Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

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



  "Waitaminute, two guys just went to Genom to destroy it?!" Leon asked, 
dubiously.
  Nene nodded, "But it's actually the factory that makes the bomers that 
they wanna destroy,"
  "God, is that possible?" Leon said, more to himself than anyone, "Man, 
I've been away for two weeks and all this happens? What else have I 
missed? And where's the lovely Priss? I betcha she missed me."
  "Anyway," Sylia said, a bit annoyed, "We better go and stop them." She 
turned toward Madigan, "Are you sure it'll self destruct?" 
  Madigan, bent on revenge toward Genom for their uncaring ways, had 
explained everything to the girls when Leon had gone back to his car to 
rant and rave to the firestation about what was taking so long.
  "What? What self-destruct?" Leon asked curiously "What are you talking 
about?"
  Linna turned toward Leon, "Nothin', darling. Just go over to your car 
and stand there looking pretty. This doesn't concern you," She turned 
toward Madigan, "How do we know you're not lying?"
  Madigan was silent. After what she had done, she wouldn't be surprised 
if no one trusted her.
  "That's easy," Sylia said, "We bring her with us,"
  The sounds of sirens could be heard getting louder and louder now.
  "What are you talking about?!" Leon shouted, very annoyed. He didn't 
like being left out of the conversation, even though it had nothing to 
do with him.
  Nene turned toward her co-worker and said, "Leon, basically, something 
bad is going to happen under Genom Tower if we don't do something...and 
in order to stop it, we have to get there and stop it from happening,"
  "You?" Leon said, almost shocked, "How are you girls going to be able 
to stop this whatever from happening. I mean, this is Genom we're 
talking about. How are you going to be able to get in there, where ever 
it is? I'll call for back up. If what you're talking about is true, I 
don't think AD Police are gonna sit around and wait for it to happen 
before they take action,"
  "Don't worry, we can take care of ourselves," Akane said.
  "You're coming with us!" Sylia said, grabbing Madigan by the arm, "You 
better not be lying. I don't care how much you hate Genom now, I still 
don't trust you,"
  "I want to be with Carper!" Madigan said, trying to pull her arm away.
  Sylia's grip tightened, "No, you're not! You're coming with us whether 
you like it or not!"
  "I should never have told you!"
  "You bitch!" Sylia slapped Madigan. It felt good, almost too good. 
"People are going to die if we don't do something! How can you be so 
goddamn heartless?! Maybe we should have let you die in that truck!!"
  Sylia gave Madigan's arm a hard yank, letting her know that she wasn't 
going to take more protests from her, and that she meant business. 
Madigan glanced back around her her shoulder to look at Carper.
  Sylia, Linna, Akane, and Madigan rushed down the street toward Genom, 
but not before Sylia turned toward Nene and said, "Nene, you havfta 
evacuate everyone in and around the Tower, in case, god forbid, we don't 
make it!"
  Nene nodded, "Okay!" She walked over to Leon's car and reached 
underneath the driver side seat and took out a magnum. She threw it at 
Sylia where she caught it gracefully, "Good luck!" she said as she threw 
her a box of ammo Leon also kept under his seat.
  "M-my gun!" Leon said, "Why did you give her my gun? Does she know how 
to use that thing?"
  Nene turned toward Leon and said, "Leon, just trust me when I say she 
does." She picked up the radio, "Now, we've got a city we hafta 
evacuate"
  Leon shrugged his shoulders, "All right, but boy, am I gonna enjoy 
hearing your report after this,"
  Nene smirked. She would write the report up, telling him everything 
about what she knew of Ranma and Ryoga and what they had been doing. 
However, she was going to leave out some rather revealing details, like 
Genom finding out where the Knight Sabers' headquarters were...
  "Oh boy, you definitely will"
  
  Ryoga, badly beaten, bleeding from several wounds, half-dragged Ranma 
down the corridor, toward a restroom if this place had one, blood 
trailing behind. Ryoga had had the fight of his life, several times, as 
he was forced to fight a dozen or so of the same boomers that had hurt 
Ranma badly.
  Ryoga was limping on a bad leg, one shoulder dislocated, his good arm 
being used to drag Ranma. Priss, who was by his side, also hurt. She had 
been caught too close to too many explosions that had hit Ryoga. She 
wasn't as hurt as Ryoga, but she was a lot less useful fully healed than 
a very hurt Ryoga.
  "Ranma, you moron, why the hell didja have to go and get yourself 
hurt?" Ryoga muttered, "I should just leave you here to bleed to death. 
It's your fault you got caught by surprise like that, not mine. But 
noooo, you had to get knocked out, you wimp!"
  Ranma stirred a bit, moaning in pain, "Ugh..."
  "R-Ranma?" Priss said, "A-are you all right?"
  Ryoga stopped and looked down at Ranma, "Yeah, wake up now, why 
dotcha? After I got rid of all those boomers,"
  Ranma slowly opened his eyes, "Ugh, w-what...hit...me..."
  "Can you get up?" Priss asked, slowly trying to pull Ranma onto his 
feet.
  He slowly got to his feet, his legs very weak, more supported by Ryoga 
and Priss than his own two feet. It took his several tries before he 
could stand, somewhat supported. He was seriously disoriented because of 
that missle. 
   "Oh god....m-my...back...it feels like its....on fire," Ranma managed 
to say. He was too weak to really care about doing something to help 
alleviate the pain. His legs and arms felt like jelly. His head felt 
like it was too heavy for his neck to support. He managed to lift his 
head just long enough to see something down the corridor.
  "Hey...look...it's a....boomer..." he managed to say.
  "What?!" Priss said. She looked up, just in time to see a missle 
flying stright down the corridor. 
  "Look out!" Ranma said, pushing Priss out of the way with weak arms 
right when the missle struck him in the chest. He was send flying 
backwards through the air where he tumbled on the floor, blood 
splattering onto the walls.
  Ryoga, having been holding him when the missle struck Ranma, was blown 
toward the side, slamming into a wall. He coughed several times, the 
wind having been knocked out of him.  
  He slowly got to his feet, very weak, wiping the blood from his mouth.
  "What the hell? I thought I destroyed that computer already..." he 
said, holding his rib, which was most likely cracked. He shot a ki-blast 
down the corridor and destroyed the boomers. After having done so, he 
fell to his knees, very very weak, too tired from expending to much 
energy and taking such a beating.
  "I can't go on," Ryoga said weakly, falling forward onto his stomach, 
unconscious.
  "Ryoga!"
  Priss was now all alone, Ranma and Ryoga both out cold.

  Linna and Akane and Sylia and a reluctant Madigan ran down the street, 
running as fast as their legs could take them.
  "Which way is the best way to getting down there?" Linna asked.
  Madigan qucikly answered, "Through elevator nineteen. That will lead 
you down to the main corridor which is around two hundred yards away 
from the main computer."
  "Two hundred yards?!" Sylia said, "Isn't there one closer?"
  Madigan shook her head, "No,"
  Sylia sighed, 
  "Boy, this is going to be one hard task..."
  Akane smirked, "You could say that again,"
    
  Priss, her heart in her throat, dragged Ranma as fast as she could, 
not caring that Ranma was very cold beneath her fingers or that his 
breathing was rather unsteady. If what Ryoga had said was right, then 
none of that would matter as soon as she splashed him with water. She 
would then go back for Ryoga.
  She continued to drag him down to the corridor and around the corner, 
realizing there was no where to go but down for she found herself 
standing on a metalic platform suspended a hundred or so feet up the 
wall. She looked down into the pit below her and saw a massive pool of 
coolant below.
  "Where the hell am I?!" she said, looking over the saftey rail. She 
wondered if coolant was a good enough substitute for water.
  She didn't have much to wonder for a missle flew right by her head, 
missing her by inches, exploding when it hit the wall on the other side 
of the vast room. She didn't even need to look behind her to realize 
there were boomers behind her. 
  She looked around and realized there was no place to go but up or 
down. She could go up, but she didn't have a jet pack or thrusters or a 
hardsuit for that matter so the only other way to go was straight down, 
into the pool of coolant.
  Taking a deep breath, she hoisted Ranma up over the railing and pushed 
him over, jumping over a second later, the landing exploding the moment 
she and Ranma crashed into the pool of liquid.
  Priss quickly swam throught the slimy liquid to the surface and gasped 
for air as soon as she reached the top. All she did was managed to gasp 
just enough air to scream as she saw several boomers descending 
downward, their cannons aimed right at her.
  Ranma-chan burst through the surface, gasping for air, screaming "Hot 
water!!! Where's the hot water?!"
  Priss looked at Ranma, who was now in his cursed for "Ranma? Is that 
you?"
  Ranma-chan looked at Priss, "Where's the hot water?!"
  A missle shot into the pool of liquid, narrowly missing Ranma-chan.
  Ranma-chan looked up and say the descending boomers. Without even 
thinking, Ranma-chan lifted his hand toward the ceiling and shouted, 
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!!!!"
  A massive whirlwind generated from Ranma-chan's hand, surrounding him, 
spiraling up at the descending boomers. The coolant in the pool got 
sucked up with the wind, creating this massive reverse whirlpool, 
everything funneling upward. Priss, standing in the middle of the pool, 
looked around and saw the surrounding liquid twisting around her, 
shooting up into the air. It felt as if she was in the middle of a 
whirlpool where she could reach out and touch the coolant in every 
direction.
  Ranma-chan stood right next to her, turned his attention toward her, 
"Priss, where's the hot water?"
  Priss looked at Ranma, or at what Ranma had become. She couldn't 
believe she was looking at a girl now. Ranma had been a guy one moment, 
and now he was a girl.
  "Yes, this is my curse!" Ranma-chan said exasperated, "I turn into a 
girl when hit with water...or anything water based. I don't wanna stay 
in this form! I hafta change back! I need some hot water!" He ignored 
the upward spinning column of coolant surrounding him and looked up. The 
boomers where no longer there, having been swept up all the way to the 
ceiling and most likely destroyed from the impact.
  Ranma-chan grabbed Priss' hand and ran in a random direction, sending 
a ki-blast right through the wall of twisting coolant and running right 
through it, emerging out on the other side.
  He looked around and saw a door and quickly ran for it. He needed to 
find some hot water and fast. He ran right through the door, not 
bothering to waste precious seconds knocking it down, as he half carried 
Priss with him.
  Ranma-chan looked down the corridor and caught sight of another pool 
of coolant. Where the hell was he? He released Priss and ran up to the 
pool and stuck his hand into it. It was freezing, just like the other 
pool he had just been in.
  He closed his eyes and began sending all his ki into it, heating it up 
at an intense rate.
  After a minute or so, the pool began to boil. As soon as it did, Ranma 
jumped in.
  Priss ran forward to the pool but couldn't get to close because the 
pool had been perculating rather violently. If any of the coolant 
splashed on her, she would get seriously scolded.
  Ranma emerged from the pool, now in his original form, looking just a 
tad bit younger than he did before.
  "All right! I'm back in my real form!" he said with a smile. He looked 
at Priss, who was totally speechless.
  "Where are we?" Ranma said. He waved a hand in front of Priss' face 
"Priss, my curse, I'll explain it to you some other time. Where's 
Ryoga?"
  "H-he was in the corridor, a hundred or so feet above us..." she 
finally said. He was still staring at Ranma, unable to comprehend 
this...curse. 
  In the other room, the coolant came crashing down on the floor and 
pool, Ranma's whilwind punch finally having subsided. Ranma turned 
toward the other room, "That's the room that leads back up?"
  Priss nodded. "The opening is about a hundred or so feet up,"
  Ranma reached a hand forward "C'mon, let's go back up. Hang on tight,"
  When Priss unconsciously reached forward and took hold of his hand, 
Ranma jerked her toward him and threw her over his shoulder. 
  He ran into the room and jump as high as he could, propelling off the 
wall and continuing to triangle jump until he reached the door that lead 
onto the landing that the boomer's destroyed.
 "Is that the opening?" Ranma asked, still holding onto Priss, the 
fingers of his other arm digging into the wall, holding him up. He was 
guesturing toward the opening on the other side of the room. 
  Priss nodded. She looked at Ranma's fingers and couldn't believe that 
he had just dug his fingering into solid concrete and they were holding 
him and her both up on a totally vertical wall. She was about to ask how 
he could do that but shreiked as Ranma kicked out and jumped right 
toward the opening, landing in the corridor.
  Ranma let Priss go and started running down the corridor, Priss 
following closely behind.
  As yet a new batch of boomers emerged in front of the two, Ranma 
didn't bother to take cover, sending ki-blast after ki-blast  down the 
corridor, destorying them easily.
  "Where is he?" Ranma asked, still running, not even winded from using 
so much energy.
 Priss pointed, "Just around that corner."
  Ranma rounded the corner and easily caught sight of the unconscious 
Ryoga. Ranma kneeled down next to Ryoga and gently tapped his cheek, 
"Yo, Ryoga, you still alive?"
  Ryoga opened his eyes weakly, "Yeah...."
  Ranma chuckled, "Don't worry, buddy. You'll be okay, I've gotcha."
  He picked Ryoga up and threw him over his shoulder and turned around 
proceeding back down the corridor and toward the pool of coolant he had 
been thrown in just before. 
  Priss, not really knowing what she should do, followed closely behind, 
but not before she heard Ryoga mutter something weakly.
  "I'm...not...your....buddy..."
  
  Madigan looked out the glass elevator at the underground 'city' 
expanding before her as the elevator descended. She could sould see the 
route Ranma and Ryoga had taken simply by the carnage left behind. She 
looked toward the where the main computer was located and the many 
corridors surrounding it. They would have to traverse through the 
corridors, which would still be infested with boomers so they could make 
it to the main computer. Of course it would be infested with boomers, if 
they weren't then that meant Ranma and Ryoga had disabled the main 
computer...which meant the self destruct would be in admist a countdown. 
Luckily, she didn't hear the countdown on the speakers.
  "T-those corridors," Madigan said, pointing, "They lead to the main 
computer,"
  "What are those?" Akane asked, pointing toward these large cylindrical 
chamgers just on the outside of those corridors.
  "They're the coolant ducts that are used to keep everything from 
overheating. There's an underground network that circulate the coolant 
to every machine throughout the factory." Madigan replied. She pointed 
toward the large and looming structure located near the heart of the 
'city' and said, "That's where the supercomputer is. We have to make our 
way there..."
  The girls witnessed an explosion erupted from one of the maze of 
corridors down below.
  "That's most likely Ranma or Ryoga," Sylia commented. Linna nodded in 
agreement.
  From down belown, bullets flew upward and struck the glass of the 
elevator, shattering it. Madigan and Linna quickly fell to the floor, 
taking cover, shielding themselves from the glass. Akane backed away 
from the glass, crouching low.
  Sylia, on the other hand, pulled out the magnum and carefully aimed it 
toward to location the bullets where coming from.
  "Sylia, what are you doing?! Get down!" Linna shouted to Sylia, 
worried that her fried was going to get herself killed.
  Sylia pulled the trigger twice. 
  The firing immediately stopped.
  "What happened?" Madigan asked. "Why did it stop firing?"
  "I shot out its eyes. It can't hit what it can't see..." 
   
  Ranma stopped his fighting, "Did you hear something? I could have 
sworn I just hear gunfire from somewhere else..."
  Ryoga, now totally healed, turned toward Ranma, "I think so, I heard 
it also. How about you, Priss?"
  Priss said nothing. She was still transfixed on what she had seen when 
Ryoga took his cursed form.
  "Yeah, yeah, I know. I turned into a piglet." Ryoga muttered, a bit 
annoyed. He preferred people not to know of his curse since the more 
people knew, the better the chance Akane would eventually find out. "But 
will you please quit staring at me like I'm some kinda ghost and pay 
more attention..."
  Priss blinked a few times, "I can't believe it, you turn into a 
goddamn piglet..."
  The muscles in Ryoga's jaw tensed, "I know! You don't hafta remind 
me..."
  Ranma snapped a finger in front of Priss' face, causing her to start 
and become more concerned with other things than Ryoga's curse. "W-what 
is it?" she asked.
  He said, "Did you hear something? Like gunfire? I could have sworn I 
heard it"
  "It's probably your imagination," Priss commented. It was probably the 
sounds of more boomers on the way that he heard.
  Ryoga shook his head, "I don't think so. I heard it also. What should 
we do? Should we go back to the computer or go check it out..."
  Priss took a moment to think, "I dunno. Okay, how about this. Ranma'll 
go ahead and blow the computer up. Ryoga and I will go check out the 
noise, whatever it is." Even though she had no idea what she was walking 
into, she didn't feel nearly as worried with a totally healed Ryoga 
around, or a totally healed Ranma just a short ways away.
  Ranma nodded, "Okay. I'll come looking for you as soon as I blow it 
up." He turned around and ran down the corridor, dodging the lasers from 
a single boomer that stood in his way and punching its skull in as he 
ran right past it, disappearing around a corner.
  "C'mon, let's go," Ryoga said, turning around and heading down the 
corridor in the opposite direction.

  Sylia jumped out of the way just in time as some massive ball of 
energy surged through the opening that lead in to the maze of corridors. 
The blast shot forward and struck the wall on the opposite side of the 
vast storage room, demolishing it.
  "What the hell was that?!" Linna said, taking cover by ducking behind 
a large metalic box. Madigan was frightfully by her side, scared out of 
her wits. Akane was at Linna's other side.
  Sylia peeked around the corner into the dark corridor and shot several 
rounds into it, taking cover just in time as another ball of energy shot 
out from the darkness.
  "Waitaminute!" Akane said, realizing something, "That's Ryoga's!"
  "H-how do you know?" Linna asked, not daring to peek her head up over 
the box, worried that it would be blown right off if she did do that.
  Akane cupped her hands around her mouth and stood up and shouted, 
"Ryoga!!! Hold your fire!!! It's me, Akane!!!"
  "Akane?" Ryoga emerged into the light of the room. If it weren't for 
Sylia having such quick reactions in recognizing him, she would have 
blown Ryoga's head off as she caught sight of him running out into the 
middle of the room.
  Sylia slumped down, her fingers twitching, her knees weak, "Damn, that 
was close," She could have almost been killed, and could have almost 
killed Ryoga, if that was possible.
  Priss emerged out into the light also, giving Sylia a quick start. 
Sylia had almost pointed the magnum and pulled the trigger again, almost 
mistakening Priss for a boomer. Having come close to being vaporized by 
that ball of energy, having been close enough to feel its searing heat 
as it whizzed by, was enough to make anyone jumpy.
  "Where's Ranma?!" Akane said, hopping over the box to meet Ryoga 
halfway.
  Ryoga jerked a thumb over his back, "He went to destroy the computer,"
  "Shit!!" Linna shouted, "We hafta stop him! The whole place will self 
destruct if the computer gets destroyed!"
  "What?!" Ryoga found himself losing his voice. His throat was starting 
to feel dry. If the whole place self destructed, then Akane would surely 
die in the blast. He couldn't have that happen...not again.
  Ryoga spun around on his heels and quickly ran back into the dark 
corridors, praying that his lack of direction doesn't fail him now. He 
just prayed that he wouldn't be too late when he got to his destination.

  Ryoga was too late. As he emerged out into the main room, he caught 
sight of Ranma letting loose a massive ki-blast twice as large as any he 
had ever thrown, right at the computer, the one shot needed to finally 
destroy it.
  "No!!!" Ryoga said, almost falling to his knees as he realized how bad 
this situation had just become.
  "What? What's wrong?" Ranma asked, looking down at Ryoga.
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have twenty minutes' could be heard echoing 
throughout the room.
  "That's what's gonna happen," Ryoga said, "The whole place is gonna 
blow up with us in it..."
   "Oh man, that's really really bad!" Ranma said.
  The girls rushed into the room.
  "W-we're too late," Priss said, resting her hand on her knees as she 
gasped for air.
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have nineteen minutes and thirty seconds'
  Ranma turned toward everyone, 'Get the hell outta here!"
  "How? How the hell are we going to get out of here in under twenty 
minutes?!" Madigan said, tears starting to form as she realized the 
uselessness of running, "It'll take us thirty minutes get out of this 
place because the closest elevator was destroyed. The nearest elevator 
is over a mile and a half away!"
  "If we run hard enough, we can make it!" Ranma said, turning around. 
He could run a mile and a half in no problem. He would carry them.
  He grabbed the nearest people, Priss and Madigan, "Let's get the hell 
outta of here!"
  "We have to stop it!" Sylia shouted, pulling her arm away from Ranma's 
hand, "If this place blows up, the whole tower above us will collapse 
and kill hundreds, if not thousands..."
  "But there is no way to stop it!!!" Madiga said, numbly. She could 
picture herself, dying underneath a mile of terra firma, no longer able 
to see Carper again. The thought brought tears to her eyes. She turned 
toward Sylia, "It's all your fault!!! Why did you have to bring me?! 
Why?!"
  "Because we don't trust you, that's why!" Sylia retorted coldly. 
  "God, what the hell are we gonna do?!" Linna said, panic in her voice. 
She didn't want to die. She was too young and pretty to die.
  Ranma looked up toward the computer, "Is there a way to stop the self 
destruct?"
  "No!!" Madigan replied, wishing to god that it wasn't true. "There's 
no way to stop the countdown once it's started!"
  "Boy, we're really up the creek without a paddle, now aren't we?!" 
Ranma commented. He looked at Ryoga, "What do you think we should do?"
  "Why the hell are you asking me?!" Ryoga replied vehemently. "You're 
the one that cause this!!!"
  Ranma was silent. He turned his attention back onto the computer, his 
gaze intent, his viasge somber "Yes, it is my fault..."
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have nineteen minutes'
   "We have to leave!" Linna shouted, "Now!!!"
  Sylia turned toward Linna, "How? It'll take us over thirty minutes to 
get out of this place! The only way out has been destroyed. We're stuck 
in here..."
  "I'll stop it..." Ranma said in a low voice, "I'll stop the 
countdown..."
  "H-how?" Madigan asked in a shaky voice.
  "I'll....I'll kill myself...." Ranma said, dead serious.
  "What?!" the girls said in unison.
  Ranma turned his attention away from everyone, "I'll use my seppukku 
blast to destroy this entire room and melt this computer into absolute 
nothing...but...but I'll die in the process..."
  "No!" Akane spoke in a pleading voice, "You're not going to do that! 
There's gotta be another way!"
  "There's gotta be another way..." Linna said. She turned toward 
Madigan, "C'mon, tell me there's some other way!"
  Madigan was silent.
  "No one here's going to sacrifice themselves," Sylia said, the calm 
port within a storm. "Although we came in her seperately, we leave here 
together,"
  Ranma shook his head, "No, I'm staying. I caused this, so I'll take 
responsibility."
  "You moron!!!" Akane said, the tear ducts of her eyes forming tears 
around her eyes, or were they real tears, "Don't you get it?! You're 
going to die!!!"
  "I know,"
  "I don't want you to die!!!" Akane shouted.
  Ranma turned toward Akane, "And if I don't do anything, we're all 
going to die and the people above us will die also. I-I can't have that 
happen. If I can stop this, I will, even if I have to die doing so..."
  "You bastard!!" Akane said, slamming both fists into Ranma's chest, 
sobbing openly. She looked right into Ranma's eyes and said, "Fine, if 
you stay, I'm staying!"
  "No, you're not!" Ranma said, "I'm not gonna lettcha die again. Y-
You....you mean too much to me..."
  "Well, you're not going to get rid of me," Akane said stubbornly, "I'm 
staying, and that's that"
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have eighteen minutes and thirty seconds'
  Ranma turned everyone, "Please, leave. You all have nothing to do with 
this. You can save yourselves. Just leave and never look back..."
  There was a short moment of silence as the entire group contemplated 
Ranma's words. 
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have eighteen minutes,' 
  "C'mon, get outta here. Go!!" Ranma shouted, "Just get as far away 
from here as possible!"
  "Why are you doing this?!" Linna asked in a pleading voice. Even 
though she didn't really know him all that well, but over the time she 
had spent with them, she had gotten rathe fond of Ranma and Ryoga and 
Akane.
  "Because if I don't, you'll die and so will many others," Ranma gave a 
soft reply. He turned toward Rygoa, "Ryoga, please, take care of Akane,"
  "I'm not going anywhere!" Akane said. But before she knew it, Ranma 
punched her in the stomach, causing her system to go into shock and 
temporarily shut down. It pained Ranma incredibly to having to do 
something like that to someone he cared for so much.
  Ryoga was very silent. At first, he would have attempted to kill Ranma 
for doing something like that to his precious Akane, but he knew Ranma 
had done it for her own good. She didn't deserve to die.
  "I'm sorry, Akane," Ranma said softly, remorseful for having done 
that, but there was no other way. He turned his attention from Akane and 
onto the rest of the group, "Go on, get as far awa from here as 
possible.
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have seventeen minutes and thirty seconds'
  "God, that damn voice is annoying," Ranma muttered. He composed 
himself and then said, "Well guys, I guess this is where we say 
goodbye..."
  Everyone was deathly quiet. No one wanted to say goodbye, not ever 
Ryoga.
  "It's best that you get at least a mile away from here, the farther 
the better." Ranma finally said, breaking the silence, "The blast I plan 
on using will take up at least a mile in every direction. You'll die if 
you're even close to it jus' from the heat,"
  Ryoga held Akane close to him, her head rest on his shoulder, her arms 
falling over his back. He had this sad look on his face, as if he was 
about to say something but chose against it.
  "C'mon," Linna said, teary eyed, "There's gotta be another way! Why 
does he have to die?!"
  Ranma replied in a soft voice, "It's the only way. It's either me or 
Ryoga, and we need Ryoga to watch over Akane."
  "But still," Linna looked up at Ranma with pleading eyes.
  Ranma shook his head, "Look, it was fun getting to know all of you, 
but there's a time where we must all say goodbye. And I guess this is 
the time."
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have seventeen minutes'
  Ranma sighed, "Man, that's really annoying. Where're the speakers? I'm 
gonna blow them up before I can hear that voice again."
  "Ranma, you have more things to worry about!" Priss said, fighting 
back this overwhelming urge to cry, "You're going to die!"
  Ranma nodded, "I know."
  "A-aren't you scared?" Priss asked, "You're going to fucking die!!"
  Ranma placed his hands on Priss' shoulders to calm her down, his voice 
calmer than she, "Yes, I know I'm going to die. As to me dying? No, I'm 
not scared. I mean, I've lived a good life. As much as I'd like to 
continue on living, I'd much rather die saving everyone's lives than to 
have them die along side me,"
  "But there's gotta be a way!" Priss said, tears now starting to flow.
  Ranma smiled, "C'mon, don't worry about me, I-I'll be fine,"
  "No you won't!" Priss shouted, angry "You're going to be dead in a 
little over sixteen minutes!!!"
  Ryoga grabbed Priss' arm, "Priss, w-we hafta go,"
  Sylia and Linna and Madigan were silent. They knew that they had to 
leave and fast if they wanted to get far enough away from this place. 
  Priss clenched her teeth for she knew Ryoga was right. She turned away 
from Ranma, almost angry at him, "Y-you better survive this!"
  Ranma was silent. How was he going to make a promise he could never 
keep? There was no way he was going to survive this..... 
  Sylia looked at Ranma, steeling herself of her emotions, concealing 
this ache in her heart "Ranma, I'm glad I got to know you,"
  "Same here,"
  "I'll miss you," she said,
  Ranma nodded, and half joked, "I'll miss you, too, or at least until I 
get vaporized,"
  Sylia gave a small chuckle. She stepped forward and gently embraced 
Ranma, her head pressing into his shoulder as she took a deep breath..
  Ranma returned the embrace, "C'mon, don't worry about me."
  Sylia broke her embrace and turned her back toward him, "Ranma.....I-
I'll never forget you,"
  With that said, she walked away. She stepped into the corridor where 
she broke down and started cying. 
  Linna took her turn and stepped forward, "Ranma, I'm never going to 
forget you. Ever since you entered my life, it was one surprise after 
another." She embraced Ranma and was even bold enough to kiss him on the 
lips, wishing she had gotten to known him better. A girl like her could 
lose herself being a man like Ranma's arms.
  Ranma was a bit nervous after being kissed by Linna, "Um, er, I-I'm g-
glad I met you,"
  "Relax, Ranma," Linna said was a sultry smile, "It was just a kiss 
goodbye. I know you and Akane belong together,"
  Ranma was about to say something, but stopped himself. If someone had 
said that about him and Akane any other time, he would have denied it. 
Why? He did not know. But now was different. He realized that in a just 
a short while from now, he would never be.
  "You're right," Ranma nodded, "I-I do care about her. And I do believe 
we belong together." He chuckled a bit and joked, "Perhaps if you're 
lucky, I can be resurrected just like she was,"
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have sixteen minutes and thirty seconds'
  "I'll never forget you," Linna said, wiping a tear from her eye, as 
she turned around and headed for the corridors.
  Ranma turned toward Priss, "Go on, Priss, you better get going. You 
don't have much time to get as far away from here as possible." He 
placed his hands on her shoulders. "You take care now, y'here?"
  Priss nodded. She reached forward and embraced Ranma tightly, 
reluctant to let go. When she did, she gave him one last look before she 
turned around and ran for the corridor.
  All that remained were Madigan and Ryoga and Akane.
  Ranma looked at Madigan, "I hope you finally realized that Genom isn't 
what it was all cracked up to be,"
  Madigan nodded, "Yes. But.....I ended up learning the hard way,"
  "And what about your boyfriend?"
  Madigan blushed. There was no real use denying it. And why should she. 
After this, she would go to the hospital to see Carper, to accept that 
dinner invitation she had declined not too long ago "Carper's all right. 
He got hurt, but he'll be fine,"
  Ranma smirked, "Well, have a nice life,"
  Madigan was silent for a short while. Ranma was nothing like there 
person she thought he was. He seemed like the kind of person she would 
be glad to know, not attempt to hunt down like she did before. As she 
stood there, she regretted having done all that she had done.
  "C'mon, you better get going," Ryoga told Madigan. 
  Madigan looked up at Ryoga and nodded, turning around and heading for 
the corridor.
  All who remained were Ryoga and Akane, Akane out cold.
  "You know, I should hit you because you hit Akane like that," Ryoga 
said, "But I'll forgive you,"  
  Ranma smirked, "You take care Ryoga, now get outta here, and take care 
of Akane, y'hear?"
  Ryoga nodded, "Do you think there's any chance you'll survive this?"
  A tear fell from his eyes,  "No, I won't"
  Ryoga's face was sad, also on the brink of crying.
  "Can't you believe it, Ryoga? All these years we've known each other 
and all we ever did was fight." Ranma began, "I dunno about you, but I 
always thought that you and I will end up being the ones to kill each 
other. It's almost ironic if you think about it. Us being enemies, and 
one of us dying to save the other one's life."
  Ryoga was silent for several long moments before he finally spoke, 
"Does it bother you?"
  Ranma shook his head, "No, not really. All these years after everyone 
died, I always wondered why I go on living, training. And for what? It 
was to avenge everyone's death, to destroy the company that destroyed my 
life. But now........now that I got the chip and the chip would 
inevitable bring Genom down, I finally got my revenge. So no, it doesn't 
bother me that I'm gonna die. Why? Cause I did fulfilling my goal. Sure, 
I would rather live, but I would much rather die saving people than to 
die along side 'em."
  Ryoga reached a hand out and placed it on Ranma's shoulders, "Ranma, 
I'll miss you,"
  Ranma smirked, "No you won't. You have Akane." He reached out and 
gently ran his fingers through Akane's hair. "You take care of her. 
Maybe if I feel like it, I'll come back to life and haunt you....."
  "Do you promise?"
  Ranma almost started to cry. He turned his back toward Ryoga and 
Akane, "Go. Get outta here. You don't have much time,"
  Ryoga was silent for several moments before he finally spoke, "Ranma, 
don't worry, I'll take care of her."
  With that said, Ryoga, carrying Akane, left the room.
  All that remained was Ranma to contemplate his final moments of life.
 'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have seventeen minutes'

  Akane finally awoke, "Where am I?"
  "You're about two miles away from the main room," Sylia said.
  Akane looked around and noticed two people were missing, "W-where's 
Ranma?!"
  "Ranma stayed behind." came the reply.
  Akane quickly got to her feet, this dreadful feeling in the pit of her 
stomach. Perhaps it was her still being unaccustomed to the new body, or 
her really feeling sick at the though of what was going to happen.
  "No!!! I have to be with him!!!" Akane shouted, tears falling from her 
eyes as she broke into a sprint for the main room. She didn't want Ranma 
to die. At least not alone. 
  "I'm also going!" Ryoga said.
  "What?!!" Priss said, shock in he voice. She and the others were 
located as far away from the main room, over two miles away. It had 
taken them twelve minutes to run that far, everyone running as fast as 
they could, Ryoga carrying Akane and then Madigan after the first half 
mile.
  "Don't be stupid!!!" Priss shouted, "You're going to die!"
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have seven minutes'
  Ryoga looked at Priss, everything coming to him clearly. He knew that 
he would gladly follow after Akane, even to his death. He quickly and 
skillfully came up with the words to describe how he felt, about having 
to live in a world like this. "I-I.....we don't belong here. Ranma and 
Akane and I. W-we should have all died many years. It would have been 
better that way."
  "What the hell are you talking about?!" Linna shot out.
  Ryoga, slowly heading for the door, turned around to say his final 
words, "Don't you understand? We don't really belong here."
  "You're a coward!!!" Priss shouted.
  "What?"
  "You're a coward, for running away! For not wanting to go on living! 
You may not really fit in, but you're a coward for running away!" she 
answered acidly, tears streaming.
  Ryoga nodded, "If you think I'm a coward, then so be it. It won't 
really matter because I'll be dead not too long from now,"
  "W-why?!" Linna said. "Why would you go back to die with Ranma! And 
Akane! You can still save yourself!"
  "Ranma and I are supposed to be enemies," Ryoga replied, "What Ranma 
had said to me earlier really got me thinking. Ranma and I are supposed 
to kill each other. If I live, and Ranma dies, then I'll never be able 
to live with myself. It didn't occur to me until now, but I don't want 
to go on living if.....my friend dies. Yes, Ranma's my friend. He's not 
gonna die alone."
  "But he won't, Akane's going to be with him!" Priss said.
  "Yes, and I plan on dying with them. Just remember, we should have all 
died many years ago. It was just unfortunately that Ranma and I 
survived. Now that we will finally get our revenge, we can rest in 
peace." Ryoga turned around and ran out of the room. He would have no 
problem traversing two miles in under three minutes, now no longer 
encumbered with carrying Madigan. It was finding his way there that he 
was worried about.
  "Ryoga!!!"
  The girls remained silent after that, knowing they will never see him, 
nor Ranma, nor Akane again. They had all met three people, and had 
gotten close to them, close enough to consider them dear friends, only 
to lose all three of them in the very end.
   Life wasn't fair.
   Life will never be fair.

  Ranma was shoked to see akane enter the main room. "What the hell are 
you doing back here?!"
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have two minutes' Sirens erupted into the room 
and throughout the corridor, 'Warning, you have two minutes to 
eveacuate,' The white lights went off as several different ones came on, 
illuminating the room in blood red.
   Akane stood defiant, gazing at Ranma intently, tears falling from her 
eyes "Ranma, you're not going to die alone,"
  "That the hell are you talking about?!" Ranma shouted. "Get the hell 
outta here!!! I can't go back on this!!! I have to do it even with you 
here!!! You're going to die!!!"
  "I have made my descision. I want to die with you,"
  Ranma was very very silent. He walked over to the computer and leaned 
against it, his face in his hands, his index and thumb pinching the 
ridge of his nose, as if he had a migrine. H e finally spoke, "You're a 
fool. You shouldn't have come back. Even if you ran your fastest, you'll 
never get far away from here in time. Why did you come back? Why? You 
could have lived. You didn't need to die..."
  Akane nodded, "Yes, I could have lived, but why should I? I don't 
wouldn't want to go on living knowing that you died"
  "Goddamnit!!" Ranma said, tears falling. "You could have lived, Akane. 
You could have lived..."
  "But I wouldn't want to because I would be without you....."
Akane started to sob uncontrollably, running forward and falling into 
Ranma's embracing arms.
  Ranma held Akane tightly.
  "I want to be with you, even in death," Akane said, looking up at 
Ranma, no regret in her eyes.
  Ranma tried to joke, "Well, it looks like you have no choice,"
  Ranma and Akane broke their caring embrace just as Ryoga entered the 
room, skidding to a halt. He caught sight of Ranma and Akane.
  Ranma turned toward Ryoga, "Ryoga...you didn't need to do this,"
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have one minute and thirty seconds'
  Ryoga smirked, "You know I had to do this,"
  "I'm not gonna even bother arguing with you on this," Ranma said with 
a sigh. For some reason, he knew Ryoga would had come back here, even if 
Akane didn't come here. He and Ryoga were alike. Their personalities 
kept each other in check and balance. The other would never enjoy life 
if the other wasn't there. It was just that way.
  Ranma said, "Well, what should we do?"
  Ryoga had the most serious face on that Ranma had ever seen.
  "We kill each other,"
  'Attention, the auto-destruct has been activated. Please evacuate the 
premises immediately. You have one minute'
  Ranma nodded, "I know. Let's do it." He looked at Akane, "Akane, let's 
hang out when we meet each other on the other side."
  Ryoga smirked, "Not unless I'm there. If I am, I will do everything in 
my power to kill you.....again."
  "I'm lookin' forward to it," Ranma chuckled, "I'm looking forward to 
it,"
  Ranma smiled one last time, tears falling, and raised his hands toward 
Ryoga, his palms facing him. "Are you ready?"
  Ryoga did the same, "Yeah"
  Akane closed her eyes as she watched the two slowly start glowing. She 
didn't need to see them. She could feel their presence, surrounding her. 
As soon as she heard the impact of Ranma and Ryoga's blasts hitting each 
other, she knew she would become enveloped in the blast, going with them 
to a better place.
  "Seppukku Mouko Takabisha!!!"
  "Seppukku ShiShi Hokodan!!!"
  Ranma and Ryoga released their most powerful and deadly ki-blast at 
each other. 

   "No!!!!!!!" Linna shouted, falling to her knees, crying for the 
people she had just lost.
  She and the rest were at the top floor of a towerlike build they had 
found that overlooked the entire 'city'. They all watched as a perfect 
sphere of pure energy and destructive power expanded from the center of 
the city, enveloping everything in its path. Several massive walls of 
fire ripped through the city like ripples in a pond, destroying 
everything in its path, consuming everything. The walls of fire 
continued to expand, like ripples in a pond but in every and any 
direction.
  It continued to expand for several moment before it finally stopped, 
and then turned dark and began shrinking in on itself, sucking 
everything in, tearing buldings from the ground and sucking it into this 
black void.
  The girls watched in awe at the shear destruction created. It was like 
watching an atomic bomb explode without risk of radiation.
  The ground shuttered in what seemed like an earthquake, causing 
everyone to fall to the ground, unable to keep afoot. Everyone realized 
that it wasn't the ground shaking, but the sound of the explosion 
finally reaching their area. Windows shattered, spraying everywhere, and 
buildings rocked on its foundations. It was probably worse than several 
jets traveling several feet over the building at mach 4.
  When the noise and thunder-like shaking finally subsided, the girls 
got to their feet and looked out the glassless window and at the center 
of the 'city'.
  They saw nothing. Nothing remained except for a large mile deep 
crater. It looked like a spherical chunk of the 'city' one mile in 
radius had disappeared. 
  Priss and Linna started sobbing, taking comfort in each other's arms.
  "They're gone..." Madigan said, staring in awe and disbelief. Nothing 
remained of what had just been. It was just a big empty space in the 
ceter of the 'city'.
  Sylia, hiding her emotions, almost failing, nodded.
  "Yes, they're gone....."
 
  It was gently raining when Lisa looked out her apartment window. 
Several years had passed since the fall of Genom. When Ranma and Ryoga 
hadn't gotten back to her for the chip, she went ahead and made the chip 
public knowledge, becoming a national hero for stopping something 
terrible from happening. Many people hated her for exposing what seemed 
like a respectable company, but as soon as they realized what Genom had 
inevitably planned to do, they soon grew to love her. Although Genom had 
tried to kill her and get rid of the evidence, the AD Police and Knight 
Sabers kept good care of her, keeping her out of harm's way.
  Genom fell within a month after the chip was exposed those many years 
ago. The entire world went into economic chaos when boomers were taken 
off the market, but soon, people managed to go on with their lives, 
albeit without the help of boomers anymore. Although it was harder on 
everyone, they soon learned how to live without boomers. It was odd, 
having to revert back to their old ways, doing work with their own 
hands, but people soon adjusted.
  "Ranma," she said wistfully, wishing she could see him again. Even 
though Ranma had been in her life for a very short time several years 
ago, she knew she would never forget him. Her world came crashing down 
upon her when she heard that Ranma, along with his friend, Ryoga, had 
died saving everyone's life.
  She had been hoping she could see Ranma again, despite the fact that 
he had Akane. He and Ryoga were very similar to herself, having survived 
many hardships.
  She placed her hands in her face and started to cry, 
  "Ranma,"
  
  In the distant horizon, as the rain continued to come down, perched on 
what seemed like a cliff a good mile above sea level, a few individuals 
gazed down on the city.
  Ranma sneezed, "Hm, someone must be talking about me,"
  Akane shook her head, exasperated at Ranma's arrogance. "Perhaps you 
have a cold."
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders. Perhaps it was the rain. Together, the 
three of them looked down the cliff from where they were perched and 
down toward the vast city below them.
  "God, I can't believe it, after all these years, we...um, I'm finally 
cured," Ranma finally said, giving Ryoga a smirk. "It took long enough 
finding that damn Jusenkyo. How long has it been since we've been back 
in Japan? Eight years? Nine? Who knows? But anyway, I'm glad I'm back."
  "Everyone's gonna be surprised when you show up y'know, especially 
that Lisa girl," Akane commented. She missed home. She wanted to settle 
down. She was even beginning to feel old. Even though she was considered 
a machine, sometimes, she wished she could feel like a machine. That 
way, she wouldn't experience the sensation of feeling old and tired.
  Ranma chuckled, "Perhaps." 
  He looked toward the center of MegaTokyo where Genom Tower would be 
looming. But now, there was no tower. The entire tower had been taken 
down, along with the rest of the megacorporation. Another building had 
been erected in its place, but it wasn't a building meant to make 
boomers. 
  "I betcha not," Ryoga muttered, "It was bad enough, what with how 
strong we were, but now, what, ten years later, we're at least twice as 
strong as what we were back then,"
  Ranma turned toward Ryoga, "Well, I guess it goes with the territory 
of studying martial arts,"
  "What kinda lame excuse is that?" Ryoga asked, looking at Ranma oddly.
  "C'mon, let's go pay everyone a visit," Ranma said with a smirk, "God, 
are they gonna be surprised that we actually lived,"
  "I still don't understand it, why we lived that is," Akane stated. "I 
mean, considering how strong those blasts were, we should have been 
incinerated,"
  "Don't worry your pretty little head over it," Ranma said with a 
smile, "I guess we were meant to survive." His personality had changed 
quite a bit over the years. He had become much more easy-going, never 
worrying over something for very long, or dwelling on something that 
would give him a headache if he tried to understand it.
  Ranma took a deep breath, "Man, I can't believe we're finally back in 
Japan. I missed this place. I can't wait to get settled down, like what 
we've been talking about all that time in China. I can't wait to open up 
my own school and start teaching people what I've learned over the 
years,"
  "Man, look at the city," Ryoga said.
  "What do you mean?" Akane asked curiously.
  "Even though ten years have passed, the whole city looks less 
technologically advanced," he commented.
  Ranma said, "Well, it's because everything made by Genom was taken 
away from everyone. All the technological wonders we saw were all from 
Genom. Now that Genom fell, it's as if the entire city have been set 
back many years,"
  "Yeah," Akane said, "You're right. The entire city looks like our old 
neighborhood,"
  "And you know what we call that, right?" Ranma asked, eyeing Akane 
carefully.
  "What?"
  "Home," 



  
<End for now>


I hope you enjoyed reading that because I enjoyed writing this :) Not 
much to really say here. I have no real idea why I started writing this 
story in the first place. I hope this story wasn't all that confusing, 
what with me not bothering to break it into chapters. I was attempting 
to write in a different style instead of spending too much time on 
indicating the setting and simply jump right into the plotline. The 
entire story was unplanned. I simply wrote the story as I went along, 
hoping the scenes flowed into one another well enough. Ranma 1/2  and 
Bubble Gum Crisis belong to their rightfull owners and I would love to 
say they both belong to me but no one will believe me ^_-
I'd like to know whatcha think about the story in an overall and 
feedback is very welcomed. I, myself, believe that this story was a bit 
too action oriented. I tried to cut down on it later into the story, 
even skipping out fight scenes altogther, but I eventually gave in and 
wrote the fight scenes. In case you're wondering, that last scene had 
been added in at the last moment. I planned on having it where Ranma and 
Ryoga and Akane all die, but I chose against it. There was no real 
reason for having them live, but I figured it would be nice to give the 
story a nice ending. This story could and will most likely be the 
prologue to my 'just won't die' crossover series. I already have a 
couple crossovers I'd like to explore and will most likely intergrate it 
with this one. I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes. I hate 
reading my own fanfics and tend to read over it just once for editing.
I'm sorry for any profanity that have offended you.


			Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong


Here's a few extra scenes I wanted to add but I figured it was pretty 
useless since I made the story obviously conclude:


"Yeah," Akane said, "You're right. The entire city looks like our old 
neighborhood,"
  "And you know what we call that, right?" Ranma asked, eyeing Akane 
carefully.
  "What?"
  "Home," 
  A short time passed as everyone acknowledged.
  "Well, let's get go pay everyone a visit," Ranma said, "I don't wanna 
catch some kinda cold and die of pnemonia,"
  The other two chuckled. After what Ranma had survived, nothing short 
of a nuke would stop him.
  "Let's go," Ranma said as he leaped high into the air, reaching the 
pinnacle of his jump and then beginning his freefall descent down the 
cliff as the other two followed. 
  As the three continued to freefall, Ranma twisted his body around to 
face the other two, his hands behind his back. "Remember all those years 
ago? When I had to push all of us out the window in Genom Tower? Doesn't 
this bring back memories?" he said, forced to shout over the roaring 
winds.
  "Will you shut up and pay attention?" Akane spat.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulder and turned back around, angling his body 
almost perpendicular to the ground below, his arms closely to his sides, 
as he raced down toward the ground with blinding speed. When he was 
several feet from hitting the ground headfirst, he did a front 
somersault and gracefully landed on his feet, the speed from which he 
was falling doing no damage on his joints or the ground.
  The other two landed closely behind him, their landings almost 
undetected. It was odd that someone could hit the ground at close to 
terminal velocity yet make no noise. Perhaps it was the training. They 
had trained for so many years that Ranma didn't even need to rely on his 
whirlwind punch to slow his descent.
  "Let's go,"
  
  Sylia and the other had remained friends over the years. Although they 
didn't share the same closeknit friendship as they did several years 
ago, they constantly stayed in contact with each other. It was because 
their goal had been reached, the destruction of Genom, that lead them to 
slowly drift apart. They no longer wore hardsuits, having retired the 
Knight Sabers several years back when they realized there were no more 
threat. The rampant boomers that ran through the city weren't of 
military design but of regular household use since not everyone wanted 
to get rid of their boomers, even though they were considered illegal 
nowadays.
  Sylia was walking down the street, her dinner in the bag she was 
carrying, her other hand holding the unbrella, heading toward her 
penthouse. 
  She stopped for a short moment when she a crowd of people gathered 
around an intersection. She didn't even bother to inspect what it was, 
knowing that it was probably another household boomer someone had 
refused to dismantle that went beserk. 
  The AD Police could handle it. 
  For once, they would be useful.
  Of course, they would never be as effective fighting any kind of 
boomer like Ryoga and Ranma had once.
  "Ranma..." she said, softly to herself. She missed him. Although she 
knew him for a very short time, she had grown really fond of him. When 
she realized that he had died in that explosion, along with Ryoga and 
Akane, she was heartbroken. It lead her to realize that she really cared 
for him, perhaps not love him, but akin to it. 
  When she had realized Ranma and the others had died, she had hid her 
emotions, but in the end, when she was alone in her penthouse, she found 
herself crying to sleep for well over a week.
  As Sylia continued to walk away from the crowd, saddened at the memory 
of a lost friend, she heard someone call her name.
  Her heart skipped a beat because she could have sworn she heard 
Ranma's voice. Perhaps she miseed him that much that her mind was 
playing tricks on her and making her think that Ranma was still alive. 
She sighed and continued her trek back home, to an empty penthouse. 
  She stopped when she felt a shand on her shoulder.
  Ranma walked around Sylia to see her face to face.
  Sylia recognized Ranma immediately but didn't believe it at first. He 
looked like he was the same age as he was several years ago. It looked 
like he remained ageless. He looked like he was somewhere in his 
twenties when she knew he was somewhere around fifty or so.
  Ranma smiled, "How're ya doing?"
  Sylia continued to stare at him. She knew that at any moment, she 
would wake up. So, since this was a dream, she might as well live out a 
quick fantasy. Before she would wake up, Sylia took the initiative and 
dropped her bag of food and umbrella and took a step forward, embracing 
Ranma, kissing him.
  Ranma's eye bulged as he realized what was happening. 
  Sylia opened her eyes and gazed up at the shocked Ranma, and at that 
moment, she realized that he was real, so real that she could feel his 
bodyheat even as it rained. "R-Ranma? I've missed you," Sylia said, 
embracing him, resting her head up against the crook of his shoulder and 
neck. She held him for several long moments before she broke away from 
him, a million questions springing into her mind. "I-I thought you were 
dead"
  "Um, I-I missed you too," Ranma said, blushing a bit. "Um, well, 
I....we all survived," He guestured toward Akane and Ryoga.
  Sylia was surprised she hadn't noticed them before. Perhaps it was 
because Ranma was the only person she had been focusing on all this 
time. "R-Ryoga. A-Akane." As she looked at them, memories of the times 
they've shared together flooded her mind. "Y-you're all alive,"
  Akane seemed to glare at Sylia for what she had just done.
   Ryoga nodded, "Yep. We've been alive all this time,"  
  "W-why didn't you let us know?" she asked, very confused. She thought 
they were friends. 
  "Well, we didn't want to show back up here until our......um, my curse 
was cured," Ranma said softly. "That's all,"
  Sylia was silent. That was a pretty stupid reason. She had lived for 
quite a while with this ache in her heart, believing Ranma was dead, and 
Ranma was too selfish to let her or anyone else that he had lived. But 
still, it didn't really matter. He was back in her life again.
  "Well, welcome back," she said, smiling a bit. She almost felt like 
crying, but she didn't let her emotions overwhelme her. She looked at 
Akane and Ryoga, "You, too. Everyone will be very happy to see you 
again,"
  
  Nene sat in front of her console. Another boring day at work. Nothing 
fun ever happened anymore now that Genom went under. There were no 
longer any calls on some advanced military boomer having gone beserk in 
the middle of MegaTokyo. All she ever did was sit in front of her 
console and monitor trivial occurances, like car accidents and 
robberies.
  She sighed, "Another dull day,"
  Her co-worker, Janiko, came up to her, a smirk on her lips, "Hey, 
Nene, there's someone here to see you. He's waiting out front for you"
  "Who?"
  "I dunno, but all I have to say is way to go. He's really really 
cute," came the reply, emphasized with a smirk. "A bit shy for me, but 
having someone like that could definitely get a girl jealous,"
  Nene looked at her co-worker, her eyes creasing. Was this some kind of 
joke? No one came to visit her a work, let alone a man. "Why's he here 
for me?"
  Janiko shrugged her slender shoulders, "I dunno. Why dontcha go ask 
him yourself. I take over for you while you're gone. Jus' don't take too 
long, if you know what I mean," she said with a wink.
  Nene blushed a bit as she got up off her seat and proceeded toward the 
front entrance. When she reached there, she saw someone that looked 
familiar, but his back was turned toward her. The yellow and black 
bandanna give him away. "R-Ryoga?"
  Ryoga turned around, a bit nervous, "H-hello," He was a quite a sight. 
It looked like he hadn't changed one bit over the years, staying young 
and very handsome.
  "Y-you're a-alive?"
  Ryoga nodded, "Yes, we've been alive all this time. We finally came 
back to Japan today,"
  Nene, in a fit of joy, ran forward and embraced Ryoga. She had changed 
over the years, and she didn't really care who was watching. She didn't 
even care that Ryoga was wet from the rain outside.  She had missed him 
and wanted to hold him again after so long. She would ask questions 
later.
  Steeling herself, Nene cupped her hands on Ryoga's cheeks and stood on 
the tips of her toes as she brought her lips up to Ryoga's mouth and 
gently kissed him. Oh, how she wanted to do that for so long. He had no 
idea what he had done to her. She had even had fantasies about him, 
especially after what he had said several years ago, when he asked her 
if she wanted to to camping with him in that innocent tone of his. She 
had wondered all this time what could have happened if she had offered, 
or what she would have wanted to happen.
  Ryoga's eyes went glassy, his body limp. It was as if he fainted while 
still standing. Nene couldn't help but smirk at the irony here. Here, 
standing before her, was a man probably capable of leveling an entire 
city, able to throw nuclear-type projectiles from his hands, yet he 
couldn't withstand a single kiss.
  "Um, Ryoga, you okay?"
  Ryoga weakly nodded. 
  He was okay.....barely.

  Priss was onstage singing her newest song when she caught sight of a 
familiar face among the crowd.
  "R-Ranma?"
  The man in the crowd raised his hand and waved at her. Only his face 
and arm could be seen over the ocean of people "Hello,"
  Priss turned around toward her band and questured for them to stop 
playing. She couldn't hear anything over the roaring background music. 
When they stopped, she gazed right at the man and said into the 
microphone, "Is that really you?"
  Ranma shouted, "Yeah," 
  He continued to wave his hands as he slowly made his way toward the 
stage, squeezing between the ocean of people. When he made his way to 
the front, the climbed over the fence and tumbled to the floor, rolling 
onto his feet where he was met with two towering bouncers. Their biceps 
were probably the size of Ranma's head. 
  "Excuse me," Ranma said to the two bouncers.
  The bouncers didn't move. One of them said, "Get away from Priss. 
You're not allowed to go onstage. If you don't go back to where you came 
from, you're in for a world of hurt,"
  Ranma was ignoring them as he walked between them and proceeded to 
climb onto the stage.
  "Y-you're alive! H-how can that be?" she said, staring at Ranma with 
wide eyes. 
  One of the bouncers grabbed Ranma's arm. "Oh no you don't," When he 
tried to pull Ranma away from Priss, he found himself unable to budge 
the young looking man. Even his arm wouldn't move slightly.
  "Are you busy?" he asked. "I'll explain everything to you later,"
  Priss smirked, "Well, kinda. I was in the middle of a concert," she 
guestured to the crowd of people all behind Ranma. 
  Ranma turned around to face the crowd, "Whoa, that's a lotta people. I 
can't believe I managed to make my way all the way from back there to 
here," 
  One of the bouncers punched Ranma in the back of his head. Afterall, 
it would be better to take out the trash when the trash was unconscious 
and not fighting back. The bouncer found himself yelping in pain when 
his fist collided with something akin to solid steel. "H-he's a boomer!"
  Ranma, having felt the man punch him, turned around to face one of the 
bouncers, "Um, do you mind? I'm trying to talk here but it's kinda 
annoying with you punching me. Also, I'm not a boomer."
  The other bouncer bumrushed him, shouldering Ranma in his stomach. 
Ranma stood where he was, not even winded. The bouncer got hurt more 
than Ranma did, for it felt like he rammed his shoulder right into an 
iron pole.
  "W-what the h-hell are you?!" Priss asked, shocked. She remember 
several years ago when she witnessed Ranma's power but it was nowhere 
near as shocking as this.
  Ranma sighed, "I'm the same person as you know from before. Anyway, 
can ya ditch for a short while? Everyone's gonna get together. I already 
talked to Sylia and Ryoga, provided he doesn't get lost, is going to 
talk to Nene. Akane went to get Linna. It's kinda like a get together 
party. What do ya say?" He even smiled.
  Priss, almost in shock, nodded.
  Ranma's face lit up, "All right. Let's get going" He turned toward the 
crowd of people, "Hm, I don't think we'll be able to get out this way." 
He looked up at a tautly pulled wire that lead to a tiny balconey on the 
other side of the huge room, about twenty feet above. There was a window 
right near it. "Ah, we'll go out through the window," 
  Without even asking, Ranma grabbed Priss and picked her up, leaping 
high into the air, landing gracefully on the wire. Priss didn't even 
have a chance to shriek before she realized what had happened. 
Strangely, considering how protectively Ranma was holding her, Priss 
probably wouldn't have shrieked anyway.
  Priss looked down and realized that Ranma was standing on a wire. 
  "Hey, the guy's kidnappin' Priss!!!" someone in the crowd shouted, 
pointing toward Ranma.
  Ranma, still standing on the wire, still holding Priss, looked down at 
the guy, "No, I ain't kidnappin' no one." He didn't even need to 
concentrate on remaining on the wire, his balancing becoming second 
nature to him. He ran the length of the wire, which was about thirty 
feet, not missing a beat.
  Ranma stepped onto the balcony where he kicked the window open and 
leapt out, gracefully landing on the ground below. He looked up at the 
sky and commented, "Hm, it stopped raining. Oh well. Hold on tight,"
  Priss didn't argue as she did what she was toldand held on tightly, 
her arms wrapping around his neck.
  "N-not that tight," Ranma choked. When Priss loosened her grip, Ranma 
lept high into the air, landing on the roof of a build that was probably 
fifty or so feet high. 
  From there, he proceeded to run off toward the horizon, Priss in his 
arms.

  Akane and Linna were walking down the street together, chatting like 
crazy when Ranma and Priss bumped into them.
  When Akane caught sight of Ranma holding Priss in his arms, her eyes 
creased. She could feel her blood almost boil. Ranma didn't have to be 
that friendly. Sure, he hadn't seen them in years, but they didn't know 
each other that well....did they?
  Ranma, upon gracefully landing, placed Priss on her own two feet. When 
he saw Akane glaring at the two of them, he scratched the back of his 
head, "Um, w-we weren't expecting to see you two until Sylia's,"
  Akane humphed. She knew he was trying to weael his way out of this.
  "Hold up, hold up," Ranma said, realizing something. "I'm, what, 
fifty, sixty, whatever, why do I hafta justify everything I do? So what 
if you saw me holdin' Priss? What, are you jealous?"
  "M-me? J-jealous?" Akane was almost blushing. "I am not jealous!!" 
Without saying another word, she threw a punch at Ranma's face, which 
Ranma didn't even bother to move out of the way. However, he was totally 
unaffected.
  Ranma pretended like his nose was broken, "Y-you broke my nose!"
  Akane pulled away, horrified, "W-what?!"
  He laughed aloud, "Jus' kidding. Ha, I got ya there didn't I-"
  Akane kicked Ranma in the face, hard. He fell backwards onto his back. 
He was actually enjoying this as he placed his hands behind his head and 
looked up at the sky.
  Ryoga happen to have choosen that time to show up.
  "What's going on here?" he asked, placing Nene down on the ground. 
Nene was blushing, and she blushed even more when she saw Linna and 
Priss' eyes raise when they both looked at her.
  When no one said anything, Ryoga looked at Ranma, "I betcha it had 
something to do with you, Ranma!! Die!!!" 
  He ran up to where was lying and shot several ki-blasts right into his 
chest. The explosion sent everyone reeling backwards, covering their 
faces from the extreme light. When the light cleared up, and the girls' 
eyes got adjusted again, they caught sight of Ranma sitting indian style 
in the middle of a crater several meters in diameter, Ryoga standing 
before him.
  Ranma sighed, "Man, Ryoga, why do you always go and jump to 
conclusions. I was only kidding around. And I can't believe you took 
those cheap shots, shooting those ki-blasts at me like that." 
  He got up and brushed the dust off, ignoring Ryoga, and walked over to 
the group, "Well, now that we're all here, we're supposed to meet up at 
Sylia's,"
  "Don't ignore me, Ranma!" Ryoga said, aura flaring. His aura was over 
twice as large and bright than what Priss or Nene or Linna had ever 
seen.
  Akane turned toward the shocked girls and smiled.
  "Don't worry, like always, they fight all the time."
  
  Lisa looked out her window.
  Ranma waved back at her.
  "R-Ranma?" she said. She could have sworn she had just seen Ranma. Her 
mind must be playing tricks. She looked more carefully. "Nah. That can't 
be him" Even though she had told herself that it wasn't him, she 
couldn't bring her eyes off that man standing in the middle of the 
street.
  Ranma waved again. He could clearly see Lisa through the window. He 
immediately suspected that she couldn't see him through the rain since 
it had started raining once again, even harder.
  "Lisa, it's me!!! Ranma!!!" he shouted, cupping his hands to his 
mouth. He took a step toward Lisa's apartment complex and slipped on the 
wet sidewalk, landing flat on his back. 
  Lisa, seeing someone slip and fall in front of her building, gasped. 
The man could've gotten hurt and she needed to help him out. She quickly 
grabbed her jacket from her closet and ran out of her apartment, 
immediately closing the door behind her, forgetting that she hadn't 
brought her keys with her.
  Ranma was laughing as the rain poured down on him. It was absolutely 
hilarious that he would slip and fall over something like a wet 
sidewalk. He had enough balance to run on a thin piece of wire while 
carrying Priss in his arms yet he couldn't keep from falling flat on his 
back from a wet sidewalk.
  He stopped laughing when he saw a pretty face looking down on him. 
  It was Lisa.
  He quickly got to his feet.
  "Ranma? Is that you?"
  Ranma smiled warmly, "Yep. Ya busy?"
  Lisa just stared at him. She couldn't believe who she was looking at. 
"B-but I t-thought you were dead,"
  He shook his head, "Well, as you can see, I'm not. Everyone's fine. As 
a matter of fact, I came here to see if you're busy. We, as in the girls 
and Ryoga and I, are having a get together party, and I came to see if 
you'd like to come. I'd really appreciate it if you do,"
  Lisa, almost lightheaded, turned toward her door, "Well, I guess I'll 
have to, now that I locked myself out,"
  Ranma looked at the door. He could easily break it down but figured 
she wouldn't appreciate it.
  "Well, I guess that solves it. You're coming with me to Sylia's"
  Lisa gave a yelp of surprise as she found herself being wisked off her 
feet.
  Ranma smirked.
  "C'mon, let's go,"

<Bye>


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