Guyver Ryoga / Ryoga 1/2 : Worlds in Collision
A fanfic about three alternate Ranma 1/2 Universes
by Mark Latus
Part 3 : States of Confusion
Monday Afternoon (Immediately following the disappearance of Ryoga & Nabiki)
- Nerima Restaurant District - Guyver Ryoga timeline
Ranma finished checking the spot Ryoga and Nabiki had been. No trace,
this was very bad. He'd learned the hard way that the best his martial arts
could do was slow down Zoanoids. Without Ryoga and the Guyver unit he'd have
been dead by now. Of course at moments like these he remembered that Kronos
wouldn't have targeted them if it hadn't been for Ryoga. It's fine in the
abstract sense to talk about opposing evil. In the practical sense no one
welcomes monsters kicking in the door and trying to kill you.
There was a strong possibility they were under observation by Kronos. In
which case they had to find cover fast! Before the Zoanoids realized they
didn't have to fear the Guyver anymore. He rejoined Akane and her father,
she had already grasped the situation. With Soun between them they began
trying to merge with the crowd. The disappearance had been silent so there
was a chance Kronos didn't know it had happened.
As unobtrusively as possible they headed for a sidestreet. As Ranma saw
it the dojo was undoubtably being watched so returning there wasn't an
option. Which left the question where could they go? Anyone they asked for
a place to stay would wind up on Kronos's hitlist. Ukyou had never known
what he'd got mixed up in. She'd wound up targeted because of what he might
have told her. Worry later, for now concentrate on getting out of the area
alive.
There weren't many people on this street. That meant less chance there
were Kronos agents among them. On the other hand it meant fewer witnesses to
Zoanoids, Kronos preferred to avoid panicing large crowds. That increased
the chances of things leaking out.
That was when Ranma saw the two large men at the mouth of the street
put a barrier across it. There was a sign on it reading "Street closed for
filming - Toho Movie Corporation". Ranma had to admit that was original. A
passerby stopped in his tracks and walked in front of Ranma. The big man
removed his sunglasses, smiled and said "Showtime!"
His body began to twist and grow. Without hesitation Ranma punched him
in the throat, feeling cartilage break as he crushed the windpipe. The
main weakness Zoanoids had was arrogance. Being so sure of themselves they
took unnecessary risks. They never quite caught on that the transformation
wasn't instantaneous. It left a very brief window of vulnerability, if you
were fast enough to use it.
Ranma grabbed Soun's free arm, Akane held the other. They ran down the
street hauling him with them. Behind them they heard inhuman snarls as the
two barrier guards transformed. Directly behind them a Zoanoid of reptilian
appearance fell to its knees while clutching at its neck. Trying in vain to
draw some air into its lungs. A couple of passing filmstudents critiqued the
death scene as they discussed the rubber monster suit genre. Admittedly
the costumes were good.
A little distance away, at the former sight of the late Ukyou Kuonji's
restaurant, two people appeared. Or the world changed around them, it's all
relative. Nabiki stopped in her attempt to run hearing Ryoga thunder
towards her. She spun back to watch him deal with the Kasumi replicant.
It was gone! Ryoga screeched to a halt, calling her name. Her knight
in really ugly armour. Shaking she reached for him, wrapping her arms around
his torso. He sheathed the sonicswords away as he gently folded his arms
around her. Not being a complete fool he kept the helmet sensors swiveling
around as he scanned for Zoanoids. What he saw amazed him. First the Kasumi
lookalike vanished, now he saw the recreation of Ukyou's restaurant was gone.
Once again it was a halfbuilt coffeeshop. What the hell was going on?
"BASTARDS!" That came from Nabiki. Ryoga looked at the girl in his
arms, really looked at her. She wasn't shaking from fear, she was shaking
from rage. The fury was unmistakable. In an anger choked voice she snarled,
"First those scum kill my sister, then they build a duplicate as some sort of
sick trap." She looked up at him. "They've got to pay for this, for
everything they've done! To hell with this sitting around crap we've got to
take the fight to them!"
Ryoga was a little startled by this mood swing. Not that he didn't feel
the same way but hearing Nabiki talk like this ... It must all have been
festering inside her for a long time. Her injury, Kasumi's death, everyone
else who died senselessly ... On the surface she'd been scared but deep inside
her rage had been building. Enough analysis, there was something she needed
to know.
"They'll pay, I swear it! But first I want you to look behind me."
She tore her gaze away from him and saw the building had changed form,
"What the hell?!"
"I don't know, it's gone just like that ... duplicate out here. No heat
signatures so its empty now. But it was full of civilians and replicants of
you, me and Ukyou."
Before she could ask him to explain they heard the unearthly howling.
Both recognised it. "Zoanoids!"
If they were out in public they must be hunting which meant ... "Akane,
Daddy, Ranma!"
"Shit!" Ryoga turned to go, Nabiki grabbed an arm. "Leave me here and
I doubt I'll be here when you get back."
Without a second's pause he scooped her up in his arms, reduced their
combined weight with the gravity control and, powered by the suit's strength,
leapt in the direction of the noise.
A short distance away Kuno scanned the street in confusion. Saotome had
been right in front of him, then he'd felt that strange disorientation again
and his Ranma had vanished. He couldn't have gone far. That was Kuno heard
the bellowing. It sound very like the demon Saotome had sent to defeat him.
The creature had proven no match for his strength and purity. Particularly
with them backed up by his Guyver armour. In any event if the demons were
around their master must be near. He ran towards the sound at top speed,
scattering pedestrians in his wake. "They're filming all over the place
today", someone commented. "It disrupts business, isn't there some sort of
civic ordanance?"
Meanwhile Ranma, Akane and Soun stood back to back in a rough circle as
they watched the Zoanoids encircling them. There didn't seem to be any way
out of this ring. The few normal people around had run like hell. Which
meant no witnesses, which meant they were all dead. The only thing Ranma
couldn't figure was why the Zoanoids hadn't attacked already.
Something that looked a humanoid spider with horns hissed, "Your buddy
killed a lot of friends of mine. I'm going to enjoy taking you apart."
"Screw that!" It was one of the Ramothis style Zoanoids. "Let's just
kill them and get of here before the Guyver shows up again."
"I'm with Charbis, we owe these kids a lot of pain."
"Maybe, but we still don't know what happened to the Guyver. Orders say
kill them so let's do that."
While the Zoanoids argued if they should die fast or slow Ranma built
his chi energy. There was one chance he could see, charge one of the
surrounding Zoanoids, hit it with Mouko Takabishya at close range and blast
it out of the way, then run through the gap. Not much of a plan admittedly.
From a vantage point Garvel watched his fellow Zoanoids. He hadn't
transformed, his instructions were to watch Kuno and stay human. After Kuno
disappeared he'd begun searching for some trace, thinking that perhaps his
subject had become invisible. That had lead him to this confrontation. For
lack of anything better to do he looked forward to watching some bloodshed.
Even further away the Ryogoid named 207 watched the scene. His senses
had been designed to outperform human limitations. Now he held his battle
systems in readiness as he tried to decide if he should intervene. Normally
Ryogoids don't have much in the way of humanitarian impulses, but this was a
special case. He was programmed with the Emperor's emotional makeup,
including his unrequitted love for Akane Tendo. The woman about to die at the
hands, or whatever, of the Zoanoids. He had the power to save her but should
he? Mission parameters required keeping a low profile. Of course dead
Zoanoids wouldn't be able to say it wasn't the Guyver that ripped them apart.
Still ... Regretfully he safed his offensive systems. The Emperor had been
forced to sacrifice his Akane, he would have to stand by and let this one
die. Cruel necessity.
A Gregore class Zoanoid stepped forward, "Hell with this, I'll finish
this." He lowered his horned head and prepared to charge.
The top of his skull exploded spraying a mixture of brain and bone. He
was dead before he hit the ground.
Everyone looked up to see the Guyver, cradling a girl in his arms,
falling towards them. "Oh shit!", the spider-thing whispered. The Guyver
landed next to his friends, his armoured legs easily absorbing the impact.
He quickly put Nabiki down, stepped in front of her and unsheathed his sonic
swords. Then he got to work.
Watching the carnage unfold Garvel was very glad he hadn't joined his
comrades. He unclipped his communicator and reported in. He wasn't alone,
several of the Zoanoids were screaming into there comm. links begging for
backup. Leaving Garvel's report buried under the hysteria. At Tempus the
monitoring section was trying (and failing) to put together a coherent picture
of what was happening.
That was when it happened. One of the Ramothis class Zoanoids, wounded
but still alive made a decision. He knew he was dying, holding the belly
wound closed with both hands wasn't enough. He couldn't scratch the Guyver
but he could still hurt him by killing his friends. The Guyver was on the
other side of the square, this was the only chance he'd get. Holding his
intestines in with one paw he raised the other to strike and charged the
humans. The younger girl was nearest to him, she'd die first.
Akane saw the Zoanoid barreling towards her and screamed. Ryoga turned
towards the sound, in time to see the claws slashing down. "AKANE!"
Ranma was throwing himself in the way but wouldn't reach her in time!
Something took the Zoanoid's arm off along with a good chunk of its
shoulder. The severed arm spun away, no threat to anything. Its scream of
pain ended abruptly when the same something cut its head off.
Ryoga couldn't believe what he was seeing. The color was different and
there were a few design differences but the basic form was unmistakably a
Guyver. It had just killed a Zoanoid so it had to be on their side. Didn't
it? He dispatched the last Zoanoid and headed back fast.
207 watched with interest. It must have been a low power quantum charge
as the dimensional shift had only lasted a few minutes. No wonder the signal
had been too brief to trace. The most interesting thing was the appearance
of another Guyver. Two resonances, two Guyvers. That seemed fairly
conclusive. But why had they been shifted in the first place?
As Ryoga joined the group the other Guyver was telling Akane, "At last
it must be clear to you that destiny would have us together. How else could
I arrive here to save you from the hordes of the dispicable Saotome. But
fear not for his day of reckoning has truly arrived."
The combination of eloquence and arrogance was unmistakable. Still
Ryoga found it hard to believe, "Kuno? You're a Guyver?"
"What! How could you discern my identity so easily?"
"Who else talks like that? Besides these suits don't distort voices
that much."
"You address me with unseemingly familiarity stranger. Though there is
a certain familiarity about your tone."
"I'm Ryoga Hibiki, you moron."
"Hold your tongue. It is unseemingly for such as you to address your
betters ... where did you get that armour? I cannot imagine Kronos allowing
someone of your ilk to join?"
"I found it ... what did you say about Kronos?"
"Enough of this." Kuno took a dramatic stance. "I have vanquished his
demons, let the foul wizard Saotome stand forth."
Akane (along with everyone else) was having a hard time following Kuno's
logic. "What do you think Ranma's done this time?"
"Ahh my one true love, is it possible you do not know that Saotome is
the fiend who unleased these horrors" Kuno waved a hand to indicate the
rapidly disintergrating Zoanoids. "They return to the pit that spawned them
and I shall surely send Ranma to join them."
"Now just a second Kuno", Ranma said as he stepped forward from behind
Soun. Not the smartest thing to do when a man in Guyver armour is talking
about killing you. However Ranma's uncanny luck held, sort of.
"Ah, my pigtailed angel ..."
"What?" Ranma suddenly realized the air was filled with a light spray
of water droplets. In slicing up one of the Zoanoids Ryoga had nicked a fire
hydrant. Enclosed by the armour the water couldn't reach him so his curse
remained inactive. Ranma had no such protection.
Kuno continued, oblivious to the girl before him looking down at her
chest and groaning. "Fear not for this day I shall rescue you from the
monster who holds you captive. All his dark powers shall be helpless before
the righteous fury of the Blue Thunder ... Actually let's change that to the
Black Thunder. For with this magical armour none of his demons shall prevail
against me."
Ranma was getting fed up with Kuno talking about killing him. In
addition to which he now realized he couldn't shut Kuno up with a quick punch
anymore. That suit made him practically invincible. "They aren't demons
they're Zoanoids! I ... Ranma didn't turn 'em loose. They were created by
an organization called Kronos! They used to be human but decided they wanted
power at all costs, even their humanity!"
Kuno held up a hand. "My love, you are confused. Doubtless the fault
of the acursed Saotome. I am part of Kronos and the organization is composed
of others of similar nobility. We are working towards our goal of ... "
Kuno realized he'd never asked what Kronos's ultimate goal was, a definite
oversight. "Well whatever it is be assured it is a pure and noble thing."
Nabiki realized no one was sure how to respond to this. Daddy was out
of it, Ranma and Akane were stunned by Kuno's ignorance, while from Ryoga's
stance he wasn't sure whether or not he should be fighting Kuno.
"How can you work for Kronos and not know what a Zoanoid is?", Ryoga was
asking.
Before he could respond Nabiki cut in. "Kuno didn't you say you were
planning to fight Ranma?"
"Indeed, the coward fled before me but I shall find him."
Before Ranma could explode she said, "Well since he's not here shouldn't
you be looking for him. Otherwise you'll never get those two free of him."
"Indeed, you are correct Nabiki Tendo. But where has the miscreant
gone?"
"Well since you're here it's a good bet he's sneaking into your place to
set a trap."
"The fiend!" Kuno struck another dramatic pose. "His nefarious plan
shall not succeed! I shall return to our mansion and put an end to his
evil." To Akane and Ranma he added, "Do not fear my loves, before this day
ends you shall be free and may show me your gratitude. Farewell!" Kuno
charged away, running at the Guyver's top speed. Which didn't do the pavement
much good.
Garvel made an unobtrusive exit from his vantage point. His brief was
to observe Kuno. While he couldn't match Kuno's speed at least he knew the
black Guyver's destination. He hailed a taxi and gave his directions. As he
settled into the cab's seat he adjusted his communicator for subvocalization
and held it to his throat. It would be best not to delay reporting to the
Director.
At Tempus's monitoring section Dr. Maxwell watched Director Nagaoka
talk to his observer. They still had no clear picture of what had happened.
However it seemed indisputable that the Guyver was back. Two observers had
confirmed Hibiki's disappearance before moving on the other targets. So
what went wrong with the one way displacement? He did have one theory, if it
was right it should save his neck.
In the meantime he eavesdropped on the Director's end of the report.
"Uh huh, so we lost all twelve? And Kuno killed one of them, wonderful.
What's that? Demons? Hmmm. Hold it repeat that last part. Ok his exact
words ... that's interesting. Describe the girls ... uh huh, those two eh."
The Director looked a lot more cheerful. "Fine, keep an eye on Kuno
until further orders. If he slices up this Saotome that's one less for us to
worry about. Nagaoka out." Excellent. He had the key to controlling Kuno.
It would just be a matter of getting Commander Gyro to amend the termination
order.
He saw Maxwell was trying to attract his attention. "Another stroke of
brilliance, Doctor?"
"Possibly. Did Hibiki and Kuno reappear in the same places they
vanished from?"
Nagaoka considered, "We didn't have any observers on the spot but from
the times of their arrival at that little debacle I would guess they'd have
had to be pretty close. Why?"
Maxwell knew he had to sell this, not only was it right but it would
keep him alive. "I realize now the basic flaw in my theory. But it gives us
a way to temporarily neutralize Hibiki without damaging our own Guyver."
"Which is?"
"Time travel!"
"What!" Nagaoka was confused, what the hell was Maxwell talking about?
"It's simple really. I used the creators' displacement system to
teleport the Guyvers. Since I hadn't sent a spacial reentry point I thought
they'd be gone forever. Instead they were merely displaced in time, they
reappeared in the exact same spot a few minutes later."
"Wait a minute, run through that again."
"Teleportation displaces a object in space and time. That would make
sense since it's a offshoot of the aliens faster than light spacedrive
technology. So if you teleport something without a change in position it is
merely displaced in time rather than space. Evidently our teleport signal
was only sufficent to achieve a displacement of a few minutes. Both subjects
went forward in time a short distance. Now with a stronger pulse we could
displace the enemy Guyver forward in time a few hours ..."
Nagaoka broke in, "During which time his friends would be defenceless
and we could surround the place he disappeared from with our most powerful
Zoanoids. Then when he reappears ..."
"We finish him. Apart from a little confusion over what time it is Kuno
will be undamaged."
Nagaoka smiled. "Doctor I think you've just redeemed yourself. Get
back to your lab and figure out how to cause a displacement of several
hours." His voice got a lot colder, "But if you initiate anything without
my approval you are a dead man. Do I make myself clear?"
"Uh yessir. Uhm ... I'll be getting back to my lab then."
He left hurriedly. Nagaoka barely noticed. Yes if Maxwell was right it
would fit in nicely with his plan to control Kuno. He just had to get Gyro's
approval before he moved.
During this time a few other things had been happening. As they watched
Kuno charge away Akane had commented, "I didn't really follow your logic,
Nabiki."
Nabiki snorted, "What logic? That's where you guys were going wrong.
Trying to reason with Kuno is like trying to get a landslide to ignore
gravity. She looked around the street spotting some soaked rags. "Say when
those guys transformed and attacked were they wearing those stupid purple
jumpsuits?"
"No, just regular clothes. Why?" Ranma didn't follow this. Anyway
it would be best to get away from here. Ryoga couldn't deactivate the Guyver
until they were someplace dry.
Nabiki was casting around the alley when she spotted what she was
looking for. "Because if they were in civilian dress, trying to watch us
rather than plan an attack maybe ... ah ha!" She'd found a piece of trouser
containing a pocket. She removed the wallet from the clothing shredded by
its wearers transformation.
"I don't believe it", Ranma whispered, "She's back to normal".
"Two things Ranma!", Nabiki had overheard him. She removed the yen from
the wallet. "First we don't have a regular source of income but we still
have expenses." She began flipping through the wallet, "Second ever since
Happosai blew up Kronos Tokyo (may he rest in peace) we've had no idea where
the Zoanoids are based. We need some sort of clue ... and I think I just
found it." She discarded the wallet, hanging on to the card she'd found.
One side was blue, blank except for a stylized letter T. The other had
a large magnetic strip running down in. "Electronic key maybe ... well what
are you waiting for? Get searching."
They did, quickly locating another three wallets. At which point Nabiki
told them it was time to get clear before people started filtering back. As
they left the wet area Ryoga deactivated the Guyver. It folded back into its
extradimensional pocket. He really hoped Akane wouldn't ask why he hadn't
done it sooner. Nabiki had found out but Akane still didn't know where
P-chan had gone.
"So we came out to grocery shop didn't we? Then let's get going. By
the way Ranma until we've got this Kuno situation sorted out you'd better
stay female."
"When did she become the leader?", Ranma thought. It was a welcome
change from her cringing at everything but what had caused this?
"What happened to you two anyway?"
Ryoga answered, "I'm not sure and I don't want to be overheard. We'll
discuss it when we get back to the dojo."
Meanwhile in another dimension ...
*****************************************************************************
Late Monday Afternoon - Outside Ukyou's Restaurant - Ryoga 1/2 timeline
Ryoga finished nailing his board over the hole in the wall. "Ok, I'm
done."
Ranma put down his hammer, "Me too. Well, it's far from decorative but
it should keep the rain out."
"It's gonna rain?"
"Yep, forecast said light showers tonight." Both boys took an interest
in the weather that sometimes startled their peers. A sideffect of changing
sex every time you get wet.
Ukyou inspected the job. "OK that'll do temporarily, but I can't keep
the restaurant open with a big hole in the women's toilet."
Ryoga made a suggestion, "Nabiki can probably give you the name of a
good contractor. We're always having to hire them at the Dojo."
"By good you mean the one that pays the biggest kickback for the job?"
"That's pure speculation." Acccurate though, he thought.
Ukyou was studying him closely, "So why was your look-a-like trying to
kill us."
"I was wondering that myself", Nabiki added. She had just emerged from
the restaurant with a notepad full of repair estimates.
Ryoga had been thinking a lot about this. He still had no answer. "I
don't know. When I went to that other dimension (which no one believed me
about until half an hour ago) I didn't immediately try to kill my
counterpart. I mean I figured he was an imposter but I didn't try to kill
him on sight. Whereas this guy sees us, yells 'Grover' or whatever, and
tries to kill all three of us."
Nabiki interjected, "Thinking you're an imposter doesn't explain his
trying to kill me and Ukyou."
"Well there was a Nabiki with him so he must have thought you were
another imposter. Ukyou ... I don't know why he tried to kill her."
Ukyou cast her mind back, "He said something to us just before that
armour appeared. What was it? And I think the word was 'Geever'"
"Sounded like 'Guyber' to me"
"Who knows? Anyway the point is none of the Ryogas I met could make
invincible armour appear. Or were that homicidal."
Ukyou flipped the "Closed" sign over and locked the restaurant's door.
"Well I'm closed for repairs, so now what?" She began eyeing Ranma. "So
Akane's avoiding you again?"
"Uh yeah ..." Divert the topic. "So how about we head home and try
and figure this out."
Nabiki shrugged, "We might as well, it is getting towards dinner time."
Ukyou looked enthusiastic, "Dinner with Ran-chan, great."
Akane's gonna love this, Ranma thought.
Ryoga and Nabiki returned to their private speculations. Why would
another Ryoga want to kill them, and why was the other Nabiki terrified of
Kasumi? That last part really didn't make sense.
They started the walk back to the Dojo.
*****************************************************************************
Late Monday Afternoon - En route to the Tendo Dojo - Guyver Ryoga timeline
Unit 207 continued shadowing the teenagers as they returned home. Given
his ultra sensitive senses he was in no danger of coming close enough for
them to realize he was following. He had dispatched 179 to track Kuno,
whatever generated the dimensional shifts was homing in on the Guyver units.
That much was obvious. He knew what was happening, which judging from the
conversation he listened in on they didn't, but not why. Why would Kronos,
assuming it was Kronos, want to send their enemies to another dimension.
Could it be they didn't know it wouldn't be permanent. Did they really think
it was a one way trip?
For that matter why had his own mission been so hurried. Why send the
only five androids immediately available back to this point. The Empire had
time travel, why the hurry. They could have taken a week, a month or a year
to assemble a fully equipped force and send it through. But that hadn't
happened, a few hours after his initial report on this timeline he'd been
rushed back. Why? Had his return somehow started some sort of countdown to
potential disaster? 207 sighed, maybe timetravel was too dangerous to mess
around with. It did seem to make reality a very fragile thing.
Time travel was also on the mind of Director Nagaoka. He had requested
that Commander Gyro join him in the screening room. Gyro had just entered
and seated himself. From the way he looked wasting his time could prove
fatal. Best to start off strong. "Commander Gyro, I have found a way to
control our Mister Kuno."
Gyro was watching him closely, "Interesting. Proceed."
Nagaoka activated the video wall. "First a little background, Sir"
Individual pictures of the Guyver's living associates appeared. "These
people are currently on our termination list. However these two will be
more valuable to us if taken alive."
Two of the pictures expanded. The name under the first read "Akane
Tendo". Gyro studied the second, there were two names under the red haired
girl's picture. They read "Ranko Tendo?" and "Ranma Saotome?"
"Have we determined her identity?", Gyro asked.
"Uh no, sir. She has apparently claimed to be Soun Tendo's niece on
several occassions. However he was an only child so that's obviously false.
The other name doesn't seem to fit. While she bears a definite family
resemblance to the boy of the same name he is also an only child. We have
speculated she might be the illegitimate daughter of the late Genma Tendo.
However we have no proof of this. In any event it's irrelevant."
"Why do you want them alive? Make it good."
Nagaoka cleared his throat. "Well sir, Tatewaki Kuno is obsessed with
these two girls. He would happily do anything for them. So if they were
brainwashed to love him and make a few suggestions to him ..."
"... they would control him and we would control them."
"Yes sir. With the appropriate influence over a long period of time we
can bring him around to our way of thinking. After which we can dispense with
the girls."
"I like that. Change the orders, those two are to be taken alive.
Ranma Saotome, Soun and Nabiki Tendo remain on the kill list." Gyro frowned.
"I want us in control of Kuno as quickly as possible. How are you going to
get past Hibiki in order to grab them."
Nagaoka smiled. "Thanks to Doctor Maxwell's recent blunder we have that
covered. Tonight we'll be able to complete the operation I just outlined
without any interference from the Guyver."
"Hmmm. Very well carry out the operation. Oh and here's a little
friendly encouragement."
"Yes sir."
"Screw up again and I'll kill you both. That'll be all."
Nagaoka left in a slightly better mood. If he could pull this off all
would be forgiven. Of course fail and ... He shuddered. Then headed off to
brief one of the remaining assault teams. They'd be down in the subbasement
that was converted to a bunking area. Tempus hadn't been designed as a
troop site but with Kronos's Tokyo base gone they had to stay somewhere.
*****************************************************************************
Monday Evening - Tendo household - Ryoga 1/2 timeline
Dinner had just concluded. As always Kasumi was clearing away the
dishes and insisting she'd handle the cleanup by herself. This left Ranma,
Ryoga, Ukyou and Nabiki to speculate on the afternoon's events. Akane had
joined the group but clearly thought they were pulling some sort of weird
practical joke. She kept glaring everytime Ukyou got too close to Ranma.
Which was fairly often.
The conversation had switched to the armour the other Ryoga and Kuno had
worn. Ryoga had just thought up a theory. "Maybe it's like all the cartoon
shows where everyone's got some sort of powerarmour. Maybe every martial
artist where they come from has it."
Nabiki was the first to shoot holes in it. "Doesn't fit Ryoga, remember
Ranma and the alternate Kuno?"
Ryoga thought about it. "Oh yeah, you're right."
Ranma didn't get it. "Mind letting me in on the secret."
"Simple. The other Kuno would have thought you were the Ranma of his
world. If every martial artist has powerarmour so would your counterpart.
Meaning Kuno wouldn't have expected you to be surprised by his having it."
Ranma nodded. "OK I follow that. So maybe this armour's rare where
they come from. Very expensive or something."
"So how'd my counterpart get hold of it?"
"He won a lottery or something, who knows? The real question is are
they going to show up again."
"Maybe. After all we don't know how they got here in the first place.
So there's no reason they can't come back."
The room went silent. Ryoga reflected that however true that had been
it was undoubtably the wrong thing to say.
*****************************************************************************
Monday Evening - Tendo household - Guyver Ryoga timeline
Dinner had gone smoothly enough. Fairly plain but Ryoga had never been
much of a cook. He alternated the chore with Ranma. There hadn't been much
choice, Soun and (until very recently) Nabiki were out of it which left them
or Akane. Kronos was the only thing they feared more than Akane's cooking.
Unfortunately they were running out of excuses and she was insisting on being
allowed into the kitchen.
In any event they were currently studying the cards they had found. The
letter looked like a Corporate Logo, tomorrow they'd check at the library and
see if they could identify it. If they could they might well have found the
enemy base. In which case they could take the fight back to Kronos.
Nabiki was recalling the conversation earlier in the evening. Both Akane
and Ranma (still in female form in case Kuno dropped by) had confirmed seeing
them disappear. Which ruined the possibility that they'd had some sort of
shared hallucination.
Then Nabiki had mentioned her own theory, time travel. Somehow they
had slipped back to a time before the Guyver unit. When Ukyou was alive,
she had both eyes and Ryoga was fixated on Akane.
Ryoga had pointed out the main flaw in the theory. He didn't remember
meeting himself, and a Guyver attacking you in a restaurant isn't the kind of
thing you'd forget. So it didn't make sense after all.
It was hard to think, she needed some air. The thought of somehow
returning to a time before everything fell apart was sedutive. She stepped
out into the garden feeling a cooling spray of rain. This cut off as Ryoga
joined her, covering them both with his umbrella.
"You shouldn't wander around alone", he told her.
True enough. She was feeling tired, depression was growing. Say they
found the Kronos base tomorrow what next? Kronos was worldwide, would they
have to destroy every Kronos building in the world before life went back to
normal?
She looked up to see Ryoga studying her. "It's hard work being mad all
the time. Believe me I know."
"I suppose you do. It just seems so ... hopeless."
"I ... I can't deny that. Still you've given them back some hope.
That's something." He waved in the direction of the house and her sister.
Snatching his hand back before it got wet.
Nabiki chuckled. It reminded her of the good old days when Ryoga
thought his curse was a big deal.
Ryoga echoed her laugh. "So think I should tell your sister what
happened to her pet?"
"Not just yet. We don't want you getting killed until after you've
taken out Kronos."
"I've been dead, but I got better." Ryoga shut up suddenly as some very
unpleasant memories surfaced.
He rarely talked about it but Nabiki had always been able to tell that
his death and regeneration had caused him a lot of doubts. He'd once asked
her if she thought he was the real Ryoga regenerated or a copy created by the
Guyver. She'd said something flippant along the lines of "what's the
difference, either way you're an idiot". That was before her own injury,
thinking back on it made her feel ashamed.
He'd saved her life at the cost of her sister's. No. She'd always known
deep inside that Kronos was the one that had really killed Kasumi. They
destroyed her mind, everything that made her who she was. All Ryoga killed
was her body. Ever since then they'd both been walking wounded. He'd been
consumed with hopelessness, she'd been scared of everything. Terrified of
the way things kept getting worse.
Time for a change. Time to do something impulsive.
"Ryoga."
"Yes, Nabiki?"
"Kiss me."
He gaped at her, "What?"
"There's nothing wrong with your hearing." She grabbed the back of his
neck pulling his head towards her. Their lips met and the Earth moved. Or
they moved Earths, it's all relative. From the point of view of any outside
observers they vanished. Across town Tatewaki Kuno also disappeared.
To backtrack a little a few minutes earlier Director Nagaoka had stopped
by Dr. Maxwell's lab. Most of the room was filled with the mass of the alien
device. Like all the creators' technology it looked more like an organism
than a machine. It resembled a grey peach with a skin full of wrinkles. The
skin was penetrated in multiple places by sensors, power cords, digital
readouts, and a variety of other devices. It looked impressive, now assuming
the damn thing worked they were out of the woods.
"Will you be ready by 10 pm, Maxwell?"
Maxwell smirked, "I'm ready now. We've increased the power
geometrically. We should achieve a displacement of at least three hours."
"So you can activate at my command?"
"Absolutely, all I have to do is activate the program by punching this
key ..." Maxwell's voice trailed off as he looked at the keyboard he'd been
gesturing at. Looked like he'd got a little too close, adding a few extra
steps as a safety precaution would have been advisable.
Nagaoka saw the words "Sequence Initiated" flashing on the monitors.
"Shut it down, I'm not ready yet."
"Uh we can't shut it down. If we try to disconnect there's a minor risk
of a feedback effect that could destroy most of the building."
"You didn't mention that before,"
"Well it's minor ..."
"Shut up." The lab was filled with a high pitched humming. Nagaoka
wasn't sure if he could be heard screaming into his communicator, "Scramble
the striketeams, head for the Tendo Dojo. Do it!"
Outside the Tendo Dojo Ryogoid 207 detected a sustained resonance
pulse. 179 reported a second. Unlike the first this was long enough and
powerful enough for all five androids to track.
Contact. They had the point of origin. 207 linked to his brothers.
"541, 673, check it out. 218 begin a worlds circuit, I want to know which
timeline they arrived in. Start at the Tendo Dojo and stay out of sight.
Report back when you have an answer. 179, you and I will hold our positions
for the time being. OK, everyone move."
They moved. Things were getting interesting.
End of part 3
Next in part four - Zoanoids in the dojo, androids in Tempus, and the second
meeting of the Ryogas.
Part 4 - "Let's do the timewarp again"
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