Hello all, I'm back.

        I finally got my e-mail set up here at school and I've revised the
last two chapters of MWTJ.  I'll be sending the whole thing to the remailer
and to RAAC in a couple of days, so I'm reposting the whole thing here now.  

        The prologue is attached to this e-mail and I'll be sending the
others out later.

        Nothing has changed in Chapters 1 and 2 since their original reposts
a couple of months ago.

        Hope you all enjoy it!

********************************************************************************
Begin -- "Mechwarrior Team Jusenkyo" Prologue (I hope)
********************************************************************************

	Ranma 1/2:  Mechwarrior Team Jusenkyo:  Prologue            `                                      

By:  James "Phoenix" Jones


	The stadium was packed to capacity.  Thousands of screaming patrons crowded the railing looking into the ring.  Each one cheering madly as they waited for the competitors to enter.
	Outside, a man and a woman stood, looking at the standings of the various teams.  The woman's was dressed in a kimono dyed in varing shades of blue, her brown hair tied up around her head.  Her expressin is troubled.  Turning to the man she said,  "I'm not sure this is a good idea, Genma. . . . these tournaments can get awfully rough.  Are you sure you want to let Ranma see this?"
	The man turned toward her, his face all smiles.  He was wearing a white and grey uniform with several designs embrodered on the sleeves.  "War is a part of life, Nodoka." he said.  "This is a good way for him to get used to it."
	"He's only seven years old!" she screamed, quickly turning bright red as several people began to stare at her.
	"Why don't we ask him?" Genma countered.  Tilting his head up slightly, he asked,  "Well Ranma, what'll it be?"
	The little boy sitting on Genma's shoulders ceased looking around at the monitors and looked down at his father.  Like Genma, he was wearing a white and gray uniform.  His black hair fell down in an unbraided ponytail.  "I wanna see the tournament." he said enthusiastically.
	"See." Genma said.
	"But, Genma." Nodoka said.  "I don't think. . ." she trailed off as Ranma stared at her with his big gray eyes.
	"Please, mommy?"  he asked, in as pathetic a voice as he could manage.
	Nodoka hated when he did that, almost as much as she hated the fact that he had learned the trick from her.  "Oh. . . allright." she said, giving in.
	Genma walked up and showed the guard his pass.  Lucky for him, he had a friend who held a perminant box room near the top of the stadium and the Saotomes were allowed to use it whenever they liked.

	"Aloha, Everybody!!!  Welcome to Solaris VII!!!" an announcer called.  "The moment you have all been waiting for is arrived!!!"  Ranma looked at the announcer through the glassteel protection screen and laughed.  He was wearing a flowered shirt and seemed to have a palm tree growing out of his head.  Behind him, he heard his parents laughing as well.
	"In the red section of the stadium:  The undeafeted champions of stadium one!  Lead by Jason Youngblood and his father Jeremiah Youngblood.  The former elite of the Lyran Commonwealth!  THE CRESCENT HAWKS!!!!!!!!!"
	An outragous cheer rose from the crowd as the Hawk battlemechs emereged from their hanger. 
	"Ranma."  Genma whispered.  "Can you tell me what kind of 'mech that is in the lead." As he finished, Genma pointed his finger at the 'mech piloted by Jason Youngblood.  Its Crescent Hawk insignia painted proudly over its left breast.
	Ranma looked at the mech for a second then said,  "A Phoenix Hawk."
	Genma smiled broadly and patted Ranma on the head.  Nodoka leaned in and asked, "Where did he learn that?"
	Genma looked at her rather sheepishly and said nothing.  Nodoka smiled at him sweatly and a moment later, pantomimed a knife going over her throat.  Genma gulped audibly.   Smiling back at his wife, he nodded, then he noticed Ranma's all to innocent expression and decided to turn around.  The 'throat slit' was his wife's private joke, one that Ranma didn't need to know about.
	"And in the blue section:  The undeafeted champions from stadium eight!  Lead by Lance Murdock of the Draconis Combine!  THE RED ANGELS!!!!"
	Again the crowd cheered as the 'mechs moved out of their hangers.
	A moment later, the signal to begin sounded.  The battle began with just a few potshots here and there.  However, when an Angel suddenly exploded, the battle began in ernest.
	The trio stared in wide eyed wonder as the the teams exchanged fire.  
	"Saotome!  Is that you?"
	Genma turned around and looked at the speaker.  Outlined in the door frame stood a man wearing a brown uniform similar to his own.  His black hair and mustache gave him away instantly.  "Tendo!?" Genma asked.
	The two jumped up and shook hands.  Ranma and Nodoka looked inquistively at each other, neither one recognizing the man.
	"Where have you been you old bastard!" Genma asked.  "And how the hell'd you get up here?"
	Soun broke away from his friend and smoothed out his mustache.  "I live on Tharkad." he said.  "As to how I got here, a friend owed me a couple of tickets.  What about you?"
	"We live here on Solaris VII now."
	"We?"
	Genma suddenly realized that it had been almost twelve years since he had even spoken with his friend.  Leading him away from the door he brought him over to were Nodoka and Ranma were standing.
"Soun Tendo." he said.  "Allow me to introduce my wife, Nodoka Mano Saotome.  Nodoka, Soun Tendo."
	"A pleasure." they said in unison, shaking hands.
	"And my son Ranma Saotome." Genma continued.
	Ranma immediately walked up and shook Soun's hand.  "Strong grip young man." Soun commented.
	"Thank you." Ranma replied.
	"Oh that reminds me."  Soun said, turning around.  Behind him stood three young girls, each one staring into the room with inquisitive expressions.  He motioned to them and they walked through the door.
	"Genma, Nodoka and Ranma Saotome." he said.  "This is my family."
	Soun introduced each of his daughters in turn.  Kasumi, the eldest had just turned ten and was the picture of politeness to the Saotomes.  Nabiki, the second oldest, was now eight and smiled at them sweatly between looks at her pocket computer.  Akane, the youngest, was now seven.  Ranma's gaze lingered on her for a few seconds.
	"What is it?" Akane asked, annoyed that he was staring.
	Ranma just nodded dumbly and turned away as fast as he could, directing his attention back to the battle.  Akane giggled and walked up to join him.
	"I think Ranma is getting the first pang of 'spring fever', Genma." Nodoka commented.  Soun looked at Akane, a shocked expression on his face.  Genma laughed.  Kasumi and Nabiki just looked on, not understanding.
	Back at the window, Akane and Ranma had their faces pressed tight against the window, watching the action.  Ranma turned to look at her and extended his hand.  "Hi." he said.  "I'm Ranma Saotome, pleased to metcha.  Sorry I didn't say 'hi' a minute ago."
	Akane looked at him questioningly for a minute.  <What's he doing?> she asked herself.  She stared at the hand for a couple of seconds.  <Guess he's just trying to be nice.> she finally concluded.  "Hi." she said.  "I'm Akane Tendo, pleased to met you too."
	The two shook hands and turned back to the window.
	
	Soun watched the exchange in amusement.  Once Nabiki and Kasumi had moved to the window, he turned to Nodoka and said, "You may be right, Mrs. Saotome." he said.  "Akane is getting along unusually well with him."
	"What do you mean, Mr. Tendo?" she asked.  "Oh, and please call me Nodoka."
	"Allright, I'll call you Nodoka if you'll call me Soun." he replied.
	"Deal." she said.
	"As to what I ment.  Akane has been training in martial arts for about a year now and she's quite good." he said.
	"So is Ranma." Genma interjected.
	"Really?  Mabye they could train together." Soun said, getting off track.
	"Maybe." Genma said.
	"Oh. . . anyway," Soun continued.  "The boys in Akane's school are either always picking on her because they think she's a threat to their egos, or they're pestering her to date them."
	"Children start early these days, don't they." Nodoka said.
	"I'll say." Soun said.  "Nabiki goes through a boyfriend every couple of weeks."
	The three laughed and turned back to watch the match.

	"So what're you into, Akane?" Ranma asked.
	"Oh," she started.  "I do some martial arts with my dad.  That's about it."
	"You any good at it?"
	"Pretty good."  she answered.  "What about you?  What're you into?"
	"I do martial arts too and I'm pretty good myself." he answered.  "Then someday I hope to be a mechwarrior."
	"Really!  Me too!" Akane replied.  Despite herself, she was beginning to like Ranma.  "Everybody says I could probably do it, even my. . . why are you smiling."
	"I'm sorry." Ranma said.  "It's just that everybody knows that girls make lousy mechwarriors."
	"Is that so!?" she asked.
	"Yeah." Ranma replied, matter-of-factly.
	"RANMA NO BAKA!!!!!" Akane screamed, pouncing at him.
	Ranma brought his hands up to block, but she was too fast and knocked him down.  A few seconds later the Saotomes and the Tendos were gathered around, watching the little match.  
	Kasumi looked on in shock.  <You'd think she could take a joke.> she thought.
	<Hmm. . . I wonder how much money I can get out of Akane to keep this quiet?> Nabiki thought.
	Nodoka turned to Genma and Soun.  "Stop them, would you?!" she said.
	The two men laughed and told her it was just all in fun.  Soun commenting that Akane must actually like Ranma or he would be unconsious by now.  Genma made a similar comment and Nodoka just rolled her eyes.  When they turned back, Ranma was sitting on Akane's back.  
	Genma walked over and lifted Ranma up on his shoulders.  Soun moved in to help Akane up.
	"I can be a mechwarrior to, Ranma!" she said, fighting to hold back tears.  "I'll show you."
	Ranma waved his hand at her and said, "Only a tomboy like you would want to try.  So don't let me stop you."
	The two didn't talk to each other through the rest of the match, but when their parents weren't looking, they cast side-long glances at each other, smiling occasionally.  Behind them, their parents chatted about old times, hardly paying any attention to the 'mechs.
	In the end, the Hawks, won the match.  Mostly by virtue of Jason being the only one still standing on the field.
	By this time Ranma and Akane were both half asleep.  Their respective parents picked them up and said their goodbyes, promising to stay in touch from now on.
	Ranma was again sitting on his father's shoulders.  Turning around, he saw Soun retreating, Akane sitting on his shoulders.  To his surprise, she was also looking at him.
	<I hope you can become a mechwarrior someday Akane-chan.> he thought.
	Feeling his son turn around, Genma asked, "You like her don't you, Ranma?"
	Ranma looked down and said, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!"
	Genma and Nodoka laughed as they walked away.

*************************************************
Well there it is.  The story of how Ranma and Akane meet in the BattleTech Universe.  This is just a prologue to the actual story though.  In the actual story, I hope to have all (or at least most of)the main characters as part of Ranma's BattleTech team.  The story will have, (I hope) lots of action and drama.
I have four chapters of this storyline in my mind right now.  I will post them as soon as possible.

If you have any, suggestions, comments, criticisms, etc.  e-mail me at Phoenix@citynet.net
All mail will be replied to.  All flames will be read, thought over, laughed at and promptly discarded.
I hope that you enjoyed this little prologue.

The Characters of Ranma 1/2 are of course the property of Rumiko Takahashi.
The BattleTech Universe is a Registered trademark of FASA.  The names Jason and Jeremiah Youngblood, as well as the Crescent Hawks were taken from the POWERHITS: BATTLETECH 
games;  THE CRESCENT HAWK'S INCEPTION AND CRESCENT HAWK'S REVENGE by Activision.

Thanks for reading and e-mail me as soon as possible.  

*******************************
jace@utkux.utcc.utk.edu			James Jones:  The Blood Phoenix

"Watch your back.  Shoot straight.  Conserve ammo.  And never, ever, cut a
	deal with a dragon."
		-Shadowrun street proverb
"For us Mercs, there's only one difference between life and death.  
	Death pays."
		-Battletech saying