Very Scary Bet: Chapter 5 rough/partial
It's The End Of The World As We Know It (and I feel
fine...)
OR
Over The Meadows & Through The Looking-glass...
Note: Applicable disclaimers apply.
This crossover was planned a *long* time ago and many other
projects have kept me from putting this out. The contents
here occur simultaneously with Chapter 17 of Mirrors
Multiplied.
"The Enemy Of My Enemy Is A Potential Customer."
"The Art of War Merchandising", Liu Shih Kang
"Time moves at different rates in different universes. This
is the origin of those stories of spending a single night in
the Faerie Realm and arriving up twenty years later in your
own world. The Relative Temporal Rate can even have a
negative value, which can really muck things up."
"D-hopper Mk 3.2 User's Guide"
Elsewhere---------
Far away, as such things are measured, a young man named
Ranma Saotome was living under the ancient curse of living
in interesting times. He had been bounced from one universe
to another, up and down time, and into situations that would
have crushed lesser folk.
He had even indirectly precipitated the pressing of a
certain button by a certain Valkyrie marking a sudden
breakout of a certain war between two places known as Heaven
and Hell.
It was another basic rule of the Universe: Stuff Happened.
Universe AVSB----------
Everyone who was there was there. The invitations had gone
out, and nearly everyone invited had shown up. Their
reactions had been a bit different upon seeing the workbots
STILL using lasers to fuse hastily dug corridors.
Still, it was a "labwarming" party so the people invited
fell into two categories. The scientifically inclined and
the mainly bored.
Washu had done Ranma an enormous service by leaving Mihoshi
at home. Kiyone, on the other hand, was making business
contacts with the man known as Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge
Stewart, one of the "high-ups" of a local policing agency as
she understood it.
Ami Mizuno, girl genius with dreams of being a physician,
had gotten over her initial shyness and was chatting
comfortably with a bespectacled "treasure hunter" named Gina
Diggers.
A fellow with the name of Keiichi Morisato was moping
around by the technical readouts because his girlfriend had
been unexpectedly called away by business.
Ken Masters was dealing with an uncomfortable amount of
attention from his fellow student in the Fierce Dragon
style, Akane Tendo.
Nabiki was flitting about like a social gadfly, and
wherever she turned was someone connected to the rich and
powerful. Or else they were rich. Or else they were so
powerful that rich was inconsequential to them.
Kasumi was helping to serve drinks.
Shampoo was demonstrating the joys of power armor to an
envious Makoto Kino and Minako Aino.
Ranma and a fellow named Tenchi were comparing notes about
the problems associated with having multiple girls after you
as a marriage prospect.
Ranma forgot all about his current problems as the displays
on his computers changed. "Oh dear."
"What's up, m'boy?" The British gadgeteer known as Q
wrenched his interest away from the fascinating weapon
hooked into the undercarriage of the heavily armed
recreational vehicle.
Washu blinked as she read the screens. "Oh dear," she
seconded.
"Excuse me, people, we're gonna have to cut the party
short."
Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart frowned ever so
slightly. "What's up?"
"Heaven's just declared Ragnorak. Armaggedon. Whatever you
want to call it. Requesting confirmation." Ranma input a
trace routine.
"Oh, it's confirmed, Mister Saotome." A woman appeared out
of nowhere and smiled as she noted the various people in the
room. "Good, you're all here. Sorry to break into your
little labwarming party but the choice of time wasn't mine.
My name is Nike, due to the different time rates between
Earths I can only stay a little while. I'm setting up an
informational downlink with the Yggdrasil system and your
computers."
For some reason, nobody doubted her. They knew in their
hearts that the Trump had been sounded.
"Oh-kay," Akane said from where she had been monopolizing
Ken's attention. "So, if it's Armaggedon, it's our duty as
martial artists to help protect the innocent."
"Hmmm," Nabiki hmmed. Apocalypse didn't sound like fun to
her, but she knew which side that she wanted to win.
Therefore... . "I doubt I'll be much help, but count me in."
"You can count on, er, never mind." Ami's voice trailed
off.
"Ami, actually you COULD help, and your friends." Ranma's
eyes narrowed and he grinned at the goddess. "If Nike here
can help us with transport, there's a timeline I visited...
and Wasshu, I could really use access to your technology.
It's light years ahead of my stuff..."
Wasshu smiled a little in return. "Centuries, actually.
Nobody said it had to be a LOW tech war, did they? But could
you do me a favor..."
Ranma nodded. "If I can."
"Call me LITTLE Washu!"
-------------------------------------------------
Elsewhere:
Sirens blared as the Heavens moved.
The Rival Relief Office was shut down and the various
misfits being shoved into other forces. Kitchiri briefly was
moved to the Goddess Relief Office before ending up in
Sanitation. Mambo Jack was briefly in the einherjar, but
quickly moved to a gun turret as far away from the Valkyries
as was possible.
The drow mage Edema was assaulted by a fellow named Ares,
and when the dust settled she had a spike heeled shoe
planted on his back and whip wrapped around his neck.
A reluctant incubus found himself in charge of people so
incompetent that they couldn't even have gotten jobs with
the Rival Relief Office.
Kimiko Tendo received a battlefield promotion to Valkyrie
Trainee for the duration of the emergency.
Frey got ready to lead a Heavenly Host onto the mortal
plane to deal with the mortal who had dared declare
Ragnarock early. Nobody, after all, likes having a death
sentence arrive while you're trying to kick back, relax, and
cuddle with your favorite romantic interest. Or, in
Heimdall's case, interrupt a serious night of beer and
skittles.
Various forces of evil also got the call.
Marller hoped that if she couldn't deal with that goody
two-shoes Keiichi that she could at least beat the snot out
of Urd.
Godzilla snorted, sniffed the air, and thought briefly
about the possibility of visiting somewhere else than Tokyo.
After all, if you ate there you were hungry again an hour
later.
------------------------
a universe with a much higher temporal rate:
"Nuku Nuku want to help Papa!"
"I'm kind of busy with this, why don't you see if you can
go help Mizuno-san over there."
"'KAY!!! Wai wai! I get to help Ami-chan!" The android girl
ran to where a short haired girl was in the messhall going
through manuals with her friends. Except for that Usagi-chan
who seemed to be more interested in trying to find some food
in the kitchen that *didn't* need to be thrown out an
airlock.
"I'm sorry Nuku Nuku, but I'm trying to figure this out.
Maybe Washu?"
"Oh," said the catgirl android with a momentary pout.
"Uhm."
"She's on the main bridge," said Makoto, wrestling with her
own tech manual.
"Environmental systems extended to all decks," came a voice
from the intercom that everyone recognized as belonging to
that nice Morisato fellow. "If someone can lend me a hand I
can get to work on the power couplings that were severed on
Deck Five."
Nuku nuku twitched. "Wai. Keiichi-san needs help. Wai!"
Zooom.
-------------------------------------------------
on the bridge:
"So... Washuu's workbots are fixing the outer hull?"
"Actually, those are *my* workbots. The metal extruders and
fabricators and materials are courtesy of Little Washuu."
The Brigadier nodded as if he actually understood that. "So
how long is this going to take?"
"The hull work and interior decks should be done in six
hours local time, which is two minutes on the Heaven plane
or one hour on our home plane." Ranma looked up from his
calculations at the resulting chorus of groans. "We do have
some other things that need to be resolved in the meantime."
"Ah, yes?"
"Does anyone know where we can get some really good
fighters? We'll have to go to melee at some point, and
there's a number of fighter ships that Washu and I can get
our hands on if I can remember the temporal and spatial
coordinates."
"What kind of fighters?" Q looked at the Brigadier who
shrugged. "I would rather think that Her Majesty's Secret
Service will be rather busy on the home front."
"Likewise the various UNIT forces, though I think there are
a few agents hanging about in Japan we could probably get."
"Well, a few that can handle high tech equipment would be
good. What we could especially use are hand-to-hand
fighters. Preferably ones that don't require a lot of
support. Most of the Helcrew will be using claws, talons,
fangs, chi blasts, things like that. Marines, maybe some
power armor troops and the like."
"Airen?" Shampoo looked up from cleaning her weapons.
"Well, I think I can get Ryu, maybe Chun Li. Blanka would
*love* this setup." Ken started to shrug but realized Akane
was still clinging to his arm for some strange reason. Maybe
she was cold.
"Airen?" Shampoo set her weapons down and turned her Cute
Look on at Full.
"Well, heck, Nerima's full of martial artists, oh yeah.
Never mind. They'd never cooperate as a group." Akane
shrugged from where she'd all but grafted herself onto a
muscular arm. "It's not like you can go to a martial arts
dojo and say 'Hey, we're going to a staging ground where
we're going to sacrifice ourselves to give the Multiverse a
few more minutes to prepare for Armaggedon. Wanna come?' I
just don't think that'll fly."
"Airen?" Bounce, bounce. Shampoo waved both hands over her
head.
"Uhm, yes, Shampoo?"
"Shampoo know where get many skilled and good fighters!"
"I thought she was asking where the bathroom was," mumbled
the Brigadier after a moment.
Q managed to uncross his eyes after watching Shampoo bounce
around for a minute. He was old, that didn't mean he was
dead.
Vanilla looked up from the manual she was reading. "If they
not come at request, I talk to Elder. They will follow
Champion into battle."
"Hey, and Felicity and Honda are in Japan, so's Talbain and
Frank, I think!" Ken grinned at the thought. "I think we may
have enough marines..."
"Maybe, let's see."
----------------------------
"Queen Beryl, a new development!"
"This *better* be good news to interrupt me at such a
crucial time, Jedite!"
"You can always tape record 'Heavy Metal L-Gaim II' and
watch it later. Besides, it's a dumb series. I have news
about the Senshi!"
FOOOMMMM!
The various other generals and youma looked at the smoking
boots where Jedite had been standing a moment ago.
"Does anyone ELSE want to waste my time with this sort of
nonsense?"
Queen Beryl sat back on her sofa, lifted a large bag of
popcorn (extra buttery) and mused over the events onscreen.
Why couldn't SHE get some giant robots like that? Then she'd
have the pleasure of squishing the Senshi underfoot...
Beryl snapped her fingers and gave the appropriate orders.
And she'd have a better color scheme than some tacky
all-white robot.
-----------------------------
The ship hung over their heads, adequate indication that
the group was not delusional.
"We don't have time for debate or argument. Any who want to
go with us to the frontline of the battle, get aboard the
shuttle. We have to be there within a few minutes so we have
to go NOW." Ranma looked around at the curious men and women
standing around the plaza. "I won't lie to you. If the
battle DOES occur, I expect that even if we get enough
people to accomplish our objectives, we'll be annihilated
from sheer numbers. This is a war with no prisoners taken,
no quarter, and the other side will break any rules of
engagement as soon as it is convenient. Anyone who still
wants to help us fight the Forces of Evil, get to that
shuttle there..."
Ranma blinked as the plaza emptied and what seemed to be
hundreds of Amazons tried to get on a shuttle designed to
carry a dozen.
"Told you," said Shampoo smugly.
"Have to make several trips," agreed Vanilla.
Cologne made a trip to her hut and grabbed up a few items,
just in case.
--------------------------
The Wizard of "Spells R Us" noted the severed bits of spell
and curse and thought briefly about going after them again.
No, he had enough of this mess. The truly good or the truly
evil were generally off limits to him anyway.
Still, he could have his revenge in an indirect way. A few
telephone calls were sufficient to get the ball rolling.
Unicorn's horn, and almost all parts of a dragon, these
could be used in a number of ways by a powerful necromancer
or alchemist. They were also rare and sought after
components.
Of course, it was like getting the heart of a virgin.
Taking those components wouldn't leave much of the donor
left.
Astral subnode 12, Stepping Stones To Hell-----
A large ship warped in, followed by several others. Ranma
had made the most of his time and the differing time rates
of various universes. The result was a "ragtag fleet"
composed of nearly as much variety as the members of his
team.
"Thrusters to station keeping," ordered the nominal
Captain, a young lad named Tenchi Masaki. "Uhm. I guess we
settle into place and wait for the enemy to show?"
"That's the orders from above," Ami wanted to find a way to
transform but so far there hadn't been a chance where they
could get a reasonable explanation. The Senshi appearing,
fine. Ami and the others DISAPPEARING was the sticky point.
In the meantime, it had been agreed to keep their identities
secret at least until Ragnorak was underway. Then, during
the confusion of battle, they might be able to transform
without anyone noticing.
Brigadier Stewart and Q placed bets as to when the young
girls would transform.
Cutey Honey, Ai No Senshi, was hoping that her fellow
freedom fighters would transform soon. She was hoping to
copy their costume and stand beside them as Sailor Cutey. At
least as soon as this Kyosuke person finished reconnecting
her head.
Keiichi wondered if this had been the emergency Belldandy
had been called away for, and would he have a chance to see
her again.
"Multiple bogies detected!" Nabiki called from her position
at the twin domes of the radar display. "The enemy is
approaching. It's official people!"
"Red alert!" Tenchi ordered. "All hands to battle
stations."
Aeka sighed and looked longingly at Tenchi. Quite obviously
Tenchi was in his element as a prince of Jurai at the
moment.
Ryoko looked at the viewscreen and shuddered. She could
have seen herself working for THAT side, in which case she'd
have had to fight Tenchi. If her old pirate buddies could
see her now, working for the good guys, she'd never live it
down.
-------------------
Another Ranma rotated his shoulders and started his
gladiatorial armor's warmup. Fusion engines the size of
watch batteries came online within seconds. The AI
automatically adjusted the armor's settings as it went. The
armor was a marvel of technology that combined genetic
engineering, artifical intelligence, cybernetics, and
technologies so advanced that terms had yet to be invented
for them in 20th Century languages.
#Multiple bogies detected. Lifeforms unrecognized.
Analysis?#
"No, just flag the unrecognized as enemies," Ranma sighed.
Another battle. Yet another fight. Still it was familiar
enough and he knew he was losing on a completely different
front. Kasumi was to marry Tofu, and it looked as if Nabiki
would never get around to noticing the helpful friendly
presence he'd provided her during this journey. Neither Ukyo
or Shampoo had time for him any more. "All the ones with
batwings and life energy readings in the dark signature
range. Note the others behind and around me as being
allies."
#Working. Done. Scenario objective?#
"Termination of bad guys/enemies," Ranma paused a moment.
"Begin combat analysis subroutines on System 2. Link to that
big ship there on System 3, coordinate strikes and monitor
transmissions. Designate that as home base for scenario
purposes. The hover Winnebago is secondary base. Use Systems
4 through 6 to monitor nearby allies and compensate for
their positions. System 7 to oversee and maintain other
Systems. System 1 to cyberlink. Activate."
Ranma's awareness expanded as the link was forged.
#Currently mark 650,251 bogies designated Enemy. Currently
mark 12,500 marked as Ally. Multiple unknown lifeform types
noted on either side. Shall I deploy the Doomsday
Protocols?#
"Actually, that would be very appropriate. Password Tango
Alpha Delta Alpha."
#Confirm?#
"Confirmation code C'ath."
#Doomsday protocols active. Reminder that some weapon
systems dangerous to nearby allies.#
Ranma glanced at one of the "asteroids" floating nearby in
this Astral Space. A version of himself, he'd heard. Cursed
to turn into a sabretooth tiger. The other Ranma's world's
Shampoo with a horse-sword was riding the tiger, all
metaphors aside. Certainly here was enough motive for him to
personally take a hand. Here was another version of himself
who had found what he was afraid he never would. Love. Such
a rare and precious thing, too often undervalued.
"Then let's start now. Target enemy force, wide dispersal."
Ranma held his hands up. "SINGULARITY BOMBARDMENT!"
Thousands of microscopic blackholes formed. They evaporated
in less than thirty seconds. Even travelling at speeds in
excess of .5c some couldn't reach their targets in time.
Unfortunately for those in the way of the remainder, they
went through armor and flesh and chiton rather easily.
Gravitic disruption of tissues and electrical systems
occurred.
#Warning. Highest concentration of negative life energies
located at 30,30. Distance nine hundred ninety seven point
six three eight klicks. Current course and speed places
intercept with main base at two minutes forty seven seconds.
Action required.#
"Shunt all available system power to augmenting ki attack.
Keyword Big Bang."
#Warning. This will deplete system power dangerously.
Require authorization.#
"Authorization code 'Who wants to live forever?'"
#Accepted. Unit will need to shut down after firing. It
was nice knowing you, Ranma.#
Ranma blinked. The AI was apparently more sophisticated
than he had thought. If so, it had kept it a secret for
decades. "Gathering ki. Seconds to fire?"
#Seventy five, seventy four, seventy three seconds.
Disengaging safety interlocks. Seventy. Bringing targetting
systems to bear. Sixty.#
Lightning crackled and writhed around Ranma-ft. Large
rocks began to lift from the surface of his "asteroid" and
float about.
#Forty five seconds. We are fighting on side designated
Heaven, correct?#
"Yes, armor."
#Will self go to Heaven if self becomes nonfunctional?#
"I don't know, armor. In a sense, you're alive, so I'd say
yes, but I haven't had a chance to explore even what the
implications are. In any case, I hope so."
#Self appreciates honesty. It has been a pleasure serving
Ranma over years. Five seconds.#
"Big Bang. ATTACK!" Ranma-ft poured a considerable amount
of his own energies into the burst, which was multiplied by
nine miniature stars.
---------------------------------
T-chan shied away as a nearby asteroid liquified and a
blast of energy shot across the void into what looked like a
black dot quite a distance away.
-----------
"REPORT!" Ranma-av felt the shudder and looked up from the
spot welding he was doing.
"Our side just launched a second attack. This one looked
like something we'd like to have been able to hit Kain
with." Washuu-av sounded intrigued. "That rippling effect
was similar to the air slamming into place after being
burned away by a lightning bolt produces thunder. Except in
this case the blast was powerful enough to burn a hole in
the local space/time fabric. The ripple was the 'thunder' of
space/time filling the hole. Fascinating."
Ranma-av grimaced at the power output required to do that
and finished the weld. "Okay, try the engines now."
"Main engines coming online, temperature within acceptable
range," Nabiki's voice reported a moment later.
"Great, I'll try to get the launch bay doors now." Ranma
picked up his toolkit and RAN.
Wasshu looked at her own telltales and smiled. "Hey,
Captain, how about we fire the main gun before we go to
close in combat?"
"Sounds good. How do we do that?" Tenchi wondered aloud.
This was nothing like the Jurai treeships.
"Shifting engine power," said Nabiki, her nose in the
manual as she turned a switch on the reactor panel, having
switched places with Usagi. "Reactor pressure at 25% and
climbing."
"Power level at 37 Tetrawatts and climbing?" Ami blinked
and reread the display. "37 Tetrawatts is 25% of power
capacity?! That would mean 148 Tetrawatts at full?"
"Safety interlocks disengaged. Tachyon fields active.
Internal shields on," Nabiki continued to read and work her
console at the same time. A sound much like a mechanical
heartbeat began to sound through the vessel, the pulse
slowly increasing as the gun readied.
"Using manuevering thrusters to aim ship at main group of
enemies," Vanilla's quiet voice came from her own console.
She consulted her own copy of the manual.
"Why are we moving the ship to shoot a gun?"
"It's a spinal mount, Akane. The gun runs the length of the
ship," Nabiki flipped to the relevent pages. "Oh dear."
"Get your sunglasses, people!" Ukyo remembered something
from her childhood. She'd been waiting for this moment ever
since Ranma had announced they were going to a universe
where the Space Battlecruiser Yamato was real and had lost a
final battle and was abandoned. Washuu's technology went to
work on repairs, and Ranma was still working on systems that
Wasshuu had missed. Still, she knew the basic drill.
"Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."
Ukyo wasn't the only one to see an episode of "Uchan Seikan
Yamato." With a certain girlish glee, Rei Hino pulled the
trigger. "Ha- SHA!"
Ami had been reading the display wrong. It wasn't
tetrawatts. A tachyon engine's full power output was
channelled in the equivelant of a sun's total output for
1.48 minutes. This blast left the chamber at the prow of the
ship and went in the direction the ship had been aimed.
Multiton hunks of rock and nickel-iron lying in the path of
the blast turned to component particles without making an
appreciable loss of power. This and the vaporized space dust
formed lightning flashes along the length of the blast.
"Bringing systems back online," was Vanilla's only
reaction.
"What the blazes WAS that?" Akane blinked behind her
mirrorshades. "Did we get 'em?"
--------------------------------
Ranma-ft lowered his TK shield. "Status report."
#Systems at 15% power. Current enemy numbers down to
124,312. Main base is currently launching spacefighters and
bioforms. Ship type unknown. Bioform type unknown. Systems
shutting...#
Ranma-ft touched the breastplate of his armor. "I have one
task left before total shutdown. I need my longrange
weapons."
#...active...#
Ranma-ft looked a little sad as he took off the inert armor
and picked up the weapons. The armor had been with him,
though constantly upgraded, for over thirty years. "Well
done, my good and faithful servant."
--------------------------------
"Black Tiger squadron, MOVE OUT!" A dozen jet-like vehicles
poured out of the hatchway like angry wasps leaving the
hive.
"-Nichieju detachment, power armors, LET'S KICK SERIOUS
BOOTIE!-" The command was met with a chorus of female cheers
and two dozen unmarried Amazons in power armor joined the
Black Tiger squadron in the immediate vicinity of their home
ship. There was some confusion at first, as their training
in using the powerarmor had been five minutes of listening
to someone translating a manual from Japanese to Chinese.
With a series of clanks, several other ships were released
from the hull of the Yamato.
"Redwing Squadron. Lock and load." Wings were deployed from
these recent arrivals. Old A-Wings that had been repeatedly
rebuilt. Newer X-Wings and Y-Wings. Almost completely new
B-Wings that had only minor patchwork.
"-What did he say?-" Sash was still trying to get used to
the idea that this odd space-like environment was a
null-space, essentially part of the road to Hell that
traffic to and from the Infernal had to use. The counterpart
to the Rainbow Bridge of Heaven.
"-He said that if you're still reading the manual, stick to
the basic stuff and read faster, Sash.-"
Finally, three sadly outdated Valkyries that had been used
in the initial wars against the Zentraedi.
"Shampoo *like* this!" She transformed the ship to gerwalk
and back to fighter and then to battloid mode. "Airen
listening? Shampoo really really really like this!"
This added to a heavily armed recreational vehicle and
three other ships already in the area.
One, a crystalline starship that liked carrots. The second
known as the Yagami. The third, a reconditioned Klingon Bird
Of Prey that the new owners were still arguing about a name
for.
"Yagami to Yamato, do you read?" Kiyone's voice was
registering surprise.
"Yamato here. What is it, Kiyone?"
"Tell Washuu I got some interesting data from one of our
companion ships down the line. Apparently one group of our
otherdimensional selves are trying to kill Ranma."
Everyone on the Yamato froze briefly, trying to imagine TWO
Washuus. TWO Kiyones (okay, those two weren't hard.) TWO
Mihoshis. (Now *there* the mind boggles.)
--------------------------
Ranma-ft used a telepathic broadcast since his armor was
still inert. "Commander Yamato, this is Gladiator."
"Uhm, go ahead, Gladiator?"
"The Splugorth's MINE!"
"Hang on, we're getting a signal." Tenchi watched as one
seriously powerful Ranma shot from the remains of one of the
hanging rocks to an intercept course for the main group.
"Confirmed," murmurred Kasumi from the communications
console. "Tenchi! The war's been called off."
"HUH!?" The comment reverberated from up and down the line
as people who had been steeling themselves to fight their
last battle and buy time for the rest of the Multiverse
suddenly tried to cope with the idea that their necessary
sacrifice wasn't needed.
Redwing 8 had a question. "That mean we no can fight?"
"Uhm, sounds like it," conceded Tenchi, though his attitude
was completely different.
There was grumbling and disappointment from more than just
the Amazons.
"Do this mean Sash can no keep X-Wing?"
"That too," said Tenchi.
A stream of quite unhappy Mandarin from Redwing 4 was cut
off by Kasumi a moment later.
--------------------------------------
"PRAISE BE!" Penitent Souls Division 104, the "Woebegone
Wombats" cheered and prepared to go back to life as couch
potatos among the Einherar.
A reluctant demon turned VERY reluctant Captain watched the
tiny thread of discipline he'd thought he'd managed to get
from them disintegrate.
Grey sighed and started gathering up the discarded weapons
and armor. He expected that he'd be held accountable for
every damn piece.
"Excuse me," came a woman's voice.
"Yeah," Grey managed, his hands full of weapons that most
of the Einherar wouldn't touch.
"Your troops seem to have abandoned you," the woman said
with a smile.
Grey blinked, he didn't recognize her, and she didn't have
either goddess or demon markings as far as he could tell. So
this wasn't yet another test by the good guys or temptation
by the bad. "Yeah, well, they aren't exactly what you'd call
crack troops. Cracked troops, maybe."
"I see." The woman nodded as if this explained everything.
"If they were truly penitent, if they repented their sins
of the past, it'd be different. Most of 'em don't even
really understand what they're supposed to be doing," Grey
explained. "They were too incompetent to be evil, too
selfish or petty to be good, and they've all got a lifetime
of learning how to justify how they are. None of it is
*their* fault, etc, etc. Consumed by petty things, jealousy,
pride, things like that. Given enough time, they might get
to making a choice and end up either fully in Heaven or in
Hell. As it is, if the Powers That Be listened to me, I'd
have 'em all involved in a work program. They're not gonna
change if all they do is the Couch Potato routine... Just as
long as they don't go to work in the Rival Relief Office."
The woman shrugged, noticed that the odd person had dropped
a weapon and ran to catch up with him.
Unfortunately, Grey noticed the missing Baseball Bat+1/+4
vs small flying objects, and turned at entirely the wrong
moment.
-CRACK!- He *was* still carrying the enchanted mallet
Headbasher II.
Noticing that the nice young lady was currently knocked
out, Grey couldn't help but wonder how many demerits THIS
would be.
Fifteen minutes later, he would learn that she was from a
rustic little village in China with some *really* strange
laws.
================================
end part a
-----------------------------------------
"Shampoo learn many things. Shampoo seek
out new life, and new civilizations, kicking
major butt where no Amazon ever go before!"
-Shampoo, A Very Scary Bet
metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/