Sense a Split Second
Cherish the Life
Have Goddess on your wings...
Ranma and Mousse hit the ground roughly the same time. Without spoken commands, Ranma took to the left entrance, Mousse heading right. Barely pausing, Ranma activated the entry lock and squeezed through the opening doors
Mousse pulled out an integrity destabilizer bomb and tossed it against the reinforced steel doors. A loud screech was heard over the chaos already ensued as the doors buckled and gave way, allowing the Burning Ranger entrance.
______________________________________________
Ranma darted to and fro, careful not to step where it seemed the floor was weakest, and simultaneously dodging falling debris. Despite his spry steps, Ranma could feel the ground unsteadily shifting below his feet, shaking like a small quake was prominent.
"Emmanuel, any life signs around me?"
"[Si, Saotome, up the corridor and to your left]," replied a heavily Hispanic voice through the earphone. Ranma gathered himself to go faster, just as a large piece of ceiling came crashing down in front of him.
"Shoot," exclaimed Ranma as the whole floor gave way, crashing into the next one below it. Saotome managed to leap just in time, and used his jump thrusters to make it to the corridor juncture.
"Anybody in here?" Ranma yelled out, his voice easily carrying over the sounds of crumbling structure and rumbling flames around him. He caught the weak reply just above him to his left.
______________________________________________
Mousse skillfully navigated the flaming and wrecked terrain, weary of the large combustible tanks through out the room. Once he figured himself a safe distance away, He charged up his pulse rifle and fired it on one of the tanks amidst the cluster of gas containers. The chain reaction was almost instantaneous as each one burst into a flaming gas ball. Moving quickly, Mousse used his pulse to turn the flames into energy crystals needed to power his personal force field and power the survivor transport teleportation units. Once the access energy was gathered, Mousse headed towards the door at the far end of the massive room.
______________________________________________
Ranma started to the direction he heard the call, when his finely honed martial senses screaming him to alertness. The Martial Artist turned Firefighter back flipped just in time to avoid an explosion that ruptured from the wall next to where he had been standing. A few shots from his pulse rifle extinguished the flame and left energy crystals in their wake. Once the coast was clear, without the jump thrusters, Ranma made a 25-foot leap to the above platform.
"Are, are you here to save me?" asked the woman. As far as Ranma could see, she didn't have any injuries, but it was best he got her out of there quick.
"Relax Ma'am, I'm a Burning Ranger. I'll have you out of here in a second." With that, Ranma touched the woman on the arm, and a cylinder of energy appeared around her. Ranma's confident smile calmed the woman out of her temporary panic and she was transported to safety.
"[Good, we got the first one Saotome. Big will be there to assist you with the task of putting out the fires near you and securing the structure, since you seem to be in the most dangerous area]," Stated Emmuel.
"[Just like you Saotome, putting your life at the most risk just to upstage the rest of us]," Joked Mousse's voice over the radio, "What would your wife have to say about that?"
"Nothing, because she isn't gonna find out, RIGHT Mousse?"
"[On the task at hand, you two, this isn't the time for implied threats]," Came Big's voice over both of their earpieces. "Most of the survivors managed to get themselves into safety holdings, only a few managed to get trapped in here."
"[No more rescuees in your area Ranma, switch to containing the fire until Mousse clears the last two trapped in his area]."
"Kay 'Manuel, Big, I won't need you back here then, go help Mousse." Ordered Ranma
"[Just who is in charge here, Ranma]?" questioned Big's voice with a bit of mirth, "[I was already on my way, you may as well head up here and assist, worrying about containment is almost worthless right now]."
"Roger that," replied Ranma. "Courtney, long time no speak, everything okay for you?"
"[Doors are opening for you when you need em, aren't they, cutie]?"
'Funny, thought it was because I was saying 'Open sesame'."
A quintuple of groans were heard over Ranma's earpiece
"[Do us a favor, just look gorgeous and leave the bad jokes to the TV sitcoms]."
"Don't you ever get tired of hitting on me? I'm a married man and you have a boyfriend"
"Well, I can convince Shou not to mind if you can convince your wife to share"
"[All right now, cut the chatter you two, Mousse I have you covered now]."
"[Thank you, but I am about done here, Big]."
"[Ey! Chica! You loca? Leggo]!!!"
All four Rangers on the field paused hearing Emmanuel struggle with someone over their headsets.
"[Can anyone hear me? Hello? Hello]?"
"[Who is this]?" Asked Big cautiously
"[Diane Joyfield, I'm the director of this facility. You need to get down to the sub basement and...]"
A loud blast cut off the director.
"[Sorry, had to put out a hot one, you were saying]?" inquired Mousse
"[In the sub basement, there is an experiment we didn't have time to shut down manually, and the auto falter had failed]."
"[I presume that there's more to this than just a simple lab experiment]?" Questioned Big, he already knew he wasn't going to like the response.
"[Correct, we were experimenting with fusion in solar capacity. One of the generators for the project overloaded and started the whole mess]."
"[If you were experimenting with Solar Fusion, then....]" Big trailed off, once he spoke again, his voice sounded much graver, "[How much Hydrogen do you have in this facility]?"
"[....Enough to leave to leave a hole that makes Meteor Crater look like a punch bowl...]"
"[We won't have enough time to get everyone to safety if the explosion is that big]," Stated Mousse rather nervously.
"[Then we'll just have to solve the problem at the other end. Courtney, what can you do]?"
"[I found the power routers to a large energy usage, sir, but I can't disconnect them]," exclaimed Courtney.
"That just means someone has to get down there and turn it off, huh?" Ranma's cocky attitude may have been grating at times, but in many cases, such as this one, it did well to boost morale.
"[I guess you have a new objective, Ranma. Mousse, try to meet him down there for assistance, I'll take over for you here]." with that, Big cut communications off as he started to his task.
"[Understood, on my way, Ranma]," replied Mousse
________________________________________________
With reflexes honed from years of Martial arts, Mousse and Ranma navigated towards the elevator shaft via the path laid out by each of them by the team coordinator, Emmanuel. Both reached the shaft at about the same time, pried the doors open, and jumped down.
"We can't open this door, it's holding back a heavy back draft," Commented Mousse as the reached the bottom of the elevator corridor and noted the red-hot door.
"Right, get to the floor above it, and we'll drop an ID bomb down the hole to knock for us."
Ranma and Mousse leapt to the second floor, Ranma using his martial arts refined strength to kick the door shutter doors open. Both he and Mousse stood off to the sides as Mousse pulled out another bomb and dropped it down the shaft. Both ducked further away as a blast escaped through the entrance they had come through.
Noting the coast finally clear, both Rangers dropped back down and grimaced at the site. Barely any room was left for maneuvering in the corridor ahead of them. Flames and wreckage compiled everywhere as if forbidding any passage.
Ranma smirked at the challenge before him, "Mousse, think my female side can make it through?"
"Just enough room."
"Good, water tank."
Mousse handed Ranma the water tank. Ranma concentrated on it and used his chi to cool the water within down before quickly deactivating his personal energy shield and dousing himself.. Onna-Ranma then reactivated her shield and removed the Jump thrusts from her.
"Okay, doctor lady, just tell me what I have to do"
____________________________________________________________________
Ranma's superhuman reflexes allowed her to twist, leap, and dodge though the tighter spots; her pulse rifle cleared a little more breathing room. Ranma turned down the hall and back flipped out of the way of a sudden eruption, dashed forward from another one behind her, then leapt straight into the air and grabbed a ledge above her as a third one erupted right where she had been.
"Area's becoming increasingly unstable," Ranma said to himself out loud. After a few more close calls, Ranma made it to the lab control deck itself.
"Shoot, none of the controls are responding!"
"[What? Ranma, we're pulling you out of there then if there's nothing you can do]."
"Big, no, I have an idea, just get the ship as far as you can with the survivors you have right now..." Ranma looked towards the long funnel where the project was being held. It was still rotating and was unstable, but it had dropped in power level. At the end of the funnel was what rotated it, if she could just jam it...
____________________________________________________________________
"Um, is that young woman INSANE?" exclaimed Dr. Joyfield as she looked from the display monitor and incredulously towards the three Burning Rangers on the transport.
"[No, he's Ranma Saotome, and he never fails]," Said Mousse over the intercom.
"Um, pardon me, but 'he'?"
____________________________________________________________________
Ranma grumbled as she dashed through the elongated washing machine from Hell, dodging errant flames and wreckage as she held a boulder a little more than half her size in front of her. She ducked behind the rock as a slightly unmaneverable ball of flame struck her makeshift shield, while fighting to keep her footing as the tunnel turned over and over.
A quarter of a mile down below her, the wreckage and debris being shaken off the tunnel as it did turn began to pile up, indenting the floor and buckling it to the point of collapse, right into the several hundred tons of highly compressed hydrogen being held beneath.
____________________________________________________________________
A large beam struck the rock Ranma was holding head on, sending her tumbling onto her butt.
"[Ranma, we don't have much more time]," yelled Big, interference causing static in the line, though it did not fail the get the urgency through.
Ranma didn't reply, just picked herself up while still holding the boulder, hefted it over her head, and tossed it with all her girl form's might towards the end of the tunnel. After ricocheting off several pieces of wreckage, it struck home.
As the sound of metal rendering and twisting became more prominent, Ranma realized a slight problem.
"Oh... darn...." Ranma exclaimed as she turned and tried to dash out of the funnel. The supports tore away from the tunnel, and with nothing holding that end up, it came crashing down towards the ground.
Just below it, several beams collapsed, forming a catch for the tunnel, just above the ground.
____________________________________________________________________
"[GET ME OUT OF HERE]!!!!" Emmanuel pulled his ear away from his headphone and grimaced at the volume.
"Okay okay, no need to get exited! Madre, you yell loud!"
Without any further delay, he locked onto his fellow teammate's location and pulled her out.
Ranma looked slightly disheveled, her eyes unfocused and dazed. Courtney exclaimed how she could almost see the cartoonish spirals in her eyes.
"Well, now that Daredevil here is back, let's put some distance between us and this place, and contact the cleanup crew to handle the rest." commented Big, not bothering to hide the relief in his voice.
______________________________________________________________________
In the lab, the makeshift frame supporting the funnel began to warp under the weight of all the debris...
______________________________________________________________________
"Si, all survivors accounted for, send a demolitions squad out to take care of the...."
The ship surged and wavered in the after wake of the explosion as a new not-so-natural monument was formed via massive amounts of explosive gas stuck just hard enough.
"Eh, heh heh.... no need to hurry on that, aye?"
"You do realize that this is your fault, Saotome, correct?" commented Mousse.
Ranma just gave a nervous chuckle.
______________________________________________________________________
"Honey, I'm hoooooome! Heh, I love saying that," Ranma walked in and set his gym bag on the ground as he slipped out of his shoes and into slippers
"Papa!" Can a young boy's voice from down the hall.
"Hey squirt, think you can take your ol' man now?" mocked Ranma, he was proud of his son Ukyo, and trained him thoroughly from the time he could start walking. With his job now, most of the teaching had come from Ranma's father and Cologne.
Ukyo opened up with a flying kick, in which Ranma caught him by the leg and held him upside down. Ranma frowned at the opening move and was about to start lecturing his son about such a sloppy mistake, when he felt a doubled fist strike his chin.
"Ha, Pops, you fight like a girl!" mocked Ukyo as he moved into a defensive stance
"Very sneaky, who taught you that one?" Asked Ranma
"Mama."
"Oh, but..."
"Dears, there is a perfectly good dojo out back, why not carry your sparring match out there and leave the rest of the house intact?" interrupted Mrs. Saotome. No matter how long he had been married to her, Ranma's day was always made when he came home to her.
"Mom, you're smart! How come you don't do martial arts?" Asked Ukyo
Both Ranma and his wife traded slightly disturbed glances at each other, "You're mother, wasn't the martial artist of the family," replied Nabiki somberly.
"Oh, that was Aunty Akane, right? I wish I coulda met her," commented Ukyo, not realizing the old wounds he opened up.
"Yeah, I wish you could have too," replied Ranma, his eyes downcast just a bit, then perked up and remembered a previous comment, "Fight like a girl? Did your Granddad teach you that?"
"Er, yeah, did I say something bad?" asked Ukyo rather coyly.
"When you see what your grandmother does to him when she finds out where you got that from, you decide," Ranma stated with a chuckle
"Ooh, how about we tell Great Grandmother Cologne too?" the young boy had decided a while back he enjoyed seeing his grandfather in pain, it was funny.
Ranma frowned and looked as his child, "Now that wouldn't be very nice." Then Ranma shrugged "I'll tell her first thing tomorrow"
"That's good, she wanted to talk to you whenever you got the chance, Ranma," replied Nabiki from the kitchen.
"Oh? What did she want?" inquired Ranma as he walked into the kitchen and put his arms around his wife's waist.
"Mmm, she didn't say, didn't sound urgent though," Nabiki turned in his arms and met him with a light peck on the lips. Suddenly she twisted up her nose, "you stink, Mr. Saotome"
"Yeah, hot water in the gym showers was out again, and didn't feel like being ogled by a bunch of men today." Ranma knew it wasn't an accident that the hot water didn't work; in fact he didn't have to have anyone tell him that they were out. At least once every so often for a cheap thrill, some guys would sabotage them. All Ranma had to do was look out for the days nobody showered.
Nabiki got a smoldering smile on her face as she put her arms around her husband's neck, "hmm, you know? I think I could use one too, I had been working hard at the office, and can use a nice, nude soak."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Ranma was liking the direction this conversation was turning.
"It would just make my day for a good, strong pair of hands working the kinks out of my back. I feel so... knotty right now," the look Nabiki was throwing Ranma told him that 'knotty' was not the word she meant."
"So, when do we go bathe?" asked the pig-tailed firefighter eagerly.
"You can bathe as soon as I'm done," with that, Nabiki dumped the glass of water in her hand over her husband's head
Onna-Ranma blinked a couple of times, and then looked up to adjust for the height difference between her and Nabiki, "huh?"
"And, you're sleeping on the couch, Misses"
Ranma let out a sigh, "Mousse told you?"
"No, Big did. He said if he was going to have to suffer through the committee for letting that place go sky high, you were going to swing as well"
"Hey, the place was going to go kingdom come anyhow! What's the big deal?"
"Did you even bother trying to find another way," asked Nabiki wryly
"Uh, there wasn't enough time?" Ranma sounded as if she was now also trying to convince herself.
"Uh huh, and that's the reason you're not sleeping out in the dojo instead," replied Nabiki with a smile. "Oh, and one last thing, tell Courtney I don't like to share," With that, Mrs. Saotome winked and only slightly hesitatingly pulled herself out of the smaller woman's arms.
Ranma watched her wife head upstairs to get her supplies for the furo. When Akane and the others died on that fateful day, Nabiki was as emotional a wreck as he was. While Ranma nearly shut himself down, almost having to be told to breath, Nabiki became a sobbing shell of her former self. She had no one to turn to, as Kasumi was just so devastated that she became oblivious to any wrong in the world, and their father had to be put temporarily in an institution.
One night the following week, Ranma contemplated ending it all, without Akane, his will to live just wasn't there. Over his own musings he heard someone crying in the same despair that he felt, and suddenly his ears picked up on the tell tale sound of a blade being extracted from rice paper.
Ranma knew what the sound of a drawn tanto was, and while for duty that he was going to end his life (or that is what he convinced himself of anyhow), he would be damned if he would let another Tendou daughter die so soon.
Ranma dashed into the Tendou house and into Nabiki's room, where he arrived just in time to grasp onto the blade before it plunged into Nabiki's neck. After a bit of consoling the distraught girl, Nabiki confessed that Akane's death had shown her what her life of lies and dealings had left her worth. Ranma was very adamant about Nabiki's value to her family and to the world, one thing leading to another, and...
A little over nine months later, Ukyo was born, and the Saotome and Tendou lines were joined.
Ranma now did not consider giving up his life; he had a child to take care of, and a wife to be strong for. After a while Ranma grew to love Nabiki almost as much as Akane, possibly exceeding it, as Nabiki over time gained her confidence back. Eventually Nabiki returned his love that she had been trying to hide away from, and with that return of love, Nabiki went through a final change.
Ranma stared wistfully after the exit of her wife. If she could do it again, she wouldn't hesitate, and she would do it again, and again...
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
{Howdy! Though I never write author notes (because I well past too damn lazy), I just wanted to get a little feedback on this lil' here project. Trying to create a fanfic that with video game based objectives with a Burning Rangers type storyline (play the game to get what I'm working at), yet still keep it Ranma. Lemme know how it's turning out}
Cherish the Life
Have Goddess on your wings...
Ranma and Mousse hit the ground roughly the same time. Without spoken commands, Ranma took to the left entrance, Mousse heading right. Barely pausing, Ranma activated the entry lock and squeezed through the opening doors
Mousse pulled out an integrity destabilizer bomb and tossed it against the reinforced steel doors. A loud screech was heard over the chaos already ensued as the doors buckled and gave way, allowing the Burning Ranger entrance.
______________________________________________
Ranma darted to and fro, careful not to step where it seemed the floor was weakest, and simultaneously dodging falling debris. Despite his spry steps, Ranma could feel the ground unsteadily shifting below his feet, shaking like a small quake was prominent.
"Emmanuel, any life signs around me?"
"[Si, Saotome, up the corridor and to your left]," replied a heavily Hispanic voice through the earphone. Ranma gathered himself to go faster, just as a large piece of ceiling came crashing down in front of him.
"Shoot," exclaimed Ranma as the whole floor gave way, crashing into the next one below it. Saotome managed to leap just in time, and used his jump thrusters to make it to the corridor juncture.
"Anybody in here?" Ranma yelled out, his voice easily carrying over the sounds of crumbling structure and rumbling flames around him. He caught the weak reply just above him to his left.
______________________________________________
Mousse skillfully navigated the flaming and wrecked terrain, weary of the large combustible tanks through out the room. Once he figured himself a safe distance away, He charged up his pulse rifle and fired it on one of the tanks amidst the cluster of gas containers. The chain reaction was almost instantaneous as each one burst into a flaming gas ball. Moving quickly, Mousse used his pulse to turn the flames into energy crystals needed to power his personal force field and power the survivor transport teleportation units. Once the access energy was gathered, Mousse headed towards the door at the far end of the massive room.
______________________________________________
Ranma started to the direction he heard the call, when his finely honed martial senses screaming him to alertness. The Martial Artist turned Firefighter back flipped just in time to avoid an explosion that ruptured from the wall next to where he had been standing. A few shots from his pulse rifle extinguished the flame and left energy crystals in their wake. Once the coast was clear, without the jump thrusters, Ranma made a 25-foot leap to the above platform.
"Are, are you here to save me?" asked the woman. As far as Ranma could see, she didn't have any injuries, but it was best he got her out of there quick.
"Relax Ma'am, I'm a Burning Ranger. I'll have you out of here in a second." With that, Ranma touched the woman on the arm, and a cylinder of energy appeared around her. Ranma's confident smile calmed the woman out of her temporary panic and she was transported to safety.
"[Good, we got the first one Saotome. Big will be there to assist you with the task of putting out the fires near you and securing the structure, since you seem to be in the most dangerous area]," Stated Emmuel.
"[Just like you Saotome, putting your life at the most risk just to upstage the rest of us]," Joked Mousse's voice over the radio, "What would your wife have to say about that?"
"Nothing, because she isn't gonna find out, RIGHT Mousse?"
"[On the task at hand, you two, this isn't the time for implied threats]," Came Big's voice over both of their earpieces. "Most of the survivors managed to get themselves into safety holdings, only a few managed to get trapped in here."
"[No more rescuees in your area Ranma, switch to containing the fire until Mousse clears the last two trapped in his area]."
"Kay 'Manuel, Big, I won't need you back here then, go help Mousse." Ordered Ranma
"[Just who is in charge here, Ranma]?" questioned Big's voice with a bit of mirth, "[I was already on my way, you may as well head up here and assist, worrying about containment is almost worthless right now]."
"Roger that," replied Ranma. "Courtney, long time no speak, everything okay for you?"
"[Doors are opening for you when you need em, aren't they, cutie]?"
'Funny, thought it was because I was saying 'Open sesame'."
A quintuple of groans were heard over Ranma's earpiece
"[Do us a favor, just look gorgeous and leave the bad jokes to the TV sitcoms]."
"Don't you ever get tired of hitting on me? I'm a married man and you have a boyfriend"
"Well, I can convince Shou not to mind if you can convince your wife to share"
"[All right now, cut the chatter you two, Mousse I have you covered now]."
"[Thank you, but I am about done here, Big]."
"[Ey! Chica! You loca? Leggo]!!!"
All four Rangers on the field paused hearing Emmanuel struggle with someone over their headsets.
"[Can anyone hear me? Hello? Hello]?"
"[Who is this]?" Asked Big cautiously
"[Diane Joyfield, I'm the director of this facility. You need to get down to the sub basement and...]"
A loud blast cut off the director.
"[Sorry, had to put out a hot one, you were saying]?" inquired Mousse
"[In the sub basement, there is an experiment we didn't have time to shut down manually, and the auto falter had failed]."
"[I presume that there's more to this than just a simple lab experiment]?" Questioned Big, he already knew he wasn't going to like the response.
"[Correct, we were experimenting with fusion in solar capacity. One of the generators for the project overloaded and started the whole mess]."
"[If you were experimenting with Solar Fusion, then....]" Big trailed off, once he spoke again, his voice sounded much graver, "[How much Hydrogen do you have in this facility]?"
"[....Enough to leave to leave a hole that makes Meteor Crater look like a punch bowl...]"
"[We won't have enough time to get everyone to safety if the explosion is that big]," Stated Mousse rather nervously.
"[Then we'll just have to solve the problem at the other end. Courtney, what can you do]?"
"[I found the power routers to a large energy usage, sir, but I can't disconnect them]," exclaimed Courtney.
"That just means someone has to get down there and turn it off, huh?" Ranma's cocky attitude may have been grating at times, but in many cases, such as this one, it did well to boost morale.
"[I guess you have a new objective, Ranma. Mousse, try to meet him down there for assistance, I'll take over for you here]." with that, Big cut communications off as he started to his task.
"[Understood, on my way, Ranma]," replied Mousse
________________________________________________
With reflexes honed from years of Martial arts, Mousse and Ranma navigated towards the elevator shaft via the path laid out by each of them by the team coordinator, Emmanuel. Both reached the shaft at about the same time, pried the doors open, and jumped down.
"We can't open this door, it's holding back a heavy back draft," Commented Mousse as the reached the bottom of the elevator corridor and noted the red-hot door.
"Right, get to the floor above it, and we'll drop an ID bomb down the hole to knock for us."
Ranma and Mousse leapt to the second floor, Ranma using his martial arts refined strength to kick the door shutter doors open. Both he and Mousse stood off to the sides as Mousse pulled out another bomb and dropped it down the shaft. Both ducked further away as a blast escaped through the entrance they had come through.
Noting the coast finally clear, both Rangers dropped back down and grimaced at the site. Barely any room was left for maneuvering in the corridor ahead of them. Flames and wreckage compiled everywhere as if forbidding any passage.
Ranma smirked at the challenge before him, "Mousse, think my female side can make it through?"
"Just enough room."
"Good, water tank."
Mousse handed Ranma the water tank. Ranma concentrated on it and used his chi to cool the water within down before quickly deactivating his personal energy shield and dousing himself.. Onna-Ranma then reactivated her shield and removed the Jump thrusts from her.
"Okay, doctor lady, just tell me what I have to do"
____________________________________________________________________
Ranma's superhuman reflexes allowed her to twist, leap, and dodge though the tighter spots; her pulse rifle cleared a little more breathing room. Ranma turned down the hall and back flipped out of the way of a sudden eruption, dashed forward from another one behind her, then leapt straight into the air and grabbed a ledge above her as a third one erupted right where she had been.
"Area's becoming increasingly unstable," Ranma said to himself out loud. After a few more close calls, Ranma made it to the lab control deck itself.
"Shoot, none of the controls are responding!"
"[What? Ranma, we're pulling you out of there then if there's nothing you can do]."
"Big, no, I have an idea, just get the ship as far as you can with the survivors you have right now..." Ranma looked towards the long funnel where the project was being held. It was still rotating and was unstable, but it had dropped in power level. At the end of the funnel was what rotated it, if she could just jam it...
____________________________________________________________________
"Um, is that young woman INSANE?" exclaimed Dr. Joyfield as she looked from the display monitor and incredulously towards the three Burning Rangers on the transport.
"[No, he's Ranma Saotome, and he never fails]," Said Mousse over the intercom.
"Um, pardon me, but 'he'?"
____________________________________________________________________
Ranma grumbled as she dashed through the elongated washing machine from Hell, dodging errant flames and wreckage as she held a boulder a little more than half her size in front of her. She ducked behind the rock as a slightly unmaneverable ball of flame struck her makeshift shield, while fighting to keep her footing as the tunnel turned over and over.
A quarter of a mile down below her, the wreckage and debris being shaken off the tunnel as it did turn began to pile up, indenting the floor and buckling it to the point of collapse, right into the several hundred tons of highly compressed hydrogen being held beneath.
____________________________________________________________________
A large beam struck the rock Ranma was holding head on, sending her tumbling onto her butt.
"[Ranma, we don't have much more time]," yelled Big, interference causing static in the line, though it did not fail the get the urgency through.
Ranma didn't reply, just picked herself up while still holding the boulder, hefted it over her head, and tossed it with all her girl form's might towards the end of the tunnel. After ricocheting off several pieces of wreckage, it struck home.
As the sound of metal rendering and twisting became more prominent, Ranma realized a slight problem.
"Oh... darn...." Ranma exclaimed as she turned and tried to dash out of the funnel. The supports tore away from the tunnel, and with nothing holding that end up, it came crashing down towards the ground.
Just below it, several beams collapsed, forming a catch for the tunnel, just above the ground.
____________________________________________________________________
"[GET ME OUT OF HERE]!!!!" Emmanuel pulled his ear away from his headphone and grimaced at the volume.
"Okay okay, no need to get exited! Madre, you yell loud!"
Without any further delay, he locked onto his fellow teammate's location and pulled her out.
Ranma looked slightly disheveled, her eyes unfocused and dazed. Courtney exclaimed how she could almost see the cartoonish spirals in her eyes.
"Well, now that Daredevil here is back, let's put some distance between us and this place, and contact the cleanup crew to handle the rest." commented Big, not bothering to hide the relief in his voice.
______________________________________________________________________
In the lab, the makeshift frame supporting the funnel began to warp under the weight of all the debris...
______________________________________________________________________
"Si, all survivors accounted for, send a demolitions squad out to take care of the...."
The ship surged and wavered in the after wake of the explosion as a new not-so-natural monument was formed via massive amounts of explosive gas stuck just hard enough.
"Eh, heh heh.... no need to hurry on that, aye?"
"You do realize that this is your fault, Saotome, correct?" commented Mousse.
Ranma just gave a nervous chuckle.
______________________________________________________________________
"Honey, I'm hoooooome! Heh, I love saying that," Ranma walked in and set his gym bag on the ground as he slipped out of his shoes and into slippers
"Papa!" Can a young boy's voice from down the hall.
"Hey squirt, think you can take your ol' man now?" mocked Ranma, he was proud of his son Ukyo, and trained him thoroughly from the time he could start walking. With his job now, most of the teaching had come from Ranma's father and Cologne.
Ukyo opened up with a flying kick, in which Ranma caught him by the leg and held him upside down. Ranma frowned at the opening move and was about to start lecturing his son about such a sloppy mistake, when he felt a doubled fist strike his chin.
"Ha, Pops, you fight like a girl!" mocked Ukyo as he moved into a defensive stance
"Very sneaky, who taught you that one?" Asked Ranma
"Mama."
"Oh, but..."
"Dears, there is a perfectly good dojo out back, why not carry your sparring match out there and leave the rest of the house intact?" interrupted Mrs. Saotome. No matter how long he had been married to her, Ranma's day was always made when he came home to her.
"Mom, you're smart! How come you don't do martial arts?" Asked Ukyo
Both Ranma and his wife traded slightly disturbed glances at each other, "You're mother, wasn't the martial artist of the family," replied Nabiki somberly.
"Oh, that was Aunty Akane, right? I wish I coulda met her," commented Ukyo, not realizing the old wounds he opened up.
"Yeah, I wish you could have too," replied Ranma, his eyes downcast just a bit, then perked up and remembered a previous comment, "Fight like a girl? Did your Granddad teach you that?"
"Er, yeah, did I say something bad?" asked Ukyo rather coyly.
"When you see what your grandmother does to him when she finds out where you got that from, you decide," Ranma stated with a chuckle
"Ooh, how about we tell Great Grandmother Cologne too?" the young boy had decided a while back he enjoyed seeing his grandfather in pain, it was funny.
Ranma frowned and looked as his child, "Now that wouldn't be very nice." Then Ranma shrugged "I'll tell her first thing tomorrow"
"That's good, she wanted to talk to you whenever you got the chance, Ranma," replied Nabiki from the kitchen.
"Oh? What did she want?" inquired Ranma as he walked into the kitchen and put his arms around his wife's waist.
"Mmm, she didn't say, didn't sound urgent though," Nabiki turned in his arms and met him with a light peck on the lips. Suddenly she twisted up her nose, "you stink, Mr. Saotome"
"Yeah, hot water in the gym showers was out again, and didn't feel like being ogled by a bunch of men today." Ranma knew it wasn't an accident that the hot water didn't work; in fact he didn't have to have anyone tell him that they were out. At least once every so often for a cheap thrill, some guys would sabotage them. All Ranma had to do was look out for the days nobody showered.
Nabiki got a smoldering smile on her face as she put her arms around her husband's neck, "hmm, you know? I think I could use one too, I had been working hard at the office, and can use a nice, nude soak."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Ranma was liking the direction this conversation was turning.
"It would just make my day for a good, strong pair of hands working the kinks out of my back. I feel so... knotty right now," the look Nabiki was throwing Ranma told him that 'knotty' was not the word she meant."
"So, when do we go bathe?" asked the pig-tailed firefighter eagerly.
"You can bathe as soon as I'm done," with that, Nabiki dumped the glass of water in her hand over her husband's head
Onna-Ranma blinked a couple of times, and then looked up to adjust for the height difference between her and Nabiki, "huh?"
"And, you're sleeping on the couch, Misses"
Ranma let out a sigh, "Mousse told you?"
"No, Big did. He said if he was going to have to suffer through the committee for letting that place go sky high, you were going to swing as well"
"Hey, the place was going to go kingdom come anyhow! What's the big deal?"
"Did you even bother trying to find another way," asked Nabiki wryly
"Uh, there wasn't enough time?" Ranma sounded as if she was now also trying to convince herself.
"Uh huh, and that's the reason you're not sleeping out in the dojo instead," replied Nabiki with a smile. "Oh, and one last thing, tell Courtney I don't like to share," With that, Mrs. Saotome winked and only slightly hesitatingly pulled herself out of the smaller woman's arms.
Ranma watched her wife head upstairs to get her supplies for the furo. When Akane and the others died on that fateful day, Nabiki was as emotional a wreck as he was. While Ranma nearly shut himself down, almost having to be told to breath, Nabiki became a sobbing shell of her former self. She had no one to turn to, as Kasumi was just so devastated that she became oblivious to any wrong in the world, and their father had to be put temporarily in an institution.
One night the following week, Ranma contemplated ending it all, without Akane, his will to live just wasn't there. Over his own musings he heard someone crying in the same despair that he felt, and suddenly his ears picked up on the tell tale sound of a blade being extracted from rice paper.
Ranma knew what the sound of a drawn tanto was, and while for duty that he was going to end his life (or that is what he convinced himself of anyhow), he would be damned if he would let another Tendou daughter die so soon.
Ranma dashed into the Tendou house and into Nabiki's room, where he arrived just in time to grasp onto the blade before it plunged into Nabiki's neck. After a bit of consoling the distraught girl, Nabiki confessed that Akane's death had shown her what her life of lies and dealings had left her worth. Ranma was very adamant about Nabiki's value to her family and to the world, one thing leading to another, and...
A little over nine months later, Ukyo was born, and the Saotome and Tendou lines were joined.
Ranma now did not consider giving up his life; he had a child to take care of, and a wife to be strong for. After a while Ranma grew to love Nabiki almost as much as Akane, possibly exceeding it, as Nabiki over time gained her confidence back. Eventually Nabiki returned his love that she had been trying to hide away from, and with that return of love, Nabiki went through a final change.
Ranma stared wistfully after the exit of her wife. If she could do it again, she wouldn't hesitate, and she would do it again, and again...
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{Howdy! Though I never write author notes (because I well past too damn lazy), I just wanted to get a little feedback on this lil' here project. Trying to create a fanfic that with video game based objectives with a Burning Rangers type storyline (play the game to get what I'm working at), yet still keep it Ranma. Lemme know how it's turning out}