---Transmetal 2 Ranma---
"Recently they crossed into China."
"Oh! China!"
"So what?"
"Umwhat is this 'Ranma' like, father?" Soun Tendo looked back at his three girls.
"No idea." A cicada chirped in the backyard.
"You have no idea?" Nabiki groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as her sisters shook their heads in disgust. Just then powerful heavy footfalls echoed from the front steps followed by a muffled yelp of pain. Her bowl cut spun into her face as all heads turned to the hallway as mechanical sounding whirs rebounded off the walls and tables, ringing the sweet tone of porcelain vases. Gears ground as the hiss of hydraulic joints was followed by the rumbling stomp of a weighty foot.
"Is anyone home?" A fat martial artist flew through the air and landed on the table, shattering it's legs and causing the Tendos to quickly retract their legs and scatter in fear. "Hello?"
Nabiki Tendo looked up at the 5'8 thing that stamped into their house and met her own eyes mirrored in the silver visor of the armored thing. The creature was an odd amalgamation of round chrome and red/black flat shielding that enclosed its body. The plating was dirty and dented, scratched and scorched, as the thing's hinged manipulators dug into the bunched fabric of Genma's gi and lifted his screaming body up and out into the koi pond. A furry panda surfaced, sputtering water like a broken jug.
The creature of metal sat down on the porch and with the clattering of plastic and whir of rusty gears crossed it's legs in a meditative position. Kasumi reappeared from the kitchen with a copper kettle of boiling water and a pot of tea. Oblivious to the fearful stares of her family, Kasumi nudged past Nabiki and knelt next to the bored looking automaton.
"Would you like some tea, Mr. Robot?" The sun glinted off the faded chrome of its faceplate as the neck turned with a clicking whir. Behind the mirrored visor Nabiki could swear she saw eyes blink in astonishment.
"Yes, please." The voice was rich with life, the timbre free of the defects that mechanical speech usually brought. Kasumi smiled and poured the tea, handing the cup into shiny digits with rubber fingerprints. Soun and Akane had already fled; Nabiki, meanwhile, watched in fascination as the protruding square block over it's (presumed) mouth came down with it's chin and swallowed the fluid in a single gulp. The animated reaction to the tea's heat convinced Nabiki that a living creature was hidden within the overlapping plates. Her eyes narrowed as she became driven to discover the secret of the mechanical man.
---Later---
"Hey Kasumi, where's Mr. Robot?" Nabiki parted the curtain leading into the kitchen and saw her eldest sister stirring a pot, steam wafting out through the window opened above. Kasumi turned to look suspiciously at her sister, sipping a sample of her broth.
"I think he wanted to use the bath, something about 'repairing his interior motivators'."
"Okay, thanks." Nabiki dashed up the stairs and slid past the ajar bathroom doors, the 'occupied' sign clearly posted for all to see. She didn't care, she wanted to know exactly who was beneath the armor of that thing. It had just plunked itself into the house and didn't speak to anyone except Kasumi. Robots generally don't walk into a stranger's house and make themselves at home.
The anteroom was steamy and the door leading into the bathroom was open just a speck. In the haze of the light, Nabiki made out two dark objects lying on the washing machine, the gentle swish of water rattling the metal objects. The metal slab on her left was a weapon with a sleek thin barrel, the other a shield, each etched with circuitry and extremely heavy regardless of it's plastic resemblance. The gun had telescopic crosshairs and a jutting clip filled with a pulsing purple light. Giggling at the technology and the uses she could think of, Nabiki detached the gun clip and slid the light flask into her pant's pocket.
Looking through the crack, Nabiki watched as a perfectly normal looking Japanese boy stood up naked from the furo. Her mind promptly shut down.
---Later---
"And so ends our tale of woe." Genma sat back down next to Soun and reached for a cracker in the middle of the table. Ranma was sitting innocently by the porch, showing no signs that the explanation was either true or false. If his father wanted him to keep his secret he would until it was necessary to divulge that information. Nabiki was lying on the floor with a cold compress placed on her forehead by Kasumi. Akane was simply frowning at Ranma. She didn't swallow a word of this Jusenkyo crap. "Tendo I think it's time we have Ranma pick." Genma slapped his friend on the shoulder to bring him back to reality and pointed a thumb at his 'son's' sitting form.
"Indeed. Ranma these are my daughters, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane, pick whichever one you want and she'll be your fiancée." Ranma was moving before Soun finished, ripping his shirt off and twisting it until it became a pistol. Without a second thought the boy pulled the triggeronly to have nothing happen. After hitting the weapon he checked the clip and found it empty. Mumbling to himself, Ranma checked all his pockets for another clip as the Tendos sweatdropped.
"DIE MAXIMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A cry came from the heavens as flaming death descended on the compound. Ranma pulled off his pants to form his shield and threw another clip from his thigh chamber into his fusion cannon. The silvery round disk spared the home from the plasma burst and three well placed shots dropped the Predacon into the koi pond.
As the Tendos dove for cover for the second time that day, well except for Nabiki because she was still out cold, Genma took the opportunity to scramble away lest he incur his son's wrath. The pigtailed boy snorted in amusement as the Predacon drone attempted to get out of the water. He was clothed again as both attachments had served their purposes and kicked the drone's empty brain-casing over the compound walls. Drones had no spark. "Ah for bootin' up cold!! They already found me!" He reached down into the mass of jumbled wires and pulled a communication transmitter from the robot's hand. He knew exactly where the drone had come from, the 'Phoenix Drones' had apparently followed him from China. He activated the beacon.
"Operative SAFFRON-98, have you completed your mission?" The voice that replied was somewhat garbled because of the distance but was just as malevolent as Ranma remembered, a cold voice like an old man's harsh and wheezing. A single yellow eye appeared in the holographic transmission field. "Ohit is you, flesh-creature."
"When will you quit tryin' ta kill me!?" Ranma was still in human form mind you and the Predacon on the other side of the screen glowered even darker, the fact that he was communicating with a fleshling, regardless if it was a Transformer bonded with flesh, was in his minddistasteful.
"Logic dictates that I continue hunting you down until you cease to function. Until such a time my drones will continue coming until nothing is left of you but scrap, Maximal!" The eye blazed with azure Energon as it bared down on the inferior Transformer through the hologram. "The Tri-Predicus Council has empowered me to hunt your kind in this sector after the last debacle with Megatron. Logic states that my final duty as Procurator of Terra is overseeing your destruction."
"Ya, whatever, but I don't get a word you're saying." Ranma shrugged and stared back, unimpressed by the Predacon's bravado as he severed the connection.
---Elsewhere---
"Hunt him down, destroy his spark, do whatever it takes." A face broke out into a fanged smile. "You were created for this type of combat, RYOGA."
"Understood commander." RYOGA looked up from his spinning cerebral sword and licked his teeth. He could almost taste the Mech fluid already.
"Your transformation index has been altered to suit the power and brutality logic dictates must be used for this task." RYOGA transformed, the shadowed figure shifting it's durasteel plates until his legs swung upward and grafted to his chest, his arms and torso shifting as a thick tail sprouted from his back.
"I leave immediately." RYOGA sucked air in through his teeth, a raptor's eyesight was certainly better with the advantages of being Transmetal 2. He could feel the power in his body to crush the puny Maximal and bring his shorted-out corpse before his commander.
"Excellent. Shockwave out."