Halftime
by Aaron Ziegler

Chapter 1: A Timely Arrival

   "RANMA YOU JERK!!!" The sight of a handsome, pigtailed
teenaged boy in a red Chinese shirt flying through the wall of
the Tendo Dojo was not a new one. Had any of Ranma's neighbors
been watching, they would not have been surprised, nor would they
have cared. The fights between Ranma and Akane were well known,
both for their frequency and the seemingly excessive amount of
punishment inflicted on the combatants and the surrounding area.
Ranma sat up as a furious teenaged girl stormed out of the dojo,
carrying a bandaged and equally angry piglet under her arm.
Having just returned from an afternoon jog, she was wearing
jogging shorts and a red and blue T-shirt. A red headband was
wrapped around a head of short, black hair. The piglet, oddly
enough, wore a yellow and black striped bandana around its neck.
   "Akane, really! I only accidentally dropped P-Chan into that
dog kennel!" Ranma protested, giving Akane a desperate grin. The
little black piglet in question squealed, and stuck his tongue
out at Ranma. Only a sudden, nearly uncontrollable urge for self-
preservation kept Ranma from sticking his own tongue out in
return.
   "I don't believe you," Akane said coldly. With her free hand,
she hefted a huge, wooden mallet, produced, apparently, from
nowhere.
   Just as Akane was about to give Ranma a royal pounding, there
was a loud thunderclap and a bright flash directly above them.
The boy, the girl, and the pig glanced upward, just in time to
see a silver flash streak across the sky and disappear in the
distance. "What was that!?" gasped Ranma.
   "I-I don't know," answered Akane, her anger temporarily
stifled by the strange sight. "It didn't look like lightning, and
there isn't a cloud in the sky."
   Seemingly concerned, P-Chan squealed loudly, and struggled
free of Akane's grasp. He raced out of the yard. "Wait, P-Chan!"
called Akane, but the little black pig was out of sight.
   "He'll be fine," reassured Ranma.
   Akane did not look reassured. "Like you care, Ranma!" She was
about to go after P-Chan, when the two of them heard a high-
pitched whine, like a distant jet engine. Looking up again, they
saw the silver object again streaking through the sky,
approaching from the opposite direction that they had seen it
disappear.
   "Could that thing have circled around the globe already?"
Ranma asked in disbelief.
   "Look Ranma! It's stopped right above us!" True enough, the
strange silver object was hovering above the Tendo yard, close
enough to make out some details. It was vaguely egg shaped, and
had fan-like wings protruding from either side. Then, it started
to descend.
   "It's gonna land Akane! You'd better get someplace safe,"
Ranma warned, jumping to his feet.
   "You idiot! I can handle anything you can!"
   "Sorry, I forgot what kind of violent tomboy you were," Ranma
grinned. Akane scowled, but before she could do any life-altering
damage to Ranma, the silver egg had landed.
   With the egg on the ground, Ranma and Akane could see more of
the topside of the thing. There was a glass cockpit, and a large,
orange fin mounted on the back. The word "Epoch" was printed
clearly on the side. With a whirr, the fan-like wings folded into
the sides of the egg. "Is it a spaceship?" whispered Akane. Ranma
just shrugged, staring at the odd vehicle with wide eyes.
   Then, with a loud hiss, the cockpit began to slide open.
Without a word, Akane and Ranma backed away slightly. Suddenly, a
boy jumped out of the silver egg. He had spiky red hair, and was
wearing blue overalls, leather boots, and a red bandana. He had a
long katana sheathed at his side. Next to jump down was a girl
with thick glasses. She wearing an orange tunic, a short dress,
and a helmet with a small antenna. She carried a satchel strapped
around her shoulder. The last to emerge was a blonde girl wearing
a tear-shaped pendant. She was wearing a loose white blouse, and
had her hair tied in a ponytail. She had a crossbow strapped to
her back. The three seemed confused by something, and were soon
deep in conversation with each other.
   Seeing that the strange visitors were human, Ranma and Akane
relaxed a little. The blonde girl was the first to notice them.
"Oh, hello!" she called, waving cheerfully. The other two stopped
talking, and turned to see who she was talking to.
   "Er, hi," replied Ranma, with typical flair.
   To Ranma's surprise, the redhead asked him what year it was.
"Er, 1995," Ranma stuttered at the odd question.
   The three newcomers seemed surprised. "1995?" repeated the
blonde girl. She turned to the girl with the helmet. "I thought
that we were going to 2300!"
   "So did I," replied the other. "Perhaps something went wrong
with the temporal motivators." She looked around, her glasses
glinting in the sunlight. "Still, something seems wrong. It's
only four years until the Day of Lavos. Where are all the domes?
The advanced technology?"
   "Um, excuse me," began Akane, a little quicker to recover than
Ranma, "but could someone please explain WHAT'S GOING ON!?!"
   The three newcomers jumped, and then looked sheepish. The
redhead apologized, and introduced himself as Crono. After
introducing the blond girl as Marle, and the helmeted girl as
Lucca, he explained that the three of them were looking for his
mother.
   "Your mother?" asked Ranma, a sudden, wistful picture of his
own mother, Nodoka, appearing in his mind.
   "Yes," answered Lucca. "She was chasing Crono's eleven cats
when she disappeared. Have you seen her?"
   Ranma paled, and edged away, "C-CATS?" he mumbled. "E-
ELEVEN!?"
   Akane sighed and quickly whapped Ranma on the head with her
hammer, causing the three guests to start in surprise, both at
the casual nature of Akane's violent action and in wondering
where the hammer had come from. "Snap out of it, Ranma. There
aren't any cats here."
   She addressed Crono. "I'm sorry, we haven't seen your mother.
But with eleven cats, she should attract some attention, wherever
she is."
   The three looked disappointed, Crono most of all. Shoving
eldritch feline horrors from his mind, Ranma came to a decision.
"No one should be kept from their mother," he announced bitterly.
"By the way, I'm Ranma, and that's Akane. We'll help you find
her."
   Crono looked grateful, but told Ranma that there was probably
little he could do to help.
   "What do you mean?" said Ranma, slightly miffed. "She's gotta
be somewhere, doesn't she?"
   "That's the problem," replied Lucca. "She doesn't have to be
somewhere. She could be somewhen."
   "Huh?" said Akane and Ranma in unison.
   "The Epoch is a time machine," Lucca continued. "When Crono's
mother disappeared, she fell into a time Gate. We aren't sure
where in time she ended up. We were headed to the year 2300, but
for some reason, we ended up here."
   Ranma and Akane stared blankly, trying to absorb all this.
   "Well, we really should be going," reminded Marle. Crono
nodded and the three of them started back toward the Epoch.
   Suddenly, there was a strange ringing sound, like a bell. Then
they heard a rapid clicking sound followed by a crash, and the
Epoch flew into the air. Crono abruptly found himself on the
ground with a bicycle and a purple-haired rider on top of him. He
gasped for breath as the girl looked down at him with a puzzled
expression. She said, "You not Ranma!" Meanwhile, the Epoch
crashed to the ground on the other side of the yard.
   Crono yelled at the strange girl to get off of him. Seeming
almost hurt by his vehemence, the cyclist pulled her bicycle off
of the prone figure.
   As Crono started to get up, the girl spied Ranma. "There you
are, Ranma!" she shouted happily, dropping the bicycle onto Crono
once again. She tackled Ranma in an embrace.
   "Um, hi Shampoo." Noting Akane's cold stare, Ranma pried
himself loose from Shampoo's amorous grasp, and said, "Shampoo,
we have some guests."
   Crono had pulled himself out from under the bicycle again, and
was staring at Shampoo angrily. "That's Crono."
   "The Epoch..." whispered Lucca in horror, and ran over to the
fallen time machine.
   "That's Lucca."
   "What have you done?" shrieked Marle.
   "And that's Marle."
   "They seem like they too grumpy," said Shampoo.
   Lucca was crouched by the time machine. The machine itself was
badly dented, and there were bits and pieces of delicate
machinery strewn about it. Lucca began muttering to herself as
she surveyed the damage. "This bird is totaled. It's gonna take
me a while to fix it. I'm not even sure I can fix it. I'm no
Belthasar."
   "You mean we're stuck here? Forever?" demanded Marle.
   "Unless I can get Epoch up and running again, I'm afraid so.
The regular time Gates are closed, and I don't think there was
ever one here anyway."
   Shaking with rage, Marle unslung her crossbow and leveled it
at Shampoo. "This is your doing!"
   Quickly Ranma jumped between the angry girl and Shampoo,
"Don't hurt her! It was an accident!"
   Wasting no opportunity, Shampoo embraced Ranma. "Ranma save
Shampoo!" she cooed.
   "What are you doing, Ranma?" said Akane, furious.
   "Out of the way Ranma! I have no quarrel with you!" Marle
loaded the crossbow. "This quarrel's for her!"
   Then, Crono was beside her. He gently pushed the crossbow
down, and told Marle that revenge would solve nothing. Marle
still looked angry, but acquiesced.
   Struggling briefly, Ranma once again disengaged himself from
Shampoo. He looked at her sternly, and she looked at the ground,
guiltily. "You should apologize, Shampoo," he said.
   "Shampoo sorry she wreck machine," she said.
   Akane, having calmed down a bit now that there was a little
more distance between Ranma and Shampoo, said, "So, I suppose
you're stuck here for a while." Crono nodded. "Then you'll need
someplace to stay. Our house is pretty crowded, but we should be
able to find someplace to put you."
   "Say, why are you here, Shampoo?" asked Akane, suddenly
remembering their unwelcome Chinese visitor.
   "Shampoo make ramen delivery to Tendo's," she answered,
gesturing to her bicycle. There were several boxes of ramen
noodles loaded on the bicycle, and oddly, they were all intact.
   "But why?" wondered Akane, "I was cooking tonight!" Abruptly,
she glanced at Ranma, who was edging away, grinning sheepishly.
"RANMA YOU IDIOT!" Raising her hammer high, Akane lunged after
the fleeing boy.
* * * * * *
   Later that night, Crono, Marle, and Lucca were sitting at the
Tendo dinner table. They were introduced in turn to Genma
Saotome, Ranma's father, Soun Tendo, Akane's father, and Nabiki
and Kasumi, Akane's sisters. Genma was a tall, stern-looking man
wearing a karate gi. Perched on his nose were a pair of thin,
wire-frame specticles, and wrapped around his head was a turban
of white cloth (which did little to conceal the fact that Genma
hadn't a hair on his head). Soun was equally tall, equally stern,
and equally dressed, but more slender than Genma. Also unlike
Genma, Soun possessed a full head of shoulder-length black hair,
as well as a proud black moustache. Nabiki, the middle of Soun's
three children (Akane being the youngest, and Kasumi the oldest),
was a tall, slender, attractive girl. Her brown hair fell just
short of her shoulders, and the bangs were cut short, forming a
sort of frame around her face. She was wearing blue jeans and a
striped T-shirt, and possessed an almost perpetual expression of
cynical amusement. Kasumi, of an even hight with Nabiki, instead
wore an almost unbearably innocent expression on her pretty face.
She was wearing a modest dress and an apron. Her hair was also
brown, though a darker shade than Nabiki's, and was tied back in
a long, lusterous ponytail.
   Akane had made good on her promise to cook dinner, as there
were several unidentifiable dishes on the table in addition to
the boxes of ramen. Without exception, these dishes had remained
untouched. Marle was startled to see one of Akane's dishes edging
toward her bowl of ramen. Thinking quickly, she grabbed her
crossbow and blasted the offending meal. It keened shrilly, and
expired. With the exceptions of Crono and Lucca, no one seemed to
notice the violent exchange.
   "So, where are you and your friends from, Crono?" asked
Kasumi.
   Crono started to respond that they were from the past, but
noticed Akane gesturing at him not to tell. Crono was confused,
but answered that the three of them were from the town of Truce.
Nabiki watched this exchange carefully, realizing that secrets
were being kept. She smiled. There was good money in secrets, and
she had a knack for finding secrets out.
   Akane, for her part, was relieved. She didn't like to think of
what Nabiki would do if she knew that they had a time machine,
even a broken one.
   Lucca, quick to catch on to Akane's subterfuge, continued, "We
can't get back to...er, Truce, our home town, until we fix
our...um, jet."
   "You have your own jet?" Nabiki asked. 'These people must be
loaded,' she thought. She reflexively used her chopsticks to stab
a renegade dish that was threatening her ramen. Again, no one
paid any attention, and Crono and his friends were starting to
get used to it.
   Marle nodded to Nabiki, and changed the subject. "So, what do
you people do here?"
   Genma beamed proudly, "We teach the Anything-Goes style of
martial arts."
   "Anything-Goes?" asked Lucca curiously.
   "Anything!" replied Genma. "An adept at Anything-Goes martial
arts can overcome any challenge."
   "And I'm the best there is!" announced Ranma cheerfully
through a mouthful of ramen. Without warning, Genma grabbed Ranma
and chucked him out a window. Ranma's scream was heard, and then
a splash.
   "You will have to pardon my son. Sometimes he forgets his
humility and must be disciplined."
   The front door of the Tendo home slammed open, and an
unfamiliar, but sopping wet, red-headed girl glared at them.
   "Um, who's that?" asked Lucca.
   "Don't drip inside the house Ranma!" called Kasumi. "I just
cleaned."
   "Ranma?" asked Marle, startled. A second glance at the girl
revealed that she was wearing Ranma's clothes, and her hair,
though red instead of black, was braided in the same short
pigtail. "What happened to you?"
   "Ah, a tragic story, that," began Genma, oblivious to the
approaching Ranma, who had dried off outside. "You see, my son is
the victim of a tragic curse, so that whenever-"
   "Why don't we tell them about your curse, Dad!" yelled Ranma
as she grabbed Genma and threw him out the window. A second
splash was heard.
   A moment later, a large panda stood in the doorway wearing a
tattered gi, glasses hanging from one ear. It held up a wooden
sign that read, [I was going to get to that.]
   After staring for a moment, Lucca shrugged and said, "I've
seen weirder."
   "You don't know the half of it," muttered Nabiki drily.
   Over the next couple of minutes, Ranma and Genma (through
sign-language, of course) related the tragic tale of their ill-
fated expedition to the cursed training grounds of Jusenkyo. "So,
you've been looking for a cure ever since?" asked Marle.
   "Yup," answered Ranma in her new, high-pitched voice. "Almost
had one a couple of times, but something always seems to go
wrong, and I stay stuck like this."
   They all ate in silence for a few more minutes, and then
dinner was over. Genma held up a sign saying, [Come Ranma, we
must train.] Ranma sighed and stood up. She held out her hand,
and Kasumi handed her a teapot full of hot water. Ranma poured
the water on herself, thus returning to his proper form, and left
the room with his father to apply the same treatment to him in
privacy. Crono, Lucca, and Marle watched this exchange with
interest. Evidently this sort of thing had become routine for the
two families.
   As father and son headed out to the dojo, Crono asked if he
could watch. "Sure," said Ranma. "Are you a fighter?" Crono
looked at him ironically, and nodded. "Great! Maybe we can spar."
Crono mentioned that he was only adept as a swordsman, and
pointed out his katana for emphasis. "That's fine. A master of
Anything-Goes martial arts can fight anyone." Genma cuffed him
lightly. "Not that I'm a master yet, of course," he added,
throwing Genma a disgruntled look.
* * * * * *
   In the dojo, Crono sat and watched Ranma and Genma fight. He
laughed at some of the petty tricks they each used (usually
effectively) to distract the other to get an effective punch or
kick in.
   "Look!" shouted Ranma. "It's Mom!"
   "WHAT? NODOKA?" exclaimed Genma, whirling around. Ranma swept
Genma's legs out from under him, and he fell to the ground with a
grunt. "I'll teach you to respect your elders!" Genma growled.
Then he noticed Crono grinning. "Oh, and I suppose you think that
you could do better?" Genma asked Crono.
   Crono replied that he could. "I'd like to see that," said
Ranma. In answer, Crono unsheathed his Rainbow. Then he
confidently announced that he didn't want to hurt Ranma too
badly, and set the katana against the wall. To replace it, he
took a mop that had been left in the dojo. He gave the mop a few
swings, testing its balance and then moved to the center of the
dojo.
   "Begin!" said Genma, having moved away from the two
combatants. Wasting no time, Ranma threw a punch, which Crono
easily sidestepped. Ranma ducked Crono's returning slash, and
swept Crono to the floor. Almost instantly, Crono was on his feet
again. Crono and Ranma each jumped away from each other, and then
leapt high into the air toward each other. They met in mid air,
and this time Crono gained the upper hand. He struck Ranma with
the mop, and Ranma lost his balance. Crono landed on his feet,
and Ranma landed on his head. Ranma stood up and winced as he
felt the developing bump on his head.
   Crono asked Ranma if he was ready to conceed. "Are you
kidding?" he laughed. "That was nothing. Let's see how you can
handle this!" Ranma ran towards Crono, who warily took up a
defensive posture. "Tenshin-Amaguri-Ken!" shouted Ranma
gleefully, as he threw punch after punch with blinding speed.
Crono managed to block or dodge the first hundred or so, but
eventually, Ranma's incredible speed broke through Crono's
considerable defense. Crono was thrown to the other side of the
dojo, where he made a tidy, Crono-shaped hole in the wall.
   Ranma grinned. Then, a disheveled and thoroughly irritated
Crono crawled out of his hole. "So are you ready to conceed?"
mocked Ranma. Crono glared at him, and uttered the word
'Confuse'. Ranma was taken off guard as Crono abruptly leapt
close to him. Crono began running in a circle around Ranma, too
fast for the eye to follow. Ranma desperately kicked at a space
where he thought Crono would be. He wasn't. Ranma was rewarded
for his effort by a hard strike to the back that knocked him to
his knees. He quickly stood up again, just in time to receive a
second strike to the gut. A third hit soon followed. Ranma was
swaying dizzily. Suddenly, Crono stopped in front of the
bewildered fellow and delivered a vicious upward cut with the
mop, lifting Ranma into the air and sending him flying. Genma
winced at the specticle, and was glad that Crono had elected to
use the mop instead of his sword. Then Crono fell to the ground,
exhausted. Neither Ranma or Crono moved from where they lay.
   "Draw!" announced Genma. He looked at the battered dojo with a
sigh. "Soun's gonna have a fit," he muttered. "Then again, he
always does."
   Genma walked out of the dojo, and then came back in, carrying
a bucket of cold water. He splashed Crono, reviving him. He
splashed Ranma, who also revived and transformed. "Hey!"
sputtered Ranma. She looked at Genma, annoyed. Then she
remembered why she was on the floor, and looked at Crono with
respect. "You're pretty good!" she told him. "Of course, you
wouldn't have stood a chance if I hadn't been winded from
fighting Dad." Crono snorted, and mentioned that Ranma had at
least had a chance to warm up.
   Ranma looked ready to continue the argument, but Genma laid a
hand on their shoulders. "Now, now," he said, condescendingly,
"you can fight again later." Working as one, Crono and Ranma
grabbed Genma and chucked him outside, into the pond. The panda
surfaced and held up a sign, [Kids these days!] Laughing, Ranma
and Crono walked into the house, with the panda close behind.
* * * * * *
   When Marle saw the battered couple, she asked, "Crono! What
happened?" Crono explained that he and Ranma had just been
practicing. "Well, let me fix you up," replied Marle. "Aura."
Marle glowed slightly, and then touched Crono. Crono's minor
scratches and bruises closed up and healed. Marle then applied
the same treatment to Ranma.
   "Wow," said a wide-eyed Ranma. Looking around, she saw that
her father and the Tendos were similarly awed.
   Nabiki, on top of any situation, was the first to recover.
"How'd you do that?" she asked.
   "Huh?" answered Marle, startled. "I never really thought about
it. I just have this knack for healing people. Maybe it's part of
my royal heritage."
   At the words "royal heritage", a slow grin appeared on
Nabiki's face. One could almost hear cash registers tallying huge
sums of money in Nabiki's mind. "So your father's a king, then?"
   "Uh-huh. 'Course, we don't always see eye to eye. He wants me
to stay home and act like a good princess. But I couldn't let
Crono search for his mother without me. I guess I'm something of
a tomboy at heart."
   Ranma groaned at this. "Great. Another tomboy is all we need.
At least this one's cute."
   "YOU JERK!" Ranma was instantly flattened by Akane. No one
seemed to notice.
   Nabiki continues, "So, you ran away? Your father must miss
you." A newspaper headline appeared in Nabiki's mind: NABIKI
TENDO OF NERIMA RECIEVES 100,000,000 YEN FOR RETURN OF LOST
PRINCESS!
   "Oh, probably," replied Marle. "But he trusts me now, and I
don't think that he's worried about me."
   Nabiki's dream newspaper vanished, and she sighed, thinking,
'Well, she should still be rich. I may turn a profit out of this
yet.'
   Marle beamed, "Thanks for your concern, Nabiki!"
   "Anytime," Nabiki smiled.
   "Say," groaned a crushed Ranma, "can you do that healing thing
again?" Marle giggled at Ranma's pathetic state, and then healed
her. "I think I'm going to like having you around," said a
relieved Ranma.

Chapter 2: Class Time

   The next day, Crono and Marle, having nothing else to do while
Lucca tinkered with the Epoch, decided to accompany Ranma and
Akane to school. Ranma and Akane were happy to have the company,
and promised to show the two wayward time travelers around the
town of Nerima after school was over.
   As they neared the school, however, Ranma and Akane became
apprehensive. "Um, guys, if anything...unusual should happen,
just let us take care of it," warned Akane.
   Crono asked what she meant by unusual. "Oh, like a maniac
carrying a wooden sword attacking me," said Ranma, cheerfully.
"You know, that kind of unusual."
   "What?" asked Marle, confused and alarmed.
   Exasperated, Akane replied, "It's this guy named Tatewaki
Kunou. He decided that I'm the girl for him, and he somehow got
the impression that Ranma and I are a...couple."
   "A completely baseless claim, of course," hastened Ranma.
   "Of course," Akane was quick to agree. "But Kunou thinks so,
and so every day, sometimes several times a day, Kunou tries to
kill Ranma to win me."
   "That's awful!" exclaimed Marle. "And he never gives up?"
   "Nope, his ego's too big," answered Ranma.
   "Almost as big as Ranma's," grinned Akane, earning a
threatening look from Ranma.
   They continued walking for a while. Soon, the school came into
view. "So, where's Kunou?" wondered Akane. "He usually shows up
by now..."
   "You called for me, lovely one?" said a new voice. Ranma and
Akane groaned in unison.
   Crono and Marle turned to the sound of the voice, and saw
someone who could only be Tatewaki Kunou. He was standing
proudly, looking tall, dark, and handsome in his traditional
samurai robes. He smiled at Akane. Then he noticed Crono and
Marle. "Ah, I see that you have guests. A fair maiden, and," he
scowled, "another young man. Undoubtedly another suitor. They
seem to gather about you like flies around a lovely mare." Crono
and Marle tried to correct him, but he continued on without
waiting, "Fortunately, I am well trained in the swatting of such
flies!" He glared at Crono. "What is your name, knave, that I may
carve it on your tomb?"
   Crono began to answer, when Kunou interrupted again, "Ah, but
it is more appropriate that I give my name first." Crono was
beginning to understand why Akane and Ranma disliked this fellow.
Kunou drew his wooden bokken, and held it high. "I am Tatewaki
Kunou, the undefeated-" Kunou faltered a moment in his speech
with a hateful glance at Ranma, "the occasionally defeated Blue
Thunder of Furinkan High!" A lightening bolt arced across the
sky, accompanied by a crash of thunder. Kunou posed arrogantly
for a few seconds more, and then looked down his nose at Crono.
"And who might you be?"
   Crono snorted, thoroughly unimpressed. He spoke his name, and
then lifted his arms into the air chanting the word 'Lightning'.
Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky. But this time, the
lightning struck Kunou's bokken.
   Smoke rising from his body, a blackened Kunou looked at Crono
in amazement. He looked at his splintered bokken and blinked
twice. Then, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed
into unconsciousness.
   "Wow!" said Akane. "Are you a sorcerer?"
   Crono shook his head, but admitted that he did know some
magic, as did Lucca and Marle.
   "Can you teach me how to do that?" asked Ranma.
   Again Crono shook his head. He explained that he had, more or
less, been granted his magical abilities by a creature named
Spekkio.
   "Spekkio?" asked Akane.
   "He calls himself 'The Master of War'," Marle responded. "But
he really is a nice fellow. He lives in a wierd place called 'The
End of Time', which is supposed to be sort of outside of time or
something. Lucca could explain it better. Anyway, if we ever get
the Epoch fixed, we'll take you to visit him."
   Ranma chuckled gleefully, imagining the look on his father's
face after Ranma blasted him with some lightning. Then, another
thought struck him, and as usual, his mouth kicked in before his
mind had time to examine it, "Maybe Spekkio could teach you how
to cook, Akane! It would take really powerful magic to pull that
one off."
   Marle and Crono winced at the spectical of wanton violence
which followed. With a sigh, Marle healed Ranma and dragged him,
still groggy, to his feet. The three rushed to catch up with
Akane, who was storming off toward the school.
* * * * * *
   Later, Akane and Ranma were explaining Crono and Marle's
presence to the teacher of their World History class. The teacher
looked at the newcomers haggardly. A few years of teaching at
Furinkan High had changed her from a promising young teacher into
a wretched crone, and she had little tolerence for surprises.
"Get to your seats then," she snarled. "Don't think that you'll
get any special treatment in my class just because you're
guests!"
   Meekly, Crono and Marle walked to their indicated seats. Marle
flipped idly through the history text, and suddenly realized that
something was horribly wrong. "Look, Crono," she whispered, "the
continents are all wrong!"
   Crono quickly flipped his book open to the same page. Indeed,
the geography was wildly different, not the least of which was
that there were too many continents. Shocked, he remarked that it
would have taken quite an catastrophy to cause that much change
in a mere millenium. A catastrophy at least as devastating as the
one they had witnessed in 12,000 B.C., when the floating
continents of the Enlightened Ones had crashed to the earth.
   "Think, Crono!" she hissed, "There can't have been a
catastrophy! We saw the world in 1999, and it looks nothing like
this! There's no way that they're gonna have domed cities and
high-tech highways four years from now if there's ANOTHER
catastrophy between now and then! We have to tell Lucca!"
   Abruptly, two erasers, thrown with the olympean accuracy that
could only be the product of years of difficult teaching, struck
Crono and Marle in the head. "Into the hall you two!" the teacher
snapped.
   "Don't worry," whispered Ranma with a smirk, "You haven't
really been shown the Furinkan experience until you've spent some
time in the hall holding buckets of water!" He was rewarded for
his ill-timed taunt with another airborn eraser.
   "Show them how it's done, Ranma," cackled the teacher.
   Soon, true to Ranma's word, the three of them were standing in
the hall holding buckets of water.
   "It's gonna be a long day," thought Marle.
* * * * * *
   After a long day, school was finally over. Marle and Crono
resolved to stay with Lucca rather than repeat that experience
again. For now, though, they were willing to let Akane and Ranma
show them around town. Soon, the foursome arrived at Ucchan's.
Ranma, thinking with his stomach as usual, had made a beeline for
the okonomiyaki joint. Akane merely sighed.
   "This is Ucchan's," said Akane. "This is where Ukyou, one of
Ranma's other fiancees, makes okonomiyaki."
   This was the first time that Crono and Marle had heard about
any fiancees at all. Crono asked Akane what she meant.
   She suddenly colored, "Oh, that's right. You don't know.
Usually it's one of the first topics that come up when we meet
new people. At Ranma's birth his father and mine promised each
other that Ranma would marry me or one of my sisters. So we were
betrothed-"
   "-against our wills, of course," interjected Ranma.
   "Of course," Akane quickly added.
   Marle recalled their earlier run-in with Kunou. "So, Kunou's
suspicion that you two are a couple isn't totally baseless."
   "Of course it is! exclaimed Ranma. "We're fiancees, but
Kunou's a total idiot if he thinks I could actually be attracted
to that uncute, violent, urk-"
   A well-placed hammer quickly silenced that particular train of
thought. Akane continued, "Anyway, Ranma tends to collect
fiancees like most people collect pocket lint."
   "Hey-" protested Ranma, rubbing his head.
   Akane steamrolled on, "It was eventually discovered that he
had another fiancee already, Ukyou, and it didn't take him long
to pick up a third-"
   "Hey, I wouldn't really call Shampoo a fiancee-"
   "SHE certainly thinks she is," countered Akane.
   Marle broke in, "Shampoo? That psychotic girl on the bike?"
   Akane nodded. "Ranma beat her in a fight, and by the laws of
her villiage, she must marry him."
   Crono recalled how Shampoo had been draped over Ranma back at
the Tendo home, and nodded with sympathy. Akane continued, "His
other fiancee, as I mentioned, is Ukyou."
   "Really we're just friends," assured Ranma. "We have been
since childhood-"
   "RANCHAN!" exclaimed a voice. Ranma turned just in time to
recieve an armload of Ukyou. In Crono's opinion, Ukyou looked a
bit more friendly than 'just friends', but he decided to reserve
judgement. Getting a better look at Ukyou, Crono and Marle could
see a pretty girl with long black hair tied with a red bow. She
had some kind of shovel strapped to her back. When she released
Ranma, they could see that she had a bandolier of sharpened
spatulas strapped across her chest. They suddenly realized that
the shovel was not a shovel at all, but a gigantic spatula. There
was something familiar about her, though Crono and Marle couldn't
quite place it. Ukyou noticed the two, and asked, "Who are your
friends, Ranchan?"
   Ranma introduced the two to Ukyou, and to their surprise,
explained the whole time-travel situation to her. Evidently,
Ukyou was someone in whom Ranma placed a great deal of trust.
Ukyou took every crazy word with great solemnity, and when Ranma
was finished, she asked them to come inside, so that they could
talk over okonomiyaki.
   Seated at a booth, Marle and Crono watched with great interest
as Ukyou prepared the food. She moved incredibly fast, and in
mere moments, five steaming okonomiyakis flew through the air and
landed neatly on the table. Ukyou came over to join them.
   "So you fried that pompous Kunou," she asked with a smirk. "I
would have paid good money to see that. Of course you realize
that he is now honor-bound to defeat you."
   Crono shrugged indifference. He was confident in his ability
to defeat the arrogant fellow, with or without magic.
   "But more importantly," Ukyou continued, "you're stuck here in
this time until you can get your machine fixed."
   "Actually," said Marle, "it's not quite that simple. While
Crono and I were in class today, we discovered that this world is
all wrong! The geography is very different from what we remember,
the history books had no mention of the great war against Magus
in 600 A.D., and when we finally managed to find a book on
dinosaurs, we found that they had all been extinct long before
there were humans, and there was no mention of Reptites at all! I
don't think we're even on the same planet as before. We were
gonna tell Lucca when we got back."
   Ranma and Akane looked surprised, as this was the first they
had heard of this. Ukyou looked concerned. "This does sound
serious," she said. "Maybe you should ask Cologne. She's a pretty
wise old woman, and she might have some idea what went wrong."
   Ranma groaned, and Akane looked apprehensive, but she nodded
her agreement. Crono asked them who Cologne was.
   Ranma answered, "Cologne is Shampoo's great-grandmother."
Crono frowned, and Marle scowled. They had no real desire to meet
Shampoo again. Still, if she could help...
   "OK, we'll do it," said Marle.
   The five finished eating, and stood up. As Ranma, Akane,
Crono, and Marle left, Ukyou called out, "See you later, Ran-
chan!"
   As the foursome walked, Akane gleefully picked up their
conversation from where it had been interrupted by Ukyou. To
Ranma's dismay, she detailed how Ranma had ended up betrothed to
Ukyou. When she finished, the two were barely holding in their
laughter.
   Marle turned to Ranma with a stifled giggle, "You really chose
okonomiyaki over Ukyou? You really do think with your stomach,
don't you?"
   "Look, I was young," he grumbled. "I had no idea what Dad was
talking about! I didn't even know she was a girl then."
   Mercilessly, Akane continued, "That covers his fiancees, but
it only scratches the surface of his suitors."
   "Akane-" began Ranma desperately.
   "To start with, there's Kodachi Kunou, Tatewaki's sister,"
Ranma seemed to shudder briefly at her name. "She's a sadistic
psychopath. It's no wonder that she fell for Ranma."
   Angry, Ranma taunted, "If that's so, then why haven't you
fallen for me yet, you uncute tomboy!"
   "Idiot!" returned Akane, but was enjoying herself far too much
to smash Ranma. She continued, "Even better, she hates Ranma's
female form, and never seems to be able to discover that she is
the same person as Ranma! Which leads me to the best part of
all..."
   "Akane, PLEASE," Ranma pleaded desperately, now regretting his
taunt.
   "Tatewaki Kunou!" shouted Akane triumphantly. Ranma moaned.
"Kunou's other love is his little 'pig-tailed goddess', who is
none other than our dear Ranma in female form."
   At this, Crono and Marle collapsed to the ground in laughter.
It was a while before they could stand again, gasping for breath.
Akane looked viciously pleased, and her grin widened as she saw
Ranma scowling at her. "Are you finished," he asked her.
   "Well, I could tell them about Mikado and Picolette, but they
were really only one-night stands. Besides, they would be rather
anticlimactic at this point. At any rate, we're at Neko Hanten
already."
   The four walked into the Chinese restaurant. It was fairly
crowded that day, and Shampoo was working furiously. She ran from
table to table carrying dozens of bowls of ramen at a time. Every
now and then, without warning, another bowl of ramen would come
sailing through the air out of the kitchen. Shampoo caught every
one, and added it to the stack of bowls. When dropping a bowl of
ramen off at a table, she would always leave the bottommost bowl,
ensuring that none of the ramen she carried would get cold. It
was an extremely impressive scene as far as Crono and Marle were
concerned. To Akane and Ranma, it was just routine.
   The wizened voice of an old woman, evidently Cologne, came
from the kitchen. "Mousse, show our guests to the kitchen."
   A young man with long black hair, wearing white Chinese
garments came out of the kitchen. He had glasses thicker than
Lucca's, but they were pushed up onto the top of his head. He
wove his way uncertainly to the front door, and then addressed a
potted plant next to where the four were standing. "Please come
with me." He then turned, and walked into a wall. After standing
again, he squinted and looked in confusion at the wall.
   Again the old voice could be heard, "Idiot!" Cologne sighed,
and called, "Guests, could you show Mousse to the kitchen?"
   "Come on Mousse," said Akane, gently turning the befuddled boy
in the right direction.
   "Akane?" said Mousse, squinting at her. "You're the guest?"
   "Not just me. Mousse, this is Crono, and this is Marle."
   Mousse attempted to focus on the two newcomers without a great
deal of success. Finally he gave up and just said, "Pleased to
meet you." He then tried to focus on the fourth member. "And you
are...oh, it's you, Ranma." Mousse scowled.
   "RANMA?" said a familiar voice. Everyone winced at the sound
of a dozen ramen bowls crashing to the ground. Shampoo callously
punted Mousse out of the way, and grappled Ranma. "Ranma come to
visit Shampoo?"
   Marle walked over to where a battered Mousse was lying. She
healed him, earning an awed, but grateful look. Then Mousse's
face hardened, and he shouted, "Get away from her, Ranma!"
   Ranma was trying, without much luck, to do just that. Then the
old woman's voice came from the kitchen, "SHAMPOO!!!" Shampoo
cringed, and let go of Ranma. "They did not come here to see you!
Now, what happened to that ramen?"
   Shampoo looked guiltily at the large ramen mess on the ground.
"Sorry, great-grandmother," she said woefully.
   "Sorry isn't good enough! Now, clean up that mess, and get
back to work." With a longing glance at Ranma, Shampoo went to
get a mop.
   "I'll help you, Shampoo," offered Mousse, earning a hateful
look from Shampoo.
   But before Shampoo could answer, Cologne snapped, "Leave her
alone, Mousse, and get back here with those guests."
   The four guests carefully maneuvered Mousse back to the
kitchen. There, they finally got a good look at Cologne. Crono
and Marle were surprised to see what looked like a two-foot tall
wrinkled old gnome with long white hair and large round eyes,
balanced easily on a four-foot staff. Then they realized that it
was no gnome at all, but just a very old woman. "I was wondering
when you two would show up." She addressed Mousse. "Leave us.
What we are about to discuss is not for your ears."
   Slightly irritated, Mousse turned and walked into a broom
closet. A second later, he walked out of the broom closet with a
scowl, and left the kitchen through the proper exit. When he had
left, Cologne turned to her guests and asked, "So, where is the
frog-man?"
   "Frog-man?" gasped Marle. "How did you know about-"
   "When you get to be as old as I am, you tend to know many
things," snapped Cologne. "So, Frog is not here yet? No matter.
He'll be along eventually. I assume you have come here to ask me
what went wrong. You want to know what world you're on."
   Crono nodded. The old woman seemed satisfied, "Well, I cannot
help you." Crono and Marle looked crestfallen, though still awed
by Cologne's knowledge. "In my time, I have seen many, such as
yourself, who came to this world from another. In every case, the
method differed. You are the first I have seen to have arrived in
a silver bird. When I saw the silver streak in the sky, I knew
that I would be seeing you soon."
   Crono asked if there was nothing that she could do to help.
"Don't be insolent," the crone snapped. "I am helping! Knowledge
is power. Rest assured, that with the proper knowledge, you shall
find your way home. But, you must realize that you are going to
be spending quite a bit of time on this world before that
happens."
   "Now, I have a few things to tell you, so listen carefully.
First, beware the Sorcerer of Jusenkyo. Second, remember that the
laws of the Joketsuzoku tribe are not to be ignored. Third, and
most importantly, remember this: the child can be found to the
west of the village. Remember it!"
   Dutifully, Crono and Marle consigned the information to
memory. "You may also find it useful to have Lucca create a water
pistol, one with both hot and cold water. The uses for such a
thing should be obvious. One more thing. I have found that when
travellers such as yourself visit our planet, it is rarely by
chance. You were sent or brought here. For what purpose, I cannot
guess. That's all I can tell you, for now," said Cologne. "I wish
you luck on your journey. Now, unless you have further business
here, you may depart."
   The four of them made their way out of the restaurant, past a
dejected Shampoo. When they were outside, Marle said, "Wow."
   "I know what you mean," replied Akane. "Cologne really knows
her stuff. I think that she likes you," she added.
   Crono looked at her in astonishment, and remarked that Cologne
had been rude, insulting, and short-tempered. "Actually, she was
much nicer than usual today," answered Akane with a shrug.
   Crono found that hard to believe, but didn't press the point.
Then he suggested that they should return to the Tendo home. They
had much to discuss with Lucca. They could see the rest of Nerima
later. Ranma shrugged, "Sure. Anyway, Ucchan's and Neko Hanten
are probably the two most interesting places in Nerima."
   Akane looked at him, "You only say that because you can get
free meals from Ukyou and Shampoo!"
   "It's the only way I can hope to survive on nights when you
cook!" Ranma shot back.
   Crono and Marle rolled their eyes, as another fight ensued.
Life in Nerima was going to take some getting used to.
* * * * * *
   None too soon, the four arrived at the Tendo home. Lucca was
peering intently into the guts of the battered Epoch, while
Nabiki looked on. The expression on Nabiki's face was an odd
mixture of fascination, confusion, and greed. Lucca had removed
her helmet to prevent it from getting in the way of her work.
Ranma and Akane could now see that she had straight, shoulder-
length reddish-purple hair.
   Lucca held out an arm, and said, "Hey, Beeky! couldja hand me
that 15 mm manual torque driver?"
   "Er," replied Nabiki, surveying the bewildering array of tools
Lucca had dumped onto the ground.
   Lucca sighed, looking up from her work, "The third wrench-like
thing from the left, Nabiki!"
   "Got it," said Nabiki, handing the mechanic the requested
tool.
   As Lucca accepted the wrench, she saw Crono and Marle
approaching with Ranma and Akane, who were pointedly ignoring
each other. "Hey! How was school, guys?"
   "It's a long story," answered Marle.
   "Just let me make a few more adjustments, and then you can
tell me all about it." Lucca attacked the Epoch for a few minutes
with her 15 mm manual torque driver, and then she and Nabiki
pulled a tarp over the vehicle. Lucca grabbed and donned her
helmet, and followed the others inside.
   Akane, despite her anger toward Ranma, became conscious of the
fact that Nabiki was watching them all carefully. It wouldn't do
for her to overhear what they were discussing. So, Akane led the
others up to her room. Ranma was surprised for a moment, but then
caught on. Akane carefully closed the door. She tapped her foot
for a few moments, and then abruptly opened the door. Nabiki
collapsed into the room, holding a glass, which she had evidently
been using to listen at the door. "Do you mind, Nabiki?" asked
Akane, glaring at her sister. The others in the room snickered.
   Nabiki stood up with dignity, and said, "I was just picking up
dishes around the house! You really shouldn't leave glasses lying
around in the hall," she added.
   "Yeah, right. Beat it, big sister," said Akane. Nabiki left,
and Akane waited a few minutes more. She opened the door again,
but Nabiki was nowhere in sight. "Good, she's gone," said Akane.
   Crono and Marle, with interjections from Ranma and Akane,
related that day's discoveries to Lucca. Lucca listened
carefully, and with growing astonishment. "So we're not even on
the same planet anymore?" Crono nodded.
   "This is very odd," said Lucca, half to herself. "The Epoch
just was built for time travel, not interstellar travel! Still,
if Cologne is right, and we are here for a purpose, we really
should find out what that purpose is."
   Crono remarked that they really had no idea what to look for.
"True," replied Lucca. "I think that we should probably just stay
put until we manage to get the Epoch fixed. I still don't know
how long that's gonna take. The Epoch was built well, but it just
wasn't built against bicycle damage. Speaking of which, I think
I'm gonna get back to work." The group adjourned.
   Meanwhile, downstairs, Nabiki carefully folded the stepladder
that she had been using to listen to the group through the
ceiling. 'Time-travel, huh?' Nabiki thought gleefully. 'What a
gold mine! I'm sure that Crono and his friends wouldn't mind if I
made a teensy little fact-finding expedition with their little
toy...' Another newspaper headline blazed its way through
Nabiki's mind: NERIMA RESIDENT MAKES KILLING ON THE STOCK MARKET!
BECOMES WEALTHIEST WOMAN IN JAPAN! 'I've just gotta bide my time,
and help Lucca with her repairs.'

Chapter 3: Time Change

   "Excuse me, sir, but do you speak my language?"
   Ryoga turned his head in surprise. Ryoga was a youth used to
travel. Such was indicated by his clothes: sturdy boots, rugged
yellow shirt, and a well-stocked backpack. Strapped to the top of
his backpack was a bamboo umbrella, indicating Ryoga's readiness
for any kind of weather (though few realized at first that the
umbrella was also Ryoga's primary weapon in combat). Completing
the wanderer's attire was a yellow and black striped bandana
(which few realized was Ryoga's secondary weapon in combat), tied
around his black-haired head. A youth used to travel, and also
(to his anguish) to solitude. This was the first voice he had
heard for two days. After he, in the shape of Akane's little pet
P-Chan, had leapt from Akane's arms, his only thought had been to
find hot water, and to get back in time to protect her from
whatever evil had been represented by that silver object in the
sky. He had found the water, and one of his many caches of
clothes, but he had been totally unable to find his way back to
Akane. After once again cursing his poor sense of direction, he
had begun his journey to find his way back. 'Ranma had better be
able to protect Akane,' Ryoga thought fiercely, 'or else he'll
rue the day he was born!'
   Ryoga's mind returned to the present. The person addressing
him was a tall, pretty, young woman, perhaps slightly younger
than himself. She had short, blue hair, large, steady, green
eyes, and was dressed in ill-fitting Chinese clothes. She looked
rather desperate, in spite of her calm tone. "Er, yes?" Ryoga
replied.
   "Oh, wonderful!" the woman exclaimed, her voice wavering
slightly from it's calmness, "I was hoping that there would be
someone else who did! Can you help me? I seem to be lost."
   The irony of this statement caught Ryoga totally off guard,
and he was unable to suppress a short laugh, exposing for a
moment his slightly elongated canines. The woman looked slightly
miffed. "There is no need to laugh, sir."
   "I'm sorry," Ryoga apologized. "It's just that I'm the last
person to be asking directions from."
   "Oh, so you are lost as well?" she asked, a sympathetic look
on her face. "Perhaps we should travel together, until we can
discover where we are."
   Ryoga shrugged, and warned, "I travel fast..."
   "I believe that I can keep up," answered the woman,
confidently.
   Ryoga held out his hand, and said, "My name's Ryoga Hibiki."
   The woman shook the proffered hand, and answered, "My name is
Robo."
   The two of them began walking together, Robo's long legs
easily keeping pace with Ryoga's rapid steps. "Robo, huh?" said
Ryoga, "That's an interesting name. What's your last name?"
   Robo shook her head, "Just Robo. I have no last name. However,
I have also been called Prometheus, as well as R66-Y."
   Ryoga raised an eyebrow at the odd array of names. Robo
changed the subject, "By the way, could you tell me what year it
is?"
   The young woman was full of surprises. Ryoga replied "1995."
   "Ah, excellent," beamed Robo. "Are you familiar with Geno
Dome? That is my place of origin."
   Ryoga thought a moment. He had traveled extensively, but could
not remember anyplace by that name. He shook his head.
   "Well, then, have you heard of Proto Dome?" Again, the answer
was no. "Arris Dome?" Nope. "Well, someone should know. All of
those cities were in place by 1995."
   A strange comment. Ryoga decided to see if she knew of his
destination. "Are any of those places near Nerima?" he asked.
   Robo concentrated a moment. "I don't recall having heard of a
dome called 'Nerima'. But then, my memory isn't what it used to
be."
   "What do you mean?" asked Ryoga. "Do you have amnesia?"
   Robo sighed, "Perhaps I should explain. You see, I am not what
I appear to be."
   A chill rolled up and down Ryoga's spine. "Jusenkyo?" he
whispered.
   Robo looked at him, surprised. "You have heard of it?"
   "I've...been there," admitted Ryoga. Then, excitedly, he
asked, "Where is it? I need to get back there."
   Robo shook her head, sorrowfully. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying
any attention when I was running. That's why I'm lost."
   Disappointed, Ryoga asked her to tell him her story. "Well, it
will be rather hard to believe..." she said. Ryoga shrugged, and
urged her to continue. "Well, I am a time-traveler. I come from
the year 2300. I was walking with my companion Atropos, when a
time Gate suddenly appeared in front of me. I started to fall in,
and Atropos grabbed me, but she could not keep her grip. The
other end of the Gate opened, and I found myself in mid air above
a pool with bamboo poles sticking out of it. I splashed into it,
and crawled out in the shape that you now see. I looked up, but
the gate had closed already, giving Atropos no chance to follow
me. In retrospect, I suppose that that was for the best. I would
not want to doom her to my fate. At any rate, after I had noticed
that the gate was gone, I heard a voice talking to me. I looked
up to see a man, dressed much like I am now. He mumbled something
about the Jusenkyo curse, and a tragic drowned girl. He offered
me some clothes, and I took them without thinking. Only then did
I look at myself and fully realize what had happened to me." She
looked embarrassed. "I am afraid that I must have panicked,
because I just started running. When I finally stopped, I was
nowhere near Jusenkyo, and I had no idea how to get back.
Finally, I had calmed down enough to realize that I was in a
strange land, and in a strange body, and that I did not have any
clothes on."
   Ryoga was confused. "Huh? Didn't you have any clothes on
before you fell in?"
   Robo threw him an odd glance. "Of course not! Why would I?"
   This answer baffled Ryoga even more. "Don't people wear
clothes in 2300?"
   "Of course! But I, naturally, did not."
   This exchange, plus the fact that Robo produced all of her
statements in the same calm tone of voice, led Ryoga to wonder if
he was walking with some kind of pervert. Robo continued with her
story, "As I was saying, I was lost in a strange land, so I put
on the clothes that the man at Jusenkyo had given me, and started
walking. The fact that I could not remember where I had been was
really bothering me. In my old body, I had a perfect memory, and
I rarely became lost. I did discover that I was still nearly as
strong as before." She demonstrated by walking up to a nearby
boulder and punching it hard with her fist. There was a dull thud
and the rock shuddered. A lattice of hairline cracks appeared
around the point of impact.
   Ryoga was impressed. He walked up to the same boulder, chose a
side that was still unmarked, and gave it a punch of his own.
Again the rock shuddered, and another lattice of cracks appeared,
perhaps slightly larger than the ones produced by Robo. "I see
that you are strong as well," she noted. "Anyway, I kept walking
until I came to a town. I tried to communicate, but everyone
there was speaking a strange language. So, I kept traveling until
I met you."
   Ryoga nodded. "That is a strange story, but not unbelievable."
   "So, why are you lost?" asked Robo.
   "Well, I was in Nerima when I saw this silver streak in the
sky-"
   "What?!" interrupted Robo, definitely losing her calm tone.
She grabbed Ryoga's shoulders. "Did you say silver streak? Did it
appear out of nowhere, and fly away at great speed? With the
sound of a thunderclap?"
   Ryoga nodded, shaken, and more than a little uncomfortable in
Robo's iron grip, "Please let go of me." Somewhat sheepishly,
Robo did so. "Why? What do you know of this streak?"
   "It is my friends!" exclaimed Robo happily. "You have just
described their time machine. I am definitely coming with you
now! I have to get to Nerima."
   Rubbing his shoulders, Ryoga continued, "Well, when I saw the
streak, I tried to run to Akane, the woman that I love. I thought
that she might be in danger." He looked at Robo imploringly.
   Robo caught his meaning. "Do not worry. My friends would not
hurt your friends. At least, as long as your friends did not
attack them first." Robo suddenly got a wistful look. "I
understand your desire to aid the one that you love. I have only
recently had much experience with the emotion called love. I
think that I love Atropos. I do wish that I could see her again.
What force prevented you from reaching your loved one?"
   Ryoga looked uncomfortable. "I got lost." Robo looked at him,
questioningly. Defensively, Ryoga added, "I get lost very easily.
I continued walking, and eventually I found myself here. I think
that we're in China."
   Robo nodded. Then she looked frustrated. "If only we had a
map, or something!"
   "Wait, I have a map," said Ryoga, pulling off his backpack.
   "Why have you not been using it?" asked Robo, incredulously.
   "They don't usually help me much," answered Ryoga, pulling out
the map. He opened it and started to study it intently.
   "I think that I can see why," said Robo, gently turning the
map right-side up. She looked over Ryoga's shoulder. "So that is
China? It is a big place, and I do not recognize this part of the
world. Jusenkyo is not on the map? Too bad."
   "Here's Nerima," said Ryoga, jabbing at a part of Japan.
"That's funny. I don't remember crossing a large body of water.
Oh, well, not the first time that's happened."
   "You really do get lost easily," noted Robo with an awed
expression. Then she took on a serious cast. "Like I said, China
is a big place, so we need to figure out where we are, and which
way is north. So we will keep following this road until we find a
town, and hopefully, someone there will speak our language."
   "Actually," said Ryoga, "I do know a little bit of Chinese.
It's not much, but it might be enough to get us oriented. One
tends to learn a little of a lot of languages when one travels as
much as I."
   The two traveled onward in silence for a while. Suddenly a
thought occurred to Ryoga. "Do you know how to change back to
your normal form?"
   Robo stopped dead in her tracks. "You know a cure for this
curse?" she asked with a hopeful look.
   "Only a temporary one," replied Ryoga. "The way that the
curses work is that you change into your cursed form when
splashed with cold water, and your regular form when splashed
with hot water."
   "Really?" said Robo, looking somewhat disappointed. Then she
brightened, "Still, it is better than staying stuck in this body.
How hot and how cold does the water have to be, exactly?"
   "I don't really think that anyone knows for sure. It has to be
fairly warm, though, to be considered hot water."
   "How do you know so much about the Jusenkyo curse, Ryoga?"
asked Robo suddenly.
   "Er, I know a lot of people with curses," Ryoga answered.
   Robo gave Ryoga a long glance. Then she asked, "Do you have
any hot water with you?"
   "Actually, I do," said Ryoga, once more removing his backpack.
He lifted out a thermos, being careful to cover the tiny pig
tooth marks on the cap with his hand. He unscrewed the cap and
handed the thermos to Robo.
   "Wonderful!" she said. Then she walked behind some bushes.
   "What are you doing?" asked Ryoga.
   "I am removing these clothes, Ryoga" Robo answered.
   Ryoga's eyes widened. "Er, are you sure that that's
necessary?"
   Robo gave no response. Moments later, a new voice was heard,
"That is much better." The voice was male, but it had an odd,
tinny sound to it. Then Robo stepped out from behind the bushes.
Instead of a naked man, Ryoga was surprised to see a bulky
mechanical man. Robo's body had a barrel shape and seemed to be
made of some brass-coloured metal. He had short, stocky legs, and
thin arms, one of which was holding the clothes Robo had been
wearing. His head was a neckless hemisphere, with two glowing
eyes of the same green shade Robo had possessed as a girl, and a
large mouth. There was some sort of cylinder mounted horizontally
on his back.
   The robot stretched. The metal skin of his torso split into
two sections, and slid apart with a pneumatic hiss, revealing a
small, glowing green sphere surrounded by circuitry, gears, and
other bits of Robo's internal workings. Having vented the excess
steam, Robo closed his shell again and observed the shocked look
on Ryoga's face. "What is the matter?" he asked.
   "Y-you're a machine!" Ryoga accused.
   The robot seemed puzzled. "Well, yes, of course. Did you not
know?" Robo thought for a moment. "It seems not. Memory banks,
though erratic for the period of time spent as a human, indicate
that the actual nature of my true form never came up. I
apologize, friend Ryoga, for any discomfort I have caused you."
   Ryoga, recovering from the initial shock, realized that many
of the things Robo had said now made sense. His other names, his
claim not to wear clothes, his perfect memory... He looked at
Robo in wonder. "I didn't know that Jusenkyo changed machines,"
he admitted.
   "Doubtless, it does not change most machines. But unlike most
machines, I am alive. The magic of Jusenkyo probably affects all
living things, rather than just organic life forms."
   "Alive?" Ryoga asked, doubtfully.
   "I am an artificial intelligence, and I am no less and no more
alive than you, or anyone else." Robo seemed somewhat miffed at
Ryoga's doubtful expression.
   "I suppose," conceded Ryoga.
   Robo thought carefully for a moment. "My internal compass
indicates that north is...that way!" Robo pointed north. "That
means that we should go east, in order to reach the coast." Robo
triumphantly pointed east.
   "Great!" exclaimed Ryoga, and promptly started off in a
southwesterly direction.
   "Er, where are you going, Ryoga?" asked Robo.
   "East," Ryoga responded.
   "But east is that way," corrected Robo, pointing again.
   "Er, of course," said Ryoga, and headed north.
   Robo sighed, "Ryoga, perhaps you should follow me."
   Ryoga once again cursed his poor sense of direction, and
followed Robo.

Chapter 4: Time Out

   At the Tendo home, a week passed, more or less uneventfully.
Marle and Crono, at Lucca's insistence, went to school every day,
in an attempt to learn as much as they could about this new world
that they found themselves in. They learned a little, but mostly
they learned how irritating it was to have to stand in a hall
while holding loaded water buckets. Crono was given several
opportunities to practice his fighting techniques on Kunou, who
seemed totally unwilling to forgive or forget his original brush
with lightning.
   One situation that amused Ranma and Shampoo to no end began
when Akane and Crono took Lucca to the Neko Hanten. Lucca took
one look at Mousse, and instantly became infatuated with him.
Soon, to Mousse's great discomfort, Lucca was hanging onto him in
much the same manner that Shampoo grappled Ranma.
   Shampoo took vicious joy in taunting him about this. "Shampoo
thought Mousse only faithful to Shampoo!" she mocked him, as
Lucca tightened her embrace.
   "No, dearest Shampoo!" he exclaimed in horror, as he attempted
unsuccessfully to pry the love-stricken young inventor off. "It's
not what it looks like!"
   "What it supposed look like, then?" Shampoo asked sweetly.
   "Um...er," stuttered Mousse. He had managed to push Lucca off
for a moment, but like a magnet, she had wrapped herself around
his left leg.
   "Oh, what a hunk!" she crooned.
   "Aughh!" screamed Mousse in horror, and abruptly pulled his
leg free. He ran out of the shop, and down the street.
   "Come back, Moosey!" Lucca exclaimed and took off after him.
   "Good riddance," exclaimed Shampoo happily. "Stupid Mousse
gone. Maybe Lucca make good wife for him, so he leave Shampoo
alone."
   For the next several days, whenever she wasn't tinkering with
the Epoch, Lucca was thinking about Mousse, talking about Mousse,
or stalking Mousse. "Did you know that Mousse is a master of
hidden weapons?" she asked Ranma dreamily one day.
   "Yeah," said Ranma, wincing. He had more than once been on the
receiving end of those hidden weapons.
   "I'm gonna make some for him!" proclaimed Lucca, suddenly.
"Maybe then he'll stop running from me!"
   "Er, is that really necessary?" asked Ranma, knowing full well
who would most likely be the test subject for any new weapons
Mousse came to be in possession of.
   "Yeah! That's what I'll do," Lucca continued, ignoring Ranma.
"I bet I can make new weapons ten times as painful as the ones he
has now! This'll be fun!"
   Lucca ran off to get her tools, leaving Ranma with visions of
hidden horrors emerging from Mousse's sleeves. Still, Ranma
couldn't help but to pity Mousse some. Ranma knew very well what
it was like to have unwanted suitors. Then Ranma's expression
hardened. It served Mousse right, after all the torment he put
Ranma through just because Shampoo had decided to make Ranma her
husband! Mousse was welcome to Shampoo, for all Ranma cared!
   Ranma walked through the Tendo living room, trying hard to
ignore the hooks, chains, barbs, blades, and bludgeons that a
cheerfully whistling Lucca was fiddling with. Suddenly, she
stopped whistling, and said, "Hey, look." Ranma, who was at the
staircase, stopped. He didn't really want to see, but turned
anyway. To his surprise, Lucca wasn't holding up a vile weapon.
She was holding a short rod with a spherical end. The end was
blinking rapidly with a yellow light.
   "What's that?" asked Ranma curiously.
   "It's my Gate key," Lucca answered, distractedly. "It seems to
be indicating that a time Gate has opened up in the area."
   "A time Gate?" repeated Ranma excitedly.
   "We have to investigate," said Lucca. "Where's Crono and
Marle?"
   "Crono and Akane are at Ucchan's," said Ranma resentfully. "I
think he spends a little too much time with Akane."
   Lucca noted Ranma's discontent and laughed. "Don't be jealous,
Ranma! I'm pretty sure Marle and Crono are destined for one
another. He and Akane are just friends."
   "What? Me, jealous of that violent tomboy?" Ranma asked
incredulously. Still, he relaxed slightly.
* * * * * *
   The two of them found Marle, and soon Ranma and Marle were
following Lucca, who, in turn, was being guided by the key. After
a few minutes of walking, Lucca stopped. She frowned and shook
the key. "It's stopped," she said. "The Gate must have
disappeared. Still, let's keep walking. Something might have come
through while the Gate was open."
   Soon they began to hear voices arguing, one high-pitched and
whiny, the other low and guttural, with an odd accent. "Release
th' Masamune, Madame!" the low voice demanded. "'Tis not a
plaything!"
   "Let go of Pierre!" insisted the higher voice.
   Even before they appeared on the scene, Marle and Lucca
recognized one of the voices with joy. "It's Frog!" they
exclaimed.
   Ranma, for his part, recognized the other voice with
irritation. "It's Asuza," Ranma groaned.
   Soon, the three could see the odd scene. A cute young brown-
haired woman with a pink hair bow, and a froglike creature
dressed in medieval clothing with a flowing cape, each had a firm
grasp on the hilt of an impressive broadsword. The sword was at
least a meter in length, with a broad, flat blade that almost
seemed to glow with an inner light.
   Then, with a sudden pull, the young woman, who was apparently
much stronger than she looked, ripped the mighty blade out of the
frog-creature's grasp, causing the creature to take a tumble.
Asuza gathered the broadsword to her chest, and cuddled it,
crooning, "Pierre! Pierre!"
   Oddly, one could almost imagine hearing a voice from the sword
saying, "This is most embarrassing, Mune."
   Or just as oddly, a response, "Too true, Masa. Do you think
she is strong enough to use us?"
   "Not a chance, my brother," replied the first.
   "Then we must wait. We are good at waiting."
   "MADAME!" exclaimed the creature, standing again. "I am afraid
that I must insist-" Then he noticed Lucca and Marle. "By Lavos,
how glad I am to see thee!" suddenly remembering his station, he
bowed deeply to Marle. "Your highness!"
   Marle giggled, "C'mon Frog, you don't need to be so formal
with me. Just call me Marle, as always. Now, what is going on?"
   "Of course, Marle. In truth, I am uncertain as to what hath
transpired. I was patrolling the environs of Guardia Castle, when
a Gate appeared before me without warning. I found myself here,
though whither or when here be, I cannot guess. Before I couldst
recover my bearings, the Gate vanished once more, leaving me
stranded. I was then startled by a noise, and drew mine blade
without thought. The noise was caused by yon damsel, who, upon
seeing the Masamune thus drawn, shouted 'Pierre', and seized it.
She will not listen to reason, and-"
   Suddenly, Asuza shouted "Oh, how cute! Jacques!" and dropped
the Masamune. The sword landed point first and easily sank into
the concrete up to the hilt. With great speed, Asuza leapt over
to where Lucca was standing, and snatched the Gate key from her.
   "Hey!" shouted Lucca, shocked at the brazen theft. Frog, for
his part, wasted no time in making his way over to where the
Masamune was buried to the hilt in concrete. He pulled it easily
free. As he sheathed the great sword, one could almost hear a
twin sigh of relief coming from the blade.
   "Jacques!" cooed Asuza, cuddling the uncuddly object.
   "Who is that?" Marle demanded of Ranma.
   "She's a member of a local championship Martial Arts Figure
Skating team called the Golden Pair of Kolkhoz High," answered
Ranma. "She's obsessed with anything she considers cute. If she
sees something cute, then she gives it a French name and claims
it for her own. Her name is-"
   Suddenly, a voice snapped, "ASUZA!"
   Asuza immediately stiffened in irritation. Without warning, an
arm plucked the Gate key out of her loosened grasp. "Hey!" she
exclaimed.
   The arm was attached to a tall, handsome, well-dressed young
man. "You really have to pardon my partner, my lovely ladies," he
said gallantly to Lucca and Marle. "She does tend to get a bit
carried away at times." The partner in question was repeatedly
lunging for the key, which the young man deftly kept out of her
grasp. It was evidently something he had done before.
   'Lovely ladies', thought Lucca, flattered, 'Is he talking to
me?' Marle, for her part, just looked suspicious.
   "Leave them alone, Mikado. They're with me," said Ranma, eyes
blazing with hatred. Marle vaguely recalled Akane mentioning
Mikado as one of Ranma's 'suitors'.
   Mikado frowned, "Oh, it's you. Ouch!" Asuza had chosen that
moment to change tactics. She kicked Mikado hard in the shin,
causing him to drop the Gate key, which she immediately
recovered.
   "Jacques!" she yelped happily.
   Mikado glared at her. "Cut that out!" Then he turned back to
Ranma. "Well, any friends of yours are no friends of mine, no
matter how lovely. If they want that thing back, they'll have to
challenge:" he struck a pose. After a tense moment, he kicked a
distracted Asuza, who finally also struck a pose, "The Golden
Pair!"
   "No problem," snorted Ranma. "I beat you once, and I can do it
again."
   "No!" shouted Marle. "I have had ENOUGH. First Shampoo, then
Kunou, and now you! Is everyone here bent on ruining our stay?
Fine! I'll challenge you!" She grabbed Frog. "Frog will be my
partner!"
   "Er, milady, please-" stuttered the chivalrous amphibian.
   Marle paid no attention. "Well?" She glowered at the Pair.
   Mikado bowed deeply, and replied, "It will be an honor to meet
you on the icy field of combat," he threw a puzzled glance at
Frog, "even if your choice of partner seems...unusual." He
glanced furtively at Ranma for a moment and then returned his
gaze to the girl. "You can...skate, can't you? Our last opponents
couldn't."
   "Hey-"
   Marle cut off Ranma's protest and gazed at Mikado frostily. "I
do ice," she said coldly.
   "Excellent," Mikado beamed. "Here are the terms. If you win, I
liberate your trinket from Asuza, and prevent any further thefts
against you and your friends. If I win," he flashed them a
brilliant smile, "then you will be my escort for an evening of my
choosing."
   "Your highness! I cannot allow-" started Frog.
   "I accept your terms," interrupted Marle with a chilling
smile. "Just tell me when, and where."
   "As for the when, let us meet at four o'clock tomorrow." He
pointed at Ranma. "He can show you the where. Ta!"
   The handsome skater and his partner left, he running a comb
through his hair, and she making cute noises at her new
acquisition. Frog cleared his throat loudly, which (his being a
frog and all) was enough to gain the attention of all still
present. He fumed, "Milady Marle, I must inform you that many a
year has passed since I have partaken to set foot to ice, and I
was e'en then no adept. If thee were possessed of skill enough
for two, still would we lose! Further, that fellow seemed of a
most ill character, and certainly not a one with whom a lady of
your standing should dally!"
   Marle, who had evidently calmed down a great deal, said, "It's
sweet of you to be concerned, Frog, but we aren't going to lose.
Just leave it up to me. Now, we have to see about getting some
skates."
   Frog shook his head. "'Tis madness!" he muttered. Then he
realized that there was an ally that he had not met before. He
bowed to Ranma with a flourish. "Please forgive my rudeness," he
said, "but I had not the chance to properly introduce myself. I
am called Frog. Though Glenn be my true name, I have gone by the
moniker for so long that I find it comfortable, much like a well-
worn shoe. I am a knight in good standing of the Knights of the
Square Table of Guardia, and am the personal guardian of her
Highness, the most royal Queen Leene. I would be honored to know
thy name, thou who hast earned the friendship of my dear friends
Lucca and Marle."
   Ranma, more than a little overwhelmed by the elegant manner of
speech used by the green-skinned knight, proceeded to plant his
foot firmly in his mouth, "Um, my name is Ranma. Er, the name
Frog suits you."
   Marle and Lucca rolled their eyes, and Ranma turned red.
Fortunately, Frog seemed not at all offended. He laughed, and
patted Ranma's back. "Indeed it does. Fear not, lad! When one
bears a form such as mine, one learns to put little stock in
first impressions. Now, Sir Ranma, ladies, let us go forthwith to
purchase ice skates. I shall require practice for the coming
competition, lest I fall on mine face the moment mine skate
toucheth ice."
* * * * * *
   While the four were shopping for skates, Frog gathered a lot
of stares from passers-by. But Frog's charming and eloquent
manner of speech endeared him to the salespeople he interacted
with, and soon they managed to make a decent purchase on two
pairs of fine ice skates. Skates in hand, the four decided to
return to the Tendo household for dinner before beginning Frog's
training, to see if Crono and Akane had returned. "Indeed, I
should like to see Sir Crono once again," Frog agreed.
   Akane and Crono had returned, and Frog was introduced to Genma
and the Tendo's. Frog bowed deeply, and spoke to Soun, "Truly
thou art blest to have three such visions of beauty as thy
daughters." Soun began to sob with joy at Frog's compliment.
Akane and Kasumi both blushed, and even Nabiki's cynical
expression softened for a moment.
   "He CAN'T be talking about Akane," muttered Ranma loudly.
   Akane's face darkened. "Ranma...you...IDIOT!" she screamed,
pounding Ranma.
   Frog was astounded at the violence. "Lady Akane, perhaps Sir
Ranma was o'er hasty of tongue, but was that truly necessary?"
   "Yes," she answered shortly.
   Crono told Frog not to worry, as that sort of behavior was
common in the Tendo household. "I see," responded Frog, as he
watched Marle heal the crushed Ranma. "Methinks 'twould be best
for one not to anger her unduly..." Crono, Marle and Lucca nodded
their agreement.
   Over dinner (cooked by Kasumi that night, and so earning
complements from all present), they discussed the day's
activities, and the coming competition. At the mention of a
competition, Nabiki the Bookie came to full attention. Where
there are competitions, she thought, there is money to be made!
Best of all, I have an inside source for one of the teams.
   "So, you two are gonna take on the Golden Pair," she asked
Marle, smiling. "They've been beaten before, but believe me, it
wasn't by skill."
   "Was too!" piped up Ranma and Akane in unison.
   "Get real, Ranma, you couldn't even skate," smirked Nabiki.
"If Asuza hadn't taken Mikado down herself, you'd never have
stood a chance!" Ranma glowered, but didn't respond.
   "Can you skate?" Nabiki asked Marle and Frog bluntly.
   Marle nodded, but Frog sadly answered, "Alas, no. Yet Marle
assures me that the competition is but won. Once we have supped,
she and I shall practice together, that I may stand without
falling at the morrow's tournament."
   Hmm, thought Nabiki, so Marle's got something up her sleeve.
That's certainly worth knowing. Either that, or it's just
bravado. Still, bravado, and a lot of luck, carried the day for
Ranma. This should be worth watching! Then she silently
admonished herself. Focus, Nabiki! Don't forget where the real
money is: Lucca's little toy outside. Still, she thought with a
slow smile, It's always best to put your eggs in more than one
basket. "Well, best of luck to you!" she smiled.
   "Mine thanks, milady!" He took another bite of his dinner.
"Truly, Lady Kasumi, thy cooking skill doth rival thy beauty."
   Everyone but Kasumi and Frog winced, knowing quite well what
was going to follow a line like that. "Gee, Akane, I guess you
have something in common with Kasumi after all," said Ranma
innocently.
   Across town, at Ucchan's, Ukyou paused a moment in her cooking
to listen to the shrill, semi-coherent insults that Akane was
unloading onto Ranma, along with who knows what ghastly physical
abuse. Oh, Ran-chan, she thought, why must you taunt her so?
Still, if she hurts you too badly, I'll always be here for you.
Ukyou smiled, and closed her eyes, daydreaming of Ranma kissing
her at their wedding. She sighed, and returned to her work.
* * * * * *
   Later that evening, Frog, Marle, and Akane (Ranma, even after
an Aura shot from Marle, was still out cold), walked to an indoor
ice rink to practice. Frog, as he had predicted, was extremely
clumsy at first. But with perseverance, Akane and Marle soon had
him skating simple figures. This accomplished, Akane explained to
the two just what Martial Arts Figure Skating was, and what they
were to expect from the Golden Pair. "And most of all, remember
that Mikado will put a lot of effort into trying to kiss you,
Marle," Akane concluded.
   "Not whilst I still stand," remarked Frog fiercely.
   "Don't worry, Frog. This is what we're gonna do..."
* * * * * *
   Finally, the hour of the competition arrived. Several familiar
faces were in the audience at Kolkhoz High, including the
Saotome's, the Tendo's, Lucca (clinging to an unwilling Mousse),
Shampoo (clinging to an equally unwilling Ranma), Crono, Ukyou,
and Cologne. Only Nabiki was missing, and Ranma had a good idea
where she was. He disengaged himself from Shampoo and stood up.
   "Where go?" asked a pouting Shampoo.
   "Er, to get some popcorn," said Ranma.
   This seemed to satisfy her, so Ranma quickly made his escape.
He made his way downstairs, where he found several dozen people
crowded around a table waving handfuls of yen in the air. As
Ranma predicted, at the center of all this was Nabiki, taking
bets. "So, what are the odds, Nabiki?" he asked.
   "Oh, hi, Ranma!" she said cheerfully. "The odds are 10 to 1
against Marle and Frog. Even though the Golden Pair lost their
last big match, most people call that a fluke. Especially since
no one really knows what happened. Care to place a bet?"
   Ranma wasn't listening. "Fluke?" he demanded. "It was no
fluke!"
   "Of course not," answered Nabiki in a patronizing tone.
   "I don't have to take this!" exclaimed Ranma, storming out.
Nabiki grinned and returned to her bookkeeping.
   "Where popcorn?" asked Shampoo when Ranma returned.
   "Er, I forgot it," said Ranma, sheepishly.
   "It OK, Shampoo forgive." She leaned close to Ranma."Let
Shampoo show," she whispered, puckering up.
   Akane and Ukyou had had enough. Akane picked up Ranma, Ukyou
grabbed Lucca, and forced them to trade seats. Now Ranma was
sitting by Mousse, and Lucca was sitting by Shampoo. Ukyou and
Akane were satisfied, and Ranma and Mousse were relieved. Shampoo
and Lucca were irritated, and were about to try to reclaim their
respective partners, when the competition finally began. They sat
down again to watch.
   The announcer spoke, "Welcome one and all to the grudge match
of the year! On the west edge of the arena, a team that needs no
introduction: The nearly undefeated Golden Pair of Kolkhoz High!"
A spotlight blinked to life, illuminating Mikado and Asuza. The
audience cheered wildly as Mikado bowed and threw them a kiss,
and Asuza giggled and waved. Asuza, Lucca noted, had her Gate key
on a chain around her neck. "And on the east edge, the
challengers: A previously unknown skating duo who have asked to
be called Princess and Frog!" The spotlight hit Marle and Frog.
The two of them were dressed as usual, but Marle was also wearing
a sparkling, jeweled tiara, and Frog was wearing an elegant
feathered cap. Again the crowd cheered, but with a note of
curiosity. Remarks on Frog's life-like costume could be heard, as
well as estimations of their skill. On the ice, Marle and Frog
bowed as one, she grinning and he doffing his cap. "And let the
show begin!"
   At that signal, the Golden Pair started down the ice toward
the two challengers. Marle and Frog moved out halfway to meet
them, and stopped. Frog menacingly drew his Masamune, drawing
gasps from all the audience.
   "Pierre!" shouted Asuza happily at the sight of the drawn
blade. "I want Pierre!"
   Irritated, Mikado shook the girl. "You can have it when we
win! Now, concentrate!" The two of them increased speed toward
the waiting team.
   Then, without warning, Marle and Frog began to skate away from
the oncoming Pair. Frog abruptly stabbed his sword into the ice,
the blade slicing easily through the frozen surface into the
water below. He held onto the great sword with one hand and Marle
with the other, so that as Marle pulled him along, the two of
them left a cut behind them. They circled around the now wary
Golden Pair. As they completed the circle, the liberated ice sank
under the weight of the Golden Pair, who momentarily lost
balance. Quickly they recovered, and leapt to more sturdy
footing. The unstable ice floe bobbed a little before returning
to rest.
   "A stunning maneuver on the part of Princess and Frog!"
enthused the announcer. "But will it be enough to stop the Golden
Pair?"
   Marle continued to criss-cross the rink, leaving the ice
shattered and loose behind them. Unfortunately, as they reached
the other side of the rink, Mikado and Asuza finally caught up to
them. Asuza lunged, and managed to grab onto Marle. Then she and
Mikado shouted, "Couple Cleaver!"
   "Ooh, bad news, folks!" said the announcer. "It looks like the
Golden Pair is using their dreaded Couple Cleaver technique! Only
one couple has ever been able to hang together in the face of
this terrible maneuver!"
   Mikado and Asuza began to spin around, swinging Frog and Marle
faster and faster. Akane had explained this technique as a
maneuver designed to incapacitate one or both of the opponents.
Mikado would spin in place, while the centrifugal force lifted
Asuza and the two opponents into the air. As Mikado spun faster
and faster, the opponents would have a choice: hang onto one
another until both were flung away by the building force, or let
go, sacrificing one while leaving the other intact. Fortunately,
Marle and Frog had prepared for this. Marle shouted, "Quickly,
Frog! Plan B!" Frog quickly sheathed his sword and turned his
head to look at Asuza. He opened his mouth, and his long, red
tongue flew out to wrap around Asuza's waist.
   "Ewww, yuck!" shrieked Asuza, nearly losing her grip on Marle.
Then she recovered her hold. The four of them continued spinning,
faster and faster. Marle gritted her teeth, and tightened her
deteriorating grip on Frog. She looked over to Asuza and saw a
most welcome sight. As Marle had planned, Frog's added anchor had
made it much more difficult for the Golden Pair to rip them
apart. Asuza was being pulled from Mikado by the same forces that
were trying to pull Frog from her.
   Mikado, straining under the effort of holding onto Asuza,
suddenly became aware that their technique was backfiring. Nearly
panicking, he ceased his spin and lowered Asuza to the ground.
Asuza released Marle, and Frog wasted no time in releasing Asuza.
The two teams coasted apart. "Unbelievable!" the frenzied
announcer shouted. "The dreaded Couple Cleaver has actually been
countered! What a night this is turning out to be!"
   Mikado and Asuza came to a halt near the edge of one of Frog's
Masamune cuts, while Frog and Marle ended up near the side of the
rink. Frog and Marle were obviously exhausted. Mikado saw this
quite clearly, and although he and his partner were a little
tired themselves (not to mention more than a little unnerved by
the defeat of their master technique), he spoke confidently as he
announced, "You might as well concede! You may have stopped the
Couple Cleaver, but it is obvious that you will not be able to
keep this up as long as us! I will yet taste your lips, my lovely
princess!"
   Marle glared at him furiously. "Never!" she shouted. She held
her hands out in front of her and closed her eyes. "Ice2," she
chanted. Abruptly, a chilling wind began to blow, rippling
Marle's clothes and hair. There was a bright blue flash, and
Mikado and Asuza looked up just in time to see two multi-ton
chunks of ice fall from the air above them. The ice of the rink,
already weakened by Frog's slicing, snapped easily under the new
weight. Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, the ice
chunks vanished, leaving only the hole in the ice, with a
battered Golden Pair clinging to the edge. The two soggy skaters
pulled themselves back onto the ice where Asuza promptly fainted.
Mikado fell to his knees and looked at Marle in disbelief.
   "Do YOU concede?" Marle asked sweetly. "Or do I have to drop
some more ice on you?"
   "We concede," said Mikado hastily. He removed the makeshift
necklace from around Asuza's neck, and with a shaking hand, held
it out for Marle to take.
   Marle skated over and grabbed the proffered item. "I told
you," she said smugly as she skated away, "I do ice."
   Mikado collapsed, and the announcer announced, "And the
winners are: Princess and Frog!" Marle skated back to Frog, and
the two bowed once more to the cheering audience. A couple of
paramedics skated out to where the Golden Pair lay, and loaded
the two onto a stretcher. Marle and Frog skated triumphantly out
of the arena, where they were met by their friends.
   "That was fantastic!" exclaimed Ranma.
   "You very strong fighters!" said Shampoo with admiration.
   The others had similar sentiments to share, with the exception
of Cologne, who simply stared at Frog and smiled, an expression
which, on her face, was rather unnerving. Eventually, Frog
noticed her attention, and turned to her, "Er, begging your
pardon, madame, but I don't believe I have made thy
acquaintance."
   Cologne cackled and responded, "My name is Cologne. Don't
bother to tell me yours, Glenn, I already know. I must admit, I
am happy to see you."
   "I am afraid that I do not understand," said Frog, bewildered.
   "Don't worry, Frog, you will soon enough. Just let me say,
that you will soon be faced with a test, and that I know you to
be man enough to face it, despite your inhuman form. But for
now..." she whirled suddenly, and rapped Marle and Crono lightly
on the head with her staff. "You two! Do you remember what I told
you to remember?"
   Irritated, the two dutifully repeated the three items. "And
Lucca's already made the gun," said Marle, "but we still don't
understand-"
   Cologne wasn't listening, "You should remember as well, Frog."
   "As you wish," Frog said, glancing at her oddly. Cologne
seemed satisfied.
   After Frog was, somewhat belatedly, introduced to those he had
not yet been introduced, the group waded through legions of well-
wishers, stopping only momentarily to receive a Martial Arts
Figure Skating championship trophy. Finally, they made it
outside, and each started for their respective homes (after
tearful partings for Shampoo and Lucca from Ranma and Mousse).
Before long, Nabiki caught up to Ranma, Crono, and the rest. She
looked very self-satisfied, and her purse was filled to
overflowing with yen.
   "Made a good take, eh Nabiki?" asked Ranma.
   "Of course," she grinned. Playfully, she addressed Frog and
Marle, "You ever think of going professional? I could be your
agent, with proper consulting fees, of course."
   The two weary skaters groaned a heartfelt groan. Frog pleaded,
"Speaketh not such horror!"
   "All I want now is a good, long night's sleep, and to never
have to skate again!" said Marle.
   Nabiki shrugged, "Worth a try."
   And another day ended.

Chapter 5: Time Flies

   "Hooray! It's fixed!" exclaimed Lucca, shutting a panel on the
Epoch with a flourish.
   "Really?" asked Nabiki. "Your jet works now?"
   "Yep!" the young inventor grinned. "All I gotta do now is test
it! I'm gonna go get the others!" Lucca began to run toward the
house. Then she stopped and turned to Nabiki again. "Oh, and
thank-you Nabiki! I never could have finished this fast without
your help! And you didn't even charge me for it!"
   "No problem at all, Lucca," Nabiki answered cheerfully. Lucca
smiled and ran into the house. 'No problem indeed,' thought
Nabiki. 'Now's my chance. After all the work I put into helping
Lucca fix this thing, I'm pretty sure I can get it to work. Fame
and fortune, here I come!'
   Nabiki climbed into the Epoch and glanced at the controls in
front of her. 'Hmm, there are more dials and gauges than I
thought there were. This one's altitude...this one's the
date...aha! The destination dial. Lessee, five years into the
future should give me a good idea where to invest.' She turned
the dial to the appropriate setting, and reached for the ignition
switch.
   Suddenly, Lucca, Marle, Crono, and Frog emerged from the
house, followed by Ranma and Akane. Not wanting to be caught,
Nabiki scrambled into the back, where she hid herself behind the
two rear seats.
   "So that's our plan," said Lucca. "We'll leave Frog here with
you for now, and Marle, Crono, and I will try to return to our
own time. Maybe whatever brought us here will take us back, too.
If it works, we'll return for Frog. Besides, I'll want to see
Mousse again. He's so dreamy..." Lucca stared dreamily off into
space. Ranma began to pantomime gagging, so Akane kicked him,
none too gently. Lucca's mind returned to earth, and she said,
"Let's go. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get back."
   The three of them loaded into the Epoch. 'Uh, oh,' thought
Nabiki, still not making a sound. Lucca turned the ignition. The
Epoch spread its wings, and rose rapidly into the air.
   "Alright, next stop, 1000 A.D." said Lucca, turning the dial.
She apparently didn't notice that the dial had already been
tampered with. "Let's go!" She punched the time travel button,
and the Epoch began accelerating rapidly. The surface of the
planet scrolled by beneath them faster and faster, until there
was a bright flash.
   When the bright light faded, the Epoch automatically slowed to
a halt. Outside, the scene had changed dramatically. Where there
had recently been blue sky and clouds, there was now a bizarre
swirl of colors. Streaks of varying shades of blue and black wove
into and out of each other in a meaningless but mesmerizing
procession.
   "Hey, this looks like the End of Time," exclaimed Marle.
   Lucca frowned. "It certainly does. But Gaspar and his little
way station aren't here, so it can't be our End of Time. What
happened?"
   "I dunno. You sure you got the Epoch fixed?"
   "Of course. Maybe we should try it again." Lucca made sure
that the destination dial was set for 1000 A.D., and started the
Epoch again. Again the acceleration, flash, and deceleration.
When their vision cleared, the scene had not changed.
   "This is most odd," said Lucca. "Let's see if we can get
back." She adjusted the dial to 1995 A.D., and tried again.
Still, they were at the End of Time.
   Worried, Crono asked her what the problem might be. "I'm not
sure. For some reason, we keep getting drawn to the End of Time.
As far as I know, there are really only two reasons that that
could be happening. It could be that there's something stuck in
the destination circuits of the Epoch, but I find that unlikely.
I think I would have noticed while I was making my repairs."
   "What's the other reason?" asked Marle.
   "Well, you remember when we first picked up Robo and walked
through the Gate in Proto Dome?" The two nodded. "Gaspar
explained that trying to travel through time in groups of more
than three strains the space-time continuum, forcing the
travelers to the End of Time. My guess...is that we have a
stowaway."
   As one, the three of them turned around and stared into the
back. Nabiki sat up and looked sheepishly back at them. "Hi," she
said cheerfully.
   "Nabiki!" Lucca exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
   Marle's eyes narrowed. "You knew, didn't you? How did you find
out? What were you going to do with the Epoch?"
   Nabiki feigned innocence. "What? That this is a time machine?
Of course not! And I wasn't going to do anything with it. I was
just...er," the wheels in her mind raced to think of an excuse,
"I was just...looking for one of my earrings, and then I...fell
asleep," she finished lamely. Inwardly, she cringed. 'That was
the worst excuse I've ever heard,' she thought, 'what's wrong
with me today?'
   "You fell asleep," repeated Marle slowly.
   Nabiki belated turned to honesty to try to escape this
predicament in one piece. "Okay, I admit it. I found out you had
a time machine a long time ago. I was just gonna use it to check
up on the stock market a few years down the line! I mean, that
couldn't possibly hurt! I would have had your machine back in no
time."
   Lucca looked heartbroken. "You mean all this time you were
helping me just so you could learn to fly the Epoch?" Lucca
lowered her head. "And I thought it was because you liked my
company."
   Nabiki felt like a real heel. "Look, Lucca, I'm sorry! I
didn't want to hurt anyone, honest! You're a great person. I had
fun helping you, even if I was doing it for an ulterior motive.
You taught me more about electronics and engineering than I would
have learned in a year of classes!" With a small jolt of
surprise, Nabiki realized that she was telling the truth. She had
enjoyed working with Lucca, even if underlying that enjoyment was
a strong current of greed. But then, nearly everything in her
life had that underlying current.
   Lucca brightened. "Really?"
   "Really."
   Crono cleared his throat, and mentioned that, touching as this
scene was, they still needed to work out some way to get back.
"Well, that's simple," said Lucca. "We just need to leave someone
here for now."
   Everyone jerked with surprise. "What?" said Nabiki. "Leave
someone out there?" She looked at the swirling, and not
particularly hospitable-looking, colors that composed the world
around them.
   "I elect Nabiki," said Marle, less easy to forgive and forget
than Lucca.
   "Hey!" Nabiki answered angrily. Then her face softened, "Well,
this is all my fault. But how will I survive out there?"
   "Hang on!" said Lucca. "First of all, survival will be no
problem. In the time that I spent with Gaspar, I learned a lot
about the nature of the End of Time. That stuff out there is raw
possibility. It is extremely sensitive to coherent thought
processes. So basically, when you're standing outside, you can
still breathe, as the stuff responds to your body's basic desire
to live, and by the same token, you never get hungry. Time here
is totally dependent on the occupant, so even though time will
pass for you, you won't really age. At least, I think that's how
it works. Gaspar was truly brilliant, and much of what he said
was beyond me. With practice, he was able to make the End of Time
respond to his will, and that's how he was able to construct his
way station. But since no one here has had any practice with
that, the greatest threat will be boredom. Which brings me to my
next point. Who should remain?"
   "Really, I will," insisted Nabiki. "I owe you for what I did
to you, and if there's one thing that I hate it's an unpaid
debt."
   "I appreciate your sincerity, Nabiki," smiled Lucca, "but it
just doesn't make sense for you to stay. We should get you back
to your own time first, so that we can come back without you and
finish what we originally intended to try. I can't stay, because
I need to stay with the Epoch, just in case anything goes wrong."
She turned to Marle and Crono. "So it has to be one of you."
   Crono immediately volunteered. "No, I'll stay," argued Marle.
Crono smugly responded that he had volunteered first. Marle
sighed, "Oh, all right. But be careful, Crono! I don't want to
lose you again." Crono laughed, and asked Marle what could
possibly happen to him out there.
   Lucca opened the cockpit, and Crono climbed out. With
surprise, he noted that it felt like he was standing on a
surface. Lucca shrugged and answered, "Why not?" Crono shrugged
as well, and walked a good distance away so that they could take
off.
   Nabiki settled into Crono's vacated seat, and tried to ignore
the cold stare Marle was giving her. Lucca adjusted the
destination dial, and soon the Epoch was underway. Nabiki looked
out the window to see Crono waving a farewell. She tried to
ignore the cold lump of guilt she felt in her stomach. Why was
this bothering her so? She had tricked people before. But this
time, she had deliberately deceived...a friend? It dawned on her.
She considered Lucca a friend. She had cultivated her friendship,
and then betrayed it for money. And now, one of her friend's best
friends was paying the price for her treachery. Nabiki sighed.
People with her tendencies generally had few good friends, and
tended to lose the ones that they had. And for good reason.
'Well, not this time,' Nabiki resolved. 'I will not betray Lucca
again, and I will try to make amends for what I have done.
Sheesh, how corny,' she thought. 'But I mean it.' The lump of
guilt slowly faded, and was replaced by determination.
   The familiar flash of light appeared, and the Epoch slowed to
a halt. Nabiki and the others stared out of the cockpit. They
could see a blackened, charred landscape. There were huge crater
marks as far as the eye could see. What buildings they could see
were mere shells, devoid of life. "This isn't Nerima," stated
Nabiki tonelessly.
   "No," whispered Lucca hoarsely. "Not again. Not here."
   "It's Lavos, isn't it," asked a wide-eyed Marle. "But how? We
killed it!"
   "No, no, no," said Lucca absently, eyes still fixed on the
landscape before them. "We killed ONE Lavos. But that Lavos came
from somewhere else. It would seem obvious that there would have
to be others of its kind."
   Their panic was beginning to spread to Nabiki. "What are you
saying? What's a Lavos? And WHERE IS NERIMA?"
   Lucca turned a haunted look on her. "Nabiki, a Lavos is a
member of a race of interstellar parasites who burrow into a
planet and lay dormant until an intelligent race evolves. While
it waits, it studies the other evolving life-forms of the planet,
selecting samples of DNA from the most vigorous and viable life-
forms, and modifying its own DNA accordingly. Once it feels that
it has evolved itself enough, it emerges from its resting place,
wipes out most of the life on the planet, and begins to spawn.
These spawn are launched into space, where each finds a new
planet to inhabit. Basically, this IS Nerima. Your planet has
been destroyed by Lavos."
   Nabiki paled. "Now? All this happened while we were gone?"
   "She's right, Lucca," said Marle. "There's no way Lavos could
have done all this already. We've only been gone a half hour or
so. What does the clock say?"
   Lucca glanced at the chronometer. It was off. She tapped it a
few times, and it flickered but remained off. "That's odd. It
seems to be busted." She looked at the destination dial. "But
according to the dial, we should be in 1995 A.D."
   Abruptly, the Epoch lurched. Smoke began to rise from the
control panel. "Er, I think something's wrong," said Lucca. "I'm
gonna set down for repairs." Marle and Nabiki put up no argument.
There was another lurch, and the engines cut off. "Uh, oh," said
Lucca. The Epoch began to fall. Lucca, sweating profusely, began
to poke at various controls. There was no response. "Brace
yourselves people," said a pale Lucca. "I think this is going to
hurt. A lot." Marle and Nabiki began to scream. Lucca pounded the
controls in frustration. Then, blue electricity crackled across
the control panel, and the engines turned on again.
   But it was too little, too late. The Epoch slammed into the
ground, its fall softened only slightly by the engines. A few
minutes later, Lucca came to. She was conscious of a sharp pain
in her shoulder. Probably broken, she thought. She felt moisture
on her chin, and wiped it with her hand. Blood, she noted. She
had bitten her tongue badly, and was bleeding from her mouth. She
spat out some of the blood, and carefully turned in her seat,
hissing with pain as her shoulder protested. Marle and Nabiki
were both alive, but unconscious. On Nabiki's side, the Epoch's
hull had collapsed inward, and in doing so had bent Nabiki's left
leg to a very uncomfortable looking angle. She also was bleeding
from a cut on her head. Marle had suffered the least. Her only
apparent injury was a huge developing bruise on her right arm,
where she must have smashed it into the side of the Epoch.
   "Marle!" Lucca rasped, spitting out more blood. "Wake up!"
Reaching gingerly with her good arm, she shook Marle slightly.
   Marle groaned and started to sit up. Then she gasped with
pain, and clutched her bruised arm. She opened her eyes, and
whispered, "We're alive?"
   "Yeah," answered Lucca. "Barely."
   "And Nabiki?" she looked at the unconscious girl beside her,
and her eyes widened at the twisted leg. "Ouch. That's gotta
hurt."
   "We could use a little Cure action, Marle," said Lucca. "I
don't think Aura is gonna cut it this time."
   Marle nodded. Suddenly, Nabiki came to. "Oh, my head," she
said. "Did we make it?"
   "Just relax, Beeky," said Lucca soothingly.
   "Huh?" Nabiki opened her eyes and looked at her leg. "You
know," she said in a conversational tone bordering on hysteria,
"I am really, really glad that my leg fell asleep. I'd hate to
know what that feels like."
   "Cure," said Marle. The air sparkled around her, and the
bruise on her arm disappeared, no doubt along with any other
injuries not immediately apparent.
   "Her next," said Lucca.
   "We'd better straighten out that leg first, or it'll heal
badly," responded Marle.
   "I am really, really, really glad I can't feel my leg," Nabiki
babbled. She gritted her teeth, as Lucca and Marle jerked the leg
straight. There was an audible snap as the bones slid back into
place. "I think I felt that," she said faintly.
   "Cure," said Marle. The air shimmered around Nabiki, and the
cut on her head sealed. She flexed her leg experimentally, and
sighed with relief.
   "Thanks, Marle," she said. "Now, help Lucca. She looks pretty
rough, too."
   Lucca diagnosed herself. "My shoulder's broken, but none of
the bones are out of place. So go ahead." Marle repeated her
technique, and Lucca was whole. "I'd better see how bad the
damage is," she said. She popped the cockpit, and the three of
them piled out.
   The air was stale, but not bad considering that there didn't
seem to be any plants left alive to keep the oxygen level up. The
air smelt of ashes, and ozone, and slightly of decay. The Epoch
had landed on one of the charred buildings, scattering burnt
splinters of wood all around. The Epoch itself looked worse than
when Shampoo had rammed it. It was severely bent where it had
struck a stone chimney in the dead building, and there were
pieces of the hull hanging off of it in places. "What could have
gone wrong?" asked Lucca weakly. "Did I really do so bad a repair
job?"
   "No," said Nabiki, near tears, "your work was flawless.
Obviously, the strain of traveling with four people broke
something inside. It's all my fault."
   "And we didn't bother to check at the End of Time," continued
Marle, realizing with horror that Nabiki was correct.
   Lucca shook her head sadly. "This is gonna take at least as
long to fix as before."
   "A week and a half?" demanded Marle. "Poor Crono!"
   "Poor us!" snapped Lucca. "Crono, at least, isn't going to
starve. But we don't have anything to eat. We can't last for more
than a few days without food."
   "You can eat me," said Nabiki meekly.
   Marle rolled her eyes. "Please, Nabiki, it's a little early to
be thinking about cannibalism."
   Nabiki looked irritated. "Look, I'm not usually very generous,
and it takes some getting used to. I would appreciate it if you'd
cut me some slack here."
   "Look," said Lucca, "I'm gonna get to work. Why don't you two
scout around and see if you can find some food. Anything that
might have survived, like canned food."
   Marle and Nabiki nodded and started off. They came to another
burnt-out wreck, and gingerly prodded it to see if it was stable.
It didn't collapse, so the two of them walked in. Almost
immediately, Nabiki tripped over something. She looked at it and
screamed. It was a human skeleton. She scrambled away, only to
collide with a dog skeleton. She jerked back, colliding with a
wall. The wall crumbled slightly, revealing a family of mouse
skeletons. "Can this place get any more depressing?" Nabiki
demanded.
   Marle giggled. "You'll get used to it," she said. "Now, let's
find the kitchen."
   Nabiki nodded, and picked her way gingerly past cat skeletons,
parakeet skeletons, and a bowl full of fish skeletons. She
suppressed a shudder. She continued to hunt, passing an antelope
skeleton, a dolphin skeleton, and a rhinoceros skeleton. "Now
look, this is just getting silly," she muttered. "Where're all
these weird skeletons coming from? This doesn't look like a zoo."
   Then she heard Marle's voice, "Hey, Nabiki, c'mere! I think
I've found the kitchen!" Eagerly, Nabiki followed the sound of
Marle's voice, vaulting a giraffe skeleton on the way.
   She found Marle hunting through some ruined cabinets. Her eye,
trained from years of picking up loose change, caught a glint of
metal, half-buried in ash on the floor. She picked it up. It was
a can, but it looked as if it had been ripped open and licked
clean. "Look, Marle! It looks as though someone, or something,
has already been here."
   The two of them sifted through the ashes for a moment and
found several more ripped cans. "So, there might be something
still alive around here?" Marle wondered aloud. "I don't like
this. We'd better get back to Lucca." Thinking for a moment,
Nabiki grabbed a leg bone from a bear's skeleton to use as a
bludgeon, if necessary. The two of them began to run.
   Halfway back to the Epoch, Nabiki and Marle heard Lucca
scream. They doubled their haste, and soon came upon a fearsome
sight. A bizarre patchwork monster was attacking Lucca, who had
climbed on top of the Epoch to avoid it. The thing had a bear's
arms, with vicious claws. Its body was spider-like, with eight
thin legs supporting it. It had a jackal-like head, complete with
a full complement of fangs, but its eyes were on stalks, like a
snail's.
   "Get away from her!" shouted Nabiki, and then immediately
wished she hadn't. The beast turned toward Nabiki and Marle, and
roared. Nabiki suddenly realized that the bone she was carrying
wasn't going to be of much use against this creature.
   "Oh, great," said Marle, and loaded her crossbow. She fired a
quarrel, which thunked into the monster's side. The monster
roared again, evidently only angered by Marle's attack. "We could
use some help here, Lucca!" urged Marle.
   "Right!" said the flustered inventor. She groped around in her
satchel, and pulled out a gun. She took careful aim. "Take this,
monster!" she yelled and pulled the trigger. A stream of hot
water squirted out from the gun and washed over the creature.
"Oops," said Lucca. "Wrong gun."
   But then, something unexpected happened. As the water made
contact with the beast, it screamed and began to shrink and
change. A few moments later, where the creature had been there
was a tiny squirrel. The crossbow quarrel, which had been a mere
nuisance to the beast, was obviously fatal in the furry little
creature. It twitched a few times and expired.
   Nabiki's eyes widened. "It was cursed! Just like Ranma."
   "Poor thing," said Marle, nudging the dead animal with her
toe.
   "But how could it have gotten all the way here from China?"
Nabiki asked. "It didn't look like it would have been able to
swim that far."
   "Maybe someone brought it here," suggested Lucca. "Do you
think that there are any more creatures like it around?"
   "I sure hope not," shuddered Marle. Then she noticed how dark
it had become. "We're gonna have to find shelter for the night."
   Lucca agreed. "We'll use the Epoch. With the cockpit sealed,
it'd take real muscle to break in, and we'd be sure to notice."
So, the three of them crawled back into the battered time
machine, and fell into a fitful sleep.

Chapter 6: Timeless

   "Well, at least the robe works!" said Ryoga, backing from the
angry blue-haired woman advancing on him.
   "Why did you not warn me about that puddle!?" Robo demanded.
She was wearing a loose white robe, now soggy up to her knees.
Robo took a moment to tighten the cord around her waist, fitting
the robe more closely to her body.
   "I didn't think it was going to be that deep! Besides, why
didn't you see it?"
   "Because I was looking at the map! You were supposed to be
watching where we were going." She grabbed Ryoga by the neck and
began to shake him, "AND NOW WE ARE OUT OF HOT WATER BECAUSE SOME
PIG, WHOSE NAME I WILL NOT MENTION, USED THE REST OF IT UP!!!"
   "Ack!" acked Ryoga, eyes bulging. His face began to turn
purple.
   Robo threw him to the ground in disgust. "You could have told
me, you know. I could have doused you without spilling the rest
on the ground."
   Ryoga rubbed his neck. "Look, we've been through this. I don't
like people to know about my curse! I'm sorry that I lost the
rest of the water, but it was an accident."
   Robo said nothing. She looked at the map again, and started
walking down the road, ignoring him. Guiltily, Ryoga followed.
After walking for an hour or so, Ryoga risked an attempt at
communication. "It's not really that bad, is it? I mean, at least
you're pretty."
   Robo gave him a sardonic look, and he wished that he hadn't
spoken. "You do not know how relieved I am to hear that," she
said ironically. Then her voice returned to its regular calm,
betrayed only by the look of hopeless anger on her face. "I hate
this body, Ryoga. Changing from a human to a pig is nothing
compared to what I go through. This body is so disorganized, both
mentally and physically. Whenever I experience something, there
is no guarantee that I will remember it. The emotions I feel in
this body are ten times what I feel normally. I can actually lose
control, like I did when I grabbed you by the neck." She looked
at her hands. "The sensations that I
feel...touch...taste...sight...are similar to what I felt as a
machine, but confused. When I smell the air, I cannot tell what
it is made of. Only that it smells sweet, or unpleasant, without
knowing why. I do not even want to know what is keeping me
balanced, since I obviously have no internal gyros." She stopped
and turned to Ryoga with tears in her eyes. "Every minute I am in
this body, I am on the brink of terror. I am always afraid that
something will go wrong, and that I will have no idea how to fix
myself. Do you see now why being 'pretty' brings me so little
comfort?"
   Ryoga nodded miserably, uncertain as to how to comfort the
woman. "Worst of all," continued Robo bitterly, "is the knowledge
that humans live such a short lifetime. In this body, I can
expect no more than about eighty more years of life."
   "That seems like a long time," suggested Ryoga.
   "For you, perhaps," smiled Robo without mirth. "But for me, it
is next to nothing."
   "How old are you?" asked Ryoga, curiously.
   "I was active for four hundred years from the time Lucca
reawakened me, and though my memory was damaged, I believe that I
had experienced at least another two centuries of life before
that."
   Ryoga's jaw dropped. "You're over 600 years old? That's older
than Cologne!"
   "As a robot, I could expect several thousand more years of
life, with regular maintenance, before my memory circuits
deteriorated beyond the point of recovery. Every day I spend in
this body, I am losing years of my life."
   Then Ryoga finally saw a way that he could console his
despondent companion. He put his hand on her shoulder. "It
doesn't work that way, Robo. Your cursed form ages at the same
rate as your regular form, not vice-versa. I've spent a lot of
time as a pig, but I've aged normally, despite the fact that pigs
don't live as long. Even if you stay a girl the rest of your
life, you should still live to be several thousand years old."
   Robo looked relieved. "Well, that is something, at least.
Still, I would not relish the thought of spending thousands of
years like this. I intend to return to my normal form as soon as
possible." She looked at the map. "Which should be soon.
According to the map, we are approaching the outskirts of
Nerima."
   "Really?" said Ryoga eagerly. Now that he thought about it,
the area did look kind of familiar. He began to run.
   "Wait!" called Robo. "You had better stay with me! It would
not do for you to get lost again after coming this far!"
   Grudgingly, Ryoga halted and waited for Robo to catch up. The
two of them walked a distance, and finally Nerima came into view.
As they entered the town, Robo's map became useless. It was a
road map, and provided few details about individual towns. In
addition, Robo came to realize that Ryoga would have as little
luck finding his way around in town as he had had in finding the
town at all. So, in spite of Ryoga's grumbling about wasting
time, Robo entered a public phone booth and looked up the Tendo
home. She exited the booth with the address firmly in mind, and
began to follow street signs. Soon, the Tendo property came into
view, and Ryoga, confident that he could find his way to a place
that he could see, broke into a run again, this time with Robo in
tow.
   He burst through the front gates, forgetting to open them
first, and into the Tendo yard. To his joy, the first person he
saw was Akane. "Akane!" he yelled happily. "I'm so glad that
you're all right!"
   "Oh, hello, Ryoga," Akane answered, not looking up. She seemed
very glum.
   "What's the matter? Is it Ranma? I'll kill him for you, if you
want," he offered hopefully, brushing splinters of shattered gate
off of his shoulders.
   Akane smiled at this. "No, it's not Ranma. It's kind of a long
story." She finally looked at him and noticed his partner. "Who's
your friend?"
   "My name is Robo," Robo responded. "Ryoga has told me much
about you."
   "Nothing bad, I hope," Akane smiled. "Robo, huh? That's an
interesting name."
   "So I have been told," answered Robo with a smirk. "Actually,
this is not my true form. I have been cursed by the waters of
Jusenkyo, just like Ry-"
   "Just like Ranma," Ryoga interrupted.
   "Hmmm, I see. I'll get some hot water for you then. I'll be
back in a sec!" Akane walked inside.
   "Please," hissed Ryoga, "I don't want anyone to know about my
curse, Akane least of all!"
   "My apologies. I had forgotten your desire for secrecy. Still,
I have found that it is always for the best to be honest with
those you care about. Should you not tell Akane, if you love her
as much as you claim?"
   Ryoga looked miserable. "I want to, but I can't. If I tell her
then I'll lose her for sure."
   "I do not understand. If she loves you as well, then she
should be tolerant of your curse."
   "It's not that simple. You see, for a while now, Akane has had
a pet pig. Me. Every night that I'm here, I've slept with Akane
as her little P-Chan. If I told her now, then she would be
furious with me."
   Robo nodded, a bit slowly. "Though I am, as yet, not entirely
familiar with human codes of conduct, it would seem that you face
a dilemma. Nevertheless, the longer you wait to tell her, the
worse the outcome will be when she finally finds out."
   "I know!" groaned Ryoga in emotional agony. "But I just
can't."
   Robo changed the subject. "Who, other than myself, knows of
your curse?"
   "Well, Shampoo and her great-grandmother have seen me change,
and Mr. Tendo has, too, but I'm not sure that he believed his
eyes," answered Ryoga. Then Ryoga's eyes narrowed, and his fists
clenched in anger. "And there's the one responsible for my curse,
Ranma."
   "Ranma?" repeated Robo. "The sadistic, arrogant fellow whom
you have told me has made it his mission to keep you and Akane
apart? If he knows, why does he not tell Akane himself?"
   "He's responsible for my curse, and by his warrior's code, he
has to keep my secret. Bastard that he is, he still has a sense
of honor about some things."
   At that moment, the dojo door slid open and Frog and Ranma
emerged. Frog was deep in conversation with Ranma. "An excellent
match, Sir Ranma. Yet thou art still vulnerable to mine Slurp
Cut."
   Defensively, Ranma said, "I'm just not used to an opponent
trying to grab me with their tongue. I'll learn soon enough."
   "Frog!" yelled Robo joyfully, and ran over to the knight. She
grabbed him in a hug. "I am so glad to see you!"
   Strangling in Robo's enthusiastic hug, Robo croaked out,
"Please desist! Thou art squeezing th' very breath from me!" Robo
put him down. "Now, who might thou be? And how knowest thou mine
name?"
   "Frog, it's me, Robo!"
   Frog's bulging eyes bulged even more. "Surely dost thou jest,
madame?"
   "No, it really is me. Remember when you, Ayla, and I defeated
Dalton on the Epoch, after he had tried to steal it? Remember how
we worked together with Crono to set Cyrus's sprit to rest?"
   "Robo, 'tis you indeed! But thou hast been transformed! And
into a fair maiden at that! What hath transpired?"
   Ryoga and Ranma walked over to the two reunited friends. After
glaring at each other a moment, they turned and began to grill
the two. "So, who's this?" Ryoga asked Robo, indicating Frog, and
Ranma asked Frog, indicating Robo.
   "Indeed, introductions are in order," said Frog. He addressed
Robo, "By your leave?"
   "Certainly, Frog. You have always been better at introductions
than I."
   "Sir Ranma, I wouldst that thou meet mine comrade in arms,
Robo. Though she may not seem it now, she is a great warrior, and
a boon in any battle. On our world, she hailed from the far
future, 2300 A.D., to be precise. Robo, allow me to introduce
Ranma. He is a fighter of great skill, and a man of honor. He
hath done much to help me learn the ways of this world we have
found ourselves in. I have been staying with him, his fiancee,
and their families for several days now. He is afflicted with a
curse that causeth him to assume a feminine form when splashed
with cold water." Robo shook Ranma's hand. Certainly Frog painted
a better picture of Ranma than Ryoga did. And it seemed that
Ranma had the same curse she did. Robo wondered why Ryoga had
failed to mention this.
   Then Frog's words hit home. "Our world? What do you mean,
Frog?"
   Frog sighed. "Lucca couldst better explain. Suffice it to say,
that we have traveled not only to another time, but to another
world, one not unlike our own, but different in many ways."
   "That would explain why so little seems familiar to me." Robo
then realized that it was his turn for introductions. "Ryoga,
this is Frog. He is a knight in his own time, that is, 600 A.D.
He was transformed into a frog-man by a powerful sorcerer, but
the transformation did not make him any less a valiant swordsman.
He has been a good friend and ally. Frog, this is Ryoga. I have
been traveling with him for many days. He is a strong, kind
person, and he was willing to help me in my hour of need." Ryoga
shook Frog's gauntleted hand.
   At that moment, Akane came outside, carrying a teapot of hot
water. "Ah, I see that you've met Frog," she said.
   "We have had a previous acquaintance," said Robo with a wry
grin.
   "Robo is another companion from our world of origin," Frog
explained.
   "And she's already had an encounter with Jusenkyo? What bad
luck. Well, here's that water."
   "One moment, please," requested Robo. She loosened the cord
around her waist. "Proceed."
   Akane poured the water on her, and she returned to her normal
form. Needless to say, Akane and Ranma were surprised to see a
large robot dressed in a white robe standing where the blue-
haired girl had been. "Much better!" Robo exclaimed.
   "You're not human!" Akane and Ranma accused in chorus. Ryoga,
Robo, and Frog sighed, and explained.
   "Weird," commented Ranma, a rather bold statement from one who
had experienced as many things as he had.
   Then Ryoga turned and looked at Frog with pity. "So you're
stuck like that forever?" he asked.
   Frog smiled slightly. "Not forever. Only 'til the death of
Magus, he who enchanted me."
   "Then why don't you find him and kill him?" asked Ryoga.
   "Thou art a bloodthirsty one, in truth," Frog laughed. Then he
sobered, "But I must confess: 'Twas once my intention to kill
Magus at any cost. But, in time, it became necessary to forge an
alliance with the fellow, and as we fought together 'gainst a
greater evil, I came to realize that I had misjudged the man. He
was arrogant and ruthless, true, but also was he courageous, and
even honorable, in his own right. I came to learn of his past,
and the events that had turned him onto the path that he walked,
and my hatred turned to respect, and to pity. I would not kill
him now if I had the chance--and he would, I dare say, judge me a
fool for my sentimentality."
   Ryoga was impressed. He slapped his fist into his palm and
said, "I don't see how you can say that. If someone had put a
curse on me like that-" he abruptly threw Ranma a withering
glance, "-I wouldn't rest until I had my revenge." Ranma scowled
back at him, but said nothing.
   "Rest easy, I do not like the man," Frog responded. "Magus
hath taken great pains to remain unlikable. I do still find
myself wishing, from time to time, that he had not so vilely
enchanted me. But when I think such thoughts, I am reminded of
the advantages that this body has over my old--and these
advantages are many. The disadvantages I have learned to cope
with. I once thought myself an outcast, but 'twas I who had cast
myself out. When I overcame my self-pity, I came to realize that
I was not an object of fear and loathing, as I had once thought.
I was welcome among the people with whom I had formerly lived as
a man, and my Queen once again welcomed my protection. I am happy
now, despite my condition. Vengeance be a pointless, and self-
destructive gesture when the cause becometh acceptable."
   Ryoga didn't respond. His mind whirled with Frog's words.
Could he ever find himself forgiving Ranma? 'Never!' he instantly
answered himself. 'But Ranma had also known what it was to be
cursed,' his mind argued back. 'Yeah, but turning into a girl is
nothing compared to turning into a pig!' Then he remembered
Robo's similar words, "Changing from a human to a pig is nothing
compared to what I go through." 'It could be worse...' Ryoga
thought. 'No! The curse is still his fault. Even aside from the
curse, Ranma still torments Akane, and that's also his fault. And
it's his fault that I'm stuck as Akane's pet instead of her
husband. Everything's his fault, and he must pay!'
   Ranma watched with amusement as Ryoga's face changed from
anger to confusion and back again. He considered taunting him,
but, in a rare bout of good judgement, decided to withhold any
derogatory remarks until they were alone.
   Ryoga changed the subject. "You still haven't told me what's
wrong, Akane. You looked very unhappy when we arrived."
   Akane frowned. "Nabiki's gone. She's been missing for days."
   Ryoga had never cared much for Akane's opportunistic sister,
but he still felt concern on Akane's behalf. "Do you have any
idea what might have happened to her?" he asked.
   "We first thought that she might have left with Crono, Marle,
and Lucca in their time machine," she responded, "but none of
them ever came back."
   Robo broke in, "You mean that there were four of them
traveling in the same time machine?" he asked. "If so, then they
are all in deep trouble. Traveling with more than three people at
a time is very dangerous. It puts a great strain on the space-
time continuum, and probably also on the workings of the Epoch. I
hope that they are all right."
   Robo's dire statements made Akane even more glum, and even
Ranma, who had been trying to hide the worry he had been feeling,
began to look upset. "Is there anything we can do?" Ranma asked.
   Robo shook his head. "We can only wait, and hope for the
best."
   The sky began to darken. Thunder boomed ominously. "We'd
better get inside," noted Ranma.
   "Would you like to stay for dinner, Ryoga?" invited Akane, to
Ranma's irritation. Ryoga nodded gratefully.
   As soon as they had entered the house, rain began to fall. All
of those with Jusenkyo curses, Ryoga in particular, breathed a
sigh of relief. "I hate rain," said Ranma.
   "Well, I suppose we'll have to put you somewhere while you are
staying," said Akane to Robo. "Um, do you...er...sleep?" she
fumbled.
   "I do require an occasional period of dormancy, for purposes
of extensive self-diagnostic, and memory storage and
reorganization. Generally about three hours a day." Then his
glowing green eyes darkened slightly, "Unless, of course, I am in
my human form. Then I require sleep in the same manner as you."
   "Do you need a bed?" Akane asked bluntly.
   "No, my dormancy period can be accomplished in any position,
standing or lying down. I do not need any sort of cushioning."
   "We'll put you in Ranma's room, then," decided Akane.
   "Hey, I've already got Frog and Dad," Ranma protested. "Why
can't he stay in your room?"
   "Well, he's a he." She answered. Then she looked uncertain.
"Aren't you?" she asked the robot.
   "I do think of myself as such," Robo responded.
   "Well, there you go," said Akane triumphantly. "You can just
set him in a corner or something, Ranma. I'm sure he won't be any
trouble."
   Ranma sighed. "C'mon, Robo. I'll show you to my room."
   Ranma and Robo climbed the stairs to the guest bedroom Ranma
shared with his father and Frog. The amphibious knight himself
followed closely, wishing to share private words with his
mechanical ally. Robo looked around the room for a few moments,
and found an unoccupied corner. "This will do nicely," he
announced.
   "Fine, fine," said Ranma, not really caring. Ranma left the
room, leaving Robo and Frog alone.
   Robo sat down and sighed a mechanical sigh. "What happened,
Frog? What are we doing here?"
   "I know not, mine metal friend. As thou hast said, we can but
wait, and hope for the best. Perhaps when our friends return, we
will find the answers." Then he looked concerned. "How art thou
coping with thine own curse? I know from experience the
difficulty in becoming used to a form not thine own."
   Robo nodded. "It is very unpleasant. How can humans stand
being so...awkward?"
   "I daresay we get used to it," Frog responded drily. "I also
would imagine that thou wouldst as well, if thou spent time
enough in thine human form."
   "Now there is an unpleasant prospect," Robo said.
   "I speak in earnest!" insisted Frog. "Thou knowest not how
long thou shalt be cursed, and so long as thou art, thou couldst
become human at any time! Thou shouldst become used to thine
other form, in case something amiss should transpire."
   "I will think about it," Robo muttered.
   Frog was about to continue the argument, when they heard
Akane's voice calling them for dinner. In his robot form, Robo
had no need to eat, but he decided to join them for their
company. The two of them returned downstairs and made their way
to the dining room table. Ranma and Genma were already there, of
course, but Soun and Kasumi soon joined them. Robo was introduced
to those he hadn't previously met.
   Then Ranma's face took a haunted expression. "Where's Akane?"
he asked.
   "She's cooking dinner," Kasumi cheerfully replied.
   Jaws dropped. Ranma shouted, "WHAT?"
   Kasumi nodded. "Nabiki had scheduled to cook tonight as a
project for her Home Economics class. But since she's not here,
Akane volunteered to cook in her place."
   Thinking quickly, Genma grabbed a glass of water and doused
himself with it. The panda then held up a sign reading, [Oops,
guess I'll be eating bamboo tonight.]
   Looking like a hunted animal, Ranma stood and prepared to
flee. "RANMA!" shouted Akane's voice. Ranma stiffened, and
reluctantly sat down. Akane was standing in the doorway, holding
several plates of food. The odor was pleasant, but Ranma knew
better than that.
   "Ahh, so thou art a cook as well?" asked Frog. "I look forward
to sampling thy work."
   "No!" shouted Ranma, panicked. "You'll die!"
   Frog looked at him oddly. Akane glared at him and said, "Shut
up, you idiot. Just because you have no sense of taste doesn't
mean you need to ruin it for the rest of us!" She placed the
deceptively delicious looking meals  onto the table, and began
serving portions.
   "Yeah, Ranma!" agreed Ryoga smugly. "That's no way to talk
about Akane's cooking."
   "Then why don't you eat it!" snapped Ranma.
   "Er," faltered Ryoga, eyeing the food in front of him.
   "Oh, Ryoga! I knew you had better manners than Ranma," beamed
Akane.
   "Er," said Ryoga again. He tentatively took a portion of the
food.
   Suddenly, an alarm began to ring. Robo slapped the food out of
Ryoga's hand onto the floor. "WARNING! WARNING!" Robo announced.
"Sensors indicate that this food is poison! Toxicity measures off
the scale!"
   "What?" asked a startled Akane. "Poison? But this food hasn't
been out of my sight."
   "My sensors do not lie," insisted Robo. "I can detect trace
elements of a large number of neurotoxins and complex biocidal
proteins! Fortunately, the dosages are only enough to cause
severe nausea, but-"
   "There you go, Akane," mocked Ranma, "scientific proof that
you can't cook!"
   "RANMA YOU IDIOT!" screamed a furious Akane, kicking Ranma
through the wall.
   "Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark," said Soun. Genma shuffled
outside to drag the unconscious, and now female, Ranma in from
the rain.
   Robo was talking to a cooling Akane. "So you really just
cooked this?" he asked. Akane nodded miserably. "I am sorry that
I ruined your meal. But this food really is poisoned! It is
incredible that you managed to come up with this virulent a
collection of poisons just by accident! Well, one bad meal is
only a setback."
   "But they're all like this," said Akane, tearfully.
   Robo was surprised. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
"B-but, that is illogical! No one should be able to regularly
cook like this without trying!" Then, he regained his composure.
"Akane, you need to find help." he said seriously. "Find someone
to teach you how to cook without poisoning your own meals."
   Akane merely nodded. She and Robo carefully gathered the
remaining food, and carried it to the kitchen to throw away.
Kasumi proceeded to order some takeout, while Frog began to
converse with Soun about the weather. Unbeknownst to them all,
foreign ears had been privy to the goings on at the Tendo home.
Dressed in a camouflage leotard, Kodachi Kunou had been listening
at the back door to the house.
   'This is perfect!' she thought to herself. 'Finally, I know
why Ranma prefers that tramp Akane over me. Though it's hard to
imagine, Akane is even better at making poisons than I am! She
does it without even trying! Once I learn her secrets, Ranma will
be able to esc