"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.

He had called himself 'the streak' for years before finding himself stuck in the distant past. It wasn't because of his luck, Jim Moor made his own luck. Nor was it because of any discoloration of his hair. It had always been white. No, his chosen moniker was due to his gifts. The main one was the ability to run faster then most vehicles. At the age of sixteen he'd been clocked at just shy of two hundred and twenty miles per hour. Since then he'd only gotten faster.

But the ability to run at nearly the speed of sound did not help as much in a fight as one would expect. The improved reflexes came in handy. As did the accelerated perception. When traveling at such speeds you had to be able to see the world as you were much slower. This tended to make anyone not a speedster appear to be in slow motion. Sometimes if the speedster was fast enough the outside world appeared to freeze in time.

The Streak was not quite that fast. While at his top speed things moving at lesser velocities appeared to be almost at a standstill at times, he still could observe movement rather easily usually. There were rumors of speedsters so fast that they could casually walk across a city in the blink of an eye. Of a man who could actually run on smoke due to his raw speed making it semi-solid to the man.

He'd even heard of someone so fast he could pluck bullets out of the air as if they were stationary. Jim was not that person. Although it was handy being able to clearly see the projectiles and have plenty of time to avoid them. Sadly the terrorists he was facing were not armed with slug throwers. They were using laser weaponry. And light he had trouble dodging. Oh sure it was possible, but exceedingly difficult.

Case in point, the fact that several grazes and seared holes now could be seen on his bare chest. The tunic he'd fashioned months ago was ruined. In fact it had caught fire from the concentrated high intensity light. Behind the beleaguered man was a blast door leading to the base's power core. It felt like he'd been fighting for days. There seemed an endless supply of soldiers to throw at him.

It was only due to a bit of forethought that he didn't have to deal with any of the Soldiers of America combat robots. He'd already smashed the computer banks controlling them. Without that control, the still living brains of those poor souls used could reassert dominance over the undesired bodies. Oh shit, he thought as someone got the bright idea to use a stinger missile. Looks like I was right. No way I'm walking away from this one.

XxXxX

The Present

A woman stood before an empty lot. Her skin was a pale lavender in color. She wore a white backless gown of silk. A pair of brown moth like wings came from behind the woman. The lot had contained a warehouse not ten minutes ago. Exactly what had happened remained to be seen, but clues pointed towards the former warehouse as a base for the soldiers of america.

Beside her stood a teenage girl with fiery red hair. The disgustingly cute pink outfit had already become somewhat famous within the city. This girl was known as the knight mare, a recent addition to the meta-human law enforcement community. The youthful champion turned to the elder woman and scratched the back of her neck. With a slight chuckle Knight Mare expressed what was on her mind.

"So bug lady, what just happened?"

The lavender skinned woman sighed. "I'm called Moth, not 'bug lady'. And only the mother forest knows what happened. In all my years on this planet never have I witnessed such an event."

"Ya, it's like the building never got built no more," Knight Mare snorted.

Moth sighed once more at the youth's atrocious verbal habits. "Do try to speak properly. But what do you mean?"

Knight Mare thought about the situation for a moment to collect her thoughts. "Jus that, the ki flows are like no building was there. 'Fore it was dark an twisty. Lotta bad people there. Now it ain't."

The red head knew she sounded like an uneducated fool. Which was partly true, the girl hadn't really gotten much of an education. Ever since meeting that cat-like woman Knight Mare had found her command of the English language far in excess of her capability to actually speak it. Maybe with time that would change, but maybe not. It still didn't answer another burning question though.

"Ya keep calling em 'sodders of america' or somethin. Why fight the military?"

Moth shook her head before replying. "It's 'soldiers of america', and they aren't actually a part of any nation's military. The group are highly equipped terrorists. I have encountered them many times over the years."

By the mother forest, I hate dealing with time travel. The extraterrestrial had no way of knowing her thoughts were mirrored by the girl next to her. Nor did either notice the crowd of people starting to form. It wasn't often that the city's heroes just stood around staring at an empty lot. It was even less often that a warehouse spontaneously vanished as if it never existed. While a rare event, such things had been known to happen on occasion.

"I don't trust this," Knight Mare muttered. "I'll check fer tunnels. Gonna call in others?"

Moth thought for a moment before replying with "No, we should be able to handle this ourselves. Besides which, Ice Lady is still tracking down leads on your family."

In all my years never have I seen one hurt so much yet hate so little. Moth thought as her companion transformed into a large red furred feline. She has the soul of a warrior and the heart of a shaman. If this larva represents this world's next generation of protectors then I can retire with an eased mind. An investigator she is not, but then neither is Sam. And Kevin makes Sam look like a trained investigator by comparison.

For the first time in years a genuine smile graced Moth's lips.

XxXxX

Galaxy Police holding facility, sol system

/"Great grandmother,"/ a cyan haired young woman started in mandarin. /"Why must I stay here?"/

'Here' was a cell with metal walls. While no bars could be seen, the door was blocked by humming energy field. On the other side of the barrier stood a woman who had been beyond old when Xain Pu was born. With time ancient bones had succumbed to gravity's pull, reducing her height to about three and a half feet. The hall the ancient woman stood in was filled with similar cells, but most were empty.

/"You must stay because of your actions, great granddaughter. Because of pride you endanger our village."/

/"But is law,"/ Xain Pu exclaimed loudly.

Elder Kuh Lon shook her head. After three months her granddaughter still refused to see reason. It boded ill for her heir taking up the elder's position on the council one day. Will she ever learn to think things through? Xain Pu was still ranting about how she was in the right. Not that Kuh Lon was listening to it. No, she was trying to decide the best course of action. One thing was absolutely sure: her granddaughter was in deep trouble.

/"A law that should not have been used, child. And now I must find a way to save our people from your actions."/

The matriarch turned and walked away. Normally she hopped around on a gnarled cane taller then herself. It wasn't dignified, but it was effective. Today however the elder found herself in too somber of a mood for such games. Within the week she would be given transport back home. That she'd be making the trip alone brought still more grief to the heart of elder Kuh Lon. The outsider laws have to change.

XxXxX

Tokyo-Nerima ward

Nobody had entered or left the Saotome home for nearly a week. While this in it's self wasn't unusual, there was a rank aroma emanating from the building. Perhaps it was the stench that caused someone to call the police. Perhaps it was the lack of activity. Or perhaps it was something else entirely. Whatever the cause, Officer Ikari had been sent to investigate. Naturally the rookie officer was sent due to no one else wanting to risk their necks.

It was well known among the police veterans that Nerima was a very dangerous place to be stationed. For years there had been demon attacks, the occasional princes from mystical kingdoms kidnapping martial artists, and random acts of extreme violence. It was for this reason that the local precinct did as little as they could get away with. The ward had so many unusual things happen over the years that several unique traffic laws had been passed.

Unusual traffic codes or not, the foul stench coming from the house almost made Ikari vomit. Even before he reached the door the officer thought someone or something must have died within the domicile. Upon knocking on the front door he found it open. The creaking of the hinges sounded ominous to his high strung nerves.

He noted that the door had been broken open. The deadbolt had torn through the frame and the latch ruined. Whoever had broken in had then taken the time to retract the deadbolt. When he found the body Ikari did lose his stomach's contents. If it hadn't been for the fact the room was also ransacked, he might have thought the woman on the floor had committed ritual suicide. Her belly had been sliced open with a knife and her head separated from the neck.

Running outside, he radioed in the discovery. It was fortunate he'd managed to leave the room before expelling his lunch.

Author Notes:

This is almost it. Probably going to do an epilogue, then Wild Horses will be finished. Yeah, I know I have several loose threads. But this story isn't self contained. It will in all likelihood spawn at least one sequel. Probably several in fact.