Not much to say, so I'll just shut up and let you get to reading.
Wondering if you can cross Iron Man and Patlabor,
--Komodo
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Keep/5268/
******************************
<. . .and the next thing I know, I'm in your head,> Airazor finished.
"Wow," Ranma said, looking at the floor.
<So you see now why we have to leave and get back to that spring.>
"Wow," Ranma said again.
<Talkative one aren't you?>
"Wow," Ranma said a third time.
<Hello? Anyone home?> There was a pause. <HEY! BONEHEAD!>
"Ahh!" Ranma shouted, leaping to his feet. "That hurt!"
"<It got you to wake up didn't it?> Ranma opened his mouth to respond when
there came a banging on the door.
"Ranma? Are you okay?" It was a girl's voice.
<Sure I am,> Airazor mocked. <I'm just chatting with a voice in my head.>
"Yeah, uh-stubbed my toe." Ranma lied, glaring at the mirror. "Be out in a
minute."
<Nice One,> Airazor cheered, her voice dripping with sarcasam
"Okay." Came the girl's voice.
"Look." Ranma said, glaring at the mirror. "I have problems of my own to deal
with. I can't go running off to China just to drown a rabbit because you're
worried about some nutty robot."
<That "nutty robot" is a psychopath with notions of galactic conquest.>
Airazor shot back. <If my body is your cursed form and its fully repaired,
Odds are that so is his. And he's a lot more powerful then I am.>
"Yeah, but you beat him last time."
<'Last time', he was heavily damaged and I didn't beat him, he commited
suicide.>
"Look. There's no garuntee that he got ressurected. Those pools are remote,
and besides-"
<Okay,> Airazor inturrupted. <Tell you what; you help me, I'll help you.
Tonight we fly back to Jusenkyo and drown a rabbit or something in the pools.>
"And?"
<And I'll help you sort through that mess downstairs. Or have you forgotten
that Xian Pu girl?>
"Oh crud." Ranma groaned.
<I'll take that as a yes. And after that, we go hunting for Megatron. Deal?>
Ranma sighed.
"Deal."
********************
"How's your toe Ranma?" Nabiki asked when he came back downstairs. "Kasmui
said you yelled pretty loud."
"Toe?" Ranma asked.
<Toes,> Airazor supplied. <The wiggily things at the end of your feet.>
"Oh! My toe. Its fine. Just fine."
<Brillant.>
"You shut up." Ranma said under his breath, being careful not to move his
lips.
<Excuse me.> Airazor said, sounding offended.
"So Boy," Gemma said, clapping his son on the back. "Which one of these
ladies will it be?"
<Don't pick any of them,> Airazor interjected. <The only one who even looks
mildly interested is that Nabiki and the way she's looking at you reminds me
of Tigertron hunting rabbits.>
"Uh. . ." Ranma was uncomfortably aware of everybody looking at him. "I. . ."
<Tell them you need to get to know them before you choose.>
"I think I should get to know them before I choose." Ranma said, trying to
make it sound like his idea.
"There's plenty of time for that after you two are married!" Gemma said. "Now
choose boy."
"Uncle Saotome," Ukyo said. "I think Ranma's got a good idea. Let him get to
know them. He can't get married until he turns eighteen right?"
"Well. . ." Gemma hesitated.
"Its settled then," Nabiki said as she stood and came around the table. "I
for one am very interested in hearing about your travels," She said, grabbing
Ranma's arm. "Why don't I show you the backyard and you can tell me all about
China?"
Uh. . ." Ranma said as he was half hauled away.
"I'm glad that's all settled. So how about a game of Shogi Saotome?"
"Sure thing Tendo." With that, the two men left the room.
"I'd better get these done," Kasumi said, gathering up the tea and
disappearing into the kitchen, leaving Ukyo and Akane staring at each other.
"Um. . ." Ukyo ventured. "Hi."
********************
The clock proclaimed it one in the morning when Ranma, bucket of ice water in
hand, carefully sneaked out the door and around to the alley in back.
<That whole family's weird. Doesn't anything ruffle that girl's feathers?>
"Kasumi or Nabiki?"
<Both of them. But Kasumi. . .She didn't even blink when Akane threw that
plate at you.>
"I ducked didn't I?" Ranma asked, looking around to make sure no one was
watching as he began to strip off his clothes. He and Airazor were the same
height, but her body shape was different. It wouldn't be so bad if she was
flesh and blood, but she wasn't and her armor had some sharp edges that were
murder on his clothes.
<And don't even get me started on Nabiki.> Airazor went on as though Ranma
hadn't spoken. <I felt like a mouse being watched by a cat the whole time.>
"Yeah yeah." Ranma said, upending the bucket over his head. "Let's get this
over with." with that, she rose up into the air on her jets and quickly flew
towards the west.
Meanwhile, in her room, Nabiki shut the window and made a note in the legal
pad on her desk before going back to bed.
This fiance bisnuess was going to prove to be more interesting then she
thought.
********************
The next morning, Ranma was awakened by Gemma's patented pillow to the head
alarm clock. His response was that of young men around the world when woken
up from a sound sleep.
"Whuzhuh?" There was a muffled growl and a pillow impacted with his head
again.
<Wakey Wakey.> Arazor said. <There's a panda hitting you with a pillow. I
think its your dad. Though in this place it could be anywhere from your dad
to a piece of fanfiction by Oscar.>There was a pause. <Don't ask.>
The pillow came whistling in a third time, but by now, Ranma was awake enough
to block the pillow.
"Alright Pop. I'm up." Ranma said, sitting up and yawning.
"Growlumph." Gemma said and waddled out.
<Come on, Come on. Let's go.>
"Yeah, yeah." Ranma said and left the room.
As luck would have it, Ukyo was coming down the hallway.
"Hey Uuchan!" Ranma hissed. "I need your help!"
"Sure thing." She said as Ranma pulled her back into his room. Quickly, he
explained about Airazor and the previous night's adventure.
"So what do you need me for?" Ukyo said. It was quite obvious she had a
different idea for why Ranma was hearing a voice in his head.
"We raided her ship." Ranma said. "She remembered something that was still
there and it was still in working order."
"What was it?"
"She called it a solution to my torn clothes." Ranma said absently as he
remembered the ship.
********************
"Mount Fugi?" Ranma asked as she touched down at the base of the most famous
mountain in all of Japan. "This ship is inside Mount Fugi?"
<Not Exactly. The Axalon fell into a lake about three hundred kilometers
north of here. This is what my friends died to gaurd.> Ranma didn't see
anything worth gaurding, but she kept her mouth shut. She did have a few
manners after all.
"So now what?"
<Twenty meters to your right. Rattrap dug a secret tunnel.> Ranma followed
her directions and found herself staring at nothing but rock.
"What secret tunnel?"
<Now repeat after me. Computer: Transmit acess code: Open Sesame.> Ranma
complied.
"Open Sesame?"
<Rattrap thought he was funny.> Airazor said as the rock shimmered and flowed
away to reveal a dark tunnel.
"Wow."
<Reverse-Engineered Vok technology."
"Who?"
<Long story.> Airazor said as they entered.
The tunnel opened up into a large cavern. To his left was a pair of metal
doors, half buried under several large rocks. To the right was a tunnel half
barricaded with rocks. A five fingered hand stuck out of the rocks, half
covered with a brown substance.
<Dinobot. He was a Former Predacon and the first of us to fall.> Airazor said
sadly as Ranma squeezed her way past the rocks.
A few meters beyond was another robot. It lay on its back, a gaping hole in
its chest. The features were vaugely rodentlike and yet there was something
trustworthy there.
<Rattrap.> Airazor said. <Probably Dinobot's best friend. We all thought he
was a former Decepticon who saw the light but we couldn't prove it. The last
thing he said was that we were all going to die.> She paused. <We all told
him to shut up.> Ranma took one last look at the face as she moved on. It
almost seemed as though he had the self satisfied smirk of someone proved
right.
The next bot they found was one with beastial features. Its Fingers were
curled around a very large gun and there was a almost peaceful look on its
face.
<Cheetor. The youngest of all of us. I always thought he was hiding
something.>
Ranma didn't say anything. It seemed almost wrong to speak in this place.
The next bot was blue and white. Both arms were missing and one leg was bent
at an impossible angle.
<Tigertron.> Airazor's voice was grief stricken. Ranma didn't push the
subject.
At that point, they emerged into a large cavern, shatttered equipment
littered the floor and in the middle, a bot that seemed to be half ape and
half robot.
<Optimus Primal. Our Commander. Take the tunnel to the right.> Ranma did so
and found herself in another cavern. More equipment lay here. Broken vials,
and blackend, twisted pieces of metal. <Over there, under the cloth>
Pulling it aside, Ranma found herself staring at what looked like a coffin.
It was oblong shaped with a cylinder along the right side. Another Cylinder
was attached to the left side.
"What is it?"
<Rhinox's legacy, and the solution to your torn clothes.>
"How's it gonna do that?"
<I'll explain once we've gotten back. Grab it.> Ranma complied and carefully
lifted it over her head.
"Now what?"
<Exit the room and turn right.>
In the end, they had loaded everything onto a small cargo carrier. There were
all sorts of things ranging from mementos to strange pieces of electronic
equipment.
"How we supposed to get this home?"
<Oh Slag!>
********************
"And how did you get it home?" Ukyou asked when Ranma finished the tale.
"It flies. Kinda. I sorta half rode, half pushed it."
"Ranma, I'll grant that your cursed form isn't. . .anything local, but do you
seriously expect me to buy that?"
"Just follow me, okay?" Ranma said and stormed out of the room. Sighing,
Ukyou followed.
********************
"Here's your proof!" Ranma said, yanking away the cloth. Ukyou gasped. There
it was, just like he described it, shining in the morning sun.
"Okay," she said, running her hand over the smooth metal, "assuming I believe
you about that your cursed form is some sort of time traveling alien robot,
and that there is a starship hiding inside Mount Fuji, that still doesn't
make it any less credible that this robot's brain is rooming inside your
head."
"It's not her brain!" Ranma hissed. "Its like. . ."
"Her soul?"
"Sort of." Ranma said, scuffing at the ground with his toe.
"I'll accept that." Ukyou said gently, seeing how uncomfortable it made him.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Airazor-that's her name,"
"So you said."
<Half a dozen times>
"Airazor said that since my human body and hers are about the same height, we
can use this thing to make her body passable in public. Problem is, you have
to make the choices while its running and I can't do it from inside."
"So you need me."
"Well, you're the only other one who knows about my curse and Pop has trouble
operating doorknobs, so. . ." He left it hanging.
"What do I need to do?"
********************
"Its fairly simple." Ranma said as she lay down. "When it asks for something,
supply the information."
"And the idea is that I make it look like your regular body?"
"Yeah." The Lid closed and the machine began humming. It was fairly simple to
follow the instructions, but then she made a mistake.
She fixed it as best she could though.