A Different Type of Visitor (ADTOV) Chapter 07

Standard disclaimer, don't own Ranma 1/2, or Rifts. Wish I had some stock or shares but I don't. I'm doing this for my enjoyment and for the enjoyment of any of my readers. May they continue reading my works after they read this.

Hope everyone liked the interlude. If you didn't, sorry but I needed it to move some of the side storylines along. After all, it's not just Ranma and Shakeera. But all of the cast that makes a story great. So I needed to do some development of the other characters, especially those who I've either changed, or redirected. Otherwise you'd just have another OOC fic without any of the character development to justify their being OOC.

Now on with the fic.

Chapter 07

Ranma-kun and his companion from the stars were making their way to her spaceship, after a day of looking they found it. "Good, it's still covered in the camouflage canopy." Shakeera said, then grimaced a little. "And still battered up a bit."

Ranma, however, was in awe of what little he could see of the craft. He watched as Shakeera went over to a panel in the side of a portion of the exposed metal and tapped it a few times with the palm of her hand. A small panel of battle armor swung upwards to reveal a button pad and small screen underneath. The four-armed girl then typed a short but complex sequence into the buttons located in the security console. A hatch swung open and Ranma could see that the interior was bigger than he thought it would be.

The raven-haired youth looked quickly inside the craft then backed up a bit and concentrated his thoughts inward. Shakeera grinned as she felt Ranma's psionic power start to spike a bit. After about a minute of concentration Ranma took a telekinetically enhanced leap upwards and looked down onto the disturbed forest canopy. When he landed a moment later he whistled while looking towards the front and back of the craft.

"How large is it?" He asked Shakeera.

"It's about 25 of your meters in length" (A/N about 80 feet for you non-metric people) His companion answered.

"What is it?" Ranma asked still goggling around as Shakeera cleared some debris from around the entrance to her craft.

"Huh?" She said as she looked up from her task. "This is my ship that I arrived her in. Sorry about it's condition. I took some battle damage in the last dimension I traveled through."

"How does a ship travel through dimensions?" Ranma asked looking a touch confused. "I thought they traveled on water."

Shakeera laughed at his comment before answering. "Ranma, a ship is any type of vessel that can be used for traveling through a medium that can't be normally transversed safely by the people using it. My ship is a Space Ship. I travel through space. And sometime through time when my systems act up." She turned and entered the ship motioning for Ranma to follow.

As the two transverse the main entrance corridor Ranma looks around and notices something that was a bit off. "Shakeera?" He said.

"Yes Ranma."

"Why is the ceiling so high?"

"Oh, that's because this ship was modified for Kreegor use." Shakeera answered matter of factly.

"What's a Kreegor?"

"A Kreegor is a rather nasty creature from my home dimension. They stand 3 of your meters tall, and are covered in thick leathery plates of skin. They're roughly humanoid in shape, meaning they have two arms two legs and a head with no tail. But that's the end of their similarity to humans. They are hunched over and have flat noseless faces, and one mean disposition to one not of their race." Shakeera said as they went towards a door not to far from them. She punched in a code into the security console next to the door and the 10-foot tall hatch opened on its internal hydraulics. "The original group I traveled with in the Three Galaxies captured this ship from them before they could complete their trial run." She continued starting to sound a bit sad.

Ranma looked into the room that they entered, it looked like a boarding room or bunk room of some sort with 12 different shelf like beds lining the walls, 6 to a side and three high. "What happened? How'd you get the ship?" Ranma asked her.

Shakeera looked at the empty racks around the room before continuing. "We were a Freedom fighter cell group, it consisted of me, a Seljuk, a Catyr, two humans, and a Promethean. We were specially trained to board ships, capture them, and return to our home base with the craft so that we could convert it to the cause." She sighed as she sat down on a rack at the far side of the room. "This ship was supposed to be a cake walk."

"But it wasn't." Ranma stated as he sat on one of the human sized chairs placed around a table in the center of the room.

"No. It was not. We were supposed to be facing a small group of scientists that had modified a CAF Procter class long-range interceptor. What we encountered was a small group of imperial Invincible Guardsman. There may have been six of us to only three of them, but they took much more than we could give. The first was a modified Seljuk, and he took on Cryx who was our Seljuk weapons specialist as well as Leliar our Catyr commander. They died in the first round, but not before Cryx managed to unload his full payload of plasma into the torso of their heavy hitters."

"The two remaining Guardsman were much easier to take down, especially as they underestimated me because of my size. After that it was only myself, Thomas one of the humans, and Solas the Promethean left. Solas was almost dead too as he had been hit by a powerful magical curse that was shunting his bio essence into another dimension. We managed to get into the craft and take out the technicians easily without damaging anything but in the effort Solas used the last of his Phase powers to buy us some time."

"Thomas and myself managed to start up the ship and activated its TransDimensional drive as the TransGalactic Empires fighters were bearing down on us. One second we were flying through space with multiple inbound missiles, the next we were in some form of atmosphere and heading towards the ground at a high vector acceleration. Thomas didn't survive." She said while looking at her four hands that were grasped in her lap.

"You don't have to go on." Ranma said in sympathy.

"No, I need to. Even in my training in Psy-Scape I never really talked about this. Now that I'm in a second dimension away from my home dimension I might as well get it all out while I can." Shakeera said as she looked up at her raven-haired companion.

"After the crash I managed to get out of the ship, badly injured to the point that even my regenerative capabilities were strained. The ship wasn't totaled, but it wouldn't fly again without some serious repair. So I decided to try to set up a base camp there and determine where in the three galaxies I was. But as I exited the ship there was a shimmering in the air and I could feel powerful supernatural forces wafting around the area. Looking around I could only see mists and dull blue white light. After the mists cleared I found myself on the outskirts of a small village with many beings there. They took me in and helped to heal me of my wounds. There I was taken into apprenticeship to become a Psy-Warrior. I spent a couple of years there before I decided to travel again. We managed to repair my ship to proper order in that time, I traded much of the weapons stored on the ship for the money I needed to repair my ship."

"After that I traveled for a time as a mercenary, and found out that I had traveled to another dimension from my own. One year later I found myself invited to the Magical City of Dweomer. There I apprenticed myself to a kindly Temporal Raider who felt that I would make a good wizard. It was on a break a couple of years after he started to train me that I made a pretty stupid mistake."

"Mistake?" Ranma asked in a tone that prodded her to continue.

"Yeah, mistake. With a Capitol M. You see, I thought that my ship was damaged by the Kreegor forces before Thomas and I made our dimensional jump. What actually happened was that we made it clear scot-free. But were attacked by these nasty quarantine satellites around that version of Earth."

"Wait a minute. Earth? There's nothing like what you've described here." Ranma said.

"Not in this dimension. As I said it's in another plane of existence. The quarantine satellites of that Earth had damaged my ship, but I didn't know about them. So one week I decided to fly up to the moon orbiting the planet and see what was there. And on my way up into orbit I was attacked by hundreds of satellites. I didn't have time, or even the power to run or fight them, so I engaged the TransDimensional drive once more while crossing my fingers on where I might end up. And next thing I know I'm flying a once more damaged ship on a crash vector with this planet. Second verse, same as the first I guess."

"So you landed here and then saw me and Pops sparring at Jusenkyo." Ranma said.

"Yep, pretty much. And here we are. Anyways, Elder Cologne asked us to look into your family so I felt the best and fastest way would be to use my craft."

"Why not just walk there, we can train on the way." Ranma asked.

Shakeera just shot him a hooded glance as if to say that he's being a dunce. "Ranma, how long did it take you to get to Jusenkyo in the first place?"

"Uh.. about four or five months of travel. Why?"

"Do you want to take nine months of both our times before we either split paths, or get back to my ship?"

"I guess not." Ranma said with a slight pout that Shakeera just giggled a bit at.

"Ok, let's prep the ship for launch. I started a ship diagnostic when we entered the bunkroom, it should be done just about now. What say we go to the bridge and I show you what this baby can do." Shakeera said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Scene Break

"Hey Lady." A greasy sounding voice called out to a youthful looking woman as she walked in a seedier part of down town Tokyo. "Why don't my boys and I show you a good time.

Nodoka Saotome just smiled to herself as she continued to walk in her traditional kimono. She felt the comforting feel of her family honor blade resting in her arms.

"HEY LADY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" The ugly man yelled out to her.

Nodoka turned around towards him. The predatory grin on her face caused both the unwashed young man and his fellow gang members to take a step backwards.

Scene Break

Ranma watched in awe out of the view port of the control room of the ship. He found himself standing behind Shakeera who was sitting down at one of two of the front seats in the room. She was holding onto the control yokes of the ship with a well-practiced ease and guided it on their fast paced journey across the sea between Japan and China. The Rahu-man woman kept the craft just meters above the water, and was jucking around the crests and swells of the ocean as though flying 600 kilometers per hour just above the rushing water was as easy as walking down the street to the local convenience store for a soda.

After they whizzed by the third merchant freighter Ranma thought to ask something. "Can they see us? I mean we've gotta be pretty visible to them."

"They might be able to, if they're looking through infrared viewing devices. We're cloaked right now. About the only thing visible is the damaged portions of the craft. All anyone would see is a black wavering spec where they are anyways. Plus we're past them to fast for them to figure it out."

"So, cross our fingers, and hope that no one notices us huh?"

"Pretty much." Shakeera said as she tilted the craft to fly around a particularly high ocean swell. "We'll be up on the shores of your country in a few minutes. Anywhere you want to point out for us to fly to?"

"Go to the North part of the islands. Tokyo is there, that's where Pops and myself usually traveled through."

"Why didn't you want to try to find him." Shakeera asked her raven-haired companion.

Ranma just thought on that for a minute as he fingered his ponytail. "He'd just try to scam you out of something. Either that or berate us for being weak."

"Why would he do that?" The red haired girl asked over her shoulder.

"He says that girls are weak. To be protected as they can't protect themselves."

"Do you believe that?"

Ranma just chuckled a bit before answering. "No. Not since Shampoo kicked my ass even though I'm probably ten times stronger than she is now. Plus my girl side can bend metal likes its putty now. How is that weak?" Ranma went and sat down at the other console being careful not to touch any of the controls. "He can stay in China for a while. Cologne said she'd send him home to Japan if he showed up, so we can look for him there when we are looking for any of my relatives."

"You know Ranma, that's pretty well thought out for you. You have been paying attention." She said happily.

"I haven't been stuck with Pop's for the last month. You and Cologne have really helped me see how much rubbish his training really was. Heck even many of our 'Family' Techniques were taken from other family schools of martial arts." Ranma looked at her instead of the ocean passing below them. "I want to be a great martial artist. Not a thief of others schools."

"That's good. Hey there's Japan. I'll bring up a topographical map for you, touch the part of the screen you want me to fly towards." Shortly after that Shakeera pushed a couple of buttons and a satellites eye view of the Islands of Japan appeared above the console in front of Ranma.

"Whoa." Ranma said then started to concentrate on what he was seeing. "I've never seen it like this before." He said then touched a part that looked like it was near or even Tokyo itself. "I think that's where we need to go."

"Ok Hold on. We'll be there in a Jiff."

Scene Break

"Ranma, keep a lookout for a hill underneath a cliff or steep mountain side. It needs to be about the same dimensions as this ship." Shakeera said to Ranma as she concentrated on her ECM and ECCM station while the ship continued to fly low to the ground on autopilot.

"Why aren't you flying yourself?" Ranma asks as he's watching out of the view port for a hill that they could use for their purpose.

"Because, even though the technology on your planet is centuries behind this craft there are enough radar and lidar pings in the area to spot even a Silhouette craft that's cloaked." The four-armed girl said while tapping in a particularly complex algorithm into her keypad.

"What's a Silhouette?"

"They're a sneaky bunch. Control shadows they do. My cloak technology is nothing compared to theirs." Shakeera said.

"So, we're gonna be spotted." Ranma said as he turned back from the view port.

"That's not so, I'm pulsing directed jamming down the path of any detection stations that pick up our location. Hopefully it'll either confuse their computers, or confuse their technicians before they can pinpoint us."

Scene Break

At that moment inside a cramped compartment about fifteen feet long with about seven computer floor to ceiling consoles on one side and with a narrow walkway behind seven hardmounted seats that were occupied by five people wearing green military style flight suits with rank insignia on their collars. As they sat watching the data read outs on their screens a man walked behind them with a small clipboard and an earpiece radio hanging a cord around his neck.

"Sir, got something weird here." One of the military technicians said in English.

"Define weird Petty." The man walking up and down the narrow walkway said as he walked up behind the younger man who spoke up.

"Well, my radar is picking up everything fine from zero eight five degrees to three six zero degrees. But everything centering on bearing zero four two has blanked out."

"Jamming Petty?"

"No Sir. Jamming has bleed over, should I light it up with a lidar pulse Sir?" The technician sitting down said.

"Not yet, lets circle around. Keep tabs on that sector, I'll be back in a second Petty."

A few minutes later the man had returned with an older looking gentleman wearing a similar flight suit but with two narrow silver bars on his collar. "So, what's the problem Ensign?" The man said to the Ensign who led him into the room.

"Lieutenant, we've got some sort of Jamming or technical problem. AW2 Jackson doesn't think it is jamming and wants to light it up with an active lidar pulse."

"Ensign Rooks, you know very well that we can't light off our lidar above Japanese soil just like that. Let me see that screen." The lieutenant said as he looked over the screen that showed the trouble. "Well, I'll radio the command. Looks like we got a new Jamming technology to deal with."

So the P-3 Orion continued circling the East Coast of Japan on its routine radar and telemetry patrol.

Scene Break

Ranma whistled as he stepped out of the ship onto the hard packed dirt below his feet. If not for the ships lights he knew that he would not be able to see anything in the artificial cavern that he stood in. Above the changed youth was a hard fused ceiling, looking nothing more than fire scorched earth and stone. But the scorch marks were to regular to be natural as they were in a semi-grid like fashion with larger marks that looked to be fused support struts.

Shakeera had vaporized the hill that Ranma had finally found for them about a half-hour ago. After she set down she then aimed the ships laser cannon and two armor piercing mini missiles at the cliff face that stood above the hill. After they had activated the ships shields and tractor beams they then collapsed the hill down onto them. Shakeera had then used low level laser beams from her turrets to fuse the rock and soil into a support grid to hold the dirt and debris several feet above the top of her ship, creating a cocoon like effect for them to hide their ship.

After Ranma had been outside of the ship for a little bit Shakeera called him back into the ship.

"Why do I need this?" Ranma said as he looked at the large pack that Shakeera handed him from the armory.

"Survival gear, and some back up equipment."

"So, how're we gonna get outta here?" The raven-haired boy asked to which Shakeera knocked him on the back of the head.

"Grammar Ranma. Stop speaking like a barbarian."

"Why are you so intent on that anyways?" Ranma said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Because, if I'm going to teach you anything, I'm going to teach you at least how to talk." Shakeera answered him as she strapped on her medium sized travel pack and slung her heavy plasma projector onto her should. "And we'll get out with this." She said as she grabbed another gun with a wide bore.

"What's that? Another plasma gun?"

"Nope. This is a sonic disrupter. I've modified it a bit to be a sonic drill. It'll make a small crawl way out of the hill, and collapse it after us so no one can stumble onto my ship. Shall we go?"

Once they were walking down a small path leading towards the lights of a distant town Ranma thought of something that had been bugging him a bit. He looked back at his pack noting it's not quite normal appearance, then he looked over at Shakeera and saw her walking, her four arms swinging slightly at her side and the shiny battle armor gleaming in the moonlit darkness.

"Umm... Shakeera?"

"Yes Ranma, what is it?"

"How do you plan on blending in? You don't look exactly human like that."

"You're not 'exactly human' either Ranma. But to answer your question. Like this." She said and touched a portion of her lower left armored bracer. It lit up in a small touch or holographic display and she punched in something on the small pad that appeared. Once done her hip holster, pack, and plasma ejector shimmered a bit then seemed to vanish. "There, hidden. Simple weapons and equipment cloak I picked up from the Nurani while I was in the Three Galaxies. Helps out a bunch." She then started to cast a spell, after several passes of her lower arms and a couple of intricate gestures from her upper hands her lower arms faded into nothing.

"And that?" Ranma asked incredibly, as he looked a girl that could very well be a carbon copy of his girl side.

"That is a disguise spell. Here, look at my ears." She said and held back a small portion of her hair.

"They aren't pointed. You look like a normal human now."

"Yeah, it's a disguise spell. Low level, low power. My other arms are still here, and if I do anything with them that affect things off of my person the spell is disrupted. But it's great to blend in."

"And what about your armor?"

She grinned at this and pressed another button on her upper right arm. The armor seemed to soften into a canvas like cloth, and turned olive green in color. Over her right breast a unit insignia appeared, and on her left sleeve and collars rank insignia appeared. She then put on a black beret and saluted him. "Lieutenant JG Shakeera Sonee' Reporting."

"You're Military?" Ranma asked agape as he saw her new look.

"Not earth military. CAF Intelligence branch detached on deep recognizance of the TransGalactic Empire." She said as she started walking towards the town again. "Haven't been able to make it back after my fiasco getting the Lightwar."

"Lightwar?"

"My ship, the CCS Lightwar. CCS-298 Lightwar, a modified Proctor Class long-range interceptor fighter. My original mission was to help reclaim it from the Kreegor, as well as get their experimental TransDimensional drive they were installing into it."

"Wait a minute. How old are you anyways?" Ranma asked suddenly suspicious as he looked at the young looking girl walking beside him.

"Hmm..? Oh, I'm twenty seven of your years."

"But you don't look like you could be a day over sixteen." Ranma said looking at her face.

"I'll probably look like this for the next two to three hundred years. That's when I enter full adulthood for my race. And if Cologne's not mistaken it will be the same for you."

"That might be a bit much for me to take right now." Ranma said then his expression lightened up quite a bit as he got an idea. "Say, you got any more of that armor? It seems to have some pretty good abilities."

"Yes, but you wouldn't want it."

"Why not?"

"Well, first, you'd need to be in girl form."

"That's not to bad after the month in the Amazon village."

"And second you'd either have to limp hanging arms, or if we removed it you'd be nearly flashing people the sides of your breasts."

"Huh?" He answered a bit dimly, as Ranma obviously didn't catch her drift.

Shakeera rolled her eyes a bit and pressed on a small panel near her collarbone. The front panel of her armor came slightly loose and she pulled it enough away that Ranma could tell that she wasn't wearing anything underneath. Ranma just blushed deep red to that as Shakeera refastened her breastplate in place with a knowing grin.

Scene Break

Genma Saotome, Prince Herb of the Musk, and Herb's two loyal if dim vassals stepped off of a small boat that appeared to be a fishing trawler. The sandy shores of the beach they were on were cold and damp, and the light was the misty blue white of false dawn. All of them were in their natural forms at the moment, though Genma looked like he had recently poured some hot water over his head.

"We should head strait to Jusenkyo and start asking the locals near by where my son went." Genma said as he adjusted the carrying straps on his pack.

"Wouldn't it be better just to show up at one of the head Amazon Village's?" Mint said as if stating in such obviousness that the sky was normally blue.

Genma and Herb both looked at him as if he was daft. "And why would we want to do that?" Herb said imperiously to his retainer.

"Well, uh... Isn't Genma Ranma's father?" The clueless retainer said. "Then why would the Amazons keep his son from him?"

"Go on." Herb said to Mint.

"I mean, they're a female based society. Doesn't that mean that the father takes care of the kids?"

Genma had his hand to his chin as he added his own two bits. "So, then we show up and tell them that Ranma is my son, and they'll let me take him back... That's wonderful!"

"Wait Genma." Herb said in a commanding tone.

The overweight middle aged martial artist stopped and turned towards his benefactor. "Why? Times a wasting. The sooner we can get Ranma back, the sooner I can get back to the Tendo's."

"As Herb, Prince of the Musk Dynasty, I am in a period of hostility with the Amazon Nation." He then threw water from his canteen over his head. "But as a female traveling martial artist, I'm just another warrior they may accept in their territory." She readjusted her armor before turning to Mint and Lime. "You two. Go back to our lands, we don't need the Amazons connecting the Musk to Genma and myself right now. I'll come to get you after I have finished my business with Genma."

Scene Break

"Hey!"

"Hey what?" Ranma-chan asked from where she was walking next to Shakeera.

"I need to go in there." She answered and turned into a shop with various TV's, VCR's, and other electronic devices in the windows.

"Ok, but I dunno why." The red haired girl said. Shakeera just grinned and pulled out her pocket comp out of a small hip pouch. "Oh. That's right you need to get some info on my planets tech." Ranma-chan said in a self-obvious tone.

Shakeera just grinned a little bit more as she saw it wasn't just an electronics store, but an electronics repair supply store. "This'll give me a baseline to work from." She said then turned to face the other red haired girl. "Just distract the clerk for a few minutes. I don't want to be asked any questions about my gear." So saying she gave Ranma-chan a slight push towards the busy clerk before heading over to one of the parts shelves.

Several shelves later and only a few gigabytes of data filled, a disgruntled Shakeera decides to save her near twin lookalike. She sidled up next to Ranma-chan who was smiling and talking cutely with the clerk. At first Shakeera thought that Ranma might have been actually asking questions about the store, but seeing the semi glazed expression in her eyes she decided to listen in for a bit to find out what Ranma-chan had stirred up.

"So, my friend told me about that new American flick coming out soon." "Yup, testosterone overload." Shakeera though to herself and walked up to stand next to Ranma-chan. Once the clerk realized he wasn't talking to just one cute red haired girl but two of them who looked near enough to be twins. "Hiya there, sorry we've gotta go." Shakeera said with a wink directed towards the clerk. After which she and Ranma-chan walked away leaving the clerk sitting there in hormonal bliss.

Outside of the store Shakeera giggled and poked Ranma-chan in the side. "What did you do girl?" She asked her friend with a mischievous grin.

Ranma-chan turned a bit red in embarrassment before answering. "You know I'm a guy." She said before continuing a bit less embarrassed. "I don't know, just walked up to him and said hi, and then asked him what there is to do around here."

Shakeera faked a wide-eyed look towards Ranma-chan. "You didn't!" She said in a mock conspiratory tone. "Oh this is great. You do know that he though you were asking him to ask you out."

"WHAT!" Ranma-chan yelled with her fists balled at her sides. "NO WAY!"

"Hush now. No need to yell, and calm down your feminine outrage."

"I'm not feminine." Ranma said as she turned around and folded her arms under her breasts in a pout.

Shakeera just grinned mischievously and held up her arm for a second and pushed a small button on her forearm bracer that she was still wearing. "Here, look at this." She said a moment later.

Ranma-chan obediently looked over Shakeera's shoulder at whatever the other girl was showing her. And then proceeded to blush and look away. "Do I really look like that?" She asked quietly.

"Yes."

"Is that the way others view me when I'm like this?" She asks in a subdued voice.

"Yes they do."

"I am feminine?" Ranma-chan asks in a fearful voice.

"Actually I don't think that's the case." Shakeera said in a thoughtful tone. "It's probably more that that's what you look like with the form of a girl."

"Huh?" Ranma-chan said and rubbed her temple in confusion.

"I mean that you do that as a guy too, but it looks masculine when you do it that way. So the posture translates through to your cursed form and makes you look like that." She said and pointed to the still picture she took with her armors mini cam that she had shown Ranma-chan. "Well, the cuteness is the same in both forms though." Shakeera continued with an impish grin and then took off running towards the apartment they were going to next.

"HEY!" Ranma-chan yelled and then took off after her partner.

Scene Break

Nodoka Saotome was walking through a shopping district close to where her office was at. She was currently dressed in a pair of black denim pants, black leather boots made for hiking or working, a white button up blouse of thick material, and a black leather jacket with hardened panels on the shoulders, back, and outer arms just like a heavy duty armored motorcycle riding jacket. Her clothes were form fitted to her body, as well as being very fashionable, if something more likely found in a science fiction movie rather than on a Japanese wife out to do some shopping. Her rust brown hair had been braided in a long braid that lay down her back.

The middle aged, but good looking woman stopped and was about to turn into a store when she caught a glimpse of red hair running on the other side of the street. Not having anything too pressing for her to do at the moment she decided to turn and see if she could see what had caught her peripheral vision.

What she saw nearly stopped her in her tracks. Across the street was a pair of red haired girls, one of them with her hair pulled back in a high pony tail dressed in a set of what could only be military surplus fatigues and the other one with her hair in a braid down her back wearing a blue Chinese tang and black silk pants. But what really caught her eye was the way both girls looked. Just like she did when she was a teenager. Hair color and everything.

After the two girls had run out of her line of sight Nodoka turned and entered the shop that she was standing next to. Once inside she went up to the sales lady behind the counter. "Bernice, you got my shipment?" She asked the lady who was slightly heavyset and seemed well worn by either the streets or by time.

"Ya, got it here 'Doka." The lady behind the counter said as she leaned down and pulled up a large crate about a half-meter wide and a quarter meter deep and a half-meter tall. "Don't know what a lady like yourself needs this junk for. But hey, I'm just the courier."

"Thanks Bernice, my last run took a bit more of my stores to complete than I thought it would." Nodoka said with a shrug. "Let me hail a cab then I'll take that with me."

Scene Break

Once the two running red haired girls managed to get outside of the district Shakeera nearly fell over with giggles. Ranma-chan poked her in the side ash she stood there slightly bent over. After a couple of pokes she realized something, though Shakeera's fatigues looked like cloth. They were most definitely her battle armor. So she went to plan b.

"Hey, Shakeera." She said waiving a hand in front of the other red haired girl's face.

Shakeera sobered up a bit then stood up straighter. "Sorry about that Ranma." She said and wiped a tear from her left eye. "I haven't had fun like that in several years." The trans dimensional girl said quietly.

"Why?" Ranma-chan asked innocently as she looked into her friend's eyes.

"Because, I've been in one warzone or another for the last 10 years." She said as she turned slightly melancholy. "The last time I was able to just run and play was when I was a teenager living on my peoples adopted home world."

"But, you can't be more than 18." Ranma-chan said a bit surprised.

"Ranma, I'm 27 of your years old." Shakeera said as she sat down next to a fountain. She scooped a bit of the water up in her hand and chanted for a moment. Ranma-chan watched her and then the water in her hand, only realizing after a moment that there was much more water than there should be in the other girls hand, perhaps a full glass worth rather than a couple swallows worth. Once Shakeera was finished with her cantrip the water gained a slight reddish glow for but a second. Then Shakeera threw the small amount of water directly onto Ranma-chan's chest.

Ranma-chan felt the familiar tingle as she changed from a girl back into her male form. The now male Ranma stood there and looked down. "Why didn't you do that when I first got changed?" He asked.

"Because I didn't have any water at the time." Shakeera said and then grinned a bit. "Besides, you need to get a bit more comfortable as a girl."

"Why?" Ranma said with a bit of a whine.

"I don't know..." She said with a role of her eyes. "Probably because you're going to have that curse for a very long time. And in your other form, you are a girl. So you need to get used to it, maybe even grow to like it."

"I've already gotten used to it. You, Shampoo, and Elder Cologne saw to that."

"No, you've learned to fight in your girl form. But you're not used to it yet. We weren't in the Jokentetsu long enough to do that."

Ranma immediately caught her gist and turned beet red. "Cologne said that I wasn't a full girl, that I had been in girl form long enough for something to happen, and since it didn't that I wasn't a full girl."

"Actually, that would be true, if the magic hadn't merged with my nature." Shakeera said.

"What do you mean?"

"Cologne forgot to do one thing." She said vaguely.

"What's that."

"Ask me what my cycle was. If you are enough like me then you won't see anything for almost another year." She stated. "My race cycles once every year to two years. It's one of the reasons we have very few offspring and have to carefully guard our villages. My parents tried for fifty years to have me, and they don't know if they'll be able to have another child before I have one of my own."

"Uh, Shakeera... How old are your parents now?" Ranma-kun asked his companion.

"My mother is two hundred and twenty five. My father is one hundred and seventy two. They've been mates for the last eighty of your years."

"So, your race is very long lived."

"Your race as well Ranma. And unless I miss my guess, you'll be able to be what ever you choose in your relationship."

"Huh? Never mind. I don't wanna know right now." The pig tailed youth said and then acted as if he just remembered something. "Hey, no deflection. You're twenty eight?"

"Twenty seven Ranma. I'm twenty-seven, we've got to work on your memory outside of combat. Yes, my race reaches near adult hood at twelve of your years of age and then we're stuck in a sort of post adolescence like your later teen years for almost a hundred years. Then we gain our full adult growth, however no one of our race has aged a day past that in our two millennia of history."

"But, if you're so much older than me, why are you acting like a teenager?"

"Because Ranma, to my race I am a 'teenager.' We age slowly, and live thousands of years. So why wouldn't we have some time to be kids and not adults? I just got separated by youthful enthusiasm ten years ago and have been traveling the dimensions ever since trying to get back home. This planet is just a stop before I move on, it may be several months or even a few hundred years before I move again. But I probably will eventually. And so will you."

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked in a slightly fearful voice.

"I mean, don't get to close to anyone. You will out live them." She said looking directly into his eyes.

"That sucks!" Ranma said, "Can we change the subject?"

"Sure! Hey, here's the result of my scans in the electronics shop." Shakeera said and pulled out her pocket computer. She activated the display and the two of them watched as it spun up into several different graphs and words in a language that Ranma couldn't understand. "Unfortunately, if that shop is anything of a representation of the level of technology of this planet then I have at least a century to wait until the industry able to help me repair my craft is available. Of course it might be ready in as early as twenty years if I give it a couple miner pushes."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry Ranma. Just thinking outloud. Let's hurry over to that apartment we were looking at, we need to find out more of where you stand if we're going to have anything to do while I try to get my ship fixed."

Scene Break

Genma-Panda and Herb-chan were near the outskirts of the Jokentetsu village that Genma had visited on his last time in the area. They appeared to be having an end of summer celebration that evening. Though the specifics they didn't really know about.

"It's a good thing we left my retainers behind." Herb-chan said to no one inparticular.

#Why's That# Genma asked through the use of a sign.

"Because with all these women around, they wouldn't have controlled themselves. It would have been a disaster." The Musk Princess replied. "Come on, let's find one of their runners and make our request."

#Why do we need a runner# The next sign said.

"Because, the village Elders would not see a pair of travelers unless the proper protocol was to be followed." After Herb-chan finished Genma-Panda just grunted his agreance.

Once they got up to the edge of the village one of the village warrior maidens ran up to them and demanded their business. Herb-chan answered for them, both because Genma still didn't know Mandarin as well as because the middle aged martial artist would probably mess up this part of the protocol.

"We humble travelers wish an audience with one of the Village Elders young warrior. It is of pressing family business to the father of his lost son." Herb-chan said with a slight bow. Genma-panda just sat there, as he didn't understand a word of what was said, but he did behave himself as per his agreeance with his benefactor.

"You should follow me then outsider warrior. Be mindful of our laws, and do not insight our anger and all will be well." The warrior maiden replied to Herb-chan's request. The girl then turned and leapt back towards the village and set off a quick but not unfollowable pace towards somewhere on the other side of the village. Herb-chan and Genma-Panda followed about fifteen paces behind her as she sought out someone on their request. After a half round of the village she apparently found who she was looking for as she stopped near an old woman who was stirring a large stock pot of some strange but good smelling concoction.

The warrior and the Elder talked for but a moment when the Elder motioned towards Herb-chan in a beckoning manner. "Come forward young warrior." After Herb-chan and Genma-Panda came forward the Elder continued. "May I request the reason for your visit to the Jokentetsu?"

"We are searching for the missing son of my companion Honored Elder. My companions son was last seen leaving the vicinity of the Pools of Jusenkyo where he and his father had been cursed with the touch of the springs of sorrow." Herb-chan said in a respectful tone in Mandarin.

"And why would the newly cursed son be here then traveler?" The Elder asked in return.

"Because, the honored son of my companion was unconscious at the time and under the hospice of the Jokentetsu while in his cursed form."

"Oh, that would be the girl that Elder Koh Lon has been training. You say she is actually a boy?" The Elder said with a conspiratorial tone. "Well well, Koh Lon what a tangled weave you spin." She said to herself while stirring the pot again. Several moments pass while the Elder formulated what she wanted to say and just as Genma-Panda was about to raise a sign she continued. "I'm afraid that the youth has somehow been permanently cursed by the springs, she is now permanently a girl and changed beyond what would be considered human." The Elder said in a grave voice as she continued to sorrowfully stir her bubbling brew.

"Thank you honored Elder, could you be patient while I consult with my companion as he does not understand our hallowed tongue."

"Is your companion touched by the graces of Jusenkyo as well young one?" The Elder said while pointedly looking at Genma, to which Herb-chan nodded her head. "And is he of Japanese Decent?" Again the Musk Princess nodded her head. "Then I will repeat what I have said and continue our conversation in the foreign tongue." The Elder then switched from the local dialect of Mandarin that she had been speaking in to Japanese. "Foreigner from over the seas, your son has been here, but has been kissed by the blessing of Jusenkyo. She has been permanently changed by the cruel waters and may be beyond human in appearance now. I apologize for this."

Upon hearing this Genma-Panda starts to bark and growl something, Herb-chan and the Elder just waited till he ran out of steam before the Elder continued.

"What is worse Traveler, is that they have disappeared with the War Master who had helped them from the Pools of Jusenkyo. Two weeks ago they left on a training mission, and have yet to return. The Elder in question we believe has taken them to the country of their birth for reasons of her own. What is more, The Elder had made mention of the both of the two girls that she had adopted them into the tribe. That is not often done with outsider males, and with the mentions that she has made I believe that your son is no longer of the same manner he once was." She finished with a small theatrical lowering of the head.

Herb-chan wasn't fooled by the old woman's performance, but kept her mouth shut as she herself was familiar with an Elder's meddling. Though it was more of the Wisemen of his nation rather than the Matriarchs of the Jokentetsu and other Amazon tribes in the area. Genma-Panda motioned to Herb-chan in the way that they had established earlier to say that it was time to make camp. The Musk Princess correctly interpreted that Genma wanted to get away from the Village and turn back into a human so that they could discuss what they had learned.

A couple of hours later they were sitting around a campfire with Genma once more in his human form. "We have to go get Ranma." He said to Herb-kun who sat across from him.

"I do agree with you. But do not take the Elders word for gold. They are a duplicitous bunch and give information to suit their own needs."

"But if there is any chance that Ranma's been permanently cursed and is hunting down his mother, he would die." Genma said in all seriousness.

"And why would he die if he met his mother?"

"It all started ten years ago." Genma began.

Scene Break

"So Ranma, do you know where we can begin to find any of your family?" Shakeera asked. She was dressed in a set of blue jeans and a black tea shirt with a feminine jacket on over the combo. The jacket and her shoes didn't completely fit in with the rest of the styles around, especially since on the left breast there was a small screen that was currently dead. But Ranma and Shakeera had decided to use some of her own street clothes before getting any other clothes as they needed to sew in a lower pair of sleeves to anything they purchased for her even with her disguise spell to hide the lower two arms. Of course she was wearing her computer arm bracer on her left upper arm underneath the jacket sleeve.

Ranma-kun just sat there for a minute on the bench outside one of the city parks they were near. "You know, I have no idea."

"Let me guess, you thought to just wander some of the areas you might have been from and see if you bumped into someone you knew." Ranma just nodded his head simply. "Even though you don't even know what your mother looks like, and don't know her first or maiden name." He nodded his head again, but this time looking a touch abashed at her statement. "Why don't we check this planets info-net, I'm sure you've advanced that far with the shear number of computers I've seen." She looked around quickly to make sure no one was looking. Once she was sure the coast was clear she started typing quickly into her fore arm bracer's keypad. After a few moments she shut down the screen. "There, I've started an automated search from my pocket comp. It'll take a little while to figure out your countries protocols, but eventually we'll get something."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Ranma asked innocently from where he sat beside her.

"I've always wanted to see one of those old 2-D movies. My master in Dweomer used to rave on about them, and how they were so much better than the over graphical Tri-D flicks that relied on action and not plot or actual acting." She said excitedly as she grabbed Ranma-kun's hand and dragged him along behind her towards something that had caught her eye.

Scene Break

Ranma-kun was stepping out of the bathroom of the small one bedroom apartment that he and Shakeera had managed to secure. He was wet and had on only a pair of boxer shorts and was toweling his unbound hair down. Shakeera looked up from where she had set up her portable computer on the room's small desk and gave her companion a wolf whistle. "So Ranma, you ever decide to go for the 'Wet' look? You could make it big as a model." She said with a lecherous grin.

Ranma of course just blushed a bit and dashed back into the bathroom and returned out of it with his pants on and his Chinese shirt hastily being donned. "Shakeera, is there anything I should know about being part Rahu-Man?" He asked hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Shakeera asked with her head cocked slightly to the side.

"I mean besides the weird vision... and the.. uh.. well... " He stammered while twiddling his finger tips together. "Um... the well.. the..."

"You mean the yearly cycle that you'll probably see as a girl?" She said as she turned around to face him directly. The four-armed girl was dressed in a white tank top and her blue jeans from earlier. Her disguise spell was also dropped so that she could freely use her lower arms.

Ranma turned beat red again at the mention of that specific dilemma that he wasn't looking forward to. "I don't really know how to say this." He stated finally meeting her gaze.

"Then be blunt. Just say it. Blurt it out if you have to Ranma." She said in a frank tone.

"I keep noticing girls, and not just as people. It's never happened before like this." He said.

Shakeera just looked at him blankly for a second. "You're sixteen right?"

"Two weeks ago, but yeah. I'm sixteen. Why?" He asked.

"I'm no expert, but I've lived with humans for most of my life. And you should've been having that happen when you were twelve." She said.

"What do you mean, happen when I was twelve. What does this have to do with women?" Ranma had no clue what she was getting at. And considering that her face had just gotten a slightly concerned look to it he figured that it was more than a little important.

"Ranma, this is no joking matter. Did your father do anything to you when you were nine or ten years old?"

"Well, not really, there were some monasteries that we were visiting, and we learned a lot about meditation and pressure points then." He said while thinking back as best he could. "A few of them really hurt too."

"Did your father practice them on you, or was it the monks?" She asked getting a bit darker in her expression.

"My father of course, he wouldn't let any of the monks touch me, said something about them not knowing what was the best." Ranma said then stopped for a second. "Wait a minute, did he do something to me?"

Shakeera just looked at him for a second. She had heard a bit about Ranma's father as they had traveled the last month or so. Her opinion of the man was of two minds. To her it was obvious that Ranma's father did indeed care for his son, but she felt that the man was perhaps a bit to overzealous in his training and view points for his own good. "Ranma, what was your fathers view on women, and their place in training."

"Oh, that's an easy one. Pop's always hammered into me that women were nothing more than a distraction to the art. Cologne and the Jokentetsu helped change that, and if they hadn't then you definitely would have." Ranma said as he sat down and started to braid his hair.

The four-armed girl just sat there shaking her head for a bit. "Ranma, I've seen many cultures that stunt the sexuality of their warrior youths to turn into aggression and power."

Ranma scratched his head in confusion. "But why would Pop's do that?" He said.

"Because Ranma." Shakeera began as she put her two lower hands on her thighs and rested her upper arms beside her on the chair backrest. "He wanted the best, and he probably knew that if he turned your hormones off that you'd be able to focus that same energy into something that he could control better."

"That sucks."

"Yep it does. So what're you going to do now?" Shakeera said simply as she leaned back into her chair.

"Don't really know." The youth answered. "But why is it suddenly changing now?"

:"Probably because the pressure points don't work in on you now."

"Huh?" Ranma stated lamely.

"You're no longer human, remember?" Shakeera blew a lock of hair up off of her brow with her breath. She knew that Ranma was smart, but sometimes his cluelessness was a bit annoying. "Ranma, you're part Rahu-man, part elf, part dragon, and perhaps something else. It's probably only just now starting up because you haven't fought or done anything more than basic training for the last week. So you're bodies just now starting to reset."

Behind the miniature Rahu-man the computer bleeped twice. "Hey, it's done." Shakeera said and turned around. "We can leave the question about your sexuality and sex drive for another time. By the way, you've got the floor tonight and no getting frisky."

"What! Why do I have to sleep on the floor, and what does anything have to do with my being frisky?" He asked in a slightly disgruntled tone.

"Nevermind. My first inquiries just came back with the properly attachments." She started to type away and brought out an extra holo imager and placed it beside her first computer. After angling it so that Ranma would be able to read the text she started to bring up several different files. "I did a search for all the Saotome family registries in Japan and surrounding island chains. Using your's and your fathers names. I also had it cross index against missing or unknown where about of either you or Genma or both." She continued typing for a bit. "That's odd."

"What's odd."

"Well, the people of your planet must be stupidly paranoid." Shakeera said then saw his confused expression so she decided to elaborate a bit. "There are some incredibly complicated anti-hacker programs on this information network, but it seems that everything of import is on this world wide network. All anyone would need is a semi decent computer and a good understanding of computer code and it'd be all open to them. As I said, stupidly paranoid." She shook her head again and continued on her original conversation. "So anyway, found three different registries that may be yours. Ok, here's the conundrum though. The first registry lists a Ranma and Genma Saotome, but they've only been missing for four years. There is also a Genkhi and Ranmai but that one looks completely out, as the names are only similar. Both of them are listed as missing though. And the third one was a just in case file the computer flagged, as the names didn't really match, but the wife had listed her husband and son missing twelve years ago."

"So which one are we going to look at?" Ranma asked as he tried to decipher what he was looking at on the holo screen.

"The one listing you and Genma missing as of four years ago. It says here that a woman named Nodoka is the wife and she has been searching for eight years for her missing husband and son, but it only became official four years ago."

Scene Break

Nodoka sat in one of her formal kimono's, and was once again in the outdoor cafe near her home that she liked to have informal meetings at. She looked across from her to the well-dressed gentleman who sat opposite at the table. "I wasn't expecting to see you quite so soon Mr. Mashanikai, what do I owe this pleasure to?" She asked before taking a delicate sip of the tea that was sitting in front of her.

The lawyer placed his briefcase on the table in front of him and popped its latches. After retrieving a few pieces of paper he closed the leather case and placed it beside him on the ground. "Saotome-san, late last night my lawfirm had a hacker incursion into our database." He pushed one of the pieces of paper in front of Nodoka. "This is a record of the files that were hit. I you'll notice, about a third of the page down highlighted in yellow is a file listed in your name. Our resident computer crew tried to trace the hackers actions and location but were unable to determine their location, but we were able to trace out what they were doing."

"And what were they doing Mr. Mashanikai?" Nodoka asked calmly, her expression stating that it would behoove him to come to his point and stop wasting both of their time.

"That the hacker was searching through secure online databases searching for either you or your family. This was an incursion of one of the highest levels of skill. But nothing was damaged, or erased. Only looked at or copied, as your file was one of the main ones accessed that our firm over looks we decided to bring it to your attention. Especially as this is the first time that someone has looked into the data in this nature to the best of our knowledge." After he finished his basic overview he placed the papers into his briefcase again. "Frankly Saotome-san. We're befuddled. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but you might be able to tell us if you had a friend or enemy with this capability. The Hacker breezed by our firewalls and security programs as if they weren't there. But none of the high security data was even accessed. Only clan registries and records concerning your missing husband and son. Not even the Americans in their Silicon Valley are able to compromise our systems that readily, and without using massive amounts of viruses and worms to do the job. So whoever it is, is most definitely interested in either you or one of the few other clans of Saotome that have either the husband, son, or a combination of both missing."

"So you're saying that something's happened to upset the old status quo, and that someone with some high technology or skill may or may not be friendly but is definitely interested in my clan. Thank you Mr. Mashanikai. I'll take this information and mull over it for the next while." Nodoka stood up and bowed to her lawyer and turned to leave. He sat there watching her leave for a bit before collecting his things and leaving some yen on the table to pay for their tea.

Scene Break

"Where are they?" Herb-kun said as he and Genma Saotome traveled up the same mountain path leading into the lands of the Musk. They had been up there for a couple of days, but they had encountered no one for the entire time that they had been traveling in the lands of the Musk.

Genma patted Herb on the back lightly; the Musk prince glowered at him before continuing on.

A day or so later they rounded a corner to see an ancient stone keep built into the mountain. Genma was about to proclaim something then held his tongue as he took in the state of the castle that he had been a guest at last time he had been in this part of China.

The walls were crumbled, and decayed. Trees growing to closely to them, many of which roots were starting to crumble the foundations of the fortifications. Only one of the five turrets was still standing, and it looked like it would crumble and fall in only a stiff breeze or rainfall. The most damning evidence of decay though was the great gate that used to be able to be barred in times of war. The left gate was just plain not there, but appeared to have been scavenged. The gate on the right was there, but fallen off of the great iron hinges and was leaning against the far wall, its great ten meter height slumped in obvious decay and the Dragon motif on it no longer visible except in perhaps the vaguest of details.

Herb just stood there in shock as he took in the ruin of his nation. "What has befallen here?" He asked quietly. His armor and cloak almost mocking the fallen nation that they now stood in. "WHY!" He screamed out loud.

Genma was about to enter the castle to find out more when they both heard a quiet coughing behind them. They both turned around and saw a farmer that had walked up from a nearby house that wasn't visible until you had past it.

The farmer looked at the two of them, then looked over Herb in his ceremonial armor and royal vestments before he bowed low to the ground on both of his knees. "Oh Prince of the Musk. Long have we waited for your return." The aged farmer said from his position on the ground.

"What has happened her farmer of this land." Herb asked mandarin.

"Sire, long ago the Prince of this Kingdome had vanished with no heirs, and only his retainers had returned. His vassals and retainers searched the land far and wide, and further still to the land of the merciless warriors from across the sea. But none found any trace of the last Prince of the Dragon line." He said from his position on the ground. "But eventually even the line of the Tiger gave up and turned to trying to keep their people alive, but passed down a prophesy so that if one day there were to be salvation of our Dynasty then the rightful ruler of our land would return."

"And what is that prophecy good man." Herb asked with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"That five hundred years in the future our prince will save our Kingdome from ruin five hundred years in the past. And that to save our land the once past Prince of the Dragons would travel five hundred years towards his own future to save his land in the past."

Herb stood there in thought for but a moment before he turned towards the farmer. "How would you know of such a thing, that was not spoken like a normal pheasant working the land, but as a line of warriors. Speak man, what is your line. From what beast do you hail from."

"I am from the line of the Tiger, though our line has become dilute over the passing of the centuries." The farmer said proudly and then seemed to remember something. "Come, Sire, come. There is something that you must see, it has been passed down my line since the days when last you were here." The farmer turned and led the way back to his farmstead. While they were walking Prince Herb filled in Genma on the prophecy and what the farmer had relayed.

Once they were inside of the old farmhouse the aged farmer pulled up a trap door in the ground and then lit a small oil lantern before descending an old but sturdy wooden ladder. They descended quickly after him and then saw a horde of dusty and worn weaponry and armors. Including a Tiger's hide and pelt armor on an armor rack, carefully oiled and maintained.

"That looks just like-" Genma started before Herb elbowed him in the side with a withering look.

"Silence Genma, I would hear the full story from this farmer before you add your ten yen to the conversation." He replied tersely in Japanese.

The Farmer went to a far wall where there was an oiled leather cover over something that must either be a doorway or a large portrait. He reverently pulled the canvas off of what it was covering. Beneath the leather was an obviously old painting, the brushstrokes nearly invisible, and the color work though faded done of pure genius. Everything about the painting was well done. But that was not what took Herb's and Genma's breath away. What took their breath away was the fact that it was a portrait of Herb in the same ceremonial armor that he wore right now, and other than the slightly older look to the man in the painting it was a dead match for the present Prince of the Musk Dynasty.

End Chapter

Author's Notes.

Sorry about the delay of several months. Life does happen every now and then.

Ok, I don't have to much to say here as most of everything that I had been polling or otherwise stopped coming in a few months ago. As such I'm starting some new things. My next chapter is outlined, and already started in it's writing. This will be posted on and the Ranchan and Company Crossing Bridges website.

If anyone wishes to corrispond with me please feel free to email me, the email address is in my profile, or in the Email Author link in the Ranchan Crossing Bridges page.

I hope to have the next chapter out before the middle of October 2005.

Until then, Thanks for reading and I hope that you're enjoying this work of fiction.

Ja Ne,

Enlu Tarsonis