Assassin Drones: The original saga
Fuyuki's training Arc. De Arimasu!
By Alex Young
Deep inside an abandoned bunker in Iwo Jima, 8:00 am. April 23, 2003
One technician Bakuku, escorted by Lance Corporal Nagigi, was out looking for some documents that the late Zyururu left buried in the event of his untimely death.
The bio-android ninja assassin Nagigi has four pairs of eyes on each side, one from each pair crammed into one eye socket in a diamond formation.
One pair of eyes serves as the standard combat visor, a second for data gathering, threat assessment, and communication, a third for infrared vision, and the last for night vision.
How did she become an android? Let's just say it dates back to the fourth mechadrone war, during her days as a member of the X1 assassin corps.
She was ambushed by several giant minotaur type mechadrones, one of them wielding a lethal flying laser guillotine.
She was unlucky enough to get caught inside, and get chopped in half at the waist. She survived but her biological body was too mortally wounded to continue functioning.
So, top medics and scientists within a mobile hospital uploaded her very identity into a true bio-android's body; the very same body she uses to this very day, albeit with a few firmware updates and hardware upgrades here and there.
The result; a true killing machine perfect for Kiruru's ZX-1 commando unit. Once Bakuku unlocked and opened the case containing said documents, however.
\In the event of my inevitable passing, I entrust these important documents to whoever finds them. Use the information contained therein to show Jirara and his Pekoponian allies what for./ The transmission played as Bakuku mulled over the plans.
"The necessary preparation could take months if not years to ensure that things are just right." Bakuku concluded. "As Zyururu once said, 'it ain't easy, but can be done with the right motivation,' If you know what I mean." Nagigi reassured, thus she and Bakuku set off for Kiruru's starship to await his go ahead.
Somewhere within the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, 3:00 pm. April 24, 2003
La Frente Unida para a Libertação do Povo, translated as the United Front for the People's Liberation, FULP for short, was a rebel group based deep underground, with Father Gomez at the helm of a Christian group for housing and caring for the wounded for their operations.
Father Gomez was just a figurehead for the one he refers to as "o homem rã," or the Frog Man in Portuguese. The bases defenses ranged from piranha infested moats, to machine gun nests, to tiger pits (just to name a few), all pretty basic given their budget.
The People's Front's money making efforts have even expanded to the Guyanas, and Venezuela. Recruit Tororo and Corporal Giroro were among the fighters hailing from Keron, in the sense that both simply wanted to fuck with EX.W.A.T.I. in general.
"So. Who exactly was sent in to assassinate the staunchly pro-EX.W.A.T.I. candidate for presidency, hmm?" The Frog Man queried with Father Gomez and his nurses still working on the injured in the background.
"Some kid by the name of Radon, I paid him quite handsomely, pu pu puu." Tororo sniggered. "Hmph. excerrent." An equally familiar face, Victor Xiu Wong sounded from the back, as the main benefactor for the people's front.
Somewhere in São Paulo, Radon and his Twinssassin companions were traversing the cityscape in search of their prey.
Yurere had thought up an idea for how to eliminate the potential threat to their clients' cause; death by laser beam!
In this case, the laser module in question was about the size of a laptop battery, complete with a detachable folding tripod with telescoping legs for stability.
The laser itself was powerful enough to potentially cause a deadly cancer in the victim's brain. Such a task was not at all easy, as the candidate was escorted by several Instinct Security Solutions personnel.
Yurara helped her older brother and Radon to set up the laser death trap as all parties so aptly called it. Once the right button was depressed, a strong beam of light streaked and made contact with the candidate's forehead, and down he went.
That was the signal for several undertaker cells, local and international, to start moving in through the jungles. The cells themselves were paid by a coalition of several drug cartels, also financed by the Don Viper, who banded together out of fear of losing their influence.
Incidentally, these same cartels also once worked alongside the Kurain crime syndicate prior to its downfall and partial absorption into the Don Viper gang.
Several B.L.E.V.E. bombs were launched by ballista in the undertakers' direction, all scattering so as to avoid the resulting splash damage.
Upon regrouping further up ahead, the undertakers launched several suicide drones at the entrenched gun encampments. There was also a large network of underground tunnels made in a pyramid like fashion to deflect the force of several bomb blasts.
Unbeknownst to the People's Front, the Cartel Coalition were definitely not in league with the Brazilian government at all. Rather, they are currently working with the Don Viper, as was stated before.
A multitude of cartel operated technical vehicles as well as several server trucks later on barreled their way through the ruined makeshift artillery emplacements.
Hackers within the truck trailers jammed any comm sites that were dotted throughout the base, only to get shot up by several more hidden machine gun nests later on.
Rip Rat and company stormed their way through the masses upon masses of attacking cartel gangsters.
Xiu Wong, himself, having lost much of his confidence in the People's Front, found himself escorted by the Frog Man into an escape vehicle; a hopped up, armor plated Mercedes Benz G-Class SUV!
Xiu Wong, the Frog Man, Giroro, Tororo, and Father Gomez all got onboard the escape vehicle before the driver gunned it out the escape tunnel, plowing wave after wave of thugs flat in its lethal wake.
Giroro operated a pair of belt-fed, sawed off L6 W.O.M.B.A.T (Weapon Of Magnesium Battalion Anti Tank) recoil-less rifles, not one to hesitate with a really itchy trigger finger firing on any pursuers.
Tororo remotely controlled a roof mounted EW module that disabled the enemy electronics, further aiding their escape.
Actually, Tororo was sent in to infiltrate the People's Front as per the ongoing EX.W.A.T.I. Z3 investigative mission codename: Jeholodens.
By the looks of it, with the Garuru platoon being the mortal enemy turned informant group, Tororo has a few more pieces of intelligence needed to further their case in Xiu Wong's forthcoming prosecution.
Out near Momoka's mansion, 3:00 am. April 25, 2003
The Frog Man in question was out scrounging around for any viable leads on Ranma Saotome. "Hmph. You'll learn to know better than to mess with a Frog Hermit, real soon." The Frog Man, now known as the Frog Hermit in curse form spat defiantly.
The Frog Hermit continued lumbering around solely on his hind legs, making him more akin to lizards than frogs appearance wise.
"Well well, what have we here?" Venono seethed as he emerged from the shadows to face the Jusenkyo Frog Man, looking him in the eyes.
"Venono! It's a pleasure to meet someone of my own kin. I, the Frog Hermit, would like for you to find a little someone called Ranma Saotome. Don't kill him, just leave him to me." The Frog Hermit proposed.
"Huuh fine. As bloodthirsty as I am, I'll try to exercise the utmost restraint to the best of my ability." Venono sighed resigning, yet motivated to comply with the Frog Hermit's behest, and headed off in search of Ranma, minus the freezing rainstorm.
However, the Frog Hermit had something else in mind first. He procured an ancient manuscript of how the consumption of dragon's flesh would essentially grant anyone an extended lifespan for the next 100 years.
The Tendo Dojo, 7:00 am
Ranma was up and about once again, returning to the dojo to prepare for yet more training for Fuyuki, with the latter providing escort upon arrival for Dr. Tofu Ono, who was holding a very peculiar package.
"I got this off of Ebay a couple days ago, and I thought it would perk Fuyuki's interest, so I brought it over here in his journey to the Tendo dojo to further pursue his training." Dr. Tofu elucidated citing a phone conversation he had with Fuyuki not too long ago.
"Looks more like a seahorse to me." Nabiki breezed absentminded about it all. "Well, technically speaking, it's a purported infant stage of the long dragon, said to awaken during a typhoon." Dr Tofu explained in reply.
In a distance, Gial and Naozi were staring into the sky. "Gial, zee tahm ees comeeng for zee dragon to emerge, no?" Naozi quipped citing the formation of typhoon clouds materializing overhead, with Gial nodding in agreement.
"For I shall take a small sample of dragon's flesh for scientific analysis, and eventual growth in culture." Naozi declared as he and Gial made their move with the plan.
Venono emerged from a trash can sometime later, following the assassin drones still in search of Ranma Saotome. "I bet the guy is still there. Wonder if he takes it all in his stride?" Venono quipped as he got out ahead of the assassin drones to the Tendo Dojo.
Upon arrival, Venono could see that this latest round of training had just gotten underway. "C'mon, you! Show me your all, Ouch!" Ranma spat pained as Fuyuki landed a deft right hander in the former's shoulder blade.
Any rain that came down simply made for more of a challenge, and an impetus for Fuyuki to push himself even harder as he pulled out a pair of chain whips on one hand, and a ji halberd in another.
Fuyuki took one swing with his halberd after another at Ranko, who deflected some blows she couldn't dodge pretty well considering the latter's Jusenkyo curse, which was triggered by the incoming rain.
Fuyuki then threw the halberd as though it were an ax, pinning Ranko to one of the walls, and got one of the chain whips into his free hand, spinning it around and around lashing out at her, and inflicting some flesh wounds in the process.
Ranko then broke herself free in prying the halberd that was pinning her to the wall, and got caught by one of the chain whips.
Ranko took this opportunity to get even in towing Fuyuki forward, and slashing downward with the halberd in hand.
Fuyuki couldn't dodge it so he had to block it, and he did, not that the resulting flesh wound was enough to stop him from continuing the battle, though.
Both parties clashed once more before making the decision to end the battle at that. "Wow, whew, I'd say, if anything, that you've learned a heck of a lot more from me than I ever was from you, so far." Fuyuki complimented.
"Anyways, let's get inside and dry off until this damn storm passes us over." Ranko replied as the both of them got inside to dry up and have some dinner from Kasumi after placing the infant dragon in the pond.
Upon arrival, Venono immediately vaulted over the wall where the halberd pinned Ranko to it, and stealthily slipped inside through the roof, as Raikoume and Kamikase did in their infiltration some three and a half months earlier.
Gial and Naozi were already there on the roof well before Venono set foot inside the attic. "Zee tahm ees comeeng, no?" Naozi groused of Gial and Moaghen. "Hey, Frog Man. There's something else you might want to check out." Venono informed through his intercom microphone.
"I think it has something to do with that baby dragon about to come out of the pond." Venono stated from the ceiling as Dr. Tofu was in Happosai's room rifling through some musty old records, until finding the one he was looking for.
"Ranma! I found something very important for you to check out! It's concerning the fabled long typhoon dragon!" Dr. Tofu called out requesting that Ranma, Akane, and Fuyuki go into Happosai's room to see what he has to say about the legend according to the aforementioned records.
"According to legend, it says that the long typhoon dragon is a divine and mystical being, and whoever consumes its flesh shall be granted immortality for a century. Small wonder why these dragons were so sought after in their time." Dr. Tofu concluded.
"Whoa! I've always wanted to see a dragon for myself!" Fuyuki exclaimed with his paranormal aptitude in high gear.
"Great. The power just went out." Ranma carped as the lights went completely off, a la Gial and his subterfuge. This was a non issue thanks to the fact that Dr. Tofu brought along some candles and lit them up so he can continue reading.
Venono was angered at the assassin drones' perceived attempts to get at Ranma before the Frog Hermit even had a chance, therefore he took action and intercepted them, creating a bit of a ruckus in the process.
"You dirty motherfuckers are GOING DOWN FOR THE COUNT!" Venono screeched going after the assassin drones with his killer instincts at full swing as indicated by the intensified typhoon.
Venono clashed tooth and nail with the assassin drones, Gial in particular, spiked clubs to venom sword.
Gial tried swimming underneath the floorboards to get away, but Venono stopped him dead in his tracks with an "OH NO, YOU DON'T!" to back it up.
Venono followed through with this threat with a roundhouse kick to the lower jaw, smashing through the window in Ranma's room, and taking their fight outside.
"What the hell is going on around here?" Akane quivered as he saw Naozi fleeing into the backyard to accompany Gial.
"Fuck! It's those damn A-drones! You ain't never takin' me alive!" Ranma spat as he jumped out into the typhoon after the assassin drones, Fuyuki and Dr. Tofu in toe.
"Hahaaa, looks like we meet yet again Ranma Saotome, now EAT THIS!" The Frog Man growled as he set his knife wielding frogs on the threesome, cutting into their skin in some places.
"Leave them to me. I've studied the art of pressure points for a decade, now, and I know what I'm doing." Dr. Tofu declared flippantly as he stunned all the frogs one by one, while the Frog Man cast a net over Ranko and Fuyuki.
"I need that dragon so I can eat it, science boy, for you have a lot to learn as I've studied frog martial arts for five decades on end. We all know you can't withstand THIS!" The Frog Man shot back as he flashed thousands upon thousands of pictures of Kasumi in her underwear.
However, what came next was as a complete surprise to the Frog Man as Dr. Tofu shrugged them all off, and struck the Frog Man squarely in between the eyes in a matter of mere seconds!
"Yeah, that might have been the case before, however, it was up until the April of 2002, on Kasumi's birthday when I confessed my love to her, that I've since begun getting over the fact that I love her dearly, therefore it ain't gonna work." Dr. Tofu countered.
"I'll fix that!" Venono sneered as he popped a few love pills down Dr. Tofu's throat after making him drink water, and he made him drink water again to wash it down, and glued two copied cutouts of one particularly juicy Kasumi photo to the insides of his glasses.
It was then the Dr Tofu slid back into love induced delirium as he, acting very goofy, bounced around like an idiot accidentally displacing Venono's joints in the process, as well as those of the Frog Man and the assassin drones.
"Time for your medicine, doc!" Ranko declared as she stuffed two bottles full of ghost chili hot sauce down Dr Tofu's throat, as Venono did when having him eat the aforementioned love pills.
Ranko aimed Dr. Tofu.s head at the Frog Man as the good doctor shot a spear of fire at the Jusenkyo Frog man, literally setting him aflame.
Gial and Naozi both got their own joints realigned and got back up as the typhoon suddenly decreased in rainfall.
The Frog Man then ordered the grenade frogs to attack, with Ranko and Fuyuki rounding them all up in the net they were entangled in, and sending them hurtling back.
Now trapped in the net themselves, the grenades all blew up at once, thus sending Venono and the Frog Man both skyward.
The three now turned their attention to the still reeling assassin drones as the rain stopped altogether.
Suddenly, one bolt of lightning after another struck the koi pond as it began to glow an eerie aquamarine color.
"You gahs see? Zee real raison wah we ehr haire ees zat I'm goeeng to collect a piece of dragon's flesh for scientific purposes, no?" Naozi proclaimed as he got his scientific tools at the ready.
For him, the timing couldn't be better as the dragon, now in adult form began to emerge from the koi pond within the confines of a vortex that was formed overhead.
Naozi and Gial jumped onto the suddenly grown up dragon as it ascended into the tortured skies above, leaving the rest to stare in complete and utter disbelief.
As for Happosai? Well, he's just hopping around on the rooftops singing and dancing at his collection of women's lingerie on his way home when he spotted the dragon going skyward.
With that, he stopped and contorted his face into a glare. "Grrr! A dragon!" Happosai sneered as he saw the dragon dissapear in heading skyward.
"Hmph! You're all mine." He growled as he was forced to let go of his collection with one last gust of wind before the typhoon dissipated completely.
"What in the!? OH NO! MY BABIES! I'LL SAVE YOU!" Happosai clamored realizing that his panty collection was all blown off in the wind floating about with no purpose whatsoever.
One Lockheed Martin EC-5E Parabola Command and Control aircraft, followed by a flight of Northrop Grumman WV-36 Consistent Kite Weather Recon tiltrotor aircraft were cruising above the clouds over Nerima when they spotted the aforementioned dragon in it's continuing ascent.
"What in the world? Are you seein' what I'm seein', here?" The pilot queried in the Parabola stunned in awe at the majesty of the dragon. "Yeah, that's a dragon alright." A radio operator answered as he adsjusted his cameras into position.
They did well to take pictures of the dragon as solid evidence of their encounter during their weather recon mission report back at base.
The Tendo residnce, 9:00 pm. April 26, 2003
Yet another, rather uneventful training session was completed, and Fuyuki was already 70% ready to partake in the upcoming Nishizawa challenge.
After that, Ranma had turned in with Panda Genma, and dozed right off into sleep. The Frog Man had returned with a vengeance, doused Panda Genma with hot water, and had some of his frogs haul his fat ass off into a distance, before kidnapping Soun, next.
Now, all he had to do, was wait in keeping an eye out for Ranma Saotome, and his potential rescue effort.
Aboard the Rapier, 7:00 am. April 27, 2003
Naozi was headed on into his lab to run his sample of dragon's flesh (a skin plug in this case) through his DNA analysis machine, as he wasn't really after immortality at all, but rather the much fabled dragon's DNA.
The skin plug in question was sacrificed for conversion into stem cells, which would eventually be used to grow dragon's flesh in culture.
Another sample, this time from Nuda, was trapped in a perfect sealed vial. As soon as Naozi undid the seal, the piece escaped and ate up some dragon's flesh culture.
The piece was caught under an intense laser beam, which in turn acted as a sort of mutagen, causing its own DNA to fuse with that of the dragon.
It didn't matter at all for Naozi, as long as he has enough dragon stem cells to go around, the dragon's flesh culture production should still be rolling.
"What happened here?" Aoryuzen queried as he entered the lab. "A piece of this 'Nuda' has escaped, no?" Naozi explained.
"Aaand ate some dragon's flesh, I suppose?" Aoryuzen added menacingly, whereupon which he looked at some security footage of the piece continuing to mutate and grow.
The still mutating piece then traveled towards the Rapier's aft section, where it fed on Mechadrone waste byproducts in the waste disposal tank.
There, it escaped the Rapier altogether, and made landfall, where it took on an identity all its own in a more gorilla like form; Dethstroak!
"Welp, shit. That's another threat we need to look out for, as there's nothing we can do about it at the moment." Aoryuzen finished sending Naozi off to continue his work with the dragon's flesh culture.
Meanwhile, en route to Kissho Junior High, Fuyuki was walking his usual path to school with Momoka in toe as was more or less the norm ever since she confessed her love to him about a year ago.
Fuyuki stopped right near the entrance to see the Frog Hermit, and some of his frogs doing their karate performance. "Weird. For a minute there, I'd have thought he was a little more somber, but the guy looks kinda happy for some reason." He mused as he and Momoka made their approach.
Out of the corners of their eyes, the two had spotted Ranma and Akane, also in attendance of the Frog Hermit's performance. This was because the principal had granted them with a paper saying they no longer had to attend Furinkan High for the rest of the school year.
That was after having led the pack in a three legged obstacle course all around the school, literally. All that before a duel with Kuno and the principal himself. Ironically enough, the principal was a man of his word, and there are Ranma and Akane today.
The frogs then did their big band dancing round, following up with a circus round, much to the delight of the audience, which was apparent in them giving money to him. Even Ranma gave him some money after a little pressure from Akane.
"Why, you! Ranma Saotome, PREPARE TO DIE!" Ryoga snarled in his usual unrelenting hostility as he barreled towards Ranma.
Ryoga landed a fierce blow intended for Ranma on the Frog Hermit's pedestal instead, because Ranma had already dodged it.
"Hey c'mon, pork-brain! What did I ever do to you, this time?" Ranma quipped keeping well beyond the reach of Ryoga's fists.
Suddenly, several laser shots descended in from out of nowhere, bombarding the school, aimed at Ryoga, no less.
It was Giroro and Tamama in their gunship, albeit accompanied by a pair of artillery gun toting condor type Mechadrones for wingmen.
Just then, a swarm of twelve XM174 Superball transforming mobile turrets followed by a pair of XM89 Turbotread high speed tactical assault platforms, joined the fray.
The Superballs, and Turbotreads are only in the prototype stage, and are not set to go in production for at least another year, with their respective R&D regimes going as far back as 1991 and 1994.
The variable autonomous Superball drones can transform into turrets even at 25 mph, and can be fitted with any guns and missiles at the military's disposal.
The Superballs cannot fire their guns in sphere mode, which is a non issue because of evasive action and lightweight ballistic protection.
The Turbotreads, also equipped with variable autonomous technology, have four spinal gear treads going way out at front, strafing by manipulating the radii up front, and steering by adjusting the RPM of each of the aformentioned treads.
The Turbotreads have the same lightweight nano-composite armor as the Superballs, albeit sloped as opposed to rounded for protection, and its turret can rotate much like that of any tank, and can house a multitude of strictly heavier weapons, too.
Another Turbotread this time in an APC configuration, had arrived sometime later that were about to secure the premises against civillian casualties.
"Fuck me! Abort mission!" Giroro spat as Tamama gunned it out in full retreat, with the Nishizawa elite guard units going after them, taking the fight away from the achool building.
The gunship opened fire on its pursuers, taking out a few Superballs in the process. Just then, several more showed up to deploy in their turret modes equipped with AA guns, and opened fire on any missiles that Giroro launched against them.
Giroro then had his condor Mechadrones open fire on the Turbotreads, downing one of them, and damaging the other two.
Not a second later, Kululu from his computer room, launched several decoy ballistic missiles from multiple missile silos in the much disputed Kashmir region to throw Giroro's pursuers off.
Success! Giroro and Tamama can now return home, so that the latter can relax, and that the former can strategize some more revenge against Ryoga.
Back at school, the Frog Hermit was still there, lying flat on his back, and covered with a thick layer of ash from the explosions.
"Rrrrrgh. You fools are going to suffer very dearly for what they have done to me, big time!" He spat as he hobbled his way into a quiet spot.
None of the Nishizawa elite guard ever went after Fuyuki and Momoka, unlike the last time they met. In fact, they were ordered not to go after either of them until further notice.
"You know. you really shouldn't go after Ranma for something like that. I mean, I was only being nice to him." Natsumi reprimanded gently out of concern for Ryoga.
"I'm sorry, I figured that Ranma was cheating on Akane and trying to ask you out. I mean, I kinda took things out of context there." Ryoga explained.
"Ha! Guess that other frog doofus, Giroro took this matter out of context himself, albeit to a much greater extent." Ranma added, much to Ryoga's non-surprise, and a good crack of the knuckes, too.
"I'll show him what it's like to have judgement rained down upon, with my fists!" Ryoga howled declaring his resolve to have Giroro suffer the consequences of his attack.
Gial and Miezoen, followed by Fuhinga and Moaghen, infiltrared the school building through the roof, after taking out some guards.
Nuda, on the other hand, was already inside, as though awaiting their arrival.
Gial was among the first to detect Nuda's presence, and intercept it within the same time frame, too.
The rest of the infiltration team, left Gial and Miezoen to deal with Nuda in their search for Ranma, and the hive mind contained therein.
Kuosinne was already outside on the roof, masking the combatant's presences against the background with her mastery of illusions.
Gial swiped at Nuda with his spike clubs, yo-yo buzzsaws, and vorpal blade, cutting it to pieces, and regenerating at the same time.
Miezoen jump slashed at Nuda, herself in supporting Gial, as the latter ate up pieces upon pieces of Nuda's flesh.
The battle extened into the hallways with lunch time, and Gial crashed into one teahcer's vacant classroom in knocking its door down, and got back out into the hallway fighting and screeching mad.
This would go on, until Dethstroak, Nuda's soon to be arch nemesis, knocked both assassin drones out of the way.
Mint and Lime also joined Dethstroak in battling Nuda, as they all pinned Nuda to the floor, only to have it literally slip through their fingers.
Dethstroak also transformed in pursuing Nuda, only to be intercepted by some of the surviving elite guard.
Mint and Lime rejoined Dethstroak and all three took the fight outside shortly after lunch time had ended.
Nuda resumed its battle with Gial and Miezoen shortly thereafter. What of Moaghen and Fuhinga? Let's just say they finally did find Ranma Saotome, although they both received a swift beatdown from him and Ryoga for it.
Suddenly, Ripjaw, the big strong bearcat, along with the other five fighting furies, walked in on Ranma, who was terrified of their sight to the point of going full on cat-fist mode.
Moaghen and Fuhinga seized a rather faint opportunity to get the hive mind from Neko Ranma as he joined the Reaperclan furies in battling the assassin drones, making an already difficult task damn near impossible.
Fuyuki and Momoka were in the paranormal club as the battles continued chaotically raging on in the background.
Out of fear for the Hinatas, the Keroro platoon, the Kiruru ZX-1 platoon, along with Karara and Chiroro in their newly upgraded strike fighter, joined in the chaos.
This was not without the stinger squadron, and the Eleventh Heaven following them in still giving the keronians a very heated chase.
It was right then and there that the Don Viper gang, the Rat pack, and the Cat pack clashed with each other, with Zane having to abandon his chase to support the heroic battle birds.
This left the Eleventh Heaven the job of chasing down the Keronians, which they did before several more Reaver drones and evil battle bird clones began shooting at them as well.
Free of any pursuers, the two groups of Keronians split up at the clubhouse turn of their support mission.
Oddly enough, Dororo was the first to arrive on campus, albeit outside of the school building itself, as he spotted Happosai snooping around for girls' underwear.
The school campus was peaceful once more as all the chaos spilled outside into the surrounding areas.
Moaghen and Fuhinga were already beaten back by Neko Ranma, who immediately pounced on Akane's lap the moment she entered the steamy-from-fighting-induced-pipe-leaks boiler room.
Back outside, Dororo seemed to have lost track of Happosai's last known location. That was the case, until he realized that Happosai was going after Koyuki to do again the very same thing he did during the war of assassins.
Thus, Dororo had to stop Happosai, no matter the cost. As he traversed throughout the campus in search thereof, he began to realize that the Keroro platoon were too busy dealing with Pantyhose Taro in curse form to be of any help.
Thus he was on his own, at least that's what he thought as he finally intercepted Happosai as he lit up his battle aura blowtorch.
Dororo and Happosai clashed ninjato to battle aura blowtorch. "Ninja art: Shuriken hailstorm!" Dororo cried as he threw an entire barrage of shuriken in Happosai's direction.
Just then, another member of the Kiruru ZX-1 platoon joined Dororo; an old flame of his, so to speak by the name of Lance Corporal Nagigi.
While Venono had survived his own ouster from X1 with his hatred for Jirara to keep him alive, Nagigi simply left the organization on her own after her injuries.
Whatever the case may be, she always wants to fight alongside Dororo as opposed to against him whenever her eyes make contact with those of the latter.
Just then as Dororo and Nagigi clashed against Happosai once more, a plasma capture net grenade burst forth, pinning the old letch to the ground, before eventual extraction.
It was Maroro, the sage green keronian, with black accents and white outlines, with his black belly and bandana highlighted only by two X marks crossing in and over each other.
His eyes had sage green sclerae, white outlines and irises, and black pupils, an odd coloration, that adds to his fear factor given his reputation for brutality.
He earned the nickname "the walking butcher shop" after single handedly slaughtering several thousand Dranese fundamentalist insurgents in the Dranoss uprising some 60 years since the fourth mechadrone war.
In this case, Dororo and Nagigi helped to wear Happosai down for his capture by Maroro's hands, and eventual transport to the ZX-1 starship, now on the ground, for analysis and mental examination.
"Huh!? What in the!? I think it's fair to say that we won't ever hafta worry about him again for a while." Ranma groused witnessing Happosai being unceremoniously whisked away to the Keronian starship.
The outskirts of Furinkan, 4:47 pm
"NO WAY! Really?" Fuyuki cried out in surprise at the news that Ranma had just brought up. "Well if it ain't one thing it's another, now that Nabiki and Kasumi are gone, too." Akane sighed close to resignment.
"These frogs are the only lead we have as to the culprit." Kuno broached as well. "Yeah, and until we can glean more, the only lead there is." Mousse interjected.
"I heard that Shampoo and Toner have both gone missing themselves, as well as the other fiancees." Natsumi brought up citing the nigh unexplainable dissapearance of Ranma's fiancees, as well as that of Toner.
"Momoka could very well be in danger, herself because she's next on the Frog Hermit's list." Ryoga discussed, with drove Fuyuki to take charge in the martial artists' huge rescue operation.
"Alright, what are we waiting for!? Let's go!" Fuyuki declared as he led the way with Natsumi, Akane, Ranma, Kuno, Ryoga, and Mousse all following suit.
Suddenly, they all heard croaking noises in the background; it was the sound of frogs, and no ordinary frogs either, but those of the Frog Hermit!
It was a sign that they were getting very close to the Frog Hermit's hideout, as was the barrage of knife frogs as they moved on ahead only seconds later.
They were no trouble for all the martial artists as they all took up a broadhead formation, cleaving its way through the masses upon masses of attacking frogs.
Inside the abandoned farmhouse for a hideout deep in the woods, the Frog Hermit, and another figure; Aoryuzen were both lying in wait.
"Shit. I suspect that I'll be making my departure right about... now." Aoryuzen said as he took his retreat in another direction, leaving the hive mind business to Moaghen, Raikoume, and Kamikase.
"Hmph, oh well. Guess I'll hafta deal with Ranma Saotome myself." "And we'll be dealing with the rest of his friends." Moaghen stated as he and the platinum pair split up to engage the rescue party, isolating Ranma and Akane for the Frog Hermit to deal with.
"Well now, looks like we meet again, Ranma." The Frog Hermit stated as he took his stance. "Wait a sec, so you were the same guy who attacked us back at home, eh?" Ranma replied in query.
"That was only a small taste of what I was capable of in curse form; the form you yourself gave me during your training in Jusenkyo with Genma." The Frog Hermit elucidated with a few taps from the pointed end of his mangled wood staff.
Just then, the assassin drones lured Fuyuki and company away from the hideout, sometime before the Frog hermit sprinkled some water from a vase at Ranma, only for the latter to dodge it.
"That water was from the spring of drowned frog, or Chiwanichuan as the Jusenkyo Guide likes to call it." The Frog Hermit stated as he sprinkled some more of the water at Ranma, yielding the exact same result as before.
Just then, the Frog Hermit jumped into a well full of cold water, turning him into the Frog Man from before.
"Do you know the reason Why I can walk and talk like a human? It's because I've been working with frogs for so long that I no trouble acting human, even when I clearly don't look like it, so ha!" The Frog Man explained as he emerged from the well.
"You dirty! WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!" Ranma screamed as he lunged at the Frog Man before getting thrown out of step in dodging yet another tinkle of curse water.
That's when the Frog Man really started to give the landscape a literal tongue lashing in trying to get hold of Ranma, which he successfully did not seconds later.
"I've had just about enough of your motor mouth, Ranma! So, I'll turn you into a frog for good!" The Frog Man cried as he threw the entire vase at Ranma.
Akane then took action and had the vase hit her in the back. Lo and behold, absolutely nothing happened.
"Hey, wait a minute! That ain't a vase full of curse water you hit Akane with, didja!? You little liar." Ranma snarled as he got back up angry from this deceit.
"Well, I had the curse water, but I somehow lost it in transit when you kicked my ass, so to speak. Oh well, I only wanted to scare you stupid, and it worked, HAHAHAHAAA!" The Frog Man chortled much to Ranma's ire in cracking his knuckles once more.
"Well done, frog face. Ya had me fooled, there. You know what sort of grand prize you'll be getting for it? A ONE WAY ALL EXPENSES PAID TRIP TO KINGDOM COME, THAT'S WHAT!" Ranma screamed as he booted the Frog Man into the sky yet again.
"Hey, what about-" "Fuyuki can handle himself, Akane. Now let's just get the hostages outta this old shit shack and go home." Ranma reassured as he got all the hostages out, save for his fiancees.
Ranma and Akane had also left with the former confident in the knowledge that Fuyuki and company had defeated all the assassin drones that were there.