[Xover][FanFic] Third Labor chapter 13-14

[metro...@mindspring.com]

Third Labor chapter 13

"Heart of Rice"
or... "Genma is another word for nightmare?"

Disclaimer: The plotline deals with alternate universes, timetravel,
karma, pantheons, dragons, mages, a self-insert character, other
authors inserted, and the kitchen sink, and it is this author's hope
that he hasn't offended anyone other than those who usually are
offended just seeing his name much less that he's got another chapter
of something done. (Not that i'm mentioning names.)

---------

796 AD, Third Labor Timeline

Wings glided over the mountain as the dragon slowly came to a stop.
Grey wearily looked up at Setsuna. "Weak... hurt..."

Setsuna dismounted and looked over the dragon, nodding. He'd grown
more sluggish and Setsuna could tell from the way he was swaying that
he had fought off this "dragonsleep" about as long as he could.

"Is this cavern big enough for you?" Setsuna nodded towards the cleft.

"Yeah... think so at least." Grey staggered forward as his head nearly
thumped upon the ground. "Hoard going to be problem..."

Setsuna felt like shaking the big creature if the difference in their
masses wouldn't have made the gesture ludicrous. "What do you mean
about a hoard?"

"Dragons bond to objects of value and magic," Grey forced out as he
tried to focus on the blurring figure. He hadn't felt like this since
the time he'd pulled a 96 hour shift as a security guard then went to
qualify on a firing range. (He somehow had managed.) "They have a
spiritual link to their treasure and it..."

Setsuna watched as the dragon staggered into the cave and collapsed.
Though outwardly still, she was considering the possibilities
carefully.

He didn't strike her as being that materially oriented, which jibed
with what she knew of the Healer priests. Which left...

---------

Akumakun/Ranma timeline:

It was sung as if an opera.

"Kill the YOma, kill the yoMA, KILL The yoma! Kill it dead!"

It was shouted as a battlecry.

"INHUMAN FIEND! I SHALL SMITE THEE!"

And in typical fashion of gossip anywhere, the stories accompanying
the photos of the bald panda increased in the usual manner.

"I'm so glad to see you're all right, Miss Soup! With this terrorist
rat running about, I feared for your safety!"

"You were concerned for me, Mister Noodle?!"

And as the tale was spread, more diverse groups considered the
possibilities.

Akumakun laid out a set of cards and considered the possibility of
this rat-spirit being less than a friendly sort.

On a ranch that wasn't really that far away, Kreiger started
organizing a posse.

Even though there were problems aplenty with the story, it continued
to grow. And mutate.

"Did you hear, there's an alien mutant rat yoma running around who's
trying to steal all the good looking girls and take them back to his
homeworld!"

"Well, *I* heard that this genetically engineered monster escaped from
a lab somewhere and has
declared war on the human race that created him!"

And there were other problems with being a large bald panda.

"Josephine! Josephine! That's my little Josephine!"

"Don't you usually just go after *cute* things, Azusa?"

All in all, Genma was having a bad day.

-----------

Jared frowned and realized that Ranma's shirt had a large bulge and a
cat tail sticking out of it. He had just gotten back and it appeared
that Ranma hadn't moved. "Uhm, Ranma, are you aware that Nabiki's
hiding in your shirt?"

A moment of curiosity had brought Jared back to investigate the rest
of the household.

Kasumi had realized that her wig had blown off, had gotten traumatized
by both being seen like this by nonfamily members, having red paint
across her face, and her nerves understandibly put off by having been
recently involved in a large explosion. Kasumi had hidden under her
bed. Up until Black Bart had seen this chaos as an opportunity and had
kidnapped her, that is.

Soun was still standing in the yard, looking at the wreckage where
much of the ancestral Tendo house had once been. That half the home
was still standing was not really registering.

Shampoo and Ukyo were apparently off hunting panda.

Which brought Jared back to where Ranma was trying to figure out what
to do with the catgirl Tendo wrapped about his chest and somehow
concealing everything but her tail within the confines of his shirt.

"Uhm, Nabiki, you might want to get out of there before Shampoo and
Ukyo find you."

"...oh all right," the lump said, sounding disappointed. "Let's see, I
think that I got here by..." The lump moved south of the beltline and
gave a startled noise. Followed by a squeegee noise. "Hmmm. So you
*do* like me, eh, Ranma-kun?"

Emitting a startled and embarassed yelp, Ranma suddenly somehow
seperated himself from his shirt without ripping it and pulled his
pants up and stuttered what might have bore some strange resemblence
to an apology.

"Look like Shampoo get here right in time!"

"You said that right sugar!"

Nabiki merely stared at one of her hands, a silly little smile slowly
appearing.

Shampoo stalked forward and without warning thrust her hand down
Ranma's pants. "Is only proper for Amazon *wife* to grope husband, not
silly catgirl!" Shampoo's voice trailed off as she felt around.
"Aiyaaaa. Shampoo expect that there something besides martial arts
Ranma good at."

"Eeeeeek!!" Ranma managed, his pigtail pointing straight out.

"Hey!" Ukyo protested as Shampoo wandered off with glazed eyes and a
little smile. "Ranma honey is MY fiance! You two didn't bruise him did
you?"

Having his pants yanked down (taking the underwear also by friction),
caused Ranma to yeep again.

Jared merely thanked the Heavens that it wasn't him.

"Aiyah! Look like we arrive just in time!"

A Shampoo, Ukyo, Nabiki and Kasumi set landed around Jared in Sailor
Costumes and careful formation and began checking his 'important
parts' for injuries.

"Hey!" The redhead shouted. "Wait until we're alone to do that!" He
squirted out of their arms and into a surprise landing on top of
Belldandy.

Whereupon he was grabbed by a trio of Goddesses (only one of whom was
a marionette) and dragged off to be properly inspected for signs of
damage. And if Urd wanted to make sure certain things were working
right she was entitled, wasn't she?

The quartet of Sailors followed.

*****

Genma zigged when he should have zagged. He thought he could get back
to the Tendo house, as they'd have already looked for him there,
right? NOBODY would think of searching for him there, right?

Then things got even worse.

"There he is!" Makoto Jupiter exclaimed, pointing her palm towards the
evil rat-thing. "SHOTGUN!" Lots of little chi blasts made lots of
little craters.

"FIREBALL!" Lina was eager to get revenge on the rat thing. She missed
the rat and managed to score a direct hit on a yattai where crepes
were sold. Who assumed somehow that his ancient rival Ukyo was behind
this attack.

"LIGHTNING BOLT!" Naga wasn't hitting her target either. Crepe Joe
ran, vowing vengeance upon Ukyo later.

"Hey, that's MY target," exclaimed one group of Dirty Pair girls to
the other duo, as both pairs unlimbered heavy weaponry.

Genma fled into the nearest large building (Furinkan Senior High
School) figuring he'd be safe there. There were thousands of places he
could hide, they'd never get him! He therefore made a gesture that was
easily interpreted at his pursuers. Let them get angry, they'd be more
prone to
make mistakes.

Makoto's eyes narrowed and she brought her hands back. There was only
one source of chi nearby, and it was the rat-thing. "KAME!"

Lina cancelled her Raywing, *knowing* that the monster had set himself
up an ambush. Once inside that building he could pick them off one by
one.
"Darkness beyond twilight,
Crimson beyond blood that flows,"

Naga wasn't about to concede, she'd been studying for just such an
opportunity to *prove* that she was not only superior to Lina but
superior to the original Naga.
"Power beyond destruction,
Wind from darkest night,"

Kei and Yuri (the younger) glared at Kei and Yuri (the marionettes)
while they pointed large instruments of destruction at where the
rat-beast had entered the school. Behind them, fleeing to the horizon,
was a completely ignored comic book artist. The Flash version of Kei
and Yuri had some wonderful WWWA weaponry. The marionette Kei was
content with a C-29 "Hellfire" Heavy Plasma Cannon, while the Yuri
marionette preferred a simple CR-1 Rocket Launcher loaded with a
napalm mini-missile.

A pair of Shrike class missiles launched by Asuka's Eva unit targetted
a certain classroom.

Genma, hiding under a desk, wondered why his danger sense was going
off.

--------

797 AD, Third Labor Timeline:

It was just a temporary lair. The cavern was shaped rather like an "L"
and consisted of a cleft and a large hollowed area where water had
poured from the cleft above to cut the rock in a strange shape.

The hoard consisted of the gear from the Rival Relief Office, a large
number of items gleaned from missions in a variety of universes, and
very little of it would fit into a traditional dungeon delver's
definition of treasure.

If he had done this prior to interacting with that one group of Sailor
Scouts, it would have been easier. Several powerful items had gone to
those girls as they were so completely overwhelmed by their opponents.
But then, he hadn't been a dragon then.

Grey slumbered and felt a tension ebb. More of his hoard had appeared
nearby. A piece of the returned treasure vanished again, and the
dragon frowned in his sleep. But yes, there it was again. Only to
vanish and return again.

Yes, it felt proper to have more of his precious hoard nearby. Grey
flared his "light" or inner magic, letting it reach out and enfold the
items. Much better. He could feel the ties between them now.

That itch at least partly scratched, Grey fell deeper into the
dragonsleep.

--------

Ami let her hand rest her massive fiance/husband's jaw, a bit shaken
from when she felt his magic reach out and link to her own.

After a few moments of consideration, Ami picked up the book marked
"Dragontaming for Beginners" and sat down to read it. It looked as if
she had time.

---------

Korin nodded to Ruth. "What have you learned from my husband's and
mine notes?"

"That the Traveller spoke of twelve basic truths of human existence?"
Ruth asked, her attention largely on the "windmill" that had been
constructed and was now about to have the blocks removed that held the
limbs in place. "I've heard the menfolk discussing it afore, now it
makes a mite more sense."

"Aye, that be so. This concept of the Engineer he did speak of, most
interesting." Korin watched the blocks slowly removed as the wind
fluffed out the stretched fabric on the four wings of the tower.
"First ye observe, then the theory, then the experiment to prove or
disprove the theory. Tis a most strange way of thinking but it make
sense."

"Aye, but it goes against the grain. Why he dismissed the whole
concept of Spontaneous Generation. How outrageous!"

"To be sure, to be sure. And how be your skill in kempo developing?"

"Ah, Korin me dear friend, tis not truly my skein. Still, I can see
the appeal. Thou dost not have to go run for a weapon, when it is your
own hands and feet which are the weapon. And I confess I do enjoy this
yoga stuff. I simply be too old for this sort of thing."

"Ruth, ye barely be twenty five summers. What of the other studies?"
Korin's voice caught as, ever so slowly, the sails of the windmill
began to turn.

Ruth nodded at the idea of a millwheel turning without oxen or a
running stream to power it. "Well, this medicine stuff - boiling to
cleanse spirits, that's easy enough. These teas- why some of them
taste like the devil's own concoctions! But... I admit that the new
cloth is more than welcome, and that all this learning and exchanging
seems harmless enow."

The windmill wasn't turning fast but it *was* turning steadily. An
excited buzz could be heard from the front of the crowd as people
determined that everything was working and that the millstone turned
within the tower.

"Well, this be about as much of this excitement as I can stand. There
be butter to churn and sewing to be done," Ruth summed up her own
feelings on the matter.

"Aye, but I find myself wondering..." Korin's voice trailed off. "Mine
husband received the blessing from James, so that he can now light our
home with a prayer. Mayhap I ought to ask myself. Such a thing would
be handy would it not?"

"They already tried that, Korin-girl. Only the priests seem to be able
to share this gift among them. Remember: theory, then experiment? Them
priestly sorts have embraced this new philosophy. And if I catch them
bespelling my cows one more time, I'll introduce them to my
cane!"

-----------

"Where is this?"

"A dream. No, a memory, I think," Setsuna said.

"I've been meaning to ask you, why are you wearing a seifuku? There
was no Silver Millenium in this timeline so we don't have Senshi
powers here." Ami was wondering if there was some hidden quality to
the sailor suits that the older girl knew of.

"I like the way it shows off my legs," answered Setsuna enjoying the
startled look Ami turned towards her. "Since I merged with a Sailor
Pluto, I've found this to be quite comfortable."

"That book say anything about dragon's dreams?" Apple asked, looking
about with interest. Did marionettes dream? Normally the answer was
no. She dreamed, however. But then she had an ishii kairo, so that
made her less normal as far as marionettes were concerned.

"Oh yes," said Ami after a moment of wondering if *she* should get a
seifuku. "Dragons either enter a memory recall state known as
'Reverie' or astrally project their body during dragonsleep. They
switch from one to another."

"What happens if we enter his dream?" Apple nodded her head at the
cloud before them.

"That's dangerous," Setsuna answered. "You could become trapped in his
dream and forced into a role you might not like, if you're already
there."

"I've read that too. 'Wheel of Time' series, wasn't it?" Ami nodded.
"Well, we should go. Isn't this improper? We've determined he's OK,
right?"

"She says, but she remains," noted Apple.

"Oh, well, how about that." Setsuna said, "there's you, Makoto... I
mean Apple."

"What?!"

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

Grey was on the phone, looking at the little girl sniffling in her
sleep at one of the cafe's tables. "Yes, i understand it's not my
mission in this timeline. But it doesn't have to be me. Just get her a
guardian angel or something."

"You can't leave some little girl out on the streets, is that it?"
Urd's voice was a little garbled but her amusement was obvious. "I
don't know that we've got anyone we can spare."

"In this timeline, her parents were an American and a Japanese, and
they died not in a plane crash but in a collapsed building. Looks like
'Lita' is claustrophobic, not scared of airplanes in this world." Grey
looked over at the six year old again. "She's not old enough to take
care of herself."

"She's survived on her own in other timelines," pointed out Urd.
"Admittedly she lost her parents earlier in this timeline than usual."

"Mama, papa," mumbled the sleeping girl.

It was enough to decide Grey. "She's *way* too young. C'mon, Urd, i
know *you* can do something about this."

"Oh, all right." One could readily picture Urd rolling her eyes from
the tone she used. "I'll take care of the paperwork. You'll still have
to accomplish your mission there, *and* go off on little trips, but
I'll enter the requisite data. You've also got that job coming up
covering for the Spells R Us wizard, you know."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Time management. You'll have to spend about ten years in this
timeline as her adoptive father. But you know time can be a variable.
I'm putting you in as her uncle on the American side. You'll take her
back to the USA for most of the time, raise her, accomplish your
intervention mission, then get her to Juuban back in time for Lita
Storm to become a Sailor Scout. Your cover ID as a restaurant cook is
being altered. Now you're an entrepeuner looking for Japanese dishes
to copy and bring back with you."

"A cook? i can do that!" Grey smiled at the thought. "It beats being a
mercenary or some of the other crap."

----------

"This is a memory?" Apple asked of her companions.

"Yes," Setsuna stated, tapping her staff idly. "Well, this explains
part of why he finds you so fascinating but seems a bit put off by you
as a fiancee."

Ami watched as the little girl grew up to a graceful young lady,
waiting tables in the restaurant and eventually standing behind the
grill herself. She saw a less lonely, more outgoing Lita than the one
she had known - less of a scrapper but more accomplished as a martial
artist due to her "Uncle's" encouragement of those skills. Then the
trip back to Japan...

---------

"Uncle Jack", of course, recognized the girls in the corner booth.
Cleaning a glass, he stood nearby as the giggles and whispers stopped.
"Well, girls, what can I get you? Daughter, have you shown them your
cooking yet?"

Rei scowled. "What the heck is a 'fish taco'? Tako is octopus..."

Lita snickered. "American specialty from a place called Baja. No,
Uncle. You're trying to get me behind the grill on my night off! Not
fair."

Grey shrugged but was a little saddened. Nine years he'd raised her,
attended her karate tournaments and been there for her in a hundred
occasions. Legally her adopted father. Yet she still addressed him as
Uncle only. "Okay, so maybe your friends will come back on a day when
you're working?"

--------

Ami sucked breath at the way Grey's participation ended. A yoma killed
him when his restaurant was attacked, the grill exploding in a hail of
shrapnel that pierced his body. Sailor Jupiter held him in her arms as
he died, and his last request had been that she call him 'dad'. She
never managed it.

Apple winced. Yes, she could see why he'd mainly been cool towards
her.

"This was a partially blocked memory, he doesn't consciously remember
it. Just emotionally remembers it." Setsuna noted aloud.

Apple wondered what it would take to completely block it.

Ami wondered if her husband had any memories that did NOT end in
emotional and physical pain. And if there had been similar scenes
involving her.

In answer to her desire, another scene began to play.

--------

Asgard:

Celeste had *seized* on the possibility of getting more work done and
a less crowded control room. So she'd suggested that there was likely
a way to go where Setsuna had taken Makoto and Ami. They'd gone
hunting leads.

Unfortunately she had to deal with the two Elders standing in her
office.

Hoshime, the goddess of defense and courage and battleskill. Her
husband, Etragar, the healer and Elder of benevolent nature.

At least Toltiir, Elder of Mischief, wasn't to be found. Though
Celeste expected Surtag or Warnas or one of the others of that
Aramarian pantheon to show up at any time. Fleece was even taking bets
as to which one.

"Whose tea is this in the 'Totoro' travel mug?" Belle asked.

"Oh mine!" Kasumi 9, the goddess of spring and renewal, said from a
console.

"Hmmmm," said Celeste, reading a data stream and checking to make sure
the 'Protection From Bimbos' wards were in place. Kitchiri was *not*
welcome.

-------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." Most people would have been surprised to
learn that a panda could scream. One was doing so now as well as
moving with a speed that would have also surprised a few zoologists.

Soun heard the siren, and went out front of his house to see his good
friend Genma come running down the street towards his house. Genma
seemed to be panicked.

Soun puzzled, then looked up. Veritech fighters. A space
battlecruiser. Missiles. Giant robots. Girls throwing energy bolts.
Girls with big guns. All in the process of attacking a fleeing panda.

"NoooooooooooooO!" Soun realized with a sudden horrible clarity just
WHAT was going to happen.

Genma ran past Soun and into the undamaged half of the Tendo ancestral
home.

There was a moment of silence as Soun wept and the missiles (both ener
gy and otherwise) followed the panda.

--------

Third Labor timeline:

The shadows had deepened and Ami had put her books aside rather than
strain her eyes. Setsuna had vanished again. Apple had gone into
"standby" mode.

Ami leaned back against the bulk of the dragon behind her and quickly
calculated mass. She considered for a moment shifting into a dragon
herself, but there was a distinct possibility that (as the two of them
were linked) that *she* would end up in a similar dragonsleep. While
that might not be a bad thing, the lair would be pretty crowded and
she didn't have a hoard herself. If it *was* necessary, then at the
very least she'd get ill very quickly.

So Ami just let herself drift off to sleep as it rapidly darkened in
the cave.

An hour later, finding Ami asleep and Apple powered down, Setsuna
reappeared with Honey and Minako. This had been sufficiently
exhausting that Setsuna quickly laid her blanket out to sleep.

After determining that Honey didn't know card games, and Minako wasn't
that good with word games, two more people decided they might as well
get some sleep.

Another pulse of energies from the dragon found the links and
strengthened them, and the sleeping beast sighed a little more
contentedly.

---------

Elsewhere:

**POOF!**

The shimmering spheres appeared out of nowhere and gently touched
ground. They held for a few moments more before dissipating into
polychromatic sparkles.

"Impossible!" Nabiki should have known better than to use that term.
"This looks almost like an Edo era castle?!"

"I'd like to look too, except that someone's hugging my face," mumbled
Ranma into Nabiki's stomach.

Jared looked around. "Who did the extradimensional teleport?"

Belldandy (the human shrine maiden version) timidly held up a hand.

"And the spheres of light?"

Belldandy (the marionette) timidly held up a hand.

"Good job, both of you." Jared acknowledged with an accompanying pair
of hugs.

Nabiki's tail lashed as she was forcibly pried off of Ranma by Ukyo
and Shampoo.

"Oh and for the record, Nabiki," Jared said with a twinkle in his eye.
"Normally, you look at things and wonder 'why', whereas I see the
possibilities of other worlds and wonder 'why not' - which makes
dimension travel a lot easier to deal with."

Ranma felt lost. "'Dimension Travel?'"

"This looks like the Sabre Marionette J timeline where I fought the
demon lord," Jared said. "Or at least this looks like Castle
Japonesse. I..."

"Hahahahahaha!" A six year old, blue-eyed, dark brown skinned, white
haired, half-elf, girl wearing a yellow flower print dress ran past
Jared and ducked into a hallway.

Jared blinked. ~No. I couldn't have seen a half-drow kid running past.
Mud, chocolate, hair dye gone wild... it *must* have been something
else. They don't HAVE drow on this planet. Heck, they hardly even have
humans.~ "Uhmm..."

"I'll get you for that!" A nearly identical girl to the first, except
that her eyes were bright green and she was wearing a a green dress
(except for a large pink splotch that looked recently applied) ran up
and looked at Jared. She curtsied quite well and spoke politely.
"Pardon me, sir, but have you happened to see my sister Hisoka?"

~Pointed ears, infravision evident in their eyes.... ~ Jared was
busily cataloging the similarities. Too busy to adequately reply.

"Ahem," one of the Shampoos (the marionette) indicated the direction
the first girl had gone.

"My thanks, milady." The green eyed drow bowed her head before running
off. "Hisoka! I'm gonna get you!"

Jared blinked. Little drow girls? Well, whatever they were, it was
only two...

"Waaaahhhhh!" Twelve nearly identical versions of the two that had
already past ran by, circled the group twice, and found the correct
corridor.

Jared twitched a couple of times.

--------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Nebula watched little bits and pieces of the Tendo dojo rain down. He
glanced over to the smoke plume that marked the former location of
Furinkan High School.

"Kasumi, just to make things easier on the locals, change name
designate to 'Madoka' - it's who you most resemble anyway. Lorelei,
you can keep Lorelei. Annie likewise doesn't need a name change."

Kasumi considered briefly and made the appropriate change. "Should I
add the familial name?"

"Might as well," agreed Nebula, tucking a bit of windblown white hair
behind an ear. "The Prince is nowhere to be seen. We may have to
repair the dojo and school. As to what..."

"SHINJI!"

Nebula blinked as someone came running out of nowhere to launch
herself towards him.

*WHAM!*

"...owie..." The short haired girl who had "attacked" was lying on her
back with her eyes pointing in different directions.

Madoka held herself ready, someone had attacked her Master!

"Uhm, Madoka, Annie. Stand down. Lorelei?"

Lorelei activated the scanners in her hands. "Life signs stable.
Concussion - minor. She'll have some bruising in that jaw. She's not
getting enough calcium either. Or sun. Looks like she's also been
missing a lot of sleep lately."

"Safe to carry her?" Nebula asked, surprising the three marionettes.

"Yes..." Lorelei said after a moment.

Nebula tenderly gathered the girl up. "Then we'll get her off the
streets."

----------

Ami came to on a blanket in a room that smelled of fresh paint, the
distant sound of someone yelling reaching her through the walls.

A girl she'd never seen before blinked at her from nearby.

"I thought I saw Shinji..."

"You did. He left me here to watch over you because I'm a doctor and
he needed to keep some people away from you." Lorelei considered.
"However he also goes by the name 'Nebula' or 'Ginseng' at times. You
know Master?"

"'MASTER?!'" Ami winced from the loudness of her own voice. "What do
you mean 'Master'?"

Lorelei stared briefly, then stretched out an arm and popped the
access panel on it. "He is our creator and our love."

"But *I* am his wife!" Ami pointed to the ring adorning one of her
fingers.

Lorelei considered for a moment. Master had created them. Master was
married to the Ami unit. Her database was incomplete, but she started
searching. "That would mean that you're our..." Reference located.
Lorelei straightened up, a smile blooming. "MAMA!" *GLOMP!*

Ami blinked and considered fainting.

-------

Third Labor timeline:

One moment in a reverie, the next he'd been in a corridor, and just
touching some odd cloud - he'd found himself here. Wherever HERE was.

There was Setsuna facing him across a low table, mysterious little
smile in place. Instead of her usual garb she was wearing a kimono.

He was kneeling on one of those seat-cushions (the name completely
escaping him at the moment) and she was taking some red napkin and
folding it over, very elaborately? Then wiping some sort of bamboo
spoon with the napkin, laying it carefully aside, then measuring out
three spoonfuls of tea leaves into a cup with the spoon. It all seemed
somehow familiar and important, but what did it mean?

Other than Setsuna liked tea?

Then taking a measure of steaming water from a pot of the same, she
poured it in. There was something of exaggerated grace in each
movement, as she didn't simply lay the ladle or the spoon aside, but
made a show of putting it down as if one millimeter out of place would
have been intolerable.

She used a wisk to stir the tea, then seemed to be looking for
something in his eyes before returning her attention to the task at
hand. Then she turned the teacup around in her hands three times.

Grey wondered if this dream was trying to tell him something.
Counterclockwise turns so something that happened three days ago?

He found himself turning the cup three times, this time clockwise,
drinking it in three sips, then turning the cup back counterclockwise
three times before setting it down. ~What's the significance of three?
Three days? Three hours? Oh, third LABOR! It's something to do with my
Labor! So tea is significant in the labor? Did the dragonfly patterns
on the pot mean something? Was Setsuna's simple kimono symbolic of
something?~

He'd never seen Setsuna smile like that. Even in the series after
Usagi had led them all to victory, that kind of triumphant happy
smile, as if she'd just accomplished something major of her own.

Grey wondered exactly what this all meant.

Setsuna Meiou had realized halfway through the engagement ritual that
Grey's dreamself had wandered into *her* dream but had been amused and
had been even more amused by the way the sometimes-dragon had been
broadcasting his thoughts. Cold as her planetary namesake, Sailor
Pluto wouldn't feel a little warmth at knowing that some young man
found her attractive and intelligent, if puzzling. Sailor Pluto was
into her role as the lonely sentinel too much to really get close to
someone, especially after the Queen had severed Pluto's last romance
by giving her this duty. (One reason she'd been ready to Dead Scream
Usagi when a younger version of that Queen had trespassed near the
time gate.) Setsuna Meiou, on the other hand, was a different story.

------

Ami adjusted her glasses. This match would take all her skills in
order to claim the prize!

"What is... the cosine of the square root of 24?!"

"THAT'S RIGHT! And Ami Mizuno is our new Jeapordy champion!"

Ami sagged in relief. That had been a tough one!

"Way to go, Ami-chan!" "Ami-chan!" "I knew you could do it, Ami-chan!"
"Mizuno-san! Good job!"

"EH?!" Ami's smile slipped a little. Makoto and Rei and Minako
cheering her on were expected. Usagi's absence was troubling. More
troubling was that familiar male voice using such an unfamiliar term
for her. She looked out into the audience. There was Grey-chan. And
Setsuna-san. Setsuna san was... going through a formal tea ceremony?!
An engagement ritual?!

The crowd was sweeping her away from the couple, sweeping her
towards...

Ami awoke.

There was some moonlight coming into the cave, and she could make out
the shape of Honey-chan over there. Not too far away was the massive
shape of Grey, and leaning against him...

was Setsuna Meiou, wearing a satisfied little smile.

"I will not give up," breathed Ami aloud.

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

If Grey had been puzzled by a dream dealing with Setsuna doing some
sort of tea ceremony, he'd been completely flummoxed by Ami being a
contestant on an American game show.

This took the flummoxed and raised it into... he wasn't sure *what* to
call it.

"Have you seen the well-to-do
up and down Park Avenue
On that famous thoroughfare
With their noses in the air
High hats and Arrow collars,
White spats and lots of dollars
Spending every dime for a wonderful time"

An elaborate MGM-style musical with Cutey Honey. And he *knew* he had
two left feet, so how come in this dream he could give Fred Astaire
competition? Not very close competition to be sure, but still...

What was the significance of the symbology? Why were dolphins doing
backflips in the fountains behind them? Why was this taking place in
an ornate chapel? Why were penguins dancing in the sidelines like
something out of "Mary Poppins"? Why was some troll over there
complaining about how OOC everyone was?

"If you're blue and you
don't know where to go to
Why don't you go
where fashion sits
Puttin' on the ritz"

Okay, he could believe that "Cutey Honey" Kisaragi could tap dance. In
high heels. Doing that midair flip and coming down in a different
costume every chorus. THAT wasn't the hard part. (No matter what she
did, Honey always tried for excellence, and more often succeeded than
not.) The version of Cutey Honey he'd met had varied from Go Nagai's
original character in that Nagai-sensei (whose wife he'd met at an
anime convention and immediately been struck with the concept that
he'd based the character on his wife) had never come up with an
explanation for the shifting of clothes or talents. The Honey-chan
he'd met during one of his two stints as Ranma had templates with the
necessary skills (and to some extent personalities) at expert level.

"Diff'rent types who wear a day coat,
pants with stripes,
And cutaway coat,
perfect fits,
Puttin' on the ritz."

The chorus line, composed of OTHER versions of Honey-san in different
outfits, THAT was concerning. (The one where she was "dressed" as
Kekko Kamen was just plain disconcerting.) Honey-chan had always
struck him as being such a *nice* girl, errr, android, girl of
artificial origin, artiform, synthoid, borgcy? (Her outer layers
(skin, muscle tissue, fat layers, eyes, etc) were cloned human tissue
of artificial origin. Sort of like his cyborg form in reverse. Instead
of a core of humanity (nerve tissue mainly) surrounded by the machine,
Honey was a mechanical being wrapped in humanity. And like Data in
Star Trek The Next Generation, he'd discovered that Honey-chan
suffered from the Pinnochio Syndrome.)

"Dressed up like a million dollar trooper
Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper
Super duper."

A conversation during his Second Labor had revealed some of
Honey-chan's core personality to Grey. She wanted to be human. She
wanted to have and raise children. (Though as far as she knew, the
first was impossible. She wasn't an Armitage style "Third.") She had
nightmares about the flesh being stripped away, leaving her a broken
friendless machine, or merging with an otherdimensional analogue only
to find that she was a washing machine in that timeline. She worried
about whether she had a soul or not. She was a strong person, and
caring, and tough in a lot of ways. On an emotional level, however,
she was very very vulnerable.

"Come let's mix
Where Rockefellers walk with sticks
Or 'um-ber-ellas' in their mitts
Puttin' on the ritz."

Ryoga wandering through the background, holding hands with Akari
Unryu, ignoring all of the insanity around them, just added a further
surrealism to the event. Watching Honey-chan tap dancing in some
feminine style tuxedo, then flip/change and come down in a *wedding
dress* and continue the dance without missing a step, he wasn't sure
how to interpret this.

"Strolling up the avenue so happy
All dressed up just like an English chappie
Very snappy!"

Grey metaphorically shook his head. More people he'd met showing up in
the background. The Senshi as bridesmaids? And some he didn't
recognize at all. The chapel was filling up with them as the song
neared completion. And dozens of "Honey-chans" in costumes ranging
from an elegant businesswoman to a video-game martial artist's "almost
not there" wear.

"You'll declare
It's simply 'top-thing' to be there
And hear them swapping smart tidbits
Puttin' on the ritz."

Grey tried to make some sense of this, and the only theory he could
come up with was that the basic psychic abilities of a dragon (such as
the translator effect) were picking up thought-noise that his
subconscious was trying to integrate into something understandable.

"Puttin' on the ritz."

The only thing obvious was that his subconscious was not doing a very
good job.

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

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Kasumi stared at the mirror, her hand halfway raised as if she wanted
to touch the image. Then she brought her hands up, letting her fingers
sift through the thick strands of hair hanging like a cap from her
scalp.

That they were the wrong color, being blonde, and making her look like
some ai no ko, was noted. It was also discarded as a good bottle of
hair dye would take care of the problem.

"As y'all can plainly see, the stuff works exactly as Ah said it
would," Black Bart said, smirk in place. "So y'all can see the
benefits of throwin' in with mah gang."

Kasumi ran her fingers through it again. Okay, it was blonde. Maybe an
inch and a half of growth. But it was *hair* - something she had begun
consoling herself would be gone forever.

"If'n ya join up with mah gang, Ah'll git ya the rest. Ya can grow yur
eyebrows back, grow yur hair as long as yah like. Whatta ya say?"
Black Bart was expecting the calvary to arrive. The hero to come
waltzing in. Even the Injuns to come and attack for their own
"nefarious purposes."

Kasumi blinked, having been overwhelmed by her reunion with her hair.
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Black Bart briefly considered facefaulting but decided it lacked
proper villainous dignity. "Ah said that if y'all join mah gang,
you'll get the rest of the bottle and be able to regrow the rest of
yur hair."

Kasumi blinked. "Okay."

Black Bart stopped. As the sawmill was being fixed, and as she was the
first proper ingenue he'd run into locally, he'd planned on
threatening her with tied to the totem pole and undergoing the dread
"Torture of a Thousand Feathers." It wouldn't do to actually harm the
only suitable Lady they'd found yet. "Excuse me?"

Kasumi nodded. "It sounds like fun. Can I see your kitchen?"

Black Bart was ready for almost any contingency. Success hadn't been
on the list.

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

SMJ World:

Jared was distracted in a big way. Not only was he watching little
half-drow girls playing in the courtyard of Castle Japonesse, but
there was Nabiki-neko giggling and playing with them.

Nabiki. Giggling. Chasing her tail and playing with kids. The mind
boggled at the concept.

A darkskinned child giggled and nudged her paler neighbor. "She's just
like Nabiki! Just doesn't have as much fur."

Jared twitched. "Uhm, she *is* Nabiki."

"They mean the Nabiki on one of the 'Anime Avante' TV programs,"
clarified Nabiki with a grin. "Its a set of R rated at least programs
they show in non-children hours. One of the guards told me about it.
So howcome, Lotus, that you know about it? Hmmmmm?"

Lotus squealed in false terror. Nabiki made an exaggerated show of
flicking her fingers as if they were claws and stalking forward.

"Nabiki. Return." Jared held up his PokeBall and returned Nabiki to
its confines. The problem with play like that was that it could be so
easily misinterpreted.

There were gasps all around.

"She really *is* Nabiki," said Lotus in a wonderous voice. There were
nods and agreeing noises all around.

"Waaa! I wanna be a Pokegirl too!" A dusky skinned girl declared,
standing on a table with a towel tucked into her collar as an ersatz
cape. She made sentai gestures as she continued. "To strike for
justice, love, shopping, fun, and lotsa snuggling!"

"Yeah! I want my own TV series too!" "Me thwee!" "She means
'three' -Arlissa lost her front teeth." "'Never underestimate the
power of a Japonesse housewife!'" "'Pokeball go!'" "Can I see your
Balls, Mister Elf?"

Jared backed away with a look of horror.

----------

"Kasumi, I choose you!" *SHOOM!*

Jared watched with a twitching eyebrow. This was *bad*.

On the TV, a furry girl in a frilly apron and housedress was holding a
broom and standing in front of some boy who had been pounded
practically into the pavement. "You won't get away with this!"

That looked (sort of) and dressed like Kasumi, but it was a young
boy's tenor for the cartoon character's voice.

The villain was, oddly enough, a lecherous looking young boy. He
laughed and it came out more of a titter than anything else. "All
women belong to ME! Ataru Moroboshi! Soon you will come to appreciate
my talents, Kasumi-chan."

Nabiki looked up at Jared's expression and turned the set off. "That's
it. Now I don't know where they got these concepts, or our likenesses,
but..."

"I do." Jared groaned. "Readouts of data from Grey's mind. Either its
garbled or there's a world out there where THAT is going on."

"Some world where I'm a catgirl who can teleport and turn invisible?"
Nabiki smirked, though her tail lashing betrayed her agitation. "Where
Kasumi is some sort of Miyazaki fox-squirrel kind of girl? Well, I
suppose it's easier for me to believe *after* I got these." Nabiki
indicated her cat ears.

Jared entered the room. "I just finished..."

Nabiki hissed, tail sticking out like a broomstick, and found herself
on all fours standing on the TV.

"Oh, didn't you tell her?" The second Jared asked the first.

"Didn't have a chance," said the first Jared with a shrug.

"It's the 'Body Outside Body' spell," said both Jareds. They scowled
and looked at each other. "Are you going to tell this or am I? Fine go
ahead!"

"Somebody tell me," Nabiki growled, ears flattened in irritation.

"You're the mage," said the second one. "I'm just a superspy."

"Oh, all right." The first Jared shrugged. "So anyway, there's this
spell that splits me into component selves."

"I'm the superspy adventurer Skysaber. He's the archimage Ashida
Sanzennin."

"Gre... I mean Akane gave me this idea for using a spelltrap to extend
the duration of the spell that normally lasts a few hours at most."
Ashida shrugged.

Nabiki blinked and slowly pointed at her brooch.

"Yep. Now Gr... Akane was just a median level Healer cleric. How could
he... she make a spelltrap to extend a spell duration over a dozen
times?"

Nabiki snarled. "Would you two *stop* talking down to me?! So this
'cleric' made my brooch and it worked. Big deal! You're not taking my
brooch!"

"But it doesn't work anymore," argued Ashida. "Akane would have had to
cast a 'Cloak Of Belonging' daily to recharge it."

"That's another spell we ought to add to our 'to be researched' pile."

"Nah, already got something that does the same basic thing."

Nabiki had lost her irritation and her head was now going back and
forth like at a tennis match. "So you want to put your own spell in it
so you can do this multiple you thing?"

"Something like that. Have you looked at your brooch?" Ashida pointed
to it.

Nabiki looked at it, not for the first time. Thin crystalline lenses,
bound in silver wire, in the shape of a cross, with a central green
stone - malachite she'd guessed. "So how much are you willing to pay?"

"How about a gateway back home?" Jared suggested. "You, Ranma, his two
fiancees?"

Nabiki scowled at the reminder but had to admit she did miss Kasumi.
Maybe she should take Lina up on her offer.

"What about Project: Payback?" The Mage asked the Superspy.

The superspy adventurer merely made a circle of thumb and forefinger,
the other three fingers spread wide. That and the gleam in his eye was
answer enough.

-----------

Third Labor Timeline, 801 AD:

"They'll come, won't they?" Father James leaned on his walking stick
and seemed to address the ocean.

The woman sitting along the seawall nodded. "Yes. Though the armies
will take months to muster in their strength, and the trip here
longer."

James nodded. "And they will destroy all that we have learned and
wrought here." It wasn't a question.

"It is called 'corruption' for a reason. It spreads to everything it
can, tainting them. Political considerations are foremost among those
seeking to gain and maintain their power."

James sighed and glanced at the woman. "We will not fight. Christians
are oft beset with troubles in these times, and life is precious in
any eventuality. We can melt like the shadows before their onslaught.
Our knowledge and art, the books and devices we have accumulated, are
not quite so mobile. We need a safe haven."

Setsuna nodded. "We are not supposed to assist you."

James smirked. "I know. I already have an idea where to go, and how to
get there."

Setsuna wasn't surprised very often. Pleasantly surprised was an even
rarer event.

==========

Third Labor Chapter 14

"Japanese omelette."

DISCLAIMER: somebody else came up with these characters, or some of
them, or some version of them, or something like that. Story deals
with alternate universes, time travel, and Bennu's Third Law of
Temporal Escalation, and even what started as an SI character.

------

803 AD:

Grey moved his head wearily. Lots of weird dreams. Dancing like Fred
Astaire to "Cutey Honey" doing a Ginger Rogers was strange. Attending
a cosplay convention with Rei had been amusing. A dream with Minako
Aino, this time as members of MiB (agents G and Ai) revoking the alien
registration cards of two mooncats? Another dream of Ami, this time
she was a pediatrician and he was a motorcycle mechanic and they were
married? And why did she stick her tongue out at Setsuna all those
times?

He'd dreamed of sharing a house with Setsuna, a room at the shrine
with Rei, a tiny Japanese apartment with Apple/Makoto, of Hotaru
graduating nursing college to escort them to their two bedroom
apartment. He'd dreamed of a mountaintop chalet with Kasumi,
spelunking with Nabiki, a lakeshore camping trip with Shampoo, and of
a fireside chat with Ukyo. Nuku Nuku and her time spent on a tropical
island.

He'd dreamed and it wasn't until they'd moved into lemon territory
that he'd realized something.

These weren't *his* dreams.

He'd begun to get suspicious when Rei started introducing him to a lot
of people he didn't know but she certainly did. Then she'd whisked him
off to a private room at the same ryokan. It hadn't been until things
dealing with sex started intruding that he'd realized something didn't
fit. He'd begun fighting the dream, something he hadn't felt the need
for when it was just cuddling. It had been like a battle of the
channel changers, everytime he'd fought it into something safe, Rei
had asserted herself and the scene had blurred and returned to *her*
idea of wild passionate sex.

Then the others' dreams had likewise started going that route. It had
been both bizarre and enlightening.

They didn't do it the same, and some of the details fell under "too
much information." So far he'd been able to fight off to a stalemate,
but it was only a matter of time before he was worn down. He'd known
from kissing that they tended to do it a bit differently. Kasumi, for
example, kissed in a manner that was gentle and soft and warm. Rei
Hino was more a "I wanna kiss NOW" take charge sort once she'd gotten
the urge. Setsuna, for example, was very much the "no nonsense"
approach but had more patience and initial hesitancy. Once she had
committed though, it was like the lonely soldier was making up for
lost time and latched on with a strength and fervor such as you'd
expect from a drowning man whose fingers have just touched a life
preserver.

Nuku was playful and one of the few that didn't keep wresting control
back from him. When he directed the dream towards cuddling, she
happily went with that. Honey, on the other hand, was *very*
demanding, and from her comments during the fight was desperate on
some level for affection and this most basic human interaction as
confirmation that she was human and desirable.

What was worse, and more insightful, about each was visiting their
nightmares.

Honey Kisaragi's had been the first he'd encountered, and he'd managed
to struggle and banish that one, changing it to one where he simply
held her. Her dream had been the loss of her apparent humanity,
changing first to a mannequin, then losing more and more semblence of
humanity until a broken machine that looked less human than R2D2 was
left. Grey hadn't any idea how long he'd simply held her, flesh slowly
regrowing over her frame, but eventually she did slip into a deeper
and more restful sleep.

Nuku Nuku's was similar. She was both cat and android, cyborg and
catgirl, human and machine. Her fears seemed to be based on less
losing her humanity than losing her *self* by becoming just a cat or
just a machine. She didn't seem to have a clear concept of either, and
didn't seem to fear either the android or human. She responded to
comfort by curling up and purring. Certainly not the worst reaction
she could have.

So Grey was very hesitant about opening his eyes and seeing what and
who was in his cave. Then the ravenous hunger took over and higher
brain functions shut down.

------

Ranma/Akumakun Timeline:

Black Bart looked at the ingenue again. "Miss Kasumi, perhaps life as
a desperado just isn't your style."

"Oh dear. Did I do it wrong again?"

Black Bart groaned at the sight of Kasumi Tendo, carrying a tray of
cookies, and interrupting his men (and woman) from their attempts at a
cattle stampede. "Miss Tendo, err, how do I put this in a proper
right fashion? Milk and cookies are really not appropriate for the
proper villainous atmosphere we be putting out here."

"I'm sorry."

"That's all right, Miss Kasumi. We'll find other uses for y'all."

-------

Six years had been a long time, and as the currents of time were so
strong and hard to navigate that only Setsuna could manage it (and it
tended to exhaust her reserves rather thoroughly), some of the girls
had given up. They might have stated that they would be back, but it
didn't make much difference at the moment. Once gone off to their own
pursuits, they had not returned. With the exception of Setsuna
herself, who freely admitted that she did not care to rough it at all.

Had Grey been awake, he certainly could not have blamed anyone for
giving up. He was trapped in his Labors, uncertain if he would
succeed, stuck in time (Setsuna *had* tried moving him in human form
to the proper era, only to discover that the time vortex was centered
on him), and not able to offer much comfort.

Everyone admitted that the living conditions in the Ninth Century,
well, they stunk. Literally and figuratively. Visit the locals and you
risk paradox as well as any number of nasty diseases, though Setsuna
*was* able to cadge a number of things from those nice people at that
monastery she kept vanishing to.

Ami had gone off. Medical school beckoned. Her chance to become a
pediatrician.

Minako roughed it for three days, but had begun losing weight rapidly.
Having to kill your own food was a *big* minus for her and a few
others. She'd quietly folded on the third day.

Apple, sometimes known as Makoto, stuck with it for six months. Then
she'd forgotten to boil her water sufficiently once. Like Minako,
she'd had to go back and receive medical treatment.

Rei had only lasted a day before she fell off a log and broke a leg.
She returned to the future as well.

And so the war of attrition had continued.

---------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

"No, Ranko, hold the bucket with the other hand."

"Weren't we going to dump it out?"

"Yes, but on the porch. We've got valuable sudsy water here, no reason
to go wasting it. We'd only have to mix up another batch to scrub the
front porch. Besides, you remember making that soap, do you really
want to go wasting it?"

Grumbling about never believing his pops saying girls were weak again,
and adjusting her bonnet over her western style house dress,
Girl-Ranma went and dumped the bucket of wash water over the front
steps and began scrubbing while behind her Sherry and Nabiki went on
hanging the wash they'd done in that water.

Nabiki looked more than slightly peeved at the task, grumbling around
a mouthful of clothes pins.

"Nabiki, did you just say something unladylike?"

The expression on the Tendo girl's face was priceless, but it
confirmed that statement. Sherry shook out a blanket on the line and
sat down, to both other girls' startlement. She laughed and said.
"Contrary to your first impression, you're allowed to take frequent
breaks in housework just so long as you get things done. We've had
all of the startup costs to get through, maintaining a household once
you have it in order is much easier. So go ahead, take a breather."

Moaning with fatigue, Ranko's arms shivered and she collapsed onto her
face on the wet boards. Looking a little peaked herself, Nabiki
slumped to a seat on the grass.

Sherry giggled, shaking her head. "You two... this is not so bad, you
know."

"Says you." Came back the chorus, with Nabiki wondering out loud how
Kasumi managed to survive a lifestyle like this.

Sherry leaned back and let the sun play on her face. "A couple of
reasons. One, is that you're not just dealing with the effort of the
work here, you are paying extra effort to learn how to do these
things. Then there are the muscles that've never been worked that way.
So in all you are still overcoming the initial foibles of acquiring
the skill. Things get alot easier later on." The redhead looked
around. "Then there's the fact that we're getting the ranch up and
moving, so you're getting hit with alot more work than normal because
we're establishing a home instead of just keeping one running."

Her face crinkled with merriment. "But mostly you're not used to it."

"Why are you even *here*, anyway?" Nabiki moaned from her seat on the
grass. "Didn't you, you know, get your ticket out of here or
something?"

Sherry shrugged. "I had things still here to learn. Besides, I am only
one of me. Thanks to that trick with the holding thingy there are now
a good half dozen of me running about. Only one is the *real* me, of
course, but good luck finding which one."

Nabiki grumbled something.

"Tsk, Nabiki, that *also* sounded quite unladylike."

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

Ginseng/Shinji/Nebula waited for Ami to gradually recover from her
shocks, watching her nervously as he did.

Lorelei, Madoka, and Anni were all also watching Ami nervously. Her
"daughters" were unsure of what to do, and their previous attempt at
"Mother-Daughter bonding" had caused Ami to scream for help. It had
taken Nebula some quick explanations that no actual physical bonds
were used before they'd untied Ami.

Ami eyed her "daughters" uncertainly. Marionette androids, robots who
had emotions that they were still developing. In many ways the three
were children despite being her own age in appearance. She had watched
"Kimagure Orange Road" and so the likeness of Madoka Ayukawa touched a
chord of memory. In some ways Madoka reminded Ami of her friend
Makoto. Then there was Doctor Lorelei, with her cascade of
strawberry-blonde hair. And finally Anni - "Why Annipuma?"

"She was one of two Puma class prototype marionettes," explained
Nebula. "i was developing various new styles of marionettes and the
Puma class was one. They were mainly intended as tank killers on a
world where helicopter gunships could not fill their usual role. Fast
and manueverable, enhanced sense of hearing and good nightvision
capabilities, those spiked knuckles on her gauntlets are a discharge
device for a sonic spike to break through armor. When my chance came
to leave, i couldn't sneak away with all of my prototypes, so i just
left a message to follow when they could and only took the three
physically closest to me at the time."

"Then you have others?" Ami frowned. "I thought you said there were
only these three?"

"With me. i had prototypes of all the basic models that i'd come up
with and developed." Nebula gestured and Lorelei walked up to him,
then turned to continue quizzically looking at her "mother." "Lorelei
is a one of a kind, because she uses human engram technology. Madoka
was also unique, and had been rejected by the Palace as they felt
their own Sabre Marionette O series to be better overall. Madoka is
stronger, but slower and fatigues faster."

Ami blinked a few times. "Eh to. So they're in this other world, and
they're unlikely to show up."

"Yeah, i gave back up commands. If it proves impossible to follow me,
they'll turn up at Doctor Lorelei's office and find work there."
Nebula shrugged helplessly. "i was interested in exploring the rest of
that world and my death was quite possible. Having a Moon Kingdom
Prince summon me from offplane, *that* i hadn't anticipated."

Ami silently allowed that life *did* have a habit of throwing the
unexpected in the way of one's carefully wrought plans. "So how much
of you is Shinji?" She didn't say *her* Shinji.

"i'm the albino half-angel Shinji Ikari that you knew. i'm also
Nebula, the Knight Of Duty, who was born in the Silver Millenium and
became the consort of a Queen for a brief time. i'm also Ginseng, the
marionette turned human woman turned human man who engineered new
sorts of androids for the Japonesse government. There are aspects of
myself that i know of that don't appear to be present. i am your
Shinji and these others, but i seem to be missing a few pieces
nonetheless. It's... troubling."

Ami could tell that he was indeed troubled by this, though she could
only grasp the problem in a vague intellectual manner. "So what do you
think happened?"

"i think they're still around, but seperate. Where, how, why, all
these i don't even have a theory at this point." Nebula shook his
head, causing his white hair to tumble. "Too many questions, not
enough answers."

-------

Third Labor timeline: 806 AD:

It was a slow crawl back to rationality. Upon awakening from the
Dragonsleep, all he'd been conscious of was the overwhelming hunger.

When he was finally fully aware, he looked around the field. Scattered
bloody bones, and not many of them. He immediately proceeded to freak
out from this. Nausea, horror, guilt, and shame overwhelming him. Even
though all of the remaining bones were clearly not of human origin...

He couldn't have, could he?

Grey retreated to his cave, shaking with reaction to these events, so
rattled he couldn't even get an Augury off correctly.

------

Setsuna Meiou stood on the flagstones of the monastery and looked at
the ships with a raised eyebrow. Her seifuku had been put aside for
now, a long skirt of cotton and a blouse of linen being more practical
in the windy clime she found herself in. "Fairly large ships." She
tactfully did not add "for this time period."

"Forty cubits was sufficient for Noah. Noah, unfortunately, nae
attempted to be bringing a library." Korin indicated the arc nearest
her. "They had to be built elsewhere and then sailed here, where we
could load these ships."

"Good Christians should not slay Christians," said another priest's
wife in the small crowd, "if'n it can be avoided at all."

"Feh, they be seeing a threat where there needn't be. Tis a sad thing,
it is," added a third.

"I be missing this place already," began a fourth. "Yet this place the
auguries speak of may be fine enow, it will take some time for it to
be home."

Setsuna nodded, and waved upon seeing a familiar face beckon. "Pardon
me, ladies. I see my friends are ready."

"Take care of yeself, Mrs Grey." Korin said as a dismissal, suspecting
she'd never see the somewhat distant woman again.

"And you too, Korin, ladies." Setsuna quickly made her way across the
yard to where three others waited.

"He should be awakening soon," Honey Kisaragi said to Setsuna.

"Should be," agreed Setsuna. "However, time and my usual methods of
scrying, whether you count Sailor Pluto or the spells of a
chronomancer, are a bit hampered in this timeline."

"Wanna visit Grey-chan," pouted Nuku Nuku.

"I agree with Nuku Nuku on this," said Hotaru, looking a lot like
"Mistress 9" at age 19, but quite a bit more pleasant. "Grey-san is
only two months away from being asleep the expected time. What if he
wakes up and we're not there?"

"Then he will find the cattle ranging not far away," said Setsuna
coolly. "We can catch up with him shortly thereafter. In the meantime
there is a topic we should discuss."

"Nuku Nuku want to sleep with Grey."

Setsuna flinched. "That is precisely what we should discuss."

"She means the memories of his previous lives that we saw in his
dreams," Honey said to a blushing Hotaru.

"Oh," Hotaru said a moment later. "Well, I'm just a friend anyway."

"Yeah right," muttered Setsuna under her breath.

"He's lived lifetimes he doesn't remember, save in dreams," warned
Honey. "Still we should take them as serious because they help to
shape him. He's been involved with more than one of the Sailor
Scouts."

"'Senshi'" automatically corrected Hotaru and Setsuna.

"Whatever," waved off Honey. "We know from checking the records that
in the Silver Millenium he was banished by Queen Serenity, had a brief
fling with Jupiter until *she* went after someone who more embodied
her ideal, then *you* broke his heart when duty called, Pluto."

"It was duty, and he understood that." Setsuna replied, well knowing
that it had still hurt.

Honey knew what had been left unsaid. "Ami needed some time after
seeing that time that she had been involved with him, only to end up
holding her dying body during Lucifer's attack. Apple could deal with
that time where he was the adoptive parent of Lita Storm, but Makoto
could not. Minako and Rei likewise had their scenes replayed. He has
*not* had any memories concerning myself or Atsuko, indicating that
perhaps he's *never* been involved with us."

"He was, in the Pheonix Mage's timeline," began Setsuna.

"Being turned *into* Nuku Nuku is not the same as being in a
relationship with her," interrupted Honey. "I've read the briefing on
his First Labor. The only one actively interested in him in *that*
timeline was Queen Serenity."

"There was also Nodoka Saotome, though she was waiting for the divorce
to be finalized before she would express much interest," Setsuna
corrected.

"After Genma, you think she'd be interested in someone her own age who
displayed an understanding of concepts like duty and personal
responsibility?" Hotaru joked, attempting to lighten the moment.

Honey wasn't easily distracted. "And those are the two reasons we
should be there when he awakens."

-------

Keian glanced towards the keep, taking the moment to catch his breath.
"They hae the power and ability, yet they be refusing to aid us in
these troubled times. I know their ways are strange, and their laws
forbid them to aid us o'er much, but it still rankle a bit at times.
They can only make minor points and never advise us in direct fashion.
Most strange."

"Aye," said Percival, who was still not the Arthurian figure, but had
been named after him. "Sure are slender womenfolk, ye'd think a strong
breeze would blow them over."

"No callouses on their hands either," Keian agreed. "Must truly be a
strange life they come from. When we slaughtered a calf the other day,
ye should ha' seen that darkhaired girl's expression. You'd think
she'd never seen such a thing."

"She hadn't," said Percival, working his shoulders to get some of the
soreness out. "Tell me, Keian. What think you of this bolthole the
Father has chosen. These divinations and prayers are not my style,
give me something I can work with me hands like a forge."

"I hae cast my prayers upon the waters and hae seen it." Keian said.
"A set of islands in a land of warmth and sun. In some ways a
paradise. Yet many things we'll need, we must seek elsewhere and bring
to the place. And I see storms that do sweep in and scour the lands a'
times."

Percival nodded, then lifted his load again. "Well, good enough, I
guess. Tis their way, and this be ours. If'n ye say the place be
there, that be good enough. It may not be perfect, but then, only He
is."

Keian smiled and shook his head at the younger priest's statement. It
was easy to dismiss the rough hewn younger man as some huge but simple
fellow. Easy, but incorrect.

"Keian! Enough woolgathering," shouted one of the elder priests.
"These supplies will not load themselves ye know!"

--------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Kasumi happily hummed as she re-entered her house, ignoring the fact
that Grey had rebuilt it.

Grey had long practiced a number of construction skills, and it was
mainly these skills that he'd made use of over the years. He'd built
walls and repaired houses in Asgard, worked aboard starships and
constructed secret bases in a Star Wars universe, been a small time
trader/repairman in the United Federation Of Planets, and similar
roles in other worlds. A constant was that he was the sort to try and
fix things whenever possible, and he was usually pretty good at it.

The Tendo Dojo was therefore fixed. That it didn't look the same was
to be expected. Grey was not nearly as over-the-top as Jared tended to
be. Every so often though, he'd get an idea. Then all Chaos would
break out, in a manner of speaking.

And, as he'd wanted to safeguard Ami and had the assistance of three
marionettes, it had become something entirely different indeed.

On the roof, in the hot tub, Soun Tendo wept at the thought of what
the tax assessors were going to do when they saw this.

Kasumi wasn't oblivious though, she noted the changes long before
she'd crossed the moat. She'd noted that there were now five floors
and the top of the Tendo mansion was a greenhouse sort of thing. She
hadn't seen the Tendo house get blown apart, yet she was quite aware
that a different house had been erected in its place.

Kasumi passed the sensor array without a glance on her part or a beep
from it. It was when she passed the grumbling about how weird this all
was Akane that she finally got a reaction.

"KA-KASUMI?!" Akane's eyes got wide. "You've got hair!"

"Yes," Kasumi said, fingering the thick growth on her scalp. "That
nice Mr. Bart gave me something for that. Said that it was a darn
shame and that he was looking forward to kidnapping me again when I'd
regrown the rest of it. Wasn't that nice of him?"

Akane blinked repeatedly as she digested that. "How?"

Kasumi pulled a bottle of some reddish fluid out of her purse. "This
regrows hair. He said something about how a proper 'damsel in
distress' ought to look the part."

Akane continued blinking. Genma, listening from where he was in a full
body cast in the next room, could only moan in frustration. Finally
Akane focussed in on salient points. "Did you notice that you're now a
blonde?"

Kasumi nodded, smile still in place. "I may have to do something about
that, though Doctor Tofu seemed quite taken with my new look."

"Doctor Tofu *likes* it?" Akane couldn't help but continue staring.

"Yes, I saw him on the way here. He acts so silly at times, though he
really cares about his patients. He seemed a bit depressed when I lost
my hair but cheered up when I told him that this formula would grow
hair very quickly. From what Mr. Bart said, this might actually grow
my hair longer than it has ever been. Won't that be nice?"

Genma wept copious amounts and wondered how he would get his hands on
whatever it was that would regrow hair that Kasumi had. He had seen
Kasumi even more bald than he was, and vowed that whatever it took, he
would get his hands on this miracle. Maybe it was some sort of idol or
something. Or, considering that it came from Black Bart, maybe it was
a cowboy hat or something.

Akane looked at the bottle and fingered her own hair, which had gotten
damaged by neglect during the time she had been out. "Doctor Tofu..."

Kasumi happily went into her revamped kitchen, noting that it was much
larger and that the stove was also bigger. How nice. She took a moment
to glance in a mirror, still reveling in the fact that she had hair
once again and that it was growing every time she rinsed with the
formula. Now it was slightly longer than Nabiki's "pageboy" haircut,
and tonight's application might see another quarter inch or so.

The eldest daughter of the Tendos reflected that Mr. Bart may be a
scurrilous rogue, and might be a villain, but he was polite and well
mannered and treated her with respect. She contrasted him to a number
of people in her life, and found that Mr. Bart was likely the closest
thing she had to a suitor. While she liked silly Doctor Tofu, he was
just plain *too* silly. Whenever she tried to have a conversation with
him, he'd start giggling or dancing with his skeleton Betty or doing
something else like that.

If only he wasn't a villain.

While she was distracted, Kasumi didn't notice someone taking the
bottle of hair tonic.

-------

The gateway opened. Ami spent a moment looking at her husband in the
glow before walking through, feeling her heart beat faster just from
the touch of his hand on her own. And then...

"Not very defensible," noted Annipuma.

"Kinda small," said Madoka.

"Mama! Where's our rooms?" Lorelei asked brightly. "Ooo! A computer!"

Shinji/Nebula stared deeply into Ami's eyes. Ami stared deeply into
her husband's eyes. Without any apparent cue, they started leaning
closer simultaneously.

*SIGH*

The group sigh interrupted the two and they became aware of three
marionette "daughters" watching with wistful happy expressions.

"Mommy loves Daddy," noted Lorelei. "Daddy loves Mommy. All comments
about it being an unhealthy relationship and Mommy being a weak
dysfunctional woman because she has feelings for a male to the side,
it seems a fairly healthy relationship."

"i told you to take that NOW literature with a grain of doubt,
Lorelei-chan," groaned Nebula as Ami merely puzzled over the
reference.

"I still think 'Mother' needs to work out more," suggested Madoka,
"and maybe carry a plasma cannon."

Annipuma nodded emphatically. "What if crazed mutant rat yoma attack
like in that last world?"

"Uhm," Ami said, little sweatdrop in place. "Honestly? I'd call the
police."

"If Genma attacks Ami, I have just two words to say on the matter."
Nebula was suddenly holding his knightly weapon - the Chain of Duty.
"Panda Steaks."

Madoka and Anni licked their lips and started fantasizing about
peppered panda steaks.

Ami smiled, certain that her husband was kidding.

Lorelei considered for a moment. Maybe cracked black pepper, over a
mesquite grill? That would tend to get most of the carcinogens out.
Hmmm.

---------

Genma, sneaking out of his bed in the revamped Tendo home, shivered in
a cold breeze. Admittedly the burn wraps and casts impeded his
movement, but he was a master of Anything Goes. And in Anything Goes,
action came before (or in place of) thought!

That there were pressure bandages, burn salve, and casts in place
wasn't important. Getting his hands on whatever gave Kasumi her hair
back *was* important.

The balding martial artist stopped at a corner, seeing Akane sneaking
away from the kitchen. Dismissing such odd behavior, Genma continued
on to stare at confirmation of what he had heard. It was a few shades
lighter, but there was Kasumi with hair covering her head once again.
As it was the wrong color, it was unlikely to be another wig.

An idea clicked and Genma snuck away again, this time rushing as fast
as he could to where Akane had disappeared. The girl already had hair,
but had taken it anyway. Conclusion: Akane's crusade against weirdness
would have the youngest Tendo destroying whatever had given her elder
sister hair again!

Clearly, this could not be tolerated.

Genma snuck with all the considerable skill he had in such endeavors.
There! His prey had just snuck out of sight and was examining a bottle
of some potion! Now she was drinking it!

Genma dashed forward.

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

Akane had taken the bottle of the latest weirdness to hit her family.
She had wanted Doctor Tofu to notice her for so long, and had grown
her hair long for just such a reason. Now she had longer, silkier,
hair than her sister Kasumi. Unfortunately, this would soon change and
Kasumi would use this to regain the lost ground.

Just a sip or two, and Akane could tell if this was something her
often oblivious older sister could use safely or if it was merely more
weirdness and would turn on them later. And if it made her own hair
longer and silkier and got Doctor Tofu's attention: so much the
better!

The stuff tasted horrible and Akane made a face as the first swallow
passed her lips. Then she felt hands trying to pull away the bottle
and she drank deeper, fighting back automatically. She realized it was
Mister Saotome a moment later, but the sudden itching was so intense
that she didn't pursue.

"Let go! I need that more than you!" Genma finally wrenched the bottle
away from the girl, sending another two doses to splash down on
Akane's face and the front of her dress. Leaping away, Genma chugged
the remainder of the bottle in quick order.

-----------

Third Labor Timeline:

"I *told* you!" Honey Kisaragi said to Setsuna, her voice echoing in
the empty cave.

"We'll simply teleport to where he is," Setsuna replied frostily. She
wasn't wrong, after all. She'd simply been less right than she
normally was.

Ami mused, seeming to wander away from the others. Partly she wanted
to follow Grey. Partly she wanted to see if it could be done again.
Partly she wanted to one-up that Setsuna Meiou and her smirkily
superior manner. Okay, mostly the last one.

The sometimes Senshi of Ice tuned out the argument between Setsuna and
Honey out, then the clumsy attempts of Nuku Nuku to play peacemaker,
then the breeze and cold.

Finally she found the "heart of the dragon" within her and focussed
her concentration on that.

Setsuna was cut off in mid-argument as Ami screamed in pain and
triumph, her form blurring and lengthening, a tail forming and
lengthening, wings snapping out to reveal bluish highlights and vanes
among fine silver scales.

With a brief toothy grin and slight blush, Ami launched herself into
the air, finding herself clumsy at first but quickly gaining
confidence as she began experimenting with her power of flight.

Setsuna winced and held her staff up. "Okay, we've got to get to him
first. Another teleport coming right up."

"Yay! We gonna go find Grey-chan!" Nuku bounced like a cheerleader.

Setsuna groaned at the utter lack of dignity held by certain young
androids, but continued building energy for the Teleport. She was
cheered slightly as Ami misjudged a thermal and lost a sizeable amount
of altitude before catching herself. Ami obviously was an
inexperienced flyer.

Honey, Nuku, and Setsuna teleported. Ami flew on, though she noticed
there was some difficulty in *keeping* the dragonshape.

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

Grey flew on, wings beating as maintained altitude. They weren't dead,
but he couldn't tell where they were. Odd that he could feel their
presence like that, but they were out of range for whatever that
direction sense thing was.

As it was, he thought he had figured out where they were: Japan.
Fighting the demons that had infested their homeland. He should have
figured that out sooner. Which meant that he had to get there as soon
as possible and aid them. He'd seen demons working before, and they
tended to be nastier than anything Queen Beryl or Nehelenia could come
up with. They couldn't be prepared for that level of nastiness!

Grey felt an odd tug and almost shifted back to a human form. Even
though his dragonform was natural now, he realized he didn't know that
much about being a dragon. What *that* meant, for one thing.

Fighting a headwind, concerned for the odd drain, and preoccupied with
what could be happening in Japan, Grey was rather surprised by three
figures appearing in midair, less than ten feet in front of him.

While he was travelling at his full movement rate, at an altitude of
1200 ft, over the Sea Of Japan. Where it was reasonable not to expect
pedestrians to suddenly to pop into one's flight path.

**WHAM**

Grey got control of his flight rather easily, his relative mass
ensuring that the impact had minimal effect. Eyes quickly picked out
the three plummeting figures. "Oh, FRAK!"

The silver dragon grabbed Honey with his left foreclaw. A wingover and
tuck, and Nuku Nuku was caught by his right foreclaw. There was a
moment of indecision as he realized that he had both "hands" full and
Setsuna had been seperated from her staff. Oh well.

**SPLURCH!**

Setsuna landed with a wet sound on the only thing Grey could think of
to catch her with. "UGHGHHHH!"

"Mmmrhphh mmmmb muurrr," explained Grey.

"Yes, I see that," said Setsuna, rotating her body so that the teeth
weren't touching her and wiping spit off her face.

"Gnnn vrrrr mmmff! Unnnnn?"

"Yes, I think so. Can you angle under the staff?"

"Mrrrffffl!"

"Got it!" Setsuna held up her staff triumphantly, even if just her
arms and head were sticking out of Grey's mouth. "I'll crawl up on
your nose in just a minute."

A tickle in his throat, from a dislodged shoe, caused Grey to do
something he was trying not to do. "Gmmmph. Ukkk!"

Setsuna braced herself against the sudden suction of Grey
involuntarily swallowing. Odd. She suddenly felt... "Okay, I'm *not*
getting up on your nose."

"Mrrfff"

"Because. You just sucked my clothes right off."

"Mmmrmfff?!"

"When you land, I'll use the hensshin stick and transform." Setsuna
moaned at the thought of being stuck like this for several hours.

Nuku looked up from where she was being carried. "Nuku want to play
too!"

-----------

Ami flew uncertainly, and found herself having to rest frequently.
Looking at the black overcast skies, she hearkened back to a memory
she'd seen in a dreamscape.

Another realm where she'd been neither Ami Mizuno - mage, nor Sailor
Mercury. Instead she'd been Ame No Cygnus, and Usagi had been Athena
Serenity - the reborn Athena. (Usagi had also shown a bizarre dual
personality, as her usual self - she was the same Usagi she'd known
back in Juuban. Then Athena would come forward at need and she was
*very* different from Usagi.)

Grey had entered the timeline, had done what he could. And died. And
died, and died. He couldn't save them. She'd watched as he held her
duplicate's dead body in that other timeline, screaming his loss to
the Heavens.

Ami Mizuno shuddered, the shudder passing from long sinuous neck to
the spade shaped tip of her tail. He'd known them, all right. And it
was obvious why most of his memories had been blocked.

Ami had taken some time while Grey slept, studied, taken her medical
courses, then eventually sought out and found a lonely Sailor Mercury
who had her place at Court and a pile of broken dreams and missed
chances.

Ami was well on her way to becoming a pediatrician. She had a shot at
making her chances and dreams, and was working towards both. It was
easy for Mercury to see the reason to go elsewhere.

Nebula, the Knight of Duty. She knew how she could reach him quickly,
but wondered how it was done. She'd only flown once before, and she'd
never tried to teleport along a ley line.

Abruptly her human form returned. She retained enough presence of mind
to cast Featherfall. She vanished shortly before she would have
touched ground.

----------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Jared stared at the signboard with his companions, interested in spite
of himself. ~That's funny, I thought he wasn't due for some months
yet.~

Two schoolgirls walked by him, chatting between themselves. "Did you
hear the principal is returning today?"

"Yeah. I understand he's been studying in the Caribbean, some very
intensive course work, or so they say."

"Do you think they might add some Caribbean styles to our dance
class?"

"Oh, I sure hope so. I'm so tired of..."

The voices trailed off as they moved away. ~That's funny.~ Jared was
thinking, walking after them into the school. ~Something is distinctly
odd here. Principal Kuno was *supposed* to go to Hawaii and come back
throwing exploding pineapples and coconut bombs. Another aberration,
like the Martial Arts Ranching. I wonder if they're connected.~

He walked calmly past the bushes where Black Bart waited in ambush for
'Sherry' to come by. ~Sorry,~ the redhead thought. ~She's not coming
to school today.~ He glanced apprehensively up at the sky. ~That is if
I can help it.~

The young man was startled out of his ruminations when the windows of
the fourth floor of the school building all opened up to reveal ranks
of black powder cannon, which all fired in a single volley, shooting
forth basketballs and beach balls and volleyballs and practically
every spherical object that could've been stolen from the school gym.
The hail of rebounding balls bouncing off of trees and school walls
knocked down practically every student on campus that wasn't yet
inside. Except (of course) for Jared (who simply dodged), Shampoo (who
blocked with bonbori while saying something extremely unflattering
about the Furinkan High School Uniform), Ukyo (who stood in front of
her grill where she'd been making breakfast okonomiyaki for students
and teachers who'd missed their home breakfast, using her spatula to
not only block but return fire), Ranma (who took the first one in the
face and blocked the remainder thereafter), and Nabiki (who proved
that the kitty did have claws and could shred sports equipment aimed
at her.)

Reflexively, the young man swung his book bag and deflected a cutlass
stroke toward his ribs and found himself staring at a *longhaired*
Principal Kuno, wearing a tricorn style hat with burning cannon fuses
alight in the man's scraggly beard. Taking in the coat and costume and
the man was a dead ringer for Blackbeard the Pirate.

"Arr, so what have we hear? 'Tis an officer in the King's Navy, err
mah eyes don't see me right. Well, young squire, you're about ta visit
Davy Jones as we drop ya in the briny drink. What say ye ta that, eh?"

Jared fought an *enormous* smile, stepping back as he dramatically
cast aside his bookbag and drew forth a slim rapier in his left hand.
He saluted the pirate with the blade. "I should say that I shall not
go swimming today. Have at thee!"

He thrust with the intent of taking the man's hat off, only to find
his lunge deflected by the Piratical Kuno ducking under a guide rope
that hadn't been there a moment ago, dodging around the side of a mast
that likewise appeared out of nowhere, and slammed him heavily in the
ribs with a belaying pin plucked from that same mast. Jared went down
clutching his unexpected bruise, yet did not release his sword.
Piratical Kuno considered him, and a parrot fluttered up to land on
the man's shoulder. "That be a taste of the Caribbean, lad." He nodded
as if regretfully. "I'd be tellin ya ta remember it, however ya not be
needin to very long." With that he slashed upward and then down again,
taking a bite out of the planking (planking?) when Jared had rolled
aside before it hit. The youth came up with a stroke toward the
pirate's ribs, which that other deflected by swinging a boom into its
way, then ducking under that same object and coming at him with a
flurry of cutlass blows that were hard to defend against no matter
*how* accomplished a swordsman Jared thought he was. At every moment,
in every circumstance, where he sought to gain an advantage some
article of shipboard scenery would get or be shoved in his way. A
quick glance around assured him that they *were* still in a
schoolyard, only that schoolyard was now littered with barrels,
ballast, masts, ropes, sails, an anchor and deck plates.

He got in *real* trouble when the pirate chased him up into the
rigging.

Piratical Kuno stood calmly upon the beam as if it were the widest
avenue in the universe. While Jared was actually quite accomplished at
balance he'd grown too used to flying when circumstances like this
came up. If he were in better shape he could've well played Peter Pan
to this guy's Hook, but those abilities hadn't returned yet.

It was oddly disconcerting that he found himself in the uniform of a
British officer of the period, too. Still, Jared held his own until
the school cannon opened up for another barrage and knocked him from
his lofty perch.

Somehow it was no surprise at all that when he fell he landed on a bit
of planking spread out with an end hanging over the school pool. That
there were sharks obviously swimming below was less concern than the
fact that the eyes of the entire class body were upon him. If he fell,
the curse would be shown.

Falling and rebounding had nearly caused him to bounce in the drink,
but he scrabbled and regained his hold, pulling himself topside of the
board. When he came to stand it was with no astonishment to see
Principal Kuno standing at the edge where the board met the shore. The
rigging and trees effectively cut off escape by leaping.

"It be a good fight, it was. I'll be sure ta toast ye, when next we
set inta port, with a good tumbler of rum in yer favor. But now be the
time fer ye ta walk the plank an put an end to it."

Jared found a smirk somewhere. "Yes, but there's something I know that
you don't know."

A squinty eye widened on the other side of that smoky beard. "Oh? And
what be that?"

Jared tossed his weapon from one hand to the other. "I am not left
handed."

With that Jared lunged and surprise pushed the pirate back a step,
allowing him access to slip aside and fight on the shore. The surprise
lasted only so long. The parrot flew up and squawked loudly into his
ear, disrupting his rhythm of attack and allowing Kuno to regain the
advantage, which he proceeded to press soundly.

"It don't be making much difference, eh?" The pirate gloated, as he
pulled a black powder pistol from his waistband and fired it at his
student's head. Jared had ducked aside just in time, though the smoke
from the blast caused his eyes to water and drove him up against the
mast, their blades locked as Principal Kuno pressed his much greater
weight to move the swords closer to the young man's throat.

Jared found a smile. "Yes, but I'm not right-handed either." He drew
another sword with his second hand and for once now he had something
that could fend off the blows of his adversary and deal with the
obstructions, while at the same time retaining some ability to attack.
In truth, Jared was ambidextrous, it didn't really matter to him which
hand he fought with. So he had become proficient with both.

Principal Kuno jumped up and let the ship's railing take one of
Jared's thrusts, then his own cutlass blow was blocked by a rapier up
in guard position. The youth plucked his sword out of the wood and
followed the older man onto the railing, dancing back and forth in a
weave of blades until he had pressed the older gentleman up onto the
poop deck, where they began to fence back and forth, Jared driving
Kuno in a circle while the older man ducked and dodged and weaved and
used the ship's wheel to block and nearly disarm the young man of one
of his blades.

Jared was finding that he'd not *enjoyed* a fight like this in some
long time.

Finally he had the old man trapped, cornered in the stern end of the
boat (where all this decking was coming from he'd devoted *no*
attention to know). Anyway, the stern hung out over the school wall
and Japanese traffic whizzed by underneath them in a blender-like high
speed display that seemed more dangerous by far than shark-infested
water. ~Traffic? In Nerima? Where did *that* come from?~

"Any last words?" He asked of the pirate, one sword point at his
throat and the other back at guard, this despite the fact that he'd
disarmed the
pirate.

"Just one." Piratical Kuno replied, using one raised hand to curl and
point toward the school yard. When Jared risked a quick glance he saw
the entire student body rounded up in a line with the first of the
young girls, Yuka he realized, bound and gagged with her leather shoes
standing on the base of the plank, a rowdy crew of pirates surrounding
her. "Release me, or the sharks'll be feeding on their bones."

While not *quite* so gullible as to be unguarded, in his moment of
surprise (first that this guy actually HAD a crew of pirates!) Jared
was
watching for two things when he was struck by a third, as Kodachi's
ribbon settled down around him, binding him fast. Kuno swiftly
disarmed him and shoved him to his knees, while Jared was looking up
to see Kodachi standing upon the railing, her usual leotard replaced
by tights and a *very* form-fitting uniform, consisting of red jacket
and boots. It was actually quite comely on her.

Principal Kuno finished brushing himself off. "Well, daughter, what
say ye? Keel haul him or have him walk the plank?"

Kodachi was openly considering the young redhead bound by her ribbon
"Are you sure, father? I would as soon destroy a stained-glass window
as an artist such as him. Do you think we even should? I don't think
he'll be reporting back to the Crown." Her eyes grew low and
smoldering toward her target.

Jared knew what *that* meant, although come to think of it she
certainly didn't seem her usual self, and the fight had been quite
enjoyable. Kuno sat down upon a treasure chest and began to reload his
gun, which Jared plainly saw was just a smoke bomb in a tube. Harmless
but dramatic. Even a glance to the other's sword, now that it was not
moving, revealed it to be blunted. A bit of memory showed that his
cannon barrages had always been soft balls at low velocity. So he
began to feel guilty over his own sharp blades, it appeared that this
was all in fun. He rather suspected the sharks were robots that would
thrash alot yet do no violence, merely scaring the frightened student
out to scramble up the shore, amazed at how lucky they were.

>From *that* perspective this had all been good, clean amusement.

All this while Principal Kuno had been considering. He reached a
conclusion. Standing up, he headed off to the actual school building.
"Bring him along. We'll make a cabin boy out of him and see what 'is
worth is."

A pirate flag waved over the school building.

As Kodachi picked him up and started to carry him of to class, Jared
was mentally wandering off to other topics. She might make a good set
with his Tendo Twins. Off-character, but delightful.

He could hear people being moved into classrooms. Then heard a yowl
and winced. They were after Ranma, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Nabiki. This...
could get messy.

"Arrrr, get those lily livered landlubbers to Slave Galley Rowing 101!
Must I do everything meself?!" Principal Kuno roared as he turned his
attention to where three women and one boy were holding off the bulk
of his forces.

Nabiki especially was looking ticked. Her ears were flat, her fangs
showing, tail switching back and forth, fur bristling. She did not
look even vaguely happy.

Jared spent a moment of wonder as the concept clicked. Nabiki as a
catgirl had *very* feline traits in personality, particularly those
traits that she'd had before and had mutated or enhanced by the
transformation. Nabiki had chosen Ranma as her mate. While Ukyo and
Shampoo (and to some extent Kasumi) were rivals, that's all they
were - just rivals. She might have even seen them as challengers for
the Alpha female spot in a pride. Nabiki saw swords and guns and was
reacting as if they were after her property/territory and were set to
take it. If Jared was right about the Alpha idea, then Nabiki would be
responding to the ring of weapon users surrounding her as a threat to
the whole pride.

Nabiki let out another animalistic howl. Jared wished he could see her
eyes at this distance because he had a feeling that Nabiki's humanity
was getting submerged and the Catfist was about to come out in all its
gory. Or glory. Whatever.

"That didn't even sound human," said Kodachi, though not losing her
attention enough to slack the ribbon binding Jared.

"What are ye fools doing, standing around like that?" Principal Kuno
roared at his fellows. "Are ye men o' the sea or be ye..."

Nabiki moved. Most of the time she was a playful little kitty. Her
"rivals" were seen as playmates most of the time. With the Catfist,
she was on a par if not better than Shampoo or Ukyo, so there was no
reason to take them seriously. Kasumi likewise. She wasn't sure when
she'd come to regard herself as the lead girl in a pride, but it was
amusing and fun. So she was just playful and smugly superior and
affectionate for the most part. This was an exception. Swords and
clothes were shredded. Guns and dignity came apart. No longer were the
pirates facing a martial arts battle with persons playing by their
rules. This was a five foot four inch white hot ball of outraged
feline doing her impression of a cuisinart at high speed.

There were screams and yells as pirates fled, clothing hanging in
tatters off their bodies.

"Come back here ye swabs! She be only one little girl!" Kuno yelled at
his retreating men.

Nabiki turned, saw Principal Kuno. Saw what was sitting on Principal
Kuno's shoulder.

"SQUAWK! I towt I saw a putty kat!" A terrified parrot knew with
absolute animal certainty that THAT was a cat. A hungry cat. Nabiki
pounced, knocking down Principal Kuno and then using his chest as a
springboard as she leapt after the little tweety bird. "I did! I did
saw a putty kat!"

Principal Kuno picked himself off. "Somebody get that damn" *KLONK!*

Shampoo lowered the bonbori, watching the pirate captain hit the dust.

Jared found a small spatula cutting through Kodachi's ribbon at the
same time.

"Harridan! How dare you cross the Pirate Rose! I..." *CLANG!*

Ukyo put her spatula back in place. "Come on let's get to class."

"But, Nabiki..." Ranma pointed to the distance where a wildly flying
parrot was trying to keep out of reach of a hungry catgirl.

"Ranma-honey, that girl can definitely take care of herself." Ukyo
shook her head, glad at least that Nabiki had never attacked *her*
like that.

Shampoo looked at the shredded clothing and weapons and wondered if
she could learn that attack.

Akane came running into the schoolyard, saw the devastation, nautical
and sports equipment, and came to a stumbling halt. When she saw her
sister chasing a parrot around the compound wall, she just *knew* that
that damn Jared had inflicted more weirdness on her family.

Well, she had a plan to deal with him!

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

Third Labor timeline:

Three riders and if he was slowed any, it was minimal. There was
something to be said for being age category 6.

"Are we there yet?"

"Look down below, Nuku Nuku? See any land?"

"Oh."

"I just want a bath," said Setsuna, managing to put quite a bit of
emphasis in that.

"Yeah, Nuku bets she's getting all wrinkly!"

"That's a pretty good bet," agreed Honey.

*~Should be another two or three hours at most,~* suggested Grey,
having remembered that dragons were psuedo-telepathic.

"I've had better trips, to be sure."

"You could always join us out here, Meiou-san."

Setsuna realized it was hard to summon up one's dignity while naked,
or nearly so, while sticking out of the side of a dragon's mouth like
some toothpick. She tried, however.

*~Well, if it's any consolation, i think that your panties are lodged
near the back molars on the right.~*

"I can summon a change of clothing as soon as we set down. AFTER I
replenish my spell energies, and can get solid ground underfoot."
Setsuna would *not* pout. It was a matter of pride. She might be stuck
in her fiance's mouth between cheek and gum, dragondrool coating
everything below the shoulders, her Senshi "sailor suit" being
somewhere in said dragon's digestive tract, with a double teleport
having drained most of her spell capability, but she was *not* going
to play Lady Godiva in front of Honey Kisaragi. Much less Nuku Nuku.

*~i just hope we don't run into any flying demons. You do know that i
can't use my breath weapon or cast spells with you there, don't you?~*

"I'm quite aware of that," Setsuna was beginning to feel put upon.
Then startled at the idea that she'd spoke out loud.

* ~No, actually i picked up on that through my link with you. Which
seems strengthened by physical contact. So, Honey and Nuku hear my
replies, but not your comments. Awkward. i just wanted to point out to
you that you're among friends here and nobody will think less of you
for being dishabille.~*

Setsuna shook her head. It was too cold out there for her to wear this
little. "Well, at least nobody else is..."

*Pop!* "aaaaAAAAAAAA! *snag!*

*~Ami? So nice of you to drop in.~*

Nuku made a face, not liking having all that water underneath her.
"Are we there yet?"

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

a different universe entirely:

"Pika! Pikachu!"

Kiyone looked down at the little palmtop and read the translation.
"Yeah, Ed, I think they'll do fine."

"Pika pi pikachu kachu." Ed waved a little paw at the departing
repairship.

"A world called Alphonse IV, in the Megeara system. It's listed as
being the 'Beach Vacation Spot' world. Not a Hutt controlled world,
nor is it of the Empire." Kiyone shrugged. "One of those worlds that
keeps independence by playing the various forces off against each
other. I thought it likely that it would be a good place for those
'not the Senshi' to operate a repair service. People get there, their
ships are busted, so the girls can fix the ships while the owners are
off relaxing on the planet itself."

"Pika pi?" Ed looked up at his partner.

"No, they're having one of those 'Miss Swimwear' contests, and the
last one I attended was embarassing enough." Kiyone's smile was a
little sad at the memory. Nagi winning hadn't done wonders for her
self-confidence.

"Pika." Ed privately wished that they had gone along with the group.
It could have been amusing. Then he realized something. "Pika pika pi!
PIKA!"

Kiyone looked at what Ed was pointing at. There were just some left
over parts from where the girls had rebuilt their ship. No big deal.
Except that looked an awful lot like. "Oh dear."

"PIKA!" Ed said, covering his face. Well, maybe he ought to consider
prayer.

"Well, there's some longrange TIE fighters we could use to try and
catch up in." Kiyone mused as she surveyed the hangar they were
nearest.

"PIKA PI!" Ed argued, knowing full well that the 'flying coffins' had
a reputation.

"Well, we need a bigger crew for almost anything else," Kiyone argued
back. "These aren't almost completely automated like the Yagami or a
Juraian ship."

"Pika! Pika Pi." Ed indicated. An Imperial shuttle wasn't armed, but
it at least was manueverable and didn't require the pilot to wear
radiation shielded underwear.

"Hardly any armor or shielding, no weapons. What about THAT." Kiyone
pointed at a battered old ship across the field.

Ed drooped. "Pi." He was going to make his entrance to a bunch of
intergalactic babes in a swimsuit contest, in THAT ship? That was
rather like picking up your date to the prom in a primer colored
Gremlin. "Pika pi." Would it even hold together that long?

"What other ship could we use that has even a chance to catch them?"
Kiyone started across. "Let's see if I can get it started."

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

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Lunchtime at Furinkan High School.

Ranma sighed as he heard Akane's voice raised in a gripe again.

Nabiki purred and rubbed up against him. Shampoo growled under her
breath. Ukyo slightly burned an okonomiyaki.

"What's that stupid Principal doing *now*?" Hiroshi said, ogling
Shampoo as discreetely as he could. Especially after direct and
obvious ogling had produced a short violent reaction.

Daisuke, still moving carefully and *quite* grateful that the real
Akane had returned, looked over the notice. How odd.

"----NOTICE----
New Clean School Policy.
The decks need to be as clean and polished
as pretty as an Englishman's plate. All hands
will heave to during lunch period and after school
to batten the hatches and swab up the poopdeck.
Clubs and afterschool activities be cancelled till
the school be completely clean. Also no pets be
allowed or public displays of affection.
Mutineers shall be forced to be walking the plank."

As with everyone else who had read the message, Hiroshi and Daisuke
immediately looked at Nabiki, Ranma, Shampoo and Ukyo. "Uh oh."

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

Okayama Hot Springs, about three hours bus ride from Tokyo-3.

Ami blushed, fidgeted and tried not to look at her husband *too*
obviously. Proper Japanese decorum, after all.

Shinji merely sat back and watched the deepening twilight.

"Shinji... I..." Ami started to speak, but grew increasingly nervous.
Where exactly did she stand with her husband now that he was also
several other people? "Shinji, do you think that I - that is do you
think that I'm... I mean."

A soft snore answered her.

Ami briefly facefaulted, and found that immersing one's head in hot
water actually seemed to help her headache.

"Ami chan..." breathed Shinji.

THAT perked Ami up. He was dreaming about her? That gentle smile of
his was in place. She remembered that smile. That was her Grey-chan's
smile. She leaned closer as his lips parted, wanting to hear what he
was about to mumble. It could be important. Whatever it was, he wasn't
speaking aloud, so Ami positioned herself so she could better hear.

Some of the other hot spring attendees were staring as this
shy-looking young girl started crawling over that young man. How
aggressive!

"Land's sakes," said one old matron to another, "in *my* time girls
weren't nearly that scandalous."

The other old matron agreed. "Hardly proper at all. It must be that
new style of dancing."

Ami listened to the dreaming whisper, trying to make coherent sense
out of incoherent rambling. Particularly when said rambling went into
other languages regularly. It was made more difficult by her having
to climb up onto him, and when her hand slipped, well, she'd grabbed
onto him. But that was all right, he was her husband (or at least part
of him was) so it was OK, right?

One old man turned to another. "You know, girls weren't nearly so
forward in our day."

The other snickered. "Yeah, and a damn pity it is."

"Kinda have to admire that guy's cool. Girl's all over him and he
isn't even making a move." The first old man shook his head. "Such
self control."

"I dunno," said the second old man. "I think he's asleep. Which means
he must *really* be exhausted."

There was much wicked speculation from the two about *how* the man had
gotten so exhausted. It was fortunate for Ami that she couldn't hear
any of that though, or she'd likely have fainted from the force of
blush.

Ami slid a little closer, she could almost make out...

Ami slid. Shinji woke up to find Ami straddling and pressing up
against him, still seated in the hot spring. "Thermal expansion. How
embarassing..."

The two older women yelled in unison. "Get a room!"

The two older men began pelting the two older women with bath things.

----------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Soun yelped and tried to spread himself across the wall. "MASTER?!"

"Well, well, doing pretty well for yourself, aren't you, Soun old
boy?" Happosai tapped his pipe, leaving a pile of ash on the floor.

A bald panda in the backyard held up a sign. [I'm just a cute lil'
panda.]

"You're looking pretty well fed yourself, Genma," noted Happosai. "You
don't mind if I stick around here for awhile, do ya?"

"Oh my," said Kasumi, looking at the mess the short older person was
making. She hoped Mr Bart wasn't lurking about at the moment to see
such things.

"Hold it right there, pardner," said a voice as a shadow moved. His
cape furled back and he tipped his black cowboy hat briefly at Kasumi
before turning his attention to the short fellow. "Jes whatta ya think
you be doin' there?"

Happosai looked over the stranger. "Who's this bozo?"

"Mah name's Black Bart, heir to the School of Martial Arts Stage
Villainry. You shouldn't be causin' extra work for Miss Kasumi like
that."

"Huh?" Happosai said, then fully noticed Kasumi. Too sweet and
innocent for his tastes, but if this other guy was interested...

Kasumi blinked as the little old man launched himself, grabbed onto
Kasumi, and began rubbing his head onto her breasts. She disliked
resorting to such a cliche, but admitted there were times it was
entirely appropriate. "Oh my!"

Black Bart, seeing his damsel-in-distress in distress, naturally saw
red. "Martial Arts School of Stage Villainry, special manuever. Tie
'em up, move 'em out!"

Happosai dodged the half dozen lariat nooses sent in his direction and
smirked. "You don't know who you're dealing with, punk. I'm going to
have to teach you a lesson!"

Black Bart stood tall and met the little man's gaze straight on. "Ah
believe that's mah line, you ornery polecat. So smile when ya say
that."

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

Third Labor timeline

The fires were the first thing visible in the overcast night over 9th
century Japan. The year was 806. Whatever was *supposed* to be
happening in Japan during that time frame was unimportant, because of
what was happening in *this* Japan at this time.

It had been almost two hundred years since the demons had conquered
China into a single unified nation. There had been none of the
emphasis on scholarly pursuits, no Great Wall built to hold back
invaders, no shih or great monastaries of Buddhism. Instead there was
an emphasis on ruthlessness, sneakery, and dark magic. Generations had
been raised and steeped in a culture that had the worst elements of
Aztec and Persian philosophies, spiced with things that a Kali
worshipper might enjoy and only the nastiest could rise within their
society.

They did not come to Japan to conquer it or enrich themselves. They
came burning, slaying, and destroying because it was good sport.

"This does not bode well," said Grey as he flew over a wooden town
from which fitful glows could be seen.

"What do you see?" Setsuna said, having finally been convinced to
crawl out of Grey's mouth and put on a simple woolen shift. Didn't
mean she was happy about it.

"There aren't any signs of life down there. There *are* some fair
sized ships, look like troop transports." Grey made a decision, then
made a swift turn and headed for a hillside well away from the
transports.

Honey looked down to see their altitude dropping very quickly. "Where
are we going?"

"i'll land over there," said Grey. "They've likely got powerful mages
or ranged weaponry. We can approach from the ground with rather more
concealment."

Grey flew quite well. Landings, well, he didn't crash nearly so badly
as he used to.

"Water," Setsuna said, seeing a stream nearby and making a straight
course for it. Getting dried dragon slobber off her was a primary
consideration.

"Land!" Nuku Nuku exclaimed, not minding flying unless it was over
water.

Ami looked about at the deep woods and was silent. Honey merely nodded
and started making preparations for camp.

Ami was apparently satisfied with whatever she was looking for and
turned her examination to Grey, being able to see his dragon form
clearly for the first time. She'd seen him growing and shedding his
skin, but that had either been cramped in his cave or while riding
him. She hadn't gotten a chance to examine him prior to this.

His scales were finer, though there were still patches of old skin
clinging to the new. He was larger of course, somewhere around seventy
feet in length not counting the tail. The wing spines were thicker and
more developed. The smooth head spines were a bit brighter, without
that slightly sooty appearance that had marked them when he was
younger.

Ami ran her hands along his side, feeling the cool silvery scales
almost like water. She remembered reading up on the sixth age category
of dragons. When he wasn't reigning it in, he'd be putting out an
"fear aura" to 20 yards away that would send most animals and quite a
few people scurrying. Part of having a magical metabolism. If he used
his breath weapon or any number of other things, that would snap out
of his control and start spooking everything in the area. Once he
studied it properly, he'd be able to learn to bend the winds to his
will by modulating that same aura.

Of course, she wouldn't be affected by that fear aura, even if it cut
loose.

Ami felt a nudge from Honey and a brief whisper that she should stop
fondling him for now. Ami froze, realizing she had still been stroking
his scales and pulling off little flakes of the old skin.

Grey's tail lashed as his long neck extended up that he could more
efficiently check the breeze. "i can smell the fires from here."

Ami listened to Setsuna splashing herself at the stream.

Then they all heard a noise that was unexpected but quite
recognizable.

There was another dragon nearby, and he'd caught Grey's scent.

===========

Chapter 15:

Happosai vs Black Bart!

Nabiki banned from school?

Akane gets longer hair than Kasumi?!

Same Bet time, same bet channel.

Other notes:
my webpage hasn't been updated in quite awhile because my computer is
still down. i have this borrowed unit, but haven't been able to access
the program or section that'll allow me to update. Later.