"speech"

"radio, feline language, or telepathic speech"

thoughts

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Tenchi. I make no money from this, nor do I plan on trying to. This is purely for fun. Now, the world setting for the Freedom Society and it's heroes and villains I can claim ownership of. Just not the RPG system the setting was originally created during campaigns for.

Warning: There will be some OOC. It is an AU though, so that can almost be expected.

Important Note: This story takes place in two different worlds. As such dividers of XxXxX will be used for when it switches worlds.

A teenage girl slipped off the boat stealthily. Considering she wore a vivid blue dress with a white flower print one would be amazed she could sneak around. Especially since it was noon. Hers was a mission of vengeance. Although the elders of the village had claimed the outsider to be exempt from the laws, the teen knew better. The outsider was a demon, clearly evidenced by the fact she'd been slain, yet had returned.

It had taken time to track down her target. But now she knew it was somewhere in this city. Once the demon was slain, the elders would finally see she'd been right. But first the trail had to be picked up once more. The girl held up a crystal, and smiled. It wasn't a very nice smile. It was one that promised pain and death. One that spoke of insanity. The teenage warrior had not been quite sane for some months.

With a bearing now known the teen started off once more. All thoughts of stealth had gone flying out the window the second she no longer was on the bus. She instead bounded openly across rooftops, avoiding areas with sky scrapers like they had the black plague. The closer to the source of energy being tracked however, the more alarmed the warrior became. Her tracking crystal now indicated two strong sources, with a third weaker one as well.

Since she couldn't tell which was her target anymore the warrior decided to investigate the signal that was alone first. Turning from her present path she made her way rapidly through the city. While still traveling it began to rain lightly. Footing on the rooftops became more treacherous, necessitating a slightly slower pace. The shower didn't let up either. Instead it grew in intensity. Soon visibility was extremely limited.

But hold, there in the distance was a shape. It appeared human, and was where the crystal indicated. In the driving rain details couldn't be determined. Enough was visible however to convince the teenaged warrior this was her target. She pulled out a gladius (1) which had been sharpened along both edges. While bounding towards the figure she prepared to strike fast. Unlike some she felt no need to call out during the approach.

There was no warning cry, no possible way this outsider demon could possibly know of an attack. And yet a flame haired girl no older then the warrior herself easily sidestepped the assault. Before recovery could be began the warrior saw a foot heading directly towards her face. As it struck she felt a lot of power behind the impact. But more frightening, she felt it was being restrained by a large degree.

"Shampoo, why do you attack a member of your village?" The unknown teen demanded in the warrior's native language.

A dry cackling filled the air, finally informing the now named Shampoo of a third presence. It angered her however that this clear outsider claimed to be a member of the village. The apparent disregard turned that anger into a blind rage. This outsider girl had pulled a cell phone from somewhere unknown and was currently talking to someone else in a language Shampoo couldn't understand.

Wood impacted her forehead, bringing to mind once more that a third person was in the area. "Why do you attack an Honored One, Shampoo? Already you have disgraced your family. Do you now wish to disgrace your village too?"

Nerima Shopping District, maybe

A panda was walking the streets of Tokyo, and it was not happy. All morning Genma had been trying to sell the pendent. But each time he'd been turned away. Frequently a bolt of lightning almost hit him seconds after leaving the store. It was only his great skills that allowed the panda to avoid being slain by nature. The rain that had started up an hour ago however was getting on his nerves.

It had began as a light rain, barely noticeable if it wasn't for it turning Genma into a panda. But as time passed it had gotten worse and worse. Now he could barely see anything six inches away. Nor could he hear anything but the driving rain. No matter how far or fast he ran, the storm seemed to follow him too. Worst of all was the hail that had recently started. Hail that seemed only to strike him.

He pulled out a sign which read 'Cut that out', but the kanji quickly became unreadable. With a growl of frustration the panda angrily stalked through the stormy weather. Now, it is said in some circles that there is no such thing as chance. This isn't entirely true. However it is a fact that sometimes events are guided by powerful forces. Not always are these events to the benefit of anyone but those forces.

One such force was a being on incredible power. He was thickly muscled and had unrully blond hair. His beard was thick and untamed. This being called himself Thor, and claimed himself to be a god. It was a claim few entities would dare discount. Now Thor is generally not a nice person. While a champion of Good in his own right, he fights for selfish reasons at best. Currently the god was extremely pissed at one specific mortal.

Now it should be noted that Thor prizes strength above nearly anything else in his champions. Strength of arm being of chief importance. Strength of character also he finds important. What attracted his attention about one Sam Bricklbuster originally had been not just the man's strength, but his overcoming a crippling weakness to become a hero in his own right despite all hardships suffered.

To those with experience in such matters, it also should be noted that driving rain and personal hail storms are rather tame for one of Thor's punishments. He much rather would have come in person to smite the one who'd offended the god. That he hadn't indicated just how busy gods can be. So it is with some distinction one should take the fact Genma was in fact being lead to a specific point.

Because the panda couldn't see where it was going, Genma didn't notice the little girl until he'd already ran into her. Or at least he thought it was a small child. Something wooden impacted the panda's forehead, hard. He slumped to the ground as the rain finally let up. Before anyone else that might be present could act the child-like figure then tapped another in several points with a gnarled wooden staff.

XxXxX

A phone rang in the middle of the rain forest. The sudden noise alerted a group of twenty men armed with AK-47 assault rifles. As a hail of hot lead was sent into the bushes a well tanned American cursed and pulled out his cell. The second the phone began to ring Alex Rivers had started to move. He drew a heavily customized beretta and took hasty aim. Flipping the phone open as he fired, the man answered his call.

"Rivers here, this is really not a good time. Hold on, gotta deliver a package."

He pressed the star symbol on the phone's keypad then dialed the numbers eight, seven, and zero. A series of explosions in the distance distracted the gunmen trying to turn Rivers into a puddle of bloody goo. The man used this to fall back to an easier to defend area. A couple rounds were fired when someone got too close. After punching in another three number sequence of 819 after the star symbol the sound of several fully automated chain guns could be heard.

"Okay Ran, now that I am no longer about to be filled with eighteen hundred rounds per minute... What was so vital you had to call me from another dimension?"

Scene Change

Elsewhere in the jungle was a rather unhappy woman. Her skin was a dark red, almost that of blood. Her silver hair reached down to the middle of her back. Two small horns poked out from the woman's hair. She wore a baby blue bikini and matching stiletto sandals. She stood nearly six feet tall, when standing at least. Currently she was draped across a throne formed from the bones of children.

After tearing off one last morsel from what may have been a five year old's leg she tossed the remains of the half eaten leg to the side. She leveled her gaze upon a young man, maybe in his early twenties. He was dressed in a military uniform, yet wore it poorly. It was clear he'd never actually served in any armed forces unit. He shuddered beneath her gaze and dropped to the floor in supplication.

"Tell me, my pet, why do I hear sounds of battle?" She demanded in spanish.

"I know not, Mistress," he responded in kind.

"Then find out!" The woman screamed at him.

The man hurried towards the mansion's security room. Reports from men on patrol were chaotic at best. Either one very well equipped man was assaulting the former drug lord home, or an army had decided to invade. Only one thing was sure. And it was that this invasion had began with a cell phone ringing in the north west quadrant. Unconfirmed reports also had a blond woman in the south quadrant.

The east sector was under heavy fire from an unknown source. Explosions in the west indicated possible hostiles there too. Would that I could disobey that monster. She is a sick and twisted thing. And yet I love her more then my own life. Anything she desires I give without hesitation. The man glanced at a monitor and scowled. The southeastern wall was under assault by walking chaingun turrets.

The insignia stenciled on them caused his blood to run cold. Namely that of a raging river. They were also painted in the colors of the Starlight mercenary company, blood red and gold. That alone was enough to tell him rumors were true. Famed mercenary Alex Rivers had formed a partnership with the Starlight company. Rivers was famous, or maybe infamous among the underworld.

Rivers had arrived on the scene fifteen years ago. He'd shown up out of no where, and had quickly made a name for himself with his custom weapons and unusual ethics. Namely that he had ethics. Early on in River's career a drug lord had hired Rivers to assassinate one of the few honest politicians in that part of Mexico. All in all a perfectly normal job for a mercenary. It had come as a shock then when Rivers had begun a one man war against his potential employer, without slaying his target.

The starlight company on the other hand was rather new. Only a couple years old by anyone's estimates. It was lead by a woman named Janet Star. Most notably, Star had no records indicating she even existed. No birth certificate, no school history, nothing. She just appeared one day and formed Starlight. Unlike Rivers, the starlight company had been perfectly willing to take any job and had worked both sides of the law.

"I had better report this to the Mistress," the alarmed man muttered.

XxXxX

This is crazy, Nabiki thought as she sat in her room. School had been canceled due to sightings of an escaped criminal in the area. This meant police were swarming over the high school. That might not have gotten school canceled though. No, what did this was when an officer had triggered an exploding pineapple. The principle it seemed had returned in the night. And he was a lunatic.

Exploding pineapples, sharks in the swimming pool, and a store room filled with jars of nitroglycerin. It was enough to make the Tendo girl worried. They had even found a sub-basement that looked like a tropical desert. Again filled with palm trees loaded with exploding tropical fruit. To distract herself Nabiki tried to study. This was made difficult by a rather cute red haired teenage girl who had invaded her room.

"So Nabs, you're in high school right?" The teen asked her.

"Yessss," was the Tendo girl's response.

"Then why ya studying a seventh grade math book?" (2)

Nabiki blinked in surprise. Her jaw was hanging open from the shock of this other girl's question. This was the textbook assigned for her current year as a junior. If juniors were being taught middle school levels of math, what did that say about the rest of the course work? While it was true that Nabiki had long thought high school courses were too easy, she'd just thought herself to be really smart. Now she could practically see her dreams of going to the best collage evaporating.

"And how would you know a a middle school text book from a piece of junk mail?" She lashed out.

Ranma frowned in distaste. "Cause Masaki-San insists I go to school. I barely got inta middle school. And those are the same problems in my book."

The Saotome youth mentally scowled. She'd been forced to cram six years of schooling into one summer. Some of the course work had felt degrading. And yet had given Ranma a lot of trouble. Which she reluctantly had to admit might mean her father was wrong about school. Maybe it was the distraction he claimed. But perhaps not learning this stuff would be a bigger problem. Which raised another point Masaki had kept hounding her about.

"Nabs, can ya look into something for me? I need ta know what pops might have done in my name or to me."

Another scene change

So my name's Sam, a teenage girl thought as she entered the ice cream emporium. Her shift was starting in an hour. In the mean time the teen from another dimension had a serious craving for rocky road ice cream. To be honest the craving was for large quantities of food in general. But right now rocky road sounded absolutely divine. Apparently it's a byproduct of that fat panda's idea of chi manipulation.

"Verily, the gods doth smile upon the house of Kuno," A male voice stated. "The heavens must weep that a fowl demon hath hidden away my cyan beauty from her love. I, the Blue Thunder shall righteously smite this demon so that thee may shower thy love upon me!"

Sam slowly turned her head towards the voice. There he was, the nut job that had kept attacking during the day she tested out of high school. The same one who had also put several people in the hospital during those same attacks. She shuddered despite wearing a thick light blue sweater. Not that the sweater helped prevent feeling incredibly cold. Which was an odd thing in it's self.

"Tanaka-san, I think that boy is about to cause trouble. He's been known to attack me for no reason in the past, as well as seriously hurt people nearby." Sam commented with much distaste. I'll try to remove him nicely, but you may wish to call the cops."

With that the teenage girl stalked out of the shop, her sunday still on the counter. Her presence seemed to be like throwing high octane gasoline on a raging fire. The bad poetry spouting teen took one look at her and drew a wooden practice sword. He charged saying something about his 'cyan beauty' and 'date' as he swung the theoretically non-lethal weapon. Since Sam had seen that practice sword or one like it slice through stone with ease, she didn't trust it's appearance.

"Okay mister, you are clearly insane. First of all I do not love, like, or even have ambivalent feelings towards you. I don't like men, let alone delusional boys. Go home before I decide to do something about the dangerous thug problem this area has."

While Sam was able to easily dodge his attack, it occurred to her that he clearly didn't care about the people he was putting at risk. Instead of avoiding the high speed impact she instead readied for it, preparing to roll with the blow. No others would be hurt because of this person on her watch. Each impact hurt despite lessening the force applied. Five swings she took on her arms and stomach. Then a sixth thrust was too fast for the abused teen to defend against fully.

One rib cracked painfully. Seeing that the Kuno boy would not halt his ill guided assault, Sam shifted into her ice form. The next impact was less then effective. Sam grabbed the boy's weapon and refused to let go. Regardless of how hard he tried to recover it, the practice sword remained in the teenage ice girl's grasp. Ice began to travel it's length and engulf Tatawaki Kuno's arm.

"You do realize that assault with a deadly weapon is a crime, right?"

Yup, still another scene change

"Shampoo, stop this now." Ranko Masaki demanded as she lightly flipped the amazonian warrior into a steel girder.

From a sleeve the pink clad champion pulled an envelope addressed to the elder. After handing it over she turned attention back to defense. Ranko then twirled to the left to deftly avoid being impaled on the gladius Shampoo was still wielding. Since she was getting tired of this little game, Ranko decided to go on the offense for a change. The heroine from another dimension ducked under a wild slash and brought her palm into Shampoo's solar plexus.

Now that there was some maneuvering room Ranko pulled out the Saotome honor blade. A series of rapid strikes and parries were exchanged. After thirty seconds of this Shampoo's eyes widened upon noticing her gladius had nicks in it's blade from each parry. In one spot there was a visible v section actually cut out of the surface. The flame haired teen's sword on the other hand was still in perfect condition.

At the same time Elder Cologne was reading the letter. Finding that it was from herself had been a surprise. It's contents on the other hand were very eye opening. The material the letter was written on appeared to be paper, but didn't quite feel right. It felt more like holding parchment. It was also too stiff to be any type of paper the elder had seen before. The insignia on the top also was unfamiliar.

Dear Kuh Lon,

I realize this might seem unusual. After all, I myself feel like a fool writing this letter. But the prince says he's likely to encounter me in this other world he must visit. He asks that I relate my mistakes, and their consequences. To this end I must point out first that my village is no longer a nation unto it's self. But perhaps I get ahead of myself. To understand how this came to be, you must understand what I did.

An outsider and her trained panda had come to the village during the finals for the yearly tournament. At the time I thought nothing of it. You probably know what the results were. My great granddaughter Xain Pu had given the outsider the kiss of death. Afterwords the panda grabbed the outsider and fled. Two months later Xain returned in disgrace. Upon learning of the outsider's curse I retrained my granddaughter at the nearby cursed training ground.

I followed Xain to Japan, just as I am sure you have done, to help her claim the husband our laws said had to be brought back. The boy proved more resourceful then I had expected however. For nine years I aided Xain Pu in her quest using every herb, magic item, and sneaky trick I could think of. Each time the prince would overcome anything in his way.

Things came to a head five years ago. That was when the outsider vanished without a trace. It was while searching that I discovered a frightening truth. Ranma Saotome, the outsider I had aided my granddaughter to capture was the prince of a powerful empire. Naturally as you can probably imagine I found this out because of Xain Pu breaking a wall at precisely the wrong moment.

The elder wondered at the misspelling of her name, and that of Shampoo. And yet what had been described so far was eerily close to what might have happened had the elemental challenged Shampoo for the prize instead of trying to talk her way out of the situation. A feat which had impressed Cologne enough to forbid the kisses of death and marriage. Perhaps it was nothing, but a chill passed down the elderly woman's spine as she continued to read.

What exactly happened? I don't know. I discovered the situation when confronted by a law enforcer for a land I'd never heard of before. By then Xain had already been placed in a holding cell. Before the trial I had felt arrogant. We of the Joketsuzoku brag about our three thousand year history and how even the emperor fears us. While this might once have been the case, it's more accurate I now know to say we survive because no one knows we exist.

What we consider unbreakable laws, the rest of the universe doesn't recognize. The kisses of death and marriage are only law within the boundaries of the village. What I considered acceptable practices are considered crimes elsewhere. I urge you to change the village's ways before it's too late in your world. For me, it's gone too far already. To earn Xain Pu leniency I had to pledge the village into the service of the emperor.

Signed,

Elder Kuh Lon of the Joketsuzoku

There was a lot left out of the letter. Judging from the way this Ranko Masaki was playfully carving up Shampoo's sword what wasn't said was more important then what was. The katana was obviously magic. Potent magic at that. And it was wielded with much skill. Not that of a master by any means. But a great deal of skill none the less. Shampoo using her weapon in a way it had never been intended or balanced for hadn't helped her cause either.

"How good is she?" Cologne wondered aloud.

Ranko heard the question as she rendered the girl with violet tresses unconscious. "When I was sixteen I defeated my world's Shampoo with ease, twice. For my seventeenth birthday I ended up fighting Herb, prince of the musk tribe. Our fight leveled a small mountain and I saved his life. A few weeks before my eighteenth birthday I fought Saffron. I walked away, sadly he didn't. I've since trained under the founder of my style, and corrected the miss-training the baka panda did to control me. Anymore I trade punches with robots, alien invaders, madmen, and super villains."

The naked blade was twirled in the air before sheathing it. "Personally, I'd rather just teach at my dojo for a while. But there's always some nut trying to hurt others. Always someone who needs saving. Maybe you should care for her Elder. I have a thief to deal with."

XxXxX

Muttering darkly, Alex Rivers hung up his cell for the moment. This was suppose to be a simple recon mission. In and out, no one the wiser. That was the idea anyway. Instead a ringing phone had fubar'd the entire thing seven ways from Saturn. Fortunately Rivers always liked to have backup plans in the field. That was why he'd brought the Starlight company. They were loud, reckless, and very good at what they did.

When supplied with a dozen remote controlled gun bots they also could take on even more hazardous situations. A very good thing at the moment. Even before the call things were looking to get serious. He'd found signs of a large number of soldiers, both professional and mercenary. He'd also found something that chilled the blood. A shallow grave filled with dozens of partially eaten children.

Knowing of the grave, the fate of a certain senator's missing son was looking grim. The trail had lead to the compound currently under assault. It was owned by a man called Juan Diago, although he'd been positively ID'd as Edward Jose Ricardo. Ricardo was an activist seeking political reform through non-violent means. He'd gone missing eight weeks ago. Three weeks ago Senator Orally's home was attacked and his son kidnapped by forces unknown.

Two weeks ago Alex's contacts had informed him of the contract to find and recover the missing son by any means necessary. So here he was in a South American jungle with a small team of commandos. The evidence was not conclusive, but rather compelling. This was why he'd ordered the others to avoid actually entering the compound in person. Somewhere within that compound likely dwelled a monster.

He tapped an earpiece and spoke. "Winding road to night sky, situation is tango. I repeat situation is tango. Do not enter compound, send bots instead. Hot momma is on sight, consider armed and extremely dangerous."

Wish the kid was here, Rivers thought as he made his way towards the compound. Mare's probably the only one not at risk when they face her. As Alex Rivers she thinks I'm already morally corrupt. But that may not stop her from trying to dominate me. The camouflaged mercenary took to the trees as if born in them. From his belt he removed a combat knife and holstered the pistol. Stealth was currently of greater importance then efficiency.

For the millionth time he wished his personal weapons could be brought on missions like this. But no, they were too distinctive. It would provide evidence that Rivers was not quite what he seemed. Since he was suppose to be a human, only human weapons could be used on the job. That didn't mean he couldn't tinker with his tools though. The knife for example was more then just a knife.

It had taken years to get things working right. Miniaturizing rail gun projection methods into such a small housing was difficult. And he'd needed to hire an eccentric genius to develop a new method of housing the wench and line. Rivers still didn't really understand how that part actually worked.

Not that he had to understand how that mechinism worked, just how to integrate it into his designs. Alex twisted the pummel of the dagger a quarter turn counter-clockwise until he heard a soft click. Two small buttons raised on the upper hilt. After taking careful aim he depressed the left button. This caused the blade to launch at high speed towards a soldier ten feet away. It sank deep into the man's back, severing the spinal collum and slicing puncturing one lung.

It wasn't his best job at targeting. But then this was still an experimental weapon. It's balance and capabilities were still mostly unfamiliar. And it wasn't like you could but a targeting sight on a combat knife. Hmm, there's a thought. Pressing the second button caused the blade to be retracted back into it's normal position. Need a way to make it lighter too. The hilt's too thick for comfortable wielding. Balance is off too. Maybe ask Swan about her quantum storage method?

To anyone else such distractions in a dangerous situation could have proven fatal. But Rivers was not primarily a soldier. He was an inventor. Working as a mercenary was just a means to field test what he built. While it was important to focus on the task at hand, analyzing the performance of his inventions was of equal importance. All flaws had to be eliminated before he'd even consider selling one of his weapons.

The dead man was just doing his job, true. But Alex was not naïve. He knew war, and he knew that in a war one can't hold back. Even the slightest hesitation would mean he's the next corpse. A throwing knife was launched at another man before he could raise the alarm. It impacted the man in the left eye, lodging deep in his brain. And then Alex Rivers was gone. When the next patrol found their bodies it would already be over. One way or another.

XxXxX

She was engaged to 'Ranma Saotome'. Nabiki knew that. Yet the name had been attached to the wrong person. Even so, it still meant that she was engaged to this red haired girl. A girl who was currently studying a map of Japan intently. She'd been doing so for a couple hours now. Almost like her life depended upon finding the object of this search. Next to the map Nabiki was familiar with was a similar one.

The second map would have been identical. Except that some cities had different names. There were other discrepancies too. Lakes and rivers on one but not the other being a big one. Other things were eerily the same. On one map was an x made with red marker. Surely there had to be a way to make money from this situation. And yet the nagging doubts wouldn't go away. Things had gotten serious ever since that gaijin and panda-man had shown up.

Too dangerous in fact. There were real consequences now, and that scared Nabiki. It was why she'd shut down her blackmail and schemes and loan sharking. How long before she got hospitalized because of such activities? Or worse? Selling pictures of her sisters to make money had never bothered Nabiki before. Not even the indecent ones taken with a hidden camera in the furo. Yet now the worry was 'what might happen to me?'.

Her sister's growing anger issues hadn't been a real threat. In fact Nabiki had relied on Akane in the past for protection. Granted, her baby sister didn't realize that Nabiki was kept safe simply because others feared the youngest Tendo would be unleashed upon them. Yet now her sister was in the hospital. There was no protection, real or imagined. Unless of course Ranma could be suckered into being an enforcer.

That was looking unlikely though. From what little had been observed, Ranma Saotome was not the gullible rube she'd expected. Oh sure, the girl seemed to lack a lot of practical knowledge. Yet there seemed to be a sense of purposeful intention. As if Ranma knew what she wanted from life, and how to achieve it. But what was it this girl wanted? That was something that Nabiki couldn't figure out.

"Hey Nabs, whatcha want?" Ranma had said flippantly.

Nabiki grimaced at the nickname. "What are you doing?"

The Saotome girl didn't look up from her intense scrutiny as she answered. "Trying ta pin down where a specific mountain is. It's shaped like a tea kettle according to Ranko. But the maps aren't the same. I think I found it though. What do ya think of this engagement?"

The question came out of no where. Nabiki stared at the red head with her jaw hanging open. No one had ever asked her opinion like that. Paid for information, sure. But never asked for an opinion as if from a friend. Friends were one thing the 'Ice Queen' couldn't afford to have. Friends meant attachments. Attachments meant limits on what one can get away with. And Nabiki didn't like being limited. Ever.

The question was, how to turn a profit off this without exposing herself to risk? This was new territory after all. Worrying about the repercussions was not something Nabiki had ever done before. Worrying was for other people, not herself. Until she could figure out a way to make money off the situation, Nabiki decided to play along with the engagement. It couldn't hurt her, much. And might lead to riches.

"Well, it's not that I don't like the idea. I just don't know you. Maybe we should give it a chance?" The Tendo sister finally replied.

"Is that you talking, or your greed?" Ranma studied the teen across from her. "Ranko told me bout ya. Told me bout how you would sell her for a hundred yen."

The question wasn't very fair. Nothing so far had indicated this Nabiki Tendo was like the one Ranma had seen while in space. The woman's skin had been tinged slightly blue at the time. Ranma had been told it was an after effect of having just been brought out of cry-oh stay sis, or something like that. One good thing from that trip had been learning that she was in fact fully human. A concern Ranma had started developing after learning Ranko wasn't.

"Sorry, Ranko's been trying ta break that habit of mine. Baka panda.""

XxXxX

Janet Star brushed her long blond hair out of her eyes. The heat was sweltering, and the din of combat was deafening. Using remote controlled walking gun turrets didn't sit well with her either. It lacked the personal feel of facing overwhelming odds that she so craved. But her employer had insisted. And getting to work along side a legend like Alex Rivers more then made up for the annoyance.

So here she was, baby sitting a man who went by the call sign Cujo Gear outside of a military complex. Her employer had ordered the Starlight company to not enter the complex, but use the drones instead. No reason had been given, but an order was an order. And Janet's company was being paid very well for this job. It would be nice to actually know what the objective is, Janet thought in disgust. It's like Rivers doesn't trust me.

"Primary target has escaped. Heading in your direction. Look for blue bikini and blood red skin. Shoot to kill authorized. Do not hesitate," came over her headset.

It was odd. Throughout this entire mission Starlight Company had been under strict orders to shoot to wound only. They had been issued specialized non-lethal ammunition even. And yet now Rivers was saying to kill on sight. Whoever this target was, it was clearly something major. Cujo triggered an ammunition switchover on his console while the other three members of the team changed clips.

With her M-16 now loaded with depleted uranium core armor piercing rounds Janet felt more comfortable. So armed, she settled into position for an over-watch. Nitro Nick, her demolitions expert, was finishing the last connections for a multistage detonator.The final member of her team had gone missing an hour ago. Carl had been sent in to infiltrate the compound and steal data from the mainframe.

The last thing anyone had heard from Carl was a wolf whistle. Then the comm had gone dead. Not truly dead, that would have been cause for a full invasion to gain retribution. But Carl had stopped responding, at all. Considering the world she lived in, that worried Janet. There were any number of things that it could be. None of them were good. Many options could directly compromise her team.

Raising a pair of binoculars to her eyes, Janet scanned the compound again. Emerging was a figure with unnaturally red skin and silver hair. And there was a lot of skin showing. The figure was clearly female. She was wearing a baby blue bikini which appeared to consist of triangles of cloth and dental floss. Eyes narrowed as Carl was seen following along behind the unknown woman. The vacant eyes said bad things about his state of mind.

"Incoming hostile, friendly is compromised. Fire at will," She told her men.

Six gun drones opened fire even as Janet sighted down her rifle's barrel. Nitro triggered a chain an explosive sequence designed to bring down the entire complex in a chain reaction. As she pulled the trigger the stuttering bark of a fully automatic assault rifle brought a sense of satisfaction to Janet. This was what she lived for. The thrill of battle, putting one's life on the line. It was an adrenaline rush that couldn't be beaten.

Without warning the gun drones started to implode. By that point it was already too late for both Carl and the mystery hostile. Multiple chain guns had torn the bodies to shreds, spraying blood and gore everywhere. Shame that Rivers was probably in the building still, she thought. He only paid half the fee upfront. And why'd the new equipment get trashed? Damn it all! Those drones could have made me another fortune!

"Pack up boys, we're heading home."

Why yes, it's yet another scene change

Rivers groaned as he pushed himself up out of the debris. He'd gotten lucky, and knew it. Those kids are psychotic, he thought angrily. They had strict orders against taking the lives of the soldiers. Ancestors damn them, they killed all the hostages! He knew it was hypocritical to order non-lethal tactics when he himself killed. And yet he had his reasons. Most of the soldiers that had been on site were good men.

Most, but not all of them. A few had been hardened criminals. Others were mercenaries with few morals. Those his reconnaissance had indicated were black-hearts Rivers showed no mercy to. Rapists and murderers deserved no second chances in his opinion. It was a view the others he normally associated with didn't share. Out of respect for the others, Rivers went out of his way to preserve life when with them.

In the field on his own time though he felt no such need. And now because of four heartless mercenaries he'd thought could be trusted twenty five children were dead. It was a small consolation that the Starlight company would not be keeping his inventions. When Rivers had discovered the first demolitions charge he'd triggered a fail-safe built into each of the gun drones. One thing was certain though. When he found them again Janet Star and her men would pay.

In the mean time he pulled out a much abused but still serviceable cell phone and dialed. Now that hostilities had ended he had the time to speak with an ally of some years. It's a shame, he thought. With Moth and Kevin retiring there just wasn't anything holding us together as a team anymore. Sam and Ranko still work together, and I'm still caring for Amy. But we rarely see each other these days.

It was hard not to feel pride in the genetically experimented upon girl. Although it had been an uphill battle, she finally understood the difference between right and wrong. As he discussed the current problems both in this dimension and another Alex Rivers reflected upon the ward he'd taken in, as well as the path his life had gone down. The walk back to his transport would take a few hours anyway.

XxXxX

As ice engulfed the training sword and forearm Sam found herself thrown backwards. This lunatic was apparently more dangerous then she'd thought. He'd begun spouting something about oni and smiting. Whatever his raving was about, it was too incomprehensible to determine exactly. Not that she really cared to decipher the ravings of a madman. Not when there were lives to save at least.

How does he do it? Sam wondered as she bodily blocked a pressure wave from the swung weapon. A pressure wave which cracked the ice her stomach was composed of. Painfully cracked it at that. He was fighting at a level previously unseen. And after seeing a miss cleave stone in twain Sam had no desire to see if it could cut ice as easily. So instead she formed a pair of tonfa and used those to try deflecting subsequent strikes.

It would have been far easier if merely avoiding attacks was an option. With civilians in the area though it wasn't. Sam had to stop attacks, while at the same time prevent the shock waves being created from hitting anything or anyone. A task which was proving extremely difficult. With each parry a wave of force would still impact her. And so far there had been no ideas formed on how to prevent that.

Sam swore as the wooden sword sliced cleanly through a tonfa, again. With a growl of frustration she materialized fifty pounds of snow just above the kendoist. It was her eighth attempt at such tactics. The problem was that he seemed to ignore the newly created snow drifts and press the attack. They slowed the Kuno boy down a little, but otherwise were just a diversion. Where the hell are the cops?

Now any dimensional traveler with any experience can tell you about how strange the multiverse can get. There are worlds where the impossible is merely improbable. If one travels enough they will occasionally come across places where unlikely coincidences become likely, and the probable becomes a near certainty. No one has yet determined why such worlds and places exist. Some speculate some higher power finds them amusing.

In this world, in this place the ward of Nerima was one such location. So it should come as no real surprise when a panda came falling out of the sky to land upon Tatawaki Kuno. Similarly it should be accepted as perfectly normal that seconds later a red haired teenager in a hot pink belly tee and matching mini skirt landed atop the panda. The girl, Ranko Masaki, slowly stood as she rubbed her head.

"Damn uncute tomboy. Why'd she have to hit me too? It's not like I saw anything." She groused. "Oh, hey Sam. This panda stole something of yours."

Ranko pried a hammer shaped pendent from the panda's grasp and handed it to Sam. Critical eyes examined her friend with concern. Those cracks look bad. What happened? A groan and faint "I fight on" gave all the information needed. Oh, Kuno happened. After fighting alongside Sam for five years Ranko had learned to eyeball how badly her friend was hurt. And this time it looked really serious.

Ranko held out a hand to caution the ice woman. "Don't change back Sam. I'll get ya to Tofu's office."

Time passes?

Some people are born for physical tasks. It's in their blood. They can't get enough of them. Other people condition themselves for hard labor despite inclinations to otherwise. And then there was Nabiki Tendo. The girl abhorred doing anything that might cause her to sweat. And yet for three weeks she'd been trekking across the countryside beside her female fiance. Three long weeks with no creature comforts. Daddy dearest had in his infinite 'wisdom' decided the fiance had to accompany Ranma on this training journey.

It was unfortunate that the mysterious doorway had vanished when 'Ranko' and her friend had traveled through it shortly before this trip. There had been definite profit potential with that door. But that was one option which had firmly been denied. Which called to mind why Nabiki had gone alone with this waste of time and resources. There wasn't enough money coming into the house anymore. And with taxes coming due in a week, Nabiki didn't want to be anywhere near home. Then there was trying to avoid that crazy girl named after hair care products.

"So," she asked Ranma during an all too brief rest break, "how much farther?"

Author Notes:

Ending this here. I could go further, but really this story would just drag on and on. Never fear though. There will be future tales of the Knight Mare and her partner. I also have to continue my other stories. Damn muse forced me to work on this exclusively till it's finished. Also got an idea for a rather whimsical story.