Here Kitty Kitty
Ran-Ran's first thought as she blinked awake
was that she may have made a mistake of some kind.
She remembered a short fight with that blue-haired
woman. It was a terribly short fight, and the woman
had taken her down quickly. She patted herself down
to make sure there was nothing missing and then took
stock of her situation.
She was in a room with three walls, and a third
open space leading out into a hallway. There was a
slight buzzing sensation that most people probably
wouldn't even notice. Looking around at the room and
noting the bare, rather hostile nature of the room,
concluded that she was in a cell of some sort. The
only thing she couldn't figure out was why there were
no bars.
"What's that buzzing?" she asked quietly.
She frowned suspiciously at the open hallway
and reached out a hand. There was a flash of light
and something burned her hand. As she pulled it back
she saw a rippling wall of energy where the bars would
be.
"Magic," she whispered reverently. Then
continued in a deadpan tone. "Or I'm stuck in one of
those stupid outsider 'science fiction' shows." She
turned to examine the other walls. Eventually her
eyes found the air vent. All those stupid shows had
people escaping through the air vents. Surely in real
life it wouldn't be that easy.
********
"The little savage found the wall," Carella
said smirking as he watched the security camera. The
communication station started flashing and the human
turned away from his entertainment to see what was
going on. "It's the general channel."
"Just let it play and see if it's important,"
Irashi growled irritably. "Don't give me a running
commentary while I'm trying to pilot."
"Grumpy about not getting to test run the
goods?" Carella asked with a smirk. "You know they're
worth more intact." Irashi growled a little as the
communication screen displayed an angry Ryoko.
********
"Ryo-Ohki!" Ryoko yelled angrily. "Break
atmosphere, now! Scan all ships in this area! I know
those two creeps don't have the credit for anything
but a standard cloak! Open a broadcast to the general
channel."
Ranma braced against the floor at the sudden
acceleration but was standing up soon enough. He
blinked at the sudden transition from day to apparent
night and the sight of the planet dropping underneath
them. A hologram that he thought he recognized as the
solar system appeared in the center of the ship's
bridge with various notes pointing out tiny bleeping
dots here and there.
"Are these guys any good?" Ranma asked.
"I'm busy here!" Ryoko snapped. She turned
back forward as a communication screen popped up. "I
know you two freaks can hear me!! Carella, Irashi, if
you want to live! You turn back with that kid now!
You don't want to make me track you down!! Fucking,
cowardly body snatchers! And you KNOW what'll happen
when the GUILD hears you took a bribe from a bounty!"
********
"Kiyone," Mihoshi called out. "Ryoko's
broadcasting a message." Kiyone came up forward from
the living quarters and sat down in the pilot's seat
as Ryoko shouted into her message into the system.
"Don't answer," Kiyone said. She held off a
moment, considering.
Kiyone turned away from the screen and powered
up the ship. As soon the ship's systems locked
everything down, it was rising into the sky. Up to
the edge of the atmosphere.
"Hold us in the planet's edge," Kiyone said.
"I'm going to take a look around."
"Okay, Kiyone," Mihoshi said. She hesitated as
she thought of something else. "Should I pull up the
weapons and everything?"
"Do that," Kiyone said. She turned away from
the console to look over the small system hologram.
"I see about five ships in the system. That's
Ryo-Ohki, making a big statement and going strong."
She tapped a few keys and the map revovled showing the
other side of the Earth. "There's another ship."
Kiyone paused a moment to double check and make sure
no Earth craft were encroaching on her, unlikely as
that was.
"Wow, it's bright," Mihoshi commented. "Like
it's lit up or something. Can anybody see that?"
"No," Kiyone said. "The cloaking's not down
that much." She watched it following discreetly
behind Ryo-Ohki's path. "I pretty sure I know who
that is, but why is she going so bright? Even
standard is almost shut off, anything less and Earth
would spot her."
"So why doesn't Ryoko see her?" Mihoshi asked.
"I get the feeling that Ryoko's busy right
now," Kiyone said. She waited for the blip to get
into the line of sight for her first remote probe and
then pulled a visual. "There you are."
********
"She just fucking signed our death warrants,"
Carella said irritably. "What the hell did we do to
her?"
"Ryoko doesn't like the slave trade," Irashi
commented. He flipped a few controls and increased
the acceleration on his ship.
"Ryoko's dead," Carella retorted.
"That certainly looked like her to me," Irashi
said.
********
Ranma watched the map hologram as one of the
blips started speeding up, the hologram seemed to
block it out and extract it. Putting it up on the
main screen for Ryoko's benefit. Ryoko smirked as
they sped up.
"Second stringers," she muttered. "Only about
a lightyear ahead. I'll catch them by the next star."
Ranma watched the hologram some more, trying to
stay out of the way, and watching it move along with
Ryo-Ohki's motion. He glanced a little further down
at a blip following along behind them. He pointed at
it.
"What's this?" he asked. Ryoko glanced back
over her shoulder for a moment.
"I'm trying to save your little girlfriend's
hide before she ends up somebody's toy," Ryoko
snapped. She stopped as she stared at the blip.
"Ryo-Ohki, that's what I think that is, isn't it?" A
third hologram pulled out of the system map and blew
it up into a visual of the ship. It was Ken-Ohki.
"She wants to see you fight," Ranma said. "All
this just to test you out." He frowned and cracked
his knuckles.
"Nagi is mine!" Ryoko insisted. Ranma nodded,
but still frowned. "You can have anything that's
left, if there is anything."
"Was that the moon we just passed?" Ranma
asked.
"Pluto," Ryoko corrected. "What the hell?
That static's...a sub space signal..."
"Ryoko," Ranma said hesitantly. "You should
look at this."
"WHAT?!" Ryoko blinked and stared at the holo
map. "Oh, fuck..."
As they pulled out of the Sol system Ryo-Ohki's
sensors found themselves with less interference and an
enhanced range. Which is why they suddenly found at
least twenty ships on the edges of the sphere of
Ryo-Ohki's reach. A series of schematics started
flashing through a screen as Ryo-ohki identified the
oncoming ships.
********
Nagi tapped her fingers irritably as she
followed Ryoko. She had half hoped that Ryoko's
little act would have flushed out Makibi as well as
the idiots she had sat out as bait. If the
investigator was making a move she was being very
quiet about it. Nagi narrowed her eyes.
"Ken-Ohki," she said. "You're showing me
everything, aren't you?"
"Ciao," Ken-Ohki responded, hesitantly.
"Ken-Ohki," Nagi repeated cooly. "Are you
showing me everything?"
"Ciao, ciao," Ken-Ohki responded. "CIAAAOO!"
"It's not your place to figure out what's best
for me," Nagi said icily. "Show me what you're
hiding."
"Ciao," Ken-Ohki said mournfully. Nagi's eyes
grew wide as she looked saw the oncoming blips.
********
"Where the hell did these guys come from!?"
Carella demanded as the screen was filled with cops
and military.
"They have to be after Nagi," Irashi said,
hopefully. "I'm going to take it to that debris field
and try to hide until they pass by.
********
"Patroller, patroller, patroller, patroller,
patroller," Ryoko said as the schematics scanned on
her heads up display. "Cruiser, cruiser, cruiser,
merc, merc, merc...more patrollers, cruisers. Where
the hell did these guys come from?"
"They're cops?" Ranma asked. "Will they help?"
"Cabbit class ship, identify yourself," an
impersonal man asked, popping up on yet another
screen.
"How do you drive with all this stuff in the
way?" Ranma asked.
"Who do you think this is?" Ryoko snapped
angrily. She glanced at the ship Ryo-Ohki was
tracking and noticed that it had changed course to a
small debris field. ~Like that's going to throw me
off.~
She glanced back to the communication screen in
time to see the cop turn to the side.
"Are you the Ryo-Ohki?" the man asked.
"No," Ryoko said irritably. "I'm Ryoko, the
ship is Ryo-Ohki. What the hells going on."
"Be advised we're here to apprehend the first
class criminal Nagi," he said. "Please stay out of
the action."
"Kiyone," Ryoko growled.
"Ryoko," Ranma said quietly behind her. She
turned a look at him and hesitated a moment. Ran-Ran
wasn't particularly his favorite person, and neither
was Shampoo, but he wasn't going to let her get carted
off somewhere while Ryoko went for vengeance. Not if
he could help it.
"They couldn't catch her anyway," Ryoko
muttered angrily. Then she turned back to Ranma.
"Let's get this over with quickly."
"Thanks, Ryoko," Ranma said.
"Can you spare a couple of patrollers to make
sure a couple snatchers don't get out of this field?"
Ryoko asked irritably. "I'll take care of the work."
~And then I'll be there to push Nagi's face in.~
"I think we can spare that much," the officer
said.
********
"Ken-Ohki," Nagi said angrily. "Get us out of
here, NOW!!"
"Ciao!" Ken-Ohki responded firmly. Nagi
frowned angrily.
"And what do you think the Jurai will do to
me?" Nagi asked, firmly.
"Ciao. Ciao."
"Oh, there's no death sentence," Nagi agreed.
"But there's always a cryo-tank malfunction. An
attempt to escape. A transportation accident. Do you
really think I'd survive imprisonment?"
"Ciao!" The cabbit stated firmly.
"For my own good," Nagi shook her head
irritably. She knew that Ken-Ohki was telling the
truth. Cabbits always thought the best of their
pilots. And there was no way she was going to get
Ken-Ohki to change her mind here. She had banked on
almost total loyalty. She had not thought that the
loyalty would go so far as to cause Ken-Ohki to treat
her like a child.
She turned to look at the on-coming ships.
Perhaps it was time to find a less conscientious mode
of transportation. Ken-Ohki would fall back in line
after Ryoko was dead. She snatched one of the
floating crystals in the bridge and waited, staring at
the sub-space static that was probably Makibi's coded
message.
********
"I'm going to check on the prisoner," Irashi
said. "If all else fails we can use her as a
hostage." The neko-jin stepped out of the pilots
chair and grabbed a shock rod as he wandered back in
the ship toward the brig.
"The GP is surrounding the field," Carella
called out over the intercom.
"What about Ryo-Ohki?" Irashi asked into his
communicator.
"The field's interferring with the sensors,"
was the answer. "It's not in range yet, if it's
coming."
"She's comin..." Irashi stopped as he came to
the brig. The empty brig. "Oh hell."
"What's wrong?" Carella asked.
"The girl got out of the cell," Irashi said.
"I thought you were going to rig that air vent."
"We ran out of money," Carella reminded him.
"Remember? We had to pay your alimony to that
neko-jin woman. You should have warned me she was
still in the service."
"Oh shut up," Irashi grumbled. "Can you find
anything in the vents? And it's Ctarl-Ctarl you
idiot, why can't any of you on this side of the galaxy
get it right!?"
"Nothing in the vents," Carella said, ignoring
him. "There's the...hey...where'd it go?"
"Where'd what go?" Irashi asked dangerously.
"Ryo-Ohki?"
********
"Let's do this fast," Ryoko said irritably. "I
want to get back before Nagi's finished killing all
those cops."
"Anything I should know?" Ranma asked.
"Try not to break the hull," Ryoko said. "The
shields should hold the atmosphere in, but it isn't
worth risking."
"Nothing really damaging then," Ranma nodded.
"I'll go this way."
"This day is turning into a real waste," Ryoko
muttered in token resistance, as she directed Ryo-Ohki
to follow Ranma.
********
Ran-Ran snuck around a corner and suddenly
found herself in what looked like a cockpit for an
airplane. She blinked and looked out at the debris
field and the unfamiliar star shapes beyond.
"I'm actually off the planet," she whispered in
shock.
"What, YOU!"
And Ran-Ran was reminded that she was not alone
in this place. She turned to look at the ugly,
beat-up male that was shouting at her. Obviously he
was a poor fighter if had all those scars all over
himself. He apparently didn't know how to get out of
the way.
"You! Ugly male," she shouted, switching to
Japanese. "You lock Ran-Ran in that magic box?" The
man stood up and started to come at her.
"Yep, and your goin-" Carella was interrupted
by the supposedly defenseless girl's solid strike to
his stomach. He doubled over and felt another thud as
he remembered just why he preferred to cover Irashi in
fights.
"Stupid outsider!" Ran-Ran repeated, kicking
him back against a wall.
********
Ranma turned a corner and found himself
standing at one end of a hallway, across from someone.
To be specific a cat person. Ranma froze as shiver
went up his spine.
"Why do I get the cat?" he wondered. The man
smiled.
"Ahh," he said. "You obviously have heard of
reputation in battle. Well, you should feel honored
to be defeated in combat by a Ctarl-Ctarl."
"Couldn't you just give back Ran-Ran and we can
skip this part?" Ranma wondered hopefully.
"Miao?" Ryo-Ohki muttered behind Ranma.
"AAAHHH!!!" Ranma shouted flipping around to
see Ryo-Ohki. "Don't do..." He stopped as he ducked
under Irashi's attack. The cat man landed gracefully
on his feet and immediately twisted about to attack
Ranma again. Ranma shakily blocked the strike.
"You are skilled," Irashi admitted. "But I
have never been defeated." That got Ranma's attention
focused for a moment. He snapped his fist forward,
felt the sting of the hit and frowned.
~Bakusai Tenketsu?~ He concluded. ~Or
something similar.~ His opponent took the chance to
smirk at him and chuckled. Ranma looked at the super
tough cat person and felt a fresh shiver down his
back.
"You see how futile it is," Irashi said. "We
cannot be harmed by mere human fists." Then he lashed
forward with a kick and laughed as Ranma dodged back.
"Oh m..man," Ranma muttered worriedly, letting
himself be pushed back. "Why does it gotta be cats?"
"I am not merely a cat you, fool," Irashi
declared. "I am an immortal, unbeatable,
Ctarl-Ctarl."
Ranma twitched at the word immortal, suddenly
imagining a feline Saffron. That train of thought
brought him to remember what Saffron had done.
Sweating profusely in fear at facing the cat, his eyes
still narrowed. He attacked again, and the arrogant
cat man stood ready to accept it. And the other
thousand or so strikes that accompanied it in the
twelth of a second the attack lasted.
Irashi's head whipped back and he tumbled to
the ground. The catman jumped to his feet, expecting
at any point that Ranma would follow up the attack.
Instead Ranma merely backed up.
"That does it, you pathetic human," Irashi
shouted. "I planned to save this for Ryoko, but for
actually daring to wound me, you have earned my full
power!!" ~As full power as I can get without a moon.~
"Full..." Ranma whimpered watching the cat man
tense up. "...power?!" Then his opponent grew and
changed, into something that made Kuno's tiger look
small. Ranma took off screaming down the hallway,
Irashi close behind.
"Miao?" Ryo-Ohki said, confused before
following. She kept the transformed neko-jin in sight
listening to Ranma's yells. As usual after meeting a
full-blooded member of a race that Ryoko claimed
descent from, Ryo-Ohki felt a renewed understanding of
her partner's volatile nature.
"A DEAD END!?!" Ranma shouted. "MASAKA!!!!"
Even as bestial as he became with the transformation,
the neko-jin seemed to be laughing as he turned the
corner to see Ranma plastered against the wall.
"Nice kitty," Ranma said shakily.
"G...g...g..g...good ki..ki..kitty." Ryo-Ohki blinked
and teleported to Ranma's right.
"Miao?" Ryo-Ohki asked. At that sound, Ranma
stopped shaking and seemed to fade completely out of
awareness. His arms and legs came away from the wall
and curled up into a one-legged stance for a moment.
"Rrrooowwwww," Ranma yowled and then dropped to
all fours, back arcged. He looked at Irashi with
narrowed eyes.
"gr.r.r.r.r.r.r.r..khiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii."
"Miao?"
Even Irashi, in his transformed state, paused
for a moment. Then both cats leaped at each other.
********
"You take Ran-Ran home!" the young Amazon
demanded angrily.
"All right! All right!" Carella snapped. He'd
felt worse before, but this girl obviously had the
advantage over him in hand to hand. "Just let me get
to the pilot's seat."
"No tricks." It wasn't a question. Of course,
while she was saying it, Carella was already moving to
his seat. She wasn't even watching him closely, she
had been right, he was a poor warrior. Why should he
cause her concern?
"No tricks," Carella agreed, smirking as he
turned to face her and fired the hold out blaster
holstered in his chair.
Ran-Ran blinked and felt it strike her shoulder
before she realized he was making a move. She stared
at the gun in his hand and clutched at her burned, and
now bleeding shoulder. Both stood frozen like that
until Ryoko simply appeared behind Carella, floating.
"Not so tough now, eh kid?" Carella asked.
"Won't get as much for you now, but that's life. What
are you looking at?" Ran-Ran's eyes were wide,
focused on Ryoko.
"I really hope that you aren't what Nagi wanted
to test me against," Ryoko growled. Carella stared up
and pointed his gun in the direction of the voice.
Ryoko grabbed the weapon and crushed it, along with
the hand holding it.
Carella stared at his crushed hand, whimpering
quietly until Ryoko knocked him unconscious and then
glared at Ran-Ran.
"You're a real pain in the ass, did you know
that?" Ryoko asked. She paused a moment and closed
her eyes, obviously concentrating on something. Then
her eyes flashed open. "You alright kid?"
"Uhhh, you flying?" Ran-Ran asked. Ryoko
nodded angrily.
"I don't have time for this," she grumbled and
closed her eyes again. Next thing Ran-Ran knew, she
was in a crystalline room with a view of the stars.
"She sorcerer?" Ran-Ran asked.
********
"What's this Ryo-Ohki's saying about you being
a ca...?" Ryoko stopped as she turned a corner to find
devastation. The walls, floors and ceiling were
shredded beyond repair, ir was like looking at
confetti. Ryoko was thanking the heavens that they
weren't yet near the hull. "What the hell happened
here?"
One of the already weakened walls was caved in
from the other direction as a huge feline was pushed
through the wall. The cut and bleeding beast stood
unsteadily up on it's feet as Ranma, looking a little
beat up himself scampered through the new entrance,
and enlarging it as he passed. Ribbons of metal
peeling off from his area.
~Ryo-Ohki,~ Ryoko projected, concentrating.
~How much damage has been done?~
When she got the answer she cursed and opened
her eyes to see Ranma and the feline viciously clawing
at each other. Ranma was easily winning, and the only
reason the other hadn't already fallen was that Ranma
would back off to give his opponent space to recover
for a bit. And then he launched forward again
attacking the other until it started to fade again.
He was actually playing with the monster.
"RANMA!!!" Ryoko shouted. Ranma looked to
Ryoko and cocked his head for a moment. His opponent
took a chance to attack and found itself casually
slammed to the floor.
"Rowr?" Ranma cocked his head the other way,
and then bent to grab his dazed opponent by the scruff
of his neck and happily padded over to Ryoko and
deposited it at her feet. Ryoko blinked down at her
feet as Ranma happily circled her feet, purring.
"What in the world is wrong with..." There was
a loud groaning sound. Ryoko closed her eyes and
reached out to Ryo-Ohki. ~GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE
NOW! NO WAIT! Just me and...never mind.~
Ryoko looked around Ryo-Ohki's bridge and
glared at the two unconscious snatchers.
"Miao?" Ryo-Ohki asked.
"Put the two jerks on ice," Ryoko said. "And
head for Ken-Ohki." Ryoko growled as the two bounty
hunters were absorbed into Ryo-Ohki's form, creating
cells to hold them when they woke up.
The day was about to get a lot better, in a
moment she'd be able to track down and destroy Nagi.
Which was when she got something of a shock. No
debris, no destruction. And Nagi no where within
reach of Ryo-Ohki's senses.
"What happened here," Ryoko asked.
"Miao," Ryo-Ohki said. Ryoko blinked in
surprise.
"Ken-Ohki turned her in," Ryoko repeated. "Her
cabbit? You wouldn't do that to me, would you?"
"Miao!" Ryo-Ohki sounded somewhat offended.
Then she was bowled to a sitting position by Ranma
pushing at her legs. Ryoko's eye twitched irritably.
Ranma climbed onto her lap and nuzzled against
her cheek, still purring happily. Ryoko blinked and
tried to ignore Ranma, unsuccessfully.
~Great, it takes him going crazy to make him
affectionate.~ Ryoko blinked and stared deadpan
straight forward. "What, am I thinking?" Ryoko asked
irritably.
She floated up to her captain's chair, Ranma
comfortably purring in her lap. She felt really
tempted just to boot him into the wall, but it was too
much effort. Especially if he decided to try to tear
the place up afterword. As he was right now, at least
he was safe. He probably couldn't hurt Ryo-Ohki, but
why take the chance.
Then Ranma pecked her lips and settled down in
her lap. Ryoko blinked in surprise and stared forward
in a slight blush before whipping to the nearest
crystal.
"You aren't recording this, are you?"
"Miao," Ryo-Ohki said in a why would I do that
manner.
Ryoko growled and watched the leaving police
ships. Idly petting Ranma without really realizing
it.
"Don't you dare think this is it, Nagi," she
whispered harshly. She glanced back over her shoulder
as she sensed Ken-Ohki arrive from whereever he had
hidden. "This won't keep her away from me."
"Ciao," Ken-Ohki said pleadingly.
********
The police officer left for the cockpit with a
sneer of disgust on her face. She left Nagi's gear on
a table across from her gear, confident in the
strength of the Galaxy Police brig. She didn't notice
the handcuffed Nagi take the crystal in her hand, a
sentimental item she had said, and slice through the
bands. There was virtually no sound as she drove the
crystal through the wall, into the cell controls on
the other side. Nagi strided out of the cell and
collected her energy whip on her way to follow her
captor to the officer's partner.
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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