Mirrors Multiplied

Part Thirteen
Good Luck or Bad?

by Jared Ornstead
aka Skysaber

No legal rights to any disclaimers were acquired for use in this
production, therefore they have been omitted to avoid lawsuit.

************************************************
Universe B, Home Universe

Serena wobbled unsteadily as she tried unsuccessfully to balance on
the short bamboo reeds. "I *still* don't see why we have to do this."
She complained.
Rae glittered, vaulting from the ground to the roof behind her.
"This is why."
The others gaped. "You can *do* that? But, you're *not* in..."
Not in her Sailor suit, but they couldn't say it. Chad was watching.

Rae vaulted down just as easily. "Ranma honey says he'll get me
running across rooftops in no time. I'm *really* excited by all the
training he's given me. And I wanted to share it with you. After all, we
might have to defend ourselves from muggers or something, right?"
"Emphasis on the *something*" she said low and close, so Chad
couldn't overhear.
"Are you sure this will work?" Amy wasn't enthusiastic.
"Aw, c'mon gang!" Lita began jumping from pole to pole, spilling
only occasionally. "If Ranma says it works... Besides, Rae didn't learn
how to jump like that from watching TV."
Mina jumped up on the poles, suddenly glad they were only a foot off
the ground. "Oh. This *isn't* easy."

*****
A Remote Place Outside Normal Time

"The time stream is suffering from myriad disruptions." The leader
of the council stated. "Our duty as the Guardians of time is being
seriously compromised. If this state of affairs continues we will no
longer exist."
"Then send one of us to correct these problems." Another of the
ruling council cried out. "Surely it cannot be that difficult to correct
such a routine problem."
"You are gravely uninformed," was the stern rebuke. "The disruption
in question is an augmented Ranma Saotome." With a brief gesture he
activated a holoprojector. As Ranma's features sprang up the leader
continued. "In addition to his Jusenkyo curse he has lived several lives
and has amassed an array of formidable skills. Among them an impressive
level in the Martial Arts and the abilities of a Sailor Scout. Coupled
with an ability to travel through time and dimensions he presents a
great challenge for most of our august company."
"He may be a challenge but we can surely overcome it. This body has
defied many other threats, many of them much more menacing in nature."
Another member of the council boasted.
"This Ranma also has powerful allies. The deities in his own
dimension have agreed to support his actions. Expect divine intervention
working against you in this mission. No, we must send one of our most
hazardous agents." The leader stated. Taking a deep breath he gave his
decision.
"We must send Doctor Where."
"Doctor Who?" One of the younger members asked.
"He's not powerful enough for this mission. Doctor Where is as good
but also has many abilities not natural to a timelord. He indeed can
fight this menace." A more experienced member of the council replied. He
then raised his voice in objection.
"This is too risky to send such an unstable, if powerful operative
on such a delicate mission. Can we not simply repair the damage the
Saotome boy has wrought on the timestream?"
"I have already send many of our number to do just that," came the
reply. "Unfortunately, as his interventions are benevolent in nature.
Considerable opposition exists. Additionally, he is constantly moving to
other dimensions and creating even more changes. We must stop him for
compounding the damage he has already done and give the battered
timestream a chance to heal."
"Very well but Doctor Where? He is really best suited to the
Historical Anomaly division." [eg where do the planes and ships in the
Bermuda Triangle really go? They ended up in different star systems
under the guidance of navigator, the timelord Doctor Where. Once a
Hibiki get you lost you STAY lost.]
"I agree but we have no choice." The leader answered.

"To minimize detection by the local populace we have disguised your
TARDIS as the most inconspicuous item we could think of, Doctor Where."
The technician explained.
"A port a potty?" The disbelieving timelord replied. "You expect me
to travel through time in a port a potty?"
"In the environment you are going no one will notice such a device."
A much calmer voice answered.
Dismissing the frightened technician, the leader of the council
addressed his agent. "You will be returning to the late 20th century
earth time to confront this threat to the timestream. This matter is of
greatest urgency. So you will travel in the potty and like it!!"
"......"
"Your target is one Ranma Saotome. Currently residing in..."
"Nerima ward, Tokyo." Doctor Where completed. "We have met, it was
before I became a timelord." He explained to his audience. "Very well, I
shall depart at once. Condition of target?"
"To be retrieved alive and brought here for interrogation."
"As you will" Doctor Where answered as he entered his TARDIS. Once
inside he let his current form drop and assumed his natural self.
"Ranma. I am coming for you. At last revenge will be mine." With a nasty
smirk Ryoga Hibiki set a course for home.

*****
Distant Future of Universe C, Except They've Been Time Traveling Too

Spock looked up from his instruments. "Captain, we appear to have
arrived within the last days of the Juraian Empire, before it perished
for lack of an heir."
Bones shifted uncomfortably, glaring at both the captain and the
alien. "Well this is a fine mess. That means we've got, what is it? The
space pirates that will destroy the Empire, the Galaxy Police cutters,
all crewed by real beings instead of ghosts, holograms and automated
systems."
"And the Royal Navy of the Juraians themselves." Spock interjected,
rising from his instruments. "Indeed, there are few periods in history
that were quite so well armed."
"It would seem then that our goal would be to avoid notice. Spock,
how well does their technology compare with our own?" Jim asked.
The alien considered. "Difficult to summarize, captain. We know very
little about their culture save that the power of the Juraian's military
was reputed to be quite vast, their nobility were credited with godlike
powers, and the fact that very little of their technology survived the
collapse of their reign. According to theory it was based upon organic
pseudo-structures that were unable to survive without the care of their
creators."
"We also know that these space pirates were comparatively few in
number, but that it was somehow arranged to isolate the few noble
Juraians to a planetary backwater while the heart of the empire was
destroyed." The captain contemplated in his seat.
"Possibly just a failure of communications." The alien felt the need
to add.
The navigator turned away from his board. "That's right, captain.
Even with subspace radios we do occasionally experience blackouts where
one area of space has difficulty communicating with another. It's
possible the pirates just waited until such an event happened around
whatever backwater these Juraian nobles were vacationing in."
The doctor folded his arms. "Not much there we could use, is there?
I mean, how are we going to sneak around without anyone noticing us if
*that's* what we have to go on?"
Kirk thought for only a moment, then shot out of his seat. "Mr.
Sulu, take us to Earth, best possible speed, keeping us to the fringes
and outskirts and away from this period's normal traffic. Mr. Spock,
what are the chances of the planet our diplomat was flung to being the
same one these nobles are visiting?"
The alien was unconcerned. "Infinitesimal, captain."
James Kirk grinned. "Right. Uhura, monitor all frequencies. Perhaps
we can learn something that will help us stay hidden. Mr. Spock, the
bridge is yours."
The doors of the turbolift closed over the energetic man.

*****
Unidentified Universe which is actually part of Universe C

Dr. Hibiki phased in his tardis at the appropriate time and place,
appearing on a street corner near a construction site just outside a
certain building where a man by the name of Genma Saotome was preparing
a pit of cats.
Leaving the tardis with his instruments, he went about taking
readings. Then, with deceptive simplicity, he went about ruining
someone's life.
"Ranma," he muttered to himself in a rage. "Tonight you will only
*begin* to pay for your affront against me!" He placed the last
unobtrusively small device, then with a remote unit activated the field
that generated. He spent an hour wandering over the site, kept from
getting lost by an inertial navigator implanted behind his left ear.
With a satisfied, malicious grin the timelord Dr. Where concluded that
all was set. He looked in triumph to the building where a small network
of devices were resonating a very specific temporal frequency, creating
a field that would bounce a temporal traveler from this arrival point
into a universe far, *far* worse.
Ryoga allowed himself a fanged grin. "Ranma, for the hell you've
made of my life... prepare to meet the real thing!" After Saotome had
enjoyed a few years in the hands of merciless fiends would Hibiki phase
in to take a much more tractable Ranma to meet the counsel.
With an evil laugh Ryoga headed back to his tardis, only to discover
that the construction workers had forced the door off its hinges and the
inside was covered in scraps of toilet paper and human waste.
Behind him a dimensional traveler presently going by the name of
Orchid slammed through his resonance barrier and saved a young boy from
getting devoured by cats.

Up in Heaven Kami-sama nodded in response to the question in his
daughter's eyes. Both looked back to the scrying window.

Dr. Hibiki phased his tardis in carefully, then scanned the vicinity
and peeked out for a careful look around. Controls inside were somewhat
stained in spite of his and the repair circuitry's best efforts, but
there did not appear to be a construction yard anywhere in the near
vicinity. The lock holding the door shut had failed three times now to
combinations of jackhammers, pneumatic drills, crowbars and welding
machinery, and was now a trifle on the fragile side. He did not want to
risk yet another bout of anxious construction workers determined to use
the potty. Having to wait in line to get into his tardis was bad enough,
cleaning it was worse.
Thankfully, there did not appear to be any construction of any kind
going on in this location.
He found he was in a zoo.
Seething, Dr. Hibiki left the disguised time travel device and
scouted the area. His prey was easy enough to find. Ranma was still in
girl form. She had changed out of her interstellar diplomat garb and was
now dressed as an American tourist. Something beneath Genma's notice as
that latter went about tying his son up in steak, sausages and other
meat over the pit of lions.
Dr. Where wasted no time. Orchid had slammed into his resonance
barrier, its field still somewhat effected her. Pointing a new device
that it had taken him weeks to create at her, Ryoga triggered a beam and
the redheaded female was flung into the deepest pits of the Netherworld!

Or so he thought.
When he got back to his tardis an animal trainer had backed his
elephant into it and now a gang of delinquent youth were taking
advantage of this rest stop so far from the main buildings.
Smoke billowed in faint wisps from tortured circuitry.

*****
Random Universe 5

Orchid dropped hard through the dimensional gate and came down
rolling on sand. Something about the transfer and the face of the one
who'd forced her through it began eating at her mind. Somehow it seemed
so familiar.
Righting herself, the redhead smoothed her clothes and began walking
casually away from the point of impact. It was a beach and there were
people all around. Some were staring. So Orchid resolved to fade into
the woodwork as quickly as possible. Three seconds later she was
swimsuited, sunblocked, sunglassed, and walking around a section of
beach away from the entry point, dodging her way casually through the
deeper crowds in order to lose determined pursuit.
Not that she was afraid of any. She was beginning to remember alot
of things, in a hazy sort of way, and no one around here had the kind of
chi signature to indicate enough martial arts training to trail her.
Correction.

Orchid's deep blue eyes focused in on a figure of trust and support.
Two actually. A smile broke forth from her lips. Now she knew that
everything would be alright.
After all, wasn't that what she'd wished for?
Orchid chewed her lip. The pair she wanted were pretty isolated. She
didn't precisely want to leave the cover of the crowds to go out to
them. Then, as luck would have it, she noticed another group heading out
in that general direction.
'Twasn't but the work of a moment to blend herself in seamlessly
with it.

...Keiichi grabbed the guy's arm, shouting. "Hey! You don't know
what you're doing there. You're messing around with the Ultimate Force,
pal!"
Orchid almost hung her head. You *never* talk about things like that
in public. Normal people never understood, and it just made you look
foolish. Stepping in to cover her father's blunder Orchid dropped her
glasses and reached in to grab the shirt front of the guy Keiichi was
talking to.
The mocking laughter cut off as the diminutive redhead lifted the
strong man into the air by his shirt front. Drawing back a fist she
warned. "He means *me*, pal! Now unless you want to go on the first
unassisted flight to the moon you'd better apologize to my father!"
"CUT!!!"
Orchid looked around herself. Where had all those cameras come from?
Were they invisible? How come she hadn't noticed them? Also, everybody
was staring at her, most of them in shock, a few of them in rage. Orchid
dropped the man she'd been holding and began backing a few steps away. A
man was charging out onto the sands.
"Akane Hakiko, who invited you onto this set? What are you doing
interrupting in the middle of filming? This is more a stunt like I'd
expect from that Ashida character. You're lucky we don't charge you for
the whole day!"
Orchid had no understanding of what was going on. She looked
fearfully around herself. No support was to be found anywhere. Crying,
she turned and leapt over a few beach umbrella clusters to the top of a
lifeguard station, then made a running dive into the sea.
The show director was taken aback. He looked around himself. Nobody
else seemed to have missed it either. The object of his ire had made
those leaps, and the cameras had NOT been running.
Turning he looked back at the sea.
Everybody knew that movie magic only functioned when the cameras
were running.
The cameras had not been running.
Twenty minutes later the girl he'd *thought* was the actress Akane
Hakiko had still not surfaced.

On a different section of beach one of the swimmers who'd been out
playing in the waves came in and showered herself. Orchid was still
badly shaken. But in 'stealth' mode it was unlikely that anyone but
Belldandy could trace her.
Why had they all reacted like that? What had that man been talking
about? The name Akane seemed vaguely familiar. But why hadn't the
goddess recognized her?
One thing was certain, she was nearly ready to die of the strain and
confusion. Well, time enough to shelf the real concerns and do something
where she could unwind. She'd just finished swimming, and that hadn't
helped, what she was really in the mood for was swings, only they never
made them big enough for adults to really play on, so that left...
In an amazingly short time Orchid was off the beach and stepping out
onto the ice of a local skating rink.

"Do you know what could have happened to that girl?" Miko, the
actress who played Belldandy, asked of her companion.
"I don't know, Miko." Keiichi's actor replied. The director had been
so concerned that he'd canceled shooting for the day while local
lifeguards combed the area for a body.
Everybody was dreading that they'd find one. The scared and hunted
look on the girl's face as she'd fled hadn't left anyone feeling good.
Topper felt particularly bad. The girl had honestly thought something
was wrong and was stepping in to defend him!
He continued. "I mean, it made me feel like a lousy rat when she
searched my face there at the end and I'd been too surprised to give her
any support. Only the fact that I'm not that much of a swimmer keeps me
from being out there looking for her with the lifeguards. I feel like I
betrayed her."
Miko smiled, though she herself was concerned. She confided. "I feel
a little responsible too. Maybe there was something we could have done,
but it was just so unexpected."
Topper nodded again. "Yeah. It was over in, what? A second? Even
that? We didn't have much time to adapt to what was going on, did we?"
The pair arrived in silence at the cafe they'd picked out. It was
one of those high-class places that wasn't all stuck up about itself,
nicely situated with a view of the beach from the balcony and a view
into an indoor skating rink on the shore side. Topper recalled briefly
his sister recommending it for `this sort of thing.'
They both went away from the beach side by unspoken agreement,
sitting next to the plate glass window that allowed a view of the
skaters inside. A waitress took their orders and both performers sought
brief peace by looking in the window.
Their jaws dropped wide open.

Orchid danced.
The ice had been cleared long ago, people being reluctant to detract
even in the slightest from the amazing show. Orchid briefly recalled
that she had once had a career in ballet, and that other times she had
taken to competition figure skating, never losing a match.
All that was kind of background as she let her body flow through the
moves. The outright impossible she reserved for limited use, to spice a
display of profound grace so awesome that her fighting style was clumsy
as an ox by comparison.
If she seemed to float, it was because more accurate and stronger
words did not exist to describe it. If she spun, that was because the
tongue would fail to express any words that could adequately come close
to the fluid passion of motion she described.
As she danced the ice became a fairy world where the unexpected was
the ordinary, the wondrous became commonplace. It was an explicit and
beautiful fantasy that existed without words, without sound. A
breathtaking pass into a higher realm.
She cried.
The audience wept with her. Stoic Japanese businessmen stern before
the worst provocation fountained tears while clasping strangers they did
not know to their bosoms for comfort.
Orchid shed tears softly as she danced the ice. It was a healing
time for her, something that needed to be done. Something she'd longed
to do, something that in a way she had to do.
She wept for a boy she had not been there to save from the lions, to
raise as a little brother, confident, and friend. Orchid wept for a
father sailing throughout the stars in a large and lonely ship, among
friends and yet alone.
She wept her greatest tears for an old man and his daughter, people
who had a great hold on her heart, who had loved her and saved her, but
now she would see again nevermore.
She cried tears for friends long gone, for memories alone, for loved
and living family that was both all that friends could be and more.
But, once that was all cleared away, she ceased to let it trouble
her. Orchid took off and danced a song of enduring love, of friendships
won and defended against all odds, hurts healed and loving homes,
parental arms and flying high on swings and ropes and leaps. She sang
the joys of childhood, opening her voice softly, yet with a power that
penetrated and endured.
In the ten minutes that it took, those who'd skated with her aged a
thousand lives and returned to youth again that morn. They were, not one
of them, the same as when they'd entered the skate center for a mild
activity. And not one of them could express it.
Orchid then missed a step and fell onto her bottom. Legs and skirt
flaring out on the ice she skidded to an embarrassed stop. She got up
sheepishly and pushed off, this time returning to the normal world with
the rest of them and merely doing a few normal routines. The spell, if
that was what it was, was broken. People began to shake themselves and
darted glances around to make sure no one had noticed their little
daydream, amazed and convinced by the strange power's very intimacy that
it had to have all been merely a fancy, that nothing really had happened
outside of their own minds.
Even skating conspicuously within the bounds of normalacy Orchid was
wonderful, and that was when the two actors sat down.

"Isn't that her?" Topper asked excitedly.
"It could be." Miko said hopefully, then later in a disappointed
frown. "Oh no, I guess not. See, there's another of the Ranma cast. I'd
forgotten they were filming on this island."
Both watched as the actor who played Mikado Sanzenine flowed out
onto the ice.

Orchid was joined by a figure who was almost as good on the ice as
she was in `normal' mode. She shone slightly as he joined her, smiling
up at him.
"Mikado."
He joined her with a kiss. She made allowances. Mikado had fewer
quirks than Tatewaki, was saner than Kodachi, calmer than Mousse, an
all-around better fellow than Ryoga, and was one of the least perverted
of her old friends.
In fact she felt sorry that they hadn't gotten along better at their
first meeting. Well, she said that to herself, but in part it was she'd
always felt badly about breaking up his wedding nuptials.
Curse or no curse, changed pasts or no, there was no way *she* was
going to end up a bride!
Orchid blinked a moment, wondering where that thought had come from.

Curse? Something was familiar about that.
"So thoughtful, my dove?" Mikado asked, having skated with her
flawlessly for many long moments. "You know, Akane, I'm sorry my tour
with the troupe won't be longer."
Orchid shook her head thoughtfully. "Not Akane. That's not *my*
name."
Her skating partner accepted that with a twitch. She was *that*
bitter about not getting the part of her namesake in this series? How
angry could you get about not getting the part that coincidentally had
your same first name? "Well, okay. I didn't know you were into method
acting before. So which do you prefer, Ranma or Ranko?"
A very large part of memory came returning, trailing disconnected
streamers. The redhead smiled, quoting words from long ago with only
partial understanding. "I go by Ranko when I'm a girl."
"I should have guessed." Mikado replied, holding her lightly by the
waist as they executed a maneuver that would have broken the necks of
less talented skaters. They did it backwards.
Ranko, for her part, was only too grateful to have some part of her
memory of self restored. Doubling this gratitude was the fact that the
stadium was being partially emptied of the crowd who had seen her
showing off. Fewer witnesses of her lapse meant a better chance for it
to be ignored. Film crews were now moving in and placing cameras.
Apparently the whole rink had been rented for the filming of something,
but nobody seemed to be moving to evict her from the ice.
Electing not to worry about it, she permitted Mikado to lift and
spin her, adjusting his touch with a light pressure of her own so that
they flew an extra twelve feet in the later leap.
He spilled badly and she barely managed to catch him in time. He
laughed partially at himself, grinning. "Ha, remind me to try that one
with the cameras running sometime. I don't usually attempt to fly twenty
feet at a jump."
To Orchid that was wrong. Martial artists, even martial figure
skaters, routinely flew twenty *yards* or more on a leap. What was it
that was so wrong with everyone she'd met here? She resolved to fade a
bit more into the background until she found out more.
Outside, a good distance away in a different building, a pampered
actress by the name of Akane Hakiko, accustomed to getting most things
she asked for and bitter about not getting the part she'd wanted, lay in
her sumptuous bath quite aware that she was going to be late for
shooting, and pleased with how much that would annoy certain people she
didn't like.

Topper and Miko looked in through the window, aware of the crowds
that would like to get in closer and glad that they had gotten good
seats early. "It looks like they're filming a new episode!" Miko said
excitedly.
Keiichi's actor concluded that his date was quite a Ranma fan.
Topper watched the crews set up with interest. From the outside like
this it was easy to spot eddies and flows he'd missed in his own
experiences. This was exciting! Even knowing what was to happen
beforehand it gave him a thrill to sit there watching it being made.
More of the Ranma cast entered.

Ranko helped a fatigued Mikado over to a seat off the ice where he
could rest and regain himself for whatever was supposed to happen now.
Her beautiful face lit up when she saw many of the people gathered
there, then flattened again when she realized something was quite wrong.
Ryoga was sitting next to a cage holding what looked like *him* in his
black pig form, eating pork and grinning evilly at the porker. Asuza was
getting along splendidly with other females and hadn't lunged at a
single cute thing in sight. Ranko was passing by there and Asuza nabbed
her.
"Akane, I'm worried. You know our director. He hasn't pulled
anything in three whole days. What could be going on?"
Orchid sighed. "Please don't call me Akane. I don't want to go by
that name, ever."
Asuza blink-blinked.
Orchid essayed a wane smile. "Call me Ranko?"
Asuza smirked knowingly. "Method acting?"
"It would make me happy." Orchid/Ranko ventured.
Asuza bobbed a nod in a very friendly way. "Sure, I'll let everyone
know. Why don't you take a break from the ice now? I saw what you were
doing out there, you're probably all worn out. You want me to go with
you to get a treat? They've kept the snack bar open."
Ranko looked over to the rinkside eatery. She was beginning to adapt
herself. They were obviously filming something, and it looked like her
friends were all involved in it. Seemed harmless. She grinned and went
with the pretty skater over to the counter, both ordering enormous
sweets.
Brown-haired Asuza floated into her seat in a plethora of curls.
Ranko joined her with a pretty bounce. Both dug into their ice creams
and gave out identical sighs of pleasure. They barely had time for a
little chit chat before Asuza was dragged away by the costumers,
apparently tight jeans and a `southern bell' blouse were not considered
appropriate attire for the next scene, though nobody complained over
Ranko's usual pants and chinese shirt she'd thrown on over her skating
costume.
Breath belonging to someone arrogant enough to believe they were
God's gift to women began breathing on Ranko's neck. A hand snaked up
under one arm and went to grab her breast.
She removed her fist from impact position to watch *Ranma* sail
backward through the air to impact upside down on the far wall of the
stadium. With a groan he slid down behind the retaining barrier, falling
completely out of sight in a place where no one was likely to go.
Ranko dropped her arm and blinked around in fright. Everyone had
been distracted by something out over on the ice, nobody saw.
What was going on? That had been an anti-Happosai punch. Ranma threw
them so often he shouldn't even have noticed dodging it. And what had
the grab been for? A joke? He was her *brother* for pete squeaks! That's
it, he must have been teasing. Suddenly she felt sorry for hitting him.
Whatever it was over by the ice came to it's conclusion and film
crewers began setting up a small table with two of Akane Tendo's
friends. One man with a clipboard came to Ranko's table.
"Sorry miss, you know the rules. No major characters allowed in
background shots. You'll have to move and come back later."
She nodded obediently and began to relocate. The stage hand grabbed
her shoulder. "Hey, do you know where Ranma is? He's due up at the rink
for the next shot."
Ranko spied a cup of hot water and nodded. "I'll send him."

"This is rather exciting to watch from the outside, isn't it?"
Belldandy's actress glowed. The pair of them were enjoying long desserts
while watching the scene inside.
Topper nodded, happy. "Yeah, it's a lot less work this way."
They both laughed.

Male Ranko filtered through the crowd and ended up right next to
Ryoga, both of them with a pair of skates. A man in a tee shirt and suit
pants grabbed them both by the shoulders from behind.
"Now remember, I *promise* the movie magic will work for this. We
start the cameras, you lace up, step out on the ice, and you'll sail
like angels. Go for it!" With a slap on each of their shoulders he was
gone.
Somebody called "Action!" and Ryoga was lacing up with continual
evil looks cast aside to Ranma. Orchid/Ranko/Ranma sighed and did
his/her best to ignore him. They finished lacing at the same time and
both stepped out, Ryoga yelling fiercely. "Let's go!!!"
The Lost Boy spilled backward so badly he almost beheaded himself on
the launch step.
Male Ranko sailed around him, doing a good impression of Peter Pan's
effortless flight on the ice. A bit of memory was stirring. "So, Ryoga.
What was that about a skate off?"
"RANMA, stop picking on poor Ryoga!"
No need to guess who *that* was, Orchid thought, sucking in his
upper lip a bit. He swiveled into a beautiful spin and started to do
slick-surface martial arts katas while Akane Tendo skated out.
"Really, Ranma, how can you be so inconsiderate? It's obvious that
he's never skated before. How *dare* you lure him into this? You
probably knew all about him never being on ice before. Honestly, how can
you be so cruel?"
"I don't *care* if it's not what I planned for this. Keep rolling!"
The director hissed to his cameraman.
`Ranma' looked back over his shoulder. "Yeah? Well I suppose that it
takes a flatchested tomboy to figure all this out." He waved an arm.
"You'll notice my ingenious plot seems to have fooled everyone else. Cut
it out, Akane. He's the one that challenged me to this. You'd have
figured even pig-breath here woulda been smarter than that."
"I swear you can be such a jerk, Ranma."
"Man, I wish I'd never met you."
Orchid stiffened and braced at her own careless statement, but
relaxed when she recalled that she no longer carried a Destiny Ring.
Suddenly her face was mallet-deep in the ice.

*****
Universe C, Past

"Ryoko."
"I saw." The demoness half-pulled herself out of the pool of
energized liquid. "I too had been watching that girl. She'd made me
feel... something, I don't know what, but I liked feeling it."
"I need to know what other of your competitors or compatriots could
have done this."
"None. You may not know this Yosho, but I was a one-of-a-kind
creation. I don't have any compatriots, and none of my competitors could
have duplicated my style. I don't know who impersonated me down there,
but they're going to regret it."
"Did you see the fight?"
"Yah, I'd been sending my astral body wherever that redhead'd go.
I... liked her. She... anyway, yah, I saw the fight. Somebody who looked
like me and some kid I didn't recognize. Ayeka served as distraction."
"Ayeka. Yes, I recognized her. I should very much like to know why
she was involved in this."
The demoness climbed fully out of the pool, facing the Juraian
warrior. "Yosho, I don't like what you did to me. I don't like it at
all. But if you need any help in avenging Orchid... I'm your demon."
"Do you swear?"
"Yes I swear it!"
Yosho, self-exiled crown prince of Jurai, one of its greatest
warriors and now a lowly shrine priest with a daughter, assumed a mantle
he had put off a long time ago and stood as the warrior he had always
been.
"Here are your gems, Ryoko. Let us collect Achika and go seeking my
sister. Maybe Ayeka can explain to us why one of the most innocent
flowers of this world had to be assassinated."

To be Continued...

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Author's Notes:

Credit must go to the Scuzzy one for the idea of Ryoga as Doctor
Where and a portion of that text (including all mistakes you can find -
really). The Anime as filmed by Japan's Hollywood idea was stolen (with
permission, darn it!) from Stepping Into Keiichi by Delany Brittain,
whose characters for Miko (Belldandy's actress) and Topper (Keiichi's)
were used by me without shame or remorse.

As for anything else, either find it on Celeste's most excellent
webpage at:

http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/seagate/131/mirrors/

or go without. Keep your comments to yourselves. I'm tired. At present
all my spare energy is devoted toward the excellent goal of not dying.
And supposing I can succeed in that endeavor (which I have no real doubt
of) you will be hearing more from me in due time.

I think maybe I'll try competing with Zen over who can take longer
to get their next installment out.