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*sigh* another sleepless night. enjoy!
Third Labor, chapter 21 "Meanwhile Back At The Ranch"
OR: "Catgirls just wanna have fun!"
"Too much of a good thing... can be wonderful." - Mae West
by metroanime@mindspring.com
various character/ideas by other authors, mainly White Pheonix
-----------
Jared ascertained that the scroll he'd gotten from Ranma was in place, that
all that Nabiki had stolen was four of those Rafael-built psuedo-pokeballs,
and he was currently being attacked by Ken Nakajima from "You're Under
Arrest" - which didn't make any sense as this timeline had scanned on his
entry as one where "Ranma 1/2" and "Akumakun" were the only anime elements
in the mix.
Jared wasn't sure what had caused this. His presence, as Yggdrasil based god
of crossovers? Grey's attempts to get himself (herself?) out of the
timeline? Had the Knights Of The True Continuua, in their efforts to
manipulate their own timeline and repeal Prohibition on that reality? Or was
it something else?
Officer Ken (the White Hawk) Nakajima was rather annoyed that his opponent
not only hadn't surrendered, but was dodging him as if he were a child.
Going so far as to check his pockets, comb his hair, check several spheres
at his belt, then go through a ludicrous number of items somehow stowed in a
fanny pack. Bad enough for this to happen. In front of Miyuki?! Errr.
Officer Kobayukawa, that is.
Soun Tendo had thrown himself into the fray, his old pal Genma tagging a
moment behind. Then he'd noticed Akane fainted, with the groom taking her
off to the side. The marriage had already occurred? And he'd missed it? The
resulting flood of tears transformed Genma from Town Drunk to Mutant Rat
(bald panda).
As with the LAST time (immediately after Ranma's horse had splashed him),
Genma immediately was designated a Free Beating Zone by ALL sides. During
the horse-piss incident, this had resulted in a brief chase sequence,
followed by him finding and dousing himself with a cup of hot coffee. There
was no sign of such available, so Genma the bald panda was the center of a
lot of attempted pummellings.
A giant panda's claws could rip through human flesh rather handily, and when
Genma did so, he discovered that it *was* possible for the beatings to get
much much worse. On seeing a little blue haired girl go down with a ragged
wound, even the various villains and the rest of the sherriff's posse put
aside their differences to pound the "Rat King".
"Akane" recovering from her swoon, saw the blue haired girl lying on the
ground, shrieked, and ran to her side. She really hadn't intended to use
THAT wording of a Cure Serious Wounds spell, she was just kind of out of
sorts. Being newly married and all.
"By the love that is intended,
let this wound be quickly mended,
thy flesh reknit, restore, rebind,
be healed, dear one, in heart and mind."
Ami heard the wording, felt her "sucking chest wound" fade to "sore and
bruised", looked up to see her Shinji still locked in the body of some
sixteen year old girl, and latched on in a crying hug attack.
Soun switched from Wail #412 "My Baby Girl Got Married And I Missed It" to
Wail #413 "My Baby Girl Is Cheating On Her Husband With Another Girl!"
without missing a beat. Up until someone named Dakota used her Martial Arts
Barmaid technique of "Dirty Sidewinder Sneaking Sucker Punch" and flattened
him.
Makoto Kino made it a group hug by hugging her "wife" and her friend, after
all there were villains with guns around and she had to keep up appearances.
Right?
Naoko Takeuchi STARED and tried to remember all this. This was crazy enough
to appeal to a lot of different people, and love triangles were always good
material. Though the Mutant Rat youma looked kind of silly, having him
beaten into the ground by a bunch of teenaged girls would certainly go over
well with her usual audience (teenaged girls, of course.)
Michie Tomizawa spared a grateful look towards the person who was liberating
her from the railroad tracks and stopped to STARE. Rei Hino stopped to see
who she was rescuing, and also began staring.
Kotono Mitsuishi was freed, nodded her head in gratitude, then STARED as it
became obvious who that girl styling herself "Serenity" was.
"SOUL FIST!" Morrigan Aenslad saw the group hug developing, gave a wistful
smile, then slammed into California with her newest attack. "Behold, mortal!
The benefits of working with the forces of the Silver Millenium and tapping
into positive emotional manna! BEAUTIFUL CHEESECAKE POSE!"
California, the reviving Soun, Ryouga (still wandering through the battle
without having been touched yet), and three male members of the posse
collapsed with major nosebleeds.
"Baka hentai!" Serenity turned to yell at Morrigan that this was NOT what
the former Silver Millenium Queen had had in mind when proposing that the
various members of noble blood associating with Nebula team up.
Unfortunately, she then got blindsided by Colorado.
"Unnnn!" With a war whoop (well, close enough), Standing Mountain led a
crowd of other practitioners of Martial Arts Indian Wrestling into the fray.
Intent, of course, on rescuing the fair Akane now that she'd returned.
Kasumi watched everything swirling around her and fretted a lot. Get
involved in THAT?! Heavens no. She could be oblivious perhaps, but not THAT
oblivious.
-------
SASAMI was an artificial intelligence. She emulated basic human behavior,
which is why her holographic representation was staring with her mouth
hanging open.
She understood technology FAR in advance of the natives. To her, the late
20th century was just slightly beyond daub-and-wattle construction and
horse-drawn carriages.
Magic, well, that wasn't just another kettle of fish, it was a whole
zoological branch that she had very little hard data on. Yes, she'd glimpsed
it. She'd been built by a magical being, and the Mage had cast a spell in
her backyard, and then there was Ranma's transgenderism and his father's
cursed form. It perplexed her, she had devoted a substantial portion (35%)
of her background processors to working out some sort of theory or set of
operating assumptions to make regarding this.
Nabiki leaving, then throwing red-and-white baseballs at the mewing Ukyo and
Shampoo, those spheres opening up and sucking the two inside...
And her containment field had interfered with the process. Causing what a
military person would call a FUBAR situation.
SASAMI made a few requests. She needed to upgrade her analysis equipment and
to up her background processor capabilities.
"Let's see. The spheres combine a form of transporter effect with a storage
unit," mused SASAMI. "Problem, their datastream was scrambled. How to
restore them without a transporter scan -?!"
Nabiki yowled and picked herself up from where the explosion had thrown her.
SASAMI groaned. Well, maybe that mage fellow could fix this after she used
this stopgap measure.
--------
SMJ Line:
Jared-2 ignored Lorelei and her Fate for the moment as he considered the
impact that Ginseng and some guy named Mamoru Tengoku had made on this
marionette world. Not that he hadn't done more, and accomplished a much more
sweeping change, of course.
Prior to Ginseng, a common marionette was able to do a few dozen simple
tasks. Sweep floors, wash dishes, greet customers, etc. Nothing requiring
high dexterity, great skill, or any thought at all. You plugged them into a
charger overnight, and they had problems similar to buying an economy car.
They ran about 2500 dollars, if he had the exchange rate right. Some models
(used and older) could be found for less than a thousand but usually got
what you paid for. Usually their "brains" were a unit that looked a lot like
an Internet server and were stationary, seperate from the marionette itself
but in constant radio communication. Dozens of these units could be run off
the same server, and as it was an efficient system any bulk number of
marionettes used this system.
Higher grade marionettes, such as were used for more complicated tasks (like
cooking simple food) were still battery operated. Gennai had one, it had
taken him decades as an inventor (admittedly not a wealthy or successful
one) to afford one that had sufficient manual dexterity to clean his ears
and with skin that was soft and smooth. Roughly the price of a luxury car,
about 12,000 dollars US. Most of these likewise had their brains being an
inside unit, sometimes supplemented by ties to a household's central
computer.
Military grade marionettes were powerful, built for strength and durability,
otherwise about the level of a Luxury class marionette. A number of these
were in the private sector. 25,000 dollars US or close, Jared thought. These
were tied into a military grade server, and this led to group coordination
that was literally inhuman.
Sabre Class marionettes, even without a Maiden Circuit, were a cut above
military grade. Their computers were internal, they had extra bracing, high
dexterity and coordination. A Sabre class was over 100,000 dollars US.
Maiden Circuits, of course, were priceless. Particularly to the marionette
in which they were installed.
Ginseng had found cheaper ways of manufacturing the marionettes, cheaper
materials, a better way of automating the process, and had re-invented the
assembly line. S/he had developed different actuators and internal
motivators, raising the limits all around. A new "economy" class was about
1900 dollars. Right now most of the innovations were being held onto for
military use, though it was easy to see where in a decade the common
marionettes would basically go from being TRS-80s (aka the old TRaSh 80s or
maybe an Atari 400) to Pentium II units.
Some guy named Mamoru Tengoku had come up with something else, and a very
different aim.
According to his notes, he'd observed some basic behavior in animals. Raise
an animal of a certain complexity or higher with affection and teach them,
and they responded. The dogs and cats and horses all learned - acting more
intelligent and friendly towards humans than those that were not.
What Mamoru had come up with was an "Ishii Kairo" - a Will Circuit of three
linked computers and interfaces in a single sphere roughly the size of a
softball. Rough cost of materials: $900 if you scavenged junkyards. It
started out as having no result when installed into a marionette. When you
treated the marionette affectionately, it learned affection and paid greater
attention to you. When you also taught the marionette, it learned quite a
lot.
A Maiden Circuit was a miraculous thing, when a marionette awakened with a
Maiden Circuit, she had emotions fully blown and a human level of
intelligence, all available through emulated human engrams. The marionette
was born with a personality. Further, the strength of emotions increased the
strength of the marionette.
An Ishii Kairo awakened slowly, and could only be done through care and
patience. No emotion power was granted, and the personality that developed
would form over several months.
Gennai's marionette Gemini already had one, and by all reports the
marionette was a bit of a flirt. She was also a very traditional girl,
allowing for the fact that her movement speed was slow and there were some
problems developing with her leg actuators. She also got lost about as often
as Ryoga Hibiki, requiring Lime to find her and escort her home.
THIS, Jared felt, would turn Terra Two upside down almost as much as the
Return Of Woman project had.
-------
Ranma/Akumakun timeline:
Having gotten some time in with his own fiancee brigade, the Jared (#3) on a
resort world of beaches ignored the downed spaceship (a glimpse of Mihoshi
and Ryouga holding hands had been enough for him to abort the rescue
operation) decided to do something about Ranko's problem.
Besides, the spell keeping him as several seperate copies was beginning to
destabilize despite the spelltrap. Best to get all of him together.
The excuse was getting Ranko to where *she* needed to go. Unfortunately,
Ranko seemed to have the same effect on dimensional travel that Grey did.
Jared let the Gateway close behind him, but frowned. "This looks like Azabu
Juuban, not Nerima."
"Wow, big brother, how can you tell?" To Ranko it was just another part of a
way too big city.
"Tokyo Tower," said Jared, pointing to the landmark sticking up over a
couple of smaller buildings. He immediately got his map out and started
going over it. "Let's see. Turn right at the third star, go left at the
fourth color pool..."
"SKILL CARD! RETURN TO YOUR POWER CONFINED!!"
Jared bit his lip as he felt power being sucked out of him, this felt almost
exactly like the level draining attacks of certain undead, except that this
was a steady drain.
Ranko was not inclined to let someone hurt her big brother. She swung a
punch that took a chunk out of a nearby wall. "Let him alone, you meanie!"
"Hey, they're not supposed to gang up on me!"
"I'll get it! Force know my plight! Release the light! Lightning!"
Jared took a deep breath, then got a look at his attackers. The idea that a
grade school kid had been able to do THAT much damage to HIM was both
mortifying and horrifying. There was Ranko being hit by lightning. Still,
she'd bought him the chance to recover and there was that girl with the
weird cane about to use it again on him.
"Medusa's gaze manifest,
Rid me of this pest,
To greyscale take her tone,
Invoke- Flesh to Stone!"
The girl in question looked a bit shocked as her skin altered to a dull grey
in color. The odd stick dropped from her hands as they turned stiff and
apparently lifeless.
"Why you!" The little boy with the sword looked ready to do something, while
the girl with the camcorder behind him looked almost ready to bolt. And
Jared felt sufficiently weakened that he might have to go all out against a
martial artist/spellcaster.
*WHAM!* Some little Amazon girl who'd tried to grapple with Ranko was
abruptly thrown into the ice machine sitting outside a Mom & Pop grocery
store.
Ranko grabbed the dropped "cane" and was apparently going to protect her
"big brother" from strange spellcasters. "I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS! YOU
MEANIES!" She had also, apparently, found her limit for being attacked by
strange people.
"Li, is that the Strength card?" Madison asked in a weak voice.
"Hey! You better... " *THWACK!* a small flying stuffed animal landed in the
same ice machine as the Amazon girl.
"Look out!" Li swung his sword, slashing out as the batwinged Clow card
raised the Key of Clow up to hit him with it. His blade cut through the
clothing, but merely glanced along the flesh underneath.
*WHAM!* *WHAP!*
"Uhm, Ranko? That was a bit much." Jared felt strength slowly returning to
him.
"Uhm, excuse me?"
Jared and Ranko looked over the business suited individual, nonplussed.
After all that, someone had found the nerve to approach them?
"My name is Nobuo, I'm with the Tokyo Giants? The Baseball team? Uhm? Does
the young lady have an agent?"
Jared was immediately grateful that Genma was nowhere to be found, but
decided that those legs sticking out of the ice machine was the first
priority.
Though finding some way for channel magic besides strength seemed in order.
Hmmm. Maybe...
--------
a little later, in a very different reality:
Ranko looked over the cards.
Jared merely raised an eyebrow. "These will work?"
"Well, theoretically," said the dark elf, filling an order for a strawberry
parfait. "A lot of magic is symbols and invocation. So magical cards which
allow you to manifest things like this is certainly within the bounds of
reason. This is just a starter set of six cards, if they work well we can
make more. Certainly she's got enough magical potential that an outlet like
this is feasible."
Jared eyed Edema. It was nice to interact with someone who wasn't even
remotely a fiancee and sufficiently accomplished that they could talk shop
as equals. In magic at least. Even if it was a damn dark elf. Chocoholic
dark elves, what next? Though he was still considering methods of getting
even with her for what she'd done on that Sabre Marionette world. "So, what
six spells?"
"Keeping in mind her nature," said Edema in her usual soft Southeastern US
drawl, "Ah went with some basic non-offensive stuff. Comprehend Languages,
Expeditious Retreat, Mage Armor, Message, Plant Growth, Shield. If this here
works out, there's some other possibilities."
Jared held up one of his hands, accepting one of the cards from Ranko.
"Animayhem cards?"
Edema shrugged. "There's a couple of cursed decks running around, seemed
fitting to come up with a version that wasn't so bad. A project Ah worked
out in my spare time."
Jared looked closer over the card he had and had to admit the work, though
rushed, was "top shelf." Essentially the pattern of a spell, requiring only
the energies to be pumped into it. Similar to techno-wizardry in its way, or
a scroll with a Permanency spell. The Shield Card showed Aeka from Tenchi
Muyo putting up a defensive barrier. "Improved Shield, isn't this? More like
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere than the first level spell."
Jared looked over the card, but his smile was from something else. Oh yes.
He could indeed top Edema's little "joke."
-------
an SMJ timeline:
Lorelei was trembling in terror.
This was good for her, it was exactly what she'd wanted in climbing into
this vipers nest of probabilities. The Pheonix Mage was the only man on
Terra Two who didn't hold her in nigh-worshipful regard, had sufficient
capriciousness and his own forms of justice and views on honor to act, but
more important he was of sufficient power levels not to care what the
rest of the world thought about whatever he did to her.
Thus, he had a fully developed sense of justice and the ability to use it.
Having triggered his temper, it satisfied Lorelei's requirements of
punishment whatever he chose to do to her so long as it was nasty.
Standing there blindfolded while he had taken a measuring tape to her, and
now the sounds of cutting, slicing, chewing and hammering had gotten her
convinced that whatever it was was going to be properly horrible.
She had alot to atone for, after all. She had the murder of her friends and
coworkers of the colony ship Mesopotamia on her conscience and the
sufferings of a whole world and the dementia of a madman to lay at her feet
by her reckoning. If whatever the Mage came up with wasn't bad
enough she'd have to seek out more herself. That was why she was almost
reassured by the ripping and tearing sounds that split the air. If he was
testing out some device for soon mutilating her useless (even her genetic
pattern was no longer required) body, then so much the better. That saved
her from the futility of living and the trouble of flinging her own guilty
self over a cliff in the badlands to be impaled on shards of crystal.
The woman was having a lethal attack of guilt.
Jared sat by watching the blindfolded woman tremble in terror of her own
nasty imagination while a Robotech sewing machine continued to work on
cloth - producing noise that could well be mistaken for chewing, and
certainly genuine sounds of cutting, slicing and ripping of the most
gleefully horrific intensity.
The hammering came from the occassional need for a rivet or stud in a
leather jacket another machine was making at the same time.
The machine ceased and Jared took the latest garment it had produced (he'd
had it create a small wardrobe just to have enough noise for long enough)
and walked over to Lorelei. She was shivering as he in utmost silence set up
a changing screen between her and him, then with a proper sense of the
theatric, but where he could not possibly see her, cast a cantrip that cut
her clothes, then followed it up with a bit of telekinesis and a minor
illusion.
Lorelei felt herself roughly seized and her clothes torn from off her body,
save only her underwear and the blindfold. Shivering in that near-naked
state, she was struck in the face with something soft when Jared, in a gruff
voice, demanded that she put it on. Then when she was halfway in his sharp
voice barked the order that she not forget the plumbing connections.
Jared sat idly peeling fruit on the other side of the changing screen while
Lorelei's imagination put her through all sorts of humiliation.
It was a spacesuit. That much was obvious to Lorelei, and it called to mind
all kinds of truly terrifying things, from spacer rumors and bad movies (the
memory of Dr Madblight on the Star Strider TV show putting mindworms in the
heroes helmets then forcing them to put them on was
still a vivid childhood memory for her), through genuine incidents that had
occured aboard the Mesopotamia (small leaks leading to partial
depressurization, insects getting inside someone's spacesuit, or one time a
repair team running out of oxygen supply), to her own private horrors
(a spacesuit can get claustrophobic at times, and the mental image of a
steadily shrinking spacesuit is a horror common along the spacelanes -
though rarely shared or voiced aloud). By the time she was dressed Lorelei's
own mind had put her through enough might-be's that she was
weak from fright and some small corner of her mind was beginning to wonder
if she'd suffered enough.
Jared continued to idly peel fruit, confident that whatever her mind did to
her would be what she wanted out of this. Hearing the sounds of changing
stop, he chose that moment to peer around the screen, noted her cheeks were
flushed from an embarrassment and shame that hadn't happened, and her
knuckles white with fright, and very quietly removed the changing screen
that had shielded her modesty the whole time and not allowed any sort of
shame outside her own mind.
Still, he was sickened with this part of the drama and wanted to move on.
Even letting her own imagination do all the dirty parts he still felt the
distinct need to bathe for his own part in providing the necessary backdrop.
He justified it only because he was redeeming a soul here, not condemning
one, and unless the lady felt punished she would never be able to live with
herself. On that note, he ran a table saw for a long second, letting the
high-pitched mechanical squeal cause the weakened doctor to nearly wet
herself.
Then they teleported to another locale.
Properly terrified, Lorelei felt the blindfold torn (rather gently taken,
but at that point her mind was jumping at shadows) from her and beheld that
she was NOT wearing her helmet and looking out unprotected over the vault of
space with the atmosphere miles beneath her feet.
This time she did wet herself, but that's what the spacesuit's plumbing
connectors were *for*, and it was a good thing she had connected them.
The Pheonix Mage was floating there next to her, and poor Dr Lorelei came up
with the conclusion that it was his presence so far that had spared her and
soon he would leave and then, yadda, yadda, yadda...
It was a pretty predictable track. Pathetic, but then she *was* getting it
out of her system. As it was concluding it's latest horror scenario,
Lorelei's brain noted the presence of the gutted hulk of the Mesopotamia
floating under their feet and the same fatalistic portion (that was now
crowded ever so gently by the 'I-don't-like-this-can-we-go-home-now?'
portion) sighed in melodramatic luxury about how fitting it was for her to
meet her end here where her evil deeds began.
Jared was beginning to quietly wish that he'd never started that ESP spell.
This lady had developed guilt to an art form.
Seeing her go off on another mental tangental nightmare scenario, the Mage
gently coughed into a hand to get her attention. "Ahem." He took out a
microcomputer calculator and began punching keys. "So let's see. The death
count... no, scratch that. Total sum of your crimes as I have it
is; One, the event aboard the Mesopotamia that led to the crew deaths. Two,
the near failure of the colony. Three, hardship and suffering to all the
clones by lack of a 'normal' society and the company of women. And Four, the
madness of Faust and all of the hardship and pain that caused. I'll lean a
little heavily on you for that and count those clones afflicted under his
rule or in his wars as double - once for suffering under a warped society
without women and once for suffering under Faust. That leaves our total
numbers these."
He flashed the review screen towards her and Dr Lorelei felt, even with all
her apprehension, that it was alot, yet still lower than she'd been
expecting. Her guilt reflex tried to kick in but after all its recent bouts
it was starting to feel a little tired, now honest curiosity was
trying to take over.
What would he do to her?
Besides, seeing the results quantified, no matter their size, robbed them of
some of their mystical largeness. The scientist part of Lorelei - a
substantial majority, was starting to review the figures and compare herself
to other benchmarks (major historical villains for the most part), and in
that light saw her own results as surprisingly small.
There comes a substantial amount of pride along with the "I'm so awful, I'm
so terrible" point of view that refuses its own forgiveness. It is, by
necessity, a warped, reversed sort of pride that wallows in it's own
weaknesses rather than overemphasising its strengths, but it is still a form
of false pride. Seeing the numbers proclaim you a small fish deflates a lot
of that, and with pride gone (or at least reduced) the mind sees a problem
and just deals with it. Normal mental healing can begin.
Not that it was far advanced in Lorelei, but it was a start.
Once her attention wandered back to the Mage again, Lorelei realized that he
was smiling. Also, floating alongside him, was his small cluster of Sailor
Scouts looking on her in varying levels of approval and curiosity.
Jared waved a hand toward the relic of a spaceship. "Well, let us begin from
the beginning. First Crime, the deaths aboard the Mesopotamia. Saturn?"
The girl known privately as Holly Tomoe floated forward and promptly found
she was consumed in a flying tackle from Sailor Moon, who was crying.
"Waaah! I wanna do it!"
"Sailor Moon!" The Mage said reprovingly, casting a glance aside at Lorelei.
"Remember! We're doing this in rotation. You get to heal the next large
crowd of innocents."
"But the last time was only a couple of silly illnesses! And the time
*before* Holly got to raise a whole horde of vampires! You aren't being
fair! She gets all the fun ones." Serena sniffled at the major injustice.
The Mage flung his hands up, trying not to smile. "BUNNY!" He said, doing
his best not to sound so amused. "Who was it hopping about on that world of
the Living Dead? You'd cured all but a million of them and it wasn't even
your turn!"
"Okaaay..." Sailor Moon released her hold on Saturn. She joyfully caroled
and she sang the next claim. "But I get to heal the madman!"
Jared rolled his eyes as part of the act. "Okay, you get to heal the madman.
Now Saturn?"
Fighting her own grin (it had been discovered that Sailor Moon *had* to
fight with someone over something, so they did this merely to keep her
happy) Sailor Saturn freed her staff and swung it at an angle to activate
its powers.
"Saturn Healing Escalation!"
Lorelei was blinking, face slackened in surprise. "But... they've all been
dead now for hundreds of years..." She objected weakly.
"Yeah!" Jared agreed, watching the show. "Neat, isn't it?"
The glowing ball of Saturn's light raced forward to engulf the ruined colony
ship, and while this was still happening, he turned to face Uranus. "Second
Crime, the loss of the Colony resources, tools and time. Uranus?"
The tomboyish Scout gathered in her own light and shot a ball toward the
Mesopotamia, where her powers began to knit to gether the tortured and torn
machinery with a finesse gained from studying under the Pheonix Mage, using
her powers in a way beyond her untutored counterparts of
other Sailor Moon worlds to twist and shape the metal back into its original
forms.
Said Pheonix Mage nodded as the running lights of the colony ship
Mesopotamia came on and the crew within began to stir, alive for the first
time in centuries. He pivoted in space to watch Lorelei's slack-jawed
features absorbing this. To her astonihment, he pronounced. "Crime one, the
deaths - absolved. You can't have a murder without a victim, and life has
been restored to them. Crime Two, the nigh-failure of the colony. Well,
without going in to too much detail of my rationalization they have all of
their equipment restored to working order - thus, all of the possibilities
they had before (minus one insane computer). It ought to be fascinating to
see the original crew interacting with the cloned descendants of the other
colonists, but
between the ship restored and their tools working along with the advanced
state of society on the ground, total loss of equipment and resources is
zero. Jupiter?"
Already ready, the Scout of Jupiter raced off trailing glowing sparkles over
the surface of Terra Two. Where the trail of green sparks hit dirt began to
churn and plants grow at an astonishing rate, leaving the globe belted by
rings of mature jungle forest. Then she ringed it again sewing grass and
wheat.
Jared nodded. It was good. "Terraforming level is now what they could have
done given time and their tools. Population level is already approximately
right. I pronounce Crime Two absolved. You are forgiven it."
Lorelei was now crying tears that had nothing to do with punishment. Seeing
shuttles rush about the ship had reinvigorated a portion of her heart that
had been most grieviously sore. The extra growth and lushness of the planet
was curing an ache she hadn't known existed. Rather than her own pain, she
was feeling happy over someone else's reward.
Watching Lorelei's face it was clear that, astonishment or no, joy or not,
she would later feel the need to be punished anyway. Perhaps at a much lower
intensity, but this woman wasn't done feeling guilty yet.
However, nothing *could* have done away with her guilt in one fell swoop
save for her death arranged in the most aggrivating manner - which he was
and had been unwilling to do. So for any other methods taking chips out of
her complex was the best they could do.
Looking back at the ship, he mentioned conversationally to Lorelei. "I'd
always been intending to have come up here and done this, but things kept
getting in the way. I might've forgotten if you hadn't intervened." He
glanced toward her. "Thank you."
She was too worked up with conflicting desires to respond.
He nodded, then they teleported back into the lab.
"Crime Three I'll deal with in a moment, but for now we'll skip to Crime
Four." Jared swung open the door on a retaining tank - one of those used to
hold marionettes but this one converted with straps and restraints. Inside
was Faust.
"My turn!!" Sailor Moon caroled, healing the guy before anyone could object.
Blinking the effects of the light out of his eyes, Jared added."Well, I
*had* wanted to do more of a speech than that. But it's done. No more
madman, and I've already deleted the brain tapes and multiple backup copies
the original kept of his insane personality." He gestured to the
small boy now looking confused, climbing hesitantly out of the too-large
straps of the tanks being helped by Sailors Jupiter and Mars. "This Faust is
now just as he was before they put in the original's memory tapes. A normal
boy. Crime Four..." he shrugged. "Not exactly absolved, but no longer
causing hurt to anyone. Toss the body count on top of crime three and we'll
get going."
With a wave of his hand he teleported the boy right into Panther's arms with
a note explaining things, whereupon the three marionettes with loyalty to
Faust promptly began a celebration that would do many hearts great good for
years to come.
"Crime Three." Jared concluded with seriousness, interrupting Lorelei's
increasing joy. "You claim having caused hardship and pain to a large number
of people. I have no easy fix for it. Therefore, you must suffer most
horribly for that." he held up a finger. "One, you are to be
separated from your family, friends and associates from the Mesopotamia." He
held up another finger. "Two, you are to be forced apart from the one whom
you love: Otaru. Three," anothing finger. "You will be kept from the close
company of your daughters, the marionettes Lime, Cherry and Bloodberry."
The mage threw his hands helplessly and shook his head. "But having taken
all away from you we can, we still end up short. I guess there is no help
for it but to sentence you to go about doing good, to aiding in the lives of
others and causing as much *relief* from heartache and suffering as you have
power to do. Naturally this will take you many lifetimes, and as we can't
allow you to inflict your suffering on a clone of you you have got to do it
yourself. The only way this could be done would be to increase your lifespan
unnaturally, and as I am the only one who could do that and you already have
a debt to me from reversing the effects of your previous crimes, you can
accept service under me to absolve that debt and gain your opportunity to
help others. You have a duty to others no mortal could fulfill, and I have
worlds where no amount of help could be enough."
He offered her a short wand.
"Sailor Terra Two, we ought to be going."
----------
RIFTS Earth:
Rimshot settled to the ground, leaving the shimmering RIFT behind him to
close.
He had much to think of.
His other self, the telepath Rigel Maerklos of a city called Waterdeep, was
in a relationship with a short elven version of the Glitter Boy Pilot he
knew as Ree Fukami. Other versions of himself had met other versions of
other people he knew. And, despite differences, were apparently experiencing
the sort of frustrating happiness that comes from a shared relationship.
He had dismissed the possibility himself, despite an attraction to the
girls. He was a True Atlantean, with a lifespan ten times what a normal
human's was. He was a Techno-Wizard, a professional calling not one of them
could or would understand. Even Suzy, the Mystic, didn't really have a
clue - her style of magic was intuitive while he was a researcher. He was on
a planet where danger and evil could be found by throwing a stone in
practically any direction. Violence and a quick death ready to appear
without notice.
Not too unlike Rigel Maerklos and Wispara Deunan, he had been forced to
recognize.
Rigel Maerklos, a human telepath whose esper abilities had been so strong
that his birth cries had been heard by mages and sensitives as far away as
Cormyr. A disappointment to a family of mages, but someone apparently with a
Destiny.
Wispara Deunan, an elven rogue - though she reckoned herself a fighter
specializing in clandestine operations. An outcast in her own homeland due
to an accident of birth.
Soulmates drawn to each other despite their differences.
Wispara, as an elf, had a lifespan five times what her human lover could
expect. So she spent as much time as she could with him, treasuring as much
of that time as she could. As the equivelant of some medieval City Rat, she
concentrated on the parts of her boyfriend's life that she could understand.
Rimshot wondered if it wasn't time for him to try. Suzy was going off to
some Jabberworks base in the Pacific. Aya, the Rogue Scientist, was still
likely running experiments over in the Baronies. Whereas...
The Techno-wizard realized where he was. Not far, as such things went, from
Lazlo. Wherein a tall girl he once knew name Emi-li had her base of
operations. The ponytailed Predator armor pilot would have to be gotten off
her drug addiction, and it would be difficult.
But, Rimshot realized, it might well be worth the effort.
--------
Waterdeep:
Wispara looked up at "her Rigee" and squeezed his hand. "Are you sure 'bout
this? That wizardess your Mom had picked out was a serious looker."
Rigel nodded, but looked over the hill at his ancestral home without saying
a thing.
Wispara fretted for a moment. "Rigee, if... if you want to go back..." She
might be unwanted in her own homeland, but she was an elf. Families were
*very* important to elves. Rigel had forged a mindlink between them enough
that she knew fully well how important his family was to him.
Rigel squeezed Wisp's hand back in response, smiling down at her. For a
feisty girl, she certainly needed reassurance at times. Like now. "Second
thoughts?"
Wispara tapped her forehead, then reached up to place that finger on his
forehead. "You're the expert on that, ain't ya?"
Recognizing the invitation, Rigel forged the link. They'd linked so often,
surface-to-surface, that he could almost do it in his sleep. (and suspected
on a couple of occasions he had).
He delved deeper though, not to probe or read her mind, but to show her his.
He sent love and honest affection, regret but no doubts.
Wisp turned around, not wanting her Rigee to see her cry. Completely
ignoring the fact that the link was still going and he could sense it from
her.
He waited until she had composed herself again before lightly grasping her
shoulder. "What about you?"
"Nay there, nothing important," Wisp turned and hugged her soulmate briefly.
"Maybe your mom'll give up this latest scheme and we can return, eh?"
Rigel cut the mindlink before his imagery of icicles hanging from volcanoes
could make the journey. "Now, fair elf, where exactly have you planned for
us to go?"
"The Promenade, at first," said Wisp with a wink. "Then, perhaps, go visit
an old ally. I think the Harpers could do far worse than having a mindreader
and elven warrior join their ranks."
Rigel winced. "As long as they don't ask me to sing."
Wisp's smile was impish. "Not twice, they won't."
----------
Ranma/Akumakun timeline:
Jared-1 sighed and looked around at the aftermath of the battle. "What a
mess."
"Well," said Makoto, brushing her fake moustache, and looking down on the
girl she was still holding, "time to get to that there honeymoon."
Grey rolled her eyes. "Right, Mako-chan, i think there's a couple of things
wrong with that. One is that the minister over there isn't real."
"Oh, I'm quite real," argued the minister, not saying that he was a real
priest, merely real.
"...and we're not married by Japanese law or custom."
"It was a wonderful ceremony," added the priest, pulling out a laptop
computer. "The records have been added at City Hall. Imagine the problems
just getting a second Akane Tendo on the books. Especially as you're married
twice already."
"Hah?!" Grey blinked. "Oh yeah, when Ukyo rescued me and Shampoo was walking
by. Well then, there's also the fact that I happen to be female at the
moment, so is Mako-chan. So are Ukyo and Shampoo. And whatever the plumbing
states, my mental orientation is male."
"So that makes it all right," concluded the priest.
"Rrrrr. Not only are girl+girl marriages illegal (1992 Tokyo) but multiple
marriages? Nope, they've got to be illegal. And since this isn't one of
those Ami+Makoto timelines, i know darn well that none of the girls in
question swings that way." Grey hoped.
Jared stood atop a large rock and looked out across the range. "That's odd."
"What?" Grey was desperate for a change of subject, and something to focus
on besides how comfortable Makoto's lap was. "Some other attacking group?"
"No. Well, at least not quite. There goes Nabiki, running on all fours and
looking quite panicked. And there's..."
"What?" Grey spent a moment trying to get OUT of Makoto's lap but the taller
girl had leverage and greater strength. So Grey just spent a moment sulking
and debating how undignified she wanted to look trying to get loose.
"...it looks like Shampoo and Ukyo are both catgirls and are chasing Nabiki.
Must be a mirage."
"That catgirl curse isn't bite transmittable, is it?" Grey had a sudden
image of "Night Of The Living Dead" meets catgirls. *shudder shudder*
"No," said Jared, then paused. "At least I don't think so. I thought I
checked for that."
A priest paused, about to resume the argument about the marriage. "What... a
wonderful idea..."
Jared turned to see what the priest was talking about, but he was nowhere to
be seen. He started to worry at the traces of magical residue, particularly
at their intensity and flavor.
Grey tried to look, but her position on Makoto's lap made it difficult.
Feeling a ripple in reality, Jared REALLY started to worry.
-----
Toltiir sent a ripple out, as well as an e-mail message to Bast. The cat
goddess ought to know about this one. It was within her balliwick, after
all.
Nabiki finally came to a stop, exhausted, the two newly created catgirls a
bare moment behind her.
Nabiki panted and looked at the two barely winded warriors. "OKAY, that's
enough you two! Meowr!"
Shampoo sat down and began plucking burrs out of her tail. "Nabiki rowr run
verrry trrricksy, but not have good endurrrance. Shampoo worrrk on that."
Ukyo sniffed. "Nowrrr I have to change my stage name to Black Cat. Not mrowr
Black Fox anymore. Ftttt."
Nabiki smiled at her two converts. The way the blood sang within her, her
run leaving her tired but feeling especially warm and pleasant. "Mrowr. Who
we get next, mrowwr?"
"Rrrranma have much prride," snickered Shampoo, pleased at her jest.
"Rrrrrrr," said Nabiki almost dozing as her seat on a warm rock got to
feeling entirely too good. "Not surrre who the bite worrrk on. Was just
thought, and if that hadn't worrrked, would have tried Pokeballs."
"Well, then Ukyo think," Ukyo started then began sniffing. "Is
Rrrranma-honey!"
"Airrrren?" Shampoo purred, eyes half closed. "Shampoo not rrrealize Rrranma
have such nice scent. Verrry pleasant."
"Well, you know what they say," Ukyo said with a smile that matched
Shampoo's.
"What?" Nabiki started sniffing the breeze. ~Ah, he's still trying to get
that horse under control. Heh heh.~
"Firrrst come, firrst served!" The blur known as Ukyo Kuonji said, using her
catgirl reflexes and speed to full effect.
"Rrrrowr!" Shampoo protested, a purple blur not far behind.
"Hmmmph, Nabiki see she..." Nabiki frowned and threw off the odd speech
pattern with effort. "*I* see that I'm going to have to fight to keep Alpha
status. Not that *that* couldn't be fun..." A third blur launched itself.
---------
Not far away, Ranma (currently in girlform) felt this *awful* chill and
tried to get "Damn Beast" under control. Still. She'd been trying for quite
awhile.
The horse, as usual, was not being cooperative. However this time it had a
reason for being contrary. It was absolutely positively *certain* that there
were three large hunting cats stalking it, and that was enough for the horse
to decide it was time to hustle butt.
-------
Kasumi was about to speak to Jared, finally having stepped over enough
comatose bodies and gathered enough nerve, when the moment was (inevitably)
shattered.
"WHOA, YOU DAMN THING, WHOA!" *ZOOM!*
Makoto, about to further tease the girl in her lap, blinked. "You know, that
kind of looked like my sempai..."
"Akane" growled. Whether it was because she was still being held captive in
her "husband's" lap or the remark that did it was another question.
"He's still having a lot of trouble with that horse," said Jared, stating
the obvious.
"ROWR! Airrren!" A purple blur sped past the group.
"Shampoo?!" Grey finally got out of Makoto's lap, with a grumble about how
she was *not* a cuddle toy and just wait till she got turned back into a
guy...
"Rrrrranchan! Wait up!" Another blur running past them.
"Ukyo the catgirl," Jared said. "Well, I haven't seen THAT very often."
"Well, let's get going," Grey said, ignoring that she was still wearing a
wedding dress. "We've got to ride! Ami, Makoto, can you make sure Kasumi and
the other noncombatants are safe?"
"No problem," Ami said. "Uhm what about Serenity and Morrigan?"
"Well, they're not combatants until they wake up," reasoned Grey. "I don't
think anything will happen, but you never know around here."
With that, Jared and the Akane-lookalike vaulted onto horses and rode off.
Naoko moved on an intercept course, planning to interview some of them. With
catgirls and cowboys, this might be weird enough to work as a series.
Nabiki stalked closer, choosing her first victim carefully and sprang to the
attack.
------
"Akane" (since Ranma was around, and he'd freaked at the idea of a guy being
turned into a girl permanently, everyone just used Akane for Grey when Ranma
was nearby) used surprise, distraction, and the "Rowdy Roundup" technique to
lasso and hogtie two catgirls while a not-scared but at least highly nervous
Ranma-chan plastered herself to a wall.
"Actually, I don't think they were trying to bite you," Jared answered
Ranma's unspoken question, "though they might have done so just out of
affection."
"What you readin' on 'em," asked Akane, making sure the ropes were secure.
"Looks like a basic template transformation spell, similar to Jusenkyo in
some ways. Except this is always on, and it's a little more complicated."
"Complicated?" Ranma repeated, trying not to get creeped out by the meowing
catgirls.
"Something modified Nabiki's transformation, upgraded it," Jared produced a
blackboard and pointer out of nowhere. "Many spells of this type work on the
idea that a creature or thing can be described as a set of related
variables. You see here a typical Jusenkyo curse. Transformation is
triggered via water temperature, and the only thing really affected is the
variable for species. Thus, your Jusenkyo curse transforms you into a girl -
but the girl is actually a representation of how you'd look if you'd been
born a girl instead of a boy. More or less. There's very little other than a
simple physical transformation."
"So the basic template's altered from just being the Catfist?" Akane nodded,
then frowned at Jared's look of shock. "Hey now! Don't forget i'm a priest
of healing. Curses and transformative spells come with the territory."
Jared nodded, recovering quickly. "Essentially this copies the Catfist
spirit. It also changes..." Jared started scribbling on the board, taking a
few moments every so often to look over the magic surrounding the two girls.
"Not only does it give them minor access to the Catfist, but enhanced
recuperative abilities. The transformation's been compartmentalized. Until
three days from the bite, it can all be modified or negated fairly easily."
[Species: Human, gender: female] > [Species: Catgirl] {Define parameters
Catgirl: feline ears, feline tail, feline mannerisms, cute, cuddly,
affectionate, enhanced senses (hearing, smell, nightvision), enhanced speed,
enhanced strength, enhanced vitality, minor feline features, gender female,
transformative bite}
"The thing is," Jared said, looking at both girls and the blackboard to be
sure he'd gotten everything, "it looks like the transformative bite is the
easiest 'off switch' - anyone with magical training and a piece of silver
could do it."
"Better do it, or Ranma's gonna end up with his curse changing him from
Ranma-kun to Ranko-neko." Akane pointed. "Looks like it won't affect guys
but his girlform would be vulnerable."
"Well, I... AAAAGHHHH!" Ranma saw movement heading her way and bolted.
"Rowr!" A blue haired girl with a furry blue tail said, making a thirty foot
leap and running.
"Sempai?!" A ponytailed catgirl exclaimed as she also leapt past.
"Meowr! In the name of catnip, we'll punish you!" Another catgirl, this one
with silver hair, zipped past.
"Akane" fell inelegantly to the ground. "A-a-ami?!"
Jared frowned, then looked over the spells and the blackboard. Funny, there
wasn't a [chase after Ranma] segment that *he* could see. Then he noticed
some of those who'd been chasing Ranma come loping back.
Akane/Grey merely stared at the ground, twitching slightly. Hope had
blossomed only to be crushed. Alone in dark despair again.
"Mya!" *pounce!*
Finding herself knocked flat on her back, Grey stared up at the catgirl
currently straddling her. "Ami?!"
"Mya! Who did you think?" Ami smiled down at Grey, showing fangs. "Nyaow,
Ameow caught you, now what is Ameow going to do with you?"
Jared considered the sight, conjured a folding chair and a tray of frosty
fruit smoothies and raised a toast to Ami. How did that phrase go? Oh yes.
"You go, girl!"
"Nya! Ami, you smarticat! What you doing?" A ponytailed catgirl landed near
the blue maned catgirl. And then one with two long silver ponytails, and
another with a red bow on her tail and another bow in her terrific yellow
mane, and a...
"Hey, stop it! Hee hee heee. Cut it out- ahhhhhaha... Ami, don't..."
"Nya, she's ticklish in the same places he is? Nyaow! Ameow going to get
even with husband who leads poor wife on long chase!"
For effect, the redhaired mage looking on was now dressed in formal Roman
robes with a leafy garland upon his head, and held out a thumb... Turned
down. The accompanying panda sign read [Tickle her until she pees!]
"Bwahahaha! NO! Ami-- don't eeep! Cut it out!" The rest of Grey's comments
were lost in a fit of giggling.
Sipping elaborate fruit juices, Jared commented to himself. "Sad, isn't it?"
He gestured grandly. "But if this young lady had taken proper precautions
she would not have fallen prey to the insatiable tickle monsters."
He briefly considered a spell to snip the transformative bite part. But
frankly anything that could happen to Grey would be an improvement over
being Akane and in perfect honesty he could see how being an uninhibited
catgirl could do the poor fellow enormous good.
Other than that, well, at least it *was* easy enough to tell the Eva crew
from his own Scouts. He said a quick prayer of gratitute that they weren't
here to witness this. They'd want to play.
"Oh, myaow!"
Jared blinked and turned to regard Kasumi. Kasumi the catgirl. Whose tail
was lashing about in agitation.
"Jared-san," said the aproned catgirl, ignoring the howling and helpless
giggling going on a few yards away. "Kasumeow not wanted to rrrrr?! Jarrred
smell nice..."
"Huh?" Whatever Jared had expected to be said, that was not on the list.
Jared looked around. Shampoo and Ukyo had almost gnawed through their ropes.
There was a group of catgirls over *there* sniffing around and tickling a
figure on the ground with their tails. Except for Ami who was getting
*quite* cuddlesome from the look of it. There was one of Black Bart's traps
over there...
Jared's eyes widened. Bales of catnip, high grade stuff, to be used to lure
Nabiki into a trap. And the wind was blowing...
*SPLOOSH!!!!*
Grey, currently with pointy ears and a long furry tail poking out from
beneath the tattered remains of her wedding dress, stood over 'Sherry' with
an empty water bucket. Causing the mage to realize that he had not yet cured
his Jusenkyo curse. No problem, he had a Dimension Door ready for *just*
such an emergency.
At which point *someone* bit Sherry in the behind.
"Oh dearrrr."
--------
"Nyaow whose idea was this?" Ranma-neko inquired, running on all fours.
Not far away from him, the black haired near-Akane growled. "Nyot mine!
Fttttt!"
"Rowr, you don't know teleport do ya?"
"Nya, Grey would have left like Sherry did, *before* getting bit! Think Grey
can dispel transformation, need to be wherrre can't get tickled." Grey
looked thoughtful. "If was just Amieow and was male, might be fun!"
"They gaining on us!" Ranma-neko exclaimed with a glance backward, being
spurred on to greater speeds by the idea of WHAT Shampoo or Ukyo would do if
they caught him/her. Whatever.
"At least Rrrranko can escape if find hot waterrr," grumbled Grey. "Unless
can dispel OWN currrse, now am stuck forrr durrration."
Ranma-neko and Grey exclaimed at once. "Thisss sucks!"
Behind them, the leaping throng of catgirls decided not to close any
further. This game was too much fun to end it too early.
Someone stepped into the road. "Ahhh, pigtailed girl, come leap... into...
my arms?!" Kuno's eyes widened, the picture before him sufficiently strange
to penetrate his disassociation with reality. "Oh dear."
*SLAM!* *TRAMPLE!* *THUD!* "ouch" *trample* x 20. "I believe the noble Blue
Thunder will rest now. Ohhhhhh."
-------
Sherry had used a quick spell to bring hot water, then had used it to change
back.
*bad* mistake. Transforming into a catBOY had suddenly put him into the
category of "serious emitter of pheromones" around a bunch of rampaging
catgirls. To his (and their own) considerable relief, both Grey and Ranma
had sufficiently male self images that they had shaken it off. To Grey's
considerable relief, Ami had NOT immediately pounced on the new Alpha male.
Unfortunately every other catgirl in range had gone a little bit nuts
between the pheromones, their own unfamiliarity with the catgirl
transformation lowering their inhibitions and self-control, and the scent of
the catnip from Black Bart's trap.
Fortunately, Black Bart had put a LOT of catnip out. Enough that some little
kitties were stoned to the point where they couldn't even find their feet or
do much more than giggle at the funny colors.
It was easy enough to lose most of them, his monk training made it possible
for him to run so fast most would think he'd teleported. Then, of course, he
*had* teleported him.
Which left him with a Kasumi wrapped around him, but otherwise free.
He considered just snipping through the segment that would unravel the whole
transformation. This whole thing was *meant* to be easily dispelled. Up
until the third day, when it would get progressively harder. Even then the
transformative bite would remain easy. The difficult part was the
[species=catgirl] segment. Snip that and the rest fell apart, and it would
be easy to snip, but as the rest was dependent on it, you couldn't just snip
that and leave the [health=high, no deformities or genetic damage] segment.
Otherwise he'd have left *that* part and merely switched [catgirl] for [elf]
(far superior to human or catgirl, of course) and let them run merrily amuck
in Tokyo, puncturing all sorts of staid attitudes and playing hob with
Japanese elitism as the number of elves increased expotentially.
He hated to do it, but *SNAP!*
The glow passed over him and Kasumi, removing fur and tails, restoring ears
and normal parameters.
Kasumi let go of him with a gasp and a heavy blush. She'd been grabbing onto
him and PURRING! Oh my didn't even begin to cover it.
Jared briefly thought about all the comments he *could* make, but knew full
well that if he said *anything* Kasumi would likely be locking herself in
her room for several days.
There was a trail of dust over there, and it didn't take elven sight to see
that there was a red-maned catgirl and black-maned catgirl running ahead of
a pack of other catgirls as they reached the exit of the Old West area.
He winced slightly as the great Tatewaki Kuno got run over by both groups.
Well, unless he wanted nations panicking about the sudden number of catgirls
appearing in Japan, Jared figured he'd have to adopt a role he disliked.
He was going to have to be the responsible one and contain the damage.
Which was hardly fair, and *definitely* not the role he'd prefer. He'd
prefer to spread the Chaos, not contain it.
Jared had another thought and started getting to work. Unfortunately HIS
girls were going to show up here eventually. And if they found *this* sort
of thing...
His spine got crawling willies when he heard behind him.
"Technique: Catgirl Bite. Analyzed. Technique... acquirrred."
He turned around just in time to see what it looked like when a Thundercat
got bitten by a transformative catgirl bite.
Suddenly recalling what Shan had done in the middle of a tribe of Amazons
when in possession of a new trick that she saw useful for adding to the
number and firepower of his brides, he quickly got ready the wide area
counterspell.
Seeing a beet-red Kasumi shyly offering her arm for a nibble to one of the
*really* cute Thundercatgirls, Jared resolved to faint. When he had time for
it. Right then he just threw the whammy for countering Shan's nibbling.
"Fttt! Nyot yet!" Shan giggled, pivoting her staff and licking her chops.
"Counterrrspell Counterr!"
Near-Akane ran by, lipstick on her face and mascara half applied, Ami and
the others in close pursuit brandishing hairstyling equipment and odd
clothing amid gleeful, purring cries about wanting to play dress up.
"Puuuuuurrrrr."
Jared looked down to see Kasumi's tail emerging from around his beltline and
a substantial bulge curled up inside his shirt. The effect of her rumbling
was not unlike having a large, warm massage therapy device curled up against
his chest.
"ThunderrrrCats, Ho!"
The mage twitched, seeing Shan speed off lightning quick in one direction
and the fully loaded Thundertank in another. Behind this scene, Akane-neko
ran past in a virtual panic, clothes handily shredded down to negligible
quantities that barely covered the essentials while pouring on all the speed
she could get running on all fours. Haruka and Michiru idly hopping along
behind like a scene out of a Pepe La Pew cartoon, purring with bits of her
wedding gown still clutched between their teeth.
Reeling, the mage still had enough mercy in him to grab a jug of Spring of
Drowned Boy and fling it with enough accuracy to send 'Akane' sprawling as
it shattered and drenched her. As Ranma found a source of hot water at
roughly the same time, the effects of this on the still plentiful catgirls
was not unlike shaking a carbonated soda.
He felt a great deal less regret casting the counterspell this time, only to
get interrupted mid-phrase by a warning bite from under his still-purring
shirt, and Kasumi's tail twitched once in displeasure.
Part of being a successful adventurer is when to recognize defeat so you can
learn from it.
He closed his eyes and folded his arms seriously, though looking a bit silly
with the bulge under his shirt. "Most ominous."
*SPLASH!*
"Yipe! Ow!"
"Tee Hee!"
"Ameow! Come to Darrrrling!"
Kasumi's furry face peeked out from the collar of Sherry's shirt to watch a
blue maned catgirl run past, twittering and purring, with a catboy Grey in
hot pursuit. Ami-neko wasn't running terribly fast trying to escape, either.
The pair were unfortunately interrupted by a tide of twittering catgirls
arriving like a flood over the rise of the nearest hill.
Grey ran full steam the other way, much to the disappointment of Ami.
Sherry-neko turned to face Kasumi-neko. "Nyaow this *may* be getting out of
hand."
Kasumi licked her face.
Then Kasumi bolted out from under her shirt to join in the chase of the
Mutant Rat youma that had chosen a *singularly* bad time to make a
reappearance.
Sherry sighed, tail swishing. "Nyo help forrr it but to nyock out global
communications, I guesss."
==========
next chapter: we wind up 3rd, set the stage for fourth, and resolve some of
this stuff.
Alternate Reincarnation table (Aramar)
In the plane of Aramar, past deeds more than random factors influence the
change. However a die roll is provided for those who want the vagaries of
chance increased. Those deemed nonsuitable by the DM will be discarded, and
some species (such as dragons) will only briefly adventure with more
human-like companions. (Though they may cross paths many times in their
careers.) Good adventurers will not become evil creatures or the reverse.
Dragons start out as hatchlings.
01-05 Mouseling (halfling) 06-09 Tallf (halfling) 10 Athasian Halfling
11-15 Caiveh (lion folk) 16-19 Kirrfolk (cheetah) 20 Catfolk
21-25 Delphins Amazon 26-29 Pixie 30 Athasian
Half-giant
31-35 Wolfen (wolf folk) 36-39 Reptine 40 Tortle
41-45 Wood Elf 41-49 Sea Elf 50 Sky Elf
51-55 Desert Dwarf 56-59 Dwarf 60 Ottari
61-65 Driad 66-69 Naiad 70 Oriad
71-75 Fire Elf 76-79 Thri-kreen 80 Ardrow (elf)
81-85 Kenku (bird folk) 86-87 Hobgoblin 88-89 Ogrii or Ogre
(choose)
90 Red Dragon 91 Emerald Dragon 92 Sapphire Dragon
93 Amethyst Dragon 94 Half Dragon 95 Copper Dragon
96 Brass Dragon 97 Bronze Dragon 98 Silver Dragon
99 Gold Dragon 00 Human (extremely rare)
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Having seen enough to know that this wasn't
a slapstick but a heroic moment, Ukyo played it to
the hilt. After all, when had she had a chance to
do something like this in HER life? "Enter the high
school warrior-chef (sentai-pose - chain to spinning
the spatula around and another pose with it behind
her in a more samurai pose) whose spatula strikes
injustice. Ukyo Kuonji, age 16!" (gleam of teeth)
-Reluctant Bet
metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/