(The film begins.  It is a late night in Mega-Tokyo.  We see a red haired  
woman, Nene Romanova, coming out of a theatre with Leon, one of her fellow  
ADPolice officers.  They are both nicely dressed.  On the marquee, we can  
see "One Night Only:  Experience the magic of Roberta Tome and Michael  
Meese!"  Leon has an arm around Nene's shoulder.  Nene looks over at the  
arm for a moment as Leon rattles on about something, deciding it isn't  
worth the effort of getting him to remove it.)

Leon:  Now, aren't you glad I dragged you off to this?  I think it was  
much more fun than wherever you're always running off to.

Nene:  (smiles)  I'm glad I went.  That act was really amazing.  They may  
be getting old, but their act is still as good as when I was little.

Leon:  You've seen them before?

Nene:  They don't perform much anymore, but they came to my school when I  
was eight.  They were incredible.  The only trick I remember them using  
both this time and that was the one where Roberta turns Michael into a  
duck.  

Leon:  That was pretty amazing.  The duck even had a little bow tie and  
glasses.

Nene:  (giggles)  I remember he flew around the auditorium at my school,  
then laid an egg on someone's hat.  I never did figure out where that egg  
could have been hidden on the duck.

Leon:  Maybe they use a female duck and it...

Nene:  (begins laughing)  Yeah, right.  I don't think you could train a  
duck to lay eggs on people's heads for real.  

(They are now passing an alleyway.  We hear the sound of some sort of  
impact, as if something had fallen--probably a person.  Nene and Leon hear  
it also.  They turn to face the alley.)

Leon:  Hey, somebody in there?

(We hear the sounds of a scuffle.  Nene gets a pistol out of her purse,  
and Leon pulls one out of his suit.)

Leon:  Stay back.  Let me handle this.  

Nene:  Hey, I'm a ...Hmph.  (She is obviously annoyed, but waits as Leon  
enters the alley.  We hear a brief patter of feet and the alley is silent.   
Leon moves deeper into the alley.  There are three unconscious men lying  
there.  All have guns, and now swelling bruises on their foreheads.  One  
has his hands near his neck as if he was trying to avoid being strangled.   
Leon quickly checks them for ID.  All three have Genom security passes and  
drivers licenses.)

Leon:  Hmm.  Someone doesn't like Genom, I guess.  But why were they armed  
and wandering around here?  They haven't been robbed.  (For a moment, we  
see a woman hidden in the darkness on top of a nearby dumpster.  She  
springs to a rooftop and leaves.  She is wearing something form-fitting,  
and has a waist-length ponytail.  Her body outline makes her look a bit  
old to be springing about in as agile a manner as she is, but she is still  
pretty slender)

Leon:  Hey, Nene!  Come over here.  (Leon has just found a disk that one  
of them is carrying.)

(Nene comes over and looks at the disk.  It is plain and black with no  
label)

Nene:  Hmm.  Looks like maybe they were acting as couriers.  We must have  
scared off whoever it was.  We'd better call for some medical help for  
these guys.  

Leon:  There's a phone just outside the alley.  I'll be back in just a  
second.  If any of them start to wake up, tell them help is coming.  And  
that guy (points to one)  Had the disk.  

Nene:  right.  (Leon leaves.  She pulls out an identical looking disk from  
her purse and a small widget.  She pops both disks into the widget and  
hits a button, keeping an eye on the three guys.  The machine pings a few  
seconds later, and she takes out the Genom guy's disk and puts it back in  
his pocket.  Then someone taps her on the shoulder.  She spins around.  It  
is a woman with hair that was once red, but is now turning gray, and is  
now bound up in a bun on her head.  She has blue eyes, a full figure, and  
looks younger than her real age.  She is wearing a tuxedo dress (Tuxedo  
like top with a black wide skirt to below the knees.)  

Nene:  Roberta Tome?  What are you doing here?

Roberta:  Do you believe in magic, Nene Romanova?

Nene:  How...how did you know my name?  (She looks a little scared)

Roberta:  (smiles)  A magician never tells her secrets, and neither do  
you, I think.

Nene:  I..uh...I don't have any secrets.

Roberta:  Not as many as your friends, but then you are the sweet and  
innocent one.

Nene:  (Sweating a little)  I..er...

Roberta:  The king, the queen, the knight, and the page of swords.  Do you  
know anything about the tarot?

Nene:  No.  I...

Roberta:  I suggest you learn before you draw the Tower.  Do you believe  
in Magic, Ms. Romanova?

Nene:  Um...I wish I could...but I've never seen any real magic.  It's  
nothing but stagecraft and tricks.  Science says that magic is impossible.

Roberta:  Science also brought us nuclear weapons, nerve gas, and  
rampaging boomers.  Better living through science with Genom corporation.   
There is more to life than science.  If you had a chance to experience  
magic, would you take it, Nene Romanova?

Nene:  (Thought)  What is taking Leon so long?  (Said)  I...well...If it  
was real, I think I would.

Roberta:  Your chance is coming soon.  Welcome to a different world.  Time  
for me to leave.  (She pulls out something from her pocket and hurls it to  
the ground.  There is a flash of light and a large billowing cloud of  
smoke.  Nene coughs.  When the smoke clears, Roberta is gone, and Leon is  
coming back into the alleyway.)

Leon:  Medical help is on the way.

Nene:  Did you see that?

Leon:  See what?

Nene:  Roberta Tome was here!

Leon:  She was?

Nene:  She must have come right past you to get in here!

Leon:  Well, I didn't see her.

(A single red hair drifts down unseen by them from above.  It floats  
gently down, then a breeze catches it.  We follow the hair as it floats  
away in the breeze, finally blowing into a club a few blocks away and  
settling to the floor.  The Club is titled, "Floating Heaven".  A sign  
says "Tonight at 9: BAD HAIR DAY".  Inside, the club is rocking to the  
beat of a band of a black haired caucasian teenager on drums, two asian  
women on guitar, a big brown haired guy who looks like a sumo wrestler and  
is wearing a "Priss and the Replicants Hurricane Tonight Tour" t-shirt.   
The lead singer is a tall male asian with green tinted John Lennon glasses  
and blue hair that comes down a little past his shoulders.  His hair has  
black and yellow streaks also.  He bears a fair resemblance to Mousse,  
except his glasses and hair color are wrong and he looks a little more  
muscular. He looks to be about 25 or so. He is busily bellowing out a song  
called "Nair in my Shampoo".)

Lead singer:  Shampoo, put Nair in my Shampoo!  (Guitar cranks out an  
elaborate riff) (He is singing in an angry manner) She won't marry me  
cause I can't see, so I put Nair in her Shampoo!  (back to a normal voice)   
That's how I threw away my Shampoo.  (Steps away from the mike and tosses  
a bottle of shampoo labeled 011 into the crowd.)

(The crowd goes wild.   The lead singer steps up to the mike.)

Lead Singer:  I haven't sung that one in years, but it was by special  
request from my good friend Priscilla S. Asagiri!  Come on up, Priss.  (He  
points into the crowd, at the wrong person.  In fact at an empty table.   
Priss is actually at an adjacent table.  The crowd laughs, but Priss comes  
up anyway.  She is wearing her motorcycle riding outfit.  She comes up,  
taps the Lead Singer on the shoulder, then ducks.  He turns and talks to  
empty air.)

Lead Singer:  Priss, hey, where'd you go?  (turns to his mike)  That you,  
Priss?

(Priss laughs, and steps out into plain sight, grabs the Lead Singer, and  
turns him to her.)

Priss:  They don't call you "Blind as a Bat" for nothing.  (everyone  
laughs, including the audience and "Blind as a Bat" himself.  )

"Blind as a Bat":  They don't call me Weapon Master for nothing, either.   
(He spins and dozens of knives, shuriken, sais, etc. come out from his  
robes, sticking into things all over the place, but not hitting anyone.    
The crowd applauds.  The bartender looks nervous.)

"BaaB" Weapon Master:  Well, my good friend Priss agreed to do a little  
song with us tonight, so here it is.  

(He hands Priss the mike, and whips out a guitar from somewhere in his  
multi-colored robes.  She launches into Asu E Touchdown. )

Priss:

          You're not the only one who's lonely.
          Try sitting on the crescent moon.
          The dreams we had as children
          Are still bright, like shining stars.

          Ride on, and never give up,
          No matter how sad or difficult things become.


( The scene cuts to a clock in a bedroom somewhere.  It reads 1 AM.  We  
see a dark haired man with a pony-tail sleeping in a bed with a brown  
haired woman.  He has stolen all the covers.  A little black pig's head  
can be seen curled up on the covers at the foot of the bed. Every so often  
one of his feet strikes the pig as he moves in his sleep. It wakes and  
starts watching the moving foot.  The brown haired woman is thrashing  
about as she sleeps, occasionally striking him.  Eventually, she wakes up  
and sits up.  We can now see that it is Akane.  She shakes the man, while  
the pig bites his ankles, and he finally groggily opens his eyes.  It is  
Ranma.  He looks up at her)   

Ranma:  Fugrkdfjjsdf  sdoda?

Akane:  (frantic)  Oh, Ranma!  I had that awful dream about dying in that  
earthquake again!  (starts to cry)  It was so real.  (Ranma tries to reach  
over to comfort her, misses, falls on top of her and they both fall out of  
the bed.  Both are wearing satiny pajamas...Ranma is wearing red, Akane is  
wearing blue.  We see the pig, which is wearing a red and black bandana  
around its neck, fall out of the covers and run into the corner.)  

Ranma:  Iasdfkd  alfjowie sorry (he gets the sheet out of his mouth.  He  
and Akane are lying tangled up in the covers on the floor now.  They both  
look like they are in their mid twenties now.  Ranma is a little more  
muscular, and Akane also.  Ranma has the same hair style, but Akane has  
let her hair grow out to the style it was in when she first met Ranma.  We  
can see a picture of Ranma and Akane in wedding garb with Nodoka, Genma,  
and Soun all smiling in the background up on the bedstand.  The little pig  
scampers up and hides behind the picture.)

Akane:  (Now hugging Ranma and vice versa)  It was just like the last  
time.  We were trying to rescue Mr. Kunou from the rubble when the High  
School got hit and caught on fire.  He was pinned by a girder when he went  
in trying to save some of the students.  And then Kodachi was squashed by  
a giant flaming palm tree that fell on her, and the roof fell on me.  And  
I died.  I could hear Ryouga screaming.    It was awful.  

Ranma:  You're safe now...where was I?

Akane:  I don't know.  I...don't think you were there.  I think you were  
doing something else.  Something important...

Ranma:  Well, the dream is over now.  We're both alive and here together.

Akane:  (Smiles a little)  I'm so glad you're alive, and I'm alive, and my  
little P-chan the 8th is alive.

Ranma:  (scowls a little)  Where is that pig anyway?  He bit me to wake me  
up.

Akane:  Oh, and my first P-chan was in the dream too.

Ranma:  He was?  

Akane:  He should have been dead by the time the Earthquake happened, but  
I remember in the dream that I had seen him or something...just before we  
went to the school.  He was in the bathtub at my house...I think.

Ranma:  Did I stay behind at the house in your dream?

Akane:  I...don't know.  It's all a blur...

(The camera cuts back to a monitor.  We see someone who is sitting in a  
chair  with his back to us, holding a remote control. We can only see his  
arm and a little bit of greying black hair sticking out. He punches the  
stop button and the monitor goes black.  Another man wearing a blue  
uniform with a red insignia on the shoulder of eight arrows radiating out  
from a center point is standing next to him)

Insignia man:  It looks like your theory may be correct, Director.

Director: (definitely male voice.  sounds a little old)   I'm surprised it  
has taken this long.  Mrs. Habayashi has been dead since the 2025 quake.   
It is now 2033.  If this was going to happen, it should have happened  
immediately.  Still, we didn't have the resources to monitor them full  
time until recently.  I may be missing something.

Insignia man:  How was the show last night?

Director:  Good.  Good.  It went well. The only question is whether all of  
our preparations will be ready before our pawn unleashes his "master  
plan."

Insignia man:  Given his reputation, it seems to have been rather well  
worked out.  Even without our intervention, the forecasters say it had at  
least a fifty percent chance of working to at least some extent.

Director:  Well, we have been nudging him towards it for a long time.  We  
just have to make sure it works properly.  We don't need another disaster  
like that Largo affair.  

Insignia man:  Years of effort to bring about the needed crisis down the  
drain because Largo proved to be more independent than we thought.  Our  
opponents must be laughing.  

Director:  Any other news? 

Insignia man:  A potential complication for the latest plan has arisen.   
Mrs. Kurenai is taking her husband to Kuonji Okonomiyaki shop # 1 as we  
speak.

Director:  Blast it!  Couldn't you stop her?

Insignia man:  I'm surprised he hasn't noticed in all these years about...

Director:  I thought she had more sense than that.  (sighs)  I can  
understand she couldn't stand to lie to him anymore...My wife still  
regrets keeping up that act with her brother all those years...If the  
Incident hadn't happened, I would never have understood her.

Insignia man:  If the Incident hadn't happened, we'd have lost a long time  
ago because none of you would have joined us.  And cold, stark utilitarian  
reason would rule over all...All for business, and business as all in all.

Director:  If we don't win this one, it may rule anyway.  MegaTokyo and  
this whole planet have suffered enough.  We have to succeed.
 
(Cut to opening Credit sequence for :


RanmaPunk2033--The Movie
From the Mind of John Walter Biles, writer of Ranma 1/2--Putting Your  
Heart in the Right Place

Drawing upon the universes of Ranma 1/2 by Takahashi Rumiko and BubbleGum  
Crisis, by Sonada Keichi and others.

Producer:  J. W. Anthony Biles
Director:  John  W. Biles
Script by:  John Walter Biles
Animation by:  JWB Productions
Distributed by:  Giant Wombat Studios
Filmed on location in scenic MegaTokyo and Los Angeles
Housing provided by Genom Corporation and Maison Ikkoku Enterprises
Funding by:  The State of Maryland, the National Endowment for the Arts,  
and the Mega-Tokyo Tourist Bureau
Plant Training by Gumby Flower Arrangements
Giant Monster Plants provided by the Kunou Corporation
Wild Wombat Training by Pepe's Wild Kingdom
Prayer/ Scripture Papers provided by Mahayana "Pure Kingdom"  Buddhist  
Temple # 442.
Special thanks to the Knight Sabers, the ADPolice, TN corporation, the  
Jyusenkyo National Park Administration, the Magnificent Seven, Genom  
Corporation, Kuonji Okonomiyaki Shop, Inc., and Nekohanten INC. for their  
appearances in this film.


              HATENAI TABI -- HAJIMARI NO TOKI
                    (UNENDING JOURNEY -- TIME OF BEGINNING)

          People all hold more love and dreams
          Than they can hold with both hands,
          And paint those dreams for tomorrow,
          While entrusting the future
          To a new-falling star.

          If you go step by step
          On your own two legs, without stopping,
          Before everything your arms touch
          Transforms into phantasms,
          You can approach those dreams.

          Now! begins the unending dream,
          When you search for yourself,
          Sleeping in the depths of your heart.
          Now! begins the unending journey.
          Fix your sights on a faraway sky.



(The opening shot is a bridge on the highways of MegaTokyo.  Traffic is  
racing along at high speed at night.  We see a familiar motorcycle and  
rider.  A red haired cyclist is wending her way through traffic, pushing  
her motorcycle as hard as it goes.  She glances in her left mirror.  There  
is a bicyclist gaining on her.  A purple haired chinese girl wearing blue  
traditional Chinese garb and holding a box up in the air with one hand is  
somehow moving fast enough to pass cars.  She looks to be in her early  
twenties.  She blazes by the red-haired cyclist and keeps on going.  The  
cyclist just stares at her as she goes by.  A little later, we see Leon  
and Daley driving down the highway in their patrol car.  Leon sees the  
chinese girl in the rearview mirror.)

Leon:  Is that a person on a bicycle behind us?

(Daley looks back.  The chinese girl is gone.)

Daley:  I don't see any....(Suddenly the chinese girl is landing on the  
roof of their car, pedalling down the hood and jumps off the front,  
zooming ahead.  She doesn't drop the box.)  What the hell was that?

Leon:  It has to be a boomer.  No human could pedal like that.

Daley:  If we call for backup, they're going to laugh at us.

Leon:  Let's follow her for a little while and see what she's up to. Then  
we can call in.

(They speed up and give chase.  She seems oblivious to being followed.   
The chase leads out onto a covered traffic bridge.  Suddenly, the purple  
haired chinese girl turns and aims her bike straight for the side wall,  
right where the bridge crosses over another major highway.)

Daley:  The Boomer's flipped!

Leon:  We're going to have a major wreck, here.

(She jumps the bike over the edge.  As it goes, a tall dark-haired man  
wearing glasses and a long embroidered robe leaps from the roof of the  
covered bridge onto the bike's back, landing and balancing on the back  
basket.  They plummet out of sight together.  Leon and Daley pull over as  
fast as they can, Leon gets out, and looks over the edge.  Daley calls  
HQ.)

Daley:  We've got a crazed boomer on a bicycle that...yes on a bike, you  
idiots.  It just jumped off Highway 22 onto 86!  We're going to need...

Leon:  Maybe not.  Take a look.  (Daley stretches the CB mike cord and  
goes over to look down.  They see the Chinese girl and her companion  
calmly zipping through traffic on 86.  They appear unhurt).

Daley:  Just be on the lookout for a boomer that resembles a chinese girl  
carrying a box and riding a bicycle...will you stop laughing at me!  This  
is serious.

Leon:  I smell trouble.  Why would a boomer ride a bicycle?

(The scene cuts to the base of the Knight sabers.  We see now that the  
red-helmeted motorcyclist was indeed Priss, as she walks in with her  
helmet still on, then takes it off.  Linna, Celia, Nene(Still in her  
ADPolice uniform) and Mackie are all here.  Celia has set up a projector  
and screen.  Nene is munching on lemon drops, and reading stuff off the  
screen of some sort of tiny disk reader.  Mackie is just sitting back and  
watching everyone.  Linna is reading the May issue of Fitness Today.   
Priss looks vaguely annoyed.)

Priss:  Well?

Celia:  We have several nights work ahead of us.  I have acquired a  
contract for the retrieval of data stolen from Yamaguchi-Microsoft  
Corporation.  The data contains several new unreleased programs which they  
are not eager to see go on the market under someone else's name.  Given  
the use of boomers and their rivalry with Genom, we would normally suspect  
it was behind this, but the culprits appear to be Souchiro Enterprises, a  
relatively minor independent programming corporation.  Something strange  
is afoot here.

Nene:  Sounds like someone may be using Souchiro as a front.

Celia:  I suspected this.  The situation is even more complicated.   
Apparently, the Mendo-Mizonokouji Conglomerate is claiming Y-M stole the  
data from them and is sending another mercenary team, the Magnificent  
Seven to recover the data.

Linna:  I thought the Magnificent Seven was a cowboy movie.  (puts down  
her magazine)

Priss:  They're a bunch of crazy martial artists who beat each other up  
more than their enemies from what I've heard.

Nene:  I've heard some weird stories about them.

Mackie:  Like what?

Nene:  Trained Pandas shrugging off bullets, a woman who uses spatulas as  
weapons.  They're mostly teenagers, all sorts of crazy stuff.  I do know  
that they have successfully defeated at least five boomers without ever  
using a gun.

Priss:  That's impossible.  No one can fight a boomer without really  
powerful weaponry.  Even a cooking boomer could easily kill anyone in  
unarmed combat.

Nene:  They brought in a boomer with a spatula through one eye, his left  
arm ripped off, and an umbrella stuck through its torso.

Mackie:  Are you sure that wasn't on April Fools' Day?

Celia:  I have prepared a presentation with what data is available on this  
"Magnificent Seven".  Unfortunately, the 2025 Kanto Quake destroyed most  
of the relevant records.  We don't know when any of them were born, for  
example.  What we do know...

(Click.  Image of Tendo Nabiki in a business suit on screen.)

Celia:  Tendo Nabiki.  The twelfth wealthiest person in Japan. She is  
owner and CEO of TN Enterprises, the fifth largest company in Japan.  She  
also manages the Magnificent Seven, who provide special security services  
for TN and hire out to other companies as part of TN's security services  
branch.  No known combat training.  However, she has a knack for avoiding  
physical confrontation.

(Click.  Saotome Ranma.  In Male Form.  He is posing on the top of a fence  
with two fingers forming a v shape.)

Celia:  Saotome Ranma.

(Click.  Saotome Ranma as Ranma-chan.  She is wearing a red-gi and is in a  
combat stance.)

Celia:  Also Saotome Ranma.

Linna:  Eh?  What?  Is Saotome male or female?

Celia:  No one knows for sure.  He or she is a master of disguise, able to  
impersonate people of both sexes.  Even his/her voice changes.  Whatever  
his/her identity, Saotome is a skilled martial artist.  Also...

(Click.  We see Ranma kicking the head off a boomer)

Priss:  No FUCKING WAY!  

Linna:  This is a joke, isn't it.

Nene:  It's real all right.  No one knows how.

Celia:  If you think this is bad, it only gets worse.  We move on to his  
father, Saotome Genma.

(Click.  we see Saotome Genma sitting with Soun playing Shogi.  Then we  
see a still of him and Ranma sparring.  Then we see Genma-panda writing on  
a sign.  Then a dripping wet Ranma-chan sparring with the panda.)

Celia:  Saotome Genma.  Expert in Saotome Style Martial Arts which  
specializes in mid-air grappling.  Also noted as the trainer of Saotome  
Ranma, and he seems to train Pandas to write and fight.

Linna:  You've got to be kidding.

Nene:  Nope.

Mackie:  I never realized you had a sense of humor, sis.

Celia:  (sits in silence until the others fall quiet)  This is not a joke.   
These people are real.  Observe.

(Click.  Image of panda lifting a boomer.  Click.  Image of Panda throwing  
it into a blast furnace.)

Priss:  Now that's a pet I could learn to like.  

Celia:  This panda he has trained is very deadly.  And, in the same way  
that Gorillas have been taught sign language, somehow he has taught this  
panda to write.  It even goes on their missions.

Linna:  (face in hands)  I've got to be dreaming.

(Click.  Images of Akane sparring with Ranma, Akane lifting a boulder and  
throwing it in a stream, Akane kicking some gang member behind her without  
looking)

Celia:  Next is Tendo Akane, perhaps the most normal member of this team.   
She is an expert martial artist and remarkably strong.  She also is an  
expert at creating poisoned food.  She has one major flaw--she has a very  
short temper. (glances over at Priss)

Priss:  What're you looking at me for?  (annoyed)  I don't have a temper.

(Click.  Images of Ukyou cooking okonomiyaki, Ukyou sparring with Ryouga,  
Ukyou handing an okonomiyaki to Ranma while Akane fumes, Ukyou dressed as  
a boy)

Celia:  Another figure whose sexual identity is enigmatic, Kuonji Ukyou.   
Known to have attended a boys' school, but usually appears female  
nowadays.  Still seen occassionaly as a boy however.

Linna:  These people are so bizarre.

Celia:  She is an expert in Okonomiyaki-cooking Martial Arts.

Priss:  (Deliberately pitching her voice high)  Run!  It's the happy  
homemaker!  (laughs.  Linna and Mackie start laughing too.)

(Click.  Image of Ukyou flipping a man in kevlar into a tree with her  
spatula.  Click.  Image of a trashed boomer with several dozen small  
spatulas stuck in it.)

Celia:  Her style is no laughing matter.  She once took out an entire gang  
armed with guns singlehandedly.  And she owns a chain of okonomiyaki  
shops.

(Click.  Image of Ryouga.  Image of Ryouga sparring with Ranma.  Image of  
Ryouga holding a map upside down.  Image of Ryouga standing near a sign  
that says Point Blank, Texas and looking confused.  Image of Ryouga  
cutting a rope with a thrown bandana.  Image of Ryouga poking his umbrella  
through a boomer.)

Celia:  Hibiki Ryouga.  A deadly fighter, but easily lost or confused.  

(Celia stares at everyone, expecting the sarcasm to come.  No comments.   
Perhaps the level of strangeness is starting to get to them.)

Celia:  He has several strange abilities.  

(Click.  Image of Ryouga using the blasting point technique on a wall.   
Kasumi is following him carrying a duck with glasses(Mousse-duck).  Click.   
Image of Ryouga trying to blast Ranma with the Roaring Lion Bullet.)

Celia:  Ryouga seems to be some sort of genetically engineered mutant with  
energy projection techniques.  Or else he has a really tiny energy cannon,  
somehow.

Priss:  These people all seem rather mutated to me.

Celia:  (sighs)

(Click.  Image of Mousse throwing an exploding egg.  Image of Mousse  
kicking Ranma with a blade popped out of his shoes.  Image of Mousse with  
his glasses up on his head addressing a potted plant.  Image of Mousse  
slashing a boomer with his claw blades.)

Celia:  Mousse, master of a hidden weapons style.  He has dozens of  
blades, bombs, ropes, chains, and hooks hidden around his body and  
clothing.  However, he has very poor sight and often refuses to use his  
glasses.

Priss:  Hey!  That's "Blind as a Bat" Weapon Master.  No wonder he changed  
his name.  Who'd want to be named after a hair product...

Celia:  What?

Priss:  He's the lead singer for a band called Bad Hair Day.

(Linna, Mackie, and Nene start to giggle.  Priss glares at them.)

Priss:  They're a good band, even if he always sings the songs differently  
every time because he can't read the lyrics. 

Celia:  Hmm.  That might be useful to know.  Thank you, Priss.

Priss:  No problem.

(Click.  Image of Shampoo riding her bicycle on top of a train.  Image of  
Shampoo (using Bonbori--those spherical maces) sparring with Akane.  Image  
of Shampoo, wielding a sword, chasing a boomer.  Image of Shampoo target  
shooting with a bow.)

Celia:  Shampoo.  An expert martial artist with many kinds of hand  
weapons.  Also an expert bicyclist.

(Priss starts).

Priss:  I saw her on the highway on my way over here.  She passed me and  
an ADPolice car.  I couldn't believe it.  Then she jumped off the  
bridge...

Celia:  She has a knack for making seemingly impossible bicycle entrances.   
And she's fast and strong.

(Image of Shampoo crashing through a wall.)

Linna:  It must cost a lot for repairs when she comes to visit.

Celia:  Now they have a support crew as well...

(Click.  Image of the Celia at the beach in a one-piece waving at the  
camera.  She looks several years younger.)

Celia:  What?  How did that get in there?  That...That's me, not Tendo  
Kasumi...

(We see Mackie pale.)

Mackie:  (Quietly)  Oh no, I forgot to remove those photos...

(Click.  Image after image of Knight Sabers in bathing suits, negligees,  
etc. follows.  The Knight Sabers turn to stare at Mackie who is getting up  
to run...)

KS(As one voice)  MACKIE!!!!(They chase him off screen)

(Scene cuts to a street somewhere in MegaTokyo.  We see the Tendo Dojo.   
It looks much the same as ever, with some additions.  It is surrounded by  
high-rise apartments.  Two wings have been added to the Dojo proper.  One  
looks like the Nekohanten(And is labeled as such.)  The other looks like a  
cross between a Buddhist Temple and MacDonalds.  It has a cheery sign that  
says Kuonji Okonomiyaki Shop.  We hear sounds of eating and good cheer  
from the two restaurants and the sounds of combat from the dojo.  We see  
Shampoo and Mousse, who we saw earlier on the highway, come riding up to  
the Nekohanten on Shampoo's bike.  She pedals right in the front door of  
the Nekohanten.  Just before we cut to the dojo, we see a black clad  
female figure on the roof.  When Shampoo enters the Nekohanten, it leaps  
to the ground behind the dojo and starts picking the lock on the back  
door.)


(Inside the dojo, Akane and Ranma are busily sparring while Genma and Soun  
watch.  Ranma is dodging everything Akane tries to hit him with and she is  
getting increasingly frustrated.  )

Ranma:  Ha!  If you don't hit me in sixty seconds, I get to pick who cooks  
dinner tonight instead of you!  

Akane:  (Tries to fake him out by starting a punch then spinning and  
kicking him, but he leaps over the blow)  What's wrong with my cooking?

Ranma:  Hah!  After living with you all these years I can say your cooking  
is no better than when I met you!

(Akane suddenly stops fighting and starts crying.  Ranma cringes and comes  
over to her)

Ranma:  I didn't...I mean...Don't cry...(she suddenly lashes out and tags  
him)

Akane:  Got you!  (The tears have stopped.  She is smiling a little now)

Ranma:  Hey, that's not...You lied...

Genma:  Let that be a lesson to you, Ranma.  Never let your guard down  
until the fight is over.

Ranma:  (Starts striding off) Stupid, uncute girl...ever since she took  
those acting classes...can't understand anything she does...

Genma:  Is that anyway to speak to your wife?

Ranma:  My wife lied to me...

Akane:  (now she looks hurt)  I was really hurt, but when you got close to  
me...I just was mad and wanted to win...Why won't you eat my cooking?

Ranma:  I just...it's not that bad anymore, but taunting you about it  
always gets you mad and then you don't fight well...

Akane:  So, YOU taunting ME is okay, but ME bluffing YOU is bad?

Ranma:  I...

(Nabiki strides in.  She is immaculately dressed in a business suit.  She  
is carrying a briefcase.  She takes out a mini slide projector and starts  
setting it up.)

Nabiki:  If you two lovebirds are done fighting about who's going to cook  
when it's Ukyou's turn to cook, you could try getting the others.  I have  
a job for us.

Akane:  But the sign said that...

Nabiki:  Mousse forgot to turn the kitchen calendar to the next month.  He  
misread what month it was and thought it had already been turned over.   
(sigh).  
What Ukyou sees in him, I'll never understand...

Akane:  At least he and Shampoo get along better now.  But the whole  
affair shocked us at the time...

(We have a flashback.  We see
..Shampoo breaking through a wall and suddenly seeing Ranma and Akane  
actually kissing each other.  They turn red and Shampoo goes berserk.
..Shampoo chasing them through the streets.  Mousse leaps down to  
intercept her, gets clobbered to bits.
..Ukyou comes by, sees Mousse, peels him off the sidewalk with her  
spatula, and carries him off to Dr. Tofu.
..Shampoo chases them into a blind alley.  She attacks Ranma in a blind  
fury and demolishes him, while Akane starts beating on her.  Then she  
turns to finish off Akane.  Ryouga leaps in
..Ryouga beats the now tired and not clearly thinking Shampoo, then takes  
her back home to the Nekohanten and hands her over to Cologne's care.
..Various brief clips of depressed Shampoo, Ryouga, Mousse, and Ukyou.
..Mousse shows up one day at Ukyou's shop with flowers.
..Shampoo feeding Ryouga at the Nekohanten. )

Akane:  But it all worked out pretty well...except my husband constantly  
insults my cooking!  (glares at Ranma)

Ranma:  Well, it...

Nabiki:  Will you two idiots go get the others!  We don't have the funds  
to repair this place again until after the job...

A&R:  Okay, okay!

(Genma heads over to the Nekohanten, while Ranma moseys over to Ukyou's  
shop.  Meanwhile, Akane goes off to the kitchen to change the calendar.   
She changes it and the video phone rings.  She picks it up.  Kasumi is on  
the other end.  )

Kasumi:  Hello, sister.

Akane:  Hi.  What's up with you and your husband?

Kasumi:  Just fine.  Tofu is with a patient right now.  I just wanted to  
warn you.  Gosunkugi has been lurking around the neighborhood again.  

Akane:  Didn't he become the chief photographer for Mega-Tokyo Today a few  
years back?  I thought that kept him busy.  

Kasumi:  Well, rumor has it he does some industrial espionage on the side.

Akane:  No way.

Kasumi:  Well, that's what Nabiki said when I told her about it.   

Akane:  Mousse's band got a new record deal.

Kasumi:  Good.  Ryouga managed to make it back this far, but you'd better  
come get him or he'll get lost trying to get back to Shampoo's place.

Akane:  I'm on my way...He is just so lost all the time...

(Inside the Kuonji Okonomiyaki shop, we see Ukyou busily cooking  
okonomiyaki while several assistant cooks perform related tasks and the  
wait staff busily serves the customers.  Like Shampoo and Mousse, Ukyou  
seems to have defied the years, retaining the looks she had in her late  
teens.  The place is packed.  We see at one table, a bearded gray haired  
man and a woman whose brown curly hair is graying.  She is wearing glasses  
and has her hair up in a bun.  They are both dressed in nice suits,  
although the woman has a rather odd earring---it looks like a spatula.)

Gray haired man:  I can't believe she still looks so young.

Gray haired woman:  She is that young.  I don't think they will ever age.

Gray haired man:  What happened to them?  I never knew...Why didn't you  
tell me about this?

Gray haired woman:  I didn't know, Tsubasa, until I saw them in the news.   
I tried to get away from them.  We all did.  Damm Happosai...

Gray haired man:  He did this?

Gray haired woman:  Maybe it was Jhuysenko, maybe it was that weird  
rainstorm, maybe it was Gosunkugi's crazy rituals that gave them youth but  
let us age.  But they wouldn't be around if it wasn't for Happosai.  One  
of everyone just wasn't enough...Let's get out of here before she spots  
us.  I think they've forgotten we ever existed...if they ever knew.  None  
of us ever went back. 

(The two of them leave.  They do not realize that Ukyou is watching them  
as they go.  She signals their waiter to come over to her.)

Ukyou:  Did they say who they were?  They looked familiar, but I couldn't  
quite place them.

Waiter:  Mr. and Mrs. Kurenai Tsubasa

Ukyou:  TSUBASA!  (She springs over the counter and runs across the  
restaurant.  She runs across the yard as Tsubasa and his wife are getting  
into their car.)  Wait!  I haven't seen you in years!

(Tsubasa and his wife wait in the car as Ukyou sprints up.  She runs over  
to the car, and Tsubasa rolls down the window.)

Ukyou:  I haven't seen you since we got out of college.  Why didn't you  
say hi?

Tsubasa:  Is that..really you Ukyou?

Ukyou:  (startled)  Of course it is.  Surely you've seen my TV ads.

Tsubasa:  I don't watch TV much.

Ukyou:  I heard you got an award for your costume designs for Star Trek:   
Unto the Tenth Generation.  

Tsubasa:  (smiles for the first time since we've seen him)  You heard  
about that.

Ukyou:  Well, I've tried to keep track of everybody from school, although  
I haven't made it to many of the reunions...

(We see Mousse come out of the Restaurant.  He has his glasses up on his  
head and is wandering around the yard.  Tsubasa stares at him while his  
wife tries to avoid looking at Ukyou.)

Ukyou:  So who is your lovely wife?

Tsubasa:  She..well...

Wife:  You may call me Mariko.

(Ukyou blinks)

Ukyou:  You look familiar...Were you that cheerleader who was...

Wife:  (wistful smile)  She married Kunou.  They even have two sons.  And  
a daughter.  They'll have grand-children soon.

Ukyou:  Wow, she really was persistent.  She chased Kunou throughout our  
high school and college years, but he was always after Akane and R...the  
pony-tailed girl.

Mousse:  (talking to a bush)  Ucchan, Nabiki wants you.  We have a meeting  
about our new...

Mariko:  (looking at Mousse) He hasn't changed a bit.

Ukyou:  Well, maybe a little.  (Raises her voice)  Over here darling!  (to  
Tsubasa and Mariko)  He just won't go get corrective eye surgery.  It  
would be cheap, but he clings to his bad sight.  I just don't understand  
why...

Tsubasa:  Darling?

Ukyou:  Oh, you wouldn't know.  We're married.

Tsubasa:  No.  He actually gave up on Shampoo?

Ukyou:  It took a long time, but after Ranma and Akane finally admitted  
they were in love with each other...things just started falling into  
place.

(Mousse has come over to the car and Ukyou.  He stares in, glasses still  
up on his head.)

Mousse:  Ranma?  Ukyou?  Where are you two going?  Nabiki needs to talk to  
us about  (Ukyou flips his glasses down.  Mousse blinks and flushes a  
little)  I'm sorry.  I mistook you two for Ranma and Ukyou.

(Tsubasa looks a little confused.  Mariko blanches a little.)

Mariko:  We really must be going.  It was so nice to meet you.

Tsubasa:  One last question.  How do you two look so young?

Ukyou:  (looks a little sad)  I...don't know.  Ranma, Mr. and Mrs.  
Saotome, Mr. Tendo, myself, Mousse, Shampoo, Akane, Kasumi, Dr. Tofu,  
Nabiki and Ryouga don't seem to have aged a bit since the mid nineties.   
It must have something to do with all the magic we kept using on each  
other...I guess.  Dr. Tofu can't figure it out either.  And the last time  
we saw Happosai and Cologne, they looked the same.  That was about eight  
years ago.

Tsubasa:  Well, I wish you happiness.

Ukyou:  And the same to you.  I'm glad we both found someone to love who  
loved us in return.  (She kisses him on the cheek.  He looks surprised.   
His wife looks a bit grumpy.  They drive off.  Tsubasa turns to his wife.)

Tsubasa:  You lied about your name.

Mariko:  Well, I could hardly tell her who I really am!  Sometimes old  
wounds are best left closed.  

(We cut to the Dojo.  Nabiki has a screen and projector set up.  Ranma,  
Akane, Ukyou, Genma, Mousse, Shampoo, and Ryouga are lounging about on  
beanbags.  Soun isn't here.  Nabiki has a pointer in one hand and a remote  
control in the other)

(Click.  A picture of the Knight Sabers (in hardsuits) standing on the  
roof of a building.  )

Nabiki:  The Knight Sabers.  A mysterious four woman team of mercenaries.   
They have acted both for hire and independently against Genom.  It is  
known that they have some grudge against the company and against the  
boomers it employs.

Ranma:  And then they carve their names in the concrete...Ooohhh, aren't  
they mysterious...

Nabiki:  You should take them more seriously.

Ranma:  They kinda remind me of pro wrestlers...(Mimic announcer's voice)   
The Masked Marvel has returned to the ring...

Ukyou:  They mean business.  I've seen them beat some pretty tough  
boomers.

Mousse:  Hmph.  Boomers are rather pathetic really.

Shampoo:  And we need no battle armor to fight against our foes.  Only a  
weakling hides behind armor.

Nabiki:  Sometimes I wonder what century you guys are living in...Anyway.   
We may be facing these Knight Sabers, whoever they are, because we have  
been hired by the Mendo-Mizonokouji Conglomorate.  Yamaguchi-Microsoft  
Corporation stole some data and a new program from them, which was then  
stolen from Yamaguchi-Microsoft by Souchiro Enterprises.  M-N wants us to  
recover the data and destroy any copies of it that Souchiro Enterprises  
might have that we can find.

Ukyou:  Do any of these companies have a Genom connection?

Nabiki:  Not as far as I can tell, but there is one thing I am worried  
about.

Ranma:  What?

Nabiki:  The primary stockholder in Souchiro Enterprises is Kunou  
Enterprises.

Ranma:  No...Not Kunou again...

Akane:  I hope they aren't behind this.

Nabiki:  Kunou has been even more erratic since the quake...

Ukyou:  It would be hard for Kunou to be more erratic.

Ranma:  I haven't seen him face to face since the wedding...

Akane:  This month's assassins haven't shown up yet.  Ranma's been having  
trouble sleeping because of worrying about them.

Ranma:  (a little annoyed)  I have not been losing sleep.  Those assassins  
are as incompetent as he is.

Akane:  Perhaps if I hadn't found you asleep when the last one showed up,  
standing over you with a sword, I'd believe you...


**************************

(Scene cuts to a conference room at some unspecified corporation.  Three  
women and a man are looking at pictures on a viewscreen.  They are  
pictures of the "Magnificent Seven".)

Dr.  Hanou:  (The only male)  My end analysis is that the prevailing data  
suggests most of these seven were actually born in 1971.  After endless  
searching, I was able to find birth certificates on paper that survived  
the quake for Saotome Ranma, Tendo Akane, Kuonji Ukyou, and Hibiki Ryouga.   
The Chinese government does not acknowledge that "Shampoo" and "Mousse"  
legally exist, and I can find no birth certificate for Saotome Genma.  

Ms.  Hall: (A Blond caucasian woman in a suit, British accent)  But they  
do not look over the age of 20, except for this Genma character.

Dr. Hanou:  I believe they must have been part of some sort of youth  
preservation experiment, or they are boomers made to resemble the people  
they replaced.  In either case, I recommend their collection for further  
study.  In either case, we could use the technology involved.

Ms. Ichiwara(A short haired pale Japanese woman in a suit):  I will  
recommend the dispatch of a team to bring them in for study...

Dr. Hanou:  Be careful.  We already know they can handle boomers...
******************************
(Scene cuts..We see Leon and Daley driving through the streets of  
Mega-Tokyo.  Leon looks a bit grumpy, Daley looks amused.)

Leon:  Well, we've managed to establish that the bicyclist appears to be a  
delivery girl for some restaurant called the Nekohanten.  Her name is  
supposedly Shampoo.  So why is a restaurant employing a boomer as a  
delivery girl?

Daley:  This has to be the most utterly ridiculous case I've ever been  
involved in.

Leon:I'll get to the bottom of this if it's the last thing I do.

Daley:  Relax.  We don't have any proof that the girl, boomer or not, has  
done anything worse than violating traffic laws, just like everyone else  
in this city.

Leon:  Hmph.
******************
(We see an office.  Someone in a suit with gray hair is sitting at their  
desk (we are behind them) looking at a picture.  It is of Kunou, Kodachi,  
and their father, clad in his usual hawaiian garb with palm tree on his  
head.  He looks a bit older than his age in the Ranma manga/anime, and  
Kunou and Kodachi look to be in their mid-twenties.  They are standing in  
front of Furinkan High.  All three are smiling)

(The man turns where we can see him.  It is Kunou, but he looks to be in  
his sixties.  His hair is gray, he is getting wrinkles, and he looks sad.)

Kunou:  I lost you both in a single day.  This is all I have left of you  
both...that and the corporation.  I hope you are proud of me.  It has been  
so lonely without you.  Damn that quake!  You took my father from me...and  
my sister.  Now I am alone. 

(He gets up and starts walking around.)

Kunou:  And since that day, Genom has risen to dominate this city.  At  
first I thought they were just lucky.  Them and their boomers.  Until my  
ninjas found that file...

(He stares at his desk for a moment...and drifts back in memory to that  
day.)

(We see a slightly younger Kunou in the same office, staring at that same  
photo.  There is a knock on the door.  )

Kunou:  Come in.

(The Ninja comes in, leaves a file folder on Kunou's desk, and leaves.   
Kunou begins to read it.  He looks horrified.)

Kunou:  This can't be true...killing the creator of their major  
project...engineering an earthquake to create a vaccuum for their  
products...poor Dr. Wu...I knew about the Yakuza connections...my  
corporation is targeted for absorption into Genom...Los Angeles is next...

(Kunou stands up.  He shakes his fist at the ceiling)

Kunou:  I swear that the death of my family will be avenged!  You will not  
have my corporation!  You will be destroyed, Genom!  This, I, Kunou  
Tatewaki, the Blue Thunder, do swear!   The wrath of Heaven is slow but  
sure!(Lightning crackles around him.  The  office catches on fire.)  Damn.

(Back to the present.)

Kunou:  Those programs have served their purpose.  The evidence I want the  
Knight Sabers to find is in place.  My revenge on Saotome and Genom will  
now commence.  My only regret is that I may never know how he preserved  
his youth...

Kunou:  (turns to the picture)  Your spirit may rest easy father.  All of  
your enemies will soon be destroyed.  Then I will finally be able to rest.   
I do this all for you and our family honor.  I hope my son will do as much  
for me one day.

(Suddenly the camera moves back and we realize we have been viewing Kunou  
on a monitor screen.  We now see the person who has been watching  
him---two people actually.  But we can only see them from behind.  One is  
a grey haired man, the other a grey haired woman.  Both have pony tails,  
although the man's is braided and the woman's is free-flowing.  They are  
wearing suits.  We only see from behind them.)

Woman: Cut it off.  I can't stand to see him in pain any longer.

Man: (from his voice, we can recognize that this is the director) Me  
neither, although we never got along.  If only we didn't have to use him  
like this.

Woman:  There was no other way.  He's the only person outside Genom with  
that information besides us, and we couldn't afford a direct leak.  They  
may not like Kunou...but they'll believe what they find.  He isn't clever  
enough to lie like that.

Director:  And it's all true.

Woman:   For once.  

(A buzzer goes off.  The man takes a remote control and clicks it at the  
monitor.  The picture changes to Ms. Ichiwara (the japanese woman from the  
corporate meeting seen earlier).  

Ms. Ichiwara:  They're going to go for it, sir.  

Director:  Good.  We were hoping Genom would come to the party.  Nice job.

Woman:  How many guests?

Ms. Ichiwara:  Nine combat boomers.

Director:  Not enough.  There needs to be at least twelve to make it  
credible.  Remind them of the lack of luck boomers have had with the  
magnificent seven.

Ms. Ichiwara:  Yes sir.

(Transmission ends.)

Director:  Getting her into that position at Genom was not easy.

Woman:  But it was fruitful.

Director:  Yes.  Now all we need is a diversion for the ADPolice.

Woman:  Things were simpler in the old days.

Director:  I was running for my life from you in the old days.

Woman:  You didn't run fast enough.

Director:  We were both different then. I just wish...we could have had a  
normal life together.

Woman:  (laughs)  You'd be bored.

Director:  I just don't like having all this responsibility.  It's like a  
lead weight on me.

Woman:  When Dr. Stingray died, you were the natural choice to head the  
Cabal.  

Director:  I can't believe he used his own daughter like that.  We gave  
our children the choice to enter our shadow world or be free to live their  
own lives once they came of age.

Woman:  He gave her the knowledge to defend herself.  Her interpretation  
of his legacy was her choice.

Director:  Was it? She was only twelve.  If only we could have staved off  
the assassination for a few more years...She has the gift, though she does  
not know it.

Woman:  I think he knew he was doomed long before it happened.  We knew  
trying to get influence over one of the enemy's tools in that way would be  
dangerous.

Director:  If they really understood how boomers work...

Woman:  "Science advanced to a high enough level is indistinguishable from  
Magic."  Clark's law.

Director:  ...and vice versa.

Woman:  Exactly.  That is how we can hide in plain sight from the enemy.

****************
(Scene cuts to Celia's house.  Nene is hard at work at the computer while  
Celia is reading through several file-folders at the same time.)

Celia:  Any progress?

Nene:  Souchiro Enterprises has really good defenses for such a small  
company, but they're no match for me.  Give me five minutes and I should  
have what we need.  

(Cut to the garage.  Mackie is showing off some new modifications to the  
hard-suits to Linna and Priss.)

Mackie:  I've installed some new software so that your suits will be able  
to pick up the signal that the stolen disks give off and give you a  
directional fix.

Linna:  The stolen disks give off a signal?

Mackie:  Apparently Yamaguchi-Microsoft installed a tracer in them.   
Hopefully, Souchiro Ent. doesn't know about it, or you may end up tracking  
down a dumpster...

Priss:  Does Mendo-Mizonokouji know about the tracer?

Mackie:  We don't know.  They might...

(Scene cuts back to Nene and Celia again)

Nene:  Got it.  I've got a complete layout of their facility, list of  
employees, security devices, the works.  Now I just have to go through it  
all and find the information we need...

Celia:  Was there anything unusual about those spatulas?

Nene:  (looks up)  What?  Spatulas?

Celia:  The ones stuck in the boomer you mentioned earlier...

Nene:  Oh, those spatulas.  Well, they were ordinary plastic spatulas that  
had been sharpened a little.  

Celia:  And the umbrella?

Nene:  Ordinary bamboo.

Celia:  Did anyone actually witness the fight?

Nene:  Hikaru and Shinobu called in the report of a rampaging boomer  
attacking a restaurant.  They saw three of the customers attack it.  One  
was a male wearing a black and yellow bandana who fought using the  
umbrella.  One was a male with long hair and glasses who fought with a set  
of long artificial claws on his right arm, a lot of throwing weapons, and  
a lot of weapons on chains.  The third was a woman with long hair, and a  
bandolier of spatulas.  She had a 6 foot spatula on her back.  Before  
Hikaru's backup showed up, the three of them successfully defeated the  
boomer.  In fact, at the end, the bandana wearing man supposedly lifted  
the boomer and smashed it against the ground, causing it to lose the arm.   
I would guess from the pictures you showed us earlier that it was Hibiki  
Ryouga, Mousse, and Kuonji Ukyou, but I don't know.  They evaded Hikaru  
and Shinobu and took off.

Celia:  Can you get me one of those spatulas?  I want to test them.

Nene:  I can try...Hey, there's another hacker in this system!

*******************
(We see Kasumi hard at work on a computer.  She has temp trodes on her  
forehead and a glazed look on her face.  Nabiki is sitting nearby  
watching.)

Kasumi:  Hmm...There's another hacker on this system.

Nabiki:  You can handle them, sis.

Kasumi:  Nine out of ten says that the hacker at the other end of this  
line is also planning an intrusion.

Nabiki:  Why do you say that?

Kasumi:  He/She is busy downloading a layout, descriptions of security,  
passwords, etc.

Nabiki:  Hmm.  Kick her out.

Kasumi:  I'm working on it.  (She types furiously.)

Nabiki:  Find out where she is interfacing from, and I'll send some of my  
goons to deal with her.

Kasumi:  It could be a guy.

Nabiki:  Maybe, but either way, I'd like to see this hacker stand up to  
the Magnificent Seven.

(Kasumi giggles)

Nabiki:  Stop laughing.  We couldn't think of a better name!

(Kasumi breaks out laughing, bangs head on chair.)

Kasumi:  Oops.

*********************

(In the heart of cyberspace...
We see Nene's Icon.  It resembles a female gunslinger (but not her facial  
features).  It is standing in the glowing tangle of energy paths that make  
up the CPU of Souchiro Enterprises.  She is facing a black clad female  
ninja icon.  Various security programs that resemble shaggy white dogs lie  
dead with bullet holes and sword strokes around them.  The Ninja speaks.)

Ninja:  (She quietly drops a 100 yen coin with a string tied to it on the  
"floor" as she speaks.  It rolls towards the gunslinger.)  Greetings,  
stranger.  I am Shinobi.  And you?

Gunslinger:  I am....the Marshal.  (A five pointed star appears on the  
vest of her outfit.  (Meanwhile, she crooks a finger and a translucent  
hounddog appears off to one side and tries to slip around the ninja)

(Simultaneously, the gunslinger shoots the coin, while the ninja tosses a  
star at the dog.  Both tracking programs crash and collapse in a virtual  
spray of particles.)

Gunslinger:  Are you Souchiro security?

Ninja:  Do I look like a shaggy dog?

Gunslinger:  Good point.

Ninja:  Just planning to steal some data and get out.

Gunslinger:  Hmmm....

Ninja:  You the same?

Gunslinger:  (pause)  Yep.

(Unseen by the gunslinger, the thread from the coin begins slowly snaking  
back along the path she entered by.)

Ninja:  Then we can go back to our plundering in peace I guess.

Gunslinger:  Yep.  (Her tracking dog's nose starts surreptitiously gliding  
down the path the Ninja entered by.)

****************

Kasumi:  Heh.  Fool.  I'll find her.

****************

Nene:  Soon I'll know where she is.
****************
Kasumi:  Got her.

Nabiki:  So where is this hacker?

Kasumi:  At...I've been located!  
*****************
Nene:  I've found her.

Celia:  Good.  Where is the other hacker?

Nene:  She's at...She's tracing me too, dammit!  Gotta get out and cover  
my tracks.
******************
(We see the gunslinger and ninja icons glare at each other for a moment.   
The Ninja tosses a bomb at the gunslinger, who throws a stick of dynamite  
at the ninja.  Both turn and run as the bomb and dynamite chase them.  We  
see Nene and Kasumi jacking out right as the explosives are about to go  
off.  For a moment, we cut back to the CPU, where we see a third figure  
suddenly appear.  It looks like a gymnast.  We can't see its "face".)

Gymnast:  He he he.  They took the bait.  Just like we planned.

*******************
Nabiki:  So, where is she?

Kasumi:  Some apartment.  In a nice district of town.

Nabiki:  Hmm.  Perhaps we'll pay them a visit.  Who rents the apartment?

Kasumi:  Arcadia Watson.

Nabiki:  Perhaps we've located the competition.

*******************

Celia:  So where is our little friend?

Nene:  In a basement in a tenement owned by HAL Housing Corp.

Celia:  ...

Nene:  HAL is a subsidiary of Genom corporation.

Celia:  So we may be dealing with Genom here...They always seem to get  
into everything.  Was it in an apartment or a utility room?

Nene:  Basement apartment.  Rented by one Ichiwara Ranko.

Celia:  Find out what you can on her.  Probably, she just lives there and  
Genom isn't involved, but we'd better be prepared.  I wonder if the  
Magnificent Seven hired her?  Did she manage to trace you?

Nene:  I don't think so.

Celia:  It would be quite bad if you are wrong.

(Celia picks up a phone, punches button three on the autodialer)

*******************************
(We see Nabiki and Kasumi loading a box into a very nice sportscar's  
trunk.  )

Nabiki:  We'd better not have lost too much time getting this computer out  
of there.

Kasumi:  She traced me.  Someone may show up.  I left the hidden cameras  
running.  Maybe we'll get to see a Knight Saber.

Nabiki:  Probably we'll just have hours of empty room to scan through...

Kasumi:  But this way they can't find where I really live.  Ranko takes  
the fall again.

(They both laugh.  Meanwhile, a woman wearing a helmet goes by on a  
motorcycle.  She glances over at them and the box as they finish loading  
it and drive off.  She follows them.)

Cyclist:  I recognize one of those two.  I wonder who the other one is?   
Maybe a hacker for hire.

(A few minutes later, they are still driving and being followed.  )

Nabiki:  We're being followed.

Kasumi:  I'll call for help.  

Nabiki:  Good idea.

(They try to lose the motorcyclist without being obvious.  It doesn't  
work.  The cyclist casually keeps up her pursuit.  Then she looks in her  
rearview mirror.  We see Shampoo pedaling her bicycle.  She is gaining on  
the motorcycle.  Ryouga is standing in the basket in the back.)

Cyclist:  Shit.  More of them.  How the hell can she pedal that fast?   
Even a boomer would have a hard time making a bike gain ground on a  
motorcycle.  

(Nabiki makes a sharp right.  The cyclist goes left, followed by Shampoo  
and Ryouga, who are slowly gaining on her.  She heads into a network of  
alleys, hoping to lose them.  Every minute, they creep closer.  Finally,  
she reaches a major road, and zips into traffic.  The two vehicles play  
tag amidst the stream of traffic.  Finally, they come to a highway entry  
ramp.  The Cyclist zips up the ramp.  So does Shampoo and Ryouga.  They  
are only about fifty feet behind the cyclist now.)

Cyclist:  Hmm.  They don't seem to be armed.  Maybe I should let them  
catch me and just thrash them...but they are supposed to be martial  
artists.  Can I take them both?

(They are on the highway now.  She spots an ADPolice cruiser.)

Cyclist:  Hmm...They may come in useful for once.

(She pulls up along side it and starts making roll down your window hand  
signs.)

(The window comes down.  Officer Chatya of the ADPolice leans his head  
out.  )

Chatya:  Yeah, what?

(The cyclist raises the face plate on her helmet.  It is Priss.  She  
points back at Shampoo and Ryouga, now only forty feet away)  

Priss:  Officer, these two nuts have been chasing me for miles for no  
reason.  I think they're following me.  

Chatya:  (looks back)  What the fuck?  How's she pedalling that fast...

Priss:  Can you get them to stop following me?  I think they might be  
boomers...what else could pedal that fast.

Chatya:  Goddamn boomers....We'll see if she has a driver's license...

(His vehicle slows a little so it ends up parallel to Shampoo.  He leans  
out while his partner drives.  They are now on an elevated highway.)

Chatya:  Pull over!

Shampoo:  No.

Chatya:  We're the ADPolice, you idiot!  When we say pull over, you pull  
over.

Shampoo:  I'm busy. 

Chatya:  How the hell can you pedal that fast?

Shampoo:  Hell is not involved.

Chatya:  Pull over and answer my fucking questions or I'll have to use  
force!

Shampoo:  Shampoo not interested in fu...

Chatya: Pull over!

Ryouga:  Like she said, we don't have time.

(They start to pull ahead of Chatya's car.  He gets out a gun.)

Chatya:  Pull over! PULL OVER! 

(Ryouga pulls out a bandana and throws it.  It cuts the gun of the frantic  
officer in half.  The officer stares at his gun.)

Chatya:  My..gun...

Ryouga:  Have a nice day, officer.  (While they have been distracted,  
Priss has exited and they missed the exit.  )

Shampoo:  Blast.  Have to do this the hard way.  (She turns and jumps the  
bike off the bridge.)

(The officer just stares as she goes.)

Chatya:  I think I want to lie down now.

(Priss is on another road, laughing.)

Priss:  Well, that officer earned his paycheck today.  Those Magnificent  
Seven may be tougher than I thought.  (She turns and zooms off onto a side  
street.)

******************
(We see Leon and Daley enter the Nekohanten.  It looks like a larger  
version of the old Nekohanten.  Several waitresses in the traditional garb  
of Shampoo's village are serving the customers.  A old chinese woman who  
bears some resemblance to Shampoo is at the cash register.  Leon and Daley  
approach the matron.)

Leon:  Excuse me, Ma'am.  Does a woman named Shampoo work here?

Matron:  Yes.

Leon:  Is she here right now?

Matron:  No.

Leon:  May I speak to the manager?

Matron:  I'm her mother.  Why don't you tell me?

Daley:  Well, that shoots that theory to shit.

Matron: What?

Daley:  Nothing Ma'am.  We have some traffic citations for her.

Matron:  Just leave them with me.  I'll give them to her.  She has got to  
learn not to speed.

Leon:  How does she pedal so quickly, Ma'am?

Matron:  Exercise and practice.  Anyone can do it.

Leon:  (blinks)  Um, yes.  Where is she from?

Matron:  China.

Leon:  Where in China?

Matron:  The village of the Amazons.

Daley:  Amazons?

Matron:  The chinese Amazons.

Daley:  Oh, well that clears it right up then.  (sarcastic tone)

Matron:  Good.

****************************

(Scene cuts to the base of the Knight Sabers, who are suiting up.)

Celia:  Looks like that hacker was working for the Magnificent Seven.   
Well, we'd best get moving before they do.  Hopefully, they'll waste time  
trying to find out if we're going to raid the location they hacked into  
Souchiro from.  

Priss:  That Shampoo has to be a boomer.  No human could pedal like that.   
No way.

Linna:  You saw her?

Priss:  She chased me half way across Mega-Tokyo.  I had to sic the  
ADPolice on her.  (glances over at Nene and smirks a bit).  At least they  
were good for something for once.

Nene:  Hmph.  After correlating the strength of the disk signal and the  
maps I got from their system, I suspect that the disk is in the restricted  
access area--however, there was no data available on several of those  
rooms besides the physical layout...but the company just laid out a lot of  
money for plants and glass...

Linna:  That's strange.

Nene:  I guess they just wanted to make the place more pleasant...but they  
also bought a lot of cattle.

Celia:  Cattle?

Priss:  I guess someone likes fresh meat.

Nene:  Why do I have this nagging feeling I am forgetting something.  (We  
see Nene's purse hanging from a coat rack.  We see the disk copier she  
stuck the Genom disk in earlier inside it, sitting on a pile of  
miscellaneous junk.)

******************
(We see Nabiki, Kasumi, Nodoka, Dr. Tofu, Mr. Tendo and the Magnificent  
Seven (Now clad in their gaily colored gis--Ranma in Red, Akane in Blue,  
Genma in Orange, Ukyou in Green, Ryouga in Yellow, Shampoo in Purple, and  
Mousse in White.)  in the dojo.  Nabiki has a 40" screen TV set up, with  
Kasumi's computer plugged into it.  A map of the Souchiro Enterprises  
Complex is set up on it.)

Nabiki:  We'll be splitting into two teams.  Team one will be going after  
the disks.  Team 2 will act as backup, watch for trouble, and deal with  
the Knight Sabers if they show up in time.  

Ryouga:  How do we recognize the disks?

Nabiki (Holds up what looks like a garage door opener with a tiny circular  
screen at one end.)  This has a tracer which picks up signals given off by  
tiny radio circuits the makers of the disks put in them.  

Ryouga:  But what do they look like?

Nabiki:  Small black standard Mendo-Mizonokouji data disks.  This tracer  
is the only way to specifically id them, other than reading the data on  
them.  If the tracer gets destroyed, take every small black disk you can  
find.

Ranma:  What about small black pigs?  (smirks)

(Ryouga glares at him)

Akane:  Have you done something to P-chan VIII again, Ranma?

Ranma:  Well, I had bacon this morning...

(Akane hits Ranma with a nearby table)

Ranma:  It...was...a joke...I think he went for a ...walk.

Akane:  All my little pigs get lost all the time...I just have the worst  
luck.

Nabiki:  Mr. Tendo will drive you to the site, Nodoka and I will be  
running communications and command from here.  Dr. Tofu will be ready to  
treat you when you return.  Kasumi will be hacking into the system again  
to deal with their security when you enter.  

(She pauses, drinks from a nearby glass then continues.)

Team one will be Mousse, Ukyou, and Mr. Saotome.  You'll be entering and  
stealing the disks.  Team two will be Ranma, Akane, Shampoo and Ryouga.   
You'll be watching for trouble and dealing with the Knight Sabers when  
they show up.

Akane:  Can the four of us handle people in battlesuits?

Ranma:  Eh, no problem.  We'll show those masked posers how real warriors  
fight.  They can't be any worse than those combat boomers we fought last  
month.  

Akane:  They broke your leg.

Ranma:  The hot water heater that fell on me and pulled the roof down with  
it broke my leg.

Akane:  The boomers knocked it down on you!

Ranma:  They were shooting at you!

Akane:  I didn't get hit, now did I?

Ranma:  They didn't hit me, the building did!

(They are both getting angrier and angrier.  Ukyou puts a hand on Ranma's  
shoulder, Ryouga puts one on Akane's shoulder)


Ukyou and Ryouga:  Hey, calm down.

Akane and Ranma:  No!  I'm right!  (They glare at each other)

Nabiki:  Look, we don't have time for another marital spat.  If we don't  
hurry, the knight sabers will get the disks while we're prying you two  
apart.  Then won't we all look silly trying to explain to  
Mendo-Mizonokouji that we couldn't get this disks because we decided to  
fight each other first!

Akane:  Hmph.  All right...(glares at Ranma)

Ranma:  We'll settle this argument later.

Nabiki:  Good.  Now let's go show the Knight Sabers what real  
professionals can do!

(Mr. Tendo gets up and gets out some keys from his pocket, leading the  
troupe off into the backyard towards the garage.  The last thing we see is  
Shampoo slipping a loaded mousetrap into one of Mousse's pockets as they  
leave.  )

(Nodoka turns to Kasumi)

Nodoka:  Sometimes I wonder if they'll ever grow up.

Kasumi:  They've always been like that.

Nodoka:  I just wonder sometimes why...

Kasumi:  We aren't aging?  None of us have been able to conceive children?   
Why it is just us?

Nodoka:  Yes.  I'm glad that Genma and I have had all these extra years,  
but...why us?  And what did it?

Dr. Tofu:  I thought at first it was a side effect of the Jyusenkyo curse  
until I realized that it wasn't limited to those who have been to  
Jyusenkyo.  I think that ritual that Happosai tried had something to do  
with it.

Nabiki:  Which ritual?  

Dr. Tofu:  The one that was supposed to summon a Jyusenkyo rain to  
transform everyone into his willing concubine.

Nabiki:  It was supposed to do that?  We got some weird rain that did  
strange things, but no one became his willing or unwilling concubine.

Dr. Tofu:  It was supposed to multiply some Jyusenkyo water he had  
purchased from some salesman and make it rain on the town.  It did, but  
most people stayed indoors...and it wasn't the kind of rain that he  
thought it was.

Nodoka:  What was it?

Dr. Tofu:  I'm not sure, but I know that all of us went out in it at some  
point...while people like the Kunous, Gosunkugi, the teachers at Furinkan  
High, most of my patients, and others stayed dry for the five minutes that  
it lasted.  

Nodoka:  Yes, I was on my way to my son's graduation from college party  
when that purple rain ruined my dress.  It was quite irritating.  I really  
felt odd afterward too.

Dr. Tofu:  Hmm.  I remember that too.  And none of us have seen Happosai  
since that day.  Perhaps we should write Cologne and see what she knows  
about his whereabouts.

Nabiki:  Maybe we should just be glad he is gone.

Kasumi:  I hope he is happy, wherever he is.

Nodoka:  I'm sure he is...

**************************

(The scene cuts to what resembles a detention facility of some sort.  In a  
room whose door has no handle on the inside is Happosai, looking bored and  
idly fingering a lacy bra.  There is a lone camera monitoring him, which  
he ocassionally looks up pleadingly at.  We cut first outside his cell  
where we see the door is festooned with magic buddhist scripture papers  
and then to a control room where the gray haired pony-tailed gentleman we  
saw earlier is watching the monitor.  This time, he is with a pair of  
twins.  Both are male, with pony tails like his.  They have brown hair and  
look to be about thirty.  They bear some resemblance to Kunou, but have  
braided pony tails like the one Ranma has.  We are behind the director,  
who is talking with the twins.)

Director:  So, any change in his behavior?

Twin 1:  I can't believe anyone could derive so much entertainment from a  
bra.

(Director sighs)

Director:  I wish there was some way to cure him of that obsession.  But  
as long as he is like that, we can't afford to free him.  It was too hard  
for us to escape him all those years ago;  I certainly don't want to face  
him again...What a waste of a great martial artist.

Twin 2:  Did he really hold you and Mom captive?

Director:  Yes, Hasukawa.  And all your aunts and uncles too.  

Twin 1:  Well, they're not really our aunts and uncles exactly.

Director:  Now, Youta, we all regard each other as family now. Most of our  
real blood relatives are dead or as old as us now...

Youta:  So why is he still alive?

Director:  Part of that infernal spell was to keep him alive forever and  
those he called into his harem.  But I think he totally botched the spell.   
He may live forever, but those of us he called in won't...but maybe it was  
all for the better.

Youta:  Why?

Director:  I learned many things from that captivity.  It changed me; all  
of us.  I think it made better people of us.  But I won't risk him trying  
that again.  The only thing I wonder about is...

Hasukawa:  What?

Director:  Am I the original or the one the spell left behind?  

************************
End of Act I
************************

************************
Start of Act II
************************
(We see the inside of a truck.  It has two long benches with seatbelts, a  
refrigerator, a hot plate, with a tea kettle steaming away on it (The  
kettle is secured in place by a complicated frame), a radio, a TV, and a  
small computer terminal.  There is also an intercom button.  The  
Magnificent Seven are riding back here.  Genma is playing Shogi with Ranma  
on a small magnetic board.  Akane is chatting with Ukyou while Mousse is  
cleaning his weapons on the other bench.  Shampoo and Ryouga are cuddling  
on the other end of that bench.  )

Shampoo:  We're going to have to straighten out the finances tomorrow  
again.

Ryouga:  Why?

Shampoo:  Because you got conned by that vendor you bought those noodles  
from.

Ryouga:  I opened a box to check it!

Shampoo:  They all had cardboard instead of noodles in the bottom half,  
darling.

Ryouga:  I...how could they do something like that?  That's dishonest.

Shampoo:  Shampoo loves her husband, but he is really easy to trick.

Ryouga:  I am not!

Ranma:  She's right.

Ryouga:  When have you ever tricked me?

Ranma:  Like the time I passed myself off as your fiancee...when you  
didn't even have one.  (While he is not looking, Genma turns the Shogi  
board around)

Ryouga:  Hmph.  (pouts.)  

(Shampoo cuddles up to him and kisses him on the neck.  He starts to  
relent.)

Shampoo:  Don't worry.  Shampoo will make it all better when we finish  
this and go home.  We may not even be able to open the shop on time  
tomorrow.

(Ryouga blushes.)

Ryouga:  Don't..talk like that in public.

Shampoo:  What if Shampoo said...(Whispers in Ryouga's ear.  He gets red  
as a beet) 

Ryouga:  Don't you dare!

Shampoo:  Ryouga doesn't want me to say...(Ryouga clamps a hand over her  
mouth.  They start wrestling around, fall off the benches, and onto the  
floor.)

Akane:  I can't believe they do that in public.

Ukyou:  I'm not surprised at all...some of the stories Mousse has told  
me...(shakes her head)  Shampoo has always been...energetic.


(The scene cuts to the outside of a large office building.  It sprawls at  
a height of five stories over an entire block, with a tower in one corner  
that climbs to a height of 25 stories.  It is surrounded by similar  
buildings, many of which have bridges connecting them at the five story  
and 20 story height.  Perhaps a hundred buildings are connected in this  
way.  The entire area is surrounded by a seven story wall with security  
patrols.  A massive parking lot is just inside the gate, next to the  
largest building, which is about four blocks across and has a fifty foot  
tower.  The whole area is labeled Yamaguchi Office Park.  Smog blows  
thickly across the park from the industrial sites to the north and west of  
it, but is unable to enter through the airlocks on the building entrances.  
Further south and east is a sprawling slum.  The building we are focusing  
on has a sign that reads "Souchiro Enterprises".  There are several  
security guards in armor on the roof.  The office park is largely dark and  
quiet, as it is night.  The stars and moon cannot be seen.  Only the glow  
of the rotating searchlights on the roofs of the office buildings  
illuminate the area, and some light from the slums. )

(Two bored guards are sitting in a security station watching a monitor  
showing the road to the entrance.  A truck labeled Souchiro Enterprises  
pulls up.  One of the security men punches an intercom button.)

Guard 1:  Hello.  Please Identify Yourself.  (He sounds vaguely robotic,  
or maybe just reeling off a rote phrase said one too many boring times.)

(A man in a Souchiro Enterprises outfit, with a cap pulled down low hiding  
his eyes and a black moustache, leans out of the car.)

Guy:  Souchiro Enterprises.  Delivering some goods.  We're late.  We were  
supposed to be here at 5.

Guard 2:  Considering it is now 11, they are really late.  (Checks the  
log)  Yep.  The license plate is correct.  

Guard 1:  Please give today's password.

Guy:  Hold on.  I've got it in here, somewhere.  (Pulls back out of sight  
into the car.  There is a brief pause.)  "Blue Thunder."

Guard 1:  (punches some keys on a keyboard, checks a screen) Authorized.  

(The gates slide open.  The Souchiro Enterprises truck enters, goes  
through the parking lot, and starts wending its way towards the SE  
building.)

(We cut to another truck simply driving through the streets of Mega-Tokyo.   
It is labeled Mason Deliveries Inc.  The driver looks somewhat annoyed.   
He is listening to some extremely staticyy radio channel.  In fact, it is  
nothing but static.)

Driver:  I hate this job.  Nothing but static or stupid instructions all  
the time...baah.  

(A voice now crackles in on the channel.)

Voice:  Freemason, this is Watcher.  Are you there?

Freemason (Driver):  Yes.  Now where am I supposed to drag these stupid  
things?

Watcher:  Show more respect for our metallic associates.

Freemason:  Yeah, right.  Where to now?

Watcher:  Our targets have entered the Yamaguchi Office Park.  Head there  
at top speed.  You can park at the Tsunami INC. building and release them.   
The password is "Seven-UP".

Freemason:  Ha ha.  (flatly)  Boy aren't we funny.  Off we go.

(The truck turns at the corner, running a red light.  Offended drivers  
swerve and honk)

(Scene cuts to slum.  Four armored figures are standing on a rooftop  
watching the searchlights cycle.  One is wearing blue and red  
armor(Priss), one blue and white (Celia), one green and yellow with two  
ribbons mounted in back, (Linna), and one purple and pink (Nene).  They  
seem to be waiting for something.)

Celia:  Everyone getting the signal from the disks?

Priss:  Yep.

Linna:  Check.

Nene:  Eh, what?(sounds distracted)

Celia:  Are you getting the signal from the disks?

Nene:  Is that the buzzing or the humming noise?

Celia:  It's supposed to be a visual, not an auditory signal.  We don't  
want to play hot/cold with it.

Nene:  Oh, that.  Yes.  I guess my audio must need adjusting.  

Celia:  It had better not break down while we're in the middle of this.

Nene:  I'll be fine.  We should be able to get in in about thirty seconds,  
assuming I reprogrammed the spot light patterns correctly.

(The Knight Sabers all turn to face the office park and start jetting  
towards it.  As they do so, the rotations of the lights synchronize to the  
point that the entire south wall of the park goes dark for about fifteen  
seconds.  The Knights zip in over the wall and down to ground level. They  
then head for the SE building.  The service entrance and loading ramp is  
on the side they are heading for.  Four people with SE uniforms are  
unloading a truck and hauling up goods to the loading airlock.  They are  
wearing gas masks.)

Linna:  Is the air really that bad here?

Celia:  It won't kill you most of the time, but you don't want to breathe  
it.  Just about every gaseous pollutant known to man flows through here at  
some point in time.

Nene:  Yuck.  Those security guards on the roof are in constant electronic  
contact with someone in the building.  I'm patching it through to you on  
channel 2 and initiating jamming.

Channel 2:  Searchlights have been tampered with. Intruder teams one or  
two may be in area.  Be on the adfkjad afjadjfkj a dfjaksfkajd.  (decays  
into static.  Then kicks back in.)  

Different voice on channel 2:  We're getting static.  You didn't spill  
coffee on the controls again, did you, Central?

Original Channel 2 voice:  Damm.  Hello, we can't read you.

Celia:  Priss, Linna, neutralize the guards.  Nene, watch for the  
Magnificent Seven.  I'm going to secure our entrance.

(Priss and Linna zoom for the roof.  One of the armored guards is busily  
hitting himself on the side of the head, apparently in the belief this  
will fix the static in his headset.  His eyes open with fear as Linna  
suddenly pops up, grabs his gun, and breaks it in half.  Meanwhile Priss  
is in the face of a second surprised guard and grabs his gun, but he holds  
on.  She swings the gun around and the momentum sends him off the roof,  
still holding his gun.)

Priss:  You want it?  Keep it.  

(The other two guards turn and start blasting away with automatic rifles.   
Priss and Linna dive and roll out of the way and off the roof.  The two  
guards start running towards where they fell, and don't notice when Priss  
and Linna rise up behind them on the other side of the roof.  They reach  
the edge and stare down.)

Guard one:  I thought they fell off.

Guard two:  Hey, wait.  These gals can...

(They get the boot from behind.  Two guards plummet five stories.)

Priss:  I think killing these idiots would have been more humane than  
letting them live with their stupidity.

Linna:  They certainly weren't too bright.  (Trap doors are opening across  
the rooftop.  Dozens of Ninjas are pouring out.  Priss and Linna turn  
around and see them.)

Priss:  Either this is the most boomers I've ever seen in one place, or  
these guys are really foolish.  (Voice amplifier--distorted voice to  
Ninjas)  Go home or we'll blow you all to kingdom come!

Ninja:  No one can defeat the Kunou family ninjas.

Priss:  Guess that makes me nobody!  (She blazes away, while Linna calmly  
begins punching a swathe through the ninjas, secure in the knowledge that  
their primitive weaponry can't get through hardsuit armor.)

(Meanwhile Nene is hovering near the building watching the area, while  
Celia flies down to the airlock.  The four workers stop and watch her.   
She checks the airlock codes Nene stole.  They work.  The workers come a  
little closer.)

Female worker 1:  (has shoulder length green hair with glasses)  You a  
Knight Saber?  I've seen you on the news.

Celia:  (outside speaker--electronically distorted)  Maybe.  Stay back and  
you won't get hurt.  I'm just here to fetch something, not hurt people.

Female worker 2:(has shoulder length red hair)  Sh...I think you're funny.

Celia:  Eh?

Male 1:  The others have got to be around here somewhere.  

Male 2:  They're fighting on the roof.  Shampoo, you take care of her.   
Ryouga and I will go play with the people on the roof.  

Celia:  (radio channel)  I think I've found the competition.

(The green haired girl pulls out a long ornately carved sword.  From  
somewhere. She then leaps at Celia, who tries to simply swat her aside.   
She parries the blow with her sword, which leaves deep scratches in the  
armor.  Celia stares at the scratches for a moment.)

Shampoo:  Shampoo has never killed someone in a hardsuit before.  You will  
be the first.

Celia:  Get back or I will shoot you.

Shampoo:  Shampoo does not fear silly guns.  

(She attacks again. we can see now that she seems to be wearing a wig as a  
little of her natural purple hair shows through.   Celia dodges most of  
the blows, but Shampoo never stays still long enough for her to return  
fire.  Meanwhile, Ranma and Ryouga leap up to the roof. The red head (now  
clearly Akane) keeps watch for trouble.)

(By the time Ranma and Ryouga are on the roof, most of the ninjas are  
dead, unconscious, or popping back down their holes.  Priss sees Ranma and  
Ryouga land.)

Priss:  (to Linna)  How'd they get up here?

Linna:  Get back or...hey, those two are on that Magnum Seven...or  
whatever they call themselves.

Ryouga:  Magnificent Seven!  It took us days to come up with that name!

Priss:  Piss off, little martial arts boys, or we'll fill you full of  
lead.

Ranma:  Guns.  OOOh.  Scare me more.  If guns could solve problems, I'd  
have shot Happosai.

Linna:  We warned you.

(They open fire.  Warning shots at first, then aiming for Ranma and  
Ryouga, who simply charge, dodging the gunfire.  When they get within  
about fifty feet, they both leap into the air.  Ryouga begins throwing  
bandanas, but Linna shoots them all to bits.  Ranma lands to one side of  
Priss and jumps behind her.  She spins, he rolls between her legs, and  
kicks her in the back.  She goes flying, but remains unhurt.)

Priss:  I feel like I'm living a bad ninja Movie.  

(Meanwhile, Linna turns to face Ryouga as he lands.  Ryouga grins.)

Ryouga:  Bakusai-ten-ketsu!  (<Blasting point technique> He pokes the roof  
with his finger.  The roof explodes open in a spreading wave from his  
finger.  Linna falls through the hole.  Ryouga whips out his umbrella and  
leaps in after her.)

Priss:  How the hell...

(Ranma leaps at her while she is distracted and kicks her in the head with  
a flying leap.  She staggers back, then tries to punch him.  A steady  
round of blocks and punches follows.  She can't really hit him, but  
blocking her armored form hurts just a bit.  She slowly pushes him to the  
edge of the roof.  Finally, she goes for a mighty blow and he jumps to one  
side.  She topples over the edge.  He laughs.)

Ranma:  Well, that was easy.  I wonder how Ryouga is doing.  (He doesn't  
notice Priss rising back up over the edge and leveling her gun at him.)

(Meanwhile, below:  Celia finally gets enough room to shoot at Shampoo.   
Shampoo whirls her sword in front of her.  When the smoke clears, she is  
unhurt but holding only a hilt.  She tosses it and pulls out two bonbori  
(Maces with spherical heads).)

Celia:  How on earth did she do that?  Priss, Linna, how are you doing?

(Following is just the voice transmission Celia hears)

Priss:  Got the idiot right where I want him.

Linna:  I'm beginning to believe that briefing you gave us.  I can't find  
him.  He dodged behind an aquarium as I shot at him.  It broke, water went  
everywhere, and now I can't find him.  I...hey, somebody left their pet  
pig in the office.  

Celia:  Nene, have you spotted the rest of them?  There are three  
unaccounted for.

Nene:  I...eh, what?

Celia:  PAY ATTENTION!

Nene:  Ow.  No.  I haven't seen them.  Those noises are getting worse.  

Celia:  They must already be inside (dodges one of Shampoo's blows.)   
Linna, go for the disks.  Nene, keep watch.  Priss, I need some help when  
you get done.

Priss:  (we cut to her on the roof)  No problem.  (She fires at Ranma who  
leaps almost straight up without even looking.  She follows him up with  
her shots.  He then arcs down right on top of her.  He seems to have a  
corona of red fire.  She fires away, but the corona seems to stop most of  
her ammo.  He is bleeding and cut somewhat before he crashes into her.)   
Shit.

(They crash into the ground together.  Priss looks mangled.  So does  
Ranma.  They both lie there wrapped around each other for a few seconds,  
then stagger to their feet.)

Priss:  Are you a boomer?

Ranma:  No.

Priss:  How the fuck can you do that?

Ranma:  Decades of training.

Priss:  How old are you?

Ranma:  Older than you, I bet.  (He stands battle ready, but does not  
immediately strike)

Priss:  You don't look much older than me.  

Ranma:  I guess I just aged well.  I was born in 1971.

Priss:  That's impossible.

Ranma:  So why do you hide behind guns and armor?

Priss:  I'm not an idiot.  You're not going to talk me into fighting you  
without this thing.

Ranma:  Had to try.  You're probably ugly under it anyway.

Priss:  I am not!

Ranma:  Just another kawaikune girl hiding from the world behind a mask.

Priss:  Fuck off!  (She opens fire.  Ranma dodges everything she fires at  
him.  After about fifteen seconds, he suddenly leaps up and snap-kicks her  
face.  As she falls, he kicks her torso, sending her further.  She gets  
back up and blasts him.  He collapses spurting a whole lot of blood.  It  
covers the front of his red gi.)  Got you, you big mouthed "master of the  
martial arts"!

(She walks over to him, then suddenly spots something.)

Priss:  He's still breathing!  

(In fact we can now see that what happened was some sort of fake bloodpack  
on Ranma's gi has ruptured...spilling the blood.  At close range we can  
see there are more scattered around it.  Ranma doesn't look too good,  
though.  He kicks Priss's legs out from under her, then leaps to his feet.   
As she gets up, he hits her again and again and again---the hundred fist  
strike.  Finally, she collapses with big dents in her armor.  He sits down  
next to her.)

Ranma:  Oh, I don't feel so good.  If this outfit wasn't armored, I'd be  
dead. I wonder where Nabiki got gis that could stop this kind of fire  
power. As it is, even Dr. Tofu's going to have a hard time with this.   
Lucky she didn't shoot my head.

(Scene cuts to inside.  We see Genma, Ukyou, and Mousse slipping through  
the building.  They are following a hand scanner with a radar display that  
Ukyou is holding.  It leads them to a door labeled, "Biolab # 3")

Mousse:  More flowers, I guess.

Ukyou:  We're pretty close to the disks, according to this.  (punches a  
button)
There's a computer lab on the other side.  This is the only access route.   
What a weird place to put the disks, though...

Genma:  I smell a trap.

Ukyou:  Well if we had Ryouga or Shampoo, we could circle and go through a  
wall, but I think they're busy, right now.

(The lab door requires a key code.  Ukyou consults the scanner and punches  
the code in.  The doors open.  Inside is a massive jungle.  All sorts of  
plants, normal and weird are growing here, including one that has  
watermelons hanging from its branches.  Unseen by the trio, Linna slips in  
as the doors close.  They head across the lab, glancing at labels as they  
go.  In the middle is a large tree that resembles a banyan tree.  It has  
hundreds of branches, which arch up, then sag to the ground.  It is in a  
giant hydroponic tank.  Mousse and Genma shy away from it a little.  Ukyou  
reads the label.)

Ukyou:  "Special project A7--Magnificent Seven eating tree".  What?

(The branches begin to move.  A large mouth opens in the trunk of the  
thirty foot tall tree.  The branches reach out for Mousse, Ukyou, and  
Genma, who start fighting back.  Linna quietly circles the fight heading  
for the lab.)

Mousse:  Whirling blade attack! (Throws dozens of shuriken, cutting many  
branches, which begin growing back, but forking where he cut them.)

(Meanwhile Ukyou is swatting away branches with her spatula and Genma is  
tying branches into knots together as they come at him.)

Genma: Braiding Attack!  (He rapidly jumps into the midst of the branches,  
and braids a bunch of them together so that they can no longer move.  He  
then starts climbing up the braid, swatting away other branches.  

(Linna enters the lab, and searches for the disks.  She soon finds a  
locked safe, which the signal indicates they are in.  It is a mechanical  
safe with no electronic parts.)

Linna:  I wonder if I can lift this.  (She tries, but no luck)

Linna:  This is really annoying.  Hey, Nene?  did you find any safe combos  
in their system.  This stupid thing is too heavy for me to move.

Nene:  Uh oh.

Linna:  What do you mean, Uh oh?

Nene: Twelve boomers worth of uh oh.  I don't recognize this model,  
either.  And we haven't heard Priss say anything in the last five minutes.

Linna:  Crap.

(Linna hears yells and breaking noises from back in the lab.  She pokes  
her head out and sees the tree has tipped over some.  Water is everywhere.   
The tree is trying to get a struggling duck, trapped in a thicket of  
branches into its mouth.  Dozens of spatulas are stuck in it.  A panda is  
now jumping up and down on it, further tipping it over.  Water is running  
everywhere, damaging electronics.  Ukyou is swatting away branches and  
chopping them off with giant spatula strokes.)

Linna:  There's their trained panda.  But where did that duck come from?   
Surely they wouldn't bring a duck on a mission.  And there was that pig  
earlier.  Maybe some of the company's livestock has escaped.  And where  
are those other two hiding?  I wonder if there's something I can break a  
safe with around here.  

(Linna starts to go back into the computer lab, then realizes something.)

Linna:  The tree is attacking them?

(She looks again.  Yep.  It is a killer tree.)

Linna:  I've never seen a boomer that looked like a tree.  Well, I hope it  
is a boomer.

(Linna has an idea.)

Linna:  (goes back in safe room).  I shouldn't have forgotten about my  
whips.  (She turns, and proceeds to slice at the safe with the two  
monofilament ribbons hanging from the back of her suit.  They chop up the  
safe.  Inside is a small box, which she opens to find five disks.  A quick  
triangulation check convinces her they are the ones she needs.)

(The scene cuts to Kunou watching the battle on a monitor.  He is also  
watching Linna get the disks, and the fight outside where Celia, Nene,  
Shampoo, Akane are fighting twelve boomers.  He frowns.)

Kunou:  This is not going according to plan.  What are those boomers doing  
here?  Has Genom learned of my plan?  Someone has betrayed me. If the  
boomers destroy the Knight Sabers, I will not be able to use them for my  
vengeance against Genom. And where is Saotome!  My revenge could never be  
complete without his death. The tree was handcrafted to kill him. Maybe I  
should have used a giant cat.  I may have to personally intervene.  

(Scene cuts again to the Director, who is watching Kunou, the  
boomer/Saber/MS battle, Ranma and Priss lying exhausted on another side of  
the building, Chairman Quincy of Genom, a space station, Linna, the fight  
twixt tree, Ukyou, panda, and duck, two people eating dinner, Happosai,  
ADPolice CommCentral, and an empty room on a set of monitors. The  
pony-tailed woman we saw earlier is with him again, also watching. )

Director:  For once, I find myself agreeing with Kunou.  Things are going  
badly.  

(On the monitor, we see the bumas spewing some gas that KOs Shampoo and  
Akane.  They then mob Celia.  She blasts away, wasting several, but they  
look likely to overpower her.  Nene is firing away from above, but without  
much luck.  Two of them have circled the building and gas Ranma and carry  
him and Priss off.)

The pony-tail woman:  This is getting bleaker by the second.  

Director:  Some of them are still free.  But we are going to have to make  
sure those boomers don't get the Sabers into Genom's clutches...at least  
not long enough to find out who they are.  (He reaches for a cellular  
phone.)  You'd better go shadow them. Just don't let them know it is you.

The pony-tail woman:  As if they would recognize me anymore.

Director:  One flower in the wrong place...

Pony-tail:  You worry too much, dear.

Director:  That's my job.

Pony-tail:  Don't worry.  I won't poison too many of them...

(They both laugh.  We cut to Linna and the fight in the lab.  )

Nene:  (on Linna's radio)  Where are you, Linna?  The boomers are carrying  
off everybody but me!  I'm hiding behind one of the buildings.

Linna:  Everyone?

Nene:  They got Priss, Celia, and a couple of those martial artists.  And  
that buzzing in my radio is getting worse.  I keep getting wonky signals.

Linna:  Wonky?

Nene:  African radio stations, people's cellular phones, buma  
communications that I'm not tapping...

Linna:  Maybe we're getting a weird ionosphere phenomenon.  Don't radio  
waves bounce off that or something?

Nene:  Could be.  We've got to do something!

Linna:  Let's see if we can negotiate a truce with the rest of the  
Magnificent Seven.  Neither of our groups want Genom to get ahold of us.

Nene:  Well, the remainder are all in there with you...

Linna:  Let's see what I can do...

(The tree is pretty much down for the count.  The duck is free.  Ukyou is  
looking for hot water for Mousse.  The panda is heading over to the lab  
and starts when Linna comes out.)

Linna:  I think we have a mutual problem.

Ukyou:  Like what?

Linna:  Genom just carried off the rest of both of our teams.

Ukyou:  Got any proof of that?

Linna:  Well.  I really...er.  Do any of you have a radio?

Ukyou:  In the car.

Linna:  Great.  I'll...(thinks).  I guess you'll just have to try to catch  
me then.  (She sprints across the lab and out the door.  They turn and  
start chasing her.  however, her hardsuit can run pretty fast.  Once she  
gets to the hole Ryouga made earlier, she zips up and out.  Panda, duck,  
and Ukyou give chase.  They get up on the roof and see the boomers flying  
off with Ranma, Priss, Celia, Shampoo, and Akane.  Nene zips up to where  
Linna and co. are)

Nene:  We'd better get going.

Linna:  What happened to the other two I saw you with?

Ukyou:  Uh, well...(turns to duck and panda...)Go fetch your trainers.   
(whispers.)  There's a coffee pot near where we jumped up here.  And I saw  
Ryouga, too.

(Duck and Panda descend.)

Ukyou:  So what do you want me to call you two?

Linna:  You can call me Dancer and her Nerd.

Nene:  I'm a NERD?  AT LEAST I don't just work teaching idiots to...

Linna:  SHHH!!!

Nene:  Oops.  Call me Hacking Beauty.

Linna:  Beauty.  Haah.

Nene:  Hmph.

(Ryouga, Genma, and Mousse come up.)  

Nene:  Off we go.  If only this infernal humming would stop...

**********************

(We see the Sabers and the remainder of the Mag. Seven in their truck  
chasing the fleeing boomers.  Nene is busily jamming their communications  
to make sure that Genom does not know they have succeeded yet.  )

Nene:  Mackie!

Mackie:  (by radio)  Yes.

Nene:  We're going to need the Motoroid.

Mackie:  Right. 

Nene:  Follow this course I'm sending you.  

(We see Mackie fiddle with the truck radio.  It is pumping static.   
Loudly, except for Nene's voice.)

Mackie:  Every station is fuzzing up.  That stinks.

**********************

(We see a gray haired man dressed in a suit, carrying a briefcase, walking  
down the street.  He looks slightly confused.  He walks past a TV shop  
with 20 staticy TVs in the front.  He stops a passerby)  

Man:  Excuse me.  Can you tell me if this is the Shinjuku district?

Passerby:  Man, you are lost.  It's about fifteen kilometers that way.   
(points back the way the man came.)

Man:  Oh.  Perhaps I should go that way, then.

(A black hardsuit whizzes by overhead....It is labeled, "Blue Thunder".   
It leaves a loud boom in its wake.  The older man stares after it.)

Man:  I didn't think he could build such a thing.

Passerby:  You know who that is?

Man:  Who could forget a self-given nickname like that?

Passerby:  Eh?

Man:  Just reminiscing.  I think I may be getting a phone-call soon.  Can  
you direct me to a phone-booth?

Passerby:  How will they know to call you there?

Man:  They'll know.

(Passerby points across the street to a phone booth.  The man bows to him  
and turns to go into an alleyway nearby, stops, stares around, then heads  
for the phone, staring at it intently.  It rings.  The passerby stares for  
a moment, then goes on.)

****************************

(We see ADPolice CommCentral.  The operators are working furiously.)

Radio:  We've got a...(lots of static)  in the Shinjuku district. (static)

Radio 2:  Out of control...(static)  Yokohama...(Static)  MacMillan-Youko  
Enterprises...(static)  20 dead

Radio 3:  Go where?  (static)  Can't  (static)  you

Controller:  Dammit!  Someone's jamming all frequencies!

Controller 2:  And every boomer in the city is on a rampage.

Controller:  Where the hell is Nene?  She's supposed to be on this shift.

Controller 2:  She got sick.

Controller:  Dammit!  She's always sick when this happens.  Call her at  
home.

Controller 2:  The phone lines are jammed too.

Controller:  AAARGH!  I hate this job!

******************************

(We see Leon and Daley cruising around.  They both look aggravated.)

Their radio:  Boomers at  (static)  Repeat (static static) and (static)

Leon:  Some punk's jamming the Police frequencies.

Daley:  And commercial radio too.

Leon:  Four boomer outbreaks at the same time and...

(They see two of the Knight Sabers zoom by overhead.)

Daley:  It figures they'd join the party.

Leon:  I wonder if...

Daley:  What?

Leon:  Maybe they're jamming all the radio frequencies.

Daley:  Why?

Leon:  Let's find out.

(He turns the car to follow them.)

************************************

(we are in a Communications room with the Genom logo on the wall.  A bunch  
of confused techs and operators are in here.  They are looking at a map of  
the city and environs being created by a computer.  It shows a fifty mile  
across circle of jammed communications.)

Tech 1:  Whatever is doing this appears to be mobile.

Tech 2:  Even E-mail is being affected.

Tech 1:  Any electronic communications is largely dysfunctional in this  
zone.

Operator:  What is causing this?

Tech 2:  No idea.  We theorize something mobile, however.  It is located,  
approximately here:

(pushes a button.  A dot lights up on the screen, then we zoom in on a  
map, which has all the buildings on it.  A smaller circle is moving across  
the map.)

Tech 1:  The source is in that circle.  It is currently heading towards  
these buildings.

(Twenty buildings, mostly warehouses light up about a half mile from the  
moving circle.)

Tech 2:  Our corporation owns these buildings...but we have no way to warn  
them or even ask them to look and see if they spot anything.  

Tech 1:  For all we know, some crazed techies are driving around in a  
truck...

Operator 2:  So what do we do?

Tech 1:  Wait.

****************************************

(We see Mackie drive his truck up a street and park between warehouses.   
Linna and Nene drop out of the sky into the alley and quickly get the  
motoslave out of the back.  Then Mackie casually drives on out.  )

Mackie:  (on radio)  Are you jamming everything in sight, Nene?

Nene:  No, just boomer communications.

Mackie:  Just about every channel is messed up on my radio...even local  
ones.  

Nene:  There must be some kind of weird electromagnetic effect...I'm  
getting these awful humming and buzzing noises...they're really getting  
bad...We'd better get to Priss and Celia before it's too late.

Mackie:  Happy hunting.

Linna:  Yeah, right.  

******************************************

(We see the inside of a warehouse.  The remaining retrieval boomers have  
moved to defensive positions.  Dr. Hanou and Ms. Ichiwara are here.   
Ranma, Akane, and Shampoo are lying on various tables.  Priss and Celia  
are still in their hardsuits, lying on another table.)

Dr. Hanou:  This was an unexpected bonus.

Ms. Ichiwara:  Too bad the phones have gone out so we can't call for a  
truck to take them to HQ.

Dr. Hanou:  Why bring them here?

Ms. Ichiwara:  This way, if something goes wrong, the kidnappings could  
not be directly linked to Genom.  

Dr. Hanou:  We shall finally learn who these Knight Sabers really are.

Ms.  Ichiwara:  Two of them anyway.

Dr. Hanou:  They'll talk.  Everyone can be broken.

Ms. Ichiwara:  Yes.

(Dr. Hanou starts fiddling with Priss' armor.)

Ms. Ichiwara:  That might be dangerous.

Dr. Hanou:  I just have to find out.  I can't start experimenting with the  
others without my lab equipment.  Are you sure it was better to bring them  
here than straight to my lab...and the boomers only got three of them.

Ms. Ichiwara:  Trust me.  I knew exactly what I was doing when I planned  
this.

Dr. Hanou:  (still tinkering)  I feel like a mechanic.

Ms. Ichiwara:  So what do you plan to do with these three?

(About six more boomers arrive.  They take up defensive positions.)

Dr. Hanou:  Where'd they come from?

Ms. Ichiwara:  I called you and them at the same time, when the boomers  
reported losing five of their unit, and capturing five.  I wanted you here  
when they got here---this project was for your department's benefit.  And  
I wanted more boomers here to put up a creditable defense when the rest of  
them showed up.

Dr. Hanou:  Creditable defense?

Ms.  Ichiwara:  When the truck gets here, we leave with the captives.  The  
boomers stay and put up a defense to delay any pursuit.

Dr. Hanou:  Aah.  to answer your earlier question, (still tinkering with  
armor)  we plan to run a full set of tests and experiments to determine  
how they have preserved their youth.  I thought for a while they might be  
boomers, but once I discovered they had been around continuously since at  
least 2004, I gave up that theory.

Ms.  Ichiwara:  What happened in 2004?

Dr. Hanou:  They attended a ten year reunion.  In 2024, they made it to  
the thirty year reunion---no physical change inbetween.

Ms.  Ichiwara:  What kind of tests will you need?

Dr. Hanou:  whatever it takes.  I wonder if they are replicants...they  
have no children...except for the elder Saotome and his wife.  And none  
since the early seventies.

(Brief pause as Hanou tinkers more.  Finally, he pries open the faceplate  
with a crowbar.)

Dr. Hanou:  And this one is...hmm.  She looks vaguely familiar.  Didn't I  
see her in the news once...or something...a singer.  

(He pries the other faceplate open.  He starts.)

Dr. Hanou:  She looks like...I know I've seen her before...she was a lot  
younger then.  I really feel old.  She was someone at the company's  
daughter...won't they be surprised.  Her name was...

(Dr. Hanou looks stunned.)

Dr. Hanou:  Celia!  Celia Stingray, Dr. Stingray's daughter.  The inventor  
of...The bosses are going to die when they see this.

Ms. Ichiwara:  They aren't going to see this.

Dr. Hanou:  What?

Ms. Ichiwara:  Sadly, I had left to get more backup and you were killed  
when the rest of the Knight Sabers arrived.  You were still trying to get  
the armor off when I left.  (She is holding a gun on Dr. Hanou)

Dr. Hanou:  What are you doing?

Ms. Ichiwara:  Covering my ass and theirs. 

Dr. Hanou:  (yells to boomers)  Help!  Save me!

(Boomers don't move)

Ms. Ichiwara:  Too late.  Everyone already knows their part in this little  
drama but you.  Time for you to make your big death scene (We see her  
fire.  We see Dr. Hanou take a head shot and die.  He drops.)  Maybe  
they'll let you finish your research project in hell.

(The boomers have all been facing where they could not see what just  
happened.  Ms. Ichiwara turns to them)

Ms. Ichiwara:  (pulls out a small device that looks like a small metal box  
with antennae.  She pushes a button on it and says into a grill on one  
side.)  Initiate memory overlay 1.

The box:  (After a few seconds the box beeps. All of the boomers twitch a  
bit. Then the box says (flawlessly human voice)) Memories altered as per  
plan.

Ms. Ichiwara:  Good.  Time to get out before the action starts.

***********************

(We see a Souchiro Enterprises Truck pull into an alleyway in a area full  
of warehouses.  It is the same one we saw at the Office Park. A female  
clad in black slips off the roof into the shadows of the alley.  Ryouga,  
Genma, Ukyou, and Mousse pile out of the back of the truck.  A few seconds  
later, Nene and Linna drop down into the alleyway.)

Nene:  They're in the Wareteru Enterprises warehouse near here.

Genma:  How can you tell?

Linna:  We have ways of finding each other.

(Mr. Tendo leans out of the front of the truck)

Soun:  I've been trying to contact Nabiki, but something is jamming all  
the radio frequencies.

Ukyou:  She must be tearing her hair out.

Nene:  Do you guys have anyway to break down the doors?

Ryouga:  Blasting Point Hole! (Ryouga punches through a wall of the  
warehouse he is next to)

Linna:  How do you do that?

Ryouga:  It's all a matter of focusing your chi.  You can learn a lot of  
interesting things from martial arts.

Linna:  My master never taught us anything like that.

Ryouga:  I'm sure your master wasn't as weird as some of mine have been.

(He briefly remembers how Cologne taught him that technique during a  
training trip in the mountains.  He wanted to learn it to defeat Ranma,  
who had recently mastered a new technique.  He remembers the lesson he  
learned then...)

Ryouga:  I just have to remember it doesn't work on people.

Linna:  What about Bumas?

Ryouga:  Rock and stone are what it is best at....I used it to break the  
roof under you, for example.

Linna:  Where'd you go after that anyway?

Ryouga:  Uh, well, I knocked myself out in the rubble for a while..yeah.

Linna:  Oh.

*********************************
(We see the boomers in defensive positions inside the warehouse.  The  
front door suddenly blows open.  The boomers open fire, blanketing that  
area with tear and knockout gas and gel rounds.  Too bad the only people  
standing there are in hardsuits...Linna and Nene (who is controlling the  
Motoslave) open fire.  Then the roof blows open, and Ukyou, Genma, Mousse,  
and Ryouga drop down.  They grab the captives and run.  Several boomers  
turn to fire.  Ukyou and Ryouga fill the air with spatulas and bandanas.   
Several boomers lose limbs and weapons.  Ryouga blows open the back  
door...and finds himself staring in the face of six assault boomers.)

Ryouga:  Uh oh.

(They turn and run for cover as the assault boomers charge in.  Rockets go  
flying everywhere, turning the place into a burning nightmare land.  The  
sprinklers kick in.  Ranma, Ryouga, Mousse, Shampoo and Genma change.   
Akane wakes up from the water. Ranma, Priss, and Celia are still out of  
it.  Shampoo wakes up---as a cat.  ) 

Ukyou:  Aaargh!  I hate this!  (They are all taking cover behind some  
burning crates as the assault boomers try to nail the Sabers.  The boomers  
who were here first are all getting wasted in the crossfire between the  
Sabers and the Assault boomers.  )

(Nene, the Motoslave, and Linna have taken cover behind some burning  
crates.)

Linna:  What's in these crates, anyway?

Nene:  I have no idea.

(We notice one of the burning crates is stamped in English--"Weather  
Balloon", recovered Roswell, New Mexico, 1949)

Linna:  Keep them distracted.  I'm going to creep out the front and circle  
the building.  

Nene:  I hope that works.

(Linna crawls out of the building.  Meanwhile the panda is throwing  
flaming crates at one of the boomers and desperately dodging bullets and  
rockets.  It finally gives up and simply charges him.  The panda grabs  
hold and rolls back, flipping it through the wall.)

Ukyou:  (to Mousse-duck)  I'll make a distraction.  Fly out the top and  
head for the truck.  Mr. Tendo has a tea pot ready for this sort of  
problem.  Good luck, dear.  (kisses the duck on the forehead)

(She puts P-chan on Mousse's back, while Shampoo-cat clings to one of  
Mousse-duck's legs.  Then she creeps over to behind another stack and  
springs out from behind it, tossing spatulas.  One of the Assault boomers  
spins and fires, but she lands behind a third flaming pile without getting  
hit.  Mousse-duck makes it out the top of the building.) 

(The boomer the panda tossed gets back up and charges again.  He sidesteps  
and trips it.  It goes flying into the others, knocking them down.  Nene  
pops out and blasts away at them.  Two of them finally give out.  The  
other 4 get back up.  We hear sounds of a big fight outside.)

Nene:  What's going on out there, Linna?

Linna:  I'm almost in position...I don't believe it.

Nene:  What?

Linna:  More boomers, but...

Nene:  But what?

Linna:  Some old woman in a gymnastics outfit and a old guy with a  
briefcase are kicking their ass.

Nene:  I don't think this day could get any weirder.

(A siren cuts the air)

Linna:  Looks like Leon and Daley just showed up.

Nene:  How'd they find this with the radios all jammed?

Linna:  Guess they heard the fight, or something.  well, here I come.

(Linna bursts in the back and leaps into the midst of the four boomers.   
She spins, and her ribbons cut one of the boomers into thirds.  She  
gracefully grabs a second and smacks him into a third, then turns and  
pulls the charging fourth boomer past her, using his momentum to send him  
flying into a pile of flaming cartons.    Then the panda jumps the two  
downed boomers, and Ukyou emerges from behind a pile, tossing spatulas  
into the now flaming fourth boomer.  It charges out and is cut down by  
Nene and the Motoslave.  The panda picks up the two boomers and tosses  
them into the air.  As they come down, Ukyou smacks one with a spatula and  
linna slices the other to bits.  Everyone pants for a few seconds as they  
realize the fight is over.  More of the warehouse is going up in flames.   
They grab their friends and get out.  There are boomers strewn in the  
street, with Leon and Daley just standing at the edge of the destruction  
staring.  )

Leon:  (to the Sabers)  What the hell is going on here?

Nene:  No time for questions.  Gotta run.  (She merges her suit with the  
Motoslave and takes off carrying Priss.  Linna follows carrying Celia.   
Meanwhile the Magnificent Seven takes off back to their truck.)

Daley:  Somehow we just never quite know what is going on.

Leon:  I wonder if we could convince the guys at the station that we  
defeated all these boomers ourselves.

Daley: It's more believable than what really happened.

Leon:  Where did those two go, anyway?

Daley:  Back to fairyland, I guess.

(Up on a rooftop, we see a black hardsuit nearby, watching.)

Kunou:  Hmm.  The Sabers have the disks---good.  But Saotome eluded my  
grasp again.  Well, I shall let him go--this time.  Now we shall see what  
the Sabers do with what I have given them...

****************************
End Act II
****************************

************************************
Begin Act III    
************************************
(The scene opens on a board room.  There are four asians, four caucasians,  
and four blacks dispersed around the table--with two of each group being  
male, and two female.  They are all wearing identical navy blue suits.  A  
caucasian male and an asian female sit at the head of the table with the  
other ten dispersed equally along the table down from them.  Each has a  
small speaker, a keyboard and an inset number from 1 to 12 in the table in  
front of them.  The people at the head of the table are numbers 1 and 2.)

#1:  Has the source of the communications disturbance been located in  
Mega-Tokyo?

#7(Caucasian female):  Satellite photography was not affected by the  
disturbance.  However, they were unable to transmit to any location in the  
disturbance.  It seems likely that one of the armored figures in transit  
over the city at the time was responsible.  Unfortunately, we were unable  
to take any action in the area due to communications loss.

#2:  Do you estimate it is likely the Cabal is behind this?

#6(black male):  It seems unlikely that they would act so blatantly and  
messily.  I suspect some tech fan has created a new toy and is a little  
overenthusiastic.

#7:  What about the armored figures?

#9:  Who were the armored figures?

#7:  The Knight Sabers.  We have determined they are 80% likely to be the  
creation or in the employ of Celia Stingray, heir to the creator of Boomer  
technology.

#9:  Why has there been no report to the board about this?

#2:  We dealt with them before your elevation to the board in this past  
year, # 9.  It was decided not to take any direct action.  They are only  
an annoyance to our pawns.

#9:  What was the point of aiding the rise of the GENOM corporation if we  
were going to leave these vigilantes free to wreck its operations?

#1:  If everything went smoothly, too many people would become suspicious.   
The Knight Sabers help to allay public outrage against GENOM by attacking  
it.  The public can feel that "something is being done" without having to  
take action themselves.  And it keeps Genom on its toes.

#2:  You do remember the sixth law of group behavior, don't you, #9?

#9:  Competition between groups prevents the corruption of either as long  
as collusion between members of each can be prevented.

#2:  Exactly.  By refraining from crushing the Sabers, we keep GENOM on  
its toes.  And that makes them more useful for other more important  
purposes.  Besides, what can four women in battlesuits do to really stop a  
corporation the size of Genom?

***************************
(The Sabers are in the command center in the back of their truck on their  
way somewhere.  We see Nene glued to the computer screen.  She is reading  
rapidly whizzing lines of program text.  Celia and Priss are lying down,  
possibly asleep, possibly unconscious.  Linna is sitting and fretting.)

Linna:  How are we going to keep them from tracing the same signal we did  
to find those disks?

Nene:  I built a micro-jammer to block the signal once we found them.   
(mutters) At least that stupid buzzing has mostly stopped.

Linna:  What are you reading anyway?

Nene:  I had an encounter with some Genom agents who had been mugged.   
They had an interesting disk...

Linna:  What is it?

Nene:  Some very sophisticated codebreaking and intrusion programs.  

Linna:  Any idea why they had it?

Nene: Well, the disk seems to have belonged to Yamaguchi-Microsoft  
originally.  Or at least their name is mentioned in some of the  
explanation files.  I suppose they stole it.  

Linna:  Got any use for it?

Nene:  Well, I can add these to my hacking kit...whoever wrote them was  
ingenious.  

Linna:  Do you think Genom is likely to try to steal the programs again?

Nene:  They won't need to.  This is just a copy.  They still have the  
original.

Linna:  Those Magnificent Seven were...I just can't believe any of that  
really happened.

Nene:  I have no idea how they could do any of that stuff...I'd think they  
were boomers...but...

Linna:  Boomers just don't act like that...And I'd almost think  
that...naah.  That's impossible.

Nene:  What?

Linna:  Is anyone even close to developing teleportation technology?

Nene:  What, like in Star Trek:  Unto the Tenth Generation?

Linna:  Yeah, but no flashy lights or anything.

Nene:  Not even close as far as I know.  Why, did one of them seem to  
teleport?

Linna:  When that aquarium broke, I lost track of that Ryouga guy for a  
second or two.  When I managed to get turned the right way, he was gone.   
And there was a little black pig wearing a bandana like his trying to pick  
its way out of the glass without getting cut.

Nene:  Was there a poof of smoke too?

Linna:  No.

Nene:  I saw a magic show earlier this week with a trick like that, except  
there was smoke and water and the guy became a duck--with glasses.  I  
still don't know how he did it.

Linna:  Something odd is going on.

Nene:  Do you know anything about the Tarot?

Linna:  What, those card things?  Not really.  Why?  Planning on a career  
change?  Do you want to be a gypsy?

Nene:  Hmm.

**********************

(We see the Magnificent Seven in the back of their truck. The floor is  
covered by water puddles, but they are slowly draining out the drain in  
the center of the floor.  Mousse, Genma, Ryouga, and Shampoo are wet.  
Ranma is lying with his head in Akane's lap.  He is battered, but awake.   
Only Akane and Ukyou look normal.  Nabiki is chewing them out via  
videophone.)

Nabiki:  They got away?

Ukyou:  Most of our team was out of commission.  Cats and pandas and  
..well, the farm crew can't do much against hardsuits.

Genma:  I can fight perfectly well as a panda.

Nabiki:  And the signal is being jammed now?

Ukyou:  Either that or the toy broke.

Nabiki:  That is not a toy!

Ukyou:  If we could find them, I think we could take them...but I don't  
know where to look.  Two of them were beat to pieces.

Nabiki:  They must have top notch communications and ECM equipment.  Every  
comm device in a fifty mile radius crashed shortly after you went into the  
compound.

Akane:  All of them?

Nabiki:  I guess the Sabers really didn't want to be found...unless some  
Megacorp did it.  No one else has the resources for that kind of thing.

Akane:  A bunch of boomers interfered.  They tried to kidnap us....

Nabiki:  Genom must have caught on to our "natural youthfulness"....maybe  
we should start telling people we use Oil of Olay.

Ranma:  Nabiki...(moans a bit)

Nabiki:  Don't strain yourself, brother-in-law.  Dr. Tofu and Kasumi will  
fix you right up, but you'd better rest for now.

Ranma:  One of the people there...betrayed the other...

Nabiki:  What?

Ranma:  I was starting to wake up....one of them found out who two of the  
Sabers were...and the other one shot him and left.

Nabiki:  Strange.

Ranma:  One of them is a singer...and the other one is the daughter of  
some guy who worked for Genom...

Nabiki:  We're going to have to work fast if we are to get the  
disks...We've only got one lead.

Mousse:  What?

Nabiki:  An apartment rented by someone named Arcadia Watson.  Kasumi  
encountered a hacker who had hacked into Souchiro from there.  I'm going  
to give Dad the address...Come by here and drop off Ranma...then go there  
and see what you can find.  If that comes up blank, we're going to  
probably have to write this one off...

******************************
(Morisako Apartments is a fairly typical twelve story apartment complex on  
the north side of Mega-Tokyo.  It has a high tenant turn over because it  
caters to those who only need an apartment for a relatively short period  
of time.  Thus the neighbors pay little attention when a truck labeled  
MIF--Move It Fast pulls up in front of the apartment building.  Five  
movers in generic dingy tan uniforms get out, two men, two women, and an  
older man who is obviously the head of the crew.  They head up the stairs  
into the building.  They are carrying empty crates.)

Crew head:  Let's get a move on!  This client wants this done fast.

(While they are in the building, a second truck pulls up, similar in size  
and shape to the first, but labeled GENOM TRANSPORT COMPANY, INC.  Five  
people in generic dingy tan uniforms pile out--two men, two women, and an  
older man who takes the lead.  They head into the building.  We hear a few  
shouts.  The first crew comes out carrying a few loaded crates and being  
chased by the second crew...who we can now see are Mousse, Shampoo, Ukyou,  
Ryouga, and Genma.  )

Genma:  Just tell us where you are taking the stuff, and we won't hurt  
you!

Random Crew member:  AAAHHH!!! Thieves!  They don't pay me enough for  
this!

(They pile into their truck.  The driver tries to start it.  Mousse whips  
out a lot of knives and throws them....in seconds, the tires are all going  
flat.  The truck starts to move with the moving crew still piling in...but  
not very fast.  Shampoo leaps and kicks one of the crew, who falls to the  
ground as the truck bumps and grinds away.  Ryouga starts to run after it,  
but Genma intervenes.)

Genma:  They're just movers...we have one.  That is enough.

Shampoo:  (Idly playing with her sword)  Mover wants to help Shampoo,  
doesn't she?

Mover(female):  Uh, yes.  I'll be glad to shampoo you if you just don't  
kill me.

(Shampoo looks slightly confused)

Genma:  Where were you taking the stuff from the apartment to?

Mover:  Some lady called and wanted a rush job---had to go to an apartment  
or shop or something over on the Southwest side of the city.  Today.  1  
hour and we would get triple the usual pay.

Genma:  And her name was?

Mover:  Dunno.  Building was Lady633, though...I think that's mostly  
shops...It might have been a Lingerie shop, maybe?

Genma:  Ryouga, Shampoo.  See if there is a computer in the apartment.   
Then we'd better get out of here.  Madam mover, you are taking a little  
ride with us.  

(Mover looks over at their truck)

Mover:  You guys don't look like Genom.

Genma:  (smirks)  We're undercover boomers.

Mover:  I never would have guessed.

Genma:  Exactly.

********************************
(We see Linna and Nene at the Knight Saber base.  Nene is busily staring  
at a computer screen, while Linna is eating ice cream and fretting.)

Linna:  Blast it!  Until Celia wakes up, we've got to sit on those damn  
disks.  I wish I'd never seen them.  

Nene:  They're really interesting

Linna:  You're reading them?

Nene:  Don't worry.  This place is being blanket jammed.  No one will find  
them.

Linna:  Is that ethical?

Nene:  After having two of my closest friends nearly die, I want to know  
why.

Linna:  (comes over to the screen)  So what is on these disks?  Or would  
only a computer geek understand?

Nene:  Computer goddess, thank you.

Linna:  Okay, goddess.  Please o great and powerful one, Illuminate me  
with your wisdom.

Nene:  There are three disks.  Disk one is labeled Reap the Whirlwind.   
Disk Two is labeled Power Behind the Throne.  Disk three is labeled  
Project E-2025-G.  They're all heavily encoded, but that decryption  
program I got off the disk those Genom guys had goes right through it.   
Probably because the same company did the encryption...and the decryption  
program I am using.  I'm not surprised Mendo-Mizonokouji wants this stuff  
too.

Linna:  So what is on the disks?

Nene:  Disk one is a super-virus.  It copies itself into your system, then  
goes dormant for three months...its only action being to attach itself to  
any program that sends things out of your system so it can mail itself  
there to wait for three months...until it does its dirty work.  And the  
disk has the virus-killer for it too...to keep it out of your system.

Linna:  What does it do?

Nene:  When three months are up, it downloads a program from some  
anonymous ftp site called kenshiro.halo.NIT.edu.jp.  And then it runs the  
program.

Linna:  What program?

Nene:  That's on the second disk...and I checked.  
(kenshiro.halo.NIT.edu.jp)  It's there too....

Linna:  And?

Nene:  Power Behind the Throne relies on both the original virus and  
itself...It rewrites the operating system and makes someone at  
yamaguchi.com the super-super user in the system it is running in.

Linna:  Which means?

Nene:  Together, these two programs would let people at yamaguchi.com  
rifle through any system hooked up to the net and do anything they wanted  
to it...and it hides their status so that no one knows they can do it.   
Within a year or so, they could probably break into any system hooked up  
into the net unless someone caught on the virus was spreading...

Linna:  Shit!

Nene:  I've already got the virus-killer running on this system and the  
ADPolice system.

Linna:  Nice of you to take care of your job.  

Nene:  I'm the power behind the throne there, not some stupid geek at  
Yamaguchi-Microsoft.

Linna:  What about Disk 3?

Nene:  I'm still working on that...the decrypter is running in the  
background while I finish checking out disks 1 and 2.  It should be ready  
soon.

****************

(We see Ranma and Akane at Dr. Tofu's clinic.  Ranma looks a little less  
hurt, but he is swathed in bandages.  Akane is spoonfeeding him some soup.  
Kasumi is here too.)

Ranma:  Mmm.  This is good, but I really shouldn't be lying around here.

Dr. Tofu:  If you hadn't been wearing that armored gi, you'd be dead.  It  
amazes me how well they stop gunfire.

Ranma:  (tries to sit up, collapses)  I feel...fine.  Really.

Kasumi:  As your doctor and your sister-in-law, you are under strict  
orders not to move until we give approval.  

Ranma:  May I please breathe, at least...

Kasumi:  (smiles)  I suppose that could be allowed.

Dr. Tofu:  You should be fine in a day or two.

Ranma:  Can't wait that long...

Akane:  You are definitely not ready to go back into battle.  

Ranma:  Can't let them go into danger without me...

Akane:  They need us in reserve in case they get in trouble...so we can  
rescue them.

Ranma:  As usual.

*************************

(Nene is sitting and reading from the screen again.  Linna is shoveling  
away more ice cream, fidgeting, and listening to the jambox. )

Jambox:  Man of two bodies...
         Woman of two hearts...
	 They can't live together...
	 but can't live apart.
	 
Linna:  What are you listening to Nene?

Nene:  Dunno.  Some tape Priss left lying around.

Linna:  That isn't her voice.

Nene:  Maybe she just likes them.  Check it.

Jambox:  Growing towards love...
         with a long way to go.
	 
(Linna pulls out the tape.  It is labeled  "Bad Hair Day--Live at Club  
Dead" )

Linna:  Bad Hair Day? 

Nene:  Well, the name is silly, but put it...oh.  Here comes the contents  
of the mystery disk.

(Linna hurries over to the screen.  It is filled with a directory full of  
names and files.)

Linna:  Well?

Nene:  This thing is full of sound and picture files and video excerpts.  
And they're all dated as if the files were made in 2024 to 2028. Let's see  
what we've got.

(She punches in a few commands, and the monitor becomes a movie screen of  
sorts: 

We see a meeting room with five men and women in suits.  There is nothing  
in particular to identify where they are...until they speak, except...)

Nene:  Hey, that's Quincy of Genom!

Quincy:  How is operation Babel going?

Anonymous suit # 1:  All that remains is to trigger the device.  Dr. Wu's  
research has paid off...better than he might ever have expected.

Anonymous suit # 2:  Genom is in the perfect position to benefit from the  
quake when it happens.  Our boomers will be able to fill the need of the  
city for emergency labor to rebuild.  We estimate that fires alone should  
devastate 60% or more of the city's infrastructure.

Anonymous suit # 1:  With Dr. Stingray out of the picture, Genom will reap  
all of the profits from the expansion of Buma manufacture and sales.  

Anonymous suit # 2:  There will be a short term net loss due to  
quake-induced damage to pre-existant Genom facilities, but that will be  
made up by the end of the quarter.

Quincy:  If we emerged unscathed, it would look a little too odd anyway.   
And we have only a few possessions in Mega-Tokyo anyway.  There remains  
only to deal with another inventor...

(The segment ends.)

Linna:  What the hell is that doing on there?

Nene:  Yamaguchi must have somehow copied a security tape, or something...

Linna:  What else is on there...Celia is going to love this disk, I think.

(They watch more video  and sound clips.  A board meeting approves  
operation Babel.  The government approves Genom mass importation of  
Boomers into Mega-Tokyo.  Lists of politicians on the take and payments  
made.  Lists of Genom investments in the first twelve months after the  
quake.  Purchase of Station 12 TV and 99.3 FM radio by Genom subsidiaries.   
Creation of the Special Resources Advisory Board---apparently some sort of  
board of "augmented" humans altered using boomer technology.  Planned  
takeover bids against the major Mega-Tokyo corporations.  Orders for eight  
different assassinations.  The ordering of the research that lead to the  
creation of Largo. A hit list of troublesome ADPolice officers...)

Linna:  Someone really piled up a lot of dirt.

Nene:  No wonder those boomers showed up.  They must have learned of this  
disk.  If we could prove any of this...

Linna:  Who needs proof?  If we could get this on the air, Genom would be  
playing clean-up for years.  

(Mackie enters.  He looks a little haggard.)

Mackie:  I think they're going to wake up soon.  I...hey, what's this?

Nene:  SHhh...

(The final clip plays.  It is a 2028 evaluation report on the success of  
Operation Babel.)

MIB#1:  The movement into Mega-Tokyo has been a total success.  This city  
is ours.  What is the feasibility of a duplication of this operation?

Scientist #1(Blond Caucasian):  We would have to recommend waiting until  
we perfect the technique more thoroughly.  Also, any future site should be  
in an earthquake prone area so as to reduce the likelihood of the quake's  
artificial nature being detected.

MIB#2:  Any recommendations?

Scientist #1:  Well, an area with multiple fault lines, such as southern  
California would be ideal.  I can work on a list of suitable areas.

MIB#1:  That would be good.  Andrew, can you give us a listing of our  
approximate profit from this venture?

(The clip drags on into a complex financial report.  The Sabers cut it  
off.)

Mackie:  Shit.

Linna:  They haven't...

Nene:...done it yet?  I don't think so.  But it has been five years.   
Yamaguchi-Microsoft has been sitting on this information for five years.

Mackie:  What could they do?  They can't prove any of this.  I could fake  
the whole disk easily if it is all like this.

Nene:  Me too.  But it would certainly hurt their reputation if this disk  
leaked out...We've got to stop them.

Linna:  How?  We don't know what city...

Nene:  If something like this was broadcast....widespread...they wouldn't  
dare do it again...people would point the finger at Genom, blaming them  
f