Just recently saved part of this from some backed up files that I just recently found from my old hard drive. Sorry for the delay. Hopefully a beta steps up soon, 'cause I really don't like making mistakes in grammar or continuity. Problem is, proofreading my own brand is harder than I thought it would be.
For the record, I am a poor, out of work college student. I have not a cent to my name. If this goes on, I won't be able to eat for a while. Why would I be in this situation if I actually owned two great series like Ranma ½ and Doctor Who?
Enjoy, and I really would appreciate a few more detailed reviews. It tends to help my ego and my muse when people leave feedback and ask questions about the future.
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Ranma was coming back inside the house from the dojo when he felt a familiar ki signature. At the same time, he heard Kasumi call him to the front door.
"Thanks Kasumi, I can handle this," he told her, as he walked up. He then took one of Martha's arms, and then dragged her over to the front gate. "You know, you could have called ahead, Martha-chan."
"What, no hello?" the woman smirked at her, "Come on, it's not that big of a deal, is it?"
"With Akane, no; she's gotten better with her temper. The old idiots, on the other hand, may cause a bit of problems. What I'm really worried about is Nabiki. She has already started asking questions that may or may not lead her into trouble, and I don't know if I have enough pull to get her out of it."
"Yeah, about that . . . "
Ranma froze, and then gave a shaky look at her. "Please tell me . . . "
"Fine then, I won't."
Ranma whimpered, "Please tell me she's not on her way here . . . "
Martha patted the boy's shoulder. "Now don't worry, a few of the higher ups managed to get her laid over in Moscow for another week, and we're trying to come up with a way to get her held up at customs, but I don't think you'll have much pull with them after that; most of them are looking at this as their way of paying you back for saving our arses a couple of weeks ago . . . "
The young aqua-transsexual whimpered again, "But I don't wanna be a guinea pig for that . . . that . . . "
The young woman sighed; she hoped this next news would be a bit better for him . . . "However, you might be able to get a little more leverage. I'm not exactly here for a vacation, you know."
Her friend snorted at this, "I kind of figured that; last time I checked, UNIT wasn't into giving vacation hours . . . So, what is it this time?"
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" . . . So, what is it this time?"
Nabiki sat in her room, headphones on her head. It was often joked that there were cameras all over the house, gathering info for her to use. This was untrue; the only camera she had was for the front door.
She did, however, having listening devices hooked up all over the yard, in the dojo, and in the dining room, in the hopes of picking up drunken plans that may or may not be remembered by the idiot duo.
She was now wondering whether listening into this conversation was a good thing.
Martha's voice rang out over the receiver. "There has been a disappearance; one of the members of Parliament had decided to take his wife and young daughter for a Japanese vacation. As part of the activities, they were to take a day hike in a traditional Japanese forest. That was a little under a week ago, and we have yet to hear from them."
Ranma: "And they need my help because . . .
Martha: "A few days ago, they found the body of a member of their protection unit; the body was nothing more than a dried husk, but there are no signs of anyone draining any fluid whatsoever. However, one of our Japanese agents ran a sensor scan on it, with the new calibrations that you helped us with . . . "
Ranma: "Hold on a sec . . . are you saying . . .
Martha: "That the body was drained of ki?"
Ranma: ". . . Damn it!"
Martha: "I'm assuming you have seen this before?"
Ranma: "I'll have to see the body, but it sounds exactly like . . . wait, how old was the girl, this daughter?"
Martha: "Around four years old. Why?"
Ranma: "If this is what I think it is, then the parents and any other adult are already dead. However, I think the girl is young enough to possibly be alive, if she managed to find some water out there, that is. Young children only start generating the standard amount of ki between ages five and seven. Even so, we need to move fast; I can't really make any guarantees, so the sooner, the better."
Martha: "Anything special that we need to bring?"
Ranma: "Any kind of portable freezing weapons, if you have them. If not, you can borrow some of mine."
Martha: "For the record, I did not hear that, and you did not say that, got it?"
Ranma: "Got it. You have a car around here?"
Martha: "I'll go pull it around."
Footsteps could be heard over the receiver, and Nabiki hastily moved to delete her computer based records of this; she had a feeling that nothing good could come from having such evidence.
However, what she didn't count on was that there were other ears around. Inside the house, a panda's ears twitched as it listened in.
Across the street, a yellow and pink cat did the same.
Konatsu, having been asked to keep an eye on things over at the Tendo Dojo, headed back to base to tell Ukyo what he had overheard.
Akane, on the other hand, was hanging out with Ukyo, after hearing of Ranma's plan for saving her honor.
The problem with Nerima is that, when something interesting happens, even in secret . . .
There are always ears listening in . . .
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"We shouldn't be here," Akane tried telling Ukyo, "Ranma said he did a lot of top secret work with the government; this may be something like that!"
"I don't care!" Ukyo retorted, "Even if he doesn't love me like I want him to, Ranma is the most important person in my life right now, and I don't want him getting hurt!"
Nabiki sighed. Somehow or other, she had gotten shanghaied by her father into watching Ranma and 'this new girl'. Then again, it was either that, or the fathers would go in her place, and she'd rather not have them getting into trouble with the government; they'd just make things worse.
On the way there, she ran into Ukyo and Akane. For business purposes, Ukyo had bought a small car, and they had used it to follow Ranma.
Closer to the forest, they had come across a couple of roadblocks, but as martial artists, Akane and Ukyo had managed to get them across. This was unfortunate to Nabiki, as she had figured she could have used this as an excuse to go back.
"What Spatula Girl, Kitchen Destroyer, and Mercenary Girl doing here?" they heard Shampoo growl. Whirling around, the three girls found themselves face to face with the Amazon, who had ridden her bike up this way; Cologne stood behind her, watching the action.
Akane tensed. She knew that she wasn't ready to take Shampoo on yet, but with Ukyo, who had swung her battle spatula in front of her in defense, she might just have a chance.
Nabiki, on the other hand, sighed. "Same thing you are doing, apparently. I swear, I really need to start insulating the walls of the dojo!"
Cologne cackled, "Now, now, is there any need to squabble? We are, after all, here for the same reasons . . . "
The teenage mercenary delicately raised an eyebrow at the old woman. " . . . And that is?"
"Information, of course!"
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"So, just to make things clear . . . this woman is not interested in having son-in-law as a fiancé, she works for the government, and Ranma is merely working with them as well?" Cologne asked.
"That is correct," Nabiki sighed. They had been walking for hours. Martha had only shown up a little after noon, and she really wasn't in shape enough to walk for long distances through the woods.
Hell, the sun is practically setting! She thought.
She had managed to explain some things to the others about what was going on, including some (publically known) facts about the UNIT that had Cologne worried and frustrated with Shampoo. Apparently, she had been told that Ranma had gone off with a new fiancé. Akane, on the other hand, had not realized that Konatsu was talking about Martha at the time, and was a bit concerned.
Suddenly, rustling was heard up ahead. As the martial artists prepared for a skirmish, they were surprised to find Martha Jones bursting out from the bushes at a run. She skidded to a stop at the sight of them. "What the bloody hell are you lot doing here?"
Before Nabiki could open her mouth to explain, Ranma burst out from the tree line, covered in leaves and dirt, and holding onto a small child with blond hair. Landing roughly, he looked at those gathered, and then growled out, "Do I really want to know?"
"Konatsu was hanging around the dojo and heard you two talking. He then told Ukyo and Akane, who had no idea what this was about. Also, cats and pandas have pretty good hearing, which is something I think this Doctor of yours forgot to tell you," Nabiki snapped out, "As for me, it was either me or the fathers, and do you really want them here right now?"
Ranma sighed, and then called out, "Konatsu, can you come out, please?" Instantly, the crossdressing kunoichi popped into visibility, kneeling down on one knee and ready to rant apologies at his friend. However, before he could open his mouth, Ranma pulled him to his feet and then handed him the child in his hands, muttering something in English to the girl. He then looked at Konatsu. "Protect the girl as if she was Ukyo, and all is forgiven, got it?"
Konatsu nodded in shock. Suddenly, Ranma stiffened, and then turned around to stare behind him. After a moment, he turned back around, and then, in an imperial tone, said, "Shampoo, grab Nabiki. Ukyo, grab Martha-chan and help Akane along, she's gaining speed, but I doubt she's up to par with the rest of you. Now, start running!"
Cologne narrowed her eyes at the young man. "What makes you think you can give orders to us, sonny boy?"
Before anyone could say anything, a form burst out from behind Ranma. It was dog-like, but it had no fur, showcasing leathery red skin. Its muzzle was opened up as if it were a Venus fly trap, showcasing three orange tentacles. The thing had no eyes, and was emitting a loud shrieking sound. Then Ranma appeared in front of it, kicking the thing in its belly and knocking it in the air.
As the other martial artists watched, he withdrew two heavy pistols from out of nowhere, and then fired upon the beast, causing bits of blood and skin to fly into the air. The thing hit a tree heavily, and then fell to the ground as Ranma ran out of bullets.
In shock, the other Nerimans stood quietly, though both Cologne and Akane (who knew Ranma's fighting style), noted the mist that Ranma breathed out, a sure sign of a user of the Kon no Koori (Soul of Ice).
However, Cologne noticed something else. As Ranma kicked the thing away, she could sense a thread of ki being pulled from Ranma into the beast. "Ki vampire! But how? Those were supposed to be legends . . . "
Ranma whirled around, glaring at the Old Ghoul. "Either you guys get moving NOW, or you will become a smorgasbord for about a hundred and fifty more of these freaks! GET MOVING!"
Nobody needed to be told twice. Shampoo grabbed Nabiki and stared leaping from tree limb to tree limb. Akane and Ukyo, who had grabbed Martha in a bridal hold, took off as well, with Konatsu hovering over them with the child. Cologne sped along in front of them, while Mousse slammed into a tree and had to be dragged along by Ranma long enough so that he could throw him at Cologne.
She caught him, though it was by no means gentle.
After doing this, Ranma fell back into the treeline. Seconds later, several high pitched shrieks sounded, and then abruptly ended.
They ran for what seemed like hours, until the sun finally set into the west. As the last rays of sun disappeared, Ranma flickered into existence beside a flagging Akane, who jumped and shrieked in surprise.
If it wasn't for the fact that the pigtailed martial artist looked like shit, she would have hit him with something. His skin was pale white, and his clothes were ripped all over the place. "Up ahead, there's a river," he called out. "Everybody, stop there!"
As they stopped, he pulled out a wool blanket, walked over to Konatsu, and wrapped it around the blonde child. This time, Nabiki could clearly hear him say, in English, "This will keep you warm, even in the wet. Stay with Konatsu, she will protect you from the bad monsters."
The girl, who had fallen asleep in transit and had just recently woken back up, replied, "Thank you Ra-ma-chan! Promise you will come back?"
Ranma snorted. "I will come back. I made you a promise, and I never go back on my word!"
The child giggled, and Ranma mussed her hair a bit, causing the child to break into laughter. He then turned around, face grim. "OK, these things are still coming after us. I managed to give us a few more minutes with a couple of thermal detonators, but I'm running out of ammo fast! I've got an idea, but you guys can't be around for it."
Still out of breath, Akane asked, "What . . . what do you mean, Ranma?"
Instead of answering, the pigtailed boy walked over to the river, and stuck his hand in the water. As he changed into her, the little girl gasped in surprise, but Martha, who had been set down by Ukyo, started whispering English into her ear to explain.
Nabiki didn't notice this, however. What she did notice was the river misting over and blocks of ice freezing at the edges.
Ranma stood up and turned around. "These things hunt their prey using two different methods. The first is scent; they have to be able to smell you. Yours is known to them by now, so to be able to lead them off, everyone needs to leave a piece of clothing in a small pile here." She gestured to one point by the riverbank. "I don't care if it is a used hanky, your shirt, or something else, just leave it there and get into the river."
Akane worked to keep a hold of her temper as Shampoo, ever the bold one, walked over, shed everything she had on, and then hopped into the river, becoming a small, white and pink cat. Mousse freaked out and had a massive nosebleed that ended when Cologne knocked him into the river himself, turning him into a white duck.
What surprised everyone was the fact that Ranma didn't even look at the Amazon, much less blush. "Second, if they can't smell you, they can resort to a form of heat vision, which is why I had to lower the water temperature. Please, leave any warming techniques until after you get out of the woods." This caused the cat and duck to stiffen. Both were used to warmer water, not water just above freezing.
However, before anyone could complain, Ranma stiffened, and then yelled, "When I get back, I need clothing from everyone! The farther I can lead them off, the safer you'll be. If one of them notices a scent that didn't come with me, they'll hang around here, and you do not want that!"
With that, she whirled around and threw himself into the woods again. At this, Martha muttered something under her breath as she tossed her jacket on top of the pile. As she did this, Nabiki, who was eager to get out of there, stripped off her shirt and did the same. Within thirty seconds, everyone had eased themselves into the freezing river, leaving articles of clothing behind them.
As they got to the center (which was about chest deep on Nabiki; Shampoo was hanging off of Mousse's back), Ranma whirled back into the clearing, grabbed the clothing, and then took off in a ninety degree angle. Right behind him followed a horde of the creatures, almost a hundred of them. A few of the stragglers at the end stopped and sniffed around for a bit, but eventually, they took off to follow as well.
The small party stood there for minutes, until Cologne took charge. "Alright, let's get out of here!"
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It was getting close to midnight when they managed to get out of the forest. It was slow going, as the river was freezing cold. Konatsu had managed to keep the child warm using the wool blanket and a small flash bomb that he had modified as a heating unit, but everyone else shivered throughout the journey.
As they got out, Martha walked over to the edge of the forest and grabbed a few blocks of wood. Pulling them towards the river, she set them into a loose teepee formation. Cologne, noticing this, asked, "What on Earth are you doing, girl?"
Martha gave her a moot look. "I'm making a fire, what else?"
"Are you insane? There are a large mob of ki vampires in this forest! Why would anyone want to stay around here?"
"Someone has to wait for Ranma."
Cologne stared at the black woman for a bit, and then started to laugh. The laugh grew in ferocity until it was a mad cackle . . . and then hacking sobs. At last, she said, "Did you know that, two hundred years ago, our tribe was attacked by a small group of those monsters? That day, three Elders, fifty blooded Amazon Warriors, and over a hundred trainees and males died that day, just to take out three ki vamps! Sonny boy isn't coming back!"
Nabiki, Akane, and Ukyo froze, pale faced, and Shampoo stared at her Great Grandmother in shock and yowled furiously at her, but Martha just snorted. "You obviously don't know Ranma as much as you think you do then."
"If Ranma survives, I will personally support him in any endeavors to end the Kisses of Marriage and Death, and with the feedback I've gotten from the other Elders, that is also impossible!" Cologne snapped. She then whirled around, grabbed Shampoo by the nape of her neck, and stalked off. "Come Mousse, we must get back to the Neko Hanten!"
Ukyo looked at Martha hopefully, "Do you really think that Ran-chan will return?"
Martha grinned at the girl. "Definitely. Thing is, you and your ninja friend won't be around to see it."
Ukyo gaped at this, but Konatsu, who was wet, cold, and nearing the limit of even his incredible patience and grace, asked, in a hollow, yet still melodious voice, "Is that a threat, Martha-san?"
"Look at Sylvia." Martha gestured at the girl in his arms. The poor thing was asleep, shivering, and desperately trying to find warmth in the kunoichi's chest. "Left like that, she won't last the night. I have dealt with worse nights than this, but even if I get a fire started, it will not be enough to warm her up and keep her alive. Ranma did tell you to keep that girl alive, right? Then you know what to do."
Konatsu stared at the British girl mutely, and then turned to Ukyo. "Ukyo-sama, I am truly sorry about this, but . . . "
Ukyo sighed, and then smiled at him. "I know, Ko-chan, I know. I think the car is this way." She took a few steps forward, and then turned back to Akane to ask, "You will call me when he comes back, right?"
The tomboy nodded, "I will."
With that, both chef and kunoichi walked into the night.
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It was near dawn, and Akane was feeling quite awkward.
Martha had managed to start a moderately sized fire using several logs and an odd shaped pistol that seemed to fire a laser beam. Still, neither Nabiki nor Akane were going to complain . . . until the British Agent insisted that they strip off all of their wet clothing to let them dry out.
Akane, who had left her shirt in the pile, froze and was about to snap, but Nabiki, who was already cold, miserable, and wet, started stripping like it was nothing. When Akane tried to bring up Ranma, Martha replied, "Odds are she'll be more interested in sleeping than staring."
So it was that three naked girls were sitting around a campfire. Martha managed to pass the time talking about her two encounters with the pigtailed martial artist and the Doctor, telling them about both the dance and an earlier event involving a military group. She was intentionally vague about the enemies they had fought, and when Nabiki tried to call her on it, she told them that "It wasn't her secret to tell."
Still, both Tendos were growing to like the girl.
Finally, as the first rays of sunlight breached the darkness, Akane stiffened, and turned to the river, sensing . . . something. Suddenly, she leapt up and ran over there. Both Nabiki and Martha followed, while trying to watch their footing. By the time they got there, the bluenette tomboy was already helping a small, shivering redhead out of the water.
Ranma was naked, and some of the skin on her arms, legs, and breasts were quite blue. Her breathing was shallow, but her eyes still had some awareness left in them.
Akane was about to panic. Ranma had given her a lesson on sensing ki, and whereas before Ranma was a fountain of ki, now there was barely any left in the girl. Nabiki, having heard of the effects of hypothermia, wasn't much better.
Martha, on the other hand, had been trained for emergency situations, and had immediately grabbed Ranma's cheeks. "Ranma, we need sleeping bags! Ranma!"
Akane was about to snap at her when Ranma slowly reached back to her untied, messy hair, and from out of nowhere, pulled out two rolled up sleeping bags. She then fell unconscious, her eyes closing.
Both Tendos stared in shock at how Ranma pulled something out of thin air, but Martha was already unrolling the sleeping bags and zipping them together. "Nabiki-san! Grab two of the dry shirts and dry Ranma off! Akane, you hold her up!"
The Mercenary Tendo snapped into action doing as asked. Akane, on the other hand, was still panicking, and could do nothing more than clutch Ranma to her as her sister went to work. Finally, Martha managed to get the sleeping bags set up as one. When Ranma was sufficiently dry, she came over and grabbed Ranma's other arm.
Akane stared at the UNIT agent uncomprehending, but Martha stared her straight in the eyes and told her "Come on, Ranma will be just fine. She needs your help, so please, help her!"
The tomboy came to almost instantly, and nodded. She then helped Martha move Ranma over to the sleeping bag. Laying her down, Martha then looked back at Akane. "Ranma needs warmth. The fire won't be enough to help. You'd do anything to help her, right?"
After getting a nod, she patted the open spot in the sleeping bag behind Ranma, "Then lie down."
Akane blinked, "Wait, what?"
"Ranma needs warmth. The best way to get that is to use body heat! Will you help him?"
Akane froze up, realizing for the first time in hours that she was completely naked. Old instincts came back to her, coming from a rather repressed idea of sex that she had built up. Nabiki never knew this, or she'd have ended things herself, but some of the perverts from the Hentai Horde had been more than content to try and goose and grope her in the mob, rather than try and beat her. Then there were the girls who thought that she was a lesbian, for her hatred of the males at school.
Some of them hadn't gone away when Ranma stopped the Horde.
Thus, her idea of intimacy was almost as repressed as Ranma's was before the trip he took.
Finally, she looked down and noticed how small Ranma looked, shivering there in the cold. She looked so defenseless, almost fragile . . .
Martha soon found brown eyes staring at her, filled with fear, determination, and nervousness. "I'll . . . I'll do it."
With that, Akane laid down next to Ranma, and tried to wrap an arm around the small form of her transgendered fiancé. However, she found that she wasn't alone.
"Nabiki? What are you . . . ?"
Her sister sighed. "Two work better than one in situations like this, sis. Besides, I'm partly responsible for some of the shit he's gone through recently, so, " Nabiki licked her lips nervously and looked away, "just think of this as me trying to pay some of my debt to Ranma, 'K?"
Akane nodded, and soon, all three girls were zipped up in a double sleeping bag, while Martha Jones kept silent watch for the rest of the night.
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NEXT UP: Ranma awakens, and finds herself in an awkward position. A return to Nerima, and the appearance of some typical, expected trouble (at least on our end). This and more, coming up!