This part is in it's REALLY REALLY Rough draft...

really.

lots of room for adjustment here... and I finally find a way to get
Nuku-Nuku into a cameo...

-rod m

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

   "Ryo!  Ryo!"  Kyoko frowned.  It was already 1:00 PM and Ryo was still 
asleep.
   Ryo woke up, still sore from the disasterous night he had several days 
ago.  "Wha... wha..."
   "Ryo!  Wake up!"
   "Ngh."
   Kyoko looked down at her older brother and bent down to his ear.
   "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!"
   Ryo bolted upright, eyes wide open.  "WHAAAAAAAT!??!?!"
   "We're outta food," she said.
   "Eh?"
   "Go to the grocery, pleeeease?"  She pouted.
   Ryo frowned.  "Fine, I'll go, I'll go."  He got up, grabbed his umbrella,
put on some gloves, and sneaked out into the slightly chilly February weather.

=========

Insert title here

PART 3: Tsubasa's Farewell.

=========

   Gosunkugi happily whistled.  He picked out his best clothes, good 
cologne, and combed his hair carefully.
   Today, the impossible happens.
   Today, he was going on a date with Manami.
   Gosunkugi was grinning happily.  It was an expression alien to his 
face, and so it looked a bit weird.
   I hope this goes right, thought Gosunkugi.

*

   Akari, Manami, Ryoko, and Ukyo were gathered once more down at King's 
for their weekly get-together.  There was one significant change in 
things, which was that Ryoko was now a waitress there.
   "Here's the drinks, guys!" she said as she set down several sodas at 
the table.
   "Hey, Manami," said Akari, "you never tell us any details about your 
mystery man."
   Manami blushed.
   "Mystery man?" asked Ukyo.
   Akari went into detail about what little Manami had said about the subject,
which was basically this:  mystery man reveals no name, stays with Manami
for a short while, leaves without warning.
   "Sounds like a jerk," said Ukyo.
   "C'mon, just a little detail?" asked Akari.
   "No," she replied.  "I don't wanna think about him anymore."
   "Tsk," said Ryoko, "you're starting to sound like Ukyo over there."
   "Hey!" said Ukyo.  "Whaddaya mean by that?!"
   Ryoko smiled at Ukyo, and then, in a mock voice copying Ukyo, said, 
"I'm through with guys."
   "Well," said Ukyo, "I am.  So what?"
   Ryoko smiled evily.  "So if you're not interested in guys, does that 
mean you're interested in..."
   "That's not what I mean!" Ukyo said, flustered.
   The others laughed lightly.  "Sorry," said Ryoko, "just teasing."
   "How about Gosunkugi?" asked Ukyo.
   "Him?  He's... cute, in a weird sort of way," said Manami.  "We're 
gonna go out to see a movie today."
   "Hot date!  Way to go, Manami!" said Ryoko.
   "Ah, you two depress me!" said Akari.  "It's just me and Ukyo without 
any cute boyfriends.  How's things between you and Ryoga, Ryoko?"
   Ryoko frowned.  "Hm.  Not bad, I guess."  She was still bothered by the 
conversation she had with King a while back.  "Hey, Ukyo, can I ask ya a 
favor?"
   "Hm?"
   "Could you... could you ask Ryoga what he thinks about me?"
   "Eh?"
   "I... he always acts so nervous around me, he hasn't said much to me, 
but he's never said no to me either.  I wanna know what's going on."
   "Well..."
   "Please?"

   Just then, someone opened the door.
   "Can somebody tell me... where in the world I am?!?!?!"
   Ryoga stood there, looking tired, confused, and aggrivated.
   For Manami, time stood still.  She got up slowly and approached Ryoga 
nervously.
   Ryoko and Ukyo watched, somewhat confused with their friend's behaviour.
   She reached up to Ryoga's bandanna, touching it lightly.
   "Um... excuse me, do I... know you?" asked Ryoga.  He felt she was 
getting uncomfortably close.
   "It's you!" she said and glomped unto him.  "It's you!"
   "Wha... uh... excuse me?" was all that Ryoga could manage.
   "HEY!" Ryoko yelled.  "That's my boyfriend!!!"
   Ukyo was still in shock.
   "Uh oh," said Akari.
   As Murphy's law states, if something can go wrong, it will.  It was 
already getting bad, and then something else happened.
   Gosunkugi entered the cafe.
   "Hi Ma.... uh... eh..."
   Manami spotted Gosunkugi, unfortunately while she was glomped on to Ryoga.
Suddenly she felt extremely guilty.
   His incredibly fragile self-esteem shattered to pieces.  Gosunkugi 
tossed the flowers he brought into a trash bin and escaped quickly.
   "Um, Gos?  Wait!  Wait!"  Manami ran out the door after him.
   Ryoko was doing the Blue Aura of Angry Girlfriend that Akane Tendo had 
perfected long ago.  "RYOGA!  WHAT WERE YOU DOING?!"
   Ryoga turned pale.  There was Ryoko... and Ukyo too???  He panicked,
unsure of what to do.  On one hand, he really oughta straigten things out,
but on the other hand, he had no idea what was going on.  What did Ranma
usually do at times like this?
   He slowly edged to the door.  "Um.. excuse me... I must be... um... 
going!"  He ran out the door at top speed.
   "GET BACK HERE!!!"  Ryoko stormed after him.
   Ukyo sighed and sat back down.
   Akari's eyebrow was raised as she noticed Ukyo's mood.  "Heeeey, you 
like Ryoga too, don't you."
   "Don't be ridiculous.  We're just friends."
   "If you say so..."

*

   "Lady Akiko, this is TAMI-U, we have the target in sight.  Repeat, we 
have target in sight."
   //Very good.  Go talk to her.//
   "Yes, my lady."
   //Over and out//
   "Arisa," said Kyouko, "The key word here is _talk_, okay?"
   "Whatever."

   Inside the small cockpit were two loyal servants of the Mishima Heavy
Industries Corporation.
   Arisa grinned.  It was time to vent out some frustration.
   "Arisa, hey, why're you priming the cannons?" nervously asked Kyouko.
   "We should use the TAMI-U to it's optimum abilities, shouldn't we?"
   "She said TALK!  Not VAPORIZE!"

   It was a quiet day in the neighborhood.
   The birds were chirping, a person was taking his dog for a walk, a 
ten-ton pink mecha landed in front of a house.
   This was the Tactical Armored Military Infantry-Unit mecha, or 
TAMI-U.  It had two arms, several swiveling turrets, two legs of massive 
girth and strength, an oval body, and could go from 0 to 60 mph in twenty 
seconds (a great achievement in non-aerial mechs).  It was twice as tall 
as the houses surrounding it.
   A speaker popped out.
   
   "KURENAI, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP, OR ELSE!!!"
   
   "What are you doing?!?!?" yelled Kyouko.
   "Applying fear tactics, of course!" answered Arisa.
   "Hey, what's that?" asked Kyouko, pointing to a small object flying at 
their sensors.  Suddenly it exploded, momentarily blinding the mech's 
sensor arrays.
   "Shit!  No visuals!" yelled Arisa.
   "Everything's blank!" yelled Kyouko.

   Tsubasa scrambled for his room.  He knew the blinder bomb wouldn't 
last too long (but it was a nice little toy, courtesy of the Mishima Heavy 
Industries Catalogue (tm)) and they'd be recovered soon.
   But he had a plan.
   He was prepared.

   "Ah!  I've got visuals back!" yelled Arisa.  "What the hell is that?!?!"
   It was, apparently, a two-legged, two-armed, square bodied mech.
   With shingles and a chimney.
   A speaker popped out of it.
   "I think..." said Kyouko, "...it was the house."
   "BACK OFF, NOW!" a cute little voice screamed.  Some serious weaponry 
emerged from the sides.
   "Oh ho!  So the bitch wants to FIGHT does she?" said Arisa.  Her 
battle aura flared in anticipation of the glorous battle ahead.
   "Um... Arisa... calm down, okay?  Arisa?"

*

   "Excuse me, miss?  Where is this place?"
   "Aisle three."
   "Pardon?"
   "Aisle three.  Soups, sauces, and spices."
   Ryoga looked around curiously.  "Um... this is a grocery?"  He sighed.
Well, at least it was away from everyone.  He leaned against a wall and
turned things over in his mind.
   What a mess.  First the problem with Shampoo, then Kodachi, and then
Ryoko and now this.  At least Kodachi hadn't been around lately.
   Manami... he remembered her.  She was a nice girl, helped him out when
he was wandering around with amnesia.  But he didn't mean for her to
fall for him.
   Ryoga sighed.  Wasn't this the sort of mess that Ranma normally gets?

*

   The mechs stormed through the streets, setting records for property 
damage in that particular street.  The HouseMech was incredibly agile, 
but its armor was light.  The TAMI-U was barely slower but had the 
advantage of heavy armor and incredibly superior weaponry.
   At the moment, the HouseMech was flying through the air, courtesy of a 
TAMI-U Uppercut.
   "Aaaah!" screamed Tsubasa.  He had suspicions that Mishima might come 
after him once they found out how he was using their mechs, but he never 
thought that they'd go after him with heavy artillery like this.  He tore 
off several roofs in his flight.

   "I'LL GIVE YOU ONE MORE CHANCE!  SURRENDER OR DIE!"
   "YOU THINK I HAVEN'T HEARD THE RUMORS ABOUT WHAT YOU DO TO YOUR 
PRISONERS?  NO WAY I'M SURRENDERING!"

   The HouseMech's garage suddenly opened up, and a stream of missiles 
blazed forth.
   "Holy sh-" was all Arisa could yell before the TAMI-U was blasted off 
its feet.  "AAAAARGH!  THAT BRAT IS PISSING ME OFF!"
   "Um, Arisa?  Our arm..."
   "Eh?"
   "She blew off our left arm.  The one with the capture net."
   "Doesn't matter."
   "Arisa?"
   "BECAUSE I'M GONNA KILL THAT LITTLE BITCH!"  Arisa grabbed the 
controls angrily.
   "Arisa!  No!  We've already destroyed a bunch of public property!"
   Arisa aimed, then revved the controls.
   "TAMI-U KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!"

   *WHAM*

*

   Ryoga calmly walked around the frozen food aisle, wondering if he 
should get something.  He had some cash in his pocket, and the 
refrigerator at Ucchan's was kinda low.  He figured that he'd best call 
the house first before deciding.
   But before doing that, he'd better find his way to the payphone.  This 
place seemed to have an infinite number of aisles..

*

   Ryoga stood by the payphone in the store, trying to hear what Ukyo was 
saying.
   "What?" yelled Ryoga into the phone.  "I can't hear you, this phone is 
lousy!"
   "I'm at a grocery store!"
   "What?  I just got lost here!  Listen, can you meet me here?  It's the 
supermarket across from the Pachinko Parlor!"
   "Anything you need from here?"
   "What's that?" asked Ryoga.  He was holding a public phone to his 
ear.  "Say that again?  Salt, eggs, cereal, breakfast stuff, soda, right."

*

   The HouseMech stumbled towards the commercial district, with both of 
its arms ripped off.  It managed to evade the TAMI-U unit by tossing more 
blinder bombs and running, but he knew he wouldn't evade it for long.  
Both of the mech's arms were torn off.

   The TAMI-U unit shambled into view.  It had a half-arm and some wicket 
tentacles left on it.
   "YOU'RE STARTING TO REALLY GET ME MAD, KURENAI!" yelled Arisa.
   "Arisa!  Akiko's gonna get mad when she sees we've trashed the TAMI-U 
unit!" said Kyouko.
   "Shaddup, this is personal!"
   "Arisa, we're in the commercial district!"

*   
   
   Ryoga hummed as he randomly wandered through the grocery.
   He grabbed a shopping cart and started grabbing items.
   He hummed, grabbing some vegetables, a few packs of meat, some frozen 
dinners...
   Oh, wait, Ukyo's crazy about those gaijin waffle products.  Definitely 
had to get one of those.

   He reached into the freezer bin to grab a box.
   Another hand grabbed it at the same time.
   He looked up and scowled, as did the other guy.

   "Ryoga, leggo of my eggos.  _Now_"

*

   *BOOM*

   Ryo was flung out through the back wall, leaving a big hole in the 
supermarket.  He skidded to a halt on the sidewalk outside and wiped the 
blood from his mouth.
   "STILL GOT THE EGGOS, YOU BASTARD!" he defiantly yelled, holding the 
box up.
   Ryoga soon appeared and ran towards Ryo, who also got ready to fight.
   Ryo slashed with his umbrella, but Ryoga dodged, grabbed it, and didn't
let go.
   "Let's see how you do without that thing," said Ryoga as he tried to
pull the umbrella away.
   Ryo grinned.  He pulled his free hand back, and it started to glow.
Unfortunately, Ryoga was fixated on the umbrella.
   Ryo swung at Ryoga's chest, his fist blazing with light while yelling
"Raioh-ken!"
   Ryoga had enough time to let go of the umbrella and block with his arms.
The punch hit incredibly hard, knocking Ryoga a good distance away.  His
arm was hurting from the hit.
   "Surprised, Hibiki?" said Ryo, who held his fists in front of him.  He
concentrated for a moment, then they both flared with ki-power briefly.
   Ryoga was surprised.  That was _without_ the umbrella, and unlike last
time, Ryo's arm wasn't ruined.  What was going on?
   "Allow me to gloat a little bit," said Ryo, "and if you don't understand
afterwards, it's not my problem."  He picked up his umbrella and advanced
towards Ryoga.  "The trick is all in the hands," he said, flexing his
gloved hand blatantly so as to get Ryoga's attention.
   Ryoga grabbed his own umbrella and got ready to fight again.
   "And now, allow me to show you a new trick," said Ryo, and pressed a
button on his umbrella.  A needle popped out of the end of it.  "En guard!"

*

   "Arisa, you just wrecked the First National Bank!"
   "Who cares!"  Arisa reached over and opened a side panel.
   "That's the plasma cannon!" yelled Kyouko.
   "I know."  Arisa took aim at the HouseMech and pressed the button.  
   "DIEEEE!!!"

*

   Ryoga and Ryo clashed umbrella against umbrella, neither getting a
decisive edge.
   "Hold still, Ryoga!  You'll love my new trick!"  *swish*
   "What, a poisoned needle umbrellla?" *whoosh-whoosh*
   "Tsk.  I'm more original than that."  *swoosh*
   Then, for some reason, Ryoga seemed distracted.  Ryo saw his chance.  
A dark shadow filled the area as he stabbed forward.
   Ryoga stepped back in horror.  He saw Ryo's umbrella racing towards his
chest.  He heard Ryo beginning to yell something...

   "BAKUSAI-TEN-SA-"

   Then his world went black.

*

   Arisa grinned.  "Got the bitch!" she yelled.
   "Okay, okay, let's just get her, eh?"
   The TAMI-U, with one and a half legs and a stump of an arm left, 
shambled forward, where the HouseMech had made its final crash landing.

   Tsubasa checked his systems status.  It looked bad.  All limbs
non-operational.  Weapons systems gone.  Even the visuals were shot.  
He sweated nervously as the lights in the cockpit flickered like a 
strobelight.
   There was this tapping noise.  Tsubasa looked around his cockpit 
to see what it was.  Didn't seem to be anything in there...

   "I'm going out in the exo-suit.  Be right back," said Arisa.  She
stepped into a mech armor suit and then jumped out of a side opening.
She stomped across the surface of the HouseMech, ripped open the front
door, dissapeared for a moment, then emerged carrying a long-haired girl
that was slapping and kicking the suit furiously.
   Arisa pulled Tsubasa to her visor.  "The boss wants to have a few
words with you."

*

   Ryoga felt bad.  Incredibly bad.  It was dark and he felt like he was
crushed.  He couldn't see anything at all.  He tried moving.  It didn't
work.  The last thing he saw was Ryo's umbrella going straight at him.
   
   Then he heard yelling.
   
   It got louder.

   "GET THIS OFF OF ME!!!!" *WHAM*WHAM*WHAM*
   Ryo pounded angrily against what felt like house shingles.  He cursed
his luck.  What the hell was this house doing dropping on him like that
JUST when he was about to kill Ryoga?

*

   Tsubasa slowly shook himself out of unconsciousness.  His eyes came back
into focus.
   He was in an office.  A very nice office.  Something that a company
president would have, he guessed.
   He was seated in front of a desk, and behind the desk was someone...
she was guarded on either side by ladies.  One tall and with a sneer, one
shorter.  The lady behind the desk looked familiar... kind of like that 
greedy Tendo girl if she was older...
   Tsubasa gasped as he finally recognized who he was in front of.
   She was the president of Mishima Heavy Industries.
   "Ah," she said, "I see you're awake, Miss Kurenai."
   Tsubasa nodded, frightened for her life.  Nabiki Tendo was a small time
con-artist compared to Akiko Natsume, president of MHI Inc.  He felt that
he was in serious trouble.
   "Forgive my two employees for being... a bit rough on you, Miss Kurenai.
We only wished to talk to you."  Akiko briefly eyed Arisa with disapproval.
"Apologize to the young lady, Arisa."
   The taller one winced.  "S... sorry for the attack, Miss Kurenai."
   "There, see?  No hard feelings."
   "Um," said Tsubasa, "what... um..."
   "What, you may ask, are you here for?  Well, let's talk business..."
   This didn't make Tsubasa feel any better.
   "I'll get to the point, Miss Kurenai," said Akiko, waiving around a pen.
Tsubasa noticed that the tip was aimed at his head at times.  Given that
MHI was a weapons development company, he didn't like the look of that pen
at all.
   "Don't kill me, please?" said Tsubassa meekly.
   Akiko blinked.  She smiled.  She started laughing.  Tsubasa noticed that
her laugh sounded _alot_ like Kodachi's.  "Kill you?  Oh, no, we've got
something else in mind."
   "Don't hurt me!"  Tsubasa was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
   "CUT IT OUT!" yelled Akiko.
   "PLEASE DON'T CUT ME UP!" screamed Tsubasa, in a rather girly fashon.
   Akiko sighed.  This was going to be a long day.

*

A day later...

*

   Ryoga groaned as he lay on his cot.
   Ukyo knelt beside him, frowning.  "Ryoga, how _do_ you get into these
things.
   "It's not my fault... I swear..."
   "Jeez, you look bad, Ryoga.  Like somebody dropped a house on ya."
   Ryoga glared at her.
   "Okay, okay, it was a bad joke," said Ukyo, giggling a bit.  "What was
the fight over anyways?"
   Ryoga hesitated for a moment.  "You... wouldn't believe me."
   "Try me."
   "Ehmrhrs," he muttered.
   "What?"
   "Emrrmhmss," he answered, quietly.
   "Louder!"
   "Eggos."
   Ukyo blinked.  "Excuse me?"
   "Eggos."
   "The breakfast product?"
   "Eggos."

   There was an awkward moment of silence.  Ukyo looked thoughtful while 
Ryoga looked embarrased.

   Ukyo blinked again.  "You wrecked several walls and got crushed by a
house over a frozen breakfast?"
   Ryoga looked down in embarrasment.  "Ah...yeah."

   There was another moment of silence.

   Ukyo burst into laughter.
   "Hey!" yelled Ryoga, "Cut it out!"

*

   Tsubasa felt regret.  Lots of it.
   He'd transfered out of Furinkan, cut all his ties to his old life, and
started anew here.  But... he missed Ukyo.  He hoped that once he got
his savings all settled and himself established in the industry, he'd
come back and sweep her off her feet.  Someday.
   Granted, it was an honor to work for Mishima Heavy Industries, the pay
WAS nice, they didn't ask him to stop wearing the dress (actually, they
still thought he was a she, but but there were some days...
   Get the coffee Tsubasa, bring over the files Tsubasa, answer the
phone Tsubasa, make copies of these Tsubasa, open up my files on the
computer Tsubasa, bring that large metal bit over here Tsubasa, he
was nothing more than a glorified errand girl!
   Tsubasa frowned, turning this thought over in his head as he walked
down the halls.  Being an assistant to the acclaimed android designer
Mr. Natsume wasn't all he hoped it would be.  The guy was brilliant,
but absentminded, a slob, and a chain-smoker.  
   "Um, hello?"
   Tsubasa stopped his walk, making sure the files he was carrying didn't
fall over and spill.
   "Need help with something?" he asked.
   "Where's Papa-san's office?" a rather innocent voice said.  It sounded...
a little like Ranma-chan's.  Tsubasa looked carefully at the girl in front
of him.
   Long pink hair, rather cute, seemed innocent too.  No, definitely not
Ranma.  Wow, he thought, I wonder who she is...
   Suddenly, the girl turned, smiled, and ran to a door that was open.
"Papa-san!" she yelled, hopping inside.  She was met at the door by his
boss.
   Tsubasa blinked.
   This was the boss's daughter?
   "Nuku Nuku, what're you doing here?"
   "Papa-san hasn't been home for two days!"
   "Nuku Nuku, don't worry about me, I'll be fine.  Oh, have you met my
new assistant yet?  Tsubasa!  Come here!"
   Tsubasa nervously walked over.
   "This is Tsubasa Kurenai, she's my helper around here.  Tsubasa, this is
my daughter Nuku Nuku."
   "Hiiii!" Nuku said happily.
   Tsubasa grinned, blushed, and said hello.

*

   At Ucchan's, it was another busy weekend.  Lots of people were in for
the lunch crowd.  At days like this, Ukyo did all the serving while Ryoga
manned the register.
   "Thanks for coming!" Ryoga said each time before a customer departed
and "Welcome to Ucchan's" whenever someone entered.
   A young lady stepped in, rather timidly.
   "Welcome to Ucc..." Ryoga blinked.  The girl seemed familiar...  She
looked around, saw Ukyo, and started walking towards her nervously.
   "Um, Ukyo-sama?"
   Ukyo's eyes popped wide open and she started looking at all the
furniture in the room, ready to swat them.
   "Ukyo-sama?  It's me."  The 'girl' waved her hand cautiously.
   "Tsubasa?  No disguises this time?"  Ukyo said cautiously.  She was wary
of Tsubasa, ready to swat him if he went for a glomp.
   "I... I just came to say goodbye."
   Ukyo's curiosity was piqued.  "Hm?  Goodbye?"
   "I've... I've got a job elsewhere and I'm transferring to a private
school."
   "You got a job?" asked Ukyo.
   "Yeah, although I can't talk about it too much.  I... just wanted to see
you again... before I left."
   "Oh."  Ukyo was, for lack of a better expression, touched.  She didn't
really like Tsubasa, but she didn't hate him that much either.  She just
thought of him as a regular pest, took him for granted really.  The sun
rises, the sun sets, Tsubasa dresses up strangely and tries to glomp
her.  It was one of those things.
   "Well... um... g'bye."  Tsubasa turned to leave.  Ukyo felt a twang
of guilt.  The guy seemed so pathetic at the moment.
   "Hey, catch," she said, and tossed something towards Tsubasa.
   "Hm?"  He looked at the fresh okonomiyaki, sighed, smiled, said
"Thanks Ukyo!" and walked out of her life.
   "Hey, what'd you write on the okonomiyaki?" asked Ryoga.
   "Good Luck."

-end-