Private Bet #10 Chapter II
by Shade
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and affiliates are the
property of Rumiko Takahashi, Rifts and
Phase World are owned by Palladium. Other
references belong to their respective owners.
~~~~~~~~~
2d:(part 4)......No comment.
-Aboard the Untamed Stallion (Don�t you just hate when I do this. -_^)
Communications officer Tania sighed.
She�d been doing that a lot lately for the past three weeks.
In fact so much so that it was getting on everyone else�s nerves.
�Would you stop that!� Commander Ayla snapped at her,
the metamorphasized Dragon�s nerves frayed to the breaking point by
that constant irritating sound her Elven subordinate made.
The normally perky girl cringed, cowed by this uncharacteristic
display of temper. Usually Ayla was the very model of
composure, able to get her point across with a few carefully
chosen words or a simple stern look that got even the most
rowdy crew member in line. For her to start behaving this way
something had to be seriously wrong with her. And they all
knew what it was, they were all feeling it too.
The force that bound them all together into a unbeatable united team
was gone, the one that had smoothed over individual rough edges and friction and been the very heart of the Untamed Stallion was missing.
Reflexively the pretty blonde turned to look at the Captain�s chair,
a whimsical hope that perhaps he�d be there and everything would go back to normal crossing her mind.
The emptiness that greeted her eyes was a cruel one.
Ranma was gone.
Ayla had refused to sit in that seat even though she was now
the one in control of the ship. That seat belonged to only one
person, the true captain of the Untamed Stallion.
She noticed Tania�s glance toward the empty seat
and her conscience berated her. They were all feeling out
of sorts, losing her temper did nothing except lower the
crew�s already rock-bottom morale. She had a responsibilty
to them all, the Captain had left her in charge......captain.....
{Why? Why did you have to leave?!}
It was a question Ayla had been asking herself constantly as
every day passed and his absence took its
toll on them. Three weeks had gone by without any word from the
Captain after they had taken him to one of the Rim worlds and left him
there. Three quiet, boring, long weeks without even a hint of action to get their minds off worrying about Ranma. It was driving them crazy, things couldn�t go on for much longer like this before something gave.
The Chiang-Ku was especially worried about Akiko and Yukio.
The twins had become quiet and withdrawn ever since Saotome had left,
that was a bad sign. Distracted fighter pilots usually ended up as dead pilots. No one else onboard could fly those ships as well as the Turbo Jockies, so replacement was not an option.
Even if she simply suspended them from flying until
they snapped out of their funk it would mean cutting their
fighter strength in half and reduce the Untamed Stallion�s
actual combat strength by nearly a third. Without the Katana Starfighers
they had only the Black Eagle Medium Fighters to deliver the giant
antimatter cruise missiles that were one of their most important
anti-ship weapons.
{Damn it all! We need you Captain............
RANMA, WHERE ARE YOU?!}
*BEEP**BEEP*
�Incoming transmission!�
Tania�s alarmed voice was like a shot of highly
concentrated caffeine, the entire bridge snapped into
alertness as they took their ready stations.
�Source?�
�Checking now......It�s from Fleet Command!�
�The flagship?!� The first officer found herself asking, unable
to believe it at first.
�Confirmed! Hyperspace squirt from the HopeBringer! Priority 1,
Condition Red, using the full Antilles encryption package! Slicing now......�
{What could they possibly need us
for that they�d use a Hypertransmission station?!
The cost for those are prohibitive!}
As the officer read the decoded
message her eyes widened.......
{My Gods! They�re actually going to do it??!!!}
�Commander?� Lily looked worriedly at the
shocked expression on the officer�s face.
�Sammy, Bring us about and set course for the Ristmoth System,
Maximum warp!�
�Acknowledged Commander! Engaging FTL Drive.�
The chestnut haired former Imperial Guardsman
turned helms(wo)man swiftly moved to fulfill the order, her hands
flashing across the controls that directed the mighty Contragravity
Engines.(1)
The sleek warship seemed to briefly stretch into infinity as matter
achieved a velocity faster then Einstein�s laws of relativity allowed.
~~~~~~~~~~~
-Rifts Earth, North America
Janet Braddock was after a man.
Not just any man, but a very special man.
And as the second in command of a large
and prominant mercenary company who
also happened to be the daughter of the
man who ran the company she usually got
what she was looking for one way or another.
The fact that the mercs had just been hired
by Erin Tarn to find the exact same person she
wanted to find was an unexpected bonus.
{It�s time we settled some things Ran. Then I
need to talk to Daddykins about that �No Dating�
rule of his.}
Around her neck was a small locket with a
photograph of the man that had saved Janet�s life
from the psychopathic traitor who�d joined the
company several years ago. A Braddock never
left a debt unpaid, a certain pigtailed young man
was about to get the surprise of his life....
~~~~~
-Phase World Center
Katrina Sun looked around inside the giant indestructable
structure known as the �Center� where over ten million
beings of practically every known race and species could be found
as they made deals that either made them or broke them.
Even the Dimensional Market of Splynn
paled beside this trans-universal business node
of the Megaverse. Everything one could desire was
available for sale here, any whim or fancy could be
satisfied......for the right price.
There were simply no words capable of describing
the giant bustling chaos that was Center, it was
an old joke that the only thing harder then seeing
the Center was surviving it. Crime was not unheard of
even in the upper levels, the lower levels of Center were
places only fools and the desperate dared tread. Full scale
battles between bitter rivals occasionally broke out in the
many halls despite the Prometheuns attempts to restrict the
presence of combat robot vehicles and other instruments
of mass destruction. This was the place for adventure and excitement,
with danger lying around every corner and potential rewards
that could boggle the mind.
The Ley Line Walker had no eyes for any of the
dazzling sights though. After weeks of searching
she�d finally gotten a lead to Ranma�s whereabouts.
The amnesiac Goddess turned adventurer wasn�t
about to let the most noble man she had ever met
just walk out of her life without a fight!
Her contact had mentioned the Free World Council,
now all she had to do was find them.....
{Soon Ranma.....}
~~~~~~~~~
-Planet Playtex, Headquarters for the Legion of W.A.R.S.
The Lusty Lingerie Amazons were not happy.
Weeks of searching with their best agents had
turned up nothing, even their allied cousins from
the secret world of Victoria had been unable
to find the one that the legion had been created for.
Ranma Saotome had vanished from the face of the
Three Galaxies. The 6.4 billion beautiful girls on the planet
were quite ready to start panicking now.
Their race had originally been solely female, reproducing
through a giant network of automated cloning machines.
Their civilization had never even seen a man until the
day that the Untamed Stallion and the Soyokaze literally
stumbled onto their small empire.
Captain Tylor got off lucky, Empress Azalyn had declared him
to be under her protection. Though they might desire him the
Amazons were smart enough to know that he was off limits
for the moment.
Captain Saotome on the other hand.....
The scary thing was that they were quite willing
and even eager to share him. The Lingerie Amazons
had a saying �Love is something to be enjoyed by all�.
In Ranma�s case they meant that literally, especially
since that meant that the other girls after him would
be available as well......
They *were* a passionate people after all....
~~~~~~~~
-The Tendo Bath (At last)
Time seemed to grind to a halt.
The screen door inched its way open....
~~~~~~
The Tendo daughters carried a small towel
each and nothing else. Although it was slightly
unusual for all of them to use the bath at
once it wasn�t unheard of. They had shared
the facilities on occasion during their childhood.
So there were no surprises to be found as they
disrobed and prepared to get nice and clean.
The surprise awaited them in the Bath proper.....
~~~~~
Ranma dried his hair, he felt much better now.
Even a jealous Rune Weapon couldn�t put a
damper on his mood, the steaming hot water
had felt so good.....
His telepathic sparring with Ishtar
was pretty much on familar ground,
she was always this way whenever
he met a girl no matter how nice
they might be. She was always
suspicious of them, worrying about the
vile deeds they might commit upon
his trusting body. But Ranma now understood
why she did that. It had surprised him learn
how deep Ishtar�s feelings really were that first
time they�d touched minds, he�d never
imagined she cared that much about him
Ranma had rescued the enslaved Goddess of Light
from a Splugorth Intelligence that had made the
fatal mistake of underestimating his newest
captured experimental subject. Though normally a
Cosmoknight�s morals wouldn�t allow Ranma to keep
a weapon that used the captured soul of another being as
its source of power he�d found himself being asked...even
begged by Ishtar to be wielded in the name of all that was Good.
It was a request he�d been unable to refuse and one he�d
never regretted accepting. Her psionic and magical talents had
proven invaluable, with Ishtar�s help even the most magically
gifted opponent could be defeated with a reasonable chance
of success. Ranma had tried to find a way to free her though, only
to discover to his horror that although it was possible to destroy a
supposedly invincible Rune Weapon, doing so meant that the soul of
the being trapped within it would be forever lost!!!
So it had remained, with a bond as close as lovers
between the sentient weapon and the man who
carried her yet the only way they could ever meet was
while he slept, within the brief paradise of his deepest
dreams. It was a bittersweet union between them,
the one person who the Cosmoknight trusted absolutely
without reservation was also the only one he could never truly
know.
He never heard the door open....
~~~~~~~~~
There was a sharp intake of breath as Kasumi,
Nabiki and Akane were treated to the sight of
glistening, well toned and very nude prime
male flesh.
The angle was just right so that they could get good
looks at both his front and part of his lower rear anatomy.
The term buns of steel suddenly popped into Kasumi�s
head for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
With the towel over his face Ranma couldn�t see
his three unintentional voyeurs and kept on toweling off.
The girls stared long and hard at his well muscled frame,
their towels dropping unnoticed to the floor. Their gazes
roamed up and down his exposed body. They noticed
something almost immediately that had been hidden from
them before.
Ranma had tattoos.
Nabiki was awestruck by the finely detailed Phoenix arising from
flames that lay over the young man�s heart, it almost looked....alive.
She wondered what it would taste like.....
It would have shocked her to find Kasumi was wondering the
exact same thing of the armored knight on Ranma�s right shoulder.
Akane�s eyes caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a tattoo of three
eyes just above the inside of his elbow. The other two power tattoos just
behind Ranma�s wrists went unnoticed for the present.(2)
As if by popular vote the three pairs of
curious eyes descended south of the border......
~~~~~~
*CENSORED*
�HEY!!!� The female Bet participants cried as the large
black dot appeared to cover the entire scene.
�Sorry folks, we�re not allowed
to show this in the mainstream.�
The Bard had his best used car salesman act on.
�Thank goodness.� Shadow whispered
to the Guardian who nodded in agreement.
Rowan hit the fast forward.
Zora just smiled, a mischievous gleam in her eye.
~~~~~~~~
{MINE!!!} Nabiki�s first rational thought was
almost violent in its intensity.
{EEP!!!} As if transfixed by a cobra Akane�s wide eyed
stare fixed on a particular portion of Ranma�s body.
her mouth kept opening like a fish out of water and
about as much came out. Her face was threatening to
explode from all the blood rushing into her cheeks.
{Oh my....this is most improper...I shouldn�t be
doing this........I�ll just turn around and......
turn around....turn....and....um....another minute shouldn�t hurt......}
Kasumi found herself unable to tear her eyes away.
Just as things were about to get interesting Akane noticed
her older sister starting to head toward Ranma with a eerie
determined gleam in her eye and panicked. Her arms reached
out to snag both of the other girls and yanked them back to the
safety that lay behind the doorway before slamming the door
shut.
*BANG*
�Huh?� Ranma looked toward the doorway after removing the towel,
he thought he�d heard someone. But there wasn�t anyone there....
{What was that all about?}
[*Snicker* Looks like someone just got a free peep show to me.]
{What?!}
He couldn�t get another answer out of her,
Ishtar was too busy laughing.
~~~~~~~~~
Elsewhere in the house Genma and Soun were plotting.(3)
�Genma! The houses MUST be joined!!�
�I know old friend, but the boy is stubborn. We can�t
simply force him into this, somehow he�s become too
strong and independent for such measures. We need a
subtle plan to make him marry one of your daughters.
By the way who is going to marry him anyway?�
�Uh....�
{Think of something Soun!}
�Akane! Yes Akane shall marry him!! He�s a martial artist,
she�s a martial artist, it�s a match made with heaven�s blessings!!�
Common Sense groaned in disgust and went off to sulk.
�Well then all we need to do is get them
together and let Nature take its course!�
�Alright then!! It�s Soun and Genma�s...�
They shouted out together much to the dismay of the neighbors.
�....Operation: Get Them Hitched!!!�
~~~~~~~
The Cosmic Forge lay hidden, always
watching but never interfering directly......
Right now it was having a good laugh, even
ultra powerful nearly omniscient artifacts have
a sense of humor. Its chosen one just seemed
to attract chaos wherever he went. But of all the
beings that it had selected over countless millennia, this
boy Ranma had come the closest to achieving the necessary
qualities that the Forge had been searching for. The Knights
were a test, they had been given the first hints of the gift
but all had never been able to move on to the next step.
After so many failures the ancient creation was starting to
dispair of ever being able to find
the One, but now.....
For the first time in nearly a millennia the Forge knew hope. This
chosen one had constantly pushed the boundries of his gift and
discovered new ways to use it, ways that went beyond anything
any other Cosmoknight had been ever able to achieve. Right now
he was at cruical point, if he was able to actually take the next step
to the level beyond.....
The Cosmic Forge, Guardian of the Three Galaxies
laughed.....
...and prayed.
~~~~~~~~
Ryoga the donkey was running as
if the entire population of the Nine
Hells were after him.
�Git back here Bessie! I got needs to be relieved!!!�
If anything Ryoga ran faster after hearing that.
Bad enough being used as a pack animal but that....
That was a fate worst then death!!!!
{DAMN YOU RANMA!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR
FAULT!!!}
Ryoga kept on running long after he lost the grizzly
old man that was chasing him. He didn�t pay any
attention to where he was going
Say, didn�t that bunch of pools up ahead look familar?
That stray thought took awhile to get the occupied jackass�s attention.
{AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!}
*SPLASH*
It was a long night.
(to be continued in Chapter III)
(P.S. I may add another addition to this chapter,
it still feels a little unfinished)
(1) Contragravity involves using anti-graviton particles to
neutralize the effects of gravity on an object. This technology
is the basis for anti-gravity systems and the primary method
for achieving speeds greater then light.
(2) Tattoo Magic: each tattoo can be activated to give
Ranma a specific power for a limited amount of time.
All use up a lot of power since Ranma has to pay twice the
amount of energy they normally require because he has only
five tattoos.
(Chest)Phoenix arising from flames: Super Healing & Resurrection(Restricted)
(Shoulder)Knight in Armor: Magical Armor
(Upper arm)Three Eyes: Supernatural Vision
(Includes see invisible & detect magic)
(Behind wrist) Heart in Chains: Limited Invincibility
(Ditto) Eye between two lines: Magical Vision(Able to recognize
magical items and symbols plus can also use scrolls)
(3) You didn�t really think they�d give up that easily did you?
*$*$*$*
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
>From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-Robert Frost
"a politician is an arse upon
which everyone has sat except a man"
-E.E. Cummings
____________________________________________________________________
Get free e-mail and a permanent address at http://www.netaddress.com/?N=1