"Oops. Um.." the girl stammered. "How do I get out of this?"
Ranma took a closer look at the girl. Her facial features were Aryan. She had pure white hair and violet eyes.
"You could tell me who you are," Ranma said. "And what that portal is that's behind you.
"Alvar Japhet. You can see the portal?"
"Any reason why I shouldn't?" Ranma asked.
"Only one in a hundred thousand can see the Fringe portals."
Before Alvar could continue, four men stepped out of the portal. Two of the men looked like they stepped from Victorian times. Another, looked like he was from China during the time of Genghis Kahn. The fourth was a large man. He was about eight feet tall and was wearing a military uniform of some sort. Ranma could not determine what race he was from.
The military man looked down at Ranma. "Apparently, we have been discovered."
Alvar spoke up. "Commander Fisk. He can see the portal."
Fisk studied Ranma closely. "What's your name son?"
"Ranma Saotome. What's going on?"
Fisk pulled out a small four-sided blue crystal and held it out to Ranma. "Could you hold on to this for a second. I need to confirm something."
Ranma looked at Fisk strangely and did as he was told. As soon as Ranma had the crystal in his hand, it flashed blue and faded out.
"Thank you. I'll take the crystal back now," Fisk said, and retrieved the small crystal. "That confirms it. You are Fringeworthy."
"Fringeworthy?"
"Let's not talk out in the open. We'll head back into the Fringepaths."
Ranma curious about what was going on followed the group into the portal. What he saw on the other side astounded him. He was on a some strange metal platform that was hovering in the middle of a void. In each of the cardinal directions, there was a portal. In the center of the platform was a large van.
Fisk said, "Welcome to Platform Alternate -16. Now, I'll explain."
"Please do," Ranma said, a little overwhelmed.
"We are members of the Inter-Dimensional Exploration Team. We explore various dimensions to gain knowledge about our past. You might have noticed that three of our members looked like they stepped out of a history book. In a sense they have. Some of the dimensions we travel are like alternate timelines. We also try to keep worlds from suffering Mellor infestations."
"Mellor?"
Fisk looked into the void that surrounded them. "The Mellor are a race of shape-shifting parasitic beings. They have wiped out several worlds."
"You mean they can change into people at will?" Ranma asked.
"The High, Great, and Master Mellors, yes. However they bleed white."
Ranma shook a bit. "Do you have some hot and cold water? You can check my blood if you want."
Curious, the IDET team managed to get some water heated up by some weird clockwork device.
Fisk handed the water to Ranma. Ranma splashed the cold water on himself first and then the hot water. The IDET team backed up and leveled weapons at him, after seeing the curse in action. Ranma brought his thumbnail down across his left arm and left a small streak of red blood.
"As you can see, I have red blood. I did not want to get shot by accident because of my Jusenkyo curse," Ranma said. "I recently found out something that has me upset and I wasn't sure how to proceed. Now, I have something I can do. I want to help protect worlds from the Mellor."
Fisk pointed his finger at Ranma. "This is not an easy life. You have to be prepared for anything."
"I'm cursed to turn into a girl with cold water. I'm quite sure I can handle surprises. It's a martial artists duty to protect people."
"We'll take you back to IDET HQ. We try not to engage in pointless fights and try to find peaceful solutions. We will ask you about your world and your curse. Your world is probably going to give us as much hassle as +13 Prime. I just hope we don't have to help out capturing the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on your world."
"Uh. Right," Ranma replied. 'What have I got myself into?'
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(Posted Mon, 11 Aug 2003 03:58)
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