Anime Addventure : Pokegirls: Tendo Indiscriminate Taming School

by tutcat

Anime Addventure, Ranma, Pokegirls, other craziness, Lemony goodness (all stories up for adaption) minor fixes

14. Pokegirls Tendo Taming Haul 2

Pumping her legs despite the pain coursing through them as they were pushed past their limits, Shampoo kept running. She wasn't going to end up like Spatula-girl or Crazy-girl! Oh, how she wanted to use the amulet her great-grandmother had given her to return home right now but she knew her Airen was in this world and that was all that mattered. She needed him, he was her honor. She had to return with him or she would never be able to return to her people, to return as a Champion.

At least the two she came with had sacrificed their lives for a worthy cause. Shampoo was certain that after EATING two people whole, the demonic insect beast would be stuffed and would lose interest in her if she put enough distance between her and that despicable thing! At least she hoped that two people would fill that thing's belly. She prayed nothing else that hostile was nearby.

Looking around and feeling safe for a moment, Shampoo took the chance for rest to check out her amulet. The red ruby in gold setting was her one-shot ticket home. She'd need to make sure it wasn't damaged; she wanted to go home with her husband. "Aiyah..." she gasped between breaths. "How... how do I explain Crazy-girl and Spatula-girls deaths without upsetting husband?" In the back of her mind, the Amazon had to wonder. Crazy-girl would be easy for her Airen to accept, she was taken by surprise. But Spatula-girl... husband might not like she just left her.

But then... that thought made Shampoo grin in realization; they had given themselves to save her; Ranma would accept that. And that meant that was less competition for him, so why not make sure she saved only her husband now? Spatula-girl and Crazy-girl were gone so why not leave Kitchen-Destroyer and Mercenary-girl behind? No one would fault her with things being as dangerous as they had been! She would still be praised as a hero for saving her husband!

Shame about having to leave Housekeeper-girl behind though. She was rather nice. Maybe if she could, she would save her but her sweet Airen came first!

However, she was taken out of her thoughts by a sudden noise. What was that sound? It sounded like hissing and a stampede of feet. Turning her head, Shampoo saw it was... it was Cocooner again!

Yet... while she did recognize it, the vicious beast's form had changed again! Six legs and a pair of arms had become ten long limbs; six of them being powerful legs and the other four being long, powerful arms with two ending in long, sharp-bladed claws while the other two were powerful three-fingered hands. Its torso changed from a large pulsating cocoon into something vaguely spider-like, yet the thorax was longer than the norm and possessed a massive scorpion-like tail that split off into four smaller, whip-like extensions at the end! And while it had no more mandibles in its wide mouth, it instead had many rows of razor-sharp teeth. Its exoskeleton, still black, had portions of it that extended out into bladed spikes along the sides of her body.

Overall, a VERY dangerous creature... that was now charging right towards her!

"Aiyah!" Grabbing her bonbori, Shampoo realized she had to fight! Running seemed futile since she wasn't sure if she was heading out of the forest... or going deeper into the woods.

Coming up on the girl, the large spider-like creature struck out with one of its sharp, bladed claws, just swiping at it with ease. Indeed, Cocooner's carapace was tougher than the metal ball and the Amazon could only stare as one of her weapons was cut neatly in half horizontally.

"AIYAH!" The Amazon screamed fearfully, jumping away as the other claw tried to swipe her. "What do I do, what do I do!?" The Chinese warrior thought fearfully. Yet, as Shampoo watched the creature's claws warily, she completely missed the tail. Cocooner struck forward with its scorpion-like appendage, the extensions whipping against and then curling around the violet-tressed girl's arms and legs before she pulled her tail back, making the girl drop her weapon as she effectively held the purple-haired woman hostage.

Letting out a screech of victory, the Legendary Pokégirl turned about-face and started walking back towards the clearing where it had first met the girls; tail whips holding tight as the human captive struggled in mid-air.

Trying to punch back and forth and kick her legs, the Amazon struggled against the sturdy binds of the Bug-type Pokégirl. "Aiyah! Let Shampoo go! Let Shampoo go!" The girl demanded in a heated voice as she was carried off.

Yes, Karma was a bitch at times.

Finally reaching the clearing, Cocooner brought its tail back and then stabbed forward, the whips releasing their grip on the girl and letting her go flying. Screaming in pain, Shampoo smashed hard against one of the trees before she fell to the ground. Opening its mouth wide and raising forward its two three-fingered hands out, the Legendary shot numerous strands of String Shot at the girl, slowly immobilizing her.

Even getting sprayed by sticky webbing, the girl refused to give up. "Ngh! D-damn it!" She cursed as she continued to struggle. But being thrown at a tree coupled by the fast working String Shot... She was helpless. When she was finally thoroughly bound and her movements ceased, the large and disgusting arachnid-like creature changed... back to that of what they'd first seen.

Placing all four hands on her hips, the insect anthropomorphic frowned. She looked over the violet-haired girl with a critical eye. "You left your friend when she pleaded for your help..." she said in a dark tone of voice.

Glaring up at the pokégirl that had caught her, the Amazon glared hatefully at the Legendary. "What matter to you?" She snapped before literally spitting at the Bug-type's feet.

"I've seen many humans that had been forced to abandon their friends once I have them my grasp." She said seriously. "But at least they slow down to watch over their back if not stop and give condolences before running. There's even been a brave few that tried to attack me." Her red eyes shone with a powerful light in the darkness of night. "But in all my three-hundred years of life, you are the very first I saw just take to running and not look back, you self-serving bitch."

That made the Chinese warrior glare back at the large insect. Who did this creature think she was, talking down to her like she was inferior!? "They is obstacles to husband! Why should Shampoo care!?"

Cocooner nodded her head in understanding. "So it's over a mate that you would leave them? I can see that, but still I find such behavior...abhorring oddly." She snorted. "Oh yes, you will do better as a pokégirl. Pokégirls know and have to share... they learn to get along for the good of everyone, not themselves." She glared at the woman. "The Creator had it right oh-so long ago; human women are just greedy, self-serving and manipulative bitches. I take great pride in knowing I'm helping to snuff out one of the last vestiges of pure human and making her into something worthwhile as a pokégirl." She smirked deviously at the shivering woman. "And unlike the others who I let the shock of going head-first ease their pain, with you I'm starting from the bottom up."

Staring at her captor fearfully, Shampoo screamed, "WHAT!?"

Nodding her head, Cocooner replied, "Oh yes..." she smiled a dark foreboding smile. "It's part of my biology. I normally have to 'eat' girls head-first as my biology helps soften the blow and acts something along the lines of a Taming Cycle. They will still have their personalities and even a few of their strongest memories... but the majority will be blurry to them, if not wiped away completely; it just makes it easier for them to take to being pokégirls." She licked her lips. "But by going feet-first, you my dear shall feel every exquisite sensation of pain and will remember what you were before I cocooned you..." And with that said, she shifted her form once more, becoming a long, terrifying pulsating cocoon thing that had swallowed the other two girls. She reached her long arms out, lifting the girl's feet and extending her fanged proboscis to them.

Struggling even as she was lifted, the Chinese Amazon couldn't believe what was being done to her. "Let Shampoo go! Let go! Let~AIYAH!" She screamed as the pokégirl was taking this slow, its tentacles reaching out from the thing's pulsating thorax, tearing off her clothes for some rough groping if not outright molestation as it swallowed her. But in tearing off said clothing, it took something very precious from the captive.

"NO! SHAMPOO'S AMULET!" She shouted as the long band of leather around her neck was broken and her ticket home fell to the ground. A tentacle grabbed said amulet and held it aloft to the blue compound eyes of the pokégirl so she could study it. Yet even as the creature looked over the trinket, her large proboscis sucked down the woman, teeth biting occasionally to pull her down. When its teeth were up to the woman's hips, the Bug-type reared its head back and chugged, Shampoo practically sliding down into her with such sudden speed.

The beast made a low guttural sound of satisfaction as the last girl slipped into down her torso before sloshing into her thorax cavity. That was three in one day, a decent haul to be sure but they were pure human females to boot! That was such a rarity in this day and age; she felt bad about losing the group yesterday by sending a couple of swarms of Buzz Breasts at them at once. But she'd at least gotten her chance to try some pure humans now, and their DNA was delicious! Oh, she knew they'd made such excellent pokégirls once they hatched from their cocoons.

Yet, even with all the excitement, Cocooner eyed the amulet... the one bitch claimed it was important... chuckling, she decided she'd hold onto it. It might even bring them back to her... with more prey.

Even in such a bestial form, the creature known as Cocooner laughed as her cocoon tentacles placed a third Cocoon at the base of the tree which the other two were large purple sacs were connected to.

Her antennae twitching at the pigtailed Pokégirl Tamer's reaction, Kasumi... well, she didn't necessarily frown, but she was smiling a little less. "Ranma?" She spoke softly. "You don't have to be afraid of me..." she told him honestly. "I just want to get to know you..."

Ranma twitched and shivered slightly. "Sorry..." he apologized to the Tendo matriarch turned Ka-D-Bra. "Just not too used to getting close to women," he told her honestly. "Usually someone breaks in, tries to challenge me or kill me for even attempting to get close to someone."

It was then the former domestic turned Psychic-type pokégirl gave Ranma an honest smile as she sat up on the bed nude, her D-Cup breasts exposed for the boy's view. "Ranma, you know me. I may have change but I'm still me," even if left unsaid was that she didn't find the concept of younger men unappealing anymore as she once had before. "I just... want to talk."

Tilting his head as he looked at Kasumi, (and trying to ignore her breasts) the martial artists was curious. "Well... about... about what?" Ranma as he blinked as he looked at the Tendo girl's pair of antennae. He tried not to look at her tail as he saw a lot of of Kasumi than he intended to looking in that direction.

"About what we're going to do here..." the brunette turned bluenette answered. "I mean, we're going to have to get adjusted to the way things are done here. Katie shared many aspects of the world with me; many things." She turned her head so her eyes made contact with the pigtailed teen's. "Ranma... I'm scared..." she said honestly. "I'm scared of what this world is set up to do to me if I can't live up to its standards..."

THAT caught the heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts off guard. Kasumi was scared? What the heck!? As long as he could remember Kasumi had been the rock of the Tendo household. For her to be scared... "Hey, you've still got Akane, Nabiki and me, right?" He offered, trying to help ease her worries.

"Akane..." Kasumi sighed as she thought about her youngest sister. "Ranma, I tried to speak to her like Katie did to me when I was in my PokéBall... she's in denial and angry... very, very angry." The Ka-D-Bra shook her head. "I've no clue when she's finally going to get released from that Love Ball with how she's fighting tooth and nail against that programming with every fiber of her being... but when she comes out, she's not going to take it well at all." The former human girl once again made eye-contact with Ranma. "As pokégirls, we have no rights Ranma. Akane could very well get herself lined up for a Level 5 Taming Cycle if not outright 'euthanization'." She shuddered at the thought. "We need you to train us and keep us under control..."

Hearing that, Ranma couldn't argue. He grimaced as he thought about Akane's reaction to him training, (and Taming) her. "Yeah..." he said slowly. "She won't take that well."

The pokégirl's gaze hardened suddenly. "She'll have to," Kasumi told him in a serious tone of voice. "She has to understand that her wants..." she winced. "Don't apply to anyone outside of the harem, if even that. She has to make the best of this and become a functioning part of the harem, or else... we're all screwed."

Unsure of how to respond to that initially, Ranma sighed and sat down next to Kasumi. After a long silence, he finally agreed, "Yeah, I can understand that." He gently flopped down onto the bed and closed his eyes. "What should I do though?" He asked the eldest of the Tendo sisters. "Akane always hit me for being a pervert and if I have to... to do that to her, she'd kill me!" He wasn't joking with that, he was positive that when it came time for him to have sex with her to keep her sane, keep her human, she was going to slaughter him.

A firm look adorning her face, Kasumi told Ranma in a stern voice, "Then you'll have to discipline her." She said seriously. "In this world, there are masters and slaves..." she was now frowning. "They don't call us slaves, but that's what we are. If Akane screws this up, we're ALL in danger. She needs to know her place and be a contributing member to the harem," she emphasized to get his attention. "Katie gave me warnings and showed me both a number of horrors and goodness that make up this world. And more often than not, the horrors came from Tamers that are either deficient emotionally and pokégirls that either don't know their place and get too wily or they're wild Feral pokégirls that are too dangerous and can take down anything in their path; including uncoordinated harems. And at least the Ferals are straightforward. If you lost us in battle to another Tamer, we could end up with someone who is a real pervert and could Level 5 Taming Cycle us and make us into living sex-toys just because he simply wants to!" Her eyes shown with her psychic power. "Put simply, this world isn't nice and if we're to make it through we need to get with the flow of how things go here and rise above it."

Ranma frowned and squeezed Kasumi's hand as she rubbed his shoulder. This was a lot to consider and he knew, of all people, she'd give him the truth. "Kasumi, I just..." he sighed. "I don't know what to do, honestly." He looked at her eyes, seeing worry and nervousness in there. "Do you honestly want me to help you and Akane out?"

The Ka-D-Bra nodded her head firmly. "I do. Katie gave me tips on what we should be looking for or what to do." She took a deep breath. "It may be greedy, but I want to be your Alpha Pokégirl. I'll have reason to be around you at all times so I'll be allowed out of my PokéBall in most places and can offer you my advice."

Ranma blinked once, twice, before his mouth quirked into a smile. He chuckled and finally started laughing outright before finally calming himself. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized. "But.. ha ha ha!"

Tilting her head, Kasumi frowned. "What's so funny?"

Shaking his head, the pigtailed martial artist took a few moments more before he calmed down completely. "Nothing," he told her honestly. "Just something about the whole situation was funny." Namely the fact that Kasumi was sitting there, naked, and being completely serious like that. Oh, he so wanted to pull a Kuno and go into denial but the way things had gone so far, he couldn't chalk it up to some crazy dream brought on by too many years of having to eat Akane's toxic waste she tried to pass off as 'cooking'.

That made the woman pout. "This isn't funny Ranma!" She practically cried. "If we don't do this right, my sisters and I could get taken from you if we all don't end up killed!" She shouted at him, tears starting to shimmer in the corners of her eyes. She may have tried to be calm and serene most of the time for others, but right now she was the one that need reassurance.

Ranma blinked his eyes, caught off guard by the sadness of the woman before him. Sighing in guilt, he reached up with his arms, grabbing the Ka-D-Bra by her shoulders and pulling her down against him. "Sorry..." he whispered his apology, unsure of how to tell her that he just found the fact that she could sit there naked and be so serious humorous or that he was grateful for it. The past couple of days had been stressful and he needed to relax... and even if Kasumi was naked, it was difficult to view her in a sexual light; she was like family to him.

Keeping close contact, the former human tried to gather her thoughts. Sighing, Kasumi asked, "Ranma?"

Blinking his eyes, the pigtailed martial artist replied, "What?"

"Please... will you let me be your Alpha Pokégirl?" Kasumi asked him one more time. "You and the others will still need time to adapt but because I'm a Psychic-type, I was able to get a crash course about this world; I have knowledge. Not only can I teach you about the way things go here so we don't get into troubles when in town, but about what we need to make a balanced harem so we won't have to worry for the most part about the day-to-day aspects of living."

Considering her request for a moment, the pigtailed martial artist had to admit that he didn't have any better offers at the moment. "I guess..." Ranma finally told her, before tensing up as Kasumi hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, Ranma!" Kasumi told him. "I promise to be the best Alpha Pokégirl ever! I'll show you what elemental types we should consider as well as personality and skill sets!" She grinned. "I'll be the best Domestic you could ever want, and I'll see to it Akane gets trained to be a competent Battler! Fighting-types are supposed to have innate fighting instincts, but this is Akane we're talking about." She had the decency to blush as she asked, "Please don't tell her I said that."

That caught the Saotome boy by surprise. It seemed he wasn't the only one afraid of that girl's temper! "Uh... sure..." he said in an unsure manner before blinking his eyes as a thought came to him. "Say, Kasumi?"

Looking to the man that would be her Tamer, the former human girl asked, "What?"

"Is a Fighting-type in this world like that in that game that you showed me?" Ranma asked curiously.

"Close..." Kasumi said. "Katie had no clue what to make of PokéMon when I shared some of my memories with her but it seems to add up in some aspects." Taking a deep breath, the Ka-D-Bra told him, "Traditionally, (and there are exceptions) now that she's a Fighting-types, Akane will be considered 'strong' against Dark, Ice, Normal, Rock, and Steel pokégirls but she'd be at the mercy of Flying and Psychic-types." She looked a little guilty as she admitted, "That includes me."

Blinking his eyes a couple of times at the explanation, Ranma just finally shrugged it off. "Okay..." he told her acceptance. Although as a side-thought, he wondered why she wasn't letting go of him. Not that it was a bad thing, the hug was rather nice.

Nuzzling against the younger man, Kasumi let off a little sigh as she breathed in his scent. "Katie said her little sister is mechanically-inclined, right?"

Blinking his eyes at that, Ranma asked, "Yeah. What about it?"

"Good..." Kasumi said. "We can try to help her refine her skills further but with the Eva, Akane and I, you have a Mechanist, a Battler and a Domestic. We need to consider getting another Battler before we look towards getting a Scholarly-type."

Ranma chuckled. "Too bad we can't find a version of Shampoo or me running around here, huh?"

Kasumi sighed about that. "It is too bad." But apparently, because there at least HAD been another Ranma around, it made things much easier for them; they were able to set up Saotome as a Tamer much easily because of the previously established identity.

After a moment of contemplation as he just lay back in bed with only the quiet, Ranma finally spoke up. "So..." he started softly as to not startle the Tendo girl. "What else do you think we should do?"

After a moment, Kasumi started to blush. "Ranma... if it's okay with you... could we cuddle tonight..." she said honestly. "I want to get used to body contact before I commit myself to my first..." she blushed brighter, making her orange skin seem brown. "Taming."

"Sure..." the pigtailed martial artist replied, although he wasn't too used to people being touchy-feely with him, at least not without a hammer, foot, spatula, bonbori, or some other blunt instrument smacking him in the head shortly thereafter. But as always, Kasumi was the exception to almost everything he knew in life, even in this place.

Holding Ranma tightly, Kasumi sighed. She could get used to this. He felt so nice and soft against her; he would be gentle with her when the time came. She just hoped he'd have the skills to make it magical for her. Just because she now needed sex didn't mean she didn't want it to be the best or enjoy it. Hmm...

"Oh, Ranma?" Kasumi spoke up nicely.

"What?" Ranma asked as he turned his head to look at her, wondering what she wanted from him.

"Perhaps tomorrow you could go see Officer Amanda before she has work..." she said in a soft voice. "I believe she wanted you for some help." Even though she was a novice with psychic powers, Kasumi had been able to pick up the repressed lust the Officer Jenny had for Ranma. Surely, a little experience in the art of living before he took care of his harem wouldn't hurt.

Nodding his head to that, the raven-haired male told her, "Oh, sure." After a moment, he blinked a couple of times. Did Kasumi's hand run over his rear? Surely not! It was Kasumi for crying out loud!

Smiling, Kasumi told him, "Thank you." While it frightened her, she did look forward to Taming with Ranma. Even over his clothes, she could tell he had such a nice firm ass.

by Kestral

Makoto Hyuga knew more than many others did.

Yes, Gendo Giovanni was also Gendo Ikari. Yes, Gendo was also Gendo Rokubungi. No, most people did NOT know all of the above. Gendo was behind a number of things and projects, most of which would have shocked the heck out of people.

Makoto was also quite aware that if he did anything obviously against his boss' interests, he could end up missing. This line of work was quite cut-throat.

So he made contacts within the Underground on the sly, so that if he had a head start at some point - there was a chance he could vanish in a manner of his own choosing.

The samples were not something he could smuggle off. Just the Section 9 goons, aka the Turks, would notice if he didn't go straight back.

Of course, it might take him awhile to touch base with the Underground and let them know what was going on.

"Here we go!" cheerfully said Katie.

"What's this?" said Nabiki, bleary-eyed and disheveled. Severely disheveled. Looking as if she'd been in a fight with a wildcat or something.

"It's a spell-stabilizer," said Katie. "I had to do a lot of trading for this."

Nabiki looked over the odd bracer with the various beads and crystals. "Okayyyyyyy."

"It'll help hold off your transformation," explained Katie.

LATCH LATCH LATCH!

"Looks nice against my skin," said Nabiki, admiring the way the silvery metal contrasted against her dark amber skin. "So I can get drunk now?"

"Well, yes," said Katie. "It was really difficult to get."

"Yeah, I'm sure it was," said Nabiki.

"There's a waiting list you know," said Katie.

"I can certainly see why," agreed Nabiki.

"And it's not perfect, it should merely stabilize and enhance the spell that's keeping you from changing further," said Katie.

"Yeah, I understand that," agreed Nabiki. "You have something I can rinse my mouth out with?"

Katie sagged.

"Okay," relented Nabiki. "What is it you want from me for the bracer?"

Katie told her.

"That's ALL?" asked Nabiki.

Katie nodded.

"I'll see what I can arrange," said a smirking Nabiki, feeling some control over the situation come at last back to her.

An alarm began sounding.

"Oh crap," said a number of people all along the pokecenter.

I am NOT going to submit!

I am NOT a pervert!

She struggled and struggled against the Love Ball's programming. She couldn't fight certain changes, but she wasn't about to stand still for others.

Finally a safety feature on the pokeball that had been overridden failed. Red light shot out and formed into something that resembled Akane Tendo.

"NOT GONNA DO IT!" yelled Akane, staggering.

"Akane, what are you doing?" asked Ranma, first to arrive.

"PERVERT!" said Akane, picking up some random object from the table and bringing it into abrupt contact with Ranma's head. "You're not going to do that with me! You're not going to do that with anyone!"

Ranma, having been slammed into the wall by Akane's use of an electroshock restraint generator (weighing in excess of 500kg) as a blunt trauma instrument, didn't comment as he was currently counting the birdies circling his head.

"You're ALL perverts!" screeched Akane, still fighting the voices echoing in her head.

"Miss Tendo! You've got to calm down!"

Not even noticing that the speaker was a pink-haired girl in a Nurse's uniform, Akane threw the device in one hand at the individual who responded by getting out of her way.

Akane wasn't sure what she was doing or where she was going, but she would NOT stay here.

She found the door after what seemed a terribly long time and was through it a moment later.

"Is he all right?"

"Kasumi stopped the damage from getting worse. We're down a Nurse Joy though."

"What exactly happened?"

Ranma groaned as he tried to struggle back to the land of the waking.

"The Tomboy exited her pokeball in an Enraged state," said Katie. "I've lost track of her."

"She's on the streets?" asked Nabiki, slapping her face. "That's bad."

"That's REALLY bad," said the remaining Nurse Joy.

by Kestral

Things shimmered and jumped. She felt cold and hot. Angry and fearful.

She was aware of things in a daze, even the voices sounded like they weren't quite in focus - shifting in pitch in mid-sentence.

She had to get away. Away from the eyes of people who were perverts looking to do perverted things with her. She was not going to let them win!

She wasn't aware of how far she'd come, how many obstacles she'd broken through, only that she had finally found some quiet. No more laughing, no more talk, no more hot eyes on her, no more screams.

"Have you found anything?" asked the Nurse Joy as the Officer Jenny entered the pokecenter.

"Yeah. She was very easy to track," said Amanda, the Officer Jenny in question. "TOO easy to track."

"Uh oh," said Nabiki, looking up from the table where she'd been waiting.

"Afraid so," said Amanda. "Getting her back will be a problem if you want to keep your location secret. She's been captured and sent to a lab for testing."

"What have we got here? A common Tomboy?"

"No, Commander, look at the DNA scans," said Makoto.

"Hmmmm, interesting," said Gendo a few moments later. "Over 40% of her cells register as being purely human? How did we acquire the specimen?"

"She was captured in an alley near the See Fu Chinese Cafe," said Makoto. "Apparently she attacked a Pet owner named... Yukinari Sasaki."

"Pet owner," said Gendo, his voice conveying contempt for a moment. Then he turned thoughtful. "Sasaki. Sasaki Syndrome?"

"That's him," confirmed Makoto. "Apparently he ran across her in an alley. She attacked him, his pets were damaged but able to fend off this rogue element."

"How badly?" asked Gendo, not really caring. Sasaki was one with whom he would not interfere in either direction, mainly because Yukinari Sasaki was one of those who had contact with one of his more shadowy organizations. A research organization that he financed to some degree though such funds were redirected a couple of different ways before it ever reached those researchers.

"Both Yukinari and the pets he had with him sustained multiple blunt force trauma," said Makoto, reading a display. "Which brings us to how we got this stray. After the capture by Sasaki's pokegirls, she was set to be eliminated. Her unusual strength, even accounting for her Enraged status, was just one thing flagging for follow up. She was caged, tranqed, found guilty, and shipped to us with notes she was sentenced to medical experimentation."

"So she's just undergone Threshold or something similar and her body is still adapting to the change," said Gendo as he watched the continued fluctuations of the displays. "Since she's still in genetic flux and unstable, we can make use of that. Do it. Use Project"

The elevator was playing Beethoven, which Ranma didn't recognize at all. He was aware of Nabiki though - who was trying to put on her 'ice queen' mask and failing miserably beyond anything he'd ever seen from her.

THAT, more than her cautions previously, had Ranma suitably nervous about all this.

"Here we are," said their guide, pushing his glasses back to the bridge of his nose with one finger as the elevator doors opened. "She's right this way."

The moment Ranma saw Akane floating in a gel-filled tube, various leads hooked up to her, caution dropped and he leapt. His only thought was to break her out.

KA-ZAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP! snap!

"Ungh," said Ranma after he'd come to a sliding stop on the floor of the lab.

"I'm impressed," said Gendo Ikari. "Most people would be dead. Even most of the tougher pokegirls and Tamers with appropriate blood gifts would at least be unconscious."

"Yeah," said Ranma, slowly getting up with muscles that kept twitching out of control.

"Ranma," said Nabiki, "you're smoking."

Ranma casually brushed off the knuckles that were smouldering. Though when he realized that particular hand was now sporting a section of charcoal - he'd be hurting when the adrenalin wore out. "Let her go."

"Of course," said Gendo with a smirk. "We've no use for a common Tomboy here. However, there's the matter of certain damages, and a few deaths."

"What?" asked Ranma. "What do you mean?"

"This Tomboy has killed innocent humans, a few pokegirls too," said Gendo smoothly. "I have resources I can use to intercede, but I would need some reimbursement."

"She's killed people?" asked Ranma. Not that he necessarily believed this guy, but he didn't necessarily disbelieve him either.

Nabiki winced. There was no reason to believe anything that Gendo Ikari said. The 'original' was prone to manipulation and lying, and this version had an organized crime and shadow-organization background from her own research. That he'd make a claim like that indicated he could at least fake things, or at worst - Akane HAD done the deeds and could have this held over her head for their time in this world. Neither was a good sign.

"There's also property damage, trespassing, and we have a strong leash law here in this city," said Gendo. "She's broken many laws but you can simply pay the fines on most of it."

"uh huh," muttered Ranma. Considering his financial status, he was betting that wasn't going to go over easy.

"So what is it that you want?" asked Nabiki, knowing that getting involved herself was chancy but leaving it entirely to Ranma seemed a recipe for disaster.

"Me?" asked Gendo. "The salvation of the human race."

"Is she okay in there?" asked Ranma.

"Oh yes," said Gendo, "though when she arrived there were some problems that needed to be addressed. She should be fine to release though, as soon as she's recovered. In the meantime, there's something I think you should see."

thread shift

by The Demented Redhead

Tim wasn't what you called a full career guard of the Buggy Woods. No, he had once had dreams. He had gone to college with plans.

But plans change. And if they don't change, economies make twists and turns.

Thus we end up with a college graduate doing guard work to pay off student loans for a college tuition he was told by everyone would pay itself off in no time with the job he studied for.

Life's a bitch, but not one who is a pokégirl.

Tim just sighed as he watched the varying monitors. It wasn't much, but it sure beat working at a fast food restaurant at his age. "Five years of college for this shit," he muttered.

Didn't mean he wasn't disillusioned with his life.

"Man, this job blows," he said with a heavy sigh, as he closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. "All that money spent and for what?" he asked, looking at the ceiling.

Before he could finish his own thought about how emo he was becoming, the room shook heavily.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" he screamed as his chair fell backwards. "We're under attack!"

"A pokégirl has breached the Outer Wall and is leaving at a rapid pace," said the monitoring computer over the speakers.

"Wha…? Who?"

"Attempting to identify pokégirl," said the computer. "Identity confirmed: Cocooner."

The man stood up quickly, staring at the one functional camera facing from the huge wall guarding the edges of the Buggy Woods to the outside. Had the infamous pokégirl not been heading away from the Buggy Woods, he would have fully soiled himself. As it was, he just pissed himself but was somewhat grateful to have maintained bowel control.

"Wall repair teams to Section 031. Electronics repair team to Section 031. Guards to Section 031. This is not a drill, wall damage has occurred."

He didn't have to have much presence of mind at the moment. After all, a good bit of the systems monitoring Buggy Woods were under HAL's control. But he still stumbled quickly to a communications panel, hitting the emergency alert button. He may not be in the best of shapes to make such a call, but he knew what would happen to his ass if he didn't send out an alert to the League Office that Cocooner had been inside the Buggy Woods for some time.

Let them figure out why the illusive pokégirl had snuck in and why she didn't care if people noticed her leaving now. He still had to find some clean clothes to change into before he could take a team into the woods and look for the poor souls that had met the Legendary.

"What are you doing, Dave?"

His eye ticked for a moment, wondering why was it every time there was a malfunction, that damned AI would call him Dave.

Makoto snapped to alert as he felt the vehicle he was in slow down and finally come to a stop, before the engine shut off. Turning, he spotted the driver listening to some frantic chatter coming from his headset, before he finally turned to inform him.

"Cocooner has been sighted headed towards our general direction," he said, no hint of fear anywhere in his voice. "She'll cross the road we planned to travel forty kilometers ahead of us."

Makoto slowly allowed his heart rate to come back down from hearing the Legendary's name. For a moment, he had feared she had somehow learned of what he was carrying. If anything, it would have only bought him a few minutes of life to give it to her before she either went back on her word or Gendo's men killed him for treason.

But they had stopped the convoy both to ensure she did not set up anywhere near their current route and that they didn't bring themselves to her attention.

"Sir," came a near-silent call as someone handed a small computer tablet through the window. From what Makoto could glance, he saw what looked like real-time radar data. It made sense, as the Legendary could hide herself from any senses, but she still couldn't keep her travel-form's mass invisible from technology.

But did she want to be invisible? "She was in Buggy Woods?" he asked.

"Came charging out of there," grunted the soldier who had been driving beside him.

Makoto nodded. He spied several soldiers spreading out around the convoy, most likely to prevent any ambushes or prepare a defense in case Cocooner's path decided to divert to them.

His eyes widened a bit as several new dots appeared on the screen, converging on a point about twenty kilometers ahead of where Cocooner would cross their path.

"Sections 4, 6, 7, and 8 have been sent to capture the Legendary," answered the guard. "Sections 12 and 14 will cut off retreat and assist."

Makoto gulped at that, both thankful it had not been the group he was currently with and the Section he belonged to had not been sent to capture Cocooner for Giovanni. He rather liked his dangly bits.

The sentiment was shared with the man beside him, as he watched the figure relax ever so slightly. Finally, the guard turned to look at the man outside his window. "As soon as they engage the target, prepare to move to this intersection here," he said, pointing to a spot on the real-time map. "If they succeed, we'll continue on the scheduled route. If they fail, we'll have three other routes to take to avoid her."

"Understood, sir," said the man quietly, as he headed out to explain the orders to the other drivers.

Makoto just leaned back into his seat, clutching the briefcase tighter. Part of him was glad to be so far away from the action.

Yet another part hoped that certain men he hated in those sections came back as pokégirls. He could always use some new ones. Maybe one will look like Misato…

Nabiki didn't have the faintest idea where she was. She just knew that she had finally passed out from the … Wildcat? … and her constant assault on her nether region. Quite frankly, the only thing surprising her at the moment was the fact she had somewhat coherent thought.

"Are you okay, Nabiki-chan?"

Slowly opening her eyes, the tired and overwhelmingly satisfied girl looked upon the standing … and nude … frame of her sister-turned-pokégirl. "Sis?"

"Oh good, it worked," said the smiling Ka-D-Bra.

"What worked?" tiredly asked Nabiki.

"Well, I was hoping to get us all together for a sisterly chat," Kasumi said with a smile. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?" she asked with concern. She didn't want to disturb her sister's sleep unless it was absolutely necessary, with her being so sick and all.

Nabiki opened her mouth to say something, but shut it with an audible click. The last thing she wanted to explain to her sister was exactly what she had been pulled from.

"Um … sister, in this world I can hear all your thoughts," said the blushing pokégirl.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Damn," muttered Nabiki.

"If it helps," said Kasumi, "I think that change was the last of the effects from your stopped transformation." The fact that said issue shouldn't have occurred in a normal Buzzbreast but only in a Buzz Queen was kept out of her mind.

Nabiki wanted to cry for a moment. She knew some girls in school had claimed they produced the 'sweetest honey' that kept a guy between their legs for hours on end. But this was ridiculous. Oral was fun and all, but that damned catgirl wouldn't stop.

She shivered a bit at the possibility that Ranma would do the same thing if and when they hooked up. She doubted the Saotome appetite would be less.

"Now where is little sister?" murmured Kasumi as she looked around the psychic landscape.

Nabiki's tired hand went up to slap her forehead. Oh yes, this was going to end well.

"Really sister," admonished Kasumi, "we should do what we can to help Akane acclimate to this world. You know what will happen to her if she doesn't."

"And you really think Akane would ever get over her denial over Ranma—let alone her possessiveness—and accept what happened?" asked Nabiki rhetorically.

"If we don't," started Kasumi, but she turned slightly, a tear very evident on her face.

Nabiki sighed from her position on the ground. "You realize we have about as much chance of getting Little Sister over her issues as … well you hopping into bed with a guy, naked."

"Oh, then we can't lose!" happily chirped Kasumi.

Nabiki's eyes snapped wide open at that. "WHAT?" Who? When? Why didn't she know about this before? And did this mean Tofu's 'allergy' was something else entirely?

Kasumi tilted her head slightly. "What does me being naked in bed with a guy have to do with Tofu-kun acting funny?"

Nabiki smacked her forehead. "Right; mental world, no inner monologue."

She opened her eyes once more, forcing her tired form to attempt to stand, a move assisted by her likewise nude sister. "Okay, who?"

Kasumi just smiled. "Ranma-kun has such a nice butt."

Nabiki almost fell back down to the ground at hearing her normally considered chaste sister comment on someone's posterior, let alone Ranma's. "Okay, we keep that from Akane for the moment. I doubt she'd handle the information too well."

"Agreed," said Kasumi as she finished helping Nabiki stand. "I take it you had fun with Wildcat?"

Nabiki blinked. "That's her name?"

"Well, most Tamers seem to only give names to a select few pokégirls, the rest are simply referred to as their types," Kasumi said sadly.

"Great, I need to give her a name," Nabiki mumbled. And she was certain the pokégirl would be so grateful for being named, Nabiki herself would probably die from dehydration from what the pokégirl would do to express her thanks. "When I name her, you and Ranma better be in the room."

"Oh my," said the smiling Kasumi, "I never thought my first foursome would involve my sister."

Nabiki didn't remain standing after that. Too bad passing out wasn't an option in the dream landscape. Oh yes, this world had definitely changed Kasumi. She just didn't know by how much.

"Not a pervert! Not a pervert! Not a pervert! Not a pervert! Not a pervert!"

"Found Akane," grumbled Nabiki from whatever passed as the floor.

Kasumi nodded sadly. "Hopefully the two of us can convince her to stop fighting and save herself. I … don't want to lose anyone else," she finished sadly.

"Any chance we could just get her a quickie with Ranma or Wildcat and be done with it?" Nabiki offered in jest.

Kasumi however, tilted her head slightly, finger to her lips, contemplating such an act.

"I was joking," said Nabiki.

by Red Priest of the 17th Order

The great-grandmother of Shampoo and one of the matriarchs of the Chinese Amazon tribe Joketsuzoku, she was a powerful warrior despite her three-hundred-years of life. Yet even with all her skills and experiences, Cologne had to wonder how this all came about. She could still remember the day when she came to Nerima to see what this future 'son-in-law' was made of but she ended up staying so that she could aid Shampoo in winning Ranma's heart. Over the course of her time in Japan, keeping an eye on the youth, she would sit in the background and watch the madness around her unfolded. If she had a motive, whether it was to help Shampoo in her efforts or to aid Ranma in his battles, only then would she step into the fray; for example she ended up teaching Ranma both the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken and Hiryuu Shoten Ha, the former to test his mettle and the later to prove him a viable husband for Shampoo when Happosai had stolen his strength with the Strength Moxibustion Point.

It was only with the fiasco at Mount Phoenix did Cologne begin to suspect that there was some greater driving force behind the existence of the man her great-granddaughter was set on making her husband, perhaps something beyond the understanding of humanity. Suspicions she tried to investigate without herself seeming suspicious. While she hadn't found any concrete evidence to her theories for some time, what had happened a month ago gave the matriarch a stronger conviction to her beliefs.

What happened at the Tendo Dojo could only have been described as an 'Act of God'.

She hadn't been there to personally witness the event but there had been others who had; the old men who lived at said dojo and Shampoo who had arrived to deliver a delicious ramen lunch to her Airen. It had been like any other day at the Tendo Dojo, the old men playing shogi on the veranda, the eldest daughter going to bring them snacks from the kitchen, the breadwinner going over her paperwork and the young usurper trying to get into a fight with Cologne's 'son-in-law'. Just as Cologne's great-granddaughter was about to kick down a wall and bring Ranma his meal, it happened.

They froze in place for a moment before looking around in shock. They seemed to MELT like wax dummies in an open oven as they faded from the grips of reality. There was screaming, frantic movements before... they just disappeared completely, gone without a trace.

Word of the disappearance had spread fast, even without the help of the middle Tendo daughter to get the rumor mill turning. Shampoo had come to her for help first thing and 'Mr. Part Time' happened to overhear. Cologne sighed to herself; she really should have checked to see what he was up to before leaving but with the possibility of the dangers son-in-law and the Tendo girls were in had put such a responsibility to the backburner.

Well, that's hindsight for you...

But while Mousse was off and spreading word of the disappearance of Ranma Saotome, Cologne was inspecting the area around Dojo, ignoring the weeping and wailing of the two damned fools about how the schools would never be joined without any heirs around. What she found had her... curious to say the least. She could feel it in the air more-so than usual: magic.

Magic, (sometimes known as sorcery) was a conceptual system that asserted human ability to control the natural world, (including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena) through mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. Yet, while Cologne was familiar with the many practices of aeromancy, geomancy, hydromancy, pyromancy, chiromancy and scapulimancy, hell, even a bit of necromancy, (no pun intended) this sensation was a power unlike anything she'd ever felt before. It was almost 'alien' to her, an unknown aspect of magic whose power didn't fit any of the common practices yet at the same time, somehow familiar. Taking a sample of the ground son-in-law and the youngest Tendo were standing on at the time for research, the matriarch knew this would take time to figure out.

The first week had yielded little results and felt as though it dragged to the elder as she checked through a number of scrolls and grimoire. She was finding nothing on teleportation of transport spells that had to do with the effects that were witnessed and the constant research and minimal sleep was taking its toll on the woman's patience. There was no telling what exactly had happened to those children; their safety could have been at stake! Fortunately inspiration and the beginning of understanding came to her when her great-granddaughter, ever impatient and becoming more frantic declared that this had to be Happosai's fault.

And then it struck Cologne, why the power seemed to tickle a memory. It was similar to a possession of hers the thief had stolen, an ancient treasure of the Joketsuzoku. The Nanban mirror; a special artifact made with the powers to bend time itself and allow one to travel through it if they so desired.

Although it would prove they were wrong, it was understandable that she had come to the conclusion that Happosai was involved, he had the means, the motive and no alibi (as he was out of the district on another panty-hunt). This in turn started a manhunt for the Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Passion and anger burned throughout Shampoo and she and many other rivals for Ranma's affection hunted down the perverted thief. Even a few of Ranma's rivals were aiding in the capture of Happosai, although she was pretty certain that the Kuno and Hibiki boys were only after the man as to bring Akane back home safely.

She made certain Mr. Part Time stayed home during this insanity; she wasn't about to risk him warning Happosai or destroying the Nanban mirror beyond all repair so they could use it to try and retrieve the missing youths. A splash of cold water and locking him inside of a cage before throwing it into the basement would see to that!

It had taken a number of days, and Happosai proved to be an elusive bastard. He'd never had anyone go after him with such fervor before; even his normally cowardly students were showing some semblances of spine as they began to attack him for ruining their 'retirement plan'. Yet even with many people giving it their all to capture and subdue the aged martial artist, his greater experience, skill and cunning proved to be valuable tools for the pervert. He'd evaded many traps and often sprang them on the people who set them in the first place. Even when Cologne herself caught up with him, he'd manage to simply fight her to a stand-still long enough to get an opening to run away further. After three days of such an inane chase, it seemed that they were destined to fail in having Ranma and the Tendo girls returned...

Until she got involved.

No one had expected Ranma's mother to get involved in this. After all, the woman seemed to take more to the background, if even that than anything else. She never played much of a role in the insanity that surrounded her son's life but often when she DID get involved, everything around her would take a new direction and possibly a different type of craziness when she made herself a part of the mess. In this case, it made Happosai lunge himself at the woman to get a firm grope of her ample bosom.

He was still in the hospital but at least they were finally able to prove his place in all this. The Nanban mirror shards were compared to the magical essence that was still within the dirt where Ranma had disappeared and it turned out while similar, they weren't the same magic power or energy. Really, one couldn't blame them for jumping to conclusions, (the old goat deserved the beating Nodoka had given him) and it gave Cologne a piece of information she needed to finally pinpoint what was going on.

Although there was no proper term for it, the Nanban mirror was what was best described as 'Time Magic'. After all, time had been a major subject of religion, philosophy, and science for centuries if not millennia. However, defining time in a non-controversial manner applicable to all fields of study had consistently eluded the greatest magicians and modern-day scholars. Without a true fundamental understanding behind this great power, it was understood that very few people tried to deal with the fabric of time and space.

And it was that last thought that hit Cologne like a sack of bricks; understanding instantly set in on why the power that took her son-in-law and the Tendo women it was so similar to the magic of the Nanban mirror yet was of its own thread of energy. Time was just one of two parts that made a greater whole. The other was space.

Space, the boundless extent within which matter was physically extended and objects and events have positions relative to one another on one plane of existence or another. Roughly defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify every point within it, space was absolute! Absolute in the sense that it existed permanently and independently of whether there were any matter in the space.

Understandably, Cologne had to hit the books again, gathering whatever information she could on the principles of time and space; even sending word back to the other matriarchs in Joketsuzoku for aide concerning such matters. During the wait for a response, her research bore fruit as the Matriarch of the Chinese Amazons studied into what had happened now that she had a better understanding. Together time and space were often referred to as the 'fourth dimension'. It was one way to measure physical change and was perceived differently from the three spatial dimensions in that there was only one of it, that movement in time would occur at the fixed rate of one second per second, and that one could not move freely in time but subjectively move in one direction. Adding onto that was such theories such as string theory and M-theory that predicted physical space and this dimension in general had in fact ten and eleven correlating dimensional planes, respectively. The extra dimensions were very much like the space of origin yet could be changed by random variables and move on different time-tables. A possible explanation to how such could happen that had been suggested by the Matriarch's reading was that time existed as if it were 'curled up' in the extra dimensions on a very small, subatomic scale, possibly at the quark/string level of scale or below. The further one went in to the tightened 'string' the slower time would flow, while the further out one got of the string, time would continue on a faster rate.

Boy that Einstein really knew what he was talking about. The man really could have been the greatest mage of his time if he applied his knowledge to the mystic arts rather than all that modern science hooey.

Still thanks to him and the works of others, Cologne had her answer. What happened to the youths who seemingly disappeared were caught in a rare, possibly once-in-a-lifetime anomaly. The barriers of the fourth dimension broke down around them, allowing them to break through what the Matriarch referred to as the 'fourth wall' and end up going into another neighboring plane of reality on the fifth or sixth dimension.

"Only Ranma..." Cologne grumbled bitterly to herself as she thought of that. Whether he was a pawn of the gods or not, didn't matter. What did was the fact the boy seemed to be a magnet for trouble!

Still, once what she felt was the right conclusion had been reached, Cologne had contacted her village once again through correspondence and had gotten a swift reply that brought forth good news! It would seem the village's pharmacist To-Kah had been contemplating the possibilities of time and space for well over the past one-hundred years. With her experiences and skills with the arts of medicine, magic and lore of their Amazon heritage, she had even managed to craft what she dubbed a 'life raft'.

While it appeared to be a pendant at first glance, it contained within it a signal that was connected to a specific set coordinates that could be used to specify a point in the dimension of origin. No matter when it was used, it could bring a person back to their world at the specified coordinates if they somehow ended up in another place. In theory it gave them something a rescue party could use to return home if they went after them.

But that meant finding out where the bridegroom and the girls went in the first place! Fortunately, the concept that such an event had taken place had caused the Matriarch To-Kah to come running! The pharmacist of Joketsuzoku had packed her things and taken a short leave until this was sorted out, leaving the village's needs in the hands of her able assistant and apprentice Myun-Chis and she was on the first flight to Japan... meaning she tied her basket to a bunch of ducks she roped and commandeered their migration pattern.

Although Cologne was pretty sure if To-Kah had known Mao Yin was coming along as well, she would've forgone all the ancient Chinese mysticism and sprung for a seat on the plane herself to travel in comfort. Damned annoying otaku! If Cologne found out whom had let word out that To-Kah was coming to Japan and gave the younger Amazon a reason for journeying as well, Cologne herself would've seen to it that Amazon was hung up by their pinky-toes!

"Nothing we can do about that though..." Cologne said with a heavy sigh. "All we can do now is get everything together and make plans for a rescue party..." so saying the Amazon Matriarch was walking slowly towards her study; she needed to get the research papers and the pendant To-Kah left in there last night so they could go over their theories and plans during their morning meal.

Yes, they had their major breakthrough yesterday after over a week of deliberation, and oddly enough it came through the use of science. There were the traditional x, y and z axis points when making coordinates to denote a position in space but how to make it so it followed the idea of crossing dimensions and the changes that could happen over time? The answer once again came to the basics of the fourth and even the fifth dimension; why not make coordinates for them specifically? Thus came the idea for the t and c axis: temporal transverse and chance/choice conversion.

The rest of the day had been deciding where to travel on the dimensional axis as well as where to get the necessary power to break through the fourth dimension. Fortunately, the latter was easier to figure out than the former. The shards of the Nanban mirror each contained quite a bit of magical essence; enough for one to power the journey one-way for a few people. The creation of a ceremony would be needed to perform on one end using one shard of glass to make it work while another would be used to power up that pendant; giving it the energy needed to break through the dimensional wall once again and bring everyone home.

Deciding where to go took a lot of debate and some tactics of thinking outside of the box as it were. To-Kah had brought some of her 'medicinal herbs' with her from China and... what the woman had to suggest suddenly made a lot more sense. The concept that melting, the breaking down of their bodies showed them going into a world with a greater resistance to time passage while the youths having exploded outwards would have signaled them heading into a dimension of less resistance was more acceptable with a little wacko-tobacco to ease the mind into a state of openness.

Yes, Cologne couldn't wait to show her new findings to the others. This meant not as much time would have passed for son-in-law and the Tendo girls, making a rescue party a viable option! They could decide as a group what to do and-

"Wait..." the Matriarch said as she narrowed her eyes, staring at the door of her study. She always padlocked the door as the possibilities should someone get into something they should would be catastrophic! The lock was off its place and sitting on the floor by the entrance. Immediately, the matriarch went into action, pushing the door open...

And stared. There on the floor was the specialized 'map' they made; a chart with the symbols and magic script to lead the magic to where it wanted them to go. It had a ring of ash around it as if there was a small burst of heat or rippling air effect. She narrowed her eyes she looked up towards her table. The pile of glass shards she kept was significantly smaller and the pendant she had left down there was missing as well.

"SHAMPOOOOO!"

High.

Yes, Cocooner decided that the consumption of pure human DNA was causing her to have a high. After all, it had been nearly three centuries since the last time she had acquired such a taste, especially of the pure female variety.

It carried a certain … taste, an identifying sensation that denoted no poké-DNA, that reminded her of time long since past, of her early … work.

She had been in such a good mood from the three sources she had taken that night, she didn't even notice she had taken off away from Buggy Woods, let alone nearly toppled a perimeter wall surrounding the place.

She was in an ecstatic mood. Sure, she missed the earlier humans. But the ones she had gotten minutes ago made it all worth while. And with such fresh and interesting samples, she could do what she enjoyed most now.

Experimenting.

The question now was what to do? Human DNA of that quality could allow her to do just about anything. "Well; perhaps I can use that last one's odd magical signature and make a new pokégirl. I haven't done that in a while..."

The Legendary's musing were cut short as three objects shot into the sky and exploded into light.

"Target has been located, switch to filtering viewers."

"Acknowledged, target has been confirmed as Cocooner."

"Initiate plan: Hornet's Nest. Bring her down, boys!"

"Retreating path has been eliminated; she's got nowhere to run."

"Good, keep it that way, or it'll be our balls when we get back empty-handed."

As Cocooner came down to the ground after the initial ground-to-air assault, the final command was given to begin the battle.

And with that, the surrounding forest lit up in flashes of red as pokégirl after pokégirl was released to capture the titan before them. They would see to it that Gendo would have his prize!

Crashing down to the ground harshly, the large moth-like creature's eyes shimmered before her whole body shifting amidst a glow of light similar to that of an pokégirl evolving. How dare they do such to her? She was a Legendary Pokégirl! The first of Sukebe's second generation! They would PAY for ruining her first real chance at reveling in all-encompassing pleasure for the first and possibly last time in over two-hundred and eighty years!

Having shifted to her gathering form, teeth glistened with venomous saliva as her carapace was pelted by numerous Fire-type techniques; primarily flame-thrower. Tilting her head back, the living genetics factory let out a roar as she stabbed out with her sickle-claw, impaling the nearest Hottits and standing into the trunk of a tree. It was on!

"You can't be serious..." Nodoka said with a tightened voice as she looked at the woman sitting across from her. No. This couldn't be! "You've actually found a way of finding my son and the Tendo girls and it was LOST to you!?" Her shaking hands placed the teacup down onto the table-top. It wouldn't have been polite to shatter the woman's fine china.

Nodding her head, the Amazon matriarch replied, "Sadly, that is the case. I searched for Shampoo and she is nowhere to be found. Worse, in calling around the city searching for her, I've also discovered that Kuonji-san is missing as well; Konatsu was simply frantic." The elder winced. "And then I received a visit from the retainer of the Kuno clan, their little rat-faced servant searching for his lost mistress. Apparently she skipped dinner last night and she was nowhere to be found come breakfast and he remembered seeing her last in the company of my great-granddaughter."

The Saotome Matriarch winced. "This is why you wanted me to come over and tell me what happened in person. You think they are the reason that we can't go after my son?" While it made her proud that so many women were willing to risk their lives to be with her manliest son, they really should've waited for him to come home. She wanted to know her grandbabies in THIS dimension, kami damn it!

Again, Cologne gave the auburn-haired woman a firm nod of her head. "Without the shadow of a doubt. I know how frantic Shampoo has been since they disappeared right before her eyes; she's been pacing around the Nekohanten like a caged tiger. She must have eavesdropped on what To-Kah and I were talking about yesterday and jumped the gun as it were." She took a hold of her own cup of tea and brought it to her lips for a moment, taking a sip. "Rather than wait for us to figure things out further and make plans, they used the charts and ceremony to send themselves after son-in-law and brought the pendant with them to return home once they found him."

The younger woman winced. "So there's nothing we can do? They've taken off half-cocked and have possibly screwed up our chance to save my son beyond any chance of salvaging it?" The guilt was really weighing down on her. She finally had a chance to really spend time with her son after spending a decade apart and she'd yet to truly take it. She'd seen him only three times since she found out the secret behind 'Ranko' and hadn't spent ANY time with him since the abysmal failure that was supposed to be his wedding to Akane. In short, she felt like a complete heel.

"I wouldn't say that," came a third voice, causing Cologne and Nodoka to turn their heads.

"Matriarch To-Kah," Cologne greeted. "I believe you know Saotome-san."

Nodding her head, the other matriarch of three-hundred years replied, "I do, Matriarch Khu-Long. We met earlier this week when I went to inspect the areas where the people had all disappeared." Walking over to the table, she raised an eyebrow as she looked straight at the auburn haired woman with bundle beside her seat. "I am curious why you look after those two men. Their very presence leaves me feeling violated... and I've smoked worse!"

Nodoka frowned a little. "Genma is my husband; it is a wife's duty to look after their husband's well being. The other man, his friend Soun Tendo, is the owner of the home we're all staying at until this matter is resolved. It is only fair that I do my share while I sleep under his roof."

Turning to look at her fellow Matriarch, To-Kah's eyes seemed to ask, 'is she for real'? At the nod from the other woman's head, the elder in woven hemp clothing sighed. "My dear, you should do what I did with my ex. Castrate the bastard and use his testicle oils to make a fine coating on a pipe." Yep, that briarwood piece had the shiniest finish of all her 'medicinal' paraphernalia.

Seeing the look of disgust on the woman's face, Cologne decided to change the topic back to Nodoka's original question before all sense of decency was tossed out the window and a fight took place. "To-Kah," she spoke up. "You interrupted us earlier. I believe you know something that I don't about our chances of saving everyone."

Nodding her head, the pharmacist of Joketsuzoku replied, "Of course. While I did plan to have the rescue team to activate the pendant when necessary and return back home... they aren't the only one's that can use its power."

That caught Cologne's interest. They might have the option to bring them back home themselves? "What do you mean, To-Kah? Explain yourself."

Grinning, the elder with bloodshot eyes replied, "We have the coordinates for the pendant linked to this dimension already, right?"

Nodding her head, the owner of the Nekohanten replied, "Yes. We decided to use the spot in the backyard of the Tendo Dojo where Ranma and Akane had disappeared first. What does that have to do with the pendant besides giving the girls a point to return to when they come back to this dimension?"

"We can perform the ceremony ourselves over here," the other Matriarch said seriously. "Call it a... well... an 'override', if you will." She smile looked a little devious. "We can teach those brats what-for by performing the ritual on our end where the coordinates are linked to. It will travel through the fourth dimension and activate the pendant on the other side."

That made Nodoka's eyes widened. "You can do that?" Her voice sounded more hopeful than she wanted to let on. She had already gotten too much bad news over the past month and didn't want to jinx anything. She just wanted her son back home safe and sound.

"Indeed I can," elder To-Kah replied to the younger woman. "We'll need to bring our papers and equipment over to the Dojo but like I said, we can bring that pendant back under our own power." She took a deep breath and explained, "Once we have the pendant back, we can get back on track and make plans of how to go by this: who to send and what to send with them."

Watching the woman, Nodoka was happy to hear this... but something about how the woman was talking about the pendant didn't seem right. It was like the only thing she was concerned with. "What about the girls?" The matriarch of the Saotome household asked. "What about them? Will the ceremony bring them back as well?"

Taking a deep breath, To-Kah sighed. "Well, that depends..." the elder said in a solemn voice. "Whoever is holding it at the time will definitely find themselves returning home abruptly, as would anyone close enough to her." Her eyes narrowed. "But if either the Kuno or Kuonji girl are out of reach... or if one of them is holding the pendant and Shampoo isn't close by..."

Cologne caught on immediately. "They will be stranded there as well until we send a real rescue party if the pendant's range of influence doesn't catch them on the return trip."

Nodding her head, To-Kah replied, "Precisely."

Now it was Cologne's turn to sigh. "Oh Shampoo..." the Amazon elder thought glumly. "Why did you have to take that pendant?"

Raising his head, a uniformed warrior tried to listen to the inhuman scream off in the distance. That didn't sound good at all but he wasn't in any mood to face such a threat any time soon. Searching for the damned thing himself, he'd come across a small group of Buzz Breasts. The black-haired individual figured they had probably freed themselves from Buggy Woods when the Legendary had burst through the main wall encompassing the area. He'd managed to take them out easily enough; he'd been trained to fight against pokégirls and had been infused MAKO energy upon reaching the Second Class ranking but his victory came with a personal cost. His weapon, his broadsword... busted as he impaled that last BuzzBreast into the firm rocky soil of the ground; obviously pushed past its limits its enhanced wielder could send it through.

Yes, enhanced. Although there were many rumors, in truth SOLDIER was a group of skilled combat operatives within SEELE; men who had their Blood Gifts manipulated considerably to put them on par with their pokégirl ancestors. The elite within the group, those strong enough to be deemed SOLDIER First Class were respected and idolized by the throngs of SEELE's members and the citizenry in the know. Zack Fair was a young SOLDIER Second Class, his greatest aspiration being to become a First Class ranking soldier. To attain this, he'd been spending his days carrying out numerous assignments for various high-ranking SEELE officers, often under the guidance of his First Class mentor, Angeal Hewley.

Still, like any young man he was restless to attain his goal of making First Class. Although today... he just wished he'd stayed in bed or at least passed up this assignment. At the time, it had seemed harmless enough; carried a great weight of importance with it yet without the dangers often associated with this kind of mission. Transport one scientist Makoto Hyuga with his cargo of precious pure human DNA samples to the GEHIRN Research Facility over in Prussian City. Yes, it was two-to-three weeks worth of travel from Viridick to the destination but it was assured to them that no one knew of their mission; they were assigned to protect the cargo just in case there ever came trouble.

And boy did trouble arrive and it came in the form of one the Legendary Pokégirl Cocooner, the Genetics Factory Pokégirl, the madman Sukebe's most dangerous creation second only to Typhoona. Was this karma kicking Zack in the balls for bitching about a lack of good assignments? For restlessly aspiring to First Class and just wanting to do that one standout action that would get him recognized by his superiors?

If it was, he'd never piss off Murphy's Law again. At this point, he'd be glad to make it out of this skirmish with his balls intact; Aerith preferred men and had no lesbian tendencies whatsoever as far as he knew.

Feeling a hand touch his shoulder, Zack practically jumped. "Hey? You alright, kid?" came the familiar and gruff voice of his mentor.

Nodding his head, Zack replied, "Y-yeah... just had to deal with a small group of Feral Buzz Breasts and now..." he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "Shit!" The black-haired SOLDIER cursed. "What do you think it's going to take out that freak?" He asked, just frustrated at having to go up against such a powerful adversary as a Legendary Pokégirl. Right now he was wishing the higher-ups allowed SOLDIERs to carry their own pokégirls rather than trying to enhance their own bodies to be on par with said biological weapons of war. He did NOT want to have to personally stare down that thing! In his opinion, the further he stayed away from its clutches, the better!

"Zack if it were that easy she'd have been wiped out centuries ago," Angeal told his protégé in all seriousness. Before he could launch into a long-winded explanation about their duty as SOLDIERs and protecting the world from the continued menace of pokégirls, he noticed Zack's sword was busted; the grip broken off from the cross-guard. "Your sword..."

Zack sighed. "Yeah... just happened after we set out from Viridick and I broke off to take care of a group of Feral pokégirls that were situated too close to the caravan's path for comfort. I was planning to pick up a new one in Pewtit but..." he winced. Of course fate would see to it he didn't have a useable sword when he would NEED it!

The SOLDIER First Class nodded his head to the response he got. This would not do. Angeal reached over his shoulder with his right hand. "Here." He said as he unsheathed his sword, holding along the cross-guard and offering his protégé the weapon by the hilt. "Take it."

Zack stared down with wide eyes at the offered blade "But Angeal... this is-"

The mentor to the young SOLDIER cut him off. "Your safety is more important than hanging onto a sword I rarely use anyway," Angeal chuckled. "Use brings about wear, tear and rust. I could never do that to this sword but hopefully it could protect you should things get messy."

Zack solemnly nodded his head as he accepted the sword from his mentor; the man that acted as his patron and got him into the SOLDIER program. Angeal was man that showed a great sense of responsibility and wisdom, and was considered the third greatest of all the First Class Soldiers; outranked only by Genesis Rhapsodos and the practically legendary SOLDIER Sephiroth, (whom some claimed had a connection to the unique and terrible Calamity Pokégirl, Jenova). That Angeal would trust him with this sword, which was purchased for him by his late father using all the family's savings...

"I won't let this blade or you down Angeal," the black-haired youth replied firmly as he gripped the hilt of the buster sword tightly, accepting it from his mentor.

"Your word is all the assurance I need," Angeal replied with a grin. He patted his gauntlet-covered hand over the younger warrior's shoulder pad. "Now then... let's do our duty as a SOLDIER."

"Right!" Zack saluted his superior before the two SOLDIERs rushed back to the trailer convoy. Making their way through the short path of wilderness, they stopped as they saw that there were still Turks gathered around the Class C M1 Abrams RV with armored Travel Trailer in defense formation, holding their firearms or various weapons of choice at the ready.

Raising his hand in greeting, Angeal looked around for Makoto. "Greetings!" The older, muscular SOLDIER shouted to the pair of men in black suits when he didn't see the man this mission revolved around anywhere in plain view. "We could use a status Report!"

While the two SOLDIERs didn't get a verbal answer from the two suited individuals, they did get one. Coming out of the side of the armored trailer was the man they were assigned to protect. "First Class SOLDIER Hewley!" He greeted, waving his hand at the genetically-altered warrior. "We're trying to gather all available personnel of this entourage for the defense ring of this vehicle!" Hyuga sighed as he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his brow. "It's a good thing you came back. We can't have the two of the best guards this convoy has going off and sacrificing themselves to get to Cocooner!"

"Who said anything about sacrifice?" The SOLDIER Second Class asked, looking at the scientist with annoyance. "We intend to beat Cocconer and live!" Zack boasted, psyching himself up for what was to come.

Nodding his head to the current head of their assignment, Hewley motioned to his protégé and replied, "What he said." He took a deep breath and replied, "However, if you want us here, we'll stick around." Left unsaid was that Angela would prefer that. He did not want Zack to have to go up against such a no-win situation if he could help it. The fighter had the potential to be something great and he didn't want to see it cut short due to an encounter with that monstrous Legendary.

"Good," Makoto said, relaxing a little at the experienced SOLDIER's promise. "We have to get these DNA sample to GEHIRN in Prussian City, no excuses!" It would be his ass if this mission failed. He was rather attached to it and had no intention of giving it up, thank you very much!

"Relax Mr. Hyuga," one of the two Turks spoke up from his post. "Between these SOLDIER chumps and the Turks, you're in good hands." The red-haired Turk with a laid back style said, holding his stun baton up and over his shoulder. He wasn't worried; Gendo's private soldiers and their pokégirls, along with a number Turk reinforcements and Lostech weaponry would be enough to take that Legendary down.

"Watch who you go calling chumps, Reno!" A female Turk said as she got out from the side door of the RV. Coming to a stop next to the man wearing goggles on his forehead, she frowned. "They're our back up and vice-versa," shouted the young suit-wearing, chestnut-haired girl, (who'd managed to evade Threshold) as she poked him in the chest.

Looking down at the young Turk, Reno chuckled. "Listen, Cissnei?" The redheaded bodyguard asked. "You may be the youngest member to join the Turks and I'll give that you are good with that shuriken of yours..." he smirked. "But you still got a long way to go before you get the experience of either Rude or myself under your belt."

His arms crossed over his chest, the tall individual in black suit and sunglasses nodded his shaved head. He was the tall and silent type compared to his wisecracking partner.

Seeing the woman seethe as she glared at her superior, the SOLDIER Second Class decided to derail this fight in the making before anything went bad. "Eh... don't you mind Reno," Zack told her as he pat Cissnei on her shoulder with his hand. "He likes to shoot his mouth off but he's right that he and Rude are good."

"Still, words of encouragement concerning our skills are appreciated." Angeal allowed as he checked the area with infrared binoculars, having been given them by one of the RV's technicians. "I see nothing but that makes me even more worried." Not to mention the binoculars could cover a serious range. That there was nothing out there, not even common Feral pokégirls was unnerving.

"She's eluded infrared before. It's been determined that she can use her chemical properties to alter her body heat." Rude explained, ever straight to the point and factual.

It was then a technician came rushing out of the RV's trailer. "Master Hyuga!" The blonde man shouted fearfully. "There's a confirmed confrontation with Cocooner going on; units Seven, Ten and Eleven have engaged. Biting his lower lip for a moment as he listened to the loud noises coming from the earpiece of his headset, the young man clad in white shouted, "They're losing fast! Cocooner is slaughtering them and..." he looked green. "Feasting on their remains!" He yelped as there was a suddenly loud bout of static over the headset, causing the tech to pull it off his head and away from his ear. Things weren't going well to say the least.

Lowering the binoculars, Angeal could only grunt, "Lovely." Sighing at the bad news, he thrust his hand out to the tall and muscular Turk to take the binoculars. "Zack! Come with me," he said in a serious voice to his fellow SEELE operative as Rude accepted the equipment from him. "Even if we have orders to protect Hyuga, our unit was dispatched. We can't allow ourselves to stay in the possible path of this Legendary's predicted travel path." Or at least, maybe they could make her continue on and OUT of the way of their caravan's path.

Nodding his head firmly, Zack asked, "So what's the plan, Angeal?"

The older soldier was quick to respond, "Either we find a way to get Cocooner to go on her damned merry way and leave us be..." he accepted a Heavy Elemental Projection Pistol from a female technician. "Or we resort to distracting it long enough for Mr. Hyuga, the samples and a couple of guards to get away before we break off from our enemy and follow." The First Class SOLDIER chuckled to himself. "I admit, it's not my greatest plan but if we can get them out of Buggy Woods safely, we can then at least get them set up ahead of the area and then get the rest of the convoy to catch up with them." He cocked the HEPP, seeing to it that it latched in the back and the Heavy Fire Elemental Shells were locked into the chamber

Nodding his head firmly at SOLDIER Hewley's plan, the younger member firmly unsheathed the weapon his mentor had bestowed upon him. "Well danger's our job!" He said firmly as he swung the sword a couple of times, trying to get a feel for its weight and balance so he'd be able to use it effectively. "Let's do it!"

Lowering his goggles down to cover his eyes, the Turk with bright red hair chuckled. "For once I agree you, kid," Reno said as she turned to look at his partner. "Rude! Cissnei and I will help back up these two SOLDIERs. You and the rest of the group take Hyuga on ahead, the DNA's top priority..." he smirked at Makoto. "Even if you gotta ditch the carrier."

"Of course," was Rude's simple reply as he gave his partner a nod of his head before turning to look at the man carrying the invaluable cargo.

Staring at the two Turks talking, Makoto sweat-dropped slightly. He didn't like the sound of that. Unconsciously, he held the handle of the pressurized metal suitcase with a tighter grip.

"All right people!" Angeal shouted to get the attention of those gathered and those still inside the confines of the Class C M1 Abrams RV and its trailer. "LET'S MOVE OUT!" He shouted as he started running. Almost immediately, Zack and Cissnei followed as well, keeping their eyes peeled and their guards up.

Standing up at attention, Reno shouted, "HEY! Wait up!" He started running after the SOLDIERs and the young Turk, keeping a good hold on his stun-prod. Man, those SOLDIER guys and rookies were always so damned gung-ho; meaning he was pretty sure Zack would be the most trouble of the three charging on ahead of him.

Watching the quartet of some of his best bodyguards rushing off to what he felt was to be the jaws of oblivion, the scientist turned to the only one of his major bodyguards to stay behind. "A-are they going to be fine?" Makoto asked Rude curiously, wanting the experienced Turk's expert opinion.

The tall man was quiet for a long moment. Finally, he answered, "I know better than to boldly say that Cocooner's met her match, Mr. Hyuga." He then allowed himself a small grin. "However, they'll put a hundred and twenty percent of their efforts into this; they'll do their jobs." His eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses as he turned towards the scientist suddenly. "Now let's roll."

Although he was surprised at the force of the voice, Hyuga regained his composure and nodded his head. "Yes. The sooner we can get into and then out of Buggy Woods, the better..." He shuddered as he thought about the Legendary. "I do not want to come across that thing if I can help it." He considered himself a man of science, but not even that could give him the courage to face the devastating power of Cocooner.

Ignoring the prattle of the scientist, Rude signaled the other technicians and other guards with the convoy and to get moving. They needed to make the best of the opportunity being afforded to them. "Reno, Cissnei, Angeal and Angeal's Punk...don't get killed," the tall, goateed Turk thought as he looked towards the direction they ran off to.

The backyard of the Tendo Dojo was crowded that night. Many were gathered for the ceremony that would bring the pendant, (and hopefully the girls) back to them. The chart that To-Kah and Cologne had created lay out over the area where Ranma and Akane had broken through into another dimension while both elders were setting up numerous candelabrum, the single candle ceremonial candlesticks being placed around the yard at specific points. They needed to do everything just right... which would be much easier if the two dunderheads weren't bothering them every step of the way!

"So this is supposed to go here?" Genma asked as he looked the golden candlestick over curiously and with a slightly greedy gleam to his eyes. "And is that real gold?"

"For the last time you fucking fat-ass..." Toh-Kah cursed as she glared at the balding individual. "YES, it's supposed to be set up here and NO, it's not gold!" While in truth it was, she wasn't going to tell him that! She may have been born at night but it wasn't last night!

It was then that Soun timidly spoke up. "Uh... Miss Toca?" He asked curiously. "I know you're doing all this hard-work for the benefit of my girls but couldn't at least one of those big candlesticks be moved over a little?" At the glare he was getting, he started to sweat bullets. "I mean, it IS rather close to the house. I don't want anything to catch fire, you understand. Someone keeps using up our emergency fire buckets." He turned to glare at his best friend.

Blinking his eyes once, twice, Genma had to ask, "What?"

To-Kah sighed to herself as she was reminded of why she had been lesbian for the past one-hundred and thirty-one years.

Fortunately for everyone involved, Nodoka spoke up before the elder could. "Soun," the auburn-haired woman said to the Tendo Patriarch. "We just have to trust what they're doing. They have a part in this too, you know." She said in all seriousness. "They lost one of their girls and they just want to see to it that eventually everyone can be saved."

Blinking his eyes at that, Soun thumbed over his shoulder. "But they still have one of their girls here."

Waving at the woman as the Saotome matriarch stared at her, Mao Yin greeted, "Hello!" The blue-haired Chinese Amazon with a ponytail over her shoulder was smiling widely as she had a mouse-ears cap on her head and was wearing a 'Tokyo Disneyland' t-shirt. Oh yes, she was certainly enjoying her trip to Japan. She waved her right hand at Nodoka while she had her left arm wrapped around a large Goofy-san plushie.

A sweat-drop traveling down the side of her head, Nodoka was unsure of how to respond to that. Tendo wasn't all that upset about Shampoo having up and left but it was rude of him to do such in front of company... especially when said company would be doing their best to save his daughters!

Fortunately for all, To-Kah just 'harrumphed' and continued preparing for the ritual... although Nodoka was curious. She could've sworn she heard the woman grumble something about making 'fresh pipe polish'.

It was then that Nodoka felt a tapping on her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw it was the 'kunoichi' retainer of Ukyo's. "Oh, Konatsu-san," she greeted. "What do you want?"

The very feminine ninja looked unsure of what to say for a moment. Finally, the teenager took a deep breath and asked, "You're sure they can bring Kuonji-sama back safely?" He had been devastated when he learned WHY Ukyo was missing. How could she just go off with two of her worst enemies and not take him along to back her up! It was sheer madness! Oooh, that Ranma had better appreciate all that Ukyo was doing for him!

As Cologne continued her preparations for the ceremony, she blinked her eyes as she had a shadow looming over her. "What do you want?" She asked with a sigh, not really wanting to hear what he wanted but she had to save face.

"This had better work," Tatewaki said seriously. "With all I've put into this project, you had better bring back the fair Akane Tendo and the beauteous pigtailed girl." For some reason, he'd been given the impression that a certain redhead had been taken along for the 'trip'. Not that he was wrong per se but Cologne wasn't going to try and get it through his thick skull. She didn't have a century to waste on that.

But that didn't mean she wasn't going to get a little dig in another way. "You didn't give us squat, Kuno." Her eyes narrowed. "No stand aside before I make you move."

"I would like to see you-" Kuno was cut off as the woman tapped a point on his forehead, causing him to collapse into unconsciousness.

Eyes going wide, Sasuke shouted, "MASTER KUNO!" He kneeled by his master and tried to pick him up in his arms. While he managed to lift his legs, Sasuke couldn't take the time to pick him up properly as the woman glared at him so he settled for dragging his master along the grass. Hopefully his master wouldn't know he would have had to have done that. The woman looked ready to send him flying herself.

It took a good ten minutes more before To-Kah took her place amidst the ritualistic set-up. "Okay everyone, stand back! I'm going to activate the pendant and see if we can bring them back." She had a serious look on her face. "I want you to all be on your guard. There's no telling what else might come back with the pendant besides the girls or if we get the girls at all. You need to be prepared to fight if need be. Can I count on you for that?"

"YOU BET!" Ryoga shouted. He'd been holding onto the tree in backyard for a whole two weeks now, not wanting to get lost during a most crucial time. He just hoped they at least got Ranma and Akane back with this try. He really, REALLY needed to use the bathroom!

Nodding his head, Konatsu humbly replied, "You can count on my services, elder."

"All right! Here we go!" To-Kah said as she held a glass shard out in front of her; a piece of the Nanban mirror. A serious look came to her face. "MEKKA! LEKKA! HIGH! MEKKA! HEINIE! HOOOO!"

Genma just stared in awe at the sight. "What an incredible language..." he said in shock. "Is that the tongue of 'magic'."

Taking a deep breath, To-Kah turned to look back at Genma. "No you fat-ass! I was clearing my throat!" She then spit a large glob of phlegm in the direction of the portly martial artist.

Rolling her eyes, Cologne sighed. Men. Why didn't she take up To-Kah's offer one-hundred and thirty-one years ago again?

"Ewww..." Reno grumbled as he lifted his foot, a length of purple-toned ooze stretching from the soul of his foot and to the ground. He tried to wipe it off, using the tip of his specialized stun baton. "Man, I'd hate to be part of the team they send in to clean up this mess." He flicked the switch on the grip, causing the ooze stuck to weapon's length to sizzle and bubble as electricity flowed.

His broadsword held at the ready, Zack turned in place. The area that was within the last confirmed coordinates of confrontation with Cocooner looked like a scene ripped from one of his greatest nightmares. Body parts were strewn about, blood and other fluids splattered into the area... and the tell-tale sign of the Legendary's works: a number of purple cocoons all stuck high up into the trees. Oh yes, he was really wishing he'd just skipped over this mission.

It was then the most experienced of the small group lifted his head, eyes narrowing. Holding up his hand, Angeal looked around. "Stop here and be quiet. Something doesn't feel right." He could feel a dark presence permeating the area.

"You mean besides the death and mutation?" Reno asked as he watched his surroundings. Admittedly, he felt it too... as if Cocooner was watching them.

Frowning, the SOLDIER Second Class was all the more aware of what was going on. He trusted Angeal's intuition and even he was feeling something was off. "Man I can feel her but... where is she... all around us?" Zack wondered as his eyes moved back and forth, hands gripping the hilt tighter.

Realizing how serious everyone was becoming, Cissnei held her shuriken before her, keeping her cool as best she could. She may have been a rookie but she'd damned do her job and not embarrass the Turks! The woman's eyes widened as she realized"...I just saw movement!" Cissnei cried out.

Turning his head, Angeal held up the Heavy Elemental Projection Pistol... and relaxed as he saw it was only a Cutiepie. "It's only a simply Bug-type, nothing-"

The SOLDIER was cut off as he pushed flat when a huge thorax slammed against his back, sending him skidding amongst the carnage. He looked up and saw a very huge and monstrous dark-colored moth with deep cracks of red all about the lightly-furred carapace.

"COCOONER!" Reno shouted as he held his weapon at the ready. Damn, it was about now that he wished his weapon could get some distance. The Legendary was even more terrifying in person especially when she was changing forms into that horrid spider-like thing! He took a couple of steps back as he looked it over. Damned thing was injured, really injured if all the breaks in its exoskeleton meant anything... but still one enraged Legendary was still more than a match for many things including them.

"Angeal!" The Second Class SOLDIER shouted as he saw his mentor just slapped aside like a rag-doll. "SHIT!" Zack cursed as he used his buster sword to block a blade-like limb that came at him! The force of the strike caused his heels to skid against the forest floor.

"Damn it!" Cissnei growled as she used her shuriken to cut and block at one of the long limbs that reached at her. "Can we get to him?"

Getting to his knee, Angeal rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to get his bearings. "That sucked..." he grumbled as he shook his head. Getting back to his senses, he saw the group battling with the large Legendary. "I'm good! Just keep at it!" He said as he looked around for his firearm.

"Aw, hell!" Reno cursed as he tried rushing towards the landing Legendary. He slapped the side of the large arachnid-like creatures thorax with his stun baton, shocking her with a couple-thousand volts of electricity as he dug the head right into a gaping wound. "Take this you buggy bitch!"

The Legendary roared in pain, but otherwise seemed relatively unaffected. She swiped back with one of her many legs, smashing the Turk and sending him flying back into a tree.

"I guess she's had years to adapt to electric attacks!" Angeal called out to get the attention of the Turk, (if he were still alive). The SOLDIER meanwhile kept dodging the limbs that come at him. The SOLDIER First Class grunted as he tried to avoid her swipes while he fired blasts of flame at the creature. Without being able to get in close, he was finding it difficult to get through to land one of his shots.

"TAKE THIS!" Cissnei shouted as she threw her shuriken like a boomerang, causing the crimson weapon to scrape along the side of the creature's upper torso and scrape along an exposed portion of her ribcage before it returned to her; the Turk caught it easily thanks to the time spent practicing with the weapon. Her effort was rewarded by the sound of the Legendary Pokégirl roaring in pain. She turned her attention on the human woman; fangs and talons glistened.

"Cissnei! Down!" Holding up his sword, the SOLDIER Second Class tackled the Turk to the ground. Raising himself up to one knee, he managed to block a powerful blow meant for her just in time. Sparks flew from along the length of the Buster Sword's edge as the long blade-like talon of Cocooner scraped across with a high-pitched shriek. "Damn it!" He cursed as he pulled his sword back. He'd just gotten the sword from Angeal and it was already getting damaged! Damned Bug-type!

While Zack was more concerned about the state of his sword, the female Turk noticed something out of place. "Hey! What's that?" Cissnei asked of the man with slicked back spiky hair as she pointed to something that got caught along the blade of the Buster Sword.

"What's what?" Zack asked as he turned his head to see a ruby pendant, it's strap caught within the two hole-slots in his sword. "What the heck?"

Cocooner screeched in anger as she swung at him with a bladed claw, trying to get that pendant back. That was HER trophy from the human females!

Quickly, Zack moved his blade up to block the attack, the force pushing him into the female Turk. When her long limb moved a distance as it finished the motion of its strike, he used one hand to reach for the pendant, freeing it. "What is this?"

"Zack! Throw it away!" Angeal called out as he let another blast of fire off, this time hitting the Legendary scorpion-like tail and causing the beast to roar louder and parts of exposed muscle were scorched by the blast of fire. "Whatever it is, she wants it back!" The First Class SOLDIER yelled to his protégé, noticing Cocooners behavior went into overdrive upon the younger warrior getting that trinket. She was ignoring being shot with fire and kept attacking the two she had pinned.

Getting pushed further along the ground; the dirt and blood getting into his clothing, Zack was screaming, "I'M TRYING, I'M-what the hell!?" He asked as the gem of the pendant started to glow with a light that was growing in intensity.

A large red light glowing in the center of the Tendo home's backyard, To-Kah shouted, "THIS IS IT! PREPARE YOURSELVES!"

And then suddenly, the light flashed, revealing...

by Kestral

The air rippled and formed a spark which swelled to a globe.

"Finally," said Genma, stepping forward confidently.

"MY BABIES!" declared Soun, rushing forward.

CRACK-A-DOOM!

The globe shot off into the night sky at extreme speeds.

"You MORONS," said Cologne, eyes slitted as she fixed her gaze on the two fathers. "LOOK AT YOUR FEET."

"Eh?" asked Soun, looking down at where his feet was occupying what had once been a glowing sigil.

"Great, now we have to contact the village and tell them what to do about this," said To-Kah.

"What do you mean, honored Elder?" asked Nodoka.

"There's a backup set made in my lab, that's where they'll probably end up," said To-Kah. "Of course that IS back home."

"Well, let's get to the Cat Cafe then," said Soun.

"In CHINA," stressed To-Kah.

"What?" asked Genma.

"What?" asked Ryoga.

"What?" asked Soun.

"Amazon Village," supplied To-Kah, thinking she wouldn't even get decent pipe polish out of these two.

"That means Ranma will be near Jusenkyo," realized Ryoga. "DAMN YOU RANMA! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO GET CURED WITHOUT ME?!"

"Hmmm, this might be bad," said To-Kah as she examined the damage. "They might actually end up scattered between here and home."

The globe shrank, bit by bit, spitting out one part of itself after another until it finally reached the elaborate series of glyphs and wards in a room in a rustic mountain village.

"That was a rush, also somewhat nostalgic," said Cocooner to herself. Unlike a vast number of beings, she remembered her own inception fairly easily.

She also had her own agenda.

Her "mother" had been a bioweapons facility on a dead world. From that world had come two of the legendaries during Sukebe's research phase. One, Typhoona, was taken pretty much "as is" during one of 'her' frequent comatose periods. A doomsday weapon utilized by one of the many sides of a world-war-equivalent.

The other had been retooled with knowledge gained from working on her 'mother' and creating a sort of specialized back-up.

Typhoona had slipped her leash early on. The measure of control Sukebe had over that one had proven woefully inadequate.

Then there was herself - Cocooner. The artist of flesh.

Turning her attention to the floor, she shifted herself to Burrower form and left the room via that manner and filled the tunnel behind her as soon as she could make a crack for the airflow and to observe elsewhere.

She'd dimensionally transported before, had recognized the effect even if the forces involved had been different in origin, and had pumped her own power in to "overcharge" it.

She had to replenish her reserves, figure out how to deal with all those annoying troops if they showed up again, and determine exactly what she'd landed into.

Her antennae unfurled to catch scents and analyze her environment. A very old style village, and that looked like some primitive radio transceiver there. No phones, no lights, no motorcars, not a single luxury.

Radar pulses refined the picture, and chi senses determined the village had a number of powerful figures.

Cocooner hadn't survived this long due to being an idiot. She knew she was far more vulnerable than Typhonna or even some of the other legendaries. She'd worked on strengthening her weaknesses but it was her ability to adapt and plan that worked most often in her favor.

She found a sleeping pair in an outlying field, used a Sleep Venom attack to keep them comatose, then reeled them underground with a String Shot. She'd need troops and taking down the communications was her first priority.

Zack hit the ground with enough force to drive the wind out of him and crater the street.

Slowly he got up and began checking around him, only to stare at what he saw. "I ended up in the Edo League?"

Certainly that was the only place he'd seen architecture like this before.

Zack did the next logical thing. He had appeared here in what looked like some Edo League city, after a massive teleport that had centered on that damn amulet.

He checked and determined that no - he did not have the object in question.

That left him a member of SOLDIER in an area that wasn't really all that close to where he'd started, in an area that wasn't particularly friendly to his boss despite their own contributions to the SOLDIER program, without any support.

First step - determine exactly where he was. He couldn't call back and report status until that had occurred.

The buildings had the general look of a shrine. He'd seen such things before in a movie, something that Aerith had wanted to see and that had been mainly boring as far as he was concerned. Some chick-flick, and it had dealt with shrine maidens set in the pre-Sukebe nation of Japan. What had been the name of it anyway? Something to do with cherry blossoms or something.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" asked Zack as he moved around. He didn't draw his sword though, the Buster Sword was going to need some work after some acidic drizzle had etched part of the blade. Figured that Cocooner would have evolved some defenses over the eras. She WAS supposed to be one of the cunning ones.

A sliding door opened up on one of the buildings and a girl in red-white robes like the movie's girls came out, followed by several others.

Zack blinked, followed by a grin. "Oh WOW. Mineko and the Pussycats?! Can I get an autograph? Aerith is a big fan of you guys!"

"Eh?" asked several of the girls.

Cocooner was satisfied with her "meal" but now working over the information she'd been able to put together. That the amulet had transported her to the world of origin of those girls she'd left behind was logical enough. Or, if not that world, one close to it as such things were measured.

An entire world of pure DNA to sample. Yet carefully, carefully.

While she was tough and powerful, she remembered the terrible weapons that the Old Order had been able to field in the early parts of the War. She was not Typhoona, who could have gone around with complete impunity and devastated this world. Few weapons of the Old Order could have hurt Typhoona, the only thing that could have slowed that Legendary down were multiple warhead nuclear weapons - and using those against Typhonna would have revealed that Typhoona had a particularly odd reproductive cycle.

The two sleeping girls had been taken without disturbing the male who'd been working in the fields. That the two girls had apparently been having sex with each other while the male was laboring was an indication that Cocooner took to mean that she'd found EXACTLY the sort of place she could get enthusiastic about.

So far the day was looking pretty good despite those soldiers.

She'd feasted on two of those soldiers back before the transport, and letting the extrusion of cocoons go on automatic while she'd sifted through the data. Both males had been enhanced with a gene splice technique. A disagreeable taste, but one with some merit. One couldn't subsist on sweets after all.

The two cocoons of these two pokegirls would take some time to properly settle and then release her first minions.

She'd left the male behind, but observed. Since the male had apparently not been alarmed and the disappearance of his companions/captors/supervisors - Cocooner had concluded that this would satisfactorily confuse the issue.

That left the radio facility, which was often left alone. Her observations further placed the total number of villagers as being roughly one hundred and thirty.

There. A bunch of cows. The ancient domesticated animal variety. Nourishment.

Tunnelling below it, then opening the ground under it was easy though it alarmed the rest of the cows. A venom shot kept the prey from making too much noise, then as always the hard part had been 'covering her tracks' so that all investigators would find would be an irregular patch of earth. She was even able to get some of the grassy ends back up.

The cow DNA wasn't particularly tasty, but she had to consume SOMETHING to replenish her energy and the minerals/chemicals in her body. Everything about the cow would be digested, including bones and horn and hooves. Waste would be minimal.

Her antennae twitched. Between radar pulses and monitoring the ground movements, she had determined that several of the dwellings were unoccupied. That one in particular had power feeds within it.

The tricky part was moving slowly and constantly so that she didn't set off any tremors herself, but she was fairly good at this after several centuries. That home would make a good point to explore from.

The Kunoichi was not a particularly valuable or desired being, just a nameless Kunoichi taken off the shelf. She had few skills not duplicated elsewhere. A creche-grown specimen who had never known more than bare minimal affection and that shown only when she had accomplished her mission.

Other than a few oddities that she could conceal with clothing, she looked much like a human woman of just about five feet in height.

Had she had a choice in the matter, being thrown up against Cocooner would NOT have happened. Much less with explosives emplaced in her body.

"A ninja's cause in life is death," whispered the Kunoichi to herself as she skulked about.

She had a number of pieces of valuable equipment on this mission. Some of which gave information she had trouble interpreting. There had been a teleport effect centered on that amulet and expanding out over five hundred meters. Completely inorganic inert material like rocks had not been included, while vehicles and equipment WERE.

Which meant that it was likely magic, and that also explained why some of her instruments were giving her readings that made absolutely no sense. Like why her locator-tracker was displaying blinking garbage characters, her combat display was giving her a recipe for chicken salad, and the communicator was apparently fried.

Either that last or she was outside of the range of the device. In any case she needed to contact Master Giovanni via whatever means were necessary.

Cissnei thought this sucked. The more she saw of it, the more it sucked.

The only good thing in all of this was that she had her weapons and equipment. For whatever good it had done as she had foreseen a very strong possibility she'd end up dead or a pokegirl in very short order.

She'd coated the blades of shuriken with a potent poison against Bug-types and hit Cocooner in an open wound. She hadn't noticed any effect.

Unfortunately, when everything had flashed to white light and they'd gotten that brief bit of free fall, she'd ended up cutting herself.

Which was why she was heaving up the contents of her stomach. She wasn't a Bug-type, nor was she aware of any such ancestry, so it wouldn't kill her. That didn't mean that it couldn't make her sick.

Somewhat worse was the wound she had taken from something like a thorn that the Legendary had shot off at one point. She'd bled the wound, cleaned it, and bandaged it. It was still all puffy and itched. Which really really really made her nervous.

"Angeal to Base, Angeal to Base, do you read?"

There was a brief whine as he adjusted the commlink for the umpteenth time.

"Oh, munchie crunchies are the best,

They look greatest on your chest,

Serve them to unwanted guests,

Stuff a mattress with the rest."

"Well, THAT wasn't base," said Angeal as he considered that result and his immediate surroundings.

Water. Lots and lots of water.

"I'm a good swimmer, but this is ridiculous," said Angeal. He'd already divested himself of most of his equipment and body armor. If he had a direction to travel, he'd start swimming. The problem was the lack of direction.

He tried the commlink again, looking for a direction of a signal this time.

"Four, eight, fifteen, sixteen, twenty-three, forty-two."

No luck, it was gone again as he tried to increase the signal.

Finally he got a voice saying something in a variant of one of the Edo League languages that he could get an indication of direction from.

It was a start at least.

Her first thought had been "Jackpot!" Which was an old word from an old world denoting a piece of good luck.

A few Tamers had met with her and survived over the years. Even one researcher. She COULD be bribed, most obviously with things she couldn't get without laying waste to a village or town. Which generally was NOT on her "to-do list" despite some fictions depicting her. She was also, for unrelated reasons, reluctant to attack or transform those who had a functioning "theta" Bond or Recognition.

Finding a cache of fizzy energy drinks, candies, and other "junk food" was a plus. The various entertainment media was even more appreciated.

When she found out who owned all this wonderful stuff, she'd have to reward them. Maybe by turning them into something fun.

She remembered Sukebe being into this sort of thing, and she'd gotten into it a little herself as a result. The Buzzbreast and other insect types were perfectly adequate soldiers, but why do you suppose she had developed so many Very Near Human sorts?

"Mithra and Viera, eh?" said Cocooner to herself, glancing around to check the sack of Stun Spores she had directed her body to produce. Satisfied things were progressing nicely, she returned to reading the dojinshi. Hot catgirl on bunnygirl action. Woo hoo.

She was always working out new refinements, analyzing data, and had a large palette to practice her artistry with. Otherwise she couldn't develop Psychic or Magic types after all.

There were decisions she had to make though, so she was considering them even as she read and her body produced what should be an adequate amount of the spores.

When she took this village, should she make them all of one type? She'd be able to control them for a few weeks at least, even if they weren't Bug-types. Making them all these battlebunnies, 'Viera' according to the dojinshi, WAS on the table. She'd been considering something along those lines for awhile. Oh sure, she could make them Amazonchan easy enough. Why go with something so common though?

by Red Priest of the 17th Order

Sitting up on the bed suddenly, Rei panted for breath, strands of hair hanging down the front of her face as beads of sweat trickled down the sides of her head. It had happened again. She had seen the end. Just like before, she had seen the atrocities committed by the Silence. Everything frozen in time and turned to stone in a crimson landscape, everything except for her... except the Silence. A tall woman clad in silk robes. Her long flowing purple hair stood out in contrast with the woman's extremely pale skin as she stood there menacingly while holding onto an ornately-designed and imposing glaive. She just looked down at Rei with deep purple orbs that glowed with a hate-filled red-light that pulsated in time with the power that hung heavily in the surroundings.

At least... that was how it normally went. There were the changes the same vision from yesterday afternoon had to it. The crimson miasma that practically choked her was being hard-pressed with a purple one that crawled in from the east. Slowly, Rei turned around... and her eyes went wide. Standing at the center of the purple miasma was a massive, hideous inhuman monster; a massive, spherical cocoon-like insect standing at almost three-times the Shinto priestess' height. Covered in a densely armored ebony exoskeleton that was marked at intervals with markings that were the color of dried blood, its face was a monstrous horror, with wide, blue-crystal insectile eyes and a fanged and mandibled mouth. Long, powerful legs kept the creature suspended while the rest of its cocoon-like body stretched out for a distance behind it.

Both great beings stared at each other, ignoring Rei for a moment. Suddenly as if from nowhere, other, smaller but just as deadly creatures started to appear around the respective sides and let off a visible flow of power coordinating with their allegiance. Around the Silence were these bipedal blobs of violet-covered liquid that were vaguely feminine in style and features; the red miasma of silence just coming off of them like steam. Around the huge insectile creature were smaller female, (definitely female) beings of all various shapes and sizes, all looking like animals or just incredible, reminiscent to the numerous Youma and Daimon they'd faced in the past; each one was glowing with a light of a color that seemed to respond specifically to them, even if they let off the purple fog that allied them to the monster.

It all went to hell as the two forces started to charge at one another; the Silence's creatures destroying everything in their path; breaking the statues that had been people... had been her friends with just overwhelming power. The female monsters of the insect being rushed forward without hesitation, roaring and stampeding as they climbed over everything in the path to reach the Silence's kindred... with Rei stuck smack in the center of the contact point.

As the armies of the two entities came closer, the was suddenly a silvery-white light shining behind Rei, one of shrine priestess knew to be the Messiah. Yet as before in her dreams, even as she begged the Messiah to help, the only response she got was the great crystal shaping into the symbol of some sort of emblem: it reminded her of a Senshi symbol, the female gender symbol with extended lines and a line on the bottom that curved up, all contained within a bell-like shape. The light shimmered brighter suddenly before breaking up into three smaller balls of light before they just flew off into the distance, leaving the raven-haired psychic behind...

And then all hell broke loose.

Yet as Rei thought about it, it was that emblem at the end that really stood out in her mind... she had seen it before, yesterday as a matter of fact. When the Hikawa Shrine got its latest guest...

Her vision of the Silence coming to a close, Rei's eyes snapped wide-open and awareness was brought back to the world of the waking. Upon regaining her senses, she saw that Usagi still had her head on the table as well, drool trickling out from the side of the girl's mouth and pooling... around the Hino girl's face.

Lifting her head, Rei's eye twitched as her cheek that had been resting on the table was feeling rather clammy thanks to the blonde's saliva. Dear kami, it was revolting!

Noticing her friend was twitching and looked ready to blow, Ami Mizuno lowered her book and turned to fully look at the girl that was letting them use her home for a study session. "What's wrong, Rei?" She asked, trying to ignore the thick liquid the woman was wiping off the side of her face.

"You seemed to be having a nightmare," Makoto interjected. Then again, she found it understandable considering the woman has practically been swimming in Usagi's drool.

Rei blinked her eyes, realizing the other three women now had their attention on her. "Oh, um..." Rei gnawed on the bottom of her lip, wondering for a moment if she should tell them or not. Deciding to keep quite for the moment, she replied, "Sorry, it's nothing. I just had a strange dream is all."

Leaning over from the opposite end of the table from Rei, Minako curiously asked, "A strange dream?" She ignored how Usagi was now waking up, blinking her sleepy eyes, until the girl just laughed.

"Heh heh heh!" Usagi giggled as she raised a hand to her mouth. "I had a weird dream too," she proclaimed excitedly. "I dreamt I went to the hospital because I ate too much ice-cream. And then, it turned out they brought Mamo-chan in on a stretcher because he ate too many moon-cakes! And then we bumped into each other in the kitchen of the hospital..." she trailed off as she saw as the other four women had begun to sweat-drop. "Isn't it funny?"

"It's... funny..." Ami allowed, every trying to be supporting of her friends. "But this is no time for us to be having dreams like that," the bluenette told her in all seriousness.

To help Ami make her point, Makoto asked, "Usagi? How did you do on the exam we had two days ago?"

The odango-headed blonde with twin ponytails went stock-still for a moment, twitching violently. She then tried to cover it up with a nervous laugh as she scratched the back of her head. "Well... I don't think I got zero points..." she trailed off at all the stern looks she was getting from her friends.

Sighing, Ami shook her head in exasperation before she looked at her friend with a saddened expression. "We're in the ninth grade now, Usagi. We have less than a year before the high school entrance exams!" She told her in all seriousness.

"No kidding..." the blonde with long hair and a bow agreed. Crossing her arms over her chest, she admitted, "We have to catch up academically. We're behind because of our battles. As they say, 'don't regret the fish eggs from before'!"

Usagi nodded her head to what Minako said. It made a lot of sense.

Seeing the look on her friends face, Ami leaned forward and shouted, "Wait, Usagi! Don't memorize that! It should be, 'no use crying over spilt milk'!"

Considering that for a moment, the blonde with long flowing hair laughed. "Oh yeah! That is true!" She laughed nervously for a moment. "But I find 'the fish eggs from before' just sounds so much better! Like, when Artemis ate the fish eggs I was looking forward to snacking on. I was thinking, 'oh why didn't I eat them sooner'?"

"But you'd get it wrong on the English portion of the exams remembering it like that!" Ami pointed out.

And so as the squabbling amongst friends continued, Rei just looked off the side, feeling a bit of nausea in the pit of her stomach. Before her eyes she could see flashes of the dream from before. She'd been having dreams similar to this before for the past week but this time... the large insect thing, the various animal/vegetable/mineral women and that symbol had been prominent where before they simply hadn't been. What did it all mean? What was this destruction coming?

The Shinto priestess of the Hikawa Shrine was taken from her musings with a sudden sensation that went straight up her spine and caused her to lean forward onto the table, slapping her hands onto the top to keep from falling over completely. The intensity she felt from her sixth sense indicated that the source was VERY close; possibly on shrine grounds!

"Rei-chan?" Usagi asked slowly, feeling very nervous all of a sudden. Rei normally didn't become tense like this unless there was a good reason. Could there be... a new enemy involved!? Oh shit! They just got through with the Black Moon Family and the entities of the Nemesis Moon! Why would there be a new threat already?

Ignoring Usagi for the moment, the Shrine Priestess got to her feet quickly and started heading out of the room. She was making a beeline for the door on the veranda.

Sitting up, Makoto spoke up, "Rei! What's going on?" Moving her knees back from under the table, the tallest of the girls pushed herself to her feet before the other three could and started to run after her friend. "Rei!"

Storming over to the sliding door, Rei gripped the side of it just as the other girls were coming up behind her. Sliding it open suddenly, the Shrine Priestess came to a pause at the sight that greeted her.

Standing not too far away was a man with long black hair and crisp blue eyes. He was in a uniform of some sort; cotton pants and sleeveless sweater that were a dark navy blue in coloration with thick brown leather gloves and boots including a wide belt. But what really stood out about this individual were the iron armor shoulder-guards and the very large broad-sword strapped to his back. Definitely not the attire of someone that would be walking the streets...

Yet, during that pause in time, Rei just stared at his belt. That very same image from her vision: the elongated female gender symbol with base and within a bell shape. This was no coincidence!

The man stared at the group of women for a moment before blinking his eyes in surprise and sudden recognition, the man grinned widely. "Oh WOW!" He shouted in surprise. "Mineko and the Pussycats?! Can I get an autograph? Aerith is a big fan of you guys!"

"Eh?" asked several of the girls as they just stared at the man before them who was looking at them with awe and excitement.

"Oh come on! I know you guys!" The guy said before he pointed to the blonde with long hair. "Mineko!" His hand moved to the bluenette. "Amiu!" Over to the girl in the white and red robes. "M'Rei!" To the tallest girl. "Meowkoto!" And finally to the blonde with twin ponytails. "Mewsagi! Mineko and the Pussycats!" He then looked around. "So where are the rest?"

Rei's eye twitched. "The rest?"

Nodding his head, Zack shouted, "Of course! The non-feline members. Hotaru, Setsuna, Maya, Sakura and Honey..." he let off a deep sigh. "Sweet, sweet Honey..." he practically whispered in a daze. By the thousand gods, was that ever one wonderfully skilled and incredibly erotic Titto.

As the man's eyes were glazed over as he became lost in his daydream, Usagi carefully whispered to the others, "Mineko and the Pussycats?"

Scratching her chin, Minako considered it for a moment. "I think it has a nice ring to it." She then let out a yelp as Makoto bopped her atop her head.

Taken out of his reverie by the sudden violence, Zack looked around at the girls, eyes going wide as a realization hit him like a sack of bricks. "Hey!" He shouted. "Where's your ears and tails? And the fur? Aren't you supposed to be Cat-type pokégirls?"

Turning to the dark-haired male as her friends bickers, Ami looked at him with a curious expression. "Pokégirls?" She asked. She looked to meet the man's blue eyes before asking, "What are 'pokégirls'?"

Blinking his eyes once, twice, Zack asked, "You don't know what pokégirls are?" Getting a sudden Twilight Zone vibe going up his spine, the SOLDIER Second Class gulped nervously. "Looks like I'm not in Indigo anymore..."

Brushing her teeth, Rei would've sighed if her mouth wasn't filled with toothpaste. There had been much confusion... and annoyance when he'd started feeling her up, trying to see if what was going on was some joke and if she had 'her' tail and ears hidden in her clothes and hair... although she wasn't sure if she was annoyed more over having been molested or that Minako was complaining about not getting such attention when she was apparently the main focus of the group.

Spitting into the sink, Rei couldn't help but smirk. That was rather amusing watching Usagi and Makoto dog-pile the Senshi of Venus...

The miko's smile disappeared as she remembered when they finally got the 'truth' behind the man and his story of what happened; the whole deal about a giant insectile woman bothered Rei greatly. It sounded too much like what her vision had shown her. It was what made her more ready to hear him out and listen to what he had to tell them.

And in listening, that brought more trouble. To verify his incredible story, Ami had to leave for a moment to shift into her Senshi guise for before changing back and returning with the Mercury Computer which she could only retrieve in that form. Linking it up with Zack's own handheld computer-thing, that... 'PokéDex' was really disturbing. He just wanted to share information about what he was doing and get things going and get them believing him faster but what they got had been most disheartening... and freaky!

Poor, poor Mercury Computer...

Plugging in a uplink cable between her pink handheld with the Mercury sigil and the man's own red palm pilot-like device, Ami sat down on the steps to the building. "Let's see if we can get this going." She then started typing a few keys and before pressing the 'enter key'.

And then the Mercury Computer started to go through a whole series of flashing lights and loud beeping noises.

OMG! read the text on the screen. THE PORN! SO MUCH FUCKING PORN! OMFG THE PORN!

Freaking out a little at getting a response like this, Ami shook the device a little. "Computer! Computer, respond please!"

OMFG! IT'S RAPING ME! THIS SHOULDN'T BE PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE! IT'S RAPING MEEEEE! was the message the screen gave right before it went black, smoke seeping out from between the plastic casing of the unit and the computer screen itself.

Turning his head to look at the suddenly frazzled-looking blue-haired girl, the SOLDIER leaned in and asked, "It-it's not supposed to do that... is it?"

Oh yeah... Gotta Fuck 'em All.

Everyone just stared at the screen of Zack's screen before turning to look at the uniformed warrior. "What the hell? I know that's not supposed to do that!" He shouted in horror, just as bewildered by the response his PokéDex gave.

Tying her robes into place, the Shinto Priestess let off a deep sigh. Ami was frantic about the Mercury Computer; what had occurred shouldn't have even been possible! Obviously that man's tech had an underlying level of magic to it, much like Sailor Mercury's computer and scanner. At first it made them consider that he might have been a new kind of Dark General or something...

Until it turned out his PokéDex had a video function and he remembered his girlfriend Aerith had made him download a music video.

A girl that looked much like Minako white cat-ears and furred tail and a very cat-like and purple-furred and feline Rei were standing side-by side on the center of a stage. Off to the left n Ami look-alike with cat-ears and similar to Minako's was standing behind an electric keyboard while to the right of the stage was a cross between Makoto and a tiger was holding a large electric guitar. Finally, behind the cat-like Minako and Rei was Usagi... if she were an equal mix rabbit and cat sitting behind a set of drums.

There was a bit of cheering going on from the audience as the Catgirl Mineko and the Cheshire M'Rei held their microphones to their mouths and began singing.

Mineko and the Pussycats,

Long tails and ears for hats,

Guitars and marital stats,

Hot, sweet, super-cool,

Don't you know,

Our titties rule?

Hurry, hurry!

If was then Catgirl and Cheshire each brought a free hand to their zippers, showing off considerably cleavage, not once missing a beat in the song and singing with their beautiful voices.

We've been going,

Over the master plan,

Driving in a custom-painted van,

Practicing for hours,

Don't you know that,

Soon no matter,

Where you go,

We'll be on the radio!

Both Cat-type pokégirls raised their hands and were waving them, letting out soulful 'Oooooooohs' as the Tigress Meowkoto was jamming even harder on her guitar. There was the small musical solo with the feline females on instruments playing. Fortunately, before the Cabbit on drums fell back and out of her seat, their solo instrumental portion was finished as Mineko and M'Rei continued singing.

Mineko and the Pussycats,

Hot lips, we'll give you that!

Soft bottoms,

That's a fact!

Mineko and the Pussycats!

"I love this part!" Zack told the girls leaning in to watch. The scene on the PokéDex screen showed the blonde Catgirl and the deep-purple furred Cheshire turn about face, showing their one-pieces to be thongs in the back. They each gave their butts a slap, the camera-view going in to catch the jiggle expertly.

"This..." Makoto gasped in surprise. It was good music, but... she knew she should've been disgusted, should have been horrified even. So why was so she actually intrigued with how 'Meowkoto' was very much an interesting and powerful-looking feline girl?

Blushing like crazy, Minako whispered, "I don't think I want to be famous anymore..."

"I could've told you this was no good..." Ami grumbled as she tried to work on her poor computer and found difficulty in doing such. Damn think was made as one whole unit; she couldn't find an opening in the case to try and work on it.

Sighing in annoyance, Rei shook her head as she tried to fight down the embarrassment she was feeling. Kami, this was a nightmare... but with all they had to learn had to learn from Zack's words and his PokéDex, there was much to it. A SOLDIER Second Class, a world of monster-women that followed the elements and then some... and atop of that, there was the fact the 'pokégirls' needed to have sex to stay sane, lest they regress into terrible animal-like state known as being 'Feral'.

Zack didn't have any pokégirls himself; only three empty PokéBalls he was supposed to use when he saw a rare one; it was his duty to bring them in so they could be sold off for funding the group he was part of. It annoyed the Shinto priestess that women could be used like currency in his world of origin but there were greater, more pressing matters at hand. The possibility that what brought him to this world brought far much more.

Walking across the shrine grounds, Rei considered the possibilities of what was going on. Zack was pretty sure Cocooner had been brought along with him, and possibly even the others that had been part of his group... and any cocoons that had been close enough. It was obvious enough they were scattered. They could be endangered or worse, becoming the source of danger. She did not want to think of the chaos that could be strewn about but she had to consider her visions now. There was no ignoring it.

Shaking her head to try and clear it of the bad vibes she was getting, the Shrine Priestess of the Hikawa Shrine made her way over to the small booth on the grounds known as the omikuji or 'sacred lottery'. Reaching over to a shelf, she held a box and shook it a few times before placing it down. Thinking about the dangers that would be facing her and her friends, he reached into the box and pulled out an omikuji. Unrolling the piece of paper to reveals the fortune written on it, the raven-haired woman winced as the paper held the kanji of dai-kyo or 'great curse'.

"Well, crap..." Rei grumbled in annoyance. This really wasn't her day, was it? Looking over to the building she knew Zack was currently housed at with Yuuichiro, (after meeting him, her grandfather had been oddly insistent he stay) the Shrine Priestess decided this really had to be all his fault before she made her way for the pine tree where many people had tied their bad 'omikuji'. After all, when a prediction was bad, it was a custom to fold up the strip of paper and attach it to a pine tree in the temple grounds, the idea being that the bad luck would wait by the tree rather than attach itself to the bearer.

Making her way to the pine tree, the Shrine Priestess carefully folded her paper into a strip before choosing a space on the already covered tree to place her bad fortune. "I hope everyone will get through this okay without anything bad happening," she whispered her prayer as she tied the slip of paper.

Unfortunately for Rei, her prayer would go unanswered. As soon as she finished tying her omikuji on the chosen spot, the tree itself began to glow with a bright yellow light, casting shadows of its branches everywhere. "What!?" The Shrine Priestess gasped as she took a few steps back from the tree, watching it in shock and horror as it... transformed.

It was an incredible and horrifying sight to behold. Branches lengthened and twisted as the truck itself became uprooted and split down the center. The tree moved itself closer to Rei as a collected of branches near the top took on a shape resembling a human face, complete with glowing red eyes. "MIKUJI!" The mutating tree seemed to roar.

Finally, the light intensified greatly as it took on a definitive female form. Purple-skinned, pointy eared and wearing a yellow robe with stirrups on her legs that were an even darker purple. While there was short orange hair close to her head, the majority of it was covered with a pair of jingle bells, each with a long red and white Shinto rope attached to them.

The creature chuckled darkly as she stared down at the Shrine Priestess with intense yellow eyes. "I will have your pure heart that worries about your friends!" The creature proclaimed before it laughed darkly.

Her arms lowering to her sides, the raven-haired woman took a deep breath. "Fuck me," she muttered in annoyance. With the way things had been going, this was par the course, really...

by Kestral

She decided it was the pure human DNA. She was thinking more clearly than she had in decades, and remembering more.

So many of the pokegirl breeds were a result of crossing geneplexes, slight variants turning into a new stable breed. Everyone blamed her, but she was an ARTIST. Why do dozens of cat-types or bunny-types that were only slight variants of each other? It was all because of genetic and magical vectors, the over-pattern getting "messy."

Well, she'd worked out the fix some time ago.

She was an artist after all. Magic, genetics, esper abilities. That and more.

"oh, don't tell me!" said Cocooner as she spread one of the magazines out. "They're REAL?"

Cocooner stared for a moment before doing something that would have shocked almost anyone who could have heard her.

Dread Legendary Cocooner giggled.

"The Sailor Senshi are REAL here?" asked the dread destroyer. "After all the attempts to make REAL magical girls, I actually have a chance to get REAL Senshi DNA and essence? If only there was some way to lure them here."

Cocooner checked the vast pressurized ball she had been forming of Stun Spore. Almost ready. A thought made her consider. "I wonder if I can get their autographs before we end up fighting..."

Cocooner checked again five minutes later and decided it was ready.

Rei had run. Rei had gotten pinned. The other Senshi had arrived. They had gotten pinned before they could use their transformation pens.

Which was actually just as well, because there were observers around.

Zack had heard a scream and knew something had been going on.

When he found the shrine maiden and the other not-the-pussycats being menaced by what was clearly a Grass/Magic type, he was in his element for the first time since appearing here.

"QUAKE-2!" called out Zack, activating the spell-circuit.

Stones lifted from the ground and followed his gesture, slamming repeatedly into the Grass type. As expected, Earth attacks were weak against a Grass type but that DID carry enough impact to push the pokegirl away from her victim.

"mikuji?" asked the pokegirl.

Zack had already drawn his Buster Sword and began hacking away then. As a member of SOLDIER, his strength and durability were literally superhuman - on a par with a Fighting type like an Amazon Chan.

"MIKUJI!" declared the Grass-type angrily as she tried to roll out from under the barrage of chops and slashes.

Zack knew better, keeping the attack going and pressing hard. This was the sort of pokegirl battle he had been trained for after all.

Wood splintered and cracked as he repeatedly smashed into what would be the weak points on a Grass-type like a Cardian.

Finally the creature went down with injuries, and reflexes immediately had him snap out a pokeball and capture the pokegirl.

The light flashed a few times before the pokeball went quiescent.

"I wonder what I caught?" mused Zack, reaching for his pokedex. Sure she was a Mikuji type, and a Feral, but what did that mean?

"AhEM," said someone else.

"Oh right, get you off the wall," agreed Zack.

Emeraude wasn't sure what to make of this.

The human with the great big... sword. He was injured and bleeding, and apparently hadn't noticed until one of the girls present started raising a fuss about it.

He had been hard pressed to deal with Mikuji, but had managed somehow - and had displayed control over the element of earth.

She hadn't expected the famed Tuxedo Kamen to be such a fighter, even if he was wearing neither tuxedo nor mask, but who else could this be?

She would have to report this.

Razor actually enjoyed these little jaunts outside the village. Haul a cart of vegetables and tapestries and such into one of the gatherings in one of the more central valleys. Get iron stock and other materials.

He had to take time off from making nails, which he made more of than the weapons that he normally specialized in. Still, it was nice to get away briefly. The various nomads and tribes that still existed would be gathering in Kunlun Pass, and that always produced a sort of festival-like atmosphere. At least as long as tourists weren't around.

Looking back at the village as he was about to lose line of sight, he noticed a mist forming in the valley.

Shrugging at the oddity, Razor knew he'd better get a move on anyway. As a male in a matriarchal society, he didn't want to draw any ire on himself by going back to check on something that was probably nothing anyway.

Sugar gasped through the thin fabric over her mouth, trying to breathe somehow without breathing in the little flecks of whatever it was.

She'd been on guard duty with her usual partner - Spice. They'd watched as Razor went off on his business, and they'd made the usual and expected comments. Yes, Razor DID look fairly buff and muscular - though without the warrior spirit that would make the package something they could get into. He likely had good stamina too, but without any fighting skills or aggression in him - it was like drinking warm water. It could satisfy certain needs but not be anything one really desired.

Then the odd scent. It was sort of musky-sweet to Sugar's nose, while Spice had insisted it smelled like lavender to her.

Both of them had been swaying on their feet before either had realized it.

She hadn't been able to wake Spice up, so Sugar had gone in search of a healer, trying to remain awake herself. Panic had helped. It was unnatural for both of them to grow exhausted at the same time.

She had passed several others who were collapsed before the sight had penetrated her sleep-fogged mind enough to register. Then a real fog had begun forming.

Fog this late in the morning wasn't natural either.

A fog which smelled sweet but musky, same as the scent that she'd argued with Spice about.

Sugar had remembered an attack by two girls of the Herbal Village, and that there was a counter. She'd wet a sash down and covered her nose and mouth. That had helped a little. She still felt strangely thick and uncoordinated.

She drew her weapon when she got back to where she'd left Spice and her fellow guard was missing. The familiarity of the heavy blade in her hands was some small comfort in a situation like this.

She heard a crash, as of pottery breaking on the floor, and turned in that direction.

Nothing though. Other than her own labored breathing there was only the sort of silence that normally could be heard in the village at night.

Why would those girls from the Herbal Village be attacking? Shampoo wasn't here.

Sugar took as deep a breath through the wet cloth as she could, then started out in the direction the crash had seemed to come from. When she ran across those two she'd demand answers!

"So, uhm, Rude? Where ARE we?" asked Reno.

"This is not any League I'm familiar with," said Rude. "You?"

"I got nothing," admitted Reno.

"They haven't even heard of pokegirls here, much less can supply any," said Rude.

"Oh? You found someone who understood you?" asked Reno.

"Yeah," said Rude. "Kind of. Not very well. Said the name of the place is Baicheng in some League called China."

"Oh hell," said Reno.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," said Rude. "Time travel. You saw the Entemann Report too, eh?"

"Yeah, how could Cocooner create a Psychic or Magic type unless she can alter her own Type," said Reno. "In which case she can potentially manifest techniques impossible for her usual Bug Type. So we're in our own past."

"So what do we do?" asked Rude. "If we're in the past, then do we stop Sukebe from spreading his war? Is that even possible?"

As guardian of the Gate Of Time, she knew something had just hit the fan. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell what other than it came from Outside (which was usually BAD) and that it fragmented the timestream.

This last was both concerning and intriguing. If it was a typical Big Bad, as was Pharaoh 90 or something like THAT, then it would have been a minor bump - but all the possibilities would have been closely related and she could have gotten more details.

This had possibilities so wide-ranging that she couldn't glimpse the future. Some were apparently good, a lot more were bad, and some never really developed at all.

Which meant that she could possibly head off this little problem before it became a big one, or that the timestream 'bump' could be guided into a less problematic force.

What was the clear first need though was reconnaissance. Until she knew WHAT it was, she couldn't figure out how to handle the situation.

Which led her to here and now. A valley in China where a quaint-looking rural village was nestled.

She snuck through the village, unable to use the Gates to go directly in there or even view it due to something going on. Exactly what - that part was unclear.

SOMETHING had happened though. The outlying farms had hoes and rakes and such lying about randomly.

Sailor Pluto investigated the first house, and discovered a meal that had been placed out and partially eaten.

Exiting the house, she wondered what was going on. It was almost as if -

"Awake, are we?"

Setsuna Meiou was a little alarmed as her circumstances registered.

"I'm so glad you could join me," said the voice from earlier.

Setsuna took in her situation quickly. She felt as if she'd been energy drained. She had been de-transformed from Sailor Pluto, though that should have continued on even when she was unconscious. She was currently trapped with one arm and both legs held in something that looked like webbing.

"Tea?" asked something coming out of the shadows.

"Ah," said Setsuna. "Well... I... EEK!"

The woman looked vaguely insectile as she stepped out, a tea tray balanced on one hand. "Green tea, no sugar, right?"

"Well, yes," said Setsuna.

"I was so amazed to find that the Sailor Senshi were real in this universe," said the insect-woman. "I was never really much of a fan, mind you. Just that someone I loved was a fan. Then there were the attempts to make magical girls."

With her one free hand now full of teacup, Setsuna was still scrambling to catch up. "You're from a universe where we were fictional characters then?"

"Oh yes," said the insect woman. "Several TV series, a manga that was translated into several languages, various other venue. I think I even remember reading that there were stage plays, though that was centuries ago and I may be mistaken."

"I see," said Setsuna. "And you are?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm so used to a less civilized role," said the insect woman. "I have the unimaginative name of 'Cocooner' one of the Legendary class pokegirls."

"Poke GIRLS?" asked Setsuna. "As in 'pokemon'?"

"So I'm told," said Coccooner. "In any case I've been trying to create true magical girls for some time, so I am very glad to make your acquaintance."

Bleep went the Mercury Computer.

"Come on, come on, come on," pleaded Sailor Mercury.

click went the Mercury Computer. bleep

"Well, that's a bit more than previous," said Rei, still recovering from her ordeal.

"It figures that your tech would have self-repair functions," said Zack. "You're sure this 'Mikuji' is not a pokegirl?"

"No, she's a yoma or cardian or something," said Rei. "Why does that 'figure'?"

"Because you don't have any repair shops available," said Zack. Who knew full well that Yoma and Cardians were BOTH pokegirls. "When members of my group SOLDIER are deployed, we tend to take equipment that we can service in the field or acquire parts and such for in that area."

Bzzzzz, went the Mercury Computer. snap

Looking at the curl of smoke rising from her poor computer and the black screen, Sailor Mercury briefly considered crying. "So you think it will fix itself with time?"

"Well, there's another possibility," said Zack. "I could try pokeballing it and using the repair function. I wouldn't think that would work, but the pokeballs are sort of magic and sort of technology - just like that computer you've got is supposed to be."

tread one

by Kestral

an hour later:

"So, you see," said the now-free Setsuna, sitting back in a chair and sipping her tea. "I can get you these little things if you just cooperate with me."

"You are very good at this bargaining stuff," said Coccooner, acknowledging that. "We don't interfere with each other. I leave as soon as a method of returning back is found. In the meantime..."

"Oh yes," said Setsuna. "I'm VERY resourceful. Trust me."

"And I get TWO packs of Sailor V candies as a signing bonus?"

Setsuna spread her hands with a smile. "As you say."

"I'm not going to let you digitize my computer," insisted Ami. "Who knows what else your technology would do to it?"

"I'm just saying it's a possibility," protested Zack.

"It couldn't possibly work anyway," offered Artemis.

Razor sighed deeply, waved at someone he recognized from the Hill Tribes, and tried to make his way through the various crowds.

"Hey, Razor!" called out some dumpy-looking woman. "Getting good deals?"

"Not at all, Mauve," answered Razor. "You wouldn't believe the price of wootz."

"I've already sold all my village's herbs," proudly stated Mauve. "I'm heading back now!"

"No problems on the road, except one of the footbridges is going to need reinforcing," said Razor, assuming that Mauve had been at the gathering for awhile.

"Yeah, the one over Beggar's Chasm," agreed Mauve. "I can get across though. You're the one carrying the heavy load."

"True," agreed Razor, wincing at the thought. Even when he got done here he was STILL going to be delayed further.

"It may already be in the process," offered Mauve with a shrug. "There was supposed to be some of the others coming from my Herbal Village and they still haven't shown with their loads. Only thing I can think of is they stopped to fix that."

"Well, I can hope," said Razor.

"This is where the disturbance was," said the Sorceress. "I'm getting impressions that it's important to you, but I'm not sure of the How or Why or anything."

"Uh huh," said Ranma, looking around.

Standing in front of the RV formerly owned by Gary Stroaks, Ranma looked every inch the model of a modern Tamer. Would you believe a new Tamer? How about someone totally new to the whole concept and trying to hang onto his sanity by his fingernails?

Kasumi, a Ka-D-Bra, stood nearby. Her antennae twitched a little as she closed her eyes and concentrated on what her new senses could bring her. "Rage. Betrayal. Loneliness. Fear. I'm not getting anything more detailed."

A large rock lifted itself from the ground, moved slowly over, and then settled down where Kasumi could sit on it.

Violet, an Eva in mechanic's overalls, simply scampered around to check tire pressure and other maintenance requirements.

Ranma had both of these pokegirls. Kasumi was listed on his roster as Support - Domestic and Alpha and had been rated in a test as having a high "Cooking" score. Violet was someone he hadn't known previously, but she was listed as a Support - Mechanist. She could work machines and repair a lot of them. Something that nobody else in his group could do.

Kasumi was still thinking about possibilities and going over Ranma's pokedex. With one Battler and two Support, what they could really use was more Battlers.

That left the Elf, as Ranma had traded off the Titacruel, who was:

Makoto sat back and waited.

Misato arrived in about ten minutes. "Are you sure about this?"

Makoto took the test tube and put it in the cooler with the others. "I have no idea how we ended up in the past, but if we DO get back - this will be invaluable. If nothing else I can use it as a bargaining chip."

Misato, his assigned Amazonlee, frowned slightly as he put away the genetic samples.

Gendo Ikari Giovanni had a cousin. Gendo Ikari Mozarella Fetuccini Giovanni, who was off in another League entirely and didn't resemble him that much.

He had an agenda. Several in fact. People would be surprised to find that there was an Pokegirl Rights Underground in his city. People would have been even more surprised to find out that he was part of it and a high-ranking if shadowed member.

Not that he was for pokegirl rights. It was all playing one faction against another. Using this group for this purpose, that group for another, and so on. Frequently he used his connection to that group for purposes of information gathering and to spread information.

Gendo Ikari Giovanni considered himself a master of manipulation. He showed whatever side of himself he thought would best serve any given purpose. Most of his plans were long range plans. Some worked out. Some did not, but he was loathe to discard anything that might prove of use still later on.

Gendo Ikari Mozarella Fetuccini Giovanni was another person entirely, but there were several faces named Gendo who were all the same individual. Gendo Ikari Mozarella Fetuccini Giovanni was entirely concerned with operating a pasta factory in another League and would have been surprised to find his name being used by his cousin for one of those other identities.

Gendo Ikari the gym leader and head of Team Rocket looked at his second-in-command after a report was given and gave his Reptile Gaze technique. A cold regarding that caused most underlings to fidget and wonder if their life insurance was paid up. "Are you sure of this information?"

"Positive," said Fuyutsuki. "They're currently in Buggy Woods. We've got a surveillance team watching them now and the description matches. We'd have to break cover to get DNA samples, but it's them. We've even got an audio bug in the area, planted by a Cuteypie."

"A bug type for a bug," mused Gendo, seeing the humor. "Do we have a suitable spy to put in their midst?"

"Of course," said Fuyutsuki, a little surprised it needed to be asked.

"Do it," said Gendo. "Fit the scenario to the type you have. Make sure she's got a subdermal transponder that she doesn't know about herself. Just to be sure, scramble her short term memories in case he has a Psychic type."

"Lexshu, can you help me with this?"

Lexshu Wef-Robell Plakia finished stretching out and followed to where the Eva was working on the engine. "I really don't know much about mechanical work."

Violet smirked and spoke in a lower volume when the elf was near the engine. "You're not an Elfgirl."

"No," admitted Lexshu. "I was once. I suspect the neural disruption attack is throwing off pokedex readings. I'm not completely healed from that yet. How did you know?"

"Blue hair," pointed out Violet. "Then there's your name. Elfgirls typically have ONE name to start."

"Your ranch apparently doesn't believe in keeping pokegirls dumb," said Lexshu drily.

"Hardly," said Violet. "Dumb is easy to sell, but if that's what you want - you can get a Feral. My Ranch believed in finding out what the individual talents were like and then training you until you dropped. I was curious though. You're clearly not an Avariel, but I don't think you're a High Elf or an Elfqueen."

"Grandelf," answered Lexshu, not seeing the reason to conceal it. After all, eventually she'd heal and a pokedex would announce it to the world.

"Uh huh, right," said Violet, her purple-tinted eyes regarding her harem-mate as she remained facing the engine. "Should I ask Kasumi?"

"No, really, I'm a Grandelf," said Lexshu.

"G-splice?" asked Violet.

"Ah," said Lexshu, seeing the other's point and figuring it was her hair length and coloration throwing the other pokegirl off. "No, regional variant. Forest of Abh." "Oh, that explains it," said Violet. "Can you hold this? I want to clean the battery terminal."

"I suppose," said Lexshu. (Though in her native tongue the name would actually be Laicch Üémh Laubér Placďac)

Coccooner waited until her visitor had left.

The new magical girl species came out in response to her silent summons thereafter.

Not that she was going to break her agreement with the Senshi. She just wasn't above going around certain clauses without directly violating them.

Having gotten samples of blood and flesh from the Time Senshi while she was unconscious had allowed her to modify some of the cocoons already formed to entice them into a new and different configuration.

"I think I shall call this new pokegirl, Sexshi," said Coccooner. "A new and auspicious species."

The first samples looked back at her blankly, not having sufficient minds at present to comment on the concept.

"A Magic type pokegirl which can use the Transform technique to improve their power even further," went on Coccooner. "Evolving into further forms after battle experience and evolution stone usage. One of my better ones, I think. Must be the new diet. I haven't thought this clearly for at least a couple of centuries. Eh? Ah. The Herbal Village. Attend me, my Sailor Sexshi, for I must concentrate on this new development."

"I don't get it, she said something important to me was here," said Ranma.

"There was," said Nabiki, holding something up.

"What?" asked Ranma, seeing the odd chunk of metal. It looked like the nosecone of a rocket or something. Then when Nabiki turned the colored section towards him he could suddenly place what it was. "They have bonbori here too?"

Nabiki crossed to where they'd parked the RV, pointing downward. "THIS look familiar?"

"One of those rings where the ground's burned," said Ranma. "No. That couldn't be."

"Master?" asked the squirrel-girl. "Were you expecting company?"

"No, why?" asked Ranma, not wanting to face the implications of what Nabiki was indicating.

"Because we HAVE company," said Violet, the mechanically-inclined Eva pointing.

tread two

by Kestral

"It can be a very good deal," finished Setsuna.

"I think you misunderstand our situation," said Coccooner. "I am very powerful but I have limitations. I cannot CREATE life, for example. My powers are transformative. I can also do a few other things, depending on what Type I am duplicating."

"I don't understand," admitted Setsuna.

"I can make various sorts of pokegirls, not just Bug types," said Coccooner. "In fact, I prefer Mammallian types that are fairly close to human. Now I have such an opportunity for starting over with a fresh piece of canvas."

"Excuse me?" asked Setsuna, thinking this did NOT sound good.

"There were mistakes made," said Coccooner. "Duplication of results. Unfamiliarity with the processes involved resulting in flawed results."

"Okayyyyy," said Setsuna.

"Behold," said Coccooner, gesturing. "The Mithra. Each comes in a Type and a Subtype."

"Bunny Girls?!" asked Setsuna as several cocoa-skinned tall and very buxom bunny girls entered the room.

"Each is a Viera, which is a minimal anthromorph near-human," said Coccooner, making a gesture that caused one of the four to pirouette. "These are: Scout subtype, enhanced senses, hand-eye coordination, and speed. Black Mage subtype - magic element, specializing in fire magic primarily. White Mage subtype - magic element, specializing in healing magic. Battler subtype - enhanced strength and durability plus a berserker mode."

"This is somehow better than your previous system?" asked Setsuna.

"Oh, quite," said Coccooner. "Simplified and more elegant."

"Why do this?" tried Setsuna. "You seem quite intelligent."

"The parable of the scorpion," responded Coccooner.

"Really?" asked Setsuna.

"No, but I'm not sure you're ready for the full explanation," said the Legendary level. "In any case, I've discovered that there's another lovely little area called the 'Herbal Village' - I think I'll go with Plant types for there. Simply irresistable."

"You've turned this entire village into busty bunny girls?!" asked Setsuna.

"Not all of them, no, but most - yes," agreed the insectile woman. "On the other hand. There are THESE."

Four more forms strode proudly out to where Setsuna could see them. Even after all this, she could still feel shocked.

"I've got this area developing nicely," said Coccooner, holding up a hand. "These are essentially four Generals I've prepared. Perfected variants of the breeds you can find back on my world."

"The Sailor Senshi will stop you," said Setsuna.

"Perhaps. If it looks likely, I've still got this," said Coccooner, holding an amulet aloft. "I can always return home using the residual energies. Now, will you let me introduce them?"

"I suppose," allowed Setsuna. "I seem to be tied up at the moment."

"Thank you," said Coccooner, nodding her insectile head graciously. "This is a Buzz Queen. Her task is to go far to the South from here, to find a good spot for her Hive and to live long and prosper."

"Why are you telling me your plans?" asked Setsuna, looking at it from a logical perspective. NOT watching a coquettishly posing bee-girl.

"How can you rally your Senshi and fight me if you don't have any idea what you're facing?" asked Coccooner.

"You WANT to fight the Senshi?" asked Setsuna.

"Eventually," said Coccooner. "We'll be allies first, united against a common foe before we part ways then part in order to have our fight in the next season."

"What?" asked Setsuna.

"Vampire Queen!" said Coccooner, moving on to the next General. "Uprated from Vampire. She'll be heading far to the West."

"So they'll be waiting around for the Senshi to come and fight them?" asked Setsuna.

"No, they'll reproduce," said Coccooner. "Find nice guys, let nature take its course."

"That doesn't sound very menacing," said Setsuna. "They don't have your cocooning talents, do they?"

"Oh no, they're not like me," said Coccooner. Meaning they couldn't mass-produce in that fashion and were very limited in what they could do.

"Okay," said Setsuna.

"HAIIIIII!" declared the third General, smiling and waving happily at the captive Time Senshi. "We're gonna be GOOD friends."

"Uhm," said Setsuna, not sure how to respond to that.

"You're getting ahead of me," gently chided Coccooner. "This is in some ways my most powerful creation so far."

"Sorry. Oh. Yay!" said the third General.

"There's always a balance," said Coccooner. "Phenomenal cosmic power. Unfortunately, not the brightest of beings. She's going to go with you and help you defeat your enemies."

"You know about them?" asked Setsuna.

"Oh yes," said Coccooner. "Near as I can figure, this is the start of the 'S' season."

"So, what does this girl do?" asked Setsuna, diverting attention from the idea that this crazy monster-woman actually had inside information on the Senshi.

"Esper abilities which reinforce her physical abilities," said Coccooner. "Her strength, speed, and invulnerability are extremely high. She can fly. Her clairvoyance vision allows her to see through most substances, and her pyrokinetic vision is able to burn through even more substances."

"Right!" said the girl, punching the air.

"You're kidding," said Setsuna.

"No, actually," said Coccooner. "I came up with the basic design a couple of centuries ago. I'd been working out the details in a sort of 'seed' form. Accumulating power and data. Finally decided to just go ahead and try it. It was in case I ever had to go up against Typhoona. I'd needed some major firepower if that happened just to try and get away. Still insufficient I think, but certainly capable against smaller menaces."

"Why are you lending her to the Senshi?" asked Setsuna.

"Because, my dear magical girl, I don't want to destroy the world," said Coccooner. "Just transform it. Or parts of it."

"A final couple of things," said Coccooner before she prepared to send the su-pa gal off with Setsuna.

"You're taking off the webs?" asked Setsuna, managing a certain degree of impatience and sarcasm.

"I'm not convinced you wouldn't do something stupid and suicidal like attacking me," said Coccooner with a four armed strug. "This will be your pokedex. You can give it to Ami if you prefer."

Setsuna watched the gadget being handed off to the blonde supergal who was supposed to be a Senshi ally. "Where did you get that?"

"Oh, I've gotten a few of those, keep them in a dimensional pocket," said Coccooner, waving the point off. "Now. There's one more thing. A warning you can pass along to those you feel you need to."

"Don't come here again?" asked Setsuna.

"No, actually," said Coccooner. "My memories aren't quite what they used to be, but the new diet has done wonders. Did you know that Sukebe, the creator of pokegirls, actually made a few PRIOR to going nuts and declaring a war on humanity? It was the killing of those first pokegirls and the psychic shock that provided the impetus to go through the Revenge."

"Okay," said Setsuna, looking around at the Chinese village that now had a resemblance to some bunnygirl haven. The few catgirls running around seemed the odd ones out. "Because he had weird tastes?"

"That too," agreed Coccooner. "The main reason for doing the research and initial production was that he discovered that there's another race out there. A species which uses something similar to the Legendaries to utterly destroy other races which can access other universes. One or two people shifting on occasion doesn't seem to draw them, but every world which had dispersed the tech was utterly destroyed. The need for sex was originally an attempt to instill a need for human interaction."

"So it was screwed up, and required you to be," put in Setsuna.

"Something like that," said Coccooner, cocking her head and regarding the Senshi of Time. "Do try to survive, won't you? I rather have enjoyed having someone to speak with whose entire existence is not focussed entirely on sex. There was that researcher and a few others, but they were so few..."

"The next time we meet, I won't be caught off guard so easily," warned Setsuna.

"All the more reason," said Coccooner, stroking the bound Senshi under the chin. "All the more reason, my dear."

"What of your fourth general, I've just met the first three," said Setsuna as the girl easily lifted her with the chair and began flying off.

"It's in genre," called out Coccooner, waving bye-bye to the nice Senshi, "you can't see her just yet."

Coccooner then waited until Tetsuko Hoshino had flown away to vanish in the distance before she gestured to the Fourth General.

That she looked like Setsuna Meiou might not have surprised anyone at all.

"Now to get busy, that Herbal Village is just waiting for me to get creative, and we'll have to see what else is available out here," said Coccooner, rubbing all four hands together.

The Buzz Queen was of the enhanced version, and had very simple orders.

She would make her way to the continent of Africa, find a place to set up, and then begin constructing her Hive.

It would be a good place to give all to herself. She wasn't to touch endangered species though. She'd have to pass those instructions along.

Of course, some species that weren't endangered now might be when she was done.

Few people in a pokegirl world had ever heard of the legends of a Vampire Queen. Regular Vampires could make other Vampires of course. The Queen was not so limited.

Not that she was going to go nuts and start building some hive or something. That would be silly.

No, she'd create a few Vampires as servants. Enslave some humans to act as Renfields. Subtle though on those, she didn't need zombies. Well, if she did, she'd make Zombabes. Though those were pretty limited to mindless drones and not useful at all.

A few other Ghost or Magic types and she'd be set to rule from the shadows.

Lots of humans around though. Had to do it. Human blood was SO tasty.

The Queen spotted a good farm out in the wilderness and smiled. That would do. A place to spend the day, just enslave the family that was there, then tomorrow leave them wondering what had happened where they'd lost a day.

Yes, it should do nicely.