[Ranma/Xover][FanFic] The Bet: Reluctant Bet segment 13 "Reluctant Demon"

[Gregg Sharp]

Reluctant Bet segment 13: "Reluctant Demon"

Disclaimer: (n) 1) fanfic usage: to indicate that the work
following the disclaimer is copyrighted by other persons. 2)
one who disclaims. 3) legalese jargon written in exceedingly
tiny print at the bottom of ad copy.

----------

Japoness, Terratwo:

Jared got one look at the creature before him and leapt,
shouting, to grapple with it, laughing and truly smiling
with real joy for the first time since any of those had
known him as he tumbled about, joining the feline they'd
found in a surprising display of catsplay.

A second such cat merely looked on in amusement and sat
down next to a Belldandy.

The redhead turned a shining face to his startled audience
as the overgrown kitten attempted to bite his head. "It's a
*Cathian Beast!*" He exclaimed joyfully, then turned back to
mock-fighting with the animal as if they were kittens from
the same litter. As a small dust cloud arose from their
play, the mage's voice within could be heard to exclaim. "I
didn't think they existed outside of the Isles of the
Shadowed Sea! How wonderful! But how could they have got one
here? Aw, it doesn't matter. I don't care." They rolled out
of the tussle with the cat perched firmly atop the druid's
chest. Jared was laughing as he began vigorously scratching
the black-furred animal under the chin.

This got some amount of wonderment, as the sunny cheeriness
of the young mage was strongly at odds with the utter
solemnity he'd displayed beforehand.

The mage swept the four foot long kitten around in a sudden
reversal and began scratching its ribs, to which he was
replied with rumbling purrs. The youth turned a sunny gaze
upon his traveling companions. "The Cathian is a strain of
cat I've never known outside of certain dangerous spots in
an enchanted island chain. They're stronger than tigers,
fast as cheetahs, agile as any cat you can name, and fight
in prides like lions. You might say they're all the best
cats rolled into one - as well they need to be. In the place
where they live their natural prey is hydras, ettercaps and
owlbears. They've *got* to be the best. My own cathian
stayed with me for years, and could survive more trouble
than any three paladin's warhorses." The druid moved the
oversize kitten to his lap (overflowing both sides) and was
stroking it, turning a glad and a happy face to his
partners. His sigh, while pained, showed some break in the
feeling. "Good ol' Longdash carried me out of a few fights I
couldn't finish, sometimes riding along his back, sometimes
unconscious in his teeth. It..." He gave a long breath and a
very firm nod. "It seems right that when he be replaced it
be by a kitten, and a girl at that. The whole cycle of
renewal and rebirth all over again, both of nature and of a
pheonix." He gave the cat a hug, breathing into its fur.

Bast, who observed from a long ways away, smiled a very
satisfied feline grin.

------------------------

An Entirely Unrelated Timeline:

Akane Tendo spun her red-painted JW-620 Gunbug into a
canyon. "He's on my tail, I can't shake him!"

The SAMAS fired two quick bursts, one of which spanged off
her tail rotor.

"Ahhh! Where are you guys?!"

"I'm en route, Tendo. Problem is that SAMAS are coming off
that transport thicker than ticks on a cawrat!" Ukyo shot a
SAMAS into flaming wreckage, then narrowly avoided a large
missile. "Crap! Akane's only got a Gunbug, I've only got
this Skimmer. We need some support! Shampoo, where's that
Glitter Boy of yours?"

"Jones here," Shampoo's voice broke over the channel. "I've
got my own problems. This power armor isn't the most
manueverable thing, you know. Lot of punch, good shielding,
lousy speed."

The sound of an explosion ended Shampoo's transmission.

"Akane, we wouldn't BE in this mess if you hadn't flattened
Ranma!"

Akane's Gunbug flipped out of the canyon and into swarms of
SAMAS units. She felt her ship shudder as it took another
major hit. Red telltales began flashing. "Ukyo?"

"Ahhh! What is it, Akane?"

Akane noted the squeal of missile lock-on and that there
were now dozens of the red telltales flashing alerts. "Ukyo,
I've always loved you..."

"What?!"

"That's why I was always so jealous of you and Shampoo
flirting with Ranma. I'm sorry..." Akane closed her eyes as
the missiles approached.

"Miss Tendo!"

The missiles were almost there, she knew they were about to
hit!

*BONK!*

Akane sat up, rubbing her head and blinking.

The teacher frowned down on his student. "Stop sleeping,
Tendo-san. You are here to learn! Or do you want bucket
duty?"

Akane stared around the classroom, eyes wide. "Uhm, no
sensei!"

-------------------------

Japoness, Terratwo:

"That's it?" Jared Saotome, Pheonix Mage and martial artist
extraordinaire, looked across the city at a nominally
Japanese castle. He was not impressed. "All of you stay
here, this is something for me to accomplish."

"Cutey Flash." Sakyo leapt, spun in midair, and came down
wearing a ninja night suit or a fair approximation of one.

Jared blinked, having had a nearly identical twin to Ukyo
Kuonji twisting nude in midair over his head briefly. "Uhm."

"I have Ukyo's skills, but more important, did you know
that there is currently an alert going on at that castle?"
Sakyo regarded Jared unblinkingly.

"Alert? They're broadcasting some sort of alarm?" Jared
didn't see anything amiss.

"They're using a simple cypher. It seems that one of their
labs was broken into by a shinobi. Hmmm." Sakyo flipped
again, this time changing to Ukyo's usual okonomiyaki
seller's outfit. "The lab itself was ripped apart and
someone was attacked. They're using a code phrase here
meaning Traveller. They're currently searching but believe
the attacker is a... odd word here... operative from another
nation who has stolen some sort of secret."

Audible and visible alarms began going off. Searchlights
plying the sky and a loud clangor mixed with shouting.

"What's the odd word?" Jared began putting a few details
together.

"'Marionette' - it refers to a type of puppet but I'm not
sure..."

"A marionette is a female shaped android in any of the
SM(X) timelines," Urd announced as she companionably slipped
an arm around both Jared and Sakyo. "They're usually simple
AI devices. A few though, carry something special!"

"Maiden circuits, aka virgin circuits, aka otome kairo."
Jared finished. "I've seen the anime. Though that was a few
lifetimes back." Jared winced as he realized that his normal
abilities to sense chi wouldn't have helped much. Nor would
he have been prepared for a class of enemy who could neither
be smelled, sensed, detected as magic and didn't even
particularly need to breathe or move around, but could stay
unmoving as silent guardians for hours.

"Do you want to wait until after the alert before sneaking
in?" Sakyo considered the mage.

"I could just blast it open," suggested Makoto hopefully.
"A Supreme Dragon or Dodonpa ought to do it."

"Maybe a solution that doesn't vaporize the castle?" Urd
suggested politely.

"I could try running a distraction." Shan had noted a
complete lack of air mobility, and was counting on that to
give her an advantage.

"Hey, maybe we should just call it a night. They're not
going to be relaxing any after all that!"

Jared considered. Yes, he could go back to Ye Olde
Adventurer's Approach(1). But if he could remember
correctly, the Japoness were the good guys. On the other
hand, he had heard during Grey's first Labor of the Binding.
Blasting the castle and the hillside it was on into a
bubbling magma pool wouldn't kill Grey or at worst it would
be a momentary inconvenience.

Heck, he'd just wanted a shoulder to cry on to help deal
with his OWN grief and here he had found enough adventure to
take his mind off THAT. How nice.

"Maybe, we could just ask them nicely," suggested
Belldandy.

"Say, err. Jared-san. If we're not going to attack them. A
show of strength might be advisable anyway." Shan held her
hand up and smiled cutely.

"Any ideas?" Jared continued studying the castle as if to
apprise its weak spots.

"How'd you like to spar?"

(1) Ye Olde Adventurer零 Approach: Kill anything stupid
enough to get in your way.

-------------------------

Target Timeline:

Kasumi happily hummed as she cooked.

Amaterasu happily hummed as she did the laundry.

Sylph happily hummed as she sent a gentle breeze blowing
through house and yard.

Birds and deer frolicked on the lawn for no immediately
identifiable reason. Some of whom were happily chirping.

Nabiki came home, saw all this, and ran upstairs for her
camera. It was a Disney moment.

Akane came home, saw all this, and immediately stormed out
to challenge the weirdo hanging around in THEIR backyard
causing MORE weirdness.

Amaterasu Omikami was caught a bit off guard and wasn't
prepared at all for a five foot tall Japanese girl yelling
at her. She overreacted a bit. It didn't help the mood that
when Akane realized a spell was being cast, she attacked
instead of fleeing.

"Hate doth stain the mind and soul,
Mental poisoned candy,
So anger does not take its toll,
to make the beast quite dandy,
Fit now ye into new role,
And into this container handy."

Nabiki, watching from the window (where she had hoped to
get pictures of glowing goddesses sunning the drying
laundry) dropped her camera as she realized Akane had just
been stuffed into a pokeball.

After a few minutes, the ball stopped blinking.

-----------------

Terratwo:

Jared had gone lightly at first, not expecting much of the
Shampoo lookalike.

He'd been pleasantly surprised.

As soon as he used a manuever, Shan had apparently
memorized it and adopted it into her library of martial arts
techniques. And that staff of hers...

Jared's eyes widened and he flipped back as a connection
was made. THAT was a Powerkey Staff. Which meant he wasn't
just fighting Shampoo. He wasn't just fighting a cyborg
Shampoo. He was fighting a "demon-god Ifurita" version of
Shampoo. As soon as he used an attack or defense against
her, she had analyzed it and added it to her arsenal.

He flipped up into the air, to end up standing in midair.
Shan did the same.

Jared noted the grin on Shan's face. She was apparently
enjoying the match. He was too, but it was time to shift
things out of "first gear" and get into the serious stuff.
The simple martial arts with flight added was satisfying but
they also wanted to make a statement to the castle.

Shan had gone into Battle mode and was concentrating solely
on the fight. Everything else was of little consequence.
Every movement and command phrase, each flicker or nuance of
chi, every trickle of manna or psi, was observed and the
patterns analyzed. Techniques were added to the library
immediately.

Shan already had all of her mother Shampoo's old tricks and
styles, backed by the greater strength and chi generators
she had. Then she had fought Haruka Uranus, picking up more
techniques. Then she had briefly been caught in a scuffle
with several of the other Z Warriors. She had been quickly
overwhelmed but had added some powerful special moves to her
database.

Jared blinked as Shan seemed to vanish in a blur, but he
had a chi technique for that. "Seeker!" The chi blast
wavered then started hunting down the zigzagging blur that
was Shan, finally being caught on a whirling staff.

There was a brief lull as the two drifted in midair,
assessing each other before mutually grinning and taking the
fight to the next level.

"METEOR SWARM!"

"KAME HAME HA!"

"GATLING FIREBALL!"

"BIG BANG ATTACK!"

-------------------------

In Castle Japoness, the display had not gone unnoticed. The
moment the two had flown up, sensors had picked them up.

Technicians scanned the scene. "Power level being displayed
currently 242 times that of a Sabre Marionette Type O. Three
hundred twelve. Five hundred seventy five."

Religion had not followed the Mesopotamia on its journey to
the stars, or rather, it had not been much included by any
of the survivors. Faust had had no use for such things, and
Ieyasu had not been terribly religious though he'd given a
nod to the Shinto faith. Lorelei, having been born on Earth
and cryogenically preserved since the Landfall 300 years
previously, knew something of a few faiths that she had
encountered. And while she was trapped within stasis by the
insane ship's computer, had spent some time in prayer.

Lorelei was praying now.

"Power level evening out at..." The tech's voice drew out
to a ragged gasp briefly before he forced himself to
continue. "Power level off the scale. Recalibrating."

Two bright pinpoints of light became beams which parried
each other in midair.

"Power level now showing at (gulp!) one point seven
kilotons."

Lorelei listened, noting that the two in the sky were
putting out rough levels of power sufficient that they
qualified as nuclear weapons in destructive potential.

"What can we do?" Cherry chewed her lower lip. "They've got
higher battle ratings than Bloodberry! Not to mention those
still on the hill."

"What about those on the hill, Cherry?" Lorelei immediately
turned to one of the displays and began fiddling with the
controls.

"There are occasional flickers of high energy potential
from someone in the group. Energy type uncertain but similar
to the energies being discharged."

Otaru and his other two marionettes entered. "What's going
on? Doctor Lorelei, we could find no trace of the thief..."

"Otaru, can you do something for me?" Lorelei gestured.
"Can you extend an invitation to our guests to visit the
castle."

"Doctor Lorelei!" One of the technicians went into shock
briefly. "I see... with that sort of power output, inviting
them inside only puts them closer to our weapons."

"True," allowed Lorelei. "I was mainly thinking that if
they sought it, this castle would already have been
destroyed. Best to see what they want, and then see if we
can convince them to leave willingly."

-------------------

The fight came to one of those natural pauses that proved
they were not serious about maiming each other, and wanted
to keep things under at least moderate control.

"You're very good." Jared commented, wiping a little sweat
from his forehead.

"Jared is not bad either." Shan addressed internal healing
progress.

Jared's lips quirked. "But both you and your master are
still missing one key element, without which you don't
deserve to be called knight, much less Jurai's emperor."

Shan giggled.

His plain clothes had been burned away early on, and he was
now left in his hero outfit of jewels, cape and armor. He
slapped down his pearl visor, speaking in a garbled voice as
he held forth his hand. "But you can destroy the Emperor. He
has foreseen this! Join me, and together we shall rule the
galaxy as... um, close relatives!"

Shan laughed, though her face hid mischief. Then she
suddenly unleashed a blast in beam form that carved out a
cliffside on far distant Japoness Fuji after Jared dodged
it.

Jared crossed his arms and turned sidelong to her, refusing
to respond as yet to the attack, though keeping her warily
in view. He winced as he realized the beam had actually
struck her intended target and had carved out the phrase
"Use the Farce" in the granite face. "Yes, you are missing
something. A weakness so broad I doubt you're even aware of
it. Something so fundamental it is too big for you to see.
And you'll never learn what it is by fighting against it."

Shan stopped, sensing he was somewhat serious about this.

Still keeping tabs on her, the mage closed his eyes to
slits and lowered his head for dramatic emphasis. "What you
are missing is a noble heart that respects chivalry."
Suddenly he twirled to face her full on, thrusting his hands
forward as he yelled out the attack.

"Anti-Technology Sphere!!!"

The globe was centered in the air just before her, catching
her well within its radius without offering Shan any chance
to resist it as a direct attack. The cyborg's
technologically based systems ceased instantly as if they
never were. The mage swept over, caught her, and held her
limp form in his arms as he lowered them both dramatically
out of the radius of the effect.

He smiled at her as Shan's functions came back online. "You
see. You simply didn't deserve to win."

Internal systems rebooted. Confusion and weakness cleared.
Shampoo's memories provided the appropriate response. "Wo da
airen!"

Jared blinked. "Huh?"

"Wo ai NI!" Shan shifted forward kissing the Mage full upon
the lips while he was still trying to figure out what was
going on.

Makoto smirked and launched herself. Well, if THAT was the
conventions of sparring, she'd HAVE to see if he was too
tired or if he could give HER a good fight now.

-------------------------

Target Timeline:

Kasumi looked around. Something was missing.

Dinner was on the table, check.

Mister Saotome was looking at the bamboo stalks in front of
him with a twitching eyebrow and distasteful expression.
"Uhm, Kasumi, I can't eat..."

*SPLASH!*

The panda shrugged and started eating. Nabiki put the glass
of water down and pointed out that feeding Mister Saotome
this way was cheaper.

Her father was crying about something. For a brief moment,
Kasumi considered telling her father to go grow a spine, but
he'd probably take it the wrong way.

Nabiki was munching on a carrot stick with a thoughtful
expression on her face.

Amaterasu was daintily plucking out bits of vegetable and
looking as thoughtfully distracted as Nabiki. Then the
dynamics changed slightly as Genma Saotome attempted to
steal food from the plate of the Japanese sun goddess.

"Don't you know that's rather rude,
So I'll adjust your attitude,
Whenever you shall seek to steal,
you'll come the worst out of the deal."

Akane was...

"Where's Akane?" Kasumi looked around.

"Oh yeah," Amaterasu pulled a ball out of a kimono sleeve.
"Akane, I choose you!"

Akane glowered at the goddess but sat down. "Akane. Ne Ne."
Her eyes widened. "Aka?! ne? NE! NE!!"

The goddess wasn't impressed. "Just eat your rice, Akane."

"AKA?! A! KA!"

"Akane! Such language! At the table it isn't proper."
Kasumi frowned slightly.

Nabiki blinked. "You actually understood that?"

Amaterasu regarded Akane out of the corner of her eyes.
"You do realize your transformation is tied to your
behavior, don't you? The more you struggle, the more angry
you get, the more you transform. This is meant as a lesson
in control."

"How about that, sis, special training." Nabiki smirked. If
Akane weren't actually hurt, then she wasn't as concerned.
Hmmm. If she could get Amaterasu to turn that pokeball over
to HER...

Sudden image of Nabiki shaking down a delinquent debt,
pulling out a pokeball, then Akane beats up the boy while
Nabiki smirks in the background.

The phone rang. Kasumi went to answer it, only to be told
it was for their guest.

Amaterasu came back into the room a few moments later.
"Sorry folks, it looks like that reset is scheduled for two
days from now."

"Akaa?"

"Oh dear, oh my." Kasumi hoped that Sakyo could make
another backup soon.

"Here, Kasumi. When the pokeball vanishes, that means that
Akane's learned to control herself and is free of the
curse." Amaterasu flared and vanished.

Nabiki stared covetously at the sphere in her sister's
hands.

"Aka? AKANE!" Akane started jumping around and threatening
the ceiling.

"Hey, Akane, are you starting to get... furry?" Nabiki let
herself smirk as her youngest sister yelped and went rushing
for the bathroom.

"Nabiki," chided Kasumi. "That wasn't very nice."

Nabiki shrugged. Not nice, perhaps, but she thought it
amusing.

-------------------------

Japoness, Terratwo:

Jared watched the tape, flanked by Sakyo and the only
living native woman on this world- Doctor Lorelei. Urd
watched over their shoulders.

"That's her!" Doctor Lorelei pointed to the display, which
showed a kunoichi whose costume seemed to electronically
blend into the surroundings. "You can only spot her briefly
when she moves from different surfaces quickly. Her ninja
suit has a chameleon capability, quite advanced. She also
didn't show up on: motion detectors, infrared, ultraviolet,
or mechanical power source trackers. At the very least she
should have triggered the pressure sensors in the floor.
When Nagoshima saw this originally, he put it down to a
sensor malfunction."

"Analysis?" Jared's eyes went back to Sakyo. Privately he
thought about working out a few measures against hi-tech
security measures now that he knew it could be done.

"High level operative. Not likely to be of Terratwo as the
technological level of such a complete chameleon field is
beyond them. Identity unknown."

"But you have suspicions." Jared knew that tone of voice.
He'd used it himself when he suspected something but didn't
have enough evidence to be sure.

"The three forces who originally disturbed the timeline
Grey was to repair included a kunoichi among their number,"
Urd suggested.

Just a moment." Sakyo pushed her skin about halfway down
her arm and pulled out a plug. With a deft movement she
unhooked the cord leading to the keyboard and clicked it
into place in the receptacle.

"Uhm, do you..." Doctor Lorelei stared as the screen
erupted into thousands of colors briefly.

The lab appeared on the screen. A shadow solidified, read
something off a display, then stood next to a largely
concealed shape. A hissing noise from the speakers as the
figure did something then exited. The images went into a
loop.

"Enhancing audio," said Sakyo.

The scene replayed, this time with the audio
understandable. The voice of the kunoichi had some sort of
electronic distortion still, but they could make out the
words and tone of utter contempt. "For the crime of Off
Original Characterization, you must be punished. In the name
of the True Matrix, I sentence you to a slow and lingering
death. Unfortunately, as I don't have the time to give you
the 'Death Of A Thousand Cuts' I'll have to settle for this:
'Valley Girl'."

The display ended with the ninja fading once again into the
woodwork.

"The phrase 'Valley Girl' is the passcode we came up with
for erasing the biochemical information stored in the human
brain of the Stranger. We were still a bit paranoid about
alien invasions." Doctor Lorelei carefully didn't mention
that they still WERE.

Jared, who had an ESP spell going, carefully kept his face
neutral.

"Excuse me, would any of you like some tea?"

Three people jumped slightly at the gentle soprano
intrusion. Sakyo merely stared.

"I don't drink tea, sorry." Jared glanced at the marionette
briefly, some reddish-violet eyed blonde in a kimono. ~Why
the sudden surge of guilt and panic in Lorelei?~

Lorelei nervously smiled and inclined her head. "Actually,
Banana, could you wait over there?"

"Okay."

Jared's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he heard the note of
disappointment in the marionette's voice.

The confirmation came from the screen as it displayed
Sakyo's scan. [Soulscan ID match. Astral pattern and
overdimension pattern match. Identity: Grey.]

The blonde girl seemed to fidget under the stares of the
three offworlders. "I didn't mean to screw something up. Did
I do bad?"

"Couldn't be," murmurred Urd.

"Banana. Could you go get us that tea now?"

"Wai wai!" The blonde immediately went to
cute-as-a-dozen-kitties mode and scampered off.

"Goodness gracious." Jared pointed at the door the girl had
just *skipped* through. "THAT was Grey?!"

"Yes, that was a common Jin-goro model marionette chassis.
Fairly advanced commercial model." Lorelei let out a puff of
breath. "At least we managed to convince Lime not to name
her Labman. It's odd, with the memory purged like that,
you'd think that the marionette brain would be the only one
functioning at least briefly, but she's like a human child
in many respects."

"Memory is not the only aspect of having a personality,
though I would suspect that your standard Marionette brain
comes complete with purpose. And with purpose all other
things fall in line if they function at all." Jared directed
a look at Lorelei. "The function of marionettes is to serve,
right? An ingrained directive hardwired in?"

"To some extent, yes..." Lorelei was looking quite nervous
now. "Though the pattern would have the person awakening
them as their 'Master' and Banana just seems eager to please
everyone."

Urd remembered to blink. "Toltiir's Binding will activate
at some point, and Grey's mind will return. The body,
though, that might be stuck for awhile."

"Huh? I thought it would all be negated." Jared turned to
Urd, glad that SOMEONE knew what was going on.

"No. The Binding is the result of a Wish that had numerous
riders and provisions attached. His mind and personality
will shed changes from an outside influence before they can
alter anything. However, wiping memories became a necessary
provision after the flayworms. He couldn't remain sane and
competent and still have those memories so the compromise
that the Binding settled on was to dull memories. Now,
whenever he goes through something so traumatic his mind
can't handle it, the memories fade. So mindwiping him likely
didn't get blocked." Urd shrugged. "I had to work with the
boy after he came back from that mission. The past USED to
be my specialty. Anyway, his APPEARANCE was something
largely left open in his phrasing - just as long as he
wasn't crippled in some manner."

"And the mindwipe only partially worked, seeing as how that
was more like a four or five year old personality - not a
newborn." Jared shook his head. "Technology: enabling you to
screw things up much more efficiently."

The blonde girl came in, carefully moving with a tea tray.
Her tongue was stuck out of the corner of her mouth as she
attempted this Herculean (for her) task.

"The body, however, is likely to remain as is for awhile.
Doctor, were any of the devices recovered from his original
cyborg form?" Sakyo gestured to the screen. "I saw that the
agent placed some sort of bomb in your lab. I take it your
fire retardant measures allowed you to salvage something?"

"Bits and pieces, and the scans and datafiles are
scattered." Lorelei was not immediately willing to surrender
what she saw as valuable data.

"Urd, what exactly was Grey's mission? I know he tends to
pull a 'Ryoga' whenever he goes dimensionally travelling, so
what was he SUPPOSED to be doing?"

"Placeholder on an unstable timeline. It's currently
borderline, but has an empty spot where there should be a
Ranma. He was portraying the character of Ranma Saotome
until such time the line stabilized and the real Ranma could
be placed back in and restabilized." Urd shrugged, causing
one of the guards to nearly faint.

"Where's the real Ranma?" Jared took a cup absently from
the "tea-girl", only to realize that he'd been handed a cup
of hot water. ...Sighing, he cast 'Metamorphose Liquids' and
was left with a steaming cup of flower nectar, thinking he'd
need the mood lift. Only *knowing* that he was on this lab's
scanners prevented him from going into little kid mode and
sucking down a Potion of Good Humor, the ones that came in
frozen form on a stick.

Only the explanations involved would probably cancel out
all of the theraputic value.

"Getting therapy actually. Last I heard Diana was taking
care of him." Sakyo smiled a little uncertainly at the girl
handing her a cup of tea.

"Thank you, Banana," Lorelei smiled at the marionette who
giggled and bowed in return.

Jared's hair toinged at the giggle, but he recovered
quickly. "Uhm, Banana, give me a high five, will you?"

Banana looked a little puzzled but lightly clapped her hand
to one of Jared's.

"I'm invoking a tag-team precedent set by Hercules where he
got Prometheus to accomplish something he could not during
HIS Twelve Labors. As Grey, currently aka Banana, is clearly
incapable of carrying out his mission, I will have to
substitute." Jared smirked. This also just COULD be fun.
Himself as Ranma? Well, he HAD wanted to get his mind off
the terrible loss he had just suffered and being busy seemed
a good way to do that.

Banana tilted her head to the side and smiled. One of the
people was smiling now. Maybe that meant she had done good!

The only young man present slapped his hands together and
rubbed them. "Only before I leave let me do at least some of
what I came for. Grey.. err, Banana, I owe you a debt. I am
not the only one, but I shall attempt to repay on behalf of
us all." He hid the wince of emotional pain at the memory of
those not here as he stepped forward and placed his
fingertips on either side of the girl's head. They glowed
for a moment and then he snatched them away, holding his
fingers as if stung.

Banana just blinked at him girlishly. "You okay?"

Jared rubbed some of the hurt out of his hands, regarding
the marionette before him while he spoke to the others.
"There's more than just the Binding. When I tried to
polymorph him... her, back to her true form... Well, it
failed to work. Hang on just a second."

"There's a couple of problems with that. One is that he
doesn't have a single *true* form anymore. He's gone through
a lot of bodies before this mission. The cyborg ones just
seem to last longer." Urd shrugged.

He gently took hold of Banana's chin and tilted her head
just slightly to the side. Banana blinked and looked
slightly concerned. "Ah! There's the problem. A Widdershins
curse, fairly mundane - in fact amatuerish, really. But it
looks like one of the pagan deities whose shorts he torqued
has fixed some bugs and directly empowered it." The mage
looked at Sakyo and the scientist. "You might say it was an
Anti-Binding. Where Toltiir's Binding essentially preserves
him, this does the opposite, but can't counteract anything
directly held under covenant by the first."

"Lay you odds it was Senbei and Marller," commented Urd in
a low voice.

The mage stepped back and put both hands on his hips,
regarding the girl. "You might say it was a curse of
Out-Of-Characterness."

Again the mage approached the girl and placed both hands on
either side of her head, considering the problem aloud.
"Okay, let's see. This has got to work within them both or
it won't work at all. Toltiir's spell has been returning him
lately to a cyborg, and this new one won't let him be
restored to anything that fits his self image as of the time
it was placed. So for right now there's a balance as both
curses are halfway satisfied. She's a cyborg - just one she
couldn't possibly relate to from her previous point of
view." The mage sucked in his lower lip, considering. "But
before he got devoured alive, Toltiir's curse made him into
an Incubus. Alright, I think I have an avenue of approach."
He released the girl and removed himself a ways.

Lorelei could recognize another dedicated specialist at
work and stayed out of the way.

"What's an incubus?" Sakyo asked, puzzled. There was
nothing in any of the stored memories to give her details.

Jared gave half of a smile. "A certain class of demon. When
innocent little girls have naughty dreams in the middle of
the night, and are vulnerable to that sort of influence, an
incubus is what shows up to fulfill those dreams, attempting
to destroy her soul. A succubus does the same thing for men.
So Grey became the only sex demon who wouldn't indulge - a
delicious irony by Toltiir's standards. And no, Doctor
Lorelei," Jared directed a comment that way. "Grey was and
always has been harmless, no danger to anyone and a
considerable help to most - which is why he has such allies
as he does. He was born a human and everything else has been
a string of bad luck that's led up to here."

The Mage turned back to his work. "Okay, I think I've got
it. Banana, if you will forgive the motion." He approached
the blonde marionette and placed two fingers against her
breastbone. Watching her carefully all the while, he
chanted.

"Casualty of love and war
shorn of family, home and more
all your past reduced to lore

Living heart within this core
Surge within and beat once more
Overcome this shell you wore

Blood and veins resume their pace
Flesh and bone restored to place

Heritage of past resume
Borne of love twix hope and doom

Split between opposing wholes
Find within your own true poles

Healing conquor hurts and sore
Rise with power to even score
A soldier, casualty no more."

Urd nodded from her place. "That's the way a master mage
does it."

The other Urd looked at her jealously.

Banana rippled within rings of white light arising from a
luminous cloud around her knees and racing across her body.
Her hair flew up and began to sparkle, spreading out and
fanning across her body. Though when it was all over the
only visible changes were the lack of vents on her upper
arms, her gasping mouth revealed cute little fangs...

... and a pair of blonde bat wings springing from her upper
back, bound awkwardly by the clothes there. Banana had
dropped to her knees and stared at the floor, blinking, then
up at the others around her with a blank expression.

Jared let out a VERY long breath, and nodded. "It worked."
He chuckled a bit, seeing the other's looks. "Don't worry.
In order to change him at all I had to go in a direction
both curses wanted to go. This is now her new base form. I
went with the best I was able, going through the original
demonic form along what path the new one would allow. She's
now alive, though *male* is something Toltiir's curse will
have to fight with the other one about."

"She's a demon?" Lorelei pressed, looking a little sick,
and frightened too.

Banana continued to blink and look around her as if unsure
of what had just happened.

The mage spared her a reassuring look. "Half. Alu-Demon,
the natural offspring of a Succubus and a mortal male." He
smiled. "You see the central weakness of all evil is that it
turns upon itself, contrary to it's own goals. Just about
everything they ever do has consequences that turn out to do
a little good here or there. They can't help it. It's as
central an aspect as any other you'll find with evil." He
waved a hand indicating the former Grey, though he glanced
toward Urd a little secretly. "Witness this case, the
offspring of a demon and something else. She is free to
choose between right or wrong and she has power that is not
dependant upon committing acts of evil. As an Incubus Grey
held no more power than an ordinary man because the powers
of that form were dependant upon destroying women - an act
which he refused to do, so he never got charged up to use
them. The powers of an Alu-Demon are less and fewer, but as
they aren't dependant on anything she can use them as she
likes."

"Powers?"

A shrug. "Well, in spite of the size of her wings, she can
fly. She can see into the infrared spectrum quite well, has
quite an aptitude for magic, and her skin will repel blows
as well as a suit of Turkish chainmail. There are other
things but nothing you really need to know." ~Like the
ability to shapechange into any humanoid form of
approximately her own size and weight, including exotic
forms like sylphs and mermaids, or taking the appearance of
someone else. The ability to read unprotected minds, or give
suggestions, charm others... No, you'd freak if you knew
even half of what she was capable of. Just the fact she's
not hurt by any unenchanted weapon would set every
government you HAVE on this world to trying to control
and/or duplicate her.~

"So, Grey, are you feeling better?"

Banana blinked up at the Mage. "Master?"

Jared proved he was in an anime universe by immediately
facefaulting into a classic Takahashi pose.

Unable to deal with the cutely smiling marionette, Jared
turned his attention to the fear seeping off the natives.

"Doctor Lorelei," Jared finally broke in, interrupting her
suspicious thoughts and rubbing his brows as if tired.
"Would you please kindly lower your guard a trifle? While I
hold no objection to going somewhat out of my way to make
you comfortable, I prefer things to be as honest and open as
possible. Yes, you have reason to be suspicious. We are
unknown to you and unexplainable in many ways. You naturally
feel caution. But that is carrying it a little far."

He raise his head and met her eyes. "I will be honest with
you. It would have been far *easier* for me to sweep in with
overwhelming force, subdue your entire kingdom in an hour,
depopulate and destroy all of the others, and if necessary
sterilize all life from off this planet to get what I want.
I could still do so, and stand ready to prove it if you
think I might just be bluffing. *BUT!* I have no *intention*
of doing anything of the kind, because I far prefer to build
things up and help out good forces as I find them. In fact
I've been bending over backwards to make you feel as
comfortable as possible while still dealing with me
seriously."

Jared was aware of most eyes in the room directed towards
him. Most because Banana and Lime were playing like little
children with a cat's cradle that Lime had wanted to share
with her new friend.

His blue eyes bored into hers. "I am a World-Class mage and
not too shabby in other areas either. I've just successfully
fought a soul-devouring evil which destroyed a thousand year
old interplanetary kingdom of magic. I've stood on the
plains of hell and slain an arch devil with my bare hands,
alone against him and an army of the worst pit fiends. I
fought in a war against Techno-giants with a multimillion
starship fleet capable of vaporizing all life on a planet in
a matter of moments. There are BIG, BAD, UGLY things out
there and you would do right to fear them! But you just
*happen* to have run into the Good Guys!"

Cherry moved over to the side trying to quiet the two
children as Lime started talking to Banana about some of the
wonderful games she'd gotten to play and how great it was to
have someone like Otaru as a Master.

Jared turned away and shook his head, sweatdropping a bit.
"I know that you are wearing panties that are green with
lace panels on both sides. I know that you are in love with
Otaru but hiding it because you know he isn't in love with
you. I could show you your own past in a mirror or *take*
you there to babysit your four-year-old self for an evening
while your parents went out for a night on the town. There's
any number of things I could do to demonstrate my power, or
I could just skip all that and make every man, woman and
android in Japoness *firmly* believe that I am their ruler
and always have been. I have fought things that have done
exactly that. You might have noticed that I'm not doing any
of those things, though."

Banana mentioned how much she liked to cook, which got
Cherry's attention. Cherry made a remark about how Banana
would have to find out what kind of foods her Master liked
so she could prepare them.

The mage placed his hands on a sill, ignoring the feeling
of Impending Doom for once, and looked out the window.
"There are things out there that can destroy a world on a
missed shot. You don't want to meet them. That is, in part,
what my friends and people like us do for a living. We
*fight* those things that destroy all that is good. We stop
them and make them die instead. You are, for all your
technology, just an ordinary world filled with ordinary
folks. There's not much here to attract attention, and
that's good. Frankly, the less you remember of us the less
danger you'll be in. Grabbing our genetic codes is the most
likely thing I can think of to draw a great deal of
attention by powerful sorts who think a lot of carnage,
gore, and needless suffering is an entertaining way to spend
an afternoon. You will be unable to resist them. You cannot
create clones of us that could resist them, our skills don't
translate like that."

He once again met the scientist's eyes, noting the
conflicting emotions there. "But if you do get attacked,
that's what my friends and I make ourselves available for,
to fight off things like that. Do you need your Shogun
raised from the grave? I can do that."

Otaru blinked as he tried to digest the concept of Lorelei
LOVED him?

Banana wondered why her Master shuddered when he looked at
her. Maybe he didn't like kimonos? Hmmm. Well, it wasn't
like Lime and Otaru. He was her Master, and she hoped he was
a good Master, but love? Banana wasn't even sure what love
was.

Jared noticed the way "Banana" was looking at him again and
twitched slightly.

----------------

Target Timeline:

"Now I have you," said Starch menacingly.

"Okay, ye've got me." The leprechaun sighed and looked
around at the cave. "I certainly wasn't expecting THIS kinda
welcome for a tourist Sidhe. So I take it ye'll be wanting
my pot o gold now."

"Not quite," Starch said, producing a pair of knives. The
leprechaun backed away fearfully, deeper into the cave. "Hey
now, there be'en no cause for...

"No! NO! NOoooooooooooooooo! Don't!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA......kkk."

Starch stepped outside the cave, wiping blood the color of
mint off her hands and mouth. "He's lost his lucky charms,"
she singsonged. "And frankly they were over-rated."

----------------

"AKA! AKANE! NE? NE!" Akane pointed to the sphere in
Kasumi's apron pocket.

"Oh my, Akane. Your ears are getting pointed."

Akane clapped her hands over her ears and whimpered.
"Kakakakaka. Ne."

"Well, maybe if you asked Amaterasu-san to change you
back..."

Akane frowned. No WAY she'd let that woman get away with
this. "NE! AKANE! NE!"

"Oh dear. So what were you wanting again?" Kasumi looked
expectantly at her dear sister.

Akane reached out to grab the pokeball. Unfortunately she
got sucked inside the moment she did this and only had time
for a startled "AKA?!" before the ball settled once more
into Kasumi's apron pocket.

Kasumi considered for a moment before deciding she might as
well get back to work. Dishes needed to be done, and she
wanted to varnish the upstairs hall tomorrow, which meant
cleaning it tonight.

--------------

"So what does the simulation say if we backtracked Ranma
and put him now?" Athena sat back on a couch and considered
her cousin/brother.

"If we try to stabilize it now, it will become a crossover
universe." Apollo shrugged. "Genma tries to send Ranma to
steal food from some campsite he runs across while
travelling. Ranma is caught but the guy doing the catching
sees potential in the little boy. The catcher approaches
Genma who offers to sell his son.

"Arsene Lupin III is many things, but an idiot isn't on the
list. On hearing the boy is being starved regularly in the
name of training, he arranges for the sale and to have it
videotaped and witnessed. When Genma protests that his boy
has been stolen, Lupin sends the tape to a few major
television stations who determine that it is real.

"Lupin tries to leave the boy behind at a 'safe house'
where Ranma can be cared for, except that Ranma has other
plans. The five year old grows up, learning martial arts AND
the sort of arts that one would expect from the likes of
Goemon, Lupin, Jigen, and Fujiko. Actually, seeing Lupin
caring for the boy warms Fujiko's larcenous heart towards
the master thief a bit more than you're used to seeing.

"Finally though, Lupin's apprentice is deemed old enough to
return to his homeland. He's started collecting his OWN gang
though, following a trip through that Amazon village.
Shampoo starts out after the thief, only he not only saves
her life but gives her the treasure back since it means so
much to her. Then he runs into Ucchan. When he reaches
Japan, he still isn't sure WHAT he wants to do for the rest
of his life, though something along his sensei's path or
maybe James Bond's lines intrigues him.

"Then he runs into his mother, who introduces him to his
father, who introduces him to the Tendos, who aren't quite
ready for someone as slick as Ranma Saotome- Lupin's heir.
In the meantime, Shampoo has left her home village again to
seek out the thief again - this time to repay the debt for
saving her life. Ukyo, on the other hand, is still trying to
find the thief who stole the yattai. Ranma stated, of
course, that petty theft was quite below his standards.

"Ranma gets upset about the engagement, especially as a
dojo sounds WAY too provincial by his standards. He thinks
the three girls have some potential, however, and agrees to
think about it. Threats he merely laughs at, and repeated
attempts to use the Saotome family honor argument are
deflected by someone who studied verbal sparring at the
hands of masters."

"So... it's not a Darkline?" Athena opposed thieves on
general principles, but allowed they had their uses.

"Well... no. Until Ukyo tries to kill Ranma and gets
Inspector Zenigata."

"Zenigata dies?! That's impossible. Roaches would be in awe
of his ability to survive!"

"She gets lucky, he gets unlucky. It's better than the
original ending, I'll grant it that." Apollo shrugged. "Oh
well. We can always restore to that if we can't make it
behave better."

"Two days before we Reset, whether we have a Ranma in place
or not."

-----------------

Weird ideas section:

Akane makes mistakes, but so does nearly everyone else.
Amaterasu mishandles the situation. Jared mishandles HIS
situation. Banana doesn't have a clue. Doctor Lorelei screws
up a LOT. Shan makes a commitment based on incomplete or
faulty information. So don't tell me that only Akane is
making mistakes in this story.

My bashing of Akane continues with a teacher and Amaterasu
in this chapter.

Akane gets pokemoned! Will she get special training at the
hands of Kasumi and get cute and cuddly, or will she learn
to not react quite so immediately?

Some scenes by Skysaber. Could ya tell? i guess i'm not the
only one who sees Lorelei being interested in Otaru in Sabre
Marionette J.

The Ranma Lupin concept came about during a phone
conversation.

-----------------------------
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"Fill the cup of happiness for others,
and there will be enough overflowing
to fill yours to the brim."
Rose Pastor Stokes