Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Bubblegum Crisis/Ranma 1/2: The boomer that just won't die part 2/8



  Priss was racing down the highway at 50kph over the speed limit when 
she caught sight of a familiar looking man. It was Ranma. He looked like 
he was headed toward nowhere in particular. She smiled as she figured 
she'd give him a good scared. She skidded the bike to a halt just inches 
from him.
  "W-what're ya tryin' to do?!" Ranma said, "Are you tryin' to give me a 
heart attack or something?! I'm not as young as you think I am" He 
looked like he had been ready to jump out of his skin.
  Priss regarded Ranma for a second. The comment brough a small smile to 
her face. Ranma did not look old. It had been three days since their 
battle, and she had all but forgotten about it. She had learned to live 
with the thought that she had lost that battle miserably. Although she 
did hold a grudge toward Ranma for what he had done to her and her 
friends, she knew it was all a case of mistake identitiy. She, too, had 
fallen for that mistake.
  "Whatcha doing around here?" he asked. His eyes regarded Priss for a 
moment before dropping down to the great looking bike. He had no real 
idea if it was a fast bike or not. He was little behind on the times. He 
didn't really understand technology that much.
  "I'm on my way to district seven," she said, "Five boomers seem to be 
on the rampage there" She figured it'd be best to at least let him know 
that boomers were on the rampage. Although she did resent him for the 
power he could wield so easily, he was, in a way, on their side.
  "How're your ribs?" he asked. He didn't forget that he had hurt her 
pretty badly a short while ago. He was still concerned over her well-
being.
  Priss smiled a bit and said, "Yeah, I'm fine," She then revved the 
motor to the redline mark and popped the clutch into first, the front 
wheel leaving the ground as she did a wheelie away from Ranma at high 
speeds.
  Ranma stood there amazed "Wow, that does look like a fast bike"  
  He began walking down the street toward the direction Priss was 
headed. 
  "Now, what district did she say she was headed toward"

  Sylia and Linna were both in their hardsuits when Priss arrived in 
their hidden headquarters under Raven's Garage. Although their suits 
were nowhere near as good a condition as before the battle against 
Ranma, Mackie had managed to fix it up considerably with the spare parts 
that he had. Nene's suit was unsalavagable, meaning a new one would have 
to be built. It didn't matter though because Nene was still at work over 
in the A.D. Police headqarters. The fact that their suits were in need 
of some repair didn't really matter that much though, they needed to 
upgrade their suits anyway. This just made the reason more appropriate.
  "It's about time you got here," Linna said to as Priss got off her 
bike.
  Priss gave Linna a smirk "Well, I got caught up for a moment on the 
way here. I saw Ranma"
  "Y-you did?" Linna said with a smile. Although she didn't want to give 
away her obvious interest toward Ranma, it was too late. Priss and Sylia 
noticed the change in her mood, and they knew she seemed to have a thing 
for him.
  "Man, I wish those boomers weren't rampaging near Sylia's building," 
Linna changed the subject, "That way, we could let the A.D. Police take 
care of them" She sighed. She remembered when it last happened. Sylia's 
lingerie store had been trashed and it took forever to get it cleaned 
and fixed.
  "I told Ranma where they were rampaging," Priss said as she got out of 
her clothes and into her skin-tight jumpsuit, "Maybe he could take care 
of them" She climbed into her harsuit and activated it, putting the 
helmet on "Man, this feels a bit awkward, but I guess it'll have to do 
for now. When'll Mackie have this fixed completely?"
  "Tomorrow," Sylia said.
  
  The three Knight Sabers arrived at the scene of the crime. Priss was 
in her motoslave suit as she hovered down to the roof of a nearby 
building. She was carrying a cannon capable of blowing a hole right 
through an entire building. Linna was aslo in her motoslave suit as she, 
too, hovered down next to Priss. Sylia, only in her hardsuit, had landed 
on the roof carrying a high calibur sniper laser rifle. Her suit was in 
worse condition than both Linna and Priss' so it was best she stayed a 
short distance away and pick the boomers off with the rifle.
  As Sylia set her rifle up and looked through the high powered scoop, 
she noticed that the five boomers seemed to be working together like a 
team. The three BU-12b boomers were firing their heavy duty cannons to 
destroy neaby police cars and trucks while using their machine guns to 
kill the hapless police officers. The A.D. Police didn't stand a chance.
  The two 'Doberman' boomers had their backs to the police, using their 
minguns to riddle the stores with thousands of bullets. These boomers 
definitely didn't go beserk. It looked more like Genom was trying out 
some new AI chip on their boomers. It looked as if a network had been 
setup between the five boomers, to see how they would work as a team 
rather than indiviually.
  "Be careful," Sylia spoke into her communicator "These boomers seem to 
be working together, like there's a network set up between them" She 
aimed her rifle toward one of the BU-12b boomers. She waited for the 
perfect moment to fire. She didn't want to give away her location 
because if the boomer realized where she was attacking from, she would 
be in trouble.
  Linna hopped off the roof as she used the massive cannon that her 
motoslave was carrying to blow a hole through the chest of one of the 
BU-12b while Priss did the same. Unfortunately, Priss' shot was slightly 
off, and it missed its mark. It only blew off the boomer's left arm.
  Priss landed just in time to jump out of the way as the boomer 
returned fire, missing her by inches. The blast blew one of the hover 
jets to her motoslave. The boomer straffed toward the right as it 
continued to fire its cannon at Priss, narrowing missing her with every 
shot. The boomer exploded as a laser shot pierced through it chest from 
Sylia's sniper rifle.
  "We have to get them to follow us," Sylia said, "They're causing too 
much damage around here. We have to get them away from the stores" 
  Linna and Priss acknowledged her suggestion. 
  "Follow me, Linna," Priss said as one of the boosters to her motoslave 
blazed to life. Although the other booster was destroyed, her other 
booster still allowed her to hover. Linna quickly followed.
  The three remaining boomers followed. Sylia quickly held a tight grip 
on her rifle as she hovered from rooftop to rooftop, wondering where 
Priss was headed. 
  "Where are you going?" Linna said as she followed closely behind 
Priss.
  "Remember when I said I saw Ranma a short while ago?" she said, "We 
could have him take care of them and get them away from Sylia's store at 
the same time"
  A cannon blasted from behind them, hitting the Priss' motoslave from 
behind. Priss screamed as she was propelled forward from the impact of 
the bast, sliding down the street several dozen yards before she came to 
a stop. She tried to get her feet just as Linna hovered down right next 
to her.
  "You okay?" Linna asked.
  "Shit, I can't move," Priss noticed that her motoslave had been 
damaged badly from that blast. It was having trouble responding to her 
commands. 
  "Get out of it then," Linna quickly said as she turned toward the 
three incoming boomers and returned fire, her machine guns and the 
cannon her morotorslave carried firing for all their worth. The last BU-
12b was destroyed by the onslaught of firepower, but the two 'Dobermen' 
boomers skillfully dodged. They stopped about a dozen meters in front of 
Linna and Priss and opened fire, their minguns firing rapidly.
  Linna was able to react in time to protect Priss, jumping in front of 
her, as the bullets riddeled her motoslave with holes. Knowing that it 
was useless to remain in her morotrslave, Linna disengaged to suit and 
hopped out of it, picking up the massive cannon Priss' mortorslave was 
carrying.
  She fired a shot toward one of the 'Doberman', thrown back from the 
kickback of the cannon. She would had hit the floor very hard as she 
fell backwards if it weren't for two hands pressing against her back, 
preventing her.
  Linna turned to see who saved her and her gaze rested on Ranma.
  "R-Ranma!" she said. She regarded Ranma as he smiled a big grin.
  "Lookout!" Ranma shouted as he pushed Linna to one side, also jumping 
out of the way as a laser blast ripped across their path, exploding 
against a small building a mile down the road. 
  Linna used her boosters to hover to her feet before she hit the ground 
after being shoved. She caught sight of Ranma as he rushed toward Priss 
sitting helplessly as bullets riddled her motoslave. Her suit wouldn't 
respond anymore to her commands. She was a sitting duck.
  "Mouko Takabisha!!" Linna watched him shout as a ki blast ripped from 
his hands. The blast flew through the air an intense speed, hitting one 
of the 'Dobermen' in the chest, destorying it on impact. The impact of 
the balst was so intense that several windows of nearby stores exploded. 
  The explosion of his energy blast had managed to create a smoke screen 
between him and the boomer. Without even bothering to think, Ranma 
quickly ran up to Priss and grabbed one of the motoslave's arms.
  "Damn, this thing's heavy," he said as he tried to drag it, much to no 
avail. He noticed that trying to drag it was worthless since the suit 
was embedded slightly into the ground from the sliding. The only thing 
he could do was pick the damn thing up.
  Ranma gritted his teeth as the muscles in his forearms strained. He 
lifted the suit up and pushed it onto its side "C'mon, get out already"
  "I can't!" He heard Priss said through her helmet. She was struggling 
to free herself from the suit, much to no avail.
  Ranma punched a hole through the chest of the motoslave suit and 
grabbed hold of the breastplate of Priss' suit. He pulled for all his 
worth, but it was still useless. He couldn't get her out. He'd have to 
break the entirefront part of the motoslave to get her out. He gripped 
the chest piece to the suit and ripped it off completely. He then 
reached in and grabbed Priss and pulled her out, pushing her to safety.
  By now, the smoke had cleared out, allowing the 'Doberman' to set its 
sights on the target again. It shot at the damaged motoslave. Ranma 
managed to jump out of the way just in time as the suit exploded. He 
rolled to his feet quickly and lunged toward the boomer and grabbed one 
of its arms and threw it over his shoulder, the weight of the boomer as 
it struck the ground causing it to create a small creater. He then 
smashed his fist right through the boomer's head, the boomer ceasing 
function immediately.
  Ranma smashed an open palm into the boomer's chest, causing it to 
collapse inward, just to make sure it was no longer functioning. He then 
hopped off the boomer and picked it up, all fifteen hundred kilograms, 
and slammed it on the ground again further embedding it in to the 
ground.
  "Man, if that doesn't stop it, nothin' will," he said with a chuckle. 
The boomer had stopped functioning when he had smashed a hole right 
through its head, but he wanted to have his fun. He knew it didnt matter 
how much more he destroyed it. Once the AI chip was destroyed, the 
boomer was harmless.
  He sat down on the boomer's chest "Are you two all right?"  
  Linna pulled up the visor of her helmet "Yeah, thanks"

  Sylia finally caught sight of her two companions. She had seen them 
take off toward the outskirts fo the city but she couldn't keep up since 
she was only in her regular hardsuit. Linna and Priss motoslaves were 
far more powerfulthan he suit, allowing them to surpass her rate of 
follow.
  She landed in on a nearby roof when she noticed her two friends 
standing in the middle of a quite, battle ridden street, both of them 
sans their motoslave suits. She noticed that there was also another 
person standing by them. She quickly brought the scoop of her rifle to 
her eye level as she looked through it for a clearer view. It was Ranma. 
She was surprised when she caught herself sighing in relief as she 
noticed it was him.
  As she looked through the scoop, she knew she had a clear shot to blow 
his head right off of his shoulders. There was no telling who this man 
was, or why he was here. Sure, he was destroying boomers, but there 
might have been some hidden agenda she didn't know about. Who knew, 
maybe he wanted to get rid of Genom so he could take over the 
corporation.
  Thoughts raced through Sylia's head as she contemplated on wether or 
not she should pull the trigger. He already knew of their secret 
identity, and that could spell big trouble for them if word got out. 
Only a few people outside of the group knew of their identities. Having 
another person know about it just made the chances high that they would 
soon be discovered.
  But for some reason, she could bring herself to pull the trigger. As 
of right now, he proved no threat. Their little battle the other day was 
over mistaken identity, something she couldn't hold a grudge over him 
because she, too, had mistaken him for a boomer as he did them. 
  She dropped the rifle to her side, having this weird feeling that she 
might come to regret it. But she couldn't help but remember seeing the 
caring and concern in his eyes when she had awoken in that hospital bed. 
She remember how warm those beautiful blue eyes of his looked when their 
gazes met, and she knew that was something she would never foget. 
  Sylia sighed a bit as a small smile crossed her lips. 
  "What was that thing you were in?" Ranma said as he still sat on the 
boomer's chest, jerking a thumb over his back at the remnants of Priss' 
motoslave suit. He noticed that this big red suit seemed to be some 
extra outer that Priss wore that seemed to cover over Priss' hardsuit.
  "That's a motoslave," Linna said as she looked down at her own 
motoslave. The suit was badly damaged but was definitely salavgeable. 
Mackie would go ballistic when he saw the damage, but he would still be 
able to fix it after a few days.
  "A moto-what?" Ranma asked confused. He was scratching the back of his 
head as he felt a bit embarressed that he wasn't up-to-date with current 
technology. He had been training in the mountains of China most of his 
life. The only technology he knew was boomer technology, and that they 
were something he tried his hardest to get rid of "Well, whatever it is, 
I'm glad you two are all right. So I guess I better get going now" He 
causally hopped off the boomer's chest and proceeded down the street.
  Priss was about to ask where he was headed, but it was none of her 
business. She had already thanked him. There was nothing else she needed 
to do. But for some odd reason, she didn't want him to leave. She found 
herself watching Ranma as his figured grew smaller and smaller as the 
distance between them got larger and larger.
  "Priss, I'm glad you spotted him on your way to the garage" Linna said 
as she stood next to Priss, also watching Ranam intently "We would have 
been in a lot of trouble if it weren't for him"
  Once Ranma was out of sight, Priss did something that caught Linna by 
surprised. She kicked the boomer as she swore to herself.
  "Shit. I can't believe how I screwed up like that!" she said, "We 
should have taken care of them easily, even without the help of Sylia or 
Nene. We had our motoslaves!"
  "But Ranma managed to save us" Linna said softly, a bit worried over 
her friend. Priss looked seriously ticked off.
  Priss shot Linna a cold glace "That's what I'm pissed about! How come 
we're screwing up all of a sudden?! We fought Dobermans before, and 
without out motoslaves, and we managed to beat them. And here we are, 
with the motoslaves, and we get trashed! I don't get it. Why?"
  Sylia's boosters flared as she gently landed on her feet a few years 
away from the two girls "I know why"
  Priss turned her attention toward Sylia "Why?"
  "It seems Ranma has something to do with it"
  
  "Madigan-sama. It seems your plan worked" her assistant, Carper, said 
as she entered his office. He was a young man with short brown hair and 
a square face. He was more like Madigan's right hand man than her 
assistant.
  Maigan smoothed a lock of her purple hair from her face as she peered 
out of his window that overlooked the entire city of MegaTokyo. The view 
gave her a great shot of the a huge fault that was a result of the Kanto 
Earthquake that seperated the entire west and east side of the advanced 
city "We managed to collect enough data on the superboomer that seems to 
be accompanying the Knigh Sabers. After a few more encounters with it, 
we sould know more about it"
  "Good," she said with a smile, her reflection seen as it reflected off 
the glass window that seperated her from Carper's office and the 
polluted air that was outside Genom Tower "What have you got so far? 
Exactly how powerful is this superboomer? And where did it come from?"
  "Well, since you're familiar with the boomer association classes," 
Carper said, "is it all right if I use it as an analogy?"
  Madigan nodded.
  Carper walked over to a screen that was on one of the walls of his 
office and clicked on a button. It showed a profile of a household 
boomer, the first kind of boomer Genom had created "Well, there's the 
simple boomers, the ones used for everyday human chores, which is a 
class 1-A boomer. The number '1' states its powerlevel output, while the 
'A' states its revision type"
  "I know that you fool" Madigan spat, "Now get on with it. You're 
already trying my patience"
  "Sorry," he said. He took a breath and continued "Well, as you know, 
the C-55 combat boomer is a class 3-C Boomer model. The BU-12b is a 
class 4-B model while the Dobermans are a class 4-E model. And as you 
know, the higher the revision number, the deadlier the boomer. That 
means a C-55 boomer which has been upgraded to class, say, 3-E or even 
class 3-F, would be able to destroy a class 4-A or even a 4-B boomer"
  "Yeah," Madigan said, leaning up against Caper's chair. She felt a bit 
angry for the little lecture, but she knew he was trying to getting to 
the point "get on with it"
  "Well, out most most advanced boomers, the four prototype one that 
were wiped out on the artifical island not too long ago, were class 5-A 
models. So that means, as of right now, the strongest boomer Genom can 
create is a 5-A model boomer. Now, based on the boomer association class 
scale that we have and use, this superboomer that the Knight Sabers 
seemed to have created seem more along the lines of, get this, a class 
23-A model boomer."
  "What?!"
  "Yes" Carper said "As of right now," He emphasized his words as he his 
open hand on his table "he would be considered a 23-A model 
superboomer." 
  "What do you mean 'right now'?" Madigan asked. She swallowed the lump 
that had formed in her throat. This was almost too much for her. 
Something of that class must be be out of Genom's technological grasp by 
over fifty years.
  "This is the class it is associated with because of what we know about 
it," Carper continued, "Its projectiles are that of a class 23-A model 
boomer, but we have no idea what kind of class it is in hand-to-hand 
combat. Also, we have no idea what else it is capable of. Even though it 
seemed to have destroyed all four of our prototype 5-A boomers, we have 
the funny feeling it was not only holding back, but had only used a 
fraction of its energy"
  Madigan sat down in one of the office chairs. This was too much for 
her. How can the Knight Sabers have created a superboomer this powerful? 
It was impossible.
  "Well, what do you think about the Knight Sabers," Madigan asked, 
looking up at the screen. It showed a green, wire-framed outline of 
Ranma, all the way down to his pig-tail "What class would you consider 
them in?"
  "Well, this is just a hypothesis," Carper began "I think it's somwhere 
around the 6-A to 6-B class"
  "You mean they created a boomer that is nearly four times more 
powerfrul?" she asked shocked.
  "Yes," he said in a calm and rational voice "This superboomer seems 
capable of taking out the entire Knight Sabers at once"
  "Shit!" she cursed. She knew how powerful the Knight Sabers were, and 
the thought of something that was as powerful as all four of them at 
once made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She was was 
here to take over Mason's job after his death, which also meant the 
disposal of the Knight Sabers. And now that they had this superboomer 
working along side them, things had taken a turn for the worse.
  "I wonder why the would create a monster so powerful?" she said  to 
herself thoughtfully "I can't imagine what might happen if it goes 
beserk?"
  "As much as I want it to go beserk while in the precense of the Knight 
Sabers," he took a deep breath, wondering if it was all right to speak 
even when he wasn't being spoken to "I would rather not find out"
  "Well, what about this boomer's intelligence level?" she asked. Maybe 
the boomer lacked intelligence because something might had been 
sacrificed for the extreme power output, and intellience was most 
likely. Heck, if there was something that could generate that much 
power, it wouldn't even need an AI chip. All it needed was a program 
that discerned the Knight Sabers from boomers.
  "Well, if we use the same boomer assiciation class, it would still be 
leaps and bounds over out own boomer AI chips. It seems to have the same 
intellegence as the Knight Sabers, except it also has the ability to 
adapt. It semeed like it is capable of incorporating strategy into its 
fights"
  "What does that mean?" she asked.
  "Let's say that superboomer is engaged in combat with, say, ten of our 
prototype boomers," Carper said "And it's fighting them under an 
overpass or major highway. It is probably capable of realizing that 
blowing up the highway above the boomers would easily wipe out all ten 
boomers at once instead of fighting them all one at a time"
  "Goddamn!!! How is it capable of doing such things?! This is 
absolutely ludicrous!" Madigan felt a bit dizzy. This wasn't a 
superboomer. It was more like a walking army.
  "It's so intelligent that it wanders the streets as we speak. It seems 
capable of interacting with society as if it were totally human. Also, 
there's more," Carper conitnued, "This superboomer is _extremely_ agile, 
so agile that it is capable of dodging bullets"
  Madigan has heard enough of the bad news. She needed some good ones 
"Okay, enough already on its capabilites. What do you have on its 
weakness?"
  Carper smiled "You're gonna like this. This superboomer can't fly. 
It's most probable that the ability to fly was sacrificed for the power 
output. Also, it has virutally no armor whatsoever, meaning a single 
cannon blast would destroy it. This boomer also seem to be programmed to 
protect human life if possible. That's all I have on it so far, but this 
definitely helps balance the scales a bit"
  Madigan sighed. Although she now knew of its weakness, it wouldn't 
help much at all.
  "But don't worry," Carper said, "I have a plan. We found someone, a 
human, that is capable of generating powers akin to this superboomer 
we're up against"
  "Human?" Madigan said in shock "This has got to be some mistake. How 
can some human generate power like that? Where is it all coming from?"
  "I can't explain It," Carper said, "We found him living in the 
mountains around China a few weeks ago while we were up there looking 
for another location to set up another boomer manufactory. We tried to 
scan him, but we couldn't, so we assumed he was some new superboomer our 
competitors created, so we sent one of our scouting boomers in for a 
closer inspection. The person, somehow, was able to feel the boomer's 
presense, but he showed no hostile intentions. He actually started 
communicating with our boomer, and it turns out that the person was not 
only human, but was fooled that our scout wasn't a boomer. From what I 
gather, although he's japanese, I believe he's been living in China for 
most his life, and has no idea about boomer how much technology had 
advanced since China isn't as developed as Japan"
  "Where is he now?" she asked, "I want him to help us out"
  "I'm sorry," Carper said weakly, "But that's not possible. We have no 
idea where he is" 

  Ranma rubbed his stomach as it rumbled for the second time this late 
morning. He was starving. He needed something to eat and fast. His eyes 
caught sight of a familiar looking girl through a large glass window. It 
was that same black haired girl he had almost killed during that 
mistaken identity incident, and then later came to save a just few short 
days ago.
  Ranma stepped into studio as several of the women eyed him fondly. He 
didn't seem to realize this. Luckily for him, he had spotted Linna just 
as she was finishing teaching her class. She, too, had spotted him.
  "Hiya," Ranma said. He would have greeted her by name if he knew it 
"Um..... " He wondered how he was going to ask her for her name.
  Several of the girls in the classes gave Linna a mischieveous grin 
behind Ranma's back. It was perfectly like Linna to have all the fun. 
Most of the guys seemed attracted to her.
  "My name's Linna. Linna Yamazaki," she said with a polite bow. She 
pretended like she had never really met Ranma before, just to give the 
other girls a show.
  "Oh, okay," Ranma said with a warm smile. He noticed that Linna looked 
very beautiful and the skin tight shorts that she was wearing accenuated 
her curves quite nicely. She had a very beautiful build, and Ranma 
seemed a bit embarressed when he caught  himself staring at her for a 
little longer than he was supposed to "Well, I jus' wanted to say hi. 
That's all" 
  He turned to leave.
  "Wait a minute," she called out for him, causing him to stop. She 
wasn't expecting him to leave. She was expecting him to be just like 
every other guy she had met, that he would ask her out to dinner or 
something. She was caught by surprise when she saw him about to leave. 
She also had to do all in her power to hide her blush when she had 
noticed Ranma's gaze on her. His warm eyes made her nervous, as it they 
could see al the way into her soul, all the way into her darkest secret.
  "What is it?" he asked. He felt his stomach grumble again. He really 
needed to eat. Unfortunately, he had no idea where he was going to find 
food at a time like this.
  "How about lunch?" she asked casually. Although it looked casual, she  
was definitely nervous asking a question like that. She had never asked 
that to a man in her life before. It was usually them asking her to goto 
lunch or dinner with them.
  Ranma felt his stomach grumble again. He really wanted to, but there 
was no way he would be able to pay for the meal "I-I'm sorry, I don't 
have any money" He turned to leave again.
  "My treat,"
  
  Ranma was finished with his meal within seconds. He hadn't eaten in 
days. Linna watched him eat with a smile as she ordered him a second 
portion, and then pretty soon a third portion. She was only nibbling on 
a small salad as she watched him. He wasn't paying all too much 
attention but noticed her regarding him when he bothered to look up.
  "What?" he said "Do I have somethin' on my face?"
  Linna giggled "No. Don't worry about it" she said as she began eating 
some more of her salad. She didn't know why, but she noticed that her 
day was looking better than it had ever been in weeks. Actually, she 
knew what the reason was. No. Actually, she knew _who_ the reason was.
  Ranma placed the bowl on the table "Man, that was good" He was about 
to burp, but realized he was in the presences of a lady, more like a 
very beautiful lady "I'll pay you back for this. I promise"
  "Don't worry about," Linna said, "Think of it as a form of thanks for 
helping us out"
  Ranma looked at her for a second before speaking softly "Helpin' ya 
out? I thought I was supposed to keep that a secret"
  Linna giggled again. At the most inconvenient time, her watch went 
off. Sylia was trying to contact her. It must be another beserking 
boomer. Two days had passed since the last incident, but she wished she 
had more time to herself than just two days.
  "I'll be back in a sec," she said as she got out of her seat and 
headed toward where the phones were located in the back of the 
restaurant.
  "Man, this places looks like the Nekohanten" Ranma commented as he 
brought the soup bowl back up to his mouth and began drinking the 
delicious broth "Boy, do I miss those days" He sighed as he placed the 
empty bowl down on the table again. Although he remembered having many 
fiancees viing for his affections, life still wasn't as complicated as 
it had become since he came back to Japan after his training trip to 
China.
  He had come back to a country that he couldn't recognize. Everything 
was all high-tech. The technology was beyond him. Half the stuff 
nowadays he had no idea how they worked. Heck, he had no real idea how 
to work a car back when he was young, and now he would have to drive 
something much more complicated? Life was harsh.
  "I gotta go," Linna said as she handed him several thousand yen "This 
should be enough for the bill. I'm sorry to leave like this, but it's 
important. I hope I'll see ya around. Bye"
  Ranma watched Linna leave the store. After she left, he looked down at 
the amount of money she had left behind. She had left behind way too 
much money. But then again, it might be fortunate for him. That meant he 
would be able to eat decently for the next few days. But still, he would 
pay her back. 
  Now, the hard part was how.

  Ryoga was walking down a street, glad that he was finally back in his 
birthcountry. He had been trying to get back here for several years, but 
his lack of direction always prevented him. It had taken him a few weeks 
before he finally made it back.
  He looked up at all the huge buildings towering over him, making him 
seem like an insignificant speck in this world. He had no idea how 
things had changed. He recognized nothing. Everything was so different. 
He might as well be in another country and it wouldn't matter because so 
much had changed.
  Ranma was walking down one of the busy streets MegaTokyo late into the 
afternoon when he caught sight.of a familiar looking face from his 
youth. It was a young looking man sporting a yellow sleevless shirt and 
black pants wearing a yellow and black headband.
  "Hey, Ryoga, is that you?" he said, waving toward his friend from 
across the street "Damn, it is you! How's everythin' going?" Ranma 
didn't even bother to wait for the light to turn red. He just casually 
lept into the air and over the entire length of the street, landing 
right next to Ryoga.
  "R-Ranma?" Ryoga looked at him curously "Is that really you?"
  Ranma nodded, smiling "Long time no see, Ryoga"
  "YOU!!!" Ryoga said, arua glowing bright red "DIE!!! Shi Shi 
Hakodan!!!" 
  A massive ki-blast shot from Ryoga's hands, just as Ranma skillfully 
jumped out of its path. The blast struck the building behind him, 
blowing a hole the size of the blast right through it, the walls melting 
from the extreme heat.
  "Hold on there, Ry-" Ranma managed to say just as he lunged out of the 
way as another ki-blast jetted right by him, striking yet another 
building causing it to exploded. It had just missed hitting him in the 
head. He was lucky he had been able to dodge it in time. As he rolled to 
his feet, he couldnt' help but notice how skillful Ryoga had gotten over 
the years. Ryoga was now a definite force to be reckoned with.
  "How dare you let her get killed!!!" Ryoga said "How dare you let 
Akane get killed like that!!!"
  Ryoga attacked with several punches, all of them narrowly missing, all 
except for the last attack. He managed to land his last attack, an open 
palm strike, on Ranma's chest. Ranma was propelled backwards into one of 
the walls of the buildings, the wall collapsing in on itself from the 
impact.
  
  "This Ryoga Hibiki person," Madigan asked impatently toward the now 
nervous Carper "I want his help. He might be capable of defeating this 
superboomer running loose. Where could he be?"
  "I don't know," he said "I don't know. I remember he mentioned to our 
boomer scout that he wanted to come back to Japan, but there seems to be 
no sign of him anywhere. I think he got lost on the way here. That's the 
only thing I can think of. He does, afterall, have a very bad sense of 
direction"
  "That's a buncha bull!!!" Madigan spat "How can you lose track of 
someone like that?"
  Carper's screen went on. It showed a facial shot of a man, or boomer, 
wearing headgear "Carper-sama, we have located the person," The screen 
shot switched to a bird's eye view of the two people, one superboomer 
and one human, battling each other. The shot was being taken from a 
helicopter hovering nearby "We've located Ryoga Hibiki. It seems he's 
already in battle with the superboomer, and he's winning"
  "W-why's he fighting the superboomer in the first place?" Madigan 
asked "What caused them to fight?"
  "I don't know," he said, "Perhaps it's just some freak coincidence"
  Madigan looked at Carper curiously. She never really believed in 
coincidence. There was always a logical explanation for everything, and 
this situation wasn't any different.
  "I surmise that since that superboomer seems to be programmed to fight 
other combat boomers," Carper started, "it might've had troubled 
scanning this Ryoga Hibiki we had trouble with, and thinks he's another 
prototype superboomer we created, and thus, is attacking it. That's the 
best I can come up with"
  "I have to watch this," Madigan said, her eyes intent on the screen. 
She had never seen what the superboomer was capable of, but had only 
heard of it. Now she had a chance to see his capabilites and she wasn't 
going to give up the chance.
  
  Nene's stared at the dispatch screen and sighed. It was probably 
another boomer incident. But her eyes widened when she noticed 
something. It showed that there were two boomers fighting each other in 
the heart of MegaTokyo, right near where she saw Ranma earlier on her 
way to work this morning. She had saw him walking ont he sidewalk as she 
drove her little scooter down the street, but she never bothered to 
stop. She noticed that Ranma didn't recognize her with her bike helmet 
on. 
  "Hmm, could that be Ranma?" Nene said to herself. In an incident like 
this, she would had only dispatched the AD Police to deal with this, but 
the thought that it might be Ranma made her think otherwise. She 
wouldnt' mind seeing him again and she knew the others didn't also "I 
guess I better tell Sylia and the others"

  "That hurt!!!" Ranma yelled as he stepped out of the building "What'd 
you do that for?!"
  "Baksuai Tenketsu!!!" Rygoa yelled as he struck his finger down on the 
sidewalk. A massive explosion occured as the sidewalk shattered to 
pieces, the shrapnel flying everywhere. Even though most of the pieces 
were hitting him, Ryoga was totally unaffected by the explosion for he 
had grown accustomed to it completely. He had gotten a lot stronger over 
the years and he wanted to show Ranma what he was capable of.
  Ranma's arms flew at lightning speeds as he caught every rock that was 
intended to hit him. He remembered Ryoga using that technique on his man 
many years ago, and it was the same now as it was before. But this time, 
Ranma wasn't going to get tired for a long long time. He had, too, had 
gotten sronger over the years.
  "Bakusi Tenketsu!!!" Ryoga shouted as his finger jabbed into the wall 
of the building Ranma was standing next to. The entire building exploded 
as all the debris fell down on Ranma. Ranma couldn't react in time as he 
was buried alive under the debris.
  Ryoga stood there for several moments, wodnering if it was all over, 
that he had finally avenged Akane's death. He had swore to kill Ranma 
because Ranma hadn't been able to protect her from death when those 
machines lay waste to the entire town of Nerima. He had gone out on a 
training trip to develop his skills so he would someday comback and make 
Ranma suffer miserably.
  But as he stood there, not moving, he was hoping his revenge would had 
lasted longer. 
  At that moment, the rubble exploded upward as a huge hurricane sent in 
hurling to the heavens. All the rubble was gone as Ranma stood where the 
building had fallen on him, a massive blue arua forming around him 
  "You're gonna pay for that!!!!" 

  "Goddamnit!!!" Madigan swore "What the hell's going on?!"
  She was trying to see the battle on the screen but a cloud of dust had 
formed after the building was destroyed as if fell down over the 
superboomer. The visibility was next to none as she saw nothing but 
dust.
  The dust finally began to settle as she caught sight of Ryoga standing 
in front of a pile of rubble.
  That's it, she thought. That superboomer was defeated in a matter of 
seconds. But she wished she didn't think that way when she saw the 
rubble explode upward in a hurricane as she caught sight of a masssive 
blue aura through the dust cloud as it settled again, preventing her 
from seeing anything again.
  "Shit!!"

  "Good, I was hoping you didn't die from something like that" Ryoga 
said with a grin, "I want you to suffer"
  "You got lucky with that attack," Ranma said, his aura glowing 
brightly "I wasn't expectin' you to use strategy in your fight" He 
cracked his knuckles "I guess that's enough for our warm up. Let's 
fight!!!" 
  He got into his battle stance as Ryoga got into his. They were both 
regarding each other carefully, waiting for the other to make the next 
move. Ranma slowly started strafing out toward the middle of the street. 
He didn't want anymore buidling to be destroyed. The streets were now 
empty, all the cars having stopped about a hundred yards back in both 
direction, mostly because of the accidents that was caused from the 
distractions and destruction of seeing such power being produced.
  "Horizontal Wave Bakusai Tenketsu" Ryoga shouted as he slammed an open 
palm down on the ground. What happened next caught Ranma by totally 
surprise. He was expecting to see the shrapnel of the explosion coming 
toward him, but that didn't happen. The ground Ryoga was standing on 
didn't explode. Instead, the ground below Ranma exploded.
  "What the-" Ranma managed to say right before he was consumed in the 
explosion. When the explosion abated, Ranma fell to one of his knees, a 
few cuts and bruises overing his arms from when he used them to protect 
himself. He began laughing as he slowly got to his feet "I-Is that all 
you've got?!?!"
  Ryoga's aura flared brightly as Ranma continued to mock him.
  "I thought I was in trouble there for a second," he said, wiping the 
dust from his clothes. He smiled wryly at Ryoga "But you have gotten 
stronger over the years, much stronger. I must give you that. You 
actually had me worried for a second. Now its my turn!!!"
  Ranma held one hand in front of him, palm toward the sky "Mouko 
Takabisha!!!" he said as a huge ball of energy formed, hovering just 
inches above his hand. While still holding the ball in one hand, Ranma 
placed his hand hand in front of him in the same fashion "Mouko 
Takabisha!!!" 
  Ryoga took a step back cautiously as he noticed Ranma smile.
  "Here's where it gets interesting," Ranma said with a smile, "Duo 
Mouko Takabisha!!!" he shouted as he threw both of his ki-blasts at one. 
Ryoga was caught watching in disbelief as both spheres of pure energy 
rocketed toward him at lightning speeds. Both of the blasts struck Ryoga 
in the chest, sending him flying into backwards a hunder yards, smashing 
into the abandoned cars down at one end of the street.
  Ryoga didn't move as Ranma walked up to him, stopping a dozen yards 
away. 
  Ryoga began laughing as he slowly got to his feet "Man, that felt like 
a baby's kick!!! It didn't hurt one bit!!!"
  Before he had a chance to react, Ranma lunged forward "Kashuu 
TenshinAmaguriken!!!" He punched Ryoga well over a thousand times in the 
stomach before Ryoga had a chance to react. The impact of the punches 
sent him flying backwards another hundred feet, smashing into several 
cars in the process.
  Ryoga managed to recover in time to roll to his feet just as Ranma was 
about to land another thousand punches on him. He wiped a very tiny 
trickle of blood from his mouth.
  "So, Ranma, you think you can defeat me like you did over fourty years 
ago?" Ryoga said with a smile, "I don't think so. I've learned a lot 
over the years, and that trick won't work on my again. That I promise 
you"
  "Who says I'm trying? I'm not even using a fraction of my energy" 
Ranma replied with a smirk.
 
  Sylia and Priss and Linna hovered down on to a nearby roof as they saw 
how much destruction had taken place already. The streets and most of 
the buildings were destroyed.
  "God," Linna said "This is horrible. Who would do something like 
that?"
  "That's who," Priss said pointing toward Ranma and Ryoga as they both 
stood in front of one another, slowly circling one another. None of them 
were attacking, both of them sizing each other up.
  "Who's he fighting?" Linna asked. 
  Sylia brought the scope of her rifle up to eye level and peered 
through it. Her gaze rested on a young looking man sporting a yellow and 
black headband. As she looked at him, she wondered if this was another 
prototype boomer or another human with powers akin to Ranma's. He looked 
human, but there was no telling for sure. As of right now, she 
considered him a boomer "I can't really tell, but I think it's best we 
pick him off before he causes anymore damage" She aimed her rifle toward 
the boomer's head.
  "Hey, what are you doin'?" Linna asked, placing her hand on Sylia's 
shoulder "How do you know if he's a boomer? We can't just going around 
killing boomers unless we know for sure"
  "I know, but look at all the damage he and Ranma are creating" she 
replied "It's best that we get rid of him before something really bad 
happens, like their battle spanning all the way down to the colliseum 
where many can get hurt or killed.
  She aimed her rifle.

  Ranma stopped for a second and said, "Hey, Ryoga, exactly why are we 
fighting?"
  "What do you think?!" he said viciously, his fangs showing "Akane died 
because you couldn't protect her. You should have been the one that 
died, not her. I'm here to avenge her death!" He charged forward toward 
Ranma, his arm cocked back, ready to punch a hole through his face "Now, 
prepare yourself"
  "Wait a minute!" Ranma said, holding his hand in front on him, causing 
Ryoga to stop dead in his tracks.
  "What?!"
  "What about you?" Ranma said, "How come YOU couldn't protect her? YOU 
were there also. How come YOU couldn't stop her from gettin' killed, 
huh?"
  "I was a pig at that time!!" Ryoga said, his obvious resentment now 
beginning to show "I couldn't do anything. It was your fault! You're the 
one who splashed me with cold water!!" Tears were now starting to flow 
from his eyes. He resented the fact that he couldn't do anything to save 
his beloved Akane, all because he was a pig at the time, all because of 
Ranma "I would have saved her if I was in my human form!"
  "Are you sure about that?" 
  "Yes, I would have laid down my life for her!!!" Ryoga said.
  "And then what?" Ranma said "You AND Akane would have been killed. 
Dontcha get it? It wasn't any of our faults. We were caught unprepared. 
We never saw those missles coming. Even though the two of us HAD to run 
away, there was nothing we could do. We, too, would have been killed if 
we stayed behing"
  Ryoga was silent for several long moments. As much as he hated to 
believe it, Ranma was right. Both of them would had been killed. He 
wiped the tears from his eyes.
  "I'm glad we survived," Ranma said, "That way, we can avenge their 
deaths. None of them should have died, not Kasumi, not Nabiki, heck not 
even my father should have died, but they did. And they won't rest easy 
until we stop the killers that killed them"
  "We're cowards!!!" Ryoga shouted, "We should have died along side 
them!!! It would have been the honorable thing to do, to die fighting 
rather than run away like cowards!!!" Ryoga's arua started growing as 
his sense of depression started to delve deeper than it ever had.
   "It's not our fault!" Ranma replied, "It's Genom's. They were the one 
that created those boomers, and they were the one that didn't do a thing 
to stop those boomers when they went beserk all over Nerima. They're the 
cause of all of this"
  "Genom?" Ryoga said.
  "Yeah, Genom is the company that created those boomers that supossedly 
went beserk in Nerima" Ranma replied "Even though they denied they had 
any involvement in them going beserk, I know, for a fact that they sent 
those boomers to Nerima, using it as a testing ground"
  Ryoga said nothing. He remembered catching sight of several boomers 
right before one of the missles struck the Tendo's home. He had been 
knocked unconscious and had trouble remembering anything else after 
that. All that he knew was Akane was dead, and someone was going to pay. 
And if it was going to be Genom, then so be it.
  "That's Genom tower," Ranma said, pointing up toward the thousand 
meter high tower that loomed high above the clouds several miles away 
from where they were. Even from the coastline of Japan, Genom tower 
could be seen easily.
  "If that's the tower, then way aren't you attacking it?!" Ryoga 
sneered "Why dontcha just walk up to the front door and destroy the 
entire blasted thing?!"
  "I can't!" he replied. He really wanted to but he knew that if he did, 
the entire world would plunge into financial chaos. And not only that. 
Hundreds of innocent people that lived near the site of the blast would 
be killed. And for what, some lousy revenge "I can't do that"
  "Then I will," Ryoga said, turning twoard toward the looming tower. He 
brought both hands in front of of his body, angled toward the center of 
Genom Tower. He intended to collapse the building in a single blast. His 
aura grew bright red, as he gathered all the depression he had from the 
years of living without his beloved Akane. 
  "No!!!!" Ranma yelled. But it was too late.
  "Shi Shi Hokodan!!!"
  Ranma, knowing that the blast would kill hundreds, jumped in front of 
Ryoga as the ki-blast was shot from his extended hands. The blast that 
hit Ranma was so powerful that a huge ring of fire extended from the 
impact, like a ripple in a pond, causing both him and Ryoga to be 
consumed. The fire consumed everything in its path.
  The impact of the blast had been so powerful that every glass window 
within a city block away shatter from the vibrations. The buildings that 
stood nearby where the explosion was crumbling to the ground from the 
violent shaking, as if an earthquake was taking place. Sylia, Priss, and 
Linna were all knocked off their feet as they watched the ripple of 
flames expanded away from him. 
  Sylia was forced to drop her sniper rifle in order to avoid the 
destructive blast. She and Linna and Priss used their boosters to hover 
backwards to a safe distance. But it was too late as the blast struck 
the building ther were on, causing it to collapse. The three girls were 
buried under the pile of rubble.
  Both Ranma and Ryoga stood at the center of the explosion, both of 
them practically charcoaled black from the flames the ki-blast had 
produced. The ground surrounding them was also scorched, all except for 
the ground directly behind both Ranma and Ryoga.
  Ranma and Ryoga were both looking at each other, both of them deathly 
silent. Long moments passed, neither of them saying a word.
  Ranma then keeled forward and fell to his knees in front of Ryoga, 
blood flowing from his lips, creating a small puddle of red by his 
knees. He fell forward onto his hands "T-that h-hurt y'know" he managed 
to say, blood still trickling from his mouth. He clenched his teeth as 
surges of pain consumed every inch of his body. He noticed the hands on 
the ground becoming blurry as his vision started to fail him. He was 
just moments from unconsciousness.
  Ryoga looked down at Ranma, noticing the puddle of blood forming 
around his feet. He clenched teeth  from the pain surging through him. 
He shuddered, wondering how much worse it could had been if he had 
actually used one of his more powerful ki-attack. If he had used that, 
they would had wiped out more than half to MegaTokyo.
  Ryoga was looking at Ranma in absolute disblief. But soon, the sight 
of Ranma started to blur for Ryoga. He, too, keeled over, blood gushing 
from his lips. The blast had been too much for the both of them. The 
pain was excruciating, too much for any human to endure. His brain was 
trying to avoid the brain as his body tried to shut itself down by going 
into the deep slumber of unconsiousness.
Ranma and Ryoga lay in a pool of their own blood, both of them unmoving.
  "Y-you're right, R-Ranma. T-that did hurt" Ryoga said weakly, right 
before passing out

  Madigan and Carper were staring at the in disbelief.
  "W-what the hell was that?!" the woman said. She had seen the 
explosion clearly from the safety of Carper's office, but what scared 
the hell out of here was that she felt the entire building shake from 
it. The building had been several miles away from the explosion, yet she 
felt it. And it disturbed her terribly. She wondered how powerful that 
blast must had been if it was capable of shaking a building from that 
far away. 
  Carper glanced out the window of his office. He looked down at the 
horizon, noticing the ripple of  fire spreading outward away from the 
site of the explosion. The rippled of flames seemed to be the size of an 
entire city block before it abated. Even from several miles away, he 
could see the destruction it had caused quite easily.
  The smoke on the screen cleared up, revealing a good view of two 
individuals facing one another. From an explosion like that, she was 
expecting to see the remains of what was left of the superboomer and 
that human. That was why she was shocked to see both that human and 
superboomer still standing, the only visible sign of damage among them 
being some darkly scorched clothes.
  "What the fuck?!" she cursed unlady-like. There were no words to 
describe her shock. She had never seen something like this before 
"They're both standing!!!"
  Carper walked away from the window and looked at the screen again. He 
didn't know what to say. He felt a sense of fear that humans were 
capable of evoking such power, but he also felt awe from the thought 
that the same human could survive a blast like that. And not only that, 
but the superboomer survived that also.
  "Hey, look at that" Carper said, pointing toward the screen. He 
noticed the superboomer falling to its knees, its limbs seemingly no 
longer functioning. 
  Madigan and Carper both noticed the superboomer cough up some blood 
before it ceased its functioning. The two of them both gasped in relief 
as they realized that they no longer had to worry about it anymore, that 
it can no longer interfere with Genom's affairs. 
  Madigan felt this sense of accomplishment at a job well done, even 
though she and Carper had nothing to do with getting that Ryoga Hibiki 
person to fight that superboomer. Even though the sense of 
accomplishment did feel good, she felt a bit disappointed. Someone like 
Ryoga Hibiki working for Genom would do the company proud. It was too 
bad he was consumed in the blast. But then again, if his death meant the 
destruction of that superboomer, it was worth it.
  Madigan laughed, glad that the situation with that superboomer had 
finally been resolved.

  "Well, judging from the fingerprints, it turns out that he is human, 
just like Ranma" Nene told the other three girls and Mackie over her 
communicator. She was at AD Police Headquarters, having stayed late 
after finding out that AD Police had responded to that explosion and 
found two people unconscious in the middle of the street. Her department 
thought that they had been a innocent bystander to that explosion and 
had taken them to the closest hospital for some medical treatment. It 
was now several hours since that battle between Ranma and Ryoga.
 "The person's identified as a Ryoga Hibiki. Place of residence is 
unknown. From what I could dig up on his background in such a short 
notice, I found out that he and Ranma used to goto school together. I 
assume they were figting each other because of some rivalry between the 
two of them or perhaps they were enemies"
  "What have you found on the person named Akane, Kasumi , Nabiki?" 
Sylia spoke into the computer. She and Pris and Linna and Mackie were 
all sitting in front of the computer screen in Sylia's penthouse. Sylia 
and the others had been lucky that Mackie managed to find them before 
anyone else could. They had gotten back shortly after having been buried 
alive under all that rubble. Sylia remembered hearing the conversation 
between Ryoga and Ranma. She remembered hearing those names, and it 
might prove to be useful in finding out who Ryoga really was.
  Nene smiled. It had taken her quite a lot of effort to search through 
all those lists of people either named Kasumi, Nabiki, or Akane, but she 
hit the jackpot when she found three people that shared the same 
familyname "I found three of people of that same name, and the same 
family name. Their  familyname was Tendo, and they resided in Nerima. I 
think they were the family Ranma was talking about that died during the 
'Nerima Massacre'."
  "What about Ryoga Hibiki?" Linna said, now speaking toward the 
computer screen "What else have you found out about him?"
  "Not much," Nene's voice echoed into the livingroom "Most of the data 
based on him is unknown. Aside from some minor identifications like his 
name and date of birth, there's not much else I can find on him. He's a 
mystery as of right now. The only thing I can think of is that Ranma and 
Ryoga are enemies. It's either that or Genom somehow found a way to hire 
or manipulate him into fighting Ranma. I think it's the former. I think 
Ryoga liked this Akane person, and seems to have some great resentment 
toward Ranma because Ranma couldn't protect her"
  "I think that sounds romantic, avenging the death of a person you 
love" Linna said, sighing. Why couldn't she meet someone like that?
  "Now's not the time to be thinking about something like that, Linna" 
Sylia said, "We have to find out more about Ryoga. We can't just second 
guess this situation" She turned her attention away from Linna and then 
back onto the computer screen "Nene, where were they taken, what 
hospital?"
  "Both were taken to Mizunkan Hospital," Nene said "why?"
  "Well, I think we should pay them both a visit, so we could find out 
what's going on here," she replied "What rooms are they in?"
  "Hold on one second," Nene said. The sound of her typing quickly on 
her keyboard could be heard.
  "I don't understand," Linna said to Sylia "Why are we going through 
all this trouble to find out who this person is?"
  "Yeah," Priss addded "It's really none of our business"
  "I know that battle between Ranma and this Ryoga person is really none 
of our business," Sylia replied "but imagaine what might happen if their 
battle happened to make its way down to the collosium. Many could be 
killed"
  That seemed to make Priss keep quiet. Sylia was right. 
  Nene's shocked voice echoed into the room 
  "Oh my god!!! They're sharing the same room!!!"
  
  Ranma opened his eyes slowly, not really knowing where he was. He 
quickly realized that he was lying in a bed as he sat upright at 
surveyed his surroundings. The room was in was filled with advanced 
medical equipement, most of the wires from them attached to his body, as 
if they were there to observe his condition. He noticed Ryoga lying in a 
bed on the other side of the tiny room. 
  "Yo, Ryoga," Ranma said, wincing a bit from the pain that shot through 
him "You all right?"
  Ryoga slowly open his eyes, facing the direction the voice came from. 
When his eyes rested on Ranma, he quickly sat uptight, only to be seized 
by a spasm of pain. Ryoga sat still, waiting for the pain to subside, 
allowing Ryoga to survey the tiny room.
  "W-where are we?" he said, looking down at himself and noticing that 
there were bandages wrapped around his chest. He took a deep breath and 
felt a bit of pain, realizing that he must have a few bruised ribs. 
  "I don't know," Ranma said, looking around. He slowly flipped his legs 
around the edge of the bed, the wires attached to his body being pulled 
taut, as he hopped off. A bolt of pain shot through him "Man, that 
hurts....."
  Ranma quickly sat back down on the bed and laid back down, not wanting 
to really move. He needed some rest, that was all. His body would heal 
in no time. But then again, if he wanted to heal even quicker, he could 
do something else....
  Ryoga chuckled a bit but the spasm of pain caused him to think 
otherwise "Man, what happened?" he said. He looked at his hands and arms 
and noticed that they seemed a bit red, like he had suffered from an 
extreme sunburn. Upon seeing that, he remebered what had happened. He 
remembered seeing Ranma jump in front of his hands as one of his ki-
blasts shot from his hands.
  Ryoga opened his mouth to give Ranma a piece of his mind for doing 
something like that, but he stopped when he realized there must had been 
a good reason. The both of them could had been killed. Surely, Ranma 
wouldn't do something that stupid. Not unless there was a good reason "I 
hope you have a good reason for what you did"
  "Yeah, I did," Ranma said, looking up at the ceiling.
  "Well, I'm waiting for an explanation,"
  "Man, I figured over the years, you would at least had learned to 
think before you do something that stupid" Ranma started.
  "What did you say?!" Ryoga spat, sitting upright, ready to pummel 
Ranma for a comment like that. Even though they were sharing the same 
room, it didn't mean he needed to put up with stuff like this. He was 
about to get up out of bed but stopped when the fit of pain jolted 
through him. He realized it was best to just take a rest. He'd pummel 
Ranma later, after he healed.
  "Do you once think about what would had happened if that blast hit the 
building?" Ranma said.
  "Yeah, it would've caused some major damage to it," Ryoga said, 
"What's your point?"
  "It would have also killed the hundreds of people that lived around 
that building from the falling debris," Ranma answered, "I'm pretty sure 
you don't want to do something like that"
  Ryoga was silent for a moment. Ranma was definitely right. Many would 
had died if that blast had struck the building. And that was something 
he didn't want to live with. He wasn't a murderer. Well, perhaps he 
would kill Ranma for letting Akane die, but he would never take the 
lives of innocent people.
  When Ranma realized that Ryoga was silent, he shook his head "Ah 
what's the use of explaining it. You're to pig-headed to understand 
something like that. Right, P-chan?"
  "Stop calling me P-chan!!!" 

  Nene's heart was racing as she sped down the highway on her scooter. 
She had never pushed her scooter to go this fast before. Sure, Priss 
went this fast on a regular basis, but Nene wasn't used to this. The 
engine of her scooter sounded like it was going to explode from being 
constantly redlined.
  She swore to herself, wishing AD Police Headquarters wasn't so close 
the the hospital both Ranma and Ryoga were staying. Since it was so 
close, she had to be the one to get over there and have the two of them 
sperated so there were no chance of them fighting each other again. Yeah 
right. Like she would be of any use.
  Nene saw the giant hospital off in the distance as she got closer and 
closer. She was only a mile away from it now. She'd be there in less 
than a minute at the speed she was going.
  Nene almost fell off her bike going at such a high speed when a huge 
blast exploded on the east side of the hospital, the side Ranma and 
Ryoga's room were. Her heart dropped as she realized that Ranma and 
Ryoga must had already awaken.
  She quickly slowed down to a stop, wondering if she should continue 
on. Would she be of any use to stopping the fighting between the both of 
them? Most likely not. What could she do?
  Nene decided it was best she avoid the situation. She jerk the handle 
bars toward one direction as the back wheel of her scooter spun. She was 
going to get out of there as fast as possible.
  A huge explosion occured some distance away from her, bit the impact 
was so great she was thrown off her scooter. Nene frightfully looked 
back in the direction of the hospital and noticed that the explosions 
were getting closer. The first explosion had occured at the hopital. The 
second one had occured a about a few hundred feet away, in her 
direction.
  "I told you to stop calling me P-chan!!!" Ryoga said as he ran down 
the street, closely behind Ranma's trail. He sent a massive ki-blast 
toward Ranma, intent on hitting him directing in his back, but Ranma 
skillfully dodged it.
  Ranma began taking great leaps backwards as he stuck out his tongue 
"What's up, P-chan, can't take a joke?! Look at you. Your aim's lousy. I 
betcha you couldn't even hit the ground!" He took those words back when 
a ki-blast missed hitting him directly in the face by inches. His hair 
was singed from the extreme heat as it whizzed by his head.
  "How dare you say something like that?!" Ryoga said, his aura glowing. 
He leaped high into the air and landed on the roof of one of the 
buildings. From his vantage point, he would have an easier shot. Ranma 
also leapt up onto a roof.
  When Ranma noticed Ryoga's growing arua, he realized that there might 
still be people around, even if it was late "Hey, Ryoga, lighten up. I 
was only kidding. You're going to get someone killed if you keep this 
up"
  Anger had prevented Ryoga from hearing as he let loose another ki-
blast, intent on toppling the entire building Ranma stood upon "Shi Shi 
Hokodan!!!"
  Ranma leapted into the air, landing safely several hundred feet away, 
as the building he once stood on crumpled to the ground in a fiery mess 
"Hey, Ryoga, stop it already. Enough's enough. You're going to hurt 
someone!" He leapt away another several hundred feet as that building 
was destroyed.
  Nene's heart almost stopped when she caught sight of two shadowy 
figures leaping from rooftop to rooftop, the a few building being 
destroyed in the process as they were coming directly toward her. He 
tried to get on her scooter again, but the shockwaves of the explosions 
kept knocking her off.
  Ranma caught sight of Nene out of the corner of his eye just as the 
building behind him exploded. While he was soaring through the air from 
one of his bounds, he realized that the falling debris would bury Nene.
  "Eek!!!" Ranma heard Nene say, just as he landed against one of the 
walls of another building and kicked away from it, using it to recoil 
down toward Nene. He landed quickly and let loose one of his own ki-
blasts.
  "Hiryu Shoten Ha!!!" he said as he sent a hurricane spiralling from 
his fist, up toward the heavens. The falling debris was absorbed into 
the blast and sent flying in different direction, all of them away from 
Nene. Unfortunately, Ranma had forgotten that Nene would also be brough 
up in his blast.
  Ryoga had caught sight of Nene just as Ranma landed on the ground 
right near her. He quickly realized what Ranma was trying to save her 
with his hurricane blast, but noticed Nene was taken up along with the 
falling debris. Already having forgotten his anger toward Ranma, Ryoga 
leapt through the air and caught Nene in mid-flight, twisting in mid-air 
so his back would absorb the impact of the debris. Once the ki-blast 
subsided, Ryoga found himself falling down toward the terra firma. He 
reacted easily by twisting once again in mid-air and landing softly on 
his feet, Nene safely in his arms.
  Ranma gave Ryoga a quick look. It was about time they finally stopped 
their bickering. Their fighting could had gotten Nene killed. And it 
would had been over something so petty as teasing. They had to stop 
going on like this. They had to stop fighting.
  "Truce?" Ranma asked "No more fighting?"
  "No more fighting"
  


-OneShot
Jeffrey Keith Wong
http://www.li.net/~jeffwong/index.htm
Site updated May 30th.