Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Hand Maid May Fan Fiction / Gatekeepers Fan Fiction ❯ Retake ❯ Back To The Ball Game ( Chapter 16 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 16 Retake: Back to the ball game DISCLAIMER: Many characters originated elsewhere. ------ Greylle just *knew* something had happened. He wasn't sure what. He wasn't sure how. It wasn't just that he'd gotten ahold of the base and arranged for a practice team of marionettes to help him perfect his baseball skills. It also wasn't the fact that Shampoo and Ukyo both looked as if they had been in a fight and lost. What it was that was different was a little hard to pin down. Yuka - arguing quietly with Sayuri about something. Sayuri - giving that "I can't believe you're suggesting this" look to her friend. Akane - idly munching on a fish cookie while flipping through some notes. Ranma - with wet hair and a sullen expression that indicated why she was in girl form right now and that she was not happy about it. Hotaru - staring at him, then blushing and studying her book the moment he turned completely in her direction. Strange, but she'd been doing that a lot anyway. Hikaru Gosunkugi - not there. Strange but hardly alarming. Hiroshi and Daisuke - pouring over some hentai magazine if their expressions were any indication. Rei Ayanami II - the marionette was quietly observing everyone and no doubt relaying it to her sister-units. Nothing unusual there. Nabiki - seen earlier - had come flying (literally) in to the schoolyard. She had recently become *very* fond of flying. Greylle supposed that in some way it represented personal freedom and control which would definitely appeal to Nabiki. Temporary Instructor Obe - just entered the room and taking roll call. They seemed to go through a lot of instructors here for some reason. The really weird ones were the only ones who stuck around. Shampoo - looked like she had been thrown in a blender set for "frappe". No body parts missing that could be seen, but it looked like some of her hair was missing and she had some nasty bruises. Ukyo - one of her eyes was blackened to the point where it had yellow highlights. Looked like a busted lip, and she'd been walking *very* carefully. Normal people - hmmm looked like the last ones that qualified as "normal" were Daru and Edu (the military otaku), Kiyoshi (the girl with the big... attitude), Kimiko (Daru's girlfriend and captain of the girl's martial arts soccer team), and Matsuhiro (captain of the kendo team following the unlamented removal of Tatewaki Kuno from the school.) It was frustrating but he couldn't tell *what* was going on that seemed so wrong. "We have some new students from China," announced the teacher, adjusting his glasses yet again. "So let's give a big 'ni hao' welcome to, uhm..." The door exploded inward. "We give own introductions!" Greylle had, in one lifetime, been in the Amazon village briefly. On seeing those entering, he almost considered fleeing. This was major not good. "Frost," said a calm voice from the pale girl studying the class briefly. She had much the same figure as Shampoo, but was thinner of limb - lacking the lean muscle of the martial artists. (Trip, thud, crash!) The girl tripped on nothing that anyone else could see and managed not only to fall down but legsweep Frost as she did so. "Azure." A pair of taller girls moved in. One was pale and light brown, the other a redhead. "Sugar. Spice." A girl who looked an awful lot like Sailor Moon stuck her head in the doorway before waving at them. "HiiiI! I'm Sash!" (slip crash thud) "oops" The transformed dragon watched carefully. Sugar and Spice weren't so bad. Frost certainly could be - she took the Icemaiden image seriously. Azure and Sash together were a disaster wrapped in a catastrophe. Well, at least he'd be able to get away from them later. They were already looking over Ranma. While Greylle had some sympathy for the poor boy, this was definitely a case where it was better to be watching the problem than an active participant. ------ Fess considered the odd requests and processed them. That was one task. There were others that needed consideration, but then he *was* an advanced AI and could do quite a lot at the same time. The American government was in tatters right now. Twenty four hours of undiluted truth from not only the politicians but the news media in the affected area was still having ripples through various strata of that society. The amount of threat they could produce right now was minor. The various other large governments were unsure of what had triggered it, but the effect was known - and it scared the living daylights out of them. Many would respond to a traditional military threat in kind, something like this that threatened the very roots of their power was another matter altogether. This was causing forces that might have been inclined to take advantage of the chaos in Washington to back away in case it was contagious. There were the odd requests from several of the Sailor Senshi to consider. Ami Mizuno had phoned in a request for a simulation of a potential situation. Not that she was seriously considering doing anything like that! Setsuna Meiou and Hotaru Tomoe had shown up late last night and used the beautifier. According to Meiou it was actually better than a day spa. Fess had been pleased to hear such a thing, as that *had* been a design consideration. The two had also come up with some other requests that Fess was considering whether or not to grant. Like Hotaru wanting a Krynn-style dragon saddle. The nanobath to restore Akane Tendo and Nabiki Tendo was almost ready. Some developments had put them ahead of schedule and as soon as school ended they could be turned back to normal human girls. Kumori Mizuno, pediatrician, had some interesting ideas that she had e-mailed Fess. That she now was attempting to fix her daughter up with a dragon was noted. Considering her stated desire to access Fess' technology, this was quite understandable. As were the doctor's ambivilent feelings on the relationship should she succeed. The Japanese government was apparently quite happy with the android dogs, and the dogs themselves were satisfied with their current positions. Hardly anyone knew any of the details outside a very few in strategic positions. So far the only complaint was from K-9-8 "Scotty" who complained that his current partner was a complete idiot. There was a problem in one of the factories orbitting Jupiter, apparently an especially high flare from Io had caused the robots building it to have a memory fault error. In compensating several sections had been built and the entire thing resembled a giant temple bell. Which wasn't too bad, except for the fabricating robot deciding to call itself Quasimodo and make a lot of jokes based on the bell theme. As long as Disney didn't find out, Fess wasn't going to tell them. Fifty Sakura Kinomoto/Avalon units, marionettes of sufficient complexity that they could actually stand up to an autopsy (unpleasant thought) unless it was a particularly technologically advanced city, were settling into various cities worldwide. There they could report back and carefully nudge things. Nothing overt, but sometimes having an understanding friend and a cheerful goodnatured girl around could brighten the lives of those around her. Fess currently planned to add another two thousand when the resources were available. The world could use all the bright and cheerful he could manage. Other androids and marionettes were developed and released, though these were single-unit releases. If one was particularly useful or successful he could make more. Some developed odd traits as a result of their programming - because each had a simulated personality and memory set depending on what her source was. Tifa Lockheart, for example, tended to daydream and liked sparring with other units - annoying the heck out of some of those units. The Aerith and Aeris units seemed to enjoy working in greenhouses and the like. Most of these were units in finishing stages because they had now become a low priority to some of the other tasks before Fess. -------- The problem with non-terrestrial habitats meant to be used by humans for long periods of time was that humans as a rule were only able to survive in very carefully maintained conditions. Air, food, water - all needed to be within a narrow range of tolerances. Sewage wasn't a problem. It was all organic material anyway and could easily be used to produce arable soil when treated and added to the native materials. Power was supplied by microwave stations, rechargable batteries, and solar panel arrays. This met the major requirement of robots - which made them much more suitable to carving out a colony in environments that would kill humans within minutes. So robots paving the way for humans was logical. Most of the robots operating off of Earth were very nonhuman looking. Treads or wheels were more common than legs, and bipedal was even rarer a design feature. Some robots were of human appearance for all that they went outside in conditions that would have been very unpleasant for a human. Because Fess had originated them, and because most of Fess' knowledge of android manufacture came from downloaded details from Greylle, there were marionettes in space and on Mars and in a few other "interesting" locations. Which meant that there were cute female simulacra doing any number of odd tasks in odder places. Which caused some alarm when a Russian probe clicked on and sent a picture to the Russian Space Agency showing a number of young ladies constructing a tubeway that went right by one of their cameras. Followed by certain members of that agency ripping apart their datafeeds while they tried to find the hackers. That wasn't the only Martian project coming under scrutiny. Not by a long shot. Though the casino/spa built into the rim of Olympus Mons was far more gaudy, it was the picture of nubile girls in skintight costumes that got the attention of the various Russians and caused them to publicly declaim the obviously Swedish computer hackers. Well, that and nobody had a camera to see the construction on Olympus. Giant robots had been built, not to wage war against alien invaders, but to do really large construction projects. Vast ampitheatres and farm domes had been built, large rectenna farms to capture the microwave power beamed down from solar converters, caverns and lavatubes converted to habitats. The linking tubes were one of the last stages before everything could be made ready for a human influx. The wind continued to blow, the speed picking up, and one of the infrequent global sandstorms loomed. -------- "Oh we can be cured now? That's nice." Akane tried to look cool and calm and collected. That her tail was lashing about and her ears had gone flat against her head indicated that she was not nearly so tranquil. Nabiki was a little more successful. "Oh. Well. I suppose I should go first." That she had no real enthusiasm was apparent to anyone who listened. "Is something wrong?" Rei Ayanami (number 12 in the marionette series not that anyone could tell from looking at her) asked of the two. Their behavior was not logical. A Sakura Kinomoto unit skated by the three, wondering if she should ask why the catlady was so upset. Nabiki let out a deep breath. Once she was restored to fully human she could start using that magic stuff she'd learned from the ghost of Lina Inverse. Raywing would take the place of antigrav generators. She could handle this. "Okay, I'm ready." Akane smiled but wondered at the sense of release. She didn't want to be a halfhuman catgirl did she? Of course not. But why be in a hurry to change back when she could do that any old time, right? Right! Noting that the tigergirl had relaxed suddenly, Rei #12 figured it was one of those human things. When she was exchanging data with the other Ayanami that evening maybe they could make sense of it. "This way then." The medical suite was familiar to both of them. Both had awakened here after very traumatic circumstances after all. Neither was going to be able to forget very easily and neither was exactly comfortable in a hospital setting. Nabiki looked over the displays and the keypad next to the nanotank. "What's this? I thought you'd just rebuild my body and I'd be gone."

"You'll still have to stay overnight as you are rebuilt," corrected Rei softly. "However, the keypad would be if you wanted to make additional changes to your genetic matrix or corrections as you went along. The unit is also able to respond to voice commands. The system is currently ready to go, just strip and get into the tank. Air will be supplied to you automatically and you'll be in a deep dreamless sleep until the process is complete." Nabiki got a glint in her eye. "I can make alterations?" Rei nodded once. "Yes, though it is suggested you not at this stage. I have to get to practice now." "'Practice'?" Akane asked, one ear twitching. "Yes," responded Ayanami. "There is baseball practice commencing in fifteen minutes at the Furinkan field. Greylle-sama needs a full team to practice against to improve his skills." Akane's ears went briefly flush against her hair, but then she relaxed again. "Hmmm. May have to check that out." Nabiki watched the two leave, then turned her attention to the keypad. "Change anything I want about my body, eh? Hmmmm." -------- Akane blinked. There was Greylle Shard, practitioner of baseball style martial arts - stretching and doing warmups before practice. There was also a full field of Rei Ayanami units wearing identical baseball uniforms. The effect was slightly creepy. "How do you keep them seperate?" "Oh, that's fairly easy," responded the polymorphed dragon. He wasn't paying much attention to Akane. Some of the recent reports from Fess had been quite troubling. He hadn't been an American for over 70 years - roughly. Or at least one of him had. "They've all just given themselves nicknames so that it's easier for people to figure it out - though it's just for when they're playing baseball. Don't know where they got that idea from." Akane watched the baseball going at nearly transsonic velocities as it whipped from one identical member of the team to another. Could he really keep them seperate? "Okay, then who's on First?" "Yes, she is," agreed Greylle. He had a feeling he was forgetting something, but what? Akane blinked. "Who is?" "Yes," repeated Greylle. "Can't you tell me the name of your first baseman?" "Who." "THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING!" Akane took a deep breath to steady herself. "What is the name of your first baseman?" "No, What is on Second. Who is on First." (Blink blink, slow burn.) "Look who is that you've got out there on First base." "Exactly." Greylle wondered what Akane was getting angry at *now*. "'Exactly'?" Akane closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "Okay. Forget First. Who is on Second Base?" "No. Who is on First Base. What is on Second." "ARRRGGHHHHHH! I said *forget* about First Base for now!" Akane wanted to pull hair out at this point. "What about your Third Baseman? What's HER name?" "Idunnaknow." Akane glared at the unusually obtuse American. "I thought you said you knew their names!" "i do. It's very easy to keep track of them." Greylle thought maybe Akane was getting frustrated trying to find differences. "See, Who is wearing her sleeves down a little and is chewing gum." "Who is?" Akane looked around. "Your First Baseman is. So what's her name?" "Like i said before, What is on second, Who is on first." Akane began to glow blue. "Okay. One last try at being reasonable. Imagine your pitcher throws a ball, you hit it to first. Who catches the ball." "Well, i'd hope so. She's pretty good from what i can see." "Who is?" "Yes," said Greylle, ready to point out that she had quite an arm on her. "ARRGGGHHHHHH!" ------- Nabiki looked in on her body, seeing the cyborg parts removed one by one. "Ewwwww." "I've seen worse," said the astral form of Lina Inverse. "You ready?" "Yeah, teach me what you can of magic." Nabiki concentrated fully on the sorceress. It was less of a problem to deal with the lack of enhancements that her cyborg body had possessed if she could gain something in the doing of it. Becoming a powerful sorceress would help. Besides, she *really* didn't want to watch her body being reconstructed. ------ Only the corrections built into her catgirl body were keeping Akane from going completely ballistic. "WHY DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT'S THE NAME OF THE FIRST BASEMAN?" "I did! Who!" Greylle was beginning to get a little frustrated himself. Unfortunately neither considered the translator might be having a little trouble with the current situation. Or that the Ayanami units had been watching an old Abbott & Costello flick. "THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING!!!" "Ten, nine, eight," began Akane, finishing with "two, one. Okay. Suppose you go to the plate. Tomoe-san and Meiou-sensei are on First and Second." "Okay," said Greylle, picturing it. "Anyone on Third?" "Don't. Even. Start." Composing herself again, though her tail was making sharp jerking motions, Akane continued. "You hit the ball to Third. I don't know catches it, throws it to what, what to who, Triple Play." "Okay... Yeah, i could see it." Akane twitched. "You could see it." "Yeah, entirely possible. Your point is?" Akane twitched and blinked. Why was he making fun of her? "I don't know and I don't care!" "Pardon me?" "I said 'I don't care!'" Greylle thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, she's the Shortstop." "AAAARRGGGGGHHHHH!" ------- Yuka had been a reformed otaku. Sayuri had never been such. Yuka had gotten back into it when she'd been presented the chance to realize childhood dreams. Sayuri had been dragged along for the ride. At the moment, literally. "Waaaaaaaaghhhh!" Sayuri was a lot more conformist than Yuka. OK, she'd bought some "hunk shots" from Nabiki of Ranma's guy form - but that wasn't that abnormal just not talked about. "Wahoooo!" Yuka liked certain elements of being a costumed defender of Tokyo. For one thing you got such neat toys! Like this jetbike, or rapid deployment vehicle if you preferred. Just look at how fast you could go, and how quickly you could take corners! "Isn't this neat, Sayuri?!" "AAAAAAAAAAA!" Feeling her cheeks pulling back from the g-forces they were going through, Sayuri couldn't hear her friend's comments. Currently running through her head was only the idea that they would end up smeared across the landscape. The jetbike, being fairly intelligent if not sentient, determined the direction that the operator wanted to go and speed and was making minor course adjustments all the time. It didn't particularly care but safety of operator and passenger were priorities. Especially as neither were wearing their hardsuits. So full speed and manueverability were cut down to what an unprotected human body could handle. "Yeeehaaaaa!" "AAAAAAAAAA!" People on the street looked up briefly as the little red streak shot overhead. Almost universally the attitude was "More weirdness in Nerima. How boring." ------- At the top of the clock tower of Furinkan High School, Hiroshi sighed as he saw a jetbike pass overhead at high speed. "Hey, Dai. You remember when the weirdest thing to happen around here was Tatewaki Kuno?" Daisuke smacked his idiot friend upside the head. "Don't say his name, moron! You want to summon him?" "Sorry," said Hiroshi, rubbing his head. "Yeah. On the other hand, look at all the eye candy," exclaimed Daisuke. "The albino chicks are a bit cold, but I think I could warm one or two of 'em up. Then there's those new ones." "You don't mean those *little* girls, do you?" Hiroshi made a waist high gesture. "Them Sakura girls?" "Well, give em another six or ten and they'll be cute," agreed Daisuke. "Nah, what I mean are those over there." Hiroshi put his binoculars over his eyes and focussed in the suggested direction. "WHOA! Hubba hubba!" "That, my friend, is the promised land," said Daisuke. "Hey," said Hiroshi as a thought occurred to him. "Those're artificial people right? They're supposed to be experiencing human life, right? So we should take 'em to a love hotel and make sure they get the whole human experience!" Daisuke looked in wonder at his friend. "You know. Sometimes I wonder why I stick around with you, and then there's moments like now. Shall we?" ------- Fess checked Nabiki and found unusual brain activity, but nothing life threatening. Hotaru and Setsuna calmly sitting with Kasumi and Cologne and having afternoon tea was less concerning. Akane storming into the complex and demanding she be turned back to human was more unusual, but he could certainly accomodate her. Before she changed her mind again, of course. Things were certainly progressing well and the riots in Washington DC were drawing to a close. The Mars developments were progressing well, and some of the other projects were likewise doing at least as positively as could be expected. Though it looked like something was going on with the IS Project. ------- After the two boys had spoken their piece, the androids looked at each other. Tyra snapped her fingers. "I've got it. This is an attempted seduction!" "Oh?" "Yeah, you're right." "Wow." "That would explain a lot." The other androids all nodded, this making sense now. Hiroshi and Daisuke beamed at each other. Man this was going to be easy. The IS (Idol-Supermodel) series had been built to a less high standard than the Sakura series, though they could bleed and stand up to medical exams to some extent. In their case, Fess had done scans on the internet and of major broadcast media and built nearly exact duplicates - figuring that if these units were deemed attractive they would be more acceptable. Oh, they had *some* changes from the originals. They had a letter-number designate instead of a last name. They had full skill packages of useful roles like Registered Nurse, Construction Engineer, Gourmet Chef, and Android Maintenence. They also could, even in the frailest seeming unit, dead-lift over 800 pounds, run at speeds in excess of 35mph, had a suite a very sensitive sensors, and would retain their current appearance with regular maintenence for another 200 years before they required a major overhaul. There were also minor cosmetic changes, enhancements designed to increase their attractiveness based on various polls and trends as well as not duplicate too closely living humans who could be awfully funny about such things. Their purpose however, was to act as go-betweens. While radio or telephone or computer-to-computer was more efficient, humans tended to require face-to-face meetings. Hence this experiment. "So what would be an appropriate response in this situation?" Tyra BAN100 asked her sisters. "In roughly 52% of the references culled from shojo manga, we should be offended by such a blatant come-on. Followed by us ganging up on them and thrashing them severely - usually with large blunt trauma instruments," a member of the Swedish Bikini Team declared. "As this is the majority of that media, this is what we should do." Hiroshi and Daisuke's smiles fell and they slowly began inching away. "In the shonen database," indicated Megumi HAYA102, "the spread is different. The use of mallets and other blunt instruments is overshadowed by the Angry Huff." "That is not the conclusion I have come to," disagreed Kotono MITSU104. "I also show blunt trauma instruments, however this is for blantant and *undesired* approaches." Hiroshi and Daisuke were now ready to flee at high speeds. There was a difference between being crazy and stupid. Michie TOMI109 twirled a baseball bad in her hands. "What would be considered a suitable application of force?" Hiroshi and Daisuke broke and ran. Linda CAR125 held her hand up. "What about *desired* approaches?" Somehow the mallet looked at home in the tiny hands of Aya HISA110. "Are we sure we'd want to put this experience in our databases? They look kind of unsavory to me." "Interesting thought. We should interface to determine what parameters are deemed acceptable for such activities as well as assemble a database of acceptable behavior and responses." Sandra BUL151 thought Aya might be on to something. Heather LOCK199 disagreed. "I think we should spend more time observing our originals." "You just want to watch that cop show," responded Kirsten DUN203. "Maybe we should just get back to working on the Arcadia. I wanted to finish the South Outer Ring Environmental Monitors today." "You *always* want to get back to the construction of the Arcadia," Yvonne CRA212 criticized. That she looked like her original had back in the 1960s, including a Batgirl suit, might have stood out elsewhere. In this crowd, however, most of those looking would have been reduced to mute staring by the time she shouldered her way forward. "Who's going to help me out with the Guardian Force mobile suits? I've been promised assistance for three days now!" Denise RIC111 pondered. "Well, I was considering hunting down those two and seeing if they actually had data worth sharing. Since they aren't here, I think I'll help you out instead." "Do you think they actually meant to proposition us as a group?" Tyra BAN100 asked the crowd. "Two guys, three hundred girls?" Kikuko INO113 shook her head. "They didn't look *that* dumb." ------- Akane sat down in the nutrient bath, knowing that she was surrounded by itsy bitsy machines that would turn her back into a human. After Greylle had teased and humiliated her, she was ready for things to get back to normal. At least she was alone now. Sort of. "Why is he like that, anyway?" "Why is who like what, Miss Tendo?" Akane jumped, heart racing, before she realized it was just Fess. "That gaijin Greylle!" "What happened, Miss Tendo?" "He was being a JERK!" Akane responded. "Oh? I suppose he is that sometimes," agreed Fess. "What the hell was he thinking with that stupid joke?!" Akane gritted her teeth as she tried not to smash anything. "Which joke was that?" Akane mumbled something about baseball naming conventions. "I was wondering about that sort of thing myself." "Eeek," eeked Akane who was wearing very little in the slowly filling tank. Cologne grinned briefly. "I was wondering, what other lives he's referenced that make him so reluctant to risk emotional closeness." "Some of you might want to leave the room," suggested Fess. "This sample is pretty dark." None of them, even Hotaru, made a move for the door as the lights dimmed and the a holographic projection began. "Who's the young man with the odd tattoos on his forehead?" Cologne asked, though suspecting the answer. "This is Greylle, fairly early on. He has just been assigned to a world..." ------ Grey held out the tricorder and began scanning. "Hey, Central. What's the mission? Looks like pretty typical Azabu Juuban in Tokyo circa 1992." A communication device flickered lights in response. "Unknown. This timeline was affected by the Knights Of The True Continuua using a dimensional tunnel to shift something into this universe 32 minutes ago their time. It's March 15, 1993." "The ides of March, eh? Any other details you can give me?" Grey looked about with the scanner continuing to bleep at him. "Sailor Moon universe. In this particular one, the pre-intervention difference is that Tuxedo Mask starts gravitating to Sailor Mars and the two date for a much longer period." Ignoring the tricorder, Grey straightened. "I feel it. Something's about to happen. I..." The wind rose, a sudden gust that passed by him and caused his defenses to flare bright momentarily in response. The effects on the surroundings were rather more intense. Crashes and screams and howls followed in the wake of the wind. "Oh... those..." Grey began looking around him, his face a mask of horror. "What is it?" The communicator sounded desperate. "Readings aren't making any sense." "They created a crossover element, they brought in the aliens. DAMN THEM! This is now a 'Wind Called Amnesia' crossover timeline." Grey winced and held his head. "Damn! Being an empath is really not good at times." "What was that? 'Amnesia'?" Grey tried to focus under the psychic barrage caused by all the pain, fear, and death. "Short form. Aliens decide humans are too dangerous. They unleash a quantum phase weapon - the Amnesia Wind. It spreads across the planet and wipes out memories in its path - not just personal memories but *everything*. No language skills, no civilization, just a bunch of hairless apes. Ah! That must have been a jetliner! I'm heading towards the site." "No, don't bother," the commlink said. "We'll arrange for your pickup. You can't do anything anyway." Grey tossed the commlink aside and started running. ------- Even Cologne, who had seen a lot of pain and suffering in her lifetime, stared in horror as the images continued. Setsuna Meiou, no stranger to carnage and bloodshed, winced and looked away. The astral body of Nabiki watched and would have turned pale if she weren't as pale (and transparent) as it was possible to get already. "This is one of his more painful memories," said Fess, "however it is also pivotal to how he develops later on." Kasumi couldn't watch anymore and covered her eyes. That didn't help much as some of the images had seared themselves into her imagination. Akane fell asleep in her nanotank. Uncharacteristically perhaps, Hotaru was actually snarling. "Tell me these aliens got their comeuppance." "At this point Greylle lacked the ability to find, much less fight, these aliens. Instead he concentrated on saving what lives he could. This didn't work out as well as he could have hoped." The flames spread out from several impact points. Not only the jetliner but from cars whose operators suddenly didn't even know what a car was much less how to operate them. Fess sped things up in the playback, and soon they could see most of Tokyo engulfed as gas mains erupted and fire overwhelmed what few automated systems existed. The firemen, of course, were fighting over those few bits of food that could be found without somehow puzzling out the opening of cabinets or other food storage areas. Not able to save everyone, they saw the figure of Greylle hunt down and find a few specific individuals who fought like animals but were eventually tied up and carried off for their own safety. "How many died?" Cologne asked when she could. "Worldwide within the first day - over one billion. By the end of the first week over four billion dead. Automated systems do not receive required passcodes and missiles are launched which further reduce the population." Fess hesitated. "Based on these results the aliens decide humanity is too inherently uncivilized and are preparing to completely destroy the planet seven months after their initial attack." "They call US uncivilized?! After THAT?!" Cologne looked again to see the image was of a small villa overlooking a burned out city. "How did this affect the boy?" Fess slowed the replay to a more normal replay level. "He was still fairly new to the whole hero-role, and prior to this had lacked assertiveness and much drive. During this he learned reliance and several skills such as childrearing. This takes place six months and a week later." ------ "Pa pa?" "Good girl, Ami," Greylle said, patting the girl on the head and trying to avoid getting latched onto when she squealed happily and tried to grab. "What the blazes is going on here?!" Ami hissed and drew back. "I take it you're from the Office?" Greylle asked someone. ------ "How come we can't see this other person? He's all mosaiced out!" Setsuna inquired. "He bears several powerful spells to defeat attempts to scry him." Fess hesitated to say more, then decided it wasn't necessary anyway. ------ Greylle apparently saw something to confirm that. "Okay. You're familiar with the basic setup. Everyone's memories were wiped clean. Not suppressed - erased. i've got the Sailor Senshi here where i've been teaching them the basics, just as if they were babies in teenage bodies." "Yeah. Okay, I get it. You're going to eventually get them to the point where they can say their activation phrases and see if the transformation will either revert them or at least give them their Silver Millenium identities back." The mosaic moved, and the nearly feral Ami drew back away from him. In this world, strangers were usually hostile and prone to attack anything that moves. The savage had survived where others could not. "Only one at a time, huh? The rest are caged?" "Yeah, i cleaned out some kennels for large dogs. Dogs, cats, other animals weren't affected. The dogs now wander the outer area. Feed 'em for a few weeks and they get used to you. The girls are there because they're prone to attack each other over food or toys and stuff." Greylle began brushing Ami's hair, causing her to calm some. "Well, you're off the case. Your office wants you back, now. Besides, the aliens are getting ready to nuke the place - you've run out of time." Greylle sighed and leaned back. "You'll take care of them? i really don't feel right abandoning them." "No problem!" The blur made a sweeping gesture with his arm and Ami blinked and straightened. "Oh. I... remember?!" Ami staggered, clutching her head. "They weren't erased?!" Greylle was obviously shocked at the sudden change. "No, they were erased, I just have access to powerful spells and am familiar with some of the basics. Giving them language skills and basic memories from the series was easy. There's still gaps but at least they'll be able to fight back. As for the aliens, I've got something to do about *them*!" *SLAP!* Greylle blinked, especially as Ami had just slapped him. Six months getting her to the point where she could feed herself, say a few simple words, and developing a simple parent-child bond. Obviously she'd just remembered being bathed and having her diapers changed regularly. He never had been able to get them potty trained. Ah, the joys of raising children. Not. "It would seem that i'm not needed after all." Greylle shook himself, the good of his "children" was really all that mattered. "Do i know you? i think i owe you one." "Not yet. Time travel's involved. You get around a lot you know." Greylle winced. "So my future, your past, we meet. Got you. Time travel always did give me headaches." --------- Setsuna nodded. Definitely a sensible sentiment. "So, he came out of this encounter changed?" Cologne could see it. He'd definitely cared deeply for those girls, had clearly doted on them like a proud parent, then been rejected. Ah well, Japanese girls were like that. Always holding out for a better deal, leaving their husband/boyfriend when things got rough, etc. (Of course, Cologne being Chinese couldn't be slightly prejudiced, could she? No, of course not.) "Oh yes. Prior to this visiting other worlds had been a sort of game. He'd allowed himself to be pushed by circumstance and hadn't spent nearly so much time studying. More like coping and just handling day-to-day existence. After this he studied with Hephaestus the arts of magic and technology." Cologne blinked, thinking of Greek gods. "Hephaestus?" "Yes," agreed Fess. Setsuna smiled, thinking of an artificier in the Silver Millenium of the same name. Ah, a Silver Millenium connection - which made associating with the dragon far more acceptable. Hotaru dabbed at her eyes. "Why did she slap him?" "Because he'd been changing her diapers and giving her baths for six months," Fess responded. "Taking a lot of cold showers himself during that time period. According to the notes it wasn't always easy to convince one or more of them that he was not trying to initiate a mating and there *are* apparently some instinctual behavior patterns hard wired into the brain." "He's crossed paths with them all before, and since." Setsuna said, fitting pieces together. "Yes," agreed Fess. "Sometimes he's been the mascot, sometimes the boyfriend, twice a husband, and more often a parental role. Mainly depending on what he remembers and how old he is when your paths have crossed." Setsuna nodded. This bore looking into. Hotaru was less pleased herself but then she'd known part of this before. How to get her sempai to take her seriously? Cologne wondered how to explain this to those other Amazons. And where the heck were they anyway? -------- Ranma moved back into position. Yeah, he was the best. At least as far as human opponents went. Scratch another loudmouth challenger. Sash slowly picked herself up. "You're very good." Ranma nodded. Yup. Sash smiled and kissed the boy who had just defeated her. Ranma froze, then slowly pulled away. "Uhm, you're not from some Amazon Village, are you?" "Yes. You know of the Joketsuzoku?" Sash blinked at her new husband. "Gee, look at the time, gotta run!" Ranma turned and began a high speed retreat. *WHAM!* Sash had been wearing tight jeans and a "Totoro" t-shirt. This girl was actually dressed like a Chinese Amazon. "oooo." "Hey, Azure. That's *my* boyfriend." Azure looked up, saw the boy who'd knocked her over. "Hey! Cute! You new in town." (Azure's skill with Japanese was fairly pathetic.) "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" There was a dust trail leading off in the distance. "First come, first wife," suggested Azure. "I'm not gonna lose," said Sash, who had learned Japanese from reading large numbers of manga. "Three, two... GO!" Azure started running. Sash growled and gave pursuit. ------ Frost stood atop a spire. "You will not win." Sugar and Spice posed to either side. "Against us you cannot hope to succeed." Ryouga wondered why these girls had interrupted his martial arts practice and how was he going to get out of this mess. Frost made an arcane gesture, her long nails tracing a pattern that glimmered in the air. "I don't recall asking for assistance here." Sugar and Spice glared at Frost. "We here first!" As the three began a two-way battle, Ryouga was rarely so glad to immediately get lost. ------ Greylle wiped sweat away as he pondered the choice of which pitch to pitch. The various Rei Ayanami had stated the desire to go to Karaoke Palace later if they won. With nine Rei Ayanami on one side, he'd had to request assistance himself. He might be a dragon, but you needed nine players at least to play baseball. The game had drawn a crowd. Which was to be expected one would suppose. Nine identical fairly cute albino girls on one side, the other side being composed of the gaijin baseball martial artist and a likewise strange team. Ukyo and Shampoo had begged off. Hiroshi and Daisuke would be more of a liability than a help. Yuka and Sayuri testing the new Motoslave/jetbike. Most people he thought of were either nowhere to be found or busy or unsuitable. Hardly anyone else was available who was human. Quite a few people who were not human were also busy. So the team he had assembled was composed of odds and ends and people who were not precisely human. Greylle was the pitcher, of course. That was one thing he'd needed to practice after all. Sakura Kinomoto, Left Outfield. Who had a lot of enthusiasm but no talent. Even if she *was* a synthoid replica, her pitching and catching skills were horrible. Cute and perky could only go so far. This particular one was wearing the pink dress, cat ears, and cat tail outfit. Tigar was a *lot* better and working third base. Tigar was Sugar's younger half-sister. Tigar's father had been a mountain lion who had fallen in Spring Of Drowned Man. She was the resident catgirl of the Nichieju, a twelve year old nonconformist who had immediately formed friendships with practically everyone she'd met so far. There was just something about a mischievous cute rascal of a catgirl that may not have endeared her to the Amazon Elders but practically had her developing a fanclub already. Playing catcher was one of the Terminator units. Who was sick and tired of people calling him "Arnold" and asking him for an autograph. The Shortstop position had been filled by one of the Catgirl units - Cheetah. That she resembled (other than fur, ears, tail, coloration) Makoto Kino was entirely coincidental. Right? Second Base was being played by someone with an uncanny resemblence to Doctor Lorelei from Sabre Marionette J. This was actually Lorelei, aka Siryn, a marionette that Greylle had built back when he was Ginseng. She didn't know anything about the game but was willing to try. First Base was the current responsibility of another Catgirl unit - who resembled Nuku Nuku except that this one had cat ears and a tail. She *was* quite skilled at this and quite obviously enjoying herself from the way she was bouncing around. The Centerfield position was "manned" by someone who looked a lot like Madoka Ayukawa from "Orange Road" but was actually another marionette. She had just experimented with bubble gum and was still trying to find a way of getting the sticky substance off her face without removing the glove on her left hand. Last was Right Outfield. The Tomoyo unit was about the same size as one of the Kinomoto units, but then her construction had come out of a conversation wherein he'd said that if they had a Card Captor Sakura Kinnomoto around, why didn't they have the rest? Of course that was what had started Fess on this theme park concept. The game itself was going... strangely? Rei would always adapt strategies and play to win in a logical straightforward manner. As Doctor Lorelei, Sakura, and Tomoyo were all pretty horrible at this game - whenever Rei got a hit she was aiming to one of those players. Everyone else (including Madoka when she finally got the bubblegum off her face and then off her hands) was at least passable. If they'd been available, Greylle would have recruited the Senshi. Nine planets, nine players, it *could* have worked. Maybe he ought to have that Catgirl Senshi Team developed. ------ While Greylle attempted to play ball against a team of Rei Ayanami, and a few girls were watching a tale of horror, Fess was busy with something else. Namely: Anime-land. Getting permission from various studios and artists had been relatively easy. Cut them in on profits, give them a "studio store" they didn't have to pay rent on, and free admittance passes. Some still refused. Some did not. So there was a floating island under construction. Not only did it draw power from a variety of sources, it was a completely self-contained cityscape if need arose. With theme hotels, amusement rides, monorails, and a variety of other features. All the marionettes who resembled various anime characters could walk around and do their business and act "in character" for the most part, and amuse the heck out of visitors. You could see Inspector Zenigata chasing Arsene Lupin III over the rooftops over here. Discuss Tao and duty with Kenshiro from "Hokuto No Ken" or Himura Kenshin from "Ruroni Kenshin." Get caught up in a "Urusei Yatsura" chase scene or see what was going on with Doraemon. Gegege No Kitaro's cast could be found at one of the virtual haunted houses, and Team Gatchaman could work security with the Dirty Pair. Between marionettes, robots, and virtual reality rides there was actually quite a lot that could be done. The theme park could generate revenue which would be real within the currency standards and tracking of this world. It could also provide manufacturing and distribution areas to replace Fess' already overwhelmed space limitations. Oh, and there were catgirls, of course. Tour guides and repairers and operators and drivers. Who happened to be catgirls of various breeds and colors and stripes. A linked theme and something exotic but largely nonthreatening. Squaresoft was quite interested in the plans for a Chocobo Farm and Chocobo rides through the park. Uhm, interested might be an understatement actually. Same with those folk over at Gainax. Some serious "otaku" though polite robots would never suggest that in public. Of course, some of those series that already had been built were either years away from being written or didn't exist in this universe at all. As there were three non-public access layers, they could "lay low" until later. A floating city that never slept. A theme park where any anime fan could interact with his or her favorite characters. A place where material goods of incredibly high manufacturing standards could be produced. Not simple tourist knockout items, it was a matter of pride from the simplest ashcan-bot to the manufacturing systems themeselves to put out Quality with a capital Q and maybe even a couple of exclamation points besides! The only problem so far was that group of industrial Chinese spies disguised as fishermen whose boat had "suddenly and mysteriously" lost power and landed. Then attempted to EM pulse the marionettes on duty and steal them on their "suddenly and mysteriously" repaired vessel. The Chinese were stating that they were just a fishing vessel and were making all sorts of threatening statements. The question to Fess had been what to do about it. Fess thought long and hard about it (1 minute 48 seconds) and finally decided on a course of action that would cause the minimum longterm problems out of all of those considered. -------- Ken Olson, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, said in 1977: "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." In 1878 a noted Oxford professor named Erasmus Wilson wrote: "When the Paris Exhibition closes, electric light will close with it and no more will be heard of it." Charlie Chaplin in 1918 explained that "The cinema is little more than a fad. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage." The Decca Recording Company in 1962 rejected a band because "we don't like their sound and guitar music is on the way out." The Beatles eventually signed with another company. A respected movie critic in 1938 wrote about this new film: "That the character Snow White is a failure in every way is indisputable. Another Snow White will sound the Disney death-knell." All of which are simply proof that people can be quite clever, industrious, rational, beings. Just not all the people, and certainly not all the time. Such as was occurring in the United States as events played out in Japan. Twenty fours of absolute compulsory truthful disclosure was having repercussions beyond the area of effect: Washington DC. The fires and rioting had died down, not only in that city but in capitol cities where those affected had offices. Impeachment proceedings were going on without hint of slowing down even if the calls for public execution or lynching were gradually tapering off. All of which was perfectly understandable. However, this was the United States of America. Where the news media lived for the sound byte. Where a lawyer in Peoria AZ threatened to dig up a teacher's past and/or manufacture scandals and/or sue the school if a girl who blew off a test wasn't allowed to retake it. (Yes, this really happened.) Where someone could get million dollar settlements because she spilled coffee on herself and the coffee was hot. Those lawyers not directly affected were becoming extremely wealthy because many statements had been made publicly and on the record. Hence a dearth of lawsuits directed towards those who had made those statements. There was also a windfall for those lawyers working for those who had been affected. Trying to get their clients protection from the "sudden mass temporary insanity" lined their pockets. So did attempts at destroying or suppressing all those records. These were normal too relatively. The unwise part was that a large number of these lawyers were attempting to find and sue the person or entity responsible for these events. As this had all the hallmarks of some sort of spell, the lawyers had revived the old tradition of the "witch hunt" and were serving subpeonas to every group who might have had some minor part in all this. Which was at the very least annoying to those groups. Most countered by the same means: lawsuits. A few pointed out how ridiculous the entire concept was and that the prosecution would have to prove that not only was magic possible, but that its use could be regulated by the Federal government, or even that laws against bespelling people weren't on the books. All of which might have qualified as stupid. There was however one individual about to transcend stupid. Which was unusual because normally a deep agent had to be quite clever. This individual decided to connect the dots, figuring out from little details that the alien technology mentioned in one series of reports might well be real. If it were real it might somehow be responsible for the disaster. All fairly clever so far. The first act of blatant stupidity was reporting this to her superiors. The immediate result of which was that their agent was engaging in elicit narcotics and had become a liability. Not having a calm rational explanation for what had happened to the Americans, most everyone else was ignoring it. Like you could trust the US press anyway. Which was when the agent decided to leap from stupid move to even worse. She decided to go investigate this alien site herself and bring it back for her own country. While this meant she wouldn't be at her apartment when the assassin showed up, it carried its own problems. ------- Probe AT-1 had exited hyperspace and sped through the system at a pretty good clip before digesting its findings and preparing for the Earthbound journey to report. The star system was of a solitary yellow dwarf sun. Seven planets, one asteroid belt. The planets were composed of three gas giants, two rocks, one large planet with a weak atmosphere, and one terrestrial planet. The terrestrial finding caused the probe's curiosity to be aroused and it altered course for a closer look. A world of water. Two large continents which looked to have just (in geological terms of time) seperated. Between them a shallow freshwater ocean. Around them was saltwater. Now excited in an electronic fashion, AT-1 slipped into an orbit. No sentient life, and the development of this world was roughly equivelant to Earth's Mesozoic era. Flowering plants had begun to develop? Only in one tiny area, but still quite interesting. AT-1 sped from orbit towards home. It was not equipped to further explore this world, but it *was* intrigued. Another probe, one with lander capabilities and shorter range scanners, would have to be sent. It was an exciting time to be a robot. -------- He had studied, he knew the spell by heart, and had studied his target. As she came by, he leapt out. Unconcerned blue eyes blinked at him. "You want something?" Higari (Gari) Katsumatsu cast the spell, everything he had going into the transformation that would turn this young girl into his panting brainless loveslave. It was the most powerful enslavement spell he could find, guaranteed to blow *her* mind. A cram school student had no chance. Seeing the sparkle surrounding the target, he grinned and dropped his pants. "You know what to do." The girl seemed momentarily confused, then shrugged and kicked. Hard. Gari dropped, screaming and clutching his privates. Sabre Marionette Usagi stepped over the guy and wondered why all the weirdoes came after her. --------- Greylle sweated heavily from the effort of keeping up all the pitching at the pace he'd developed. The Rei Ayanami clones were *good*. They initially were unpracticed but they adapted well. Watching Doctor Lorelei attempting to play had been painful at best. Sakura was cute and enthusiastic and absolutely pathetic. Tomoyo/Madison was even worse. Madoka had experienced problems with her extensor myomers in the shoulder area and had been told to return for servicing. Her replacement, an Elfgirl unit (because the idea of pointy eared Science Officers had been voted a necessary function) named Lute, spent a lot of time trying to talk to the grass and trees and missing out on the game. Tigar had started out strong but had begun losing attention on the whole thing after the first inning and had gone off to chase a butterfly by the third. Third Base was now being handled by an android replica of Honey Kisaragi. Who did *not* have a Baseball Honey she could turn into. One of the things about baseball that endeared it to the Japanese was that it was a team sport. A single player, no matter how good, could not win a game on his own. What he needed was a strategy. Something to overcome the advantage of the other team's learning curve and ability to synchronize as a unit. Unfortunately, he still hadn't come up with anything. His "Double Curve" pitch was ineffective against any of the Rei. The "Dragon Ascension Pitch" would get by them, but the entire idea of him practicing was to practice *all* his moves - not just one. Likewise, he could hit the majority of pitches they sent his way. The other members of his team were... *WHAM!* The ball that had deftly missed Sakura's outstretched hands to fall between them and impact directly on the munchkin's face slowly rolled off and hit the ground. Sakura continued to stand like that until she teetered over. The Tomoyo/Madison unit reacted in a predictable manner, rushing up and carrying off her friend while calling for a medical bot. Sighing deeply, Greylle signalled for a time out while he tried to replace the latest two dropouts. "Beep boop brreep bleep!" "R2, who's available to replace Tomoyo and Sakura?" "Voop voop breet bleep!" "And exactly how would you play baseball without any hands." "veeeeeeeeee. Boop boop bleep breee." Greylle sighed. Why some of these marionettes were even built was beyond him. There were literally hundreds of robots and androids built though, so you'd think that *some* wouldn't be busy and could stop by. "Does she have any baseball database loaded?" "vreep. whoop whoop buzzz bing." "Okay. Tifa is a Fighting marionette. Aerith is a Nurse. Let's go with Tifa for Left Outfield, Aerith for Right." "Yuffie just stole third base," yelled a voice across the field. Greylle sighed and watched as the kunoichi ran off with the bag. "Maybe we should just quit while we're ahead?" "Boop beep vreet buzz?" "Figure of speech, R2." -------- Alarm bells or sirens would have disturbed the quiet needed for many patients. Therefore flashing red lights at various stations came on instead. "Patient 241812 has escaped," said the LCD readout under the light. Happy Valley Sanitarium was a quiet place where tangled nerves could be soothed. Alarm bells and rushing guards were where the patients couldn't see or hear them. "Wasn't he sedated, handcuffed, and in a cell?" One of the guards asked. "Being given a sponge bath, and was up for psych eval later in the day," explained one of the other guards. The first guard flipped through the chart. "Oh great. Another martial artist gone bad. 'Unarmed and Dangerous' - patient suffers from delusional obsessive disorder. Samurai complex." "Got the extrastrength darts in the trank gun," said the second guard. "Maybe we should use the dogs." "Let's see, Fluffy has the colic, that leaves Demon, Akira, and Wulfgard," said Guard #1. "Let's go then. I read this guy's profile, and his elevator not only doesn't reach the top floors - he's missing a few buttons." -------- Cologne waited until evening, gathered the information, then pondered what to do about it. Frost, Sugar and Spice - all pursuing Ryouga Hibiki. Sash and Azure were after Ranma. As were Shampoo and Ukyo Kuonji and Akane Tendo. Though this last was debatable - especially by Akane Tendo. It was a pity, but all of the Amazons she'd requested come to pair off with the dragon had reverted to type and were now chasing after martial artists. Akane Tendo and Nabiki Tendo were in the process of being returned to human. Nabiki Tendo wasn't pursuing anyone as near as Cologne could tell. Nobody was physically chasing after the dragon prince Greylle. Cologne thought that a few of those androids seemed to linger a little longer than necessary around him. The only one that Cologne *knew* with absolute certainty that was interested was that young girl - Hotaru. Cologne thought that Akane Tendo had been after the dragon-boy, but apparently they had had a "falling out." The Amazon Elder noted some unusual behavior from some crows that was sufficient to distract her from the love tangles (triangles was not a sufficiently descriptive term). Two crows collided in midair, and fell to the ground. "This doesn't bode well at all." -------- A rock covered with Shinto wards was shattered by lightning. A storage shed was broken into, and a single bokken removed. Greylle's team lost, 14 to 20. The Ayanami Angels main strategy was to throw pitches outside the strike zone to Greylle, causing him to Walk. There he could languish at First Base while the rest of his team fell apart. A deep cover operative of the Mexican government under the guise of being an American agent fell asleep on her flight to Japan. Several Chinese agents scoffed at the obvious lies from the monitors and windows, forced the door open, and discovered that the obvious lie that their prison cell was on Amalthea - a small moon of Jupiter - was actually not a lie at all. Fortunately, emergency bulkheads closed to keep the farm from losing too much atmosphere and a small repair-bot was dispatched to fix the door. Mikado Sanzennin spotted a *very* pretty girl who acted as if she couldn't be bothered with him and decided that the very next pair of lips he would claim would be that of this Hotaru Tomoe. The hentai sorcery club decided the challenge had been given. They carefully chose their next target to be someone who perfectly fit their target criteria. She was popular. She was cute. No guy had ever been able to get very far with her. Sure, she had some bad habits, and it might be that she had a reputation, but she was cute and popular and would soon be fluffing their pillows! (insert evil if a bit nerdy and clueless laughter.) A pair of new foreign exchange students registered at Juuban Junior High named Alan and Ann heard about this alien prince of a planet of dragons over in Furinkan and wondered if maybe they should choose a planet that didn't get this sort of traffic. A student named Keitaro Urashima found out his grandmother had gone off to motorcycle across America and he had just been put in charge of a female dorm known as Hinata House. Unfortunately, other than one of the tenants being a marionette ninja named Paiway, this had nothing to do with the rest of the story and therefore is only worth a casual mention. "Pai-check!" Akane's eyes snapped open in her nanobath. A connection was made. Could Greylle's puzzlement while making fun of her have been due to a translation error? Did that mean... Akane slipped off to sleep again, wondering if she perhaps (just perhaps - it wasn't like it was *her* fault or anything) acted too quickly and jumped to a conclusion. Of course not. That would have been shamelessly out of character. Right? A very special synthoid completed construction. Almost indistinguishable from human, Fess considered most of the synthoids created prior to this to be practice. Her eyes opened and she stood, dignified and proud. Then the moment was spoiled by her sneezing and falling on her butt. Kasumi took advantage of the experimental "Synaptic Teacher" and downloaded the equivelant of an Registered Nursing Degree. In a certain other universe, despite their Emperor's command, research went into tracking that dragon and finding a way to avenge their losses. ============