I guess I'm just gonna keep loading this because I sure as anything don't want to leave this off at anything short of a cliffhanger. I don't like to leave them any more than you guys wanna see them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or Ranma 1/2

Orbs of Emerald

Chapter 6: Spars and Trowa's Report

***

We had dropped by Ranma and Akane's house to pick up a few changes of clothes and explain to their parents and others where they would be, especially considering that it had to remain a secret. The entire family, including a strange panda who could write in kanji, agreed to the proposal of the two of them staying at Quatre's mansion.

Under a sworn oath of privacy of knowledge, we swapped our "stories", so to speak. The five of us explained to Ranma and Akane what was up with everything. They were both surprised to find out that the four boys were the infamous Gundam Pilots and equally shocked at how young they all still were (AN-If Heero is 16, can someone please tell me how old each of the other boys are? I'm going off total memory here, including on the Ranma cameo appearances. Which actually comes out with an interesting story all together.) and their different personalities. I suppose if anyone really stopped to think about it, most people would think that all of the Gundam Pilots would be like Heero: cold, ruthless, and mechanical.

"So, what's up with having two Ranmas around and where'd the girl one run off to?" Duo asked, voicing all of our silent questions.

"Well...that's sort of hard to explain," Ranma said, looking off out the window. "During my training in China, my dad and I ran across the Forbidden Lakes (AN-It is lakes, isn't it?) and, uh...well..."
"I've heard of those," Wufei said quietly. We all looked at him and he continued for our sake. "Legend has it that each of the lakes has a curse on it. If you fall in the Lake of the Drowned Cat, for example, every time you're doused with cold water, you turn into a cat."
"What does that have to do with....oh," Quatre blushed, realizing what I had not. "Sorry, that's gotta be rough."
"Tell me about it," Ranma rolled his eyes.

"What?" Duo asked, asking my silent question.

"I fell into the Lake of the Drowned Girl," Ranma answered grimly. "So every time I'm doused with cold water, I-"
"-turn into a girl," I finished, laughing silently. "Well, at least you didn't fall into the cat lake or the tiger lake, right?"

"I wish I had," Ranma moaned. "Anything but the drowned girl lake."

"Ah. I think I'm glad we moved to Japan and America and not China, then," I said, trying my best not to crack up again. "It would have been pretty awkward if I happened to fall in the drowned boy lake." Akane grimaced, looking like she had just imagined that to herself. "I'm guessing your dad fell in the panda lake, am I right?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"It's not every day you run into a panda who can write in perfect kanji," I muttered darkly.

***

"Thanks again, Ranma, it was fun," I grinned as I mopped my brow with the back sleeve of my new Chinese gi. It was soaked in sweat already, but I couldn't have had more fun in the spar against Ranma. He had been about as challenging as Heero at first, but Akane had dumped cold water on him, turning him into a her. He fought quite a lot better after that and I found my challenge in him quite easily now.

"I enjoyed it as well," she smiled. "But do you think I could have some hot water?"

The entire afternoon had been dedicated to spar after spar against the newcomers. Duo and Quatre didn't mind, and neither did Heero or Wufei. Both the latter were watching the fights closely. I had an educated guess that the former two were watching the videos from earlier that day.

However, I found out that they had actually been cooking a very large and delicious dinner for the seven of us. We ate, then "drove" the two home, promising to drop by sooner or later again. Both Heero and Wufei had been quiet, even more-so than usual. I was certain it was because of their extremely freaky encounters with women that day.

"Jem?" Wufei asked once the two guests had left. Heero, him, and I had gone to drop them off and were now on our way back. Duo and Quatre had stayed behind. It made me a little nervous to be with the two soldiers alone, but I brushed it off carefully.

"Yes?"

"Remind me never to judge women again," he shook his head roughly. His hair went flying because he had let it out of it's ponytail.

I smirked. "It's a done deal, Wu-man."
"Don't call me that."
"Why not?"

"It's bad enough Maxwell does it."
"All right, all right, I won't start a trend with calling you Wu-man," I grinned. "Wufei's better anyways."

The rest of the trip was in silence.

***

"Okay, Trowa, the transmission's secure," I said into the radio. It was a month after the silent one had left and Trowa was reporting in for the first time since he's infiltrated the X Force's base on his own. "So, what's up?"

"The X Force is focusing almost eighty percent of its army in locating and retrieving two stones called the Orbs of Emerald," Trowa said, jumping right to the point. "They've got two leaders called Admiral and Dirken, but beyond that, I don't know. The Lieutenants and the one Captain are the only ones allowed to be in their presence unless a cadet is called in there otherwise. And they normally don't come back."
Quatre and I exchanged glances. This was bad if the X Force was murdering their own cadets. It could mean that infiltration was dangerous.

"According to local rumor, the Admiral has prophetic abilities capable of finding the location of these stones through his dreams. The first is described as thus: Rolling rocks of Indian red. The first gem hovers above a rock approximately three feet wide and seven feet tall. I think it was actually saying it was buried underneath, but that's what it says. The second one is a lot stranger. It hovers south of flowing hills of gold and copper grain and north of a tiny sand dune and two large mountains of sand a greater distance away. The whole thing is sand."
"Emeralds don't grow in those kind of conditions," Quatre commented. "They grow in limestone and sandstone caves, not in the desert."
"Yeah, I may not know much about precious stones, but that doesn't sound the ideal place for them to be," I agreed, thinking. "But you know, it may be a riddle of some sort."

"Think on it," Trowa intoned. "How is the training going?"

"Well," Wufei grunted. "She should be combat-ready in another month."
"Only a month?" Trowa cocked an eyebrow. I should have had a camera ready, because Duo and Quatre were goggling at the screen like two crazed baboons. I suspected Trowa was like Heero in the way of expression. He showed none. "That seems a little short notice."
"She is stronger than most," Wufei shrugged slightly. "She is no weak woman."
"Wufei..." I warned playfully. "Better hush up about the weak thing or I'm gonna call Ranma and Akane."
"No, don't!" Wufei shouted quickly, causing me to smother a giggle. It was hilarious to see the normally-calm Chinese boy so worked up because of two girls. Of course, not many girls other than myself, Ranma (when in girl form), and Akane could defeat him.

"I'm sorry, but was that fear in your voice, Wufei?" I asked sweetly. He regained full control over his features and stood up straight.

"No, no, of course not, what would ever make you think that?"

"Nothing," I shook my head.

"You know, Jem," Wufei said, half-thinking to himself aloud. I was shocked by this, he never really thought aloud nor did he really call me by my name, know what I mean? "We never did teach you how to swim." My eyes widened in shock before I shook my head and made a sarcastic comeback.
"Yeah, your point is?"

"That will be our goal tonight," Heero intoned. "All of us. A swim is a good idea." I blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice. Heero never did anything willingly with Duo or me. It just wasn't in his system. There was something fishy going on around here...

"I will speak with you again in a month," Trowa droned over the radio. "If I find any more information about the Orbs, I will inform you immediately."
"Okay, see ya later, Trowa," Duo smiled and waved. The connection was severed.

"Get in your suit," Wufei ordered me. "I expect you at the beach in fifteen minutes, Jem."
"Okay, okay, keep your shirt on," I grumbled, storming up the stairs, still mildly shocked at him calling me by my name.

"That means you too," Wufei growled at Duo and Quatre. The blond and braided one nodded quickly and were off like a shot had been fired.

"Ready?" Heero asked the Chinese boy.

"Ready. Operation revenge is under way," Wufei smirked evilly.

"Mission accepted," both intoned in unison.

***

What was up with those two? First they barely speak to me other than to order me around, then they just out-of-the-blue suggest we go swimming. Things just didn't add up. Tugging the modest bottom of my suit up, I also tugged at the strings in my head, trying to figure out what was up. Something sure was, 'cause I don't think those two would ever really work together for anything.

I pull the top over my head and jerked the hemline as far as it would go while still covering me mildly well. Looking in the mirror of my room, I felt my face heat up just from looking at it. Why did these things have to be so tight? Oh, yeah. So they don't come off in the water and reveal much more than I bargained for. Still, this wasn't exactly what I'd had in mind when I told the saleslady to give me a modest suit.

Oh, well, it didn't really matter. What's the worse that could happen? It wasn't like any of these four were perverted, like my uncle Rich had been before he died in a car crash. If anything, they were precisely the opposite, especially Quatre. I still remembered the way he'd been blushing when I still had a bullet wound in my side.

Chuckling, I pulled a large towel from the rack in my room and wrapped it twice around my waist, giving me a mild cover for my slightly muscled legs. My throat welled up and I gulped forcibly. I still remembered the short little dress I'd worn when I had been playing the "aunt" in the mall. That thing had been embarrassing. Major-league embarrassing. But I was still slapping my thighs in laughter every time I saw the look on Heero's face late at night with Quatre and Duo. We'd watched it just last night, and the thought of Heero's dumbfounded person on the video was enough to make anyone start laughing again.

Except, of course, Heero or Wufei. I think Trowa may get a kick out of it when he'd finally get the chance to see it, but I doubt he'd do much more than smile at it. The boy was just as stoic and emotionless as Heero, without any of Heero's Perfect Soldier Death Glares. I'd been on the receiving end of that Death Glare only three times. All of which were when I beat him in a spar. Sore loser, I suppose.

A knock at the door alerted me to a presence.

"I'm dressed, you can come in," I called out the door as I pulled my hair back in a French braid carefully. The door opened and clicked shut behind whomever it was. He stood quietly, and I felt eyes watching me as I finished the braid with a bit of blue string. It was far from matching the suit, but I didn't really care about fashion enough to care about something so trivial. Smiling, I glanced toward the person who had entered.

"Hey, Duo, what's up?"

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I'm just a little suspicious. Heero and Wufei aren't exactly the type of people to want to go swimming."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," I frowned. "Is that all?"

"Hmm?"

"Never mind. Let's get going while it lasts, before they change their minds."
"Yeah," he smiled.

"You look nice in that," I pointed at his suit. "It matches your eyes."

"Thanks," he blushed lightly, but only just so. "You look great, too. It compliments you." I smiled sweetly and walked past him, pulling open the door. I placed a hand on his back and shoved him gently out the door.

"Don't flatter me, Duo," I said as soon as we were outside. "I know quite well-"
"What are you two waiting for?" Interrupted Quatre from behind. He smiled at us both and wrapped one arm around each of our shoulders. "Let's go." He walked ahead of us, leaving both me and Duo shocked. Quatre was acting weird too. What was going on?

"Are we the only two sane ones left in this house?" I asked, an eyebrow cocked.

"I think so," Duo shrugged. "'Cause I sure as anything know I'm remotely normal, but those other guys, I don't know." He ran a hand through his braided hair, not stopping as he reached the end of it, now hovering just above his lower back, but continuing until he had brushed through the imaginary four inches that had been trimmed.

"You miss your hair, don't you?" I asked, giggling as he blushed.

"Guess so," he chuckled. "Come on, before the crazy ones get mad."

***

Heero stole silently through the water, headed for his and Wufei's creation, called simply the Revenge. They had both discovered the video tapes Quatre had recorded at the mall about two weeks ago. Neither mentioned it, but slowly they came up with an idea. There was one thing all three of the perpetrators would be scared of, regardless.

One thing they'd built a rather convincing model of using scrap metal and wire and circuits and batteries. Finally, they had completed it the night before. Now it was time to put the second phase of Operation: Revenge into full action.

Heero gave one final stroke before reaching the edge of the manmade sea of Quatre's private colony. The window as his guide, he dove beneath the turmoil of waves and into the airlock he and Wufei had used to work on their creation.

Pulling out the radio in the cramped cockpit, he spoke.

"Are we in position?"

"No. I do not know what is keeping them. Jem and Duo are still inside. Quatre went in after them," Wufei answering into his hidden mike. "Are you sure this is going to work, Heero?"

"If it doesn't, we are both dead," Heero answered grimly. Both knew the power of Jem's rage firsthand, and she would no doubt call upon her allies for assistance. Wufei and Heero may have been a formidable team, but against six well-trained martial artists, it was fully hopeless.

"Then we will have to succeed, won't we?" Wufei frowned. "They are approaching. When I give the signal, launch."
"Roger."

***

This next one is kinda angst. Jem almost dies. She doesn't have any clue what the thing is that almost kills her is. And she...well...read on.