Author's note: Sorry for the ridonculously long delay... I've been busy. Also, Second Raid happened, and a rewrite was necessary.

Prologue

--------

A relatively small explosion rocked the rain-soaked streets of Hong Kong. Rather than the massive blasts that were occurring regularly a few miles to the south, this one was the product of a mere pound of C4 plastic explosive placed in an enclosed space, namely underneath a cheap bed in a seedy apartment complex. A few windows were shattered, small animals startled, a certain room incinerated, along with the man inside...

The undignified landing of a certain white Arm Slave outside the complex caused more extensive damage, requiring somewhat more than a redecoration and a fresh coat of paint to correct.

And inside the complex, a slightly singed madman grinned maniacally as he reattached his prosthetic limbs...

---------

One hour later, Mithril cleanup crews began carting away the remains of six Venom-class Arm Slaves. There had originally been seven, but one had been vaporized by the Arbalest in a burst of scintillating light. No-one was sure how that had happened.

When the female pilot of the first Arm Slave to fall was found, she was taken into custody, heavily sedated, and sent to a nearby Mithril high-security medical facility. Her partner in crime, and apparently her sister, was declared dead and shipped to the same Mithril facility for autopsy.

When her throat appeared less crushed and oxygenated blood began to flow out of the first incision in her torso the coroner made, he understandably panicked. His patient was then sent to the intensive care unit under heavy guard.

----------

Some time later and almost a thousand miles to the north, eight figures stood around a large, muddy lake. An innumerable number of bamboo poles jutted out of the water, and it was raining rather heavily. The storm that had turned Hong Kong into a sopping mess had done the same here. However, to the eight standing around the lake, the rain did not matter at all.

To those eight (a small girl, a rather portly man, a muscular young man with an umbrella, a panda, a bespectacled duck, a cat, a young woman wearing only a shirt belonging to someone else, and a shorter, redheaded young woman wearing baggy pants and a tank top), what mattered was the condition of the lake. In fact, the lake was not supposed to be there. This was supposed to be a valley dotted with over a hundred freshwater springs, each with a different curse placed upon it. However, due to the extensive flooding, the springs had all mixed, and the curses present in each spring had mixed together, so that it was much too dangerous to enter the water. It was, without a doubt, the worst place to go swimming in the entire world.

An unfortunate side effect of this flooding was that the springs necessary to cancel the curses possessed by five of those figures around the lake were inaccessible. It was also unfortunate, or so it was believed, because those eight would most likely not find their way back for a long time, and they did not have the time to wait for the waters to recede, as six of them had to return home to Japan as soon as possible. The only one of those six without a curse, the woman clad in someone else's shirt, had been kidnaped by the inhabitants of the nearby Phoenix Mountain, and subsequently rescued by the redhead. Her family was, of course, rather worried, and wanted her home as soon as possible.

It didn't help that the redhead and the man with the umbrella were both in love with her, no matter how much they tried to hide or deny it.

Inwardly, all of the eight cursed at the rain in varying degrees of vulgarity, wondering why it couldn't have held off for a few more hours.

----------

Andrei Kalinin sat at his desk, swamped by intelligence documents, mission reports, and paperwork. Standing at just over six feet and well-muscled, he wasn't the type of person one would peg as a submariner. He didn't care; he enjoyed the irony. Some would have said (not when he was anywhere nearby, of course) that he might have been a bit too old for submarine duty. He felt that he was just experienced, and the fact that he had proven exceedingly useful and hard to kill had kept his place on board.

At the moment, however, he would have done various unmentionable things for some fresh air or a secretary to pass most of the work to. He had a large amount of paperwork to catch up on, and most of the items on his desk were highly classified, and only he and God were cleared high enough to see it, and God had to pass daily security reviews to hold on to His clearance. So, instead of enjoying the nice weather, he was stuck inside.

"Damned bureaucracy," he muttered as he filled out the paperwork required to obtain a week's worth of bullets for the firing range. This wound up being his responsibility because he was the head of operations, and his superiors wouldn't let him delegate this to his underlings. "You spend god knows how much on a submarine and impenetrable island fortress, but quibble over a couple metric tons of bullets... where's the justice?"

After several other, almost identical, forms that were required to be filled out in triplicate, it was time to dig into the latest batch of intelligence reports. These he almost enjoyed. After stretching and cracking his neck, he reached for the first folder, marked EYES-ONLY Δ. As the only member of the Mithril Operations Directorate cleared for raw intelligence data with the -Δ indicator in the Pacific, this folder required his immediate assessment and summarization. This was true of half of the stack of folders on his desk. Yawning, he flipped open the folder, skipped the pages about how improper viewing of this material would lead to court martial, pay cuts, demotions, and various other unpleasant punishments up to and including keelhauling by the Tuatha de Danann, and began to read and summarize.

"On the night of May 17, a large explosion occurred in a sparsely populated region of the Quingyang Province of the People's Republic of China. This explosion appeared to be centered on the peak of a mountain commonly referred to as 'Phoenix Mountain', near a village of indigenous peoples. No volcanic activity occurred to create this explosion, and no traces of any known explosive compound were found. The results, however, were very apparent. Severe damage was done to the surrounding bedrock, and the top of the mountain was almost completely destroyed. Much of the surface rock was melted, and geological surveying satellites indicate that the Jusendo underground river was split into two branches, one of which apparently travels to the remains of the peak of Phoenix Mountain under very high pressure. It is unknown what caused this, or how it is even possible.

"It is believed by all sources who had any information on this development that a new, very powerful explosive compound was under development, as well as research into a source of mental and physical power known as 'ki.' However, the specific circumstances remain unknown, pending further investigation.

"Reports indicate that, surprisingly enough, nobody was killed in the blast. However, the head of whatever was going on there, a man referring to himself as 'Lord Saffron' is missing and presumed dead. His alleged demise apparently occurred either just before or just after the explosion.

"Reports also indicate that several Chinese and Japanese nationals were present at the time. These nationals were observed heading towards the mountain a day prior to the blast, and were observed leaving the vicinity at a high rate of speed soon after the blast occurred. The extent of their involvement is unknown.

"What raises even more questions is the identities of those nationals. Three young males, a small child, and a middle-aged man were observed entering; while the same three young males and small child, two young females, a middle-aged, portly man, and a panda were observed leaving the area. Intelligence reports that the portly man and small child live in the Jusenkyo Valley, while the rest live in Nerima, Japan, all but three of them in the same household. The identities of those currently residing in Japan were obtained, and their names, vital data and pictures follow. Recommend contacting operatives in Tokyo to obtain detailed information on these individuals.

Attached to that report was a large sheaf of paper containing details of Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma Saotome, Xian Pu, Muu Tsuu, Akane Tendo, and Genma Saotome. However, what confused Andrei to no end was the photographs included for the one known as Ranma Saotome. It was indicated that he was a male; however, pictures of a dark-haired muscular man and a short redhead were included. No explanation was given. Photos of a piglet, a cat, a duck, and a panda were included as well.

"Hmmm... this bears investigation. I'll have to contact various information brokers and see what I can find... HARLEQUIN operates in the Tokyo area, and since Nerima is a subsection of Tokyo, maybe he can provide information. Also, I believe Souske lives in Nerima, as well. Perhaps I can set up a face-to-face meet..."