Chapter 14: Anulling we will go

       "Got everything this time?" Ryoko asked.
       "Yes," Ranma said, showing his wallet.  It had
been on the kitchen counter at home, which was
somewhat strange.  He didn't remember leaving it
there.  "ID, the damn license."  Said license now
sported several tears, water stains, and other marks
of wear and tear.  "All we need is YOUR ID."
       "I know that!" Ryoko snapped back.  "That's why
we're here this early, right?"
       It was barely past dawn and they were both
sitting in the lobby and waiting for the staff to
arrive and open up.  It could be called sitting
anyway.  They were both defying gravity to varying
degrees.  Ranma was perched on one of the rope
line-dividers, apparently with virtually no weight. 
Ryoko, on the other hand, was apparently reclining on
an invisible sofa.
       "This time we're getting this thing fixed,"
Ranma said.  ~Before...~
       "Right," Ryoko said.  They were quiet for a
moment.  "How long do you think it will be before your
mother notices we skipped out?"
       Ranma shrugged.
       A janitor walked into the lobby, caught sight
of the both of them and promptly tripped over a
wastebasket.
       "Hey, are you okay?" Ranma asked.  The janitor
screamed and backed away from them on his hands and
knees, before finding his feet and running into the
halls away from them.
       "What's his problem?" Ryoko asked, sitting up
to a crosslegged position.  She was still about four
feet off the ground, of course.

********

       "Ranma, Ryoko-chan," Nodoka called out,
knocking on the door to what she was currently
thinking of as their room.  After a moment of no
response she risked a glance into the room, to find it
empty.  She crossed her arms and considered the
possibilities, before sighing in exasperation.
       "Well," a raspy voice declared.  "It seems like
the newlyweds took their activities elsewhere." 
Nodoka didn't bother to look towards the window for
the source of the voice.
       "I presume they're down at the city offices
trying to get this anulled again," she sighed.
       "Hmmm," the voice said.  "I'll have to hurry if
I am to see this woman then."  There was a shuffling
motion from the window, followed by the sound of
drawing steel.
       "Then you might wish to choose another
direction," Nodoka said coolly.  Happosai looked
nervously at the sharp pointy piece of steel that had
somehow materialized between him and the lovely woman.
       "Right," he said.  "Perhaps I'll come back when
you're feeling a little better then."
       "I wouldn't bother," Nodoka said.  She waited
for the withered old pervert to leave before she
walked to the telephone.

********

       "Ucchan's," Ukyou said into the phone
cheerfully.  "How may I, oh...Nodoka.  How can I help
you?"  Ukyou sweated a little, talks with Nodoka were
getting progressively more nerve-racking.
       "Good morning, Ukyou-sama," Konatsu said, still
sounding somewhat apologetic.  Ukyou had not been
happy with him stealing Ranma's wallet.  Ukyou waved
and gave him a welcoming smile, before turning back to
the phone.
       "The pervert is back in town?" Ukyou almost
shouted.  "Of course, I'll tell Tarou.  Better him to
deal with that little jackass than anybody else.  He
actually wants to find the creep.  Thanks for the
warning, for a moment I thought you were calling just
to rope me into some scheme."  ~I have my own schemes,
thank you very much.~  "Where are they anyway? 
Thanks."
       "Happosai is back?" Ryouga called out.  "Don't
worry!! I'll get him out of town!"  He headed for the
door, a desperate looking Ukyou trying to cut him off.
       "Ryouga!  Wait!" she shouted as Ryouga left the
building.  "Last time you..." her voice turned flat as
she stepped into the street to find no Ryouga. 
"...vanished for a month."
       "Do you need anything, Ukyou-sama?" Konatsu
asked.
       "That does it!" Ukyou snapped.  "Next time I'm
taking a page from Soun and Genma's book.  That
jackass is going to wake up some morning wearing a
tuxedo and get marched right on down the aisle! 
GRRR!"
       "Ukyou-sama?" Konatsu repeated.  Ukyou whipped
around to look at him and calmed down for a moment. 
"Do you want me to go inform Tarou-san about this?"
       "Yeah, yeah," Ukyou said.  "Go.  And if you see
Ryouga drag him home got it?"
       "Hai, Ukyou-sama," Konatsu said, bowing and
leaving the door.  Ukyou looked around the resturant
and sighed.
       "Now I have to set up everything myself," she
muttered.

********

       "This is a replacement birth certificate?" the
clerk asked the silver-haired woman.
       "Yes," Ryoko said.
       "What happened to the original?"
       "A fire," Ryoko answered, tapping her fingers. 
The man looked at her suspicously.
       "Well, it does appear to be properly
notorized," he said finally.
       ~That's because Ryo-ohki created the files for
me...~ Ryoko thought.  ~She gave me everything but the
fuckin ID.~  She turned to glare at the cabbit who did
a good impression of whistling innocently.  
       "You have no school records," he noticed.
       "I have one of these things," she displayed the
equivalency diploma.  
       "You mean that you've never been to school?"
the man said, surprised.
       "I've never lived a normal life," Ryoko
muttered.
       "I ain't been to school much in my life,
either," Ranma shrugged.
       "Gee, I couldn't tell," Ryoko said
sarcastically.
       "Like you said," Ranma responded.  "You don't
have room to talk."
       "I'll bet you don't even know what quantum
generator core is," Ryoko noted.
       "What is it?" Ranma asked crossing his arms. 
Everybody turned to look at Ryoko.
       "It's the primary power producing unit of the
Azkaba model X-23 tournament variation fighter craft,"
 Ryoko said smuggly.  "I used to be pretty hot on the
competition circuits."
       "I meant, something real," Ranma said, talking
fast.  "Not video games."
       "Video games!" Ryoko retorted, then noticed
Ranma was glancing at the clerk.  "Right...you'd call
it just a game.  Do you know how much money you could
make on those tournaments?"  Ranma started to answer. 
"I was making a name for myself, another year or so
and..."
       "Excuse me," the clerk interrupted.  "As
interesting as your career in playing a child's game
is, I have other work to do today, so can we get this
done with?"
       "Yeah," Ranma said.  "Let's get this finished."
 Ryoko frowned a little and turned back to clerk
irritably.
       "What else?!" she snapped.
       "Do you have any of your employment records?"
the clerk asked.
       "Actually," Ryoko said.  "I do."  She pulled
out a small sheath of papers and turned them over.
       "Pay stubs, employment records and tax
returns," he said.  "Originals, for the last year up
until about half a year ago.  No job right now?"
       "No," Ryoko said grimmly.  She continued
quietly.  "I had to leave...family emergency."
       "Well, this makes things much more believable,"
the man said.  "Still, I wonder, why these weren't
destroyed in your fire?"  He looked at her
suspiciously again.
       "I keep those somewhere else," she said.
       "I see," he said, with an air of "not very
organized" plain in his voice.

********

       "So why didn't you stay in those competition
thingies," Ranma asked when they were outside the
door.  
       Most everybody else was still trying to find
the right office to go to, so they were pretty much
alone in this part of the building.  Buried with the
rest of the useful offices on about the third
subterranean level.
       "Well," Ranma asked when Ryoko didn't answer.
       "I killed a cop," she said reluctantly, Ranma
had told her some of his secrets.  Ranma stared at her
and frowned.
       "You did what?" he asked, holding off from
making any judgements yet.
       "Don't worry," Ryoko said.  "He was a crook."

********

       Ryoko groaned awake and squinted as she found
the bars of her cell.  That confused her quite a bit. 
Since when did the GP use such primative containment
systems.  She glanced around to try to ascertain her
surroundings, the hangover wasn't helping much.
       "Looks like a cave," she muttered irritably. 
"What happened?"  
       She sat up and clutched her head as she tried
to figure it out.  She had gotten that endorsement and
broken into the wet bar for a little celebration.  No
more day job for her after this.  Then Ayeka had come
back from somewhere and found her on the bed, and
called the cops.  Nothing new so far, except the
endorsement, if this kept up she'd be more than a
footnote on the lower circuit records.
       It was cold too, but this was before she had
her accident with the cryo-freeze, so it didn't bother
her much.  Still it made it seem even less a GP jail. 
And then there was the damn hideous snoring sound
outside of her cell.  The GP did not sleep on duty,
not where the cameras could see them.
       "Hey!  Where the fuck am?!" she shouted,
immediately clutching her head.
       "Quiet you!" a raspy voice shouted back.  "I'm
trying to sleep!"
       "I couldn't fucking care what you're trying to
do," Ryoko snapped back.  "What's going on?!"
       "You'll get your answers at the block," her
jailor answered.  "Now shut up or I'll risk damaging
the goods to make you shut up!"
       ~Block?  Damaging the goods?~ Ryoko thought. 
She narrowed her eyes and growled.  "Slavers."  
       She stood up and walked to the bars and looked
down the hall.  Past the large, slovenly, and again
sleeping guard she saw a what appeared to be a cop
talking to another pirate.  She briefly considered
attacking right then, but decided against it.  She'd
wait a few hours for the hangover to die
first...unless they tried to move her.  Then she'd
have to attack.

********

       "I met Ryoko in the same place, none of the
creeps had the empathic talent to connect with her,"
Ryoko said.
       Ranma nodded and looked around to see if anyone
was listening before gesturing for her to continue.
       "There was a raid later," Ryoko said.  "I saw
the same cop shooting at another detective.  I killed
him, a third cop turned in time to see me kill him,
and I guess decided I killed both of them.  She took a
shot at me.  I took a shot at the pirates advancing
behind her, then me and Ryo-ohki left, the police
chased me.  It was the first time I realized how
powerful I was.  I'd been in some street fights, and
some competitions that turned dirty, but that was the
first time I really cut loose completely.  I was
about...seventeen, I think."
       "So you shot a crooked cop, but you can't prove
he was crooked," Ranma said.  She gave him a
fatalistic look.
       "Ayeka didn't believe me either," Ryoko said. 
~She said so at least, but if she's the one the sprung
me?"
       "Did I say that?" Ranma asked.  Ryoko looked at
him surprised.  "Is that way you went to prison?"
       "Nope, I was convicted on fraud," she said. 
"They couldn't prove it was me, that third cop
vanished, so no witnesses.  Heard she was drummed out
of the force in disgrace.  They somehow thought I paid
her or some..."  She recalled the battle vividly for
the first time in years.  Especially that third cop's
cold, angry, impotent face.  "I ruined her life just
by not killing...her."
       "What is it?" Ranma asked, noticing Ryoko go
pale.
       "Shit!" she snapped.
       "Ciao," Ken-Ohki said in confirmation as Ryoko
stared at him questioningly.

********

       "What's wrong,"  Ranma asked again, as Ryoko
stalked ahead of him seeming somewhat out of it. 
Talking about that first battle had upset her
seriously.  And it was something sudden, something she
hadn't thought of before.
       "It's nothing," Ryoko snapped.  "Not a concern.
 So let's get back to what we came here for, and get
this foul-up fixed."
       "Yeah, I guess," Ranma said doubtfully.  He
glanced down the line and nodded.  "We have everything
now?"  Ryoko revealed her temporary ID and nodded.
       "Let's get this over w-"
       "EEEK!" some shouted further down.
       "AHH!! Get it away!!"
       "PERVERT!!!"
       "YIIEE!!!"
       "What the-?" Ryoko started to say.
       "SWEETO!!!" an old withered voice declared.
       "Oh kami, not him," Ranma groaned.
       "Get back here you old freak!!" another voice
shouted.  At that voice Ranma smacked his hand into
his face.
       "Isn't that one of the people that was at that
party?" Ryoko asked as she also recognized the second
voice.  "What's he doinNNgGK!! HEY!!  Who the bloody
hell!?" She reached down and grabbed Happosai from his
new found perch and growled.
       "Ranma, my boy," Happosai said.  "When did you
meet such a lovely specimen as this?"
       "None of your business you freak!" Ranma
snapped.
       "You know this pervert?" Ryoko's voice was
practically burning and crackling with anger.
       "Unfortunately," Ranma admitted.
       "Ranma!"  Happosai snapped.  "I demand you and
your wife show proper respect to your master!"
       "I'll show you proper respect!" Ryoko snapped,
hands glowing with power.  She blinked as the old man
seemed to vanish from her grasp.  "Where'd he?" The
sound of splashing water brought her to look over at a
brown haired Ranma-chan struggling to pry the old man
of her.
       "Get offa me you freak!" Ranma shouted, tossing
the old man to the ground.  She huffed and puffed
angrily.
       "Ahhh," Happosai said.  "I can just imagine
what the honeymoon was like!"  Ryoko and Ranma
actually got angrier at that.
       "You're gonna pay for that freak," Ranma said
grimmly.
       "Oh, and who's gonna make me?" Happosai asked. 
Ryoko gathered her power, smirking viciously.
       "Ya didn't just get me with that water old
man," Ranma pointed.
       "Huh?" Happosai asked.  "What are
you...oh...Pantyhose, are you still here?"  Ryoko
didn't even blink at the huge minotaur like thing that
seemed to have joined the fray.
       "Huh huh," the minotaur chuckled throatily.
       "You're going to fry old man," a red glowing
Ryoko declared.
       "Ain't no way you're getting away from all
three of us!" Ranma added, cracking her knuckles.
       "Heh, we'll see about that," Happosai declared.

********

       Ukyou came upon the wreck of what she
remembered as being the city offices building and
blinked.  The place was an absolute battle zone.
       "What in the world happened here," Ukyou asked
out loud.
       "Oh, you brought your own smashing tool," a
woman said next to her, pointing at the monster
spatula.
       "What are you talking about?" Ukyou asked.
       "Don't you know," another said.  "That
perverted underwear thief is here!"
       "You mean that little withered old man in the
ninja suit?" Ukyou asked in a flat tone.
       "That's the one," a third woman said.  "He's
fighting a monster and two martial artists right now,
but if he gets out he'll have to get past us.  This
time he's going down permanently."
       "He's over there!  He's over there!!"
Ranma-chan's voice shouted out.
       "DIE PERVERT!!"  The shout was followed by the
sound of a loud explosion.
       "HROOOOO!!!!" Then there was a smashing sound,
like something large smashing through a huge piece of
building.
       "I don't think--urk!"
       Ukyou stood there looking embarrassed and
irritated as a shape in brown cloth flew out of the
wreckage of the building and into the horde of waiting
women where it was promptly pummelled by the huge
amount of women.
       "Gee, and here I thought it was just a friendly
warning," Ukyou said to herself, thinking about
Nodoka's call.  After the women were done pummelling
the freak he sat there on the ground twisting
painfully.
       "Paaaannntiiiess," he groaned, shortly before
being smashed by Ukyou's spatula.  She saw Pantyhose's
monster form collapse a wall to get out of the
building and stride forward.
       "Tarou, catch," Ukyou said, flipping him a
flattened pervert okonomiyaki.
       "Huh," the monster said, catching the prevert. 
Then he flew off to find somewhere to force the old
man into changing his name.
       "He.  Just.  Won't.  Die." Ryoko growled as she
floated out of the building to watch Tarou fly off.
       "Believe me," Ranma-chan said next to her.  "I
know how you feel."
       Ukyou noted the brown hair, she thought Ranma
looked pretty good in that color.  Brown hair was very
cute in her opinon, much better than any other hair
color obviously.  
       "Now what were we doing?" Ryoko asked.
       "We were about to get in line to get everything
annulled," Ranma said.
       "Right," Ryoko said.  "Let's get..."  Ukyou
cleared her throat.
       "Ukyou?  What are you doing here?" Ranma asked.
 The chef pointed at the building and smirked.
       "That makes it kind of hard to get anything
anulled doesn't it?" Ukyou asked.  Ranma and Ryoko
looked, and groaned.  
       As they stared a charred and battered piece of
paper fluttered down to the ground in front of them. 
Ranma and Ryoko watched it flutter down with a feeling
of foreboding until it landed and remained where they
could read it.
       "Speaking of things that won't die," Ranma
muttered as they stared at the marriage certificate.

********

       "Want to talk about what was wrong with you
before the freak showed up?" Ranma asked as they ate
lunch at Ucchan's.  
       Ukyou and Konatsu were too busy handling the
lunch rush to watch them too closely, so they had some
privacy.  Ryoko frowned and glared at him for a
moment, before answering.
       "You know the third cop," Ranma said quietly. 
"The cop they thought was paid off by me?  The one who
got kicked out and vanished in disgrace?"
       "Yeah?" Ranma responded.
       "I think it was Nagi," she said.  She slumped.
       "Man," Ranma said.  "That's why she hates you."
       "So it is my fault then," she said, quietly. 
Ranma watched for a moment.
       "You can't change it," Ranma said quietly.
       "I KNOW that," Ryoko said.  She paused for
moment.  "What I need is a time machine or something
and fix my mistakes that way."  Ranma frowned and
leaned back, obviously thinking about something. 
"What is it?"
       "I need to show you something when we get
home," Ranma said.  Ryoko rolled her eyes and snorted.
       "Another moral lesson from the local zombie?"
Ryoko asked, not even noticing the home reference.
       "No," he said quietly.  "A mirror."
       "A mirror?" Ryoko asked, straightening up and
looking at him irritably, and a little confused.

********

       "Did you get everything straightened out?"
Nodoka asked as Ranma and Ryoko walked into the house.
       "No," Ranma said.  "Happosai and Pantyhose
showed up and we tore the place up, place will be
closed for a while now."
       "Oh, that's too bad," Nodoka said happily.
       "Riight," Ryoko muttered as they passed Nodoka
into their room.  "Now what's this mirror thing you're
talking about?"  Ranma walked to his desk and opened a
drawer.  He drew out a small hand mirror.
       "The Nanban Mirrior," he said sadly.  "It takes
you to the past."
       "It does what?!" Ryoko snapped angrily.
       "It takes you back in time," Ranma said.  "Or
shows you the future."
       "Why didn't you tell me about this before!?"
Ryoko screeched loudly.  "All this time, and at
anytime I could have gone back to save Tenchi!!  You,
you!"  She paused and frowned.  "Wait...why haven't
you used this yourself?"
       "I used it," Ranma said tonelessly.
       "And you couldn't do it?" Ryoko asked
nervously.  "Couldn't pull it off?"  Ranma sighed and
looked at the mirror before handing it to Ryoko.
       "You'll understand when you use it," Ranma told
her softly.
       "How does it work?" Ryoko asked cautiously
       "You have to cry a tear onto the the glass and
think about where you want to go," Ranma said.
       "That's it?" Ryoko asked.  Ranma nodded.  She
looked back at him and stared silently for a few
seconds.  "I suppose this is it then."
       "Maybe," Ranma said, sitting crosslegged on his
bed.
       "Thanks Ranma," she said softly.  She forced
herself to look away from him when he didn't answer. 
She focused on the mirror and let herself unleash a
small stream of tears that fell softly on to the
glass.  Then she vanished in a flash.
       Ranma stared at where she had been standing and
waited.

********

       Kuno blinked and looked around the huge room.
       ~ZOUNDS!!!~ he thought loudly.  ~The sorcerer
has transported into the den of a giant!!!  Wait, what
has happened to my voice?~  As he watched a huge
bandage wrapped figure lurched to the doorway and then
turned to look at him.
       "Disrespectful one," the giant mummy said in a
strangely familiar voice.  "I am well aware of all
your crimes now, and you shall be punished
accordingly.  Make peace with your gods in what little
time you have."
       ~The vile beast means to eat me then,~ Kuno
thought.  ~Fine then, he shall not defeat the Blue-? 
Where is he going?!~  The huge mummy lurched out of
the room.  Kuno struggled to follow him with strangely
stiff legs.  Obviously his injuries were more serious
than he thought.  And he couldn't seem to find his
bokken.
       ~Aha, a giant toothpick!~ he declared.  He
toddered over to the item, the evil giant drawing
further and further away.  ~Hmm, he must fear my
deadly blade.~  Then he tried to pick up the
toothpick.
       ~CURSES!  Why can my hands not pick up this
infernal stick!~  It's hard to grip with fingers that
do not move.
       He was still trying to pick up the toothpick a
hour later when he suddenly found himself at the foot
of a huge drop.  He lay there blinking confusedly for
a few seconds.
       "AH HA!!!" he shouted.  "The giant must have
known that it's defeat was at hand and released me
rather than facing my righteous wrath!!"  He stood up,
or tried to, and felt every nerve in his body prick
painfully.  It was almost as if he had actually fallen
or jumped from that huge cliff and landed in this pile
of large, hard stones.
       "Maybe the giant threw me down to Earth
thinking it would kill me," Kuno said weakly, but
confidently, from the ground.  "Yes, that must be it. 
Well, the sorcerer's minions shall not find me that
easy to fell!  Saotome shall fall!!!"

=====
"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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