Ranma: evolution: Let's play Telephone. [Episode 139996]

Lance Alvers sat in a booth by one of Sicero's front windows. He glanced toward the clock on the wall, and shook his head at his own impatience. Reaching down he picked up the cup in front of him and took a quick sip from the straw.

"Hey Lance!" Kitty called as she walked over and slid into the booth opposite him.

"Kitty!" Lance responded with a grin. "Um, what sort of toppings do you want?"

"Oh, their garbage pie will be fine." Kitty said dismissively. "What I'm more interested in . . ."

"Garbage pie it is." Lance said as he rose to his feet. "Oh, and did you want a coke?"

"Diet." Kitty responded with a raised finger. Lance nodded in response and turned to walk to the counter.

---

"Look Toad, you owe me one for that time you stole my image inducer." Kurt declared, pointing to his watch as he sat on the wall of the brotherhood's living room.

"Hey, come on, that trip was a little traumatizing." Todd responded nervously.

"I told you that this big chicken wouldn't have seen anything." Tabitha called to Kurt from where she had dropped onto the half-destroyed sofa.

"Chicken?!" Toad responded angrily. "I'll have you know that I risked death on that trip, and only my incredible reflexes protected me from the wrath of those losers Mags got working for him."

"Oh, sounds like a great story." Kurt responded in an interested tone that had Toad puffing up in pride.

"Oh yeah, you see when we got to that secret base, I decided that I just had to do some secret reconnoitering of the place . . ." Toad began as he dropped onto the opposite end of the sofa from Tabitha. With a grin Tabitha glanced at Nightcrawler and winked knowingly.

---

In her office, Emma Frost sat in the headmaster's chair, glancing over at where Ranma sat, leaning back with a bored look on her face. Emma's eyes drifted down to the girl's chest. 'Their not bigger than mine, they just look it because of the smaller body. If a guy DID have bigger breasts than mine through a curse, I'd be angry about it, but that's not the case and I'm totally calm. her eyes flicked toward the door to the office, and with a smile she called out, "Come in James." Her eyes flicked over toward Ranma's face, and she almost smiled at the sight of the surprised look on his face as the door opened.

Rising to her feet she watched her special students file into the room. "James Proudstar, aka Thunderbird," she said, pointing to the large muscular Native American who had led the group into the room. "Haroun ibn Sallah al-Rahman, or Jetstream," Pointing out the slender Arab boy. "Manuel Alfonso de la Rocha, Empath." She pointed out the Spaniard with the seemly perpetual smirk. "Marie-Ange Colbert, or Tarot."

"Hi again!" Ranma called with a grin.

Tarot started, then waved back.

"Ahem," Frost coughed, briefly. "Jennifer Stavros . . ."

"Roulette!" the blonde girl piped up with a huge grin on her face.

"Indeed." Frost pointed to the purple haired girl who stood with an uncertain look on her face. "And finally, Sharon Smith, aka Catseye." She glanced toward Ranma and noted how he had briefly tensed after looking at the purple haired girl.

"New Special student?" James asked as he looked analytically at the girl.

"Sort of." Emma responded. Surprising a grin on her face, Emma picked up a cup, and filled in with hot water from an insulated pitcher on her desk. "Here catch!" she called, tossing the cup to Ranma.

Ranma did catch the cup, but it stopped abruptly enough to splash about half it's contents on the red haired girl.

"Pfff!" Ranma went as he wiped the hot water from his face and now black hair.

"Woah, now that's a weird mutation." Roulette chuckled as she looked appreciatively at the boy.

"No, it's a Chinese curse." Emma responded with a shake of her head. She raised a hand and opened her mouth to begin her explanation.

*Ring*

Emma paused, then reached into her purse on her desk, and picked out her cell phone. Looking at the caller ID on the screen, she answered the call and raised the phone to her face. "Hello Shaw?"

"Emma, we have a call from Magneto asking for a favor, shall I patch him through?" Sebastion Shaw responded.

"One moment," Emma put a hand over the mouthpiece and told the assembled, "All of you keep quiet." She looked in Ranma's direction. "Got a call from your recent landlord, and everything will go easier if he's kept in the dark about some things." She fixed a look at Ranma, and when he slowly nodded, she put the phone back to her face and declared, "Patch him through."

"Frost, I have need of your services." Magneto declared in a somewhat odd sounding voice.

Emma smirked and suppressed a giggle as she realized that he was using his magnetic vibrations to speak despite his immobilized jaw. "Have you found your guest so I can help you with him?" She asked, glancing at where Ranma was sitting."

With a snarl Magneto declared, "Not yet. I need something else. I understand you speak Japanese?"

"I speak a lot of languages." Frost replied in a smug tone.

"I need some of my associates to learn the language as soon as possible, which means telepathic instruction."

Frost leaned back. "Well, ideally that sort of teaching should be performed in three sessions with a day to rest and assimilate in between."

"Much too long!" Magneto declared.

"Well, I can do it in one session, though it'll probably knock them out for an hour or so, and they won't exactly sound like native speakers."

"They don't need to. Basic competence is more than sufficient. I will bring them to your academy in one hour."

"No!" Frost angrily declared. "The last time you came here, it took me almost a week to finish covering up for your presence. If you want my help, you'll land in the woods south of the small airport five miles west. And I'll be there in two hours, I have business to attend before I can do anything for you."

" . . . Agreed." Magneto responded coldly before hanging up.

"His line's disconnected," Shaw commented. "So, how's Saotome settling in?"

"He hasn't had the chance to settle in yet, I was just introducing him to the special students."

"Excellent, excellent. If you need anything, you have my number."

"The gesture is appreciated." Frost turned off the phone and turned to the group. "As I was about to explain, Ranma will be staying with us for a still indeterminate period of time. I'll need all of you to be on your best behavior with him." She pointedly locked gazes with Empath, "And who knows, you may learn some things from each other." She glanced at Thunderbird. "Well, I do have some things to do, so if you'd show him to the Training room, he can answer your questions himself." She gestured toward the door. "As I said, I do have some business." She looked as they walked out of the room. "Oh, Ranma?" she called as he was about to leave, "What's the most ridiculous sounding accent you've ever heard in Japanese?"

---

"So what can you tell me about this guy Mystique was asking you to look in on?" Kitty commented before taking a bite from the slice on her plate.

"Well, she referred to him a guest of Magneto's, but the tone of the letter, plus everything at the mountain made it seem like he was more of a prisoner. All I can say for certain is his shirt size, and the fact that Mystique thought he'd like cup ramen. Of course, if you don't mind me speculating at bit . . ." Lance paused, took a bite from his own slice and raised an eyebrow at Kitty.

"Please do, Agent Double oh Earthquake," Kitty responded with a laugh.