[FanFic] TP3-Another Bubble Blown [BGC]

[Twister]

Argh! I decided to post these first two chapters of my third fanfic
in order to GET MY BUTT IN GEAR! I'm being far too lazy....:)
(I've had a few problems but I won't bother you with them.)

The BGC and Ranma is copyrighted. (Not by me ^_^ but I just wanted to
put it in.)

And without further ado...

------------------------------------------------------------------
Twisted Path - Another Bubble Started.
A Story Inspired by Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2
and the Bubblegum Crisis.
by Darren Steffler

This story is the third in the story of Twister, the young man
changed by a force outside the universes.
In the last story, Twister was helping to renew a spell keeping an
evil spirit chained under a massive stone. However, once the new crystal
was finished, the old crystal collapsed in an implosion by the will of the
bound spirit. Twister, the professor of magic, Miyabi, and the mage of the
village of the Amazons, Perfume, managed to prevent the spirit's escape.
In revenge, the evil one caused the energy of the old corrupted crystal
to envelop Twister to throw Twister uncontrollably out of the universe.
Twister's thoughts became chaotic as a result but still managed to overthrow
the spirit's control over the energy and give it the only clear destination
she had at the moment as the process could not be stopped.
Twister vanished from the Ranma universe in a mind-jarring thrust
into the Void and began the journey to the destination she had given.
And now the third story of Twister begins....

Chapter One
-----------

The city of Mega-Tokyo at night was a swarm of bright lights swimming
in an ocean of shadows. Advertiser's billboards lit up the sides of buildings
and neon signs glowed softly to attract customers. The monolithic Genom tower
loomed over it all like a mountain of steely power.
In an area where shadows were thicker than light, a lone neon sign
hung on a building where people occasionally went in and out. Music from it
drifted outside to softly lighten the street beyond. With the name 'Hot Legs',
one couldn't immediately tell that this was a club with live bands playing
inside, but one didn't need to with the music escaping into the streets.
After the songs had stopped for a time, two figures emerged from the
entrance to the club. They walked out together to stop underneath the
light from a street lamp. Under the light, one could see that the two were
both female. One had bright red hair and looked to be younger than her
friend, whose hair was black. Both were good looking, though the red headed
one looked cuter, but one could tell that they looked sightly worried
about something.
The red haired one sighed. "Priss doesn't seem to have gotten over
her friend's death yet, has she, Linna?" She was dressed in a cute looking
skirt and blouse with a stylish jacket overtop.
"Well, _I_ don't blame her, Nene. I bet that creep Mason was involved
in _my_ friend's death as well. I'm not sorry Sylia had to kill him,"
Linna stated firmly. She herself wore pants with suspenders and a pink,
striped, business-like shirt with a tie as she stood beside the smaller Nene.
Nene shuddered as she remembered the scene from a few days ago;
Sylia with her blade embedded in the Genom executive's neck.
"I know that it was necessary...but I still didn't like it."
Her friend and fellow Knight Saber softened a bit at Nene's reply.
"He deserved it, Nene, but you're right. We didn't really have a choice though."
Trying to change topics, Linna started talking about something else. "Priss
still has a few more songs to do so I guess we should leave now. I need to
check out the stock market information before going to sleep tonight anyway."
Nene made a face. "You and your big money ideas, Linna!" she huffed.
"You never succeed at it and you still keep on trying. You're money crazed,"
Nene concluded, crossing her arms with a firm expression.
Linna angrily turned to face her friend. "I don't see _you_ getting
rich or succeeding at ADPolice, Little Miss Cyberpunk!" she retorted.
Nene turned her head away and looked down an alley across the street.
"That's beside the point and stop calling me that! _I'm_ not the one who..."
Nene stopped suddenly as she saw something really strange happen in the
alley she was looking at.
Purple flames had appeared out of nowhere and were climbing higher
into the sky than she was tall. No apparent source seemed to be feeding the
odd flames as they illuminated the alley with their purple light. Of course,
the flames were behind several bags of garbage that were sitting near the
alley entrance. Nothing of where the blaze was centered at could be seen.
Linna was waiting for Nene to continue, but saw the purple light
reflected from Nene's body and that her friend was staring at something.
Quickly, she turned her head to look, but the flames had disappeared as
suddenly as they had came. This made Linna curious.
"What were you looking at, Nene?"
Looking puzzled, Nene shook her head, "I don't know. Something just
happened in that alley I was looking at." After checking the street for
traffic, Nene started walking quickly towards the alley. "Let's go see!"
"Nene! We didn't know what's _in_ there!" Linna cried with a little
panic as she walked reluctantly after Nene. She paused at the alley entrance
and grimaced at the garbage piled up in the space between buildings. *Great.
I'll have to follow her and my clothes will need to be dry cleaned.* When Linna
heard Nene gasp and call to her to come in, she sighed and went to see what
Nene had found. Moving carefully around the refuse, Linna warily came to where
her friend was and looked down.
She was surprised at what she saw lying at her feet.
It was a young woman, maybe eighteen or so, with hair as red as Nene's.
She looked a little shorter than Nene but looked, as Linna glanced briefly
across the body, more...developed than her friend standing beside her. The
clothing she wore didn't match the current fashions and the material from
which it was made looked unusual but pleasing to the eye. The strange girl
was breathing so she was alive. A sudden thought struck Linna and she bent
down to carefully check a limp arm with her hand.
Linna thought out loud as she inspected the arm. "Doesn't feel like
a boomer," she muttered. "Seems like she has awfully firm muscles
though." She looked up at a wide-eyed Nene. "So what do we do _now_?"
Nene was indignant. "We help her of course! Let's get her out of here
and try to wake her up." Grabbing one of the unconscious girl's arms, Nene
managed to get it over her shoulders. "Help me, Linna!"
Sighing, and resigned to having her clothes stained, Linna helped Nene
bring the girl out of the alley and drop her gently down against a brick
wall just outside the alley entrance. Nene knelt by the still out girl and
tried shaking and slapping the girl gently to wake her up. Linna bent her knees
and watched Nene attempt to wake the stranger. It seemed to be working for
the girl was starting to groan softly.
Suddenly, a loud noise behind them on the street startled Nene and
Linna. They both stood up and whirled to face the source.
A group of about ten Outrider motorcyclists had stopped on the street
beside them and were grinning at Nene and Linna. The person who appeared
to be the leader, stopped his engine, got off his bike, and casually walked
over to stand brazenly in front of a nervous Nene and a neutral Linna. He had
a lean and well muscled body, bleached hair, and had apparently lost his arms
sometime in the past. What now replaced them were powerful-looking,
robotic versions of the lost limbs.
"Having a problem with your companion, girls?" the leader said as he
grinned at the two. The stranger's groans and unconscious movements apparently
made her seem to be drunk to the bikers.
Linna spoke quickly before Nene could utter a reply, guessing correctly
what the group thought about the girl they had found. "She's just had a bit
too much to drink, that's all. We'll be okay. No need to be concerned.
Really."
The leader didn't move and just smiled at her. "Well, since you don't
need our _help_. Why don't we keep you three...company," he leered at them.
His biking buddies laughed roughly at that and the they got off their bikes
to form a wide half-circle around the girls.
"Let's show 'em a _real_ good time, Steelfist!" one Outrider shouted.
The leader, Steelfist, laughed out loud and smiled broadly at the
two girls standing in front of him. "Shall we dance?" His leer was now
directed at Linna. "I could show you so _much_ fun tonight."
Linna was a careful sort usually, but this crude and offensive Outrider
had gotten her angry. She realized that if she could take out the leader then
the rest would likely freeze long enough for her, Nene, and the girl, to
get away. Smiling back at Steelfist, Linna said, "Not in a million years,
_JERK_!" At the last word, she launched a punch towards his diaphragm to knock
the breath out of him.
Unfortunately, Steelfist had been prepared for something like this
and a robotic arm swiftly grabbed her hand to stop the punch. Holding her fist
tightly in his larger hand, he lifted her hand above her head just high enough
so that she had no solid footing. Linna tried punching and kicking Steelfist,
but she couldn't get much leverage without solid footing and so he calmly
deflected each attack. Soon, Linna was panting tiredly and Steelfist was just
amused.
"You're good. I guess I should be _extra_ special to you." His gang
hooted and laughed in anticipation.
Nene finally spoke up in an attempt to sound authoritive.
"Stop this! I'm an ADPolice officer!" she cried out.
*Oh, _that_ will strike fear into their hearts, Nene,* Linna
sarcastically thought as she panted for breath.
The gang members took one look at Nene defiantly looking at them from
her short stature and laughed long and hard. "We're soooo scared!" one of
them chuckled loudly as Nene turned red with embarrassment.
Now Linna spoke. "Just leave us alone!"
Steelfist slapped her hard enough to put stars in her field of vision.
"Now that's not being very _hospitable_. Is it, boys?" He smirked.
A blur shot out from around Nene and punched a surprised Steelfist
hard where Linna had been attempting to hit before. His breath exploded out of
his mouth as he unconsciously released Linna's hand from his grip. Linna
started to fall but was supported by someone beside her. She looked up and
saw with a quite a bit of surprise that it was that strange girl she and Nene
had found. The girl walked Linna back to an equally surprised Nene and gently
let Linna get back on her own feet before turning to face the recovering
gang leader.
Steelfist had finally gotten his breath back and was not amused
anymore. His gang was no longer laughing at the moment either, but they
recognized that their leader wasn't done yet.
Glowering angrily at the young woman who was now calmly regarding him,
Steelfist spat out, "So. One of you wants to play _rough_ I see. I guess
I'll have to teach this _bitch_ a lesson!"
Unafraid, the unknown girl grinned. "Teach what? Stupidity 101?" She
glanced at the other gang members. "I see you brought the rest of the class
along too." Behind her, a shaken Linna and a wide-eyed Nene wondered why this
strange girl was trying to get her opponents angry.
The gang was muttering angrily as Steelfist's face turned an
interesting shade of red. Bellowing angrily, he lunged at the stranger with
arms extended to grab her. The stranger had other plans. She
gracefully jumped up just enough to avoid the grasping hands and stepped on
Steelfist's head as she flipped over to land behind him. He stopped his rush
and turned around to face the stranger again.
"Sorry to step all over you like that," she chuckled.
Realizing that pure anger would not work in this situation, the gang
leader cautiously advanced towards the strange girl until they were a few feet
apart. Then he struck swiftly with all the speed his robotic arms could
muster.
To little effect.
Every swing he made, the young woman merely dodged out of the way with
centimeters to millimeters of space to spare. "Breezy tonight, isn't it?" she
calmly replied to Steelfist's frustrated, sweaty face.
Nene whispered to Linna, "Are you _sure_ she wasn't a boomer?"
"Of course I am!" Linna whispered back. "She just knows martial arts
like me. I can tell." After watching the fight a bit more, Linna added, "She's
_extremely_ good though. I wonder where she learned how to do that..."
Soon, Steelfist stopped his attack, panting heavily. He hadn't touched
the girl once and she was still calmly standing before him, smiling slightly.
He caught his breath as his wary gang watched from the sidelines and exploded
all his angry frustration out in two words.
"You _slut_!"
The smile faded from the stranger's face and was replaced by a sudden
burst of white-hot rage. Steelfist noticed this and stretched out to grab her,
hoping the anger the girl was showing would distract her long enough to grab
her. Then it would all be over.
It was over all right, but not for the girl. In a blur, one of the
girl's shoed feet came up and hit the elbow of Steelfist's grasping right arm.
And kept going until it had completely severed the biometallic arm at the
joint. The resulting feedback from the shattered arm caused Steelfist to
scream in agony and then faint, unconscious, to the ground. The rest of the
gang looked on in shock as their mighty leader fell to the ground, defeated.
"Pick him up and _leave_," ground out the stranger who had accomplished
the deed. The gang quickly picked up the fallen man, got on their motorcycles
and left, not wishing to take on someone who easily took out Steelfist.
The stranger gazed in the direction they left in. "I guess they
should call him 'SteelStump' now." She sighed tiredly as the anger fled as
fast as it had came. The young woman walked back to the other two standing on
the street.
"Are you okay?" she asked Linna with some concern.
"I'm fine. I was just shaken, that's all." Linna looked curiously at
the person who had asked the question. "Who _are_ you anyway?"
Hearing that, the stranger rubbed the back of her neck in slight
confusion.
"Um... I was sorta hoping _you_ could tell _me_."

Chapter Two
-----------

Two startled faces stared at the stranger, making her uncomfortable.
"You don't _know_?" Linna exclaimed in disbelief.
The questioned shrugged her shoulders. "I can't remember much.
It's all a jumble. The only thing I recall clearly is waking up over there,"
she nodded at the spot where Nene and Linna had placed her previously, "and
seeing you in trouble. I didn't like what was going on so I butted in. Sorry
about interrupting your fight there."
"No trouble," Linna thoughtfully replied while rubbing the sore hand
that had been held by Steelfist. "How did you do that anyway?"
The stranger sighed. "I'm not really sure. Just something that
happened instinctively when I attacked that guy."
"I thought you were _great_!" Nene enthused and Linna rolled her eyes.
"What you did was incredible! Better than Linna and I _know_ she's good."
The stranger was a little taken aback at Nene's energetic response.
"Ah...thanks. Who are _you_?"
"I'm Nene and this is my friend Linna." Nene frowned thoughtfully as
she looked at the stranger. "Are you _sure_ you can't remember your name?
Maybe you should give yourself another one until you do."
The stranger smiled thankfully at Nene. "Good idea. It would be bad
if you could only say 'Hey you!' to me." She concentrated a bit as she thought
about the problem of a name. *Hmmm... What should I call myself? Brittany? Nah.
Gloria? Phtt. Dar...Darlene? That sounds faintly familiar for some reason.*
Thinking a bit more, she finally came up with a last name.
"How about Darlene Stefanson?"
"Good. Great. That'll do." Linna looked nervously at both ends of
the street. "Maybe we'd better get moving...in case those Outriders come again.
I don't relish another encounter with those creeps." The other two agreed
and they walked towards Linna's van that was parked close by, but was oh so
far away a mere ten minutes ago.
Linna paused before opening the door. "Do you remember where you
live?"
The now _Darlene_ shook her head. "Nope." Thoughtfully, she added,
"Come to think of it, I feel like I'm new around here for some reason."
"Great," Linna sighed as she opened the van.
"She can stay with _me_, Linna! I don't mind. I can use the computers
at work to find out who Darlene really is too."
Greatful, Darlene smiled warmly at Nene. "Thank you, Nene." Though, as
she wrapped a seatbelt around herself, Darlene had the oddest feeling that
Nene wouldn't get anywhere with her computers.
While Linna started up the van, she remarked, "We almost thought you
were a Boomer when you were fighting that creep."
"What's a Boomer?" Darlene inquired.
The shocked silence she got as a reply told her that she apparently
had a lot to remember.

Linna dropped Darlene and Nene off in front of Nene's place before
going off to _her_ own home after saying thanks again to Darlene.
They watched Linna drive off before going inside, Nene leading the
way as she opened the door with her key.
As she stopped to take of her shoes, Nene realized what a mess she had
left everything in today. She had slept in that morning and after work Nene had
barely had time to change before going out with Linna. The result of both
hastily done maneuvers had left things in a considerable disarray.
Feeling a little embarrassed, Nene welcomed her guest in. "Um...sorry
about the mess. I didn't have a chance to clean up today."
Darlene smiled at her host. "It's not that bad." Her stomach growled
and now it was _her_ turn to be embarrassed as Nene giggled at the sound.
"Oops."
"I'll get something from the fridge for you." Smiling, Nene walked
into the kitchen and pulled out a cake that had one slice already taken
out of it. "I shouldn't eat this anyway, but," she sighed, "I can never
resist."
Grinning, Darlene watched Nene slice a piece out of the cake. "You
don't hear any complaints from _me_ right now." She pinched her waist and
blinked in surprise. "I think I could _use_ a few pounds actually. I wonder
why I have zero fat practically. That's not healthy."
Looking envious, Nene gave Darlene the slice. "Lucky you. Enjoy!"
The speed Darlene finished off the piece astonished Nene. "You _must_ have
been hungry."
Staring at the now-empty plate, Darlene had to agree. "That felt _so_
good though," she said and sighed in contentment at her silent stomach.
Nene smiled inwardly. *I've found someone with the same liking for
sweets as me! I don't feel as bad now.*
Looking around the apartment, Darlene spied something in a corner that
caught her eye. "That your system? Looks nice."
"You know computers?"
Frowning, Darlene struggled to remember. "A little...at least I think
I do. Though I don't remember seeing anything like that system before. Hmm..."
With growing interest, she examined the computer setup in the corner.
Nene was even happier now. *She likes computers too!* she thought
before asking Darlene, "Want me to show you it?"
"Sure! This should be fun," replied a grinning Darlene.

Much later, Darlene found herself getting ready to take a shower. She
smiled as she undressed at the thought of Nene's enthusiastic coaching. To both
their surprise, Darlene had picked up the lingo rapidly and had only made a
few mistakes on her first try. A little later, in a moment of worry,
Darlene had depressed herself by thinking out loud that if Nene couldn't
find out who she was then she would likely have trouble living in
Mega-Tokyo since she wasn't a citizen. Nene had replied confidently that
it wouldn't be a problem. She had raised a questioning eyebrows at
that comment, but Nene had merely smiled mysteriously and didn't go into
any detail.
*By the way she handles that system of hers, I wouldn't be surprised
if she was an expert in many things on the computer. And maybe some of those
things not quite so legal. Oh well, I guess I don't have much choice.*
As she undressed, Darlene was puzzled at the undergarments she wore,
or rather, the _lack_ of undergarments in regards to her upper torso. The
boxers she wore under her pants confused her even more.
*The lack of a bra I might be able to understand, but these...? Maybe
I was a tomboy of sorts. Ah heck, I'll puzzle it out later. Right now, a
nice hot shower should do wonders.*
Darlene walked into the shower and turned on the cold water first so
she wouldn't burn herself. Quickly, she turned on the hot water to dispell the
chill of the shower. Luckily, she got a nice temperature first try.
Suddenly, the shower seemed smaller and Darlene felt...odd. Looking
down, he realized _why_ and memory roared in to fill his shocked mind as his
mind's perfect memory in this form re-established itself.
"GAAAHHHHH!"

Nene blinked and turned her head at the sound of the shower-muffled
shout. She walked quickly over to the bathroom door and shouted just loud
enough to be heard inside.
"Darlene? Are you all right?"
There was some barely audible movement inside and Nene heard a
startled gasp as the sounds from the shower changed subtly.
She was getting concerned now.
"Darlene! What's wrong?"
"N-nothing!" Darlene's voice cried out and Nene sighed with relief.
"J-just h-having trouble w-with the h-hot and c-c-cold water! I t-think I
have i-it now!"
"Ok! Take as long as you want!" Nene said loudly before walking away
from the door. She shook her head as she did so, recalling briefly what she
had thought she had heard.
*She sounded like a man the first time.* Nene sighed as she contemplated
that. *If I'm hearing things like that, then maybe I should really start
looking for a boyfriend. Could it be withdrawal symptoms?*
She giggled at that last thought, amused by the absurdity of it as
Nene went back to what she had been doing before.

*Whew!*
By adjusting the water controls, Darlene returned the freezing shower
to a nice warm temperature, which triggered the change to male form again.
*_Jeez_ that was close!!* Darlene, who remembered being Twister now,
thought. Much less frantically than a minute ago as well. *But thank deities
for perfect memory! Now _how_ did I get into the Bubblegum Crisis universe?*
Thinking back to that attempt of the evil spirit to chuck him into
a place where he would never come back, Twister recalled what he had done
in his confused state of mind in order to change destinations. He groaned
mentally, but agreed that, in the state of mind he had been in at the time,
it was the only thing possible then.
*I just _had_ to have a scene from the BGC as the only stable thing
in my mind.* Twister sighed in resignation. *Great. Pure luck that I wound up
being near Nene and Linna. I'll have to see if I can get enough power in order
to get back. That means money since I don't want to eat Nene out of house
and home.* He smiled at how cute Nene could be. *I have to find a way to get
money..._and_ a place to experiment.* Twister realized as he had never
done something like crossing universes by means of the void before. *Necessity
is the mother of invention,* he sighed mentally. *Yes, I'll definitely need
a place to experiment in case my first try flunks out.* He closed his eyes
in contemplation. *Correction, make that _only_ and very, very, _very_
carefully done try. I do _not_ want to wind up somewhere _totally_ unfamiliar
to me.*
Twister shook his head.
*This could take a while.*

After using some cold water to change back to being female, Darlene
exited the bathroom to see Nene preparing a mattress on the floor for her.
Looking up, Nene frowned thoughtfully at Darlene.
"Hmm. I guess you'll need some clothes and stuff." Smiling now,
Nene added, "I have a friend who could help you with _some_ of that problem."
Darlene tried not to wince as she knew Nene likely meant Sylia and
that Sylia owned...a lingerie store. She realized that she was not likely to
be able to avoid shopping for ladies clothing with Nene and Darlene _needed_
Nene to show her around.
*Just perfect,* Darlene sighed mentally. *Oh well, I guess I don't
have much choice. Hmm. I have a feeling I'm going to be thinking that phrase
a lot.*
Not wanting to have Nene foot a large bill, Darlene pulled out a
small object from an inner pocket and lobbed it over to a surprised Nene,
who luckily grabbed it.
"I found that and a few others like it in a pocket of mine. Do you
think it's worth much?" To herself, she added, *Good thing I decided to
always carry spares in case I need them. Which is definitely the case here.*
Nene's eyes widened as she looked at the clear crystal she had caught.
"I think this is a _diamond_!" Looking up at Darlene with wide eyes, she
asked, "You said you have more?"
Darlene tossed the other three, larger, diamonds to her.
Nene's eyes widened even more as she looked at the sparkling gems in
her hand.
"Well, since you mentioned buying clothes... Do you think _those_ will
cover it?" Darlene queried, a smirk threatening to break out on her face.
Startled, Nene smiled at her. "I can afford it, Darlene. Besides,
I feel I owe you for saving us from those Outriders. _These_," she held out
the diamonds, "I can get Linna to sell if you want. For extra money."
Wistfully, she looked down at the diamonds in her palm. "These would look very
pretty on rings." To herself, Nene thought, *Or maybe Sylia would be able to
get a better price for these...*
Kicking herself mentally, Darlene remembered what Nene _did_.
*Stupid! She's a Knight Saber! I _don't_ think that pays minimum wage.
Of course she can afford it! But then, I shouldn't know that so it's all
right. Still... I do think I need more money than what _those_ will get. How
can I...* An idea suddenly flashed in her mind and she began to smile. *Now
_there's_ a thought. If it works, and I think it will since I think I have
better control now, then I'd better not tell Nabiki about this. Ever. And in
truth I don't think I can do it for long without becoming noticed, but I
should have enough for something else I have in mind.*
Casually, Darlene asked Nene, "I think I faintly remember being very
good at guessing the stock market and I played it as a game once.
Do you think I could get Linna to use the money from those," Darlene pointed
at the diamonds, "to use in the stock market?"
Making a face, Nene objected to this plan. "Linna and now you too?
She always loses money from that stupid market!"
Raising an eyebrow, Darlene chuckled. "Hmm... Maybe I'll have more
luck than her."
Nene looked dubiously at her.
*And a certain psionic power that I have should do wonders as well.*

The next week was fun, Twister had to admit. Nene was a fun
companion to shop with, never mind that they were shopping for women's
clothing. She also got quite a bit of money from those diamonds, which
'Darlene' promptly gave to Linna with some directions on what to do with it.
What Nene and Darlene really laughed at was the fact that, when Linna started
following Darlene's directions for using the money made from the diamond's
sale, Darlene was _making_ money on the stock market, while Linna lost it.
This frustrated Linna to no end, but she followed her own instincts stubbornly.
Fortunately, the frustration was softened by the fact that, as Darlene's
agent, Linna was getting 10% of the money Darlene made.
Twister's idea for the stock market had worked. In male form, when
Nene was at work, Twister would get a stock market listing for the day and
managed to successfully get an idea of _which_ stocks were going up or down
by means of his precognitive power. He had never used it before like this
because he had had no need to and it was cheating in a way. Scratch that,
cheating _period_.
It could also land him in a heap of trouble if done too long.
At the end of the week, Nene had kept true to her word and they had
gone to Sylia's to get some...things. Darlene had an
uncontrollable blush all through the time that they were there.
Sylia found this very amusing when Nene introduced her to Darlene.
Sylia was a very pleasant person to talk to. Intelligent, subtle,
and _very_ perceptive, which gave Darlene a challenge as she hid the fact
that her memory had returned. She was pleased that Darlene had saved Linna
and Nene, but also curious as to _how_ she had managed it. Dodging Sylia's
questions was difficult, but Darlene managed to come out okay, which intrigued
Sylia even more.
Mackie had been at the cash register all the while, watching with
interest as this girl, who looked about the same age as Nene, avoided most of
his sister's questions with some skill. When she and Nene came up to purchase
the items they had selected, he smiled at a blushing-renewed Darlene since she
seemed to be close to his age.
Darlene had noticed his interest and nervously avoided eye contact.
She was embarrassed enough as it was.

Later that day, a smiling Nene and a disgruntled Linna decided to
bring Darlene to 'Hot Lips' to meet Priss.
Some of the songs Priss sang that night were familiar to Darlene
as they had been on the animated tapes of this universe she had watched a long
time ago. However, with _Priss_ actually singing them and seeing her _live_
on stage, Darlene _really_ enjoyed the performance. She shouted along with
Nene, Linna, and the rest of the crowded place. They waited until Priss was
done for the night before meeting up with her.
When Nene burst out who Darlene was, Priss grinned.
"So. _You're_ the one who broke those fake arms of that asshole
Steelfist who was lording over everyone around here. Couldn't stand the
bastard when he was in here once." She slapped Darlene hard on the back,
surprising Darlene and causing her to stagger a bit. Priss snorted. "Hasn't
been out and around since it got out that such a small, _cute_ girl beat him."
Regaining her balance, Darlene arched an eyebrow at the taller woman
standing beside her. "That hard to believe, huh?" Smiling sweetly, Darlene
had a challenging look in her eyes as she caught Priss's attention. "Care
to arm-wrestle with this small, cute girl?"
Surprised, Priss looked down at Darlene and smirked. "You sure about
that?"
Darlene waved at an empty table with chairs. "Why not? It should
prove a point." She sat down and placed her right arm into position.
Sitting opposite Darlene and mirroring positions, Priss grasped
the empty hand and got ready.
Darlene mentally chuckled. *Priss, I've fought guys, in the last
universe I was in, who go through walls and trees and can still stand. You
think you're gonna win?*
*I don't think so.*
"What point is that?" Priss replied confidently.
"That looks aren't everything. Go!"
Automatically, Priss had started the contest, but only gained a
little ground before stopping suddenly. Surprised at the strong resistance,
Priss increased the pressure. Darlene matched it, brought their hands back into
starting position, and slowly, but inevitably, dragged a going all out Priss
towards the table's surface on her side until they touched it and stopped.
Priss held her sore arm and glared at Darlene, who was stretching
her arm and smiling cheerfully, while Nene and Linna stifled laughter. The
tired singer transfered her glare to her two fellow Knight Sabers and threw
up her hands.
"Fine! I guess I deserved that for underestimating my opponent."
Darlene got up and extended a hand for Priss. "No hard feelings?"
"Hah!" Priss grabbed the hand and shook it vigorously. "Anyone who
can beat _me_ and friends with _those_ two is a friend to me too." She
glared again at a chuckling Linna. "Will you _stop_ that?"
With a mischievous glint in her eye, Darlene winked at Priss before
turning to Linna. "By the way, Linna... How am I doing so far anyway?"
Linna's laugh stopped abruptly and was replaced with a rather sour
face that surprised Priss. "I'm not sure, I stopped checking after the second
day and just let my program decide the best way to follow your suggestions."
She pulled out her ever-present computer to check the market reports.
Now _Priss_ began to laugh. "You're doing better than _Linna_
is and you just _got_ here??" The laughter was becoming uncontrollable and
threatening to bring Nene and Darlene along with it as well.
"All _right_ already! It's not _that_ funny!" Linna shouted as
she was almost finished with computing the total amount Darlene had now. "Okay
Darlene, what you've got is...is..." Her mouth hung open in shock as she
registered what was on her screen.
Curiously, Darlene came over to look at the display Linna was staring
at. "How much _is_ it, Linna? It can't be _that_ much can..." She blinked at
the amount printed on the screen. "Hm. A little more than I thought." Looking
at the screen again, she amended, "Make that a _lot_ more. Guess I'd better
quit while I'm ahead then. My luck can't hold out for too long."
Dazed, Linna asked her, "You're quitting?"
"Uh huh. I'm stopping while I'm ahead. Beats me how I did it
though..."
Yaright.
Sighing with satisfaction, Darlene went on. "I think I'll try opening
up a business somewhere. I'm getting bored even though the computer Nene has
is interesting." Smiling at Nene, she added, "I've had a great time with you,
Nene, but I _do_ want to have a home of my own. I've been crowding you too
much for the last few days anyway." To herself Darlene added, *And I can stop
avoiding looking at you undressing for bed every night. Bloody well nerve
wrecking.*
"No you haven't!" Nene cried out and then smiled. "I can understand
how you feel though. I'll miss those delicious breakfasts you made though,"
she sighed sorrowfully.
"That's Nene for you, stomach first as always," Priss commented,
sourly amused.
Nene looked outraged as the other three girls laughed.

"This is odd."
Mackie looked over at where his sister was working. Sylia was intently
staring at a bio-readout display and it was a measure of her puzzlement
that she had actually spoken what was on her mind aloud.
"What's up, sis?"
With a frown, Sylia sat up straight in her chair and continued to look
at the screen as she answered Mackie.
"Remember those hidden sensors we installed in the store after that
combat boomer destroyed the front?" Without waiting for a reply, Sylia
continued, "I used them for a quick scan on that new friend of Linna and
Nene's."
Mackie blinked. "Why did you do that?"
"Earlier this week Nene gave me some diamonds to sell that her new
friend apparently had on her person." Sylia nodded at Mackie's surprise.
"Not exactly something one would expect to have someone carrying around. But
when checking to make sure that they were real diamonds, I found out that
they were much more than that."
Sylia paused.
"They were as free of impurities as I have ever seen or heard about."
Considering that, Mackie queried, "Man-made?"
"Likely. I bought them myself as I could definitely use such material
for our own personal use."
Growing concern was beginning to form on Mackie's face. "But...if they
were _made_ then...could that Darlene be a boomer? To use as a trap?"
Sylia sighed. "That was my first thought and hence the use of the
scanners. However," Sylia glanced at the readouts again, "she is not a boomer."
"Then what...?"
"The bio-readings are...odd to say the least. She _is_ human, I think,
but it looks as if she has been...altered somehow. I couldn't get much with
the scanners in the store."
"Altered? What do you think it means, sis?"
"I'm not sure, Mackie. I don't think she is a threat, but I think
we shouldn't avoid the possibility that she might _be_ one." Sylia reached
out and turned off the puzzling display of readings.
"I don't _think_ she is, but I'll make a few descret inquiries to see
if anything _is_ going on. Time will tell."
Mackie nodded. "Ok, sis."
*Yes, time always tells us all,* Sylia thought.
*Eventually.*
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Darren Steffler a.k.a "Twister"- mail at <umst...@cc.umanitoba.ca>
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