Enemies of the Crystal State

A Ranma/Trigun/Sailor Moon
Cross/alt/fushion
By Kpjam




Chapter 1: Chance meetings.

==========

Ranma sat quietly in the corner of the room, sipping his tea, and listening
to the conversations around him.  He had found that the best way to gather
information wasn't to ask, but to eavesdrop in the local bar.  Ask about
something or someone and that information would suddenly become the most
expensive and elusive thing in the world.  Sit back and listen to people
speaking, even starting an irrelevant conversation with someone and the
information would be free and clear.

It was still early, just past seven and the bar wasn't very crowded, eleven
people, including the bartender.  The actual bar looked battered, with huge
gashes along the face of it and a very soiled table cloth covering the top
of it.

The various tables were a combination of small wooden tables and metallic
ones that would look more appropriate in someone's yard.  None of the tables
had chairs that comprised a set, all obviously found or purchased piecemeal.

The bar was lit inadequately by a couple of exposed ceiling bulbs, and the
walls were completely bare, in a little better shape than the bar itself
was.

It was an accurate reflection of the town.  He had come to this worthless
town specifically, following leads over the years.  Four years to be
precise. Five since the war started.  It had ended quickly, and they had
re-emerged to the surface after only a year in the survival vault.

He noted two girls who had just walked into the bar.  What attracted his,
and everyone else's attention, was how out of place they appeared.  They
were dressed way too nicely, their clothes fit well and didn't have any
tears on them.  The working girls usually didn't show up till later, when
people with money started showing up, in need of a little companionship, for
the evening.

The women both had long tresses, one blonde, the other black.  The long hair
was another oddity for the wasteland areas.  "They must be from Tokyo," he
surmised.  That was one of the few places in Japan where society had picked
up again, being cleansed right away by the child woman claiming to be a
queen.

As if possessing magic signified anything, especially the right to rule.

The wastelands were made-up of people who disagreed with that idea, or just
wanted control of their own fate, even if it meant life was more difficult
and dangerous.

The land had been miraculously cleared of most radiation and some of the
land was even suitable for farming or raising the livestock that had
survived.

This Neo-Queen Serenity had apparently cleared out an area around Tokyo that
was supposedly fertile, and completely inhabitable.  Although the rumors of
what Tokyo was now like were pervasive, Ranma didn't know first-hand, having
never returned in the years since he left.

He watched as the two young ladies strode up to the bar, the blonde looked
completely natural, relaxed as if she belonged there, or at least was at
ease in the surroundings.  On the other hand, the raven-haired one looked
tense, her eyes were darting around, challenging, mad, a scowl adorned her
face.

When they reached the bar, he heard the bartender laugh.

"Heh, that's a good one. Hey, everybody, these princesses want sundaes!"

Ranma frowned, they wouldn't last long.  Two women from Tokyo.  Although he
was surprised they made it so far, as clueless as they seemed.  He wondered
how they could make it from Tokyo to Yakumo without knowing that milk didn't
exist around here.

The girls seemed unperturbed by the bartender's amusement, continuing on
with their questions.  They apparently came to some agreement when the
bartender set two drinks in front of them.

Ranma watched as they took a sip and continued questioning the other man.

"Vash the Stampede!" the bartender yelled out laughing again.  "Whad'ya want
with Vash?  You looking to get lucky, little girls?"

Ranma perked at hearing the name.  Taking care of Vash wouldn't complete his
quest, but it would be a huge step in the right direction.  Things had taken
too much time as it was, he needed to put the souls of those murdered to
rest, especially Ukyo's.

"Hey, who's little?" the black-haired girl yelled.

"It's okay, Rei.  No, we're from the Tokyo Gazette.  We want to do an expose
on the most wanted man in Japan."  The cheeriness in the blonde's voice was
definitely out of place here.

"Hmm...  What makes you think anyone here knows anything about him?"  The
bartender lowered his hand onto the bar, face-up.

He saw both girls glance at the proffered palm and frown.

"We ... he ... area," Ranma only heard part of the conversation, when they
lowered their voices again.

The disappointed looks on the girls' faces, was all the confirmation Ranma
needed to know they were unlucky in their questioning of the bartender.

Ranma saw the bartender look towards his still empty hand, wiggling his
fingers.  The girls caught the look and looked perplexed.  The blonde
shrugged in response and patted the bartender's hand, saying something Ranma
couldn't catch.

He watched as the bartender just shook his head and walked away, muttering
loudly, "Stupid broads, thinking information like that is free."

Ranma pondered his wallet, wondering if he had enough to spend on
questionable information.  It probably was poor information, or the
bartender would have been advertising it, not walking away without making a
more solid attempt at selling.

Happy with his conclusion, he went back to scanning the room for information
that might prove useful.

He frowned as two men walked up to the ladies, he frowned even further when
the third man that was sitting with them rushed out of the bar.

He downed his drink quickly, then double checked his concealed dagger before
walking up to the bar.

"You guys can show us where Vash is?" the blonde questioned.

"Of course.  Just follow us," the larger of the two answered.

Ranma stepped up to the bar and called for another juice before asking the
men, "So, what's this Vash look like?"

Both men and both women turned to face Ranma, in response to his question.

"Hey, buzz off," the larger of the men said.

Ranma shrugged. "Just asking a question," he replied as he grabbed his new
drink and walked back to his table.

He didn't pay attention to the discussion that followed but the two men soon
left the bar, shooting nasty glances at Ranma as they walked by.

He sighed to himself, bemoaning his lost chance at staying inconspicuous.
He really was trying, but things always seemed to happen that he couldn't
let slide.  He was proud that he had saved those girls without getting into
a fight.

The two girls in question apparently wanted to further disrupt his stay by
coming over to his table.

"Do you mind if we sit down?"  The blonde asked cheerfully.

"Yeah," he responded automatically.

Both girls were taken aback by his brusqueness, but the blonde spoke up
anyway, "Do you know anything about Vash?"

"No," he responded quickly, trying to sound natural, intent on not giving
away the lie.

"Oh, okay."   The blonde frowned, looking hurt, a look Ranma always found
difficult to resist.

The raven-haired girl spoke up, "Geez, we're only trying to be nice.  Come
on, Minako.  This creep obviously can't help us."

"Hey!  I ain't no creep!"  Ranma yelled in response.  ""sides.  I already
helped you out earlier," he concluded smugly.

"Helped us out?!? You did no such thing!"

"Of course I did.  If I hadn't said anything, you'd be heading to the slave
auctions right now!"

"Please! As if those two losers could have caused us trouble."

"I was just trying to help you out, you stupid chick!"

"Rei!  Mister!  We're sorry to have troubled---"  Minako's speech was cut
off by the twin beeping of their watches.  They looked at them in unison,
before running towards the door.  Minako stopped with a hand on the door to
look back at Ranma, who turned away quickly, but not before he caught her
frowning at him.

"Stupid girls," he mumbled to himself taking a long sip of his juice.

He heard a commotion outside, it sounded like a lot of people were running
around and shouting.  He was about to get up and investigate when the door
burst open and someone came running into the bar, and ran up to the
bartender.

"Hey, Sato!"

"Kamui!  How are things?"

"Vash the Stampede is in town.  He just shot up the Rusty Wagon!"  Kamui
said excitedly.

"No kidding."

Ranma was out the door and into the shoddy town in less than a second.  He
remembered that that bar was on the other side of town and hoped to make it
there before Vash got away.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Rei and Minako ran out into the street and into an alley.  They turned on
their communicators, watching as Ami's face came into the view.

"Ami, what's up?"  Minako asked.

"We tracked him to a bar, when there was a gun fight.  We didn't see
anything, but apparently Vash and his gang abducted some poor fellow and are
taking him out of town."

"Okay.  You guys follow them and we'll catch-up."

Both girls nodded to each other before they transformed into Senshi, and
then hopped onto a nearby building to begin their chase.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Mars and Venus ran along the edge of the bluff and around the side of the
cliff.  They almost ran into Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury who were peering
around the edge of the outcropping of boulders.

"Ahh!!!" Jupiter yelled when Venus touched her shoulder.

"Shhh," Mercury admonished her, as Jupiter leveled a glare at Venus who just
shrugged it off.

"So...  What's the status?"  Venus whispered.

"Vash and his gang are around the corner.  They seem to be questioning their
prisoner," Mercury responded.  "We can't get close enough to hear."

"Do we know which one he is?"  Venus removed the small sketch that Usagi had
given them earlier.

"Yes!"  Jupiter answered, as if the answer was obvious.  "The men at the
bar, Mercury, Saturn, and I were at, said he was the huge, around twelve
feet tall, short legs, and looked to weigh several hundred kilos.  He also
carries a large metal boomerang and was wearing a red shirt."

Venus nodded, realizing the description matched the one Usagi had given
then.

"Too bad Usagi isn't here,"  Makoto whispered.

"Makes me glad I'm not the princess."

The other four completely agreed with Venus's comment.  Wincing at the
memory of Usagi pleading to come with them, only to be persuaded against it
by Setsuna and Mamoru.

Usagi had a government to run, one that wasn't going as smoothly as everyone
believed.  Though she had been set up as ruler of Japan, there were many
places that didn't recognize Usagi's monarchy and had set their various
townships and principalities as their own miniature reigns, including Kyoto.
The major task of cementing relations with these places took up a majority
of her time. Time she couldn't spend away from the city.

None of the Senshi had enjoyed being involved in running a government and
had jumped at the chance to chase a criminal.  So far, the easy and
glamorous life of a princess had proven to be fairytale, shattered by the
endless meetings, readings of documents, and public relations work, both
foreign and domestic.  Even when an occasional formal party was thrown, it
was a thinly disguised attempt to appear regal and ingratiate themselves
with important people from Tokyo and abroad.

"Heh, she really wants this Vash guy," Minako said.

"Can you blame her?"  Mercury asked.  All four girls considered the basis
for Usagi's ire and nodded solemnly before bursting into giggles.

"And poor Mamoru."  Mars giggled, causing the girls to erupt in laughter
again.

"Okay, let's go get him!"

"Shouldn't we have a plan?"  Mercury's comment stopped Venus in mid stride.

"That's easy.  We run up to them with Mars and Jupiter on the outside, while
Mercury, Saturn, and I take the center.  When we get their attention,
Mercury will freeze them and I'll capture Vash."

"What about me," Saturn asked.

"We need you if we get into real trouble.  You know your attacks are to
powerful for fighting people," Venus explained to the youngest senshi.

"Okay."

"What if that doesn't work?"

Venus smiled brightly and looked at Mercury.  "It will.  If not, we'll
improvise.  Mars and Jupiter, be ready, we don't want to kill anyone but
maybe a shot over their heads will scare them away?"

After the other four girls had nodded, Minako turned and charged around the
bend, heading towards the bandits.  They were arranged in a circle,
surrounding the largest one and their prisoner.

When they had closed to ten feet from the edge they pulled up and Venus
shouted, "Vash the Stampede, release that man in the name of Neo-Queen
Serenity!"

The men all whirled around surprise on their face, drawing various weapons,
mostly swords, and flails, a few guns were visible as well.

The men parted as their apparent leader laughed and strode forward.

"What's this?  You little girls want to play?"

"Vash the Stampede. By order of Neo-Queen Serenity, you are under arrest for
disturbing the sanctity of royal coupling."

The Senshi watched as the assembled men face-faulted.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Ranma ran swiftly over the scorched landscape towards the sound of men
laughing.  He slowed to a stop as he approached a ledge and peered over it.
Aboutten feet down, in-between the cliff he was looking over, and the cliff
that was overlooking the bay, was a group of about twenty men in a circle
around two others.

One of the men in the middle was a huge fellow about four meters tall, with
a huge metal boomerang on his hip.  He had vastly oversized ears, they
looked like miniature wings sticking out from his mostly bald head, the only
hair being a tall green-mohawk.  He was holding a rope, easily lifting the
scrawny man in a bright red coat with yellow sunglasses, tied-up by the
other end of it.

"Vash," Ranma growled out-loud, feeling his blood begin to boil as he
actually saw the man for the first time in years.

He quickly jumped from his perch, landing softly on the rocky ground.  He
froze in the middle of his first step as he saw five women in highschool
outfits come running around the bend, heading straight for the bandits.

He walked up to the group slowly and frowned when he heard the blonde yell
out.

"Vash the Stampede, release that man in the name of Neo-Queen Serenity!"

He wondering if he was going to have to fight these girls to get his hands
on Vash also.   Shrugging his shoulders he walked forward, unnoticed by the
others, whose attention was fixated on each other.

He watched as the leader strode forward, chuckling at the four women who
stood there calmly.

"What's this?  You little girls want to play?"

"Vash the Stampede. By order of Neo-Queen Serenity, you are under arrest for
disturbing the sanctity of royal coupling,"  The blonde called out.  Ranma
wondered why the men all face-faulted and looked at Vash for some clue.

Ranma noted the embarrassed look on Vash's face.  He wondered what 'coupling
' was, "maybe some twin martial arts move," he thought and imagined how
upset he's be if someone interrupted him in the middle of a move.

Deciding he really didn't care why anyone else wanted the boy, he strode
forward and called out, "He's mine!"

He stood up straight, puffing out his chest and folding his arms over it and
smirked as all attention was diverted to him, challenging anyone to oppose
his will.
"Heh.  Little boys should go play with little girls and leave us men alone.
That way you won't get hurt," the towering figure called out.

He had taken his boomerang from his hip, and was pointing it at Ranma while
he spoke.  Ranma noticed the rope that linked the weapon to his hip, and the
little winch that seemed to hold the end of it.

Ranma studied the weapon for an instant, noticing the serrations on either
side, that ended about sixty centimeters from the end, offering a hand-hold
on either side.

"Feh.  Like you and your goons could beat me," he responded confidently,
slightly flexing his muscles in anticipation of a movement, especially from
the guns in the group.  He had faced up against guns before, and walked
away.  Though he would prefer to avoid them if possible, this time it wasn'
t.

"Well, you girls can fight it out with big and ugly," Ranma pointed at the
tall man as he began to walk casually forward, "but I'm taking the scrawny
guy tied up."

"Like hell, Ranma!"

Ranma stood still for a second, stunned that his name was known by this
punk.

"Whatever.  I'll give you a few seconds, maybe you can use those ears to fly
away?"

"Argggg.  Nobody makes fun of my ears!"

"Ah, excuse us," Minako interjected, "We were here first.  We have to take
back Mr. Dumbo ears...  I mean Vash to stand trial."

"Stop cracking on my ears!" Descartes roared, flipping a switch on the
pulley attached to the boomerang while he took a huge wind-up and winged the
boomerang at Ranma.

Ranma hopped over the projectile, being careful to avoid the line that
trailed after the huge thing.  The action signaled the beginning of the
general melee.

Ranma ran forward, swerving out of the way of the bullets heading his way.
He palmed a dagger and flicked it at the gunman aiming at him.  He felt a
surge of relief when his target was hit and the gun dropped harmlessly to
the ground.

He heard one of the girls shriek.  Then one of the smaller swordsmen had
moved to cut him off with his sword raised high and charging.  Ranma smirked
as he fingered a small knife that was up his sleeve.  He slid the knife into
his palm and jumped sideways, deftly avoiding the downward stroke while
slashing across the unprotected wrist.  His actions were rewarded with a
yowl of pain as the sword dropped to the ground amidst a small spray of
blood.

One of the girls yell out, "Shabon Spray Freezing!"

The yell distracted his current opponent and allowed Ranma to strike at the
back of his opponent's unprotected head.

The man dropped at his feet while frosted bubbles expanded out from the
group of girls and began covering the landscape.

He heard a buzzing sound and rolled to the side, reacting on instinct to
avoid the return of the huge boomerang.

A final shot was fired and another piercing scream as silence settled on the
battlefield.

Ranma stood and looked over at the women for a second.  Two of them were on
the ground, apparently shot, while the other three attended to them.   He
looked back at bandits, all of whom were encased in ice, save for Descartes
and Vash, the later of the two was currently crawling away like an inchworm,
still wrapped up in rope.

Ranma rushed in, hoping to end this fight quickly.

Descartes reacted by singing viciously at Ranma, causing the young man to
hop backwards out of striking distance.

"Thought you could sneak up on me, boy?"  Descartes grinned viciously.
"Nice head ya got there, kid."

"I like it," Ranma replied confused.  Ranma wondered about the pre-fight
banter; usually insults were traded... so why was this guy complimenting his
head?

"I'll love it, when I hand it in for the trillion yen bounty!"  Descartes
reared back and threw the boomerang diagonally at Ranma.

Ranma dived to the side, barely avoiding the projectile which speed he had
underestimated.  He heard heavy footsteps approaching quickly and
automatically did a couple of back-flips before he landed on his feet a safe
distance from Descartes.

"So who's going to give you money for my head?"  He asked, curiosity getting
to him.

Descartes smirked and held up his right arm and caught the boomerang with it
before he spun.  Ranma watched puzzled as the sun reflected from the weapon
and blinded him at the moment Descartes completed his spin and threw a small
dagger at Ranma using his free hand.

"Knives!"

Ranma dodged, although not quickly enough as the dagger cut a shallow cut in
his upper arm.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Venus was satisfied that Mercury and Jupiter would be alright, given time to
heal.

She looked up as the boy they had met earlier was fighting Vash, surprised
that he had enough nerve to fight someone who was more than twice his own
size.

She listened to the banter of the two, wondering herself why the boy was
worth so much money, when she saw Vash whip a knife at the kid.

"Knives!"  The behemoth of a man yelled, and she wondered why he would name
such a simple attack, and misnamed it at that, he had only thrown one knife.

She saw the little guy and was compelled to act.  "Venus Love Me Chain," she
called out, shooting her magical chain.

She was shocked when he turned at her call and knocked the chain out of the
air.  He watched it disappear with a condescending smirk on his face.

"Nice try.  It seems like you want to play too."

"Hey, girl.  Stay out of my fight!"

"What?!?  We're here to capture Vash, in the name of Neo-Queen Serenity.
You're interrupting my fight!"

The boy's face went bright red as he stomped over to her.

"I said it was my fight!  Now stay out of it!"

"No! It's mine.  You stay out of it!  This is official business."

"Both of you, shut up!"  Descartes roared as he threw his boomerang at them.

The pig-tailed boy dived into Venus and caught her in a rough bear-hug.  She
felt the world spin slightly as the ground rushed up to meet them.

"Umpf." Venus lost her breath as her hands were forced into her gut.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Saturn ran to save the man who had been taken prisoner, leaving Mars to
watch over the fallen senshi.

She reached him quickly, turning him over, trying to find the place the rope
ended.  After a minute of frantically turning the man over and over again
she found what she was looking for and pulled while lifting.

The man fell out of the ropes like a yo-yo that's string had broken and
landed flat on his back.

Saturn winced in sympathy from the look of pain that flashed on his face.

"You okay, sir?" she asked sympathetically.   She was relieved when his eyes
snapped open and a smile appeared on his face.

She dropped her glaive when he glomped her, gushing tears, and crying into
her ears, "Thank you, fair maiden!"

She eventually managed to free herself from the surprisingly strong hold the
man had on her.

"No problem.  You should move to safety."

"Right, lets go to the safety and get better acquainted."  He took her hand
and looked pleadingly into her eyes.

"Ahh... I have to go help my friends and capture Vash."  She pulled her
hands back quickly.

He looked over her shoulder at the fight that was still going on and nodded.
"Yes, I shall save your friends and then later we will discuss you
gratitude."

She groaned in response and was about to tell him to go to safety, when he
raced past her, heading towards the fray.

She shook her head in dismay and picked up her dropped weapon, before she
turned to go help her comrades out.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


"Can you get off me?"  Ranma asked the girl.

"Huh.  Oh. Ya."  The blonde in the school girl's outfit quickly stood up.

"Just stay out of my way," Ranma yelled at the girl as he turned to face
Descartes, who had recovered his boomerang.

He cracked his knuckles.  "I've got your timing down now, Dumbo."

"Stop calling me, Dumbo!"  He roared as he tossed the boomerang at the pair.

Ranma smirked and did a forward somersault, easily avoiding the missile and
grabbed onto the tether line that was attached to it.  He pulled it with
him, then landed on Descartes' head, wrapping the line around the huge man.

He reached for the knob at the winch, intent on stopping it when another
hand beat him to it.

He looked into Vash's smiling face for a second before his perch fell out
from under him.

He tumbled to the ground while Descartes dying scream filled the air.

Ranma grabbed the hand that was outstretched in front of him pulling himself
up and found himself in a rough bear-hug.

"Wai!  You're alive!"

Ranma began to shake with rage.  He pushed Vash off of him and then decked
the man.

"Aww, what ya do dat for," Vash said as he rubbed his jaw.

"I'm going to kill you for what you and your brother did!"  Ranma produced a
knife from his sleeve and brandished it in front of the shocked looking
Vash.

"No!  Don't!" A woman screamed from behind him.  "Venus Love Me Chain!"

Ranma was stopped after a step as he felt himself wrapped in a chain.  He
turned to see the blonde who had been trying to interfere in his fight on
the other end.

"Let me go!"

"I'm not going to let you kill a defenseless man!"

"He deserves to die!"

"No!"

"Let me go!"

"No!  Mister, are..."  She trailed off and Ranma turned to find Vash had
vanished.

"Damn!  You stupid chick, I had him.  I finally had him."

He felt the bonds that held him vanish.

"Why are you trying to kill him?  He seemed so happy to see you."

"He killed my pops and a lot of people in the Vault we were at during the
war,"  Ranma replied agitated.  "Stupid girls.  Always getting in the way,"
he grumbled under his breath.

"That little guy?!?"  The blonde asked stunned.

"Yeah.  That little guy and his brother are very dangerous."

The girl with the short purple-hair and huge glaive walked up to them.  "We
should get back.  Jupiter and Mercury need surgery and Serenity will want to
know that Vash is dead."

"What do you mean Vash is dead?"  Ranma asked.  "You stupid girls just let
him go!"

"Who's stupid?!?"  The Raven haired girl yelled, as she stomped towards
them.

"You!  The stupid girls who let Vash get away?"

"You idiot!  Vash is right there!"  She yelled back pointing at Descartes'
body.

"That's Descartes!"

"Who?!?"  All three girls yelled at him.

"Descartes," he sighed.  "He's just a minor thug."  Ranma walked over to the
body and kicked it.

"Damn.  Now I need to start looking again."  Descartes was his ticket to
Knives' and Vash's organization.  He was a minor player, but he supposedly
reported to one of Knives' generals, another one of his old _friends_, if
his information was correct.

"Well.  Later ladies."  He turned and started jogging away, guessing the
direction Vash had taken off in.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Sailors stood around stunned for a moment, as they watched the
pig-tailed youth jog off.  Their momentary enjoyment of completing a
successful mission shattered by the revelation that the huge man wasn't
Vash, and they had apparently let him go.

The moan from Jupiter brought their attention to their fallen companions.
Saturn and Mars rushed to their side as Venus pulled a piece of paper out of
the pouch in her fuku.

She looked at the picture Serenity had drawn up and compared it to the
fallen figure.

Turning on her communicator, she called her Queen.

"Hi, Venus.  Having fun?"  The blonde asked happily.

"Usagi...  Did you actually see Vash when he broke into your bedroom?"

"Yes of course."

"Did you really?"  Venus asked menacingly.

"It was dark," Usagi croaked.

"How much did you see?"

"Ididn'tseemuchbecausemamoruwasontopandgotknockedouteasily. So he had to be
huge and he had a red shirt and blonde spikey-hair."

Venus blinked, "Take a look at this guy."  She turned her wrist, pointing it
at Descartes for a second before bringing it back into view.

"Hey!  That's him!"  Usagi gushed.

"No!  It's not.  Vash is a scrawny little guy!"  Venus screamed.

"Wai.  But he had to be huge to beat my Mamo-chan."

"Listen.  Jupiter and Mercury were injured so we're sending them back okay."

"What happened?  Are they okay?"  She asked with a worried expression on her
face.

"They should be fine.  They're teleporting now.  They'll need surgery!"  She
turned and signaled to Saturn, who teleports away with Jupiter and Mercury.

"Mars and I will try and find Vash.  Bye."  She disconnected the
transmission and turned to her friend.  "Let's find him!"

"How?"  Mars asked.

"Leave that to me. I have a plan."  She responded brightly and began to fill
Mars in on the details.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


A woman stood atop one of the overlooking cliffs, sunglasses and her long
brunete hair obscured her from view.

She watched silently as the two girls strode away.

"Knives-Sama will be so happy, Vash, Ranma, and some of the Queens soldiers
are within his grasps."

She pulled out a small cellular phone and dialed.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Ranma walked along the path, heading southwest.  He had lucked out and
bumped into someone who had seen Vash heading this way.

He groaned when he saw two girls up ahead, the same two he had seen in the
bar earlier.

They noticed him and waved.

"This just isn't my day," he moaned to himself, as he continued to walk
forward.

"Hi, Sir.  I'm Minako and this is Rei.  We met before in the bar."  She
sounded too cheerful for Ranma's taste, and he knew he wasn't going to like
what he she had to say.

"Yeah.  I remember."

"Well, we heard Vash was traveling south and we were hoping we could travel
with you.  It's not all that safe."

He definitely didn't like it and he considered saying no, but his protective
nature took over.  He didn't want it on his conscious if anything were to
happen to them when he could have protected them, no matter how much of a
pain these girls looked like they'd be.  Besides, he could get rid of them
at the next town.

"Fine."  He'd get rid of them at the next town.

"Thanks, mister.  Ahh?"

"Ranma.  Ranma Saotome."

"Thanks.  We'll feel much better traveling with someone.  We won't be any
trouble."

Ranma thought of a saying Nabiki would chide him with, something about
famous last words.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

End of Chapter

Notes: I hope you enjoyed.  I own none of these characters, only borrowing
them to hopeful bring enjoyment to some.

I must thank Merc and Corwin for being patient with my poor grammar and
silly ideas.

Other works by me can be found at http://kpjam.anifics.com

email me at noirchloe@nyc.rr.com, or don't. ^_^

Ja, I need to find more Vandread to watch!

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