Disclaimer: This is meant for fun only so just lay back and try to enjoy this story. Otherwise how else are ya supposed to have *ANY* fun, hmmmm?
Safety Disclaimer: No stones were harmed in the production of this fanfic. Though we did lose quite a few stuntmen, oddly enough we didnt use any stuntmen......
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The rippling light coming from Mimir's Well was the first thing the two travelers noticed as they stepped into the dark bar, just noticing that the well itself was brighter then any other light source in the bar. As their eyes adjusted they could see several beings sitting at the various tables, idly looking at three beings leaning against the stone lip of the Well, staring into the complexity of eternity.
"Looks like we got here before everyone else." The more outgoing person said to his darker then shadow companion as they walked over to the Well.
As they got closer the beings around the well looked up, just noticing them for the first time. Their eyes first locked on the man, 5' 7" in height he sported a small black ponytail that almost blended in too well with his Khaki trenchcoat, then their eyes moved to the sword and gun holstered on either side of his belt over the bushman body armor.
He extended his hand toward Great Fox along with a pleasant smile. "Howdy, names Lone Wolf." He shook hands with Great Fox before motioning to the man beside him. "And this here's my friend Rem Chaos."
"Chaos!?" One of the drunken gods slurred from a nearby table.
A form seemingly made out of shadows greated their gaze, the only noticeable part of his body being the pale face, his eyes couldnt be seen though nothing appeared to be covering them. "Greetings." He looked over their shoulders at the pool. His lips quirked upwards in a small smile as he continued to stare at the timelines appearing and disappearing within the Well.
Wolf continued. "Were here to enter the Second Bet, if'n its alright with all'ya here."
"Its not *hickup*..right with me!" Bellowed the god as he suddenly grabbed Rem and whirled him around to face him. "Im...*hickup* the God of Order...*hickup* and we dont need..n-no chaos around here."
Rem stared at the god, his face breaking out in a cruel smile that showed lots of pointy teeth. His dark body rippled for a moment before settling on a outfit similiar to his friends, with the addition of several more guns. "My friends call me Rem Chaos, but you...you can call me Q." Within a second his eyes developed deep red iris's as jagged blades grew out from his shoulders and arms, behind him Wolf tensed with his hands poised over his weapons.
The God of Order high tailed it for the bathroom. A few moments later the sounds of violent wretching could be heard.
After all the introductions had been made Lone and Rem stared into the well, silently confering amongst themselves, then reaching a decision they each took out a different stone and made to throw them.
Rem started pointing at various parts shown by the well. "Off Genma's head before he throws Ranma into the pit, around the galactic black hole, through those universes, past Akane's cooking. Nothing but chance." He
smiled victoriously at Lone Wolf.
Lone looked over the timelines for a moment before reponding. "Alright. Into this universe, off the nuetron star, through that alien mothership, off Ataru's head and through his favorite pin-up poster. Nothing but luck."
Throwing their stones at the same time the gods around them all looked to see what would happen. Just at that time the god of Order came out of the bathroom.
From out of the well a scream could be simultaneously heard from both Genma and Ataru.
From out of nowhere Bastet appeared with a camcorder in hand to record Genma falling into the pit of cats while somehow managing to flail his arms about, coincidentally throwing Ranma to safety, before gravity
exerted its will. Beside that image appeared one of Ataru as he rubbed his head and looked about to see what had hit him only to find a rather large hole in his favorite pin-up poster and the wall behind it. If anything he managed to scream louder then Genma.
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Claudis struggled to stand, before him the demon had only taken a few hits that had inflicted relatively minor damage. Around them the unconscious bodies of the other Thundercats decorated the barren landscape.
Directly behind the demon stood the remains of the small farming town that the newly awakened demon had destroyed. From within some of the crumbled buildings the sounds of the wounded and dying could be heard.
And through one of the windows the face of a small child could just be seen.
Claudis held his sword before him, waiting for an opening to strike. During the first battle with the demon it had used its armored arms to protect its soft chest and belly while anyone seeking to harm/kill it had been struck down with one of its many different elemental attacks.
"GIVE UP THUNDERCAT! NONE OF YOUR COMERADES COULD HARM ME, AND THAT PITIFUL SWORD OF YOURS HAS FAILED TO EVEN SCRATCH ME. IF YOU SURRENDER I PROMISE TO MAKE YOUR DEATH, AND YOUR FRIENDS DEATH'S, PAINLESS."
Claudis could see Jagey-o coming to behind the demon.
"Never demon. I would have to be a fool to be afraid of you since it is you who is afraid of me!"
The demon rose from its half crouch, nearly doubling its height as it raored at the Thundercat. "WHAT!?!"
"AAAHHH!!!" Claudis charged the demon that once again fell into its defensive half crouch but before it could begin to defend itself the other thundercat suddenly leaped on its back. Giving Claudis the distraction he needed. WHile the demon batted fuitily at Jagey-o, Claudis lunged at the demons soft midsection to thrust the sword into the demons heart.
"NNNNOOOOO!!!!" Jumping to its full height the demon managed to puch away Claudis while somehow leaving the sword imbedded in its heart. The action also threw Jagey-o to the ground where the demon finally got a glimpse of its assailent.
"Y-Y-YOU!....." Staggering it fell beside the unconscious Thundercat, with one clawed hand it grabbed the thundercats neck. "I-ILL, T-T..AKE......YO..U......WITH...ME!" The demon suddenly began to glow as both it and the thundercat screamed in pain before they both lay on the ground, lifeless.
The demons corpse had disintegrated, its body turning to sand that was blown away by a sudden gust of wind. The other Thundercats clustered around their fallen comerade.
"I cant find any pulse, Im afraid he's dead."
"But it didnt physically kill him, look at his neck. Its not broken! Isnt there something we can do!?"
Claudis put his hand on the young boys shoulder and gently pulled him away from the body. Waving the other Thundercats away he pulled the Sword of Omens from its holder and held it before his eyes. "Sword of
Omens, give me site beyond site! Let me see if my friend is truly dead."
The swords eye glowed hotly as CLaudis's eyes stared on, enhanced by the swords power until he could see into realms no mortal eye was meant to see. Atlast, with sweat pouring from his forehead he put the sword
away and shook his head. The Thundercats and the surviving villagers gathered around the body for a moment of peace. Within the group small boy going by the name Lynxo stared hard at the body, burning the image into his mind.
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A moments struggle to keep conscious ended as his world became one of unending pain, each nerve in his body screaming out in agony. It felt like it had gone on foreever while his every attempt to stop the pain and
or get away had failed as his body had failed to respond. Then......
Then nothing, absolutely nothing. All sensation had been lost, from touch and smell to taste and hearing....and finally, though worst of all...sight. For some unknown span of time he existed like that until all thoughts as to his identity and past left his mind as the void that was now his existence overcame his fragile mind. Second by second he relived his life beginning from the moment he died then going backwards, unliving each and every moment as those memories faded away to nothing but pinpricks within his mind to taunt him of what might have been, second became hours that turned into days and then weeks then months and years. Everytime he could tear himself away from the memory dissolving before his minds eye to ponder why they were being lost in such a fashion something else would interfere and distract him long enough for the thought to slip his mind like so much else.
When his consciousness had faded away to nothing all that was left behind were the primal instincts, yet without understanding the creature, the entity that was Jagey-o, sought to strike out at its prison, furiously
beating at the unseen walls around it with all the power anf fury it could wield. And yet its roars of defience and hatred would never be heard by any organic beings, despite that its struggle against its invisible bonds continued as it drifted further through the folds of space and time.
Then...one day after a painful impact from some unknown source....HE WAS FREE! He felt a weakness near him and leaped for it as fast as he could. The weakness proved to have some resistance but a casual flick of
the claws removed the impediment and allowed him to leave his prison.
But something was wrong, his senses had been dulled, his claws no longer there, in their place were small delicate fingers that were bleeding from several cuts. Sniffing he caught the scent of his new enemies and with a hiss he was on them, through them and out of the pit.
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~Years later. June 3, 1987 Nerima, Japan
Sleep. The final frontier, atleast for this period for one student named Ranma Saotome. He slept like a log, and around his head were the awards to prove it as everything from chalkboard erasers to pens, compass's.
notebooks and finally some rather heavy books on probability theory had been thrown at him in an attempt to wake him. Every tactic had been used. All had failed. Behind him several students had been nailed by such objects and were now out cold.
"....MAGIC!"
"Huh? Wha...."
Maybe not ALL of them
Hinako had to resist the impulse to smile, instead she read out from the book about King Arthurs court, making sure to highlight the parts about Merlin and his suposed abilities. Amazingly enough it actually kept Ranma awake, though the vacant stare was beginning to scare her a bit. Maybe she should just drain his chi and get it over with?
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The school bell rang, signaling the begining of the lunch period. Immediately students poured out from the doors of the school, intent on enjoying their meals in the good weather that seldom came to Nerima. Behind them Ranma walked out of the school with his bento in hand, stumbling slightly and cursing under his breath for letting Hinako get the drop on him.
Under the shade of a reasonably healthy tree he began the tedious task of trying to feed himself, around him some of the students looked at him with sympathy but took it in stride just thankful that it wasnt them that
had gotten on Hinako's bad side. All in all it was an amazinely peaceful day.
"What a haul! What a haul!" The cry came from Bill Gates as he ran out of the school with a sackful of money, I tell a lie, it was actually Happosie with a sackful of lady's underwear. Said pervert was presently being chased by a mob of girls from each and every part of the school, even the girls that were part of the Chemistry Club as was seen from the explosions caused by the small vials they threw at the little pervert.
Ranma took one look at the mob and rolled his eyes upward. "Great, whats next!?"
Focusing on the study guide in front of him instead of the fight occuring not more then ten feet away he heard the overly familiar 'How sweet!' by Happosai, which was then followed by the combined indignant cries of
almost every female student, which was then followed by a taunt from Happosie, and that was answered with some random object thrown by one of the girls that managed to hit and disorient the aged pervert long enough
for Hinako to join in. At this point Ranma looked up from the study guide to see that Hinako was again a little girl and managed to see her use her usual Happo-gen move on Happosie. After that the girls beat on him for a while before finnaly batting him into LEO
All in all it was turning out to be a rather peaceful day. Ranma read a few more pages before idly reaching over to snag a piece of food.
Now if only the food would stop moving!
"Dont eat me!"
Blinking several times he looked down at what he had thought was a porkbun to discover Happosie's head. He gave a short scream before throwing the old pervert away. Unfortunately Happosie managed to land right on top of Ranma's study guide. As he proceded to dust himself off he looked down at the flimsy bookelt while Ranma tried not to be violently ill at what had too nearly happened.
"Whats this? So, boy, your learning about Arthur are ya. That punk had no appreciation for the finer things in life. And Merlin! If I ever find that damm wizard Ill...!"
Ranma inturrupted with a raised eyebrow. "You 'knew' Merlin?"
Happosie seemed to come out of his little flashback to notice Ranma's skectical look. "Eeeh? Sort of, damm punk. He ALWAYS ruined my fun!"
Ranma continued to listen to Happsoai rant on, catching the occasional words like "magic" and "shape change" among others that immediately perked his interest. Slowly, ever so slowly an idea began to form, amidst the failed attempts at an easy cure this one felt like it had a chance.
Overhead clouds began to gather, ruining the good weather and setting a more ominous mood.
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~August 3, 1987
Leaping from his bedroom window to the stone wall encircling the Tendo homes house as silently as possible he made the short jump to the ground before running off as fast as possible for the outskirts of Nerima.
Already he could feel his danger sense going off like mad, alerting him that someone was in the area that either wanted to date him or kill him and right now both were threats to his continued survival and, more importantly, to the plans survival. He ducked down a few smaller then average alleys, through several sections of apartment housing that had been destroyed several days ago. Along the way he made sure to miss all the even street lights while running directly under all the odd street lights to confuse anyone that might be following him.
Suddenly he heard a crash behind him, like someone hitting a trashcan. He ran harder now, driving down the impulse to take to the roofs for fear of who or what it might be. His heart was hammering in his chest, around
him the sudden darkness of Nerima's outskrits felt like it was full of eyes, eyes that were watching him do everything he could to get away if just for a little while. Hiding behind a copse of trees he looked back at where the road ended in a ragged jumble of concrete, gravel and dirt.
Waiting anxiously for the first sign that someone had been following him, looking for a shadow, a blur of movement to suddenly dart forth from inside Nerima to get him and drag him back kicking and screaming before he could get his cure!
After several minutes of silent watching he sighed in relief before reaching into his pack to pull out the Nan-Ban mirror. After making sure the mirror hadnt been damaged by his hasty exit he reached back and fumbled around for the onion he had brought along. Rubbing said onion in his eye he spoke the words he had carefully thought out.
"Take me to Merlin when he was alive and at the peak of his power."
The flash of light was blinding in its intensity and proximity, as before all he could do was try to close his eyes against the painfully bright light and wait for it to end as everything around him changed and shifted from the Present to some unknown point in the Past.
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~England
Merlin stepped out of the portal into dusk with the sun just setting before a ragged line of darkening clouds overhead. In one hand he held the sword Excalibur while he pondered the site of his return tomake sure that everything was as it should have been, behind him the portal coninued to emit a small bluish light from within the confines of its space warping geometry.
Off in the distance Ranma flashed into being. With a wild eyed look he spied Merlin and started running toward him, the mirror in his hands began to emit a very soft glow of its own that continue to brighten as
Ranma got closer to the person he sought. For some reason Ranma couldnt understand as he got closer to Merlin the bluish circle would come between them and hide the man from his sight. It wasnt until he got
closer that he realized that the portal was actually heading toward him.
A bright flash of lightning drew Merlins attention back to the portal he had used and with a disgusted sigh at his own failing memory he closed the portal before anyone could be harmed, not once did he bother to look
inside the portal, or wonder why it had semed to be moving very slowly away from him.
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"NONONONO! DAMMIT NNNOOO!!" He'd been so close, so very close! But like every other opportunity something had to happen.
The corridor of the portal lay before him, the end that had swallowed him was gone and quite some distance down the tunnel he could distinguish a bright speck of light amongst the pail blue walls of the tunnel. As he
stared at the point of light he saw that is was steadily getting larger, or closer, as he tumbled toward it.
Kicking at the closest side of the tunel he tried to stop his motion but only succeded in making himself spin and lose all orientation in the strange place. In his hands the mirror's glow turned from soft white to dark red, its frame soon taking on that color before Ranma realized what was happening and threw it away in reflex.
"SHIT!" He cried out as the mirror tumbled away from him, its deep red glow brightening for a moment before the mirror was gone. With a sickening lurch felt in his stomach the point of light ahead of him suddenly increased in size and intensity.
"WHAT NOW?!" He managed to scream out as the point of light engulfed him.
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~August 4, 1987
The following day in Nerima, after Ranma's night departure, saw several students walking along a shortcut to the school on the fine summer day. Overhead the birds were singing and for once the sounds of major
fighting could not be heard. It was one of those very rare peaceful moments.
One of the students noticed something sparkiling in a ditch and on a impulse he reached out and withdrew a mirror. Besides the few cracks it was brand new and the frame looked like it had been replaced the day before.
"I can use this for art class."
With a smile on his face Makoto put the mirror into his pack and resumed walking toward school.
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~August 4, year unknown. Third Earth.
Sunlight filtered through lush green leaves sparkled before his eyes. With a groan Ranma managed to sit up, noticing as he did so that he had been laying in a circle of burned grass. At the same time he noticed that his clothes had become slightly singed, in most places disintegrating into powder, leaving behind small holes.
The first few minutes were spent making sure that nothing else had happened to him, no serious injuries, nothing missing or somehow being added. Then with a barely audible grunt he stood up and looking up at
the sun started down one of the few paths open through the forest that offered the least resistance and hopefully leading to civilization. In one hand he held the ragged tatters of his backpack and those belongings
that had somehow survived.
The trail ended before the forest did, forcing him to go through the thick foliage. Some way through the thick forest growth he found a small statue, after that many more and signs of buildings that had decayed long ago, some of these signs were nothing more then slightly raised stone foundations while others took the form of small stepped pyramids with cracks and vines running up and through each and every stone of the structure. Other structures MUCH more advanced as they were covered in what appeared to have been domes of clear plastic, then there were the smaller structures arrayed around these buildings that he couldnt even try to figure out.
For an hour he searched further into the ruins, hoping to find SOME people about but as he searched more and more of the delapidated buildings he hope quietly died at the prospect of finding ANYONE, especially a human still alive in this place, and, a small portion of his mind taunted back, even if they are human they must be savages to let a city like this go to ruin. But with his supplies gone and all the plants of this forest so alien to his eyes his only hope lay in finding some help else he would have to test each and every plant he found all the while hoping that he hadnt eaten some sort of super poison.
At the end of his search he came to a beach which had what appeared to be the remains of some monument on it, though he wasnt too sure it looked like a giant green metal head and hand holding what appeared to be a
torch was the only part that survived. Upon seeing it he knew he'd seen it before but for the life of him he couldnt dredge up the memory, only a wierd feeling.
"Why do I have the sudden urge to say: 'Damm you dirty apes!' ?" Ranma asked no one in particular.
Shrugging his shoulders he went back into the forest to get out of the oppressive summer heat.
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~Mirimers Well
Lone Wolf looked at the image of the arm and torch bearing hand of the statue of liberty with wide eyes.
Great Fox looked at everyone around the Well with an angry expression. "Alright! Who put those there?"
Rem was the only diety acting differently as he had his head turned away from the Well while whistling to himself and tossing some object into the air. Lone chuckled at the display while Great Fox glared at him and
Tolitair tried to pull the miniturized statue away from him.
"It was a joke, ah dont do that!" Pulling simultaneously both entities managed to dislodge the small statue and drop it into the Well.
Rem. "Where'd it go?"
Lone Wolf stared at his companion for a moment before replying. "Not in our entry,....."
"Whew."
".......it landed in the Skysaber timeline."
Rem gulped loudly as the clouds of impending doom gathered over his head.
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~August 4th, Third Earth
He was surounded, no matter where he turned there would be more enemies for him to fight through, and yet the longer he watched the closer they got.
With a lunge Lion-O forced one of his attackers back with is sword as he fought for more space to fight in. But that wouldnt be enough, not with thirty enemies about and their unknown weapons. Knowing enough
not to just ask them what they were trying to do to him he just kept fighting for space. The first oppenent he had leveled with the flat side of his blade got up while he was leveling another attacker to reach around and lock his mechanical/organic arms around lion-O's neck. With a twisting motion he threw Lion-O to the ground with such force that the thundercat leader slid several feet through the tall grass until another attacker gave him a kick in the ribs to arrest his motion.
Getting up he eyed that first attacker again, somewhat aware of the others pressing close behind him he saw his only chance and ran at the creature, again it got a hold of his neck and sent him skidding across the ground but added to Lion-O's running speed to begin with he was thrown/slid clear of all the attackers.
"I need help, otherwise....Thunder! Thunder! Thunder! Thundercats ho!" SMirking at his attackers he brought the sword down to point it at them. "Lets see how you fight with more evened odds."
"We fight quite well, especially with the right bait." A cold emotionless voice said from behind the thundercat.
Before Lion-O could make any sense of that statement everything around him suddenly faded into the perpetual darkness of unconsciousness.
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"Damm thorns!" Ranma exclaimed as he tried to swat away the offending bush while only succeding in entangling one of his arms into the strong vines which the thorns sprouted from. His clothes, already torn
and full of holes from his trip through the strange portal, were now hanging off him in tatters, underneath the skin that hadnt been lightly burned by the the same portal now sported lots of small cuts and scrapes from some of the planets least forgettable plant life. Yet despite the thorns and the small annoying animals that kept trying to grab or bite the tatters of his backpack he still managed to pull through the last of the bushes onto the bare earth path beyond.
Taking a random direction he started walking. Despite the place's inate beauty he'd grown quite weary of it when some of the plants and animals had sought to either trap him and or take little bites out of him. He
hoped the road would lead to someplace more civilized then this, but given the way the cuts from those thorn vines were starting to itch like mad he'd be content just staying on the road for several hours. Odd though, if the plants werent going after his clothes half as much as they were going for him then he wouldnt mind so much, it'd almost be like fighting those dishes Akane cooked back in Nerima, well......atleast the ones that couldnt talk of taking over the world. Giving himself a mental shake followed by several slaps to the face he stopped that line of thought.
"Great, now Im reminiscing about Akane's cooking, brrrrr." At about that same time in Nerima a tomboy sneezed.
All he knew for sure at the moment was that he was totally alone and for every thing he knew, which was admittedly small in some respects, he may be the only human being on this Earth. Instead of mulling over that
point he instead increased his pace along the dirt road until coming to a clear path overgrown with grass but still showing signs of being kept clear by whoever used it.
Up ahead he heard a commotion coming toward him. Looking about at all of the thorn bushes lining the path he jumped up into one of the trees, all the while hoping it wouldnt try to eat him like everything else.
After a few moments he heard some shouting before several figures appeared below his hiding spot. One of them appeared to be a monkey? With a length of rope leading from one of its hands to several
people/creatures that were bound and gagged where it was tied to the collars around their necks. From beyond his veiwing angle Ranma heard a voice.
"Monkeyin you idiot! Just look at these slaves, barely any of them are fit to walk let along work!"
The monkey looked back the way he had come and started hollering back. "Ooh, ooh if you....hadnt scared off the others from the traps Vultureman set up we wouldnt have had to catch any at all!!!"
Suddenly the branch he had been sitting on disintegrated into a hail of splinters as Ranma fell to the ground. Waving away the annying fragments of wood he looked for whoever had fired at him. Their....beyond the last
slave, grinning.....looking......LIKE A CAT!
"You see Monkeyin? This is how you catch slaves, just give them good enough reason to fear you and they'll do anything!"
"Oooh, ooh, whats he saying?"
"Who cares! Lets just catch him."
By now Ranma had stopped jibbering in fear, he had also stopped standing on two legs, instead opting for going on all fours with a hiss at Jackelman as he brought out a net. A mouse, when cornered will fight for its very survival, but in this case the personality of the Neko-ken wasnt too worried about survival. In a wway it could gauge the power of whoever it faced and the two stinking creatures in front of it didnt rate very highly at all.
The battle, if one could call it that despite how brief it was, was also incredibly violent as Neko-Ranma chased Monkeyin and Jackelman like a pair of mice around the bewildered slaves. With a quick slash of his claws both mutants weapons became little peices of scrap along with some of their body armor. Several more slashes shaved Jackelmans head completely bald while Monkeyin got several lone lines of fur shaved away
from his back. after about half an hour of screams, cursing, escaping slaves, and....shaving, Neko-Ranma got tired of the game and let them run off......unfortunately they ran off the edge of a local bottomless pit.
Neko-Ranma paused long enough to collect his burned packpack in his mouth before running off on all fours.
Further down the path Neko-Ranma took a side path upon smelling food. It was about at that same time that he was hit with some cold water from above. The now female Ranma looked around dazedly at her surroundings, spitting out her burned backpack Ranma-chan stood upand looked around again, wondering what wierd thing had spit water on her. Seeing nothing that looked like the culprit she started walking while keeping her wits about her.
A second later Ranma-chan was hit with some VERY hot water, that caused the now male Ranma to look around in confusion for a second before he heard something moving around in the tree above him.
Up in the trees several Amazons scouts started arguing on how not to waste water by tripping and splashing their comerades.
Muttering darkly to himself Ranma ran from that spot, not wanting to find out what was throwing water at him, in doing so he totally missed the signs of habitation among the trees he passed under, or the several Amazons that were now arguing with eachother over who would follow this stranger and make sure he left their territory.
A bright flash in the sky caught everyones attention as they looked up to see the Thundercat symbol high in the sky. Below the Amazons a confused martial artist for reasons unknown started running toward the source
of the signal, fearing that he would be too late but at the same time unable to understand why he was feeling afraid. Unbeknownst to him his normally blue eyes briefly glowed yellow as he started out.
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The trap had been sprun under perfect conditions, better then the captain had ever expected to occur. Watching his men round up the other thundercats and place them in the specialy created holding area he felt
a pang of regret at not being able to test any of the other weapons that had been brought along for other contingencies. It was odd though, he had a feeling that he was mising something but he couldnt quite put his
finger on it. He knew that all of the thundercats had been accounted for, as well as their snarf. He frowned deeper as he checked the display console built into his arm bracer to confirm that all of the sound dampeners that had been installed around the clearing were still working. Odd......
"Captain, sir! The Thundercats have all been rounded up."
"And their weapons?"
"All accounted for sir!"
The captain smiled at the eagerness of his second in command. When they sold those Thundercats to the buyers he along with his entire crew would be wealthy enough to retire for life and then some. Looking at the
Sword of Omens in the cargo crate along with the rest of the Thundercat weapons his eyes filled with greed. One of the other buyers that had contacted him as he was entering the planets atmosphere promised to pay a
very large sum for just that sword. But first things first.
"Tell the men to prepare to pull out. Load everything else besides the thundranium ray and the portable generator into the ship, check everything before stowing it away. Do you understand me?"
His second in command saluted with a 'Sir, yes sir!' before leaving him to his own thoughts. Immediately the other men who had until now been standing easy now went into a flurry of activity as they hastily moved all the equipement back into the ship.
Moving amid the procession of men and equipement he walked to the edge of the Thundercat confinement area. Inside the area those Thundercats that were still conscious struggled to crawlout from under the field of
fire from the thundranium ray, to stop them from doing so a clear translucent dome of heavy had been put over them, several holes had been drilled into the top of the dome to allow the air to circulate inside as it simply wouldnt do for any of them to die.
Until after they were sold of course.
"Must....get......"
The captain looked down to see the leader of the thundercats trying to crawl his way out from under the rays area of fire.
"I wouldnt bother if I were you, but luckily Im not you. Hehe, you'll have more success catching some sleep until your sold to one of the buyers. Now, now, glaring at me wont help you anymore then crawling along the dirty ground was. Given how perfect this trap was set up there wont be any help coming from anyone..."
"Sir!"
The captain turned around to see his second in command. "All of the equipement has been checked and stowed away, shall we move the thundercats now?"
"Your sure you checked everything? I was expecting you to take another hour or two before finishing with all of the equipement. I hope this doesnt mean that some of the men shirked their orders in order to get off
this primitive planet." He added with a bit of malice, accordingly his second in command paled in rememberence of what the captain had done to those men who didnt perform up to his expectations.
"N-No sir. Im sure they did everything by the book."
"For your sake you had better be right, otherwise...." He left the sentence uncompleted as it made all those he used it on think of all the horrible things he could do to them. The long voyage to this world had given him ample opportunity to enforce discipline upon his crew. But for now he felt too euphoric. Nothing could ruin his good mood, nothing.
"HIYA!"
The captain turned around to see a black and red blur cut a swath through his men before running over to the transparent dome. Before his startled eyes the red and black blur resolved into a young man that then punched the dome so many times that his hands and arms became a blur to his eyes. Within moments one side of the dome had been shattered and he was off with two of the thundercats, one under each arm.
"GET HIM!"
Three of his less experiencced men jumped on the young man in an attempt to overpower him long enough for others to help them subdue him. Unfortunately the young man managed to kick the front two away with his
legs while still keeping hold of the two Thundercats, the third man got behind him long enough to wrap his hands around the young mans throat. With a grunt the young man snapped his head back to break the nose of the third man, sending him sprawling into the Thundranium Ray.
"NO!"
But it was already too late, the ray swiveled until it was focused on the young man who didnt show any effect but the captains real attention was focused on the other thundercats under the dome who were beginning to get their strength back.
"YOU FOOLS! GET THE WEAPONS OR ILL SKIN YOUR HIDES!" The captain roared out over the din of chaos. At that moment several more thundercats joined the fray to knock out more of his men before heading for his ship.
Before hed had months to plan this trap while his moles dug up every bit of information related to Thundercat biology and tactics to give him the knowledge needed to exploit every one of their weaknesses and then some.
The sound dampeners in the forest were to make sure that no passers by would hear the sound of battle, while the Thundranium Ray which had cost him a small fortune to acquire was used on each and every Thundercat
to render them too weak to fight back as his men disarmed them. Lookingback from the terrible battle where his men were being pulverised he saw the Thundranium Ray begin to smoke and throw off small electrical
bolts every second or two from its focusing electronics. Twitching slightly it was all the captain could do as the valuable, and highly expensive, weapon blew up. Consequently the power cable leading from the smkong remains of the Thundranium Ray also began to smoke before vaporizing in a flash and cloud of smoke, a second later the auxilary power generator from his ship which was being used to power the weapon also blew up.
"Jus......jus..like Gamora 7......AAAAAHHHHH!!!!" The captain ran into the middle of the fight where the young man continued to pummel at his crew while carrying the two thundercats under his arms. Knocking aside two of his own crew he reached out for the throat of the young man.
Ranma grimaced as he hit another man with his knee, for once he wished he could hit them somewhere that wasnt covered with metal plating. From his left he saw a strange looking man charge him, about the same time he felt the two people he was carrying start to come around. Smirking he jumped ontop of the mans head before leaping the rest of the way to the edge of the forest away from the battle.
The captain, seeing his quary getting away was about to give chase until he heard something....something very familiar yet he couldnt quite place it. It almost sounded like metal being torn up....where was it coming
from.
From out of the mercenary ships cargo hold something exploded out amid a hail of metallic shards, that revealed itself as the Thundertank as the protective cover over the drivers side came down and the back bay opened up to admit several more Thundercats. Within moments all of his men were running away in fear from the tanks laser cannons.
The captain fell to his knees with a strangled cry, looking at his ship, or rather the big hole in what was supposed to be the seamless skin of one wall of the storage bay while ignoring everything else around him.
"M-My ship.............my.....beautiful..........ship....." For a moment the Thundertank crossed his field of vision while it chased half his crew around the forest clearing. After a few moments the captains second in command approached him.
"Sir, what should we do?" The second waited a moment, when the captain didnt speak he gave the captain a little nudge. The captain fell over, when his head hit the ground he started saying the word 'ship' over and
over again.
Across the clearing the two thundercats that Ranma had saved were coming to, the sight that greeted them upon regaining conscience was Ranma fighting off several men at once. After several punches to the face
one of the men was knocked out of the fight but the other two just just jumped him. With several high powered kicks both attackers were sent to the ground some distance away allowing Ranma to turn around and look at the two thundercats he had saved. Hmmm, they were female and one of them was turning red so maybe she was getting sick? Then he looked closer and saw their eyes, then he noticed their unusual ears and a certain fear began to work its way through his mind.
Both Cheetarah and Pumyra got puzzled when he siezed upon looking at them. They were equally surprised to see him blur and disappear leaving behind a trail of dust.
"Cheetarah, Pumyra! Are you alright?"
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Mum-Ra stood before his pool of bubbling stuff, for a moment wondering for the first time what was actually in it but quickly disregarding the question as immaterial as he was a villian.....and because he was afraid to ask the ancient spirits of evil. The last time he'd asked them a question they turned him into a disgustingly cute creature and made him tend to some fields of growing candy, he/it still shuddered at those memories.
To distract his mind he bade the pool of......stuff......to show him some part of the world, particularly something that would interest him. After a few minutes of switching from different views of the planet, from the deepest part of the planets ocean to its highest peak the pool stopped on the image of a young man running through some forest.
"Whats this?"
Before he could will the view to change he saw something overshadow the mans body for a brief second, too short for him to catch any details but within another moment the ghostly apparition appeared again allowing Mum-Ra to see it clearly. His eyes widened at the faint image of a Thundercat appeared quite distinctly.
"Curious. Though I may be able to find a use for this creature. Hehehehe!"
When he called forth the power from the Ancient Spirits he didnt notice the statues smile, besides they couldnt smile, so it must have been a trick of the shadows.
-------------------------------------
"*pant* Heh....*pant*...heh....I made it, no....*pant.....c-c-c-c..creatures here!" He leaned over to catch his breath better, for some reason he felt quite a bit weaker then he should have been, though he had managed to run for atleast a half hour, possibly more. The clearing looked safe to rest in for a while. Thats when a shadow dscended over him. Ranma looked up and blanched at the site that greeted his eyes. "Great, another old mummy."
For the first time in his life Mum-Ra facefaulted, a condition wholly unique but that didnt stop him from getting back up and assuming the villians pose in an act of bravado. "Fool! Do you think petty insults will defeat Mum-Ra the everliving?" Without waiting for an answer he struck out with a magical blast that destroyed the ground Ranma was standing on. As the smoke cleared there was no sign left of the martial artist.
The sound of knuckles being cracked one by one got Mum-Ra's attention as he looked up to see Ranma crouching on his head with a grin on his face.
"Bring it on!"
-------------------------------------
Pumyra shook her head slightly from side to side before trying to get up. "Were fine Lion-O. Just a bit dizzy. Who was that?" Standing strait she had to lean against the tree til the planet stopped spinning around her.
Cheetarah joined Pumyra a second later and pointed towards the trial of dust that was quickly dissapating before their eyes.
Tygra frowned slightly. "I dont know, did he hurt you?"
Cheetarah shook her head and tried to hide her blush. "No. But I have a feeling that we should find him before anything happens."
With some help from Lynxo and Tygra, Cheetarah and Pumyra managed to climb into the back of the Thundertank.
Within moments all of them were aboard the Thundertank and speeding off without a backward glance at the beaten/mauled crew of the ship or that crews captain.
After a few minutes the captain got up and started looking around with a crazed look in his eyes. "Yes.....yes.....first Ill find that little pest......THEN ILL HAVE MY REVENGE! AHAHAHAHA!!!" The crew, insensate for the most part could only groan at what lay ahead.
-----------------------------------
The Thundetank rumbled through the forest as it knocked down everything in its path. Trees that had taken centuries to grow to something approaching ther full height were reduced to piles of wood chips in seconds.
"Blast it! How are we supposed to find him in this?"
Lion-O. "Well just have to keep a look out."
Wilykit and Willykat leaned over to either side of Lion-O. "We can search for him on the hover boards! We could look ahead and radio back what we find."
Panthero punched several buttons and frowned at the data that came up. "You better check those boards. Those raiders back their damaged one of the Thundertanks treads, theres no telling what else they might have damaged until we get back to Cats L..."
Before Panthero could finish Willykit and Willykat sped ahead of the Thundertank yelling back 'They seem to work fine to us' before disappearing above the thick jungle canopy.
No sooner had they gotten above tree level then Willykat turned to Willykit. "How are we supposed to know where to look?"
Willykit smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I dont know, just look for a sign I guess."
Suddenly in the distance a great tornado sprang into existence, within it they could almost see something getting tossed about before being shot off toward the horizon. Seeing this the two quickly radiod the Thundertank before charging ahead.
---------------------------------
Many, many miles away Mum-Ra landed with a wet splat upon his own pyramid, creating a impression several inches deep. What strength he could have spared to promise eternal pain upon Ranma was taken up when a errant gust of wind dislodged him from his landing spot and caused him to tumble all the way from the tip of his pyramid to some primitive ruins below with another wet splat.
---------------------------------
The entities assembled around the Well looked at Lone Wolf and Rem with a questioning glance. Rem smiled and nodded his head toward Lone Wolf.
Lone Wolf responded with an upraised hand. "Its all in the wrist." He said with a jubilent smile before looking from the assembled entities to the image in the Well.
---------------------------------
~Cats Lair, Infirmery
Pumyra as one of the more recovered Thundercats tended to the strangers wounds while he slept, or atleast she would have been if certain other thoughts hadnt inturrupted her minstrations. Most of these thoughts
concerned how she saw him fight off those pirates to save her and Cheetarah, true the other Thundercats would have done the same but it was rare that another person of yet another species should actually try to help them out in such a situation. And then, there was something else. The way he had moved during the fight had been so familiar but she couldnt quite see why it should.
Then there was the obvious fact that her 'patient' wasnt wearing much of anything, just enough to be modest, if you were planning to swim that is. The shirt, or atleast she thought it had been a shirt, was a total write off, as were the pants though something of those might be salvaged but she didnt know what thread it was made of. Pushing these thoughts aside she took a damp rag and began to clean the worst of the patients injuries which consisted of either bruises or small yet deep cuts. The area they had found him in looked like it had been through a small war, every tree within a ten meter circle had been pulled out of the ground and dropped in a massive tangle of roots and branches.
Hearing a slight whimper she pulled the bandage away from one of he nastier cuts to see that her patients eyes were opening.
Of everything she had been expecting a scream of terror had not been one of them.
---------------------------------
~Cats Lair, Conference Room
"Did they leave any evidence behind of who they were, or where they came from?" Lion-O asked Panthero.
"No, there was some debris but none of it particualarly unique. One things for certain Lion-O, they couldnt have been average pirates. They knew too much about our strengths and weaknes's to start off with, then theres the specialized equipement they had like the Thundranium Ray. There are just too many coincidences for me to believe that they're regular pirates who just chose to attack this world."
"Then they'll come back, once they've reorganized."
"Possibly. Then theres the young man that came to our rescue, without his help we could'nt have escaped, but these people are too dangerous to ignore so well have to be more careful in the future. Though Im still a bit skeptical about that young man, it just seems too much like coincidence for him to happen upon us just when we needed help....."
Just then all in the conference room heard the terrified scream. Sitting up they ran out the door toward the infirmery with Lion-O last. Lion-O stopped though as a pale blue haze appeared before him, taking the form of Jaga.
"Do not attack the human Lion-O. Instead look with the Sword of Omens to see what you truly face." With that cryptic message Jaga began to disappear just as Lion-O reached out toward the ghost.
"Jaga!"
"Use the sword Lion-O....."
Trying to assimilate the new information Lion-O double timed it to the infirmery where he found the other Thundercats forming a rough circle with the human in the middle, oddly enough, the human was crouched on all fours with his back to Pumyra while hissing and reaching out with its hands almost as if to claw at them when it suddenly hit Lion-O that the human was acting like a cat! Moving forward cautiously he got past Cheetara and (?) when Panthero motioned him away.
"Get back Lion-O! He can cut you even from here." For emphasis he held up his pair of nun-chucks to show the four parallel scratches that had been made in the tough metal.
"Dont worry." Saying nothing more, or rather not quite sure what else to say Lion-O proceeded to move forward a bit more until he was several feet from the human who looked at him strangely before hissing and arching its back. Lion-O only stood still while staring at the human in the hopes that it would calm down, with Pumyra behind it he could attack the human for fear of harming her, and if it attacked him then it might get away and they might have to chase it through the rest of Cats Lair. Making sure that the human could see that both of his hands were empty he slowly walked forward.
Ranma-neko stared at the cat before him, conflicting thoughts were raging through his mind, muddling his responses even as the cat stepped forward. One part of his mind wanted to lash out and strike the impudant male but it was held back by another part of the mind that had locked his eyes on the sword. Confused and outnumbered he could only stare at the cat approach him.
"Pumyra, are you alright?"
Pumyra took her eyes off of Ranma and nodded once for yes before slowly getting up off the floor.
Seeing that she was okay Lion-O slowly took his sword out. "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight." As ordered the sword extended forth its own senses at the human, showing Lion-O the crouching human's body overlaid by...something, focusing on the image he tried to will the sword to focus on it.
"Lion-O, whats wrong?"
"I-I dont know, I can see him, but Im also seeing the image of a Thundercat. But its hard to see, like its a..a ghost." Studying the apparition before him Lion-O tried to come up with a solution to the problem but without knowing the cause of this behaviour he couldnt even try to guess. But the Thundercat apparition had only been visible with the help of the sword, which meant that it woudnt be easily detectable with the technology they had, maybe the Robears.......the sword.
"Stand back, Im going to try something."
Before Lion-O the human continued to stare him but its hissing and clawing gestures had ceased. When Lion-O made to strike with the sword Ranma-neko moved away, meowing weakly as he backed away with his stomach to the floor in a show of submission.
Lion-O held the sword pointed at Ranma, hoping that what he was about to do didnt make matters worse. "Thunder! Thunder! Thundercats, ho!"
The Sword of Omens emmitted a burst of light powerful enough to blind all those in the room and as the afterimages of the swords light show faded they found the human unconscious on the floor.
When both Pumyra and Cheetarah rolled him onto his back to check
him they were amazed to find out that Ranma's body had changed, his facial features were different with his ears a bit longer and pointed at their tops while a quick examination of his eyes showed the pupils to have changed from their normal circle to a slit like their own eyes, though still blue if not a shade darker they also sported a gold ring around each iris. Besides the obvious changes to his face they saw further changes in his musculature, though less obvious at first, it made him look more mature...
Hearing a slight cough behind them Pumyra and Cheetarah blushed when they realized that they had been staring at Ranma without saying so much as a word.
---------------------------------
The night was relatively cool for this time of year, without a cloud in the sky and a full moons illumination it was a perfect night to stargaze and wonder at what was happening. Cheetarah and Pumyra were talking about their new ally, each trying to stay away from the topic of his change, instead opting for what he had told them about his life when he had calmed down after awakening after his change.
When he first woke up he seemed a bit disoriented but soon recovered enough to start answering some of the questions Tygra put to him, eventually they got onto the topic of his life and he'd started telling his life story at the very beginning and glossing over certain details he seemed uncomfortable with, after the first few hours Cheetarah felt the need to get some fresh air, do anything to calm herself instead what other terrors he experienced before the age of ten. She was known for the most part as a levelheaded Thundercat except in those extraordinary circumstances where is was impossible. That needed distraction had come in the form of Pumyra as the other female Thundercat sat down near to Cheetarah and started up a conversation. Though she wouldnt say it to her fellow Thundercats she was glad to have another woman around to talk with about matters that the others would find uncomfortable.
For six hours strait he talked about his life and what he had done, within the first half hour all of the Thundercats were thinking of similiar gruesome thoughts concerning Genma. After the sixth hour Ranma tried to answer everyones questions as fast as they said them. During this time Cheetarah got out of the room, in need of some fresh air she came outside, shortly thereafter Pumyra came out.
Finally Pumyra broached the subject. "He does look better with the changes, doesnt he?"
Cheetarah blushed and smiled slyly. "Not that he didnt look good before with that physique of his......but he does look more hansome."
"Uhh...hey."
Both Thundercats jumped at the voice but calmed somewhat when they saw that it was Ranma who was nervously scratching the back of his head.
"Sorry about that. I...just wanted to appologize about earlier today, it wasnt you....just the Neko-ken. I mean your both pretty...." He trailed off before bowing deeply and turning away with a blush on his face, he didnt notice that both Pumyra and Cheetarah were blushing as well. As he entered Cats Lair Cheetarah turned to Pumyra.
---------------------------------
Rem made a grand gesture of covering the Well with shadows extending from his arms. Dodging several thrown mugs and more heavier objects he smiled at his partner as he began the spiel. "Now folks, if my partner and I allowed you to see everything that happens then what reason would you have to vote for a entry like this when you would already know what is going to happen? I for one intend to make sure that doesnt happen at all, so if you want to see more then you'll have to vote for this like everyone else." Smile fading, he started to nervously sweat when he saw the various entities around him begin to advance in a too ordered fashion, raising his hands in a placating gesture he pointed back to the now uncovered Well, hoping to distract them, not that they would see anything of course with part of his Photino body covering the Well.
Lone Wolf shook his head sadly as his partner was pulled away from the Well by the hastily formed lynch mob and hauled out of the bar. "So why didnt ya all just pull him away from the Well yourself Tolitair? I's reckon you could've done it fast enough so's none of them others could've found out."
The humanoid cat turned away from its inspection of the lynch mobs attempt to burn Rem at the stake to regard the fellow. "It would be too easy, thats part of the reason. The other part is that even with voting those timelines that could have been taken up by anyone after the first bet are still lying around unused, despite my urging. No, this is fine as it stands. Though I think more then one of the Gods present were interested in seeing this entry continued so I dont think you'll have any problems finding enough power to make it real." With a flash from inside the bar the occupants turned back to the Well where the slightly charred though still living Rem dusted itself off while muttering curse words in several different languages at once under its breath.
Just then the God of Order walked up to the Well and started to mess with it, looking at the changes Rem suddenly grabbed the god and kicking his ass. While several dieties attempted to pull the two brawlers appart Lone Wolf just chuckled and sat back to enjoy the show as Rem continued to try and remove the errent Gods spine with a pair of chopstix.
Unnoticed by anyone Tolitir examined the Well to see what the God of order had been looking at when he caught an abbaration in the crossover timeline, where once there was just one Ranma there were now two but the second one for reasons he couldnt quite tell didnt show up too well in the Well's image, almost as if it couldnt see the second Ranma as he started to make fun of Mum-ra before kicking the old mummies posterior. With a guarded glance towards Lone Wolf, then Rem he cleared the Well after making anote of that entries location so that they could proceed with the next Bet entry.
-------------------------
Authors Notes: I cant believe I finally finished this, Im so happy I could cry...almost. I still cant believe it, amid the elctrocutions from my computer, getting hit on the head with blunt objects, being hit in sensitive places by young cousins who should know better by now, and the natural chaos of life...ITS FINISHED!
And for those of you wondering this is going to be a h...a haaa....a...haa..ap.....a happy story, there, finally said it. There may be a match-up with either Cheetarah or Pumyra, but even if I did know who Ranma's going to be matched up with Id still want to hear all of your opinions.
So C+C apreciated, nearly begged for, flames will be used to feed my perpetual motion machine (which oddly enough looks like a hamster in a hamster wheel), and any ideas suggested as to where the story can go may be used at any time without warning.
Also though the Thundercats may be OOC its hard for me to tell as it has been several years since I last saw the cartoon.
Comments can either be sent to me at: Mecvolve@onebox.com
or to RIFT120 at:
And now for the...*twitch*...omake.
---Beginning of OMAKE----
Fun omake time!!!
Cheetarah "After all I have to find him and cover him in honey... and
then strip him down ot lick it all off..." Cheetarah blinks as she notices the other Thundercats staring at her.
Cheetarah bushes deep red. "Ooops.. did I say that out loud?"
Pumyra muses to herself. "I would have used Chocolate myself." ^_^
---End of OMAKE----
End of this entry.
For now:P
Safety Disclaimer: No stones were harmed in the production of this fanfic. Though we did lose quite a few stuntmen, oddly enough we didnt use any stuntmen......
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The rippling light coming from Mimir's Well was the first thing the two travelers noticed as they stepped into the dark bar, just noticing that the well itself was brighter then any other light source in the bar. As their eyes adjusted they could see several beings sitting at the various tables, idly looking at three beings leaning against the stone lip of the Well, staring into the complexity of eternity.
"Looks like we got here before everyone else." The more outgoing person said to his darker then shadow companion as they walked over to the Well.
As they got closer the beings around the well looked up, just noticing them for the first time. Their eyes first locked on the man, 5' 7" in height he sported a small black ponytail that almost blended in too well with his Khaki trenchcoat, then their eyes moved to the sword and gun holstered on either side of his belt over the bushman body armor.
He extended his hand toward Great Fox along with a pleasant smile. "Howdy, names Lone Wolf." He shook hands with Great Fox before motioning to the man beside him. "And this here's my friend Rem Chaos."
"Chaos!?" One of the drunken gods slurred from a nearby table.
A form seemingly made out of shadows greated their gaze, the only noticeable part of his body being the pale face, his eyes couldnt be seen though nothing appeared to be covering them. "Greetings." He looked over their shoulders at the pool. His lips quirked upwards in a small smile as he continued to stare at the timelines appearing and disappearing within the Well.
Wolf continued. "Were here to enter the Second Bet, if'n its alright with all'ya here."
"Its not *hickup*..right with me!" Bellowed the god as he suddenly grabbed Rem and whirled him around to face him. "Im...*hickup* the God of Order...*hickup* and we dont need..n-no chaos around here."
Rem stared at the god, his face breaking out in a cruel smile that showed lots of pointy teeth. His dark body rippled for a moment before settling on a outfit similiar to his friends, with the addition of several more guns. "My friends call me Rem Chaos, but you...you can call me Q." Within a second his eyes developed deep red iris's as jagged blades grew out from his shoulders and arms, behind him Wolf tensed with his hands poised over his weapons.
The God of Order high tailed it for the bathroom. A few moments later the sounds of violent wretching could be heard.
After all the introductions had been made Lone and Rem stared into the well, silently confering amongst themselves, then reaching a decision they each took out a different stone and made to throw them.
Rem started pointing at various parts shown by the well. "Off Genma's head before he throws Ranma into the pit, around the galactic black hole, through those universes, past Akane's cooking. Nothing but chance." He
smiled victoriously at Lone Wolf.
Lone looked over the timelines for a moment before reponding. "Alright. Into this universe, off the nuetron star, through that alien mothership, off Ataru's head and through his favorite pin-up poster. Nothing but luck."
Throwing their stones at the same time the gods around them all looked to see what would happen. Just at that time the god of Order came out of the bathroom.
From out of the well a scream could be simultaneously heard from both Genma and Ataru.
From out of nowhere Bastet appeared with a camcorder in hand to record Genma falling into the pit of cats while somehow managing to flail his arms about, coincidentally throwing Ranma to safety, before gravity
exerted its will. Beside that image appeared one of Ataru as he rubbed his head and looked about to see what had hit him only to find a rather large hole in his favorite pin-up poster and the wall behind it. If anything he managed to scream louder then Genma.
---------------------------------
Claudis struggled to stand, before him the demon had only taken a few hits that had inflicted relatively minor damage. Around them the unconscious bodies of the other Thundercats decorated the barren landscape.
Directly behind the demon stood the remains of the small farming town that the newly awakened demon had destroyed. From within some of the crumbled buildings the sounds of the wounded and dying could be heard.
And through one of the windows the face of a small child could just be seen.
Claudis held his sword before him, waiting for an opening to strike. During the first battle with the demon it had used its armored arms to protect its soft chest and belly while anyone seeking to harm/kill it had been struck down with one of its many different elemental attacks.
"GIVE UP THUNDERCAT! NONE OF YOUR COMERADES COULD HARM ME, AND THAT PITIFUL SWORD OF YOURS HAS FAILED TO EVEN SCRATCH ME. IF YOU SURRENDER I PROMISE TO MAKE YOUR DEATH, AND YOUR FRIENDS DEATH'S, PAINLESS."
Claudis could see Jagey-o coming to behind the demon.
"Never demon. I would have to be a fool to be afraid of you since it is you who is afraid of me!"
The demon rose from its half crouch, nearly doubling its height as it raored at the Thundercat. "WHAT!?!"
"AAAHHH!!!" Claudis charged the demon that once again fell into its defensive half crouch but before it could begin to defend itself the other thundercat suddenly leaped on its back. Giving Claudis the distraction he needed. WHile the demon batted fuitily at Jagey-o, Claudis lunged at the demons soft midsection to thrust the sword into the demons heart.
"NNNNOOOOO!!!!" Jumping to its full height the demon managed to puch away Claudis while somehow leaving the sword imbedded in its heart. The action also threw Jagey-o to the ground where the demon finally got a glimpse of its assailent.
"Y-Y-YOU!....." Staggering it fell beside the unconscious Thundercat, with one clawed hand it grabbed the thundercats neck. "I-ILL, T-T..AKE......YO..U......WITH...ME!" The demon suddenly began to glow as both it and the thundercat screamed in pain before they both lay on the ground, lifeless.
The demons corpse had disintegrated, its body turning to sand that was blown away by a sudden gust of wind. The other Thundercats clustered around their fallen comerade.
"I cant find any pulse, Im afraid he's dead."
"But it didnt physically kill him, look at his neck. Its not broken! Isnt there something we can do!?"
Claudis put his hand on the young boys shoulder and gently pulled him away from the body. Waving the other Thundercats away he pulled the Sword of Omens from its holder and held it before his eyes. "Sword of
Omens, give me site beyond site! Let me see if my friend is truly dead."
The swords eye glowed hotly as CLaudis's eyes stared on, enhanced by the swords power until he could see into realms no mortal eye was meant to see. Atlast, with sweat pouring from his forehead he put the sword
away and shook his head. The Thundercats and the surviving villagers gathered around the body for a moment of peace. Within the group small boy going by the name Lynxo stared hard at the body, burning the image into his mind.
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A moments struggle to keep conscious ended as his world became one of unending pain, each nerve in his body screaming out in agony. It felt like it had gone on foreever while his every attempt to stop the pain and
or get away had failed as his body had failed to respond. Then......
Then nothing, absolutely nothing. All sensation had been lost, from touch and smell to taste and hearing....and finally, though worst of all...sight. For some unknown span of time he existed like that until all thoughts as to his identity and past left his mind as the void that was now his existence overcame his fragile mind. Second by second he relived his life beginning from the moment he died then going backwards, unliving each and every moment as those memories faded away to nothing but pinpricks within his mind to taunt him of what might have been, second became hours that turned into days and then weeks then months and years. Everytime he could tear himself away from the memory dissolving before his minds eye to ponder why they were being lost in such a fashion something else would interfere and distract him long enough for the thought to slip his mind like so much else.
When his consciousness had faded away to nothing all that was left behind were the primal instincts, yet without understanding the creature, the entity that was Jagey-o, sought to strike out at its prison, furiously
beating at the unseen walls around it with all the power anf fury it could wield. And yet its roars of defience and hatred would never be heard by any organic beings, despite that its struggle against its invisible bonds continued as it drifted further through the folds of space and time.
Then...one day after a painful impact from some unknown source....HE WAS FREE! He felt a weakness near him and leaped for it as fast as he could. The weakness proved to have some resistance but a casual flick of
the claws removed the impediment and allowed him to leave his prison.
But something was wrong, his senses had been dulled, his claws no longer there, in their place were small delicate fingers that were bleeding from several cuts. Sniffing he caught the scent of his new enemies and with a hiss he was on them, through them and out of the pit.
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~Years later. June 3, 1987 Nerima, Japan
Sleep. The final frontier, atleast for this period for one student named Ranma Saotome. He slept like a log, and around his head were the awards to prove it as everything from chalkboard erasers to pens, compass's.
notebooks and finally some rather heavy books on probability theory had been thrown at him in an attempt to wake him. Every tactic had been used. All had failed. Behind him several students had been nailed by such objects and were now out cold.
"....MAGIC!"
"Huh? Wha...."
Maybe not ALL of them
Hinako had to resist the impulse to smile, instead she read out from the book about King Arthurs court, making sure to highlight the parts about Merlin and his suposed abilities. Amazingly enough it actually kept Ranma awake, though the vacant stare was beginning to scare her a bit. Maybe she should just drain his chi and get it over with?
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The school bell rang, signaling the begining of the lunch period. Immediately students poured out from the doors of the school, intent on enjoying their meals in the good weather that seldom came to Nerima. Behind them Ranma walked out of the school with his bento in hand, stumbling slightly and cursing under his breath for letting Hinako get the drop on him.
Under the shade of a reasonably healthy tree he began the tedious task of trying to feed himself, around him some of the students looked at him with sympathy but took it in stride just thankful that it wasnt them that
had gotten on Hinako's bad side. All in all it was an amazinely peaceful day.
"What a haul! What a haul!" The cry came from Bill Gates as he ran out of the school with a sackful of money, I tell a lie, it was actually Happosie with a sackful of lady's underwear. Said pervert was presently being chased by a mob of girls from each and every part of the school, even the girls that were part of the Chemistry Club as was seen from the explosions caused by the small vials they threw at the little pervert.
Ranma took one look at the mob and rolled his eyes upward. "Great, whats next!?"
Focusing on the study guide in front of him instead of the fight occuring not more then ten feet away he heard the overly familiar 'How sweet!' by Happosai, which was then followed by the combined indignant cries of
almost every female student, which was then followed by a taunt from Happosie, and that was answered with some random object thrown by one of the girls that managed to hit and disorient the aged pervert long enough
for Hinako to join in. At this point Ranma looked up from the study guide to see that Hinako was again a little girl and managed to see her use her usual Happo-gen move on Happosie. After that the girls beat on him for a while before finnaly batting him into LEO
All in all it was turning out to be a rather peaceful day. Ranma read a few more pages before idly reaching over to snag a piece of food.
Now if only the food would stop moving!
"Dont eat me!"
Blinking several times he looked down at what he had thought was a porkbun to discover Happosie's head. He gave a short scream before throwing the old pervert away. Unfortunately Happosie managed to land right on top of Ranma's study guide. As he proceded to dust himself off he looked down at the flimsy bookelt while Ranma tried not to be violently ill at what had too nearly happened.
"Whats this? So, boy, your learning about Arthur are ya. That punk had no appreciation for the finer things in life. And Merlin! If I ever find that damm wizard Ill...!"
Ranma inturrupted with a raised eyebrow. "You 'knew' Merlin?"
Happosie seemed to come out of his little flashback to notice Ranma's skectical look. "Eeeh? Sort of, damm punk. He ALWAYS ruined my fun!"
Ranma continued to listen to Happsoai rant on, catching the occasional words like "magic" and "shape change" among others that immediately perked his interest. Slowly, ever so slowly an idea began to form, amidst the failed attempts at an easy cure this one felt like it had a chance.
Overhead clouds began to gather, ruining the good weather and setting a more ominous mood.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
~August 3, 1987
Leaping from his bedroom window to the stone wall encircling the Tendo homes house as silently as possible he made the short jump to the ground before running off as fast as possible for the outskirts of Nerima.
Already he could feel his danger sense going off like mad, alerting him that someone was in the area that either wanted to date him or kill him and right now both were threats to his continued survival and, more importantly, to the plans survival. He ducked down a few smaller then average alleys, through several sections of apartment housing that had been destroyed several days ago. Along the way he made sure to miss all the even street lights while running directly under all the odd street lights to confuse anyone that might be following him.
Suddenly he heard a crash behind him, like someone hitting a trashcan. He ran harder now, driving down the impulse to take to the roofs for fear of who or what it might be. His heart was hammering in his chest, around
him the sudden darkness of Nerima's outskrits felt like it was full of eyes, eyes that were watching him do everything he could to get away if just for a little while. Hiding behind a copse of trees he looked back at where the road ended in a ragged jumble of concrete, gravel and dirt.
Waiting anxiously for the first sign that someone had been following him, looking for a shadow, a blur of movement to suddenly dart forth from inside Nerima to get him and drag him back kicking and screaming before he could get his cure!
After several minutes of silent watching he sighed in relief before reaching into his pack to pull out the Nan-Ban mirror. After making sure the mirror hadnt been damaged by his hasty exit he reached back and fumbled around for the onion he had brought along. Rubbing said onion in his eye he spoke the words he had carefully thought out.
"Take me to Merlin when he was alive and at the peak of his power."
The flash of light was blinding in its intensity and proximity, as before all he could do was try to close his eyes against the painfully bright light and wait for it to end as everything around him changed and shifted from the Present to some unknown point in the Past.
-------------------------------------------------------
~England
Merlin stepped out of the portal into dusk with the sun just setting before a ragged line of darkening clouds overhead. In one hand he held the sword Excalibur while he pondered the site of his return tomake sure that everything was as it should have been, behind him the portal coninued to emit a small bluish light from within the confines of its space warping geometry.
Off in the distance Ranma flashed into being. With a wild eyed look he spied Merlin and started running toward him, the mirror in his hands began to emit a very soft glow of its own that continue to brighten as
Ranma got closer to the person he sought. For some reason Ranma couldnt understand as he got closer to Merlin the bluish circle would come between them and hide the man from his sight. It wasnt until he got
closer that he realized that the portal was actually heading toward him.
A bright flash of lightning drew Merlins attention back to the portal he had used and with a disgusted sigh at his own failing memory he closed the portal before anyone could be harmed, not once did he bother to look
inside the portal, or wonder why it had semed to be moving very slowly away from him.
-----------------------------------------------
"NONONONO! DAMMIT NNNOOO!!" He'd been so close, so very close! But like every other opportunity something had to happen.
The corridor of the portal lay before him, the end that had swallowed him was gone and quite some distance down the tunnel he could distinguish a bright speck of light amongst the pail blue walls of the tunnel. As he
stared at the point of light he saw that is was steadily getting larger, or closer, as he tumbled toward it.
Kicking at the closest side of the tunel he tried to stop his motion but only succeded in making himself spin and lose all orientation in the strange place. In his hands the mirror's glow turned from soft white to dark red, its frame soon taking on that color before Ranma realized what was happening and threw it away in reflex.
"SHIT!" He cried out as the mirror tumbled away from him, its deep red glow brightening for a moment before the mirror was gone. With a sickening lurch felt in his stomach the point of light ahead of him suddenly increased in size and intensity.
"WHAT NOW?!" He managed to scream out as the point of light engulfed him.
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~August 4, 1987
The following day in Nerima, after Ranma's night departure, saw several students walking along a shortcut to the school on the fine summer day. Overhead the birds were singing and for once the sounds of major
fighting could not be heard. It was one of those very rare peaceful moments.
One of the students noticed something sparkiling in a ditch and on a impulse he reached out and withdrew a mirror. Besides the few cracks it was brand new and the frame looked like it had been replaced the day before.
"I can use this for art class."
With a smile on his face Makoto put the mirror into his pack and resumed walking toward school.
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~August 4, year unknown. Third Earth.
Sunlight filtered through lush green leaves sparkled before his eyes. With a groan Ranma managed to sit up, noticing as he did so that he had been laying in a circle of burned grass. At the same time he noticed that his clothes had become slightly singed, in most places disintegrating into powder, leaving behind small holes.
The first few minutes were spent making sure that nothing else had happened to him, no serious injuries, nothing missing or somehow being added. Then with a barely audible grunt he stood up and looking up at
the sun started down one of the few paths open through the forest that offered the least resistance and hopefully leading to civilization. In one hand he held the ragged tatters of his backpack and those belongings
that had somehow survived.
The trail ended before the forest did, forcing him to go through the thick foliage. Some way through the thick forest growth he found a small statue, after that many more and signs of buildings that had decayed long ago, some of these signs were nothing more then slightly raised stone foundations while others took the form of small stepped pyramids with cracks and vines running up and through each and every stone of the structure. Other structures MUCH more advanced as they were covered in what appeared to have been domes of clear plastic, then there were the smaller structures arrayed around these buildings that he couldnt even try to figure out.
For an hour he searched further into the ruins, hoping to find SOME people about but as he searched more and more of the delapidated buildings he hope quietly died at the prospect of finding ANYONE, especially a human still alive in this place, and, a small portion of his mind taunted back, even if they are human they must be savages to let a city like this go to ruin. But with his supplies gone and all the plants of this forest so alien to his eyes his only hope lay in finding some help else he would have to test each and every plant he found all the while hoping that he hadnt eaten some sort of super poison.
At the end of his search he came to a beach which had what appeared to be the remains of some monument on it, though he wasnt too sure it looked like a giant green metal head and hand holding what appeared to be a
torch was the only part that survived. Upon seeing it he knew he'd seen it before but for the life of him he couldnt dredge up the memory, only a wierd feeling.
"Why do I have the sudden urge to say: 'Damm you dirty apes!' ?" Ranma asked no one in particular.
Shrugging his shoulders he went back into the forest to get out of the oppressive summer heat.
---------------------------------------------
~Mirimers Well
Lone Wolf looked at the image of the arm and torch bearing hand of the statue of liberty with wide eyes.
Great Fox looked at everyone around the Well with an angry expression. "Alright! Who put those there?"
Rem was the only diety acting differently as he had his head turned away from the Well while whistling to himself and tossing some object into the air. Lone chuckled at the display while Great Fox glared at him and
Tolitair tried to pull the miniturized statue away from him.
"It was a joke, ah dont do that!" Pulling simultaneously both entities managed to dislodge the small statue and drop it into the Well.
Rem. "Where'd it go?"
Lone Wolf stared at his companion for a moment before replying. "Not in our entry,....."
"Whew."
".......it landed in the Skysaber timeline."
Rem gulped loudly as the clouds of impending doom gathered over his head.
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~August 4th, Third Earth
He was surounded, no matter where he turned there would be more enemies for him to fight through, and yet the longer he watched the closer they got.
With a lunge Lion-O forced one of his attackers back with is sword as he fought for more space to fight in. But that wouldnt be enough, not with thirty enemies about and their unknown weapons. Knowing enough
not to just ask them what they were trying to do to him he just kept fighting for space. The first oppenent he had leveled with the flat side of his blade got up while he was leveling another attacker to reach around and lock his mechanical/organic arms around lion-O's neck. With a twisting motion he threw Lion-O to the ground with such force that the thundercat leader slid several feet through the tall grass until another attacker gave him a kick in the ribs to arrest his motion.
Getting up he eyed that first attacker again, somewhat aware of the others pressing close behind him he saw his only chance and ran at the creature, again it got a hold of his neck and sent him skidding across the ground but added to Lion-O's running speed to begin with he was thrown/slid clear of all the attackers.
"I need help, otherwise....Thunder! Thunder! Thunder! Thundercats ho!" SMirking at his attackers he brought the sword down to point it at them. "Lets see how you fight with more evened odds."
"We fight quite well, especially with the right bait." A cold emotionless voice said from behind the thundercat.
Before Lion-O could make any sense of that statement everything around him suddenly faded into the perpetual darkness of unconsciousness.
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"Damm thorns!" Ranma exclaimed as he tried to swat away the offending bush while only succeding in entangling one of his arms into the strong vines which the thorns sprouted from. His clothes, already torn
and full of holes from his trip through the strange portal, were now hanging off him in tatters, underneath the skin that hadnt been lightly burned by the the same portal now sported lots of small cuts and scrapes from some of the planets least forgettable plant life. Yet despite the thorns and the small annoying animals that kept trying to grab or bite the tatters of his backpack he still managed to pull through the last of the bushes onto the bare earth path beyond.
Taking a random direction he started walking. Despite the place's inate beauty he'd grown quite weary of it when some of the plants and animals had sought to either trap him and or take little bites out of him. He
hoped the road would lead to someplace more civilized then this, but given the way the cuts from those thorn vines were starting to itch like mad he'd be content just staying on the road for several hours. Odd though, if the plants werent going after his clothes half as much as they were going for him then he wouldnt mind so much, it'd almost be like fighting those dishes Akane cooked back in Nerima, well......atleast the ones that couldnt talk of taking over the world. Giving himself a mental shake followed by several slaps to the face he stopped that line of thought.
"Great, now Im reminiscing about Akane's cooking, brrrrr." At about that same time in Nerima a tomboy sneezed.
All he knew for sure at the moment was that he was totally alone and for every thing he knew, which was admittedly small in some respects, he may be the only human being on this Earth. Instead of mulling over that
point he instead increased his pace along the dirt road until coming to a clear path overgrown with grass but still showing signs of being kept clear by whoever used it.
Up ahead he heard a commotion coming toward him. Looking about at all of the thorn bushes lining the path he jumped up into one of the trees, all the while hoping it wouldnt try to eat him like everything else.
After a few moments he heard some shouting before several figures appeared below his hiding spot. One of them appeared to be a monkey? With a length of rope leading from one of its hands to several
people/creatures that were bound and gagged where it was tied to the collars around their necks. From beyond his veiwing angle Ranma heard a voice.
"Monkeyin you idiot! Just look at these slaves, barely any of them are fit to walk let along work!"
The monkey looked back the way he had come and started hollering back. "Ooh, ooh if you....hadnt scared off the others from the traps Vultureman set up we wouldnt have had to catch any at all!!!"
Suddenly the branch he had been sitting on disintegrated into a hail of splinters as Ranma fell to the ground. Waving away the annying fragments of wood he looked for whoever had fired at him. Their....beyond the last
slave, grinning.....looking......LIKE A CAT!
"You see Monkeyin? This is how you catch slaves, just give them good enough reason to fear you and they'll do anything!"
"Oooh, ooh, whats he saying?"
"Who cares! Lets just catch him."
By now Ranma had stopped jibbering in fear, he had also stopped standing on two legs, instead opting for going on all fours with a hiss at Jackelman as he brought out a net. A mouse, when cornered will fight for its very survival, but in this case the personality of the Neko-ken wasnt too worried about survival. In a wway it could gauge the power of whoever it faced and the two stinking creatures in front of it didnt rate very highly at all.
The battle, if one could call it that despite how brief it was, was also incredibly violent as Neko-Ranma chased Monkeyin and Jackelman like a pair of mice around the bewildered slaves. With a quick slash of his claws both mutants weapons became little peices of scrap along with some of their body armor. Several more slashes shaved Jackelmans head completely bald while Monkeyin got several lone lines of fur shaved away
from his back. after about half an hour of screams, cursing, escaping slaves, and....shaving, Neko-Ranma got tired of the game and let them run off......unfortunately they ran off the edge of a local bottomless pit.
Neko-Ranma paused long enough to collect his burned packpack in his mouth before running off on all fours.
Further down the path Neko-Ranma took a side path upon smelling food. It was about at that same time that he was hit with some cold water from above. The now female Ranma looked around dazedly at her surroundings, spitting out her burned backpack Ranma-chan stood upand looked around again, wondering what wierd thing had spit water on her. Seeing nothing that looked like the culprit she started walking while keeping her wits about her.
A second later Ranma-chan was hit with some VERY hot water, that caused the now male Ranma to look around in confusion for a second before he heard something moving around in the tree above him.
Up in the trees several Amazons scouts started arguing on how not to waste water by tripping and splashing their comerades.
Muttering darkly to himself Ranma ran from that spot, not wanting to find out what was throwing water at him, in doing so he totally missed the signs of habitation among the trees he passed under, or the several Amazons that were now arguing with eachother over who would follow this stranger and make sure he left their territory.
A bright flash in the sky caught everyones attention as they looked up to see the Thundercat symbol high in the sky. Below the Amazons a confused martial artist for reasons unknown started running toward the source
of the signal, fearing that he would be too late but at the same time unable to understand why he was feeling afraid. Unbeknownst to him his normally blue eyes briefly glowed yellow as he started out.
-------------------------------------------
The trap had been sprun under perfect conditions, better then the captain had ever expected to occur. Watching his men round up the other thundercats and place them in the specialy created holding area he felt
a pang of regret at not being able to test any of the other weapons that had been brought along for other contingencies. It was odd though, he had a feeling that he was mising something but he couldnt quite put his
finger on it. He knew that all of the thundercats had been accounted for, as well as their snarf. He frowned deeper as he checked the display console built into his arm bracer to confirm that all of the sound dampeners that had been installed around the clearing were still working. Odd......
"Captain, sir! The Thundercats have all been rounded up."
"And their weapons?"
"All accounted for sir!"
The captain smiled at the eagerness of his second in command. When they sold those Thundercats to the buyers he along with his entire crew would be wealthy enough to retire for life and then some. Looking at the
Sword of Omens in the cargo crate along with the rest of the Thundercat weapons his eyes filled with greed. One of the other buyers that had contacted him as he was entering the planets atmosphere promised to pay a
very large sum for just that sword. But first things first.
"Tell the men to prepare to pull out. Load everything else besides the thundranium ray and the portable generator into the ship, check everything before stowing it away. Do you understand me?"
His second in command saluted with a 'Sir, yes sir!' before leaving him to his own thoughts. Immediately the other men who had until now been standing easy now went into a flurry of activity as they hastily moved all the equipement back into the ship.
Moving amid the procession of men and equipement he walked to the edge of the Thundercat confinement area. Inside the area those Thundercats that were still conscious struggled to crawlout from under the field of
fire from the thundranium ray, to stop them from doing so a clear translucent dome of heavy had been put over them, several holes had been drilled into the top of the dome to allow the air to circulate inside as it simply wouldnt do for any of them to die.
Until after they were sold of course.
"Must....get......"
The captain looked down to see the leader of the thundercats trying to crawl his way out from under the rays area of fire.
"I wouldnt bother if I were you, but luckily Im not you. Hehe, you'll have more success catching some sleep until your sold to one of the buyers. Now, now, glaring at me wont help you anymore then crawling along the dirty ground was. Given how perfect this trap was set up there wont be any help coming from anyone..."
"Sir!"
The captain turned around to see his second in command. "All of the equipement has been checked and stowed away, shall we move the thundercats now?"
"Your sure you checked everything? I was expecting you to take another hour or two before finishing with all of the equipement. I hope this doesnt mean that some of the men shirked their orders in order to get off
this primitive planet." He added with a bit of malice, accordingly his second in command paled in rememberence of what the captain had done to those men who didnt perform up to his expectations.
"N-No sir. Im sure they did everything by the book."
"For your sake you had better be right, otherwise...." He left the sentence uncompleted as it made all those he used it on think of all the horrible things he could do to them. The long voyage to this world had given him ample opportunity to enforce discipline upon his crew. But for now he felt too euphoric. Nothing could ruin his good mood, nothing.
"HIYA!"
The captain turned around to see a black and red blur cut a swath through his men before running over to the transparent dome. Before his startled eyes the red and black blur resolved into a young man that then punched the dome so many times that his hands and arms became a blur to his eyes. Within moments one side of the dome had been shattered and he was off with two of the thundercats, one under each arm.
"GET HIM!"
Three of his less experiencced men jumped on the young man in an attempt to overpower him long enough for others to help them subdue him. Unfortunately the young man managed to kick the front two away with his
legs while still keeping hold of the two Thundercats, the third man got behind him long enough to wrap his hands around the young mans throat. With a grunt the young man snapped his head back to break the nose of the third man, sending him sprawling into the Thundranium Ray.
"NO!"
But it was already too late, the ray swiveled until it was focused on the young man who didnt show any effect but the captains real attention was focused on the other thundercats under the dome who were beginning to get their strength back.
"YOU FOOLS! GET THE WEAPONS OR ILL SKIN YOUR HIDES!" The captain roared out over the din of chaos. At that moment several more thundercats joined the fray to knock out more of his men before heading for his ship.
Before hed had months to plan this trap while his moles dug up every bit of information related to Thundercat biology and tactics to give him the knowledge needed to exploit every one of their weaknesses and then some.
The sound dampeners in the forest were to make sure that no passers by would hear the sound of battle, while the Thundranium Ray which had cost him a small fortune to acquire was used on each and every Thundercat
to render them too weak to fight back as his men disarmed them. Lookingback from the terrible battle where his men were being pulverised he saw the Thundranium Ray begin to smoke and throw off small electrical
bolts every second or two from its focusing electronics. Twitching slightly it was all the captain could do as the valuable, and highly expensive, weapon blew up. Consequently the power cable leading from the smkong remains of the Thundranium Ray also began to smoke before vaporizing in a flash and cloud of smoke, a second later the auxilary power generator from his ship which was being used to power the weapon also blew up.
"Jus......jus..like Gamora 7......AAAAAHHHHH!!!!" The captain ran into the middle of the fight where the young man continued to pummel at his crew while carrying the two thundercats under his arms. Knocking aside two of his own crew he reached out for the throat of the young man.
Ranma grimaced as he hit another man with his knee, for once he wished he could hit them somewhere that wasnt covered with metal plating. From his left he saw a strange looking man charge him, about the same time he felt the two people he was carrying start to come around. Smirking he jumped ontop of the mans head before leaping the rest of the way to the edge of the forest away from the battle.
The captain, seeing his quary getting away was about to give chase until he heard something....something very familiar yet he couldnt quite place it. It almost sounded like metal being torn up....where was it coming
from.
From out of the mercenary ships cargo hold something exploded out amid a hail of metallic shards, that revealed itself as the Thundertank as the protective cover over the drivers side came down and the back bay opened up to admit several more Thundercats. Within moments all of his men were running away in fear from the tanks laser cannons.
The captain fell to his knees with a strangled cry, looking at his ship, or rather the big hole in what was supposed to be the seamless skin of one wall of the storage bay while ignoring everything else around him.
"M-My ship.............my.....beautiful..........ship....." For a moment the Thundertank crossed his field of vision while it chased half his crew around the forest clearing. After a few moments the captains second in command approached him.
"Sir, what should we do?" The second waited a moment, when the captain didnt speak he gave the captain a little nudge. The captain fell over, when his head hit the ground he started saying the word 'ship' over and
over again.
Across the clearing the two thundercats that Ranma had saved were coming to, the sight that greeted them upon regaining conscience was Ranma fighting off several men at once. After several punches to the face
one of the men was knocked out of the fight but the other two just just jumped him. With several high powered kicks both attackers were sent to the ground some distance away allowing Ranma to turn around and look at the two thundercats he had saved. Hmmm, they were female and one of them was turning red so maybe she was getting sick? Then he looked closer and saw their eyes, then he noticed their unusual ears and a certain fear began to work its way through his mind.
Both Cheetarah and Pumyra got puzzled when he siezed upon looking at them. They were equally surprised to see him blur and disappear leaving behind a trail of dust.
"Cheetarah, Pumyra! Are you alright?"
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Mum-Ra stood before his pool of bubbling stuff, for a moment wondering for the first time what was actually in it but quickly disregarding the question as immaterial as he was a villian.....and because he was afraid to ask the ancient spirits of evil. The last time he'd asked them a question they turned him into a disgustingly cute creature and made him tend to some fields of growing candy, he/it still shuddered at those memories.
To distract his mind he bade the pool of......stuff......to show him some part of the world, particularly something that would interest him. After a few minutes of switching from different views of the planet, from the deepest part of the planets ocean to its highest peak the pool stopped on the image of a young man running through some forest.
"Whats this?"
Before he could will the view to change he saw something overshadow the mans body for a brief second, too short for him to catch any details but within another moment the ghostly apparition appeared again allowing Mum-Ra to see it clearly. His eyes widened at the faint image of a Thundercat appeared quite distinctly.
"Curious. Though I may be able to find a use for this creature. Hehehehe!"
When he called forth the power from the Ancient Spirits he didnt notice the statues smile, besides they couldnt smile, so it must have been a trick of the shadows.
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"*pant* Heh....*pant*...heh....I made it, no....*pant.....c-c-c-c..creatures here!" He leaned over to catch his breath better, for some reason he felt quite a bit weaker then he should have been, though he had managed to run for atleast a half hour, possibly more. The clearing looked safe to rest in for a while. Thats when a shadow dscended over him. Ranma looked up and blanched at the site that greeted his eyes. "Great, another old mummy."
For the first time in his life Mum-Ra facefaulted, a condition wholly unique but that didnt stop him from getting back up and assuming the villians pose in an act of bravado. "Fool! Do you think petty insults will defeat Mum-Ra the everliving?" Without waiting for an answer he struck out with a magical blast that destroyed the ground Ranma was standing on. As the smoke cleared there was no sign left of the martial artist.
The sound of knuckles being cracked one by one got Mum-Ra's attention as he looked up to see Ranma crouching on his head with a grin on his face.
"Bring it on!"
-------------------------------------
Pumyra shook her head slightly from side to side before trying to get up. "Were fine Lion-O. Just a bit dizzy. Who was that?" Standing strait she had to lean against the tree til the planet stopped spinning around her.
Cheetarah joined Pumyra a second later and pointed towards the trial of dust that was quickly dissapating before their eyes.
Tygra frowned slightly. "I dont know, did he hurt you?"
Cheetarah shook her head and tried to hide her blush. "No. But I have a feeling that we should find him before anything happens."
With some help from Lynxo and Tygra, Cheetarah and Pumyra managed to climb into the back of the Thundertank.
Within moments all of them were aboard the Thundertank and speeding off without a backward glance at the beaten/mauled crew of the ship or that crews captain.
After a few minutes the captain got up and started looking around with a crazed look in his eyes. "Yes.....yes.....first Ill find that little pest......THEN ILL HAVE MY REVENGE! AHAHAHAHA!!!" The crew, insensate for the most part could only groan at what lay ahead.
-----------------------------------
The Thundetank rumbled through the forest as it knocked down everything in its path. Trees that had taken centuries to grow to something approaching ther full height were reduced to piles of wood chips in seconds.
"Blast it! How are we supposed to find him in this?"
Lion-O. "Well just have to keep a look out."
Wilykit and Willykat leaned over to either side of Lion-O. "We can search for him on the hover boards! We could look ahead and radio back what we find."
Panthero punched several buttons and frowned at the data that came up. "You better check those boards. Those raiders back their damaged one of the Thundertanks treads, theres no telling what else they might have damaged until we get back to Cats L..."
Before Panthero could finish Willykit and Willykat sped ahead of the Thundertank yelling back 'They seem to work fine to us' before disappearing above the thick jungle canopy.
No sooner had they gotten above tree level then Willykat turned to Willykit. "How are we supposed to know where to look?"
Willykit smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I dont know, just look for a sign I guess."
Suddenly in the distance a great tornado sprang into existence, within it they could almost see something getting tossed about before being shot off toward the horizon. Seeing this the two quickly radiod the Thundertank before charging ahead.
---------------------------------
Many, many miles away Mum-Ra landed with a wet splat upon his own pyramid, creating a impression several inches deep. What strength he could have spared to promise eternal pain upon Ranma was taken up when a errant gust of wind dislodged him from his landing spot and caused him to tumble all the way from the tip of his pyramid to some primitive ruins below with another wet splat.
---------------------------------
The entities assembled around the Well looked at Lone Wolf and Rem with a questioning glance. Rem smiled and nodded his head toward Lone Wolf.
Lone Wolf responded with an upraised hand. "Its all in the wrist." He said with a jubilent smile before looking from the assembled entities to the image in the Well.
---------------------------------
~Cats Lair, Infirmery
Pumyra as one of the more recovered Thundercats tended to the strangers wounds while he slept, or atleast she would have been if certain other thoughts hadnt inturrupted her minstrations. Most of these thoughts
concerned how she saw him fight off those pirates to save her and Cheetarah, true the other Thundercats would have done the same but it was rare that another person of yet another species should actually try to help them out in such a situation. And then, there was something else. The way he had moved during the fight had been so familiar but she couldnt quite see why it should.
Then there was the obvious fact that her 'patient' wasnt wearing much of anything, just enough to be modest, if you were planning to swim that is. The shirt, or atleast she thought it had been a shirt, was a total write off, as were the pants though something of those might be salvaged but she didnt know what thread it was made of. Pushing these thoughts aside she took a damp rag and began to clean the worst of the patients injuries which consisted of either bruises or small yet deep cuts. The area they had found him in looked like it had been through a small war, every tree within a ten meter circle had been pulled out of the ground and dropped in a massive tangle of roots and branches.
Hearing a slight whimper she pulled the bandage away from one of he nastier cuts to see that her patients eyes were opening.
Of everything she had been expecting a scream of terror had not been one of them.
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~Cats Lair, Conference Room
"Did they leave any evidence behind of who they were, or where they came from?" Lion-O asked Panthero.
"No, there was some debris but none of it particualarly unique. One things for certain Lion-O, they couldnt have been average pirates. They knew too much about our strengths and weaknes's to start off with, then theres the specialized equipement they had like the Thundranium Ray. There are just too many coincidences for me to believe that they're regular pirates who just chose to attack this world."
"Then they'll come back, once they've reorganized."
"Possibly. Then theres the young man that came to our rescue, without his help we could'nt have escaped, but these people are too dangerous to ignore so well have to be more careful in the future. Though Im still a bit skeptical about that young man, it just seems too much like coincidence for him to happen upon us just when we needed help....."
Just then all in the conference room heard the terrified scream. Sitting up they ran out the door toward the infirmery with Lion-O last. Lion-O stopped though as a pale blue haze appeared before him, taking the form of Jaga.
"Do not attack the human Lion-O. Instead look with the Sword of Omens to see what you truly face." With that cryptic message Jaga began to disappear just as Lion-O reached out toward the ghost.
"Jaga!"
"Use the sword Lion-O....."
Trying to assimilate the new information Lion-O double timed it to the infirmery where he found the other Thundercats forming a rough circle with the human in the middle, oddly enough, the human was crouched on all fours with his back to Pumyra while hissing and reaching out with its hands almost as if to claw at them when it suddenly hit Lion-O that the human was acting like a cat! Moving forward cautiously he got past Cheetara and (?) when Panthero motioned him away.
"Get back Lion-O! He can cut you even from here." For emphasis he held up his pair of nun-chucks to show the four parallel scratches that had been made in the tough metal.
"Dont worry." Saying nothing more, or rather not quite sure what else to say Lion-O proceeded to move forward a bit more until he was several feet from the human who looked at him strangely before hissing and arching its back. Lion-O only stood still while staring at the human in the hopes that it would calm down, with Pumyra behind it he could attack the human for fear of harming her, and if it attacked him then it might get away and they might have to chase it through the rest of Cats Lair. Making sure that the human could see that both of his hands were empty he slowly walked forward.
Ranma-neko stared at the cat before him, conflicting thoughts were raging through his mind, muddling his responses even as the cat stepped forward. One part of his mind wanted to lash out and strike the impudant male but it was held back by another part of the mind that had locked his eyes on the sword. Confused and outnumbered he could only stare at the cat approach him.
"Pumyra, are you alright?"
Pumyra took her eyes off of Ranma and nodded once for yes before slowly getting up off the floor.
Seeing that she was okay Lion-O slowly took his sword out. "Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight." As ordered the sword extended forth its own senses at the human, showing Lion-O the crouching human's body overlaid by...something, focusing on the image he tried to will the sword to focus on it.
"Lion-O, whats wrong?"
"I-I dont know, I can see him, but Im also seeing the image of a Thundercat. But its hard to see, like its a..a ghost." Studying the apparition before him Lion-O tried to come up with a solution to the problem but without knowing the cause of this behaviour he couldnt even try to guess. But the Thundercat apparition had only been visible with the help of the sword, which meant that it woudnt be easily detectable with the technology they had, maybe the Robears.......the sword.
"Stand back, Im going to try something."
Before Lion-O the human continued to stare him but its hissing and clawing gestures had ceased. When Lion-O made to strike with the sword Ranma-neko moved away, meowing weakly as he backed away with his stomach to the floor in a show of submission.
Lion-O held the sword pointed at Ranma, hoping that what he was about to do didnt make matters worse. "Thunder! Thunder! Thundercats, ho!"
The Sword of Omens emmitted a burst of light powerful enough to blind all those in the room and as the afterimages of the swords light show faded they found the human unconscious on the floor.
When both Pumyra and Cheetarah rolled him onto his back to check
him they were amazed to find out that Ranma's body had changed, his facial features were different with his ears a bit longer and pointed at their tops while a quick examination of his eyes showed the pupils to have changed from their normal circle to a slit like their own eyes, though still blue if not a shade darker they also sported a gold ring around each iris. Besides the obvious changes to his face they saw further changes in his musculature, though less obvious at first, it made him look more mature...
Hearing a slight cough behind them Pumyra and Cheetarah blushed when they realized that they had been staring at Ranma without saying so much as a word.
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The night was relatively cool for this time of year, without a cloud in the sky and a full moons illumination it was a perfect night to stargaze and wonder at what was happening. Cheetarah and Pumyra were talking about their new ally, each trying to stay away from the topic of his change, instead opting for what he had told them about his life when he had calmed down after awakening after his change.
When he first woke up he seemed a bit disoriented but soon recovered enough to start answering some of the questions Tygra put to him, eventually they got onto the topic of his life and he'd started telling his life story at the very beginning and glossing over certain details he seemed uncomfortable with, after the first few hours Cheetarah felt the need to get some fresh air, do anything to calm herself instead what other terrors he experienced before the age of ten. She was known for the most part as a levelheaded Thundercat except in those extraordinary circumstances where is was impossible. That needed distraction had come in the form of Pumyra as the other female Thundercat sat down near to Cheetarah and started up a conversation. Though she wouldnt say it to her fellow Thundercats she was glad to have another woman around to talk with about matters that the others would find uncomfortable.
For six hours strait he talked about his life and what he had done, within the first half hour all of the Thundercats were thinking of similiar gruesome thoughts concerning Genma. After the sixth hour Ranma tried to answer everyones questions as fast as they said them. During this time Cheetarah got out of the room, in need of some fresh air she came outside, shortly thereafter Pumyra came out.
Finally Pumyra broached the subject. "He does look better with the changes, doesnt he?"
Cheetarah blushed and smiled slyly. "Not that he didnt look good before with that physique of his......but he does look more hansome."
"Uhh...hey."
Both Thundercats jumped at the voice but calmed somewhat when they saw that it was Ranma who was nervously scratching the back of his head.
"Sorry about that. I...just wanted to appologize about earlier today, it wasnt you....just the Neko-ken. I mean your both pretty...." He trailed off before bowing deeply and turning away with a blush on his face, he didnt notice that both Pumyra and Cheetarah were blushing as well. As he entered Cats Lair Cheetarah turned to Pumyra.
---------------------------------
Rem made a grand gesture of covering the Well with shadows extending from his arms. Dodging several thrown mugs and more heavier objects he smiled at his partner as he began the spiel. "Now folks, if my partner and I allowed you to see everything that happens then what reason would you have to vote for a entry like this when you would already know what is going to happen? I for one intend to make sure that doesnt happen at all, so if you want to see more then you'll have to vote for this like everyone else." Smile fading, he started to nervously sweat when he saw the various entities around him begin to advance in a too ordered fashion, raising his hands in a placating gesture he pointed back to the now uncovered Well, hoping to distract them, not that they would see anything of course with part of his Photino body covering the Well.
Lone Wolf shook his head sadly as his partner was pulled away from the Well by the hastily formed lynch mob and hauled out of the bar. "So why didnt ya all just pull him away from the Well yourself Tolitair? I's reckon you could've done it fast enough so's none of them others could've found out."
The humanoid cat turned away from its inspection of the lynch mobs attempt to burn Rem at the stake to regard the fellow. "It would be too easy, thats part of the reason. The other part is that even with voting those timelines that could have been taken up by anyone after the first bet are still lying around unused, despite my urging. No, this is fine as it stands. Though I think more then one of the Gods present were interested in seeing this entry continued so I dont think you'll have any problems finding enough power to make it real." With a flash from inside the bar the occupants turned back to the Well where the slightly charred though still living Rem dusted itself off while muttering curse words in several different languages at once under its breath.
Just then the God of Order walked up to the Well and started to mess with it, looking at the changes Rem suddenly grabbed the god and kicking his ass. While several dieties attempted to pull the two brawlers appart Lone Wolf just chuckled and sat back to enjoy the show as Rem continued to try and remove the errent Gods spine with a pair of chopstix.
Unnoticed by anyone Tolitir examined the Well to see what the God of order had been looking at when he caught an abbaration in the crossover timeline, where once there was just one Ranma there were now two but the second one for reasons he couldnt quite tell didnt show up too well in the Well's image, almost as if it couldnt see the second Ranma as he started to make fun of Mum-ra before kicking the old mummies posterior. With a guarded glance towards Lone Wolf, then Rem he cleared the Well after making anote of that entries location so that they could proceed with the next Bet entry.
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Authors Notes: I cant believe I finally finished this, Im so happy I could cry...almost. I still cant believe it, amid the elctrocutions from my computer, getting hit on the head with blunt objects, being hit in sensitive places by young cousins who should know better by now, and the natural chaos of life...ITS FINISHED!
And for those of you wondering this is going to be a h...a haaa....a...haa..ap.....a happy story, there, finally said it. There may be a match-up with either Cheetarah or Pumyra, but even if I did know who Ranma's going to be matched up with Id still want to hear all of your opinions.
So C+C apreciated, nearly begged for, flames will be used to feed my perpetual motion machine (which oddly enough looks like a hamster in a hamster wheel), and any ideas suggested as to where the story can go may be used at any time without warning.
Also though the Thundercats may be OOC its hard for me to tell as it has been several years since I last saw the cartoon.
Comments can either be sent to me at: Mecvolve@onebox.com
or to RIFT120 at:
And now for the...*twitch*...omake.
---Beginning of OMAKE----
Fun omake time!!!
Cheetarah "After all I have to find him and cover him in honey... and
then strip him down ot lick it all off..." Cheetarah blinks as she notices the other Thundercats staring at her.
Cheetarah bushes deep red. "Ooops.. did I say that out loud?"
Pumyra muses to herself. "I would have used Chocolate myself." ^_^
---End of OMAKE----
End of this entry.
For now:P