[Mauve mists swirl...]

Urd: *cough* *hack* *wheeze* 'Niichan, stop taking lessons from Lurker!
Chris: [sniffs] Everyone's a critic.
Skuld: [pulls off a gas mask] Mauve?  Where did you get mauve smoke?
Chris: I LIKE mauve!
Belldandy: [glazed eyes] Ooohh, the colors....

Notes:
Okay, some of you are going to take offense at this, others won't, I dunno.
This fic is going to have a very grisly scene near the beginning. Someone
dies a Horrible, Hideous, and Excruciating Death (tm)!!! But bear with. 

Chris: OOOOhhhhh...VIOLENCE!
Belldandy: Look at the pretty birdies...
Urd: What was in that smoke, anyway?
Chris: Ancient otaku secret.

	In a remote laboratory hidden beneath an abandoned warehouse in the Nerima
district, a rotund, elderly man in a white lab coat examined a terminal
screen, frowned, and tapped several keys on the control pad. An image on
the screen flickered, then steadied. The man smiled slightly, and walked to
the other side of the lab.
	He stopped in front of a large metal locker, which had two glass panels in
the doors. Through each glass panel, a smooth, pale, young face was
visible. The faces were marred only by small indentures in the skin here
and there, where bits of metal glinted, and wires ran into various monitors
lining the locker.

Urd: It's the Borg!
Chris: Urd, you don't strike me as the trekkie type.
Urd: Data is SOOO kawai!
Skuld: Geordie's my hero!
(Author's note, so I can't spell, sue me)

[Chris merely turns to Belldandy, arches an eyebrow]

Chris: Well?
Belldandy: [blushes] I think the guy who plays Barkley is kind of
kawai....
Chris: [shudders] I didn't need that image.  [pauses, chuckles]
Skuld: What's so funny?
Chris: The image of you three as Bjorans.
Urd: [primly] I've got the figure for it.

	"The tests are achieving all the desired results, boys," the man said,
smiling kindly at the faces. "If the last set of data checks out
positively, it'll be time to bring the two of you to awareness..."

Chris: [Brain voice] And then, we'll take over the world!
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..*cough* *hack* damn cold.

	Suddenly, an alarm klaxon blared. The man looked up, eyes wide with shock.
The klaxon sounding indicated an unauthorized teleport into the laboratory
confines. "Wily?" he called. "Is that you?"

Chris: [Wily voice] No, it's Vee.
Urd: [smacking Chris upside the head] Grow up.
Chris: [whining] I don' wanna!

	A flash of blue light ripped the air above his head, and two objects fell
to the ground. One appeared to be a futuristic silicon clipboard, with a
message hastily scrawled onto its translucent surface. The other...he
paled.

<*CRACK* *BOOM* *OMINOUS THUNDER*>
Belldandy: He really likes that sound bite, doesn't he?
Chris: [shrugging] It works.

	The other object, by all rights, shouldn't have existed. He'd definitely
sketched plans to develop it someday, if his current experiments were
successful...did that mean it had worked? He picked up the smooth blue
energy-matrix crystal, and turned it over in his hands.
	On one side, the crystal was charred black, cracks lining its surface. He
felt tears coming to his eyes as he looked at the damage, knowing full well
what it meant. He picked up the clipboard, and read its message.

Chris: That brings an interesting point to mind...kind of a T2 thing goign
here.
Urd: It doesn't work that way, you know.
Skuld: Yeah, if he was the one who developed it, it would have been
destoryed by the time stream when they tried to send it back.
Belldandy: We put quite a bit of work into that code.
Chris: Uhh..guys...it's fanfiction!  Chill already!

	<Dr. Light-I am writing to you from a time in your distant future. My name
is Cain. A number of years ago, I discovered your buried experiment, and
activated him. Since then, many others based on your design have been
built...but something went horribly wrong. A virus broke out among them,
causing many of them to become corrupt, evil. Your original model became
the first among many to help thwart the threat from the virus...but the
Irregulars have, alas, become too powerful.>

Chris: *sigh* [whines] Lurker...
Skuld: He's right, there is a definite T2 influence.
Chris: I HATE temporal mechanics.
Urd: That's an odd thing to say considering you're a god of time.
Chris: Don't remind me.

	<I am writing this, to warn you. A group of Irregulars has traveled into
the past, into your era, and I fear the harm they will do to the course of
history.>

Chris: AH! The bad guys!

	<You hold proof that what I say is true. The crystal which I sent with the
message is what remains of the heart of X.>
	Dr. Light dropped the clipboard numbly, and stared at the marred indigo
crystal. Sinking to his knees, he wept.

Belldandy: Oh, that poor man.
Chris: Interesting moral dilemma there.

	Dr. Wily stalked into the basement lab, wicked thoughts churning through
his mind. He had already begun coding the algorithms which would be
neccessary to reprogram Light's machines to turn against him. As soon as
the final testing was done on the robots, he would reprogram their
matrices, making them his loyal followers. He rubbed his hands in evil
glee.

Skuld: [growls]
Chris: What's with you?
Urd: Don't get her started!
Skuld: He's an evil, horrible, twisted, nasty...[tirade continues]...man
who take nice good robots and makes them evil!
Chris: Taking this personally, I see.
Skuld: You should see what he did to one of my robots!

	As he entered the lab, he noticed his "partner" on the floor, weeping.
Wily, for all the darkness in his heart, was, for now, still this man's
friend. He walked over, concern--genuine concern--etched on his craggy
face. "Light? What's wrong?"

Skuld: Lying. schemeing, evil, traitorous...
Chris: Cool it, already!  I'll kill him later, OK?
Skuld: [brightens, pecks Chris on the cheek] Thank you, Oniichan!

	Light wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "It's...it's nothing."
	"Nothing? Hmmm. --what's this?" Wily picked up the clipboard, and began
reading it.
	Light's eyes widened. "No...don't worry about that..."
	Wily blinked repeatedly, and looked up at his partner. "X? What's
this all
about, hmm? And...what's that in your hand?" Wily snatched the blue crystal
from Light, studying it intently. "This crystal..."
	"Wily, please! We must destroy that, and erase all evidence of its very
existence!"

Chris: Yeah, like that's gonna happen.
Belldandy: It would be an awfully short story if it did.
Skuld: Hurry up and finish so Chris can go kill that nasty man!
Urd: Bloodthirsty, aren't you?

	Wily shook his head. "Nooo...'we' won't be doing anything. *You*
are going
to sit down here and be a good boy, while *I*," he said, an evil smile
blooming on his face, "find out what the secret of this crystal is." He
reached out and snatched a code card out of Light's coat pocket, and walked
into the good professor's office, locking the door behind him.
	Light stood stock-still, shocked. "Wily...what in heaven's name are you
about to do?"

Chris: 3...2...1...
All: Bad Things (tm)!

	Wily booted Light's personal computer, and inserted the code card into the
reader. While he waited for the secure files to load, he turned the crystal
over in his hands. "What secrets does this matrix possess...?" he wondered.
"It looks like a power cell, but with some other purpose integrated..."
	As the secure files began opening, Wily turned his attention back to the
computer. With each passing screen of information, his eyes widened
further, and his grin became more and more sinister. "Well, well, well," he
said to himself. "Light was hiding some very interesting data here. I think
I'll forget about those algorithms...and concentrate on this instead..."
	
	Wily's megalomaniacal laugh reached Light's ears, causing the kind
scientist to tremble in fear...

Chris: Not a very good judge of character, was Light?

	"Dammit, Ranma! Hold still so I can crush you!"

Chris: Yay Ryoga!
Skuld/Urd/Belldandy: Yay Ranma!
Chris: HEY!
Skuld: We've said it before..
Urd: Ryoga's a creep!

	"You gotta be kiddin' me," Saotome Ranma replied as he leapt over an
umbrella strike by his long-time friendly enemy, Hibiki Ryouga. Ryouga had
arrived in Nerima once again, and once again he launched himself at Ranma,
trying to bash the pigtailed boy's brains in. Their fight was beginning to
draw the usual crowd--Akane had arrived early, and was standing along a
nearby fence, arms crossed, scowling at Ranma. Up the street, Shampoo was
pedaling closer on her bicycle, and Ranma was pretty sure that the rest of
the usual crew would make their appearances anytime soon.

Chris: It's Nerima. Of COURSE they'll show up.
Belldandy: [innocent smile on her face] It's in the source code.
Chris: [blinks]  I have GOT to look at that code.

	"Stop picking on Ryouga-kun!" Akane yelled, fuming. Ranma made a rude
gesture at her, which she responded to by pulling a loose board from the
fence and hurling it at him. It smacked Ryouga in the face instead, and
Ranma leapt away, laughing. Akane blushed. "Sorry about that, Ryouga-kun!"
	Ryouga shrugged. "Don't worry about it." He returned his attention to
Ranma. It seemed like it was going to be another average day in Nerima.

Urd/Skuld: 'Niichan?/Oniichan?
Chris: NOT BLOODY LIKELY!

	Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of blue light in the sky above. The
fighting ground to a halt, as did any speeches or gestures the recent
arrivals to the fight scene were going to make, as the sky seemed to rip
open. A massive black object pulled free from the opening. It was at least
a kilometer long, and looked like a cross between a zeppelin and an
aircraft carrier. From various decks and ports on the massive vessel, tiny
specks began streaming out, which grew larger as they descended towards the
ground.

Belldandy: Nice entrance. [holds up a card with an 9.7 on it]
Skuld: I've seen better. [8.2]
Urd: True, but it had style. [9.3]
Chris: And a 8.7 from the Bulgarian judge!

	"What the hell!?" Ranma wondered.
	"Aiyah! What that?" Shampoo asked.
	Akane stared wide-eyed at the enormous airship. Ukyou, who had just
appeared, smirked and said, "Odds are whatever it is, Ranchan didn't have
anything to do with it this time."

Chris: [pulls out a clipboard] That's one.
Urd: Peers over his shoulder. "Signs of the apocalypse?"
Chris: [nods] #10341: Ranma isn't blamed for something bad happening.

	"INCOMING!" Ryouga yelled. The group cleared out as something vaguely
humanoid touched down in the middle of the street, leaving a sizeable
impact crater. The thing was definitely made of metal, and its body seemed
to be composed of spherical modules. One red eye glowed on its head, and in
one hand it held some type of gun. 
	"It's some kinda robot!" Ranma said.

Chris: Congratulations! Belldandy, tell him what he's won.
Belldandy: I am NOT wearing that bunny outfit.
Chris: Aww...but Keiichi told me he loves it.
Belldandy: [blushes] Really?

	The robot looked around, examining each member of their group. It
took aim
at Akane with its weapon. Ranma's eyes widened. "NO!"

Chris: Saw that coming? [four hands go up]

	The robot turned its eye on him momentarily. It soon found a fist embedded
in its eye, as Ryouga shot forward and punched it in the head. There was a
crack, followed by a spark. Ryouga withdrew his fist, shaking out his hand
as though in pain. The robot's eye was cracked, and sparks sputtered from
the shattered lens. It began firing its weapon wildly.

Skuld: [hiding her eyes] I can't look!
Urd: [blinks] They're just trashing robots...
Skuld: Don't remind me!
 

	"Oh no you don't," Ukyou said, dashing in. She struck its elbow joint with
the edge of her spatula. It wasn't enough to tear the limb free, but it was
enough to knock the joint out of place. The arm ceased moving, and the gun
ceased firing.

Chris: [blinks] That's one tough spatula...
Belldandy: Or some bery shoddy robots.
Skuld: [peeks through her fingers] AHHHHH!  You meanies!

	Soon, more machines of various types were dropping towards them. "Heads up
guys...there's a whole lot of them, and only a few of us," Ranma said. He
launched himself into the air, and delivered a dropkick to a vaguely
ostrich-like mechanoid, wrestling it to the ground. It squawked
electronically and flailed its mechanical wings and legs uselessly. Ryouga
smashed his umbrella down on a small robot with a hardhat-like shell. It
clamped the shell over itself, and a loud clang resounded from the weapon's
impact with the metal. Ryouga smirked, and stabbed a finger at the
pavement. "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" The street erupted, and the small robot let
out a metallic cry of surprise as it was blasted apart from the inside by
concrete shrapnel. 

Chris: You know, realistically he should be able to use the bakusai
tenketsu on the robots too...those robots are probably as much ceramic as
metal.
Urd: You've been reading TMTC, haven't you?

	A skeletal robot, carrying a large steel hammer, took a swing at Akane.
The short-haired girl scowled, and grabbed the haft of its hammer. The
robot's jaw dropped as Akane wrenched the weapon free of its grasp. Akane
raised her new mallet, and smashed it over the robot's head. It collapsed
to the ground in a heap. "Alright, who's next?" Akane growled. Several
mechanoids began backing away from her fearfully.

Skuld: YAY AKANE!
Chris: What about the robot?
Skuld: But...but...it's Akane!

	The melee lasted for over ten minutes, as the martial artists pounded
various mechanical creatures into the ground. Mousse had arrived, and at
some point had appropriated a blaster from one of the robots, employing it
against them. Just as it seemed the onslaught was nearly over, and Ranma
and Ryouga had a moment to catch their breath, a sinister cackle from above
caught their attention.

Chris: Enter the Big Bad Guys (tm).

	The group looked up, and saw two large robots hovering above them. One of
the two vaguely resembled a vulture, using large metal wings to hold itself
in the air. Its legs ended in sharp-looking talons. However, it also had
humanoid arms, also bearing talons, and its head, while beaked, still
managed to hold a sinister sneer, as its eyes gleamed malevolently.

Skuld: Ooohh..he looks mean!
Urd: [sniffs] Feh.

	The other robot was supporting itself in the air by means of a rocket
pack. It had a great many appendages, with two large, humanoid legs at its
base, two smaller sets of almost ornamental-looking legs above those, and a
pair of arms which ended in very sinister claws. Its head was small, with
bulbous eyes...and from the base of its body, curled slightly up between
its legs, was a long, multi-jointed tail, with a pointed apparatus at one
end. It shucked its rocket pack, and dropped to the ground, landing on its
lower legs. The tail swung up and back, reappearing over its head, looming
ominously. Ryouga flinched, having seen a tail much like that on a certain
arachnid in a desert he'd travelled...that was a scorpion's tail.

Chris: [shudders] Got that thing gives me the willies.
Urd: [surprised] Why?
Chris: I HATE bugs!

[Snip big combat with lots of violence]

Chris: HEY! I was enjoying that!
Voice: I've got to get back to work....live with it.
Chris: [grumbles] FINE.

[Chris cover's Skuld's eyes] 
Skuld: HEY!

	Vulture's wings tore free of his back, sending up a shower of sparks. The
robot grunted in pain, but the wings sped forth. Ranma tried to dodge, but
the wings tracked him. Folding into a V-shape, Vulture's wings slammed into
Ranma at the chest, the crook of the V hitting just above Ranma's groin.
Ranma screamed in agony...

Chris: Big Nasty Death #1
Skuld: What's happening?!
Belldandy: Trust me, SKuld, you don't want to see.

	Ryouga let go of the tail and leapt free at the last possible second...but
it was a second too late. As he released the tail, it twitched backwards,
and caught him in the gut, impaling him. He found himself trapped on the
tail as Scorpus exploded. The tail still penetrated his scorched body as he
flew several meters through the air, landing next to Ranma's corpse, which
he got a good look at right before he lost consciousness.

Chris: And that's two...urgh.
Urd: That's gotta hurt.
 

	The girls and Mousse came running at the sound of Ranma's scream and the
explosion. Akane was first on the scene, and she immediately sank to her
knees, shock evident on her paled face, a haunted look in her eyes. She
stared at the bodies of Ranma and Ryouga, and shook her head, tears
beginning to well up. "No...Ranma...Ryouga....no....oh gods, NO!!!"

Chris: Lurker...just a warning, it started to get a little dark right
about now...understandably..but still.
Skuld: Lemme go!  I want to see!
Urd: No, you don't.

	Mousse looked over the carnage grimly, and quietly removed his glasses.
"I'm quite thankful to be blind right now," he said softly.
	Shampoo stared. "Airen...Ranma...is gone..."
	Ukyou shook her head. "No...no. I...I won't believe it. Not a bit of it,
do you hear me? THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!!"

Skuld: WHAT isn't happening? [Rips Chris' hand away from her eyes, takes
one look and puts his hand back]
Chris: We told you.

	For a while, all was silent. Then, Ranma's torso twitched. Ryouga's
charred limbs also twitched. Shampoo raised her head. "Aiyah? That..."

Belldandy: O_O
Urd: O_O
Chris: O_O
Skuld: -_-

	Everyone stared. "Ranma..." Akane breathed.
	Mousse slipped his glasses back on, and set his jaw, as he strode to the
two bodies. He reached down, and gingerly felt their necks. He gasped.
"They're...they're alive," he said. "Barely, but...they're alive."
	"Masaka..." Ukyou breathed.
	"Aiyah...Shampoo know pig-boy and airen tough, but..."

Chris: That's just...incredible.
Urd: That's impossible!
Skuld: [softly] Oneesama...will they be OK?
Belldandy: I don't know, Skuld. [hugs her sister]

	Akane looked up, blinked, and said, "What the hell is everyone just
standing around for? We gotta get an ambulance, fast!"
	The girls looked at each other, and took off running. Mousse looked down
at the bodies, and softly said, "Hang in there, both of you. There's still
hope."

Chris: [deep breath, exhales] Whooof.  Talk about angst at the end there.
Urd: This is NOT a happy fic.
Belldandy: Considering what we know of where this fic is going...
Voice: HEY! Stop reading my mind!
Belldandy: ...you may want to watch that angst level a little.
Skuld: [sniffles] Poor Ranma...

Chris: [summons armor]  Be back in a few, I've got an appointment with an
evil genius. [pauses]  Good work, Lurker.

--
Christopher 'God-boy' Angel
cja124@mail.usask.ca