreement, considering her own
reaction whenever someone insulted her without even
realizing it.
"We'll be sure to take care of how we treat her,"
Belldandy assured them.
~Sort of daughter, my foot,~ Keiichi thought. ~This
guy's really protective of her.~ "How did she...get
her marks anyway?" Belldandy turned to the two
martial artists at Keiichi's question, curious about
that herself.
"She was...sick," Akane said hesitantly. "Someone
tried to get at us through her and she ended up
poisoned. The only cure that we were told would work
was fruit from the holy peach tree."
"She got the marks while she was eating the peach we
got," Ranma said. Belldandy blinked in surprise and
then smiled sunnily.
"I'm quite impressed," she said. "Not many people
would acquire that prize just to give it to someone
else."
"What would we use it for?" Ranma asked seriously.
"Eternal life," Belldandy said simply. Ranma and
Akane grimaced.
"I think we got that anyway," Akane said, somewhat
sadly.
"Don't be too sad," Belldandy said. "Things will
work out in time." ~You and your children will live
forever among the heros of heaven and their children,
I'm just not sure if you're ready to here that yet.~
They looked forward to the Ucchan's sign showing
through the rainbow of store flags and signs.
******
"Guncat's still up?" Ranko said, surprised. "There's
soulsword, what's she gonna do?"
Predictably enough, soulsword's sidhe was making some
sort of speech before she, too descended on the
ghouls, sword swinging. Neobomb and Bloodletter's
characters were handling the infiltration end
apparently.
Ranko smirked.
"That vampire must absolutely hate being out of the
fight," she snickered. She glanced on down and found
messages from Guncat, Bloodletter and soulsword
regarding her status as a citizen. Then there was
Bloodletter's mail asking to meet.
Meet? Like when and where?
She sent the message and was surprised to receive an
answer only a few moments later.
How's now? Nerima park? Ranko considered that for a
moment and then shrugged. She had nothing better to
do.
After sending her confirmation she started to walk out
toward the street, and stopped herself. If she left
that way, Skuld would follow her. She glanced at the
rear window and nodded. She wrote up a quick note and
pasted it to the computer monitor before slipping out
the back. Then she was off to meet this woman that
complained about her job so much.
******
"Damn rental," Rally muttered as she kicked the car
and got out to walk.
"So what are we still doing in Japan, huh?" May asked
next to her. Rally walked up to a pay phone and set
up her lap top again. "How long is it before you get
picked up for that gun?"
"You're the one with explosives to level a mountain,"
Rally said as she called up her email account again.
She immediately smiled in triumph. "All right, Becky.
Thank you."
"Okay, so what are we here for?" May asked again.
"We already got the creep handed over to US Embassy,
the bounty is only a little more than our expenses.
What are we doing? Another bounty?"
"Nope," Rally said. "I'm going to surprise some
friends."
"You have friends in Japan?" May asked, surprised.
"Yep, and Becky just intercepted some mail for me
that says where two of them are going to be in a
little bit," she said proudly. She slipped her lap
top back into the shoulder bag and started walking
down the street.
"Aren't we going to take the car?" May asked,
pointing. Rally grimaced and glanced over her
shoulder.
"That piece of crap?" she demanded, shaking her head.
"Walking's faster."
******
Ranko was starting to tire by the time she reached
the park and sat down at a bench to wait for her
friend to show up. It would be nice to have another
friend. Maybe, if she got enough friends, she'd be
able to make her own tribe. Some place she fit in
like she didn't in Japan or Joketsuzoku.
It didn't take long for boredom to over take her and
she started doing katas while she waited. She moved
smoothly, form perfect, but without any really power.
She could handle a few street thugs, maybe an average
black belt. Beyond that, she just couldn't guess.
She was interrupted in her activities by the sight of
a little boy wandering around by himself. She frowned
and looked across the park. The playscape was way on
the other side, out of sight from here. Unless the
kid's parents were with him she didn't see why he was
over here. Somehow she got the feeling that the kids
parents definitely didn't know where he was.
"Hey kid," she said, walking over and bending down to
his eye level. She didn't have to bend far. "You
lost or something?" The kid shook his head. "So
where are your mommy and daddy?" She had a sudden
flash of a young couple frantically searching the park
for this kid. He pointed back towards the playscape.
"So why don't you go back to them? I'm sure they're
worried aboutcha."
"No they're not," he said. "They're mean." Ranko
smirked and quirked an eyebrow.
"So what do they do that's mean?" she asked.
"They won't let me play on the big slide," he said.
"The big slide's a little tall for you," Ranko said
soothingly. "I think maybe they're just worried
you'll hurt yourself."
"But I'm a big kid now," he insisted.
"Ok," she said. "But the big slides for a very big
kid." The boy probably couldn't even get up the
ladder that was made for that slide.
"I'm a very big kid," he insisted petulantly.
"They're just being mean."
"That's their job," Ranko said. "They're supposed to
watch out for you."
"I can watch out for myself," he snapped. Ranko
sighed, she liked kids. For some reason she couldn't
lay a finger on she was usually fairly good with them.
Sometimes she flubbed it though.
"I'm sure you can," she said soothingly. "But you
gotta humor your mom and dad. Parents get kind of
paranoid, always afraid somethin' bad was going to
happen you know? So you got to put up with it until
you're old enough to get your own place. And you know
what?"
"What?" he asked.
"Then you get to tell your own kids what to do," she
said conspiratorially.
"Sota!" someone called out. It wasn't a parent,
sounded like a young girl actually. Well, Ranko had
expected someone to come by soon. "Sota, where are
you. Mom and grandpa are worried sick about you!"
"I'm over here!" the boy called out. A girl came
stomping into view and walked up to Ranko and Sota,
cautiously watching Ranko. "I was just talking to
this girl, Kagome."
"I'm sorry if he's being a pest, miss," the girl
said. Ranko shrugged.
"Nah, I just thought he might be lost and decided to
help out a little," she said. She stood up and got a
good look at Kagome, something flashed over her senses
and she flinched.
"Is something wrong?" the girl, she was maybe twelve.
"Just felt something funny is all," Ranko said. She
looked closely at Kagome and then shook her head. "Do
you have a pet dog by any chance?"
"No, just a cat," Kagome said, not noticing Ranko
twitch a little. She wasn't AS nervous around cats as
Ranma, but they did give her the willies at times.
"Why?"
"Uhh...I'm allergic to dogs," she said quickly. "And
I thought that funny feeling might be a reaction."
She really had know idea why she asked, it just felt
like the thing to do.
"Ohh kay," Kagome said. She started herding Sota
away from the strange girl.
"Gotta be careful with strays you pick up, you know,"
Ranko said, again for no apparent reason. "They don't
like to get attached to people if they can help it."
"Right," Kagome said, and then she picked up Sota and
was running away from Ranko. Ranko slapped herself in
the forehead.
"What was that about?" she wondered irritably and
went back to her bench to wait.
******
"Did your dream get into any specifics?" Ayako asked.
"Nope, I just think something big is going to happen
around here," Yohko said. "Even if nothing happens,
Guncat sent me a mail saying she was going to be in
the country and maybe we could surprise a couple other
players."
"Oh yes, the game. Now let me get this straight,"
Ayako said, narrowing her eyes. "You do this to relax
and escape reality for a little while."
"Right," Yohko said. "I know you have to have your
own hobbies, Ayako."
"I'm not finished," Ayako said.
"Oh, okay," Yohko shrugged.
"Now, in this game," Ayako continued, rubbing her
forehead. "You play a woman from an ancient family
that uses a sword, fights monsters and demons, lives
in a dream world and has bad luck with romance?"
"That's right," Yohko confirmed, uncertain of where
she was going. "But she's an elf, or faerie, or
something. Not human anyway."
"Whatever," Ayako said. "My only question is this.
How is that an escape from your normal life?"
"Ummm..." Yohko struggled to come up with an answer.
"I don't live in a dream world." Ayako gave her a
look.
"Let's see if the Azusas have the luggage ready," she
muttered.
******
Mara watched the scene unfold with a sense of
nostalgia. Ranko might not know that she was a
goddess, but she was a natural. And it was plain to
see what her domain was, and why hell would want to
recruit her. Mara frowned as she thought back
thousands of years to a little orphan wandering the
streets. Somebody offering to make her strong enough
to survive if she just signed on the dotted line.
"If a goddess like her had been active back then,"
she whispered. "They wouldn't have gotten half the
recruits they did. On the other hand, a demon like
her..." The thought actually disturbed Mara. She
glanced at the black paper in her hand and hesitated
before stuffing it in her pocket and moving to meet
Ranko.
******
"Wldchld14?" someone asked behind her.
Ranko turned to the sound of the voice and saw a woman
in her early twenties standing there with a lopsided
grin. The red marks on the woman's face gave her a
sense of unease for some reason, but she ignored it.
She had her own marks. What did someone else's
matter.
"Bloodletter?" she asked in response.
"It's Mara actually," the woman said with a smile as
she sat down next to Ranko. "What's your name?"
"Saotome Ranko," she said pleasantly, bowing at the
waist.
"You're younger than I expected," Mara said.
"I don't look my age," Ranko said simply. Mara
leaned over with a smile.
"Oh, older than you look I guess?" she asked.
Mara noted, with a sort of satisfaction, that Ranko's
eyes diverted to her chest for a moment. She couldn't
really tell what the goddess's preferences were, but
it didn't really matter to her. Mara had been
practicing her trade for centuries, anybody mortal
would fall to her eventually. And for the moment,
Ranko wasn't much more than mortal herself.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Ranko asked
nervously.
"I just thought you needed a little cheering up," she
said softly, wrapping her arms around Ranko's
shoulder. "What with the way those old hens were
treating you, just because of a little mixed blood."
Ranko had let them assume that particular idea, not
telling them directly, but not correcting them either.
"Hey!" Ranko snapped, standing up away from Mara in
surprise and a little anger. "Watch it. I like you
and all but, I ain't like that." There was a little
uncertainty in her voice though. Mara smiled
internally, keeping up that no-mind concentration that
allowed her to ignore the consequences of her actins.
~She doesn't know for sure then?~ Mara thought, and
imagined the fun she could convince this girl to
engage in. And some point, while Ranko was distracted
by the pleasures, ask her the question and of course
she would say yes. Then they could truly be friends
forever.
And then Mara's former unease cracked through the
layer of ignorance she had constructed for herself.
Mara flinched and shook her head clear. They
wouldn't be friends after that. Mara certainly held
no affection for the demon that tricked her. Ranko
would just be an ex-lover that Mara had tricked into
condemning herself for eternity. And if it got out to
Urd that she had tricked a fledgling goddess into
changing sides. Well, all her friends would be gone.
"Are you okay, Blood?" Ranko asked as the woman's
expression changed from a lusting one, to one of
remorse.
"I can't do it," Mara said. She took a black sheet
of paper out of her pocket.
"Can't do what?" Ranko asked nervously.
"See these marks, Ranko," Mara said. "They mean I'm
a demon."
"Okay," Ranko said, getting hesitantly into stance.
If the woman was telling the truth, she'd have no
chance in a fight, but she would go down fighting
anyway. Mara wasn't paying attention to her, merely
looking at the paper in her hand.
"I was supposed to get you to sign this and become one
of us before you figured out what you were," Mara
explained. "I guess then they'd have you corrupting
children throughout the rest of eternity. You're a
natural with kids. I saw that." Ranko swallowed
nervously at the thought, somewhat sickened.
"This is a joke, right," she asked. Mara shook her
head and started folding the paper in her hands.
"Nope, as a goddess you'd be a real detriment to my
bosses," she explained. "But as a demon, oh the
damage someone like you could do. But I'm not going
to do it. I'm tired of getting assigned to destroy my
friends."
She tore the paper in her hand, and then tore it again
and again. Then demon tossed up the papers and
watched them burst into flames as the wind picked them
up.
"That's that," Mara said resignedly as Ranko looked
on at her, surprised. The area was quiet for the
space of half a minute before three whirlwinds
appeared in the area around them, coalescing into
three humanoid male beings.
"Mara, demon first class," one of the figures, a
reddish man with the same sharp teeth that Mara had.
"You are accused of high treason, I'm taking you in
now." Mara nodded meekly.
******
The sound of the bell brought Skuld's attention to
the door, and she almost fell off her stool in
surprise. She was having an uncomfortable time with
getting shocked today.
"Skuld-chan!" Belldandy said with a little reproach.
"There you are!"
"Oneesama," she said loudly. "How did you meet
them!?"
"You know them Skuld?" Keiichi asked.
"She came in with Ranko today," Ukyou said from
behind the counter. "She's been telling me about how
Ranko's a goddess." It was only half a joke. Keiichi
slapped his hand into his face, while Skuld blushed
and laughed nervously.
"God...dess?" Ranma said in surprise.
"Oh dear," Belldandy said. "I was hoping to break
that to you a little more gently."
"You mean it's true?" Ukyou asked, blinking.
Belldandy nodded reluctantly. Three thumps were heard
shortly thereafter.
"Oh my," Belldandy said. "They didn't take that very
well."
******
"Hey! Don't just stand there," Ranko shouted.
"Fight 'em!" The lead demon glanced at her and then
the other two demons.
"Seal the goddess," he said. "But don't kill her, we
don't know who her double is." Ranko winced and
returned to her stance. Mara whipped to her feet and
released a wave of dark fire into one of the two
subordinate demons.
"Yeah!" Ranko cheered on. She chunked a rock at the
other minor demon. She was pleased to see it smack
the demon on the back of the head and send him
sprawling to the ground. Someone else without access
to any magic also felt heartened by the sight.
"Run!" the demoness ordered her as she prepared to
strike out again.
"By order of the Lord of Lies," the leader snapped.
"Your power is revoked!" Mara's next attack fizzled
into nothing before she could even completely form it
and the demon collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
"I ain't leaving you to them," Ranko shouted.
The head demon was about to respond when the scene was
bathed in sudden blinding light. Ranko squinted her
eyes shut and could only listen at the barrage of
gunshots that followed immediately after the flash.
When the flash died down, a tanned woman wearing
sunglasses stood next to a panting Mara. A small gun
was held in her hand as she scanned the scene. The
three demons were down on the ground, each with two
gaping wounds in their skulls.
"Who the-?" Mara gasped.
"Rally Vincent," the woman said cheerfully. "Bounty
hunter, owner and operator of Gunsmith Cats." Her
Japanese wasn't bad, but it definitely had a strong
American accent. A blonde, who looked younger than
Ranko did, came out from behind some trees and kicked
at the demon bodies, muttering something in English.
Rally glanced at one of the dead demons and continued
an amused tone of voice. "and demon slayer."
"Gunsmith Cats," Ranko repeated. "Guncat?!" Rally
nodded with a smirk.
"I was in Japan on business," she said. "That's my
partner over there, Minnie May." The blonde waved a
little nervously.
"How the hell did you do that?" Mara asked, out of
breath. Rally ignored the question.
"These are demons, eh?" she said. "They didn't seem
too tough." Mara panted and climbed to a seat on the
bench. The bodies were starting to fade away already.
"How'd you find us?" Ranko demanded, catching her
breath from the near disaster.
"A friend of mine intercepted the emails. No
offense," Rally said. "I think I prefer the game to
this." Mara and Ranko nodded whole-heartedly. She
glanced at Mara suspiciously for a moment and then
shrugged it off as the demon continued to recover.
"You know," Mara said. "They usually don't send
minions out to get traitors. They usually jus-" Mara
vanished in a whirlwind of smoke.
******
"Phew, they almost got away," Washu said. She turned
to look back at the man in her lab. It pleased the
being to appear as a man at this point anyway.
"Thanks for the warning, it would be a pity to
interrupt my game."
"I thought you might say that," the figure said,
smiling. "You know that you can't directly
interfere."
"If I directly interfered," Washu said, smirking.
"Mara wouldn't have left Earth."
"What do you call catching her in a pocket
dimension?" the man asked. "Out of curiousity."
"Field testing my equipment," Washu said simply. "I
can pay them a visit, I see you've got them all going
to one place already. Been planning this?"
"It's hard to plan for free will," he said, without
denying it.
"Uh huh," Washu said. "Anyway, I can pay them a
visit, provide some technical support. And I don't
think Ryoko would begrudge her mother a favor.
Especially if her daughter is already going, ne,
Minagi-chan?" She turned her attention to a rather
cheerful looking version of Ryoko, almost identical
aside from the clothes and the sickle marks on her
cheeks.
"Hai," Minagi said.
******
"Damn it," Ranma said quietly, staring at where Mara
had been. "I messed up again." The blonde was
wafting away the smoke and crinkling her nose. She
glanced to Rally and said something in English looking
somewhat anxious. Rally responded in the same
language and turned to Ranko.
"Doesn't look like there was anything you could do
just then," she said comfortingly.
"Yes there is," Ranko insisted. "I'll bet Ranma or
Akane would know something. And maybe we can get to
Nabiki!" She started back toward Ucchan's.
"Hey, wait," Rally called out, holstering her woman
and running to catch up to Ranko. Minnie May came up
running up behind Rally shouting in English about how
this was beginning to sound like a really bad idea.
"Who're Ranma, Akane and Nabiki?"
"They're my family," Ranko said.
******
Ranma groaned as he sat up and then saw Akane coming
to as well. From the sound of it Ukyou was recovering
as well. Ranma took a moment to consider what he had
just heard.
"You said Ranko was a goddess?" Ranma said.
"Well, duh," Skuld said.
"Skuld be nice," Belldandy instructed.
"Where is Ranko anyway?" Akane asked wearily.
"She went back to use the computer," Skuld said.
"Then why isn't she out here with all the noise we're
making," Ranma asked. Ukyou, standing up, took notice
of that and walked back into the office and returned
with a paste it note.
"'Gone to meet a friend,'" Ukyou read. "'See you
later.' She must have slipped out the back."
"How long ago did she go back there?" Ranma asked
frantically.
"Please calm down, Saotome-san," Belldandy said.
"She is a goddess, she is protected from accidents."
"I'm not worried about an accident," Ranma said.
"I'm worried about some pervert trying to get the best
of her. We told you she don't know how ta use
her...mana?...she's just a normal kid without that."
"Why didn't you teach her how to?" Skuld demanded.
Ranma and Akane fixed her with a look and Skuld had
the good grace to look embarrassed.
"Chi is not the same," Belldandy said. "It requires
different forms of focus to use."
"You're saying that she's been a goddess for four
years and hasn't learned how to do anything in that
time?" Keiichi asked, surprised. "I thought it came
natural."
"It takes hard work you doofus," Skuld snapped.
~That's why the most I can do without machines is
paste words all over people.~
"RAAANNMA!!! AKAANEEE!" a voice shouted as the door
was slammed open. Ranko paused for a moment at the
sight of the two strangers, and Skuld, then rushed for
Ranma and Akane. "I've screwed up! I just stood
there and let them take her!"
"Let who take who?" Akane asked. Eyes turned to the
two people coming in to the restaurant behind Ranko.
Akane's eyes narrowed dangerously as she saw the
holstered gun, and in a flash she was across the room.
"Whoa!" the woman shouted. Her partner produced a
grenade and a determined expression as she shouted in
English. "Hey, hey. I'm a friend!" She turned to
the blonde and said something to her. The blonde
reluctantly put away her grenade.
"Everybody, let's calm down," Belldandy said.
"Akane-san, Miss...Ranko-san, please. Can you just
tell us what's wrong?"
"Don't go for the gun," Akane warned as she let the
American down.
"Don't worry about me," she said, dusting herself,
but maintaining a slightly superior look on her face.
Something that said Akane wasn't going to get the drop
on her again. It was a bluff though, and both knew
it. "Good moves."
"Okay," Ranma snapped. "What's going on?"
"You know that game I play on the computer?" Ranko
asked. Ranma nodded. "I went to go meet Bloodletter,
she's from the gam-" Skuld fell off her stool and
sprang up, investigating Ranko's T-Shirt.
"You're Wild Child!?" she gasped. "I'm Neobomb."
Skuld blinked as the American extended a hand with a
smirk.
"Guncat, how are you doing?" she said with a smirk.
Skuld blinked a couple times and nearly fainted.
"Introductions done? Okay. Because our mutual friend
Bloodletter just vanished in a puff of smoke." She
turned to Ranma and Akane. "Ranko seems to think you
might be able to find a way to get her back."
~I need to learn Japanese,~ Minnie May thought
irritably as she watched them talk.
"Huh, what happened?" Skuld asked. Ranko gave a
quick rundown of the events at the park. Skuld was
twitching throughout most of it. "Bloodletter, is
Mara...that actually makes sense."
"I'm sorry, Ranko-chan," Belldandy said sadly. "If
Mara was taken back to Nifelheim, there is nothing you
can do."
"Well," a new voice added. "It's a good thing she's
not in Nifelheim then." No one was quite certain when
the little girl had appeared there, but it was quite
obvious that she was more than she appeared to be.
"Who are you?" Ranma asked, noting her aura, similar
to the goddesses' but slightly different.
"Excuse me," the comer addressed Rally. "Can I see
your gun for a moment, I'd like to see how you killed
three demons with such a weapon."
"I wasn't supposed to?" Rally asked, hesitantly
handing over the weapon. It would be good to just why
she had succeeded in case she had to fight a demon
again sometime.
"Ceramic gun," the pink-haired woman said. "You made
it?" Rally nodded. "Impressive. Ahh, crystal
bullets, that explains it. Must limit the size of the
gun though."
"Yeah," Rally agreed, accepting the weapon back and
holstering it. "It's a smaller gun than I like, but
neither the gun nor the ammunition register on metal
detectors. Shatters in a nasty pattern when it hits,
virtually any armor will stop it, but it has lots of
stopping power and causes some heavy injuries."
"You'll need something bigger for what you're about
to do," she said. "More rapid fire too, I can give
you that." Rally felt somewhat vaguely nervous about
that statement.
"Hey!" Ranko snapped. "We asked who you were?"
"Watch it Wild," the woman said, smirking. "I'll
give Burns-the-Panda fleas." The three game players
blinked in surprise.
"Washu-sama," Belldandy said blinking. "I thought
you were trapped."
"One of my daughter's little friends broke the seal,"
Washu said. "Now, about, Mara. You know the rules as
well as I. I can't use my power directly to
interfere, however, I can use my inventions. So you
see, Mara is not in Nifelheim. She is in a pocket
dimension I created to hold her for a little bit."
"So why not just take her all the way back?" Ranma
asked.
"Because, she IS a demon," Washu said. She sat down
at a stool and looked at a shell-shocked Ukyou.
"Don't worry dear, it's just a silly, over-complicated
crossover. Now can you get me an okonomiyaki and I
can get on to explaining the situation."
"Uh, sure," Ukyou said.
"If you can drag her physically back here," Washu
said. "I'm sure something can be done to safeguard
her. But eventually her master will pull her back
otherwise."
"So, all we do is go there and bring her back?" Rally
asked. "Sounds too easy."
"Good food," Washu said. "I'm pretty certain that
the demons are already trying to get her themselves.
But I left a security system to hold them off,
unfortunately, I was rushed. So it'll try to hold
everyone off."
"What kind of security system?" Skuld asked,
remembering some past adventures.
"Ever play this game called Quake?" Washu asked.
Rally and Skuld groaned. "Don't worry, there's help
coming."
"Like who?" Akane asked. The doorbell rang as the
door was opened to admit two sets of twins.
"Wow, it looks like a party," one of the older sets
of twins said. She spotted Rally and waved. "Hey,
Guncat, its me, Soulsword."
"Uh...you might want to hold off," Rally said. "We
got some serious trouble coming."
"No, they can be helpful," Belldandy said, she
glanced to Skuld and the two elder Saotomes for
confirmation. They all nodded in confirmation.
"Is something wrong?" Ayako asked grimly, narrowing
her eyes. After the situation was explained she
looked around at the people as if they were insane.
"You want us to risk our lives to rescue a demon?
Okay...that sounds about normal."
"Your sarcasm is noted, cousin," Yohko said dryly.
Minnie May stopped doing the tennis neck thing for a
moment and yawned.
"That wasn't the help I was talking about," Washu
said. A silver haired woman appeared next to Washu
and started glaring.
"She isn't my daughter any more than you're my
mother!" the woman snapped. "And what the hell are
you doing getting her mixed up in some sort of
interdimensional rescue mission anyway? She's an
airhead, she'll just mess up and get herself hurt.
And I...Sasami wouldn't like that."
"Everybody, my daughter Ryoko," Washu said. "Ryoko,
everybody."
"Hello," Ryoko said gruffly. Then she turned back to
Washu. "There is nothing you can say to get me to..."
"I'll stop teasing Tenchi for a month," Washu said.
Ryoko froze.
"Two months," she said. "And you got a deal."
"I knew I could count on you," Washu said, smirking.
Another woman, almost a carbon copy of Ryoko suddenly
appeared next to Ryoko.
"Are we ready to go?" she asked cheerfully.
And various characters in the rumor commented, but
there were now too many people in the scene for the
author to keep track of...well actually...that had
happened a while ago.
******
door. She knew Ranko resented being treated like a
child, but Akane really couldn't help herself at
times. She was rewarded with a kind of mumbled
response. "You have classes today."
"So?" she protested from the room. Akane arched an
eyebrow. Whatever part of Ranma's personality that
made him a morning person did not seem to have made it
into Ranko's make up when they were split by the twin
water.
"I'm sure Ranma would be glad to wake you up," Akane
said smirking. The muttering in Ranko's room got a
little louder.
"All right, all right," Ranko protested. Akane could
hear her sitting up and stretching and smiled as the
girl padded to wearily to the door and opened it.
Ranko stood there in her long Utena T-shirt, blinking
awake reluctantly. She was still wearing her dark red
hair in imitation of Nabiki's helmet style, though at
the moment the hair was mussed and wild from a night
in bed. And of course the marks. The blue triangles at
her eyes and the white dot in the center of her
forehead.
"What do I need to go to college for anyway?" Ranko
asked. "It's not like I'm going to need to know what
an hippo bowl is. Or the hospital's law. Or who Duke
Fergy is and what he had to do with the War of
Lilies."
"Do you mean hyperbole, l'Hopital's rule, and Duke
Ferdinand who's assassination started World War I?"
Akane asked, smirking. Ranko crossed her arms and
glared. "You're taking three classes, Ranko. Ranma and
I each have a full load."
"Yeah, yeah," Ranko muttered. She continued muttering
angrily in Chinese as she walked back into her room to
get ready for the day. Akane cleared her throat and
Ranko turned to look at her.
"My Chinese class has been going quite well," Akane
said. Ranko blushed and laughed nervously as she
turned back to her morning habits. Akane smirked as
she walked away from the girl's room to go speak to
her husband.
Ranma was wrapping up a kata as she came into the
dojo. She took a moment to admire his form and leaned
against the wall. He finished the kata and looked to
her as he finished the kata step perfect. Behind him,
the phantom afterimage of his high-speed passage
swiftly faded into nothing.
"Need me to wake her up?" Ranma asked.
"No, she's up," Akane said. "She's complaining about
having to go to school, but she's up."
"Think she's any feeling any better?" Ranma asked
seriously.
"She seemed okay," Akane said. "But basically she
just got told that she'd be a child for the rest of
her existence. From her perspective anyway."
"Maybe we should take a day off and just go do
something," Ranma said.
"That'll just make her feel more like a child," Akane
said. Not mentioning the way she acted on waking Ranko
up.
******
Ranko looked at the outfit Shampoo had made for her,
and Nabiki had apparently enchanted. That was big,
Nabiki still did not like magic. So the fact that she
had gone ahead and enchanted the outfit showed what
she thought. Then again, it was probably because
Nabiki still felt partially responsible for her
"birth."
She had planned to wear it when she finally was
declared an adult by Amazon law. That would never
happen now. The Amazons didn't want her, aside from
those few that lived in Nerima, and most of them
weren't real Amazons.
She glanced back at the letters Nabiki and Shampoo
had written to her. One was in Japanese and the other
in Chinese. They both said practically the same thing.
Basically to ignore the old idiots on the council and
just got on with life.
"You are a very courageous warrior," Shampoo said.
"Forget what the council says. They are, many of them,
too hidebound." Nabiki was more succinct.
"Just wear the damn outfit," Nabiki said. Ranko liked
that about the other woman, she knew how to make her
point. But she couldn't do that, the garb was for an
adult, fully accepted, Amazon warrior. Ranko wasn't
even a person by the Council's standards. She was a
product of the pools and that was it.
Ranko stuffed the outfit's box back into its keeping
place and dug out some sweats and another T-shirt. The
t-shirt was silver on black and portrayed an obviously
female werewolf with the English words "Black Furies"
pasted across the back. Then it was time to fix her
hair and on to meet Ranma and Akane before the three
of them went to college.
She glanced at the box holding her aunts' gift and
sighed before shutting off the room light. These
"modern" clothes had an attitude she liked, and she
wouldn't give them up. It didn't mean that she didn't
still want that outfit. Despite knowing she'd never be
able to wear it now.
******
"I thought this was supposed to be an advanced
engineering school," Skuld mumbled as she sat in the
back of one of the classes. "Even Keiichi is light
years beyond this stuff. Feh."
She scrunched up her brows in frustration and quietly
left the auditorium. Even if it was simple stuff she
wasn't about to interrupt a bunch of students in
learning about the glories of technology.
After all. She wasn't Urd.
She kicked a stone across the courtyard as she looked
about for a convenient pool of water to port back home
with. She just bet that the other classes weren't any
better. She just bet that the literary department had
probably never even heard of Snorri Sturlson or the
Elder Edda. She paused.
"Okay," she admitted. "That's a little harsh."
She looked up at a trio of students apparently
meeting for lunch. At least two of them seemed related
somehow, and the other two were definitely close. Very
close, but Skuld wouldn't have looked long enough to
notice that if she hadn't caught a glimpse of one of
the girls' faces.
The girl, a Japanese-Chinese girl with dark red hair
and a rather unsatisfied expression on her face that
Skuld could appreciate, had a trio of blue marks on
her face.
"Another goddess down here?" Skuld blinked and took
out her analysis goggles. She slipped them on to
ascertain whether she was just seeing someone with odd
tastes in tattoos or if, yes it was another goddess
hanging around with those two mortals.
As she activated the goggles her eyes threatened to
bulge out of their confines. Skuld nearly walked into
a tree in her surprise. She had to correct her first
estimation. There were no mortals in that little
group after all. In fact, life patterns indicated
that the guy was the goddess's father.
~I wonder what they're doing here,~ Skuld wondered.
She blinked a couple of times and then smiled broadly.
~This is just like one of those American Nancy Drew
books! Cool!!~ Never mind the fact any group sent by
heaven to Earth would probably be looking to avoid
attention. Skuld had been bored, now she had
something to do.
She noticed the guy turning in her direction and
quickly ducked behind a tree, damping her aura as she
did so. When she next peeked around the tree they
were gathering up their lunch trays. The two humans,
obviously lovers if not married, talked for a few
moments to the goddess and then the three of them
traveled off to their various classes.
It took Skuld all of two seconds to decide which to
follow. After all, the goddess was a fledgling and
less likely to spot her than the other two.
~Black furies?~ she thought, reading the back of the
girl's shirt. ~Feh, Sons of Ether are better any day
of the week.~
******
Ranko leaned into her hand and yawned as she tried to
listen to the teacher lecture about world history. To
tell the truth this class really bothered her. It
sort of rammed home the fact that her memories were
completely screwed up. Then again, studying with her
"father" showed that, even with swiss cheese memories,
she knew more than he did.
That was really pathetic actually.
Ranko grimaced as she listened to the teacher talking
about the Japanese conquest of eastern China during
World War II. To think that this little island had
ever reached such power, it was almost unfathomable to
her.
Even more disturbing was the fact that America had
then beaten Japan in the war. Even after Japan had
gotten the first major shots into the war. With the
gaijin fighting another war at the same time. It was
more than a little surprising.
Ranko shivered and scratched the back of her head,
stretching back. She felt a little nervous for some
other reason, a little tickling at the base of her
skull that told her she was being watched. She
glanced around the lecture hall for a moment, and
fought down the twinge of fear she felt.
She didn't see anyone that looked threatening, but
moved cautiously, none the less, as the class ended.
Collecting her books she slung her bag over her
shoulder and walked to the door watching for anybody
staring at her.
~I'm losing it,~ she thought irritably, slamming her
fist into the wall to her side. She grimaced
irritably and shook out her hand from the hit.
Another reminder of the reason why the Amazon's
wouldn't let her even try to take the trials.
She stalked irritably down towards the computer lab,
thankful to Nabiki for introducing her to the
internet. If she was lucky, then there would be a new
move on the White Wolf game up and she could work out
her frustrations a little by writing a good combat
post.
~I'm turning into one of those weak-kneed techno
dependants.~ Ranko sighed guiltily as she considered
the Amazon council's probable reaction to her
enjoyment of the online community. Despite this, she
sat down at a computer and proceeded to hunt and peck
the proper keys to pull up her mail account.
~Post up!~ Ranko mentally chimed as she bent forward
to read the post. ~Let's see what miss 'Greatest GM
in the Universe' has for us now.~
She only put up with computers because of this game.
Since finding it two years ago she had felt less like
a cripple. Suddenly the huge leaps, superhuman speed
and strength, all those things that the transformation
of her chi into...whatever...had taken from her. It
was all hers again. Sort of.
There was a private email after that, from the devil
tiger's player. Someone going by the name
"Bloodletter." That she opened just as eagerly, if
with some trepidation. Bloodletter and her's
friendship seemed mostly based on shared misery, and
that was sometimes a let down.
This time it was just game talk, she was giving Ranko
some forewarning of stuff her kuei jin would be doing,
but at the end of the private mail was a quick
question about her quest with the Amazons and Ranko
twitched a little irritably.
That was the problem with the sort of my problem, your
problem friendship she had with the woman. Bad news
eventually got dredged up. She sent a reply out,
editing out Bloodletter's stuff and turning into a
mail to all the players. She figured she might as
well apologize in case she had gotten or was about to
get snipey.
"Guncat?" she blinked. ~What's Guncat doing up,
isn't it like the middle of the night over there?~
She read the response and smirked.
"You Idiot!!" Annie shouts. "You're going to let
every damn ghoul in the place know we're here!!"
Annie growls irritably and proceeds to lay down
covering fire for whatever the stupid dog doesn't
notice. Using her specially made...
Guncat's bastet loved her guns.
Then again, considering the ultra technical nature of
some of her posts, so did Guncat. Neobomb did the
same thing with her creations, and Ranko had to admit
her fighting posts were rather choreographed. The
things Bloodletter got obsessive about
were...disturbing. She shrugged, that's what the game
was for after all, letting yourself go.
That feeling of being watched persisted and Ranko
looked up to glance around the room. The only thing
unusual she found was what looked like a fourteen year
old kid at a computer a few rows back. She skipped
over the girl after a moments inspection of the back
of her skull. She shrugged the feeling away again.
******
Skuld glanced away from the computer and back towards
her quarry. She relaxed upon seeing that the redhead
with the helmet cut was still there, and typing at an
abysmally slow rate. Skuld rolled her eyes and turned
back to the school computer to pull up another
internet window while the first tried to pull up
Yggdrasil.
Skuld glanced over her mail and growled as she came
to one mail.
"Ha!" she snapped. "I knew she'd do that!" She
covered her mouth and laughed nervously at the people
next to her. Glancing back she saw that the redhead
hadn't seemed to notice her at all.
~That werewolf,~ she thought, smirking. ~Always good
to get the bad guy's attention. Of course Guncat's
probably going to post something like...there it is
already. She's up late.~ She read the post and
huffed a little irritably. ~Doesn't she trust me to
handle the security system, sheesh.~
She glanced back to check on the mystery goddess's
position and noted her collecting her things. Skuld
twitched and bent forward to finish up her task of
replying to the general carnage in the game and then
sign out of both windows before getting out of her
chair to get back on the redhead's tail. Her
neighbors were left staring in shock at where Skuld
had displayed a typing ability that nearly pushed the
keyboard's limits. And it was obvious she was holding
back.
******
"Skuld said she'd be on campus today," Belldandy said
Keiichi as she moved into step next to him.
"Maybe she decided to stay home after all," Keiichi
said hopefully. Indicating that he hadn't seen the
young goddess either.
"I hope nothing is wrong," Belldandy said.
They passed a younger student, she almost looked like
she still belonged in high school actually. The woman
paused in her task, pinning a poster to a bulletin
board, and turned to face them, a puzzled look on her
face. There was an economy of motion to her actions
that was easily evident.
"Excuse me," the woman said warily. Belldandy and
Keiichi turned to face her, also cautious. Encounters
like this rarely meant good news.
"Hey, Akane," someone shouted down the hall. The
woman turned toward the voice and smiled as she walked
to meet the speaker. A young man a little taller than
her. Where the woman seemed graceful and economic in
her motions, the young man seemed to almost be made of
air.
"Ranma," the woman, apparently Akane, responded
cheerfully. Then she frowned. "I thought you were
still in class." She didn't say anything more with
the witnesses right there. The young man, apparently
Ranma, laughed nervously and scratched the back of his
head.
"They let out..." Ranma's voice sort of trailed off as
he saw Belldandy. Keeping his eye on Belldandy, he
inclined his head toward Akane. "Am I seeing what I
think I'm seeing?"
"Looks like it," Akane said, again looking at
Belldandy.
"Excuse me," Keiichi said. "But what's the deal?"
"Do we know you perhaps?" Belldandy asked, starting
to open up her senses. She wished that Skuld had been
there so she could ask for a more detailed scan of the
pair.
"Sorry," Ranma said shaking his head clear. "But
where did you get those marks on your face."
Belldandy's eyes widened as she felt the power
emanating from the two.
"Ranma!" Akane gasped, jabbing him with an elbow.
"Listen pal," Keiichi said moving up into Ranma's
face. "It's sort of rude to talk about people like
that."
"Hey, I was just askin," Ranma started.
"Keiichi be careful," Belldandy said, watching the
two carefully. Keiichi glanced back and saw
Belldandy's serious, cautious face and wondered what
he had just gotten himself into.
"Please excuse my husband," Akane said
apologetically. "His father didn't really bother to
teach him about dealing with people. I'm Saotome
Akane." She bowed with a cheerful, disarming smile.
Belldandy relaxed marginally.
"I suppose that's okay," Belldandy said.
"You haven't said what your problem is," Keiichi
said. Ranma and Akane looked over him in a manner
that made him uncomfortable.
"Ya got an impressive aura guy," Ranma said. "But
you ain't a fighter." There was no threat in the
sentence, just a statement of fact. Keiichi sweated
anyway.
"Ranma," Akane said warningly.
"Yeah, I know," Ranma said, sighing. "Look it's just
that we know someone with those same marks almost.
'Cept the one on the forehead."
"Oh," Belldandy said, relaxing a deal more at that.
"Who would that be?"
"She's my...daughter," Ranma said hesitantly. "Sort
of." Belldandy and Keiichi stared at him in shock for
a moment.
"You two have a..." he glanced around nervously.
"...a kid that looks like Bell?"
"It's a long a story," Akane said. "We were just
wondering if you could help us with her."
"Is something wrong?" Belldandy asked, still
surprised.
"Do you know how to use your...umm," Ranma shrugged.
"Life force, ta do stuff?"
"Of course," Belldandy said. "You're saying she
can't use her mana?"
"Mana?" Akane said, blinking. "As in from heaven?"
Belldandy blushed and Keiichi swallowed.
"I don't know about that," Ranma said, getting a
surprised look from Belldandy. "Saffron had the same
stuff, and he didn't seem very heavenly." Keiichi
heard Belldandy's gasp of shock and recognition and
took on a resigned look.
"You know what he's talking about, Bell?" Keiichi
asked.
"Saffron is a god that went rogue and became a
dictator of a small midgard country," Belldandy
explained. "He was defeated and forced into a new
incarnation by a human named Ranma Saotome, almost
five years ago. He was torn limb from limb in fact."
~This guy tore a god limb from limb,~ Keiichi
swallowed nervously but placed himself firmly between
Ranma and Belldandy. Ranma smirked, and Akane rolled
her eyes. Both seemed to approve of the motion
though.
"The jerk almost let Akane die anyway," Ranma said.
"Can we get past the introductions without a fight?"
"We're just hoping you know something about how to
help Ranko," Akane said.
"Certainly," Belldandy said. "Keiichi, it's fine.
Saffron was a rogue, almost as bad as a demon."
"Are you sure?" Keiichi asked.
"As if we'd threaten anyone that seems so much like
Kasumi," Ranma said.
"They don't know who Kasumi is, Baka," Akane reminded
him. Belldandy smiled at the affection in the
apparent insult.
"Well, we don't have any more classes," Keiichi said.
"I'll talk to her if you like," Belldandy said.
"She's gonna be at this restaurant that belongs to a
friend of ours," Akane said. "Would you join us for
lunch?"
"That would be nice," Belldandy said, completely
relaxed. There was certainly no hostile intent coming
from these two. "So, Ranma-san, how old is your
daughter?"
"Four or twenty" Ranma said. "We're not sure which
it should be." Belldandy and Keiichi stared at him
for a moment.
"It's a long story," Ranma and Akane said together.
******
Mara yawned and stretched, fed up with pacing the
room and thinking of a new plan to split up Belldandy
and Keiichi. She popped a couple joints and sat down
at her computer. Pulling it up she happily noted a
string of new messages.
"All right!! Post up!" she called out. After
finishing with the game stuff she got to Wldchld14's
response to her private mail. It had a new subject
header, none of her text was there, and it was sent to
all six of them.
The council says that even if I was strong enough to
take the trials, that I ain't really a person so no go
either way.
There was already a reply up, and Guncat was as
succinct as ever.
That sucks.
"What's she doing up?" Mara asked as she sent out her
condolences, and a thinly veiled offer to bring about
some retribution. Then it was time for work again,
she sighed irritably. She was really beginning to
hate her job.
As soon as she disconnected the computer her phone
started ringing. Mara sweatdropped and hesitantly
picked up the phone.
"Hello?" she said hoarsely.
The next thing she knew was that her ear drums were
being blasted out as some greater demon went about
lecturing her about tying up the phone lines. Then
the assignment came, no she wasn't being reassigned.
This new one could actually help her first one.
"You want me to convert a goddess?" she said
uncertainly. "I already know her?"
Her computer started spontaneously printing out a
file, sending the pages flying about the room, as her
superior continued to shout in her ear. After she was
allowed to leave she collected the scattered sheets of
paper and tried to arrange them in proper order.
"Wild child is a goddess!" she screeched. She
swallowed nervously and sat back down at her computer.
It was like with her sister all over again. The
bosses wouldn't allow her any friendships it seemed.
She hesitated before starting to send another mail.
Hey, why don't we meet...
******
Skuld turned the corner and looked up and down the
street for any sign of the redhead. It was like the
goddess had just vanished, but Skuld's goggles hadn't
registered a teleport, or a spell or anything like
that.
"Ahh, nuts!" Skuld said. Then someone leaned on her
shoulders from behind.
"What's your deal, kid?" a voice asked. Skuld
laughed nervously and turned to see the redhead's
elbow on her shoulder, with the other goddess's chin
cupped in her hand.
"How'd you do that?" Skuld asked. "I didn't get any
readings on any sort of spell." The redhead arched an
eyebrow and pointed to a shallow alcove just around
the corner.
"Now, why are you following me," the girl asked.
"Ummm..." Skuld blushed nervously and muttered
something.
"What?"
"I was bored, okay?" Skuld said. "And I was
wondering what you three were doing here."
"Three...?" the girl frowned and then nodded as she
figured it out. "You mean Ranma and Akane, right?"
"Your father and that valkyrie, and you," Skuld
nodded. She firmed up her courage. After all, she
was thousands upon thousands of years old. Even if
she wouldn't remember most of that time until sometime
after she finished growing in her current incarnation.
"Now what are you doing here?"
"Akane's a valkyrie?" the girl blinked.
"Yes," Skuld said uncertainly. "And your father's an
einherjar." The strange goddess's eyes narrowed.
"Those better not be insults," she said. Skuld
tipped over and planted her face in the ground.
"What kind of goddess are you!?" Skuld demanded,
putting herself right in the other's face.
"Goddess?" the girl said. She blinked and then
gasped as if she suddenly noticed something. "Hey,
you got marks on your face just like mine." Skuld
held out her hands, fingers, mouth and eye twitching.
******
"Welcome to Ucchans," the woman behind the counter
said. "Oh, hi, Ranko-chan, who's your friend?" Ranko
shrugged as Ukyou narrowed her eyes at the
similarities between the two girl's life forces.
"Hey, Ukyou," Ranko said, then looked to Skuld.
"This is Skuld, she's a little crazy, but she thinks
I'm a goddess so she can't be all that bad."
"I am not crazy!" Skuld insisted angrily.
"Well, you got Ranma's ego," Ukyou said jokingly.
"That's for sure." Ranko groaned as she sat on the
stool and put her head down on the counter.
"Hey," Skuld said.
"You always say that," Ranko muttered. She picked
her head up and looked around. "Ryouga's lost again?"
"You got it kiddo," Ukyou said. "Since this morning.
Interested in babysitting?"
"Did you hear me?" Skuld demanded. "I said that I'm
not crazy."
"I didn't say you were," Ukyou said. Ranko gave her
a look.
"Come on," she said. "You don't believe her do you?"
"It's true!" Skuld insisted.
"Stranger things have happened," Ukyou shrugged.
"The Amazons called me an 'object'," Ranko reminded
her. "I can't even channel enough chi, or whatever,
to shatter a brick any more."
"You're a little too hard on yourself," Ukyou said,
shaking her head.
"That's what everybody else says," Ranko muttered.
Ukyou sighed and turned to Skuld.
"If Ranko's a goddess," she said. "I suppose that
makes you one too?"
"That's right," Skuld said, nodding proudly. Then
clamped her mouth shut. "But I'm not supposed to tell
anyone, da...rn it." Ukyou smirked.
"Ukyou, I'm going to use your computer," Ranko said.
"Okay?"
"Sure kiddo," Ukyou said. "What do you want on your
okonomiyaki."
"I'll wait for Ranma and Akane to get here," the
redhead said, disappearing into the back.
"How about you?" Ukyou asked. "What can I get her
holiness?"
"Do you have any ice cream?" Skuld asked. I few
seconds later Skuld was looking at the first ice cream
okonomiyaki she had ever seen.
"It's an okonomiyaki shaped sundae," Ukyou said.
"Cool huh?" Skuld sweatdropped.
******
Keiichi had quite rightly concluded that the two
people walking next to him and Belldandy had a
weirdness factor that challenged even his day to day
life. What really made him twitch was how calmly they
explained Ranko's "birth."
"So she's like a clone then?" Keiichi asked,
remembering with a shiver the trouble they had with
two Urds running around.
"No, the twin water allows for the creation of a
whole new person," Belldandy explained. "The fact
that she has..."
Belldandy paused, uncertain of whether or not to pass
this information along or not. The two of them would
eventually be called to heaven as well, immortals were
not supposed to run around Earth without a reason.
Still...
"The fact that she changed proves she has her own
soul," Belldandy said.
"We know she's got a soul," Ranma said. "And don't
tell her she's some sort of copy either."
"He didn't mean anything by it, Ranma," Akane said.
"Yeah, I know," Ranma said. "It's the ones that
don't do it on purpose that are the worse though, you
know?" Akane nodded in agreement, considering her own
reaction whenever someone insulted her without even
realizing it.
"We'll be sure to take care of how we treat her,"
Belldandy assured them.
~Sort of daughter, my foot,~ Keiichi thought. ~This
guy's really protective of her.~ "How did she...get
her marks anyway?" Belldandy turned to the two
martial artists at Keiichi's question, curious about
that herself.
"She was...sick," Akane said hesitantly. "Someone
tried to get at us through her and she ended up
poisoned. The only cure that we were told would work
was fruit from the holy peach tree."
"She got the marks while she was eating the peach we
got," Ranma said. Belldandy blinked in surprise and
then smiled sunnily.
"I'm quite impressed," she said. "Not many people
would acquire that prize just to give it to someone
else."
"What would we use it for?" Ranma asked seriously.
"Eternal life," Belldandy said simply. Ranma and
Akane grimaced.
"I think we got that anyway," Akane said, somewhat
sadly.
"Don't be too sad," Belldandy said. "Things will
work out in time." ~You and your children will live
forever among the heros of heaven and their children,
I'm just not sure if you're ready to here that yet.~
They looked forward to the Ucchan's sign showing
through the rainbow of store flags and signs.
******
"Guncat's still up?" Ranko said, surprised. "There's
soulsword, what's she gonna do?"
Predictably enough, soulsword's sidhe was making some
sort of speech before she, too descended on the
ghouls, sword swinging. Neobomb and Bloodletter's
characters were handling the infiltration end
apparently.
Ranko smirked.
"That vampire must absolutely hate being out of the
fight," she snickered. She glanced on down and found
messages from Guncat, Bloodletter and soulsword
regarding her status as a citizen. Then there was
Bloodletter's mail asking to meet.
Meet? Like when and where?
She sent the message and was surprised to receive an
answer only a few moments later.
How's now? Nerima park? Ranko considered that for a
moment and then shrugged. She had nothing better to
do.
After sending her confirmation she started to walk out
toward the street, and stopped herself. If she left
that way, Skuld would follow her. She glanced at the
rear window and nodded. She wrote up a quick note and
pasted it to the computer monitor before slipping out
the back. Then she was off to meet this woman that
complained about her job so much.
******
"Damn rental," Rally muttered as she kicked the car
and got out to walk.
"So what are we still doing in Japan, huh?" May asked
next to her. Rally walked up to a pay phone and set
up her lap top again. "How long is it before you get
picked up for that gun?"
"You're the one with explosives to level a mountain,"
Rally said as she called up her email account again.
She immediately smiled in triumph. "All right, Becky.
Thank you."
"Okay, so what are we here for?" May asked again.
"We already got the creep handed over to US Embassy,
the bounty is only a little more than our expenses.
What are we doing? Another bounty?"
"Nope," Rally said. "I'm going to surprise some
friends."
"You have friends in Japan?" May asked, surprised.
"Yep, and Becky just intercepted some mail for me
that says where two of them are going to be in a
little bit," she said proudly. She slipped her lap
top back into the shoulder bag and started walking
down the street.
"Aren't we going to take the car?" May asked,
pointing. Rally grimaced and glanced over her
shoulder.
"That piece of crap?" she demanded, shaking her head.
"Walking's faster."
******
Ranko was starting to tire by the time she reached
the park and sat down at a bench to wait for her
friend to show up. It would be nice to have another
friend. Maybe, if she got enough friends, she'd be
able to make her own tribe. Some place she fit in
like she didn't in Japan or Joketsuzoku.
It didn't take long for boredom to over take her and
she started doing katas while she waited. She moved
smoothly, form perfect, but without any really power.
She could handle a few street thugs, maybe an average
black belt. Beyond that, she just couldn't guess.
She was interrupted in her activities by the sight of
a little boy wandering around by himself. She frowned
and looked across the park. The playscape was way on
the other side, out of sight from here. Unless the
kid's parents were with him she didn't see why he was
over here. Somehow she got the feeling that the kids
parents definitely didn't know where he was.
"Hey kid," she said, walking over and bending down to
his eye level. She didn't have to bend far. "You
lost or something?" The kid shook his head. "So
where are your mommy and daddy?" She had a sudden
flash of a young couple frantically searching the park
for this kid. He pointed back towards the playscape.
"So why don't you go back to them? I'm sure they're
worried aboutcha."
"No they're not," he said. "They're mean." Ranko
smirked and quirked an eyebrow.
"So what do they do that's mean?" she asked.
"They won't let me play on the big slide," he said.
"The big slide's a little tall for you," Ranko said
soothingly. "I think maybe they're just worried
you'll hurt yourself."
"But I'm a big kid now," he insisted.
"Ok," she said. "But the big slides for a very big
kid." The boy probably couldn't even get up the
ladder that was made for that slide.
"I'm a very big kid," he insisted petulantly.
"They're just being mean."
"That's their job," Ranko said. "They're supposed to
watch out for you."
"I can watch out for myself," he snapped. Ranko
sighed, she liked kids. For some reason she couldn't
lay a finger on she was usually fairly good with them.
Sometimes she flubbed it though.
"I'm sure you can," she said soothingly. "But you
gotta humor your mom and dad. Parents get kind of
paranoid, always afraid somethin' bad was going to
happen you know? So you got to put up with it until
you're old enough to get your own place. And you know
what?"
"What?" he asked.
"Then you get to tell your own kids what to do," she
said conspiratorially.
"Sota!" someone called out. It wasn't a parent,
sounded like a young girl actually. Well, Ranko had
expected someone to come by soon. "Sota, where are
you. Mom and grandpa are worried sick about you!"
"I'm over here!" the boy called out. A girl came
stomping into view and walked up to Ranko and Sota,
cautiously watching Ranko. "I was just talking to
this girl, Kagome."
"I'm sorry if he's being a pest, miss," the girl
said. Ranko shrugged.
"Nah, I just thought he might be lost and decided to
help out a little," she said. She stood up and got a
good look at Kagome, something flashed over her senses
and she flinched.
"Is something wrong?" the girl, she was maybe twelve.
"Just felt something funny is all," Ranko said. She
looked closely at Kagome and then shook her head. "Do
you have a pet dog by any chance?"
"No, just a cat," Kagome said, not noticing Ranko
twitch a little. She wasn't AS nervous around cats as
Ranma, but they did give her the willies at times.
"Why?"
"Uhh...I'm allergic to dogs," she said quickly. "And
I thought that funny feeling might be a reaction."
She really had know idea why she asked, it just felt
like the thing to do.
"Ohh kay," Kagome said. She started herding Sota
away from the strange girl.
"Gotta be careful with strays you pick up, you know,"
Ranko said, again for no apparent reason. "They don't
like to get attached to people if they can help it."
"Right," Kagome said, and then she picked up Sota and
was running away from Ranko. Ranko slapped herself in
the forehead.
"What was that about?" she wondered irritably and
went back to her bench to wait.
******
"Did your dream get into any specifics?" Ayako asked.
"Nope, I just think something big is going to happen
around here," Yohko said. "Even if nothing happens,
Guncat sent me a mail saying she was going to be in
the country and maybe we could surprise a couple other
players."
"Oh yes, the game. Now let me get this straight,"
Ayako said, narrowing her eyes. "You do this to relax
and escape reality for a little while."
"Right," Yohko said. "I know you have to have your
own hobbies, Ayako."
"I'm not finished," Ayako said.
"Oh, okay," Yohko shrugged.
"Now, in this game," Ayako continued, rubbing her
forehead. "You play a woman from an ancient family
that uses a sword, fights monsters and demons, lives
in a dream world and has bad luck with romance?"
"That's right," Yohko confirmed, uncertain of where
she was going. "But she's an elf, or faerie, or
something. Not human anyway."
"Whatever," Ayako said. "My only question is this.
How is that an escape from your normal life?"
"Ummm..." Yohko struggled to come up with an answer.
"I don't live in a dream world." Ayako gave her a
look.
"Let's see if the Azusas have the luggage ready," she
muttered.
******
Mara watched the scene unfold with a sense of
nostalgia. Ranko might not know that she was a
goddess, but she was a natural. And it was plain to
see what her domain was, and why hell would want to
recruit her. Mara frowned as she thought back
thousands of years to a little orphan wandering the
streets. Somebody offering to make her strong enough
to survive if she just signed on the dotted line.
"If a goddess like her had been active back then,"
she whispered. "They wouldn't have gotten half the
recruits they did. On the other hand, a demon like
her..." The thought actually disturbed Mara. She
glanced at the black paper in her hand and hesitated
before stuffing it in her pocket and moving to meet
Ranko.
******
"Wldchld14?" someone asked behind her.
Ranko turned to the sound of the voice and saw a woman
in her early twenties standing there with a lopsided
grin. The red marks on the woman's face gave her a
sense of unease for some reason, but she ignored it.
She had her own marks. What did someone else's
matter.
"Bloodletter?" she asked in response.
"It's Mara actually," the woman said with a smile as
she sat down next to Ranko. "What's your name?"
"Saotome Ranko," she said pleasantly, bowing at the
waist.
"You're younger than I expected," Mara said.
"I don't look my age," Ranko said simply. Mara
leaned over with a smile.
"Oh, older than you look I guess?" she asked.
Mara noted, with a sort of satisfaction, that Ranko's
eyes diverted to her chest for a moment. She couldn't
really tell what the goddess's preferences were, but
it didn't really matter to her. Mara had been
practicing her trade for centuries, anybody mortal
would fall to her eventually. And for the moment,
Ranko wasn't much more than mortal herself.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Ranko asked
nervously.
"I just thought you needed a little cheering up," she
said softly, wrapping her arms around Ranko's
shoulder. "What with the way those old hens were
treating you, just because of a little mixed blood."
Ranko had let them assume that particular idea, not
telling them directly, but not correcting them either.
"Hey!" Ranko snapped, standing up away from Mara in
surprise and a little anger. "Watch it. I like you
and all but, I ain't like that." There was a little
uncertainty in her voice though. Mara smiled
internally, keeping up that no-mind concentration that
allowed her to ignore the consequences of her actins.
~She doesn't know for sure then?~ Mara thought, and
imagined the fun she could convince this girl to
engage in. And some point, while Ranko was distracted
by the pleasures, ask her the question and of course
she would say yes. Then they could truly be friends
forever.
And then Mara's former unease cracked through the
layer of ignorance she had constructed for herself.
Mara flinched and shook her head clear. They
wouldn't be friends after that. Mara certainly held
no affection for the demon that tricked her. Ranko
would just be an ex-lover that Mara had tricked into
condemning herself for eternity. And if it got out to
Urd that she had tricked a fledgling goddess into
changing sides. Well, all her friends would be gone.
"Are you okay, Blood?" Ranko asked as the woman's
expression changed from a lusting one, to one of
remorse.
"I can't do it," Mara said. She took a black sheet
of paper out of her pocket.
"Can't do what?" Ranko asked nervously.
"See these marks, Ranko," Mara said. "They mean I'm
a demon."
"Okay," Ranko said, getting hesitantly into stance.
If the woman was telling the truth, she'd have no
chance in a fight, but she would go down fighting
anyway. Mara wasn't paying attention to her, merely
looking at the paper in her hand.
"I was supposed to get you to sign this and become one
of us before you figured out what you were," Mara
explained. "I guess then they'd have you corrupting
children throughout the rest of eternity. You're a
natural with kids. I saw that." Ranko swallowed
nervously at the thought, somewhat sickened.
"This is a joke, right," she asked. Mara shook her
head and started folding the paper in her hands.
"Nope, as a goddess you'd be a real detriment to my
bosses," she explained. "But as a demon, oh the
damage someone like you could do. But I'm not going
to do it. I'm tired of getting assigned to destroy my
friends."
She tore the paper in her hand, and then tore it again
and again. Then demon tossed up the papers and
watched them burst into flames as the wind picked them
up.
"That's that," Mara said resignedly as Ranko looked
on at her, surprised. The area was quiet for the
space of half a minute before three whirlwinds
appeared in the area around them, coalescing into
three humanoid male beings.
"Mara, demon first class," one of the figures, a
reddish man with the same sharp teeth that Mara had.
"You are accused of high treason, I'm taking you in
now." Mara nodded meekly.
******
The sound of the bell brought Skuld's attention to
the door, and she almost fell off her stool in
surprise. She was having an uncomfortable time with
getting shocked today.
"Skuld-chan!" Belldandy said with a little reproach.
"There you are!"
"Oneesama," she said loudly. "How did you meet
them!?"
"You know them Skuld?" Keiichi asked.
"She came in with Ranko today," Ukyou said from
behind the counter. "She's been telling me about how
Ranko's a goddess." It was only half a joke. Keiichi
slapped his hand into his face, while Skuld blushed
and laughed nervously.
"God...dess?" Ranma said in surprise.
"Oh dear," Belldandy said. "I was hoping to break
that to you a little more gently."
"You mean it's true?" Ukyou asked, blinking.
Belldandy nodded reluctantly. Three thumps were heard
shortly thereafter.
"Oh my," Belldandy said. "They didn't take that very
well."
******
"Hey! Don't just stand there," Ranko shouted.
"Fight 'em!" The lead demon glanced at her and then
the other two demons.
"Seal the goddess," he said. "But don't kill her, we
don't know who her double is." Ranko winced and
returned to her stance. Mara whipped to her feet and
released a wave of dark fire into one of the two
subordinate demons.
"Yeah!" Ranko cheered on. She chunked a rock at the
other minor demon. She was pleased to see it smack
the demon on the back of the head and send him
sprawling to the ground. Someone else without access
to any magic also felt heartened by the sight.
"Run!" the demoness ordered her as she prepared to
strike out again.
"By order of the Lord of Lies," the leader snapped.
"Your power is revoked!" Mara's next attack fizzled
into nothing before she could even completely form it
and the demon collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
"I ain't leaving you to them," Ranko shouted.
The head demon was about to respond when the scene was
bathed in sudden blinding light. Ranko squinted her
eyes shut and could only listen at the barrage of
gunshots that followed immediately after the flash.
When the flash died down, a tanned woman wearing
sunglasses stood next to a panting Mara. A small gun
was held in her hand as she scanned the scene. The
three demons were down on the ground, each with two
gaping wounds in their skulls.
"Who the-?" Mara gasped.
"Rally Vincent," the woman said cheerfully. "Bounty
hunter, owner and operator of Gunsmith Cats." Her
Japanese wasn't bad, but it definitely had a strong
American accent. A blonde, who looked younger than
Ranko did, came out from behind some trees and kicked
at the demon bodies, muttering something in English.
Rally glanced at one of the dead demons and continued
an amused tone of voice. "and demon slayer."
"Gunsmith Cats," Ranko repeated. "Guncat?!" Rally
nodded with a smirk.
"I was in Japan on business," she said. "That's my
partner over there, Minnie May." The blonde waved a
little nervously.
"How the hell did you do that?" Mara asked, out of
breath. Rally ignored the question.
"These are demons, eh?" she said. "They didn't seem
too tough." Mara panted and climbed to a seat on the
bench. The bodies were starting to fade away already.
"How'd you find us?" Ranko demanded, catching her
breath from the near disaster.
"A friend of mine intercepted the emails. No
offense," Rally said. "I think I prefer the game to
this." Mara and Ranko nodded whole-heartedly. She
glanced at Mara suspiciously for a moment and then
shrugged it off as the demon continued to recover.
"You know," Mara said. "They usually don't send
minions out to get traitors. They usually jus-" Mara
vanished in a whirlwind of smoke.
******
"Phew, they almost got away," Washu said. She turned
to look back at the man in her lab. It pleased the
being to appear as a man at this point anyway.
"Thanks for the warning, it would be a pity to
interrupt my game."
"I thought you might say that," the figure said,
smiling. "You know that you can't directly
interfere."
"If I directly interfered," Washu said, smirking.
"Mara wouldn't have left Earth."
"What do you call catching her in a pocket
dimension?" the man asked. "Out of curiousity."
"Field testing my equipment," Washu said simply. "I
can pay them a visit, I see you've got them all going
to one place already. Been planning this?"
"It's hard to plan for free will," he said, without
denying it.
"Uh huh," Washu said. "Anyway, I can pay them a
visit, provide some technical support. And I don't
think Ryoko would begrudge her mother a favor.
Especially if her daughter is already going, ne,
Minagi-chan?" She turned her attention to a rather
cheerful looking version of Ryoko, almost identical
aside from the clothes and the sickle marks on her
cheeks.
"Hai," Minagi said.
******
"Damn it," Ranma said quietly, staring at where Mara
had been. "I messed up again." The blonde was
wafting away the smoke and crinkling her nose. She
glanced to Rally and said something in English looking
somewhat anxious. Rally responded in the same
language and turned to Ranko.
"Doesn't look like there was anything you could do
just then," she said comfortingly.
"Yes there is," Ranko insisted. "I'll bet Ranma or
Akane would know something. And maybe we can get to
Nabiki!" She started back toward Ucchan's.
"Hey, wait," Rally called out, holstering her woman
and running to catch up to Ranko. Minnie May came up
running up behind Rally shouting in English about how
this was beginning to sound like a really bad idea.
"Who're Ranma, Akane and Nabiki?"
"They're my family," Ranko said.
******
Ranma groaned as he sat up and then saw Akane coming
to as well. From the sound of it Ukyou was recovering
as well. Ranma took a moment to consider what he had
just heard.
"You said Ranko was a goddess?" Ranma said.
"Well, duh," Skuld said.
"Skuld be nice," Belldandy instructed.
"Where is Ranko anyway?" Akane asked wearily.
"She went back to use the computer," Skuld said.
"Then why isn't she out here with all the noise we're
making," Ranma asked. Ukyou, standing up, took notice
of that and walked back into the office and returned
with a paste it note.
"'Gone to meet a friend,'" Ukyou read. "'See you
later.' She must have slipped out the back."
"How long ago did she go back there?" Ranma asked
frantically.
"Please calm down, Saotome-san," Belldandy said.
"She is a goddess, she is protected from accidents."
"I'm not worried about an accident," Ranma said.
"I'm worried about some pervert trying to get the best
of her. We told you she don't know how ta use
her...mana?...she's just a normal kid without that."
"Why didn't you teach her how to?" Skuld demanded.
Ranma and Akane fixed her with a look and Skuld had
the good grace to look embarrassed.
"Chi is not the same," Belldandy said. "It requires
different forms of focus to use."
"You're saying that she's been a goddess for four
years and hasn't learned how to do anything in that
time?" Keiichi asked, surprised. "I thought it came
natural."
"It takes hard work you doofus," Skuld snapped.
~That's why the most I can do without machines is
paste words all over people.~
"RAAANNMA!!! AKAANEEE!" a voice shouted as the door
was slammed open. Ranko paused for a moment at the
sight of the two strangers, and Skuld, then rushed for
Ranma and Akane. "I've screwed up! I just stood
there and let them take her!"
"Let who take who?" Akane asked. Eyes turned to the
two people coming in to the restaurant behind Ranko.
Akane's eyes narrowed dangerously as she saw the
holstered gun, and in a flash she was across the room.
"Whoa!" the woman shouted. Her partner produced a
grenade and a determined expression as she shouted in
English. "Hey, hey. I'm a friend!" She turned to
the blonde and said something to her. The blonde
reluctantly put away her grenade.
"Everybody, let's calm down," Belldandy said.
"Akane-san, Miss...Ranko-san, please. Can you just
tell us what's wrong?"
"Don't go for the gun," Akane warned as she let the
American down.
"Don't worry about me," she said, dusting herself,
but maintaining a slightly superior look on her face.
Something that said Akane wasn't going to get the drop
on her again. It was a bluff though, and both knew
it. "Good moves."
"Okay," Ranma snapped. "What's going on?"
"You know that game I play on the computer?" Ranko
asked. Ranma nodded. "I went to go meet Bloodletter,
she's from the gam-" Skuld fell off her stool and
sprang up, investigating Ranko's T-Shirt.
"You're Wild Child!?" she gasped. "I'm Neobomb."
Skuld blinked as the American extended a hand with a
smirk.
"Guncat, how are you doing?" she said with a smirk.
Skuld blinked a couple times and nearly fainted.
"Introductions done? Okay. Because our mutual friend
Bloodletter just vanished in a puff of smoke." She
turned to Ranma and Akane. "Ranko seems to think you
might be able to find a way to get her back."
~I need to learn Japanese,~ Minnie May thought
irritably as she watched them talk.
"Huh, what happened?" Skuld asked. Ranko gave a
quick rundown of the events at the park. Skuld was
twitching throughout most of it. "Bloodletter, is
Mara...that actually makes sense."
"I'm sorry, Ranko-chan," Belldandy said sadly. "If
Mara was taken back to Nifelheim, there is nothing you
can do."
"Well," a new voice added. "It's a good thing she's
not in Nifelheim then." No one was quite certain when
the little girl had appeared there, but it was quite
obvious that she was more than she appeared to be.
"Who are you?" Ranma asked, noting her aura, similar
to the goddesses' but slightly different.
"Excuse me," the comer addressed Rally. "Can I see
your gun for a moment, I'd like to see how you killed
three demons with such a weapon."
"I wasn't supposed to?" Rally asked, hesitantly
handing over the weapon. It would be good to just why
she had succeeded in case she had to fight a demon
again sometime.
"Ceramic gun," the pink-haired woman said. "You made
it?" Rally nodded. "Impressive. Ahh, crystal
bullets, that explains it. Must limit the size of the
gun though."
"Yeah," Rally agreed, accepting the weapon back and
holstering it. "It's a smaller gun than I like, but
neither the gun nor the ammunition register on metal
detectors. Shatters in a nasty pattern when it hits,
virtually any armor will stop it, but it has lots of
stopping power and causes some heavy injuries."
"You'll need something bigger for what you're about
to do," she said. "More rapid fire too, I can give
you that." Rally felt somewhat vaguely nervous about
that statement.
"Hey!" Ranko snapped. "We asked who you were?"
"Watch it Wild," the woman said, smirking. "I'll
give Burns-the-Panda fleas." The three game players
blinked in surprise.
"Washu-sama," Belldandy said blinking. "I thought
you were trapped."
"One of my daughter's little friends broke the seal,"
Washu said. "Now, about, Mara. You know the rules as
well as I. I can't use my power directly to
interfere, however, I can use my inventions. So you
see, Mara is not in Nifelheim. She is in a pocket
dimension I created to hold her for a little bit."
"So why not just take her all the way back?" Ranma
asked.
"Because, she IS a demon," Washu said. She sat down
at a stool and looked at a shell-shocked Ukyou.
"Don't worry dear, it's just a silly, over-complicated
crossover. Now can you get me an okonomiyaki and I
can get on to explaining the situation."
"Uh, sure," Ukyou said.
"If you can drag her physically back here," Washu
said. "I'm sure something can be done to safeguard
her. But eventually her master will pull her back
otherwise."
"So, all we do is go there and bring her back?" Rally
asked. "Sounds too easy."
"Good food," Washu said. "I'm pretty certain that
the demons are already trying to get her themselves.
But I left a security system to hold them off,
unfortunately, I was rushed. So it'll try to hold
everyone off."
"What kind of security system?" Skuld asked,
remembering some past adventures.
"Ever play this game called Quake?" Washu asked.
Rally and Skuld groaned. "Don't worry, there's help
coming."
"Like who?" Akane asked. The doorbell rang as the
door was opened to admit two sets of twins.
"Wow, it looks like a party," one of the older sets
of twins said. She spotted Rally and waved. "Hey,
Guncat, its me, Soulsword."
"Uh...you might want to hold off," Rally said. "We
got some serious trouble coming."
"No, they can be helpful," Belldandy said, she
glanced to Skuld and the two elder Saotomes for
confirmation. They all nodded in confirmation.
"Is something wrong?" Ayako asked grimly, narrowing
her eyes. After the situation was explained she
looked around at the people as if they were insane.
"You want us to risk our lives to rescue a demon?
Okay...that sounds about normal."
"Your sarcasm is noted, cousin," Yohko said dryly.
Minnie May stopped doing the tennis neck thing for a
moment and yawned.
"That wasn't the help I was talking about," Washu
said. A silver haired woman appeared next to Washu
and started glaring.
"She isn't my daughter any more than you're my
mother!" the woman snapped. "And what the hell are
you doing getting her mixed up in some sort of
interdimensional rescue mission anyway? She's an
airhead, she'll just mess up and get herself hurt.
And I...Sasami wouldn't like that."
"Everybody, my daughter Ryoko," Washu said. "Ryoko,
everybody."
"Hello," Ryoko said gruffly. Then she turned back to
Washu. "There is nothing you can say to get me to..."
"I'll stop teasing Tenchi for a month," Washu said.
Ryoko froze.
"Two months," she said. "And you got a deal."
"I knew I could count on you," Washu said, smirking.
Another woman, almost a carbon copy of Ryoko suddenly
appeared next to Ryoko.
"Are we ready to go?" she asked cheerfully.
And various characters in the rumor commented, but
there were now too many people in the scene for the
author to keep track of...well actually...that had
happened a while ago.
******