One bit of information 1. Chapter 26 of A Soldier's Duty is
on Gregg's Fanfic.net page. An bunch of Epilogues.

Please send comments ( Send Flames to Mara@heck.gov ) to
Gregg at
metroanime@mindspring.com  .


RETAKE:

An unintended fic which is developing despite that.

------

Grey grumbled. This was hardly new. He was not as whiny as
Shinji Ikari or
as given to theatrics as Soun Tendo, but he was hardly a
stoic and often
feeling put upon.

He had been told that he had one more chance, and that was
to take the test
that he had turned down quite some time ago. He'd said there
was absolutely
no chance of success. He'd been told to give it a try at
least.

Considering *whose* office the request had come from, he
really hadn't
thought about declining.

Which brought him here, into a Ranma timeline. He didn't
know *when* but he
knew *where* and who. Where was Nerima, Furinkan ward. Which
made this all
suck wind. He was an American who was in Japan due to a
Japanese talent
scout, at least according to the papers he had.

That test had been to be Akane Tendo's boyfriend in that
most shameless
tradition of inserts. He had been of the opinion that being
fed to
carnivorous worms was less onerous. Even after that event,
when he had gone
through just such a fate on a world known as Gehenna, he had
felt that he'd
gotten the better of the deal.

In fact, Grey didn't exactly enjoy being *in* a "Ranma"
timeline. Insane and
ridiculously powerful martial artists were common in such
timelines, and as
these were all somewhat obsessive and violent, he felt he
didn't fit in too
well. He would much rather deal with the "Oh My Goddess"
crowd (providing
one can get Urd away from the potions), or a "Sailor Moon"
timeline (despite
how severely underage they were - most were at least nice
and capable of
carrying on a conversation that didn't involve the words
'die' or 'kill'
coming up frequently), or "Tenchi" (who might be a weenie in
some respects,
but he was nice), or "El Hazard" (he'd gotten along famously
with Makoto
Mizuhara the one time they had crossed paths), or "Slayers"
(he hadn't
gotten along well with Lina, but he'd found a sort of
kinship with Zelgadis)
or...

Actually there were quite a few "anime series based"
timelines he'd rather
be in. And the closer to a mainline this "Ranmaverse" was,
the less happy
he'd been about it.

The first thing he'd done was find a "Manga No Mori" - one
of the more
premiere manga shops. And while his command of Japanese had
been largely
disabled, the pictures could tell him some things
immediately. A Rumiko
Takahashi *had* written some popular comics - Urusei
Yatsura, Maison Ikkoku,
and something he didn't recognize involving samurai. No sign
of "Sailor
Moon" but there was a manga series involving superpower
granting sailorsuits
from outerspace, something that reminded him a *lot* of the
old "Greatest
American Hero" series retooled for a Japanese audience.
Which meant this
*could* be a universe with "Sailor Moon" characters. He
wasn't sure he could
take meeting them after the last adventure, but he probably
should check it
out when he could.

The second thing, as it was early in the morning on a
schoolday, was finding
Furinkan High School.

Grey groaned. There was this huge crowd of boys in sports
gear waiting
around the front gate of Furinkan High School. So he was at
the beginning of
the series, he'd be running into Ranma, and likely get his
clock cleaned. Of
course, considering the Butterfly Effect, he'd likely have
maybe one or two
days before his knowledge of the series became completely
useless. Though
there was no guarantee that this was a baseline universe
anyway.

Kuno began yelling something with gaijin in it. Figured that
his Japanese
was so stilted and archaic that only one word in a dozen was
recognizable.

The crowd moved. Grey smiled. At last, something to
concentrate on besides
how much he *hated* being stuck in this situation.

He had some talents, but as this *was* a Ranma timeline, he
had to do it in
martial arts terms. His papers indicated that he was Greylle
Shard,
practitioner of Martial Arts Baseball and Heir to the Seven
Dragons Style.
Since he was not at all fond of baseball, he could see
someone's sense of
irony showing. As for the "Seven Dragons" - he had no idea
what that was
supposed to be so he'd just make something up as he went
along.

*Pop!*

Now holding a baseball bat, Grey made use of kendo and sword
techniques
drilled into him from the Valkyries. If he allowed *this*
crowd to defeat
him, it would be a direct insult to his teachers - and
they'd be *really*
ticked. Of course, this kind of martial arts universe meant
a special attack
should be called out. Maybe... got it.

The baseball bat was not a particularly bad choice as far as
a martial arts
weapon. It was fairly well balanced, you could use kendo or
jo stick
techniques with minor modifications, and you could really
thwack someone
silly with it.

"Hailstorm Defense!" Hmmm. He'd have to work out some better
attack names.
He ought to try and keep to a baseball motif whenever
possible.

It sheared through a hockey stick to slam into a face mask
with enough force
to shatter hard plastic, spun and was then brought endwise
into a sumo's
stomach, swung up and brought underneath a karate
practitioner's chin, and
rebounded off a soccer player's ribs.

A blocked bokken was the warning that Kuno himself had
entered the fray.
Another special technique seemed mandated. Maybe something
like "Lightspeed
Grounder!"

Kuno ended up skipping across the school like a stone across
the surface of
a pond. Grey decided he'd overdone it a bit. He had to leave
Kuno available
to fight Ranma later. Uh oh. There was always one more, if
that danger sense
going off was any indication. Might as well play to the
crowd and not even
look, just wait then backswing.

*WHAM!*

Deciding to borrow a move from Bob Hope, Grey made a show as
if his bat was
a sword and he was slipping it into a sheath, then bowing
elaborately.

Waitaminute. *Something* was wrong. There was a lot of
muttering going on.

Grey slowly turned, this cold hollow feeling starting up in
his stomach.
There was a girl with long black hair, out cold on the
ground.

He sighed and picked her up, heading for the Nurse's office.
"i *told* them
this wouldn't work out."

--------

Akane slowly focussed in on the ceiling. Her head hurt. A
lot.

"Are you okay, Tendo-kun?" Greylle wanted to use the most
formal and distant
address possible.

"Who? What?" Akane sat up and the wet cloth from her
forehead dropped into
her lap.

"I student. Yomiuri Giants want me study over here, scouted
out in America.
Not familiar Japanese custom."

Akane glared at the boy, who was curiously *not* looking at
her. "So what
are you doing here?"

"Supposed attend Furinkan. Find fight first day. You okay. I
leave now."

Akane frowned at the departing boy's back. She didn't have
time for this. It
was already...

"ACK!"

-------

Universes which have an RN or RM tag usually have an
individual named Ranma
Saotome. They also have, quite often, most of the usual
characters
associated with Ranma Saotome.

Due to something called the Law Of Conservation Of
Realities, quite a few of
these had other elements that never quite crossed orbits
with Nerima Japan.
These elements existed in a number of other realities as
well, without being
crossovers or alternates, because the elements in question
rarely directly
mixed.

In the typical Ranma universe, for example, there were
various elements of
magic that never got properly explained. Who built the koi
rods, or what
created Jusenkyo, or even who eventually dealt with that
large oni and
returned Happosai back to normal after they'd attacked
California.

There *were* spellcasters and magical artificiers in such
typical
"Ranmaverses" - they just preferred quiet areas where there
weren't a lot of
ridiculously powerful and obsessive martial artists to muck
up their
property.

For various reasons, these "persons of magic" tended to
congregate. For one
thing it was awfully handy if one of your experiments got
loose to be able
to call up your neighbors and ask for a hand. For another,
one could only
properly gripe and moan about the results of your latest
incantation with
someone who understood what the blazes you were talking
about.

In some universes, this congregation of magi would end up in
Pillow Creek,
Minnesota. In others, a small place in Utah called Willow
Brook. In this
particular universe, this community of 238 wizards, magi,
artificiers, and
such were found in the United States. In a state called
Virginia, and in a
small rural community known as Pungo, to be precise. A small
town on the
verge of vanishing, a tiny bit of old fashioned Americana
tucked away where
most road maps couldn't find it.

Which was how the wizards, magi, artificiers, and other
magic types wanted
it.

When one gets to a certain level of power, your typical magi
suddenly
realizes a Universal Truth. That Truth being that most of
the motives
typically applied to such individuals are actually rather
stupid for someone
who is trying to unravel the Secrets Of The Universe.
Summoning Demons, for
example, leads to a short lifespan and one associates with
the most dreadful
fellows. Conquering The World was rather silly as well, the
paperwork and
internal politics leeching the joy from the accomplishment
quickly. And so
on.

So, for wizards and magi and the like, when they reached
that level of
power, they retired. Summon up some gold? No problem, but
why? Use a Copy
Item spell and make a half dozen Playstation 2, or a
Temporary Manifestation
of the latest computer game if that's your fancy. Want that
new pop singer's
newest CD? Just as simple.

No, material wealth and goals became ludicrous when you'd
mastered the
basics of matter manipulation.

So one usually sat back and relaxed, cuddling nymphs or
other summoned
spirits, while trying to work out some really nifty spell or
item, or one
just puttered around in one's workshop and see what
developed. Those at this
stage of wizardry mostly didn't want to be bothered with the
Mundanes, who
tended to get terribly frightened or at least upstaged by
nearly all
powerful wizards.

Still, they did tend to do things like keep an eye out for
young wizards.
The ones just learning their power tended to be a bit
rambunctious and could
get into all sorts of trouble.

Which was why Hieronomus ("Harry") Bosch was roused from a
decent nap by a
glow on a map that told him that a low power mage had just
appeared in Tokyo
Japan.

-------

"Don't be silly, Yuka," Akane insisted. "He's a boy. Worse,
he's American,
so he's even more hormone-addled than the ones here."

"But Akane, you *never* argued with anyone about Kuno's
conditions. You just
accepted them. So when he defeated you..." Yuka's voice
trailed off as she
noticed that throbbing vein on Akane's forehead.

Akane took a deep breath, and realized she'd been doing that
a *lot* lately.
"I never accepted that 'defeat me to date me' crap from
Kuno. The only
reason I went along with it at *all* was because it was a
decent workout.
Frustrating as all, but a good workout."

"And he's so tall and his shoulders," began Sayuri.

"Not you too, Sayuri," complained Akane.

"Don't forget his butt," said Yuka, nudging her compatriot
and winking. "And
that blond hair and those blue eyes make him look *so*
exotic."

"...perverts..." Akane mumbled, for once not referring to a
boy with that
particular epithet.

"Class, we have a new student," the teacher said,
interrupting the gossip.
"He's a bit late, but considering that he's American, some
problems in
paperwork are to be expected. It says here..."

Everyone came to attention as the teacher froze momentarily
while reading
his notes. Just the way he was staring at the paper and
repeating "oh my
kami" was enough to clue in even Hiroshi and Daisuke that
something was up.

"Teacher?" The class president decided to ask.

The teacher turned and began to write things on the
blackboard. Akane wasn't
that much into baseball, but she did recognize "RBI" and a
few of the other
terms.

"This boy was scouted out by the Yomiuri Giants in America,"
said the
teacher, glasses gleaming in the flourescent lamps. "They
signed him up for
as soon as he graduates, and he's attending high school here
so they can
make sure he's ready for a position."

"Oh no. Please no." Akane looked heavenwards. "Please not in
*my* class."

Sure enough, the tall blond boy entered the room and tried
to bow. It came
off shaky but passable. "Uhm. I... Greylle Shard is. Pleased
to meet you.
Aaaaaa!"

Akane winced. The boy was making little warding gestures.
Then he said very
distinctly though under his breath in English "please don't
make me sit next
to her."

"Shard-san, you'll sit next to Akane Tendo," said the
teacher, ignoring the
winces and pained expressions from both persons mentioned.

-------

Japanese classes had the teachers change with the subjects,
but the
classroom remain the same. The exceptions being PE and Home
Ec.

Whatever the case, now that he was a little over six feet
tall, Greylle was
relatively happy that he could stretch his legs from being
cramped at a
little desk.

Unfortunately, this being his first day, the crowds had
wanted to see
exactly what the "gaijin tarento" (foreign talent) had.

Which was tricky. Here he was supposed to be the Heir Of
Martial Arts
Baseball, and he hadn't played baseball in a very long time.
All he had
going for him was some martial arts training from valkyries
and a few
decades as a Ranma stand-in, the increased strength and
toughness that came
from being a dragon in human form, and some minor
spellcasting abilities as
a cleric. Preparing a few spells, he'd thought he'd need the
help.

First he'd done pitching.

Naturally, he'd had time to think about this and come up
with special
manuever names which had to be spoken before unleashing
them. When in Rome
and all. So the "Dragon Thunder Pitch" had been a fastball,
the "Dragon
Spiral Dance" had been his double-curve pitch, his rolling
slide was now
dubbed the "Earth Dragon Wave" and so on. Incorporating
dragons into
baseball. For now at least.

His fastball had caused the catcher to slam into the
backstop, leaving
flaming furrows where his feet had dragged from the force of
impact. Greylle
had then done a curve ball, a slider, and a double curve.
Nothing special,
though the double curve got some strange looks.

Then had come batting. Draconic strength was sufficient that
the baseball
was now missing and presumed in geosynch orbit. One of the
others, a
grounder, was buried far enough that there was talk of
getting a backhoe.
Overall, a tentative success.

Preoccupied, Greylle never noticed the guys in the
trenchcoats and
sunglasses in the bleachers.

-------

The mercenary middle Tendo daughter walked back to her
classroom in deep
thought, fitting all the pieces she'd just observed
together.

Nabiki had smirked and sat down to watch this "practice"
when actually it
was just everyone and their classmates wanting to see
exactly how good the
foreign talent was. Martial Arts Baseball? Yeah right!

Nabiki's eyes had doubled in size and her jaw had dropped
quite early in the
demonstration.

When the boy had announced "Dragon Thunder Pitch" she could
have *sworn*,
just like out of some sentai sports manga, that the foreign
boy had been
framed by a glowing blue-white dragon. The pitch had seen
the dragon
streaking across diamond, resolving into the ball just
before it slammed
into Honda's catcher's mitt. One of the guys in a trenchcoat
had been
pointing some kind of radar gun gadget, and Nabiki had
noticed the guy had
suddenly keeled over on reading the display.

The "Dragon Spiral Dance" had been a pitch that had
impossibly followed an
"S" shape. The list had gone on for a good portion of the
period, almost as
if he was making things up as he went along. There had been
strange pitches,
batting techniques, base-stealing as a martial art, and
other things that
had occurred too fast for Nabiki to observe properly.

The Baseball Coach had gone from "Damn gaijin infesting the
school isn't
going to be on Furinkan's team" to "Isn't life a beautiful
thing now that
we're going to beat the snot out of the other schools" after
the first
fifteen minutes.

Nabiki kept track of a lot of things. One of which had been
that prior to
this little demonstration there had been muttering about
cheating, or that
Akane couldn't be given over to some gaijin no matter what
the rules, or
that Kuno had finally been hoisted by his own petard. Now it
was how neat it
was that there was that they had a future baseball star
attending Furinkan
(which would increase the school's reputation), or that
Akane made such a
lovely couple with Shard-san (which caused Akane to fall off
her seat in the
bleachers and glare at her friend Yuka), or that Kuno had
finally been hoist
by his own petard.

Actually, just beating the snot out of Kuno had assured some
popularity to
the new student.

Right after class, a group of the Horde had come to Akane
and told the
puzzled young Tendo that now that she was spoken for and had
a decent
boyfriend they'd be leaving her alone. Akane had begun
protesting that she
was *not* going out with the boy. She was *not* his
girlfriend. Nabiki  had
taken a moment to whisper into Akane's ear that if she
convinced this group
she'd have to go back to the morning melee.

Akane was still standing out in the field wrestling with
this moral dilemma
as far as Nabiki knew.

Nabiki let herself into her classroom, still deep in
thought. She was
wrestling with several decisions, quite aware that her own
future could
hinge on making The Right Choice.

------

Ripples went out from a single change. Some big, some small.

Somewhere in China, a ripple in the fabric of reality went
through a place
known as Jusenkyo, which had more than its own share of
chaos to begin with.

"Come on boy! I won't go easy on you!"

"Like you ever do!"

"Oh sirs, you have not let me finish my Terrible Tragic
Story!"

"Oy Toh Shoh!"

*Legsweep* *SPLASH!*

"Hey, Pop, are we done yet?"

*Burble!* *SPLOOSH!* "BrreeeAAWWWWW!"

"What the hell is THAT?!"

"BreeeeAW!" *THUNK!*

"Aaaaaaa!" *Sploosh!*

-------

Greylle looked over his apartment, then reached out with one
hand to put a
palm flat against one wall. Stretching his arms out, he then
touched the
opposite wall with his other hand.

Conclusion: dinky. A little over five feet wide. If he laid
on the floor and
put his feet against the one wall, then stretched out, he
wouldn't be able
to extend his arms fully above his head. Maybe seven feet
there.

Bathroom was common to a room next door, someone else's
room. Whoever it was
wasn't home apparently.

The closet was one of the walls, which slid open revealing
two shelves.

Unfurnished. Which meant that he had to get a futon and
everything else he'd
need on this mission, since he was stuck here for a
lifetime. Which brought
him to finances. Income was...

nonexistent?!

How was he supposed to eat or anything? Oh. Yeah. IF this
worked.

"Create Food & Water," he cast. Doing the rhymes and
gestures was better,
more controlled, and certainly classier. He just needed to
see if he had
clerical spells.

A cloud formed, then dispersed, leaving a pile of rice and
two pickles. Also
some wet floor.

"Make note. When casting spells, have containers ready."
Greylle sighed and
added paper towels to the shopping list.

========

as it states above, this was never intended as a fic, just
an epilogue to
ASD. However, i'd written enough for two chapters by the
time i stopped...
arrgghh.

Setup: Akane has been harrassed by Kuno for a couple of
months, but the stuf
only hit the fan and the morning battles had been going for
less than a week
when she's "defeated". Greylle, as you know, intensely
dislikes Akane Tendo
for a number of reasons. Therefore he's setting himself up
to fail the
mission and then go on to find some other place where he can
set up shop and
not be bothered by her or any of the other Nerimians
(Nerimites?
Nerima-jin?) At least, that's his plan.

Odd how his plans rarely work out, isn't it?

So, hopefully this will let me set it on the back burner
while i try and go
back and finish other things. Will send chapter two along as
soon as i can
fill a couple of scene-gaps.

==========

-----------
"Where is Furinkan High School... oh dear." Ryoga
 Hibiki backed away. He liked danger as much as the
 next crazed ridiculously powerful martial artist. He knew
 from just a look though, this black clad guy not only
 wasn't on the same page as him, he was in a whole
 different section of the library. The section that had
 all the dark shadows and books whose titles seemed
 to squirm around in their leather bindings.
-Ryoga Hibiki meets Obsidian, A Soldier's Duty


http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com
http://www.geocities.com/mamoru_tengoku
http://www.geocities.com/studio_vanir
metroanime@mindspring.com



--
Rick Robinson
RICHARDROBINSON@prodigy.net


If violence is not solving your
problems you're just not using enough of it.

     Misato

"I guess I'm just an old-fashioned sentimentalist at heart.
I refuse
 to accept a no-win scenario.  I hate the thought of a
universe without
 justice.  If the maneuverings of dark powers can't be
exposed and
 defeated by the pure of heart, then there's no point in
anything.  I
 can't believe that."
                               -- Benjamin Hutchins


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