Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Ranma ½, Digimon, or Rockman. Would be nice to have them though.

Wild Horse. Exe
Chapter 16: Turning Point

An aging man rubbed his hands together gleefully. It had taken him much time and trouble, but he had finally acquired the research data those fools were working on. With this in his hands, he coul- no. He would improve upon it. Then finally he would use the finished results on the original creators. Of course, that was only if they survived that long. If they didn't, he could always use it to force people under his rule. Dr. Wily laughed to himself as his fantasies continued.

Behind him, a door slid open with a hiss. Dr. Wily did not bother to turn around, as he knew who it was. There was only one other person who had access to this room, and he could trust him. After all, this man had been working as a spy for him the whole time. Not only that, the man owed his life to him. Dr. Wily paused in his laughter to motion with a hand at the man.

"Come, come and see the fruits of our labor!" exclaimed Wily.

The approaching man's footsteps sounded off the walls of the rather empty and dark room. His face illuminated by the glow of the large screen in front of him, Dr. Wily eagerly anticipated the man's response. A loud click echoed from behind Wily. It was a familiar sound to Dr. Wily, as he had encountered that very instrument many times in his past.

Quietly, Dr. Wily said, "You wouldn't…"

A grin formed on the man's face, "No. I would."

A second click sounded. The safety was now off. The man's clothes rustled, as he moved his hand towards the doctor. Cold metal met the back of the Doctor's head. Dr. Wily sweated. His whole life seemed to flash before his eyes. Was this the end? After all that work? It would be over just like that? The very man who he had saved. The man who had helped him steal this data. The man who had worked as a spy for him, and whom he had trusted. The man behind him suddenly made a disgruntled noise as the weapon moved from his head. Dr. Wily was about to breath a sigh of relief, but a loud bang suddenly echoed throughout the room.

Once, twice, no, three times. Wily was sure he heard it at least three times before the small bullet started to drill its way into him. Dr. Wily gave a cry of agony as he crumpled to the floor, hands to his injured knee. The bastard has shot right through his knee. Blood started to pool out from the hole, between the fingers he was keeping over the wound. Grimacing as he tried to withhold the pain, Dr. Wily glared at the man.

"I'll be taking my share of the profit now."

The man stepped over Dr. Wily's body, and to the computer. No doubt he was taking the information for his own. Dr. Wily moved one hand towards the bottom of the table, reaching for a red button under there…

"Don't bother old man."

Wily accidentally let a gasp through as the man stepped onto his outstretched hand, pinning it between his boots and the cold, tiled floor. Dr. Wily attempted to pull his hand away, but admitted defeat when his hand hadn't moved after a few minutes of struggling. What was insult was that the man hadn't paid any attention to it at all. Instead, he had continued to type away at the computer, clicking every few moments.

Some time later, the man was finished. He stepped over Dr. Wily's body as if he were a piece of garbage that he didn't want stuck on the bottom of his shoe. At the door, the man turned towards Dr. Wily. "Goodbye, Dr. Wily. I let you live, so consider us… Equal."

- - - - -

Exe World

"So… You're stuck in my head now?" questioned Ranma tiredly as he walked quickly down the stairs, jumping over the last step.

'Yup! We're together forever again!' exclaimed a cheerful voice.

Ranma moaned out loud in annoyance, "Come on… Why the hell am I still cursed…"

'Uh uh, you're not cursed anymore. Well, you don't change into a girl anymore.' Ranma could just imagine his female side shaking her head as she said this.

"Yes I am! I attract trouble wherever I go!" responded Ranma, holding a hand to his mouth like a reporter. He stared dumbfounded at it for a moment before bringing it back to his side, "I thought you were gone…"

'… Sorry…' a sniff sounded through Ranma's head.

Damn, was she crying? She couldn't be crying, right? Ranma looked downwards with a blushed face, "B-but, I think we could get along this time…"

Silence.

'… Really?'

"Yea…"

'Okay! Just watch, I won't bother you at all!'

At this moment, a Navi chose to speak up, "Ranma… As interesting as it is to listen to your one-sided conversation, I'm wondering if the last turn of events has scrambled your brain. I'm starting to question your sanity."

" Midi…" started Ranma.

"Sorry, but I am too."

"Tom…"

"So what!? He doesn't have to deal with a damned cat stuck beside him! His eyes are glowing dammit! It's freaky!"

The cat purred, "That's quite impolite…"

"Dammit! Stop purring! It gives me the shivers!"

A purr.

"No!"

'We're a nice happy family right now!'

Ranma sighed. This was mentally straining on his brain. He didn't want to handle all this pressure. He felt his chest, where Takato's little device hung. The D-Power Digivice?

"We're there Ranma." Spoke Tom as he tugged on Ranma's shirt.

- - - - -

Yanoto stared dully up at the blank ceiling of the bed he was hospitalized in. His building was half demolished, many people were dead under the rubble, and his work was in shambles. He sighed. Yanoto then propped himself up against his pillow in a sitting position. He wanted to make a new system that would benefit the world. If not that, at least be somewhat helpful. Cross Fusion, Dimensional Areas and everything else that went along with it. They were all ideas brainstormed with him and a group of other people in a plain room. They had been in that room for days throwing ideas at each other.

Looking out the small window, he stared at the moon and stars that twinkled from above. He would admit that he was depressed. Why wouldn't he be from the latest turn of events? What would he do now? Move onto something else or try to start again? He was in the middle of debating this topic when a small beep sounded from the door. Yanoto quickly shoved the papers under his pillow as the door slid open. There, Ranma came in with his friend, Tom.

"Ranma, you've finally come. I was wondering when you'd arrive." greeted Yanoto as he looked at the two.

"Sorry, but I had trouble getting here." answered Ranma as he came in, pulling Tom after him.

Yanoto wondered, but accepted the answer, "Well, sit down. No sense in sitting up while you're here."

Ranma sat down, scratching the back of his head. What to say?

'Maybe you should ask him what's going on.'

Ranma took the suggestion, it sounded like a good idea. But he opened his mouth to say, "So what's goin-"

"To happen because the place got ran over by a giant virus?" interrupted Yanoto, taking the words right out of Ranma's mouth.

Ranma stuttered, he didn't expect Yanoto to know him so well. But he was more embarrassed at the choice of words about to flow from his mouth. "Uh, yea." He answered dumbly.

"I'm thinking about that. Can you believe how easily we were run through? I'm rather disappointed really. I didn't expect for the security not being strong enough."

"That's not true! This place is a really safe place to be! It's just that they're smarter this time!" exclaimed Tom, piping up as he took offense at the words. He was one that believed that this building held one of the best securities in the country.

Yanoto smiled; somewhat reassured that someone still believed that, even though they were still young. "Thank you." He said before turning towards Ranma again, "Where's Takato?"

"Takato? Oh, he's not feeling so great because…" started Ranma, wondering how he was going to cover for Takato.

"Because he was feeling uneasy about what happened." Finished Tom. It wasn't that he was an exceptional liar; it was just because Ranma was worse at lying than he was.

"I see. What about Midi? Is the firewall holding?" questioned Yanoto.

"I'm doing just fine." Answered Midi's voice.

Yanoto blinked, "Ranma, do you have Midi with you?" he questioned.

"Um yea. I thought it would be best for me to take it with me."

"I see. Midi was-" Yanoto suddenly cut off as he remembered something. Back when he had given Ranma and Takato the key towards that old room…

Flashback

"Hello Takato, Ranma, Axl. How are you all? Takato? Where's Midi?" he had asked upon seeing the two children

" Midi? Uhhhh… Whoops… I think I forgot to bring him with me so he's probably still in my room." Was Takato's answer.

"Okay, can I borrow him for a while?"

"Sure, why?"

"Something that's far too technological for you to comprehend."

When he entered the room, Midi had asked, "What's wrong Yanoto?"

"I need your help for something." He had answered, "Will you be my private safe?"

End Flashback

Yanoto was suddenly hit by the memory that all was not lost. Back then, he was taking it only as a precaution, but mostly because he was pretty sure Ranma and Takato would eventually leave and find Yuuichirou somewhere. That would have been an interesting way for the data to be transferred. Back then, he had saved the data that he had collected up to that point into Midi's memory file. Midi had a surprisingly large memory which Takato would probably never use. Yanoto had taken the liberty of using it to store things there. Of course, it was somewhat bad of him not to tell Takato, but Midi had given him the go ahead.

However, that data was mostly incomplete, and had still been before they had collected data from cross fusion experiments, and had fine-tuned the experiments and classified the data. It would be disastrous if some random person got a hold of it, sold it, or lost it. The best way would be to get it to Yuuichirou. Yanoto opened his mouth to explain this to Ranma, but suddenly the lights went off.

- - - - -

In the darkness of the night, A hand motioned, and a swarm of black suited people with protective helmets and night vision goggles appeared from the forest. They moved quickly towards the building, a few of the occasionally stopping to shoot at a hidden camera. The commander sighed as he moved in with his Anti-Corruption Unit. He didn't really want to do this, as this place held many good memories to numerous people. It was a pity that the head man had been doing illegal experiments underneath the good reputation the place held. They taught children, and were a branch of the Net Agents. He only hoped that the government would not grow suspect the Net Agents as a whole.

Shaking his head to get rid of these thoughts, he concentrated on the task at hand. They had to move in quickly to not give the enemy time to retaliate. There were also civilians mixed with the enemy, which was being troublesome to deal with. He waved his hand forward, the signal. As one, the team surged forward to storm the building. Every few moments, one member would stop and shoot at a small area in the trees or bushes. With a few rounds, that spot would suddenly burst into sparks as the hidden camera was destroyed.

Nearing the building, two security guards came forward with their guns leveled at the squad. In response, two members of the AC Unit stopped to let off a small, aimed burst. Both guards suddenly stopped in mid-step. As they did so, a small spurt of red erupted from the back of their heads. Both then fell to their knees before slumping onto the ground, dead.

Without missing a beat, the AC Unit continued on. Breaking through the glass doors, the electricity was then cut off at the same time.

"Hands up in the air!" commanded the leader, "You are now under the custody of the Anti-Corruption Unit! Nobody move!" he announced.

The commander spoke into his communicator that lay on his shoulder. Herding all the people in the lobby into one corner, some AC Unit members moved on, while two people went behind the counter with mini-flashlights. As more rooms were being silenced, the two members went through the files, tossing whatever was unneeded onto the ground carelessly. It took some time before one of them gave a cry of discovery.

"Room 115!"

"You and you, come with me." Spoke the commander briefly towards the two nearest people before taking off in the direction of the room. Passing other members who nodded as they passed by, he three quickly found the room. Coming to it, two of them put their backs to the wall on either side of the door. One counted to three with his fingers. On the third count, they spun to face the door and slammed their feet into it in unison. Knocking the door down, the two immediately kneeled with their guns drawn. The commander, the only one out of the three standing held his above them. Scanning the room, they found a surprised man in a bed, a confused boy in a chair, and a foot in front of them.

- - - - -

As soon as he had heard the sounds and the lights went off, Ranma had made sure he had the Pets and Digivice secured. Satisfied with where they were, Ranma jumped off his chair. He then crouched and got ready for the moment the door opened. As soon as it did open, he sprung at them, feet first. His foot then slammed into the first man's helmet, knocking his head back with the impact. Barely giving time to touch the ground with his other foot, Ranma whirled to throw a punch at the other kneeling man who had barely registered the attack. As the man attempted to move his arm to prevent the attack, Ranma turned his fist into an open hand which he used to hold onto the man's arm, giving him the leverage to bring his body above it to give a backwards kick to the back of the man's neck. As that man fell unconscious from the impact, Ranma turned towards the last person. Unfortunately, he was met with the cold metal of a pistol's muzzle on his forehead.

'Ranma!'

"Ranma!" exclaimed Yanoto as he started to move from his bed.

Likewise, Tom started to move from his chair.

"Don't move." Stated the man. His head moved towards his shoulder where a communicator was placed, but his eyes never left Ranma or Yanoto. "I need another man in here."

Ranma stared hard at the gun between his eyes. This was quite an uncomfortable position to be in. He was about to bring his hand up to twist the man's wrist, which would force the gun to be dropped but he was stopped by a voice.

'Don't do it!'

To his right, the first man Ranma struck started to get back on his feet, as he had not been taken out from the initial attack. The man looked up at his leader. The man in charge merely turned his head towards the unconscious man before looking back at his subordinate. Getting the message, the first man walked over to his ally, picked him up, and walked out of the room just as another man walked in.

The new person looked quickly around the room, but was confused with the boy held at gunpoint. The commander then spoke, "Take the boys."

"Should we take their Pets too?" he questioned.

"No. There's no need. They can't send any messages out into the outside after we jammed the signals. Don't want the kids crying without their Pets either." He answered, "One more thing. This one's dangerous. He might be the result of an experiment."

The man then understood the situation with the last sentence. He walked over to Ranma with a hand on his side, reaching for something. Ranma's instinct kicked in, as it told him to move. Unfortunately his body did not react quickly enough; as his mind told him of the situation he was in. The man had grabbed Ranma by the arm before he could move, and had shot his arm with a small gun.

'It's… a… tranquilizer…' the effects Ranma felt was also felt by his cursed form.

Ranma's body fought the effects, but eventually fell into the man's waiting arm. The man then motioned for the Tom to come with him, which Tom obediently did. The two remaining men stared at each other. Yanoto broke the silence with a question, "What are you doing?"

"You are under arrest on charge of illegal experiments."

"Illegal experiments? What do you mean!? There was nothing illegal done here!" exclaimed Yanoto.

"You have been charged for illegal experiments." Repeated the man as he walked towards Yanoto, "Any signs of resistance and we will use force."

Yanoto's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, why was this happening? There was nothing illegal done here. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding. The Digimon! They must have thought Megidramon was a virus that they were breeding here. Yanoto attempted not to bite his bottom lip in frustration, as that could be interpreted as a sign of guiltiness. Yanoto gave no resistance when the handcuffs were placed onto his two hands. Over his hands, the man then placed a cloth to cover the handcuffs.

"Come." Commanded the man as he took hold of Yanoto's right arm with his own left, and led him out of the room. As Yanoto passed through the halls of his own building, he kept his face down. Why was this happening? Did he do something to deserve this? They couldn't hold him forever, he was innocent… Right?

As he was brought into the hallway, he realized that he could see nothing. Complete darkness. He could hear some sounds, and a few voices, but that was it. Was this a good or bad thing? He wouldn't be seen by his co-workers and staff members to be taken away by these people, but none of them knew it was happening either. Yanoto hung his head sadly. Falling into his thoughts, he let them guide him along and out of the building. As van doors opened up, he slowly climbed in.

- - - - -

Farther off, Ranma's drowsy mind barely saw Yanoto being pushed into the van. He would have probably missed it, had it not for him seeing Tom silently looking in that direction. Ranma kept his eyes on the van Yanoto was in. He didn't know why, but something was wrong. Tom had already been placed into the van, and he was next. The van Yanoto was in suddenly roared as it came to life as they prepared to leave the building behind. Ranma's eyes followed it as it started to roll away from the building. Suddenly a scorching heat blasted against his face. He closed his half opened eyes from the heat and the wind being blown into his face. Heat scorched his skin as debris and hot air blew past him. Ranma risked a half opened eye to see what had happened. What he saw immediately countered the effects of the tranquilizer, waking him up.

Yanoto's van had exploded into a ball of flame. A trap? Set-up? Ranma looked on in shock, along with the men that were there. However, the men were first to come back to reality, the men cursed as they quickly threw Ranma into the van and closed the door. Ranma fell against the floor and skid against the metal flooring with a groan. Ranma growled in anger as he curled his fists. Turning around, Ranma flung himself at the door, attempting to escape. Those bastards, they killed Yanoto he thought at his fist met the metal door with a clang! Not only that, they also killed their own men! What kind of people were they? Distantly, he felt rough, gloved hands grab at his arms, pulling him back.

Resisting, Ranma shouted, "Let go of me! Le'go of me!"

Ranma kept up the resistance for a few seconds before the door was suddenly opened to show a helmeted man.

"Shut the hell up you brat!" he shouted as entered the van.

He then threw a punch at Ranma's head, not caring about Ranma's age at all. Instinctively, Ranma ducked his head, avoiding the fist, all the while keeping eye contact with the man. "Why you little… Hold him!" he shouted. The men restraining Ranma suddenly tightened their grip even more. Ranma could feel their fingers digging into his arms. "Let's see you avoid this…" shouted the man as he punched Ranma again, this time aiming for his body.

'Ranma! No! Stop hurting him!'

Unable to move, Ranma took the attack in full force. The breath driven out of him, Ranma's head fell forward as he gasped for air. In the lapse of no resistance, the man grabbed Ranma by the shoulders. He then pushed Ranma backwards into the van where he then roughly slammed his back against the side of the van. Groaning, Ranma slid down the wall to fall into the bench made into the wall. Looking back up, Ranma glared at the man. Again, Ranma was pulled away from the wall, and slammed back into it. Satisfied, the man let Ranma drop and left the van.

Looking around, Ranma saw Takato on his right, with Tom farther down. However, beside Tom sat a guard, and another one sat across from him. Ranma let his head drop backwards. What the hell had just happened? He was having trouble comprehending this. That explosion meant Yanoto was dead, right? But he couldn't be dead. It wasn't right! Ranma worked his brain, attempting to make up reasons and convince himself that Yanoto had survived.

Outside, he could hear people scrambling, around, checking if any of the other vans had been tampered with. Apparently they had not found anything. Ranma looked over past Takato and at Tom, who seemed to be preoccupied with something. Ranma looked around. No one seemed to have noticed, as everyone in the van was worried about an attack instead. He looked back at Tom. His hand was quietly moving, but Ranma couldn't figure out what was being done in the darkness.

Suddenly the van he was in jerked as started moving along the path. Ranma wondered what he should do. Should he try to fight his way out? If he did that, he might make things worse, or if he did escape, he may not be able to bring Tom and Takato with him. He also certainly couldn't dodge a gun either. Suddenly the van was thrown forward and the back doors blown open. The van right behind theirs had exploded. The close blast had thrown the doors right off their hinges.

In that moment, Tom reacted by curling his legs up to his chest and kicked Takato and Ranma out of the van, where they promptly rolled on the ground for a moment before rolling into the brush of the forest. Before Tom could do anything else, as expected by him, he was held back by the men. Rolling downhill for a moment, Ranma's body became cold as he fell into a rapid river with a still unconscious Takato. Grabbing a hold of Takato with his free hand so that they would not be separated, Ranma and Takato's small bodies were pulled downstream by the water away from the scene and the building.

- - - - -

Nerima

It was a normal morning as far as everyone was concerned. Things were quite random as usual, although things seemed to be getting worse. Akane was fighting in the middle of the Hentai Horde as she use to, and seemed to be fine, for the most part. Students were arriving in their classrooms, and some were conversing with friends, while others might be catching up on some more sleep before class started. Kuno challenged Akane, and started to attack. Fortunately or unfortunately, Ryouga was near and started to help out. Forgetting about Akane, the swordsman started to fight all out against Ryouga. Damage was racking up, and the walls and ground were filled with cuts and craters. Just as Ryouga was about to throw Kuno away, a red light suddenly formed between them. As that light dispersed, a figure stepped out of it. A Japanese youth, who was wearing a simple Chinese silk shirt and black pants. His black hair was pulled backwards into a pigtail, and his blue eyes looked forward. He was… Ranma Saotome?

Ryouga stuttered, Kuno gaped, and Akane stared. Students however, instantly backed away from the windows. They had seen the destruction Ranma had laid all over Nerima merely the previous day, and had no wish to be injured either.

The youth blinked, and looked at everyone. His lips opened once before closing. The second time he opened his mouth, he spoke, "Hey, what's goin on?"

"… You dare… Ranma, you dare come back after all you did?!" exclaimed an enraged Ryouga, "After everything you've done, and even after you're gone, you dare come back!?"

"I'd rather be called Saotome, pig-boy." Was the response.

"Foul sorcerer! What fiendish contract have you signed with the devil to come back from the very pits of hell!?" exclaimed a completely healed Kuno, "Even after dragging others into the afterlife with you, you come back here by yourself?"

"The hell're you talkin' 'bout Kuno?"

"Die Ranma!" shouted Ryouga as he drove his fist straight at Ranma.

"Whoa, watch that. You could hurt someone!" was the shouted response as the punch completely missed the agile martial artist.

"Dammit Ranma! Don't mock me!" shouted Ryouga, "Shi Shi Hokudan!"

Blue eyes seemed to glow for a moment, "Completely missed, Mouko Takabisha!"

In response to Ryouga's green ball of ki, a dark blue ball was thrown back at Ryouga. Dodging the ball, Ryouga dashed at his rival, determined to have his own fist connect once with his face. However, his punch missed as his target jumped back again, "Dammit Ranma! Stop screwing around and come at me!"

Said martial artists merely smiled in response.

Ryouga screamed in frustration, "Damn you Ranma! Bakusai Tenketsu! Shi Shi Hokudan!"

Thrusting his finger into the ground, the rock immediately exploded, sending rocks and shrapnel in every direction. His target shielded his face with his arms to prevent any large injury to it. The ball of ki then slammed into his unprotected chest, as his view was clouded by the previous technique. Being blown back and sliding against the ground, he stood up just before Kuno stabbed at his previous position.

Withdrawing his sword, Kuno continued his attack by repeatedly bringing his sword down, "Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!"

Using the minimal movement to dodge every single one of them, the pigtailed martial artist then ducked low. He sprung back up with a flat palm against pushing against Kuno's chest, causing Kuno to be lifted off his feet. Moving his palm away, the martial artist directed his other fist into Kuno's stomach, throwing him away in time to jump over Ryouga's charge.

Ryouga felt his opponent place their hand on his head as a vaulting horse. Stopping to pivot around, his face turned smack into an Amagurinken. With the force of his ram being turned right into a fist multiple times, Ryouga knew there would be a bruise as he was brought to the ground headfirst. His opponent stood over him with his hands in his pockets. Leaning over forward on the balls of his heels, a grin formed, "Not so cocky now, are you Ryouga?"

Although Akane was surprised by her fiancé's reappearance, habit took over as she saw him and Ryouga fighting.

"Ranma! Stop beating on Ryouga!" she exclaimed as she threw her bag at him.

"Hey! He attacked me!" was the response as Akane's bag was caught before it contacted.

"Don't be so mean to Ryouga!" exclaimed Akane as she ran over to check on Ryouga.

The martial artist looked on with annoyance for a few moments before dropping Akane's bag and turning around to leave the school, "Hmph, see if I care."

Akane looked up, "Ranma! We have school!"

"You do, I don't."

"Ranma!"

No response as the cursed man walked away and turned at the school gates.

Akane then remembered what had happened to him. "Ranma!" she shouted as she ran out after him, dropping Ryouga's head onto the cold ground. However, when she got to the gates, the man was gone.

"Ranma? You stupid jerk! Where did you go!?" Akane shouted as she dashed down the street.

- - - - -

"… kato… Ta… Takato!"

Said person groaned for a moment as his head rolled.

'Slap him a few times to wake him up!' exclaimed a cheerful voice in Ranma's head.

"Takato!" shouted Ranma again as he started slapping Takato repeatedly on the cheek, although lightly. In doing so, he was rewarded of a conscious Takato.

"Urgh… Ranma?" Takato looked around in confusion, "Where are we? What happened to Harpuia and all those other people?"

'Aha, looks like he forgot!'

Ranma stared at Takato for a moment. Was this a blessing or curse? Should he keep this from Takato to protect him? Or should he give him the truth?

In the middle of the night, they were in the middle of the forest between the building and the city. It was a large forest, as Ranma had seen a few times from the roof. He didn't really know much about it though. Ranma had pulled Takato away from the river in case the soldiers would come down the river looking for them. Of course, he had done so at the request of the voice in his head.

Axl spoke up from Ranma's side, "Ranma, Takato. We're going to have to start moving. You two can't stay here forever."

Takato turned towards Ranma for an explanation, "Ranma?"

The martial artist sighed, "Alright. After Harpuia came through, it some Anti-Corruption Cops or somethin' busted Yanoto for some kind of illegal crap."

Takato grabbed onto Ranma's arm in concern, "Is Yanoto alright?"

Ranma stared at Takato for a moment, should he tell him?

"… Ranma?"

'Let him know…'

"… No… Takato, he's… The van he was in exploded."

Takato's eyes shot wide open, "N-no… No… You're kidding me, Yanoto… Yanoto, he's… De-"

"NO!" exclaimed Ranma, "No, he was in an explosion!"

"Bu–"

"He was just in an explosion. That's all."

Takato bit his lip as he looked down. A spark came to his eyes as he looked back up at Ranma, "What about Tom? He got out fine right? Tom's okay, right?"

Ranma closed his eyes, "I don't know, he was still with them when he helped us get away."

Axl looked downcast, "Ranma…"

The cat in the Pet made no sound.

As the four plus two became silent, they stared off towards the side, not sure what to do. Axl broke that silence, "Should go to the city?"

Takato gave his two cents, "What if someone tries to stop us? We're two little kids running around."

"We can easily run away if that happens. Also, if things start to get out of control, Ranma can just punch them out!" exclaimed Midi

'Ranma… What have you been doing?'

Ranma stared at Midi. Punch them… Punch them out… It then occurred to him, how he had been acting the past few weeks. He had been attacking people with no reason… That scientist in the Lab, merely because he called him a kid. Those two teenagers in the training room when Axl had accidentally used his new attack… Why was he becoming so violet? He was a martial artist! He shouldn't just attack people who didn't know anything!

"… Ranma?"

He was supposed to protect people! Things weren't suppose to be like this. Why was he different? Was it because there was no one to fight? Back in his own world, he constantly was fighting, protecting, defending. But here, things were so… so uneventful as a martial artist. Was it because of that? He had no one better to punch, so he'd just do that to a random person? That was no martial artist! He was-

"Ranma!" This time, it was Takato's turn to wake up Ranma. Ranma's head snapped back to face Takato.

Takato tilted his head, "What's wrong?"

"No… I can't… can't just punch someone like that…"

"Why not? You've been doing it recently though, isn't it fine if you do it again?" questioned Midi curiously.

Ranma narrowed his eyes at Midi, "It's because of that… If I did that again... Then I ain't a martial artist."

'Ranma, calm down, it's not his fault.'

Ranma held his gaze with Midi for a moment before looking away ashamedly. As he turned away, he noticed a small glint in the thick of the forest. Stepping towards it curiously, he stared at it, wondering what it was.

'Ranma! Duck!'

Danger senses went off like alarms. Obeying his senses, he ducked his head and just in time too. For as soon as he did so, the trunk of the tree behind him exploded into splinters.

Takato stared at it fearfully, "Wh-what? What's going on?"

'Ranma! Again!'

Again, Ranma instinctively ducked his head as another part of the trunk shattered, splinters again, flying everywhere.

Midi's eyes widened in surprise, "Th-that's gunfire!"

"Sniper! Get something in the line of sight!" continued Axl, looking around as if he were there himself..

Obeying Axl in time of danger, Ranma held Axl to his waist while he pulled on Takato's hand with the other. Takato fumbled to click his Pet back into place as he stumbled after Ranma. Running into a thick of bushes, both children protected their face with a hand. Ranma used his other hand to push away as many branches and leaves as he could, while Takato used his other hand to keep his balance, since he was having trouble keeping up with Ranma.

Suddenly, a loud clatter sounded from their left. Immediately, the dirt at their feet started to kick up while the trees near them were seemingly pounded with invisible pellets.

"They're spraying the area with machine-gun fire! Run before it hits you!" screamed Midi.

"Holy crap we're lucky!" questioned Axl with a hand held out, "How the hell did it not hit you!?"

Responding without a second thought, Ranma answered the question, "I've got the craziest luck Axl! The craziest luck!"

'Ranma! Get back into the river! Water will slow down the bullets!'

Ranma nodded, even though there was no need to confirm it. As they ran from the shower of bullets, Ranma shouted, "Where the hell's the river Axl?"

Axl pulled open a map of their movement with his finger trailing down diagonally to bring up a window, "You're headed straight for it! Keep going!"

"Takato! Are you okay? You've got to keep going! Takato!" shouted Midi with his hands against the screen.

Ranma grit his teeth as they ran, this was unbelievable. They were being shot at! What kind of people would open fire at children? Snipers and machine guns, was this seriously the Anti-Corruption Unit? What the hell were they?

'Ranma! Stop!'

Trusting the voice, Ranma halted in his run, but Takato kept going. Crashing into Ranma's back, both children fell forward. As they fell, a high speed bullet ripped through the air. The bullet whistled past Takato's head, barely missing it and continued on till it hit a tree. There, it showed the damage they had continually seen as they were running through the forest.

Takato stared at it with glazed eyes. He had heard the bullet, and he had felt how close he had come to dying.

"Oh god…" murmured Ranma as he pulled himself to his feet. Pulling on a non responsive Takato, he slapped Takato in his panic, "Wake up! We don' have time for this!"

Seemingly snapping out of his trance, Takato stared at Ranma's face with fear written on his face, "What's happening Ranma? Why's this happening?"

"I don't know! Now run!" hand never leaving hand, both children continued the flight. A sudden explosion sounded through the forest behind them.

"What the hell was that!?" exclaimed Ranma.

His face contorting in worry, Axl responded, "Ignore it!"

Running down a steep, small hill, Ranma and Takato slipped and slid down it quickly as the river was right in front of them. As they reached the river, a small silver object appeared in front of them. Suddenly, their vision dropped to zero as they then saw nothing but white.

Ranma held a hand to his eyes as he stumbled and fell, "Argh! My eyes!"

"I can't see!" responded Takato as he was taken along by Ranma.

As they fell forward, the water jumped in some sort of dance as the shower of bullets caught up. In a moment, the two had been blinded. In a moment, the children fell forward. In a moment, a bullet went through Takato's side, splattering blood onto both children's hands.

The moment was over, and both children were swallowed up by the river.


Author's Note

Well, hi? It took me a year to get this chapter out. I'm really sorry about it. I don't know how to say it properly, but yea, it's late. I know. I'll try to update more than once a year, but seriously, I'm not the type of person who can dedicate himself to one thing for a while. Which is why I'm on and off for writing. I write a bit, and then go do something else. Yea, I suck like that. Anyways, as you can probably see, this chapter's quite difference from the previous ones.

However, now I'm unsure about my rating. 'T' is 'Suitable for more mature children, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.' That's what Fictionratings says. But then again, since when was swords being driven through human-like people, cannons, bombs, and flamethrowers suitable for children? I need some help on this.

I'm hoping I can get the plot to move better now, since I've thought a few things through. Basically, I'm putting off the actual Rockman. Exe storyline for now, and concentrating on what's happening here. It's basically the past of Rockman. Exe, a prequel? Whatever. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Till whenever next time is.

Oh yea, I made a few minor edits to the previous chapter. It's not that important, but I'm guessing some people would probably skim through the past chapters to get a feel of what happened, since they probably didn't read this story for over a year. Only major change is that Guilmon doesn't have the ability he stole when he and Takato were taken to the Exe. World. If you don't understand, I'd rather you not remember. I decided that it was more trouble than it was worth.

A bit late to wish you all a Happy New Year, but, I'll still say it. Happy New Year. Thanks for reading.