Third Labor

by metroanime

After the first two labors, the third one should be easy. Right?

6. Default Chapter Title

Third Labor, chapter 11
"Time out"

WHAT'S GONE BEFORE: previous chapters at http://www.fanfiction.net

DISCLAIMER: The Well of Mimir, time travel, alternate universes, and other related concepts are the intellectual property of a bunch of people who died a really long time ago.

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Grey stepped through the gate and knew with absolute certainty. Something was wrong. It was a frequent and familiar feeling. "This does NOT look like an alley in Philadelphia!"

Thick woods, conifer forest similar to up near Flagstaff. Large bugs. REALLY large bugs. Really really LARGE bugs. The trees seemed a little small, so Grey thought it was unlikely that HIS size had been altered to really small.

~Okay, no problem, i'll just step back through the Gate and... The Gate's gone?! No, i can still see it, it just seems to have a phase variance. Hmmmm. Okay, NOW it's gone. Let's see. Take stock of situation. i'm in an unknown Timeline. Equipment bag present. D-hopper is... where is it? i'm sure i packed it! OK, no way to circumvent dimensions so...~

Grey pondered for a few moments, then tried to transform. No on the cyborg. Sexangel was possible but felt weakened for some reason. Then dragonform. Now he could probe with senses far more acute than human ones.

Prowling the forest showed no signs of human habitation. So... far from habitated lands or else a world with no humans.

~As Ami once told me, 'Information is the first principle.' Therefore, first i find out where i am. Now, how to do that?~

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Akumakun/Ranma timeline:

Akane Tendo was not handling events well.

As far as she knew, she'd been having a really bad day. The Chem Club pepper-spray bomb had given her watery eyes, a skin rash, and she'd been coughing most of the day. She'd grabbed a few Benadryl (five should be enough, right?) and headed for the bathtub for a soak.

She'd felt so sleepy that she'd just closed her eyes for a moment. Just a moment. Then when she'd *opened* her eyes...

Two weeks had gone by.

She was naked under some guy's shirt, had a piece of paper stuck on her forehead, and two inches of nail inserted into her right above her breastbone. When she got over screaming about *that* she'd found out it was just the beginning of her problems.

Kuno was blubbering about the return of Akane. Some guy she'd never seen before was claiming that he was her fiance? As well as some *huge* gaijin type who grunted a lot but didn't really seem to say anything. And why did Nabiki have little cat ears and a TAIL?!

And Kasumi insisted Akane take these little yellow pills with rice this morning.

Opening the door to go to school, she found that man mountain standing there, dressed fairly nicely, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand and a timid looking smile on his face.

Akane took a deep breath and vented. She explained loudly and in some detail that she was not interested in boys, much less some "gaijin freak" with a speech impediment! Then she stormed past the (stupid perverted) boy.

Jared came out of the house, ignoring the way Ranma ran after Akane shouting for her to wait up. This would make the third time that Akane would rebuff Ranma's attempted advances.

"There, there," he said to the sullen mountain. "That isn't the Akane you knew anyway. You're really better off without her."

"Unnnn," said Plenty Bull.

"I'm sure you'll find someone else," Jared assured him. "There will be other possibilities."

"Unnnnn?"

"NO, I don't think Sherry or Ranko would be interested." Jared shuddered. Maybe he ought to see if Shampoo knew an Amazon who was *really* into strength.

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Third Labor timeline:

Flying in dragonform was still fun, still a rush. At least for short periods.

After sixteen hours of nonstop flight, Grey wasn't having any fun.

A search pattern over the target area revealed no settlements except one that he could see from the air. The plume of smoke had revealed a group of Native Americans, the descendents of a great civilization that had collapsed long before the arrival of Columbus. Oddly enough, the camp had every sign of a hasty desertion and recently, but no locals.

This had caused Grey to consider and then fly up to his "ceiling" - where the air grew too thin to breathe and keep flight stable. The lay of the land below him matched what he could remember of a map in his briefing. He was in the right place, which meant that it was the wrong time. So the question had gone from "where am i?" to "when am i?" and finding *that* out was proving tricky.

The Amerind camp hadn't provided useful data. As far as Grey knew, this placed him anywhere from 500 AD to 1400 AD - though it could be even earlier. When *had* the three supertribes broken apart and the Anasazi vanished? The database in his laptop was mainly concerned with divergent timelines and mechanical data. He also had a *large* medical database, including cybernetics, because he'd been the cyborg for so long that he had had to make field repairs regularly.

So he'd chosen to fly up through Canada, then to Greenland (which had a *lot* more green on the land than he remembered) and from there a hop to Iceland and then to Britain. After that it wouldn't take long to get to Europe. Once in Europe he could figure out an approximate when. Not exact, of course, the last time he'd taken World (Eurocentric) History had been in his *first* life - over eighty years ago now.

Silver dragons, considering their normal terrain (mountains overlooking more temperate areas), were good flyers. *This* was pushing the limits and so Grey finally dropped to a clumsy landing (this time the rut he tore in the snow was only eighty feet in length) and rested aching muscles for a bit. A quick meal (three goats, two reindeer (he assumed they were reindeer), and a *very* surprised walrus) was followed by the discovery that he'd overdone it and his wing muscles protested any attempt at stretching them out.

~Note to self: you ain't got Ranma's recovery rate anymore. Owie.~

Lashing his tail and sighting from the sun, Grey started to run. And very quickly got disgusted with it as his running speed in dragonform seemed to be slightly faster than a dead stop. With an effort, he tried shifting to human.

"What the... AGGGHHHHH!" Grey looked at himself. He was back to male, but apparently one of the transformation rules was that whatever he was wearing last when human was what he was wearing when transforming back to human. Apparently that mess with Akane counted.

After spending a few moments standing naked in a snowfield, Grey decided to try the angelform. While it was successful, he felt the biting cold even more than in human shape and still had no clothing. Another attempt to shift to cyborg failed to produce anything. THAT form apparently was not within the local possibilities.

The pack *should* have had a change of clothes in there. Unfortunately, about half of his expected equipment was missing. So he blurred, and a dragon gave a weary sigh before turning to trudge through the snow and slush and occasional patch of green.

He had a feeling this was going to take a *long* time.

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a formerly Evangelion timeline:

"Mizuno-san?"

Ami turned to see who was flagging her this time. Just the assistant vice-principal. "Sir?"

"It's about your grades, Mizuno-san."

Ami blinked. "My grades?"

Mr. Naniga nodded. "Yes, they've been slipping of late, Mizuno-san. Is there a problem?"

~Other than my fiance being killed under his father's orders, being resurrected when we used the Silver Crystal to restructure the world, having our happy time together cut short by him vanishing, and a pair of dimension walkers tell us that he's now a she and off on some other plane of existence and that we'll never see him again?~ "Why, no, assistant vice-principal. I've just had a lot on my mind."

Naniga frowned. "Is it your husband's disappearance?"

"Well..." Ami ducked her head.

Naniga frowned some more, then proceeded on his rehearsed speech. "It's very likely he dumped you. It would be best if you forgot about him and concentrated on your schoolwork. Why, I rememrmmmmm..."

Ami blinked. Oh dear, that was one of her medical dictionaries. Well, it had been getting worn anyway and she certainly didn't want it back after it had been in someone's mouth. "Oh. I'm terribly sorry, assistant vice-principal Naniga. Though I politely disagree that his disappearance was due to his own choices." Bowing slightly, Ami continued on to her next class.

"Mmmmrrfffff?!" Naniga tried to dislodge the book. "Mrfff? Mmmmmmmffff!"

One of the teachers walked by, stared for a moment, then continued walking. "That's odd. Usually it's his *foot* he gets stuck in his mouth."

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SMJ Timeline:

The big screen hanging on the outside of the Center displayed the face of Jiro Kaneda, local newsanchor for Japonesse TV. "Today there was a small explosion at Castle Japonesse. The explosion took out a small section of the computer lab, oddly enough, the only things that were destroyed were a set of braintapes and a few small trinkets from experimental marionette research. Otaru Mamiya has stated emphatically that Lime was *not* involved this time. Doctor Lorelei and her main research were unharmed.

"The first group of cloned girl children have now reached their six month old checkups with flying colors. Doctor Lorelei repeats her 'no comment' when asked about all the ones with dark skin and white hair.

"In an unrelated newstory, the marionette Ginseng has abruptly vanished. New Texas is claiming innocence." A laugh track briefly played. "Meanwhile the Shinohara Plasma Devils beat the Kyobe Giants in overtime, 24-21..."

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Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

"...and AFTER that idiot Black Bart goes kidnapping me, WHAT happened?!"

Ranma winced. "Well... I *tried* to rescue you."

"You were *LATE*! That freak Plenty Bull would have gotten there faster than you!"

Kasumi winced. "He seemed like a very nice boy." ~Why aren't the pills helping?~

"He grunts, Kasumi. I need to get a ladder just to look him in the eyes." Akane shook her head. "Just one more infuriating *boy* to have to deal with."

"Well, you're safe now..." Ranma said in a small voice. ~And Plenty gave up on you already.~

"No thanks to YOU!" Akane huffed, turning away. "Hmmmph. If they hadn't cheated using that rope trick and a smoke bomb, I'd have shown them myself! I don't need YOU to rescue me! I took care of those thugs, didn't I?"

"Akane, they suspect you're 'Sabre Mars' now. They'll be back in numbers."

"Let them!" Akane slammed her fist into her other hand. "I can take them! None of that silly 'Old West' stuff."

Jared sat at the Tendo table, *dearly* wishing that he could do either one of two things: Transform this Miso soup into something that didn't cause him to wonder why he wasn't gagging at the similarity to a bowlful of salty spit, or cause the ceaseless, *endless* stream of criticism from the other end of the table, and which was causing Ranma to wilt ever more by the moment as it went on, with him as it's especial target.

"...and as for people who keep thrusting babies in my face or asking me about their dead relatives..."

Ranma had tried, on several occasions, to get that girl he'd first met riding a horse through the streets of Nerima to return. He'd put his foot in his mouth repeatedly, and his attempts had further aggravated and turned ever more hostile the real Akane.

"...almost as perverted as YOU Ranma, or pointy-ears over there..."

Nabiki's ears went flat and she frowned. She didn't like Akane's tendency to be loud. As a catgirl, her hearing was fairly sensitive.

"...and turning my sister into a monster! And if it isn't Black Bart, it's those thugs looking for that 'Sabre Mars' crap, or some damn Indian weirdness, or some weird rival who wants to challenge me to magical battle, or some extremely silly martial arts battle."

Actually, it occurred to Jared that there might be a way he could solve both of his current difficulties in a single strategem.

"...everything was *fine* before you showed up! All I had to deal with was Kuno and..."

Jared slammed his bowl down on the table, interrupting Akane's latest tirade about all of the wonderful qualities she failed to see in the arragement, her fiance, and anything else that came to mind. With a face as hard as stone he said, "That's it," and leaned across the table and touched lightly Akane's ribs.

The remains of the meal were upset as Akane kicked it into Genma's lap with the first spasms and an odd gurgling noise emitted from the youngest Tendo's stomach area. Akane's eyes grew big and a cold sweat formed on her as another set of gurgles erupted.

*ZZOOOMMM!*

Jared sighed contentedly at the relative quiet - though the sounds from the bathroom were sufficiently loud that they carried through the home.

"What?!" Kasumi looked at the remains of the meal decorating the panda.

"Martial Arts Indian Wrestling shiatsu attack: The Bowels Of Hell," Jared managed to look briefly solemn before going into a smirk. "A dreaded technique handed down by the ancient Arapahi which inflicts the watery doom of a spastic colon attack on the victim. Very terrible tragic story of girl who run off at the mouth, now simply has runs. Very terrible."

Jared was tsking a half hour later as Akane (pale and sweaty) rejoined them. "Really, Akane. A *true* martial artist can fight that attack by tensing certain muscles. Even those untrained can resist to the point where they are able to continue fighting. The attack isn't very effective at all to those with a little discipline."

She rose at him screaming insults, which he deflected by placing his finger against her flesh once again, this time merely causing her to slump bonelessly to the floor. Ranma looked both relieved and guilty to be relieved, and Jared favored him pityingly. "You know, bro. I *had* warned you. She's a catastrophe. She'll never again be that helpful, friendly, person you first knew."

Nabiki and Kasumi both slumped at that line. Seeing as how their little sister had been vocal and nonstop in her criticism of others and complaints about how everyone treated her and how they'd been acting since her personality was restored, more than one had guiltily wished that they had not been successful in finding a cure.

"Nevertheless..." Mr. Tendo began pompously.

He was interrupted by a high pitched beeping. Nabiki checked her pager, then lithely rolled to her feet.

"There's a problem on the ranch," Nabiki explained. "Shall we?"

Nabiki paused to give Ranma a quick peck on the cheek, whispering to him that he ought to consider giving Akane more room. Maybe by switching the engagement?

Jared smirked some more, suddenly attired in serviceable Western wear. "For Justice, we ride."

Nabiki flipped a black cowboy hat onto her head, but didn't change out of her short tight halter and short-shorts ensemble. "For Freedom, we ride!"

Ranma stood up. "For the Art, we ride!"

"Oh my!" Kasumi briefly and guiltily suppressed a desire to add some phrase of her own and go riding off to do something besides watch Akane's mental state deteriorate.

Nabiki leapt gracefully out back onto the back of Fess. Jared summoned Wildhorn and leapt on his back. Ranma leapt for the mare's back, but the mare wasn't cooperating again. *SPLASH!* Ranma-chan made a remark about horsemeat as she climbed onto the "Damn Beast's" back.

"We ride!" Three riders took off into the sunset.

Akane grumbled as she came to. "Oh. RRrrrrrrrrr. Well, since everyone's been asking, I *did* get the chance to cook up this casserole..."

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Third Labor Timeline:

Stealing was a sin, and therefore something that a good dragon trying to get into Heaven shouldn't do.

The explorer he'd run across had attempted to run (screaming) off a cliff. Grey had snagged the man after a mere ten foot drop and had taken a set of clothing as payment with a word of thanks and a wish for the man to "live long and prosper."

That this explorer (formerly Ryud the Fearless, currently Ryud the Religious) would later go on to become a priest and live a long life back home as opposed to freezing in a glacier (thereby becoming Ryud the popsicle) was not foreseen by Grey. And, after all, what kind of effect could saving one man's life in 776 AD have?

Grey waited till he was out of sight of the man, found some snowmelt, then repeatedly washed the clothes in the stream before putting the garments (just a pair of woolen pants and a coarse tunic-like shirt) away in his own pack. It hadn't *exactly* been theft, after all. He'd asked the fellow for permission to take the stuff.

Twelve hours later, he'd stood on some shore, tested his wings and decided they would do for shorter flights, and Grey shifted to humanform.

Putting the clothes *on* revealed that they were for someone who was bulkier and taller. In other words, shaped like the person he'd gotten them from. There was also no wing room, so if he wanted to switch to angelform, he'd have to go without the shirt. As that was the worse fitting, that wasn't as much of a problem. The shirt went back into the pack with some reluctance.

Shifting from human to angel, and then back to dragon, Grey proceeded on his journey. Other than the too-terrified-to-speak explorer, he still hadn't found anyone to tell him *when* he was.

He didn't realize that he had been observed and that the natives would be talking about *this* for quite a bit of time.

---------

It was getting on a week since the disastrous brush with death in the form of one of the Greater Demon Lords, now expired.

Things had reached a flashpoint. He was recovering quickly, and had been for two days. Chi had brimmed up at maximum not a long while ago, meditation to refill it when it was expended was working normally. Which thing meant that he could spend it all but the tiniest amount and refill in a single hour. Directed use of chi in healing had brought other abilities back quickly, fixing injuries too deep for rest to heal and restarting his regenerative processes. His innate magic was now at full strength and magic energy for spells, the sluggard of his recovery, was burbling back at a more normal rate. He'd be fine in a few days time.

Jared was ALSO rather gifted in his inspired use of insights gained to hide himself from searches. His stealth techniques had grown exponentially, to where he hadn't much of a problem hiding from Sailorjin chi senses or Silver Millennial scans. He was fairly confident that he could rejoin the nurses now and be able to fend off their worst attempts.

Besides, he owed a duty to them. It wasn't chivalrous to hide more than absolutely required, and they had earned a right to acompany him through their devotion.

Yes, it was definately time to show up. Well almost. There were things to be taken care of first.

"Quick! Nabiki, it's time for Sabre Mercenary!" Jared pointed to where stealthy figures continued to look for Sabre Mars to avenge their earlier losses. Apparently the gangs had hired "talent" to avenge themselves with.

The middle Tendo daughter was instantly shaking her head. "Sabre Mercenary? Yuck. No way. Uh uh." She was *not* a mercenary, not the ice queen. She *could* be a nice girl!

"Okay, we'll make it Sabre Mercury instead. It's more in genre anyway." With that, Jared turned a flip in the air and materialized a silver brooch, which he instantly clasped to the garment at Nabiki's throat before she could object. "Now shout whatever first comes to mind! Hurry!"

The quick retort that was rising up got swallowed and she fought not to respond at all, clasping both hands over her mouth desperately. Still, they fell clear and her entire body arced spasmatically as she involuntarily yelled out the phrase.

"Kitty Flash!"

~Where did *THAT* come from??!?~ The amazed girl thought.

~From me, I couldn't resist.~ Thought the mindreading mage, as he watched her spin through a very brief (comparitively) transformation sequence to find herself in a blue one piece bathing suit with accouterments identical in style and shape to Akane's, but white instead of red. Her tail flicking back and forth behind her didn't fit the image too well.

"Right!" He shouted, snapping into a sentai pose. "Now take out the Nabiki computer, we've got to scan those guys!"

Sabre Mercury found herself holding a large and bulky cash register with digital screen. "What's this?"

"Sorry, we still had all the props set up for you as Sabre Mercenary. We'll get it fixed later, I hope. You never know with these sentai things. It might be a compact or an electric diary next time. Very hard to read the screen."

"At least then I could put it in my pocket." Nabiki replied, struggling with he bulky plastic and iron device.

"Quit complaining, your weapon profile is excellent. Haul out the rocket launcher and we'll show those guys what for."

"No, not a rocket launcher." Nabiki emphatically shook her head and set the cash register down. "Look, if I'm going to do this, and I'm still not sure I want to, I'm going to be the stealth and speed expert. Heavy fire support just is *not* my style."

Jared reluctantly agreed, but privately thought it likely he could get Shampoo or Ukyo to go with the role. Sabre Jupiter?

Nabiki didn't specify that her whole reason for even considering this was that she was finding her catgirl mode addictive and comfortable. She wasn't sure at this point if she even wanted to go back to being "normal" Nabiki Tendo.

"For that matter, I don't see the need to do a sentai theme here," Nabiki said, ignoring Jared's stricken expression. "How about I disguise myself as a kunoichi - Ninja Kamen, mysterious and elegant night warrior?"

Jared's disappointment was obvious. Especially when he saw her model the "costume" - what little there was of it. "A black bodystocking with a black Zorro mask? Isn't that a little... adult?"

"Hmmm. I'll try wearing it in front of Ranma. If he faints, it's too much..." Nabiki smirked. If Ranma fainted, then it might be possible to lure him away from Akane after all.

"Uhm well..." Jared winced. Considering how tight the bodystocking was, she was close enough to nude as made little nevermind.

"I could get a utility belt and go as Catgirl!"

Jared was prepared to say no, but then started thinking about "Stately Tendo Manor" and "To The Catpoles" and a faint smile appeared. No. Never work. Absolutely not.

-------

Asgard:

Apple blinked at the archway a few times. "Where did he go?"

"The Third Labor timeline. Except that he never arrived." Celeste studied the image of a Philadelphia alleyway. "Maybe he disintegrated? Or possibly there was a warpspace intrusion and he's out of phase? Or it could have collapsed while he was in transit and he's lost forever in limbo."

There was many startled looks at this until Ami spoke up. "No, the corridor was momentarily stable. When it did break up, it had held for thirty seconds - sufficient for him to have traversed it."

Setsuna looked over the controls. "There's something else. There are disruptions in the target timestream, revising it from its past."

"Dang it, that Pheonix Mage promised he wouldn't do this!" Celeste grumbled.

"Looks like there was a secondary ripple." Hestia noted. "A crossrip from the Universe he just came from. One person crossed out.""

"Uh oh. Do we need a rescue team assembled?" Belle inquired, her hand posed near a button.

"No, he doesn't appear to be in danger, he isn't that important, and he gets lost anyway." Hestia shrugged. She had bigger problems to concentrate on.

---------

Elsewhere:

The world was called, by its inhabitants, the World. The Elven name merely sounded fancier while the Dwarven name was short and utilitarian and the Goblin term sounded like someone spitting.

The world would drive someone from a more mainstream universe, particularly if that someone were a scientist or a skeptic, absolutely nuts. World being overall shaped like a wrinkly piece of paper with a hole offcenter, though a piece of paper three miles thick and twenty thousand miles long and wide. The sun rose and set through that aforementioned hole, which was surrounded by bare rock that hissed and smouldered whenever the sun (a sphere that was 200 miles across and cleared the surrounding "hole" by a mere 100 miles) approached it.

And on World, a tortured cry rose from the region known as Squatting Toad Mountain, one familiar to many people.

"Where on Earth am I NOWWWWWWW?!"

What he wasn't expecting was an answer.

"This is the Elven Nudist Colony of Faeriewine."

"Well, actually I... I..." He really hadn't expected an answer. From a woman. From a beautiful woman. From a beautiful naked woman. Backed by four OTHER beautiful naked elf women. "Urkkk!"

"Hmmmn, that was a nosebleed, followed by a facefault? Looks painful."

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Asgard:

"He's in the right timeline, but the wrong time." An oriental woman in armor said, teleporting in. She was notable in that most of the goddesses of war tended to have very ornate and gleaming armor. Hers wasn't fancy at all, merely serviceable and looking well-used.

"I'm not familiar with you, am I?" Celeste frowned and took a quick reading looking for an ident. She wasn't connected to Yggdrasil, which meant either a very minor goddess like a Valkyrie or something rather more powerful.

"Hoshime. Aramarian pantheon. Wife to Etragar the Healer. Portfolio: Defense and Protection." The oriental looked over the crowd briefly. "He's praying for spells. As he has repeatedly violated the 'no weapons' stricture, my husband is not renewing his spells."

"Then who is?" Ami asked, who was still not entirely sure what proper etiquette was when speaking with deities.

"That," agreed Hoshime, smoothing her eyepatch, "is a question that we'd like answered ourselves."

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"JARED NO BAKA!!"

Jared heard the battlecry, idly noted Akane approaching at high speeds with a blunt trauma object (today's choice seemed to be a fire extinguisher) and deduced that his speech to Ranma "1001 things I'd rather do with Akane than be engaged to her" had made the rounds. (1001: throw her into Spring of Drowned Pig and sell her to the Unryuu Sumo Pig Farm as breeding stock. 1000: trap her in the cave with Happosai so that she'd get a better idea of what consitituted a pervert. 999: Stuff her in a Pokeball and trade her off for something useful...)

Akane started wildly swinging as soon as she was in range. "How could you even suggest that I'd be better off sold to a Bioweapons facility?!"

Dodging her swings, Jared managed to look both bored and thoughtful. "Do you remember when Nabiki, Ranma, and I got back from stopping those cattle rustlers? The dinner you fixed? Pop losing all body hair was no big loss, but Kasumi?"

"It wasn't my fault!" Akane's eyes teared up anyway. Why did someone put chemicals like that under the sink in the kitchen anyway? "You..."

Jared sighed, darted in, and struck a pressure point combination, then shot back out and made a point of turning his back on the enraged girl.

"eeeeeeEEEEEEEE?!"

"Bro, is she *supposed* to be doing that?" Ranma's feelings for Akane had evaporated, and Nabiki had been warm and friendly, so naturally he was concerned about the display. It might affect Nabiki's reputation by association.

"Akane?" Nabiki growled. "Get ahold of yourself. NOT THAT WAY! I didn't mean it literrrrally."

Jared turned, saw what Akane was doing in the schoolyard, and whipped out a martial arts book titled "Hong Kong Fu-ey."

"Aaa Aaaa aaaa AAHHH aaah aaah!"

Kuno strode to the front of the crowd, saw Akane, and fainted with a nosebleed that would have shamed Ryouga.

Ranma tried not to look. "Uhm, and she calls *me* perverted?"

"Let's see, shiatsu attacks, page 357." Much page turning. "Shiatsu attack effects- listing, pages 125-217." Jared flipped some more pages. "Muffed attacks, here we go... oh dear."

"Ahhh Unnnn Ahhh Unnnnn!"

Hikaru Gosunkugi, still wearing casts from his exorcism attempt on Akane, went down with near terminal nosebleed.

"WHAT?!" Nabiki asked, reaching up to shield Ranma's eyes from this.

"I hit the wrong pressure point. Hang on, I'm trying to find the correction." Jared continued flipping pages.

Akane started barking like a dog. Three more guys in the crowd went down with nosebleeds.

"What exactly did you do?" Nabiki asked, her voice full of concern.

"Explosive orgasm shiatsu attack. She's stuck in a loop..." Jared continued to flip pages. "She's *really* going to want to kill me after this."

"Oh my," said Ranma, though Nabiki's hand was still blocking line of sight.

Jared paused, looking thoughtful. "I wonder if I should even cure her? Or would this evening be soon enough? Have the school send her home 'sick' or something."

"WaaaAAAAaaaaaAAAAA!"

Nabiki considered her bucking and thrashing sister, then turned a half-lidded gaze to Jared. "How much to teach Ranma that manuever?"

Jared continued flipping through the book. "Let's see... to reset the Explosive Orgasm shiatsu... see also Beavercleaveritis technique page 116."

"Nabiki!" Ranma yelped. "That would be, well, I mean..."

Jared turned back a wry grin to the still waiting Nabiki. "What have you got? Nah, I'll make it a wedding gift... provided you can get him to choose you that is. Otherwise poor Kasumi may have her consolation for her lost (and soon to be restored) hair. Ukyo may find that ten years of searching were *well* rewarded. The Amazons get a shiatsu attack that becomes a chief form of recreation, etc."

The redheaded Saotome began to consider what might happen if he went to Ranma when he was sleeping that night and slipped on him the Synoptic Teacher, loaded with Grammar, Etiquette, Wardrobe, Personal Grooming, and maybe perhaps some Diction and the typical school subjects. Just making up for lost time, really. It ought to be as interesting an experiment as the catnip, at least.

He privately grinned. Add Dating and Courtship to that, Manners and a few other courses. This could be *real* interesting! Not to mention fun watching Nabiki's response to having to actually struggle to get what she wanted.

~Hmm, when I call in the wives I've got to stick around. There's the ranching and the other things I'm learning. I just can't pass this up. Maybe. Yeah. I should. I'll get my recharge and then cast Body Outside Body again and send the duplicates off with task forces of wives to do vital things elsewhere, like picking up Geltland's soon-to-be-lost plasma tech.~ He soon lost himself in planning, leaving the thrashing body of Akane writhing on the lawn as he wandered back into class.

Sometime later, Jared cast a glance aside at Nabiki and was suddenly grateful that he'd managed to re-erect that Glamour of his and erase the two elder daughter's memories of its lapse.

He was about to become *very* busy here, and there, and other-wheres.

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

776 AD:

Morning prayers completed, Grey ignored the figures watching from the treeline. They were of little concern, and had been there sufficiently long that he was wondering if he ought to approach them. However, the last time he'd tried that hadn't worked too well. He'd taken off, flew over a hill, landed, transformed to human, then walked back.

Arrows had been lobbed in his direction immediately. Strangers were, apparently, persona non grata.

So a switch to the smaller and therefore less noticeable angelform, and another comparitively short flight, and Grey found himself gliding over sprawling villages. Odd how he hadn't seen anything in Ireland, but he had to admit that he wasn't that familiar with the colonization of the area. Or it could be that Ireland was sparsely populated in this timeline.

Still, cities and villages tended to form in the same rough areas no matter what the local timeline's rules were like. Look for a river, find a village at a bend or largely flat area. Wanting to be sure this wasn't one of the abandoned villages he'd spotted in Iceland or Greenland, Grey frowned at the lack of cloud cover but figured that in a pre-Industrial society, this group wouldn't have a reason to look up that much. Right?

Wheeling over, he noted a sufficiently crowded Farmer's Market, perfect. Grey landed a short distance from the village, transformed to human, and put the itchy woolen tunic on. Now all he needed to do was mingle with the crowd, take a few copper coins from his stash, and he could get information!

If he hadn't been so extremely tired, no doubt he would have made fewer mistakes.

----------

Terra Two:

Craggy mountains, leftovers from one of the volcanic cataclysms that had rocked Terra Two over the millenia before human civilization had arrived. There were the segments of what were similar to fossilized coral reefs, but these were anchored to more typical geology.

It was mainly unexplored, due to the dangers of plasma storms, the lack of air travel or satellite technology, and the lack of exploration desire from the vast majority of the populace. The discovery of Ponta-kun had been deemed sufficient indication that this alien world had dangers to further limit the desire for expansion/exploration. There was a single large city and some outlying communities in each kingdom. Other than that, the human populace was huddled together on a single continent. Escaping human society was simply a matter of walking a few weeks or making a boat.

Ginseng continued to walk, glad to be out of the insufferable Japonesse court with its cliques and intrigue. It was fine for others who thrived on such things, but not for him. With Ieyasu back and in charge, there was every indication that the various factions jockeying for position would never become quite the problem they'd threatened to become.

And it was *good* to be male again. The abrupt shift, as if the Binding had finally gotten around to such an "unimportant" detail, had provided the impetus for leavetaking. However, as once again organic and male, he was not in an ideal circumstance for taking off into the wilderness.

Especially as Mihoshi's overall build was still present. Thin and somewhat androgynous, with the thick mane of blonde hair unchanged. Which made simply walking away a bit of a problem. Physical strength was insufficient to even carry the camping supplies. It didn't keep a smile off his face, even after a day of travel and sleeping under a canopy of trees because the tent had proven balky.

There had been preparations made, after all. First odds and ends like the tent and bedroll, learning something about the land. Then, amongst the improvements to their manufacturing process, had been the request for test models of marionettes. He'd specified three to begin with.

A tech had thought it would be most amusing and the first marionette supplied for experimental purposes had been an exact (as near as anyone could tell) duplicate of Doctor Lorelei. Doctor Lorelei had *not* been amused upon first meeting her automaton duplicate.

If Doctor Lorelei had known that Ginseng had made brain tapes of HER and downloaded them into the emotionless android copy, well, she wouldn't have seen the irony or the amusement value most likely. Not that he didn't make alterations. Otaru had quite enough trouble without Siryn (the name he'd given to Lorelei's copy) pursuing him.

So a minor programming alteration. It was mainly Lorelei's technical knowledge that had been sought, anyway. A few minor cosmetic changes. Mainly so that if Lorelei suspected any of this she couldn't simply spy upon his lab disguised as Siryn. He'd prepared a nasty if she'd ever tried, not quite forgiving the Doctor for this cycle of resurrections as a female slave.

Maybe it was petty, but finding out that the previous versions had had protocols and overrides hardwired in, including a destruct (NOT a self destruct)and a Slave Mode. Well, he could understand Lorelei and Ieyasu were normally good guys. Good guys who had been scared and thought they were in a corner facing more than merely *personal* destruction. He could understand they were desperate. Didn't mean he liked it at all.

So he hadn't altered Siryn's appearance that much. Internally, he'd installed a number of systems useful for a lab assistant. Things remembered from studying his own cyborg parts or the various other marionettes. Bioscanners in her hands, an uprated battlescanner, computer jack, drug dispenser in the left arm, motion detector, radar system, uprated dexterity, compartments containing tools and supplies, and a cooling system that didn't involve arm vents. Musical talents had been added, just so that he could have some tunes at need. Of course, this meant some tradeoffs. Physical strength, speed, and endurance were about human level - or at least about supermodel level. Actually his current form was still stronger than Siryn.

(And the Nasty little trick he'd planned had actually gone off. Lorelei had deactivated Siryn, put in some colored contacts, and had snuck into Ginseng's lab despite assurances from Ieyasu and everyone else that the lab area would remain off-limits, part of the deal that had been arranged for the development of these new improvements. Ginseng knew, but the doctor herself did not. That was when he had made those brain tapes of her, as well as putting in something for emergencies. Turnabout was fair play, after all.)

Siryn hadn't been the only marionette devised or enhanced by Ginseng, of course. Rei Ayanami as a marionette had seemed somehow appropriate, though her enhancements were nearly identical to Siryn's. The ersatz albino was now working at Castle Japonesse. Trading off that unit, he'd put together a few other units - explaining that a single unified force like the Sabre Marionette O series was good for everyday tasks but a group of diverse talents was useful for emergencies and to have on hand. Or, as he'd later explained it, there are times for an Army and times for a Special Forces.

Out of the units he'd upgraded for Castle Japonesse and Ieyasu, he'd kept three around. As with Doctor Lorelei's duplicate, he hadn't had any choices as to the body styling. He had a feeling that the same wag whose sense of humor had decided he'd get Siryn had been responsible for the others. Well, he'd altered the appearances a bit. Besides, he was *supposed* to experiment.

As Siryn filled out the repair function, that had left combat and domestic skills. It was a pity that not one of the three were designed to HIS specifications. He otherwise wouldn't have chosen to have those two. Painful memories involved with both.

Installing an Ishi Kairo had been put off until that very morning, and all three were currently drinking in the world around them with an extra spark and curiosity that hadn't been there before.

"Where?" Siryn asked, still struggling with her pack.

Ginseng smiled. Questioning was the likely next stage in the Ishi Kairo development. "Out there, thataway!"

Siryn pouted, mirrored by her sisters. That hadn't been much of an answer at all.

---------

Akumakun/Ranma timeline:

"Okay, YOU!" Akane leaned against the doorway unsteadily. "You've had this coming!"

Nabiki fell off her chair snickering, NOT landing on her feet, hearing an unintended double meaning. Akane, of course, missed it.

Jared rolled his eyes and continued watching the television. Akane wasn't worth his missing an episode of "Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon" that he hadn't seen before. One of the few benefits of being in 1992 Japan, he felt, was that there was some really good anime to be perused.

"Don't you DARE ignore me!" Akane angrily strode forward, though her knees were still wobbly. "That was a dirty rotten..."

At that point her aforementioned wobbly knees gave out, and she toppled.

Jared rescued the popcorn, but couldn't help but notice that Akane had buried her nose in the zipper of his trousers. "Uhm, Akane, it's nice that you're trying to apologize and all, but I'm sincerely not interested."

Akane flashed up, eyes big, but her legs still were on strike and she ended up landing on her bottom on the floor. Legs spread in the direction of her recent landing pad.

"Pervert," summed up Jared, turning his attention back to the television. ~Hmmmm. So Sailor Saturn is actively feared by Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune. They try to kill her and repeatedly state that Saturn needs to be eliminated, and yet Uranus and Neptune become her legal guardians?! Had the writer taken leave of her senses or was she just unable to handle any more characters being associated with the "core group?" I think she'd have done much better dumping "the Spore" and having Hotaru stay with Makoto or Rei...~

"AHHHHHH!" Rage got Akane up on her feet again.

"Oh shush!" Jared noticed Ranma coming up behind Akane.

"You watch a girl's TV series?" Ranma looked from the TV to his brother, likewise ignoring the five foot tower of outrage glowing fitfully nearby.

"At a certain level of mastery, ANYTHING becomes martial arts practice or training," Jared reminded Ranma. "Observe this chi attack. Aqua Rhapsody!"

Noting that Akane (now with a rather shocked expression) was abruptly contained in an icy pillar, Ranma flopped down on the couch next to his brother. "Good enough. Pass the popcorn, will ya?"

Nabiki sighed and dragged Akane outside, then went back in to cuddle her koibito.

Not that Ranma noticed. He spent most of the program trying to figure out how to do a "Mars Flame Sniper".

Kasumi saw Akane from her window, sighed deeply, slipped a wig on and went to get an icepick. It sounded as if her father was *still* weeping over the loss. There was, just for a moment, this intense urge from Kasumi to go in and shake her father by the collar, slapping him repeatedly in the face and declare that this was HIS fault and that he should grow up and take responsibility for it. Just for a moment.

Kasumi instead went down the stairs to chip Akane out of the ice. Akane had been trying to be nice and helpful and fix dinner. Kasumi had even ASKED Akane to fix the dinner, noting that Akane had enjoyed it prior to her dropping out of Martial Arts Ranching, and Akane had made such wonderful if bizarre and nonJapanese meals. Then she'd changed again and now...

Kasumi almost wept as she caught her own reflection in the ice. She'd have to pencil her eyebrows in again...

---------

Elsewhere, same timeline:

"Boss, why aren't we going after that Akane girl anymore?" Idaho asked, eating a hot sweet potato.

"I'm glad you asked," said Black Bart, pulling an slide projector out of nowhere and turning it on. The image of was of Akane wearing her cowgirl outfit. "This is the Akane we knew prior to that report about her giving up the Ranching business. A skilled rider, cook, well mannered, good singing voice, a right fine student of the Old West Style o' Martial Arts. Just the fittin' proper image of an Old West Cowgirl Hero."

"Yeah, boss?" Idaho didn't see the point.

The image changed to Akane at her school, in a proper school uniform, yelling at some boy in a kendo outfit. "This is Akane now. She can't ride a horse near as well, in fact her old horse refuses to have anything to do with her. Can't cook, spends a lot of her time yelling, says the Old West style of Martial Arts is just silly, and refuses to dress for the range."

Oregon nodded. "Si, I think maybe Senorita Tendo practicing Three Stooges Style Of Martial Arts now. Just from what I've seen."

It clicked for Idaho. "So... she isn't a proper hero at all, much less a proper damsel in distress."

Black Bart nodded and changed the image. There came a few whistles from his men. "Now this here gal is a different story. Why, she be the VERY image of the feminine ingenue - a perfect damsel in distress. Sweet, kind, a full set of domestic type skills, lovely voice too though I haven't heard her sing."

Colorado cleared his throat. "Uhm, boss. That there Akane mixed some stuff you normally don't mix, and that there ingenue done lost all her hair as a result!"

Black Bart smiled in a manner that suggested fangs. "We've got a solution to that. I contacted an old buddy from Villains R Us and got a bottle of Hair Fastgro. When we capture her, we'll use it on this Kasumi Tendo - and I'll marry her before the night is out!"

"Gee, Boss," Idaho puzzled over something else. "How come you want to marry her? What about Sherry and Ranko and that Nabiki girl?"

Black Bart tipped his hat forward so his eyes were shaded a little more. "Y'all can decide who marries whom out of that bunch. I hear that Kasumi's the best cook, so that's the one I'm hankering for."

"Oh my!" Idaho flinched at everyone's stare. "Sorry, it just seemed the appro thing to say."

"Don't worry, boys," Black Bart assured his Dozen Thieves. "We've got a surprise ally right in their camp!"

-----------

Third Labor timeline 776 AD:

Human guise in place, the dragon tried to blend in with the locals. Besides, it took a few minutes for the dragon talent for comprehending languages cut in.

"Did you see that girl throwing herself at yon Lareth? I'm telling you, girls in my day had more dignity!"

"It be that new dance they're doing, Edna. It's positively indecent, they dance so close and frantically. Och, tis scandalous!"

Grey nodded at one of those walking on the street, the other glared back. Details began making themselves known. The buildings were simple wood, nothing fancy, no glass visible. Thatch was mainly in evidence as a roofing material.

Horses, not many though. Even so, the streetsweepers obviously didn't work the area that often. The tracks were more revealing. Most horses lacked shoes. Everything looked rather crude and simply made. So... prior to the Millenium?

The tavern was obvious, a drunk passed out in the street adequate sign. Wine and "small beer" were safer than water to drink, at least until the concept of boiling caught on. Grey entered, making mental note of the central firepit, the rough wooden stools, and that the floor was almost as bad as the street outside.

The barkeep was probably in his mid 30s, he only looked closer to 60. One eye, scraggly beard, looked like the last time he'd bathed was when/if he was baptized. "Here now, what'll you have?"

Five copper coins were deposited on what a generous soul might dub the counter. "Answers." He wasn't sure what was safe to drink, even if he could always do a Cure Disease later. Or would his being a shapeshifted dragon give him immunity to little things in the local water system?

The barkeep frowned and looked from Grey to the coins distrustfully. "Wealthy fellow, eh? Hmmmph. What kinda answers ye wanting?"

"i've been out of touch with things of late. Spent a lot of time out in the woods. Need to hear what's been going on."

The barkeep nodded and took one of the coins, immediately labeling the stranger as a trapper or poacher. None of his business. "Ye heard about Offa's men?"

"Offa?" Grey considered, but the name didn't ring a bell.

"The King, man! Are ye lost? The King of Mercia! They be looking for able bodied men to build some great dyke."

"Well, yes, i *am* a bit lost," Grey admitted.

"Thought so! HAH! Ye be in Kent. Nay, Offa calls himself the equal of Charlemagne, but that be just a lot of hooey. Mind ye, don't say so afore any of his soldiers!"

"What about the Vikings?"

"What be a Viking?"

Grey nodded, that response helping him to pinpoint the rough date. Difficult as he'd never studied British history, but he *did* know the Vikings were the "scourge from the sea" from around 800 AD until *much* later. "Raiders from lands north of the Picts."

The barkeep spat. On the floor, fortunately. "Picts? Them 'owling savages? Well, them raiders are welcome to them."

Grey nodded. Next stop, the Monastery at Lindisfarne sounded like a good place for directions.

---------

Akane grumbled and looked sullen, but didn't come anywhere NEAR the evil Jared or the ignorant obnoxious jerk Ranma. Instead she merely watched from a distance.

Much less the purple haired bimbo and weirdo with the spatula. And why was Kasumi out there?

"Now, when you chose to lose the Catfist, Ranma, you lost the technique and the phobia at once." Jared instructed his audience. "As there were elements of a spirit possession present, that cat-spirit was exorcised but it didn't vanish."

Nabiki looked up from licking her paws. "Uhm, is this going where I think it's going?"

Jared nodded. "Now for the good news, the cat spirit is NOT evil, merely feline. And the merger between natures was less traumatic and more complete. Which means that instead of the cat-phobia, Nabiki's original personality had feline qualities which were enhanced to dominance. Yes, Kasumi?"

"Natural feline qualities?" Kasumi blinked, then adjusted her wig as an errant breeze tilted it.

"Playfulness, sneakiness, vain, confident, smug, possessive, comfort-loving," Jared started ticking qualities off on his fingers.

Nabiki pouted and looked hurt.

"Hey," Ranma protested, "Nabiki's a nice girl!"

"That too," agreed Jared, having gotten to know the new Nabiki of late.

Nabiki purred and rubbed against Ranma, spurring protests from Shampoo and Ukyo as well as an "oh my" from Kasumi. Akane merely rolled her eyes and thought about how weird her family had gotten, and how to return them to normal would only require the removal of three Saotomes.

Fortunately, she knew just how to do it!

---------

Jared watched Kasumi, feeling regret. Besides, it was a commercial break. He was simply glad that none of his ersatz wives could see that 'Skysaber - the anime' was playing in *this* reality. Or that the Tendos hadn't made the connection.

There came the sound of a bicycle bell and Shampoo bounced onto his tummy. "Nihao, brother to Ranma!" Then she'd recovered and made a glomp at her beloved, leaving Jared alone. Ukyo had came at the same time as the Chinese girl and now Kasumi was unwittingly making peace by her reappearance with a plate full of cookies which she offered to both guests.

Jared watched Kasumi being just darling in spite of her own personal grief (the doctor had no idea when or even *if* the hair would grow back. He'd started comparing it to cancer patients and now Mr. Tendo was crying out of fear as well as self-misery).

Actually the redhaired youth was feeling something of a heel. He'd done *very* little good since his arrival here, at least by his standards. Granted he'd been near-mortally wounded and that hadn't been any fun, nor was his recovery all that....

Several factors *clicked* for the mage all at once! His magic was no longer the simple spell point recovery system he'd grow accustomed to since his merger with his D&D character. It had elements of both Ygdrassil god-powers and a *BIG* chunk of Silver Millennium power thrown in. While waiting around would recharge one it had *nothing* to do with recharging the others, both of which had some hefty and specific demands.

In fact...

...There were SUBSTANTIAL and *BAD* repercussions if either lay unattended at low power for too long, only ONE of which was the total loss of those powers!

That counted as an *Emergency* by any book he was willing to go by!

Fortunately, one recharged Silver Millennium powers by raw emotion. That fright was enough for another blast of that brand of power into the tanks, and by golly he wasn't going to let the other lie neglected a minute longer! Kissing was his recharge, kissing would be done!!

But he'd do it with those of his *own* choosing! Too many natives were embroiled in this already.

Jared's magic items had been the worst ones to suffer in his battle with the demon lord, now expired, and hadn't been coming back practically at *all*, which was worrisome. He'd been planning to look into it, but now didn't spare the time.

The redhead flew to his feet, striking a dramatic stance and drawing forth a dagger which he reanimated certain powers of by a flash of Silver Millennium power from his admittedly low stock.

Akane was standing by glowing hatefully, but he was too disdainful of her to notice.

Holding the dagger out to one side, the recovering Pheonix Mage said the word "Thunder" and the weapon grew to a short sword. Holding it to the other he repeated the word and it grew again, then once more it was done to reveal a long sword.

With this elongated version, Jared held the blade above his head and shouted "Thundercats! Ho!!!" Sending out a Silver Millennium piggyback on the signal as well.

By absurd coincidence, a certain bald panda looking a *great* deal like a giant, hairless rat had chosen that precise moment to come walking out of the Tendo hall toting a large device he had 'appropriated' from Jared's room and was FAR too stupid to realize was a Robotechnology repeating rocket launcher (half disassembled to correct a minor feed quirk, now reassembled and gleaming and set out for the sealant to dry).

He'd already sold two wristwatches and a surgical kit to eager buyers, but wanted at least to know what this *was* before he tried that, so he could set a price, and had settled on the subtle and ingenious scheme of toting it out and shouting "Boy, what is this!" to get that information.

He was feeling a trifle sullen and angry after the youth had convinced pre-restored Akane to 'refresh' that brand once it had been disturbed by those spur marks.

Unfortunately for Genma, the bear emerged holding the device quite naturally, which happened to be by the handles, which meant that it was to every appearance an angry, giant, mutant rat youma pointing the Robotech weapon straight at Jared when the troops arrived.

---------

777 AD:

"Ah, young man, just the fellow I wanted to see!"

Grey set another block into place and turned to observe the priest slowly making his way down the the trail. "Father, you shouldn't do that, you could have just sent word and i'd have come to see you."

The priest looked over the wall being erected and tapped it with a fist as if trying to gauge its strength. Grey continued to watch silently for a few moments, then lifted another block of stone onto the wall.

"You came to this monastery four months ago, young man. You've given a name but admitted it isn't your own. You've done incredible things and made many friends. You know many things, but many things that you should know you don't." The priest seemed to be speaking to the wall. "You certainly don't shirk hard work, but some of your daily rituals and ideas seem strange and exotic."

"I suppose," Grey admitted. Privately he was saddened, the priests here were (with few exceptions) good people and he had rather enjoyed his time with them. There was a certain satisfaction in hard work, especially when you could see the daily fruits of your labors. He'd miss having to leave.

"Who are you, Mister Bond?"

"A traveler. Called Grey by some, but i've had dozens of names and don't remember my original one any longer. Names and terms vary wildly in usage across the lands."

Father James nodded, fitting this in with the theories he'd already developed. When the boy had shown up, he'd given the name "James Bond" but it had seemed some private joke. "What do you seek here?"

"i sought information when i arrived. Now i'm not sure what i seek."

"You asked many questions about China." Father James considered blocks, easily weighing seventy five pounds apiece, that the young man had been hauling about and setting into place. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the young man. "And about the developments of our land."

Grey shrugged. "i mean no harm to anyone here. Everyone's good people here. Well, except maybe Brother Wolt."

Father James chuckled. "Well, Brother Wolt is quite popular in that regard. So, you are here because you have nowhere else to go, and you are not at liberty to speak of your past. Am I right so far?"

"You have the right of it, so far," agreed Grey.

"Boiled water poured over herbs in a wickerwork container, producing tonics for many ills." Father James spoke quietly. "A manner of seperating out fibers so that paper may be produced cheaply. You spoke of crop rotation before word of it reached our isolated spot. That which you've told us intrigues me, and that which you've hinted at even more."

Grey fitted another block and slumped where he stood. "If you want me to go, i shall."

"Go?" Father James chuckled. "No. What I came to ask you of was that peasant lass who came here yesterday. She was dying and there was little that could be done. Even with what you have spoken of cleansing wounds of foreign influence and of exorcising the foul from the flesh, *that* was beyond what could be accomplished easily by e'en the most accomplished of chirurgeons. For the most part, the youngers are in awe. How did you do it?"

"i have... methods."

Father James nodded. "Well, Brother Wolt has penned a letter to complain to the Archbishop, stating you are some foul sorcerer. As if foul sorcerers would dirty their hands with labor like this or cry about a soul lost such as you did when that penitent died two weeks ago."

"So you came to warn me," noted Grey.

"It will take two months for the letter to reach the Archbishop." Father James sat down with a grunt. "Will you speak plainly to me? You are not of the Devil: you take joy in hard work and the betterment of others, you seek to heal the sick and uncover God's mysteries. I may be old but my eyes still see and it seems to me that a seeker of truth is ill allied with the Prince of Lies."

Grey sighed. "i may not. i will tell you this though, Father, have this wall finished. Men from the North shall come from the sea in two decades and lay waste to all you have wrought if you do not."

Father James considered the outrageous statement, and considered the source. "From the sea? Very well, a final question. Before you go, is it possible to pass some of these methods on?"

Grey was prepared to deny it, but saw the desire burning in Father James' eyes. The desire to help others and spare their suffering when possible. He didn't have any equipment he didn't have secreted in a mountain cleft, save a few changes of clothing.

It was a fourth level spell, and one he'd been considering trying anyway. "Father James, this might not work, but i think it's worth a shot..."

The old priest cocked his head like a bird. "What do you need me to do?"

"Stay there. Pray." Grey drew in a deep breath, and shifted to angelform ignoring the sudden intake of breath from the priest.
"From within the holy light,
spark anew and now grow bright,
if allowed by faithful heart,
imbue with spells of clerical part,
i humbly ask thy gift bestow,
that cause of Good may now grow."

"What?" Father James was rather surprised by the golden light and feeling of peace. Not to mention what he'd seen in the glow.

"'Imbue With Spell Ability'- if it worked you'll be able to channel healing magic. Try praying for such tomorrow. Perhaps we'll meet again, Father. Look for me in 794 or thereabouts." With that, Grey leapt over the wall and flew again for the first time in four months.

Father James looked thoughtfully out at the glittering winged figure, then turned to trudge back to the cloister. Brother Keian had kept a record of the many things that Mister Bond had suggested or done. Perhaps he needed to look at them over again.

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

Choice votes for the rewrite of "Fist Of Orion":
Akane survives, dojo doesn't - 4, No forgiveness - 14, Original - 6, Splattered Akane - 12.

Oh, and what was sang on the way home that day?

"Keep movin', movin', movin',
Though they're disapprovin',
Keep them dogies movin', rawhide.
Don't try to understand 'em,
Just rope 'em, throw, and brand 'em.
Soon we'll be livin' high and wide.
My heart's calculatin',
My true love will be waitin',
Be waitin' at the end of my ride.

"Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em on,
Move 'em on, head 'em up, rawhide!
Head 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, let 'em out,
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, rawhide!"

"Keep rollin', rollin', rollin',
Though the streams are swollen,
Keep them dogies rollin', rawhide.
Through rain and wind and weather,
Hell bent for leather,
Wishin' my gal was by my side.
All the things I'm missin',
Good vittles, love and kissin',
Are waiting at the end of my ride."

"Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em on,
Move 'em on, head 'em up, rawhide! yee-ha!
Head 'em out, ride 'em in,
Ride 'em in, let 'em out,
Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, rawhide!
RAWHIDE!!!"

planned the scene but couldn't work it in.

===========

Third Labor, Chapter 12 "Past Tense, Future Shock"
...or "To Sleep, Perchance To Dream"

Disclaimer: no smear or insult is intended against the Catholic church, Christianity, Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Zen, Judaism, or any particular race or creed. Well, except for uncute violent tomboys who lack redeeming qualities.

some scenes written by Skysaber

---------

What impressed Naoko Takeuchi was that the girls obviously weren't trying. She was resting in one of her favorite places in the park, trying to think of what to do now that Sailor Moon was finally laid to rest, going through the options she had planned for her next series, whichever *that* would be, when ten girls had sauntered up and casually taken their seats on the lawn not far from her.

That was actually an aspect of this part of the park the manga artist loved so much, was that it was private in a way others didn't expect. She had based several of her best characters off of moments of other's personalities she had observed from here. She thought of it as her duck blind or African Safari for observing people being honestly who they were.

These girls were blowing her for a loop, and one of the *biggest* things was they were being so casual about it. Even the best actor knows he is on stage, many of them turn that into a type of magnetism to draw their viewers onto the stage with them, immersed in a world of the actor's creating.

This wasn't like that, not at all.

As far as the manga artist could tell these girls had *no* idea they were on stage, and one of the biggest things convincing her of their honesty is what they were getting wrong. Naoko was no stranger to fans or kids doing cosplay, but something here felt different. She was actually considering going over there and introducing herself to see what their reactions would be when one by one several of the girls broke out bawling.

And it was *not* who she'd have written doing it!

She stayed obscure and watched.

"There, there..." Mina comforted a wailing Susan. "I'm sure he's alright."

*sniff!* "But I should have seen this happening!" the off-duty Scout of Time wailed, trembling under her sister-wife's comforting fingertips. "He may be hurt even *more!*"

Two big teardrops gathered under the corners of Amy's eyes. "And I should be blamed for not seeing to it that he had proper medical help, rather than going off to those refugees like I did." The tears began to run like waterfalls. "He's all alone and I didn't do a thing for him!" Amy buried her head in her sleeve and fountained twin streams of tears as she bawled.

Rae was sniffing dangerously. "Maybe he doesn't believe any of us still loves him?"

Naoko was watching the girls cry and felt like a heel, overhearing their words when whatever they were going through got to them even out in public. There was something so desperately fascinating about them, however. In spite of this, she almost got up to leave them some privacy, when she was stopped by what came next.

~Luna? Artemis?!?~ The manga author thought in shock.

"Ladies!" The black cat called out, nearly causing the bookish author to have a stroke as it raced quite near her position. Luna came to a halt, panting, and Artemis (who she'd always had a though was a little braver cat) proved his stamina by not being so winded.

"We think we've found him!" The white cat finished.

All ten girls came erect at one instant. The spell was broken by a caw breaching the air and the dark haired girl Ms. Takeuchi thought was a dead ringer for her own Sailor Mars character shifted her gaze skyward and held up an arm, on which landed twin ravens, who cawed some more at her.

"That's confirmed!" The suddenly galvanized girl cried, rising to her feet smoothly and without dislodging her birds. "Phobos and Diemos just spotted him!"

There was an instant where the manga artist was positively certain she saw all-too familiar symbols flare on each girl's forehead, and all of their gazes swung in one direction as a single united motion. Somehow they were all now standing.

"Silver Millennium Energy!"

"His powers must have recharged themselves!"

A huge, glowing symbol appeared in the sky above, that the artist couldn't quite make out from her vantage point, as it was behind her with some trees in her way, blocking it from her view.

"That's the Thundercat sign!"

"He must be in real trouble!!"

"Scouts!" Mina turned to address her group glowing in confidence. "This calls for an emergency transformation sequence! Let's do it!"

There came a single, united nod, and they all produced little wands that Naoko Takeuchi had drawn *far* too many times not to recognize at this close distance. But this was absurd! It then struck her that she'd never actually seen the like of these. There was a look to cheap plastic toys for girls, and these didn't have it. If anything the short wands bore the marks of *real* otherworldly metals and *real* gems, about the size of golf balls capping them. All of this registered kind of dazedly in the back of the artist's mind as she watched with stunned fascination what went on after this.

The girl who she'd thought a dead ringer for her own Sailor Neptune raised a hand above her head and spoke a single word.

"Cloudburst."

There wasn't even a crack of thunder, but suddenly their clear summer sky became the most dreadful torrent of rain the artist could remember. Shielding her eyes with her hands, the amazed woman noted that the ordinary parkgoers, some of whom had become interested in the antics of the young ladies, were now scattering and picking up blankets and food, paying NO attention to the young ladies in their haste to avoid getting drenched.

And those girls smoothly took advantage of this.

The first to leap into the sky was the girl who looked like Venus, and her friends all formed a barrier around her by throwing their party blankets such that there was a moment that the girl was totally obscured, even for their audience of one who was ignoring the pouring rain to peer through the dampness.

"Venus Star Power!"

What part of the artist's mind was gibbering at her that this was insane and couldn't be happening and maybe she ought to go a little more easy on herself was drowned out by an analytical portion that noted the brief yet intense flash of light from the transformation sequence was confused by the park attendees busily going about their business as ordinary lightning. In her astonishment the author nearly missed the same sequence of thrown blankets repeated for the next girl as Sailor Venus hit the ground.

"Jupiter Star Power!"

The author stood stunned, gripped in fascination in spite of the obscuring sheets of pouring rain as the same sequence was repeated for eight other girls, ending with the redhead calling out.

"Earth Star Power!"

~That can't be right.~ The part of Ms. Takeuchi's mind that wasn't terrified she'd gone insane was cataloging. ~I made Tuxedo Mask the guardian of Earth. This girl looks nothing like him, in either form.~ She noted as the perky Sailor touched down.

Then, as soon as it had appeared, the rain was over. There were puddles on the ground in low places but most of the park goers hadn't even picked up all of their things yet.

A bolt of inspiration struck the artist as she noted the disarray, though. There was no way of knowing who had bolted for cover quickly and almost no one was in the same places. The Sailors might have started and ended in the same spot they'd begun, but there was no way any onlooker would know that. Even the rain had added concealment factor, not just diversion.

It was brilliant!

Seeing the storm over, one guy who'd lurked fairly nearby noted the girls in *veeery* short skirts and ceased wringing out his jacket to call out to them some invitation or other.

Sailor Neptune had just finished fluffing out her hair after the change, and shot him a stunning yet negatory smile, flashing him a gorgeous gold ring with a huge stone that Naoko had noted on each girl and had been puzzled about. It didn't fit the...

"Sorry," Neptune turned down the man. "We are all married ladies."

An author's jaw fell open wide enough to catch bugs in.

Sailor Uranus gave a confident glance to one and all. "And our husband needs us. Earth Golems! Rise!" The Sailor tossed a fist in the air and three hulking shapes began to stand up out of the ground.

~Husband?! Singular?!~ Takeuchi felt faint.

"Air Golems! Fly!" Cried out another Sailor.

"Fire Golems!" Mars cried out.

"Ice Golems!" Mercury shouted, producing a trio of watery servants that had formerly been rainwater puddles.

"Water Golems!" Neptune commanded, claiming the rest, and even the water from some of their observer's clothes.

"Time Golems!" Pluto announced very smugly, watching three figures fade into existence, each so difficult to look upon it was like gazing into a hole through eternity, like infinite reflections without the mirrors.

An author's hair stood out in all directions and her head was nodding, so she missed the rest of these summonings. But a crook who had been hanging out in the park did not. Mindful of the manga, the criminal pulled out a gun and leveled it at the Sailor Scouts in panic, absolutely certain that they had come there just to punish him, and too terrified to rationally accept they shouldn't even exist.

*Bang!*

Venus' head tilted sharply to the side as the gunshot struck her in the side of the face. Her gaze righted itself, hand rubbing her cheek, as she spied the criminal. "That stings, you know!" She shouted.

The horrified gangster began to empty his clip at her, and the perky Sailor Scout seemed to blur as she dodged aside.

"Meteor Beam Shower!"

Naoko was so caught up in watching the beam of light emerge from the girl's fingertip and splitting up, to converge again and strike the gangster from every side in a magnificent explosion, that she almost didn't notice whose arms she was in until Jupiter set her down again.

"Sorry," the Scout apologized, giving the artist a flashy fingertip kind of reverse salute like she'd drawn them giving. "But you were in the way of those bullets, had to get you out of their path."

The manga artist nodded numbly. Then watched from only a foot or so away as the girls all went into identical wind up poses, crying out together. "Eternal Pheonix Wings!" Then they all flew off, trailing some golems while others went on ahead, even the earth-types flying without difficulty and shielding the Sailors rather well in formation.

Absorbing the last of this, Naoko Takeuchi fainted.

-----------

"...you OK? Miss?"

Naoko woke up slowly, wondering at the odd dream she'd had. Opening her eyes, she saw reason to wonder if she was still dreaming.

The gaijin bishonen in camouflage fatigues backed away from her.

"Master?" One of the girls accompanying him looked curiously at him. "Why did your appearance change? And how did we cross dimensions?"

"A designated Prince of the Moon Kingdom summoned all the Knights and Scouts to him. By carrying you with me, we fell short. Hurry now, the Prince might be in danger!"

"Knights?" Naoko asked.

"i am the Knight Of Duty, Nebula. Sumi-chan, carry Siryn."

"Actually, now that we're not likely to be confused, I'd prefer to just be called Lorelei," Siryn said as she was hefted up into a girl's arms.

"Uhm 'Knight of Duty'..." Naoko asked, watching the foursome leave at high speeds. She felt like fainting again. But if she did that, what would she wake up to the next time?!

----------

785 AD:

"Come out, foul wyrm! For thy doom is upon thee!"

"Wouldn't you rather have a nice cup of tea? i've got the water on to boil."

The six man squad exchanged glances among themselves with uncertainty. This cave with the faint smoke trail had been the fifth they'd investigated (the previous four turning up two hermits, a husband who had fled a shrewish wife, and a prospector) and they hadn't really expected an answer.

The Commander, Julius Hennington, cleared his throat. "Uhm, are we to understand that you *are* in fact the dragon sighted flying through this area?"

"Quite, though i thought the area largely deserted. Uhm, sorry if i startled anyone, it certainly wasn't my intention."

"First he invites us to tea, then he apologizes for creating a nuisance. This is NOT what i envisaged for a Dragon Hunt," Mallory complained.

"Quiet, you," Julius commanded and drew his sword. "Come out now, that you may perish on my blade which was blessed by a holy man of Lindisfarne!"

"Oh?" There came the sounds of something BIG moving through the hillside cavern. "How *is* Father James of late?"

Julius held his sword confidently up until the shape moved out into the light. Then he felt rather less confident and was glad that he'd just taken a piss a few minutes before. The evil beast was ten times the size of any of his men, with claws longer than his sword! The creature's wicked sharp teeth were thicker around than his leg and could likely bite through his armor in a heartbeat.

"Madre de Dios!"

"I thought you were agnostic?"

"Guy's got the right to change his mind!"

"Dragon? I don't see no stinking dragon! Well, guess we ought to go home!"

Julius thought that running away and getting reinforcements sounded like a good idea. The problem was that his knees weren't doing so good.

Mallory looked over the huge gleaming dragon and came to a conclusion. "You said something about tea?"

"Mint or comfrey?" The reptile inquired.

"Mint," Mallory said, sheathing his sword and walking forward. The creature was big, powerful, and could likely run them all down before they could get out of this rock-strewn hilly area back to where the horses were. In a fight, six men armed with good steel *might* be able to cause serious injury. The problem Mallory had with this picture was that the six men would be dead at the end of that fight. "I suppose a good cup of ale is out of the question."

"Afraid so, haven't much use for it myself. i've a small herb garden not far from here, which is always nice."

"Might I see it? Me girlfriend, Susan, she loves to grow herbs."

"Really? i'd like to meet her. There's a lot of herbs i just haven't been able to find. Hmmm. Why not? It's up on that hill to the North."

Julius blinked a few times as Mallory and the dragon went back into the cave. "Uhm..."

Five minutes later, Mallory returned, holding a crudely made wooden teacup from which he sipped.

"Mallory! Did you kill it?" Julius had wondered if that was Mallory's plan, get inside its claws then thrust home while the thing was offguard.

"Kill it? Why would I do that?" Mallory sipped again at the tea. "Makes a lovely mint blend tea. Has all sorts of herbs drying in his cave. Besides, I promised I'd bring Susan up here sometime. She'd love a look at a dragon's herb garden, I think."

"AAAHHHHHGGGHHH!" Commander Julius Hennington was having trouble with this whole assignment. "We're here to kill the evil beast!"

Mallory shrugged and set the now-empty cup on the ground. "Our assignment was to kill the 'evil beast terrorizing the countryside and bring back its hoard'. How many evil beasts have an herb garden, offer you afternoon tea, or apologize for the inconvenience?"

"Well there's my Aunt Edna..." *THWACK* "Ow!"

"Quiet, Perim." Julius had to admit this wasn't going anywhere near what he had planned. "How are we going to explain this?"

"That what we found wasn't an 'evil beast terrorizing the countryside' but a hermit guarding his herb garden?" Mallory suggested.

The dragon exited his cave, taking wing in a few beats and circling the area. Julius eyed the creature estimating his chances. Leather armor vs thick scale, the good steel of his sword against those fangs and claws.

"Works for me. Let's go home."

----------

Asgard: much later

"We've got another one. That makes SIX of these time ripples. Too early to see what the effects are. One looks to be a doozy, though." Celeste had seen this sort of thing happening before. "If it's Grey he's NOT maintaining a low profile."

"Or he's trying and just not being successful," commented Setsuna. "What time are the ripples centered in, and how long before the changes reach the present?"

"Weeks, that timeline has some peculiar temporal characteristics. And... looks like they start in 776 AD. Last one is 785 AD. Well, that lets the Pheonix Mage out. Two ripples in Greenland, a pretty small one in North America, a small one in England, a *big* one in Northern England or Scotland, I'm not sure which it is in that era." Celeste fiddled with a readout. "Hmmm. A ripple in Switzerland? What the heck's in Switzerland in 785?!"

"What about the big one, what's the nature?"

There were few around the Goddess Relief Office who could have brought it up. Celeste was one. "Looks like something put this Deacon named Father James Rihan from obscurity to a major figure of the faith for about a decade. Then he died when the Vikings raided... Lindisfarne. It was the first recorded mention of the Vikings... WHAT?!"

Setsuna looked politely over Celeste's shoulder, somehow having transformed to Sailor Pluto without going through anything resembling a nude transformation sequence. "Looks like another ripple, forming at the Lindisfarne monastery, reinforcing the effects of the earlier change."

"W-w-WAIT!" Ami exclaimed, seeing Sailor Pluto fade away, her smile being the last thing to vanish. "...take me..."

Makoto/Apple placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry Ami-chan. If anyone can reach him across the timestream, Setsuna can."

Ami didn't bother to mention that THAT was part of her worries.

----------

Lindisfarne, 793 AD:

"Get down, Father!" Brother Leul yelled before an arrow gave ample demonstration as to why.

The Deacon frowned and looked around at his fellows. "Well? It appears that these raiders have no respect for our being men of cloth."

"We could surrender!" Father Wolt looked a bit wild around the eyes.

"That's what those by the docks tried, and these savages cut them down."

"Heavenly Father," prayed the priest known as James. "We need some assistance. Please send your servant to intercede in this matter."

"Amen," intoned everyone except Wolt.

"Rrraaaaggghhhhh!"

Everyone stared for a moment at Wolt.

Keian cleared his throat. "Father James, you aren't playing pranks with sheep's bladders or something similar at a time like this, are you?"

"Rrrraagghhhhhh!"

James looked out at the rubble. "Ah, actually, I don't think it was Brother Wolt's food OR a sheep's bladder this time."

---------

He'd flown in at his current ceiling, roughly 12,000 feet. (He lacked an Altimeter spell.) At that altitude he was a glittering dot to most of the locals.

He'd lost track of time again, and it hadn't been until Mallory and his wife Susan had appeared with their child that he'd realized how much time had passed.

Upon seeing the monastery being attacked, he'd reacted. That was always a factor while being a dragon, they tended to be very emotional and swung from one extreme to another. Seeing the monastery being raided, he knew he should have gone elsewhere. He was trying *not* to interfere too much with the timeline. He just got carried away.

Such as now.

Wings shifted, and the dragon lost altitude quickly, increasing in speed as he dove. As he approached the water, the wings shifted again to level the flight off. He rocketed past longboats and was surprised when a spear actually connected in the moment he was near them

Unfortunately for the spearman, Grey's hide was thick enough that it bounced. He looped around, and this time his breath weapon shot out. Aimed at the slope leading to the monastery, the blast of frost didn't do much damage, merely caused ice to coat the area.

Grey roared twice, and settled down for the fight.

--------

In a place that was not a place, a black cat smirked. Mischief was his purvue after all, and there was much mischief to be made here.

The question was, who was renewing Grey's spells. Though there might be some delicious irony should he do it himself, the Elder of Mischief knew that he wouldn't have been able to resist putting little twists in the spells that would have revealed him.

Toltiir nudged things slightly, then withdrew. A slight touch or two, that was all that was needed. For now.

--------

"The forces of evil are upon us!" Wolt cried, his plans for politically rising through the ranks of the church hierarchy currently replaced with the desire for staying alive.

"I don't think so," said the bookish Father Keian. "Look at the way the dragon's scales gleam. The very color is silver, is it not?"

"I'm too young to die! I have a chance of gaining the ear of the Archbishop! I am *this* close to gaining a position at York!"

Everyone's gaze turned pitying (or disgusted) towards Wolt. Finally James spoke, inquiring as to what Keian found significant.

"Silver, as everyone knows is a pure metal, it is said to be the bane of werewolves and other foul creatures, is it not?" Keian pointed towards the dragon now darting in and out of the spear range of raiders on the shore. "Also note the dragon is seeking to drive them off, not aid them."

Wolt uncurled slightly, hoping despite himself. "So the forces of evil have turned upon themselves. As soon as it has finished with its competition, we shall be destroyed!"

"Nay, for I do see what young Keian describes. Were the beast truly an evil beast, would it not eat the raiders, not simply sweep them into the seas with its tail? Would it throw the raiders aside or drive them like a shepherd does his flock towards their own boats were it unconcerned with human life?" James spared a glance towards Wolt. "We are men, not merely of the cloth, but of God. Should we quibble or make demands on the Almighty as to the nature of the aid he sends us in dire times?"

"But, tis a SERPENT!" Wolt protested. Everyone knew that dragons were evil creatures of Heaven's Adversary, did they not?

"Serpents have not legs," pointed out Keian. "Nor wings upon which they may ascend to the heavens. Besides, even a serpent be one of His creatures and worthy of respect. Who are we to put limits on what He may do?"

"Our scribe has a point," said James, cutting off any further response from Wolt. "So, as these raiders seek to despoil a House of the Lord, there is one thing that I see that we may do!"

"What's that?" Wolt asked.

"Deal with the ones that goodly servant missed," answered James, picking up a cudgel. "Saint Cuthbert, shrive my foe and guide my aim!"

--------

Akumakun/Ranma timeline:

Ranma was about to ask Jared if Nabiki now had the Catfist. He never got the chance, nor did Jared have the opportunity to inform him that Nabiki functionally WAS the Catfist.

Genma slipped on a slick stone, a claw tightening on a certain area on the long tube in his hands as a reflexive move.

Unfortunately, the gadget he was hoping to sell for drink money, as previously noted, was a Robotech Repeating Rocket Launcher. Fortunately, the clip had been removed. Unfortunately, he'd removed the clip but left a round in the chamber from when he'd been testing the balky feed
mechanism. Fortunately, he'd used a "smoke and paint" round. Unfortunately the targetting laser and backup blaster had power. Fortunately the safety had been engaged. Unfortunately, that only covered the backup blaster.

The results were as one might easily expect.

An explosion of white smoke, a fair concussive wave, and red paint splattered everywhere.

Genma spent a few moments gawking at the scene as the smoke billowed out.

A large number of women appearing out of nowhere to take places along the outer walls and Tendo roof. A couple of guys he didn't recognize. A tall and powerful looking man who was cracking his knuckles, and a thinner fellow holding a chain weapon.

In the courtyard, people were scattered and a few were unconscious. More than one was splattered with red.

"IT'S A MUTANT RAT YOUMA!"

"And he's killed our Jay-chan!"

Genma had learned many things over many years of training with the Master. How to steal panties. How to run. How to grovel. Even how to fight to some extent. One of those dearly learned lessons was a danger sense that wasn't 100% effective, but when it went off he knew to listen.

It was going off now. In fact, it was alerting him to the fact that if he remained standing where he was, he would be reduced to a fine red paste *long* before he had a chance to explain.

Genma decided to use two of the lessons he'd most frequently invoked when training with the Master. When to run. When to hide. Valuable lessons indeed for a student of Anything Goes.

*FOOM!*

The Thundercats were the first to give chase by virtue of having no transformations and the fastest tank.

There are certain things that are difficult not to remember, among them how terrifying it is to see a tank leaping and jumping overhead. The REALLY rousing music that played as the thing left track marks deep in Nerima's roads hadn't helped matters any.

Where the standard Thundercats were almost exclusively male, when Sakyo and Shan had run across a genecrafting facility in their hunt for evil Ifurita units to scrap and empower Shan, they'd decided to go for an all-female cast. The better for loving her Master.

They also got Really Uppity about things that threatened their Mate.

Also, after the various upgrades, they were prepared to DO something about it. "The Rat Lord is using a random evasive pattern, insufficient time to adapt tracking weaponry." Panthera, female engineering lead and based off of a panther, said.

"High-technology weaponry and black-band magic are combined in his foe. Threat level is... he must be interfering with the sensors." Tigress concluded, reading their scanners while Panthera drove.

Liona, the redhaired leader (and based off a lion), twisted in her seat to gaze back at Cheetarah, who was standing in the back manning their pintel-mounted main gun, riding the shocks of their movement with the ease that came from moving this speed herself, on foot. "We can't afford to take any chances. Cheetarah, forward observer. I'll take the gun."

"Roger!" Cheetarah leaped from the back of the racing vehicle and sped off at an even faster rate.

"Multiple magic bands appearing throughout the city!" Tigress warned, though she was about to go on that most if not all of them read as friendly.

Impetuous Liona interrupted, jumping to conclusions as she lifted the muzzle of the gun, "We've got to act fast! Claw Missiles! Fire!" and letting off a volley of three.

--------

Soun shrieked as he noted the shredded compound wall where the Thundertank had entered, and the rather large hole where it had gone through the dining room and out the front door.

It was made rather worse as various high powered individuals flew, ran, leapt, and in the case of two androids - got into an immediate fight.

"No way, Naga! *I* will be the one to handle this situation!"

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! Truly, Lina, you underestimate *my* talents. Jay-chan deserves to be nursed back to health by someone more skilled... and more developed than you!"

"WHAT was that?"

"You can't possibly have enough love in your heart with a chest THAT small!"

"Y-y-you.... EXPLOSION ARRAY!"

*BOOM BOOM BA-KOOM!*

Jared had said previously that he could cast "Otiluke's Protective Dome" in his sleep. It was a good thing that he hadn't exaggerated.

"Childish in form and talent, aren't you Lina Inverse? Oh hohohohoho! SPIRIT GOLEM!"

*CRASH* *BOOM!*

"Oh yeah, Naga? THis time you've gone too far! DRILL..."

*THWACK! THWACK!*

The Knight of Duty considered the two marionettes he'd temporarily shut off. While lacking the elegance of Chiba's thrown roses his thrown chesspieces could still pack a wallop. (Though he agreed with the general consensus that they looked dorky and lacked class.) "Lorelei, disable them."

Soun stared at the ruined yard, listening briefly as a section of his home fell over.

Akane woke up, saw her room move from the second floor to the first, and promptly lost her temper.

--------

Adam Warren was riding peacefully along (having an invite to a Japanese comik-mart where he expected to meet some people whose work he'd long admired) when his rented convertible was suddenly rocked by four near-simultanious impacts and he was shoved roughly to the side, ending up sitting on his head in the back seat while four women crowded the front (producing standing room only for three of them) and the vehicle lunged forward as a redhead stomped on the gas pedal.

~Hey, Wait a minute!~ The manga author thought, but they were ignoring him. Even so, he couldn't help but recognize that *two* were the Dirty Pair as drawn by the animators in Flash, and two were identical right down to the toenails to the Original Dirty Pair.

Realizing they were arguing, the artist covered his nuts and hoped.

Mature Yuri fluffed out her billowy dark hair and shot a sly smile to the younger duo from Flash. "You two should go home and get the starship. We're going to need it for pickup."

"We *already* sent Muugi for it!" The young Kei shouted, clenching her fist. "You two are just trying to get rid of us."

The older duo only looked toward each other and laughed, chiming, "Useless baggage!" in agreement.

The author could feel his life flashing before his eyes, and wished he'd done things more interesting in his life and less in the series.

"Are you two trying to start a fight?" Younger Yuri accused.

The author considered hiding under his seat, but was frustrated in this by his car performing a miraculous and highly improbable leap, knocking over three fruit stands and an okonomiyaki cart as it flew abruptly, violently, and unevenly over Japanese traffic *and* a train that were crossing that intersection the other way. As he clung desperately for dear life, Mature Kei guided the seemingly out-of-control vehicle through a disastrous skid, crashing sideways against a bus full of nuns, and then racing off again at improbable acceleration without so much as a 'how-do-you-do'.

As he clung to the hood the author was convinced his sins had come to haunt him.

While Mr. Warren was trying desperately to maintain his hold on the hood (having flown there sometime during that prodigious leap) and not fall under the wheels of his own vehicle, the more mature Kei was wondering aloud. "Why do you two tag along, anyway? You KNOW that we're more competent."

Suddenly Mr. Author had a dreadful sense of impending doom worse that of clinging to the hood of a highly erratic convertible going in excess of 200 mph and piloted by some of the Most Destructive People Imaginable, that of clinging to the hood of said vehicle when THOSE people were in a fighting mood.

"YOU shouldn't be here anyway! *We're* his true partners!" Younger Yuri accused.

Mature Yuri just winked smugly at the older Kei. Both chorused. "Yea, but we were *made* for him!"

"You're just COPIES! Androids made to look like us!" Younger Yuri shouted, fists at her sides.

"Too bad we do a better job than you do." Mature Yuri pulled an eyelid down and stuck her tongue out at her younger twin. "Bee-dah!"

If Adam Warren had been able to feel anything but terror at this, he might've been somewhat relieved to note that his fingers had made their own hand holds by bending the metal of the hood, though breaking finger bones doing it cost him some ability to use the purchase.

"Stupid sex-dolls." Younger Kei groused.

Mature Kei smirked and looked back at her younger double, incidentally ignoring the road before her totally. "*You're* only jealous because Jared hasn't agreed to marry you."

"WE ARE NOT!!!" Both of the younger Dirty Pair looked properly enraged.

Mature Yuri flicked her hair dismissively. "Then you'll feel *awful* nice about not feeling that way when MY Kei and I go to..." Suggestive whispers were made that turned younger Yuri an interesting shade of blue, then scarlet and trembling red.

"Grrrrr THAT'S IT!!!!" Both of the younger ones pulled out their weapons.

The author of the Dirty Pair comics, presently clinging for dear life to an exploding vehicle full of highly dangerous and well armed females that for no explicable reason was currently hurtling a gulf where Kei had found a shortcut, whimpered.

---------

Yoshinobu Nishizaki had been out watering and now the hose hung limply from off his fingertips, watching the Space Battleship Yamato descend gently out of the clouds.

Only there were some changes to the midship portion, near the stern. They looked like, but nah, THAT couldn't be!

Up on the bridge of the Space Battleship, one woman turned to another. "Are we within range?"

The second woman nodded, over crossed arms. "Yes. Inform the SDF-1 through 12, we've got a situation here. We might want to deploy."

The first woman turned back to her control board. "Evangelions, Launch!"

And from the docking cradles near the back of the Yamato, release bolts were unlocked and five fully functional (and VASTLY upgraded) Evangelion Units fell free.

"Yeeeeeha!" Rei shouted on the decent, having gained considerable personality since meeting Jay-chan awhile back, and NOT knowing how appropriate that cry was at this place and time.

Asuka landed her red Eva unit on the roads of Tokyo while four others landed behind her. "Okay team! We're off target by 4.8 miles. It's jogging time!"

"Wait!" Misato cried, wearing a black plug suit in the green Eva Unit, and for no explainable reason (in *this* story, at least - see Otaku Reflected for details) looking 14 years old. "We've got to await weapons drop!"

14-year old Ritsuko was already on that, wearing a yellow plugsuit in a matching Eva. "I'm tracking the dump boxes. they'll come to ground within point four miles of our present position, on course to Jay-chan."

Rei's ice blue Eva danced a step. "Then let's hurry up!"

As they ran away it was revealed that their landing had NOT been entirely without incident, and the left foot of Misato's Eva had crushed a certain pedestrian by the name of Hideaki Anno who had been too shocked at their appearance to move out of the way.

*****

The first principle and precept of the Anything Goes school, well, the first one that dealt with *combat* anyway, was this: Avoidance. Avoid blame. Avoid responsibility. Most important though - avoid massive damage occurring to your body.

Even Genma, who was nowhere near the level either of his sons had attained in the Art, was tolerably fair to excellent on this one concept, depending on how well motivated he was. And at this moment he was at a pinnacle of motivation that was causing him to transcend *all sorts* of limits so far that he was running, dodging, twisting and evading with such skill he was almost leaving his fat behind.

Almost.

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

795 AD:

"Father, i won't be able to appear here again." Grey warned the old practical joker priest.

"Hmmmmph. What about your students?" James looked out over the monastery training field.

"They've got the basics. Just as the Three Aspects, there is mind body AND spirit. Health in all can only benefit the faith." Grey shrugged. He hadn't much idea on WHAT medieval monataries did, and some of his suggestions had taken root. Unexpectedly, he'd found himself in the role of teacher.

"Is it that mystery woman?" James watched the crowd of initiates practicing that odd exercise that Grey had taught them. What did he call it? Oh yes - a kata. Some of the priests, and not a few of the children, had taken to an hour of this odd dance a day.

"If she is who i suspect, you're right."

"FATHER JAMES!" Keian waved as he ran up. "Oh, Grey. Sorry to interrupt, but Father - you've *got* to try this!"

James sniffed and sipped at the drink, then blinked repeatedly. "Most interesting. What is it called?"

"A penitent with the most unusual raiment did show me the preparation. It is called 'green tea' and it is made in the manner of normal teas. She did say that in her homeland..."

Grey tuned the rest out, now *knowing* without the shadow of a doubt who the mystery woman was.

--------

"Oh yes," Setsuna said with a nod. "I just came from Heaven, in fact."

"So, you're an angel?" Percival (not the Arthurian figure) asked. He was asking the questions as this also distracted the woman from where Keian's wife Korin was frantically scribbling down notes.

"No, though my fiance is. At least some of the time." Setsuna straightened her short skirt again, uncomfortable with the stares her long legs were getting.

Wolt muttered something about succubi, temptresses, the flames of Hell, and harlotry. Setsuna showed incredible restraint (for an anime character) and didn't "Dead Scream" the fellow into the next century. Or mallet him, merely favored the politically oriented priest with a glare that suggested she had thought about it.

Korin finished noting down this concept of a nourishing food made with ground peanuts and molasses known as "peanut butter" and went on to note that angels could have mortal wives while placing the notes with those she'd already taken.

"Angels can get married?" Percival asked, his eyes large. Few priests at the monastery had wives, they tended to be poor and devoted to secular life. Some even felt that any earthly ties detracted from their devotion. (1)

"Yes, well, he married us, but unfortunately there was interference."

"Demonic interference?" Percival asked, then he staggered. "'US'?!"

"Well, technically, yes. It's a long story, and not one that I'd prefer going into. Suffice to say there were problems and he considers us fiancees and not wives." Setsuna stood up and her clothes blurred from a Sailor Pluto seifuku to a plain woolen robe such as Korin wore.

Eyes widened at this further evidence of power.

"Life in Heaven isn't perfect," mused Percival aloud, trying to fit the revelations into a framework that his own paradigm could handle. "Ah, then only He is perfect."

"My fiance is far from perfect," said Setsuna with a smile. "He suffers from underconfidence, is honest when he should be evasive, gets lost regularly, tries to cope with situations he should avoid due to a stubborn streak, can't resist meddling when he sees a chance to be of assistance to others, gets sidetracked far too easily, and is generous to a fault with people he knows while being shy or abrupt with people he does not. On the other hand he'll usually abandon a battle if he doesn't see any point in continuing. He is nearly phobic about being crowded, has a *strong* dislike for politicians and lawyers, and if you ever get personal and abusive will not forgive you at all easily."

"Sounds like Grey," joked Percival.

"Ah, you know his bad qualities already," Setsuna sipped at her tea. Unfortunately it had grown rather cold.

Dead silence, even Korin's scratching with a quill pen came to a dead halt.

The door opened. Grey entered, and a stray beam of sunlight seemed to give him a momentary halo.

Korin fainted, remembering all the times she'd joked about the sad-seeming foreigner.

Percival turned pale. He'd gained his ability to pray for magic (being the fourth to successfully receive the "Imbue With Spell Ability" clerical enhancement) cast by Grey. Which meant that...

Wolt shrieked like a little girl, causing everyone else to jump.

"Setsuna?" Grey asked, curious. "Anyone else come?"

"Ami wanted to. So did Makoto and Rei and Minako..." Setsuna regarded her fiance briefly, wondering if he'd been eating properly. Probably not. "Honey and Nuku Nuku are off somewhere else. Akane's offplane. Nabiki, Kasumi, Shampoo, and Ukyo haven't been seen for awhile. Sasami's back with her family. I was the only one who could make the trip among us. Even that was difficult."

Keian jotted names down frantically. They would later become popular names for girls.

"Well, we should be going soon," Grey said, ignoring as much as he could. "Rather than alter this timeline too much prior to America's colonization."

Keian noted quickly that a previous reference to a "land far to the West" from the strange laborer was to be colonized later, and was termed "America" for some odd reason. Sounded Italian.

Setsuna nodded. She tactfully didn't mention the model of an elaborate fullscale castle/monastery she'd seen. Nor the still made of copper that was purifying water (to "cleanse it of foul essences") or the fields inside an outer containment wall. Or any of the other odd elements that she'd seen such as the supply of paper or the loom. The windmill being constructed was not brought up. She didn't mention that four priests of this monastery were able to cast minor clerical spells, nor that most of those present shouldn't even be alive if he wanted to avoid changing things. She didn't mention that Keian and Korin had been jotting down notes since Grey had shown up. She didn't mention the ballistae or catapults that had been assembled based on a couple of children's toys that Grey had made.

No, Setsuna understood the relationship between cause and effect. She also knew that Grey couldn't help these little nudges, and was merely being his helpful self. Which was why Setsuna merely smiled and nodded, gathering her pack as she prepared to accompany her fiance.

She thought it likely they'd be back, anyway.

----------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Black Bart sent a puff of foul smoke on the breeze as he listened to Oregon's report.

"...and the rat thing blew 'em all up, then vamoosed. I'd never seen anything like it!"

Black Bart snorted smoke again from his cigar and considered. "Boys, saddle up. We gonna have us a necktie party."

A stranger moseying by, stopped. "Black Bart? Why are YOU going after the rat-man?"

Black Bart took the opportunity to practice his orating skills. "Y'see. We're villains."

"YEAH!" chorused the Dozen Thieves.

"We be desperadoes, and we be opportunists!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!" The Dozen Thieves went into a sentai group pose that somehow looked appropriate.

"We be hardworking fellas..."

"EXCUSE ME!" Dakota fumed.

"...and a lady who may be shiftless thieves and villains and scum. But we come by it honestly."

The Dozen Thieves started humming "Glory, Glory, Halleluia" in the background as Black Bart spoke.

Black Bart's voice rose slowly, his black Stetson held over his heart. "We're villains. But we're not heartless. We're not cheap. We operate with honor, and by our own rules. We do not strike from behind without warning. We DO strike from behind, or from above, or from below, or any other way we can get an advantage but it's never an instant kill attempt. We are lowdown sidewinders, but we have a certain thing lacking in modern common villains. We have standards. Striking a young innocent like Miss Kasumi from ambush like that - it isn't right. It isn't right at all. So we ride on the side of the law this time, because of a simple truth, stranger."

Bart and his Thieves all chorused on the expected phrase. "Because, it's the Code of The West."

Black Bart put his Stetson back on and leapt to the back of (also black) horse. During the speech, he managed an air of solemn and noble dignity. "Saddle up boys. And you too Dakota. We gonna avenge Miss Kasumi's honor."

Jared watched the thirteen riders gallop off and removed his disguise. "Well... dang. I guess Bart wasn't hiding the panda."

-----------

Olympus, the Great Smithy:

The computerized voice was female and sounded quite a bit like Eartha Kitt. At least that was the settings for today. "Upgrades complete. Tea, anyone?"

"No, just give me a readout," said Hephaestus. He was a craftsman, work came first.

"Unit: Honey Kisaragi. Upgrades requested by unit. Base form remains human in performance capabilities. Added matter conversion unit, sense of taste, and ability to conceive. Ability to transform into specific Templates and alter appearance through Atmospheric Condensor enhanced using hyperstitial pocket and morfogenic materials. Added requested Templates: Senshi, 'fighting game' martial artist, X wing pilot, Angel, RPA Pilot, Mink, and Batgirl.

"Unit: Atsuko Natsume (Nuku Nuku). Upgrades requested by unit. Fully functional cyborg. Cat brain neural capacity increased by secondary cybernetic brain. Limited matter conversion unit. Ability to produce and direct chi fields in manner referenced under file 'Cat Fist' - capabilities triggered under extreme stress or when loved ones are threatened. Limited transformation capabilities added."

"Hmmmph," Hephaestus said after a moment. "Catgirl cyborgs and transforming androids..."

"So YOU'RE the one doing it," said a sly voice.

Hephaestus closed his holographic laptop and sighed. "Honestly, I'd expected someone else to figure this out first."

Toltiir snickered. "Most think *I'm* the one giving Grey his clerical spells. They've forgotten about your association with your apprentice."

"Look at what he does," Hephaestus brought forth a scene where the monastery at Lindisfarne was now scurrying with people exploring the wonders of these new discoveries and devices. "Tell me that this does not serve MY cause."

Toltiir smirked some more, but didn't disagree.

Hephaestus was silent for a moment. "What are you going to do about it, Elder?"

"Little old me? Why nothing. I just *love* ironies, and this situation has a number of them."

"However, *I* am not granting spells to any of those monks," pointed out Hephaestus. "Who is?"

Toltiir chuckled. "Like Grey they're Christians. Like many worlds, faith generates manna. The lower level stuff is typically done drawing on their own belief and the local magic fields. It's when they start asking their Patron directly that things get interesting."

Hephaestus looked puzzled for a moment, then nodded as understanding clicked. "Oh my."

-----------

795 AD:

They were well out of sight of the monastery when Grey dropped the shapeshift that kept him in human form, reverting in a blur to what had become his natural form, a dragon.

Setsuna didn't even blink.

"Well, you're taking your transformation rather well," remarked the dragon in a basso rumble. "When Ami-chan entered a non-anime universe and translated to a non-anime looking Japanese girl, she had trouble dealing with it for quite some time."

Setsuna shrugged in her robes. "And what do I look like?"

"Greek, i think." Grey's tail lashed, somehow *knowing* that the woman walking nearby had wanted a different answer. But what? "Errr. Your eyes aren't that red color..."

Silver dragons were immune to cold. The night was fairly warm as attested by the crickets and other life scurrying about. Why was he getting a chill?

"Uhm..." Grey tried, "you look like the sort of young woman i could have encountered in my origin universe, but never met. You could have been a model back there..."

Setsuna seemed to relax ever so slightly. "What do you mean by 'encountered' but 'never met'?"

"Well, even if i walked into someone who looked THAT good, nothing could come of it - even getting a name would have been impossible." The dragon eyed his companion uncertainly. Was that a smirk briefly showing itself on her face? What the heck was going on? "Uhm. There's a problem you should know about..."

"Besides that the temporal currents in this timeline are all amuck and even dimensional travel seems to becoming more and more difficult as time passes for us?" Setsuna considered lightly thwacking the dragon's neck with her Time Staff to remind him of who she was. She was Setsuna Meiou, Temporal Wizard who had joined with another of her aspects - a Sailor Pluto who had been born in the Silver Millenium. She had observed other timelines where she was Pluto but had been the child of another Senshi - and had then gone back in time to aid her mother and friends. Only to die saving Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune in their fight against the Death Busters - then resurrected again in the future to do it all over again. She was an *expert* in time travel and even she had experienced enormous difficulty in reaching this place in the timeline.

Grey didn't have a telepathy spell and was speaking of something else anyway. "Besides that. i'm beginning to get lethargic and have this compulsion to build a lair."

Setsuna frowned, this being ninety degrees from her current train of thought. "Excuse me?"

"Due to various things that have happened, i'm a dragon - this is my default form and existence except in worlds where dragons simply can't happen." Grey craned his long neck up and scanned the area. Nobody else nearby as far as *his* senses could determine. Dragons hit something called dragonsleep at points in their existence."

Setsuna nodded. "Admittedly, dragon behavior is not something I've studied in any of my lives."

"Whereas humans grow more or less steadily until they reach the adult stage, dragons do it differently. We're elemental creatures, go figure. What we do is find a lair, preferably hidden. There we store our bonded hoard and on its contents we sleep a period of several months or years, depending on the rules of the local timeline. In Io's Blood it's months, Aramar was years. i think it'll be years here too."

Setsuna blinked and looked up at the huge shape nearby. She ignored the wolf which leapt out of the woods, got a whiff of her companion, piddled itself and fled with a keening noise. Other than to step over the evidence of its fright when she came to it. "How long?"

"i'm currently a 'young adult' stage - so going through the growth spurt and everything will take about six years. There's also a feeding frenzy prior to the sleep, but i'll have to have a lair built before then. My 'hoard' consists of a few items from the Rival Relief Office as well as scavenged stuff from a variety of timelines, don't know if that'll be enough."

"So what's the next stage, and how long do we have?" Setsuna started making plans. Six years where her fiance/husband was sleeping and going through a growth spurt...

"Adult. At minimum my dragonform will increase another ten feet in length. Also, i'll be ravenous again upon awakening. So the lair site will have to be fairly off the beaten path but still have access to a good supply of food. i'd say another six months before it hits." Grey stopped and lowered his body as they came to a secluded shoreline. "If you'd mount we can fly from here. Suggest sitting yourself where neck meets shoulder and put your legs around like you were riding a horse."

Setsuna made another gesture, altering the robe to a pair of braies and a tunic. Pants made riding much easier. "Hmmm. So we *do* have some time."

"Setsuna-chan," rumbled the dragon as he sailed over the cliffs and over the English channel. "Any ideas on where to wait this out?"

The sometimes-Senshi patted a length of cold smooth scales. "We could have stayed at Lindisfarne."

"i'd only been with them for a few years. Already they've gone from an obscure monastery to a center of learning. Herbcraft and sewer systems, papermaking and printing, kempo and Zen philosophies - all mistakes or slip ups. They'll be lucky if they're not all branded heretics and brought down by the Vatican. Though if anyone can talk those power brokers into keeping an open mind, Father James might do it. And then you gave them ideas on brewing green tea."

"I like green tea," Setsuna said with a sniff.

"Nonetheless, the further we stay, the more changes will accumulate." Grey sighed and coughed up a hailstone. "My Lord, they've started *quilting* after an idle comment of mine. That wasn't supposed to be introduced for another four hundred years! i'd rather not endanger the truly faithful, they get enough of that on their own. Any suggestions?"

Setsuna considered carefully, watching the waters under them speed by as she pondered.

---------

Akumakun/Ranma timeline:

Kuno knew that someone had entered the ancestral Kuno estate and was responding appropriately.

"Hold villains! What do you..." *THUD* The great and noble Tatewaki Kuno was backhanded into a wall where he slumped onto his great and noble posterior. Dazedly he looked up at the girl before him. The intruder was a woman! Tall, proud, defiant, with shapely limbs and form. Powerful, even more so than Akane Tendo before her "accident." The only detractions were the coloration of her hair and the simple but unflattering ponytail. Neither truly suitable for such a magnificent figure of a woman.

"Have you seen a bazooka toting big fat mutant rat? A villainous murderous beast about so tall," the beautiful young woman indicated something slightly taller than herself, "really ugly?"

"Nay my goddess. Ah, I see, this is a ruse that you might introduce yourself to me. Well then, I..." Kuno's voice trailed off as his goddess abruptly shot up at high speeds. Doing something only an angel or goddess should be able to do. Flying. At really high speeds too.

"Ahhhh," said Kuno, for once in his life lost as to what he should say. "AHHHH!" Kuno said a moment later, as a bald panda (still carrying the bazooka - now knowing it to be valuable to a gun collector or maybe the SDF) emerged from his hiding spot and started sneaking away.

A concept clicked in Tatewaki Kuno's head. The girl was looking for this very beast! She said it was villainous? Murderous? Why then, it was the duty of a samurai to bring such a beast to justice and thereby gain the rewards of his ponytailed goddess!

"HAVE AT THEE FOUL VILLAIN!"

[Go away] read the sign that the beast threw at him.

But of course such measures could not deter the Blue Thunder!

--------

Lindisfarne, Scotland, 801 AD:

The Papal Investigator wasn't quite sure what to make of all this.

Monasteries tended to be formed by those who had some minor differences with the rest of the faithful, grouped together and retiring at a distance from the main group of the flock. Such had been the case with the followers of Saint Cuthbert.(2) THIS however was beyond MINOR.

The fortification was massive, the outer walls spiked downwards to intimidate and make it difficult for invaders to scale. Inside were massive THINGS the Investigator was sure were part of some heresy. What was this massive tower which resembled a flower whose head turned on its own? And this tower from which smoke poured and water came flowing into an aquaduct? Surely these were sinister as Wolt's letters had indicated!

The guide assigned to the Investigator was happily babbling about their library and the folk coming to the island. He continued on about the number of babies saved simply by boiling their swaddling clothes and seeking to keep clean their surroundings lest the tiny imps that caused disease corrupt the infant's health. The guide enthusiastically spoke of the new methods being developed for seperating plant fibers that they might be woven again into cloth for garments. He continued to exclaim over the concept of making paper easily and swiftly or of some oddiment called the "power of applied steam" and of plants that could purge poisons from the body.

The Investigator (who had long ago stopped referring to himself except as the Investigator) stopped abruptly on seeing the old priest in the courtyard. "What is he doing?"

"Ah, Father James is invoking the glory of God in order to heal a child."

"Well, that is..." the Investigator's smirk faded and his jaw dropped as the old monk *glowed* with a pure white light and reached down to touch a child swathed in blankets. Though he couldn't see the child through the crowd, the child's parents clearly went from shocked to elated within the space of heartbeats. ~This place is *dangerous!* I must inform His Holiness at once!~

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(1) _ It wasn't until later that the Papal Council instituted the "no marriage" policy.

(2) No, this was not solely a World Of Greyhawke invention, and Lindisfarne monastery in Scotland's patron saint was Saint Cuthbert until the relics were unearthed and moved later.

Black Bart - Martial Arts Stage Villainry, Heir.
Dozen Thieves: Dakota (Naoko Ishima, Barmaid style kempo), Arizona (Kakeru Shinma, Martial Arts Cardsharking), Oregon (Sancho Pablo Juan Enrique Martinez Esteban Villalobo III, gaijin tarento), California (Dong Hi, Sherpa style kung fu), Wyoming (Masami Umari, no martial arts training but has "Photographic Reflexes"), the remainder are subject to change without notice.

votes: where does Setsuna suggest?
Dragons of the Caribbean - 4, Japan - 6, Antarctica - 1, American continent - 3, Lindisfarne - 1, Norway - 1, Russia - 1.

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