"speech (English mainly)"

"radio, feline language, or telepathic speech"

thoughts

/"different language or panda sign"/

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½. I make no money from this, nor do I plan on trying to. This is purely for fun.

Warning: There will be some OOC for some characters. It is an AU though, so that can almost be expected.

The Present

"But why didn't you return?" Nabiki Tendo asked incredulously.

Knight Mare shook her head. "Whats the point? Yer sister almost killed me. Kuno almost killed me. How long till someone actually did? An ya just sell everyone info bout me. Don't even live at the dojo no more, an still betray me regularly. Why Nabs? It ain't for family. Blair-San told me what he found. So why ya do it?"

How do you tell someone they were just a means to an end? Nabiki thought to herself. How do you let them know you're just using them for entertainment. The money's nice too. How do I convince him to go back with me? It was a question she'd not thought would be needing an answer yet. But need one it did. And no answer was forthcoming. Nabiki stared into eyes which already had seen too much. They weren't the eyes of a martial artist anymore. Those are warrior's eyes.

Five months ago

There were many things Ranma Saotome was expecting. He expected his father to disown him. He expected the 'official' fiances to track him down. He expected Ryoga to pop up out of no where any day now. He even expected it to rain any second now just because he was currently just that, a man. And that was a state that was becoming increasingly rare. Of all the things that he expected, the two that had happened came completely out of left field.

The first had been when the man he'd rescued a week ago proved capable of investigating where Nabiki got her money. That was still going on, but already Ranma had been told some things that made the decision not to go back even easier. The other event had been when his father had shown up at the cafe Ranma was working at. He'd been able to get a co-worker named Ano to cover for him, thankfully.

The last thing he needed was for his greedy and dishonorable father to learn he'd gotten a job. Let alone one as a waitress. Honor and dishonor, that was another thing which Ranma found himself almost compelled to think about. Many of his fights while a teenager, and since then kept forcing themselves into his thoughts. And each time the gender cursed man found himself wanting. His honor was greater then his father's, but not by as much as Ranma would have claimed.

How many times had he used his curse to scam food venders? How often had he used Ryoga's curse as a weapon? He'd promised on his honor to tell no one of the curse, yet had continuously told everyone. It was amazing no one had actually put the extremely blatant clues together. He lied and cheated when it suited him to get an advantage over a foe. Even going so far as to pretend to love Kuno just to try getting his curse wished away.

"I should leave everythin and become ronin." He mused. "I should, but that wouldn't be honorable."

So here he was, walking the streets towards where his new friend said his dad was staying. The young man knew he was going to leave Japan. He had to, there was no choice. Already there had been a few close calls with various crazies almost finding him. He couldn't go home, even if he knew where that was. To do so meant to die. There were no two ways around it. His mother would likely claim his current state was 'unmanly' and demand that dishonorable contract to be carried out.

He'd already mailed off a letter from a different ward to inform his mother. In the letter he'd described his reasons, and why he wasn't giving his location. He'd considered not telling his dad where he was or going, but that too left a bad taste in Ranma's mouth. While his personal honor had always been important, it was only within the last week the young man truly found it binding. And that newly strengthened sense of honor refused to let him just leave.

"Yo Pops, come out." Ranma called as he approached the tent.

Figures he would camp in a park. The sometimes panda emerged from his weather beaten tent angrily. He towered over his son in an attempt to intimidate the younger man. The beer belly did little to add to his formerly imposing stature. The dirty white gi had seen better days. It had patches in multiple places, and a few holes that were probably new. The white handkerchief habitually worn on Genma's head was threadbare with age. The glasses hadn't changed much over the years though.

The panda-man looked at his 'guest' and blinked at first. With a growl he demanded "What are you waiting for, boy? We must return to the Tendo's right this instant!"

His son looked about to speak, possibly one of his standard insults, then snapped his jaws together so fast there was a clacking sound. "No, I ain't going back. Ya broke the pledge countless times already. Sides, it ain't safe for me there. Not ta mention I ain't lettin Tendo Nabiki betray me, again. Japan ain't safe for me now. Ya can come with or not, your choice. And fore ya say it, already informed Mother of my intentions."

"But honor demands," Genma began.

"That I not go back. Or were ya aware Tendo Akane almost killed me? Or that Kuno almost did too? Or that Tendo Nabiki's been sellin me for years?"

XxXxX

The Present

"Why did you wait so long to come here then?" Nabiki asked.

Knight Mare grinned as she answered. "Ya seen how much me an pops eat. Plus rent, plus savin for the trip? Took almost three months ta save enough. And the panda still managed ta take what shoulda paid fer a room for a month or two when we got here. And fore ya ask, never sent word cause a you."

The man turned heroine listened to her radio and shook her head. Really wish I could help em. Hope Moth is enough ta help Sam.

XxXxX

Across the city a battle of prehistoric proportions was still raging. Ice Lady knew she was starting to tire. It was inevitable in a battle like this. The heroine was outmatched and knew it. The best she could do in such a situation was delaying tactics. Giant robots, alien invaders, and demonic hordes were no problem. But this one dinosaur seemed to shrug off everything she did. Including shattering it's legs. It's almost like it regenerates when badly hurt. Wouldn't doubt that either.

The first bit of help came from a pink humanoid robot known as 'vergo'. Ice Lady had been surprised to see the robot arrive. It operated out of Dubuque Iowa usually. So New York State was more then a little out of the machine's normal jurisdiction. If it was a real robot or just power armor was up for debate. Personally Ice Lady suspected it was power armor. The upturned bullet proof vodka bottle permanently attached to Vergo's mouth area reinforced that idea.

The robot was currently staggering around the battle field, clearly drunk. Or programed to act drunk. Yet somehow the t-rex kept missing every time it tried to bite or smash it. Lady threw a bolt of electricity at the beast's snout, distracting it long enough for another newcomer to the fight to move. She didn't know who this person was. Nor did she know what his game was. But the weapons were flat out stupid. Who brings nerf guns to a meta battle? That's almost as bad as Peroski.

The newcomer was wearing a yellow body suit with orange stripes along the arms and legs. He wore an orange mask, and matching orange gloves and boots. On his chest was an orange plastic vest of nerf brand body armor. Something that hadn't been sold in stores for years. He had two yellow bandoleers that contained a combined dozen nerf dart clips crossing his chest to form an X. The man was currently holding what looked to be the company's battery powered 'fully automatic' assault rifle.

"Shake in terror, for you now face the Nerfinator!" The odd man proclaimed before opening fire at Vergo.

The pink robot didn't seem to notice the Nerfinator, either that or had disregarded him as a non-threat. Such notions proved to be somewhat wrong when the foam and soft plastic projectile actually caused the paint to chip the way a real bullet might. Where do these crazies keep coming from? The comically armed man finally realized there was more then the pink robot in this battle.

As nerf darts impacted the dinosaur rapidly they actually seemed to tear holes in the beast's flesh. Within seconds the toy machine gun had expended the entire twenty five round belt of darts. Ice Lady meanwhile was busy trying to drag the creature away from allies and potential enemies alike by it's tail. It swung the great appendage, sending the ice person flying into the ruins of a wall. As brick started to collapse she noticed an odd looking machine with the SoA insigina..

"Now that's definitely out of place. Bet it's important too. Great, the Calvary's here. About fucking time. Ugh, haven't hurt this much in years."

A sonic boom reverberated through the area as something extremely solid struck the dinosaur in the chin. It staggered backwards before collapsing, at least momentarily. Seconds later the t-rex started to float weightlessly in the air. Officer Moth had finally arrived. Who's with her? Is that, I think it is! Ice Lady wearily pushed the rubble off and approached her friends and allies. One of them was unexpected.

"So E, what brings you out of retirement?"

The person addressed finally managed to unbury himself. But it wasn't who Ice Lady had been expecting. Instead of a human about her height there was a really tall green skinned man. He was wearing hospital pajama bottoms and a hospital gown. And while the man still looked unwell, he'd still made it to help. A fact which was shocking. The last Lady had heard her friend was still in a coma.

"I am sorry Ma'am, but my name is not 'e'. It is Cree. I would have gotten here sooner, but I had some unexpected difficulty being allowed out of bed. Can you explain why there is a human firing foam darts at me?"

"No idea Cree, but he seems like the newest nutjob in town. By the way, why are they just bouncing off you?"

Not willing to take any chances, the woman of ice formed a protective shield and tossed it to Cree. He grabbed it, and used the construct to block the next dart. When the projectile caused chips to fly off he stared. Vergo had by now turned it's attention to Nerfinator, as had Moth. Seeing that he was now not only out numbered, but actively noticed, the yellow and orange figure started to run. From the volume of foam darts littering the ground, it was probable that the man ran due to running low on ammunition.

With no warning Cree collapsed to the ground. As his teammates surged forward to check on him the pink female shaped robot staggered closer. It hiccuped before falling over. When it had once more achieved a mostly vertical position Vergo turned from one form to another. It's mechanical voice at first was hard to understand. A drunk robot was an unusual sight, yet this one appeared to be just that.

"Whesh dis sha hinohaur hum shum?" Vergo slurred.

Since no one seemed able to understand the robot, Ice Lady directed his teammates towards the device she'd found. The violet skinned beauty turned a way from the others to address the loose cannon. She looked more then a little tired even though the day was still some what young. The galactic police woman shook her head and sighed. Mother forest preserve us, working with this one is frustrating.

"Vergo, you should go and let us professionals deal with things. I am perfectly aware you would rather find more intoxicants to process."

XxXxX

No one knows of the evils I fight. They call me crazy, perhaps I am. But I am the only line of defense. The monsters are real, they are everywhere. They possess children. They devour families. They want what's ours, I can tell. And so I fight. I fight because no one else will. They laugh at my weapons, but I am the only line of defense. I will protect everyone, Shadow people, fear my name for I am the Nerfinator!