Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Bubblegum Crisis/Ranma 1/2: The boomer that just won't die part 4/8



  Madigan and Carper were staring at the screen in disbelief. They had 
just witness a human breaking through a solid steel door that was built 
to withstand enormous impact. It had been tested to withstand pojectiles 
as strong as hellfires from attack choppers.
  "What the fuck?!!!" Madigan swore, "This is absolutely impossible!!!"
  Carper quickly ran over to Madigan's deskphone and picked up the 
receiver. He punched in a few numbers and waited for a short moment 
before speaking "This is Carper. Get every boomer we have available to 
section four. We have a prisoner on the loose. He is _extremely_ 
dangerous. Do whatever you can to kill him!!!" He hung up the phone and 
looked at Madigan. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
  "Madigan-saman, are you okay?"
  "No!!!" she said, "I'm not!!! Goddamnit, why didn't we kill him while 
we had the chance?!! Why did we have to be so goddamn curious that we 
kept him alive so we would know more about him!!?" 
  At that moment, the door flew open.
  Madigan and Carper stood where they were in disbelief as they saw they 
person that they had tried their hardest to kill enter the room. It had 
only been about ten minutes since they saw Ranma's escape, but since 
Madigan's office was located only two stories above the confinement 
area, it was most likely that he would pay her a visit.
  The two of them took in a deep breath. This was going to to be the end 
of them. They were going to die.  
  Waitaminute, Madigan realized. Ranma has no idea who they are. He also 
has a conscious. At least, she prayed. For the first time in her life, 
she was truly afraid.
  "Get down!" Carper said, pulling a gun from his madatory shoulder 
holdster. He figured if he was going to die, he might as well die 
fighting. He jumped in front of Madigan, his gun aimed perfectly toward 
Ranma's head. One shot would end it all. Just one shot. But will he be 
able to make it?
  Ranma regarded Carper rather casually, as if not worried that his head 
could be blown cleanly off his shoulders if that man pulled the trigger 
  "I don't suppose you'll tell me Genom's deepest darkest secret would 
you? I remember coming across it with Ryoga, but I don't really know 
where," Ranma said rather innocently.
  "Don't move," Carper said deathly serious. He was fighting for not 
only his life, but for Madigan's "or I'll blow your head off" 
  "Your safety's on," Ranma said.
  Carper went to check, but realized it was all a simple ruse. And he 
had fallen for it. Before he could bring his gun back up, Ranma had 
taken two quick bounds forward and had swatted it out of his hand. He 
skillfully ducked out of Carper's attempted punch and got into a rather 
loose battle stance.
  "Look, I don't want to fight, but if I must..." Ranma said, not 
bothering to finish his sentence. He wanted Carper to figure it out.
  Carper looked like he was ready to pass out from shear fright, but he 
managed to keep himself from receeding into the depths of 
unconsciousness. Madigan needed him to protect her "You may be a lot 
stronger than me, but I'll still fight you if I have to"
  Ranma took a quick glance over his shoulder and then turned back 
toward Carper and Madigan. Without saying a word, he lunged toward 
Madigan and grabbed hold of her. Before Caper realized what Ranma just 
did, he found himself being picked up by Ranma also.
  A missle came rocketing into the room via the open office door. Carper 
and Madigan gasped as they realized that being within such close 
proximity to the blast would kill them. But before the missle exploded 
in Madigan's office, Ranma lept out the window. 
  Madigan screamed in aboslute horror as she realized she was now 
falling down twenty stories toward the ground. She was going to die. 
  "Relax," she heard Ranma's soft voice say "You'll be all right"
  Ranma twisted in mid-air and skillfully landed. He then placed Carper 
and Madigan on the ground "You do know Genom is bad, right? Whoever you 
are, you shouldn't really work for them. Didn't you see those boomers, 
they would had killed you back there, and it wouldn't had mattered at 
all to Genom"
   He turned around to head back into Genom. He looked up at the 
towering buliding "Man, getting back up to whatever floor I was on's 
gonna take forever"
  "W-what are yo- where are you going?" Madigan said. Although her heart 
was racing, she had just realized Ranma had saved her and Carper's life. 
But it didn't really matter much though because Ranma being in there was 
why those boomers fired missles into her office, not because they didn't 
care. Besides, those boomers most likely didn't see them....right?
  Ranma turned around "Not that it really matters to you, but I remember 
seeing somethin' called 'OMS' earlier today. I'm gonna go find out what 
it is. Perhaps I don't hafta blow this whole buildin' up.
  "Oh no!" Madigan said. Ranma knew about Genom's dirtiest darkest 
secret, their 'Overmind Control System' Only a select few knew about 
that project, and they were rarely ever allowed to leave the premises.
  Ranma raised both hads toward the sky "Mouko Takabisha!!! Mouko 
Takabisha!!!"  He fired two massive ki-blasts up into the sky, 
disappearing as it passed through the clouds "Ryoga oughta be able to 
see that. Not unless he got himself really lost, he shouldn't miss that"
  Madigan and Carper both stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend how 
Ranma was able to bring forth such enormous energy. Even from where they 
stood, which were several yards away, they could feel the heat of the 
ki-blasts.
  At that moment, several boomers hovered down from the window they had 
jumped out of. They all surrounded Ranma, their tagets all locked on 
him. 
  "Man, don't I wish those ki-blasts hit them on the way up," Ranma said 
as he noticed them descending. He shrugged his shoulders "Oh well, can't 
win 'em all the time"
  "Get him!" Madigan told the boomers. That man had to be stopped before 
he got his hands on the 'OMS' project. _If_ he got a hold of it, Genom 
would be no more. The government would have a ball if they found out 
they were trying to invent a system that would be able to override any 
boomer's AI and put in new commands. It would mean Genom could literally 
control any and every boomer created.
  Ranma shook his head "So you're one of 'em bad guy, huh?"
  Just as the the boomers began firing a barrage of lasers and bullets, 
Ranma turned tail and ran back into the buliding through the front 
entrance. The front entrance was ripped apart by the firepower, glass 
panels shattering
  Madigan looked at all the damage being created. 
  "Shit!!! Stop!!!"
  
  "Hey, look!" Ryoga said, pointing "That looks like Ranma's ki-blasts"
  The four girls looked up into the sky and caught a glimpes of the 
spheres of power, just as it disappeared beyond the clouds. They were 
all standing outside the Silky Doll when Ryoga had spotted the blast. 
The girls were just about to enter the store to change into their 
hardsuits.
  "What does that mean?" Priss asked "Is it some signal or something?"
  "Well, there's Ranma's signal," he said with a smile, even though it 
was a total lie "I hafta go. I'll see you around"
  "Not without us," Priss said, "We're gonna get Genom back for trashin' 
Sylia's penthouse"
  "Even though it was actually our fault that we lead them there?" Ryoga 
said. He still felt guilty, despite the fact that Sylia said she could 
easily spring back onto her feet since she had a subtantial amount of 
money hidden "Look, we're really sorry for what happened, and we'll make 
it up to you. We stashed quite a bit of money in a building Ranma says 
you know about, so that should easily cover the damages. I just hope 
there wasn't anything in there of sentimental value"
  Sylia gave Ryoga a calm look "As long as no one was hurt, it's okay. 
I'll manage"
  "Well, I'm gonna get goin' now" he said, turning around to leave, only 
to be stopped when Priss placed a hand on his shoulder.
  "Oh no you don't" Linna said, "We're in this together. Also, what do 
you mean by there's the signal. What does those blasts mean?"
  Ryoga wasn't really good with words, but he tired his best to explain 
it "Well, while on our way out of Genom with the money earlier, he 
mentioned if we ever find something to stop Genom, we would give each 
other a signal. It seems he found something. That's all. Can I please 
leave now?"
  "No," Priss said, "You wait right here while we go get into our suits"
  "Suits?" Ryoga asked "What suits?"
  Sylia gave a short smile. Back then, she would had strangled Priss for 
foreclosing their identies, but now, it seemed all right. Ryoga could be 
trusted, just like Ranma "Don't worry about it. We'll be ready in a 
minute. Just follow us"
  Ryoga looked up at the Silky Doll sign, remember how nervous he had 
felt when he first entered the store "Um, I'll wait out here"
  "Fine, but don't leave"

  "Akane?" Ranma said, looking down at the sexaroid supposedly sleeping 
soundly on a table, wires and tubes attached all over her. His heart 
skipped a beat as he realized it was her. At least it it looked exactly 
like her on the day she died, even down to the light green dress she had 
been wearing.
  Ranma felt tears forming around his eyes. He had missed her so 
terribly. Even though he knew, without a doubt, that this wasn't the 
real Akane, that the real Akane had died over thirty years ago, he still 
wanted to believe this was her "Akane, wake up. It's me, Ranma"
  He pressed a hand on her cheek, noticing how cold the flesh felt 
against his touch. It felt like ice. He turned to look at the screen, 
and saw a whole bunch of numbers and computer jargon he couldn't 
understand. But there were some things he could discern. 
  He read the screen "Akane Project 001" He looked back toward Akane and 
then back at the screen "What the hell is this? What he hell are they 
doing?"
  He did his best to understand what everything on the screen meant. The 
core tempeture read somwhere around 5 degress celcius and was slowly 
rising. Her internal systems indicated that they were functional and 
there were intermitten waves running across a small screen indicating 
her wave patterns.
  As Ranma stood there, he realized exactly what Genom was up to. They 
were trying to bring her to life, but as a boomer. He didn't know what 
to do, destroy the entire building in one massive ki-blast for them 
disturbing Akane's rest to bring her back to the cold realities of life, 
or to love them from bringing back someone he wished had never left this 
world. But soon, rage started to take control of him as he clenched his 
hands into tight fists, his knuckles turning white, realizing they had 
to have done something to this Akane. Why else would they bring her to 
life? There were two choices, to either let her live, but find a way to 
remove whatever junk they programmed into her, or to destroy her right 
then and there, so she would never be brought to life, so she would 
remain in her eternal sleep.
  He heard a noise from the corner of the room. Ranma turned to face 
where the noise had come from and caught the smallest sign of movement. 
Not really caring who or what it was, Ranma proceeded toward the source 
of the noise.
  A young female dressed in a white lab coat stood up from behind the 
tiny desk she had been hiding behind as she heard Ranma's footsteps get 
closer. It was useless to hide "Please, don't hurt me" She had never 
been so scared in her life. She wished she had left like all the other 
scientists after hearing a low rumbling noise echo through the building, 
but she had been too engorged with this 'Akane poject' to leave.
  Ranma regarded the young scientist "I'm not goin' to hurt you. What 
are you doin' here? Shouldn't you have evacuated the building like 
everyone else?"
  The scientist regarded Ranma for a second "Aren't you that superboomer 
I heard about?"
  "My name's Ranma," he said. He chuckled "So that's what Genom calls 
me? A superboomer? So what's you're name?"
  The young girl nodded, her fear practically vanishing for some reason.  
"I'm Lisa" she replied. She eyed him carefully. How in the world can 
such an potent weapon like this superboomer be created in such a small 
chassis? It was as if this superboomer radiated power, and she could 
feel it "Man, it's amazing how technologically advanced you are. Who 
ever created this machine standing in front of me must be some 
supergenius"
  "Well, I'm not a machine. I'm human" he said. He walked over toward 
the computer screen 
  "Y-you're human?"
  "Yes," he replied. He paused a moment to let all that soak in before 
asking "You're a scientist, right?
  "Lettme guess, the white lab coat gave it away" she said. When she saw 
Ranma turn back around to face her, she wanted to kick herself. She 
should had just said yes. She was in the mercy of this man and here she 
was making cracks "I'm sorry"
  "Can you tell me what this thing is?" he said, jerking a thumb over 
his shoulder "What's this 'Akane Project 001'?" He needed to know the 
truth.
  "I can't tell you" she said "It's against regulations. I could get in 
deep trouble for this"
  Ranma had to play the role. As much as he hated to, he needed to know 
why Akane was being created. He had to. And if that meant pretending to 
be something he was not, then so be it. He walked up to the scared young 
girl and gazed into her eyes "I don't think you should be worrying about 
that right now. You're in more trouble then you can imagine"
  All the blood seemed to drain from her face. She could feel her knees 
beginning to feel weak "W-what a-are you going to do to me?"
  Ranma inwardly prayed she would not faint "I'll kill you" He found 
those words a lot harder to say than he had thought. It pained him so 
much to be scaring this young girl. He had to bite his lips shut to keep 
from apologizing. He had to turn around, unable to continue looking at 
her with a straight face "Please, tell me what this is about. Why are 
you bringing this Akane to life? How are you going about doing this?"
  The young girl took a deep breath. There was nothing she could do "I 
really don't know anything about the 'why' part, but I do know about the 
'how' part. We were given the project to extracted the DNA from the 
bones this person who died many years ago named Akane Tendo and extract 
the information from it into downloadable information so we could 
dowload all of it into this sexaroid replica of her. That way, she would 
be almost exactly like the real Akane except for the programs we were 
asked to also add into her subconscious"
  "What programs?"
  "Well, judging by the name you just gave me," she said, "She was 
programed to kill you and a Ryoga Hibiki"
  Ranma looked down at Akane. The program would make her a murderer. He 
would never allow that to happen "How much of her personality have you 
downloaded all of it into her?"
  She looekd at the screen for a moment "It's a little more that eighty 
percent done. It'll take about half and hour before the rest is 
downloaded"
  Ranma smiled "Well, there's gonna be a change in plans. All you're 
gonna do is download the personality, and that's it. Nothing else. No 
program"
  At that moment, the door to the room opened and in entered two 
'Doberman' boomers. 
  They didn't even have a chance to catch sight of their target they 
registered a blow of immese magnitude striking up against their chest, 
right before ceasing their function.
  Ranma turned to face Lisa "I'm gonna go. I don't want Akane or you 
getting hurt because of all these boomers running around. One stray 
bullet and that's it. Remember, just download her personality. I'll be 
back in twenty minutes"
  "What did you say?" she asked, wondering if she heard correctly.
  "That I don't want Akane or you gettin' hurt" he repeated.
  "You don't want me to get hurt?" she asked. No one had really cared 
about her. And because of that, she only focused on her work. But for 
that brief moment, she wanted to believe someone actually cared for her.
  Ranma looked at her for a moment before nodding, then he left the room 
  "Man, and I'm supposed to be a bad guy"

  Ryoga looked up at the front entrance and couldn't help but chuckle. 
The glass front doors were shattered and the glass was everywhere. There 
were also hundreds of bullet holes sprayed along the concrete and steel 
walls. There was definitely some excessive damage.  
  "Ya think Ranma did this?" Linna's said, the exterior speakers 
allowing Ryoga to hear what she was saying. Otherwise, she would had 
just spoke into her communicator "Do you think he threw of of those 
blasts of his?"
  Ryoga shook his head "No. He'd do much more damage. Also, there'd be 
one big hole, not hundreds of little ones" He looked up toward the top 
of the looming tower, his neck almost hurting from being bent back at 
such an angle "Man, it's goning to take quite a long time to get to the 
top, are you sure all of you are up to it. I mean, this isn't really 
your fight" 
  "Let's just say we've been waiting a long long time for this," Sylia's 
voice could be heard "We've been meaning to find something about Genom 
that is dirty enough to put it under once it's revealed. Let's hope 
Ranma found something worthwhile"
  Ryoga nodded "Okay, let's go"
  "'Bout time you showed up, Ryoga!" Ranma's voice echoed from high 
above. He was looking out one of the windows, half his entire body 
pratically out. He also noticed Ryoga's backup and couldn't help but add 
a snide comment "What's up, Ryoga? You needed their help to find your 
way here"
  "You take that back!!!" Ryoga spat, running backward so he wouldn't 
have to look up at such an extreme angle. He shook his fist toward 
Ranma, who was many stories above "You may be twenty or so stories 
above, but I can still jump that high. And you'll be sorry!"
  "Whatever you say. I know you can't jump this high," Ranma said, 
"Anyway, Ryoga, try and get up here as soon as possible, there's 
somethin' here that's really going to surprise you. You won't believe 
what you're going to see. Just take the elevator to the nineteenth 
floor. I'll meetcha there"
  "What's there that's so important?" Sylia spoke.
  "Hey, waitaminute!" Ranma said, realizing something "Can't you girls 
just use your boosters to get him up here?"
  "I guess we could," Sylia said. She turned toward Ryoga "Well, you 
want us to use our boosters to carry up there?"
  "Shit!!!" Ranma's voice could be heard as his head disappeared back 
into the window. Moments later, hundreds of bulletes shot forth from the 
window, spraying the adjacent building. Ryoga and the girls realized 
that the boomers must had located him in the room and had opened fire on 
him, sheeling him with everything they got.
  Ryoga and the girls ran through the front entrance, out from under the 
falling debris. They gazed backwards as the deris continued to rain down 
on the front entrance for several long moments before it finally 
stopped.
  "Well, I guess it's best we head up the long way" Linna said, heading 
toward the eleveator. She immediately realized the elevator was down 
since the doors opened yet there were no elevator. The steel rope 
holding the elevator must had broken and the elevator must be smashed up 
several sub levels below.
  "Oh no, does that mean we have to take the stairs?" Nene said. She 
didn't like the thought of running up twenty flights of stairs in a 
hardsuit "There's gotta be an easier way"
  "Nope," Linna said, heading toward the stairway "Quit bein' so lazy, 
Nene. You need the workout anyway"
  She was too busy laughing at Nene to see the boomer standing behind 
the door she opened. When she turned to head back up, she managed to 
catch a quick glimpse of the boomer's red metallic hand as it closed 
down on her helmet. Soon, the other hand came down on her helmet, 
squeezing.
  Linna didn't even need to shout before she was saved. 
  Ryoga made it to Linna's side before any of the other girls had 
reacted. He reacted up and took hold of the boomer's arms by the wrists 
and squeezed, the hands falling off like it had just been severed from 
the forearms. Once Linna was out of harms' way, Ryoga headbutted the 
boomer, caving its metallic head all the way in.
  The boomer twitched a few times before falling to the ground.
  "Let's go" he said, beginning his ascent.
  Linna couldn't help but comment on how much that looked like it would 
had hurt Ryoga.
  "Man, that's gotta hurt"

  "That's because he's got a hard head" Ranma said with a chuckle after 
hearing Linna mention what Ryoga had done to a boomer several minute ago 
downstairs. He and the others were somewhere on the fifteenth floor. 
Ranma had came down the stairs to meet them halfway, but after they met 
each other and proceeded toward the twentieth floor, bullets started 
raining down on them, causing them to jump out of the stairwell to 
safety. They had waited several minutes for the boomers to come after 
them, but they seemed to be playing it smart and waiting instead.
  "Shut up, Ranma!" Ryoga said.
  "Are you friends or enemies?" Linna couldn't help but ask. She had to 
know. They seemed to help each other out yet they wanted to kill each 
other.
  "Enemies," Ranma and Ryoga said in unison. But Ryoga managed to add a 
few more when he noticed the confused looks "It's kind of a long story, 
we're more like arch rivals. We just don't like each other that much. 
We're only working together because we have a similar goal, to topple 
Genom. But after that, we'll become enemies again"
  "Jeez, when do these things stop coming!" Ryoga added "We must'd blown 
up hundreds of these boomers yet they keep coming" Several boomers had 
emerged around a corner to block the path straight ahead of them in the 
hallway "And what's worse is that we can't use our special techniques 
because it'll be too strong and it'll cause debris to fall down on the 
city below"
  Ranma shook his head, casually stepping into one of the rooms as 
bullets zipped by. He spoke to Ryoga, who had stepped through the 
adjacent door. 
  "Hey, what're ya complainin' about. That's the fun part"

  Akane opened her eyes and slowly took in her surroundings, recognizing 
nothing familiar about the plain looking ceiling. She sat upright. This 
doesn't look like my house, she thought. The last thing she remembered 
was sitting in the livingroom watching television with the Ranma, her 
family, and P-chan before she saw some bright light. Where was she now? 
She noticed she was wearing the same clothes from before.
  She looked down and noticed many wires attached to her body.
  "What the-" she said, looking down at her wire linked arms. She then 
looked around the room again and noticed she was surrounded by these 
large computers, the screens seemingly monitoring her vital signs. But 
that didn't matter. Her eyes rested on a young woman in a white labcoat 
and a nametag that said 'Lisa Kurinagi.'
  "How're you feeling," the young woman said, her eyes almost 
glimmering.
  "Fine" Akane replied "Where am I?"
  The woman looked a bit nervous but answered "You're not really going 
to believe this, but this is the future. You died over thirty years ago. 
You've been brought to life"
  Akane looked at the woman like she was crazy "I don't believe you. I 
must had been kidnapped or something. That always happens"
  Lisa hugged Akane "This it great. I can't believe the project is a 
success"
  "What are you talking about?" Akane said "And why are you hugging me? 
What's this 'project'? What's goin' on here?"
  At that moment, Ranma and Ryoga and the others entered the room.
  "Oh my god!" Ryoga's voice echoed in the room "Akane? I-Is that really 
you?"
  "Yeah," Akane said, "It's me. What's going on here?" She looked at him 
more carefully "How come you look...older? You too, Ranma" She then 
peered over their shoulders toward the four female looking robots "And 
what are those behind you?"
  Ranma walked up to Akane, about to cry "Look, you're never gonna 
believe this. I just hope you're not going to be angry. This is gonna be 
one long story. We'll explain all of this later"
  "Explain later?" Akane said, hopping of the table. Upon her feet 
touching the floor, she noticed her joints feel a bit tight. Nothing a 
little stretching won't fix. She looked at Ranma and then Ryoga, her 
arms across her chest "I want an explanation now"
  Ranma turned toward Lisa "Hm, maybe this is a little TOO Akane. Maybe 
you shoulda left out all downloading those uncute tomboy habits she had"
  "Baka!!!" Akane said, slamming her fist into Ranma's face. She was 
absolutely shocked to see Ranma getting thrown back with such force that 
when he slammed against the wall, the wall collapsed. She didn't care 
how old Ranma looked her elder. She would still hit him.
  Ranma got up from the debris, laughing 
  "Yep, that's Akane all right"

  Ranma and the rest of the group were all assembled around Linna's 
appartment. They had all left Genom Tower shortly after Akane awoke. 
Ranma and Ryoga had decided to abandon the plan to find one of Genom's 
dirty secrets for later. And since they left, the Knight Sabers had to 
go along, since they would become overwhelmed within moments without 
Ranma and Ryoga's assistance. Besides, they were interested in who or 
what this Akane Tendo was.
  "You're not gonna really believe any of this, but I'll try and do my 
best to explain" Ranma began "First off, this isn't the 1990s, it's the 
2020s. That's why Ryoga and I look a bit older, even though not much. 
You see, you died over thirty years ago"
  "What?" Akane said "I'm dead?"
  "Lettme explain," Ranma said, "Over thiry years ago, we were all in 
the livingroom enjoying a quiet day when all of a sudden you saw a white 
light. Do you remember that?" When Akane nodded he continued "Well, that 
bright light you saw, was everyone getting killed. You see, there's 
these things called boomers. They're like robots, but for conventional 
purposes. Well, the company that makes them, Genom, also made combat 
boomers for military use and they just so happened to let one of their 
boomer supposedly go rouge in the middle of Nerima, killing almost 
everyone. They went rouge so Genom could test them out. It just so 
happens you and everyone else were caught in their massacre. Ryoga and I 
were the only ones that survived from the 'Nerima Massacre'."
  "What abouve everyone else?" Akane had to ask. She was starting the 
grasp what Ranma was getting at, but there were still some things she 
didn't believe, still didn't want to believe "What about Nabiki, Kasumi, 
Dad, your Dad? And what about everyone else?"
  Ranma didn't have the heart to look at her "I'm sorry. They all died"
  Akane started crying "That can't be. They were fine just several hours 
ago" 
  The four girls couldn't help but feel very sympathetic, especially 
Priss and Sylia.
  "Akane," Ranma said "It's been over thrity years since that had 
happened. You still think it happed a few hours ago because you never 
experienced the passing of thrity years because you had died. You were 
brought back to life. It seems Genom, the same people who got everyone 
killed, also brought you back to life, to kill me. Thankfully, I managed 
to stop it in time"
  "Kill you?" Akane said "W-what kinda world is this?! How'd they bring 
me back?"
  "Lisa, she told me she extracted your DNA from your remaining bones 
and decoded all that info into a computer and downloaded it. That's why 
it feels like everything happened just hours ago" Ranma said in one 
breath, taking another to continue "But for this to have happened, they 
needed a body, and what they used was a boomer's body"
  "A boomer?"
  "Yes, you're a boomer. You're part machine" Nene butted in. This was 
her area of expertise, machines and computer "You may have a human 
conscious, but you're actually a machine with human conscious. There are 
some good sides to being a machine. First of all, all your senses have 
been hightened and even your physical powers"
  Syila found her way into the conversation "I'm pretty sure you're 
gonna start asking question on if you're human, and believe me, you are. 
As long as your conscious is human, you're human. And don't forget that"
  Akane found those words soothing. As soon as she heard that she was a 
machine, she started wondering about her humanity "T-thanks. I won't" 
She turned back toward Ranma and then Ryoga "Now what are your stories?"
  "Well, nothing much happened" Ranma said "Almost immediately after you 
died, Ryoga and I each went on separate training trips, to train and 
clear our minds. And now, thirty years later, we've come back. Nothing 
else had happened on my behalf. As for Ryoga, I don't know. He probably 
been out partyin' and hanging out with girls"
  "Ranma!!!" Ryoga said "I did not do any of those things. All I did was 
train"
  "What happened to Nerima?" Akane asked "Do we still have a home?"
  Ranma's voice was calm "Nerima burned to the ground. As of right now, 
all three of us have nowhere to really go"
  "Well, if it'll make you happy, you're welcome to stay at my place" 
Linna offered. Her heart went out to poor Akane. Such a sweet girl 
shouldn't have to stay out on a cold night like this. Linna already knew 
that Sylia and Nene and Priss would be staying the night if Akane said 
yes. They  were probably as curious about her as Linna.
  "T-thank you," Akane said "B-but I'll go with Ranma and Ryoga. I mean, 
I don't even know you"
  "You two can stay here tonight also," Linna said.
  Ranma and Ryoga looked at each other for a moment. They both swallowed 
their pride and accepted and said in unison.
  "Thanks,"
  
  It was around dawn when Ryoga caught sight of Ranma about to leave 
Linna's apartment. Ranma and Ryoga both had little sleep, the girls 
having stayed up most of the night chatting with Akane and about how it 
felt to be in that body and such. Their chatter constantly kept them up 
since they had to sleep in the livingroom and there was no place to talk 
except there. But now, they were all soundly asleep. Priss had stayed 
behind, Sylia and Nene having gone home. Sylia most likely had something 
to do, most like doing a background check on Akane, while Nene had to 
work tomorrow.
  "Where're you goin'? Ryoga said
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders "Dunno. Anywhere. I can't sleep. I'm 
goin' to the roof "
  Ryoga also shrugged his shoulder before attempting to try and get what 
little sleep he could.
  Ranma opened on of the windows and hopped out onto the fireescape. He 
then took a leap into the air, landing on the apartment building's roof. 
There, he was able to be alone to have some time alone. He laid down on 
his back and brought one of his hands toward the sky, and then whispered 
"Mouko Takabisha"
  A ki-blast shot from his hands, disappearing beyond the clouds.
  Ranma shook his head "What have I become?" When he was young, he 
needed to concentrate all his energy to create such a huge blast. But 
now, even his weakest ki-blast was stronger than his storngest ki-blast 
from when he was young. The thought of how much power disturbed him. Why 
couldn't he be just a normal person? Perhaps if he had, he might had 
died alone with Akane.
  "No, I can't think like that," he said softly "If I died, I wouldn't 
be able to avenge her death" But now that she was no longer dead, what 
was Ranma to do? Should he still go after Genom? He knew he had to, to 
get some money to pay off all that damage he had done, but that would be 
it. Right?
  He held his hand up again and whisped "Mouko Takabisha" But this time, 
the ki-blast didn't fire off into the sky. It formed around his 
fingertips, hovering in the air. He had willed it to remain where it 
was. As he gazed at the ball of energy, he couldn't help but wonder how 
he had managed to control something like this.
  The door to the rooftop opened, startling Ranma, causing him to lose 
his concentration, the ki-blast firing off into the sky. Ranma sat 
upright and looked over his shoulder to see who it was. 
  It was Akane.
  "Is it all right if I sit with you?" she asked.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders "I guess so"
  Akane sat down and several silent moments passed before someone spoke.
  "Akane, I've missed you a lot," he said out of nowhere, taking Akane 
by surprise "Don't act so surprised. When I was young, I wouldn't had 
said that if my life depended on it, but I guess people change over the 
years" He looked at Akane for a moment "Well, not everyone. You've 
remained the same after all these years, but then again, there's a good 
reason to it"
  "Um, I'm pretty sure I would have missed you, too, Ranma"
  Ranma waited a moment before answering "You and I don't belong here. I 
mean, this isn't the world I grew up in, even though it's the same one. 
I missed those first few years together. I just wish I can go far away 
from here, but there's nowhere to go"
  In the far off distance, thunder could be heard.
  Akane looked toward Ranma and noticed he didn't even bother to move.
  "Yes, I found the nanichuan" Ranma said, reading Akane's mind "But I 
never jumped in. I didn't want to"
  "How come?"
  "It's hard to explain," he began slowly "You know how it is. Imagine 
day in an day out you spar with you father, but you always lose. But 
then, one day, you finally win. Fair and square. You get this empty 
feeling, even though you finally accomplished something. Well, I don't 
want that feeling. My life's been empty enough...without you"
  Akane was silent. Ranma had indeed changed. But for the better. Even 
though he still acted like a teasing jerk sometimes, at least he was 
more honest with himself and also Akane.
 Ranma got up and proceeded toward the rooftop entrance door "I don't 
wanna really get wet, none of the others know about my curse, and I 
don't want any complications" 
  He held the door open for Akane. As she passed, he smiled a bit. 
  He always missed that dress she wore.

  Ranma and Akane walked down the streets together. Akane had asked 
Ranma to show her around the new town so she could get used to it since 
she was going to be living here from now on. Everyone else were probably 
still asleep back at Linna, allowing Ranma to relax a bit eaiser. Ryoga 
would probably challange him to a fight if he saw him with Akane.
  "Excuse me," came a voice from behind them, a female voice "Can you 
please help me?"
  Ranma and Akane both turned around. They both regarded the middle aged 
woman. 
  "What seems to be the problem?" Akane said.
  The woman pointed toward her car across the street. The car was 
parallel parked, boxed in on both sides. She only had about a foot both 
ways to work her way out of that spot "Can one of you dears please help 
me get out of my parking space. I need someone to help tell me how much 
room I've got"
  Ranma gazed at the car "I've got a better idea. I'll get it out for 
you"
  The woman looked at Ranma cautiously. MegaTokyo wasn't that great a 
neighborhood. She wasn't going to give him her car keys so he could pull 
it out for her. He might take off with her car.
  Akane "And just how will you do that? You don't even know how to 
drive"
  "And how will you know that?" he said "It's been over thrity years, 
and people do learn new things over that long a period of time"
  Akane felt a bit embarressed. She had already forgot Ranma was 
somewhere in his forties. He still looked like the same Ranma she knew, 
perhaps just a little bit older "Well, do you?"
  Ranma scratched the back of his head "Well, no. I mean, I've never got 
'round to gettin' a driver's license and all. I was trainin' in the 
mountains all these years" He turned toward the lady "Don't worry, you 
don't have to give me your keys. I'm pretty sure you think I'm gonna 
take off once I get this car outta this parking space. This way's a lot 
easier"
  Akane and the middle-aged woman watched in disbelief at Ranma's 
capabilities. They stared, mouth gaped, as Ranma casually squeezed in 
between the space in front of the car. He then leaned forward and 
gripped the bumper and lifted, the entire front of the car leaving the 
ground by a foot. While holding it, Ranma sidestepped to toward the 
street. Within moments, he placed the front of the car back down, and 
then did the same thing for the back end.
  "There ya go," Ranma said rather triumphantly. He always liked the 
feeling he got after a job well done.
  The lady looked at him for a moment "T-thank you" 
  She quickly got into her car and sped off.
  Ranma shook his head "I betcha she thinks I'm some kinda superboomer. 
I seem to get mistakened for that a lot" 
  He turned around, only to see Akane was no longer there.
  "Akane?"

  Ryoga woke up when he received a kick to the ribs. He slowly opened 
his eyes, allowing his vision to clear. When it did, to his 
disappointment, it was Ranma "What do you what?" 
  "Yo, P-chan, wake up. There's trouble" Ranma said, turning back around 
to leave apartment. He had come all the way back to Linna's apartment to 
tell someone he felt a bit dubious of telling "Akane's been kidnapped"
  That seemed to wake Ryoga up "What?" So it wasn't a dream. He hade 
dreamt that Akane had been brought back to life, and that she was alive 
and well. But now, she might not be anymore "How the hell did she get 
kidnapped? What happened?"
  "I dunno," Ranma said, "But I'm pretty sure she was taken back to 
Genom Tower. Let's go"
  Ryoga quickly got to his feet and followed after Ranma. But at that 
moment, Priss stepped out of the guestroom and caught sight of the two 
just as they were leaving "Where're you two goin'?" she asked, rubbing 
the sleep from her eyes. She didn't even bother to conceal the fact that 
she was wearing only a large sweat shirt and panties.
  "We're goin' back to Genom Tower again," Ranma said, "One minute, 
Akane was with me, and the next, she wasn't. It think she's been 
kidnapped"
  Ryoga, overhearing what Ranma had just said, glowed red "What?! You 
were with Akane and you let her get kidnapped?! Why I oughta..." He 
didn't bother to finish it. He'd take care of Ranma later. Right now, 
Akane was the one he was worried about.
  "What?" Priss said, immediately waking up "Kidnapped?" She felt like 
she wanted to slap Ranma because he had let he get kidnapped. Priss had 
already considered Akane a friend, like how she considered Sylvie a 
friend. But this time, she didn't want anything to happen to Akane like 
it did to Sylvie.
  Without saying a word, she quickly ran to Linna's bedroom and banged 
on the door "Linna, get your ass up. Akane's been kidnapped"
  Within moments, the door opened and out emerged Linna, dressed in a 
rather skimpy nightgown. Ranma and Ryoga, who stayed to see what was 
going to happened, both turned around, wishing both Priss and Linna had 
a better sense of modesty.
  "Well, let go after her," Linna said, turning around to head back into 
her bedroom "I'll go call Sylia"
  Ranma turned around and shook his head "What? You're coming along?"
  "Of course," Priss answered "What'd ya think we were going to do, sit 
here and wait?"
  Ranma took in a deep breath "Well, no. But this has nothing to do with 
you. This is our fight, not yours"
  Ryoga nodded, albeit a bit nervously.
  Priss stepped in front of the apartment entrance "Don't you go 
thinkin' of leavin' us behind. And don't you dare say  it's too 
dangerous" 
  She regarded Ranma and noticed the muscles in his jaw tighten.
  "Look, we want to help," Priss said, "I...we care about Akane, and 
want to help, that's all" She didn't bother to tell them how much Akane 
reminded her of Sylvie. It still pained her to think of her friend, and 
on how her death could had been avoided.
  The muscles around Ranma's clenched jaw seemed to relax as he nodded 
  "Okay, fine"
 
  Akane slowly opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings bit by bit. 
It only took a few moments before she realized she was in some kind of 
laboratory, lying flat on some weird looking table. And it only took 
another moment before she realized she was in the same laboratory she 
had first awoken in. The room was empty, void of everything except for 
several large computer terminals and screens.
  She sat upright, only to find out that she can't. Almost every part of 
her body were in restraints.
  "What's going on here?!" she yelled to no one in particular. She 
struggled against the restraints, trying to break them through brute 
strength. Her boomer body was screaming from the over exertion she was 
putting it through as it began to shudder from such intense power 
output.
  Akane stopped for some reason. Something flashed in her subconscious 
that her body was well beyond its limit, and that it would soon 
malfunction. At that moment, she remembered that she was no longer in a 
human body.
  "Ranma!" she called out, frightened. She wanted him to rescue her, 
like he always did. But she knew she was all alone, where ever she was. 
She had to get out. She struggled to free herself again, the motors and 
pistons in her arms going taut against the restraints.
  She stopped when she heard someone enter the room from behind her, out 
of her view "Who's there?"
  Madigan smiled as she came into Akane's view. She regarded the 
sexaroid for several moments. It had came to her as a shock when she 
found out Ranma had stolen her right out from under Genom's nose. When 
she had come back into Genom Tower after that little incident where 
those damn boomers tore up the front entrance, she immediately headed 
for the room that held the OMS uplink, praying that Ranma hadn't gotten 
his hands on it yet.  
  But when she did arrive, she found no one, and she realized he must 
had tricked her, told her that to distracted her. When she realized 
that, it had been too late. Ranma was gone, along with this sexaroid. 
But to be on the safe side, she had taken the uplink to the summit of 
the tower.
  "Who are you?" Akane said.
  "Who I am doesn't matter to you. What matters is what you're going to 
do for me" Madigan said, "Because you carry a special homing device, we 
finally discovered where Ranma had been hiding out all this time. At 
first, I didn't really know why he took you instead of what he mentioned 
earlier, but soon I realized that you must be connected to Ranma in some 
way. And when I did a thorough background check on you and him, I found 
out that you two used to live under the same roof" There couldn't had 
been a better timing than now. She had intended to create Akane to get 
rid of Ryoga, but now, she could use her to get rid of the both of them.
  "W-what are you goin' to do to me?"
  "You'll never know," Madigan said wryly "I'm not going to disclose 
that secret to you. All you will know is that you'll be the one who 
kills both Ranma and Ryoga" She turned around and walked over to a 
nearby intercom and pressed the button "Lisa, get in here"
  The door opened and in entered a young girl dressed in a lab coat. 
Akane immediately realized it was the same girl she saw when she first 
woke up. This girl had was the one who seemed to have made this all 
possible for her to see Ranma again. 
  Lisa looked at Akane meekly, scared that Akane's visage would show 
some form of recognition. But luckily, it didn't. She turned to her 
superior "What is it Madigan-sama?"
  "I want you to input the program," came the reply "And do it now. Who 
knows how much time we've got before he comes back here after her"
  Lisa looked around nervously "O-okay,"
  "What are you going to do with me?!" Akane said, starting to struggle 
again, trying her best to free herself, much to no avail.
  "She's going to do nothing, Akane" Ranma said, anger in his eyes.
  Ranma had made his way to Genom Tower in no time. And the actual 
process of making his way through the corridors were a lot easier since 
he had wiped out most of the boomers. He overheard the conversation from 
outside the door. It had taken him everything he got to stand still and 
listen. He and Priss, who was in her heardsuit, had been eavesdropping. 
Sylia and Linna and Ryoga where nowhere around, the three of them having 
gone up higher to find this so called OMS uplink Ranma kept talking 
about. It was about time they stopped Genom once and for all. 
  But Ranma had finally heard enough.
  He walked up to Madigan, who took several steps backwards 
 "You again!!!" he snapped. He didn't care if she was a woman, he wanted 
to slap her. But he managed to hold back. He stared at her for several 
moments before turning away and heading toward the computer. With on 
fluid kick, he destroyed the computer "I can't believe you're still 
trying to kill me. The more boomers you send after me, the more of 'em 
you'll lose. How can you live with yourself, knowing that many innocent 
people are being killed just so you could test out those stupid 
boomers?"
  Madigan's throat was dry. What could she say? 
  Ranma walked over to Lisa "Who are you?" He remembered Lisa mentioning 
to him that she would get in deep trouble if anyone found out she had 
helped him. With his back turn toward Madigan, Ranma was able to give 
Lisa a quick smile, letting her know he was doing what she had asked him 
to.
  Lisa said nothing. Naturally, she had to act scared. Actually, she was 
trying to keep herself from laughing. She always wanted someone to put 
Madigan in her place.
  Ranma turned around and faced Madigan again and noticed she was trying 
to slip silently out of the room "Where do you think you're going? 
You're staying here"
  Madigan made a run for it, but she never made it. Ranma grabbed her by 
the back of her shirt 
  "Why are you doin' this?" Madigan said, realizing that she could feel 
tears starting to form around her eyes. She quickly banished them.
  "Why?" Ranma said, still holding her "I guess revenge is the best way 
to describe it. Genom killed my family first so now I'm gonna return the 
favor. Nothing more, nothing less. If my family and I had been left 
alone over thirty years ago, I wouldn't be here. Genom messed with the 
wrong person, that's all. It's about time somebody exposed Genom of all 
their dirty little secrets"
  The door opened and in walked Carper. He was knocked out before he 
managed to even catch sight of what had hit him.
  Ranma release Madigan as she ran forward and got down next to Carper 
"You asshole!!!" She never really admitted it, but she actually cared 
for Carper. He didn't deserve this. All he was trying to do was make her 
life easier and make her happier.
  "Now you know how it feels", Priss said coldly, silent until now. 
  Ranma nodded. He didn't want to beat around the bush anymore. The best 
way to get the message through to someone like her was to show her "But 
he'll live, I just hit one of his pressure points. He'll be out for a 
few hours. By then, we'll be long gone"
  "Can someone please release me?" Akane said, exasperated.
  Priss walked up to Akane and released the restraints.
   Ranma smiled at Akane "You okay?" When she nodded, he turned to face 
Madigan again "Now, where's that OMS thing? It wasn't in the room I 
first saw it in. Where'd you put it?"
  "I'll never tell you?" Madigan spat, anger in her voice.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, which seemed to anger her more "Sure. 
You do know you're in no position to say no. If I were some bad guy, 
like you are, I could just do this" He walked over to where Carper was 
lying and picked him up.
  "W-what are you doing?!" Madigan said "Let him go!!!"
  Ranma walked over to the window, Carper in his arms "Think of it, I 
could throw him out the window right now if I wanted to, and he would 
most definitely die. I mean, we're over twenty stories up" He had no 
intentions of throwing him out but wanted to make sure he got his point 
across. To his surprise, Madigan yielded "It's on the top floor. It's in 
the room labeled 'Research Development'."
  Priss stepped forward "Why should we believe you?"
  "Look at her," Ranma said gazing at Priss with soft eyes "She's scared 
to death I'll kill him. Besides, if she's lying, I'll come back for him" 
  He turned around and left, Priss and Akane following closely behind 
him.
  "You wouldn't really kill him, would you?" Priss whispered.
  "Or course not. I'm not that kinda person"
  
  "Where are you going? That goes back down" Linna voice filtered from 
her harsuit, an exasperated voice. How can someone have such a bad sense 
of direction "We go this way"
  Sylia shook her head once, a smile crossing her lips. It was strange 
how someone like Ryoga could have such a flaw like this. She wondered if 
Ranma had a flaw like him. And what could it be?
  "Hey, guys, where are you?" Sylia heard Piss' voice through her 
communicator "We got Akane and we're on our way up"
  Ranma voice also entered into Sylia's helmet "Hey, how's this thing 
work? Cool, I jus' speak into it? Okay, hey Sylia, Linna, you there? 
Well, we found out that OMS thingie is on the top floor, we'll meetcha 
there. Let's hope Ryoga don't get ya lost on the way" 
  The last comment made Sylia laugh. Ranma didn't seem to have much 
trouble bringing a smile to her face.

  Ranma and Akane and Priss were all waiting patiently at the top floor 
and greeted the rest when they emerged from the stairway.
  When Sylia entered the tiny room that had 'Research development' 
written on it, she had this foreboding feeling that something wasn't 
right. It couldn't be this easy to get the OMS chip, which would signify 
the downfall of Genom. This had to be a trap.
  "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if this were a trap?" Ranma said, casually 
kicking the massive iron door down with a easy front kick. When he 
kicked that door, Sylia wondered how much damage her suit would be in if 
Ranma had kicked her like that. She shuddered at the thought.
  "Is he always like this?" Linna asked Akane softly, the two at the 
rear of the group.
  "What do you mean?" Akane asked, looking at the armored girl 
curiously.
  "I mean, even though this could be a trap, he just walks in like he 
doesn't have a care in the world" came the reply.
  Akane gave Ranma's back a meaningful glance before she said, "No, he's 
never been like this before. He's changed. I guess whatever he's been 
through could do that to you. He used to be very different"
  "Oh? How?"
  "Well, um, he used to be a real jerk"
  Linna was silent.
  At that moment, a huge ball of fire exploded from the door Ranma had 
entered. Ryoga, who had been behind Ranma right before Ranma had entered 
the room, was blown backwards from the blast, slamming into Sylia and 
the rest of the crew.
  "Ranma!" Akane called out.
  When the smoke cleared up, Ranma, slighly scorched, got to his feet 
"Damn, that's rather rude of her, sending us right into a trap. But it 
doesn't matter, I got the OMS thingie. I guess it was a safety device. 
If the chip was removed from the box, the box would explode in an 
attempt to destroy the chip before it leaves the building" 
  "God, why didn't you use caution, you idiot?!" Akane spat. She had 
been worried that Ranma could had gotten hurt.
  Ranma was brushing the debris from his shirt when he said 
sarcastically, "I'm glad you were worried about me" He rubbed the back 
of his head from when he hit Ryoga. He looked behind him and crouched 
low where the Sylia, Priss, Linna, and Nene were strewn about. They were 
all on the ground "Are you all right?"
  Sylia winced from below her helmet, pain shooting through her. It 
wasn't the actual blast that had caused her pain, but from the pain of 
being slammed into the wall bodily when Ryoga and Ranma slammed into her 
"Y-yeah, I-I'm okay," she lied. She felt incredibly disoriented, and she 
knew her other friends were feeling the same.
  "Aw, my ribs," Priss said through clenched ribs. Her ribs still hurt 
from when she first encountered Ranma, and having him and Ryoga slam 
into her didn't help one bit in its healing.
  Ranma helped the girls up, "Um, perhaps you should stay out here. We 
have no idea what's behind these doors,"
  "God, my thrusters are damaged," Nene said, getting to her feet, 
surveying the damange her suit had taken. Part of her armor now cracked.
  Linna looked at the tiny damage display screen within her helmet, 
"Mine too," She and Nene had slammed into wall with their backs, where 
their boosters were located. 
  "Ryoga and I'll go inside, jus' wait out here for a short while. We'll 
be back in a minute" Ranma said. He kneeled down near were Priss lay 
keeled over, cluching her ribs, and he placed a hand on her shoulder, 
"Are you okay?"
  Priss said nothing. Her ribs were killing her. It was extremely 
painful.
  "You must have broken a rib," he commented, "Here, take off your suit, 
I'll stop the pain,"
  "How?" Sylia asked. From where she stood, she noticed that Ranma 
wasn't hold a first aid kit.
  Ranma turned toward Sylia and said, "Don't worry about it. Just do as 
I tell you,"
  Priss turned toward Sylia, wondering if she should comply. If she took 
off her suit, then her identity would be exposed. Sylia, on the other 
hand, didn't care. Her friend was hurt and needed healing and fast.
  "Do it," Sylia said "C'mon, help get Priss' suit off,"
  "But-" Linna began.
  "Just do it," Sylia interuppted.
  Linna nodded and walked over to Priss, Nene and Sylia following. The 
three girls began to gently remove Priss' suit. When Priss was half out 
of her suit, Ranma intervened, "Priss, what I'm going to do will hurt at 
first, but it'll stop the pain completely, but only for a while."
  Priss, through clenched teeth, nodded.
  Ranma took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He then placed one of 
his hands on her chest, almost looking like he was trying to grope the 
hapless girl. Priss yelped in pain as Ranma administered some pressure 
on the broken rib, causing the girls and Ryoga to look alarmed.
  Ranma started to glow as he let his ki enter Priss' body. Priss' eyes 
widened as she felt this. It was a feeling she had never felt, like she 
was being surrounded in warm water, or something akin to that. As she 
breathed, she could feel the pain in her chest slowly starting to 
disipitate.
  "God," Priss said, realizing she could breath easier, the pain gone, 
"What did you just do?"
  What she got back was a warm smile and a curt reply "I used my ki to 
heal you. I set your rib back in place, but you're still going to have 
to get it treated."
  "Ki?" Nene asked, curious. She had never seen something like this 
before. Priss had been hurt just a second ago, and now she wasn't. What 
was going on?
  "Don't worry, I'll explain later," came the reply.
  Ryoga said, "Um, don't look now, but we got company once again," He 
pointed toward the dozen or so boomers a short ways off down the 
corridor. 
  Ranma sighed, as he sat down on the ground, "This sucks. Where are all 
these things coming from. C'mon, we must have blown up a hundred of 
those. Y'know what, where do they make these things. I think it'll be 
better to destroy the factory. That way, Genom can't make anymore, ne?"
  "Now's not the time to be talking about that, Ranma!" Akane said.
  Linna and Sylia caught sight of the oncoming boomers and immediately 
started opening fire, spraying them them with their rail guns, their 
bullets having little or no effect.
  Ryoga said, "Oh great, there're more coming down the other way," He 
pointed in the opposite direction where another dozen or so boomers 
where coming down the corridor. In no time, he and the rest of the group 
would be caught in a crossfire. When he caught sight of several missles 
flying straight toward the group, he reacted on instinct and said 
"Bakusai Tenketsu!!!" as he struck his index finger into the ground.
  The entire group fell down one level, covered in debris.
  Ranma, who was holding Priss in his arms since she was out of her 
suit, said, "Jeez, a little warning would have helped, Ryoga," He looked 
upward through the hold Ryoga had created and saw several missles fly by 
"Ooo, those woulda hurt if they hit us" He looked toward Priss, who was 
clinging to him "You okay?"
  Priss nodded.
  "C'mon, everybody, let's get outta here, we got what we came for," 
Ranma said, placing Priss on her feet and proceeding toward a nearby 
window. The best way to get out of the Genom Tower was out through the 
window, and straight down to the ground below. Everyone started running 
down the corridor.
  "The suit! Where's my suit? Oh no, it's still on the level above," 
Priss said.
  "We have to destroy it before anyone finds it," Sylia said, panic in 
her voice. She didn't want Genom to find out the technology the Knight 
Sabers possessed.
  "Destroy it?" Ryoga said, "Are you sure you want us to destroy it?"
  "Yes!!!" Sylia said.
  "Okay," Ryoga said. He raised an arm toward where the suit would most 
likely be the level above "ShiShi Hokodan!!!" He sent a ki-blast 
rocketing from his fingertips and toward the hole in the ceiling.
  "No!!!" Ranma said, "The corridor's too small!!"
  Ryoga's ki-blast struck the ceiling. Ryoga's eyes windened as he 
realized what Ranma meant. His ki-blast exploded within the corridor, 
and since there was no where for the explosion to go, it started 
expanding down the corridor in every direction, even toward the group.
  "Oh shit!!!" Priss shouted, her heart racing, her life flashing before 
her eyes as a huge wall of flames came flooding through the corridor 
toward them like a duluge of water through a large pipe, melting the 
walls and doors in its path.
  Ranma turned toward Ryoga and started arguing, "You idiot!!! How 
stupid can you be?! Throwing a ki-blast like that!! What's wrong with 
you, pig boy!!!"
  "You shut up!!!" Ryoga shouted, turning toward toward Ranma, his back 
toward the wall of fire coming toward him "How dare you say that to 
me?!"
  "Quit arguing!!!!" Priss shouted, "What the fuck are we going to do?!? 
We have to get outta here!!!"
  Priss' voice seemed to snap Ryoga and Ranma back to reality. Ryoga 
turned around and saw the flames eating everything in tits path, heading 
straight down the cooridor and toward the group.
  "C'mon, Ryoga, we'll settle this later. Let's get outta here," Ranma 
said.
  "Get outta here?! How?" Linna said. The group was trapped at the end 
of the corridor. "The only way out was through the window....oh no!!!"
  Ranma smirked "Yep, you guess it!"
  He lunged forward and pushed everyone out the window, just as wall of 
fire enveloped the area where the group had been a split second ago. The 
entire floor they had been on exploded, shrapnel flying everywhere. 
Ranma looked upward and caught sight of the flames shooting out from the 
window the had jumped. And it didn't even cross his mind that they had 
just jumped out of the one of the highest floor of Genom Tower.
  The girls shrieked in absolute horror as they rushed toward the ground 
at intense speeds. Ryoga seemed to be too busy to worry about the fact 
that they would hit the ground at well over a hundred miles per hour in 
less than a minute.
  "You idiot! Now what?!" Ryoga said, gripping Ranma's shirt collar as 
everyone fell. The wind that rushed passed them from the descent was 
causing everyone's eyes to pop from the pressure.
  "Relax, I got everything under control" Ranma said, almost enjoying 
the descent. He we even smiling. "I'll just use my Hiryu Shoten Ha to 
cushion the landing."
  As everyone fell, Ranma twisted in mid-air so that his head was closer 
toward the upcoming ground. He then closed his eyes in concentration.
  "Oh my god!!!" Linna managed to say, despite the fact that her heart 
was in her throat. She pointed upwards where several boomers seemed to 
be also on their descent. It seemed several boomers had jumped out the 
window to follow persuit.
  The boomers were angled in a way that would prevent the least wind 
resistance, and they were using their built-in boosters to thrust them 
down at a faster velocity. They would catch up to Ranma and the group in 
a matter of seconds, where they would have a good shot at killing them 
off one by one.
  The boomers opened fire toward the group as everyone fell, missing 
them by inches. It seems the boomers are having trouble getting a lock 
on them due to the motion of falling.
  "I'll handle them!" Ryoga said, twisting in air so that his entire 
front was exposed toward the incoming boomers. 
  He extended his hands forward and said, "ShiShi Hokodan!!!"
  A massive ki-blast flew from his, hitting one of the boomers. Luckily, 
the blast had been so powerful that the explosion consumed the other 
following boomers.
  Unfortunately, Ryoga hadn't anticipated the thrust one of his ki-
blasts produced. The kickback from the power of his ki-blast sent him 
rocketing toward the ground, spinning out of control.
  He hit into Ranma just as he was about to release his Hiryu ShotenHa.
  "You idiot!!!" Ranma shouted, "Now look at whatcha did!!!"
  "Now is not the time to argue!!!!" Sylia shouted, her life practically 
passing before her. The buildings down below were getting larger and 
larger as they continued to fall.
  "Do something!!!" Nene shrieked, almost bursting into tears. She was 
too young to die.
  "Hiryu Shoten Ha!!!" he shouted as a huge column of wind ripped from 
his fist and toward the ground below.
  When the column of wind finally hit the ground, it had only two other 
places to go, up and outward. As the blast expanded outward and upward, 
the upward blast from the whirlwind managed to slow the group's descent 
considerably.
  Unfortunately, they still hit the ground at a pretty high speed. Even 
though no bones were broken, Sylia, Linna, Nene, and Priss had the wind 
knocked out of them. Priss got hurt more since she no longer had a 
hardsuit to protect her.
  Ranma had landed on his feet, Ryoga too. They were the first to notice 
the dozen or so boomers already on the descent. It seems those boomer 
Ryoga had destroyed weren't the only ones that followed.
  "Don't look now, but we have some more incoming boomers" Ranma said, 
pointing upward. He would have executed another Hiryu Shoten Ha, but the 
wind would have carried everyone back up into the air where they would 
be slammed into the falling boomers.
  "We gotta get outta here!" Ryoga said. He was about to use another Shi 
Shi Hokodan, but the falling debris would most likely get someone hurt.
  "Grab 'em" Ranma said, pointing toward the winded girls as he grabbed 
Linna and Priss, holding them around their waists. The fact that Linna 
was still in her hardsuit, which probably weight close to half a ton, 
didn't seem to faze him.
  Ryoga did as he was told.
  "What do you want me to do?" Akane asked.
  "Try and keep up!" Ranma said with a smirk. He turned toward Ryoga and 
said, "Let's go!"
  Ranma, carrying a winded Priss and Linna, raced down the street. 
Ryoga, who was carrying Sylia and Nene, both clad in their hardsuits, 
did the same, Akane following suit. 
  Bullets were sent flying everywhere as boomer after boomer landed, 
shooting everything they got toward their targets' general direction.
  "You two all right?" Ranma asked, casually jumping high into the air 
as bullets rained down at where he had been just a split second before. 
  "Yeah," Linna managed to say, even though she wasn't. She, like the 
rest, had taken the landing too hard. Even though she was still winded, 
she held onto Ranma for dear life.
  "Goddamnit, how many bullets do they have?!" Ranma said, doing 
sommersaults to avoid the bullets. 
  "A lot!" Ryoga commented, following closely behind, also doing his 
share of dodging projectiles.
  "I'm gonna buy us some time," Ranma said, jumping up onto a wall and 
propelling off it for added height. Before Linna or Priss had a chance 
to ask what he was doing, Ranma twisted in mid-air so that he would be 
facing the incoming boomers, letting go of Linna for a split second to 
free his hand and yelled "Mouko Takabisha!"
  A single ki-blast shot from his hand and landed in front of the 
following boomers. The explosion had caused the boomers to go into a 
defensive mode and take cover.
  Ranma chuckled, "This is too easy!"
  


-OneShot
Jeffrey Keith Wong
http://www.li.net/~jeffwong/index.htm
Site updated June 3rd.