========================================================================= __ _ __ __ ____ ___ _____ | | | |\ | | | | | | | | |\ | | | | | | \ | | | | | | | | || | | |__ |_| | \| | | |_ |__| | | | | | | ____ | | | | | | \ | __ | | | | | / ____ \/ | | | | \ | | | | | | | ____ |__ | | | | | | | | | __ \____ | | | ___| | | | | | | | | \ \ |--- | | | __ |___| | | | | | | | | |____| | | ____ | | || | | | | | \ | |- /____ | | || | | _____/ |____ | \_|_ |__ ____/ _|_ | \| |____| ========================================================================= By Chris Willmore, Caroline Seawright, Ross McKenzie, RpM, Kevin Eav and welcoming Mike Loader ========================================================================= Act V ========================================================================= The story so far... ACT I: In an alternate reality where Ranma married Shampoo, their daughter had somehow obtained a magic locket that allowed her to cross dimensions. A few accidents later, several of Ranma's 'children' from various realities ended up in one reality, where Ranma was still a teen-age youth. One among them, Ryo Saotome (son of Ranma and Ukyou) managed to get a hold of the locket before Cologne was about to do something devious with it. Following his victory, Ryo sent all the children of Ranma & company to their proper realities, and then prepared to go home himself. Something, however, went wrong. He ended up in a bizarre version of Tokyo in 2096 and accidentally dragged along Ratiko Hibiki and Childra Jansen in his attempt to fix this mistake. That attempt dragged him to two other realities with amazing speed. From them, he accidentally brought Miyabi, daughter of Ranma and Akane, and Ishido, a mysterious amnesiac hunted by a shadowy organisation. Finally, they stopped in a reality where Ranma & co. were still teens, but had never met them before. And now... ACT II: Childra, curious as to what caused their dimensional/reality shift, watched Ryo Saotome closely, and discovered that the locket is the source of their troubles. She tried, and succeeded, in stealing the locket from him without his noticing. Ratiko schemed to make sure that the history of his world takes place, and began a plan to kill Ranma and frame Miyabi for the murder. He succeeded in getting a blood sample from her and a torn piece of her clothing, but was interrupted before he could go through with his plan. In a talk with Ishido, he found out about a certain umbrella-wielding maniac threatening to kill Ryouga in Ishido's reality. In a panic, Ratiko rushed to Childra, and accidentally triggered the locket. The three of them found themselves on a bridge somewhere. Before they left, they accidentally dragged along Ryo Muhoshin, a person that looked amazingly like Hikaru Gosunkugi, but in truth was a bit more devious. Bringing him along, the four crossed several realities, narrowly escaping danger, capture, and death. Then they returned to the Nerima they had left from, with an irate Ryo Saotome waiting for them. Meanwhile, Miyabi had put up with the antics of her grandparents (Soun and Genma) who were overjoyed at her existence, distressed at the way her parents were fighting, greatly annoyed at her trans-dimensonal half brother Ryo Saotome, and had decided that a talk with Grandmother Nodoka was in order. ACT III: Miyabi went to Nodoka's to talk, unaware that Ranma's life was in danger due to the promise Genma made to Nodoka regarding manliness and Ranma's upbringing. The end result was that Nodoka was invited to dinner, expecting to see her son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter. Miyabi's age, almost that of Ranma, was, unfortunately, not forseen as a major problem by Miyabi. Upon returning from her accidental trip through time, Childra surrendered the locket to Ryo Saotome once again. Meanwhile, the extra passenger they picked up along the way, Ryo Muhoshin, passed himself off as 'Ryo Gosunkugi, son of Gosunkugi and Ukyou' and had everyone fooled. Nabiki got a hold of the material Ratiko was planning to frame Miyabi with and used it to blackmail him into buying her dinner, among other things. They end up at Ucchan's, where he washed dishes to pay for things. He eventually got drunk, hit on Ukyou, and was knocked out by a blow to the head. Childra and Ishido became more... intimately attached. When his guard was down, Ryo Saotome was knocked out by Ryo Muhoshin, who then accidentally triggered the locket and disappeared into times and places unknown. Ryo Saotome woke up much later to find the locket gone, an image of it burned in his hand, and discovered what was inside the locket: A picture of him and Bell-chan, his fiancee. ACT IV: Ryo Saotome began making plans to assemble the locket that he was apparently destined to create (the photo from the locket being proof of that). Meanwhile, Ratiko spent the day with Nabiki, buying her food and treats while also beginning to feel somewhat attracted to her. Ishido and Childra sorted through their fears and anxieties, but in the end came together in a happy reunion within the local graveyard. Miyabi & the Tendo household held a dinner for Nodoka, who was expecting to see her son at last. What happened instead was that she had an interesting experience with a time traveler (Happosai) and realized that Miyabi was, in fact, Ranma's daughter from the future. She also assumed that 'Ranko' was Genma's daughter from an affair. Soun briefly assumed Akane was Genma's child from an affair with his deceased wife. Things got ugly, but got better again as they usually did (although Nodoka still thinks Ranko is Genma's illegitimate child). Meanwhile, Under the distrustful eyes of Childra and Ishido, Ryo Saotome used the arcane resources within Happosai's room to create the locket. And then he vanished. ===================================================================== Jade fire engulfed Ryo, and he burned. _Green?_ he thought. _It shouldn't be green. And I don't remember this much pain._ Ryo concentrated, fighting past the agony, willing his way back to reality, or the local equivalent thereof. The emerald flames thinned. He found himself lying on a cold surface, smoke rising from his clothes. And he heard someone crying. There was something familiar about those tears, something more painful than the fires that delivered him to this world. "Bell-chan?" he whispered. The crying stopped. "Who are you?" the girl asked. "What are you doing here?" There was hysteria in her voice, trapped within the sobbing. "I thought they were going to leave me alone." Ryo rolled to his feet. "Bell-chan, don't you know me?" They were in a room no more than three paces wide on a side, but the pig-tailed boy held back, afraid of her answer. "No, I don't know you. Is this another test? I thought you were through with that." The girl looked up from where she sat curled up on a bench, the cell's only furniture. "I thought you were ready to decide my fate." "I've learned you make your own fate," Ryo mused. A more frantic mind would have accepted only one possibility, that something had happened to his one true love, but Ryo knew the perils of traveling between realities. _So close!_ his mind screamed at him. _So close!_ But now he saw the differences, the slightly darker eyes, the more pouting lips, the subtle nuances of body language that told him this woman was not his fiancee, and that this was not his world. Still, she was _his_ Bell-chan's doppelganger, and she was in distress. Ryo had promised himself he wouldn't hold the crimes of one duplicate against another reality's counterpart, but the inverse held as well. He could not help but give credit to the face of someone he respected, and that went a hundred times over for Bell-chan. "Of course you make your own fate," the faux Bell-chan said. "That's the purpose of these new 'Consistency Courts,' isn't it? To judge you by the rules you've made yourself." "Consistency Courts? Judge?" Ryo took a step back in confusion, bumping up against the cell door. "I don't understand. I know someone like you enough to be your twin, and I can't imagine her ever being tried for _any_ crime." Bell-chan laughed. Ryo shivered; there was no levity in that laugh, only mockery and self pity. It reminded him of Tachi's aunt. "Of course you can't imagine me on trial. Who would ever have imagined that sweet, innocent Belladonna would kill her own mother? Not even to ease her suffering? And since no one would believe it, they'll find me guilty." She swallowed. "A year ago I wouldn't have believed it. A few months later, though..." The tears started up again, drowning out any other words. _Belladonna?_ Ryo's sleep-deprived mind whirled. _She killed Kasumi?_ He backed himself into the corner, trying to get far away from the monster wearing his beloved's flesh. _What hell have I damned myself to? This is not my world. This is not my fiancee. Belldandy is a goddess on earth, not a matricide._ In answer to his unvoiced plea, the locket hung around Ryo's neck blazed with bright green fire and tore him from the cell. * * * * * Ryo Muhoshin was ABOUT to send Ryo Saotome to some place unpleasant. About to. Except just when he was about to do the deed, the locket suddenly came to life, engulfing him with azure flames and blinding him with the sudden brightness. He felt the ground beneath him shift slightly and the world around him was consumed in a blinding flash of azure flame. "Eh?" He stumbled forward, unsure of his surroundings and still blinded by the flash of light. At this point, he discovered (the hard way) that he was at the top of a modest skyscraper. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggh..." Fortunately, there was a dumpster below. *WHAM* Unfortunately, the stuff inside wasn't that soft. "OW!" Fortunately he was spared an hour of pain by being knocked unconscious. * * * * * The nighttime sky in Tokyo was fairly nondescript, mainly because it was gray and drizzling for a day now and looked to be going on for the next several weeks. Detective Ed Ryouga Marlowe, homicide division, Ministry of Sanitation looked up into the night sky from his vintage 1996 Hyundai. He thought he saw a flash of light up there in the clouds... "Now my eyes are going bad," he muttered to himself, and drove on. * * * * * In a trash bin, hidden in the shadows of the skyscrapers, a loud scream of horror and frustration boomed out as someone suddenly landed from a 90 floor drop and into a trash bin. Nearby, something metallic sounding bounced along the pavement and finally settled on the sidewalk. A vagrant, hungry, tired, and weary, saw all this and merely shrugged. Must've been one of the old faithful of the Nabiki regime gone suicide after the downfall of their leader. Sorta thing happened often enough nowadays. He blinked. There seemed to be something on the ground. Something shiny. Something silver. Looked nice. He figured he could get a pack of MacNougets for it. Not very tasty, but cheap. * * * * * The fall into the dumpster was bad enough to leave him sore all over. Muhoshin limped out into the dim light of a streetlamp and leaned on it warily. He blinked. There was definitely something wrong here. Something... missing? He checked his right pocket, then his left. He checked his shirt pocket. He checked his back pockets. "Nooooo. Not fair! NOT FAIR! NO!" The locket was gone. He immediately fell to his knees and began looking for it. A group of construction workers walked by as he frantically searched the ground. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you, get outta the way, people are walking through here." Not in the mood for snide remarks, Muhoshin looked up, ready to break the offender's nose. Then he saw his face. And his friend's faces. And a few dozen faces walking by. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Ryouga shook his head sadly as he watched the strange guy run off like a maniac. "Jeez, more sanitarium escapees running around the streets these days. Ministry of Sanitation oughta see about that." "No kidding," said the other Ryouga. "C'mon, let's get to work," said yet another Ryouga. "The construction site was around here somewhere..." * * * * * The city was bleak. Bleak, ugly, modern, and busy. Normally, Muhoshin wouldn't have minded this, might even have approved. That was a Ryo Muhoshin with a purpose in life, money in his pocket, and a locket in his hand. Most importantly, it was a Muhoshin who didn't see hordes of Ryougas everywhere The way things were at the moment, he hated the city and everyone in it. Especially the logically-certainly-probably nonexistent Ryougas. The place was in desperate need, he thought, of urban renewal. The thermonuclear kind. His stomach growled, and he winced. He'd been wandering the streets, doing a little scouting, waiting for his head to clear and the Ryougas to vanish. He was beginning to realize that he'd been doing this for almost two days. Time to get some food, sit down for a second, and...think. He had passed a tiny bar and grill a few blocks back, that should do nicely. He turned around, and strode off, his step going from an aimless stumble to a purposeful stride. Yes, this had been a good idea. Just the knowledge that he was going _somewhere_ picked him up a bit, began to ease him out of his depression. He reached the bar, opened the door, and there was Ryouga. And Ryouga. Ryouga was there as well, as were Ryouga and Ryouga. The whole place was one big Ryouga-fest. His temples began to throb, and he slowly forced himself to close his eyes and slow his breathing. They weren't really there. It was JUST a hallucination. Had to be. Be steady, just stay calm... "Either come in or get out!" That was Ryouga's voice, all right. "Yeah, yer letting in a draft!" And that one, only from a different part of the room, was his too. No. Calm, calm, must stay calm. He opened his eyes and walked slowly across the room, nervously eying the patrons. Odd, really. Why was he imagining Ryouga dressed as a horde of bikers? "Whadda ya want?" asked Ryouga, from his position behind the bar. Your severed, bloody head on a platter. "I'll have some tea." "We got beer." Die slowly and painfully. "Aheh. Water. And a sandwich." The bartender grunted, and Ryo slumped against the bartop. They weren't really Ryougas. His addled brain was just making them look and sound like them. Why, by this time Hibiki would have.... Wait a minute. Why was there a hand on his thigh? "Hello, big boy," said a Ryouga. Outside, the sound of horrified screaming was heard, quickly replaced by the sound of extreme violence. * * * * * o/~ CRAZY.....from the things that I can see YOU CAN'T HEAR THEM...only talkin' at me LIVING ON THE OUTSIDE...looking inside to Be free...o/~ Ryo Muhoshin distractedly smashed the ghetto blaster over the cranium of its owner. He looked like Ryouga, so he had it coming. The song was annoying. Aimed at him. He wasn't crazy. No, no, no, no, no not very crazy, even if the RYOUGA HIBIKI(s?) WERE EVERYWHERE EVERYWHERE EVERYWHERE no, no, despite that he was sane. Ryouga... Muhoshin shuddered, and firmly reminded himself that that _hadn't_ been his hated enemy. No, Ryouga wasn't like that (please, please, please) it had just been someone who his rather concussed (NOT CRAZY NOT CRAZY) mind had made to look like his hated enemy. No, Ryouga wasn't like that (please) it had just been someone who his wrath... With an effort, he pulled his thoughts from the circular track they had been wearing in his brain. A low growl from his stomach reminded him that he still had his initial problem. Namely, he had no food, he hadn't slept in hours, he was unbearably tired, and his immediate goal seemed to be wandering aimlessly. Wandering aimlessly was far too Ryouga-like to be tolerated. There. A diner. It was grimy and small and full of neon light and glare, but so was everywhere here, including the street. And the street didn't have a special on coffee and donuts. The street did, however, have a cash machine. He was named Sean Ryouga Izigawa. Muhoshin, of course, never learned this tidbit of information. All he knew and cared about was that he looked like Ryouga and looked almost wealthy. He had a ATM card. It was called an umbrella. He used the blunt end to make a withdrawal. Ryo thought, walking inside the diner. * * * * * Unlike the Hibiki bar, the diner was almost homey. Formica, a rather odd clock shaped like a cat with swinging eyes and tail, a jukebox which obviously hadn't worked in years, his mother, and a long row of Men In Gray Suits. He blinked. Item four on that list did not match his admittedly shaky notions of reality. Oh. It wasn't his mother, it was only Kasumi. There _did_ seem to be an awful lot of Kasumi about too. And Akane. And that other Tendou sister. Odd, that. Still, he could think of worse people to see. Making his way over to a free table, he sat down and began to relax just a bit. Glasses clinked. Silverware rattled. The Men In Gray Suits made murmuring noises and watched TV in between bites of dinner. Diner noises. Normal, blessedly Hibiki-free sounds. "Are you ready to order?" He looked up, startled. Kasumi was smiling down at him, an order pad in her hands. Of course, she was the waitress. The apron normally would have tipped him off, but aprons were standard issue with most Kasumis. "Er, sure. I'll have...one moment..." He thumbed rapidly through his new wallet; not nearly as much as he had hoped. "I'll have the coffee and crullers." She smiled, a warm, sincere thing that differed dramatically from the plastic variety waitresses normally handed out. "Okay. Back in a bit." He watched as she walked off, and he felt, oddly, a little better. * * * * * //And in today's news, another store was hit in a smash-and-grab robbery. Several suits were stolen, and the store's safe was emptied. This is the fourth of a rash of...// "Terrible, isn't it?" asked Kasumi. "Oh, certainly," agreed Muhoshin, brushing a little lint off of his newly acquired clothing. "So, do you like my new suit?" He stood up from the counter stool and posed a bit, showing off the gray Armani. "It's nice! I like it a lot," said Kasumi. "Thank you miss," said Muhoshin with a grin. "But I'm not sure about those black leather gloves. And no need to be formal. You've been coming to this diner so much now it seems like you belong here, Ryo-kun." "Oh, aheheh, sorry, Miss Kasumi, it's just the way I am." "My name," she replied, poking him in the nose gently, "is Ami. A-mi. We've been through this already, ne? And here's your coffee." "Thanks, and sorry, sorry." Ryo unfolded his newspaper and sipped his coffee with a smile. "I ever tell you how much you remind me of my mom?" "Oh, stop that," she replied with a giggle. Ami the Kasumi Extender Waitress patted him on the arm and went around to serve the other customers. She sometimes wondered about Mr. Muhoshin. The first time he came in to the diner, he looked so _poor_ and just ordered an endless refill of coffee whenever he visited. But as the days passed, he seemed to have gotten some good fortune, and lately he'd been leaving generous tips. The one thing he always did since the start was come around on her shift. She sensed that he was looking at her sometimes, and she couldn't help but blush. Did he like her? She looked over at him briefly, and caught him looking at her again. She smiled. Muhoshin mentally stumbled as the Kasumi extender caught him staring at her. He'd been hoping that this odd little vision problem of his would go away, any minute now, but it wasn't. Muhoshin had been stuck for two weeks now, stranded in this strange sort of reality. He was still seeing hundreds of Nabikis, Akanes, Kasumis, and annoyingly, Ryougas. He did what any person trying to hang on to their sanity would do. Ignore it. At least, he _tried_ to ignore it. He'd occasionally trip a Ryouga or shove one into traffic, but it was by reflex. They _couldn't_ all be Ryougas, and if those _weren't_ Ryougas he was looking at, then getting them killed might draw the wrong kind of attention. It wouldn't be worth the trouble he'd get if he killed a Ryouga and it turned out to be just a hallucination. It'd be a sick tease. This, he felt, was one twisted world. Despite that, he felt content to hang around at this cozy diner. Maybe the waitress looked quite a bit like his mom (as well as several thousand other girls in the city), maybe she was just a hallucination of his, but she was nice, polite, and friendly. And there was that... that... that _something_ about her that made him feel... well... odd. But not in a bad way, certainly not. The Men In Gray Suits laughed silently as a comedian made admiring fun of Ukyou Kuonji on the TV. Ryo was surprised to find that the sound didn't irritate him. In fact, he was actually smiling a bit. Some of them might have money, but he would never hurt them. The diner was Ami's. The streets were his, though, and business was good. * * * * * The sun rose. The birds warbled. Ten thousand Ryougas marched through the city. It was a normal day for Ryo Muhoshin. He woke up, walked a bit, mugged a few people, and walked a bit more. Then he had lunch. If he had done particularly well, he allowed himself a second espresso. Today was one of those. Then came the afternoon robberies. Jewelry stores had jewelry and armed guards and alarms. Pawn shops had jewelry. He emptied three different shops, then called it a day. He whistled his way into the diner, cheerfully called a greeting to the Men In Gray Suits, dropped a dime in the broken jukebox out of pure whimsy, and chatted with Ami as she brought him his club sandwich. Being stranded here, he was beginning to realize, wasn't so bad after all. Sure his little vision trouble was still there, but he was beginning to look at it as something nearing an asset. After all, he got to beat up Ryouga, take his money, spit in his face, and walk away chuckling. Every day. Multiple times. He had been worried about the police catching him. Then he realized that the police here were under-funded, overstretched, and on occasion incompetent. They had as much chance of catching him as they did a microbe. And he had Ami to talk to, which was undeniably nice. He had forgotten that simple conversation could make one feel good. No, this really wasn't that bad. It was a normal day for Ryo Muhoshin. "Hey, Muhoshin," asked Ami. "Hm?" "What'cha doing later?" "A little business, I guess you might call it. Why'd you ask?" "Oh, nothing." Ami smiled. "Just thought we might want to go somewhere later, I dunno." Ryo looked at her oddly, then resumed reading the paper. "Hm... tell you what," said Muhoshin. "I'll treat you out to dinner tonight, okay?" * * * * * The night was a rather whirlwind event for him, entirely unused to being in the company of a woman, much less making a woman smile. Much to his alarm, she had led the way, bringing them to THIS cafe and THAT club and THIS scenic view of the city in the park... he just wasn't used to it at all, but was enjoying himself rather immensely. And without having to beat the hell out of someone else, too. It was an entirely alien feeling for him. As was the concept of a romantic stroll 'round the city, which he was doing now. Although he wasn't doing too bad, strolling casually with Ami's arm entwined with his. Fortunately, he didn't realize he had a somewhat awkward and goofy grin on his face. "Ryo-kun?" "Hm ah er uh wha? Y-yes, Miss Kasumi?" "Thanks for taking me out tonight." Muhoshin laughed. "Ah, I think it's you that's shown me the town tonight... yes?" Ami laughed with him. "I guess so, but still... I had a wonderful time with you. See you tomorrow?" she asked. "Hrm? Wha? See me tomorrow? Oh! Yes, of course." "Well, there's my apartment," sighed Ami, pointing to an apartment complex nearby. "Good night." Then she did something that drained Muhoshin out of any sense at all, sent his mind reeling, and made him forget all the old memories that made him the stylish little bastard that he thought himself to be. She kissed him. Only on the cheek, but again, all this was something entirely new to him. As she walked away, Ami couldn't help but giggle a little at the silly grin that was plastered to his face. She couldn't wait till tomorrow. Ryo, meanwhile, was looking at his Ami, hearing really nice violins and birds with ribbons flying about and all that other odd romantic special effects nonsense. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he could be in love, which was all at the same time an unbelievable high and a truly horrifying possibility. And as his Ami was a block away, in the doorway of the apartment complex, she turned back, smiled at him... and then there was a Ryouga blocking the view. And it looked quite upset. * * * * * Isamu Ryouga Daimon was not having a good day. He'd been 'activated' just a month ago, and there was an error in shipping. The persons he was sent to were apparently expecting a fiancee for their son. Needless to say, he was promptly rejected. Due to a problem in the paperwork, he couldn't be returned to the MoD, so he was SOLD instead to a factory. A sweatshop, really. Lousy pay and a real ass of a boss. Despite all this, he managed to scratch out a meager living, barely keeping up with payments for the ultra-tiny apartment of his. Then he was fired. Then he lost his apartment. Then he was just mugged. Ten minutes ago. Isamu held his head in his hands, rubbing his temples. He wanted to go out there and KILL his boss, KILL his landlord, and KILL the punks that mugged him. KILL KILL KILL. He had this throbbing headache... Then a car drove by, splashing him with mud and water. Somewhere in his mind, something burned away. "I'M NOT TAKING THIS ANYMORE!!!!" The maddened extender suddenly felt a massive headache, and his anger surged to a berzerker peak. He looked around for someone to hurt, someone to PAY for the lousy day he was having. With reckless abandon, he tore a streetlamp down and flung it into the street. The extender stomped away as cars swerved and the beginnings of a massive pileup began. He swung his fists wildly, striking randomly at people passing by. A man was flung through a window, a woman felt her ribs crack from a wild punch, and then another woman was flung against a brick wall, her head hitting brick and blood trailing from her mouth as she slumped to the floor. Ryouga swung wildly again, but this time his fist was caught. He found himself flung into a dark alley. A skinny figure paced angrily towards him, twirling an umbrella. "Damn you," the figure said, "damn you to hell." There was a flash of metal, a gasp for air, then silence. * * * * * In a dark alley a dead body was being dragged. It was being dragged by a very incredibly upset person, who had just had his first love killed before his eyes. Muhoshin was feeling week and feeling lonely and feeling angry and this feeling was just TOO familiar and he was feeling generally belittled by the world and REALLY felt like lashing out at it for just daring to continue existing after Ryouga... damn Ryouga... He sighed, tossed Ryouga's body into a dumpster, then slowly sank to his knees. For the first time in a very long time, he started to cry. * * * * * A Week Later... "More coffee?" asked the waitress. "Yes, please." Muhoshin smiled unevenly as the Kasumi refilled his coffee mug. He felt as if he had passed a major point in his life. He had been, in the past, somewhat underhanded, somewhat dishonest, but now he had blood on his hands. Ryouga had killed her. No reason, no reason at all. He just came out of nowhere and killed her. So what else was there to do? He killed Ryouga. An eye for an eye, right? It was, at first, somewhat shocking, and a sick feeling almost began to overwhelm him. He'd hurt people before, even crippled them... but to actually kill was... it was just different. But in the end, a peculiar calm overcame him. He watched Ryouga's dying twitches with fascination, wondering what was going through his mind. Fear? Hate? Regret? The mysteries of life? Murder wasn't so bad, or so hard. In fact, it was easy too... But Ryouga wasn't dead. Wasn't dead. He was evERyWHeRe. The question of the hoards of Ryougas, Kasumis, and others wasn't really in his mind anymore. It didn't matter. Were there a thousand Ryougas walking the streets? So be it! He did it again, Ryouga did. Just strolled into Muhoshin's life and took away something that was important to him. He took away Kasu... Ami. That was her name. Ami. Maybe there was a thousand other Kasumis in this city, but they just weren't quite the same. The were a row of Men In Gray Suits here, but they weren't his. None of them knew his name. None of them told him the latest joke. They didn't know him, and neither did the Kasumi who had filled his cup. None of the Kasumis were players in his play, save as props in the background. But... they still were the innocent ones in this Hibiki infested city, and someone had to keep things in line, right? He owed it to Ami to clean out the Hibiki infestation. His logic, after a few more anxiety attacks of confusion and paranoia, was shortened and simplified to this: Ryouga-> kill / Kasumi-> defend. Not much else to think about. Why were there a thousand Ryougas out there? Why ask why? That only leads to a headache. As he finished his drink and left, he left the usual fairly big tip to the girl. She was a Kasumi, so she had it coming. Especially when that cash was from a few Ryougas he killed. He hummed a little tune he heard once, somewhere, somewhen... o/" Once that you've decided on a killing, o/" o/" First you make a stone of your heart. o/" o/" And if you find that your hands are still willing, o/" o/" Then you can turn a murder into art. o/" If that was the case, he thought, then he decided that he would be every bit as great as Da Vinci, Bosch, and even Dali. He really liked Dali. * * * * * Somewhere, in a small pawn shop, a small, battered, silver locket was laid out under a glass counter. It was a fairly plain and ordinary locket, next to necklaces and bracelets of gold in good condition. With such trinkets around it, who would even want to buy it? The owner of the pawn shop bought it from the street bum out of kindness... but he didn't think that anyone would really buy it from him. Although... Sometimes he'd swear that it flickered. * * * * * [Meanwhile, somewhere else...] An explosion rocked the temple. Keiichi looked up from his textbook. "Urd?" he asked. Belldandy set her knitting down and cocked her head to one side, listening to echoes of magic. "No, that was Skuld." A second explosion shook the walls, filling the air with the tang of ozone. "That one was Urd." Pictures rattled in their frames and glasses threatened to leap from their coasters as the goddesses of past and future continued their argument. "Why don't we go outside?" Keiichi suggested. Belldandy nodded, so together they gathered their belongings and tiptoed out to the patio. Dust and smoke followed them out the door. "It looks like we got out just in time." Belldandy didn't answer; her eyes had a glazed, faraway look. "Is something wrong?" Keiichi asked. "Someone just gated in." "Who!" Keiichi demanded. His textbook fell to the ground as he interposed himself between Belldandy and the temple. "Is it Marller?" "No, it's a-" "Hey, Belldandy!" Urd called. "You'd better come take a look at this." "He seems familiar," Keiichi declared. "Yeah," Urd agreed. "He looks like one of those guys I was sharing a house with a couple months back." "What do we do with him?" Skuld asked. Belldandy returned with a pillow and a blanket. "We make him comfortable until he wakes up, of course." She studied the large bump on his head and noted how his hair, particularly the braided pigtail, was standing on end. "I wonder how he managed to get hurt." "Uh, good question, Belldandy," Urd stammered. Skuld whistled, trying her best to hide Mjolnir 2.0 behind her back. "Bell-chan," the boy whispered as Belldandy tucked the blanket under his chin. He thrashed, tearing himself free, then settled again. "He seems to know you." Keiichi possessively stepped closer to his significant other. "I've never seen him before." She reached out again, her palm cupping a glowing ball of energy. Green fire flared from the locket around his neck. Startled, she pulled back. "Pretty hot stuff," Urd commented. Skuld produced a pair of goggles from Hammerspace. "Do that again, Oneesama. I want to get some readings." "Are you sure that's safe?" Keiichi asked. In his mind he saw visions of the temple exploding. The look Skuld shot him would have burned through steel, if her glasses had been configured to do that. Belldandy reached out again. Emerald energy poured from the silver heart, fountaining around her like a transformation effect. "Fascinating," Skuld declared. "The power is similar to yours, Oneesama, so it's producing a harmonic wave amplification increase. It's just slightly out of synch, though, and that's what's causing the pyrotechnics." "So what you're saying," Keiichi surmised, "is that it needs a tune-up." Skuld huffed. "In layman's terms, yes." She pushed her goggles to the top of her head. "It's really much more complicated than that." "Well." Urd cracked her knuckled. "When do we get started?" * * * * * The three goddesses clustered in the kitchen, leaving Keiichi to watch their newest visitor. "I still think it needs more salt," Urd complained. "Nuh uh!" Skuld countered as she stirred the steaming cauldron. "That would make him explode. We're already close to the limit as it is." Urd smirked. "What's life without risks?" Skuld stuck out her tongue in rebuttal. "Enough!" Belldandy demanded. "It's ready." She set the stove to "simmer," then stretched her arms wide. The goddess markings on her face began to glow, and a wind from elsewhere caught her hair. Bend, oh Time and Space, listen to wishes, answer dreams; the Worlds That Are beckon. Skuld took up the incantation next; her face shining like an LCD screen in the growing light of the spell. Bend, oh Time and Space, follow patterns, obey rules; the Worlds That Can Be are fragile. Urd stood straight, letting the wind whip her dress as she composed her stanza. Bend, oh Time and Space, remember fantasies, revisit memories; the Worlds That Were will not be forgotten. The room darkened; all the light was drawn into the cauldron. It began to hiss, and steam rolled over the sides, but the surface became still as glass. The three goddesses could see their reflections; the images spun round and round as they continued chanting. A strong heart holds the key. A clever mind solves the puzzle. A burning love sets the stage. We command this in the name of the goddesses of Present Future and Past. "And may you have an interesting time of it," Urd added. "No!" Belldandy and Skuld shouted as one, but it was too late. The cauldron exploded in a shower of bright blue light, blinding everyone in the kitchen and washing away all sounds. The mystery boy hadn't moved since Belldandy and the others went into the kitchen, so Keiichi recovered his textbook and tried to study. His grades were precarious enough with all the local zaniness; he couldn't afford to let today's events distract him too much. Thin beams of cerulean fire slipped between the cracks in the door jam. Keiichi ignored them; as long as there wasn't an explosion, everything was fine. Then there was an explosion. "Belldandy? Are you all right?" he called. Dense green smoke poured from the ruins of the kitchen door, but he paid it no heed and rushed into the room. "Is anyone hurt?" "We're *kaff, kaff* all right," Belldandy assured him. "Let me open a window." "It's all *kaff* Urd's fault, anyway," Skuld announced. "I was *koff* just trying to *koff* to liven things up." "Um, excuse me," a new voice asked. "Does anyone need any help?" "Well, well, well." Urd struck a pose. "Look who's up." She sauntered over to where Ryo stood and poked him in the chest. "Feeling any better, Mystery Man?" "I-" he stammered, "that is, yes. Um." He scratched his head, gathering his thoughts. "This may sound strange, but what world is this?" "Midgard!" Skuld replied promptly. Belldandy noticed Ryo's puzzled look. "That wasn't the answer you were expecting, was it?" Shock erased Ryo's next few words. Instead he stared at Belldandy, unable to take his eyes away. Keiichi took exception to this and moved closer to his goddess. "How do you know Belldandy?" he demanded. "Bell... dandy?" Ryo said her name slowly, tasting it. His head bowed and his shoulders slumped. _Not so close this time, at least, not in form._ He looked up again. "I think I know where I am, now, and how I ended up here." He shrugged, palms up, then quickly hid the brand behind his back. "I'm sorry I dropped in unexpected like this. I'll be going now." "Not so fast, hot stuff," Urd countered. "You can't just pop in and pop out without an explanation." She gave him a full, crooked smile. "And I just bet there's a lot more to your story than meets the eye." Ryo met her challenge. "How long do you have?" "You'd be amazed," Urd answered. [A brief explanation later...] "I thought you looked like Ranma!" Urd declared, slapping the table with her free hand. "So, did you inherit his... magnetic charm?" "No, thank God." Ryo held his teacup with both hands. "Just his ability to attract disasters. But this transdimensional jaunt rivals anything I ever heard him doing, at least in scope." "And your Belldandy..." "Sound just like yours, Keiichi." Ryo frowned. "You both act alike, too," he told the goddess, "but you don't really look like each other. The last Bell-chan I saw, though..." He shivered. Belldandy poured Keiichi more tea. "So now you want to go home." "After I clean up the mess my fellow travelers have made." "That's easy," Skuld declared. "You find the bugs responsible, then you hit them." She demonstrated on a hapless section of floor with Mjolnir 2.0. Ryo shook his head. "It's not that easy. Finding 'Gosling' will be like looking for a needle in a haystack." He toyed with the locket. "I'm not even sure I can find the right farm." "Oh, we fixed that," Urd said offhandedly. "Just think about where you want to go, concentrate, and, 'Poof,' there you are." "You... fixed..." He wobbled dazedly. "It took me all night to create and cast the spell to empower this cursed thing, and even then I still didn't get it right. The three of you just 'fixed it?'" "I'm good with mirrors," Belldandy said proudly, "and we're all used to magic jewelry." "What, are you goddesses or something?" Ryo didn't understand why everyone around him burst out laughing. "Remember," Skuld lectured. "Focus on where you want to go, then activate the portal." She stood on tiptoes and poked the locket hard; it sparked blue. "And don't let it get damaged! It's fragile enough as it is. What made you use _silver_ of all things? Plastic or ceramics would have worked just as well." "Don't mind her," Urd advised. "She's always this picky." Skuld gave her oldest sister a raspberry. "Just go with the flow. You'll have more fun that way." "At this point, anything that works would have to be more fun, just by definition." Ryo took a deep breath. "All right, all of you stand back. I don't want anyone getting caught up in this by accident." He gave them all a wry smile. "I've had enough of that to last a lifetime." "Good-bye, Ryo-san" "Good-bye, Belldandy," There was a catch in Ryo's voice; those were two words he never liked to see in the same sentence. "I wish you and Keiichi more happiness than I've had of late." He closed his right hand around the locket. Blue fire burst from between his fingers and engulfed him, then spun around him to form a glowing azure gate. "Ryo Muhoshin, you're mine." * * * * * It was more than a month into his stay when Muhoshin decided to explore a few nagging questions that had been on his mind before he was unceremoniously dumped into this surreal world. It required a little bit of research, some experimenting, and, of course, a test subject. In an empty warehouse, Ryouga extender awoke strapped down to a table. Actually, he was nailed to it. He screamed in pain and weakly tried to escape. Sitting across from him, and watching like a spider watches a fly, Ryo Muhoshin gazed, as if he was studying. "LET ME GO!!!" screamed Ryouga. That, he felt, was easily solved. He actually wondered why he didn't think of it earlier. He put on the leather gloves and fastened them tight, flexing his fingers. Then he focused his ki, channeling them to his hands... and to the gloves. They flared with bright yellow energy. He tightened one fist and punched at one of the Ryouga's arms. There was a sickening *snap* and more screams as the arm became horribly bent out of shape. "And that," he mused quietly, "was with me holding back." "WHAT DO YOU WANT?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" The extender struggled more, and more blood began to flow from the spikes that ran through his arms and legs. Muhoshin paused for a moment, as if thinking about that question. "Well, you see... you LOOK like a Ryouga to me, a lot of you do." "OF COURSE I DO, I'M A RYOUGA EXTENDER!!!" Muhoshin frowned. "So... you _are_ Ryouga?" "YES I'M A RYOUGA!!!" screamed the extender. "Well, that's about it then." "What are you talking about?!?! HEY!" ranted Ryouga, but Muhoshin just ignored him and continued studying his victim. The exploding point technique, or bakusai ten-ketsu, was a technique that came close, but it did _not_ work. He poked Happosai and the little troll didn't explode a bit. He thought again. Needles. Why did Ishido mention a needle? Muhoshin gave a quick glance at the Ryouga extender, examining the breaking points on his body. When the breaking point is learned, the person 'sees' breaking points. The curious thing was that people who learned it saw the breaking points in a lot of places... trees, rocks, other people... but it seemed to work mostly on rocks, and never on people. Why didn't it work on people? "A-HA!" Muhoshin stood up with an evil smile. It was so obvious now, the secret to the technique. The reason that the breaking point had never worked on people was that the creators of the technique never thought to compensate for all that flesh that got in the way... "Stay right there," said Muhoshin as he walked away, ignoring the screams of pain from the pinned Ryouga. "Need to get something." An hour later, Muhoshin returned with a metal spike sharpened to a needle-sharp tip. "Stand still," he said, grinning. He saw the point... a very precise point, much more precise than those found on stone, but still... The screams of pain would've been heard, if it weren't for the noise of the traffic and construction of the city around them. * * * * * The weeks passed on, and soon two months had passed. Muhoshin was fairly settled in, occupying the apartment of a fairly isolated Ryouga. He'd picked this one carefully. Had no frequent visitors, and had been recently unemployed. As he expected, nobody'd been around to bother his privacy. Muhoshin made a mistake on a previous Ryouga, and that resulted in the police ousting him from his temporary abode. He had been shot at - not in a very effective way, but still enough to make him wish to take precautions. Hence the lightweight kevlar vest he was wearing underneath his shirt. He'd held back his war on Ryouga to a once a week affair. Any more, and the pressure from the law enforcement people may become too much. Even with only one strike a week, it was enough for the moment. At the moment he was mulling over the month's killings as he watched the flashing lights and heard the sirens heading his way. _They take quite a while to get to the scene of a murder_ he mused. It is said that criminals always return to the scene of the crime. In Muhoshin's case, he just stayed a while longer. He'd just finished off another Ryouga and was relaxing in the after-glow of murder high atop the rooftops. He watched carefully as the police arrived on the scene of his last workout. He thought he saw something interesting last time, but was too far away. Now he was observing from a safe and good vantage point, with some binoculars. As usual, the police arrived far too late, taped off the area for investigation, called in other police, examined the body... ah. There it was. Ryouga Hibiki. Ryouga Hibiki AS A COP. Tsk, corruption in the law enforcement agency. How could they let RYOUGA into the police? No, no, no. This would have to be fixed, and soon. He strolled away upon the ledges of the building for several blocks, unseen by all, then jumped off, opening his umbrella, and floated into an empty alley. Moonlight, a cool breeze, only a few clouds in the sky. It seemed like a good night for a stroll, and to plan future recreational ventures with glee. * * * * * Meanwhile... a little later... High atop the Daitokuji Towers, a circle of fire suddenly flared into being, then transformed into a swirling column, with the outline of a man within. Then, the fires flickered out, leaving a boy with a pig-tail standing there. Ryo Saotome looked around carefully, wondering if he'd finally made it to the right destination. "Now, where am I." Whatever reality this was, it looked to him to be an industrial/corporational world gone wild. Skyscrapers were all around him, with interconnecting tunnel tubes linking the buildings. Video screens flickered everywhere promoting governmental ideals. Ryo froze a moment as he stared at the screen in disbelief: there, larger than life, was an image of his mother, Ukyou Kuonji. The subtitles under her name read //Ministry of Finance// and it seemed that she was saying something about the state of the economy. Ryo was speechless. He knew his mother could run a business well, but an entire national economy? He found himself wondering if there was another Ryo Saotome around here, and maybe even another Bell-chan. He shook that thought off quickly. Even if there was a Bell-chan here, it wasn't _his_ Bell-chan. Besides, there was another person he was looking for. Ryo looked down at the street below and saw a familiar figure standing by a storefront window, gaping at something. he thought.