Opinions people: idea still floating. 
BTW Win 98 continuing to crash, may not be up much 
 longer as all my shortcuts are gone off the desktop
 and i keep getting memory faults. (dreaded blue screen)
two ways i can go here 
version 1: (original flavor)
MARIONETTE GENESIS R

  Ukyou wrung her hair out in the "Japonesse History
Museum." She could no longer hear the Intruder, so the
alien warmachine was probably waiting out the rain the
same as her. She hadn't thought that with the Plasma
Cloud as intense as it was today, that one of the 
Intruders would even show up, but there it had been.

  The Intruders had just awoken, after two hundred years
of dormancy when everyone had assumed that they'd been
killed off. Obviously, Ukyou mused, everyone had been
wrong. Like antibodies, the leftovers from an ancient
civilization had gone amuck and were attacking people.

  Ukyou stopped and stared at the picture, feeling the
presence of her two companions behind her. Shampoo, of
the Warrior Caste of an allied kingdom, and Akane - her
intermittent childhood rival since their days at the
birthing creche. The other two, creche-mates of Akane,
were nearby somewhere. Ukyou trusted Nabiki to keep an
eye out for Kasumi.

  The idea of coming here and finding the rumored cache
of ancient weapons had been Nabiki's. Like many of 
Nabiki's plans, it had seemed that there were ulterior
motives aplenty.

  There was an indrawn breath from Shampoo. "So that 
what man look like. Aiyaa." 

  "Doesn't look so tough." Akane felt her eyes drawn
to the portrait, as if iron to a magnet.

  "Looks kind of like a Drone," Nabiki stepped out of
the shadows. "Though I've never seen a Drone smile."

  An abrupt click. The floor opened. Gravity remained in
effect. Ukyou yelped. Shampoo began a backwards 
somersault that missed the floor and safety by three 
inches. Nabiki swore. Akane screamed.

 Kasumi finished walking up to the trapdoor and looked
down. "Oh my."
-----------------------
	"Ouch." Ukyou got up, finding herself at the
bottom of a long slide. Shampoo and Akane had made it
as well, though it looked like Nabiki had knocked 
herself out slamming into one of Shampoo's weapons.

	A sub-basement of some kind. Ukyou shared a 
smile with the other two. The very sort of place you'd
expect to find weapons hidden from the time that the
settlers had first made planetfall.

	The large crystalline coffin seemed to drag
her attention to it. Ukyou slowly approached it.

	Ukyou looked inside the "coffin" and gasped,
which brought the other two. It was a Drone, but it
wasn't. There was a strong resemblence to the picture
that had been the trigger for the trap door.

	"Is this...a Drone?" Ukyou reached out to touch
the case. She caught Shampoo and Akane doing the same
thing.

	A flash of light and whirring motors caused all
three to back up nearly the length of the room. The 
figure within the "coffin" slowly stood up.

	"I'm Ranma, sorry about this."
-----------------
yes, it's a Ranma/Eva/SMJ/5 Star Stories/TM fusion. kinda sorta.

The "Marionettes"-------sorta kinda
Ranma Saotome: Designed as a bodyguard/defender unit.
 He is human and male, more or less. Can interface
 directly with an Avengelion or Gunmek, increasing that
 unit's system performance by 200%. Does not remember
 details of the past. Japonesse. Imprinting was on three
 women as they were all in contact with his retrieval
 unit when he was activated. Reflex Access Neuro-
 Mechanical Android, Chief Engineer:Genma Saotome.
TENChi Masaki: 10-C series Heavy Infantry, Chief 
 Engineer Yosho Masaki. Activated in chapter 5 by 
 accident. Imprinting incomplete due to problems 
 associated with his activation.
Keichi Morisato: K-1 Mechanic unit, Chief Engineer
 Megumi Morisato. Activated by Belle Dani and has
 a much more stable relationship with her than any
 of the other units.
Ryouga Hibiki: Unit type unknown. No data available.
 Severe internal damage to gyrocompass and location
 systems, as well as memory faults. Unit taken over
 partially by Intruder?
Cloud Strife: Warrior Unit. Exact details unknown
 due to power failure in main unit. Awakened by
 two women. Reichland?
-----the Japonesse
Akane Tendo: creche-sister of Kasumi and Nabiki, series
 10 Derivative Oriental. cloned mongrel human of mainly
 asian ancestry. Warrior caste.
Nabiki Tendo: creche-sister of Akane. Always has an 
 angle. Merchant caste.
Kasumi Tendo: creche-sister of Akane. Slightly ditzy.
 Nurturer caste. Works at the birth creche.
Ukyou Kuonji: intermittent rival of Akane Tendo ever 
 since Akane and her fought over the last of the cheese
 puffs in Pre-caste training. Assigned to Merchant 
 Caste, she nonetheless has some warrior training. 
Kodachi Kuno: the Hanagata role. She's after Akane 
 and/or Kuonji to keep the relationship true and pure
 as girl/girl is the only acceptable option.
Princess Azusa: the little girl who rules Japonesse,
 compulsive about kawaii. Wants Ranma's Otoko Circuit.
-----the Nichieju
Shampoo: warrior of the first village struck by the
 Intruder, who has befriended Kasumi as someone who
 needs protection. Has her loyalties to her new
 friends as well as to her nation.
Empress Ku Lon: leader of the Nichieju, currently
 dealing at the front of the battle. Feels that the
 Ranma unit belongs to the group with the most need-
 and that is HER nation.
-----the Jurians
Princess Aeka: ruler of her nation. Awakens another
 similar unit in episode 5: 10-C series Heavy Infantry.
 (TenCHI) once this happens she stops trying to procure
 the RANma unit.
Princess Sasami: long suffering creche-sister to Aeka. 
Ryoko: criminal "muscle" who works with Aeka, after all
 she can always double-cross the Princess later.
Mihoshi & Kiyone: the two cyborg guards of Princess 
 Aeka. One's a blonde ditz, the other's just unlucky.
Professor Washu: greatest cybernetic genius on the
 planet. Was intending to leave Princess Aeka but 
 changes her mind when TenCHI is awakened in chap 5.
------the Meritans
Belle Dani: Nurturer caste who finds the K-1 Unit.
Urd Dani: Scientist caste who wants to find out exactly
  how functional the K-1 is.
Skuld Dani: Scientist caste, creche-sister to Belle &
  Urde who doesn't like the idea of a male getting too
  close to "big sister."
-----the Setting
Beta Orion III: Terratoo in SMJ. a world constantly
 buffetted by plasma storms. It is a world where an
 ancient civilization destroyed itself, and is now
 turning its attention to the new intruders.
Five nations have formed from the survivors of the
 original colony. Japonesse (vaguely Japanese), 
 Nichieju (combines Greek & Chinese influences), Juria
 (combines Korean and Japanese influences), Merita 
 (combines Japanese and American influences), and
 Reichland (German and Italian influences). 
-----the Enemy
Intruder: some automated factory, believed shut down
 by the Colonists two hundred years before. It has 
 awoken and considers the humans intruders. Essentially
 the Angels. now sending warmecha after the humans.
----Drones
Sexless androids of limited intelligence and vaguely
 male features. Some have basic "tool" functions but
 are still just emotionless robots. The basic soldier
 as well in Japonesse.
----Human units
Hardsuit: essentially a BGC style exoskeleton. Favored
 weapon unit of the Nichieju. Increases strength, has
 some light armor, environmental functions, and can
 produce various weapons.
Gunmek: mechanical infantry device similar to a tank,
 though using sets of wheels and the turrets resemble
 arms. Favored weapon unit of the Jurians.
Avengelion: BIG robots that require a drone to interface
 with its systems as well as a human pilot. Ranma can
 interface with these units. Used by all nations, though
 they're rarely used due to the need for finding a drone
 that can interface properly.
 
version two like version one except the Marionettes are
 female and it's an all-male society. these would be
 closer to the Armitage "Thirds" and they imprint on
 whoever woke them up. 

 which is best?
ja ne,
gregg