Disclaimer: We, in no way shape or form, own Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon.

The Anarchists

A Ranma ½ Fanfiction by
Materia-Blade
and Ozzallos

- - - - - I - - - - -

A wide yawn marked the groggy awakening of Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, whose peaceful slumber was rudely interrupted by a beam of sunlight that had seen fit to creep up the side of his face, over his nose and would have superfluously attempted to burn his retinas out had they been open. The lethargic action in and of itself would not have been unusual if the martial artist had been any other person in the Nerima prefect.

Sadly, he was not.

His wakeup calls consisted of, on average, water buckets, fat pandas, yelling, extortionist siblings, bitter rivals and from time to time, an Akane-snatcher or two whose goal was not to specifically wake him up, per say, but precipitate events that would awaken him by proxy. What his wakeup calls did not consist of was warm sunshine caressing his cheek in a bid to gently coax him back into the land of the living, which began to process tiny, barely perceptible alarms from within the depth of his sleep-drenched brain. Those tiny alarms prompted an instant, albeit sleepy assessment of his current situation.

The weight on his chest informed Ranma's groggy brain that he was in fact a she, in spite of the fact that she felt dry and distinctly remembered falling asleep as a man. Regardless, it was not too unusual of an occurrence and the aforementioned facts were filed away as minor oddities against the major oddities that his life generally consisted of.

Still, the subtle alarms in her head persisted and Ranma's eyes fluttered open in a languid manner, whereupon the sunbeam that had been gently coaxing her awake took the opportunity blind the girl. That too, was a small concern to her and she brought one hand up to relive her liquefying retinas. In fact, the only really only abnormal thing that her sleep deadened senses recognized was the softness of ground she laid on. It was much softer than her futon and she had rarely felt so comfortable, even with the biting sun gnawing at her sleep-filled eyes.

She cracked the eye back open slowly as an unrecognizable voice filtered through her ears. Probably just Kasumi calling for everyone to wake up, though even that was unusual for the martial artist, as she was almost never allowed to sleep long enough to benefit from the wakeup call to begin with.

The softness was a bed, she identified as the higher functions of her brain slowly came online. An actual bed. An extremely comfortable and springy bed, complete with white sheets and warm quilted blanket layered over her person.

Suddenly, she froze.

Being in an ultra soft, plush bed was more than enough cause for alarm, though not the principle source of her new found consternation. That honor went to her hand. Her hand, which had had the unfortunate experience of waking up in the same predicament numerous times, was pressed into a breast.

Not her own breast.

The fact that she could make the very distinction was sad unto itself.

It was also with small thanks that said breast was covered with both a shirt and bra, though both articles were rather skimpy and obviously pajamas. Not that it matters, Ranma winced. Said girl- whoever she was -wouldn't care how many layers of clothing covered her once she woke up.

But that wasn't Ranma's only problem. She was draped haphazardly over the other girl in what was almost an embrace. It was an embrace! She lay about the girl, being held as if they had fallen asleep together; her arms caressing Ranma's back and head smoothly.

Their legs dangled together below them, intertwined suggestively.

Ranma's eyes were wide as an owl's. Fear fluttered down her spine as she slowly, carefully, meticulously, lifted the hand off of the left mound of the girl in the bed next to her.

Ranma's free hand clutched the nearby pillow for support as she fought to remove herself decisively from the bed, an action that would more than likely result in her grim demise if she moved too quickly. Instead she pulled away slowly, hoping to identify the girl once she could safely turn her own head to do so. Who was this girl!? Why was she here!?

Ranma tried to raise herself, but the girl's arms, holding her tightly, did not want to budge.

"Mmm… sis… don't wanna… get up… yet…" Came a lazy voice from above Ranma.

Ranma gulped as the words rolled over her mind. Sis? Kasumi maybe? Perhaps thinking she was comforting one of her sisters? Still, the voice was off. A higher pitch. It didn't matter to Ranma either way. She had been in this situation once or twice before. The results were never good. Ever.

She reached up with her left hand, letting a bit more pressure fall on the girl in order to forcibly extract herself from the sleeping entanglement. Ranma took the hand resting lightly on her back first, pulling it from her person sliding it downward before letting it rest on the bed beside her. Next she reached up to her head, and took the other hand gingerly, sliding it down her back and off of her on the right.

Free, Ranma put her both hands on the sides of the girl and pushed herself up and away.

Below her lay a girl as beautiful, possibly even more so than any of the other women in her life. She was as petite as her own female aspect; diminutive height and shorter, vibrantly royal green hair. She was stunning, which said a lot considering the martial artist's regular company. It lay frazzled around her and she lay snoring, a bubble inflating and deflating on her nose. She wore a light pink tank top, which left the white bra beneath it quite visible and a pair of plain cotton panties. Curiously, a small fang showed every time she let loose a snore. Ranma was impressed. The girl was beautiful, but she was no one that Ranma knew… Making the situation even worse than it already was.

Looking down at the girl's body she inevitably noticed her own… her long, shapely legs… the same white panties, pink tank top and bra. Something about the sight disturbed her beyond being caught in such frilly garments, but figuring out what was so disturbing took on an importance several slots lower than the slumbering girl below her person.

Ranma carefully crept off the girl, moving slowly as to avoid any sudden awakening and thereby stave off the catastrophe waiting in the wind. She crept off the other girl to lie on her back beside her, both still under the blanket. The girl yawned as the light- previously shielded by Ranma -had now begun to attack the green haired girl's eyes.

More silently than ever before, she slid off the bed without shifting the blankets an inch and was finally able to take in the surrounding room in once she was off the bed.

A strange squarish plate was mounted on the wall right beside a door that had no doorknob. Most of the room was white though it didn't appear to be a result of wallpapering or paint, while the main source of light and consequently her wakeup call came from a window sculpted into the shape of a crescent moon. Her attention lingered there for a moment, noting how it seemed to let in more light than such a shape would normally allow, let alone the fact that it seemed to angle the warm sunshine unnaturally onto the girl sleeping on the bed.

A small teddy bear holding a large heart that said 'Be Mine' rested on the bed on the other side of the girl. Curiously, it was about ripped to shreds. Hairs all over the teddy bear had been ripped out and deposited on the floor, though whoever did the ripping didn't appear to be all that strong. The head was still attached when there had obviously been several attempts to pull it off.

The walls themselves may have been a plain creamy white, but they were decorated. With posters of boys. Some held musical instruments, some stood in action posses. All were targeted with a specific audience in mind, one that made Ranma shiver… There was no doubt that she was trapped in girl's room. A girl's girl room. A desk with an enormous mirror and more lipsticks and beauty affects than Ranma had ever seen sat opposite the door to as if to emphasize the fact. Oddly enough, only one wall remained undefiled, but the martial artist barely took note of it against the balance of girldom assaulting her senses.

Her attention turned back to the beautiful woman, girl really, maybe half a year her senior, still sleeping soundly. Satin and silk sheets caressed her, cradling her in an exquisite wood-carved mahogany masterpiece. Comfort beyond comfort. It was almost appalling to the martial artist, who could count the number of times he had slept in an actual bed on one hand, let alone this work of art.

Where in the world am I…? Ranma thought with trepidation, taking another wary glance at her surroundings. All alone in enemy territory with no memory as to how she got there. There was no way this would have a happy ending to it.

She paced the room, looking at several objects thrown haphazardly about it. It looked as if the shelves along the wall opposite the bed were normally quite neat and tidy. They still were, in fact, save for the shattered glass of busted and down-turned picture frames. The martial arts heir looked from the curious mess back to the sleeping beauty.

"Guess there's only one way to find out." Ranma murmured. She walked around the bed to the side the green-haired girl was closer to and knelt down. Reaching out, she poked the girl a few times with a finger in the shoulder, but received little response.

"Eh, hey." Ranma prodded. "Wake up."

Slowly, her poking in the shoulder started to bring the girl around. Bloodshot eyes slowly strayed open and hands rose to block the sunlight, taking in no notice of their surroundings. The lethargic girl squirmed a bit and mumbled something that sounded vaguely like 'Shut up…' but Ranma couldn't be sure.

"Hey, wake up!" Irritation began to overcome her wariness and Ranma's poking increased a measure. "Don't go back to sleep on me."

The girl jerked up in shock, staring wildly around her before locking onto Ranma. "Who? What?!" Red eyes widened upon noting her tormentor's state of dress. "Ack! I didn't mean—" The green haired girl's gibbering ceased and her already wide red eyes widened further. "My voice! What's happened to my voice?! Tell me what's happening to me!!"

I thought I was supposed to be the clueless one here! Ranma backed away from the panicking girl, staring. "How the hell should I know what's wrong with your voice!? That was your bed I woke up in!"

The girl before her blinked rapidly, processing the new information. "My bed!? I've never seen this place in my life!! This is your place!"

Ranma slapped her head, grumbling. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Dammit, Ranma this is all your fault!"

The martial artist's hand slid down her face, all but gawking at the girl now. Her cheek, twitched. The now angry girl was now quivering with indignation, but Ranma was all but certain she hadn't been spoken to. But still… It was impossible, but…

"Ryoga?!"

The green haired girl's righteous anger ceased instantly and her head swung back. "How… how do you know my name? Who the heck are you?! What happened to me, dammit?!"

"This just can't get any weirder…" Ranma shook her head, then addressed the girl directly with a wry smile that indicated more confidence than what she was feeling at the moment. "What's up, P-chan?"

"Ranma…?!"All movement in the girl ceased and the she began to study her counterpart intently. The girl before her bore only the vaguest resemblance to the rival he knew so well, in the semblance of astonishingly lighter-than-usual red hair.

The martial artist blinked. She hadn't actually expected to be right. Ryoga Hibiki was a guy and a pig. One thing he wasn't was a gorgeous, red eyed, green haired girl. The girl's fists balled and any trace of surprise evaporated in that instant.

"It is your fault!" She screamed, taking a menacing step forward. "What the hell did you do to me Ranma?!"

"Hey! I'm just trying to figure out where the hell I am and who you are!" Ranma fired back, leaning into the girl's nose. "There's no need to go gettin' mad at me for waking you up! I've been poking you for— Hey! I'm talking here!"

The girl was ignoring her completely now. Her eyes were intently focused on her hands. "I-I'm a… a…"

"H-hey… are you okay? What's wrong?" Ranma asked. The girl was looking down at herself like she'd seen a ghost. Her hands were twitching.

"I-I'm a…" Her hands floated nervously in the air. Looking away she gulped. "I can't possibly be a…"

Then she grabbed the top of the pink tank top and yanked it down. Two breasts, beautiful, round, and most definitely real were instantly uncovered, saved only by a bra from full exposure.

"He-hey! What in the hell! Cover yourself up, idiot!" Ranma screamed, shielding her eyes from the specimen of female cleavage as round and full as her own.

The girl was just staring like a dear caught in headlights. Slowly, she looked up towards the Saotome who was shielding her eyes. Shock became rage once more in an instant. "Damn you Ranma… You think this is funny? Change me back, right now! This has to be your fault! Ranma! Prepare to di—!"

Pang!

The sound of Ranma's fist on the girl's skull reverberated across the room, comically as a bruise appeared on the green-haired girl's forehead.

Ranma recognized that tone. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind anymore. This girl absolutely had to be Ryoga, regardless of the body he wore. "Dolt!" She exclaimed. "Damnit P-chan, how the hell could this possibly be my fault!? I woke up in some random room on top of some girl I've never met! What am I supposed to think, idiot?! I hoped that you knew what was going on!"

Ryoga's attitude somehow changed in an instant. Her hand moved to stroke her chin with quivering uncertainty. "B-but I'm a girl! There's no way it couldn't have been you! You probably got a hold of some Nyannichuan and just felt like torturing me some more than you already have, didn't you!"

"Of course not! Where the heck are we? And how did you become… well…" Ranma trailed off, not quite sure. "Uh… look, are you okay? It's strange at first. I dunno how this happened but its better then being a pig, right?"

Did I just try to 'comfort' Ryoga? Ranma asked himself.

Ranma shook her head roughly and beat it a few times with her fist. "Bah. Come on, stop acting like you aren't gonna try and kill me and get it over with so we can find out what the heck is goin' on!"

Ryoga just sat there, mechanically pulling up her bra and tank-top with her left hand. Blinking.

For a long moment she looked at Ranma, disoriented by the whole scenario. It was obviously Ranma. At least she thought it was.

"Yo! Earth to P-chan! Wake up!" The strawberry blonde version of his arch-rival said, interrupting his thoughts with skill borne of practice.

Definitely Ranma.

"What is it!?" Ryoga screamed, annoyed at the interruption of his self-inspection.

"I asked if you were okay! Guess you're obviously fine though. Thick headed as ever!"

For some reason, the retort didn't quite spark Ryoga's usual malice and hatred. So instead of beating the perverted bastard in female form to a pulp, she simply glared. In doing so she noticed something unusual.

"Are you ok Ranma? Actually you look a little… funny…" The girl said, giving Ranma an inspective look, and the words a bite.

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, plainly confused. She looked down at herself. Same breasts. Hard to forget those. Still thin as always. Red hair? Check. Short? Check.

"What are you talking about, Ren-- eh, Ryoga?" Ranma asked, checking herself over once again.

"Your eyes… they're red! And your hair… it's you… but you don't look like you! Look close." Ryoga said pointing to the mirror.

Curious, Ranma stood and walked toward the mirror she had passed earlier walking around the bed.

"Well I'll be…" She muttered. There before her stood a strange girl… similar to the form she saw every day in the mirror and yet different. Shoulder length hair, cascading down the sides of her head in a way similar to her normal hair, unbound. She had the same body shape, mostly. Her hair though was a bit pinkish; more red by far, but for some reason it was a bit… lighter? Her face… her face was sharper. It was more narrow and yet stunning as ever.

But that was hardly noticeable next to her eyes. As deep a red as she had ever seen. Transfixed she gazed into the mirror. Looking closer, her eyes glowed with an intensity every bit as strongly as her blue eyes had. But…

She gulped a little, turning away from the strange version of herself in the mirror. "Creepy…"

"I told you… something really weird is going on, here." Ryoga said as she stretched herself off the bed.

"Raya! Rena! Are you two up yet! School begins in an hour! I'll expect you in the Trans on time, you two!" Yelled an annoyed, parental voice.

Without warning, the wall that looked like a doorway suddenly evaporated, giving way to a similarly white hallway blocked by long flowing green hair on a face that looked almost the splitting image of Ryoga's new form but more mature with curves to match. She was a bombshell for lack of a better term and she entered, tapping her emerald green high heels in annoyance. The door immediately rematerialized behind her, blurring into the solid form it held only seconds prior.

"Rena! You aren't even dressed yet! I'd expect this from Raya but I thought you at least have the sense to wake up on time!" The woman exclaimed, glaring at Ryoga.

Suddenly a feeling of guilt rose in Ranma.

"Sorry, mama." She and Ryoga suddenly chorused. At that exact moment, both girls looked at each other with similar expressions of 'What the Hell!?' written on across their faces.

"Hurry up! You will be on time today! It's not like you have to actually walk to school like I did four millennia ago! Now come on! Hop to!" The woman clapped her hands.

Ranma and Ryoga simply sat there. "Uh… I don't –" Ranma began.

"Oh Raya-chan!" The woman suddenly interrupted as her eyes fell on the broken glass of picture frames and ripped teddy bear.

"Uh… I didn't do that…" Ranma inserted smartly.

The woman's eyes glistened. "I'm so sorry honey! I… I didn't know! Raya, what did Naota do? I… I'm sorry… I—!"

The looks of 'What the Hell!?' expanded if that was possible as eyes widened. Ranma was suddenly in an embrace with the woman both she and Ryoga had unconsciously called 'Mama.'

This is strange even for me! Ranma thought in reeling shock. She accepted the embrace… edgily… And for some reason she felt… hollow?

Shrugging it off, Ranma regained her composure… some of it at least. "H-hey. It's ok! Nothing's wrong! I'm fine, no—er, I'm fine!" Ranma said.

I'm fine, now? Naota? What is wrong with me!? Ranma's mind tried to grasp why in the world it was thinking so strangely. Nothing had been wrong with her that she could think of, but somehow the errant thoughts only caused the hollow feelings to thicken about her.

"Look, we-we'll be fine okay?" Ranma murmured from the comforting embrace. Backing away she stared into the green-haired woman's eyes. "Uh… you go on! I… we'll get ready! Okay?"

The woman's eyes glistened. Genuine care written all over her concerned face. "My little Raya… you grow up more every day."

With a sniff the woman turned around. "I'll write you two a late pass for your classes. You can have a little extra while. Better hurry though."

The woman then placed her hand on the strange hand-pad beside the closed door. A hiss of realized pressure, a swish fading as the door suddenly disappeared, and the doorway was open. She stepped through and the door closed just as quickly once more.

Ranma gulped, now noticing the door. It was a mechanical door that operated on handprints. Handprints!

"Ryoga… was that our…?" Ranma tried to ask, trembling just a bit.

"We both called her… Mama." Ryoga said finishing for her. "God… I don't think I've ever been this lost before."

"Come on. I guess we don't have much of a choice if we want to find out what's going on. Let's try and get dressed, ok?" Ranma said, trying to keep their mutual thoughts away from the shocking fact that they were… related?

"Some hot water will fix this right up, Ryoga. Don't panic yet, okay?" Ranma reassured her green-haired compatriot, even if the reassurances offered no answers themselves.

"Well, aren't you 'Little Miss Peppy'?" Ryoga groused as she finally threw her long legs off the bed. Seeing them all of a sudden, she gazed down in mute wonder.

So this is what it's like… for Ranma? It isn't so bad. Better than a pig curse. Ryoga thought while stretching.

"Hah! You're one to talk 'Mister Depression'!" Ranma retorted. Contrary to her words, Ranma wasn't really feeling the depressive aura that usually emanated from Ryoga's person.

Strange. She thought.


A man walked slowly down the shadow entrenched alley, remembering the past. Eternity had passed since he had been so close to Earth, let alone all the memories associated with the blue orb so many hundreds of light years away. Even at this distance, he felt her devastating spell cast over his person like a blanket, but that was a fight as old as time itself. Century after century he had traveled, ever wandering. And now he had returned. After all this time, he had returned to the Core worlds.

Maybe… just maybe he could find the courage to do that which must be done.

It's a fool's errand. He thought bitterly. He could no more strike his twice bound love than he could strike his own daughter. The very idea triggered an emotional cascade across his psyche. God, the girl was everything to him! What he wouldn't do for just one… just one moment with his baby!

He continued walking. His dusty torn cloak shuffled in the wind as did his jet black shoulder length hair. Scars caressed his face and arms. On his back he shouldered a gigantic curved blade wrought of pure imperium with complex symbology etched down its length. Around his left wrist lay two tarnished silver bands. One, represented the girl he so longingly wished to see dead. His memory of his betrayal. When the quiet claws of serenity tried to blank his mind, this kept him sane. Kept him who he was… Old beyond time itself.

And the other… If the first bracelet kept him sane, then the other gave him hope.

The alley itself opened up, giving way to a main artery of pedestrian traffic and small shops, with the occasional food vendor milling through the backlog of people. All things considered, the strip of assorted businesses, restaurants and bars didn't hold a candle to the teeming hive of activity that was at the heart of the city, but then, he wasn't looking to stand out amongst the crowd either. He could pass through the back streets and suburbs of Eleria with some measure of anonymity. Downtown, however, was off limits if he desired to keep his head.

He stepped into the throng of people and sighted a small bar crammed into the corner of a side street building. Shadows flashed across him as a cargo skiff floated over the street at blurring clip, obscuring the cloud spackled blue sky momentarily before disappearing from view. The citizens around him barely took notice as they continued about their business.

Time to get to work.

He moved to a small tavern, the door opening with a hiss of released pressure and an electrical buzz.

The room was small, though quite crowded for midday. He walked to the bar, unnoticed by the patrons.

"Hello sir! Strange clothes you're wearing! Well, what ya want?" The bartender asked in a supremely cheerful voice.

"I'll take a soft Villimna on the rocks." The man said tiredly.

"Alright! That be all for ya?" He asked, the same cheerful alto.

The man nodded and turned his head away. Glancing through the crowd he saw all sorts of people. Many of them had a dry, wandering look same as himself. There were far fewer people sporting the nan-glazed hair styles that inner city folk wore but there were enough to be at least a fourth of the crowd in total. All in all, it appeared business was booming.

"Uh… you gonna give me your loyalties sir?" The man asked, shocking the man back into conversation.

"What loyalties?" The man asked, confused.

"The oath of course! I can't do business without hearing the oath to the Queen! Where have you been!?" The bartender paused, sizing up his newest customer. "You do have the look of an outer-worlder about you. Gotta admit, that sword gave me quite a scare when you came in. Look mighty intimidatin' ya do. Well, just give 'em and I'll be right about serving you."

Internally the man growled. His fist clenched. "T-the… the devil queen has an… oath now? No! I'd never swear my loyalty to that witch!"

Suddenly, the room went dead silent. All staring at him.

But only for a moment.

The next sound that was heard was the cool hiss of a Tazer, being drawn behind him, and shocked patrons backing away, or jeering at him with a fist. "Leave here now, dissenter! I'll have no business with the likes of you, unless you submit your loyalties and repent for that slander!"

"My loyalties are my own. As should yours be." The man said, his eyes covered by his downcast face and hair.

"The Queen deserves all loyalty! She came here personally! I've seen her you fool! She is pure Serenity. I only live to serve the Queen, blessed may she live forever." The last phrase had a practiced quality to it, no doubt the oath he had referred to earlier. That, and the poor, diluted man seemed to truly wish the Queen would live forever.

"The Queen is on your side as long as you are her subservient. If that were to change she would kill you before you could blink, and sweep you under the rug."

The bartender was taken aback, but only for a moment. "You liar! Get out of my tavern! I'll not have your filth here!"

A pair of strong hands grabbed the man's shoulders with the cue. The stranger simply reached back and rotated the one of the interlopers arm around, locking the joint at the shoulder. The would-be bouncer made a valiant struggle not to emote the excruciating pain he was feeling until the man applied another half pound of pressure, popping the arm out of its socket and eliciting a painful cry from his victim. A fist blazed in from the right and the ragged stranger caught it with little effort, crushing an anonymous hand within his other without even turning his attention to it. The new attacker, crumpled as his hand was held within the steel vice for another moment before being released. The remaining bar crowd opted not to press their luck with the outsider any further.

He shook his head. Pitiful, brainwashed fools.

"I'll escort myself out, thank you." Then he turned his attention to the crowd. "If anyone would like to hear of the true queen you all love so much, try challenging her opinion someday. You'll find yourself dead before you blink."

He didn't expect many results. Not so quickly. But people would talk of this. And talk spread rumors. Rumors spread discord. Discord with the right amount of manipulation could make an entire planet a place to aid his never-ending battle.

It could.

As long as he kept believing, it could, someday…

He stood and walked past the two bouncers who served as security, nonchalantly walking through the aiming of several more Tazers and even a Phase blade. As the man left the tavern only one thought blazed in his mind.

I'll see you dead yet Serenity… I'll see you dead yet… Usagi...


Door.

No door.

Door.

No door.

"Dammit, Ranma, quit playing with that!" Ryoga hissed over the redhead's shoulder as Ranma repeatedly applied her palm to the device that controlled the materialization and dematerialization of the bedroom door. For all intents and purposes, the door appeared to vanish before their very eyes, only to reappear if the pad was left either neglected at length or touched again. Ranma pressed the pad again and the door silently appeared, contrary to the lost boy's advice.

"This is seriously weird stuff." The redhead commented, running her fingers along the completely solid flat surface with wide eyes.

"You're going to break it!" Ryoga shot back, and Ranma touched the pad again. No door. "And don't think I'm going to bail you out when you do!"

Ranma shrugged, but considered her words silently. Last thing they needed was to break a futuristic invisible door. God only knew how much those cost. She gave the now empty frame one last curious look, before stepping through and out into a hallway, Ryoga close behind. Both looked up and down the length of the hall and came to the same conclusion: it certainly looked like a normal home. In the hall hung pictures, a number obviously of family or friends, none of which they knew. There were a few, however, that were immediately recognizable.

"Check this out."

Ranma's attention was diverted from the other frames to the specific one his green haired compatriot was looking at. The scene was obviously a park, with two girls in the view. One had green hair and sat on the cradle of a swing set with her head cocked curiously while the redhead behind her leaned over her shoulder, smiling brightly. The background held numerous other play ground structures, with kids playing in the background, frozen in time for that singular snapshot. Ranma blinked, as if to clear her eyes. "That's… us?"

Ryoga nodded, never taking his eyes from the picture. There was no doubt that the two girls in the frame were virtually identical to the bodies they now inhabited. Ranma was the light redhead with long, complex braiding and a light blue sundress. Ryoga's persona wore a lace trimmed pink tank top and green shorts several shades lighter than the long green locks that streamed around her. The picture appeared to have been taken in the spring or summer, given the greenery in the background. Her finger moved to touch the counterpart in the picture. "This can't be—"

It was only a light touch, but once he made contact with the glass, the frame came to life, projecting its image outward into open air several centimeters. Ryoga Hibiki jerked his hand back as if burned, and even Ranma's eyes widened as the scene came to life.

"—so cute!" The redhead suffused, now gesturing toward someone or something outside the frame.

"Please," The green haired girl rolled her eyes, angling her head up to see the girl over her shoulders. "They're all cute to you."

"Everybody has a hobby." The redhead grinned. "Besides, I can't help it if I'm so appreciative of the opposite—"

"Rena! Raya!"

No sooner was the voice heard than another girl rushed on scene, followed by two more. One had shorter, light blue hair and was clad in baggy overalls with a sky blue tee beneath, while the girl behind her sported a nearly jet black mane, brown knee length skirt and red mid drift. The final girl simply wore a pair of low cut jean shorts and oversized shirt. All three surround the pair, all but obscuring the original shot.

"We got tickets!" the first girl exclaimed, waving five stubs around excitedly. The redhead abandoned the position over her friend's shoulders with a surprised look.

"No way!" The girl known as Rena exclaimed. "The line for those is light years long!"

The blue haired girl adopted a plainly smug look. "My daddy just happens to know somebody who knows somebody who—"

"I'm in!" The green haired girl chimed, standing up beside the redhead.

The black haired girl raised a fist in triumph. "Whicker Nova, here we come!"

With those words, the scene froze and the image collapsed back into it's two dimensional frame. Ranma and Ryoga simply stared, completely speechless. It was another moment before Ryoga snapped out of his shock first. "What the hell have you gotten me into, Ranma?!"

The accusation jerked the martial artist back to reality. "Me?! Why did I wake up in your room!?!"

"Nice try." The green haired Ryoga folded her arms smugly, jabbing her thumb down the hallway. "My room is down there."

The Hibiki's superiority evaporated like a snowflake in hell once his brain processed the words that had fallen from his mouth. Even Ranma was silent, completely missing the opportunity to follow the admission up as she chewed on the statement before filling the silence with one of her own. "Whicker Nova is a band. How the hell do I know that?"

Ryoga began to rub her temples, brushing a lock of hair aside. "This is getting too damn—"

Any further thoughts were interrupted as a door dematerialized to the right, allowing the woman simply known as 'mama' to step into the hallway. She turned and caught sight of them almost immediately, nodding with approval as she stepped by them. "Good. I went ahead and readied the bath and conjured your uniforms. Don't dally!"

"Yes, mama!"

Both girls found themselves blinking as the response spilled from their mouths automatically again. The woman paused, and gave Ranma an especially concerned look, patting her gently on the head. "Don't worry. It'll be okay."

The hollow feeling returned, but Ranma couldn't for the life of her define the source, and opted to simply nod dumbly. It was probably the safest response at the moment anyhow, she figured as the adult gave her a sympathetic smile and turned to walk back down the hallway.

Both girls stared after her for another moment before Ranma shrugged and moved toward the open restroom door. Ryoga was close behind her with a question. "It'll be 'okay'?"

Ranma shook her head, warily stepping into the restroom. "Beats the heck out of me," Not that she was going to tell pig-boy about the uncertain pit in her stomach. "All I know is even a futuristic restroom has gotta have warm water."

Plush silver carpeting gave way to stained brown wood flooring as they stepped fully into the restroom, noting that it looked a lot like any other restroom they had ever seen, save a few minor differences. First, it was a nicerestroom. Brass trim along marble counter tops. Soft ambient light flooded the room from a sphere floating in the corner. Then there were about three sinks with no knobs or handles of any sort. The seats of no less then seven toilet stalls in the opposite corner itself was a strange sight, each seemingly decorated with a differing arrangement of three pastel colored sea shells. Seeing nothing highly out of the ordinary, save for the large number of everything that there was, Ranma strode over to the one of the sinks and stopped, studying it curiously.

Ryoga was close behind. "What?"

"How do you turn it on?" Ranma indicated, gesturing to the knob-less pearl white sink. She bent down to its level, studying it closely. "I mean, what good is a sink if ya can't get hot water out of--?" The words seemed to be magic and with them, steaming water began to trickle from the shiny brass facet. The redhead snorted "Guess that works well enough." She cupped her hands and dipped them into the flow, quickly splashing herself in the face with the water she had gathered. Ranma smiled. "That's much… better?"

Her voice was still the pitch of a girl's.

"What!?" Ryoga shoved Ranma aside as she frowned with the new development. Ryoga dipped her own hands into the stream and splashed herself with warm water. "No! It can't be!" Panic began to edge into the green haired girl's voice. "Maybe it's not hot enough! Hotter! I need hotter!"

The faucet seemed to comply with her wishes and soon the water was quickly steaming while Ranma simply shook her head in annoyance. "Locked. What a pain in the ass."

She turned away and lifted her pajama tee over off her body and overhead, throwing the light garment across the bathroom floor and unclipping the bra formerly beneath it. Without another thought, she was out of the panties and stepping toward the door that undoubtedly led to the wash basin and furo where she paused, looking the door over. This one didn't have a hand pad next to it. She glanced back to the girl desperately attempting to splash herself back into a male. "Yo, Ryoga. This one doesn't have a touch-thing."

"Forget the touch thing and help me get back to being a—GACK!" Ryoga spasmed as she turned away from the facet, finding a completely nude Ranma studying the door. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING NAKED!?"

Ranma sighed, all but ignoring the girl's antics now. "Stop bein' a baby, P-chan. Ain't like you haven't seen it all before anyway."

"But…! But…!" Ryoga gibbered, covering his eyes desperately. "And stop calling me P-chan!"

Ranma poked at the door experimentally with a fingertip and it vanished before her eyes, admitting her into the steaming room. "Huh. Go figure." She turned back to Ryoga, giving the girl full frontal exposure. "You always complained about how much better I had it. Now it's 'xactly the same. Least you aren't a pig anymore, right?"

"But I'm a guy!" Ryoga complained, prompting an amused snort from Ranma.

"Seems like I've heard that one before." She returned dryly before turning to step into the steaming sanctuary, and then paused, looking back at the green haired girl. "Look, you can either stand there and cry about it or get a soak. Doesn't matter to me either way. I've been stuck like this before for over a month." A disconcerting smirk crept across her lips with the words. "If we're stuck here that long, then you can complain."

Ranma disappeared into the steam, leaving Ryoga to peek after his part time friend and rival. Finding out she had been locked hadn't even fazed Ranma. The green haired former lost boy shook her head. It was a subtle thing. A very subtle thing. She couldn't count the number of times she had panned Ranma for the pig curse and how much easier she had it. At least she was still a person, right? She didn't have to deal with being a pig.

But now…

Realization slowly trickled through Ryoga's awareness. Going from man to pig was a slap in the face. One was entirely different from the other and because of that, provided some degree of insulation. He may have been a pig, but there was no threat to her personality, let alone masculinity. It was just alien and supremely inconvenient. Now he was a she and things were falling entirely too close to home. In some respect, Ryoga had been right-- She was still human and there was a lot of familiarity inherent with the body. Easier than being a pig, right?

Ryoga looked down her new body and shivered at the basic addition and subtraction that had been visited upon her once-male physique. Two breasts and no… manhood. Even the body felt… Off. No, it wasn't the outright slap in the face that changing species induced, but the new form threatened her identity in more ways than she could have possibly imagined. He was a guy! A man! And he was missing… and had…

"Dammit, Ryoga, stop snivlin' and get in here!"

The lost boy's brooding instantly evaporated as irritation took hold. Ryoga shrugged off the shirt and stomped toward the open furo door. It would be a cold day in hell before he'd let that bastard get the better of her, and he had seen hell. Being a girl for a few days or even a whole month would be child's play.

Ryoga sauntered over to the sauna, removing her clothes as she went before being totally engulfed by the rich steaminess of the furo. Ranma was already sitting in the huge bath, leaning against the back edge in what appeared to be a state of perfect relaxation. What had started as light red hair was now floating free, three shades darker emulating her former hair color to a tee, and her arms stretched behind her, allowing the water to lap at the roundness of her assets.

"God, does this feel good, Ryoga." Ranma murmured, clearly enjoying herself.

It was all Ryoga could do to keep from gawking. How did Ranma do it? Had she really been locked that many times!? The casual demeanor was enough to make the once-pig-boy want to strangle her! Still she held her cool. Kept her calm. For once.

I can play that game too, Ranma!

Even as she washed herself before the soak, the fact that she felt less awkward around a naked girl wasn't lost on Ryoga. Even Ranma's girl form normally had a… blood-spewing effect on her. Perhaps this body was immune? Thank god for small favors.

Ranma barely paid her any mind as Ryoga rinsed the suds away and moved toward the furo, dipping a bare leg into its inviting warmth. She leaned forward and promptly felt the weight on her chest shift position… and her center of gravity. The formerly lost boy yelped as she lost her balance without warning and toppled face first into the steaming water of the furo. A face, red with embarrassment and anger ascended from the sloshing depths as Ranma cackled with amusement.

"Sh-shut up!" Ryoga stuttered, her now darkened green hair flinging water droplets as she shook with rage and unavoidable embarrassment.

"Y-your, heheh… your face! God, did I look like that when I first became a girl!? Ah hah!" Ranma's mirth echoed through the walls of the large room.

"Damnit, shut up Raya!" Ryoga screamed.

Mirth faded to astonishment in that instant as Ryoga realized her own words. Both looked at one another, trying to comprehend the alien name.

Ranma spoke first but the tone had become edgy now. "R-Ryoga? Why… why'd you…"

Ryoga's response was surprisingly firm. Edgy, but still firm. "That's your name. Here… this body that you're in. Your name is Raya…" Ryoga murmured. It was almost as if she were talking to herself. "And I'm…"

"You're Rena." Ranma supplied. The red-haired girl was shivering despite the liquid heat they were immersed in. "God… what is happening to us...?"

Ryoga was slightly astonished at the lack of curse in that sentence. "I don't know…" She replied as a chill definitely not due to temperature slid down her own spine. "I don't know."

Neither spoke another word until they left the furo; both simply tried to forget the strange knowledge seeping into their minds. Without words, their minds began to wander as they left the furo and mindlessly dried themselves. It went like that, neither saying anything, until both of them were greeted with a most unpleasant sight waiting for them on a nearby ledge.

"You…" Ranma remarked irritably, her eye twitching, as she studied the new find. "…have got to be kidding me."

There before the two men-turned-women were matching uniforms. Name tags were etched into the strange elastic clothing on the right breasts stating plainly 'Raya' and 'Rena.' Strange shoulder pads resided along the top of the outfit, though they were sleeveless.

It was an entire body suit in one article of clothing that seemed to have a very similar style like that of a swim suit with a skirt. There were holes for the legs, but they showed off almost the entire leg going down barely far enough to be called panties!

Raya's was a deep vibrant blue contrasting the red of her hair with jagged bolts of white etched through out the blue in sharp patterns across the entire bodice. The shoulder pads were white.

"There's no way!" Ryoga exclaimed. "No way in hell!"

Ryoga's… Rena's had the same basic outfit with a completely different pattern of Green, matching her hair shade for shade. White too crisscrossed her outfit but instead of lightning bolt shapes, simply used straight lines.

Ranma walked forward, currently more secure in her core identity than the ex-fanged boy. She lifted the blue article of cloth carefully. "Thank god it's not pink…" She commented with distain. She most definitely was not happy with this arrangement… but she couldn't say that she hadn't worn worse before. Lingerie, swimsuits… That idiot Toma and his island came to mind as well.

"Come on… until we figure out where to get clothes and stuff there's really no other choice, Ryoga." Ranma said, resigned.

"No way in hell!" Ryoga repeated a touch louder.

Suddenly a presence made itself known behind them. Of course, they hadn't heard the now invisible door open. "Ugh… again!? Rena I know you hate the school's uniform policy but really! Do we have to go through this every morning?"

Ryoga and Ranma, who had whipped around to face the stranger, blinked. And blinked again.

"Who're you?" Ranma asked, and instantly wished she had the words back. One person it wasn't was the woman they had labeled 'mama'.

The girl standing there smirked. "Funny." She retorted.

Long hair strung in a light green tinge, not far from Ryoga's hue swept down the girl's back. Taller than both Ryoga and Ranma by almost a head, she stood with an elegant gaze in one of the suits sitting before Ranma and Ryoga. Her own, was tinted red and striped with lines composed of very small circles. Extremely form fitting, the suit comprised her entire outfit with the white circles crisscrossing about her body diagonally around her entire form.

Ryoga didn't know why but on sight of the woman, she felt and sudden blasting of envy and jealousy. Strangely it was directed towards the other woman's hair, of all things! Normally she was one to give in to anger but this…! Ryoga looked at the girl, furiously suppressing the envy that was bubbling up from within.

"I'm sorry." She muttered meekly, not knowing what else to say.

The girl smiled. "Get dressed you two. You are pretty late. Breakfast is already done!"

The girl skipped out of the room merrily her hair bouncing as much as her breasts did in the extremely form fitting suit. Too shocked to really even think about it, neither girl even noticed, as both simply tried to comprehend who she was.

"R-ranma… who was that? Do you know?" Ryoga asked, curiously.

"Uh uh." Ranma replied, slightly annoyed. "Jeez, this is really weirding me out! When she came around I felt… Bah… nevermind."

"I felt…Rena felt jealous of her hair." Ryoga blurted carelessly. "What did you feel? She feel? Similar right?"

Ranma remained stock silent. Then like a dam bursting she exclaimed, "WHAT!?"

Ryoga winced with the outburst but realized what had caused it with absolute clarity. They- he and Ranma -weren't acting quite… normal. He hadn't found out why yet but he knew damn well that he wasn't the jealous sort, on average. Especially about hair of all things. Thinking that, he just stared at Ranma. Perhaps the idiot had an insight as to who the girl was that he had not.

The truth of the matter also caused Ranma to feel suddenly felt nervous… "I… uh… I felt… look, come on lets just get dressed. We aren't gonna' figure out anything sitting here!" Ranma spun and with not so subtle change in topics and looked down at the clothes before her. "Might as well get this over with."

"Hey! Damn you Ranma! "Ryoga growled, his temper rising. "What did she feel like to you? I wanna know who she—!"

"I don't wanna talk about it, Ok P-chan!? You heard her! Breakfast is done!" Came Ranma's swift interruption. She grabbed the cloth up and turned away from the green haired girl angrily herself.

I can't believe I felt protected! By that girl! What the hell is wrong with me?! Ranma thought, hideously frightened by her own emotions. She furiously set the cloth on the ground and stepped into the top of it, ignoring Ryoga's steaming.

The redhead pulled the uniform up and adjusted the smooth material to comfort, already well familiar with the niceties of dressing in female clothing. It was a sad footnote, in her opinion, that donning the leotard-like uniform took next to no conscious thought on her part. That was something she couldn't blame on the situation at hand. The material stretched to fit around her and once it was in place, clung snugly. Ranma bent down to touch her toes and test the garment's range of motion.

At least it won't interfere with martial arts, she thought with mild edge of sarcasm.

Next was the pair of white gloves that sat near the garments. Ranma sighed. Those were probably necessary too. She slipped them onto her hands, finding that they fit in the same skin-tight way the suit did, melding to her body in a state of perfection that no other article of clothing she had ever worn could ever hope to achieve. Not that it was probably the most comfortable garment she had ever worn, oh no. It was far too girlie to even—

Suddenly her world erupted in light. All she could see was layer after layer of white blinding light.

A tingling touched her skin. Not painful. Not even irritating. Just… fuzzy.

Ryoga didn't know what to think. One second the red-head was just fine and then the next she erupted glowing with an ephemeral white shade, her body losing its features and sporting only light.

As fast as it began it ended, and there was Ranma, standing in the same suit.

"Wh-what… what happened?!" Ranma exclaimed, dizzy, her eyes recovering unnaturally quickly though.

Ryoga didn't have any idea what happened. Touching the other girl's hand though, Ryoga suddenly thought she had one.

"Oh my god… Ranma… l-look!"

The glove, which Ranma had so carelessly placed on her hand before was no longer there. Instead her hand… was the glove! It felt like skin! It was skin! Veins, where they normally were on her hands, now appeared in the white and blue of the glove.

"A-amazing…" Ryoga murmured breathlessly as she ran her hand along the gloved portion of Ranma's skin. The… skin-made portion of Ranma's glove.

Ranma looked down at herself in horror. Running her own hand, her glove along the line up her arm, she felt through the glove. The glove might as well have been her very fingers! Touch felt exactly the same. Running her fingers along her left arm to the point where normal skin was still exposed, the felt no difference in touching her other glove to touching the skin.

Ranma turned to the wall mounted mirror out of morbid curiosity and studied the girl therein, performing a lazy pirouette. Some things never change, she snorted with satisfaction. Curse or no curse, her female form had always been stunning and the new body she wore was no exception. The off-red hair, dried now by the light show, she could live with and the eyes were definitely weird, but… She let a finger smooth out the thin fabric of the skin tight bodysuit's skirt, finding that every skin tight part had become skin in the same way that the gloves had. Uniform or not, she made this look good.

"I think I'm gonna' puke." Ryoga grumbled as she toweled herself off. That was important she quickly found, as some of her newly acquired female parts weren't taking kindly to being air-dried. The redhead ceased her preening, and favored her with a wicked smile.

"Your turn, P-chan."

The green haired beauty paled.


Two girls stepped out of the bath room and back into the hallway, both in uniform. One, however, of them was distinctly unhappy with the situation.

"I can't believe I have to wear this!" Ryoga groused as the pair walked to the hallway's outlet. The pink of embarrassment clashed with her green hair. "What pervert designed this thing, anyway?!"

"Suck it up, P-chan." Ranma simply rolled her eyes, tiring of the newly minted girl's whining. She had had to deal with such outfits for the better part of two years while the moron beside her harped on about how easy she had it. Leotards. Bras. Panties. Make-up. The were aspects of femininity she was intimately familiar with and she felt virtually no sympathy for the former lost boy. In fact, Ranma was almost hoping she stayed that way for a month, or at least long enough for Ryoga to receive a real lesson in female biology.

"And you!" Ryoga's temper turned back onto Ranma. "Just how much of a girl are you, anyway?!

The comment struck a little too close to home. "Shuddup, Ryoga."

"Looking yourself over in the mirror like that…" Ryoga shook his head in disgust. "You act even more like one than Akane!"

"I'm warnin' ya, bacon brains."

The fuming girls stepped out of the hall and into the new room, their argument quickly stalling as they stumbled upon what looked to be the living room with the girl from earlier sitting in a solid white chair that jutted from a the thick plush pile of dull silver carpeting. Ryoga forgot her irritation as she glanced around the room. That strange girl seemed to be sitting in the only piece of furniture in the room, aside from various tables around its perimeter. The older, green haired girl flipped through a glossy magazine with colorful and literally animated pages a moment longer before noting her new arrivals.

"Geez, about time you two."

She took to her feet and tossed the magazine onto one of the nearby tables, where its flashy, animated visuals promptly lapsed into a faceless neutral gray. As soon as she cleared the chair, the pair of girls were astonished to watch it literally melt into the carpet along the same footprint it was occupying. It was gone a second later, leaving the girls staring. The light green haired woman stared back. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Ranma mentally shook herself out of the incredulity and nudged her partner, forcing Ryoga out of her own amazement while keeping a mental frown from spreading across her face. There it was again—That feeling. That feeling of security that the girl inspired within her. Ranma's psyche shivered as the very thought of being reliant on anybody for anything grated against her core. She broke the irritating spell with action. "Come on, Ryoga. We're late. For school. Yeah."

The older girl before them shot the pair a curious look. "What did you call her?"

Ignoring it after a moment of silence the woman shrugged and stepped over to a nearby table. From there she pulled a pair of slim bags off and tossed them; first to Ranma, then to Ryoga who both caught them on sheer reflex. She pulled her own from the countertop. "Let's go, squirts. Mom's gonna kill you both if your not on the mat in five."


Ranma shivered once more as she, Ryoga, and the escort believed to be their older sister stepped off what she had come to know as 'the trans'. The thing terrified her on levels she really was not comfortable with even thinking about. They were in the future, or something like it. That much had been discerned subconsciously by both Ranma and Ryoga. While both seemed to have fleeting memories of this place, this world, neither really had any idea what was going on.

Being in the future, however, paled when compared to the realization that she had been broken; Destroyed on a molecular level. They had been disassembled into as many pieces as physically possible and then put back together on the other side. The vertigo it had induced was passing, but the utter fear the trans had instilled was only just coming to light.

And they didn't even realize it! They didn't even seem to care!

Ranma's psyche churned with raw anxiety. God… Do they even know what happens to them? Can they even feel it?

A shudder ran up her spine. She had been completely blown apart, in the most literal way possible. These people acted like they did this everyday! Every day! Perhaps it was her knowledge of ki that allowed her to truly see what had just happened to her body…

Another shiver ran up her spine.

"Hey. What is with you two? Why are you acting so weird today?" The girl who had guided them here asked fervently.

Again the overwhelming emotion of protection consumed Ranma. Again, it grated at her and she grit her teeth in frustration. How dare this woman make her feel like this! Even so, and against her own will, Ranma was thankful for the older girl's presence.

Glancing at Ryoga, Ranma realized that he, rather she was in a similar state of shock and trepidation. Good. Good to know she wasn't the only one almost terrified. These people blew themselves up on a genetic level to travel ten miles on a daily basis!

Ten miles... Ranma thought fearfully. More information she shouldn't know popping into her head. The trip hadn't hurt. It hadn't hurt in the slightest. But somehow she had seen herself be blown apart and reshaped before her very eyes.

"Well? Come on! You just gonna sit there all day?" The girl said, slightly irritated.

Ryoga growled in response but moved, Ranma close behind.

Looking ahead Ranma felt glad to see a glass door that was opened by actually pushing it. Passing Ryoga, her fingers touched it and the same vague impression in her mind told her that the manually operated door was a novelty in the society they had somehow been dropped into. It was a simple thing, but its familiarity did wonders for her frayed nerves. The door itself opened easily, allowing the light breeze of open air to welcome them outdoors.

She pushed through it and received the shock of a lifetime. Ryoga ran into her frozen form from behind as she too, was induced into a similar state of awe as both gawked at the new world they had stepped into.

A road that shimmered with pure metallic luster traveled below their feet, shifted with a vibrant display of color that seemed to refract and shift with the touch of the morning sunlight. More incredible was the fact that the road… moved. Not fast, but it moved to her left in the same way that an escalator crawled apace, save the fact that it was entirely one piece… And ethereally smooth.

It wasn't just that. A moving sidewalk wasn't all that abnormal. Sure, the method by which it was accomplished free of any support was, but…

Ranma gazed in absolute amazement as her eyes followed the spiral of liquid pathways down, converging onto a massive platform. The number of people traversing it was massive, but not so dense as to induce claustrophobia. Still, the size of the area made it plain that there were thousands of people milling about this enormous silver platform suspended over wide open space. Some would walk toward the platform's center and abruptly vanish while others would appear out of thin air.

Ranma shivered. It was another trans, this one huge in scale.

In that moment of staring and awe, Ranma felt that there was something… off about the people around her. The women all wore the same skin-tight fuku-ish type of uniform she wore while the men wore a similar variant, like something she would expect from Furinkan's wrestling class. Still, it wasn't the clothing. Something was odd, but she could not place what. It was simply all too much, too fast to notice an insignificant detail nagging at the edge of her consciousness.

Across from them, a mile, maybe even two, was a building, taller than any they had ever seen and as wide as a soccer field, that held the same colorful luster as the ground did. It pulsated as the angle they viewed differed as they were herded by their chaperone onto the strange liquid crystal walkway. At the bottom of the building were glass doors perfectly similar to the one they had just walked out of. It didn't take much to realize the grand structure was a symmetrical copy of the building they had just exited.

Thousands of windows lined these impossibly tall buildings and their sheer size made the road on which they stood seem like crystalline highway of magnificence. The cloud spackled sky above was busy, as flying crafts of all shapes and sizes flew in all directions above their heads in what seemed to be a massive tangle of vehicles. Lights on the backs of each vehicle served as the propulsion for each and they whistled through the air at high velocity.

But none of this held a candle of amazement next to the structure off in the distance, surrounded by a ring of similarly sculpted skyscrapers. The impossible sight was a dome that could have been twice the size of Tokyo itself lay in the distance. Pure white, it looked like a gleaming marble built into the earth, dwarfing any of the buildings around it by magnitudes.

Even so, it was far away. Very far. It sat alone, a solitary white marble of near holiness surrounded on all sides by a majestic deep blue sea that sparkled with sunlight. Technically, it would have been called a moat, but such a descriptive failed to do the sight justice, let alone accurately describe the sheer scale of what they were seeing.

The awing scenery was such that their trip along the moving conveyance had ended without their even realizing it.

"Okay you guys! I'll see you after school! Oh… and Raya… good luck okay? You'll find someone better. Don't worry!" The green haired beauty said with a smile of pure love. For a younger sibling.

Ranma felt warmth and with it, unbridled anger, yet she couldn't bring herself to snap. "Ya, sis." She replied. Then glowered. These subconscious answers had better stop soon or I'm going to go insane! She thought desperately.

Ryoga's eyes only widened slightly this time at the term. She had pretty much guessed that the older girl was their sister. Now it was confirmed.

"Really though, "The girl continued in a briskly whimsical tone. "Just because he left you is really no reason to go and make your hair so… hideous. Just leaving it… straight? God I don't think any girl… no… make that anyone worth their crystals has done that in three millennia!"

Ranma flushed with embarrassment- embarrassment! –at her own looks and forced the feeling down ruthlessly. Her hair was her hair and she would wear it how she damn well chose!

It was at that moment that the older girl's first words registered in Ranma's mind. "Wait… where are we—!"

A blaze of light erupted from her feet, warmth sinking into them even as fear clutched her. The Trans. She was going to be blasted away again!

"Raya Aukomino. Age, seventeen. Destination. Class seven thousand four hundred and twelve. Thank you Raya! Enjoy your day at Orcus High School." Said a robotic voice echoing all around her as light enshrouded all.

With that, Ranma felt herself blasted into oblivion and being put back together somewhere once again. Her last fleeting memory of leaving the station, an image of Ryoga's face, eyes wide as she realized this platform was another gigantic trans.

No time elapsed between the dematerialization and re-materialization of her body. Releasing a sigh of undeniable relief, Ranma let her hand rest on the wall of the room she had appeared in. Breathing heavily though more from newly developed anxiety than anything else, she thought she might be able to get used to the feeling being blasted another several miles into her correct classroom entailed. This one had been a little less intense then the one from her home had been.

"Welcome class. Please, come sit. It's bright and early, the perfect time for you to be filling your brains with something that will get you somewhere someday!" Said a light, prickly woman. This one was beautiful too, if stern. She wore a uniform, similar to the students but, while she looked no older than Kasumi, it was obvious that the woman held the position of teacher of this classroom. Her blond hair curled out in a way that resembled a bad case of bed-head, yet looked stunningly good on the woman. Strangly crinkled and twisted, it was one of the most unusual designs for hair Ranma had ever seen.

Then she saw her classmates.

About twenty or thirty people, her age. They were the most unusual… creatures Ranma had ever seen! Their hair was mutilated in ways that Ranma couldn't even comprehend! The uniforms they wore, all different yet all the same. The women with tight-fitting outfits like her own. The men it seemed wore that weird wrestling uniform. Each person had their own individual design yet each was the same general suit…

…And that was when Ranma almost sputtered in laugher as she finally figured out the oddity she had noticed but not comprehended earlier.

All of them were perfect. Not in a metaphorical sense, either. They simply were… perfect. None of the men had any physical oddities. The skin-tight suits showed off toned legs and arms and abs on all of the men. The women were all gorgeous, their lips soft and their skin, pale or tan perfectly depending seemingly on the choice of the person.

Ranma shivered as she realized the implications. What kind of world have I stumbled into? A world where everybody was gifted with physical perfection? It was almost maddening.

Blinking, Ranma realized that she was standing on yet another platform, gawking at students who were filing around the room sitting at desks. Most were seated already. Quickly jumping, Ranma followed after them, just fast enough to not seem like she was being out of the ordinary. She was also eager to get off that damn trans-thing anyways.

The room was well lit though where the light came from Ranma couldn't tell. It was as if the light simply… was. A desk ran along the wall opposite the trans. The desks, behind them, the wall was made of pure glass windows. If it actually was glass. Out that window, Ranma could see the sea far below her. Far beyond that and up a huge cliff, she could make out two buildings in the distance. Small from this far away, she could tell without a doubt these were the two incredible buildings she had stood between. Another shiver traveled up her spine as she took her seat, but this was a small one. She was Ranma Saotome, and if she couldn't adapt to this then no one could.

Two rows of desks lined the almost purely white room. The first, where she sat, was the one against the windows while the second one ran through the center of the room. All of them were turned towards the right wall, which actually was a wall despite its bareness. The final of the four walls appeared to be huge projection of sorts, depicting animated montages of a silver haired woman in a royal white dress against a backdrop of stars and planets. Unusual quotes floated behind her as the scene shifted.

'Peace, loyalty and obedience… The path of Serenity is Pure and Righteous.'

-The White Queen

What the hell is that supposed to mean? Ranma blinked as the students filed around her, taking their seats without being told and it wasn't long before there was only one left. Guess that one's mine, she figured, claiming the seat as her own. It was a strange chair, she quickly realized, spongy and comfortable beyond reason in comparison to the seats at Furinkan. Looking around her the other students seemed almost robotic in their motions, to the point that Ranma was becoming worried.

Wow… she thought idly as the chair seemingly began to massage her. She sunk into the spongy material, amazed at this being just a normal chair. The other students sat in theirs as well, sinking back in the same luxurious manor.

"Okay. Begin." The prickly Kasumi-esque woman said suddenly.

All of the students pressed a button on the arms of their chairs which had not appeared to be visible before. The right arms of their chairs all lit up as each student held the button down and… Looking around once more at the students, Ranma now saw nothing more than blank gazes on all of their faces.

Wh-what is happening to them? She thought as she warily glanced at the button on her own arm chair.

"Well? What are you waiting for Miss Aukomino?" Snapped the woman in that brisk teacher tone.

Ranma snapped to attention. "I uh… s-sorry…"A bit hesitant, Ranma reached for the button.

"Here goes…" She murmured and touched the button. The arm of her chair lit in a fabulous display of blue light and then, she was gone.

Light all around. She was moving though, how she didn't know through a grey vortex of swirling plasma rays flashing beside her. Numbers. Letters. Formulas. Mathematics. Sin. Cosine. Tangent. Secant. One over Cosine. They were all reverberating. Pounding in her head!

Ages and ages it seemed she swam through the nothingness that was that great tunnel of moving lights. Names. Numbers examples of problems she never could understand being brought to life before her mind. She was… was…

In an instant that seemed an eternity it was over. Her skull seemed to be blasting her with the new information pumping into her head. Numbers and symbols. They seemed to be just floating there in her head. "O-oh… oh god…" She sighed breathing heavily.

Like an impact they suddenly fixed themselves in her mind. Senseless information becoming a mass of understanding in a matter of seconds. The burning headache she sported only moments ago vanished in the enlightenment and Ranma glanced around in awe.

Whoa… I know trig...

She did. She knew trig. The same thing that he had been struggling so hard to figure out back in his own world and time was now a firm and concrete definite in her mind. A cosine graph was simply a sine graph shifted one half pi to the right. Tangent was the same thing as a sine divided by a cosine. Cotangent was the opposite. Cosine divided by sine.

This place is… so… cool! Ranma thought as a giggle almost arose in her mind. She could see Hinako's face when she got back now! Hahah!

"Hey, Raya! Come on! Let's go!" Said a cute raven haired girl with what could only be defined as 'lightning bolts' shooting outward as her hairstyle. She was slightly mousy and bookish looking to Ranma's eyes but sudden emotions of deep and eternal friendship welled up within her at sight of the girl.

"Coming, Anami!" She said happily. Girlishly.

Blinking hastily Ranma clapped a hand over her mouth.

What in the world is 'happening' to me!? She demanded in her mind. She didn't know what and she didn't know why but something was making her act… strangely. And it scared her more than the trans ever could. Inside her was another personality. Another person. An inner Raya she supposed.

"Raya? Somethin' wrong?" Said the girl, Anami Ranma supposed.

Ranma looked back at the girl, her questioning yet simple innocence. She was genuinely concerned for her friend. Her friend. Not Ranma.

"N-no. Nothin's wrong! C'mon. Let's go!" Ranma stood hastily and began to follow the other classmates towards…

"Aw damn. Not the trans again…" Ranma said almost angrily. Just because she was more scared of becoming a girl than the trans didn't mean the teleportation device didn't freak her out! Anami twisted her mouth with a strange expression but then shrugged and moved to follow her. Where they had been silent as stones before, now these students were all chatting quite animatedly as they filed onto the trans in threes.

It was quick and soon that she Anami and a boy whom Ranma didn't know were the only ones left getting on. The boy struck her also as 'lifelong friend' but his name didn't come like Anami's had.

"Yes!" Anami shouted suddenly! "Lunchtime! Finally! That lesson took a lot longer than usual today eh' Raya? Kojima?"

Well, that problem's solved. Ranma thought as she noted the name in her mind.

With that they were blasted away once more and Ranma felt her eyes popping. That? Long!? That had been a long lesson!? Wait… Lunchtime!?

Ranma appeared in a vast hallway. Tables were everywhere for miles and miles it seemed and people to fill them were everywhere! Add to that, they all had trays. Full trays. With… everything! The trays were decorated with everything from steak and potatoes to salads and ice cream to pickles and toast!

Ranma's eyes watered with bubbling displays of cuteness that she couldn't have held back if she had wanted too as she stared in awe. A stationary plate at the center of each table would be emptied by the students around it, glow and instantly be filled with more.

I… love… this… school! She thought as she stared lovingly at the trays with such varying degrees of food arranged about them.

"Raya! You comin?"

Ranma's attention was caught instantly and she nodded vigorously as she followed her friend, still keeping one longing eye on the trays. God, the trays!

Mildly annoyed that she was subconsciously answering to 'Raya' just as much as she ever did to Ranma, she idly wondered how Ryoga was doing.


A wondrous day, Queen Serenity decided as she moved through the royal garden, an immense balcony jutting out from a massive crystal spire that was the heart of Crystal Tokyo. It dwarfed every other structure for thousands of miles and indeed was the world's tallest tower, refracting its sunlight and beauty on the populace far, far below… While simultaneously reminding them just who was responsible for their idyllic life. Her children, she smiled as she walked the open edge of balcony. And she was their mother. Children needed mothers, after all, to guide them, to tell them what was right and what was wrong. Wind billowed lightly around her body, swirling the wraps of white tillian spider silk that made up the dress she wore.

She took a deep breath as the breeze caressed her. Yes, a wondrous beautiful day, because she ordered it so. Perhaps there would be rain tonight. A brief shower if the mood stuck her, maybe something for the farmers at the cities' edge. But no snow. The queen's smile faltered ever so slightly. Neither snow nor ice would touch her beloved home ever again.

She enjoyed the warm sun for another few minutes before a presence made itself known at the periphery of the garden. Queen Serenity didn't even bother to turn around, as the proximity of the pure heart crystal made the new comer's identity unmistakable.

"Join me, in the sunlight, Venus."

The blonde nodded stepped out of the shady foliage of the garden, joining her silver hair monarch at the unguarded edge of the balcony. She came up beside her queen and knelt, eyes low. "Your highness."

"Arise, old friend." Serenity smiled warmly. Motherly. "How goes your search?"

"Well, your highness." The Senshi of Venus regained her height. "I've narrowed the field down to twenty candidates. All are exceptionally loyal and have considerable combat prowess."

"If it comes down to it, you know which I prefer." The silver haired queen remarked staring down into the city and the grids of aerial traffic approximately one mile below. "So who is in the front running, if I may ask?"

"Yomata Nai of the Third Expeditionary Lance has my eye, personally." The Senshi reported. "Skilled, absolutely loyal and scored well for temporal mechanics. Some of the others scored better on the latter, but given your preferences…"

"Indeed." Serenity answered agreeably, then lapsed into a thoughtful silence before turning to the blonde directly. "Tell me, what do you think of Pluto's betrayal?"

Venus took her own moment of contemplation before answering in turn. "Your Highness—"

"No, Venus." The queen rebuked warmly. "As one friend to another."

"Of course… Serenity." The Senshi used the name with care as it was luxury afforded only her closest friends and very sparingly. Concern enveloped her face as she turned back to the topic at hand. "I'm… saddened, of course. To think she had fallen so far… Perhaps because she was the last?"

"Perhaps," Serenity nodded with gravity. "I would like to think I am my mother's daughter. Perhaps the memories finally became unbearable."

"I would consider that a compliment, Serenity." Venus returned. "If the price weren't so high…"

Her Queen seemed to lapse into silence as if considering her words. "And the others?"

"Shaken, of course." The blond Senshi answered. "I think Saturn will be the most affected when she receives the news on the front."

"Neptune and Uranus as well, without a doubt." Serenity agreed. "I shall consol them myself. Be that as it may, there is business to attend to."

The Silver Queen's voice seemed to firm up and Venus took it as the end of their personal time. "Your will, my Highness?"

"Pluto's…departure has left the Time Gates unattended. This is, of course, unacceptable." Venus simply accepted the fact with a single nod and trailed her Queen as she continued her walk along the ledge. "Contact Mercury. Few others will be capable of delving into its higher functions and there are even fewer I would trust with such an ancient artifact."

"I shall recall her from leave."

"Ensure she knows I would consider it a personal favor." Serenity replied. "I hesitate to think what Pluto might have done with the gates in her final hours of insanity. A full Sword will accompany her to deal with any surprises."

"Your will, my Highness." Venus stiffened to rigid attention. "Will there be anything else?"

"Hmmm…" Queen Serenity the Fifth cocked her head, her eyes studying the sky once more. "There is one thing…" The Senshi of Venus waited patiently. "Do you think there should be rain tonight or clear skies?"

Venus shrugged. "You know I'm partial to a starry night sky, your Highness, but it has been a while since we've seen a healthy shower or two. The last one was, what, five, six months past?"

"True, true." Serenity agreed, then sighed slightly, as if disappointed. "And this business concerning Pluto has left me somewhat… depleted."

"I understand." The blonde returned solemnly, touching the woman's shoulder gently. Pluto had been her mentor for the longest time. Hell, the woman had been all of their mentors, through time itself in fact. It wasn't necessarily a surprise that the Queen would be affected thus, even through the betrayal. "I'll drop a wave to the weather net on my way to retrieve Mercury."

"Thank you, Venus." Her Queen murmured softly, and the Senshi turned on a heel, walking back into the garden and the crystal tower that hosted it.

Tonight there would be rain.

Rain to wash away the memories.


At the stares that had been directed at her, Ranma decided it would be prudent to stop gorging on the ungodly tray of deliciousness placed before her. Sirloin Steak and rice were the only things remotely recognizable to her residing on the tray but she took to the other concoctions with gusto. Zaffodils, strange things similar to scalloped potatoes but green, tasted magnificent beyond even Kasumi's cooking. The drink, called Jolt Cola curiously, tasted nothing like the beverage of a same name at home. It made her nostrils flame and was hot, but delicious, flavored like cherry and marshmallow and strawberry all at the same time.

"You okay, Raya? You seem a little… odd today." Anami asked for the second time that day.

Ranma almost glared but found she was unable to force her eyes to do so. Raging emotions of companionship batted down her anger so strongly she barely even felt it.

"I'm fine, Anami." Ranma replied. "It's just… a weird day."

"No kiddin'! You look worse a burgen-kraut!" Said the boy, Kojima, they had traveled with from the classroom mere minutes before.

Ranma blinked. A what? She shrugged, dismissively and continued politely mauling her steak

The girl seemed to fidget, and Ranma tensed. Silence reigned for a moment, both of them watching Ranma eat the food, the girl obviously about to burst.

And burst she did.

"I can't believe you went this far, Raya! I mean, it's not like it's the heat death of the universe! Naota wasn't good enough for you, so you shouldn't be doing this to yourself!" Anami exclaimed eliciting a few awkward stares from other people sitting at nearby tables.

"D-doing what, Anami?" Ranma asked, trying to discern what it was she had done wrong to provoke such a reaction.

"Your hair! It's hideous! And I never thought I'd see you eating meat! You haven't done that since sixth year!" The girl said loudly, staring intently into Ranma's eyes.

At this Ranma positively gawked! She wasn't one to dress her hair but she'd seen it in the mirror this morning and it had positively sparkled! And that, mostly due to the fact that she hadn't been able to find a decent string to tie it into a braid with.

"My hair is not hideous!" Ranma exclaimed, her mouth being taken from her by indignant rage of her 'Inner Raya'."

Anami gave her a wry look and Kojima barked a laugh. "Sorry, Ray but your hair has got to be the most sickening thing I can ever remember seeing. The last time I saw someone with straight hair like that… untouched by anything like ya're sportin' was in the outer worlds with my dad!" At that, he gave an overly dramatic shiver. "Sickening lot those, outerworlders."

Something about that condescending tone raised Ranma's ire but why she didn't understand yet. And how could Anami say that to her, when her hair was zig-zagging in unnaturally jagged lightning bolt shapes with similar lighting bolt earrings jingling. She looking like a circus freak!

And yet… All of them did, making her a minority of one.

Glancing around, taking note of the fabulously ridiculous hairdo's and don'ts sitting everywhere and not finding a single straight head of hair, not to mention some rather avid stares and giggles pointing at her own red locks, she huffed. Boys with blue or purple hair twisting away from their heads in spikes or made to look like horns. Girls with swirls that looked like well crafted ice-cream cones, all smooth and unwavering.

No, she was the freak here in the land of perfect people and weird hair, Ranma realized sardonically. But then, she'd never exactly been a conformist either. So she stood.

Screw 'em.

"If anyone's got a problem ya can tell me ta my face, ya jerks!" She yelled catching the attention of at least three hundred or so of the students nearby. Further than that, no one could see her well enough to care.

At that she began to feel embarrassed a bit at all the stares directed at her. It was an extremely hushed area now, all of them staring at her in shock or amusement, but not silent by any means. There were people as far as she could see and she didn't think she could make out the other end of the cafeteria.

With that, she indignantly walked away, leaving her food and barely noticing it sinking down into the table.

A strange mix of her own confidence and 'Inner Raya's' pride in her own hair had formed that spectacle, but she found herself strangely proud.

Once she calmed down she realized she had almost no idea where to go. They had been sitting on the outer fringes of the room. It appeared to be giant and circular, like some huge multi level mega-food court. Small versions of the liquid crystal path Ryoga and herself had use earlier transported students to the more inner tables that walking to otherwise would be tiresome, and Ranma stepped on one of those ramps moving back towards the wall.

Milky white panels lined the walls nearby one of the many food lines she had just so recently gotten her meal from, and a closer inspection revealed that the panels were dancing with life, projecting text and graphics centimeters into open space. Lacking a clear escape route from the food jungle and her social faux pas, Ranma approached a blank one.

"Welcome Raya." The machine said politely as the previously lifeless panel came to life. "Please select an option."

Ranma frowned at the name, but couldn't help but to be fascinated by the text options that had materialized in front of her, each accompanied by a colorfully animated picture. The word 'Restroom' had a seashell floating next to it, 'Find' had a waving stick figure, and 'Next Class,', a cartoon thought bubble.

She blinked. That was helpful. She didn't have to go to the restroom but at least now she knew how to get there. Probably. People standing in front of these screens were appearing and disappearing seemingly at random and dread suddenly enveloped her. She was standing on another goddamn Trans. The realization did nothing to lessen her irritation, a state aggravated by the occasional comment about her hair in the side conversation floating about her.

"Feh. Normal." She snorted, and pushed a finger through the 'Find' graphic. Normal was never a demographic she had spent much time in anyway.

"Please say the name of the person you are seeking." The terminal said in a polite female contralto.

Helpful little thing. Ranma thought. "Ryog-er… Rena."

"Person not found. Please speak more clearly, or choose a different name." The panel returned.

Ranma glowered. "Rena."

Several pages suddenly wavered into existence before, all of which highlighted the name she had just spoken. "Three thousand, four hundred and fifty eight matches found. Please clarify your search."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."She shook her head wearily, looking from one floating page to the next with a frown.

Anami and Kojima had left their table and were walking towards her now, and she bristled.

"Back. Go back." She told the screen firmly, and it complied readily, bringing up the three options once more. She didn't not want to talk to those two, as the entire hair incident had worn away the last of her patience. Why it had even bothered her in the first place was beyond her, but that was something for later review. Now was just not the time and the only escape was the trans beneath her feet.

Ranma steeled her psyche and stabbed a finger into the seashell restroom graphic, promptly obliterating herself once more.

The trans-materialization process was over almost as quickly as she had initiated it, leaving Ranma to shake off the uneasy feeling that every cell of her body seemed to radiate before realizing exactly where she had been transported to. Again she was left gawking.

The restroom was probably as large as the cafeteria she had just left! Guys and girls in and out of uniform- nude- were everywhere! Orbs of light floated around the ceilings providing ample light and there were showers, water coming from strange disks that floated in midair above and behind curtains made of hazy mist that most definitely was NOT natural.

Some of them showered alone. Some in groups. Some covered with the curtains of mysterious fog. Water rained down wet perfect beautiful feminine flesh and male muscle all along the left side of the vast chamber that stretched for as far as she could see!

The showers were co-ed?! Why weren't the guys falling over from blood loss?! Why weren't the girls pounding them into the tiles?! Why didn't anyone see the PROBLEM here!?

Ranma, of course, had some insulation against naked, wet female flesh and the fact that there were guys evenly interspersed throughout helped, but her male psyche had its limits. Hastily clogging her nose to keep the small trickle of blood from falling out, she turned away to the right side of the hallway.

Along the right were stall; in which she could only assume were toilets. Quantity seemed to be the general theme of the school she had entered and restroom stalls were no exception. There were… so many! Thousands of them. An equal number of floating sinks floated in the dividing marble tile pathway she stood on, as if to mark off the boundary between shower and toiletry, while further down the hall more information terminals awaited, flashing clothed students in and out of the facility.

Does the entire damn world go to school here!? Ranma's cheek twitched upon realizing the sheer scale of the place that had been innocuously labeled "restroom" for her. The words "Eleventh Year Restroom" floated high above, circling a silver globe for all to see.

As Ranma's mouth was hanging open in shock and disbelief, she did not notice the approach of a raven-haired girl or the blond hair boy.

"We didn't mean to make you so mad…"

"Hmph." Turning around at the familiar voice, Ranma's shock was replaced with annoyance. Of course Anami would be able to follow her. The "Find" option would work just as well for Anami on the terminal as it did for her. She didn't actually have any idea how she should reply, or why she was angry but all she knew was that she was. The fact that Kojima was with her didn't help matters.

"C'mon, Raya… I'll make it up to you, okay? Strawberry Abiscus Tart-Cream? My treat after class is out? Come on… Please?" The girl practically begged.

The words were like magic in Ranma's ears. Or mouth. She didn't know what it was but her taste buds longed for it. Her mind brimmed over with the image of a Strawberry Abiscus Tart-Cream. Mouth watering, Ranma's annoyance evaporated as with the promise of the colorful, swirling treat in her minds eye.

She turned to her friend and flashed a winning grin. "Your treat?" She asked playfully. Anami grinned back and nodded.

Kojima grinned, nudging his compatriot. "Toldja that'd get 'er. Always works for me."

Ranma giggled and then stopped herself, horrified, but Anami didn't notice.

"So… what say we get you a decent hair-do eh, Raya-chan? Come on. That has to be absolutely mortifying for you!" Anami said as she turned back towards the terminals.

"I'll take care of it." Ranma felt anger well up in her again but she suppressed it this time. "I'll find me some string, put it in a pigtail and that'll be the end of it."

Anami gaped but quickly recovered. "Oh... Okay.. If you are sure… Raya. But how will you ever find another guy looking like… that!?" She asked.

A welling disgust rose in Ranma's stomach at the same time as bile rose in her throat at the very thought! "I won't." She said simply. "And that's that."

"Now that's just not right. Come on now. What if you and some real fine bloke, click perfect and he thinks you insane on account o' that terrifying style!" Kojima said in an affectionately friendly manner.

Indignantly glaring at her friend, Ranma ignored the strange accent the boy had in favor of setting him straight.

"Not gonna happen! I—! W-wait. What are you…"

She turned to look back at Kojima, bright smile written across his face. Suddenly another boy, naked as the day he was born came up to him. The boy, Kojimi, that Ranma's instinct told her was a friend, grabbed the newcomer's chin with one hand in a possessive manner as he sidled up next to the other…And kissed him.

Deatomized four times in one day? Check.

Brain flashed with instant Trigonometry? Check.

Hair traumatization? Check.

A co-ed restroom without groping, touching or perversion? Check.

A supposed best friend- a boy -kissing another nude boy like it was nothing? Check, check, check.

Clearly, there was only one thing Ranma's overloaded brain could do.

She fainted.


Ryoga had just entered the vast restroom awed beyond belief when suddenly an alarm blasted through her ears. "Alert! Student in danger! Loss of consciousness! C-Sector. Eleventh Year Restroom. Alert Student in danger!"

Glancing around at the lettering etched into the stalls around her, Ryoga realized that she was indeed in the C-Sector of the Eleventh Year Restroom and saw a swiftly forming crowd of girls and boys- girls AND boys! Together! In the Restroom! –gathering around an easily discernable spot. Ryoga, curious as any of them, moved forward trying to get a better look at what or who had lost consciousness.

It was strange. Damn strange, which said a lot considering his… her life on average. Boys and girls were standing close together in a crowd, some naked completely, some clothed in the suits, and not a single one seemed to find it awkward as they all crowded around the as yet unseen spectacle. Those not immediately interested in the who or what of the incident were chatting idly, while the occasional comment about … her hair? drifted to Ryoga's ears. What did her hair have to--

The formerly Lost Boy blinked.

Some of them kissed right there in the showers! Boys and girls. Girls and Girls. Even Boys and Boys! Disgusting! But no one seemed to mind. No one cared. And nothing beyond that happened. No groping. No moaning. Just... affection?

God this place was weird! She was glad no one had come up to talk to her. That strange science lesson had been unusual in the extreme, having strange information shoved into her head like that! It had been useless jargon for a few moments when it suddenly situated itself in her mind but it still didn't make any sense. She wasn't even sure if it actually was science. What in the world was Hydrocoresthetics?

Oh well.

Pushing through the mass of flesh, unreal in its perfection, Ryoga saw something that was hilariously funny and frightening to different aspects of her psyche simultaneously.

Frightening somehow won out.

"Ranma!" She shouted, and rushed forward, pushing a few more people out of the way as she advanced towards her sist— rival, and knelt. What the hell was up with all the emotional undercurrents?! Ryoga shivered even as she knelt next to the unconscious redish-pink-head.

"Ranma! Ranma! You okay?" Care welled up in her for her most hated enemy and sister, then panic as the girl began to glow from head to toe. "Wh-what the hell is happening!?"

"Patient: Raya Aukomino." The voice over the loud speaker began again. "Stand clear. Emergency trans in progress."

Ryoga pulled his hands away from the redhead's body as the glow around her suddenly intensified and pulsed, washing out her vision in soft, blinding light. The green haired student scrubbed her sight clear of the spotlight floating in her vision to find Ranma… Gone.

"What happened to her!? What happened!" She panicked. Ranma was her only ally at the moment and damned be him if he lost her already! Plus… plus… How was he supposed to handle being a girl if she wasn't around!?

"Sh-she… She watched us kiss and she.. just… fainted! I dunno what happened! It's not like we did anything weird!" The fireball-head stuttered. He'd never seen someone faint before.

Ryoga stared at the man for a moment. And then couldn't help but chuckle. Hah! The great Ranma, falling unconscious at her first exposure to homosexuality! What a loser! Hah!

...Not that she would admit to feeling damn near the same sense of complete trepidation that threatened to crush her at any moment. It could have easily been the other way around. This place was too weird, too strange to take in massive, force fed doses. Granted, she had seen her share of culture while being perpetually lost, which was probably the only buffer between her and the unconsciousness that had taken Ranma, but this

Understanding and caring concern welling up and facing off against downright hilarity battled for dominance of Ryoga's actions, and Ryoga began to get a strange feeling that this would begin to happen often. It seemed 'Rena' cared a great deal for her sister and Ryoga knew he would lose this one once again. Why couldn't he stand up to girls!? Even when battling for his very personality!

Suddenly a voice blared across an intercom though this one was entirely human. Also female. "Alert Ended. Patient is stable. Please return to your appointed schedules."

Worry for a sister-slash-rival evaporated.

Heh. Bet she'll be embarrassed as hell when she comes to. God I wish I could'a seen it! Ryoga thought with a smirk as her conscience sent her mortified pangs of guilt that she could barely force down.


Pulse, eighty over one ten.

Nueral Activity, above average.

Auto immune, nominal.

Nanite Colony, nominal.

Retrieving BIOS…

Pathogens… Negative.

Viruii… Negative.

Chemicals… Negative.

Diagnosis: Stress induced shock, no action required.

The Nurse looked the fine redhead over nodding. That was exactly what months of training had told her as well, though it wasn't like the Med AI was going to be wrong. In fact, her presence was totally unnecessary, as the AI would have deployed medicines and even surgery on its own if need be, but this was, perhaps the first injury she had seen all year. Heck, the school sick bay would be lucky to see five people in any given year and eleventh year girls usually didn't just fall over.

The blond nurse brushed broad, wild curls from her face, glancing at the redhead. All in all, it was rather exciting!

"Patient awakening. Stand by…"

"Uuuhhhggg…" Ranma's formerly inert hands drifted to her head and began to massage her temples without opening her eyes. "That had to have been a dream… The tomboy's cooking. yeah…"

"Negative." A disembodied voice returned and Ranma's massaging stopped abruptly. "Analysis indicates you have exited REM state and are fully conscious. How do you feel?"

The redhead's eyes popped open. The obvious came first. She was on a well padded bed in a room of white lit by soft white light, while the image of a transparent brain and accompanying text floated a meter above her face. the image seemed to be projected from a faceless support that rose from behind her head and curved directly in the ceiling.

Ranma's cheek twitched. So much for the food theory.

She allowed her head to loll to the right and found a blond haired woman with exotic curls in what she could only guess was a white nurse's uniform cut in the fashion of a Chinese skirt standing next to the bed she lay upon. The girl smiled gently, waiting.

"Miss Aukomino." Ranma's eyes widened and blinked. The woman's lips hadn't even moved! Wait, no… the voice was coming from… All around? "How do you feel?"

The martial artist sat up slowly scanning the room for another person. The floating brain and scrolling text abruptly vanished, and Ranma found the room populated by ten other beds with similar stations. "Uh… I didn't faint did I?"

Real men didn't faint. Luckily she had been a girl at the time. And thank god Ryoga hadn't been around…

"An incorrect synopsis. Core BIOS indicates an abnormal spike in brain activity and blood pressure before loosing consciousness." The disembodied female voice countered, causing Ranma to frown. "Do you know the cause?"

Ranma was about to open her mouth when the Nurse preempted her reply with a concerned expression. "Well I can tell you that." She shook her head sympathetically. "I mean, her hair…!"

The Saotome's head swiveled on target and glared into the nurse, cheek twitching. "What the hell is up with you people and—!"

"Warning: Pre-hypertension symptoms detected." The voice interrupted suddenly. "Please do not aggravate the patient's condition Nurse Ayonmi. Condition three protocols met, establishing uplink to Miss Aukomino… Done. Emotive Limiter command line sent to nanite BIOS, five hour effect to minimize trauma. Action logged with branch Medical."

Ranma's intense irritation toward all hair related comments was instantly quashed by… She blinked and shook her head, feeling unnaturally calm. What the hell…? She looked at the nurse, then back at the station she had been lying down at. It should have all been very disturbing, but she found she just couldn't get worked up about it. Like Soul of Ice without even tryin…"What… what the heck is goin' on?"

"Emotive limiters have been set, duration five hours." The voice replied simply.

"Oh don't worry," The Nurse waved her concerns away. "Just the nans keeping you crystal until whatever is troubling you passes. Medical, is she free to go?"

"Affirmative." The voice replied evenly. "Please report further symptoms to the nearest terminal as they occur."

"Yeah, sure thing." Ranma remarked as she hopped off the bed then frowned. She had meant to put more biting sarcasm into that comment, but instead it came out far too evenly. Instead, she simply sighed, and turned to the next bothersome topic on her list. "Speakin' of hair, got any twine?"

The blonde nurse blinked. "Twine?"

"Twine." Ranma tried to sound impatient, but found the task extremely difficult. "Yarn, string, you know?"

"Will medical suturing serve your purpose?"

The redhead paused as she considered the invisible voice's question. "Eh, don't see why not."

"Specify length."

Now that was a good question. Normally her hair was shoulder length… back in the day. Where ever that day was at the moment, Ranma through bitterly. Now the unnatural light strawberry mane easily stretched down the small of her back. "Quarter of a meter oughta' do it."

"Done." A slight hiss focused her attention on the bed she had been sitting on, finding a thin white cord phasing into existence upon the cushion to the length she had specified.

Ranma's hand reached out to grab it on reflex but paused, scrutinizing it closely. It appeared pretty harmless. She shrugged and snatched the string from the bed with one hand while pulling her over her left shoulder with the other.

What she did next with it simply left nurse Ayonmi gawking. It was all over in a few quick flips, and Ranma admired the red cord of woven hair draping down her shoulder and down the front of her left side. She nodded with satisfaction at her handiwork and returned the new braid to her back while leaving the remainder of her hair wild and untouched. "Better. So now what do I do?"

The nurse simply stared.

"Your schedule indicates lunch hour has passed." the medical AI stated. "Next in que: an elective course, followed by social freedom and Artistic Tech. Please alight to the console on your right to make a selection."

Ranma turned and found another of the of the crème ivory panels blinking to life just beyond the shell shocked nurse. Ranma shot her an irritated look with as much force as she could muster, but simply couldn't find the will to force any heat into the feeling. Nans? Nanites? Emotive limiters? The alien words tumbled through her brain, defining her next course of action as she brushed past the Nurse and stepped up to the panel, where her schedule was already floating before her in picture form. Ranma stated the first item that caught her eye.

"Elective Course?"

"Please specify." The light rich female voice she had come to know issued from the panel, and a scrolling menu labeled 'favorites' materialized before her.

The redhead watched as a dozen or so courses were highlighted beneath the header. Advanced sculpture. Artistic Biology? Abstract design? POETRY? These are my favorites!? Ranma's brain raced with considerably more calm than the situation merited. And somewhere, deep down, the realization echoed through her. Some part of her looked forward to these electives, alien as the concept was. Her finger hovered just beyond the Poetry selection seemingly on reflex when Ranma consciously snatched it back. Ewww, no! Besides, there was another, more important elective to deal with today.

"Uh, what about… Nanites?"

The favorites cleared and a new page of selections began to scroll with courses vastly different from the ones she had just viewed. The header 'nanites' animated outward and several subcatagories fell away from it. "Hmmm… nanites… construction, terraforming biotechnology, design, molecular architecture, encoding…. what the hell?"

"Selection not recognized, Miss Aukomino." the screen voice stated imperviously. "Do you wish to return to the main menu?"

"Eh, no." Ranma shook her head, picking over the choices. Well, 'bio' had to do with people. 'technology' definitely fit this place to a tee, so… "Biotechnology?"

The selection highlighted green then promptly turned red. "Elective restricted to twelfth year students or above. Prerequisites required."

"Well what the hell can I take then?" Ranma retorted, frustration mounting.

All but one of the selections cleared from the floating menu. "Introduction to Nanite Technology recommended."

That didn't sound too bad. "Do it, then."

Ranma promptly flashed out of existence as the console complied.


Ryoga Hibiki walked around the park in a daze. Students were milling around her left and right, chatting, chasing one another or simply lazing about the lush greenery, enjoying the warm sunny day. Social Freedom, it was called. The Hibiki snorted. Recess by any other name. The wonderful day around her caused the formerly lost boy to take a glance upward in contemplation. If there was one thing she knew, it was the sky. You tended to notice things like that when you were cursed with a horrible sense of direction. It told him what time it was and where she was with reasonable accuracy, even if she couldn't navigate that reasonable accuracy worth a damn. Ryoga frowned. The small, bright dot hanging over head responsible for this wonderful day was not the sun he knew.

In fact, it looked barely large enough to create the glorious day around him, she noted, yet it had, unnaturally so unless he missed his guess. Of course, missing his guess was extraordinarily easy to do wherever the hell he and Ranma had been dumped. Or whenever, the thought burbled up from the edge of her consciousness. Everything was futuristic, so much so it was already tough to discern the function of half the facilities around them without watching somebody tinker with it first. They had been goddamn lucky that most of it seemed voice activated and very forgiving to use.

And the bodies… Ryoga. grimaced mentally. The future alone was disconcerting enough. Getting torn apart at the molecular level and reassembled fifty kilometers away damn near took the cake. Waking up in another person's body? That was enough to send him over the edge right there. Not only that, but it was becoming more and more obvious that these simply weren't bodies they wore… they were people. People with lives in progress. People with baggage.

The green haired girl alternately known as Rena Aukomino ground her teeth together in frustration. Not that she could remember a damn thing about that person, but whatever was happening, she was leaking through. Not much. Barely anything tangible, but just enough for her to realize how incredibly screwed up the situation they were in actually was.

It all had to be Ranma's fault somehow.

It wasn't completely hopeless, though. Not only could she navigate now, but she wasn't cursed to become a small black pig with the application of cold water. Neither was any small concession, but she was still wearing the body of a girl, a fact that did bad things to her psyche if she thought on the matter for any length of time. And what did Ranma do about it? Laugh it off as if it were just an inconvenience.

Depression rolled in like a storm front over Ryoga, but failed to descend down upon her with its usual potency. Instead, the neo-girl simply sighed decided to concentrate on where she was going before she ran into—

"Rena!"

The name stopped her like a leash, the involuntary reaction irritating Ryoga to no end. She didn't even have to turn her head to sight the person calling her name, as it appeared that her absent wandering hadn't been so absent after all… Like some weird ass directional curse in reverse, leading her to a specific tree so that somebody that knew her- Rena –could call her by name.

Worse yet, she knew this person. Oh, she couldn't name the white haired girl waving her to save her life, but recognition was definitely clicking within her brain… Or Rena's brain, Ryoga through darkly. And I can't just ignore her… Already made eye contact…

Ryoga Hibiki forced a smile for the frail girl with a sculpted bun for her distinctive hair style. "Uh, heh. Hi!"

"Is your sister okay?" The girl emoted concern with wide eyes, "What happened to her?"

Ranma. It's always about Ranma, Ryoga fumed mentally. "The idiot saw two guys kissing." The green haired girl rolled her eyes. "Moron."

The girl's concern seemed to wash away before her very eyes, replaced with a startled, curious look. "But that's… you…." The as yet unnamed friend shook her head, now clearly confused. "Are you okay, Rena-chan?"

Ryoga froze mentally, knowing that he, she had slipped somewhere. "Uh, yes! Why would you think something's wrong?!"

"Of course, passing out because she saw two guys kissing is weird," The white haired girl continued, pressing a finger to her pale lips. "But you're being pretty harsh, don't you think?"

No, he's an idiot; trust me on this, Ryoga thought at her, but maintained the artificial smile plastered on her face. "Maybe you're right." She nodded with absolutely no sincerity whatsoever. "What do you think caused it, then?"

"Oh, that's obvious." The girl nodded with her, apparently convinced by the act. "The kiss probably reminded her of Naota-san. It was a rather public break up. I know I'd be devastated."

Ryoga blinked. Then blinked again. She couldn't be saying… Nah. Because if she was… The girl barely managed to stifle the sudden laughter that threatened to escape, instead reducing it to a cough. Ranma… and some other guy… were… The Hibiki began to cough in earnest.

"Are you alright, Rena-chan?"

Ryoga nodded frantically, waving her off while her mind whirled and her lungs hacked. Ranma… Ranma had a boy friend! Ranma and Naota, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! Oh God! This will piss him off to no end! The formerly lost boy turned girl stifled another round of gut busting laughter before calming herself to the point where she could breathe normally, then offered the mystery girl an apologetic look. "Eh, something I ate. Sorry, Ceta."

One mystery solved, Ryoga thought at the slight surprise as the girl's name popped unbidden from her mouth. Only three thousand, six hundred and eighty to go. Give or take a million.

The white haired girl now known as Ceta gave her friend a queer look. Could food even do that? "It's… okay. Probably a shock to you both." She shrugged, leading Ryoga back to the tree that felt very familiar to her partner. "But how about that flash on Hydrocoresthetics?"

The change in topic was painfully obvious, as was the reason behind it, something Ryoga embraced with mixed feelings. While she was more than happy at the turn in conversation away from Ranma or her gaffs in character, it was yet another step onto shaky ground. It was unbelievable, but she knew what hydrocoresthetics were. The knowledge had been literally dumped wholesale into her brain. Even so, there were a lot of dark areas in that knowledge, like puzzle pieces waiting to be applied. She knew what it was, but damned if she could make heads or tails on theory behind it since it built on concepts Rena evidentially already knew but he did not. As such, there was only one thing she could do in the face of such a knowledge deficit…

"Uh, yeah. It was… pretty… neat."

"Understatement." Ceta sniffed. "Imagine what that would do to a gravity well unshielded!"

Ryoga's brain chewed on the concept. Well, a core would be incredibly powerful, the lesson taught her. Without a shield… Her eyes widened as key facts fell into place. Assuming the gravity well in question had an electromagnetic field, it would turn the entire planet into a superconductor, whatever the hell that was. That tidbit was entirely unnecessary as she instinctively knew it would be very, very bad for anybody living on said planet… which explained why the cores themselves were only assembled and operated in… space?

That thought alone sent Ryoga blinking.

Not just space, the green haired Hibiki realized. Deep space. Way further out than the American's space shuttle could even dream of reaching.

Her friend nodded vigorously, misinterpreting the reaction. "Exactly! One fried dunlopper! Still, I think we can use the general principle in this year's science fair!"

Ryoga Hibiki's brain was barely keeping with the turn of events that continued to assault her. Science fair?! What the hell?! I'm a martial artist, not a scientist, dammit!

"Of course, the aeon field might be a bit hard to stabilize, but…" Her voice trailed off as she caught sight of something behind her. "Oh, Raya-chan! Anami-chan! Kojima—What did she do to her hair?!"

Even as her 'friend' waved the three over, Ryoga's lips began to form a mischievous smile. A shard of guilt panged at her for what she was about to do, but she pushed it down and turned around to greet the trio.

"Hey, Anami. Kojima…Raya." Ryoga's grin widened as the thee joined up with her and Ceta. "Are you okay… Sis? Did you faint because it reminded you of… Naota?"

All eyes turned on Ranma, who felt an inexplicable pit develop in her stomach. While nobody would ever call Ranma Saotome a genius at reading people, it was obvious that the pig boy- girl –knew something. She didn't even know who Naota was yet, but Ryoga obviously did, and he was being a bastard with the new information. The light redhead frowned with the revelation. "Uh, no… of course not."

The shaky reply was less than convincing and Kojima punched a fist into an open hand in self recriminating enlightenment. "Och! I shoulda' realized! Damnit, if Neji and I had a brain in our heads, kissin' in front of ya like that! I… I'm really sorry, Ray."

Ranma's cheek twitched ever so slightly with the memory, even more at the nickname, but failed to generate any sizable disgust over the topic. Part of that was Raya. Whoever's body it was she was inhabiting now, the blond haired boy all but radiated 'lifelong friend' in her subconscious. The other part, however…

"No, no… it's nothin'." Ranma-Raya assured the boy, then turned to Ryoga. "We need to talk… Sister."

"Oh, I think we should stay right here." Ryoga returned smugly. "Around friends. Friends that can help you… after such a devastating break up."

All movement in Ranma's body ceased as the pit in her stomach turned into a sucking void. Despair flared up briefly before being quenched… quenched by the nans, she reasoned, all too calmly. Still, the direction of this conversation was not to her liking, emotive limiters or not. A break-up clearly implied a relationship, one that seemed to produce nothing but anxiety throughout the background of her psyche.

It wasn't hard math to add up, and Ranma glared at the green haired girl. "We really need to talk. Now."

"She's right!" Anami proclaimed. Ryoga grinned insufferably as the girl unknowing played into his mischief. "You need to be around friends right now!"

"I really don't…"

"I know you had some good times with Naota, but really," Ryoga-Rena remarked in casual tone, still smirking. "No guy is worth this much suffering."

Ranma's gaze narrowed dangerously. It was hard to get angry because of the limiters, but anger wasn't absolutely necessary to put the idiot in his place. "I'm warnin' ya, bacon brains…"

Everybody in the group sans Ryoga stared at the girl and the uncharacteristic insult that fell from her mouth. Ceta's mouth hung open. "I know you're feeling bad about the break up, but—"

"And what are you going to do about it, Raya?" Ryoga challenged, her grin climbing to insufferable levels as she herself climbed to her feet. "Oh, I know! Maybe find another boyfrie—"

The roundhouse kick took Ryoga by surprise and nearly took her head off with it as Ranma stepped around Ceta to engage him. While he was more than happy to watch Ranma blow his top and his cover, there was something distinctly wrong with her behavior. Her body language and attitude were barely registering anger, but that kick… His grin faded slightly as he hopped back and took his own attack stance. Future or no, there was tradition to be dispensed with.

"PREPARE TO DIE, RANMA!"

Three friends watched in horror as two sisters- their friends! –charged into one another and began unleashing moves only seen in zero-gee gymnastics and campy fighting holos. Raya executed an impossible spinning kick that Rena deflected and countered with a punch that the redhead profiled away from, grabbed the arm and attempted to pull the green haired girl through.

Instead, Ryoga-Rena, stepped into the pull as soon as she realized her error and attempted to push a hard snap kick into Ranma-Raya's torso, causing girl to break contact and roll out, panting and sweating. She took the moment to gather her second wind and launched herself into the air, attempting to overwhelm the formerly lost boy with an aerial combination, which the green haired Ryoga either evaded or blocked as efficiently as possible before re-launching his own offensive. The two traded blows for another minute before breaking contact, sopped in sweat.

"Stop it!" Anami balked, stepping between the two. "You're sisters! Sisters shouldn't be fighting like this!"

"Lookin'…" Ranma panted, struggling to pull breath from the air around her, "Kinda… outa shape there… P-chan…"

"You hit… like… a girl… you…. jackass…." Ryoga retorted irritably, wiping the sweat from her own forehead. Around them, a small gathering of students had collected, gawking at the two fighting girls. "And don't… call me P-chan!"

Ranma snorted with sedate amusement. Unless she missed her guess, they were both hitting like girls… and feeling it, regardless. It was barely even five minutes into the fight and her muscles were sore. Even the deflected blows hurt! If there was one thing that was becoming painfully apparent, it was that Rena and Raya weren't martial artist by any stretch of the imagination, nor were their bodies even remotely conditioned to endure the punishment that was routinely inflicted upon Ryoga and Ranma.

Ceta was on the verge of crying, tugging on Kojima's arm frantically. "You have to stop them! They'll hurt each other!"

"Sister's aren't supposed to fight!" Anami screamed, trying to get the pair's attention. "Kojima!"

"No way!" He stepped back shacking his head emphatically. "Rule number one: Nevah ever get involved in girl fights!"

"KOJIMA!" Both friends yelled in unison, causing the blond to flinch.

"Rule number two…" He took a step back, "Ta hell with rule number two. I can barely do what they're doin' in the z-g, let alone normal grav! When the heck did they get so…"

"Grrrrr…." Anami growled menacingly, pointing at the sisters. "Help them before I tell Neji on you!"

"Oi, that's a dirty trick!" Kojima, balked and stepped forward. "I'll break em up, but—"

He never got the chance as both combatants reengaged; lashing out at one another with blurring punches and kicks while twisting in and around one another. The group of friends ceased their attempts at breaking up the sisters and instead found themselves watching… watching like some horrible grav-lev accident playing out in front of them; horrified, but unable to tear their eyes away. Raya had become a dancer, attempting to gain an advantage by twisting in and out of her sister's guard, who in turn was trying to overwhelm her with blow after blow. It was a fairly even match, until both broke contact once more. Rena's long green hair a sweat tangled mess while Raya's new style- a ponytail bound by physical means! –had faired much better, though the girl was no less exhausted.

"Think it's… time to… finish this…" Ranma's burning lungs eagerly sucked in gasping breaths as she tried to maintain her confident visage. Even that was hard as all but the deepest emotional spikes were being muted by the emotive limiter, effectively pulling the plug on any confidence based attack Ranma took up a stance and instead prepared to dispense one of her most tried and true techniques.

"I'll… I'll kick your ass…" Ryoga labored, taking up his own stance while unease echoed through his brain. Part of that was undoubtedly Rena and her feelings about fighting her own sister. The other part was squarely his. Ranma didn't look mad and really wasn't throwing the insults like he usually would. Either way, he was right. It was time to finish this, if only because the crowd gathering around their 'scuffle' was getting larger.

Not that being downright exhausted had anything to do with it either.

Ranma pulled her left fist back. Ryoga produced an index finger. A light redheaded girl and a long green haired girl charged headlong into one another.

"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"

"TENSHIN AMAGURIKAN!"


The room was eight by eight and had all the trappings of a prison cell. The corner held a plasteel cot with no pillow or padding while the other corner housed a recessed hole for waste disposal…of all sorts. A rudimentary sink was built into the wall above the waste unit, while the wall itself was an uninspiring flat gray, illuminated by the glow of a sole lamp hardwired into the ceiling.

All things considered, the wanderer had spent time in worse places under the Queen's rule. Far worse, but this was the price he paid for anonymity: two and a half weeks in a small compartment on the ass end of a long haul galactic freighter. The slip gates of Eleria would have been faster, of course. He could have stepped through the ring, been streamed into sub atomic matter, banked across the event horizon of half a dozen black holes and reassembled on old Earth within seconds…

…And then be promptly vaporized as Imperial Security realized that an enemy of the empire had finally decided to step out of myth and legend after three millennia on the rim and into the Queen's very pond. The slip gate's local automated defenses would bracket him and while he was busy dealing with those and a platoon or two of Heavy Intervention, the Senshi themselves would arrive and that would be that.

Death would be a tender mercy if they managed to take him alive.

The man gave his thoughts a mental shrug and peeled off his tunic, throwing the aged article of clothing to the floor. It was followed shortly by his pants and continued until the black haired man was completely nude. Turning, he thumbed the magnetic clasps of a rugged travel bag and began to pull fresh clothing whose styling was several generations more current than his discards. He could afford the rugged look in the slums of Eleria, but on Earth? The last thing he needed to do was stand out.

The wanderer cocked his head as the very walls around him vibrated and keened. He took note of the tremors and buttoned up the final clasp on his black double breasted tunic trimmed in crimson before pulling on the cloak, adjusting his new garb for comfort. It was almost time.

A subtle whine permeated the air throughout the tiny compartment and he knew Newtonian physics were once again taking control of the five kilometer long freighter as it dropped out of super luminal transit. That would mean only one thing. He stepped over to the pile of discarded clothing and kicked them into the disposal node before activating it, sucking the fabrics away to be atomized.

"Head's up, Kamen. We're passing Pluto." A rough baritone crackled through the static laden overhead speaker. "Imperial inspectors are inbound, call it ten minutes."

Chiba Mamoru acknowledged the warning, nodding to nobody in particular. "I'll be ready."

Matching action to word, the former king of Earth retrieved a chrome device from his packed belongings, palming the derringer sized unit in his hand while retrieving a thin clear vial less than a finger long and filled with a pale yellow liquid. Chiba slapped the tube into the device and rolled up a sleeve, pushing the sharper end of its curves into his flesh before thumbing the trigger. Only the slightest hiss betrayed its activation and the contents of the vial were instantly dispersed into his bloodstream.

There goes fifty thousand credits, he mused, dropping the silver device into the disposal bin where it was in turn reduced to component atoms. All things considered, they shouldn't find him or the compartment he was occupying at present. The freighter was easily five kilometers long and the room buried deep in the superstructure. The inspectors would run a scan, maybe embark a few officers and that would be that. After all, the cargo was legitimate and captain was reliable. No reason to waste time scrutinizing a known quantity.

…Unless that captain was a sympathizer and old, old friend of his, of course.

Thankfully, they didn't know that, because people who associated with him openly tended to meet untimely demises. Chiba Mamoru's jaw clenched at the cold, hard fact. For that same reason, barely anything remained of his network of contacts on old Earth, and an organization of thousands had slowly and methodically been purged down to a handful. Loyalty purges, he shivered, setting the bag down at the foot of his cot and leaned back onto it as his destiny weighed heavily on his chest.

For now, it was the best he could do. His people would do their jobs and fate would tend to itself. In either case it was time. Past time. Past time to see his daughter, past time to see his love…

…and far past time to kill the woman that was once Usagi Tsukino.


"...And look at you both! A dislocated shoulder! Bruises! Cuts! Blood! Honest to goodness blood! What were you two doing?! You're sisters! And don't think you can use Naota as an excuse young lady! To think they had to use an emotive limiter on you! And don't think this is all about Raya! How could you take advantage of your sister like that, Rena?! You're supposed to be the more level headed of the two of you! Do you understand me!?"

"Yes Mama!" Both girls chorused, unable to make eye contact. The fact that the reply came out in unison went unnoticed by either as the fierce tongue lashing continued.

"I thought I raised you girls to be better than this! You do remember who the house patron is, right?! Is this becoming of her?! Of them!? If your great, great auntie were here right now, you know what she would do?! She'd make you walk to school! And no holos for weeks! You're just lucky school let you off with a warning! A fight!!! Take it from me, young ladies, Behavioral Tuning is not an elective you want on your permanent records, do you!"

"No Mama!" The guilt ridden chorus continued.

"And if I find out you ever, ever, ever so much as glare at each other, I'll ground you girls until your first k! Your social circle will be so old they'll have crystals growing off their heads before they see you again! Oh, woe be unto me for having raised two such rebellious and ungrateful daughters! Now I want you to promise me right here and now that you'll never fight each other again! Sisters don't fight! Now promise!"

"Yes Mama!"

The green haired twenty something woman that had been unconsciously labeled 'mama' for the past half an hour fixed them with a hard glare for another minute before lurching forward and gathering two surprised martial artists into a fierce hug. "Don't ever, ever, ever do that again! You had me worried sick after the school waved me on your condition! I know the last few days have been rough, but that's no reason to fight amongst yourselves! I was so worried! But don't think that will get you out of your punishment."

Ryoga stiffened. Ranma likewise took note. "Punishment?"

The woman released the pair and began to pace the living room with a finger on her lip in contemplation while the girl that had originally seen them off that very morning- the person they had come to know was an elder sister –smirked from her mysterious melting chair, casually flipping through an animated magazine.

"Yes, punishment," the mother continued. "Something that to remind you that you are, in fact, sisters." She paused in her pacing. "Two weeks sharing the same room, I think."

"Sucks to be you." The elder sister commented as she continued to thumb through her magazine.

The mother paid her no mind while the green and red haired girls were left blinking respectively. That was her idea of punishment? They were martial artists, for cryin' out loud! Both had seen the corners of the earth without luxury or modern convenience. Both had battled creatures mundane and super natural. And now the penalty for their latest infraction was…

"In fact, I think an early bed time is waiting for the both of you." She concluded, folding her arms in a self satisfied manner. "I've already conjured your pajamas, so off with you."

Both Ranma and Ryoga looked from their 'mother' to one another, unsure of exactly what to think before being ushered off to bed while the older sister snickered at their backs.

Fifteen minutes later found Ranma and Ryoga sitting on the bed in their pajamas… staring. Ironically, it wasn't the pastel blue nighty on Ryoga that was producing the stares, nor the pink one adorning Ranma. All things considered, they were annoyances overshadowed by the strangeness that had loomed large throughout the day.

"This is creepy." Ryoga mumbled as her eyes swept what was, by all rights, her room. Rena's room. Whatever. All in all, the place was a mess, though even that wasn't what had either martial artist to wonder. Whereas Ranma- Raya's –room had been a home to all things feminine in nature, hers was dominated by science. Complex models sat on the end table in various states of assembly while flat gray sheets of the flexible media their older 'sister' had held lay scattered throughout the room.

Both martial artist's eyes were invariably drawn to the room's corners. In the first floated an orb of light, small but some how lighting the entire room. In the corner opposite another ball of light, this one blue in color, was melding and deforming in midair much like the yoke in a lava lamp. The blue deformity was surrounded in a vortex of blue light about a foot or so in diameter, stretching from the floor to the ceiling.

"I ain't sure which room is scarier at this point." Ranma quipped as she picked up one of the plastic flexies before her feet randomly, examining one side of the flat gray surface, then the other. Her red eyes picked out a small dimple on the corner of the flexie and her finger found it, bringing the plastic sheet to life. "What the hell?"

Another gray vortex swirled around her, though this one was incredibly weak compared to the one that had enveloped her in the classroom at school.

Load upon load of incomprehensible knowledge fluctuated throughout her brain in a senseless mass, much like before. It was over quickly, far more speedy than the one in class had been.

Again, she felt nothing but useless information. Then it clustered together to form coherent facts… facts that should have been unbelievable.

"Oookay…" Ranma murmured. "A.. Uhm… Apparently, well… the… the trans. How they work? They harnessed a black hole… I think. They don't call it a black hole though… they call it a 'Uncontrolled Void,' and then after they take the energy or something they call it a 'Contained Void.' It's how they blast people apart… I don't wanna know how they put them back together.

Ryoga just stared blankly.

For some reason the fear that really should have been felt at having that level of information shoved into her head didn't arise. The redhead touched the dimple switch once more and life died away from the sheet, featureless gray replacing the animated color that had danced across the surface. Ranma set the sheet down carefully on the bed and looked at Ryoga. A smirk enveloped her face.

"I wouldn't have figured you as the super genius type, P-chan."

"You're one to talk, lover girl." Ryoga bit back, watching Ranma flinch as the insult hit far closer to home than even he could have foreseen. Instead of the insult she had been expecting, Ranma's cheek twitched and her red eyes burned back at her.

"Shuddup, Ryoga."

"That's really getting to you…" The formerly lost boy marveled, setting aside their rivalry for the moment. "I mean it's really messed up, but… And what the heck was up with our fight earlier, anyway?"

The strawberry blonde sighed as her resolve drained away and laid back on the bed, staring into the crème white ceiling. "Beats the hell out of me. Whoever this girl is, I'm getting the feeling she really liked the guy. Tears her up just ta hear his goddamn name, and I feel the effects." Ranma laid on the bed inert for a moment before snorting softly to herself. "Think I'll kick his ass for her next time I see him."

Surprisingly, the internal pit within her quieted with the idle musing.

"And the fight?" Ryoga pressed, clearly curious.

"Stupid nans." Ranma panned.

The green haired girl simply waited for the forthcoming explanation. Ranma propped herself back up. "We got machines inside us, Ryoga."

"Bullshit." Ryoga blinked, then frowned. The only thing that kept her from calling the girl beside her an outright liar was the fact that they were surrounded by flying cars, instant learning and, of course, getting blasted to and fro at the subatomic level.

"Ain't bullshit." The redhead continued. "Smaller than the eye can see. You took that hydrowhateverthehellitis for your elective, I took Nanites 101 after getting an emotive limiter slapped on me."

Ryoga just looked at her as if he were speaking the foreign language she effectively was. "And what's this have to do with…?"

Ranma shooker her head. "Tiny machines inside us doin' lots of things. They heal ya faster, keep ya healthy, help ya learn… and apparently change your brain around. After I fainted—" The green haired girl snickered slightly until being silenced by a withering glare. "Like I was sayin', they zapped me to some weird futuristic nurse's office after the bathroom thing and they ordered the machines inside us to screw around with my brain to calm me down."

"You're kidding."

The martial artist shook her head. "Nope. Remember the fight? Couldn't get mad at you, and trust me, I wanted to."

Ryoga's face held a dumbfounded look for a moment as she digested the explanation. "So they can do this to us… anytime?"

"Sure as hell looks that way." Ranma grumbled. "It was just too damn weird. You were teasin' me that entire time and I just couldn't get mad. I had to kick your ass on principle more than anything else."

"Hmmf. Don't flatter yourself." Ryoga stood off the bed, smirking. "I kicked your ass."

A slow grin spread across Ranma's face. "Dream on pig-boy."

Both girls smiled at one another for another minute before the green haired girl's faltered first. "This is some serious shit we're in, Ranma. I mean, what the hell is going on with us? We're in somebody else's body! I'm a goddamn girl! The only thing that's kept me from going nuts over that is everything else going nuts around us!"

"Beats the heck out of me…" Ranma sighed, clearly at a loss herself. After a time, both thinking in hopes of discovering the reason for their temporal travel to this futuristic world, Ranma spoke again. "Something, had to have brought us here. And whoever… whatever it was has to show itself sooner or later."

Another pause, while Ryoga sat down on the floor amidst all the cacophony of books and gadgets lying there. "Hmm…" She murmured.

Ranma turned to look and found Ryoga's gaze fixed upon a photograph sitting on the table just behind the green haired girl. Ryoga turned back to Ranma and, pointing over her shoulder at the picture said simply, "Naota."

Ranma's heart skipped a beat. "Dammit." She muttered, as she rolled herself off the bed to walk over to the photograph and take a closer look.

There they all were. Kojima, Ceta, Raya, Anami, Freya, another name that popped into Ranma's mind upon seeing the picture, Rena, and…

"Naota.." Ranma panned. She deliberately touched the picture in the middle and was happy to receive the desired effect.

As expected, it burst into life extending into the open air as the picture in the hallway, and numerous giggles elicited throughout. "Okay Everyone! Say Mozzarella!" Exclaimed a disembodied voice that Ranma could only assume was the person taking the picture.

Everyone shouted joyously as directed, Save for Naota himself, smiles and giggles written all over, and just like that the picture died and faded.

Looking across the images Ranma was shocked by some.

She practically gawked at her own mutilated hair! It was silk smoothed into the form of a Chinese straw hat… and she was tipping it!

Rena's was no better, jutting straight upwards in spiked unruliness. It... Rena's at least… didn't actually look too bad on her. If she were going for biker chick.

Freya was a brown-haired girl, whom they had not seen today that Ranma remembered. Taller than any of them save Kojima, her hair in the picture was formed into a spiked crown circlet pointing both up and out of her head simultaneously. She wore an elastic under-suit of some sort, silver by the look of it, covered by a jacket that hung all the way to her knees.

The jacket was on fire.

Anami wore a similar jacket, blazing with electric bolts of energy jolting haphazardly about covering her, leaving a similar skin tight suit visible beneath. Her hair was the same as it had been today.

Everyone else appeared quite normal, well as normal as it got for these weirdos, save for Naota himself. The boy appeared to be every bit as unusual as Anami and Freya were, but in a more mundane way. His hair, unlike the others, was not shaped in a way impossible for Ranma's home. Just supremely difficult. Jet black, it appeared completely wet and yet smooth as silk. All of it rushed back as if he were frozen facing the wind, though not to unbelievable levels. It looked vaguely similar to using an extremely large amount of hair gel.

He wore a red jacket that stopped at the waist as a normal jacket should, and a pair of plaid pants that went to the middle of his calves. Plaid! His wore a pair of red stockings, colored the same as the jacket that reached up beneath the shorts.

Of all the people in the picture, themselves included, he would have been the least noticed back in Nerima. Then again, Nerima wasn't exactly 'normal' either.

The boy, despite his somewhat cold smirk, was the third shortest person there, the only two shorter being Ryoga and Ranma herself.

"So… that's him…" Ranma said absently. The picture tugged at her gut. "Doesn't seem like much."

Ryoga couldn't help but not that Ranma's hands were clenched particularly tightly around the metal frame of the simple photo. "So… what should we do?" She asked, looking from Ranma to the picture and back, feeling abnormally lucky that, to the best of her knowledge, Rena had no such current interests.

"Go to bed, I believe I told you!" Came a sudden 'Mama shout' from the other side of the door. "And not one more word!"

They eeked and were in the bed faster then either of them would have believed possible.

"Light Out!" Rena exclaimed once under the blankets, and gracefully the bauble blinked out plunging them into darkness, hindered only by the blue vortex lava lamp in the other corner.

It was some time before either were brave enough to speak again. Ranma was the first.

"Ryoga…" She muttered… "Do you feel half as pathetic as I do right now…?"

Ryoga glared to the red-head, facing her. Their faces were the only things visible; the rest of their bodies were huddled beneath the incredibly comfortable blankets.

"This is your fault, Ranma!" The ex-bandana-clad girl whispered harshly.

"My fault!" Ranma whispered back, her tone hoarse. "Wha'did I do!?"

"I… I don't know! But it has to be your fault! Everything else is!" Ryoga murmured. She turned away.

Ranma did the same in indignant anger.

Her thoughts, all angered in some form or another, all directed at Ryoga, served to sooth her frayed nerves. Perhaps she'd wake up tomorrow and this would all have been just a big dream…

She hoped it did.

Her own life was bad… but much more of this could drive her insane.


Authors' Notes -

Alright. So I lied. Ozz didn't give me any author's notes for him to put down here. Ho hum. Meh. Well. This is Materia again as you all know, and with any luck you enjoyed this monstrous (by my standards) chapter. It'll probably be a little while till the next one but we do have most of the plot lined out, therefore probably shorter than you had to wait for this one. Heh heh.

Special thanks to Metroidvania (I think i spelled it right and everything... hope so! Hope that's the right name, too...! I didn't talk to im' at all. Heh.) who preread for us, and also to the unnamed people who recieved this before its update (that being today.)

Well guess thats pretty much all I've got to say. If ozz wants some A/N's on here I'll edit em in when he gives them to me.

Secondary notes. Everyone rejoice! (I am!) Ozz's muse for Foxcat is back! Hooray! I'm currently writing on like nine different stories, plus school, plus work, plus possible romantic interests coming my way. (Can you believe it?) Obviously a bit busy heh. But I promise eventually I'll get back to Mark in the Lace. I always do. Dropped the Chobits cross and the Potter fic is kinda iffy now for those who know I mentioned it. Got a new idea now. No spoilers. Hope ya read when I come out with it.

So to end this little rantlet I suppose the best thing to do would be to ask for reviews! We both like them! Well, I know I do. Heh heh.

Till Next!

Materia-Blade