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Old 6th January 2004, 07:00 AM
Steve Thesken
 
Posts: n/a
[FFML] [Fanfic][Ranma] Quantum Destinies 22 (Part 2 of 2)


Hi all,

And now, the conclusion to the current chapter.

Steve

(Part 2 of 2)

******************************

While casually leaning back in the comfortable chair in his office,
Soun stretched. He set down the newspaper he had been perusing, one he
had picked up during an early lunch he had taken when Kasumi had shown
up at his office unexpectedly. Seeing her, dressed in the paramilitary
uniform of this Japan's Security Directorate had awakened a feeling of
intense pride within him, and there was a part of him that was pleased
to see her back in uniform. She had saluted him with a professional
smile, and they had gone out and enjoyed a pleasant lunch together. He
did not choose to question her decision to return to active duty, since
he knew Kasumi was not one to do impulsive things, but he did wonder
how her husband felt about her decision.

He tamped out the cigarette he had been smoking. It was curious to
read about the events taking place in this world and find them both
familiar and strange at the same time. He pulled his feet off of the
desk and rocked forward, yawning a bit, part of him still unused to
working an actual job. Getting up before dawn each day had probably
been the worst part of the adjustment to his existence here, especially
since his dreams were troubling his sleep.

No, not dreams. They were more like nightmares, with voices accusing
him of being weak, a failure, voices that sounded like his own and
those of his family.

To distract himself, he quickly pulled out another one of the files he
had been given to review, one marked 'For Your Eyes Only.' He flipped
it open and began to read. It turned out to be a rather dry affair, a
detailed report on business activities by the Sanzenin zaibatsu. The
name was familiar to him, reminding him of the skating competition
Ranma had been in a while ago. The Ranma of his original world, he
amended in his thoughts after a moment. But he quickly grew bored with
reading the file, picked up his signature stamp and inked it, and then
he marked it as having been reviewed. It joined several others on
another stack on his desk.

This was not the exciting life of a government agent that he would have
once imagined, spending his days shuffling paperwork from one pile on
his desk to another. This was bureaucratic drudgery, not adventure.
Where were the fast cars, the vodka martinis, and the daring feats,
like that English fellow had in those movies he had seen a few of back
home?

However, in his youth, his counterpart here had enjoyed such things
while serving in the field on His Imperial Majesty's secret service.
But, shortly after Akane was born, one mission had gone very badly, one
from which this body still had the scars, so his other self took a desk
job and became a bureaucrat instead, beginning a rapid rise up through
the ranks. There was even speculation that he was next in line to head
up the Directorate someday, but Soun didn't put much faith in such
rumors.

Thinking about the past, his other self's past, there were a few things
he had left unfinished out in the field, old scores to be settled and
other matters he meant to get back to someday but never did. Soun
mused about them even as he lit up another cigarette. He snapped the
lighter shut with a well-practiced move and set it down, drawing his
holstered service pistol fluidly a moment later, the same one that had
served his other self so well in the field years ago.

He sighted down the barrel at some of the pictures on the wall for
several moments before quickly reholstering it. Right up until that
final mission, those had been good days, days of service to the Empire
to be proud of. He sighed rather wistfully, remembering past escapades
and victories, but he shied away from any thoughts of the occasional
beautiful woman his counterpart had been involved with on missions, not
wanting to betray Kimiko's memory.

Too late he realized his mistake. He quickly closed the file in front
of him and pinched the bridge of his nose, willing back the tears and
sorrow that suddenly welled up within him at the memory of his late
wife. She had been taken from him much later here than his own had
been, but she was still gone and the emotional pain was like an ache.

Not here. He couldn't afford to cry here. He had to be strong like
his counterpart had been, holding back the pain of his emotions instead
of giving in to them, damping them out by sheer will, a discipline he
himself had never found the strength to master.

After a time, he managed to regain control of himself and returned to
his work, picking up another file. He could not afford to lose his
discipline, to let slip the mask and return to being the broken man he
once was. No, he had been given a new chance, and he would not fail in
his duties as a father and a man. Not again.

As he read through the report, the theme music for England's most
famous secret agent played in the back of his mind.

******************************

Kodachi looked up from her lunch when Nanami Jinnai, one of the girls
in her class, slid into the desk next to her. The other girl seemed to
be in high spirits as she quickly pocketed a thick bundle of yen notes.
They had never spoken much to each other, just casual exchanges of
greetings each day, and Kodachi sensed that Nanami seemed to be
avoiding speaking with her for some reason. She quickly went back to
enjoying her meal and trying not to think about Ranma, still feeling a
bit confused after their brief but passionate kiss earlier in the week.

Her thoughts quickly defaulted to thinking about the other boy in her
life: Miki Kaoru. The dance at Ohtori was coming up quickly, and
Kaoru-kun would be calling her this weekend to finalize their plans.
She was looking forward to speaking with him again, remembering with
fondness the last few times they had been together. The friendship she
had felt for him as children was still strong, only now it was laced
with something extra, feelings of a much more adult kind of attraction
to him.

Unbidden, images arose in her mind from the life of Sukeban-Kodachi, of
her relationship with that world's Miki Kaoru. Memories of being with
him came over her, of kissing with him and of being intimate with him,
sometimes gently and sometimes much more passionately. A light blush
appeared on her cheeks at such thoughts, and she indulged in them a
bit, fantasizing about Kaoru-kun, wondering if he felt the same sort of
interest in her.

She shook her head, dispelling her fantasies. She should be thinking
about Saotome-kun, since they were engaged, even if he did continue to
spend time with those other, far less worthy girls that sought his
attention. Still, he had kissed her, quite deeply and passionately,
and that must have meant something to him. After all, Ranma was not at
all like her brother's best friend, that vile and disgusting womanizer,
Mikado Sanzenin. Still, while the kiss with Saotome-kun had been
wonderful, that other Kaoru-kun in Sukeban-Kodachi's world had been an
even better kisser, so gentle and yet so passionate, and she wondered
what a kiss from this world's version of him would be like.

Another fantasy triggered off inside her, and she drifted away, a smile
on her face, the rest of her lunch sitting untouched.

Nanami glanced over at the wistfully sighing Kuno girl, and she shook
her head. The young noblewoman must have been thinking about Ranma
again. What was it about the guy that had so many girls so wild about
him lately? She glanced at her watch, wondering how things were going
with the girls from the fan club. Ranma had better not lose. That
would be bad for her own plans concerning him. He was proving to be
quite the moneymaker for her, so long as he remained unbeaten by any of
the girls, like their own local version of that Chinese barbarian girl
fighting in the Arena, the one she had heard Akane Tendo talking about
a few times.

******************************

The cafeteria areas at Whitehall and Blackhall were more like five-star
restaurants than the humble eateries most schools throughout the Empire
enjoyed, only Ohtori Academy boasting comparable fare. Groups of
students sat in booths or at the various tables in Whitehall's dining
hall, eating and chatting. In one booth, Tatewaki Kuno enjoyed a quiet
lunch with his friend, Mikado Sanzenin. Today was a selection of
Chinese cuisine for the menu.

"So what's been bothering you this week, Kuno-kun?" asked Mikado, as he
set down his soup spoon to sit back and wait for the serving staff to
bring the main course. All of the training he had been doing lately,
as well as the many intensely heated encounters he had been having with
Asuka, the White Lily, had raised his appetite quite a bit. "You've
had a sour look on your face for days now, and it's hindering my
enjoyment of this fine food. Are you concerned about this omiai you
have coming up?"

"Nay, that is not the cause of my disquiet," Kuno replied. "While the
Arisugawa girl is no doubt politically-expedient as a choice, which
would suit the aims of my mother and likely further the interests of
the Kuno's, I know little of her, or care to. My warrior heart hath
already been claimed, by the clever and skilled Nabiki Tendo, and her
stout-hearted and strong young sister, Akane. Gods, what women they
both are!" He clenched his soup spoon in one hand, his eyes glazing
over as he imagined them both.

"I know what you mean." Mikado nodded at the thought of Nabiki Tendo.
Akane didn't interest him that much, but Nabiki was a different matter.
It was rare for a girl to reject him as forcefully as she had, but that
rejection had only served to fire the intensity of his own interest in
bedding the middle Tendo daughter. There was just something innately
attractive about her that he yearned to experience, to feel her body
against his as he took pleasure from her. Then, once he was done with
her, his friend Tatewaki could have her for a concubine, but he wanted
her first.

******************************

In the next booth, Kinnosuke Kashuoh paused in what he was doing, his
hearing having picked up the conversation despite his being somewhat
distracted. Lynx and Panther both sat next to him, and the curtain was
drawn on their booth to allow the trio some privacy. Lynx was still
eating quietly, but he had already finished his own lunch. Panther had
not finished hers, but she was currently otherwise occupied. Several
buttons on her blouse were undone, and Kinnosuke's hand had been gently
kneading one of her bared breasts while they shared an intimate kiss.
But he broke off the kiss to listen more closely to the conversation
going on next to them, even as Panther began nuzzling and kissing at
his neck, her attention still fully on him.

Lynx's ears twitched as she heard Nabiki Tendo's name mentioned nearby,
but she showed no other sign of interest and continued eating without
pause. Her muscle-bound (and muscle-headed) fellow lilith, Panther,
had not appeared to notice, she mused with no small amount of disdain,
glancing at the couple as Panther pawed at Kinnosuke-sama. Her ears
perked up a little bit as she listened to what was going on behind her
in the next booth.

******************************

"I have dedicated myself to preparing myself these past days," Kuno
said in fierce tones. "If Nabiki Tendo will only accept a conqueror to
her arms, then I shall conquer her. After all, am I not Tatewaki Kuno?
Am I not the rising star of the kendo world? My skill with a sword
shall overcome her, like a bolt arcing down from the very heavens
themselves, for I am the lightning and the thunder personified."

The last word seemed to awaken a new thought within Kuno. "Yes, a
thunder, but thunder alone is not enough of a sobriquet for my most
puissant skill at arms." He paused in thought, distracted for the
moment from his true concerns.

"Perhaps a blue thunder?" Mikado asked jokingly, noting the color of
the clothing that Kuno usually affected when they were outside of
class.

"Yes!" Kuno crowed. "Verily, thy words ring true with me. Let the
word go forth, my good friend. Tatewaki Kuno shall henceforth be known
as the Blue Thunder of Whitehall Academy." He sat back, contemplating
his new nom de guerre and finding it worthy of himself. However, his
good mood faded quickly, being crowded out by his other concerns.

Noting the mood shift in his best friend, Mikado sighed. "Now what?"

"Ranma Saotome," was all Kuno said in reply.

"Oh. Him." Mikado's pleasant mood vanished also. "What happened?"

"A scene too vile to endure." Kuno closed his eyes, feeling his rage
build up within him, but he forced himself to remain calm. "I caught
the knave forcing himself upon Kodachi, right there on the floor of her
own bedchambers."

Mikado blinked. "What? He did what?" He realized he was raising his
voice, noticing some of their peers looking their way, and he hastily
calmed himself and assumed a more casual appearance. Tatewaki did not
mind causing a stir with his antics, but appearance was everything to a
Sanzenin, after all.

"I saw it with mine own eyes," said Kuno darkly. "My innocent and
virtuous young sister was pinned down on the floor while that- that
animal was about to ravish her of her purity. Would that I could sear
the memory of that scene from my mind. I rushed to her aid, but that
most wretched of scoundrels used his foul sorceries upon me, and I
somehow lost consciousness. Then, later on, my poor, deluded sister
even defended the lout. 'Tis utter insanity the hold he doth have on
her mind. To think that my chaste young sister would have aught to do
with that vile beast, Saotome. It defies comprehension."

Mikado's gaze narrowed as he listened to Kuno continue to rant about
Ranma Saotome. A cold rage filled him. Something had to be done to
the pigtailed boy, to show him that the noblewomen of the Empire were
not for the likes of him, least of all Kodachi Kuno. It was like a
clarion call to battle had sounded, and he would answer it.

Ranma Saotome would pay for his crimes, for daring to sully the virtue
of that precious, innocent jewel of womanhood, Kodachi Kuno. Mikado's
hand clenched into a fist, one he yearned to use to totally shatter
every last bone within Ranma's body.

I shall defeat you, Ranma Saotome, Mikado mused darkly, even as Kuno
continued to vent his hatred for the pigtailed boy. I will prove that
your victory over me was merely bad luck on my part. Kodachi Kuno's
pure heart shall never be yours, for I am Mikado Sanzenin, and you are
mere trash, a lowly peasant who dares to rise from the gutters and look
his betters in the face as an equal. But soon I shall be the one to
send you back to where you belong, ground beneath my feet. I swear it!

******************************

Kinnosuke went back to kissing with Panther as the conversation in the
next booth continued on, hearing her purr softly with pleasure into the
kiss, but his thoughts were more on what he had just heard. So Ranma
had feelings for the Kuno girl and had acted on them, he mused. That
could be potentially useful, and it seemed the two imbeciles in the
next booth did not care for what Ranma had done. Perhaps his search
for allies to crush the pigtailed boy would be much easier than he had
imagined.

Feeling smug, he turned his full attentions back to Panther, his lips
pressed tightly against hers as their tongues dueled. His injuries no
longer pained him, his meal had been quite good, so now he was looking
forward to slaking his other hungers with Panther's assistance. Doing
such things in a semi-public place like this only seemed to increase
his ardor, and he growled softly with pleasure as he felt Panther's
hand sliding up his inner thigh caressingly.

******************************

Akane was quietly waiting for Sakura to join her for lunch, keeping
herself occupied by watching some members of the Combat Club battling
in the rain behind one of the main buildings, when she felt someone
suddenly bump into her from behind, almost knocking her down. Already
feeling irritated at not being able to join in on the fights yet, she
whirled around to face her assailant.

"Watch where you're going," she growled out, one hand balling into a
tight fist and ready to pound whoever it was.

"Um, I'm sorry," a chastened Ryoga replied, bowing as best he could and
still keep the rain off himself while backing up a step. Tokyo was a
very large and confusing place, and he was still angry at losing Ryoko
at the public bath that morning, which he promptly added to Ukyo's tab.
He had been wandering for several hours now, but he had let himself
become so involved in his own grim musings that he had bumped into a
girl, mortifying him. He quickly bowed again. "I-it was an accident.
I'm sorry. I guess I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Well, be more careful next time," Akane replied, her tone softening a
bit as she looked the stranger over. She felt a familiar, pleasant
tingling sensation running along her nerves, one she had only felt a
handful of times before, most notably with Ranma or that rich idiot,
Kuno, and it was equally powerful to the sensations the pigtailed boy
awoke within her. She studied Ryoga intently for a moment, seeing by
his clothing that he appeared to be some kind of wandering martial
artist. She wondered if he was a decent fighter, and a sincere hope
that he was suddenly blossomed within her. "You're not a cadet here.
Are you lost or something?"

"Uh, kinda." Ryoga suddenly looked bashful. Even though she was still
frowning at him, he suddenly noticed that the girl in front of him was
really cute, and he was pleasantly astonished by the fact that he felt
the same sort of warm feelings inside himself that he had previously
only felt before around Ukyo. Desperate to think of something to keep
the conversation going with the girl, he wished he had some smooth line
to use on her, but all he could stammer out was, "I-I'm Ryoga Hibiki.
Nice to meet you."

"I'm Akane Tendo," she said simply in reply. She then went back to
looking him over, which only made Ryoga more nervous. "Do you study
martial arts?"

"Yeah!" Ryoga said, brightening at the chance to keep talking with
Akane. "I've been in training all my life."

Akane nodded, only showing a flicker of interest in her gaze. "Are you
any good?"

Ryoga felt a bit of irritation at the question. "Of course I am," he
growled. He noted her posture taking on a more combative air to it.
"But I don't fight girls," he quickly added. Well, except for Ryoko,
he amended in his thoughts, but she was a special case, almost like she
wasn't really a girl, since she acted so macho all the time.

"What?" Akane said, startled. Her gaze narrowed and a note of anger
came back into her voice. "Why not?"

"I-it's just not right for a guy to fight a girl," Ryoga explained,
stammering a bit, wondering what he had said wrong. He decided to try
again, deciding to define it how his grandfather had once explained it
to him. "It's a man's duty to protect women. So it's wrong for a guy
to fight with a girl."

Akane growled out, "Listen, you. Girls can fight just as well as boys
can, and I certainly don't need any boy's protection. Want me to prove
it to you?" Her eyes glinted more dangerously now, and she was getting
really excited at the prospect of an unknown new challenge. Her
intensive training sessions spent with Sakura had been building up her
fighting abilities, and she was eager to test them out on someone, to
see if she was ready for Nabiki yet. Her goal of joining the Combat
Club still hovered out there, but it had been temporarily pushed aside
until she had dealt with the much more immediate issue of her sister.

Ryoga backed away, waving his hand. "N-no, no, that's okay. Um, I'm
sorry for bumping into you." He quickly departed, a heaviness in his
heart. He would probably never see that girl again. But that sadness
quickly transformed into more anger at Ukyo.

Akane watched Ryoga retreat and harrumphed disdainfully. The boy had
been handsome, but his moral code perplexed her. What was it about
some boys that they didn't think girls could fight just as well as they
could? She felt disappointed at his running off so quickly like he
had. It was a good thing Ranma wasn't like that. He was a real man,
one willing to treat her as an equal, like he had shown by fighting
with her. She went back to waiting for Sakura to arrive, watching with
interest as one Combat Club member put the other one down on the ground
with a brutal axe kick, and then stood over him victoriously.

She sighed wistfully. Fighting was so wonderful, even just to watch.

******************************

Shielded from the rain by his umbrella, Hikaru Gosunkugi gazed through
the chainlink fence surrounding it at Mobius Institute Storage Facility
#8, located several blocks from the Imperial Academy. After fleeing
from Minami and Frost that morning, he had been wandering around the
area aimlessly and eventually found himself here. Suddenly, everything
came back into crystal clarity.

Words came unbidden to his mind, and he whispered them as he gestured
at the gate. The padlock melted, the chain sagging as the metal heated
up, quickly becoming a searing white mass that rain steamed off of as
droplets of metal fell to pool on the ground. Within seconds, it was
over, and the metal pool on the ground congealed quickly.

Gosunkugi waited for the metal to cool before touching the gate, and he
pushed it open and shut it behind him. He whispered the words of a
spell, setting it in place here at the gate, a subtle illusion that
would draw the Saotome boy within. The storage facility was on the
path that Ranma normally traveled, and it would trigger when he was
within a few hundred feet. Gosunkugi was so focused on his need for
revenge against the pigtailed boy that he did not think to question how
he knew such magic, drawing on it by instinct alone.

"Ranma Saotome," he muttered. "The day of your doom is here."

******************************

Ranma relaxed a little as the last girl stumbled back from his punch to
her solar plexus and collapsed. Today they had varied their routine,
waiting until lunchtime to attack him in the hallways as he made his
way to the cafeteria to buy some food, since Kodachi was still not
speaking to him yet, and he didn't feel right about having Ukyo feed
him every day. The nubile bodies of his attackers lay strewn about in
numerous odd positions, but none were seriously injured. Luckily, his
injuries were mostly healed by now, so he was far better able to deal
with them than he had been earlier in the week.

"You're certainly popular with the girls, Saotome," observed Kyosuke in
a conversational tone as he took a sip from his juice container. He
carefully stepped over one fallen girl in a blue uniform. "This is
getting to be like a ritual."

"Yeah, I'll say," Ukyo agreed with a grin, as she stood leaning against
one wall. She had been standing off to one side during Ranma's battle
today with the female cadets, since he had explicitly told her to stay
out of it when it erupted. It was true he hadn't needed her help, and
she could understand his pride as a martial artist in wanting to deal
with it on his own. It had actually been quite interesting to her to
watch him fight, maybe even a little arousing. She hastily distracted
herself from that line of thought by casually slamming her fist down on
the head of one girl who was already starting to wake up while Ranma's
back was to them, and the cadet quietly collapsed again.

"It's annoying is what it is," Ranma replied sourly, looking at each of
them in turn. He flipped a thin notebook towards Kyosuke, having
brought it with him from class just in case he ran into the older boy
during lunch. "I made some notes on those problems you were having
troubles with. They should help. You just gotta understand the steps
you need to follow."

Kyosuke caught it out of the air. "Thanks." He began leafing through
it, nodding at what he saw there. After the events at Ohtori a while
back, and at Yohko's more recent urging, he had been making an effort
the past few days to become friends with Ranma. And he was also
getting to be good friends with Ukyo in the process, since the other
boy seemed to hang around Ranma quite a lot, but that was okay. He
rather liked Ukyo, and he was a little envious of the other boy's good
looks. Even Yohko had once remarked on them, not that she appeared to
be interested in Ukyo.

Asking for help on his homework had seemed the easiest approach to
talking with Ranma, and he quickly flipped to the section that had been
giving him trouble. He suddenly brightened as he read the pigtailed
boy's scrawled notes. "Oh, I see it now."

Ukyo came over to them and stood next to Ranma. "Well, I'm glad that
someone understands the material. Ranchan, I could use some help with
my homework, too. Do you think we could go over it when you come by
after classes are done today?"

"Sure. Not a problem."

"Great." She grinned. "Maybe you can give me a ride on that new bike
of yours too."

"You two guys doing something tonight?" Kyosuke asked, briefly looking
up from his reading. "Yohko's dragging me to some new movie she wants
to see. It's something romantic, I think. You know how girls are."
He shrugged.

"Heh, yeah," Ranma replied casually, glancing briefly at Ukyo to see
that she was nodding in sympathetic understanding like any boy would
have at the comment. He grinned at the sight and turned his gaze back
to Kyosuke. "We're just going to hang around together tonight. I'm
going over to Ucchan's aunt's place for dinner, and then we're going to
do some sparring." Ukyo seemed to prefer her gender be thought of as
male around campus, so Ranma tried to avoid pronouns when speaking
about her.

While the three chatted, off to one side, Ami watched them through her
camera. She sighed softly as she focused in on Ranma's face, how
beautiful she found him to be, his appearance and athletic body nearly
as exciting to her as the brilliant mind he possessed. She jumped when
a hand suddenly came down on her shoulder. She looked back.

Yohko stood there, a serious look on her face. "Nabiki wants to talk
to you, Mizuno-san. Please, come with me."

"Uh, yes," Ami replied, feeling a little frightened. Some of the few
cadets who were within earshot gave her sympathetic looks. There had
been some kind of shakeup in Nabiki's organization recently, and a
rumor floated around that someone had tried to poach on the Tendo
girl's turf. There was another rumor that it was a science cadet, and
so there was an uneasy tension now forming between the two groups of
students.

Ranma noticed Yohko half-dragging Ami off, and he turned to Kyosuke and
pointed it out. "What's up with that, I wonder."

"I'm not sure," Kyosuke replied. "Yohko won't talk to me about it, but
it's probably got something to do with Nabiki, I guess." He shrugged.
Yohko had been very tight-lipped on the matter, not that he had tried
to press her very hard on it. The matter with Madoka Ayukawa was still
a sore spot between them, even though it had been a few weeks since he
had last seen the biker girl, so he was trying to make as few waves as
he possibly could with Yohko. He was also still trying to figure out a
way to broach the subject of Azusa Kanzaki with the young Devil Hunter
without looking guilty of anything. The girl desperately wanted to be
Yohko's apprentice and had begged Kyosuke's analog for help during the
brief time they were switched.

"Yeah. But why Ami Mizuno? She's harmless." Ranma considered the
girl briefly. He had seen Ami around sometime when his morning bout
with the girls occurred, always with her little video camera. Even so,
he found it hard to believe that she might have been involved with
that. No, that was just paranoia speaking.

Ranma was far more concerned about Kinnosuke Kashuoh to worry over what
was going on with Ami. The next day after the fight with Kinnosuke and
the three catgirls occurred, the other boy had transferred from their
school to Whitehall, without any sort of explanation. The rumor mill
had not yet connected it with the shakeup now going on in Nabiki's
network, but it was probably only a matter of time.

He wasn't sure why, but he was convinced that it wasn't quite over yet
between him and Kinnosuke. His experiences from his other selves gave
him a better insight on such matters than he would have had before.
No, the Kashuoh heir might have retreated for now, but he would be back
someday, likely more powerful a fighter than before. And Ranma planned
to be ready for him.

He turned to talk to Ukyo about it, and he was startled to see that the
ninja girl had vanished. He scratched his head. She was really good
at her stealth skills, much better than any of her counterparts in
those other worlds, and she seemed to enjoy startling him each morning
by suddenly appearing next to him while he left his house. He wondered
where she had gone off to.

******************************

Minami grumbled to herself as she sat down in a deserted hallway in one
of the sub-basements, enjoying a quiet lunch by herself. She ripped
off the cover to the boxed meal she had made for herself and began
eating, her anger over the events of this morning still evident in her
movements as she speared chunks of fish and vegetables, the grip on her
chopsticks tight enough to whiten her fingers. She shoveled the food
into her mouth, barely even chewing it.

"Damn that Hikaru Gosunkugi and his spinelessness," she muttered darkly
in between bites. The coward had skipped classes, going off somewhere
to hide from her righteous wrath. "That- that womanizer, playing with
my feelings and getting involved with that emotionless doll, Frost."
She took a swig from her juice box, sipping on the straw noisily. "And
damn that Ukyo Kuonji, too. Why hasn't he noticed me?"

The day could not get any worse now, as far as she was concerned.

******************************

*** Earth +4.199,+3.423

Ranko paused as she moved through the darkened hallways underneath
Kolhotz High School, currently lit only by emergency lighting, a pack
strapped to her back as she hurried along. She had been doing a bit of
exploring, trying to find someone to talk to, since the entire area of
Nerima seemed to be deserted. Ever since her arrival yesterday, she
had yet to see any human beings, only strange aircraft flying overhead,
perhaps military of some kind. She had chosen to hide from them.

Scorch marks were visible on walls and the pavement in places outside,
and there were burned out cars on the roads, the signs of some kind of
battle damage. She had also seen corpses in those vehicles, so she was
no longer looking in any of them. Whatever had happened here had
apparently happened days before her arrival on the scene, but she
didn't care. She just wanted to get off this creepy world as soon as
possible now.

She glanced at the timer on her device. There was less than a minute
left before the paratemporal flux aligned with another parallel Earth.
She had been so involved in her explorations that she had almost missed
her window, and she wanted out of here, unsure when the next one would
be. She didn't know what might happen if she were to try opening a
portal underground, so she was heading for the stairs as quickly as she
could.

It was at that moment that she came across a patrol that emerged from
an intersecting hallway, several figures in some sort of heavy body
armor and carrying guns of unfamiliar make. She reacted quickly and
took off running, cursing herself under her breath for not being more
wary. She couldn't afford to get tied up in some kind of fight here,
especially with armed men. She didn't recognize their insignia, but
they all moved like trained soldiers, their features only dimly visible
behind semi-transparent faceplates in the current lighting.

Bullets began whining and ricocheting past her down the hallway as she
ducked and weaved while running to make herself a harder target to hit.
Who were these guys? Was Japan fighting a war?

"<Now there's a good-looking breeder female,>" commented Centurion
Ranma Saotome in the guttural language of the Musk Dynasty, chuckling
as he admired the shapely backside of the girl currently fleeing from
them. He drove a backfist into one of the men nearest him who had been
shooting to kill, knocking the soldier down. "<Aim down for her legs,
Tendo, you idiot! I swear, you're as useless as a female! That goes
for the rest of you! There's a thousand credit bonus to the man who
brings her down alive for me, and without any permanent damage. I want
her for my family's household.>"

Ranma's gaze was hungry as he studied the running girl in front of him,
even as the soldiers under his command hastened to obey. He admired
her pert derriere as she agilely evaded their fire. As he did so, the
soldier he had knocked down got back up, the face plate smeared with
some blood from his backhanded punch.

Kaneda Tendo regained his feet and directed a murderous glare at Ranma.
He briefly flipped up his faceplate a little and dabbed at the blood
dribbling from his nose, grimacing at the splotch of gore on the visor
from when it had been driven into his face. It would have been so easy
to level his weapon and empty the magazine into Ranma's back, but that
would not have been satisfying. No, he yearned for the other boy to
acknowledge him as the superior fighter, to prove to Ranma Saotome that
he was the stronger one between them, the true heir to Great Master
Happosai's teaching. It galled him that the other boy, barely a year
younger than he was, kept beating him in fistfights.

Noticing Kaneda's look out of the corner of his gaze, Ranma realized he
was going to have to teach the other boy to respect his authority again
when they got back to the base camp. While it was close between them
in their relative skill, Kaneda Tendo was his inferior as a fighter,
and it was time to grind that fact into the older boy's face yet again.
At least it would be a pretty decent match. Perhaps Kaneda had even
learned something new since their last duel.

Ranma grinned wolfishly as he and his men pursued the fleeing girl,
certain that his father would be pleased with him for acquiring the
redhead for their household. He couldn't wait to bed her. It was the
most pleasurable benefit of being an officer in the Musk's legions, to
have his pick of any booty found, such as the very attractive girl now
before them, ripe for the plucking. Years ago, his father had acquired
his mother the same way.

He himself had already obtained two playthings for his own amusement
this way, who waited for him back home to ease the tensions acquired on
foreign battlefields: Ukyo Kuonji, the pretty, young geisha he had
picked up on his second combat drop as a new officer, and the athletic
and well-built Perfume. The pink-haired Chinese Amazon had been quite
a fierce hellcat when he first defeated and captured her on another
Earth, amidst the destruction of her home village going on around them.

He still relished the memory of that first battle with Perfume. His
rifle had jammed after he had been forced to kill the lavender-haired
Amazon he would have preferred taking as a prize, and a savage struggle
had erupted between him and Perfume that could have gone either way.
The strength and spirit she had shown during their fight had captivated
him. Even after her defeat, after dragging her all the way back to his
home timeline in chains, it had still taken time for her to be properly
broken in and brought to know her place as a woman, but now she lived
only to please him.

However, his pride and joy was Kasumi Tendo, Kaneda's older sister by
two years, the one who kept his house in order and the other girls in
line, and who was such a wicked delight in bed with her fondness for
leather and bondage. There was definitely something to be said for
more mature women, and she was indeed a proper Musk woman through and
through. His father's purchase of her from Legate Tendo to unite their
two houses had been a wise investment, and he was looking forward to
bringing this new girl to her as a gift when he returned home, for
proper training at Kasumi's hands like she had done with Perfume.

A lecherous grin crossed his face. After all, while not as fortunate
as his better-placed analogs were among other Musk-controlled worlds,
he was the undefeated heir to the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts
on his own, as well as the strongest fighter among all his analogs he
had met so far. It thus fell to him as his masculine duty to father
many strong male children and pass along to them the teachings of Great
Master Happosai, and that required a proper harem. But he was already
beginning to grow a bit bored with the two girls he now had, even the
sensuous Perfume, and there was something quite tantalizing about the
girl in front of him. He shrugged, shouldering his rifle and sighting
in. Perhaps he had seen an analog of her on another world somewhere.

It was a shame this Earth had offered the Musk such little challenge,
since that meant smaller bonuses for officers like himself. The people
here had been sheep, having enjoyed peace for centuries, and they were
unable to muster any kind of armed defense when the Musk warships had
arrived over their heads, and Musk soldiers like himself had attacked
their cities. Their precious art and literature did them no good when
the wolves came, and the Musk's forces had ravaged this world from pole
to pole within the span of mere days, a quick but very dissatisfying
victory.

Even his own counterpart here had been a mewling weakling, a musician,
not a true warrior like himself. Driving the blade of his combat knife
into his analog's heart had been a mercy killing, an honorable death,
sparing the other boy the ignominy of spending the rest of his days as
some honorless, nameless slave on one of the agricultural collectives
or mining facilities that fed the Musk war machine. Kaneda's female
analog here, Nabiki, had been claimed as a pleasure slave by another
officer. He was still annoyed by the fact that his own analog here had
been engaged to marry Kaneda's, part of what prompted him to end the
other Ranma's life as brutally as he had.

It was the eighth such killing he had done, but it always gave him an
exquisite thrill to kill one of his own analogs, reaffirming his own
physical superiority. It fit the Musk's guiding philosophy, that the
strong took what they wanted from those weaker, and the weak perished.
Killing his first analog had been an epiphany, how easy it was, and he
quickly came to realize that all of his other selves were weak, nothing
but pathetic shadows of himself. Even those living on Musk-controlled
worlds were but pale imitations of him. He was the true Ranma Saotome,
the only one genuinely worthy of the name in the entire multiverse, and
he intended to keep killing his analogs until he was the only one left.

A short ways ahead of the pack of soldiers chasing her, Ranko glanced
at the timer as the firepower from behind her slackened for a few
moments, and the soldiers hustled to catch up to her and round the same
corner she had. When it reached zero, she activated it and pointed it
in front of her, still racing headlong away from the group of men. A
portal immediately yawned open in front of her, and she began sprinting
even harder towards it, pushing herself for all she was worth.

"<A quantum tunnel!>" yelped one of the men. "<Sir, she must be a
Matriarchy spy! She's escaping!>"

"<No!>" Ranma shouted, taking aim. He pulled the trigger a bit hastily
in his eagerness to have the girl. "<She will be mine!>"

Ranko leaped headlong into the opening in the same moment that she felt
a shock in her hand, and her device was nearly ripped from her grip.
She only had a brief moment to glance at it, but she cursed loudly as
the vortex of the quantum tunnel sped her away to her next destination
and then snapped shut behind her seconds later, cutting off her stream
of rather unladylike invective.

Lowering his rifle, Ranma had a thoughtful look on his face. How could
he have missed? He immediately turned to the radio man. "<Report in
that we have encountered a possible Matriarchy spy, and there might be
more. I will accept the blame for her escape and personally apologize
to Legate Ikari when we return to base.>" As the man hastened to do as
he bid, Centurion Saotome raised a hand and made a gesture forward, and
the squad continued on with their patrol.

******************************

*** Earth 0.000,0.000

Off balance from her diving entrance into the quantum tunnel on the
other end, Ranko went from being in a dimly lit corridor to a much
brighter one. Even as the portal immediately snapped shut behind her
with a brief flash of light and a fading distortion of the air, she
slammed full tilt into Minami, knocking the other girl to the ground
and stunning her as they fell down together.

"Ow," Ranko grumbled, feeling the bruises on her body from the impact
as she gingerly rolled off of Minami. She glanced at her device again
and swore under her breath. A bullet had passed through the top part
of the casing, missing her hand by centimeters. She hoped she could
salvage most of its components and rebuild the rest. She swore again.

She glanced over at the other girl, currently laying with her limbs all
akimbo, and her eyes rolling a bit. Ranko blinked when she recognized
the uniform, the gray cloth and black piping of a Security cadet. The
signet ring on her finger was also noted, identifying the redhead as a
member of the Mobius Institute and a mage trainee of some kind.

"Could I finally be home?" Ranko wondered aloud. Hope blossomed within
her, since the few instances she had come across Kolhotz High School
showed her it did occupy roughly the same physical location as the
Imperial Academy. However, she needed to make sure, and that required
a disguise, since she couldn't walk around campus out of uniform. She
studied the unconscious girl, noting that their frames were not too
dissimilar in their proportions, except that the other girl was a few
centimeters taller. Ranko was grateful that she wasn't quite as small
in stature as all of her analogs seemed to be, so the other girl's
uniform would probably fit pretty well.

Ranko knelt down next to Minami and began removing the Ghost Sweeper's
clothing. When the girl started to stir, Ranko grimaced and slugged
her in the jaw, sending the Ghost Sweeper back into unconsciousness.

"Sorry about that," Ranko murmured, quickly continuing to strip the
insensate Minami. When the Ghost Sweeper was finally unclothed, she
speedily began removing her own clothing and putting on Minami's,
trying hard to not feel aroused by the sight of the other girl's body,
now clad only in bra and panties.

When she was finally dressed in Minami's gray uniform, Ranko began
putting her old clothes on the other girl, dressing the Ghost Sweeper
in the light blue Chinese-style shirt and black gi pants she had been
wearing on her arrival. She was pleased to find that her initial
assessment was right, that they were about the same clothing size,
except Ranko's legs were a little shorter, and her body more compactly
muscular.

Just to be on the safe side, she gagged and tied up Minami before
locking her away in one of the nearby rooms, leaving the other girl in
what was hopefully a relatively comfortable position. After hiding her
pack, and stuffing her device into one of the side pockets, she quietly
headed off down the hallway. When she suddenly heard voices, she hid
in the shadows.

Ami and Yohko walked by, and Ranko wondered where the pair was going.
Yohko looked just as she remembered her, and Ami had been a friend, a
pretty good one, actually. Curious, she stealthed after them.

Ukyo emerged from the shadows momentarily, curious as to who the girl
in Security gray was, and why she was following the same quarry she
was. She flitted silently from shadow to shadow, keeping the redhead
and her original targets in sight as best she could.

Unaware of being followed by anyone, Yohko halted and knocked on a
door. There was a pause for a few moments, and then it opened up to
reveal Yuka, who nodded at her and quickly stepped aside. Hiroshi was
currently kneeling on the floor behind her, holding his stomach and
gasping for breath. A thin trickle of blood leaked from one side of
his mouth, and a livid bruise was on his cheek. Sayuri stood behind
him, looking a bit grim.

******************************

Ranko leaped up into the ducting overhead, hiding herself there. She
had caught a glimpse of a girl who looked like Nabiki Tendo in the
room. She settled down to wait, one leg and arm looped around a pipe
to hold herself in place.

A little ways down the corridor, Ukyo also took to the ceiling area,
quietly moving closer. Whoever this other girl was, she moved very
well, almost like a ninja herself. Without a sound, she crept closer.

******************************

Nabiki was in the process of slipping her uniform jacket back on when
Yohko escorted Ami in. She turned to face them, and then her gaze
slipped briefly over to Sayuri.

"I think we're done with him," she said calmly. "I'm sure I made my
point quite clear. Sayuri, please escort Hiroshi-kun here back to
class, would you? Make sure nothing happens to him along the way."

"Yes, Senpai," Sayuri replied, before grabbing Hiroshi by the collar
and half-hauling, half-helping him to his feet. "Come on, Hiro-kun."
She helped him to the door, beginning to berate him as they left. "How
could you have been so stupid, you dummy? You should've trusted that
Nabiki-senpai would take care of things. Now look at-" The closing
door cut off the rest of her words.

******************************

"-should've trusted that Nabiki-senpai would take care of things,"
Sayuri berated Hiroshi as she passed underneath Ranko. "Now look at
what's happened. You betrayed Nabiki-senpai. And for what? A single
threat and you fold like a house of cards? You're pathetic." The pair
continued on down the hall, Sayuri still chastising Hiroshi.

Ranko watched from overhead as they went out of sight. So far that she
had seen, everything was the same as how she remembered it.

A few feet back from Ranko, Ukyo silently waited and observed the new
girl, wondering what she was up to.

******************************

Ami swallowed nervously as Nabiki settled herself into a chair and
leaned forward, folding her hands together and resting her chin on the
tips of her fingers. There was a second chair in front of her that
Yuka promptly righted, and Yohko escorted Ami to sit in. She felt even
more nervous to see the calm look on Nabiki's face. After Ami sat,
Yuka left the room to stand watch in the hallway. It was quiet for
about a minute.

"Mizuno-san," Nabiki said calmly, breaking the silence. "I'd like you
to explain to me just what is going on with Ranma being attacked by all
those girls each morning."

"Uh." Ami blinked. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because I've been hearing some things about you and that Jinnai girl
somehow being behind this matter," Nabiki replied. "Now, I thought I'd
start my questions with you before I dealt with her. So, what can you
tell me about it?" She smiled, but there was little pleasantness in
it. "This will go so much easier if you're honest with me."

Ami swallowed again and looked down. She was a bit startled when
Nabiki reached out and gently placed her fingers on her chin, lifting
her face up to look at her. Remembering the sight of the boy who had
been on the floor, bleeding, when she arrived, she began trembling.

"I'm not angry, Mizuno-san," Nabiki said, her tone a little more gentle
now. "I just want to know what's going on with those girls and Ranma.
I'm concerned about him. You see, he's very important to me, and I
don't allow anything to happen to something I value. It's not how I
operate."

Yohko nodded as Nabiki spoke. When the middle Tendo daughter had first
begun establishing her network towards the end of their first year at
the Academy, she had shown no hesitancy towards being harsh, even
brutal at times, in her methods when dealing with the politics and
shifting alliances here. Now even the upperclassmen respected Nabiki's
position in the Academy's hierarchy. But gaining that level of respect
had meant a bit of violence was sometimes necessary.

She and Nabiki had already become good friends by then, both of them on
the outskirts of the Academy's social circles. Nabiki's exclusion was
due to her father's position in the Directorate, from a desire to avoid
any hint of trying to depend on his coattails, and Yohko's was due to
her status as a Devil Hunter. It was perhaps inevitable that the two
of them had drifted together and became friends, and it was only
natural for her to act as the brawn to Nabiki's brains, since Nabiki
was much better than she was at scheming. Together, they were running
a rapidly growing organization inside of a month. Nabiki even began
blackmailing a few of the instructors into looking the other way while
they conducted their business, and that was not an easy task here. But
once her power base had been firmly established all those months ago,
everything proceeded pretty smoothly.

This matter with Kinnosuke Kashuoh had upset that calm, Yohko mused,
and Nabiki had been dealing with the aftermath all week. It was slow
going at first, but word was getting around that Nabiki Tendo, the Iron
Bitch, was intent on getting all of her affairs back to normal running
mode. Making an example of Hiroshi and a select few others for their
acts of betrayal, while rather distasteful to the young Devil Hunter,
was simply part of re-establishing Nabiki's authority. But her friend
was also now realizing she needed to be on the lookout for some hotshot
first-year cadet trying to do the same thing to her that she had done
to the upperclassmen. That Nabiki-wannabe, Nanami Jinnai, was up to
something, and Ami Mizuno seemed to be involved as well.

However, Nabiki was using gentler methods of interrogation to find out
what Ami knew, which Yohko was secretly grateful for. It was more of a
'good cop' approach this time, a sign of how much Nabiki had mellowed
over the past several weeks, not that Yohko was complaining at all. If
anything, they were becoming even better friends now, since Nabiki had
loosened up quite a bit, at least in private with her.

"Mizuno-san," Nabiki said calmly, disturbing Yohko from her musings.
"Tell me what is going on. It's in your best interests. I'm sure that
Jinnai girl is just using you." What went unspoken was, 'It's what I
would do.'

"I-it's nothing bad," Ami stuttered. "J-just a fan club."

******************************

Ranko felt she had waited long enough. Even if this wasn't her world,
she didn't feel right about leaving Ami alone in there with Nabiki and
Yohko. The girl had looked pretty scared, and someone had beaten up
Hiroshi inside that room. She eyed Yuka, standing off to one side of
the door, and she shifted her position, readying herself.

The Yuka she remembered was a middling fighter at best compared to her,
but there was no reason to take any risks. With a soft breath, she
released her hold on the pipe and dropped down next to the other girl,
the rubber soles of her borrowed shoes barely making a sound. Her arm
quickly snaked around Yuka's neck, and she pressed down on the carotid
artery in a choke hold, not wanting to make any noise out here.

Yuka struggled briefly, desperately throwing her weight back against
Ranko in an attempt to crush her assailant against the wall and loosen
the iron grip around her throat. Ranko grunted, but her hold remained
firm. She hoped nobody inside heard anything as the two struggled.

After several moments, Yuka's eyes rolled back up into her head as she
passed out, and her body's weight slumped limply into Ranko's arms.
The pigtailed girl laid her down gently and briefly checked her pulse,
laying two fingers against her neck. Yuka would have somewhat of a
headache when she woke up, but nothing more serious.

Ukyo, still quietly observing, nodded at the strange girl's technique.
She moved and fought well, Ukyo judged. It would be interesting to see
how she fared against a more challenging opponent.

******************************

Nabiki blinked at Ami's words and was about to inquire further when
there was a faint sound from the hallway. She glanced up at Yohko, who
seemed aware of it as well. They exchanged looks, and then the Devil
Hunter quietly walked over to stand beside the door.

Opening it revealed Yuka laying up against the wall, apparently asleep.
Yohko had only a moment to wonder what was going on before Ranko swung
down from where she was hiding among the ducts and pipes running along
the ceiling. Her hands firmly grasped the top of the doorframe, and
she kicked both her feet hard into Yohko's midsection, knocking the
other girl back a few feet and to her knees.

Nabiki sprang up when Ranko finished her maneuver, coming into the room
in an acrobatic flip and landing with feet spread, her knees soaking up
the shock of landing. When Yohko came at the redhead in retaliation,
Ranko ducked under the other girl's strike and threw an uppercut to
Yohko's jaw in reply, knocking her to the ground again when the Devil
Hunter's knees promptly buckled. A second punch across Yohko's face
knocked her out. Ami just sat there, amazed at the sudden intrusion.

"Who the hell are you?" Nabiki demanded, surprised to see someone put
the Devil Hunter down so quickly. She would avenge her fallen friend,
and her gaze narrowed wrathfully as the two girls eyed each other
intently for several moments. "You're wearing an Academy uniform, but
I don't know you." While she didn't recognize the pigtailed girl, she
was obviously very well-trained.

"I'm Ranko," the redhead said simply, meeting the older girl's look
levelly. She paused and thought a moment about what name she would
give, then decided to use one that Nabiki would probably never have
heard of before on this world, not wanting to get her own analog in
trouble, if she had one here. "I'm Ranko Kuonji. I'd suggest you not
try and get in my way. You'll only end up like your friend here."

******************************

Out in the hallway, Ukyo nearly lost her grip on the ducting she had
been clinging to. Did that girl just say she was a Kuonji? Ukyo's
mind whirled for several moments, then the answer suddenly came to her.

Something had happened in the past with her Aunt Yumi, something that
the rest of the clan would not speak of. A child born out of wedlock
made sense, and the girl seemed to be the right age. That would mean
that Ranko was her cousin. That was great, she mused with a grin. It
would be fun to have another girl around to talk with, and she was
looking forward to seeing the look on her aunt's face when she told her
that she'd figured out her secret.

She considered going in at that point, but decided to wait and see how
things played out. But she would be ready, if Ranko needed any help.

******************************

Nabiki raised an eyebrow at the name the girl gave her. "Let me get
this straight. _You_ are threatening me?" She assumed a casual pose,
lowering her arms to her sides, her gaze still locked with Ranko's. "I
don't think you realize just who you're dealing with, shorty."

"Come on, Mizuno-san," said Ranko, finally breaking eye contact with
Nabiki as she ignored the insult. She went over to where Ami sat,
looking stunned and relieved that she was being rescued. The redhead
put a hand down on her shoulder. "I'm getting you out of here."

"You're not going anywhere yet, Ranko Kuonji," Nabiki said calmly after
a moment. "You come in here uninvited and brutalize my most closest
associate. That's rather rude, you know."

Ranko shrugged. "I'm just helping out someone in trouble is all." She
helped Ami up and stood the girl behind her to protect her. "I'm not
really sure just what's going on here, but I'm saying this interview is
over."

"You're not being very respectful to an upperclassmen," Nabiki said
with a cool look, her temper aroused by the other girl's disrespectful
attitude.

"Sorry about that, Tendo-senpai," Ranko replied sarcastically. "I'll
try to do better in the future."

Nabiki moved to bar their way. "You're not going anywhere until I get
a few answers out of you."

"Wait here a moment, Mizuno-san," Ranko said in an aside. She stepped
over closer to Nabiki. "Look, here's how this is going to work. She
and I are going through that door, so I'd suggest you get out of my way
right now." Her hands dropped to her sides, partly closing into fists.
There was nothing she would like better right now than to knock the
Tendo girl on her rear, feeling more and more aggravated by the older
girl as she drew nearer.

Irritated by the smaller girl and her disrespectful attitude on several
levels, Nabiki threw the first punch, one swiftly blocked by Ranko, and
then the fight between the two began in earnest. Off to one side, Ami
stood and wondered who this Ranko Kuonji was, and why she was helping
her.

Out in the hallway, Ukyo heard the sounds of a major fight breaking out
in the room, and she peeked down from the ceiling to peer inside. A
fierce battle raged between her supposed cousin and Nabiki, and both
fighters were looking pretty intent on putting the other one down as
harshly as possible. She saw Ami watching the whole thing, an almost
rapturous look on the girl's face as she began recording things with
her small video camera, her attention apparently focused on Ranko.

Nabiki reeled back as one of Ranko's punches slipped past her guard to
drive into her face, releasing a brief spurt of blood from her nose.
But her own response was equally swift and powerful as she regained her
footing, a snap kick that caught Ranko in her ribs, just under one
breast. The two girls circled each other for a few moments, and then
they began trading blows again, very few actually connecting as they
weaved and danced around each other, taking each other's measure as a
fighter.

Ranko was startled that this Nabiki was so formidable a fighter, a
rarity amidst the few analogs she had seen of the older girl. Feeling
a familiar sensation now percolating in the cells of her hindbrain,
aroused by the passions of the fight, she boosted, and she felt her
senses quickly expand as her muscles swelled with new strength and
power, and her reflexes turned lightning-fast. In front of her,
Nabiki's motions seemed to slow to a crawl, and Ranko grinned, setting
up the Tendo girl to be finished off quickly. She drove a few solid
punches past the other girl's now glacial defenses.

"Enough of this," Nabiki growled, reeling back, irritated at Ranko's
sudden burst of speed. She would show the redhead what speed really
was! "KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" She unleashed a furious storm of
punches at the smaller girl. This would finish her off, she thought
with certainty.

To Ranko's accelerated awareness, Nabiki's fists suddenly seemed to
blur in at her, almost too fast to perceive each individual punch, and
she strained to keep up with the sheer volume of strikes coming at her,
recognizing the technique even though she had not trained herself to
use it yet. Ranko ducked and wove her body among the blows, her hands
deflecting still more, and she just soaked up the damage caused by
those that did hit her midsection and face by virtue of the stew of
endorphins, adrenaline, and other serums surging within her. But the
effort was taxing her more than she could have ever imagined. Luckily,
it was over quickly.

Nabiki was caught offguard when Ranko seemed unaffected by her attack,
despite a couple of bruises now adorning the other girl's face. Her
body sagged, still unused to such a staggering demand of energy made on
her muscles so quickly. She realized a bit too late that she had just
overcommitted herself and tried to brace herself to absorb the smaller
girl's counter-attack.

Grinning mirthlessly, Ranko took advantage of Nabiki's misjudgment, and
she laid into the middle Tendo daughter with heavy punches and kicks.
Despite the euphoria of the boost, she could feel she was reaching her
limit soon, dealing with Nabiki's attack having drained her reserves
much more quickly than normal, so she needed to finish this fast. Her
attacks ripped through the Tendo girl's weakened defenses, shredding
them away before her punches and kicks began driving hard into Nabiki's
body and face.

"Uhn! Uh! Uhn!" Nabiki grunted as the smaller girl's fists and feet
slammed into her again and again without letup. She tried to rally,
but it was too late. Her knees buckled from the damage, and Ranko
quickly grabbed her shoulders and drove a savage knee strike up into
her belly, followed up quickly by a second one and then a third. Then
everything went black as the last thing she saw was the redhead's fist
coming straight at her face.

Ranko paused, feeling exhaustion roll over her as the boost abruptly
subsided within her, grateful that the battle had ended. In front of
her, Nabiki's eyes were rolling back in their sockets, the pigtailed
girl's fist almost embedded in her cheek as they stood in a brief
tableau. Then Nabiki slumped unconscious at Ranko's feet, even as the
redhead fell to her knees, her stomach roiling within her and growling
with hunger as her muscles trembled throughout her whole body from the
sudden rush of fatigue poisons hitting her all at once. Her lungs
panted like a bellows.

She was startled when Ami put an arm around her and started to help her
up, but she was grateful for the assistance. She slowly stood, leaning
heavily on Ami.

"Th-thank you," Ami said hesitantly.

"No problem." Ranko grinned, flashing the other girl a victory sign
and acting macho, even as her legs trembled beneath her. "Glad I could
help."

"You were just amazing," Ami gushed, helping the other girl move to the
door. "I've never seen anyone fight like you, other than Tendo-senpai
and Saotome-san."

Feeling her strength gradually returning with each moment as they
headed down the hallway, Ranko glanced at Ami. "Saotome-san? Ranma
Saotome?"

"Y-you know him?" Ami asked with sudden hesitance, fearing that the
redhead was another girl romantically interested in Ranma.

Up above, Ukyo's eyes narrowed as she listened in. Was this another
rival for Ranma? Her own cousin?

"I'm familiar with him." Ranko noticed the odd look Ami was giving
her. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," said Ami, quickly looking away. Somewhat shyly, she
asked, "A-are you interested in Saotome-san?"

Ranko's mind immediately summoned up images from the erotic dreams she
kept having about her male analog. She blushed and quickly stammered
out defensively, "O-of course not! I'm not interested in him at all
like that!"

Above them, Ukyo relaxed, putting away the small throwing spatula she
had unconsciously drawn out.

"I'm glad," Ami sighed with relief. "Saotome-san is already being
chased by a fair number of girls."

"Oh? Like who?" A brief feeling of jealousy arose in Ranko, and she
hastily beat it back down, blushing some more. Feeling her strength
returning to her limbs, Ranko ceased leaning on Ami and stood on her
own. Her stomach growled a bit loudly, and she put one hand behind her
head and grinned slightly with embarrassment. "Sorry. I guess I'm a
little hungry."

"Oh, let me buy you some lunch!" Ami replied quickly. "It's the least
I can do for you helping me out like that." She took Ranko by the hand
and started leading her down the hall, smiling at the redhead. "You
were very brave to stand up to Tendo-senpai like that. Are you a new
transfer student?"

"Something like that." Ranko smiled nervously, unsure what to do. She
let Ami lead her down the hallway.

Once they were around the corner, Ukyo dropped down quietly and quickly
followed after them, listening to the two girls chatting.

******************************

Kodachi eyed the pigtailed girl that Ami had brought back to their
class, her arms laden with food. The girl had given her a startled
look when she first came into the room, as if recognizing her, and
Kodachi was sure she had seen the other girl before, somewhere, perhaps
on another timeline visited by that part of her that she referred to as
scholar-Kodachi. The redhead had kept a wary eye in her direction even
as she consumed food with a barbaric gusto, showing little in the way
of proper feminine decorum. As she did so, several of Ami's friends
gathered around them to find out who the girl was. Even Nanami got up
from her desk and went over to chat, welcoming the new girl.

Feeling a bit jealous of how easily the pigtailed hoyden was making
friends with the other girls in class, Kodachi sullenly ate the rest of
her lunch and listened to the bits of conversation she could hear. She
was especially interested as Ami described in detail how Ranko had
rescued her from a meeting with Nabiki, even taking down the Tendo girl
in single combat. That earned a few ooh's and ah's of respect from the
gathered girls, and Nanami seemed even more interested in the pigtailed
girl, a gleam appearing in her eye. Seeing all the respect Ranko was
getting, Kodachi felt even more jealous.

"So, Ranko," Nanami said, leaning over the girl's shoulder. "That's
impressive that you beat Tendo-senpai. Aren't you worried about her
wanting to get back at you?"

Ranko grinned, enjoying the food more than the attention, feeling it
quiet the hungry beast that had been raging in her belly. "Nah, she
wasn't so tough. I'm sure I could take her again if I had to."

Nanami smiled, a scheme already forming in the back of her mind. "I'm
sure you could," she said with a nod, eyeing the redhead and smiling.
"I think we're going to be good friends." Several other girls nodded
with her.

Ami was pleased that her newfound friend was being welcomed so easily
by the other girls in class.

******************************

The sun was lowering in the cloud-filled sky as Ryoga paused next to a
wall and leaned against it with one hand. He had been walking all day,
feeling cold and wet from the rain, trying desperately to find either
Ukyo or Ryoko without having any luck. He shut his eyes, tears of rage
threatening to burst forth. It just wasn't fair! He had no idea where
he was. Ukyo could be anywhere in this city.

"Man, today has been one bad day," Hiroshi grumbled to himself as he
started to walk past Ryoga, who had his hand resting on a brass plaque
that proclaimed 'Tokyo Imperial Academy - Founded 1845' in kanji. "I
can't wait to get home and forget about this day."

That uniform, Ryoga realized, his eyes locking on to Hiroshi. His hand
swiftly lashed out and grabbed the boy by the collar. "Where is the
Imperial Academy!"

Hiroshi blinked. "Wha-?"

"I recognize that uniform you're wearing!" Ryoga shouted into Hiroshi's
face as he hauled him close. "You go to the Imperial Academy! Where
is it?"

Hiroshi fearfully pointed over Ryoga's shoulder, and Ryoga turned and
read the words on the plaque slowly, with disbelief. His morale soared
as he realized he was close to his goal, and he turned back to the two
cadets and shouted, "Where is Ukyo Kuonji!"

"I-I don't know," Hiroshi whimpered, afraid he was going to get beaten
up for a second time in one day. "I don't know where he is! I swear!"

Just at that moment, Ranma came out the gate, heading to the parking
area for his bike. He stopped, dead in his tracks at the sight of
Ryoga. Both boys locked gazes for a moment in a brief tableau.

"You!" Ryoga snarled, recognizing the pigtailed boy as a friend of
Ukyo's here. "Tell me where Ukyo is!" He let Hiroshi go as an
afterthought and stalked towards Ranma, dramatically cracking his
knuckles to throw a scare into the other boy. "You'd better tell me
where Ukyo is, and you'd better tell me right now," he growled.

******************************

Above the two boys, Ranko was kneeling on the top of the wall, partly
hidden amidst several tree branches hanging over it while she observed
the scene with interest. After eating a huge lunch with Ami and being
fawned over a bit by the girls in Ami's class, she had spent some time
scouting around the campus. Everything looked just like she remembered
it from her own world, but that familiarity only made her homesickness
that much more acute.

She had also snuck back downstairs and retrieved her quantum tunneling
device, and after examining it had determined that the damage done to
it would require special parts to fix, parts she could not get outside
of the Science Ministry. Realizing she needed help, she had been
biding her time for the remainder of the afternoon, waiting for a
chance to talk to Ranma in private after he was done with classes. He
was the only one who could possibly help her, even though she also
suspected that he was the one who had messed with her brain.

******************************

Spotting his pigtailed nemesis leaving the grounds of the Imperial
Academy, Mikado emerged from the limousine he had been waiting in.
With a grim look on his face, determined to make Ranma pay for his
assault on Kodachi, he headed over to where his target was apparently
being confronted by another boy. Not that it mattered to Mikado. If
the boy wearing the bandanna had a grudge against Saotome, he'd have to
wait in line.

******************************

Ranma considered his options quickly. Now that he was healed up, he
felt confident about dealing with Ryoga. Ukyo was getting her spatula
from her locker, and he was supposed to meet her in a few minutes. He
gave Ryoga a grin. This wouldn't take very long.

"I don't think so, Lost Boy," said Ranma in his most insulting tones.
"Man, are you really so stupid that you think I'd just tell a moron
like you where Ucchan was?"

Ryoga stopped dead in his tracks, not expecting that response. "What
did you say?"

"You heard me," Ranma replied. "Leave Ucchan alone. Say, where've you
been for the past few days anyway? Get lost crossing a street?"

Ryoga growled, his eyebrow twitching as he grew more furious. "Oh,
you're going to get it for that." Ukyo could wait a little while,
after he pounded this pigtailed jerk into the ground first. He
advanced another step.

"Catch me if you can, Lost Boy!" Ranma turned around and headed off at
a run, hoping to lure Ryoga away from Ukyo, and then deal with him on
his own someplace more private.

"Damn you!" Ryoga roared, sprinting after Ranma, angry beyond reason
now. First he was going to pound on this guy a bit, then he would beat
Ukyo's location out of him, assuming the other boy's jaw wasn't broken
first.

******************************

What the heck? Ranko saw the pair suddenly take off at a run. She
dropped down from the wall, just in time to be run into by Mikado, who
had started sprinting when Ranma suddenly took off running. Both of
them fell to the ground.

Mikado grimaced as he sat up, and then he saw the girl who he had run
into. He immediately went over to help her up, Ranma forgotten for the
moment. Feeling a pleasant tingling as he took her hand, he studied
her for a moment, noting the delightful expanse of a bustline she had,
and her pleasingly athletic figure.

"Are you all right, Miss?" he asked, smiling.

"Wha-?" Ranko was still a little stunned from the impact. Ranma was
getting away, and she had to start after him.

"Ah, but let me introduce myself properly. I am Mikado Sanzenin." And
with that, he pulled Ranko into an embrace and promptly kissed her.

Ranko's eyes went wide, a storm of emotions erupting inside her. Part
of her found the kiss enjoyable. Her first kiss, she absently mused.
Then another part came roaring up out of the back of her mind, as if
triggered by the embrace.

Wait a minute! A guy was kissing her! She knew him! Memories of a
skating match came over her, and a powerful sense of deja vu mixed with
revulsion. With a surge of rage, Ranko drove her knee up into Mikado's
groin and shoved him away. Feeling tears of anger welling up in her
eyes from the stolen kiss, she ran off after Ranma.

Mikado came near to throwing up, and tears of pain leaked from his eyes
as he collapsed to the ground, clutching himself. He rolled to one
side and watched Ranko running away from him, and a fierce rage came
over him. How dare that little commoner wench do such a thing to him!

Somehow managing to get to his feet, he began staggering after Ranko,
determined to make her pay for what she had just done. Whichever one
he caught up to first, Ranma or Ranko, would feel his wrath.

******************************

Ryoko had finally made her way back to familiar territory, grateful for
the easing of the rain. She was looking forward to her revenge upon
Nabiki Tendo, savoring it a bit in her mind as she walked along. It
was going to feel so good to pulverize the other girl for daring to
insult her like that.

Ranma went charging past her, followed up quickly by Ryoga.

"Just wait until I get my hands on you, Saotome!" roared Ryoga.

Ranma glanced back, and he stuck his tongue out as he peeled down one
eyelid with a finger. "Gotta catch me first, you slowpoke!"

Startled, Ryoko turned around to watch them for a moment, wondering why
Ryoga was picking on poor Ranma like that. She was promptly knocked
down as Ranko came around the corner and sprinted right over her, using
her as a launching platform for a quick leap as she struggled to catch
up to the two testosterone-filled morons. Ryoko slammed face down into
the pavement.

"Sorry about that!" Ranko called back, still running hard after the two
boys.

As she was getting to her feet, Mikado ran over her next, slamming her
face back into the concrete. He never even paused.

Ryoko growled as she got back to her feet, deciding that pummeling
Nabiki Tendo could wait. First she was going to pound that redhead
into mulch, not to mention the guy chasing her. And then she was going
to find out why Ryoga was picking on Ranma. She took off at a run
after the group.

******************************

Up on the rooftop of the Institute's storage facility, Gosunkugi
watched a small parade of people that were apparently chasing after
Saotome, two boys and two girls. He had been laying subtle spells of
illusion all over the building all afternoon, being very careful to
avoid the vats of Jusenkyo water, and he was feeling a bit tired by his
efforts. He walked over to peer through a skylight into the dim
interior, hoping to see Ranma's downfall with his own eyes.

******************************

There, that place would be perfect, Ranma thought. He burst through
the unlocked gates to what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse a few
blocks from the Academy. He could fight here with Ryoga without doing
any property damage to anything valuable, like his other selves always
seemed to be doing.

Once inside, Ranma leaped up the stairs, cataloging his surroundings as
he headed up towards the catwalk overhead. The building was open and
spacious inside, offering him plenty of room to maneuver, and it seemed
like it hadn't been used for a long time, judging by all the cobwebs
and dust on everything. He had just reached the catwalk's level when
Ryoga came running in, practically ripping the metal door off its
hinges in his eagerness to get him.

"SAOTOME! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"Up here, stupid!" Ranma waved jauntily down at Ryoga. He grinned as
he took a moment to loosen up for the fight while the Hibiki boy came
barreling up the stairs. The short run had gotten his heart rate up a
little, and he felt ready for anything.

A moment later, Ranko came running in through the doors. She paused,
looking around, and then she heard a loud commotion up overhead.

"Now I've got you!" Mikado cried out as he came running into the
warehouse next. Ranko had just barely turned around, and Mikado
managed to get in the first blow, a punch that rocked the pigtailed
girl back on her feet. She leaped aside as Mikado tried to follow up
with a side kick that just barely missed.

"I don't got time for this!" Ranko bounced off a nearby wall and came
surging back towards Mikado, knocking him back into a pile of crates,
stunning him. Her path took her to another set of stairs.

Meanwhile, Ranma and Ryoga stood and faced each other on one catwalk
above. Ranma grinned, which infuriated Ryoga. With a growl, Ryoga
swiftly charged across to where Ranma stood near the middle of the
catwalk. He lashed out with a hard punch at the last moment, and Ranma
hopped up to perch on his arm for a moment before he bounced up to land
easily on one rail.

"You're gonna have to do better than that," Ranma teased, dodging the
punches that Ryoga threw as he danced back along the railing. "I could
keep this sort of thing up all day, Hibiki."

Below, Ryoko came charging in. Spotting the redheaded girl up above,
she pursued, sparing a glance at the fight now going on between Ranma
and Ryoga. First, the redhead, she decided. She bounced off crates as
she bounded up to the catwalk.

"Stop running away!" Ryoko roared, finally managing to catch up to
Ranko. "Stand and fight!" She lashed out with a flying kick that
managed to hit Ranko in the shoulder, spinning her around.

Ranko growled. "That hurt, ya know." She began trading blows with the
angry, green-haired girl. "What's your problem?"

"Stand still a moment, and it won't be a problem anymore." Ryoko aimed
a roundhouse kick at Ranko's midsection, but it missed, shearing clean
through one of the support posts holding up the catwalk. It lurched to
one side as the post gave way, and both girls quickly hopped up on the
remaining rail and continued their duel without a single moment's
pause.

A recovered Mikado had just started out across the catwalk when it
suddenly pitched violently to one side, propelling him off it. "Wha-
Ahhh!" He tumbled headlong into one of the vats of water below and
vanished with a noisy splash.

Across the warehouse, on the next catwalk, Ranma still danced around
Ryoga, but he was finding it much more difficult than he remembered it
as being. He quickly snap kicked Ryoga, catching the other boy in the
chest and knocking him back against the railing.

Ryoga regained his footing and glared at Ranma. "That was nothing!
You hit like a girl!"

"What the hell did you say?" Ranma snarled. "Take that back, Hibiki!
You take that back!" He launched into a furious attack, a flurry of
punches and kicks into Ryoga.

Meanwhile, Ranko and Ryoko were engaged in a dazzling display of their
fighting skills as they dueled fiercely with each other. Ryoko's fists
and feet missed Ranko by mere centimeters, but Ranko was discovering
that her own blows were not wearing down the other girl as quickly as
they had with Nabiki. She redoubled her efforts, throwing more of her
strength into her strikes.

Below them, the water in one vat stirred as first a stream of bubbles
and then a small black piglet suddenly broke the surface. It gasped
for breath as it struggled to stay afloat.

"Bwee!" the piglet called out fearfully, paddling as best it could with
little cloven hooves. "BWEE!"

******************************

Ranma glanced back, startled to hear the sounds of a pig crying out.

"Now I've got you," growled Ryoga, slamming a kick into Ranma with all
of his strength, propelling the pigtailed boy out into open space.

Ranko glanced down, startled to hear the sounds of a pig crying out.
She was caught unprepared as Ryoko swung around on the remaining
support pole and drove both her feet into her chest, launching her
across the warehouse.

******************************

Ranko twisted her body around, catching sight of a fire sprinkler pipe
behind her that she could land on. Ryoko was in for a surprise as soon
as she touched down.

Ranma caught a brief glimpse of a pipe behind him that he could use to
land on, and he twisted his body around to spring off it. Ryoga was
about to get a surprise.

Ranko and Ranma slammed into each other full force, and they tumbled
together towards a vat of water below them. Half-conscious from the
impact, they instinctively clung together. Both of them vanished
beneath the surface with a large splash.

******************************

*** Heaven 0.000,0.000

The screen on Skuld's workstation abruptly cleared.

* MISSING PARAMATERS FOUND. IMPLEMENTING FILE MERGE.

* MIDGARD REALITY PARADIGM ADJUSTMENT: 43% COMPLETE.

A few moments passed, then another line appeared.

* MIDGARD REALITY PARADIGM ADJUSTMENT: 44% COMPLETE.

******************************

*** Earth 0.000,0.000

At the Mobius Institute, Setsuna Meioh paused as new futures suddenly
arose before her vision. She immediately crumpled up the piece of
paper she had been drawing on and cast it aside. A small smile lit her
face.

"It has begun," she whispered, quite softly.

******************************

Even as the water in the vat began settling, a hand suddenly broke the
surface as a female figure emerged from its depths with a gasp and
grabbed hold of one of the sides, dressed in a Chinese-style shirt and
black gi pants. Just behind her, a gray Imperial Academy cadet uniform
floated up, empty.

Coughing up a small quantity of water as she treaded water, her mind
whirled as a confusing kaleidoscope of memories assaulted her. But
they quickly began to stabilize. What had happened? Why did she feel
so strange?

A sudden impulse seized her, and she ripped open her shirt, staring in
apparent shock at a pair of breasts.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

******************************

Seeing the girl come up and look to be all right, Ryoga breathed a sigh
of relief and kept his eyes peeled for Ranma. He did think it was odd
that the girl was wearing an outfit like the pigtailed boy had. Then
she did the strangest thing.

She opened her blouse and screamed. Then she looked right at him, and
the sheer, raw fury in that gaze astonished him by its intensity.

"RRRYYYOOOGGGAAA!" she raged, leaping at him in a high-bounding surge
from the water to bounce off some boxes and land on the railing in
front of him. She opened her blouse to him. "You jerk! Look at me!
Look what you did to me!"

"I-I'm sorry for getting you wet, Miss," he said, feeling his nose
starting to stream blood, unsure what to say. He was still stammering
an apology and trying not to stare at her bared breasts when she
launched herself at him and spun around in midair to land a heavy
roundhouse kick into his chest. Caught off-guard, he flew from the
catwalk and vanished off into the dimness. There was the sound of a
distant splash.

Ryoko, seeing that the redheaded bimbo had just flashed her chest at
Ryoga and then attacked him while the idiot was offguard, started to
leap from the catwalk she was on when the remaining support suddenly
gave way. The entire catwalk began plummeting to the floor of the
warehouse. Desperately trying to leap clear, Ryoko pushed off the
already descending railing. She reached out and just missed the
handhold she had been aiming for by millimeters. She fell to land in
another vat.

******************************

Gazing down through the skylight, Gosunkugi felt triumphant. Ranma
Saotome had apparently drowned in one of the tanks, but luckily the
girl had survived. He laughed maniacally for several moments. Then he
felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Eh?" He turned around to see Frost standing there, her robes slowly
billowing in the light wind.

"I have spent all day preparing a nutritious dinner for you, Airen,"
she said with a serious look. "You will come home and eat it now."
With that, she grabbed him in a hug and flew off.

******************************

Up on one catwalk, the girl began shaking a bit, her mind whirling with
scattered memories. She clutched at her head for several moments, and
then leaned forward.

"I-I'm Ranma," the girl said in a mutter, staring at her hands. "Or am
I Ranko?" Memories of two lives arose within her mind, and she buried
her face in her hands for several moments.

"This can't be happening. This can't be happening."

With a sob, tears streaming from her eyes as she lifted her gaze from
her hands, she leaped down from the catwalk and ran from the warehouse,
out into the rain beginning to fall heavily from the skies.

******************************

In the tank where Ryoko fell, the surface of the water began bubbling,
and then a small cat with greenish fur broke the surface, looking
panicked.

"Meow! MEOW!" the cat cried out, struggling to stay afloat.

"BWEE! BWEE!" added the piglet, still trying to keep his head above
the surface.

At that moment, Cherry entered the warehouse. Hearing the cries of
fear from the animals, he made his way carefully to the tanks of water
and fished them out before either could drown. They both collapsed,
utterly exhausted from their efforts. He tapped a spot on each of
their bodies, and they fell unconscious.

"Rest now, little ones," he said, his bald head gleaming slightly in
the dim light. "Fate has apparently chosen you."

Cherry eyed the tank where Ranma and Ranko had fallen into, where only
one had emerged. A plaque on one side read, 'Danger! Jusendo Water -
Properties Unknown.' The old monk bowed his head solemnly and prayed
for a moment.

"Yes," he intoned ominously. "Such is Fate."

******************************

In the back of the warehouse, Ryoga pulled himself free from the vat of
water he had fallen into and collapsed on the pavement. He coughed up
a quantity of fluid. His lungs panted like a bellows. He'd nearly
drowned!

Then he got a good look at himself, at what he had become, seeing his
reflection in the glass of a nearby window. He shook his head slowly,
horror dawning. This had to be a nightmare. Or he had died after all,
and he was now in hell.

"Growf?" murmured the large panda, quickly running paws over his face
and body, his ever-present bandana tight on his skull. Closing both
paws into fists, Ryoga bellowed his rage to the sky. His rage at Ukyo
was forgotten for the moment. It was the girl. That girl would pay
for doing this to him, whoever she was!

"GROWRRRRR!!!!"

******************************

Sometime later, soaked to the skin by the icy rain, Ranma-chan sat all
alone, huddled against one wall of an alleyway, sniffling.

As she sat there, a figure came into the alley, shielded from the rain
by an umbrella, drawn by the sounds of human misery emerging from the
alley.

After a moment, Ranma-chan looked up, rain running through her hair and
down her face and neck in cold streams. The lights of the street shone
brightly behind the sudden apparition, and Ranma-chan tried to make out
who it was. Her eyes widened in recognition, and she started to run
away, not wanting anyone she knew to see her like this.

Barely going a step, the shock and stresses of the day's events finally
seemed to catch up with her, and Ranma-chan passed out.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tried to get this one done before the end of the year, but holiday
festivities and work intervened.

Stay tuned for the next chapter, already underway: "Secret Identities"


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