Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Third Labor (Forward to the past) ❯ Fight Sequences 101 ( Chapter 15 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Third Labor: chapter 15 "Happosai's Strange Alliance!"
or "Fight Sequences 101"

"The enemy of my enemy... is useful."
-George Carlin

by Gregg, metroanime@mindspring.com

disclaimer: char and situations originally someone elses, or at least some of them are.

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

"grrganan mzzzplk!"

Kasumi turned and regarded what had just entered her kitchen. "Oh my! It's Cousin It from the 'Addams Family'!"

"Mzzzbmmm. MmmmFff kaMMM!"

"It's so nice to meet a celebrity," said Kasumi. "You inspired an awful lot of hippies, I think."

"MmmmMMMMfff! Mrrrmfm!" The 5ft tall pillar of hair seemed to become agitated.

"Yes, I'm sure it must be a source of great personal pride," Kasumi nodded. "Though your hair is darker in person."

"Mmfmffmf! Mmmmm!"

Briefly wondering why Cousin It would be beating his head against the wall, Kasumi hoped that he didn't shed. "We're having beef sukiyaki tonight if you'd care to stay, Mr. It."

"Mmmmf?! Mwaaaaa!"

Nabiki entered the kitchen, briefly rubbing against the wall of hair. "Hi Kasumi! Hi Akane! Oooo! Sukiyaki!"

"MfffmmMMMM!"

"Akane?" Kasumi looked around but couldn't see her youngest sister anywhere.

"MmffmmMMMM?"

"Uhm, Akane, get that hair out of your mouth. I can't understand a word you're saying." Nabiki sniffed deeply over the stove. Ahhhh! The extra sensitivity in this catgirl form made some things just *so* much better. Tastes and scents could be intoxicating. And the level of pleasure from just batting around a balled up piece of paper!

"MffffMMMM!"

"If you want to wash up, Mr. It, Nabiki will show you a shower area." Kasumi made a note to get some of that hair dissolving drain cleaner. With It around, she'd probably need that. Especially after Akane had used up the last bit.

"Mmffffaaaa!"

"Of course I know It's you," said Nabiki, pleased with her pun. "Your scent is the same."

"MFMEM!"

"No, I'm not saying you stink," guessed Nabiki. "Well, except after a workout."

"Mfff MMMM!"

"Well, you certainly don't smell fresh at those times!"

*BOOM!*

"What the?!" Nabiki's ears went flat and she looked out the window. "What's Black Bart doing fighting some old man?"

"Cousin It" went running towards the backyard, tripping over "his" hair repeatedly. "MmmmfF?! MMMFFFF!"

"Isn't it nice," said Kasumi, looking out the window. "Mr. Bart is fighting for my honor."

"Ah!" Nabiki said, straightening and posing as she realized something. "It must be the -"

"Law of the West!" Nabiki and Kasumi chorused. Kasumi giggled afterwards.

Nabiki nearly fell over in shock. Kasumi?! Giggling?!

"Mr. Bart is..." Kasumi paused, trying to find a proper way to put this.

"A cattle rustler, a thief, a swindler?" supplied Nabiki.

"He's very polite. Quite cultured."

Nabiki frowned but allowed that this was so. "He's one of the bad guys. Heck, as far as Martial Arts Ranching is concerned, he's *the* Bad Guy."

"Yet he called off the Cattle Stampede in order to have tea with me," said Kasumi with a nod.

"That was YOU?!" Nabiki had been wondering why the cattle stampede had suddenly not happened.

Kasumi nodded again. "Mr Bart has his good points as well, Nabiki. Do be careful though. He's got this plan to distract you with some mechanical mice during the next stagecoach robbery."

Nabiki smirked. "Oh yeah. Like THAT will work! Not a chance!"

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

Happosai threw the oddly dressed fighter to the side. "You're a hundred years too early to beat me!"

Black Bart drew twin chrome plated revolvers. "Martial Arts Villainry Special Attack! Eat Hot Lead!"

"YOW!" Happosai dodged like crazy as a hail of bullets came his way. "Hey you! Guns are illegal in Japan!"

"I'm a bad guy, I'm entitled." Black Bart retorted, shooting the metal pipe out of the short guy's hands.

"You're nothing compared to me! Bean Jam Blowout!"

"Au contraire. *I* have class. Ricochet Roundup!" Black Bart dodged and fired his last bullet.

"Ha! You missed me!" Happosai chortled and produced a fan from inside his gi.

*BING!* The bullet carrommed off the ceramic tiles of the roof.

*CHING!* The bullet bounced off a water tower.

*K-PING!* The bullet went skyward after hitting a phone pole.

*THUNK!* A *very* startled goose realized that its life (mainly swimming and eating pond scum) had just passed before its eyes.

"Now you'll suffer!" Happosai said, moving forward.

*WHAM!* A small (ten pounds) goose, having formerly been flying at a height of 151 feet, managed a one point (beak first) landing on Happosai's head.

"Ouch," quoted Happosai from his position on the ground.

Black Bart blew on the muzzle of his six gun, spun it through an elaborate move, then holstered it. Smile, gleam of teeth.

Happosai lifted himself up. "Not bad. I guess I'll have to go full out."

Black Bart blinked. ~He hasn't been?! Uh oh.~

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

Jared saw the explosion and form launched to the horizon from where he was. "Looks like Black Bart is blasting off again!"

"Huh?" Ranma said, dropping out of his stance.

"Trouble at the Tendo Dojo!"

Ranma nodded, understanding now. "Oh. Your girlfriends again?"

Jared winced. "I hope not."

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

Akane was protected from a glomp by the sheer density of her hair. Happosai wasn't even positive that the oversized tribble was even female under all that.

Then someone else got into the fight and Akane felt a pang of jealousy. Especially after she cleared enough hair away from one eye that she could see it clearly.

"Whoa! What the heck is this?" Happosai couldn't believe his eyes either.

Nabiki was playing. Bouncing around, dodging attacks (attempted glomps) and viewing this mousy little fellow as an annoyance. She was, in some ways, the CatFist that had been purged from Ranma until it found a home in her. Except that Ranma had neither merged with the CatFist or accepted it. Nabiki had no fear of cats, she *was* a cat. Or close enough.

Akane watched the two blurs briefly resolve themselves into her sister and that old guy, then go back into blurs. Their speed was just shy of incredible, and every time the old guy threw something at Nabiki, little shards of things hit the ground shortly thereafter.

Happosai was impressed. To have a pretty girl smile at him was a pleasure. To have a pretty girl smirk at him, then dodge everything he was throwing her way, that intrigued him. He idly threw that big tribble at the fast girl, only to see her blur around and return the shot. Happosai was sufficiently impressed that he did a quick hairstyling of the tribble and lobbed it back looking rather more like a huge koosh ball.

Nabiki shredded the furball, leaving -

Akane landed on the ground, rolled to her feet, and realized that she had lost most of her really long encumbering hair. Unfortunately, she also realized something else.

The potion that Black Bart had given Kasumi was to be rubbed into the area that one wanted affected. "A little dab will do ya." Then promptly washed off. That had been enough to get Kasumi a short but serviceable hair length. Akane had drank some of it, gotten more splashed on her, and had rubbed it all over in the process of trying to get it off in the short period before it took effect.

Akane realized that her arms were hairy. Her legs were hairy. Her hands reached up and confirmed her face was hairy. There was, in fact, no patch of bare skin anywhere on her body, though at this point she hadn't confirmed it.

"Oh dear, what's happening here?" Doctor Tofu stepped into the backyard to notice a furry and staring Akane, a short older man with a strong ki, and Nabiki was a cat girl? You leave for a two week seminar in Juuban and they change the entire place.

Akane realized that she had indeed gotten Doctor Tofu to notice her. It was kind of hard not to notice her right now. "AAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Hotcha!" Happosai launched himself and latched onto the nonmoving target.

"AAAAAAAA!" Akane was beyond getting angry. She opted for unconscious.

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

Third Labor timeline:

"Hide. Run. Find shelter if you can," grumbled Grey, his eyes searching the sky. Finally he launched himself, causing the ground to shake.

"But..." Ami started. Then the other dragon roared again and dove towards Grey.

The opponent had scales of a deep, almost brownish-red, color. It was double Grey's size as well, a massive creature over 150 feet long, with a long tail that placed the total length at over 200 feet. It arrived in a swooping attack that carried it through Grey's frost breath attack and slammed into him like an eagle attacking a kestrel in midair.

The two hitting the ground caused another, more intense vibration in the ground. In a moment both had recovered and any veneer of civilization had fallen away from the two. The red dragon's claws ripped silver scales away in a flurry. Grey's jaws snapped shut on a scarlet neck, and his own neck muscles bulged as he tried to worry at the wound. The red backhanded Grey away and unleashed its own fiery breath weapon.

Ami was lifted up and carried away at high speeds by Nuku Nuku before the area she was standing and staring from became a sea of flame.

The two continued to battle, similar to two tigers or other great cats fighting. No quarter asked or given. Slashing jaws and claws in a rolling tangle. The red dragon seeking to destroy a rival in its territory. The silver protecting its mates and trying to avenge the natives.

It was painfully obvious to the four women that the silver was losing, and losing quickly. The mass difference was too much, the red had much more of a killer instinct, and the silver kept trying to draw the red away from more vulnerable prey.

Ami reached inside and triggered her transformation again, it seeming easier now. Ami-dragon found the battle stimulating instinct and emotion that was difficult for her to hold off. She roared, her muzzle snarling, and launched herself, adding her own miniscule (relatively) weight and strength to the battle.

Honey watched for a time, pondering Ami's change. How had she done it? She wanted to add her own weight to the battle, but had to admit that she didn't have *any* transformation that could assist in *that* sort of fight.

Or did she?

Setsuna dropped her robe, body still glistening from her scrub and *changed*. Like Ami, she became long and sleek and silvery, a little larger than Ami and with a dark green tint to her wing vanes and reddish eyes to Ami's blue. A third silver dragon joined the fray.

Nuku Nuku stood and concentrated, making little grunting noises.

Honey was a little more dignified but essentially the same, trying to figure out how to trigger the change.

Ami was backhanded with enough force that her head almost slapped into her tailbone. Setsuna, flying above, threw a few spells at the red dragon, though they seemed to explode in sparkles before having an effect. Finally the transformed Setsuna got one off that penetrated the magic resistance, a burst of lightning that gouged scales off the red's cheek. A blast of flame answered her.

Grey used the opening, body slamming his opponent, locking himself into place with jaws and foreclaws, then raking with the rear claws. Setsuna slammed into the ground, smoke rising from her body.

The red pried Grey off, then began slamming him repeatedly into the ground. The red dragon continued this for a few moments, then turned his gaze around to stare at the two human insects nearby.

Honey watched, frozen in place, as the red dragon took a deep breath, preparing to use its flame attack again.

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

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

About the time that Black Bart hit the roof of a building and realized that he might die as a (shudder) hero, two boys and two girls arrived at the rebuilt Tendo house.

"Hmmm." Jared said. "Looks like Grey was working here too."

"She's the one you said rebuilt Furinkan, right?" Ranma recognized the name, that was the one that had been the helpful Akane.

Rather than try and explain again, Jared nodded.

"Sweeto!"

Jared froze, recognizing that voice. "Happosai?! It's too early for Happosai!"

"What's going on?" Ranma asked as an explosion sent rubble and a catgirl flying. "Oh no! Nabiki!"

"Watch out! Happosai is the Master of Anything Goes!"

"Happosai?" Shampoo growled, drawing a sword. "Great Grandmother forgive a lot of Shampoo's mistakes if she sends Happosai to ancestors."

"No wait!" Jared turned to find he was addressing an empty space. "Oh dang."

"Oho! What's this?"

"Eeeek! What you do? Is only for airen to grab there!"

Jared grumbled under his breath. If Principal Kuno was Pirate Kuno, then what was the likely changes to be had in Happosai?

Grey had, during a night he was hiding from Queen Serenity during that First Labor, told Jared about a "Mirror Mirror" universe he'd once briefly ended up in. It was like that old episode of Star Trek (original series) where Spock had a beard, except that it was a Ranma universe. Jared had immediately made plans to avoid it.

In *that* world, Kasumi was a street-tough bad girl. Nabiki the saintly angel who wanted to join Mother Theresa's order and go help the destitute in really poor areas like Calcutta. Akane the gentle "couldn't hurt a fly" sweet girl who was constantly brutalized and beaten on by her fiance - Ranma Saotome (who said nice things to her, but then hurt her physically.) Soun and Genma regretted their pact and were constantly trying to find ways to renege the engagement. Soun was the stoic samurai who could teach a Vulcan lessons in self-control. Genma so concerned with honor that even his son's evil couldn't get him to break his word. Ryouga- the pacifist who felt that revenge was a path he should never take. Cologne had left the Amazon Village years before to become a hippy living in Japan and discard all the "Amazon nonsense." Shampoo, a shy and gentle girl, had fled the village because of the constant humiliation and violence done against her by a scarred but capable boy named Mousse.

In *that* world, Happosai had developed the Righteous Grappling style of Whatever Works in order to protect women from perverts and ruffians. Nodoka had tried to kill the abomination she'd given birth to, which was why Genma had taken his son on the ten year journey. Tatewaki Kuno - a modern lazy businessman's son who pooh-poohed anything of traditional values. Kodachi - the kind, shy, and rather plump would be housewife who absolutely hated anything to do with sports or competition. Gosunkugi- Big Man on Campus, star of the Furinkan American-style Football team. And, of course, there was Sasuke - the "pet" samurai/retainer of the Kuno family - a honorable fellow who was the chief defender of the Kuno family and what was left of their honor. Oh, and there was Ukyo - the ultrakawaii hyperfeminine girl who hated Ranma, okonomiyaki, and wanted nothing more than to be an idol singer.

Just thinking about that kind of world reminded Jared to take nothing for granted. Was this a normal perverted Happosai? He'd beaten off Black Bart earlier, if Jared's guess was correct. So maybe a heroic Happosai? Then again, he blew up Nabiki and (from the sound of it) had glomped Shampoo. So maybe the lecherous villain?

While all this pondering was going on, Ranma caught Nabiki as gently as one can catch a plummeting catgirl. Which, for Ranma, wasn't really that gently. He tried, however.

Ukyo pried her fiance and his pet cat out of the sidewalk with her spatula. "It looks like catlike agility only works if you're conscious, ne Ranma?"

"Let Shampoo go!"

"So ripe, so firm, so fully packed!"

Jared decided. This was original flavor Happosai. He grinned. Time for a fight sequence.

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

another timeline altogether:

Her name was Ami Mizuno, and she was not, nor had she ever been, Sailor Mercury. She was a med student who had been known as Alpha, born of a genetic engineering lab where she had been designed for intelligence. Her "masters" or "creators" had turned their child loose and she had met a young albino named Shinji Ikari. Due to his tendency to brood, she had nicknamed him "Grey-chan" because he was so pale but had such a black mood.

She had become Shinji's friend through childhood. They'd spent over ten years growing up, best of friends through thick and thin. She'd spent time studying and attending cram schools. He had often played supportive, sometimes intimidated by her focus or intellect, but they'd always been able to rely on the other. Then they had somehow become boy and girlfriend, neither sure when friends leaning on each other had turned to cuddling. Ami had thought it was when she had been mercilessly teased by classmates once, and a hug from her Grey-chan had seemed to melt something within her.

Then his father, estranged after many years, had summoned Shinji, arranging a transfer to Tokyo-3. Ami, naturally, had considered staying where she was. After that five seconds had passed, she quietly started her own transfer to that city. She explained to Shinji that it was because the schools were better there. Shinji merely hugged her, thanked her, and offered the opinion that he had no idea what his father wanted but if he said one word against the "prettiest cram school ace in Japan" - he wouldn't get it.

The two had been moving to Tokyo-3 when everything had gone weird. Giant robots. Secret bases. Alien invaders. Hidden agendas. Shinji, her Grey-chan, had died.

Ami had always been a bit shy and withdrawn, except around Shinji. Ami had suddenly been alone, more so than she'd ever been since she was a child. Shinji had been her pillar, a rock whenever she felt buffeted by life. She'd made new friends, and these had turned out to be others developed by the GUTS program, but she had remained the sad soldier mourning her lost boyfriend.

Then one of the upper echelons began leaking information to the "wind up dolls" - Captain (then Major) Mushroom. Misato Katsuragi. Grey had died under *very* mysterious circumstances, and the layers of misinformation had ended after a long series of tough battles. Ended with Gendo Ikari trying to gain the Silver Millenium Crystal in a megalomaniacal bid for godhood. Ended with the genetically engineered "toys" taking the Crystal over Gendo's dead body and remaking their world. Each had chosen something that they wanted for this new world. Peace, for example, had been Usagi's dream.

Ami hadn't hesitated. Nobody was surprised in the slightest. She'd chosen love.

Then things had gone strange again. Shinji had vanished shortly after their timeline had been rebuilt. It had taken some time, but it had been discovered that someone had summoned her Grey-chan offplane. It had taken awhile but she had him back.

When she and the others had rebuilt the timeline from where humankind had been on the threshold of extinction, she had rebuilt it so that they had been married. However, due to his vanishing, due to her wanting to wait until marriage (and then deeply regretting it after his death) and due to other unavoidable situations, they'd never done *it*. Heck, they'd hardly ever kissed, and they'd never *kissed*.

And so, in a hot spring not all that far (relatively) from Tokyo-3, Ami Mizuno was preparing for battle. In the manner of a true Japanese cram school champion, she had studied the subject intensively beforehand. In the manner of one of the battlesuited genetically engineered "Next Wave" children of the GUTS project, she prepared her materials, dressed for the occasion, and psyched herself well and good for the coming confrontation. Her weapons were well prepared, her battleplan tactically sound, her backup plan and resources in place.

Her Grey-chan entered the room. "Hey, Ami-chan? When are you going to get your nose out of those books and... Ami?"

Ami shut the door behind him, sealing off her prey's escape route. He turned to face her, noting her lacy blue transparent teddy. Ami began her attack, taking the initiative and pushing her advantage while her target was off balance. She kept up the attack as her target's defenses failed and she continued her "assault" until she had won her satisfaction.

Shinji never stood a chance.

Three "daughters", lost in the strangeness of this game dealing with some strange place called "Candyland" and the delight of something called M&Ms, didn't notice that their "Mommy" and "Daddy" were off by themselves until much much later.

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

yet another universe:

A Class 1 Imperial Garbage Scow is not the best vehicle to use to get from point A to point B. The cockpit is small for one man, and cramped doesn't begin to describe how it would be for two. Manueverability rating was pathetic, acceleration almost nonexistent, no armor, no weapons, exposed wiring, and minimal life support. The only reason it even had hyperspace capability was that it had been added just to get it to the base.

While such a vehicle was a pretty bad choice for interstellar travel, it had one major plus: neither Rebels, Independent governments, the Hutt, nor the Empire were terribly interested in a board and seizure. A garbage scow wasn't shielded enough to confound scanners and a simple scan would reveal nothing worth taking.

Kiyone and Ed were rather surprised when someone started shooting at this ship.

Kiyone jettisoned the rear cannister, and quickly immersed herself in what Ed had to admit was some fairly impressive piloting. Especially considering what she was doing it in. It was rather like doing advanced aerobatics in a old cargo plane.

Ed was uncertain about the situation. He was in freefall (the scow also had no artificial gravity), bumping up against all sorts of interesting anatomy of a pretty young woman. On the other hand, he was currently a Pikachu in a cabin with a lot of exposed wiring. "Pii Pika!"

"Hang in there, Ed. This isn't the easiest thing to pilot." Kiyone winced as the vehicle groaned from the stresses being put on it. "I've used the airlock as a manuevering jet, so crawl in the spare spacesuit, we may have to vent atmosphere to dodge."

"PIIKA?!"

"Punk kids, I think. They're trying to "

*BOOM*

"wing us."

"Piika pi!" Ed was a little alarmed. There wasn't a lot of things that could be shot off something this small. ~Okay, don't panic. This is a *Star Wars* universe. That means that there's a hero around any minute.~

*BOOM!*

Ed winced as something broke loose and rattled along the outside of the hull. ~Okay. Maybe now *is* a good time to panic.~

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

Third Labor Timeline:

Two android girls getting hit with a torrent of flame caused Grey to shrug off the hurts and raise himself up. The martial arts he'd learned as a Ranma substitute had been for a human body that moved *very* different. While there seemed to be even more gaps than usual in his memory, he needed something to equalize the differences between an age category 6 silver dragon and an age category 9 red dragon. Clerical spells were not going to stem the tide, particularly as he had just recently woken from his dragonsleep and didn't have much in the ways of spells "loaded" at the moment. The few scrolls he had at the moment weren't likely to be of use in combat.

Changing to human form so that he could use martial arts was not really that much of an option. Special abilities weren't that much use here either, so that left normal combat (in which he was outmassed by a respectable factor).

Ami and Setsuna were reeling still, they had little or no experience as dragons and were (because of the dragonseeds coming from him) at least an age category behind him. He knew Setsuna's magical abilities were still low. That left Ami if he could give her time to recover. Hopefully she wouldn't waste energy by using fire spells.

Grey leapt from behind, wrapping arms and legs and tail around the red. The red went berserk, trying to dislodge him and ignoring the pathetic females.

"Honey Flash!"

"Nuku Nuku Flash too!"

"Raaaargh!"

Grey tried to grip harder, giving the others a chance to escape. Rather difficult when your opponent kept slamming you into trees.

"Frosty motes of arctic realm,
My opponent quickly overwhelm,
Ymir's breath - my opponent hold,
come ye forth - Cone Of Cold!"

Ami's spell slammed into the red as Setsuna fired off her own breath weapon. Unfortunately the groups hadn't worked together before, and Honey's yo-yo attack was called off as she dodged Ami's area effect spell.

The red dragon threw off the attacks and backed away slightly, looking around and catching its breath. Finally it said a single word. "Pyre."

Without looking away from his opponent, Grey nodded and gave his dragon character's name. "Frostbite."

Setsuna's elegant form nodded after her eyes met Grey's briefly. "Pluto."

Ami knew what this meant, having read about it. They'd given enough struggle that this fight was about to go to the next level. They had Pyre's respect now. The male red would still do its best to kill them, but they had been judged worthy of knowing who their executioner was. Ami felt a little upset at this, and decided to follow Setsuna's lead. "Mercury." This monster didn't deserve their *real* names.

Honey limped forward, her burns terrible to see. "Ai no senshi, Cutey Honey."

Nuku growled low, reaching for the augmentations provided by Hephaestus that would give her something akin to the Catfist. "Nuku Nuku."

A shape moved out of the brush, a lionlike form. "A-ka-ne."

Pyre grinned, showing long yellow teeth. "Now die." The red dragon lunged forward.

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

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Jared leapt to the top of the compound wall, letting Ranma and Ukyo put Nabiki inside the house. There was a smoking crater and Shampoo's legs sticking out of it. There was Shampoo's pink Chinese pantsuit, discarded on the ground. There was Shampoo's panties, currently covering Happosai's bald spot.

Sure looked like the villainous perverted Happosai. High amount of chi, check. Brown gi, check. A little under three feet in height, with little tufts of gray hair, check. Aura of magical bric-a-brac concealed on his person, check. Drawing chi from fondling the pair of panties he'd just swiped from Shampoo, check.

Jared considered briefly. Maybe it would be an anti-climax, but a quick spell could solve a lot of problems.
"Medusa's gaze made manifest,
To grayscale take your tone,
Rid me now of this pest,
Alter - Flesh To Stone!"

Happosai made a batting gesture with his hand, deflecting spell energies. "Oh ho! A spellcaster, eh? Haven't seen one of those in awhile."

Jared dropped the Art Of Stealth. This would be more satisfying anyway. The ground cratered where he hit, but Happosai wasn't there any more. Jared dropped and rolled, avoiding the old man's counterstrike.

The two settled into the game in earnest, Happosai launching a set of faster and faster attacks that Jared blocked at higher and higher rates of speeds.

"Hey, you, I don't care who you are, but you ain't gettin' away pounding Nabiki like that!" Ranma leapt into the battle, missing with the flying kick and chambering into an elbow jab.

"Go away, sonny, I'm busy." Happosai launched an attack in this new direction, then spun around to avoid a snap kick from Jared. "Yow! This might be amusing."

*WHAM!* Ranma hit the compound wall, which had been reinforced with tritanium rebar when Shinji had rebuilt it. As tritanium was a titanium alloy that was several orders harder and more resilient, the stone cracked but the wall held. Ranma slumped, dazed for the moment, before lifting himself up and rushing into the fight again.

Happosai threw a bucket of water at Jared, who deflected it without a drop touching him. Jared summoned a ball of chi, shaping the attack to something usable against quick opponents. "SEEKER!"

Ranko pulled the bucket from her head, her lips compressed into a tight line. "That's it. This day officially sucks."

"SWEET!" Happosai launched, latched on, and leaped again. Jared's Seeker chi attack slammed into Ranko's chest.

Her shirt now singed, laying on her back and calmly regarding the sky, Ranko blinked. Yes, this day was officially going down as one that sucked wind. Especially with the return of someone short who was kneading and fondling...

"THAT'S IT! YOU DIE, OLD MAN!" Ranko started beating on Happosai, though his position snuggled against her chest made getting a lot of force difficult.

"Oh ho!" Happosai bounded away before Jared could grab on. "Hahahahaha! I haven't had this much fun in years."

Ranko blinked. Where had the old man gotten such a familiar looking red shirt? And why was there a sudden draft?

"Whoo hoo!" Happosai leapt around, angling for another shot at Ranko's chest.

"Ranma-honey?" Ukyo chose exactly the wrong time to stick her head up. "I put Nabiki in her room, you know that place is a real... maze?!"

*Snuggle* *Grope* *Fondle*

"AIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!" Ukyo's reaction to having someone burrow in past her chest bindings was about what you'd expect. "GET HIM OFF!"

Ranko tried to grab Happosai. However he had vanished and Ranko grabbed something else.

"EEEEK!" Ukyo wasn't happy about strange girls grabbing her either.

"Sorry. Come back here you pervert!" Ranko leapt after Happosai.

"Oh this must be a dream, pretty girls chasing after me! Oh hohohohohoho!"

"Raging Tiger Ball!" Jared released another chi attack.

"Oh don't bother me." Happosai gathered his own chi and turned it loose in a serpentine form that uncurled and sped towards Jared.

"Don't you dare ignore me!" Ranko leapt and kicked out.

Happosai's attention wandered, drawn to the bounce. His chi attack, naturally, went where his attention did.

"AAAGGGHHHH!" *WHAM!* Ranko stuck to the compound wall, having made another indentation. "I really need to..."

*THUD!* Ukyo slammed into Ranko. Both slid down.

"Now," said Happosai, "on to the feature presentation!"

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

Third Labor Timeline:

Silver dragons were of ice. They could inhabit icy wastes, though they preferred mountains over warmer regions. Their main breath weapon was a blast of ice and frost. They were accounted among the forces of the Light by most. Their natural bend of philosophy was more inclined to study or play, and they were known for taking mortal guise through their innate shapeshifting ability.

Red dragons were of fire. They could inhabit active volcanoes and frequently did, though they preferred mountains over temperate regions. Their breath weapon being a cone of intense flames. They were accounted among the forces of Darkness by most. Their natural bend of philosophy regarded everything as either something to be used or something to be eaten. Mortals such as humans tended to fall in the latter category.

The two were natural enemies, often competing for the same territory and resources. If the age categories were similar, silver dragons tended to be bigger. The red dragons had the edge in raw power in their breath weapon, their innate abilities were more combat oriented, and the claws and teeth stronger and longer. In terms of speed and flying ability, they were about even. When the two clashed and everything else was even, the differences evened out mainly except for one factor in the favor of the silver dragons.

Silver dragons, like those of gold or copper or bronze, tended to have allies.

That this silver had a couple of mates was nothing particular suprising to Pyre. Silvers tended to be that way. He *was* a little surprised to see a silver dragon in this world in the first place. He had been summoned here long ago and had come to this island on the behest of his master. A master, to a red dragon, was anyone who should be deferred to while keeping an eye open for a chance for a quick bite or blast of flame to open the way for promotion. Other than those who had, like himself, been summoned forth across the planes, he had seen no signs of dragons. The idea that there were others capable of summoning dragons across time and space meant a path home might be available. Once he had slain these creatures, he would have to search thoroughly to find out where they had come from and where those others might be.

The male had wrapped his serpentine length around him and had sunk teeth into Pyre's neck. Two other dragons had gotten into the spirit of things and were actively attacking from the sides while two humans with odd scents attacked like pitiful insects.

Actually they were all pitiful insects, except that Pyre didn't have it within him to have pity. In a way it was a shame to destroy them, though, he hadn't gotten this good a workout in years.

"Honey Flash!"

That was odd, *that* one had strong magic about her. Really strong. And now she was aiming some long tube at him. Well, a Fireball would take care of whatever she planned.

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Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Jared tried to crack his knuckles and failed, frowning at them. ~Oh, yeah. Health magics cancel such stuff as needing to do that, precursor to
arthritis and all that.~

Instead he spoke a single word.

"Timestop."

Wandering over to Shampoo and casting a spell to garb her decently, he picked up her out cold body, exempting it from the spell so that he could lift it, then opened and tossed her inside the door to the Tendo home. He then went and did the same to Ukyo and Ranma. Having gotten the nearest chi sources for his opponent out of immediate grab range he faced the building and put his hands together, speaking solemly.

"Guards and Wards."

The Tendo home would be a mess of frightful proportions, but he could clean that up later. For now it was important that none of the occupants would be letting Happosai in or going out to add themselves to his chi reserves, as every door and window was now secured with a magical lock they'd have to break the building to unlock - and they'd just proved how hard THAT would be.

~Now, let's see. What would get people indoors and reduce this guy's access to victims? Aha! Just the thing. Japan's survived a hurricane or
two...~

He brought his hands low before him, creating a blue globe of energy betwixt them.

"Zephyr's rage and tempest gale,
Come ye now beyond the veil.
I call the elements to cleanse this site,
Heaven's guardians, lend your might.
Purge this darkness from the land,
Here is where I'll make my stand.
Spirits of ice and wind and storm,
I name you now, and give you form.
Enemies of the darkest night,
Purge them now with eldritch might!
Clouds to swirl, and lightning crack,
Tis time to pay the darkness back!"

During this whole chant he had been slowly circling to raise the ever-growing sphere of blue light above his head. The sapphire globe of light within his hands had grown exponentially, until it looked as though he held a smaller copy of the world over his head. One raging with hurricanes. He inhaled deeply to shout in his loudest voice just as the Time Stop spell ended.

And then suddenly realized that if he got wet, he'd change to "Sherry" while fighting Happosai. That would not be pleasant. "Cancel!"

The Siege Storm broke off abruptly, not soon enough to save the spell energy or completely avert the effects. A gentle rain began to fall but Jared leapt and entered an open third story window prior to getting wet.

Only to discover that while his Timestop still had a few seconds left on the clock, Happosai was *not* in the yard anymore. Time restarted, and the fight began again, this time *inside* the Tendo house.

Akane, forgotten and ignored, raised herself up from where she was lying. Her alliance with Black Bart was ineffective, but maybe this new enemy would be less ridiculous.

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

a hot spring near Tokyo-3:

Ami snuggled in the warm afterglow of her "battle" against the deeply breathing body of her "opponent." The soldier had again won her way to victory against a difficult adversary.

Feeling pleasantly drowsy but oddly alert, being Ami Mizuno (Alpha- the Scout) she was making all sorts of observations about the battle. Nothing ever went *exactly* by the textbooks, of course. Nor plan survive the battle. Keeping a clinical detachment was not that easy or even desirable, she supposed.

Noting the little smile on the sleeping Shinji's face, and realizing she was grinning herself, Ami began planning the rematch.

The three androids in the room next door hoped that some soundproofing was within the budget.

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In the fansubs of the original Japanese series, Ami Mizuno seems to be a nice, shy, demure, young girl who gives a *lot* of Freudian slips. Not too far a reach to figure that maybe there's a volcano lurking behind that shy exterior, is it?

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