Disclaimer:
Megaman X character designs belong to Capcom. I'm just borrowing 'em, guys. I'll have 'em power washed before I bring 'em back. Yeah, yeah, I'll even hot wax 'em. Ranma characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm just borrowing 'em, Rumiko-san. I'll have 'em power washed before I return 'em. Yeah, yeah, I'll even hot wax 'em. There's a character design that I borrowed from another anime/video game, but that should be apparent when it comes into play.
Flashfyre5 Presents
A Flaming Amarant production
In association with Digital Wizardry Studios, Minnesota
The Opening Bet
Chapter Four: Light From Another World
" " = speech
[ ] = panda board
= thought
/ / = written
* * * * * *
"Oh, my," the hologram said. It appeared to be an American man, in his late fifties. He was short and stout, with a bushy white beard, long hair of a similar nature, and a kind face. The hologram itself was only three-quarters opaque, allowing a person to see the capsule it stood in. "Zero, what are you doing here? And so badly damaged, too..," he trailed off, thinking. The artificial intelligence stored inside the capsule was a perfect copy of the personality and knowledge of its creator. It hummed, following the exact same thought processes that the creator himself would have. "I'll just have to fix you up a bit, then wait for X to arrive," the hologram finally said. A few cables then snaked out of the capsule, grabbed Akane, and dragged her inside. The hologram vanished, and Akane was stood in its place.
"You're not Zero!" the hologram's voice exclaimed, surprised. The glass of the capsule hissed shut, and a number of sensors did a detailed scan of Akane's infrastructure. The data was fed directly to the hologram's AI, and it pondered over the similarities and differences. "Incredible," the voice murmured. "Her physical construction is almost identical to Zero's. The only differences seem to be cosmetic in nature only. His central consciousness has been wiped from every area except for a few subsystems in her fighting protocol, though. I wonder what happened..." A few seconds passed as the AI pondered the situation in silence. "Well, there's only one way to find out, I suppose," the computer finally decided. With that, dozens of wires and cables snaked out of the capsule walls and looked into various hatches and slots in Akane's armor. Larger arms began to repair her armor in the places it could, and replace it in the others. Slowly, Akane began to look whole again.
* * * * * *
Nabiki walked home, her pace brisk. Her mind was awhirl with the events of the past day and a half. First, Akane'd been given her humanity back, if even only part-time. Then, Ranma'd revealed that she'd been forbidden from practicing martial arts. Finally, the school had exploded in what seemed to be a terrorist attack. Two of the items, Nabiki was sure, were directly something about Ranma, and she suspected the third was, too. Nabiki mused, turning the corner that her favorite ice cream shop was located on. For a moment, she paused by the door, then decided to go inside and treat herself, if just a little. After all, the school HAD been leveled, essentially.
Once she stepped inside, Nabiki quickly realized that she wasn't the only person who'd had this idea. Practically every booth and chair was packed with someone from Furinkan, and almost every one of them were talking loudly, joking, and generally having a good time. Nabiki spotted a table filled with her working partners, and walked over to join them. On her way, she ordered a simple fudge sundae. She wasn't sure why she loved that particular confection; she hated chocolate for the most part.
Pulling an empty chair up to the table, she sat down and asked, "What's the buzz?"
"Ranma and Akane," one of her rumormongers quickly responded. Hitomi, Nabiki remembered. She was great at what she did, and even better at being forgotten. Nabiki suspected that that was why she was so good.
"Something's up, Nabiki. You're not telling us everything," Aiko, Nabiki's second-in-command, said flatly. She was a willowy girl, with long blue hair. Her figure was impressive, but not as impressive as the mind that lurked behind it. Her specialty was manipulation, especially with the male gender. She currently had five boyfriends wrapped around her little finger, and was draining each for everything he was worth. The only reason that she was the second best was because she hadn't quite squashed her conscience in the way Nabiki had. She just couldn't close some deals.
"Yeah. Like, for example, why your sister showed up a human today. She was a 'bot yesterday. What happened?" asked Junko, a scrappy underclassman with a vicious sense of justice, a lean, small body that was about as dangerous as a wolverine's, and a really short temper. She was known as Nabiki's unofficial enforcer, but her real job was digging up dirt on anyone and everyone she could. She loved revenge.
"That is private," Nabiki answered firmly. Junko narrowed her eyes at this, and Aiko shook her head nearly imperceptibly.
The only boy in the group, an average looking youth by the name of Kenji, spoke up, "Not this time, Nabiki. We need to know, one way or the other." Though not particularly smart, Kenji could read people like a book. Nobody was safe; even Nabiki had fallen prey to his unnerving abilities before. He was also an excellent liar, the best that Nabiki had ever met. Most people assumed that he was a good liar because of how well he could read people.
Kenji was of average stature, with average facial construction. Though a bit muscular for his size, he was certainly no fighter by any standard, and certainly not by Furinkan's. What made him stand out, though, is that one day he'd apparently decided that he liked long, silver hair. Nobody knew why; he just did. Now, he sported a braid that hung to his waist, dyed shining, metallic silver. His parents had nearly killed him when he'd presented them with the bill for the dye. He rounded out Nabiki's group of information and money gathering 'friends,' and was the last, and least important, member in the group.
"Kenji's right, Nabiki," Hitomi agreed, nodding. "If you want me to cover for her, I can; no problem. I just need to know the real story so that I can keep people away from it."
"I can keep the upper crust under control if I have a few bones to throw them," added Aiko. "But I'm in the same boat as Hitomi. I need information before I can do anything."
"I can find the people who figure it out, and keep 'em quiet," Junko told Nabiki, her tone brooking no argument. Nobody argued with Junko, at least, nobody who wasn't one of the real martial artists. Nabiki was silent for a moment, thinking.
"What about you, Kenji? Don't you have something to add?" Nabiki asked, cocking an eyebrow.
The youth looked up from his ice cream, two simple scoops of vanilla, and answered, "You know what I do, Nabiki. If you think someone's lying, bring 'em to me. I really couldn't care less about your sister." Nabiki nodded, having gained the answer she wanted from Kenji.
"All right, guys, here's the lowdown," Nabiki finally said, leaning towards the center of the table. Everyone else except for Kenji followed suit. "Saotome showed up two days ago. I'm not going into details, but she's staying with us for a while. Normally, she's the blue robot that everyone saw yesterday. She picked up an ability along the way that lets her be a human when she wants to. Akane helped her out after the fight yesterday, and she was thankful for it. In return, she gave Akane a similar ability."
"You're kidding me," Aiko said, leaning back.
"No she isn't," Kenji interjected. "Pulse never changed throughout the whole thing. Tone was the same, breathing the same. Weird, but true." Everyone was silent for a moment, staring at Kenji.
"You can hear her heartbeat?" Junko asked flatly, her tone obviously doubtful.
"No," Kenji denied. "I watched her Chorroidic artery. If you're good, you can see it throb with someone's heartbeat."
"Whatever," Hitomi said, shaking her head. "Assuming that it is true, what kind of interference do you want us to run?"
"Hitomi, spread some tales about vampires, the occult, you know, weird stuff that'll get people's dander up but pass into disbelief in a week or so," Nabiki instructed.
"It'll put a lot of heat on your sis," Hitomi cautioned.
"The school'll be under repair for two weeks, at least. By the time we all get back, I want there to be plenty of rumors, and none of them believable. Nobody'll have the guts to bug her if they don't have anything to go on," Nabiki replied. "Aiko, drop the bit about Saotome staying at my place, but make them think that something outside the household caused the change back," Nabiki continued.
"They're not gonna buy it; it's too close to the truth and doesn't carry enough details," Aiko protested.
"Make 'em up," Nabiki ordered. Turning to Junko, she continued, "Junko, find everyone else that's spreading rumors. If they're not too close to the truth, don't do anything. If they are, you know what to do."
"Oh, yeah," Junko agreed with zeal.
"And Junko," Nabiki added, "do it quietly." She was treated to a soft curse on the part of her enforcer, and smiled a bit. "Kenji, just run general confusion. If you hear a rumor, twist it. Try not to make 'em too weird. There's a reason that Hitomi's at the center of the rumor mill and you're not."
"I know," he answered simply. With that, the group rose from the table and went their separate ways.
"Hey, Kenji," Nabiki called, remembering something. "Can you really read someone's pulse by sight?"
"No," he replied.
"Then why'd you support me back there?" she asked, cocking her head.
"Because you were telling the truth," Kenji answered, shrugging his shoulders. He dropped a 2000-yen bill on the table that the group had shared, then turned to leave.
"How'd you know for sure?" Nabiki asked.
"I didn't," he called back, leaving the store. "Not until just now."
* * * * * *
Ranma ran through the streets like a woman possessed, looking frantically for some place that she could get some hot water and a little privacy. Her side ached where Kuno had stabbed it, but she ignored the pain, knowing that Akane would, at the very least, have trouble against the big robot that had decimated the school. Seeing a restaurant, she skidded to a stop, then dashed in the front door. Blowing past the surprised host, she ran into the bathroom, and yanked the handle on the sink for hot water. The minute that passed as she held her hand under the spigot, waiting for it to become hot enough to trigger her change, was the longest of her life.
Finally, she experienced the incredibly unnatural sensation of loosing the feeling all throughout her body, as it became mechanical. Ripping her, now his, clothes from his body, he barreled out, not even bothering to open the door. He noted in some part of his mind that a manager or someone shouted about paying for the door, but he ignored it and continued on, back to the school. He knew that if he was there to fight, her chances would be better, but he wasn't sure how much better. Just from their sparring match, Ranma knew that she was a better hand-to-hand fighter than he was. Even while distracted, she'd managed to pull off a brilliant counterattack that had won her the match.
When he finally made it back onto the school grounds, he knew instinctively that he was too late. Most of the students had left, and what few remained seemed to be talking among themselves. Ranma ran up to one and grabbed his shoulder. He recognized the student as Hiroshi, a guy from his class.
"Hiroshi, what happened?" he asked to the startled young man.
"Huh?" Hiroshi replied intelligently.
"Did you see a big boar-looking robot come out of the ruins?" Ranma asked, gesturing to the rubble of the school's left wing, which was still shrouded with billowing smoke.
"Yeah, he came and went about three minutes ago," Hiroshi replied, still not sure what to think.
"What about Akane?" Ranma queried, looking around.
"Haven't seen her. We think that she's still in there, but nobody's got the guts to go near the school. There might still be bombs or something," Hiroshi warned, but Ranma was already gone. He dashed into the ruins of the school, his metal boots striking a sharp rapport on the shattered concrete. Ranma quickly located the site of the battle, the crater of a detonated bomb marking the warrior's ground. He stopped, looking around for Akane's body.
Through the smoke, he saw the hazy shadow of a misshapen cylinder. Hoping that it might help him in his search, he approached it for a closer look. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was definitely not a part of the school; the design of the capsule spoke volumes about its technological sophistication. However, the capsule's design wasn't what caught Ranma's attention. The fact that Akane, stripped of her armor and with wires and cables connecting her to the pod, was held upright inside the main bay of the thing did.
"God, Akane, are you all right?" Ranma exclaimed, rushing forward to the capsule. When she didn't respond, Ranma reached for one of the larger cables that was holding her upright, with the intent of breaking it.
"X, what are you doing?" an unseen speaker boomed. Ranma froze and cast about, looking for whoever had spoken.
"Where are you?" Ranma called out, reaching out slowly for Akane again.
"I am the capsule, X," the voice replied, at normal volume this time. "What happened to Zero? Aside from the fact that he's been badly damaged, he's had a major remodeling job done. He's even got a new personality matrix."
"Who're you talking about? I don't know anyone named Zero. And who's X?" Ranma asked, his hand passing to the inside of the capsule again.
"X, if you want me to fix Zero, you're going to have to leave him alone for a little while. I know that he looks pretty bad right now, but I'm a much more advanced capsule than you've come across in the past. I can repair him tonight, if you just leave him alone," the voice admonished Ranma. Ranma looked at his hand, and found that a small laser pointer was painting a tiny red dot on his hand. Sheepishly, her withdrew it, but stayed ready for action. "As for Zero," the voice continued, "he's right here in the capsule. Were your optic sensors damaged recently or something?"
"My eyes are fine," Ranma countered. "And that's Akane, my best friend, that you've got in there. What're you doing to her?"
"Akane? Well, it seems that I'm mistaken, then. In any case, she was badly damaged in a fight with something. Many of her internal systems were badly damaged. As I said, though, I am a more advanced capsule than you've encountered in the past. I can have her fully repaired by morning," the voice answered.
"You won't hurt her?" Ranma hedged, untrusting.
"Not a hair," the voice returned soothingly. Deciding to trust the machine, Ranma relaxed, dropping the ready stance that he'd assumed. "Now, X, I need a little information from you," the voice continued. Ranma decided to search a bit, and soon found a pair of speakers built into the top of the capsule, which were emitting the voice. "My communication net has been down for some reason, and I haven't received any reports on the Maverick Wars. What's happening?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ranma shook his head, returning to the front of the capsule. "There hasn't been a real war in Japan since the Americans dropped the Bombs in World War 2."
"That can't be right!" the voice exclaimed. "The Maverick Wars have been raging for years, with Japan as the major battlefield. Before that, the Wily Wars almost tore it apart. X, is there something wrong with your memory core?"
"First of all, my name is Ranma. I don't know who this 'X' is, and I don't really care. Second, I never heard about any 'Wily' or 'Maverick' wars. My memory's fine; in fact, it's a bit too fine in this body. I couldn't forget anything, even if I wanted to," Ranma replied, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice.
"If the core's intact...," the voice mumbled, obviously musing aloud. Ranma waited patiently, the only sound audible being the clicking and whirring as the capsule worked on Akane's innards. "...A temporal distortion would account for almost everything," it finally continued. "X... err, Ranma, what year is it?"
"1997. Why?" Ranma replied, confused.
"My capsule must have been hurled back through time," the voice explained. "You bear a striking resemblance to my greatest creation, and your friend seems a lot like his partner. That's why I called you 'X', and her 'Zero.' Strange, though. My records don't...," the voice began, but was cut off as the whine of sirens suddenly blared through the air. "Oh no!" the voice exclaimed quietly.
"What? It's just the cops," Ranma brushed the voice's reaction off. "They're here 'cuz the school got blown up. Big surprise."
"Ranma, I was created in the year 2084, with technology that still won't be matched a hundred years from then. I carry weapons and armor schematics that won't be seen in their most primitive forms for a full half-century. Do you really want to see what this world could do with technology two centuries ahead of its time?" the voice explained.
"Good point," Ranma conceded, lowering his voice. "How we gonna hide you? I can't carry you; you're too big."
"I have enough energy to initiate an emergency transport away from here, and to somewhere safe, but I need a destination. Since it's only 1997, most of my 'safe zones' probably don't exist yet," the voice explained. "With your permission, I can access Akane's memory banks and use them to find a safe location for the both of us. May I?" Ranma looked around the site, thinking. Though he could see no officials at the moment, he knew that they were well on their way into the ruins, and it was only a matter of time until the capsule would be found.
"Do it," Ranma agreed, looking back to the capsule. "But I want to know where you're going."
"Agreed," the voice said. A soft hum built up from the pod, and Ranma saw the bottom pad of the capsule begin to glow. "Got one," the voice declared. "We'll be in the basement of the Tendo house, in the far corner near the water heater. No one ever goes there."
"Gotcha," Ranma replied, looking back around the school, looking for police. The capsule built up a whine, the top beginning to glow as well. Finally, it faded from sight, seeming to split in all directions at once. Hoping that the voice in the capsule had been telling the truth, Ranma turned and ran from the ruins of the school. He vaulted over the rear wall, and continued on his way back to the Tendo household.
* * * * * *
Inferno Phoenix leaned back from his current work-in-progress. Kuno's body had been greatly restored, with a large number of modifications and enhancements being added to the original body that he'd had. He would be, as soon as the more basic work of mundane reassembly was complete, a robot built and armed for war.
"It's good," Typhoon said softly from his spot in the corner. He'd taken up a semi-permanent residence there, and didn't much care to move or speak.
"Thank you," Inferno replied, nodding in his direction. "It's amazing what the Change has done to us. We never would have been able to agree on anything as Fleshies."
"Agreed," Typhoon said, sparing Inferno one of his rare grins. "Will you be the one reassembling him? He's rather eager to get back into his body, you know."
"No, I'll leave it to the drones. They'll take longer, but he needs to learn patience," Inferno decided with a snort. "I, actually, have another idea."
"Oh?" Typhoon prompted, looking interested. Inferno beckoned him, and the huge Reploid stood up and lumbered over to the homemade computer near Inferno's workbench. Inferno was already typing away at it, accessing hidden files and entering passwords. Finally, a wireframe schematic of a small robot sprung to life on the screen its body was streamlined, and its head was almost as large as it is torso. It had metallic spikes the jutted backwards from his facial area that resembled hair. Its face was simple- a steel plate where its mouth should be, secured by two large spikes on either side of the rounded head area. Above it was a curved area, looking to be two large eyes, joined in the middle.
Its body was fairly thin, and oval-shaped. In the middle of it was a large, parabolic depression peppered with hundreds of long slits from the center, spreading to the outside. In the center was a nub, holding the affair together and suggesting rotation. It's back had a long protrusion that curved to form a point. It followed the rim of the parabolic depression, as if the thing went all the way through its body. It's arms and legs were thin and lightweight. It's arms terminated in bladed claws, obviously meant for killing. It's legs stretched down to a pair of jointed, segmented half-ovals that looked for all the world like shoes.
"What is it?" Typhoon asked, cocking his head.
"My next project. I'm going to build a servant for the Master using a new concept entirely, one that hasn't been tested," Inferno explained. "Not brains, brawn, or toughness. No, not for this one. He'll be all speed."
"Will it work?" Typhoon countered, eyeing the prospective 3' 9" height of the construct. "Not much room to work with."
"It'll work, all right. It'll take a lot of elbow grease, but it'll work," Inferno confirmed.
"What're you going to call it?" Typhoon asked, standing back up to his semi-full height.
"Sonic Hedgehog," Inferno told him with a grin.
* * * * * *
Ryoga ran through the back alleys of Nerima, looking for a hidden place to rest. Finally, he noticed the Nerima canal, and saw a small bridge that over passed it. Grunting to himself, he jumped over the fence that prevented normal people from falling into the canal, and snuck underneath the bridge. Feeling safe, he rested against the sloping concrete and relaxed, letting go of his injured arm for a moment. It rolled away a bit, to lie next to him, the shattered joint facing upwards. He stared at it for a few minutes in horrid fascination, looking at the cables, wires, and metal that had replaced the flesh and blood that he'd once had. Reaching over, he separated the snapped wires and cables from the still attached ones, and found that his arm was still attached to the rest of him by three lonely cables, bunched together at the rear end of his arm socket.
Squelching his eyes shut, he ripped the limb free of its last anchors and stared at it in sadness. he thought, clutching his shattered arm in his good hand. Then, he heard approaching footsteps, and rolled to a crouch, looking up. The steps were being made my something metallic, and Ryoga wondered if the red devil had come to finish him off.
With a crash, a pair of metallic feet smashed into the canal floor, their owner having jumped from the bridge above. He was mostly shrouded in a big, black cloak, but the hood had fallen back to allow Ryoga a view of his face. It was hard, and chiseled, with a hint of a permanent sneer imprinted there. There was not a hair on his head, and his emerald-green eyes bore a permanent look of malice. This was further enhanced by the twin vertical slashes of purple psudo-skin, one through each eye.
"Who the Hell are you?" Ryoga snarled, digging his feet in to charge.
"Someone who wants to help you," the man-robot replied, his voice sneering and hateful. Somehow, though, Ryoga sensed that his hate was directed elsewhere.
"What do you mean?" Ryoga asked, standing up. At his full height, he was a good deal taller than the man-robot, but both parties knew that height mattered little enough.
"I have facilities that can repair you, and make you stronger. You can have your revenge on whoever did this to you," the man-robot tempted Ryoga.
"What's the catch?" Ryoga asked, suspicious.
"You just have to assist me with a few matters. Nothing that you'll find unpleasant in the least, I assure you," the thing replied.
"That's it?" Ryoga asked, not quite believing the other.
"That's it," he confirmed.
"Where do I have to go?" Ryoga agreed.
"Have you ever been to the Quainghai province of China?" the man-robot asked.
"Yeah," Ryoga confirmed.
"Find an area called Jusendo. Avoid the cursed pools of Jusenkyo, but find a certain mountain, called Mount Phoenix. I have a base there, manned by a number of Reploids. They are also in my service, and they'll be the ones that'll help you," the man-robot explained. "I would take you myself, but I have recently received news of more pressing business that I have to take care of in Siberia. I will meet you at the base," the man-robot explained, turning to leave.
"How will they know me?" Ryoga asked. The man-robot paused for a moment, then looked back at him.
"Tell them that Sigma sent you," the man-robot, now identified as Sigma, told Ryoga. Then, he flipped the hood of his cloak up and left. Ryoga waited for another few minutes, considering what had just happened. Finally, he nodded and left the same way that Sigma had, dropping his ruined arm as he left.
* * * * * *
Ranma shut the front door of the Tendo house behind him with a sigh, leaning against the wood. He'd gotten home without any police officers asking him awkward questions, which was a major relief to him. Even if Akane wasn't here as the voice in the capsule had promised, he was glad to be back.
"Hey, Saotome, is that you?" Nabiki's voice came from the kitchen. Ranma's sensitive audio sensors picked up the sounds of her getting to her feet and padding to the front hall.
"Yeah, it's me," he answered, standing away from the door. Nabiki entered the hallway from the far end and looked at him for a moment, leaning on the doorjamb.
"I owe you for what you did to Akane," she finally said, her eyes cold.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Ranma stammered, suddenly worried that Nabiki had found the strange capsule.
"With the Nyaniichuan," Nabiki explained. Internally, Ranma relaxed, but tried to keep it from showing. "I might be a money-loving bitch," she began, causing Ranma's eyebrows to rise slightly, "But I always settle my debts."
"Umm... thanks, I think...," Ranma replied, unsure of what else to do. Nabiki looked away from him, her gaze passing through the hallway and to the stairwell.
"I heard about your father restricting your martial arts as a matter of giri," she began, her left thumb rubbing her forefinger, as if looking for something else to rub. "So it's a family matter, right?"
"Yeah," Ranma confirmed, his uncertainty dissolving as soon as the conversation drifted to matters of honor.
"Just like the promise to 'unite the schools', right?" Nabiki continued, her thumb rubbing a bit faster.
"Yeah," Ranma told her, nodding. Nabiki looked back towards him, her thumb stopping.
"I could persuade Daddy to adopt you as a Tendo. It's unite the schools, and you wouldn't have to pay any attention to that stupid promise that your Dad made you make," Nabiki concluded. Ranma stood stock-still, realizing just how great a boon she was offering.
"I...," he uttered, his chest tight. Even as a robot, he could feel the psychosomatic manifestations of feelings, weather or not his body was capable of having them. "I... can't," he finally said.
"Why not?" Nabiki asked, surprised.
"He'd win," Ranma explained, relaxing a bit. "If I ran away, that'd be letting Pop win, and Ranma Saotome doesn't lose at anything."
"So you're willing to throw your life away, just so that you won't lose a fight with him?" Nabiki asked, incredulous. She spat the last word out like a curse.
"Nah," Ranma said, shaking his head. "I just said that I never lose a fight. I got a way out of this whole mess, it'll just take some doing."
"Explain," Nabiki demanded, folding her arms across her chest.
"Well, as far as the Government's concerned, I'm still a guy," Ranma started, a small grin on his face. "So I just find some open-minded girl and marry her. The state'll say that Ranma Saotome married whoever, and is her husband. Now, as far as I know, a woman can't be a husband, can she?"
"So you'll just blackmail your father into releasing you from your promise," Nabiki laughed, a grin spreading across her face. "That's great. How long'd it take you to figure it out?"
"Since he made me promise," Ranma admitted sheepishly, his hand behind his head.
"All right," Nabiki snorted, her grin staying in place. "You find the girl, and I'll make everything else work, guaranteed."
"Thanks, Nabiki," Ranma said, smiling. She pushed off from the doorjamb and walked away down the hallway slowly.
"No prob," she called over her shoulder. "But don't get any ideas. I'm not 'open minded,' as you put it." Ranma barked a short laugh, the thought never having crossed his mind.
Suddenly, another thought did cross his mind, and he called out, "Hey, Nabiki, where's the door to get to your basement?"
"Why?" she asked, pausing on the stairwell.
"Akane's staying at Yuka's tonight, and she wanted me to get something from down there," Ranma lied, hoping that Nabiki wouldn't turn around and take a look at his face. Though he could forcibly moderate his voice in this form, he still had an atrocious poker face.
"Oh. It's down by the bathroom, to the right," Nabiki told him, continuing on her way. Ranma nodded and made his way to the doorway as normally as he could. Nabiki chose that moment to glance back at him, and saw his jerky, mechanical movements. She immediately recognized them as the actions of someone who wants to look normal, but has a lot to worry about. Smelling a rat, she waited at the top of the stairwell for him to descend the stairs to the basement. She knew from experience with Akane just how well he could probably hear.
Meanwhile, Ranma was opening the door to the basement. He slipped in, only opening it wide enough for his body to fit. Easing it closed behind him, he practically ran down the bare wooden steps to the ground beneath. His feet struck loudly against the flat concrete, and Ranma hoped that nobody could hear him too well. Coming to the center of the underground room, he looked around, searching for the capsule.
Suddenly, he saw a flash of blue, and darted forward. Sure enough, the tall, blue capsule stood next to the water heater, just as it had promised. Inside, Akane was still under repair, but it was already apparent that her condition had improved. The armor all the way up her arms was pristine, and shone with a brand new coat of paint, which was still wet.
"Ranma," the capsule spoke softly as Ranma approached further. "You're here a little earlier than I expected, given the distance. Did you run the entire way?"
"More or less," Ranma admitted with a half-grin. "How's she doin', umm...," Ranma trailed off, unsure as to how to address the capsule.
"Doctor Thomas Xavier Light," the capsule supplied. "But you may call me 'Doctor Light', if you want to."
"Whatever, Doc," Ranma replied, brushing him off. "How's she doing?"
"I told you before, Akane will be fine. Most of the damage done to her is internal. Her operating systems were badly damaged by a shockwave of some kind," Dr. Light reassured Ranma.
"Can you wake her up?" Ranma asked. "I wanna know if you're doing weird things to her mind."
"You're not like X at all," the Doctor teased. "He'll trust anyone, but you don't seem to trust anything."
"Akane's been the only Changed person that hasn't tried to kill me the first opportunity they got. I'm not real trustful of stuff that looks like you," Ranma explained, his expression stony. "Now, can you wake up Akane?"
"Not for another couple of hours," Dr. Light replied.
"Fine. I'll wait," Ranma affirmed, sitting down opposite to the capsule. For a long time, the only could that could be heard in the basement was the whir and click of machinery as the capsule repaired Akane.
"When you said 'Changed,'" Dr. Light finally said, "I sensed that there was a capital 'c' in there. Why?"
"It was the Change," Ranma began, remembering how Akane had explained things to him. "About two and a half weeks ago, about two billion people died, just like that," he said, snapping his fingers. "Lotsa buildings were destroyed, and a lotta people were Changed."
"What do you mean?" Dr. Light reiterated, not understanding.
"In the time of a coupla seconds, they went from being normal people to being machines, like me an' Akane. Two weeks ago, we were both human," Ranma explained, looking upwards at the ceiling.
"Two and a half weeks...," Dr. Light trailed off. "That's exactly when I lost communication with the other capsules and my information network. This changes everything."
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, looking back at the capsule.
"If so many were affected, it couldn't have been such a simple thing as time travel," Dr. Light mused. "It might be an instance of Jakob's Law..."
"What's that?" Ranma asked.
"It states that for each possibility in existence, there must be a reality that conforms to it. One of it's accompanying theorems states that there are small, divergent realities that occasionally collide or cross with our own. This causes discrepancies in reality that the world seeks to rectify. Essentially, it states that all natural disasters are caused, at some point, by a planar difference between the two," Dr. Light explained.
"So what does this have to do with anything?" Ranma asked, rising.
"Well, what if two major planes collided. Namely, yours and mine. The human population in my time and world was about four billion, reduced to such by constant warfare. Now, your own population matches it. People change into robots that are essentially the exact same models as existed in my world. Buildings are suddenly and inexplicably annihilated," Dr. Light listed.
"Whoa...," Ranma murmured, the implications hitting him.
"Whoa is right," Dr. Light agreed. "I think that your reality has absorbed mine."
***Author's Notes***
HA!! I did something that nobody else has!! I made a fusion where the people in it (to some extent) know of the fusion! Woo-Hoo!!! ::Calms down:: Okay, now that that's over... In any case, we now know who our big villain is! Siggy's back! As for the whole 'Sonic Hedgehog' thing, allow me to explain. As a huge fan of the Sonic series, when I saw the anime on sale for eight bucks, I snapped it right up. I got home, ripped the thing out of it's wrapping, and sat down to an hour and a half of animation that puts shame to the whole series. It was horrible. The only well-designed character, 'Hyper Metal Sonic', was neat, but got dumb at the end. Thus, I've decided to give him a second chance, cuz he's a cool-looking sonouvabitch. Naturally, he belongs to Sega (dontsueme). Moving on, Someone pointed out to me that I'd been neglecting Nabiki and the other canon cast members. They were right, and I'm trying to pull them back in as much as I can. That's why Hiroshi was chilling at the school. I wanted it to be him that helped Ranma. Nabiki had a pretty big role in this chapter, and I'll expect it to remain large. As for her 'groupies', I figure that, as good as she is, she can't make enough money on her own to support the dojo on her own, especially with Ranma and Akane constantly punching holes in it. Thus, the idea of her helpers arose. I hope that they're not too dumb. Well, give me some feedback! I need to know how well (or poorly) I've done!! My e-mail is flashfyre5@aol.com or secondbet@gundamwing.org. Drop me a line. I promise that I'll respond.
~Flash
Megaman X character designs belong to Capcom. I'm just borrowing 'em, guys. I'll have 'em power washed before I bring 'em back. Yeah, yeah, I'll even hot wax 'em. Ranma characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm just borrowing 'em, Rumiko-san. I'll have 'em power washed before I return 'em. Yeah, yeah, I'll even hot wax 'em. There's a character design that I borrowed from another anime/video game, but that should be apparent when it comes into play.
Flashfyre5 Presents
A Flaming Amarant production
In association with Digital Wizardry Studios, Minnesota
The Opening Bet
Chapter Four: Light From Another World
" " = speech
[ ] = panda board
= thought
/ / = written
* * * * * *
"Oh, my," the hologram said. It appeared to be an American man, in his late fifties. He was short and stout, with a bushy white beard, long hair of a similar nature, and a kind face. The hologram itself was only three-quarters opaque, allowing a person to see the capsule it stood in. "Zero, what are you doing here? And so badly damaged, too..," he trailed off, thinking. The artificial intelligence stored inside the capsule was a perfect copy of the personality and knowledge of its creator. It hummed, following the exact same thought processes that the creator himself would have. "I'll just have to fix you up a bit, then wait for X to arrive," the hologram finally said. A few cables then snaked out of the capsule, grabbed Akane, and dragged her inside. The hologram vanished, and Akane was stood in its place.
"You're not Zero!" the hologram's voice exclaimed, surprised. The glass of the capsule hissed shut, and a number of sensors did a detailed scan of Akane's infrastructure. The data was fed directly to the hologram's AI, and it pondered over the similarities and differences. "Incredible," the voice murmured. "Her physical construction is almost identical to Zero's. The only differences seem to be cosmetic in nature only. His central consciousness has been wiped from every area except for a few subsystems in her fighting protocol, though. I wonder what happened..." A few seconds passed as the AI pondered the situation in silence. "Well, there's only one way to find out, I suppose," the computer finally decided. With that, dozens of wires and cables snaked out of the capsule walls and looked into various hatches and slots in Akane's armor. Larger arms began to repair her armor in the places it could, and replace it in the others. Slowly, Akane began to look whole again.
* * * * * *
Nabiki walked home, her pace brisk. Her mind was awhirl with the events of the past day and a half. First, Akane'd been given her humanity back, if even only part-time. Then, Ranma'd revealed that she'd been forbidden from practicing martial arts. Finally, the school had exploded in what seemed to be a terrorist attack. Two of the items, Nabiki was sure, were directly something about Ranma, and she suspected the third was, too. Nabiki mused, turning the corner that her favorite ice cream shop was located on. For a moment, she paused by the door, then decided to go inside and treat herself, if just a little. After all, the school HAD been leveled, essentially.
Once she stepped inside, Nabiki quickly realized that she wasn't the only person who'd had this idea. Practically every booth and chair was packed with someone from Furinkan, and almost every one of them were talking loudly, joking, and generally having a good time. Nabiki spotted a table filled with her working partners, and walked over to join them. On her way, she ordered a simple fudge sundae. She wasn't sure why she loved that particular confection; she hated chocolate for the most part.
Pulling an empty chair up to the table, she sat down and asked, "What's the buzz?"
"Ranma and Akane," one of her rumormongers quickly responded. Hitomi, Nabiki remembered. She was great at what she did, and even better at being forgotten. Nabiki suspected that that was why she was so good.
"Something's up, Nabiki. You're not telling us everything," Aiko, Nabiki's second-in-command, said flatly. She was a willowy girl, with long blue hair. Her figure was impressive, but not as impressive as the mind that lurked behind it. Her specialty was manipulation, especially with the male gender. She currently had five boyfriends wrapped around her little finger, and was draining each for everything he was worth. The only reason that she was the second best was because she hadn't quite squashed her conscience in the way Nabiki had. She just couldn't close some deals.
"Yeah. Like, for example, why your sister showed up a human today. She was a 'bot yesterday. What happened?" asked Junko, a scrappy underclassman with a vicious sense of justice, a lean, small body that was about as dangerous as a wolverine's, and a really short temper. She was known as Nabiki's unofficial enforcer, but her real job was digging up dirt on anyone and everyone she could. She loved revenge.
"That is private," Nabiki answered firmly. Junko narrowed her eyes at this, and Aiko shook her head nearly imperceptibly.
The only boy in the group, an average looking youth by the name of Kenji, spoke up, "Not this time, Nabiki. We need to know, one way or the other." Though not particularly smart, Kenji could read people like a book. Nobody was safe; even Nabiki had fallen prey to his unnerving abilities before. He was also an excellent liar, the best that Nabiki had ever met. Most people assumed that he was a good liar because of how well he could read people.
Kenji was of average stature, with average facial construction. Though a bit muscular for his size, he was certainly no fighter by any standard, and certainly not by Furinkan's. What made him stand out, though, is that one day he'd apparently decided that he liked long, silver hair. Nobody knew why; he just did. Now, he sported a braid that hung to his waist, dyed shining, metallic silver. His parents had nearly killed him when he'd presented them with the bill for the dye. He rounded out Nabiki's group of information and money gathering 'friends,' and was the last, and least important, member in the group.
"Kenji's right, Nabiki," Hitomi agreed, nodding. "If you want me to cover for her, I can; no problem. I just need to know the real story so that I can keep people away from it."
"I can keep the upper crust under control if I have a few bones to throw them," added Aiko. "But I'm in the same boat as Hitomi. I need information before I can do anything."
"I can find the people who figure it out, and keep 'em quiet," Junko told Nabiki, her tone brooking no argument. Nobody argued with Junko, at least, nobody who wasn't one of the real martial artists. Nabiki was silent for a moment, thinking.
"What about you, Kenji? Don't you have something to add?" Nabiki asked, cocking an eyebrow.
The youth looked up from his ice cream, two simple scoops of vanilla, and answered, "You know what I do, Nabiki. If you think someone's lying, bring 'em to me. I really couldn't care less about your sister." Nabiki nodded, having gained the answer she wanted from Kenji.
"All right, guys, here's the lowdown," Nabiki finally said, leaning towards the center of the table. Everyone else except for Kenji followed suit. "Saotome showed up two days ago. I'm not going into details, but she's staying with us for a while. Normally, she's the blue robot that everyone saw yesterday. She picked up an ability along the way that lets her be a human when she wants to. Akane helped her out after the fight yesterday, and she was thankful for it. In return, she gave Akane a similar ability."
"You're kidding me," Aiko said, leaning back.
"No she isn't," Kenji interjected. "Pulse never changed throughout the whole thing. Tone was the same, breathing the same. Weird, but true." Everyone was silent for a moment, staring at Kenji.
"You can hear her heartbeat?" Junko asked flatly, her tone obviously doubtful.
"No," Kenji denied. "I watched her Chorroidic artery. If you're good, you can see it throb with someone's heartbeat."
"Whatever," Hitomi said, shaking her head. "Assuming that it is true, what kind of interference do you want us to run?"
"Hitomi, spread some tales about vampires, the occult, you know, weird stuff that'll get people's dander up but pass into disbelief in a week or so," Nabiki instructed.
"It'll put a lot of heat on your sis," Hitomi cautioned.
"The school'll be under repair for two weeks, at least. By the time we all get back, I want there to be plenty of rumors, and none of them believable. Nobody'll have the guts to bug her if they don't have anything to go on," Nabiki replied. "Aiko, drop the bit about Saotome staying at my place, but make them think that something outside the household caused the change back," Nabiki continued.
"They're not gonna buy it; it's too close to the truth and doesn't carry enough details," Aiko protested.
"Make 'em up," Nabiki ordered. Turning to Junko, she continued, "Junko, find everyone else that's spreading rumors. If they're not too close to the truth, don't do anything. If they are, you know what to do."
"Oh, yeah," Junko agreed with zeal.
"And Junko," Nabiki added, "do it quietly." She was treated to a soft curse on the part of her enforcer, and smiled a bit. "Kenji, just run general confusion. If you hear a rumor, twist it. Try not to make 'em too weird. There's a reason that Hitomi's at the center of the rumor mill and you're not."
"I know," he answered simply. With that, the group rose from the table and went their separate ways.
"Hey, Kenji," Nabiki called, remembering something. "Can you really read someone's pulse by sight?"
"No," he replied.
"Then why'd you support me back there?" she asked, cocking her head.
"Because you were telling the truth," Kenji answered, shrugging his shoulders. He dropped a 2000-yen bill on the table that the group had shared, then turned to leave.
"How'd you know for sure?" Nabiki asked.
"I didn't," he called back, leaving the store. "Not until just now."
* * * * * *
Ranma ran through the streets like a woman possessed, looking frantically for some place that she could get some hot water and a little privacy. Her side ached where Kuno had stabbed it, but she ignored the pain, knowing that Akane would, at the very least, have trouble against the big robot that had decimated the school. Seeing a restaurant, she skidded to a stop, then dashed in the front door. Blowing past the surprised host, she ran into the bathroom, and yanked the handle on the sink for hot water. The minute that passed as she held her hand under the spigot, waiting for it to become hot enough to trigger her change, was the longest of her life.
Finally, she experienced the incredibly unnatural sensation of loosing the feeling all throughout her body, as it became mechanical. Ripping her, now his, clothes from his body, he barreled out, not even bothering to open the door. He noted in some part of his mind that a manager or someone shouted about paying for the door, but he ignored it and continued on, back to the school. He knew that if he was there to fight, her chances would be better, but he wasn't sure how much better. Just from their sparring match, Ranma knew that she was a better hand-to-hand fighter than he was. Even while distracted, she'd managed to pull off a brilliant counterattack that had won her the match.
When he finally made it back onto the school grounds, he knew instinctively that he was too late. Most of the students had left, and what few remained seemed to be talking among themselves. Ranma ran up to one and grabbed his shoulder. He recognized the student as Hiroshi, a guy from his class.
"Hiroshi, what happened?" he asked to the startled young man.
"Huh?" Hiroshi replied intelligently.
"Did you see a big boar-looking robot come out of the ruins?" Ranma asked, gesturing to the rubble of the school's left wing, which was still shrouded with billowing smoke.
"Yeah, he came and went about three minutes ago," Hiroshi replied, still not sure what to think.
"What about Akane?" Ranma queried, looking around.
"Haven't seen her. We think that she's still in there, but nobody's got the guts to go near the school. There might still be bombs or something," Hiroshi warned, but Ranma was already gone. He dashed into the ruins of the school, his metal boots striking a sharp rapport on the shattered concrete. Ranma quickly located the site of the battle, the crater of a detonated bomb marking the warrior's ground. He stopped, looking around for Akane's body.
Through the smoke, he saw the hazy shadow of a misshapen cylinder. Hoping that it might help him in his search, he approached it for a closer look. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was definitely not a part of the school; the design of the capsule spoke volumes about its technological sophistication. However, the capsule's design wasn't what caught Ranma's attention. The fact that Akane, stripped of her armor and with wires and cables connecting her to the pod, was held upright inside the main bay of the thing did.
"God, Akane, are you all right?" Ranma exclaimed, rushing forward to the capsule. When she didn't respond, Ranma reached for one of the larger cables that was holding her upright, with the intent of breaking it.
"X, what are you doing?" an unseen speaker boomed. Ranma froze and cast about, looking for whoever had spoken.
"Where are you?" Ranma called out, reaching out slowly for Akane again.
"I am the capsule, X," the voice replied, at normal volume this time. "What happened to Zero? Aside from the fact that he's been badly damaged, he's had a major remodeling job done. He's even got a new personality matrix."
"Who're you talking about? I don't know anyone named Zero. And who's X?" Ranma asked, his hand passing to the inside of the capsule again.
"X, if you want me to fix Zero, you're going to have to leave him alone for a little while. I know that he looks pretty bad right now, but I'm a much more advanced capsule than you've come across in the past. I can repair him tonight, if you just leave him alone," the voice admonished Ranma. Ranma looked at his hand, and found that a small laser pointer was painting a tiny red dot on his hand. Sheepishly, her withdrew it, but stayed ready for action. "As for Zero," the voice continued, "he's right here in the capsule. Were your optic sensors damaged recently or something?"
"My eyes are fine," Ranma countered. "And that's Akane, my best friend, that you've got in there. What're you doing to her?"
"Akane? Well, it seems that I'm mistaken, then. In any case, she was badly damaged in a fight with something. Many of her internal systems were badly damaged. As I said, though, I am a more advanced capsule than you've encountered in the past. I can have her fully repaired by morning," the voice answered.
"You won't hurt her?" Ranma hedged, untrusting.
"Not a hair," the voice returned soothingly. Deciding to trust the machine, Ranma relaxed, dropping the ready stance that he'd assumed. "Now, X, I need a little information from you," the voice continued. Ranma decided to search a bit, and soon found a pair of speakers built into the top of the capsule, which were emitting the voice. "My communication net has been down for some reason, and I haven't received any reports on the Maverick Wars. What's happening?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ranma shook his head, returning to the front of the capsule. "There hasn't been a real war in Japan since the Americans dropped the Bombs in World War 2."
"That can't be right!" the voice exclaimed. "The Maverick Wars have been raging for years, with Japan as the major battlefield. Before that, the Wily Wars almost tore it apart. X, is there something wrong with your memory core?"
"First of all, my name is Ranma. I don't know who this 'X' is, and I don't really care. Second, I never heard about any 'Wily' or 'Maverick' wars. My memory's fine; in fact, it's a bit too fine in this body. I couldn't forget anything, even if I wanted to," Ranma replied, a hint of annoyance creeping into his voice.
"If the core's intact...," the voice mumbled, obviously musing aloud. Ranma waited patiently, the only sound audible being the clicking and whirring as the capsule worked on Akane's innards. "...A temporal distortion would account for almost everything," it finally continued. "X... err, Ranma, what year is it?"
"1997. Why?" Ranma replied, confused.
"My capsule must have been hurled back through time," the voice explained. "You bear a striking resemblance to my greatest creation, and your friend seems a lot like his partner. That's why I called you 'X', and her 'Zero.' Strange, though. My records don't...," the voice began, but was cut off as the whine of sirens suddenly blared through the air. "Oh no!" the voice exclaimed quietly.
"What? It's just the cops," Ranma brushed the voice's reaction off. "They're here 'cuz the school got blown up. Big surprise."
"Ranma, I was created in the year 2084, with technology that still won't be matched a hundred years from then. I carry weapons and armor schematics that won't be seen in their most primitive forms for a full half-century. Do you really want to see what this world could do with technology two centuries ahead of its time?" the voice explained.
"Good point," Ranma conceded, lowering his voice. "How we gonna hide you? I can't carry you; you're too big."
"I have enough energy to initiate an emergency transport away from here, and to somewhere safe, but I need a destination. Since it's only 1997, most of my 'safe zones' probably don't exist yet," the voice explained. "With your permission, I can access Akane's memory banks and use them to find a safe location for the both of us. May I?" Ranma looked around the site, thinking. Though he could see no officials at the moment, he knew that they were well on their way into the ruins, and it was only a matter of time until the capsule would be found.
"Do it," Ranma agreed, looking back to the capsule. "But I want to know where you're going."
"Agreed," the voice said. A soft hum built up from the pod, and Ranma saw the bottom pad of the capsule begin to glow. "Got one," the voice declared. "We'll be in the basement of the Tendo house, in the far corner near the water heater. No one ever goes there."
"Gotcha," Ranma replied, looking back around the school, looking for police. The capsule built up a whine, the top beginning to glow as well. Finally, it faded from sight, seeming to split in all directions at once. Hoping that the voice in the capsule had been telling the truth, Ranma turned and ran from the ruins of the school. He vaulted over the rear wall, and continued on his way back to the Tendo household.
* * * * * *
Inferno Phoenix leaned back from his current work-in-progress. Kuno's body had been greatly restored, with a large number of modifications and enhancements being added to the original body that he'd had. He would be, as soon as the more basic work of mundane reassembly was complete, a robot built and armed for war.
"It's good," Typhoon said softly from his spot in the corner. He'd taken up a semi-permanent residence there, and didn't much care to move or speak.
"Thank you," Inferno replied, nodding in his direction. "It's amazing what the Change has done to us. We never would have been able to agree on anything as Fleshies."
"Agreed," Typhoon said, sparing Inferno one of his rare grins. "Will you be the one reassembling him? He's rather eager to get back into his body, you know."
"No, I'll leave it to the drones. They'll take longer, but he needs to learn patience," Inferno decided with a snort. "I, actually, have another idea."
"Oh?" Typhoon prompted, looking interested. Inferno beckoned him, and the huge Reploid stood up and lumbered over to the homemade computer near Inferno's workbench. Inferno was already typing away at it, accessing hidden files and entering passwords. Finally, a wireframe schematic of a small robot sprung to life on the screen its body was streamlined, and its head was almost as large as it is torso. It had metallic spikes the jutted backwards from his facial area that resembled hair. Its face was simple- a steel plate where its mouth should be, secured by two large spikes on either side of the rounded head area. Above it was a curved area, looking to be two large eyes, joined in the middle.
Its body was fairly thin, and oval-shaped. In the middle of it was a large, parabolic depression peppered with hundreds of long slits from the center, spreading to the outside. In the center was a nub, holding the affair together and suggesting rotation. It's back had a long protrusion that curved to form a point. It followed the rim of the parabolic depression, as if the thing went all the way through its body. It's arms and legs were thin and lightweight. It's arms terminated in bladed claws, obviously meant for killing. It's legs stretched down to a pair of jointed, segmented half-ovals that looked for all the world like shoes.
"What is it?" Typhoon asked, cocking his head.
"My next project. I'm going to build a servant for the Master using a new concept entirely, one that hasn't been tested," Inferno explained. "Not brains, brawn, or toughness. No, not for this one. He'll be all speed."
"Will it work?" Typhoon countered, eyeing the prospective 3' 9" height of the construct. "Not much room to work with."
"It'll work, all right. It'll take a lot of elbow grease, but it'll work," Inferno confirmed.
"What're you going to call it?" Typhoon asked, standing back up to his semi-full height.
"Sonic Hedgehog," Inferno told him with a grin.
* * * * * *
Ryoga ran through the back alleys of Nerima, looking for a hidden place to rest. Finally, he noticed the Nerima canal, and saw a small bridge that over passed it. Grunting to himself, he jumped over the fence that prevented normal people from falling into the canal, and snuck underneath the bridge. Feeling safe, he rested against the sloping concrete and relaxed, letting go of his injured arm for a moment. It rolled away a bit, to lie next to him, the shattered joint facing upwards. He stared at it for a few minutes in horrid fascination, looking at the cables, wires, and metal that had replaced the flesh and blood that he'd once had. Reaching over, he separated the snapped wires and cables from the still attached ones, and found that his arm was still attached to the rest of him by three lonely cables, bunched together at the rear end of his arm socket.
Squelching his eyes shut, he ripped the limb free of its last anchors and stared at it in sadness. he thought, clutching his shattered arm in his good hand. Then, he heard approaching footsteps, and rolled to a crouch, looking up. The steps were being made my something metallic, and Ryoga wondered if the red devil had come to finish him off.
With a crash, a pair of metallic feet smashed into the canal floor, their owner having jumped from the bridge above. He was mostly shrouded in a big, black cloak, but the hood had fallen back to allow Ryoga a view of his face. It was hard, and chiseled, with a hint of a permanent sneer imprinted there. There was not a hair on his head, and his emerald-green eyes bore a permanent look of malice. This was further enhanced by the twin vertical slashes of purple psudo-skin, one through each eye.
"Who the Hell are you?" Ryoga snarled, digging his feet in to charge.
"Someone who wants to help you," the man-robot replied, his voice sneering and hateful. Somehow, though, Ryoga sensed that his hate was directed elsewhere.
"What do you mean?" Ryoga asked, standing up. At his full height, he was a good deal taller than the man-robot, but both parties knew that height mattered little enough.
"I have facilities that can repair you, and make you stronger. You can have your revenge on whoever did this to you," the man-robot tempted Ryoga.
"What's the catch?" Ryoga asked, suspicious.
"You just have to assist me with a few matters. Nothing that you'll find unpleasant in the least, I assure you," the thing replied.
"That's it?" Ryoga asked, not quite believing the other.
"That's it," he confirmed.
"Where do I have to go?" Ryoga agreed.
"Have you ever been to the Quainghai province of China?" the man-robot asked.
"Yeah," Ryoga confirmed.
"Find an area called Jusendo. Avoid the cursed pools of Jusenkyo, but find a certain mountain, called Mount Phoenix. I have a base there, manned by a number of Reploids. They are also in my service, and they'll be the ones that'll help you," the man-robot explained. "I would take you myself, but I have recently received news of more pressing business that I have to take care of in Siberia. I will meet you at the base," the man-robot explained, turning to leave.
"How will they know me?" Ryoga asked. The man-robot paused for a moment, then looked back at him.
"Tell them that Sigma sent you," the man-robot, now identified as Sigma, told Ryoga. Then, he flipped the hood of his cloak up and left. Ryoga waited for another few minutes, considering what had just happened. Finally, he nodded and left the same way that Sigma had, dropping his ruined arm as he left.
* * * * * *
Ranma shut the front door of the Tendo house behind him with a sigh, leaning against the wood. He'd gotten home without any police officers asking him awkward questions, which was a major relief to him. Even if Akane wasn't here as the voice in the capsule had promised, he was glad to be back.
"Hey, Saotome, is that you?" Nabiki's voice came from the kitchen. Ranma's sensitive audio sensors picked up the sounds of her getting to her feet and padding to the front hall.
"Yeah, it's me," he answered, standing away from the door. Nabiki entered the hallway from the far end and looked at him for a moment, leaning on the doorjamb.
"I owe you for what you did to Akane," she finally said, her eyes cold.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Ranma stammered, suddenly worried that Nabiki had found the strange capsule.
"With the Nyaniichuan," Nabiki explained. Internally, Ranma relaxed, but tried to keep it from showing. "I might be a money-loving bitch," she began, causing Ranma's eyebrows to rise slightly, "But I always settle my debts."
"Umm... thanks, I think...," Ranma replied, unsure of what else to do. Nabiki looked away from him, her gaze passing through the hallway and to the stairwell.
"I heard about your father restricting your martial arts as a matter of giri," she began, her left thumb rubbing her forefinger, as if looking for something else to rub. "So it's a family matter, right?"
"Yeah," Ranma confirmed, his uncertainty dissolving as soon as the conversation drifted to matters of honor.
"Just like the promise to 'unite the schools', right?" Nabiki continued, her thumb rubbing a bit faster.
"Yeah," Ranma told her, nodding. Nabiki looked back towards him, her thumb stopping.
"I could persuade Daddy to adopt you as a Tendo. It's unite the schools, and you wouldn't have to pay any attention to that stupid promise that your Dad made you make," Nabiki concluded. Ranma stood stock-still, realizing just how great a boon she was offering.
"I...," he uttered, his chest tight. Even as a robot, he could feel the psychosomatic manifestations of feelings, weather or not his body was capable of having them. "I... can't," he finally said.
"Why not?" Nabiki asked, surprised.
"He'd win," Ranma explained, relaxing a bit. "If I ran away, that'd be letting Pop win, and Ranma Saotome doesn't lose at anything."
"So you're willing to throw your life away, just so that you won't lose a fight with him?" Nabiki asked, incredulous. She spat the last word out like a curse.
"Nah," Ranma said, shaking his head. "I just said that I never lose a fight. I got a way out of this whole mess, it'll just take some doing."
"Explain," Nabiki demanded, folding her arms across her chest.
"Well, as far as the Government's concerned, I'm still a guy," Ranma started, a small grin on his face. "So I just find some open-minded girl and marry her. The state'll say that Ranma Saotome married whoever, and is her husband. Now, as far as I know, a woman can't be a husband, can she?"
"So you'll just blackmail your father into releasing you from your promise," Nabiki laughed, a grin spreading across her face. "That's great. How long'd it take you to figure it out?"
"Since he made me promise," Ranma admitted sheepishly, his hand behind his head.
"All right," Nabiki snorted, her grin staying in place. "You find the girl, and I'll make everything else work, guaranteed."
"Thanks, Nabiki," Ranma said, smiling. She pushed off from the doorjamb and walked away down the hallway slowly.
"No prob," she called over her shoulder. "But don't get any ideas. I'm not 'open minded,' as you put it." Ranma barked a short laugh, the thought never having crossed his mind.
Suddenly, another thought did cross his mind, and he called out, "Hey, Nabiki, where's the door to get to your basement?"
"Why?" she asked, pausing on the stairwell.
"Akane's staying at Yuka's tonight, and she wanted me to get something from down there," Ranma lied, hoping that Nabiki wouldn't turn around and take a look at his face. Though he could forcibly moderate his voice in this form, he still had an atrocious poker face.
"Oh. It's down by the bathroom, to the right," Nabiki told him, continuing on her way. Ranma nodded and made his way to the doorway as normally as he could. Nabiki chose that moment to glance back at him, and saw his jerky, mechanical movements. She immediately recognized them as the actions of someone who wants to look normal, but has a lot to worry about. Smelling a rat, she waited at the top of the stairwell for him to descend the stairs to the basement. She knew from experience with Akane just how well he could probably hear.
Meanwhile, Ranma was opening the door to the basement. He slipped in, only opening it wide enough for his body to fit. Easing it closed behind him, he practically ran down the bare wooden steps to the ground beneath. His feet struck loudly against the flat concrete, and Ranma hoped that nobody could hear him too well. Coming to the center of the underground room, he looked around, searching for the capsule.
Suddenly, he saw a flash of blue, and darted forward. Sure enough, the tall, blue capsule stood next to the water heater, just as it had promised. Inside, Akane was still under repair, but it was already apparent that her condition had improved. The armor all the way up her arms was pristine, and shone with a brand new coat of paint, which was still wet.
"Ranma," the capsule spoke softly as Ranma approached further. "You're here a little earlier than I expected, given the distance. Did you run the entire way?"
"More or less," Ranma admitted with a half-grin. "How's she doin', umm...," Ranma trailed off, unsure as to how to address the capsule.
"Doctor Thomas Xavier Light," the capsule supplied. "But you may call me 'Doctor Light', if you want to."
"Whatever, Doc," Ranma replied, brushing him off. "How's she doing?"
"I told you before, Akane will be fine. Most of the damage done to her is internal. Her operating systems were badly damaged by a shockwave of some kind," Dr. Light reassured Ranma.
"Can you wake her up?" Ranma asked. "I wanna know if you're doing weird things to her mind."
"You're not like X at all," the Doctor teased. "He'll trust anyone, but you don't seem to trust anything."
"Akane's been the only Changed person that hasn't tried to kill me the first opportunity they got. I'm not real trustful of stuff that looks like you," Ranma explained, his expression stony. "Now, can you wake up Akane?"
"Not for another couple of hours," Dr. Light replied.
"Fine. I'll wait," Ranma affirmed, sitting down opposite to the capsule. For a long time, the only could that could be heard in the basement was the whir and click of machinery as the capsule repaired Akane.
"When you said 'Changed,'" Dr. Light finally said, "I sensed that there was a capital 'c' in there. Why?"
"It was the Change," Ranma began, remembering how Akane had explained things to him. "About two and a half weeks ago, about two billion people died, just like that," he said, snapping his fingers. "Lotsa buildings were destroyed, and a lotta people were Changed."
"What do you mean?" Dr. Light reiterated, not understanding.
"In the time of a coupla seconds, they went from being normal people to being machines, like me an' Akane. Two weeks ago, we were both human," Ranma explained, looking upwards at the ceiling.
"Two and a half weeks...," Dr. Light trailed off. "That's exactly when I lost communication with the other capsules and my information network. This changes everything."
"What do you mean?" Ranma asked, looking back at the capsule.
"If so many were affected, it couldn't have been such a simple thing as time travel," Dr. Light mused. "It might be an instance of Jakob's Law..."
"What's that?" Ranma asked.
"It states that for each possibility in existence, there must be a reality that conforms to it. One of it's accompanying theorems states that there are small, divergent realities that occasionally collide or cross with our own. This causes discrepancies in reality that the world seeks to rectify. Essentially, it states that all natural disasters are caused, at some point, by a planar difference between the two," Dr. Light explained.
"So what does this have to do with anything?" Ranma asked, rising.
"Well, what if two major planes collided. Namely, yours and mine. The human population in my time and world was about four billion, reduced to such by constant warfare. Now, your own population matches it. People change into robots that are essentially the exact same models as existed in my world. Buildings are suddenly and inexplicably annihilated," Dr. Light listed.
"Whoa...," Ranma murmured, the implications hitting him.
"Whoa is right," Dr. Light agreed. "I think that your reality has absorbed mine."
***Author's Notes***
HA!! I did something that nobody else has!! I made a fusion where the people in it (to some extent) know of the fusion! Woo-Hoo!!! ::Calms down:: Okay, now that that's over... In any case, we now know who our big villain is! Siggy's back! As for the whole 'Sonic Hedgehog' thing, allow me to explain. As a huge fan of the Sonic series, when I saw the anime on sale for eight bucks, I snapped it right up. I got home, ripped the thing out of it's wrapping, and sat down to an hour and a half of animation that puts shame to the whole series. It was horrible. The only well-designed character, 'Hyper Metal Sonic', was neat, but got dumb at the end. Thus, I've decided to give him a second chance, cuz he's a cool-looking sonouvabitch. Naturally, he belongs to Sega (dontsueme). Moving on, Someone pointed out to me that I'd been neglecting Nabiki and the other canon cast members. They were right, and I'm trying to pull them back in as much as I can. That's why Hiroshi was chilling at the school. I wanted it to be him that helped Ranma. Nabiki had a pretty big role in this chapter, and I'll expect it to remain large. As for her 'groupies', I figure that, as good as she is, she can't make enough money on her own to support the dojo on her own, especially with Ranma and Akane constantly punching holes in it. Thus, the idea of her helpers arose. I hope that they're not too dumb. Well, give me some feedback! I need to know how well (or poorly) I've done!! My e-mail is flashfyre5@aol.com or secondbet@gundamwing.org. Drop me a line. I promise that I'll respond.
~Flash