Disclaimer - I do not own Ranma 1/2 or Angelic Layer. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Clamp respectively. I am merely using concepts, places, and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Third Layer

Chapter 2 Finishing Touches

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SPLASH! "ARGH!" Ranma, once again, was unpleasantly woken with a handy bucket.

"It's about time you got up! Breakfast is ready!" Akane said from the door. The panda kept on sleeping.

The room showed no evidence of last night's activities. All trash that indicated its presence was put in thick, opaque plastic bags and tossed out in a nearby dumpster. Everything else was hidden away using some of Mousse's Hidden Weapons Techniques. After following all the instructions, Ranma had made all the adjustments and settings in much the same way his female form moved. It turned out quite similar in stature as herself, but with a much smaller bust. He always had complained about how they kept getting in the way of her fighting, and put her much more off-balance than she really needed in a fight. In the end he named the doll Ranko, as in Wild Child. Sure it was a dead giveaway, but he felt the need to...simply put his own personal touch to her.

Yawning from the slight lack of sleep, she slowly dressed and came downstairs. Everyone else was there already, even Nabiki. What? Hell, if Nabiki were already up and running, she REALLY musta slept in. Picking up the warm kettle and dumping it on herself, Ranma tried to wake himself completely. The sleeping powder must have worn off, but at least Genma woke up later than he usually does and there wasn't any morning sparring except for the usual battle over the food. Ranma was tired of this, constantly battling it out trying to protect his food (and everyone else's for that matter...baka-panda) and attacked directly. Snapping out his chopsticks, he nabbed one of Genma's attacking chopsticks that was heading for Nabiki's plate and using a deft twist, broke off the longer part of one chopstick and flung the offending utensil out the window. He did it so fast Genma was left wondering why he didn't get any food when he stuck the remaining whole chopstick into his mouth trying to eat his 'prize'. He attacked some of the others' plates and still no food was stolen. He didn't even bother checking his own weapon for defects and breakfast proceeded with much more food for everybody.

When everyone finished, Kasumi noticed that Genma still had a lot of food on his plate. "Saotome-san, are you not feeling well? You hardly touched your food." Nabiki, just finishing her tea, gave a spit-take. Well, that was a first. Damn, she's going to have to pay Akane and her father big time for this. Well, no matter, maybe Genma was just really ill or something.

Genma, realizing that everyone was about to leave, and he hadn't gotten any food, finally looked at his hand. One of his chopsticks was broken right near his hand. Damn, that boy was getting better. He sheepishly got up and went to the cupboard and got a fresh pair of wooden chopsticks and went back to eat what was left of his meal. That's funny, he didn't remember eating half of it...

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School was finishing again for the day, and Ranma, again went off to the store. This time ala Air-Akane. Well, beats waiting for the bus and the subway. At least he was heading in the right exact direction. Why hadn't he thought of this before? It was simply a matter of manipulating Akane's movements and direction and softening the blow enough to not go too far. Although since where he wanted to go was pretty far, he did have to be a bit more harsh than he usually was. She was also angry that Ranma hadn't gotten her an engagement ring like she thought he did. He had to tell her he didn't find what he was looking for, and wanted to go back. There was some new manga he had found and there weren't any left, was the story. Forget that Prevent-Foot-In-Mouth technique for the moment, and make Akane think that he'd gone back to his old egotistical self. Hmm, maybe that's why Nabiki loves manipulating people so much...there was some satisfaction knowing you got someone to act the way YOU wanted them to. But he guessed she also liked the money she got from them. Hmm...to think of a technique to resist that kind of manipulation being done on himself...

He paid Nabiki a hefty sum (well, more like added a lot to his current debt) for information about Kodachi's, Ukyo's, and Shampoo's TV interests and other possible "little girly" hobbies...err...like maybe playing with dolls or whatnot. It was a bit of effort not to let slip the fact that he was trying to avoid them finding out about his own interest in Angelic Layer, but it seemed to work and Nabiki was left thinking that Ranma wanted to have a sort of "Girly" index to sort out which fiancee he could dump. She even began using that thought as the basis of her study, and sent her lackeys out finding their usual routines. Even though she already had a good overview of their hobbies, habits, and interests.

Oh well, it's nearly time for landing. Better prepare himself as to not freak anyone out too much by falling out of the blue. He pulled out a thermos of cold water and dumped it in front of himself so he would splash into it as he fell. She twisted and aimed in the direction of a tall building with plenty of flag-poles. She caught and swung on one up and over to land standing on it. Then she looked around for the nearest fire-escape. There! Swinging back onto the pole, she flipped up and around more poles to land on the fire-escape. From there, it was simple to go down, drop down easily in an ally, and walk nonchalantly out.

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Once again, Ranma stood in front of the store, this time dry and with purpose. Now that Ranma had the model, she could start designing a costume for Ranko. Walking in with purpose, she went straight to the costume section and started comparing models and colors. Alright, she would admit it. She really WAS developing a fashion sense. Just gotta hide it from everyone. Wasn't it once said that knowin stuff was the best weapon? Or sumthin like that...Well, if that was true, or some other variation of it, then that meant that ANY experience has value of some sort. Again, she thought back of Nabiki. Nabiki was certainly powerful, and no one dared do anything to her in fear of what she knew. Cause she could let everyone know what she knew and if she knew something that person didn't want known, perfect blackmail material. Also very good for using to collect debts on time.

Anyway, Ranma turned her attention back in front of her and looked at the selection once again. Better not to use any of her usual colors or styles, so she picked out a white form-fitting silk shirt with a blue jacket. Slightly loose dark-blue leggings and a pair of light red-and-white striped flat-bottomed boots were chosen. Looking through some of the extra peripherals, she thought back at that Hikaru model. Sure those long lines could be used as weapons, but what if they swung in the wrong way and fouled up her movements? She really liked the look of it however, and in some ways could be used as a sort of balance stabilizer and short-ranged weapons. Deciding to get them anyway, and, hoping not to copy Hikaru too much, had the idea to maybe wrap them over he shoulders to keep them in reach, but out of her way. Looking through the hair accessories, she decided to ditch the lot of them, and moved on. Jewelry...not! The gloves were next. Eh, those red and white fingerless gloves would make a good contrast to the white and blue, so those went in the shopping basket. There, she basically had a good starter set for her costume and would need to simply hem and refit some of the smaller details to get the right look. With that, she went to the cashier again, paid for her things, and left.

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This time, Ranma didn't immediately go home. She decided to find someplace she could go so she could fit the clothes and then start playing. Yeah, Martial Artists weren't supposed to 'play', but she just told that voice that it was also training. The somehow panda-sounding voice grumbled, but stopped. There were some really nice parks around, so she stopped at one and took out her things. It was a pretty simple matter to adjust everything and fit them on Ranko. She mused that it looked pretty good. Now to see how this game worked. Alright! Alright! Training exercise! She remembered the mall had some tables set up, so went back to it. At least this place was free and pretty empty at the moment. She could get a table by herself easily if she wanted.

Whistling cheerfully to herself, rented a table at the counter, sat down at the empty table and took out the pamphlet she got at the counter. Following its instructions, she put the visor on, and pressed the button on the side. She felt a small tingle behind her ears and thought that it was working properly. Reading the phamphlet once again, said for her to lightly toss her angel in. Concentrating on the doll and infusing it with a bit of ki, she tossed it in. Of course, being inexperienced with it, it slumped lifelessly to the ground. Thinking she needed to concentrate harder on making it move, she closed her eyes. Now, bringing up some techniques in meditation and concentration, she began feeling for Ranko.

She didn't notice her aura springing up around her and beginning to feed its way onto the layer. She instinctively kept it down to a minimum, so it wasn't yet visible to the naked eye. She concentrated fully on feeling what it felt, hearing what it heard, seeing what it saw. Then, with a small jerk on her aura, she felt herself as if being moved...or transferred. Then it was gone as suddenly at it came. But there was still a funny feeling as if being in two places at once. Feeling that was what she was supposed to be feeling, she opened her eyes. 'Why am I lying down?' she wondered. She got up, and looked around. She was standing on some sort of white plain that extended in all directions for a bit. She turned, and looked out beyond the whiteness. 'What the...?' She looked up...and up...and up...and there was her face, eyes closed in meditation.

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