She wanted to weep, but her old mindset from when she proclaimed herself a fulltime guy would not allow it. They were competent fighters, all five of them. One of them she even selected as her potential heir in the Amazon tribe (not that she was going to become Matriarch at any time, but it didn't hurt to have another student other than her son to tortu... er, train). Unfortunately, while dealing with one on one opponents they excelled, this was one enemy they had no idea how to best.
"Wrong, wrong, WRONG! End simulation," Onna-Ranma commanded, causing the holographic inferno to wink out and restore a damaged looking high-tech warehouse building into a barren grid room, "this is not an enemy you can face and anticipate. You have to act against it immediately, stop it before it can become too powerful."
"Aiyah, but that dishonorable if not fight fire fair!"
Ranma blinked a couple of times at Lei-woo Fa, before casually conjuring up a mallet and slamming her with it, "Please get it out of your heads that this an battle between you and a devious and worthy opponent. It will not hesitate to use underhanded attacks, it will show no remorse in combat, it won't respect you, but you sure will respect IT."
"Fire not honorable warrior? Then Wa Fu kill like sick dog!" exclaimed the always-overzealous Wa-Fu, as she raised her bonbori menacingly.
"Please don't interrupt me again," sighed the redheaded woman as she retrieved her second mallet from the fallen girl's face. She hated to be so brutal sometimes, but on occasion it was all Ranma could do to keep their attention. "Elder Cologne, is this payment for so long ago?" Ranma asked her rhetorical question to the ceiling.
"Elder Cologne say Sifu-Ranma train us, teach you respect."
"I wasn't looking for an answer," commented Ranma as she raised her hand to catch the mallet that she threw at T'chi Pei's head, was barely avoided, rebounded off the back wall, then off the floor, impacted with the back of it's intended target's head, and ricochet upwards and tumbled into the air, back into Ranma's awaiting grasp.
"Nice, violent, but nice!" commented an accented voice from the entryway.
"Hush, you, I still have a custom designed mallet ready for you anytime!"
"Er, that no be the one with latex padded head, oak frame, and black velvet covered handle?"
"Of course, the one designed for 'repeated' use? Comfortable on the hands, the latex end adding enough bounce to save energy for impact, not recoil."
Emmanuel slightly cold sweat at the reminder.
"Ranma, I heard you were in today, I need to discuss..." Big noticed the five other Amazons in the training room, "But I see you're rather busy so I'll just come back another time when I'm sure you're alone."
"Too late," said Ranma as Big blinked, and looked down to find a turquoise hair colored Amazon clutched to his harm.
Big rubbed his temples with his free hand, then asked in English, "Ranma, do something."
"Hey, I gave you fair warning, don't blame me!"
"Warning, when did you tell me she," Big nodded to the attempted permanent attachment to his arm, "was going to be here?"
"I dunno, Emmanuel, when did you tell Big?"
"Er, just now, tchau!" The Southern Hispanic made his departure before he could receive a surprise assignment from Big.
"I think the Burning Ship can stand an extra... four clear polymer coatings," announced the large African coldly as he tried to covertly dislodge his 'betrothed' from his arm.
Ranma shook her head before bailing her squad leader out, "T'chi Pei, are you distracted?"
The turquoise maned Amazon pouted cutely, "but I miss airen"
"But my mallet didn't miss you," Ranma calmly stated as she dragged the unconscious Amazon back to the rest of the young trainees.
"Well, I guess this introductory into Firefighting seminar is a bust, the rest of you may as retire for the day, but I expect you all to be back at the dojo practicing the arts until I return tonight. If I let you slack off, Cologne won't let me hear the end of it." The four conscious girls bowed to their elder and headed out the training room, T'chi Pei dragged by her leg.
"Well, I'm not busy now, so what did you want?" Questioned Ranma as she folded her arms over her chest.
"Just wanted to warn you, this ball we're attending, I want you to keep your eyes and ears open in case trouble happens."
"Oh, your big conspiracy theory," Ranma mocked, "It's not like I'll be enjoying myself there, may as well be work also."
"I wouldn't take this so lightly if I were you, if anything goes wrong with this, it could be a major catastrophe."
"Me rubbing elbows with snobs is a catastrophe, why can't you just get Chris Parton to cover for us, or at least have some of her squad attend."
"They're all on duty, somebody had to be, now chin up, you may enjoy yourself!" Big grinned at the scowl on the redhead's face, then left the room. Not five seconds later a loud cry of "Airen" was heard.
Ranma pointedly ignored the cries for help of her fellow Burning Ranger.
_______________________________________________________________________
"I don't get it, why is it in all these El Santo videos you have me watch with you, all the women are dating cops?" Enquired a now male Ranma, trying to find some interest point in the film he promised Emmanuel he'd watch with him in the Ranger Headquarter's entertainment room.
"They just do, now hush here's a good part!" Emmanuel jumped and winced gleefully as El Santo did a cheesy body slam to one of the Vampire Women.
"Gee, I guess that was painful," spoke Ranma in a monotone voice, not even bothering to hide the contempt for the movie.
"*Groan*, you promised you weren't gonna spoil this for me, Vato!"
"Who you calling a 'Bato', Baka? And I didn't make any promises!"
"Well, it woulda been nice if you did"
Ranma sighed as he slumped deeper into the loveseat, swearing to himself that each film he gets suckered into watching with the team's resident Hispanic seems to be longer than the last one. Come to think of it, why was he the *only* one who was always around for these 'teammate bonding' experiences? Fortunately reprieve came, but under an unfortunate distress.
"[Ranma, Nabiki needs you home, now. There's been an accident]" stated Big's voice over the intercom system. Though the message was urgent, both Emmanuel and Ranma smirked at the cooing noises being made by a certain love struck Amazon in the background.
Ranma's mirth was short lived as he finally digested what he was told...
_______________________________________________________________________
Ranma, still wearing his Burning Rangers uniform, was teleported from the BR Headquarters straight back to his home, meeting face to face with his slightly distraught wife.
"Ukyo, he's at the old Kuno Mansion!"
Ranma was out the door and bounding rooftop to rooftop in less time than it took for him to mutter 'heck'. The Kuno's had abandoned their old home after Sasuke had gone overboard with upgrading the traps set around the manor. The Public Health and Safety agency (at the beset of a certain anonymous Burning Ranger) inspected the household, proclaiming it, in quote, "Only a maniac would find themselves at ease in this warped atrocity of home security."
The Kunos didn't understand what the problem was, but only mildly protested being forced out of their home. Apparently they didn't like the neighborhood much since the property values had dropped so low (easily explained by the urban legend of the Nerima Wrecking Crew). Unfortunately they never got to tearing the place down, seeing as how much of it was rather... sensitive and tended to explode with the slightest intrusion.
In mere moments Ranma was leaping over the wall surrounding the old home, twisting out of the way of a swarm of poison darts that flew in his direction.
"I am really gonna pound that wannabe Ninja creep next time I see him" groused Ranma as he weaved and dodged through the gattling barrage of parilasitic needles. Ranma then leapt quickly past taser wires before an interweaving net was formed from them and barbequed the pigtailed man.
"[Ey Ranma, Big thought you might need a hand for whatever it was, so I'm here to back you, where you at?]"
"I'm at the old Kuno Mansion, apparently my son wandered into here." Ranma didn't miss the sharp intake of breath his teammate made; he understood the dire of the situation.
"[I'm dropping your pack to you, loaded with enough energy to transport 10 people, much less just your son in case you need to keep your shield up.]"
Ranma didn't have to wait as he saw the Burning Ship arrive almost immediately, and his thrust pack teleported at his feet.
Ranma put on his pack, thanking the Kami that it's teleporting didn't set off any traps, and gingerly made his way to the entrance of the main house.
_______________________________________________________________________
Ranma walked cautiously up to the front door, and at about 10 yards away, shot forth a small Mouku Takabisha. The Door shattered inward, not triggering any additional traps. Ranma blinked and started to stride forward to enter the mansion, when he suddenly realized he was not feeling the ground at the moment. Only a small yelp was heard as the trap door swung back up, welcome mat back in place hiding its existence.
_______________________________________________________________________
"[Ranma, are you there? Come in Vato!]"
"I'm fine, Manuel, don't worry about it," answered Ranma, more than peeved at himself for falling for such an obvious Sasuke created trap. "This isn't good, I have no idea where I'm at here."
"[Aye, I'll see if I can get the layout of the Mansion for you.]"
"Don't bother, you won't find them. Try to get in contact with any of the Kunos, they may have an idea of the layout."
"[Si, Just sit tight...]"
"Sorry, my son's in here, and the longer I wait, the worse off he's gonna be. That is until I get a hold of him."
Emmanuel chuckled at Ranma's mirth; even in a crisis he is good for a couple of grins, "Right, just be careful."
_______________________________________________________________________
Ukyo wandered the halls of the creepy dungeon place. He had wondered in to investigate the disappearance of Miyuki's kitten; after all it was a martial artist's duty to help the weak. Miyuki and Goten followed him; at least until that trap door at the front entrance slid them down two separate passageways. Now all three of them were lost in this creepy place. Ukyo's jaw tightened as his resolve firmed, he still had to protect the weak, so he'd find his friends first, find Miyuki's kitten Kage, then get out of here before any of the grownups caught them. The young man stepped forward before his ears picked up on the sound of running water, lots of running water, heading his way...
_______________________________________________________________________
Ranma swore {mildly, of course ;p }, if he ever got a hold of Sasuke again...
The thought was temporarily put on hold as back flipped away from a weight descending a bit faster than even gravity requested it to. Before he could land, the ground below him opened up into a lava pit. Ranma activated his pack's thrusters, allowing him to change trajectory a bit and land on where there was still floor. As soon as Ranma landed, he ducked a sickle that swung at waist length, slicing in half his pack.
"Great, this is gonna come outta my paycheck," groused Ranma as he shed the now useless dead weight.
"[Ranma, speak to me! You there still?]"
"Yeah, just lost my paraglide pack, I won't be able to hold any energy to transport anyone, I'll just have to lead Ukyo out safely."
"[Roger that, by the way, I can't locate any of the Kunos.]"
"Of course, why would I ever get a break, after all?" Ranma mumbled more to himself. The lava pit was wide and deep, but obviously the lava was shallow from how it flowed (after several rescue attempts from active volcanoes as a Burning Ranger, you tended to pick things up like that). The problem was that it was long, while the ceiling was not high enough to get a good arc for a jump across, and his soul of ice techniques could only get him so far. Ranma smirked as he heard the running water through the wall next to him, and taking the invite, threw a vacuum blade along the wall.
Ranma blinked when he heard a familiar scream flow out with the jet of water. Ranma's hands ignited with ice blue ki as he touched a portion of the water flow, creating an ice platform. Ranma jumped on it and surfed it down the water flow, lowering himself so he got more speed down. He managed to intercept the falling child before they even met the scalding steam rising, and brought his cold ki aura around him and the ice platform. As soon as the platform hit molten rock, Ranma pushed off as hard as possible to make it back up the 30 feet he had fallen.
As soon as Ranma made it to the other side, he got a good look at whom he saved, "UKYO? You are *SO* in trouble, young man!"
"Uh, hi, Dad," muttered Ukyo sheepishly.
"Save it, I gotta get you out of here somehow."
"I can't leave, pop. Miyuki and Goten are still in here too."
"WHAT?!? Haven't I told you to stay AWAY from this place?" Ranma yelled, once again the situation was getting way out of hand.
"But, but, Kage is in here and Miyuki was crying and we, we," Ukyo started tearing up, and if there was one thing Ranma hated to see more than women crying, was his own son near tears.
"Don't worry, I'll get them out too, including Kage, just promise me you'll never come here again after this is all done."
Ukyo silently nodded as Ranma thought up a way to gather some crystals. Ranma turned towards the cooling lava pit, noting the far end was still blazing hot. Ranma threw a barrage of Mouku Takabishas at that end, causing a rupture of several lava balls. Ranma used his pulse rifle on the rising molten balls, shearing off their heat energy and turning it into energy to power his teleporter. Once enough energy was amassed on the other side, Ranma devised a way to get to and fro.
Ukyo stared wide-eyed as he watched his father run along the wall, onto the ceiling, and down the other wall back to the other side like in that Sonic the Hedgehog game when Sonic could do that while running real fast. Truth is Ranma was using his ki to freeze the water molecules along the wall, forming a thin ice film that was temporarily holding his foot to the wall for traction. Ranma gathered the crystals at the other end, using a ki sphere to hold them, and repeated the run back to the other side, carrying the sphere full of crystals in front of him.
"Manuel, this is Ranma, I'm sending my son up, unfortunately there are two more stragglers down here I need to hunt down," Ranma powered up his transporter and sent his son up to the Burning Ship.
"One down, two to go," mumbled Ranma as he set on his task through the underground labyrinth of the old Kuno Estate.
_______________________________________________________________________
Ranma heard the large rumbling behind him, and rolled his eyes at the sight that met him. Without any large effort, Ranma stuck his finger against the large rolling boulder that aimed to crush him, causing it to shatter into gravel.
"Master Ryoga? Is that you again? Oh I do wish you would stop shattering those traps, they are quite expensive you know?"
Ranma paused at the mention of his old rival's name, then his mind realized who it was that spoke the name, "Sa-Sasuke?" By command, the midget Ninja dropped out of the shadows, managing to startle Ranma a bit. Sasuke looked a bit worse for wear. Last Ranma recalled, the Kuno family retainer kept his outfit meticulous, at the moment it was looking rather ragged. Also, though Sasuke wasn't normally clean-shaven before, his rugged beard looked like it probably housed a family of sparrows. Ranma was even more surprised that he didn't notice the ninja by his stench.
"Wow, you've gotten pretty good to sneak up on me!" Stated Ranma, a bit relieved that he now had a guide around the booby traps that was set by the booby in front of him, "say, how long have you been down here anyhow?" Ranma caught the look in Sasuke's eyes, and immediately realized, 'too long'.
"Um, I don't know, my watch broke a long time ago." Sasuke's eyes narrowed in recognition, "Ranma?"
"Yup, it's me," the pigtailed man answered, and blinked as Sasuke suddenly blurred from his vision. Ranma noted where the ninja's location was by the strong pressure he felt attached to his leg. "He, HEY! Leggo!"
"Oh! Master Ranma! Please take me out of here! It's scary and filled with big rats!" wailed Sasuke as he fought Ranma's attempts to dislodge him.
"Alright already! Just get offa me! I don't have time for this!"
"You're right, we gotta get out of here immediately before 'it' discovers your here!"
"Can't leave yet, there are two children stuck in here, and I'm not getting out of here without them being safe first."
Sasuke released Ranma's leg, and responded with a serious that unsettled Ranma with its transition from the midget's previous mood, "Children? They shouldn't be down here, it's much too dangerous!"
"Well, duh, and you're gonna help me find them if you wanna earn your ticket out of this fun house."
_______________________________________________________________________
"Say, Sasuke, how come you never just up and left this place? The Kunos probably haven't seen you in years." Ranma asked over his headset to the Ranger Ship residing Sasuke.
"[Uh, I would have liked to, Master Ranma, but 'it' doesn't like its 'peasants' to leave. Do be careful of that poison tipped spear.]"
Ranma leapt over the missile, going into the splits in the air to completely avoid it, "thanks for the warni... WHOA!" Ranma just barely leapt straight up to avoid the almost humanoid mold shaped object lined with spikes close up on him from the sides
"[Hmm, I don't recall that automated Iron Maiden positioned in that location before, must have slipped my mind.]"
"Anything ELSE that may have slipped your mind?"
"[Uh, well, you may want to be careful of the spontaneous flame throwers lined in that hall, they're extremely hazardous]"
"Alright, something I'm more comfortable with... is that gas?"
"[Of course, it wouldn't be all that hazardous if it were just the flame throwers..]"
"Oh.... CRUD!" Ranma dodged back from a jet of flame that erupted from the side of the wall, and torched the stone of the other wall, causing it to erupt into a massive barrier of fire. Ranma then back flipped over a lower stream that torched the wall almost where he had been standing, causing another wall of flame to rise forth.
Ranma stared at the corridor, an inferno contained in the gassed area, "Won't be able to go this way, I have to find another route."
"[Oh my, I don't think that would be a good idea, the alternate path is much too dangerous]"
"That's it, when I get back to the ship, you're a dead little ninja," growled Ranma, "I have no choice, I have to find the other two children, and their ca... cat. I promised Ukyo."
"[Ukyo, Master Ranma? But I thought she die...]"
A Sasuke's voice suddenly became muffled, as if someone's had came over his vocal orifice, "[Er, Ranma, you want I should come down there and help ya, I mean it's not like you need me to watch your back, but I couldn't hurt, si?]"
"I appreciate the offer, but I need you to keep him quiet for the time being, and you navigating me to any life signs that I'm closest to."
"[Si, according to the map Sasuke laid out, go back, and then go to your left, there's another route to the first life sign you were heading for.]"
Ranma turned back; carefully avoiding the areas he had already met traps in, and headed to his left. The Burning Ranger found himself understanding what Sasuke meant, as he ran the obstacle course taken right out of a Clive Barker fantasy. After much perseverance, he came upon the sound of a young boy crying. Ranma almost laughed at the predicament his rescuee was in, pinned by the back of his shirt, if it weren't for the fact that the boy was pinned by one of the poison tipped spears he had to deal with earlier.
"Once I get out of here, this place is coming down," growled Ranma over the comm. unit as he approached the young boy. "Don't cry, I'm here to save you."
The young boy stopped crying for a bit and looked up in surprise, "You're a Burning Ranger, a REAL Burning Ranger!
"Just sit tight and I'll have you out of here," with that, Ranma reached into hidden weapons space and pulled out a few energy crystals, allowing them to swirl to his gloves and activate the teleport unit, sending the young boy to the Burning Ship.
"[Good job, Ranma, you only have one more left, and she looks like she's just straight up ahead.]"
"Okay, I'm on my way," Ranma dashed forward, relieved to find no traps had been set in the path he was taken, but on a deeper level found that slightly... disturbing. His gut feelings were confirmed when he felt *something's* aura, something HUGE, pass near him. Immediately after it's passing, the tunnel started shaking.
"What was THAT," Exclaimed Ranma, slightly unnerved, "was that an Earthquake?"
"[I'm suddenly reading another life pattern near you that remained undetected until now, and it is grande!]"
"[Oh dear, I think it's found you...]" came Sasuke's concerned voice.
"WHAT found me?"
"[Mr. Green Turtle.]"
"[Que? You saying that's a giant turtle, Tipo?]
"Can't be, what ever that was is MUCH larger than Kodachi's pet alliga..." Ranma was cut off again by another quake, and barely dived forward into a large circular room as the tunnel started collapsing.
Ranma turned back around and grimaced as he saw the tunnel way back completely blocked off, "Well, so much for heading back that way..." he commented to himself, then scoped out his surroundings. The room was completely circular, with a platform sitting in the middle of a moat that was almost as large as a lake around it with a bridge leading from the closed out tunnel to the platform, with two other bridges leading to other adjacent tunnels. Ranma spotted a balcony above one of the room exits, with a little girl holding a kitten and sitting rather nervously.
Ranma put on his confident smile as he started to approach the little girl who was giving him worried looks, "You're a brave little girl, to sit tight up there until someone came to rescue you. Now if you'll just hold on I'll..." Ranma was cut off again as he felt that *huge* thing again, extremely close suddenly.
"WATCH OUT!!!" screamed the girl as a massive reptilian tail, about the side of two long school busses jutted out of the water, crashing onto the bridge and breaking it down. Ranma turned to see a massive maw, the side of a dojo crunch onto the other remaining bridge, leaving Ranma stranded on the little island.
"Tha-tha-THAT'S MR. GREEN TURTLE?!?!?" Ranma yelled incredulously as he found himself pointing and staring at a pair of slitted eyes as large as monster truck wheels glaring back at him, challenging him to make a move.
Ranma decided to dash towards the girl, getting a running jump and enough momentum to carry him at least three fourths of the distance to the girl. Before he could leap, he darted back out of the way of a tail swipe that would have sent him crashing into the far wall, and probably through it.
"Darn, I'm going to have to deal with the Gojira reject first," Grumbled Ranma, as he turned and threw a Mouku Takabisha at the monster's head. Mr. Green Turtle ducked under the water at a speed that belayed it's bulk, its swimming evoking tremors through out the room. Ranma followed the vibrations until he felt them suddenly travel off, then head back at an amazing speed, his eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.
The martial arts master leapt straight up in time to miss a flying dinosaur of an alligator jump from the water, and land back in at the other side of the round platform, and catching a bit of the spray from it's leap, changing him into her.
"I'm not going to be able to do anything before it gets me at this rate," Ranma groused, when the giant reptile repeated the same attack, without the swimming start.
Ranma let out a startled squawk as she turned and instinctively fired his pulse gun into the open mouth bearing on her, and jumped out of the way, she noted with a bit of satisfaction the alligator suddenly thrashing in the air as if in pain before landing in the water again.
Ranma's small celebration didn't last long as she was suddenly fighting to keep her balance as the whole place started shaking, and then found herself dodging falling debris. Once it stopped, Mr. Green Turtle's eyes rose out of the water, staring defiantly back at it's intended victim. Ranma refused to show any fear as she threw another Mouku Takabisha at the yellow orbs watching him. Once again the reptile ducked back into the water, and Ranma barely managed to back flip over a tail swipe that went over the whole platform.
Ranma felt the tremors of her opponent swimming away and the back, and braced herself. Once again Mr. Green Turtle launched itself from the water, aiming to swallow the Burning Ranger whole. Ranma fired a Mouku Takabisha, and her pulse gun right into the creature's mouth, causing it to thrash around in the air again before it landed in the water.
The pattern was repeated twice more, the quakes and the suicide leaps, each time Ranma getting a shot in, "I'm hurting it, but this is getting me nowhere, it's not giving me time to give it a big enough shock to it's system."
The Reptile changed tactics as it climbed halfway onto the platform, it's tail reaching around to the back, trying to catch it's intended meal from behind and snapping at it from the front. Ranma dodged easily as her grin grew wider, and her confidence grew, and grew, and grew...
_______________________________________________________________________
Sasuke and Emmanuel listened intently the battle being waged, both silently and anxiously awaiting the conclusion. Suddenly, both snapped back as a large *BOOM* came from the comm. and from all around them. The tremors were felt even in the hovering Burning Ship as the ground ruptured, and a large unconscious alligator flew out of the ground and landed on it's back dizzy.
_______________________________________________________________________
"An alligator that can control it's ki?" a now male Ranma asked incredulously, if he hadn't been there to see it...
"[Yes, I was training my dear beloved Mr. Green Turtle in it's own life force control, he is very bright you understand.]" stated a regal and more maturely poised Kodatchi.
"Yes, I can see that, even formed a battle attack plan against me," the Ranger mentioned with a bit of awe in his voice, "anyhow, I understand you will be around to pick him up?"
"[Correct, he's always listened to his mother, and I suppose the little girl's likeness to me is what kept her alive. Me and a crew will be by to take my dear long lost baby off your hands.]" Kodatchi turned towards Sasuke on the monitor before speaking, "[loyal Sasuke, we had missed you, and feared the worst when we couldn't find you. Understand that you are welcome back to the services of the Kunos whenever you like.]"
"I wasn't away I had ever left your service, mistress," replied the short ninja.
Kodatchi gave him a satisfied nod before the screen blinked her image away. Once Ranma, Sasuke, and Emmanuel were alone, Ranma turned with a stern look towards the newly reinstated Kuno family retainer, "Now, what was that you mentioned about Ryoga earlier?"
"Wrong, wrong, WRONG! End simulation," Onna-Ranma commanded, causing the holographic inferno to wink out and restore a damaged looking high-tech warehouse building into a barren grid room, "this is not an enemy you can face and anticipate. You have to act against it immediately, stop it before it can become too powerful."
"Aiyah, but that dishonorable if not fight fire fair!"
Ranma blinked a couple of times at Lei-woo Fa, before casually conjuring up a mallet and slamming her with it, "Please get it out of your heads that this an battle between you and a devious and worthy opponent. It will not hesitate to use underhanded attacks, it will show no remorse in combat, it won't respect you, but you sure will respect IT."
"Fire not honorable warrior? Then Wa Fu kill like sick dog!" exclaimed the always-overzealous Wa-Fu, as she raised her bonbori menacingly.
"Please don't interrupt me again," sighed the redheaded woman as she retrieved her second mallet from the fallen girl's face. She hated to be so brutal sometimes, but on occasion it was all Ranma could do to keep their attention. "Elder Cologne, is this payment for so long ago?" Ranma asked her rhetorical question to the ceiling.
"Elder Cologne say Sifu-Ranma train us, teach you respect."
"I wasn't looking for an answer," commented Ranma as she raised her hand to catch the mallet that she threw at T'chi Pei's head, was barely avoided, rebounded off the back wall, then off the floor, impacted with the back of it's intended target's head, and ricochet upwards and tumbled into the air, back into Ranma's awaiting grasp.
"Nice, violent, but nice!" commented an accented voice from the entryway.
"Hush, you, I still have a custom designed mallet ready for you anytime!"
"Er, that no be the one with latex padded head, oak frame, and black velvet covered handle?"
"Of course, the one designed for 'repeated' use? Comfortable on the hands, the latex end adding enough bounce to save energy for impact, not recoil."
Emmanuel slightly cold sweat at the reminder.
"Ranma, I heard you were in today, I need to discuss..." Big noticed the five other Amazons in the training room, "But I see you're rather busy so I'll just come back another time when I'm sure you're alone."
"Too late," said Ranma as Big blinked, and looked down to find a turquoise hair colored Amazon clutched to his harm.
Big rubbed his temples with his free hand, then asked in English, "Ranma, do something."
"Hey, I gave you fair warning, don't blame me!"
"Warning, when did you tell me she," Big nodded to the attempted permanent attachment to his arm, "was going to be here?"
"I dunno, Emmanuel, when did you tell Big?"
"Er, just now, tchau!" The Southern Hispanic made his departure before he could receive a surprise assignment from Big.
"I think the Burning Ship can stand an extra... four clear polymer coatings," announced the large African coldly as he tried to covertly dislodge his 'betrothed' from his arm.
Ranma shook her head before bailing her squad leader out, "T'chi Pei, are you distracted?"
The turquoise maned Amazon pouted cutely, "but I miss airen"
"But my mallet didn't miss you," Ranma calmly stated as she dragged the unconscious Amazon back to the rest of the young trainees.
"Well, I guess this introductory into Firefighting seminar is a bust, the rest of you may as retire for the day, but I expect you all to be back at the dojo practicing the arts until I return tonight. If I let you slack off, Cologne won't let me hear the end of it." The four conscious girls bowed to their elder and headed out the training room, T'chi Pei dragged by her leg.
"Well, I'm not busy now, so what did you want?" Questioned Ranma as she folded her arms over her chest.
"Just wanted to warn you, this ball we're attending, I want you to keep your eyes and ears open in case trouble happens."
"Oh, your big conspiracy theory," Ranma mocked, "It's not like I'll be enjoying myself there, may as well be work also."
"I wouldn't take this so lightly if I were you, if anything goes wrong with this, it could be a major catastrophe."
"Me rubbing elbows with snobs is a catastrophe, why can't you just get Chris Parton to cover for us, or at least have some of her squad attend."
"They're all on duty, somebody had to be, now chin up, you may enjoy yourself!" Big grinned at the scowl on the redhead's face, then left the room. Not five seconds later a loud cry of "Airen" was heard.
Ranma pointedly ignored the cries for help of her fellow Burning Ranger.
_______________________________________________________________________
"I don't get it, why is it in all these El Santo videos you have me watch with you, all the women are dating cops?" Enquired a now male Ranma, trying to find some interest point in the film he promised Emmanuel he'd watch with him in the Ranger Headquarter's entertainment room.
"They just do, now hush here's a good part!" Emmanuel jumped and winced gleefully as El Santo did a cheesy body slam to one of the Vampire Women.
"Gee, I guess that was painful," spoke Ranma in a monotone voice, not even bothering to hide the contempt for the movie.
"*Groan*, you promised you weren't gonna spoil this for me, Vato!"
"Who you calling a 'Bato', Baka? And I didn't make any promises!"
"Well, it woulda been nice if you did"
Ranma sighed as he slumped deeper into the loveseat, swearing to himself that each film he gets suckered into watching with the team's resident Hispanic seems to be longer than the last one. Come to think of it, why was he the *only* one who was always around for these 'teammate bonding' experiences? Fortunately reprieve came, but under an unfortunate distress.
"[Ranma, Nabiki needs you home, now. There's been an accident]" stated Big's voice over the intercom system. Though the message was urgent, both Emmanuel and Ranma smirked at the cooing noises being made by a certain love struck Amazon in the background.
Ranma's mirth was short lived as he finally digested what he was told...
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Ranma, still wearing his Burning Rangers uniform, was teleported from the BR Headquarters straight back to his home, meeting face to face with his slightly distraught wife.
"Ukyo, he's at the old Kuno Mansion!"
Ranma was out the door and bounding rooftop to rooftop in less time than it took for him to mutter 'heck'. The Kuno's had abandoned their old home after Sasuke had gone overboard with upgrading the traps set around the manor. The Public Health and Safety agency (at the beset of a certain anonymous Burning Ranger) inspected the household, proclaiming it, in quote, "Only a maniac would find themselves at ease in this warped atrocity of home security."
The Kunos didn't understand what the problem was, but only mildly protested being forced out of their home. Apparently they didn't like the neighborhood much since the property values had dropped so low (easily explained by the urban legend of the Nerima Wrecking Crew). Unfortunately they never got to tearing the place down, seeing as how much of it was rather... sensitive and tended to explode with the slightest intrusion.
In mere moments Ranma was leaping over the wall surrounding the old home, twisting out of the way of a swarm of poison darts that flew in his direction.
"I am really gonna pound that wannabe Ninja creep next time I see him" groused Ranma as he weaved and dodged through the gattling barrage of parilasitic needles. Ranma then leapt quickly past taser wires before an interweaving net was formed from them and barbequed the pigtailed man.
"[Ey Ranma, Big thought you might need a hand for whatever it was, so I'm here to back you, where you at?]"
"I'm at the old Kuno Mansion, apparently my son wandered into here." Ranma didn't miss the sharp intake of breath his teammate made; he understood the dire of the situation.
"[I'm dropping your pack to you, loaded with enough energy to transport 10 people, much less just your son in case you need to keep your shield up.]"
Ranma didn't have to wait as he saw the Burning Ship arrive almost immediately, and his thrust pack teleported at his feet.
Ranma put on his pack, thanking the Kami that it's teleporting didn't set off any traps, and gingerly made his way to the entrance of the main house.
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Ranma walked cautiously up to the front door, and at about 10 yards away, shot forth a small Mouku Takabisha. The Door shattered inward, not triggering any additional traps. Ranma blinked and started to stride forward to enter the mansion, when he suddenly realized he was not feeling the ground at the moment. Only a small yelp was heard as the trap door swung back up, welcome mat back in place hiding its existence.
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"[Ranma, are you there? Come in Vato!]"
"I'm fine, Manuel, don't worry about it," answered Ranma, more than peeved at himself for falling for such an obvious Sasuke created trap. "This isn't good, I have no idea where I'm at here."
"[Aye, I'll see if I can get the layout of the Mansion for you.]"
"Don't bother, you won't find them. Try to get in contact with any of the Kunos, they may have an idea of the layout."
"[Si, Just sit tight...]"
"Sorry, my son's in here, and the longer I wait, the worse off he's gonna be. That is until I get a hold of him."
Emmanuel chuckled at Ranma's mirth; even in a crisis he is good for a couple of grins, "Right, just be careful."
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Ukyo wandered the halls of the creepy dungeon place. He had wondered in to investigate the disappearance of Miyuki's kitten; after all it was a martial artist's duty to help the weak. Miyuki and Goten followed him; at least until that trap door at the front entrance slid them down two separate passageways. Now all three of them were lost in this creepy place. Ukyo's jaw tightened as his resolve firmed, he still had to protect the weak, so he'd find his friends first, find Miyuki's kitten Kage, then get out of here before any of the grownups caught them. The young man stepped forward before his ears picked up on the sound of running water, lots of running water, heading his way...
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Ranma swore {mildly, of course ;p }, if he ever got a hold of Sasuke again...
The thought was temporarily put on hold as back flipped away from a weight descending a bit faster than even gravity requested it to. Before he could land, the ground below him opened up into a lava pit. Ranma activated his pack's thrusters, allowing him to change trajectory a bit and land on where there was still floor. As soon as Ranma landed, he ducked a sickle that swung at waist length, slicing in half his pack.
"Great, this is gonna come outta my paycheck," groused Ranma as he shed the now useless dead weight.
"[Ranma, speak to me! You there still?]"
"Yeah, just lost my paraglide pack, I won't be able to hold any energy to transport anyone, I'll just have to lead Ukyo out safely."
"[Roger that, by the way, I can't locate any of the Kunos.]"
"Of course, why would I ever get a break, after all?" Ranma mumbled more to himself. The lava pit was wide and deep, but obviously the lava was shallow from how it flowed (after several rescue attempts from active volcanoes as a Burning Ranger, you tended to pick things up like that). The problem was that it was long, while the ceiling was not high enough to get a good arc for a jump across, and his soul of ice techniques could only get him so far. Ranma smirked as he heard the running water through the wall next to him, and taking the invite, threw a vacuum blade along the wall.
Ranma blinked when he heard a familiar scream flow out with the jet of water. Ranma's hands ignited with ice blue ki as he touched a portion of the water flow, creating an ice platform. Ranma jumped on it and surfed it down the water flow, lowering himself so he got more speed down. He managed to intercept the falling child before they even met the scalding steam rising, and brought his cold ki aura around him and the ice platform. As soon as the platform hit molten rock, Ranma pushed off as hard as possible to make it back up the 30 feet he had fallen.
As soon as Ranma made it to the other side, he got a good look at whom he saved, "UKYO? You are *SO* in trouble, young man!"
"Uh, hi, Dad," muttered Ukyo sheepishly.
"Save it, I gotta get you out of here somehow."
"I can't leave, pop. Miyuki and Goten are still in here too."
"WHAT?!? Haven't I told you to stay AWAY from this place?" Ranma yelled, once again the situation was getting way out of hand.
"But, but, Kage is in here and Miyuki was crying and we, we," Ukyo started tearing up, and if there was one thing Ranma hated to see more than women crying, was his own son near tears.
"Don't worry, I'll get them out too, including Kage, just promise me you'll never come here again after this is all done."
Ukyo silently nodded as Ranma thought up a way to gather some crystals. Ranma turned towards the cooling lava pit, noting the far end was still blazing hot. Ranma threw a barrage of Mouku Takabishas at that end, causing a rupture of several lava balls. Ranma used his pulse rifle on the rising molten balls, shearing off their heat energy and turning it into energy to power his teleporter. Once enough energy was amassed on the other side, Ranma devised a way to get to and fro.
Ukyo stared wide-eyed as he watched his father run along the wall, onto the ceiling, and down the other wall back to the other side like in that Sonic the Hedgehog game when Sonic could do that while running real fast. Truth is Ranma was using his ki to freeze the water molecules along the wall, forming a thin ice film that was temporarily holding his foot to the wall for traction. Ranma gathered the crystals at the other end, using a ki sphere to hold them, and repeated the run back to the other side, carrying the sphere full of crystals in front of him.
"Manuel, this is Ranma, I'm sending my son up, unfortunately there are two more stragglers down here I need to hunt down," Ranma powered up his transporter and sent his son up to the Burning Ship.
"One down, two to go," mumbled Ranma as he set on his task through the underground labyrinth of the old Kuno Estate.
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Ranma heard the large rumbling behind him, and rolled his eyes at the sight that met him. Without any large effort, Ranma stuck his finger against the large rolling boulder that aimed to crush him, causing it to shatter into gravel.
"Master Ryoga? Is that you again? Oh I do wish you would stop shattering those traps, they are quite expensive you know?"
Ranma paused at the mention of his old rival's name, then his mind realized who it was that spoke the name, "Sa-Sasuke?" By command, the midget Ninja dropped out of the shadows, managing to startle Ranma a bit. Sasuke looked a bit worse for wear. Last Ranma recalled, the Kuno family retainer kept his outfit meticulous, at the moment it was looking rather ragged. Also, though Sasuke wasn't normally clean-shaven before, his rugged beard looked like it probably housed a family of sparrows. Ranma was even more surprised that he didn't notice the ninja by his stench.
"Wow, you've gotten pretty good to sneak up on me!" Stated Ranma, a bit relieved that he now had a guide around the booby traps that was set by the booby in front of him, "say, how long have you been down here anyhow?" Ranma caught the look in Sasuke's eyes, and immediately realized, 'too long'.
"Um, I don't know, my watch broke a long time ago." Sasuke's eyes narrowed in recognition, "Ranma?"
"Yup, it's me," the pigtailed man answered, and blinked as Sasuke suddenly blurred from his vision. Ranma noted where the ninja's location was by the strong pressure he felt attached to his leg. "He, HEY! Leggo!"
"Oh! Master Ranma! Please take me out of here! It's scary and filled with big rats!" wailed Sasuke as he fought Ranma's attempts to dislodge him.
"Alright already! Just get offa me! I don't have time for this!"
"You're right, we gotta get out of here immediately before 'it' discovers your here!"
"Can't leave yet, there are two children stuck in here, and I'm not getting out of here without them being safe first."
Sasuke released Ranma's leg, and responded with a serious that unsettled Ranma with its transition from the midget's previous mood, "Children? They shouldn't be down here, it's much too dangerous!"
"Well, duh, and you're gonna help me find them if you wanna earn your ticket out of this fun house."
_______________________________________________________________________
"Say, Sasuke, how come you never just up and left this place? The Kunos probably haven't seen you in years." Ranma asked over his headset to the Ranger Ship residing Sasuke.
"[Uh, I would have liked to, Master Ranma, but 'it' doesn't like its 'peasants' to leave. Do be careful of that poison tipped spear.]"
Ranma leapt over the missile, going into the splits in the air to completely avoid it, "thanks for the warni... WHOA!" Ranma just barely leapt straight up to avoid the almost humanoid mold shaped object lined with spikes close up on him from the sides
"[Hmm, I don't recall that automated Iron Maiden positioned in that location before, must have slipped my mind.]"
"Anything ELSE that may have slipped your mind?"
"[Uh, well, you may want to be careful of the spontaneous flame throwers lined in that hall, they're extremely hazardous]"
"Alright, something I'm more comfortable with... is that gas?"
"[Of course, it wouldn't be all that hazardous if it were just the flame throwers..]"
"Oh.... CRUD!" Ranma dodged back from a jet of flame that erupted from the side of the wall, and torched the stone of the other wall, causing it to erupt into a massive barrier of fire. Ranma then back flipped over a lower stream that torched the wall almost where he had been standing, causing another wall of flame to rise forth.
Ranma stared at the corridor, an inferno contained in the gassed area, "Won't be able to go this way, I have to find another route."
"[Oh my, I don't think that would be a good idea, the alternate path is much too dangerous]"
"That's it, when I get back to the ship, you're a dead little ninja," growled Ranma, "I have no choice, I have to find the other two children, and their ca... cat. I promised Ukyo."
"[Ukyo, Master Ranma? But I thought she die...]"
A Sasuke's voice suddenly became muffled, as if someone's had came over his vocal orifice, "[Er, Ranma, you want I should come down there and help ya, I mean it's not like you need me to watch your back, but I couldn't hurt, si?]"
"I appreciate the offer, but I need you to keep him quiet for the time being, and you navigating me to any life signs that I'm closest to."
"[Si, according to the map Sasuke laid out, go back, and then go to your left, there's another route to the first life sign you were heading for.]"
Ranma turned back; carefully avoiding the areas he had already met traps in, and headed to his left. The Burning Ranger found himself understanding what Sasuke meant, as he ran the obstacle course taken right out of a Clive Barker fantasy. After much perseverance, he came upon the sound of a young boy crying. Ranma almost laughed at the predicament his rescuee was in, pinned by the back of his shirt, if it weren't for the fact that the boy was pinned by one of the poison tipped spears he had to deal with earlier.
"Once I get out of here, this place is coming down," growled Ranma over the comm. unit as he approached the young boy. "Don't cry, I'm here to save you."
The young boy stopped crying for a bit and looked up in surprise, "You're a Burning Ranger, a REAL Burning Ranger!
"Just sit tight and I'll have you out of here," with that, Ranma reached into hidden weapons space and pulled out a few energy crystals, allowing them to swirl to his gloves and activate the teleport unit, sending the young boy to the Burning Ship.
"[Good job, Ranma, you only have one more left, and she looks like she's just straight up ahead.]"
"Okay, I'm on my way," Ranma dashed forward, relieved to find no traps had been set in the path he was taken, but on a deeper level found that slightly... disturbing. His gut feelings were confirmed when he felt *something's* aura, something HUGE, pass near him. Immediately after it's passing, the tunnel started shaking.
"What was THAT," Exclaimed Ranma, slightly unnerved, "was that an Earthquake?"
"[I'm suddenly reading another life pattern near you that remained undetected until now, and it is grande!]"
"[Oh dear, I think it's found you...]" came Sasuke's concerned voice.
"WHAT found me?"
"[Mr. Green Turtle.]"
"[Que? You saying that's a giant turtle, Tipo?]
"Can't be, what ever that was is MUCH larger than Kodachi's pet alliga..." Ranma was cut off again by another quake, and barely dived forward into a large circular room as the tunnel started collapsing.
Ranma turned back around and grimaced as he saw the tunnel way back completely blocked off, "Well, so much for heading back that way..." he commented to himself, then scoped out his surroundings. The room was completely circular, with a platform sitting in the middle of a moat that was almost as large as a lake around it with a bridge leading from the closed out tunnel to the platform, with two other bridges leading to other adjacent tunnels. Ranma spotted a balcony above one of the room exits, with a little girl holding a kitten and sitting rather nervously.
Ranma put on his confident smile as he started to approach the little girl who was giving him worried looks, "You're a brave little girl, to sit tight up there until someone came to rescue you. Now if you'll just hold on I'll..." Ranma was cut off again as he felt that *huge* thing again, extremely close suddenly.
"WATCH OUT!!!" screamed the girl as a massive reptilian tail, about the side of two long school busses jutted out of the water, crashing onto the bridge and breaking it down. Ranma turned to see a massive maw, the side of a dojo crunch onto the other remaining bridge, leaving Ranma stranded on the little island.
"Tha-tha-THAT'S MR. GREEN TURTLE?!?!?" Ranma yelled incredulously as he found himself pointing and staring at a pair of slitted eyes as large as monster truck wheels glaring back at him, challenging him to make a move.
Ranma decided to dash towards the girl, getting a running jump and enough momentum to carry him at least three fourths of the distance to the girl. Before he could leap, he darted back out of the way of a tail swipe that would have sent him crashing into the far wall, and probably through it.
"Darn, I'm going to have to deal with the Gojira reject first," Grumbled Ranma, as he turned and threw a Mouku Takabisha at the monster's head. Mr. Green Turtle ducked under the water at a speed that belayed it's bulk, its swimming evoking tremors through out the room. Ranma followed the vibrations until he felt them suddenly travel off, then head back at an amazing speed, his eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.
The martial arts master leapt straight up in time to miss a flying dinosaur of an alligator jump from the water, and land back in at the other side of the round platform, and catching a bit of the spray from it's leap, changing him into her.
"I'm not going to be able to do anything before it gets me at this rate," Ranma groused, when the giant reptile repeated the same attack, without the swimming start.
Ranma let out a startled squawk as she turned and instinctively fired his pulse gun into the open mouth bearing on her, and jumped out of the way, she noted with a bit of satisfaction the alligator suddenly thrashing in the air as if in pain before landing in the water again.
Ranma's small celebration didn't last long as she was suddenly fighting to keep her balance as the whole place started shaking, and then found herself dodging falling debris. Once it stopped, Mr. Green Turtle's eyes rose out of the water, staring defiantly back at it's intended victim. Ranma refused to show any fear as she threw another Mouku Takabisha at the yellow orbs watching him. Once again the reptile ducked back into the water, and Ranma barely managed to back flip over a tail swipe that went over the whole platform.
Ranma felt the tremors of her opponent swimming away and the back, and braced herself. Once again Mr. Green Turtle launched itself from the water, aiming to swallow the Burning Ranger whole. Ranma fired a Mouku Takabisha, and her pulse gun right into the creature's mouth, causing it to thrash around in the air again before it landed in the water.
The pattern was repeated twice more, the quakes and the suicide leaps, each time Ranma getting a shot in, "I'm hurting it, but this is getting me nowhere, it's not giving me time to give it a big enough shock to it's system."
The Reptile changed tactics as it climbed halfway onto the platform, it's tail reaching around to the back, trying to catch it's intended meal from behind and snapping at it from the front. Ranma dodged easily as her grin grew wider, and her confidence grew, and grew, and grew...
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Sasuke and Emmanuel listened intently the battle being waged, both silently and anxiously awaiting the conclusion. Suddenly, both snapped back as a large *BOOM* came from the comm. and from all around them. The tremors were felt even in the hovering Burning Ship as the ground ruptured, and a large unconscious alligator flew out of the ground and landed on it's back dizzy.
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"An alligator that can control it's ki?" a now male Ranma asked incredulously, if he hadn't been there to see it...
"[Yes, I was training my dear beloved Mr. Green Turtle in it's own life force control, he is very bright you understand.]" stated a regal and more maturely poised Kodatchi.
"Yes, I can see that, even formed a battle attack plan against me," the Ranger mentioned with a bit of awe in his voice, "anyhow, I understand you will be around to pick him up?"
"[Correct, he's always listened to his mother, and I suppose the little girl's likeness to me is what kept her alive. Me and a crew will be by to take my dear long lost baby off your hands.]" Kodatchi turned towards Sasuke on the monitor before speaking, "[loyal Sasuke, we had missed you, and feared the worst when we couldn't find you. Understand that you are welcome back to the services of the Kunos whenever you like.]"
"I wasn't away I had ever left your service, mistress," replied the short ninja.
Kodatchi gave him a satisfied nod before the screen blinked her image away. Once Ranma, Sasuke, and Emmanuel were alone, Ranma turned with a stern look towards the newly reinstated Kuno family retainer, "Now, what was that you mentioned about Ryoga earlier?"