Thanks for all the replies. Here's the revised version.
Changes:
Ranma explains about the curse, including a scene where he and Genma
get it. Minor changes to character descriptions. Akane no longer complains
about Ranma being a pervert, she uses a different complaint. Added an
explanation of some terms.
-----
Wild Boot
by Rarstarr
Reboot and Ranma 1/2 are the property of Mainframe Entertainment and Rumiko
Takahashi respectively and used here (respectfully) without permission.
*****
Part 1: The Sheriff's a w--*dong*!
*****
The city of Mainframe was hard pressed to survive. With the loss of
the sister city, and the attack of the two viruses, cycles were hard. The
Tendos, the last four of the original sprites of Mainframe, tried to keep
the city processing. However it was a steep gradient battle and it was
quickly realised that help was needed from outside the system.
That help was about to arrive.
*****
Nabiki, Indexer of Mainframe and the Tendo second daughter, was a
serious sprite. She always wore a suit that nicely offset her green skin.
Every morning she checked to be sure her bitmap was in perfect order and that
her Icon was in its usual place on her right arm. She was an important person
in Mainframe, her businesses owned most of the property and if she didn't
outright run it, she at least had a major part of the sharing rights.
She was holding a meeting with some of her more important clients, so
was surprised when a vid window popped up beside her. She had altered her
contact status to be unavailable so only two people could contact her and
Kasumi wouldn't unless there was an emergency.
The window showed her father, looking far too pleased with himself.
"Yes father?" Nabiki asked through slitted eyes.
"You must come to the Com room immediately, someone is about to arrive
that I want you to meet!" their father exclaimed.
Nabiki scowled. "I'm too busy processing here to break procedure and
see you father."
"But it is urgent! I have at last found a solution to our problem!"
"Oh, this I must see," Nabiki muttered. She turned to the binomes
around the table before her. "I'm sorry gentlenomes, I must leave, this is
very important." They grumbled and coughed out their agreement. Nabiki turned
back to the vid window. "I'll be there in a nanosecond."
*****
Soun, patriarch of the Tendo clan and Mainframe's Assembler, was a
tall noble looking sprite. Green skinned like his daughters he habitually
wore a gi. He sat at his desk in the Principal Office.
The vid window closed and he immediately accessed another one. It
popped into existence before her, but instead of a sprite or binome, the
words "access denied, file in use" appeared.
"Where is that girl?" Soun muttered.
His oldest daughter, Kasumi, was downloading a readme file at the
filing system. She had a quiet subdued beauty about her. She had spent a lot
of time helping her father run the Principal Office, and it had gotten to the
point where he was doing very little and she was running the system, with the
help of her two sisters. Her icon sat in the centre of her chest.
"Do you mean Akane, father?" Kasumi asked, he voice sweet and soft as
always.
"Yes, I can't seem to contact her."
"Oh, she's in a game cube in sector 100101," the girl sprite informed
him. "She shouldn't take much longer."
"IN A GAME CUBE?!"
*****
The arena was well lit, the audience little more than a filled in
blur. In the centre a pair of one binomes, dressed as referees, pushed a
massive set of weights into position.
In the announcer's box a zero and a one binome sat staring at the down
at the stage.
"Well Jim, the user really stuffed up that one, didn't he?" the one
asked in an excited whisper.
"Yes Al, he did. That leaves the game open to the Mainframe team," the
zero replied.
A sprite stepped out onto the stage. She was greened skinned, like her
sisters and father. The game had outfitted her in a gi, which was fine by
her, she'd been wearing one anyway. Her Icon hung on a chain around her neck.
Her black hair was cut into a boyish trim.
"Folks, it looks like Akane, Mainframe's staunchest defender, is
stepping up to do the snatch and jerk," Jim whispered excitedly.
"You can feel the tension," Al commented quietly.
"Of course, if Akane can do this then the Mainframe team will win the
game," Jim replied quietly.
"Jim, why are we whispering?" Al asked in a whisper.
"I have no idea, Al," Jim replied in an equally quiet voice.
Akane gave the commentator's box an irritated look. How could those
two joke at a time like this? She went back to looking at the barbell. The
user had failed to hold this weight and if she could then the user would
lose, and they wouldn't be nullified.
She stepped forward and dusted her hands off. Squatting down, she
grabbed the bar. Pausing for a few seconds to take a few deep breaths she
jerked the weights up onto her chest. Her face bulged with the effort.
"Oh, that was good, wasn't it Jim?"
"Yes Al, but the User got past this point."
Akane pushed the weight up, holding it above her head. Her face was
starting to darken with the effort.
"Now if she can just hold it, she can beat the User, isn't that right
Al?"
"That's right Jim."
Akane held the weight above her head. She was not going to fail. She
was not. A few nanos passed, then the buzzer sounded and Akane threw the
weights crashing to the ground. The crowd and the binomes cheered.
"Game Over," the calm voice of the computer announced.
The purple floor shot past their heads as the game cube retreated back
into the sky. Immediately a vid window popped open next to Akane.
*****
The four Tendos were standing in a large room in the Principal Office.
A large complex machine involving flashing lights and sparking wires
dominated the room. A pair of large electrodes pointed to a space above a
disc on the floor.
"YOU DECIDED WHAT?!" Akane screeched.
Soun immediately started weeping. "My daughter's yelling at me," he
sobbed.
Kasumi put a comforting arm around him. "She's just upset, daddy. You
really should have asked before forming a permanent linkage with this Ranma
Saotome for one of us."
Soun immediately stopped weeping. "We made the arrangements many
megacycles ago. When Genma contacted me, I saw it as a chance to save
our system."
"He's a Guardian, bet he's handsome," Nabiki mused.
"I hope he has a high version, I prefer older men," Kasumi commented.
"Are you two just going to accept this?!" Akane demanded of her
sister.
"Its for the good of the system Akane," Kasumi pointed out.
Akane fumed. "But --"
"Incoming com signal. Initiating rt/st handshake," the computer
announced with a calm voice and impeccable timing. The lights on the large
machine started flickering. The four Tendos immediately turned as power
started flickering across the electrodes.
Suddenly the lights dimmed. "War-war-warning, power-er-er s-s-surge
detec-tec-tected," the computer announced, its voice warped.
"What the?" Soun cried, cringing back in shock.
"Han-han-handsha-sha-shaking com-complete. Con-con-connection ini-
initiated."
Two beams shot from the electrodes to strike the space above the dish.
A silver sphere formed, but immediately started twisting out of shape.
"Oh dear," cried Kasumi. "If they attempt to come through while the
portal is unstable their data structures will be randomised."
Akane glared at her sister. Somehow the way she said it made it sound
so much less lethal than it was.
Soun dashed over to the control panel and started madly pushing
buttons. "Nothing I do is working, the portal is becoming more unstable by
the second! Someone do something!"
Akane and Nabiki looked at each other helplessly, it wasn't in their
format. Kasumi though knew exactly what to do. Pulling her metal broom out
from behind her back she strode purposely towards the machine. She swung the
broom back and then with an almighty heave struck the machine.
"Power restored. Initiating download," the computer declared as the
lights came back up and the sphere reformed.
Kasumi turned to her family, who were staring at her in open-faced
surprise. She shrugged. "It just needed a woman's touch."
"Download initiated," the computer informed them.
The Tendos turned to watch the surface of the sphere rippled. Imagine
their surprise when the sprite that emerged from the portal was a panda,
carrying another sprite over its shoulder.
"Daddy, who are they?" Kasumi asked.
The Panda dumped the other sprite to its feet. The sprite was a girl,
that much was obvious, about as tall as Akane. Her skin was blue and the hair
on her head was a metallic red. She wore a Guardian uniform with her Icon on
her right breast.
The strange girl sprite stood, one hand scratching the back on her
head. "Hi, ah, I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."
"Daddy," Nabiki commented dryly, "he is a she."
*****
After Ranma's surprising arrival, Akane had invited Ranma to a game of
Blaster Combat in the game simulation room. Blaster Combat was a fairly
simple game, but great for working on game processing timing. The two
combatants were given blasters, which they shot at each other until they hit.
There were various objects to hide behind and when you played it in the game
cube there were various power-ups you could pick up.
Akane was having a surprising hard time trying to hit Ranma. He didn't
fire back, but even her best shots fell short as the girl dodged out of the
way. She paused in firing for a moment, ducking back into shelter. No sounds
came from the other side so Akane leapt out and fired at ... nothing. Ranma
had vanished.
"Where did she go?" Akane wondered aloud. Suddenly she felt someone
tap something on her head.
Looking up she found Ranma lying atop her shelter, lazily point her
gun at Akane. "Zap," she said simply.
Akane glared at Ranma for a few seconds. Then smiled and laughed. "You
were lucky," she accused.
Ranma shrugged and jumped down. "You should move more."
Akane looked at her. "I suppose you're right."
*****
Kasumi poked her head into the room in which Ranma was checking
through a pack of equipment. The younger sprite looked up.
"The static shower is free Ranma," Kasumi announced. "You'd better use
it before it gets taken over again."
"Ah, haha, right, thanks Kasumi," Ranma replied.
*****
Ranma stopped the shower and stood there thinking. He wondered how the
Tendos would process this development. He mulled over his life with his
father, the travelling Guardian inspector. He thought about the accident. He
thought of old friends long gone.
'Well, I suppose I'd better go and face the MIDI,' he thought, pushing
open the shower door, on a rather surprised and naked Akane.
The pair stared at each other for a few seconds. Akane, shaking,
turned, reactivated her clothes and stepped out of the bathroom. Ranma
watched her go, confused.
Outside Akane stood in front of the door for a few seconds. She then
screamed. By the time Nabiki and Kasumi caught up with her she had gone to
the armoury and was staggering through the halls of the Principal office
carrying a bomb ten times her size.
"Ah, Akane, what's that for?" Nabiki asked, eying the bomb warily.
"The pervert in the shower!" Akane snapped.
"Don't you think that's a little, ah, excessive," Nabiki commented.
"That's funny, Ranma was just in the shower," Kasumi commented to
herself.
The clearing of a throat attracted the sisters' attention. They turned
to find a male sprite standing in the corridor. He was blue with black hair,
in the same ponytail style as Ranma. He wore what looked like Ranma's
uniform.
"Ah, I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."
*****
Soun stood behind his desk. Another old sprite, blue like Ranma only
rotund. He too wore a Guardian Uniform. The three Tendo sisters and Ranma
stood in a semicircle around them.
"I'll go over this one more time," Soun told them. "This is my old
friend Genma Saotome," he indicates the large man, "and his son..."
"Ranma Saotome," Ranma finished.
"But, Ranma was a girl," Nabiki commented.
"Ah yes, how to explain," said Genma squeezing the bridge of his nose.
"I know!" He suddenly tosses a small sphere at Ranma. The sphere explodes on
impact, releasing jagged lighting at Ranma.
"And now he's a girl," Kasumi stated, for it was so.
"And I can change back if I process some stable energy, like in the
static shower, or in slow food," Ranma added.
"Ah, good, then the linkage can proceed." Soun steps up and slaps
Ranma on the back. "Ranma my lad, ah lass, these are my three daughters.
Kasumi nineteen megacycles, Nabiki seventeen megacycles, and Akane sixteen
megacycles. Pick one and she and you will be linked."
"Oh, he wants Akane," Kasumi immediately announced.
"Yes, Akane's the one for him," Nabiki added.
"Are you totally random?! Why would I want to marry that corrupted
sprite!" Akane cried.
"Hey! Its not my fault!" Ranma yelled in response.
"It looks like they're well interfaced already," commented Soun in the
background.
"Well who's fault is it then?!" Akane demanded.
"His!" Ranma pointed at his father. All eyes turned towards large
Guardian.
Genma blink a few times, pulled out another sphere and which
detonated, turning him into a panda. A window popped up above him reading
"just a cute cuddly panda." Everyone turned back to Ranma.
"Want to explain this Ranma," Nabiki asked.
Ranma sighed. "It all happened in a system called Jusenkyo. We were
fixing a tear that had gotten lodged in the image archive..."
*****
The white light from the tear cast strange shadows about the large
domed room. All the lights had been powered down and most of the windows were
dull and lifeless. Genma and Ranma were inspecting a tear sitting in the
centre of a clump of windows. Behind them, in the shadows, a pair of sprites
could just be seen working at a series of controls.
"We must be very careful boy," Genma advised. "A mistake here could
damage the archive."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "I know pop, I have fixed tears before."
Genma growled at him and raised his arm to point at the tear. On his
arm is a Guardian key tool. "Patch, fix," he ordered.
The key tool extended its disc, turned it towards the tear, then
morphed into a cone. Gold hoops shot out for the key tool to encircle the
tear.
Ranma raised his arm before him. "Glitch, scanner," he told his own
key tool. The disc expanded to show a number of colour bars. The tear was
slowly shrinking when Glitch started beeping. "Pop, you're going to fast."
Genma snorted. "I know what I'm doing boy."
"I'm serious pop." Ranma was frowning at Glitch, who's beeping was
getting faster.
"Listen--"
The tear exploded. Windows went flying everywhere. One struck Ranma,
knocking him to the ground, a second collided with Genma, two more tumbled
past them into the shadows.
Darkness descended on the room. A pair of glowing white eyes got up
off the floor. "Pop, are you all right?" asked Ranma's female voice. "Hey,
what's wrong with my voice?"
Another pair of eyes raised themselves from the floor. "Grwf?" growled
a strange voice.
"Pop is that you?" Ranma asked again.
The lights came up, revealing Ranma, now female, and a large Panda.
Ranma looked down herself, then over to the panda, then back herself. She
turned away and screams in shock.
*****
"... and ever since then, when there's a power discharge near us we
transform," Ranma finished.
The Tendos all looked scornfully at the "cute cuddly panda".
Ranma grabbed the panda. "Come on pop, lets go change." He dragged his
father from the room.
*****
"Hello, Kasumi?" Ranma stepped into the entry hall of the Principal
Office. A few moments later Kasumi swept into view.
"Oh, hello Ranma, nice to see you again. I'm afraid Akane isn't here
right now." Kasumi gave him her best smile.
Ranma scratched the back of his head. "Aha, yeah, I, ah, didn't come
to see her. Have you seen pop, he said he was visiting your father."
Kasumi frowned. "I haven't seen them in a while. They were near the
com room last time I saw them."
"The com room?!" Ranma cried, and took off at a dash.
Ranma skidded to a halt in the com room. Nothing seemed out of place.
The control panel, the com port, the Pda sitting on the floor...
"Who left that there?" Kasumi asked, pointing at the pda lying on the
ground in front of the dish. Okay, maybe something was out of place.
Ranma strode over and snatched it up. He tapped the scrolled through
the message on its display. As he read his frown deepened to scowl. "That
cowardly old fool! If I ever get my hands on him I'll pull him apart bit by
bit!" he cried to the heavens.
Kasumi at the control panel for the portal generator, looked at him
in shock. "Ranma, what's processing?"
"Our fathers have run off to the supercomputer, leaving us to look
after Mainframe!!"
"Oh, my."
-----
An Explanation of Mainframe Terms
Links, linkage
When you go to compile files you link them together (along with any
libraries). Seeing as in Mainframe they refer to growing up as "Compiling Up"
then if two sprites get together to compile together they are reproducing.
Thus if two sprites are linked permanently they are entering a contract to
reproduce or are getting married.
Note: This is a simplified way of thinking about it.
Assembler
In Reboot Fong is never given a title. Basically the job of the
assembler is to keep the system up and running. The Assembler also cares for
the Mainframe storage vaults.
-Suggested by David Johnston
Indexer
Once simply a formal title held by the Assembler of Mainframe, it was
transferred to Nabiki. She uses the title as leverage. It basically means she
collects, sorts and reviews data, ie controls everything in Mainframe.
-Suggested by David Johnston
Download
To transfer any form of data. Used instead of reading, talk, and even
some form of travel (by the Mainframe computer).
Sharing Rights
The right to use a computer resource owned by someone else. Thus if
you own most of the sharing rights you have most of the control of that
resource.
-----------
Rarstarr,
David Farr
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
djfarr@ihug.co.nz