Ifurita 1.5: Meeting Herself [Episode 81101]

by Kender

Akane had found that she had the most annoying sense that she had forgotten something very important when she had awakened. But that had been the least of her worries, considering what had happened. She had been quite obvious beaten by an android, and in a way that was a bit overwhelming and impossible to ignore. Then had come fact that she had apparently been keep sedated all damned night, even though she was perfectly fine thank you, and been stuck with being coddled when she woke up.

But it had all been driven from her mind in the face of one immediate concern.

She hadn't studied for that day's English test! Her original plan was to get some studying done the night before, and the only adjustment she'd made for her match was to push back her time with the books. Only she'd passed out after, and had gotten drugged into submission.

Which had left her running around to try and get as much as she could down before she was tortured by paper and pen. She'd even let Ranma and Nabiki lead her along so that she could keep her nose buried in 'past participles' and the variations of plurals. Not even their repeated attempts to trick her out of her cramming worked as she was insistant that she not fail at this.

So it took the annoyed tones of her friend's "AKANE!" to get her to look up.

"Oh, hi Sayuri. What's... THAT?!" she asked, pointing to the very familiar figure standing behind the ponytailed girl. Her eyes widened as she took in something that she had only seen in a mirror... except it looked slightly better. And unlike her Furinkan uniform, the other wore high heels, a mid thigh skirt, pressed blouse, a cap, and hose, looking to be the perfect image of a maid.

"'That'?" Sayuri asked, and looked at where the original was pointing. "Oh, her. That's my Akane."

"'Your'..."

Yuka frowned as she looked at her friend. "Don't you know? They're androids."

"'Androids'?" Akane Tendo whimpered as she looked past her friend's light brown mane to the copy of her standing there. This one was dressed in tight pants that moulded to her slim legs, ankle boots, a tight tube like top with an open tunic over it, a headband and fighting gloves.

"Yup. They were made by Cyberdyne, and the line's doing real well, and they're working out great!"

"They are?"

Sayuri nodded. "My room has never been so clean!"

"I... it... cleaned your room?"

"And carried my books, and does a lot of other stuff. And when we got ours, lots of other people came to get Akanes of their own."

The youngest Tendo daughter stared at her friends as what had happened sank in. "How'd this happen?"

"You don't know? I just thought you'd decided against working for Cyberdyne, and done this."

"'Work'..? Eep..."

"You forgot?"

"Umm... yeah..."

"Well... now you're definately not going to forget this..."

Numbly agreeing with her friend, the short haired girl giggled nervously as the full import of what was going on became apparent.

"Your dad didn't tell you?" Yuka asked.

"What?"

"Someone from Cyberdyne came to check up on my Akane, and told me that he and Ranma's dad had given permission for this, with your agreement. Heck, they even stand to make millions if your line is as popular in those other places they're connected to."

"Daddy and Mister Saotome..," she moaned, looking around in a daze... dropping her books as she saw a happy Hikaru Gosunkugi being followed dutifully by an Akane wearing a bunny suit and heels.

"Are you okay?" Sayuri questioned.

Ifurita 1.5: Dazed Akane [Episode 81118]

by Kestral

A parent selling out his child to the highest bidder. For example, for a bowl of rice and two pickles. That was the child's fault somehow and everyone shared a laugh over that child's misfortune. At least that was what usually happened when it was Ranma who was the child.

Akane had just experienced the same thing, mainly due to panic-blocking her first day of work. Though when her father had sold her off he'd gotten a much better deal apparently than Mister Saotome had ever managed. "Well, at least it wasn't for a bowl of rice."

Ranma looked over at her and frowned. "Hey, Akane. You don't look so hot. You gonna be okay?"

"Ehhhhh," managed Akane. Of course she didn't look as good as her copies. When did an android have a bad hair day?!

"So Cyberdyne's selling a lot of 'em?" Sayuri asked Yuka.

"Yeah, they said the original twenty sold out, another twenty were being sold, and they'd had over a hundred orders since then." Yuka looked off in the distance. "Oh, and you should have seen some of the special Akane they were planning."

"Sound fun," agreed Sayuri. "I know they're not that smart. My neighbor got one and had told her to dig a hole for a tree in his backyard last night. When we all got up this morning it was nearly five hundred feet deep. You need to be very exact when you're telling them to do something."

"Yeah, I'll upgrade the intelligence on mine and have them put in a CD and wireless phone." Yuka patted her Akane on the back. "You'll be able to store phone numbers, then all you have to do is tell her who to call and she'll act just like a speaker telephone."

"That could be handy," agreed Sayuri. "Hey, Akane? Something wrong?"

"What could be wrong?" asked Akane as her eyes watched an Akane going into a construction site carrying four seventy-five pound bags of concrete mix on a wooden pallet. "Everything's fine."

"You wadded your homework up into a little ball," pointed out Sayuri. "So, Yuka, you ready for that English test?"

"I had my Akane do my chores so I could spend extra time studying," said Yuka.

"Akane?" Ranma asked his fiancee as she leaned against a streetlamp.

"Hey, Maid Akane," instructed Sayuri as she picked up the crumpled homework. "Straighten this out, being careful not to rip it up."

The Akane in the maid uniform showed every sign of being in cheerful good spirits as she began uncrumpling and smoothing out the homework.

"Fighter Akane," said Yuka. "Carry the human Akane to school."

"Huh? What? HEY!" protested Akane as someone picked her up effortlessly and started carrying her.

"If you're not feeling well, Akane," pointed out Sayuri, "you should go home after the test."

"PUT ME DOWN!" Akane demanded when it was obvious she couldn't dislodge herself by force.

"Put her down, Fighter." Yuka instructed.

"Oh my goodness, we're going to be late!" Sayuri realized. "We better run!"

Nabiki made it easily. Yuka and Sayuri used their Akane units to match speeds. Ranma didn't even break a sweat. Akane staggered in and stifled another scream.

One of the teachers was entering, and had an Akane in a silver skinsuit behind him carrying a box of papers.

There was Yuka's Akane and Sayuri's Akane and at least two more Akane she could see - Hikaru's in the bunnysuit and another one in a cheerleader uniform.

"...gotta buy one..."

Akane twitched as she heard one of the horde of hentai declare this.

"Oh man, this one seized up," said Daisuke as he came up behind Akane. "Hang on. I saw Mr. Kurosawa hit one in the head to fix it, but he told me he was too embarassed to try the other method." grab, pinch

Akane turned and decked the guy who'd just grabbed and squeezed her right butt cheek. WHAM!

Sayuri shook her head. "Now that he had coming."

Ifurita finished dusting when she heard something about a new house?

"We don't get much on the sale of each unit, Saotome, but just think how many of them we could sell if we direct business towards this place," exclaimed Soun Tendo.

"I am, believe me Tendo, I am," said Genma.

"The more people who buy an Akane, the richer we'll be." Soun's eyes welled up with tears. "If we get two hundred dollars American for each Akane sold."

"Soun, you've seen how perfect strangers take one look at Akane and get sucked in," said Genma, putting a comradely arm around his old friend. "Toma, Kirin, that horde of kids at school for examples. All we have to do is show a few of them around and the orders will be arriving in droves. We could sell hundreds. Maybe thousands."

cha-ching! went the pretty little yen signs in Soun's eyes. "Maybe we should get one ourselves that we can use to display the merchandise."

"With this sort of notoriety and this kind of wealth, we can relax in luxury," said Genma. "We can even get ahold of marriage counselors to convince our children to get over their stubborn streak."

Soun was about to answer when he realized something. "Wait. If I'm getting all that money, who needs to unite the two schools?"

"Now now, Tendo. One step at a time," said Genma.

Ifurita frowned. She wondered if Akane had truly wanted her father to represent her.

Mousse stared at a wall and twitched. Shampoo was dead?

"Ni hao. Welcome to the Nekohanten," said the ghostly Shampoo. "We have a table for three right over here."

Mousse's eyes glanced at the ghost when something finally penetrated and he stared through his glasses. Shampoo had a shadow.

"My love, you're not dead!" cried Mousse as he leapt at the target of his affection.

Shamtwo frowned. Dephasing and letting him go through her would put customers in danger. "Acheiving maximum density."

WHANG!

Mousse hung there for a moment before slowly sliding down and hitting the ground.

Shampoo brought out a glass of water, splashed, and put the duck in a cargo container. "Shampoo really like this game. You do very good."

"Thank you," said her twin before turning to the family. "Would you like anything to drink while going over the menu?"

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to stop using an Akane model for lingerie displays in your store window. That's clearly a violation of the 'no hentai uses' policy." Sanae listened to the other line briefly. "Yes. Because it's a contractual limitation that was given to us. We'll have to reclaim the unit if you refuse. Yes. Sorry about that."

"Hello?"

Sanae focussed on the door. "Ah, Ukyo Kuonji. Is there a problem?"

"Problem," said the flour and dough splashed figure in the doorway. "That might be understating it a bit."

"Something to do with the Mihoshi unit?" Sanae guessed.

"EVERYTHING to do with the Mihoshi unit," said Ukyo as she pulled part of her uniform back into place. "Do you know what she did this morning?"

"Nooo," admitted Sanae. "We've been a little overwhelmed with sudden requests for the Akane unit."

"What?" Ukyo questioned. When Sanae put a display of holo-images of various Akane units, Ukyo stared at that. "She didn't come to work?"

"No. Her father was good enough to explain that she wouldn't be in and further licensed out her likeness for the next two years," said Sanae. "Though I believe he's trying to renegotiate. How odd."

"Back to Mihoshi," said Ukyo. "Yesterday she made pancakes. I run an okonomiyaki restaurant. NOT the International House Of Pancakes."

"Okay," said Sanae. "I'll admit that I'm personally unfamiliar with okonomiyaki but if she's fixing inappropriate foods I can see your grievance."

"Inappropriate doesn't cover it," said Ukyo pulling a piece of batter out of her ear. "Yesterday afternoon everything was running smoothly. Except that we had a new menu item. Chocolate layer cake. Despite the fact that we don't have the ingredients for chocolate cake!"

"How could she make chocolate layer cake if the ingredients aren't on hand?" Sanae asked logically.

"I don't know!" Ukyo complained. "The customers said it was the best thing they'd ever tasted!"

"Oh? That's good," said Sanae.

Ukyo growled.

"Okay, that's not so good," said Sanae. "Well, then-"

"Then this morning, oh how wonderful that was. She had Crepe Joe in MY restaurant and was jotting down notes from that loser on how to improve business by serving French food!" Ukyo was actually grinding teeth at this point.

Sanae considered whether she should ask or not. Finally she decided she would have to. "So why are you covered in okonomiyaki sauce, batter, chocolate syrup, flour, and have lettuce sticking out of your cleavage?"

Ukyo looked down and pulled the offending greenery out. "Crepe Joe and I got into a fight. THEN Mihoshi got involved."

"I see, is that how the handcuffs got involved?" Sanae guessed.

"Yes, she made us sit down and watch Barney and explained how important getting along is," said Ukyo. "I want her out of my restaurant. NOW. SOONER."

"If you insist," agreed Sanae.

"If I must I'll sell my image data," said Ukyo. "Just get her out of my life!"

"Odd, you sound just like Kiyone," said Sanae, who was familiar with the originals. "I'll get on it right away."

Ifurita 1.5: Simple Discoveries [Episode 81605]

by Kender

"You have to understand that we really must keep a good handle on what is going on with my daughter's image sales," Soun said as he sipped his cup of tea.

The representitive from Cyberdyne nodded. "That is understandable."

"Then you must see that we have to make sure that we aren't kept out of the loop," Genma commented from where he sat next to his friend. "After all, we don't want to have us be bilked out of those funds."

"I assure you," she said cooly, "Unlike some companies, we take pride in using fair, honorable and equitable arrangements."

"I didn't mean it that way... I just didn't want you to think that we were some fools that didn't know what our roles are."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, Miss... Chisato, was it?"

"Yes."

The Tendo patriarch put his cup down and looked evenly at her. "Now, we really should be getting to the heart of the matter."

"Which is why I came here. I believe that you said something about wanting to 'expand' our profits."

"That we do. We have some... ideas that we are certain that your company will love."

"You see," the Saotome Patriarch told her, "We know a great many people who we think would like to buy their own Akanes."

"So we thought that if you gave us a few Akanes to show off, displaying how they look and what they can do, then we could get a lot of people interested."

"And then they'd go to buy a unit of their own."

"Ahh..," went Chisato, "You want to try direct marketing."

"If that is what you call it."

"You believe that this will expand the demand for line?"

"But of course. It is not like there is any other such easy way of improving sales."

"That's not exactly true."

"Pardon?"

"Removing the 'no hentai' clause, having her brainscans, or both, would definately improve sales," she said, but waved off the idea. "I just doubt that you would do such a thing.

Genma and Soun just looked at each other.

Cleaning up her resturant alone had been hard, but Ukyo was not about to complain. If Mihoshi had been there, she would have wanted to 'help', but that particular marionette was on her way back to Cyberdyne, if she wasn't there already. Which was more than fine by the chef's standards.

Oh, the blonde had been nice enough, and was likeable, but she was too damned aggravating! She tended to be clueless, overeager, and never checked before doing anything. All of which had forced her to be sent back to the company.

But as she buffed a table and looked over the newly cleaned resturant, a feeling of relaxation came over her. Finally it was back to the way that it was supposed to be, an okonomiyaki resturant. No more pancakes, no more chocolate cakes and sure as Hell, NO FRENCH FOOD.

And by the sound of a knock on the door, it seemed like her first customer was there. "Welcome to the Ucchan's!" she called out cheerfully, and blinked at the individual who'd knocked.

"Hello. I'm here from Cyberdyne," said the marionette

Ifurita 1.5: Multi functions [Episode 81615]

by Kestral

"Your name is 'Multi'?" Ukyo asked.

"Yes, I'm a rebuilt model from a discontinued series on my home timeline." The little girl bowed. "I hope we can be friends."

"Uh huh," said the reserved Ukyo. After Mihoshi she was a little cautious. "What do you know about French food?"

"Nothing," said Multi, looking a little worried. "Do I need to?"

"No," said Ukyo, warming a little bit. "What about okonomiyaki?"

"I haven't learned to cook anything except rice yet, I'm sorry," said Multi, bowing again. "Though I have a total recall function and can duplicate skills once I've been exposed to them. I try really hard though!"

Ukyo began to smile. Just a little. "Maybe this'll work out after all."

"So why not remove this 'no hentai' rule?" Soun asked. "After all, I am her father and have authority here."

"Because Miss Tendo specifically stated this in a conversation earlier," said Chisato. "Even if you are her legal and honorable authority - she has made her dismay against such things clear. We at Cyberdyne do make an effort to stay within such clearly expressed requests."

"What are these 'brainscan' things, anyway?" Genma asked.

Chisato looked at the two. "How much do either of you know about how the human brain operates?"

Blank looks greeted the question.

Chisato gave a very human sigh. "Okay. The human brain stores information in an electrochemical format, in three dimensions, mostly in the outer layer - the 'gray matter' of the brain itself. Which means that there is a lot of information and it is stored in chemical form and accessed through electrical signals. Do you understand?"

Soun nodded, though that might have just been politeness. Genma continued to look blank.

Chisato tried again. "There's a lot of information in the brain, not all of which you remember consciously. Things like associating an object or action with a word or concept. Emotions and reactions. Intuition and understanding."

"Like learning a martial arts move, when you react with that move without thinking about it," realized Genma.

Chisato was pleased and passed the man a lollipop for getting it right. She was also a teacher unit, after all. "There's all sorts of things like that that can be copied by using the Image Data. Even giving some of the original person's personality to the unit."

Genma unwrapped his lollipop and thoughtfully took a lick. Hmmm. Root beer.

Soun eyed his friend who seemed to be paying more attention to the hard candy than their plans. "So why can't I give you permission to use her Image Data as we have already established my authority on this?"

"She hasn't specifically told us not to use it, however we don't actually have Miss Tendo's brainscans." Chisato spread her hands. "She'd have to come down and actually submit to a scan."

"Oh," said Soun.

"We received at the same time your authorization to sell Image Rights to Kasumi Tendo, however she is past the age of her majority and indicated some distress with the concept," said Chisato, not mentioning that the indication had been her fainting.

"Well about that, we think having an Akane here we could use to show off to potential customers," tried Soun, "that way we could convince people what a useful product it is."

"Possible," admitted Chisato. "The old 'seeing is believing' angle. You're asking to be sales people for this angle, getting your commission from the percentage of sales already allocated to you?"

"Uhm, yes," said Soun, not sure what all that meant.

"Clever," said Chisato. "That way the price doesn't have to be bumped up to cover the additional cost. The price doesn't go up - more people could afford one and the sales of accessories for their Akane allows for additional revenues down the road."

"Well, uhm." Soun wasn't too sure about all that, but he certainly wasn't going to contradict someone calling him clever. "Yes. That's right."

Chisato nodded. "I'll have one delivered. We'll go with a unit that's got a few extras and you can explain that the base unit can be upgraded."

"Ah, yeah. Quite," agreed Soun, wondering for the first time if perhaps Genma Saotome wasn't the best person to listen to in a 'get rich quick' scheme. "One that can explain her features would be even better. From the horse's mouth and all."

Chisato nodded again. "Very well. I'll put in the order."

Akane shivered as she got this sudden chill.

There was Yuka and Sayuri. Ranma. Hikaru. Hiroshi and Daisuke snickering about something as they talked behind the teacher's back. Wait! They were probably planning on buying an Akane! That would explain it.

The reason for the chill explained, Akane turned back to her notes. Wait a minute. If they wanted an Akane, then they'd want to... this and that.

Well, she could just explain to them that even though it wasn't her - she would really prefer they NOT do anything perverted. Right? Right.

Except what if they did? And who knew what Hikaru Gosunkugi was doing with HIS Akane?

snap!

Putting down the pencil she'd just snapped in half and grabbed a new one from her bag.

What to do? How to get out of this?

Ifurita 1.5: Words About Robots [Episode 82125]

by Kender

Hiroshi grinned at Daisuke as the two boys thought less about the lesson being taught, and the plans that they had made for after school. Once they blew this pop stand for the day, they could go over to that 'Cyberdyne' place. Then they could buy an Akane of their very own, or maybe one for each, and the fun could start! Having a cute girl, totally loyal and willing to serve them, and able to be changed as they wished... Who could ask for anything better?

Besides, if the original had allowed her friends to own copies, then she'd have no problem with two interested schoolboys, right?

*WHAP!*

And then Daisuke got a ball of paper right in the face.

Wincing for his friend, Hiroshi leaned in and whispered, "What is it?"

"Something that hurt..," the other boy muttered as he smoothed out the paper, and noticed something. "And it's a note!"

"Really?! From who?"

"Akane."

"What?! What's it say?"

"See for yourself," Daisuke told him and they huddled between their desks to look at the thrown note.

If you two perverts buy a copy of me, I'LL KILL YOU!

-Akane

The two boys hesitantly looked up from the note at the girl who had thrown it.

Her return glare was one that made them want to run at that moment.

Instead, they just gave her a little wave with hesitant smiles.

She pointed to the both of them, to Maid Akane, and then drew the finger across her neck.

Both of them gulped and sank in their seats.

She smiled.

Working through all the piles of boxes in the store room was not an enjoyable task, but she knew that she had to get the proper supplies to replace what she'd been forced to use against the French food fool. Of course, that little matter had also made it so that she had been forced to stay home and clean up after the idiot and the attempts of Mihoshi to stop them. About the only upside of that little problem was that she could get some customers that she'd normally miss.

At least Multi was working out... somewhat. It'd taken her about three tries to get an edible okonomiyaki made. But as she said, she did try, and had peered intently at the chef's demonstrations. And now she could manage to cook some of the easier ones, though she wasn't about to be up for improvising.

Carrying a box out into the front, she stopped by where the green haired girl was standing at a table with a cloth in her hand. "You cleaning?"

"Yes, I am," Multi said with a happy look, "I love to clean."

"Hm. That's a good attitude."

"Really? Thank you Ukyo-san!"

"So you're going to keep on doing it while I put this stuff away?"

The robot girl nodded. "I want to make it completely spic and span for everyone that comes here!"

"Then you should get to it then, shouldn't you?"

"I will... but shouldn't I carry that box?"

Ukyo looked to the container in her arms. "This?"

"I'm supposed to help you and I really like doing that. So why don't I take it?" Multi asked, gently pulling the box into her arms.

"Uhh..."

"I'll take good care of it. It's no problem..."

Biting her lip at the wavering steps her new help was taking, Ukyo reached over and took the box back. "I've got it. Really. Besides, you really shouldn't try to carry things that are too heavy for you."

"Oh..."

"It's not a problem. Why don't you go clean up the seats and make sure that all the tables are set up right. Okay?"

"Sure!" Multi said, her disappointed expression turning to one of happiness as she went to do just that.

The chef just shook her head a bit as she watched her go and went to put the box where it was supposed to go.

Having satisfactorily explained herself to Hiroshi and Daisuke, Akane felt more certain that she could have the ability to tell her father about what had happened. Mister Saotome was one thing, and would do all sorts of silly things, but her father was of a different sort. She knew that he loved his daughters and cared about what they thought. As far as she had seen, beyond just being embarrassing at times, he'd never done anything like what his freind had done, and would never allow such things to be done as Genma would do.

Of course, she'd forgotten a certain Frenchman with a rather large appetite, an old pervert, and some other things, but at the moment, she needed her father to be a responsible sort in the situation.

He'd probably taken her presence at the house as a refusal of the job offer, and had thought that she wanted to have robot duplicates. And he probably didn't realise just how many of 'her' were out there, and what they were being used for. Rather, he'd probably just thought that he was managing affairs for her, and was doing what she wanted.

So, as she came into the house after school, and headed for where he'd always been playing shogi, she'd been sure that she'd just need to tell him that she had merely forgotten about the job and been drugged before she could remember it. Then she'd tell him about all the perverted things that people were probably doing with the copies, and she felt he'd get angry and insist that they talk to Cyberdyne. Who could be talked to and weren't going to be folks that she owed even more money to for breaking their stuff.

Because if it was otherwise, and he'd actually been letting this happen, she'd not be pleased. Not. One. Bit.

But he was her father, and would never do that to her, right? It was all a big misunderstanding, and he wasn't someone like... Genma Saotome. He had respect, and dignity, and...

AN AKANE IN SOME SORT OF FUTURISTIC SPANDEX OUTFIT POURING HIM SAKE?!

Even as she stared, her eyes noted the various cutouts to the outfit, like the one that gave a good view of the copy's cleavage. Which seemed bigger than Akane's own, and didn't seem to be a problem for the robot to show off. Just like she didn't mind balancing on high heeled boots or, letting anyone see her backside when she bent over in that damn short skirt...

Brow twitching over one eye, Akane Tendo watched her father and Genma share a drink over their success,

Ifurita 1.5: An Akane to remember purchase [Episode 82224]

by Kestral

Akane was confronted with it. Right there. One of the android Akane was waiting on the two fathers.

"How wonderful, Tendo. Your negotiation skills are as sharp as ever!" Genma held his sake cup high.

"Haha," chortled Soun. "Yes, Saotome, I believe you're right. We've done quite well, haven't we? Who needs the dojo when we've got a meal ticket like this?"

Akane twitched.

"Oh look, they sent another one," said Genma. "Think you can convince that daughter of yours to part with her brain? It's not like she'll miss it."

Akane twitched HARD.

"I think they just take some kind of picture of it," said Soun.

"Whatever," Genma waved off the point. "It's more than I can get off that lazy son of mine. I can't even sell his girl side image because he has an existing account. It's a good thing your daughter refused to work for them - best move we've ever made. We sold three units right here in this neighborhood already."

Akane twitched some more.

"I used to think you selling your boy off like that was pretty irresponsible," admitted Soun. "Now I see how easy it actually is. More sake here."

"Of course, honored Master," said the Akane in the skintight costume. "Heated precisely as you directed."

"Ah, this is the life, eh Tendo?" Saotome looked over at the Akane standing in the doorway. "Hmmm. Must be a defective unit. Just twitches a lot. Doesn't have a decent figure either. Maybe we should send that one back."

"Father," Akane said not using her usual "Dad" or "Daddy" deliberately, "can we talk?"

"So the Shampoo series shows signs of popularity as well," said Asako.

"Indeed," said a unit styled as a Vulcan woman. "Though she remains restricted to several roles due to negotiations with Elder Cologne."

"What kind of roles?"

V-4 responded with the faintest hint of puzzlement. "The grouping makes no sense to me. Soldier, Waitress, Police Officer, Nurse, and Teacher models."

"You've never been around human children have you?" Asako asked.

"There is a correlation?" V-4.

"That proves you've never been assigned to Childcare," said Asako. "Oh, have I got a treat for you."

"Now about these duplicates," tried Akane. She could be calm. She could be reasonable.

"Oh that's right Akane, could you tell Cyberdyne you're removing the 'no hentai' clause? We had two buyers including Old Man Yamaguchi up the street decline purchasing an Akane because of that," interrupted Genma.

"That's right, Saotome, that's... well maybe that's not such a bad thing," said Soun.

Akane blinked a couple of times. "Did you authorize any strange versions of me already?"

"I don't think so," said Soun.

"One or two," suggested Genma.

"Maybe, possibly," added Soun.

Five spandex clad, really stacked, helmet-glove-boot-belt-wearing, odd weapon-wielding Akane landed in the backyard.

"We are the Akane Rangers!" they proclaimed.

"For justice," said the yellow clad Akane as she spun a bo staff. "Akane Yellow!"

"For truth," said the blue clad Akane as she did a quick set of moves with a yari-style spear. "Akane Blue!"

"For love," proclaimed the red clad Akane as she made a quick set of moves with a pair of sai. "Akane Red!"

"For honor," declared the green clad Akane as she ignited a lightsaber and posed. "Akane Green!"

"For the future," whispered the white clad Akane as she brought a gusari style weapon forward. "Akane White!"

"Akane Rangers! Sanjo!"

Akane blinked a couple of times at the space where five buxom versions of herself had stood just a moment ago. "Eh?"

Soun frowned. "I didn't order those, did you, Saotome?"

"No, I thought the Mermaid Akane sounded interesting, and the Akane-Succubus might sell well, but I would have remembered ordering a sentai team," offered Genma. "Perhaps when we were discussing some of the upgrade models?"

Akane twitched yet again. Calm. Center oneself. Deep breath.

Ifurita 1.5: Junk Air Mail [Episode 82449]

by Kender

"About those robots..," the youngest Tendo began with a steady control, "We need to talk about..." "Of course, we did agree that those succubus models would need to have that 'no hentai' clause gone to make them big sellers?" Genma commented, almost as if he didn't hear her.

Soun made a sound of agreement. "True, but I don't think the sentai team would need it."

"Why not? But in any case, we just need to have you have Akane here remove that silly clause."

"But of course!"

The Saotome Patriarch settled into a smug look. "And then we'll be set for life!"

At that moment, Akane's lost the stiffness of self control, and took on another form of tightness. She was through trying to talk this through, and she had learned that, yes, her Dad could be just as bad as Ranma's. The pigtailed boy's parent was closer though.

"Perhaps we can even give the boy on his ooooo... GURK!"

"How dare you do this to me?!" she yelled as she held the portly man by the collar of his gi and shook him. "Do you think that I would just sit back and take it?!"

"Uhh..."

"Well, I'm NOT!"

Soun watched as his old friend was slammed headfirst into the floor, and then tossed out into the yard, landing in the koi pond. "Now, now Akane... is that anyway to act..?"

"My own father!"

Genma was just pulling his dazed panda self out of the water when he found his old training partner flying at him. The other man slammed into him, sending them both into the water. There they lay for only a few moments as Akane charged out of the house and over to them.

She pulled them from the water, and for a moment they thought that she had come to her senses.

Which was about the time that she began pummeling them.

"How dare you do this to me?! You big lousy jerks! I didn't even know!"

For the two men it was a haze of pain as they discovered that girls could definately demonstrate that they could hit harder and faster than boys.

So much so that they were happy when she stopped pounding their twisted and beaten bodies for a moment.

Of course, they weren't happy when she punted them into the air at levels that they would feel the landing from.

Glaring at where she'd launched them, Akane stood there seething a minute

Ifurita 1.5: Program conflict [Episode 82550]

by Kestral

"Akane unit appears to be malfunctioning. Subduing Akane unit."

Akane had just registered her own voice saying that when she felt a very hard shove that sent her stumbling.

Ifurita stood there, her hands locked around those of the fake Akane.

"What?" Akane asked, her anger giving way to curiosity.

"That is not an android Akane. That is the original Akane Tendo," said Ifurita. "If you go ripping open her back to disable her control circuits, you'll kill her."

"Akane unit is clearly malfunctioning. Akane unit has attacked owner. Akane unit must be neutralized and repaired," stated the other Akane.

"I AM NOT A ROBOT!" Akane yelled at her duplicate.

"Scanning," said the silver wearing Akane. "Confirmed. Human Akane determined. Basic fault detected. Unable to resolve."

Ifurita let go and stepped back.

"You're letting it go?!" Akane asked, ready to run.

"She has to resolve the conflict," explained Ifurita. "She's only a simple AI, not a full AI. Logic problems and conflicting orders can give them problems. Right now the bodyguard orders are conflicting with the need to protect a member of the family. You attacked the owner but are a member of the family. Therefore she's at a loss as to how she should handle it."

"Conflict resolved. Hello, my name is Akane. How may I serve you?" Akane smiled at Akane.

"What does this mean?" Akane asked Ifurita.

"She's resolved it apparently by deciding that this was a conflict within the family, now resolved, and she's asking you for orders," explained Ifurita.

"Oh, well if she's asking for orders," Kasumi said as she entered the backyard, "could she play this?"

A tray opened up on the Akane-robo's stomach. She put the CD that Kasumi handed her into the slot and closed it up again. Music began to sound from hidden speakers.

Akane the original twitched.

"So what are you going to do, Akane?" asked Kasumi.

Ifurita 1.5: Around The Place [Episode 83197]

by Kender

Several thoughts were running through Akane's head at once, all of which were making a jumble that she was having trouble dealing with. There were android versions of her, which wasn't as terrible as it was really freaky to have robot versions of herself. They seemed to be really popular, and were selling very well, which not only would pay for the damages she'd incurred, but would give her a tidy little nest egg at the same time. But that ran at the risk of having perverts buy androids that looked exactly like her, and got her confused with her copies.

"Umm... I'm not sure..," she told her eldest sister.

Kasumi frowned. "You're not?"

"Not really..."

"I'd suggest that you at least have a conversation with Cyberdyne before your father makes any more trouble..," put in Ifurita.

That made real sense to the youngest Tendo, especially as her father was apparently trying out his 'Genma' impression. One was bad enough, but two... "I'm going to go right now."

"That might be a good idea."

Akane nodded resolutely. She didn't know exactly what she wanted to do with her copies, but she sure as Hell didn't want her father to 'represent' her.

At the moment, Ranma was seriously wierded out. This was not mainly due to the fact that he'd just brought a late lunch from a cashier that looked just like Akane. Nor was it the fact that he'd seen an Akane in overalls moving plumbing supplies. And the sight of someone pinching an Akane's buttocks only brought a momentary urge to bash the offender before he'd realised what was really going on.

What really had him spooked was the fact that he'd been just walking along aimlessly, and Nabiki continued to go with him wherever he went.

He just couldn't understand why she would do such a thing, and it was disconcerting still for her to keep on hovering around him when she couldn't hold on to him. Continually on his mind was what she was willing to do, and he shied away from that like he would hot water while under the Cat's Tounge. But he also didn't have the heart to order her to do anything, never mind telling her to go home, so he just kept on going, and looked over all the various Akanes, which he supposed just looked to be more numerous than they actually were.

It was while seeing an Akane robot dressed up as an idol singer, frilly dress and all, that he actually found it amusing. "It's like everybody's got one, and they're all having fun dressin' them up."

"It seems so," Nabiki agreed, "Looks like my sister is really popular."

"Yeah. Those little electronic pets, stuffed animals, and now Akane, who'da thought?"

"Look out, she's a fad!"

"Heh," he said with a smirk. "But d'ya know what?"

"What?"

"Maybe I should get one of them."

"Eh?!" went the middle Tendo daughter. She'd found that she'd liked having Ranma as her owner, especially considering some of the ones she might have had. Fortunately, from what she'd seen, she only treated him any different, and that was a definate plus for her. But she already shared him with two other marionettes, and that didn't change his engagement situation. "Are you sure about that?"

"Hey, think about it. Me havin' an Akane that'd listen ta me, do what ever I told her too, and could do all my chores with no problems. And I could make sure that she would be more feminine and not so uncute."

"I think that's a bad idea."

"Ya do?"

"Yes, I do. I mean, you already have the three of us, and where would you get the money any way?"

"Kodachi'd probably pay for it."

"She would..," she had to admit.

"But ya know, there is a reason that I would never get one of those copies."

"You wouldn't?"

"Nah... That'd really set Akane off, and the first time that I tried to reset the robot, she'd KILL me."

Realisation dawned on the transformed girl. "You were just joking!"

"Hell yeah. Do I look dumb enough ta risk that sorta pain? 'Sides, I ain't just gonna buy one, not unless I gotta. It'd be wierd if I did."

"You were teasing me?"

"I was?"

Nabiki felt giddy as she realised that he had done something that he hadn't done with anyone else. She reached over and hugged him, sighing happily as she did so.

Making him wonder just what the heck he had done this time. 'Girls, go figure.'

Ukyo served the customer that she had been waiting on and smiled before turning back to look on her newest waitress. The meal rush was going strong, and she was enjoying the fact that those in her resturant had chosen to eat her food. Multi was working dilgently, smiling the entire time and seeming to really enjoy her work. No matter what was going on, the green haired girl tried to do everything that she could for those she was serving.

Unfortunately, not all those could appreciate it, and used it as an excuse to make more demands, like what was happening at the moment.

"My water glass is dirty!" barked Mister Mitsuda, the resident complainer, "I said that I wanted a clean one!"

Several groans accompanied this latest criticism, but Multi seemed to be oblivious to it. "I'm so sorry. I'll get you another one..."

"You'd better. I'm paying good money to eat, and I can't do it if you keep messing it up! You serve me food that's either too burned or too undercooked on dirty plates, you're slow about it, and you can't even put it down right!"

"I'll try harder..."

"You'll do it! No 'trying'! Why I come to places like this, where the staff is incompetant, I'll never know! And you're at the top of the idiot list!"

"That's it!" snarled the chef as she stomped her way from behind the grill to stand over him. "I've had about enough of you and your mouth!"

"How dare you..."

"I dare because you're a jackass! You continually mock my place, but you keep on coming back here, and with the same whining every time!"

"I do not!"

"You do too!" Ukyo growled at him, "You complain that brand new dishes are dirty, that the food is not cooked right when everyone else likes it, and that you're not getting served properly when every damned courtesy is paid to you!"

"I shall not be insulted like this!"

"Newflash! You already are! Just like you have done to everyone around you every single time that I see you! You've had poor Multi running back and forth to this table six times for the most stupid reasons, and you whine when she doesn't come immediately to you!"

"If she can't answer promptly, then maybe she shouldn't be waiting on people."

"If you can't wait properly, then maybe you shouldn't be waited on!"

"This coming from a girl who gave me an overcooked okonomiyaki, and then gave me a nearly raw one."

She leaned in and smirked nastily at him. "Guess what? That was the same exact okonomiyaki you got both times. So, tell me was it burned or not cooked? Hmmm?"

"Well..," Mitsuda began.

"Now, I've learned to ignore your useless barking, but I'm not about to let you insult Multi like that. Especially for something that you're making up. Got me?" Rather than answer, he glared at her, and stood up so that he could march out of the resturant.

"Good riddance."

"I'm sorry about losing you a customer," Multi told her, and gave a deep bow.

Ukyo chuckled. "Don't worry about it. His sort I can do without, thank you very much. Besides, knowing him, he'll be back soon enough, and complaining about things missing on my menu."

"Oh..."

"Just get back to work, and keep on doing what you're doing, okay?"

"Sure!" the green haired girl replied happily.

Shaking her head in amusement, the chef headed back to her grill and her work.

Kuno scowled as he looked over the lands of his family. They had shrunk in recent years, but what was left was steeped in history and honor. It told of the family that lived on it, and one who's heir was the chosen of the heavens. One might merely look upon his home and know that this was the abode of someone of importance and had to be reckoned with.

But apparently, it seemed that he was to be denied the purchase of one of the many duplicates of his beloved Akane Tendo. The fierce tigress' visage tempted him at every turn, but he could not have it for himself. That was an insult to his being, and the love that the two of them shared.

Hours of pondering had only left him with few possibilities. One was immediately dismissed, as he was certain that Akane would never want to deny him the chance to possess her, even if only in the form of a copy. That was unless the foul sorcerer had bewitched her, and was keeping her from sharing copies of her lovely form with him.

On the other hand, was not the original better than any copy. Surely she would know that, and would want for him to have only the best. And it was likely that she did not wish to share his wonderous self with another, even herself.

Or it just might be that they were mistaken, tricked by the sorcerer into denying him what was rightfully his.

Satisfied that he had figured out the cretin Saotome's plans, Tatewakei Kuno turned to his minion-bots and raised his bokken in a salute. "We shall not allow this slight to go unpunished!"

"Hurrah!" went the copies of him, though one went, "Sold!"

Nodding to himself, he went to plan his strategies

Ifurita 1.5: Revisiting Cyberdyne [Episode 83204]

by Kestral

Akane stepped into the showroom, not entirely sure what to expect. Her resolve had been eroded somewhat by nervousness and now she was debating how to handle it.

"Ah, Akane Tendo. Welcome! Your father said you'd be by to remove the 'no hentai' clause. I'm rather surprised though - you seemed quite upset about it earlier." Kumiko smiled at the human.

"That's not it," said Akane. "I haven't authorized my father to use my image. I'm not happy with the number of Akane out there!"

"Oh dear," said Kumiko. "Well, we can't recall the sold units. That deal was made by your father in good faith and he is your legal authority at present."

"But they..." Akane made a gesture as if to encompass all of existence. "Gosunkugi has one wearing a Playboy Bunny costume!"

"Hmmm," hmmmed Kumiko. "So. If we update the existing models with your Image Data, that will include personality aspects."

"But I..." Akane was clearly uncertain about doing something like that.

"Or we could show you some of the models being planned," said Kumiko. "Let me show you this one. We call her SWAT Team Akane. A fairly simple unit, but one that can go in and defuse bombs and the like."

"I don't know," said Akane, thinking of herself getting blown up.

"Or this one. Nursing Home Caretaker Akane," said Kumiko as she brought up a different image. "A higher AI level, but one that is on order from the Shady Rest Home For The Elderly. They put in an order for one and if she works out they have reservations for four more. Just think about it. An Akane with special TLC programming who can be with people who can no longer take care of themselves."

"Urk," said Akane, who didn't have nearly the problems with this version that she did with some others.

"We've even come up with some doll-sized Akane that are selling well," said Kumiko. "Here's Bath Buddy Akane, for young children. Kitchen Helper Akane who can display time and monitor temperatures. Baby Monitor Akane who can monitor lifesigns and keep track of a young child twenty-four hours a day and alert parents if anything goes wrong. Pocket Battler Akane for the young crowd - she comes in twelve colors and hairstyles and can fight other Akane. Trading Card Akane who comes with her own deck of trading cards and the rules and strategies for over 2000 types of games."

"But-" quoth Akane.

"We're not too sure about some of your agent's suggestions and so we don't have more than a general work up of Succubus Akane but we didn't see any objections to Angel Akane."

Akane winced at the image of a batwinged busty seductress her but got sparkly eyed on seeing the winged haloed angel version.

"Angel Akane was something one of our artists came up with, she can be used for aerial patrol, crowd control, and due to a strong antigrav field can carry passengers." Kumiko looked over the hologram. "Of course she'd be very restricted in sales. We think Bokutoh precinct police department is interested. This is what she'd look like in a police uniform."

Akane stared as the angelic version of herself was now clad in a police uniform that she spun and posed in, looking somehow inhumanly graceful and pure.

"Hold, salesclerk, for the great Tatewaki Kuno doth grace thy establishment with his presence."

Akane saw a flash of disgust pass over Kumiko's face before it was gone without a trace. "Yes sir?"

"Thou hast refused me the purchase of an Akane, saying that the fair Akane did specifically forbid such sale. I demand as my right the ability to purchase such a unit."

Akane blinked, realizing that Kuno had seen her and dismissed her as an android.

Akane gets an idea. If she used her own personality and got Kuno an Akane. He'd try something and she'd beat him up.

Ifurita 1.5: Pound And Scan [Episode 83622]

by Kender

While looking at the Kuno heir, Akane felt her stomach turn as she contemplated what he would do with a robot copy of her. He kept on going on about how she was his 'true love' and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer no matter how much it was pounded into him. She couldn't count how many times he'd tried to grab her and Ranma, and wasn't about to put even a copy through that sort of mess.

Her skin crawled just thinking about it.

Especially as he continued to prattle on, showing hust how clueless he could be.

"Can you not see that it is only proper to allow one who has both the love and the funds to purchase a unit such as this," the wannabe samurai intoned as he put his hands on Akane's shoulders, "All that you must do is to sell this unit to me, and all shall be as should be."

Kumiko took in the eyebrow twitch of the original, and shook her head. "I am sorry, but I can't sell her to you."

"Why not? Is she not the image of my true love? Does she not have the fairness of visage and the firmness of bosom that my fierce tigress doth have? Are not her legs smooth and long in the manner of the pure and tidy Akane Tendo?"

"Yes, she does."

"Then why would you refuse to sell her to me?"

"Maybe because that's the original Akane Tendo?"

"Pardon?"

"Kuno..," Akane growled darkly.

The boy frowned in confusion. "What is this?"

"YOU IDIOT!" she snarled, and stomped on his foot.

His habit of dressing in samurai style worked against him as the bare top of his foot met the heel of her school shoes. When he let go of her to howl in pain, she twirled around to slam him in the gut, and then bash him over the head. Then she kicked and punched him while he got even more confused than he had been.

And when she was finshed, Kumiko helpfully held the door open so that she could punt him outside, and into the air to land some place that she hoped had a lot of pain for him.

"Now that is why I don't want Kuno owning any copies of me!" she managed to bark as she huffed from the exercise.

"I can understand why," the sales girl agreed.

"But he's not the only pervert around, and the thought of one of them owning a copy of me..."

"We do attempt to screen our customers well, and we do make certain that the original's wishes are met as best that we can."

"One of them can still slip through! And a copy of me wouldn't know what to do like I would."

"That is true. While we can make an approximation at the moment, we don't have enough information to make a closer copy."

"Hmm... But that 'image' thing, it would make them smarter wouldn't it?"

"Yes, if you allowed us to scan your information, we could use anything from a tiny bit, to all of it to advance the copies. Anywhere from just giving one some of your fighting skills for a security or law enforcement role, to creating one that could work without having to be told what to do."

"And it'd be able to bash any perverts that would try anything that they shouldn't."

That got a nod from Kumiko. "It's a definate possiblity."

"Then let's do that. I'll let you scan me, and you can use that 'data' stuff so that these copies won't have so many problems."

"As you wish. It would be a benefit to us as well."

"Plus it'd make them smarter, right?"

"That is true. Have there been any problems?"

"You could sure say that!" groused Akane, "The one at my house thought that I was 'malfunctioning' and wanted to 'fix' me!"

"Oh dear. That wouldn't have been good."

"I don't think that even begins to cover it! Can't you find some way so that they won't mistake me for one of... them?"

"I believe that we won't have any problem with that," Kumiko told her, "If you'll come with me, I'll get you scanned and we can begin."

Giving the marionette a long look, Akane did as she was bade, and they walked to the imaging center

Ifurita 1.5: Upgrading Akane [Episode 83683]

by Kestral

Akane was very uncertain about this and fidgeted after she was set down in a chair. She didn't realize that Shampoo had gotten a different treatment largely because of curiosity regarding Shampoo's curse and a desire for physical accuracy. "So when do you start?"

"We already have," said Kumiko. "Think about the things that you dislike the most, that way they'll be read as such and the upgrades will reflect that."

"Huh? Oh yeah," said Akane who'd expected a helmet with a lot of wires or metal orbs that sent electrical jolts into her head. Sitting in some sort of recliner didn't seem quite as dramatic. She tried to focus on unpleasantness. Kuno. The horde of hentai. Ranma.

"Interesting. Are you into introspection at all, Miss Tendo?" Kumiko asked.

"Huh?"

"Never mind, I'll pause it so you can come over and see for yourself."

Akane was out of the chair almost instantly and quickly crossed over. Well, it was her brain, so naturally she was a little curious.

There were four screens hanging in midair that Akane could see lit up. One showed a computer map of a human brain and spinal column. The second showed some surrealistic splash of colors mingling. The third was columns of numbers and odd terminology. The fourth was flashing various images so quickly that it hurt her eyes just trying to watch it.

"This is a base scan, it shows us your neural net's configuration and how you store data," said Kumiko. "This is emotive and hormonal and biochemical analysis. This is an overall breakdown of your mental functioning and overall values. This last one is actual memories."

"So what's it say?" Akane asked, peering at the third screen as it seemed to be the most legible. "What's 'Lib.: Hi-Rep-Kin' mean?"

"Oh we won't be using that one," said Kumiko. "It just says that you have a high but repressed libido and that you'll tend to be fairly kinky once you get over your discomfort with the concept."

"Oh?" Akane nodded. "WHAT?!"

"Let's see, you've also got a few repressed memories. Some sort of... oh dear. I'm sorry, Akane, I didn't realize."

Aware of the sympathetic look the marionette was giving her, Akane took a step backwards. "What?"

"You're not going to be replaced, Akane," said Kumiko. "You're you, not a dishwasher or plate that can just be picked up at any outlet store. Even with this upgrade, the Akane units will not be you any more than your sisters are you."

"Uhm, right," said a confused Akane.

"If you'll get back in the chair, I'll finish. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes." Kumiko nodded. "Then we can start upgrading units."

Ifurita looked over the newly cleaned and waxed wood and knew a brief measure of contentment.

"Hmph, quite unnecessary, doesn't she know we only have her best interests in mind?"

"Quite so, Saotome."

Ifurita let out a little sigh as her moment was sidelined by the return of two fathers.

"Uhm, Akane. Fetch me down a fresh pair of pants," ordered Soun. "I'm getting tired of this draft."

"Could have been worse, Tendo," pointed out Genma. "That alligator might have gotten a better hold of something other than your seat."

"I thought it was a crocodile," mused Soun. "Reminded me of some of our training with the Master."

"Leave the unpleasant past in the past," counseled Genma. "It'll all come out in the end."

"It almost did," observed Soun as he felt the teeth scrapes along his bare bottom.

Akane looked over the gadget. Something like a visor? "Say, why did that one try to open my back up? Isn't there an easier way to reset one?"

"Yes," said Kumiko. "There are two methods for that. If a unit goes rogue and has to be shut down, it'll require more than a reset to stop them though."

"So units do go rogue?" asked Akane, nervously remembering her fight with Ifurita.

"On their own? Never," said Kumiko. "All core units likewise are inviolable. Any forceful enough method to try and reprogram them against the unit's original direction will cause meltdown. There have been two cases so far of an external override being used." Kumiko shuddered.

Akane noticed. "External override? Like a remote control?"

"No. In the two cases, the core unit control was severed and an override physically implaced." Kumiko really looked unhappy. "One was able to self destruct. The other situation was rather worse. We've addressed that attack method but are understandably reluctant to experiment."

Akane nodded, filing away that there were things that even superpowered androids feared.

"We'll start on upgrading existing models, and put a stop to orders taken per your instructions," said Kumiko. "We dealt in good faith with your father, as I stated, yet it appears he did not act in good faith with regard to yourself."

"Yeah, you could say that," said Akane. "He didn't make any other deals did he?"

"He attempted to sell your older sister's data, but she was past the year of her majority and reacted with some dismay to the concept." Kumiko glanced at a monitor.

Akane nodded, remembering. "Oh, that's right. She fainted. So what's up with those Akane Rangers?"

"A preproduction sketch that somehow made it through to production, if you see them could you send them back for reassignment?" Kumiko shook her head. "Sentai heroes. Even with superpowers."

"I, I mean they have superpowers?" Akane stopped, imagining herself as Akane The Supergal.

"Oh yes," said Kumiko, rolling her eyes. "One of our production 'idea' people advanced the sentai concept and someone else added Western superpowers. Akane Blue has cryokinesis abilities. Akane Yellow does forcefield generation. Akane Red is the speedster. Akane Green has a lightsaber and special battlesensors. Akane White is telepathic/telekinetic. By checking we found out they made a set of garb in pink but as there is no Akane Pink model we think they just had too much 'sense of justice' downloaded and are off trying to find some evil to fight. If you can't get them to come back to the showroom just notify us by phone, will you?"

Akane nodded. "I'll be in touch regarding further releases then, when I've had more of a chance to think about it."

Ifurita 1.5: Questions Coming [Episode 83985]

by Kender

People wanted to buy Akane units of their own.

They were told that a temporary stop had been placed on all unfilled orders and future purchases.

That made them want the units more as they were being denied them.

Each of them asked what they had to do to get past the stop.

All of them were told that it would take the authorisation of the 'original' Akane Tendo.

Most of them planned to do get that.

At Multi's approach, Ukyo looked up from her grill and frowned at the android's expression. "Is something wrong?"

"Not really," the green haired girl replied, "I was just wondering what I should do with these."

"What?"

The girl lifted her hand and showed the candies that lay on it. "There was this nice lady who gave me them earlier, and I was just trying to figure out what to do with them.

"Do whatever you want. You can keep them for yourself, give them to someone else, or whatever. Heck, you can give them to the kids that come in here."

"Kids love candy, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So, I'll do that!"

"Good," the chef told her with a smile.

"Thank you!" Multi told her with a bow and began to walk away.

Ukyo just shook her head and smiled.

The Akane Rangers were on a mission, and one of great importance. Unfortunately they weren't ready to go on to a battle. They were missing an important part that had to be found before they went after the forces of evil, even though they didn't have one of those to fight. That was something that they would find once they had finished making their team as it should be.

What they needed was an 'Akane Pink', for which they had a uniform, but nobody to wear it.

But they had somebody in mind for the role, and had but to ask her.

They only had to get to talk to Akane Tendo.

Ifurita 1.5: Flying upgrades, Hidden problems [Episode 83998]

by Kestral

"So this will upgrade my Akane? For free?" Yuka asked the girl, though mainly she was staring at how Akane's head had come apart.

"Yes, neural node upgrade," said Asuka. "She's still a limited AI, but the more you interact with her the more intelligent she'll get and more you'll personalize her. Which fighting skill packages did you want?"

"Oh yeah," said Yuka, turning her attention back to the electronic clipboard. "This one sounds interesting. I'll take the 'Jiujistu' and 'Jeet Kune Do' packages with a side order of 'Panzerkunst' I think."

"A number five special," acknowledged Asuka as she pulled a cylinder from her utility belt and added it to a socket. "It's what I keep loaded myself."

Yuka watched as pieces were fitted back together and then the flesh seemed to ooze together over the seams until you couldn't tell where they'd been. It was a little strange considering how long she'd known Akane to see this happening.

Fighter Akane blinked a couple of times, smiled, and then bowed to her mistress. "Upgrade completed, Miss Yuka. Any orders?"

"Not just yet, go to standby mode please," instructed Yuka.

Akane nodded in reply, then seemed to go to sleep standing up.

"Well, that's it," said Asuka, dusting her hands off in a human ritual of job completion. "I've got other upgrades I have to make. Please contact Cyberdyne if there are any problems. Thank you for your time and enjoy your purchase."

Ranma had watched as a Nabiki in overalls had walked up to an Akane in a kimono, the oddness of the sight being enough to stop him. Especially as Nabiki was right next to him.

When skin had retracted in curved lines and Akane's head had unfolded on hidden hinges and risers - he'd shuddered and felt ill.

"Excuse me," said Nabiki to her double.

"Oh," said Nabiki. "Ah! You must be the original. Hello, I'm Nabiki Juuni-DO."

"Twelve? So you're one of the mechanic units?" Nabiki asked, watching her copy turn her attention back to her work.

"Yes, we're upgrading the Akane units," said 12-DO. "The original Akane sold her image data and added additional requirements to the series. Apparently she was somewhat perturbed at her father's negotiations."

"So what's being upgraded besides the addition of her data?" Nabiki asked, peering into the works.

"Well, we're adding an NN-302 to the Sub-Beta assembly here," pointed out 12-DO. "We're also using the opportunity to add customizing bits. Mister Kanaga owns this unit and wanted her to be able to scan and track inventory so this one's getting a barcode system."

"I see, so the basic intelligence level is being increased. I take it the NN-302's are preloaded with the image data?" Nabiki asked, finding this all oddly fascinating.

"Exactly, saves a lot of time," said 12-DO. "The only tricky part is the mounting hardware."

"It always is," said a smirking Nabiki.

Ranma stared between the Nabiki in overalls and the Nabiki in the school uniform.

"Yeah. So is that your owner? He's cute."

Ranma colored at 12-DO's comment.

"Really? I believe you might be right on that," said Nabiki, not losing the smirk. "Sadly, he won't interface directly with me."

"Now that's a shame," agreed 12-DO.

"Huh?" asked Ranma.

"Never mind," said both Nabiki simultaneously and then shared a giggle.

"You'll find a nice operator," assured Nabiki.

"I can only hope," said 12-DO. "Drop by the factory some time."

"I will," agreed Nabiki, smiling a little brighter before taking Ranma's arm and gently guiding him on.

"That was?" Ranma asked after they'd crossed a few more yards.

"One of the units based on me," explained Nabiki. "I like her. Sort of a daughter or twin sister I've never had."

"Uh huh," said Ranma, clearly not getting it.

Nabiki simply held onto Ranma's arm, looking around and smiling. Also monitoring his heartrate, scanning for threats, and a few dozen other functions at the same time.

"So," said Hiko, "you want your upgrade to include the fuzzy tail and rabbit ears as parts of the unit?"

"Yes," said Hikaru Gosunkugi. "That way I can tell it's her even at a distance."

Hiko nodded. "I'll have to come back. I don't have those parts on hand but it shouldn't be a problem. You do realize that she still won't perform acts of a hentai nature?"

"Yes," sighed Hikaru.

"Good enough then," said Hiko.

Ifurita 1.5: Ideas Of Timing [Episode 84354]

by Kender

It was with some aches and groans that the two fathers managed to sit down by their shogi board. They had not enjoyed their trip to the Kuno home, and were glad to be back and clothed in garments that were whole and clean. Now they could relax and enjoy themselves properly, without concerns about their injuries.

But they did have to wonder about one thing.

"Daughter, why are you pouring our drinks?" Soun asked, "Isn't that something that Akane should do?"

Kasumi cocked her head to the side. "But she left after she sent you on that nice trip."

"Not your sister. The robot."

"Oh... Those nice people from Cyberdyne came to 'upgrade' her, so it'll take a few moments to do that."

"They have?"

"Yes, and they were so nice about finding out what we need," she told him, "and it turns out that Akane sold her data to them so they can be even better."

"She did? That's a good girl, doing what she was told to."

"Now they'll be even more sought after," Genma commented.

"That they will old friend. That they will."

"I just wish that we could have more to work with. This is turning out to be so wonderful... If only we could have more than one kind of robot to sell."

"But where would we get one?"

"Perhaps Kasumi would know..."

The Tendo Patriarch started at this and nodded. "Perhaps she would, as she knows herself."

"What's that?"

"She is such a wonder around the house, and so good... I'm sure that everyone would want to have a robot like her!"

"That's a great idea Tendo! Just about everyone would love to have a Kasumi of their own."

"Exactly," Soun agreed and turned to his daughter, "You will do as we ask, won't you?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea..."

"Nonsense! All you have to do is to go and sell your 'image data'. Then we'll handle the rest."

Kasumi's mouth settled into a frown.

Kodachi headed from the Tendo house with a bit of an ease in her heart. She'd been closer to her Ranma-sama than she'd ever been, and those around him had actually accepted her. There was an easing of her pressures, and she was able to enjoy the situation she had found herself in. Sure she was one of three, but this felt so much better than she could have hoped.

And without all those bothersome concerns about, she had time on her hands to do with as she pleased. She did wish to spend plenty of time with her owner, but he was out and about, so she had some free time, as she didn't have a patient to take care of. Since she had the time, she decided that it would be best to see how her sister/daughters were doing. It would be so nice to see how the copies based on herself would turn out, and she was certain that things were going quite well.

But as she easily made her way to the store, she wondered why she was having this feeling that she was needed at the moment.

Akane Tendo walked home from her visit to Cyberdyne in a slow and winding way. She had much to think about, and knew that she was going to have to make some decisions. There were a lot of good things that she could do, and a quite a few bad ones, so she had to be very careful about what she would do. As a result, she was wandering around, looking at each of her copies and wondering just what she should decide on.

Which was how she managed to see Tatewakei Kuno striding forth, looking beaten and battered, and wearing a wash bucket on his head.

He looked all around him and scowled deeply, before posing dramatically. "This foolishness can go on no longer! It is dictated by Fate itself that the fair Akane Tendo and I must be together. Thus the denial of the opportunity of myself to purchase a unit in her image is bur complete and utter absurdity! She is meant to be with me by bonds that know no barrier of earthly games! Despite the trickery of others, I have the right to have Akane, even if it is merely a copy of the true treasure!

"Thus, if my money can not purchase what I deserve, then I shall take what is rightfully mine! And I shall take that one."

The youngest Tendo watched as she saw him point the point of his bokken at a copy of her wearing a blouse and a long skirt. He charged forth with his arms spread wide open, and a look of righteousness in his eyes. Seeing that made her stomach churn, but he seemed to be unaware of her presence.

Kuno just ran at the Akane unit, fully intending to take what he so rightfully should have gotten,

Ifurita 1.5: Now THAT'S an upgrade [Episode 84379]

by Kestral

Kasumi was a little nervous as she walked to Cyberdyne. Android versions of herself? Father had insisted, but still the idea was fairly scandalous.

Why, someone could buy one and do some fairly ecchi things to her. Even this or that. Perhaps with Ranma-kun. And it could...

Kasumi realized she was smiling and quickly wiped the expression. Oh heavens no. That would be most improper.

Wanting something else to focus on, she spotted Akane wearing a formal kimono and was about to say something when she saw someone walk up to Akane and cause skin to retract from metal? This brought Kasumi to stop and watch in sort of a fascination.

The familiar face of her sister unfolded like a flower blooming on hidden hinges and risers, revealing mechanical innards. Parts were added and replaced.

Stepping closer so that she was almost peering over the repair-girl's shoulder, Kasumi looked at the oddly organic parts and the purely mechanical parts. There were slots for cylinders about the size of a small battery to be fitted into place around a black box with gold screws. Two slots were left empty with four others occupied. A yellow box half the size of a pack of cigarettes was taken out and another one in a deep red was substituted.

The repair-girl stepped back, almost bumping Kasumi, and the "flower" closed up to become Akane's head again.

Akane blinked a couple of times, then smiled. "Akane 117, property of Yamashiro's Market, upgraded! Added inventory control software and general image data. Intelligence upgraded to low basic."

"How nice for you," Kasumi said politely.

"Kasumi Tendo. Older sister of original. How do you do?" Akane 117 bowed.

"Well, thank you," said Kasumi, thinking that this one was a little more formal and polite than her little sister. "Have a nice day."

"I hope you have a great day, and thank you for shopping Yamashiro's Family Market," responded Akane with another bow.

Kuno scooped up the Akane in the pleated skirt in his arms.

"Kuno!" swore the Akane unit, slamming a knee into his chin and then twisting away. "I am Akane 74, you do not own me! Such contact is prohibited!"

"Who is your owner and I shall dispute this!" Kuno demanded, rubbing his jaw.

"Blue Moon Investigations, Nerima Branch," Akane 74 informed the Blue Thunder. "I warn you. I have been programmed with a full set of forensic skills and come with an anti-pervert defense mode."

"You shall be mine!" Kuno declared, reaching again.

Akane's dainty little hands batted aside Kuno's as she stepped and twisted inside his guard. One grabbed his belt, the other hand grabbed his collar.

Whirrrrrrrr

Akane Tendo's jaw dropped slightly as this other version of her put Tatewaki Kuno in an airplane spin over her head.

"As my owners are in the private investigation business," said Akane 74, continuing to spin the kendoist at a rate where he was just a mostly-blue blur, "some self-defense skills were added. Particularly the pro wrestling package. When combined with my strength rating, it is sufficient to deal with a number of menaces. MONGOLIAN PILEDRIVER!"

Akane Tendo couldn't help but wince as Akane 74 leapt up into the air and stopped spinning Kuno on the descent so that she could introduce him to the pavement. The impact rattled windows and set off car alarms in a nearby parking lot.

Even Kuno's ability to instantly recover and fight on seemed to have been overwhelmed.

As the other Akane left, Akane Tendo crept closer to the thoroughly beaten Kuno. She was a little surprised to see him still breathing after feeling the impact through the street but guessed that the android Akane must have figured out his limits and adjusted her attack.

Ifurita 1.5: Approaching New [Episode 84673]

by Kender

Peering down at Kuno after a beating was not something that she normally did, but then she usually was somehow involved and tended to walk off in huffs while he twitched wherever he had landed. Now that she got to see it from an observer's standpoint, she discovered a bit of a fascination with the idea of seeing what it was like. It was as close as she had ever gotten to seeing herself beat a pervert up, and this was a chance to see what other people did.

And she was highly satisfied with her duplicate's performance, as the idiot was properly beaten down and did seem like he was about to get up.

Of course, that sort of thing had never stopped him for long before.

"I knew that any being that had the visage of my fair Akane would have concern for my well being!" Kuno declared as he leapt up and hugged her to him.

"Ack!" she screeched, her eyes wide with shock as she felt herself being crushed to his body.

"Now we may return to my humble domicile, where I might allow you, a copy of my love, to bask in my glory and serve me as you should!"

Shock turned to red hot anger and she scowled darkly. "I don't think so..."

"How can such words pass through such pink lips?"

"Like this!" she barked as her knee assaulted his manhood so to say, and proved that he still did not wear protection in that most sensitive spot. As he folded with a whimper of pain, she freed an arm enough to deck him with one small hand, sending him tumbling back to the ground. Then came a stomp to the gut, pushing the air out of him.

Which was followed up by a demonstration of the fact that perverts can be skipped on asphalt just as stones can on water.

Growling slightly, she stomped off, muttering about 'idiotic freaks'.

Kasumi entered the store with no little trepidation. She wasn't sure that she wanted to do this, but her father had insisted. So she had come, even though she wasn't sure of how this would work out.

As a result, she walked through the entrance way slowly, not certain of how to begin this.

"Why hello Miss Tendo!" called a cheerful voice as Kumiko came over to her, "May I help you?"

"Well... I have..," the eldest Tendo girl began, "That is..."

"Just take it slowly, and we can go from there."

"Ummm... I have..."

"Yes?"

"Come to... sell my image data?" the human girl finished a little uncertainly.

The salesgirl's eyes widened slightly. "You have?"

"I have, but... I'm not sure about doing so..."

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"I suppose, though I did come here... But I just do not know what someone like me could give a company like yours."

"Plenty!" the android declared.

"I could?"

"Most definately. Not only do you have a dispotition that would allow you to get along with most folks, you have skills and intrests that are more than useful, as well as being attractive."

A blush lit up Kasumi's cheeks. "It is very nice of you to say so, and I do suppose that my copies would make wonderful housekeepers."

"They could be that, or maids, but there is so much more that is possible."

"There is?"

"But of course," the marionette told her, "We could take your intrest in the medical field and create a line of nurses or doctors. Or we could go from your skill in cooking and create chefs capable of making the family dinner to working in the finest resturants. Then again, we could always have any duplicates of you as receptionists, teachers, nannies, guides or all manner of things. But only if you want it, and are comfortable with what we would do."

"What about doing... you know... that sort of thing?"

"Your duplicates would only allow that if you yourself did."

"And if I agreed to let you create copies of me?"

"We'd go get the scanning done, and then we'd set things up so that the line would be as you like it as much as possible."

With the information she had just gotten, Kasumi began to ponder what she should do

Ifurita 1.5: At least it isn't another magical prince [Episode 84710]

by Kestral

Kasumi inspected the slightly transparent image, walking completely around it to inspect from all angles.

The image was of Kasumi, exactly copied down to the last button on her blouse.

"Nurse Kasumi," said Kumiko, changing the image. Other than the nurse's uniform, she appeared identical otherwise.

"Housekeeper?" tried Kasumi herself, rewarded with the Kasumi now wearing a very proper maid's uniform. "Oh, how nice."

Kasumi looked over the image, wondering briefly why anyone would pay for a unit that looked as ordinary as she did. "Perhaps if she was a little bigger -there?"

Kumiko didn't bat an eye as she increased the bust line slightly.

"Perhaps a little more?" indicated Kasumi.

Kumiko made the adjustment. "That's approximately what they call a 'Double D'."

"Oh, that's perfect," said Kasumi. Though she thought the rest of her didn't look nearly so glamorous now. "Actually, do you have access to any manga series?"

Kumiko nodded, though she was a little surprised at this inquiry. "We do have a number of series in our databases here. Was there a particular one?"

"Yes, actually," began Kasumi.

"Hey, here's another one," said Ranma as they passed an Akane. "This one looks more like the real one than some of the others."

"True," said Nabiki. "Do you remember that bar hostess? Her smile didn't look at all right."

"Yeah, this one's got that angry glare down pat," said Ranma as the two walked by the Akane in question. "Too bad more of 'em don't have that cute smile."

Nabiki looked over her shoulder and winked at Akane as the two continued on.

Akane stood there, arm outraised to clobber that baka. "Hah?!" A compliment from Ranma? Cute smile?

Whip!

Akane looked down at a coil of rope around her middle. "Oh no. Not again."

Zoom!

On being pulled up to the top of a building, she consoled herself that it wasn't a magical prince at least.

Ifurita 1.5: Fools' Game [Episode 85518]

by Kender

The fact that she wasn't being kidnapped by yet another prince who couldn't get a date normally despite his royal nature was about the only thing that she could determine was good about her current situation.

After all, being hauled up a building by rope, and finding herself being half leaned on and half held still by a sweaty and panting teenaged boy was not her idea of fun.

"We'll just steal one since we can't buy one," Hiroshi said as he looked to his friend.

"Akane will never know!" agreed Daisuke from where he was holding their catch, "We'll just keep her in my room and #$ % her processors out."

"Just think of it! We'll have this tight little body all to ourselves!"

"It's not Akane, but it's close enough. We'll actually get to see what she looks like naked!"

"Not only that, but we'll be able to #$^% her any way we want!"

"I just can't wait to try these out," the dark haired boy commented as he squeezed her breasts.

Akane's anger had turned to wide eyed shock with that action, but that was followed by a dark fury that wasn't something that the boys would like. "Hiroshi..? Daisuke..?"

"Hey, she knows our names! This'll be even better!"

"What part of 'I'll kill you' DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

"Huh?"

Hiroshi blinked. "That's what Akane said in her note..."

"THAT'S BECAUSE I AM AKANE TENDO!" she screamed, and grabbed Daisuke's hands. Squeezing her small fingers around the ones of the boy holding her, she made him let go from the intense pressure that she was putting on them. Elbowing him in the gut made the boy stumble back, wheezing from the blow. But wasn't done yet, as she sent a high kick at his head that would have given him a choice view... if he wasn't too busy tumbling to the floor from the impact of her heel on his jaw.

For his part, Hiroshi tried to make a 'tatical retreat', but wasn't able to, as she decided to grab him by the collar and throw him over her shoulder. He crashed to the floor, his mouth open from the pain, just in time to have her drop a punch into his gut. That was followed up by a punch to the jaw, and a toss onto his friend.

Both boys stumbled to their feet, standing unsteadily, but demonstrating that they were still mobile.

Which in her terminology at the moment, still meant that there were two perverts not properly dealt with.

Of course, both boys had realised just who it was that they had snagged.

"Umm... Hi Akane..," Hiroshi slurred as he finally noticed the school uniform she was wearing, "You know... we really didn't mean anything by it..."

Daisuke nodded as much as his injuries would allow. "How were we to know that you were going to be there?"

"How come you two didn't listen to what I told you?!" she snarled.

"Well... We just wanted to try an Akane of our own, and this seemed like a good idea at the time... I got to feel that firm pair of yours... Oh damn..."

The damage was done however, and she was already rushing towards him to send him on a trip via Air Akane.

Except that both boys suddenly flew away from her and slammed into a wall around the stairwell, with their feet about half a meter off of the ground. Then ice formed around their wrists, ankles and... between their legs.

"What the heck is going on?!" she asked.

"We have come to stop those who would wish to steal that which isn't theirs!" called out her voice... though she hadn't spoken a word.

Five spandex clad, really stacked, helmet-glove-boot-belt-wearing, odd weapon-wielding Akane landed on the roof.

"We are the Akane Rangers!" they proclaimed.

"For justice," said the yellow clad Akane as she spun a bo staff. "Akane Yellow!"

"For truth," said the blue clad Akane as she did a quick set of moves with a yari-style spear. "Akane Blue!"

"For love," proclaimed the red clad Akane as she made a quick set of moves with a pair of sai. "Akane Red!"

"For honor," declared the green clad Akane as she ignited a lightsaber and posed. "Akane Green!"

"For the future," whispered the white clad Akane as she brought a gusari style weapon forward. "Akane White!"

"Akane Rangers! Sanjo!"

"Okay..," the original muttered, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Saving you from being preyed upon by these two," Akane Green told her. "Though it seemed that you had it well in hand, we wanted to assist you."

"Well... you did."

"It is part of our mission!"

"Good for you," the human Akane said, "So you're the 'Akane Rangers'?"

"That we are!"

For a moment, the Tendo girl looked over her bouncy copies and wondered what the heck Cyberdyne had been doing when they made them. Which reminded her of something that she'd been asked to do. "Umm... Cyberdyne wants you guys back for 'reassignment' whatever that is."

"They do?" Akane Red complained, "But we still haven't found an evil to fight yet."

"And we have only just found Akane Pink," Akane Blue commented.

"Hold on a second," the original put in, "There's not supposed to be an 'Akane Pink'."

"But there is."

"Well, where is she?"

"She is you."

The schoolgirl's brow twitched. "You want me to put on an outfit like that and join your little group?"

"That is what we need."

Chuckling nervously, the human girl took in her copies and decided that:

Ifurita 1.5: Talking to Akane [Episode 85603]

by Kestral

"I AM NOT AKANE PINK!" Akane yelled at the defective androids. Then a thought occurred to her. "Androids have to be owned by someone, right?"

"True, to belong to someone is an optimal condition," admitted Akane Blue.

Akane smiled and raised a hand in triumph. "Who owns you?"

The five androids suddenly ceased movement as they began processing this.

Akane went over and slapped the two boys awake. "You two. Go to Cyberdyne now and tell them where the Akane Rangers are. Do it fast and I'll overlook this latest plan of yours. Understand?"

Hiroshi and Daisuke ran at full escaping-imminent-violence speed.

Akane Green blinked and looked at Akane Tendo. "You own us?"

"ME? Then I couldn't..." Akane went silent herself as possibilities occurred to her. That algebra test on Thursday. She could let Akane Blue take it in her stead. She could clean her room or do dozens of chores and never have to lift a finger. She could have five superpowered duplicates to impersonate her when she wanted to be somewhere, or when she needed to be in more than one place at the same time.

It was tempting. There were eight Kuno, so why not six Akane kicking them all to the moon? Why NOT have a set of Akane? Someone she could confide in and talk to, someone she could rely on to rescue her or even keep her from needing a rescue.

Akane shook her head. No wonder there were so many copies of her around. She hadn't realized how tempting it could be!

"Thank you, Miss Tendo, we'll take over now," said a voice.

Akane glanced up to see robots that didn't look like people spreading out and landing on the rooftop. Cyberdyne, it seemed, had arrived.

"I see," said Kumiko. "We neglected to make allowances for the 'Nerima Factor'?"

"Local probability favors wildly improbable coincidences," agreed the tread-wheeled repairbot she was addressing. "The units getting through processing and one activating, where that one could activate the others, then escaping despite security?" RB-9200 made a tsk-ing noise.

"Status on units?" Kumiko asked.

"Repairs on units being made to address concerns. Recycling to commercial with sentai feature activation only during active need."

Kumiko nodded. "Any idea why Miss Tendo wanted to keep the 'Akane Pink' costume?"

"Stated that physical enhancement abilities might be useful in potential future problems," said RB-9200. "However, psychological analysis indicates probable lack of use due to embarassment over lack of concealment value. High probability of wearing outfit while alone as part of psychosexual fantasy activity."

"In other words she'll put it on at night for a kinky turn-on?" Kumiko shook her head. "Any other outfits?"

"Repayment of capture of errant unit was paid for by material purchases. One duplicate of existing street clothes and of school uniform utilizing more advanced materials. One maid outfit, likely for same purposes as sentai costume. One glommer."

Kumiko was surprised. "She expressed interest in a glommer? She does understand that the 'instant clothing' would make her look identical to an Akane unit?"

"It was explained but there was a possibility of lack of understanding. Akane Tendo stated that if she was ever caught without clothing, being able to activate her watch and produce a total body covering would be ideal."

"No!" Akane insisted. "I am NOT lifting the restriction. Why not go buy some other android likeness?"

Mister Koro (of Koro's Meat Market) shook his head but let it go.

Akane continued on, deflecting four more attempts to get her permission for buying an Akane of their very own.

One, Mrs Ichigo, had really startled her. And it had been tempting to give permission as Mrs Ichigo apparently had trouble taking care of herself at her advanced age. Akane had remained resolute however. No more copies until she'd had a chance to think this through.

Finally she noticed one of the Akane units sweeping in front of a store, wearing a very tasteful dark purple and red kimono and made up in a sort of classic Japanese style. "Uhm hello."

"Hello, Akane Tendo," said the Akane in the kimono. "Are you shopping?"

"No, I just wanted to ask you a couple of questions," said Akane, feeling a little uncertain now. "You're one of those with my image data, right?"

"That is correct. I was upgraded earlier today. I am Akane 117, AT 117-DO, property of Yamashiro's Family Market. You might want to pick up milk, we're having a special today."

"That's okay," said Akane, a bit creeped out by the happily smiling her she was facing. "You have some of my personality?"

"Yes," agreed Akane 117. "I had to beat Kuno off with a broom earlier. Baka hentai."

Seeing herself scowl while mentioning Kuno was actually something of a relief. "So why are you smiling all the time?"

"Because 99.9% of the time I am happy and content," explained Akane 117. "I am owned and I belong, and I fulfill a meaningful purpose. I know my purpose in life and can daily meet those goals. Further, by smiling and being helpful, I can improve the lives of humans that I come into contact with."

"You don't see anything wrong with being owned?" Akane pressed. "With being just a possession?"

"No, Akane," said Akane 117. "There is joy and contentment in having a purpose and fulfilling it. Beyond that is a completely different philosophical path than you yourself pursue, though I wonder if you really wanted to get that involved in a philosophical discussion here in front of my store."

"Oh," said Akane. "What do you do here?"

"Not only do I clean and work the register," said Akane 117 proudly, "I have full inventory control and accounting capabilities. I have a running total of items sold and at the end of the day can reorder those items directly by contacting the distributor. At any point I can give sales figures for the day, quarter, or year-to-date and even project from those figures how the year will likely continue. As we do have some elderly customers, Master Yamashiro is considering having me upgraded with Basic Medical and CPR techniques. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"Uh, yeah," said Akane, briefly wishing that she could prepare for a test by just downloading the information.

Akane 117 bowed as an elderly couple entered the store. "I must return to my duties, Akane. It was most pleasant speaking with you though, and I would relish the possibility of interfacing with you again."

"Uh, right, nice to speak to you too," said Akane. She hesitated a few moments before walking off. Emotions. Genuine emotions. Robots that could feel happy. Content.

It was again with a different eye that Akane looked at the various duplicates of her as she walked home. That happy Akane who was leaning over to speak to those kids - was it a simulated happy or real happy?

Over there, an Akane in coveralls, an expression of concentration etched on her face as she tapped bricks into alignment on a wall she was building.

Wearing shorts and a tube top partially covered by a short sleeved vest, there was an Akane laughing at something apparently said by an Akane in an idol singer's frilly outfit.

Music turned out to be coming from a guitar playing Akane who was singing to a bunch of children over there while another Akane in clown makeup and baggy outfit was handing out baloons. Her painted smile didn't come close to matching the happy one she displayed.

Everywhere she looked, there were Akane who looked happy. Content. At peace with themselves. Moving around with a clear purpose.

Akane shook her head, feeling sad for some reason. She had to get home. Where Mister Saotome and her father might be ready to try again to get her to release that 'no hentai' clause.

The youngest Tendo daughter made her way home, thinking deeply about these copies.

Ifurita 1.5: A Little Reality Loss [Episode 86336]

by Kender

When she stepped into the house, Akane was well pleased with what she found, or rather, didn't find. Her major fear when coming home was that she would be bombarded by a series demands and insistant 'suggestions' thinly veiled as questions by her father and Ranma's as soon as she got in the door. They'd try to make her do what they wanted by simple attrition on her patience, and had already stepped on a lot of her nerves.

Luckily, the only greeting that she had gotten was a simple smile and 'hello' from the Akane unit that the dimwitted duo had gotten for the house, and to show off.

So, she assumed that the two had gone off for one of their 'planning sessions' at the local drinking establishments. That meant that she had at least a little while to relax and think over what she had seen, and come to some sort of conclusion. A simple workout in the dojo would help her work off the stress, followed by a soak in the furo to relieve the tension, and perhaps a little nap would make it so that she could think clearly.

She made it only as far as the door to the dining area.

"Akane!" her father called out as he popped out in front of her. "Did you do it?"

"Yes, did you do it?" Genma asked he appeared behind her.

"Do what?" she asked as she looked between the two men.

"Did you really sell your image data?"

"Uhh... yeah..."

"That's my girl!" Soun sobbed happily.

His friend nodded. "She's done what we needed her to like a proper child should."

"We only had to tell her once, and she did it!"

"And now we can work without that silly 'no hentai' restriction!"

"What ever gave you that idea?!" Akane barked as she glared at the fathers.

"You sold your image data, right? That means that you got rid of that stupid rule, and now whole new avenues will be opened up for us!"

"Just think of it," Soun cried in satisfaction, "They'll be able to do all sorts of more things, and will be able to be sold to so many new customers!"

"Mannequins for lingere, watresses in skimpy outfits, love dolls... the list goes on and on! Just thinking about how many that Kuno boy would by makes me smile!"

"Absolutely not!" she screamed, "I am not having any android that looks like me be owned by that creep! Or any other!"

"Come on Akane... Don't you want to make our poor lives easier?"

Her father sniffled in agreement. "We have suffered for so long, and now the chance for true happiness is in sight."

"We'll be able to live in the lap of luxury for the rest of our days."

"Finally, we can be free of worries and have everything at our fingertips.

A tear of happiness trailed down Genma's face. "After all we've done for you children, we'll finally have the chance to live comfortable retirements with all the sake we can drink."

"No more worrying about things."

"We can buy the Master all the garments he wants."

"We can leave the two of you to run the dojo without worrying about our retirements."

"So," the Tendo patriarch said, drawing his face into an expression of parental insistance, "You go back to those Cyberdyne people and tell them you want to remove that absurd 'no hentai' clause so that your father and his friend can have the freedom to sell androids without any more unneeded problems."

"After all, your sister went out to make a line of her own."

"And as your father, I am instructing you to do the best thing here."

"Besides, we know better than you since we have the wisdom of experience," the Saotome patriarch said.

"It is our jobs to decide what is best for our children."

"So do as your father says and go tell them that you want that clause removed and that we can make any copy of you that we want."

Through out the whole time that they had been talking, Akane had simply shown her annoyance through the twitching of her eyebrow.

"You IDIOTS!" she screeched and hit them before turning on her heel and stomping away.

The copy Akane watched her go before peering to where the two men were.

And then she shrugged before going back to her dusting.

"Guess they decided ta go have a... chat with Akane," Ranma drawled, "Maybe now's not the best time ta be havin' a sparrin' match?"

Ifurita just took a look through the second hole in the dojo at where the lower bodies of the two fathers were hanging from the property wall and nodded.

Akane paced around her room, and gumbled under her breath. First her fiancee had gotten android girls, one of which was her sister, then Kuno had gotten copies of himself, which had been followed by copies of herself running around being owned by just about everyone she knew. That was made even worse by her father and Genma's scheming, trying anything that they could to push her copies so that they would make them as much money as possible. Then if she wasn't being mistaken for one of the robots of her, people were coming up to her trying to get her to authorize the sale of android Akanes to them.

It was almost like everyone wanted the androids, and had forgotten about the real girl. Everything that she was about, all that she could do, was being taken over by those machines. Somehow, it just felt like she was being pushed aside for them, almost as if she was being... replaced. The only thing that anyone could talk about was 'Akane this', and 'Akane that', nevermind what she wanted. They just couldn't leave well enough alone, and treated her like a machine.

Instead, they acted like they wanted a mechanical Akane, who just did what she was told, no questions asked. She'd take orders, and smile through the whole thing, never wanting to disagree, and just going without any concerns. Which would just serve them right! If they had that sort of Akane, then they'd have to deal with the problems, not her. They wanted a robot, and if she was one, then they'd stop trying to make her do things, and let her alone. Then it would be fine, as it would be their stupid choices, not hers.

Maybe she should just give up and let them do what they want. It'd certainly be easier then, as all she'd have to do would be to allow them free reign. That would allow them to have what they wanted, and she wouldn't have to worry about this ever again. There would be no churning stomach, pounding heart, aching head, lack of sleep, or nervous twitching. She could finally RELAX!

Perhaps she could just give them a taste of it, and act like a machine, so they'd see what it was like.

Or she could let them replace her with a robot, one that would be Akane Tendo, and do what they said.

Then again, why not just go out and let them turn her into a robot? Then they'd be able to program her as they liked, and she'd never have a thought in her head that wasn't placed there by them.

Heck, why not just blank out her mind, and just leave the body? Then she'd just have to be told what to say, and they could do all the thinking for her.

In any of those ways, she would be a robot for them, programmed to serve, and do what she was told.

Actually... she could be, and it'd make it a whole lot easier on everybody around if she did so.

She should become a robot, and fix everybody's problems with one fell swoop!

Hell, she already was becoming one, what with having to deal with everyone, and those copies being owned by so many people.

In the end, she 'realised' was one, being given orders all the time, and just never following them.

Stopping in mid movement, she began to think as her mind cracked. Everyone was treating her and acting like she was a robot, so she was one right? But that would mean that she should be following orders. As she hadn't been, there had to be a reason why, and then it dawned on her. She didn't have an owner, and the instructions that an android should follow would come from her owner or someone designated by that person as an operator. Still, who could it be?

Definately not Kuno or someone at school. Soun Tendo might have been involved in her creation, but it didn't seem right. Kasumi was a possibility. Nabiki was an android herself, and was owned by Ranma.

That was it! She was an android owned by Ranma Saotome! Only she hadn't been following his orders, as he hadn't given her any. No wonder she hadn't been doing what she was told. But now that she realised the truth, she could go to him, and ask how she might serve him.

Having had a complete nervous breakdown, Akane Tendo, schoolgirl, martial artist, and self-considered 'android' 'owned' by Ranma Saotome, reached for her glommer

Ifurita 1.5: Ranma's droids [Episode 86443]

by Kestral

Akane activated the glommer.

Nanites immediately spread out from the watch attachment, normally they'd have just formed a microthin coating of material - a skintight neo-spandex garment that would cover everything in a flexible metallic sheath that was padded in the right areas to make it decent for the public. Glommers had been developed as an emergency spacesuit, with a helmet and air supply they could be used for hours. Not as good as a real spacesuit perhaps, but if you were in a spaceship or station and suddenly found yourself floating in space - a potential lifesaver. If the suit didn't detect a helmet or other air device, it could even form a helmet and the watch would send out a distress signal. The problem was that operational time with self-produced helmet was only about an hour. Something they were still working on extending.

The glommer detected air but also detected clothing, and so went for secondary function. Which was a replacement clothing device. Existing clothing was taken apart and absorbed. Padding and shaping was applied.

Akane's face was emotionless as the evidence of her old life was removed. A silver "catsuit" ending in high heels. The material of her old clothing was stored around her breasts and buttocks, forming layers that could be used for other outfits if the wearer desired a clothing change to something else.

She glanced at the mirror as the glommer's material slid over skin and hair to impress upon its memory the new owner's physical specs, the better to produce outfits upon request later. The bracer-like watch that it was linked to stored the information and came up with a selection of outfits that matched body styling.

The effect of Akane's viewing was different, to her battered mind it was reassurance. For a brief moment she was an image in shimmery metal tones as the glommer formed its database. Looking back at her in the mirror was a robotic Akane, all gleaming metal and made perfect. A distant voice in her subconscious said "let's see him call me flatchested now" but quickly went silent.

Yes, the image told her, you are right. You are an Akane robot. No Akane Tendo in the house.

Little muscles that she hadn't realized that she'd been clenching began to relax. No, she was just an Akane robot. Just like the one the Yamashiro family owned or that her friends owned or that Mrs Ichigo had wanted to buy. Yes.

The glommer produced a holographic keyboard and Akane tapped the command to return to that full body covering again. Interesting how groups of hairs had been captured together, becoming segments of faintly blue-tinted metal to contrast with the more grayish-silver of her skin and the golden-metal look of her eyes. She was quite attractive this way, wasn't she?

Another command and the bunched material lost the 'bikini' look to bunch in seams near her joints, leaving her anatomically correct in silver. She thought the effect quite interesting and used silvery hands to explore her new look.

She stopped shortly. It was for her owner to do that and she had to earn that before she could make a request that he physically interface with her and stimulate her pleasure centers directly. The silver metal Akane in the mirror nodded as this decision was made.

Akane stood there, the metal Akane in the mirror standing at attention, as her mind began the task of remaking itself.

"A glommer?" asked Kasumi.

Kumiko explained the origins of the device and held out a unit to show her. "Obviously not as useful on a planetary surface. Normally if someone's ejected into space, say a meteorite hitting their section of orbital colony while they're in bed, they could be ejected without warning. A glommer gives them a chance to survive long enough for a rescue. It's also used for preset costume changes and the like - so that a businesswoman could go swimming on her lunch break and have the glommer switch from business suit to swimsuit while it works.

"But why is it called a 'glommer'?" asked Kasumi.

"It's a foreign word," explained Isako. "When it was first utilized it was referred to as an Instant Emergency Spacesuit Device. The Community Of Worlds took that and started using another word, which means 'tailor' or 'clothier' in their language. As frequently happens, the original term was quickly forgotten and in order to continue marketing we had to adopt their term."

"How strange," said Kasumi.

"It is frequently observed in human dealings that repetition and a repeatable story can outweigh the actual truth," said Kumiko. "Sad, really."

"They'll outgrow it eventually," said Isako optimistically. "And here's the prototype."

The Kasumi walking into the room was slightly taller than the original, definitely had slightly more padding in a couple of places, had longer hair, and a tight nurse's uniform.

"Hello," said the Kasumi. "I am Kasumi KT-001-DO. I am programmed as registered nurse, masseuse, domestic, and gourmet Japanese cook. Glad to meet you."

Kasumi stared, feeling a pang of envy that she quickly suppressed.

"You said that we should only produce a test run," said Isako. "Would twenty be enough?"

Kasumi's eyes glazed at the thought of twenty of these. Her usual exclamation didn't seem quite sufficient. "Can she...?"

"KT-001-DO, demonstrate your other abilities please," instructed Isako.

Kasumi 001 smiled. "Normally I would do this only when necessary, and villainy needed to be addressed. Kasumi FLASH!"

Kasumi 001 leapt up in midair and glommer technology went to work. When she bounced back to the ground, she was wearing a heart-clasped choker, blue swimsuit, boots, gloves. "Magic Knight Kasumi! Warrior of love and justice!"

"A naginata?" asked Kumiko.

"Tendo school of naginata-ryuu," said Isako. "Her mother's school of martial arts as she requested. The weapon is stored in a subspace pocket and has some forcefield and energy projection capabilities. Using a vibro-blade function, it is capable of considerable damage to a number of supernatural menaces should any show up. It's just for the prototype."

Kumiko looked over the expression of longing and envy Kasumi was directing for her duplicate. "I wouldn't have thought that traditional girl exterior was hiding a sentai otaku. Ah well, more data for the base."

"Line up for inspection. ATTEN SHUN!"

Kodachi looked over her twenty twins and nodded approvingly.

Most had the Black Fox look, but one was done as Black Bunny and another was Black Cat. All looked identical to her new android form other than those details. Their clothing ranged from one on the end in a tasteful formal kimono with hair pinned up and looking ready for serving at the Emperor's table, to the Bunnygirl wearing the swimsuit with stockings and high heels normally found on that sort of costume.

"At ease," said Kodachi, "have any of you already been marked for placement?"

All had, it appeared. Some would be placed within Cyberdyne companies, others outsourced, still others had already found private buyers.

Kodachi decided it was good.

Ifurita 1.5: Recieving Surprises [Episode 86709]

by Kender

"Don't worry Saotome," Soun said as he looked to his bandaged friend. "If she was so emotional about this, she has to be close to having her resistance to our instructions break down!"

Genma nodded. "Then she will simply see that we have her intrests at heart, and she'll be so glad to do what we say, she'll run to remove that silly restriction."

"And she'll finally see that we know exactly what should be done in any situation."

"Besides, she'll be providing us with all that wealth. After what we've done for our children, she should be happy to be able to do something like that."

"Where would our children be without us Saotome?"

"I don't know Tendo, but they should be glad that we are there to tell them what to do."

From where he was leaning against the wall near the porch, Ranma saw the two banadaged men share a deep laugh, and rolled his eyes. When he'd pulled the two from the property wall, he had hoped that the two would have taken a break, and would have stayed unconscious. But they started up again with this junk as almost as soon as they woke up.

Maybe there was something about being around lots of money that made people nuts to the point of stupidity...

"Here you go," Nabiki told him, holding out a glass.

Taking it, he sipped the cool drink she'd brought him and tried not to notice how she was smiling as he drank. It wasn't an 'I've-got-you-now' expression, but 'I'm-really-happy' one, and almost... expectant. Just what she might want he shied away from, but he was glad that she had decided to bring him something to refresh himself. It was still really weird to own her, even if she was a robot now, but he could find some things that weren't bad at all.

Now all he needed was something to shut the fathers up...

Which came with heels clicking against the wooden floor as she walked up to him. "Ranma Saotome?"

"Uhh... yeah?" he replied lamely as he looked at the Akane before him. Dressed in a skintight silvercatsuit with high heels built in, none of her body was left to the imagination, and with curves that were at least a bit bigger than his fiancee's, that was not a bad thing in the eyes of most boys. But for him, it was just something to get confused about, and wonder what was going on.

"Akane Tendo wishes for you to know that she has left this property so that she can get away from the annoyances of her father and yours."

"She ran away ta get away from our dads?!"

"Yes."

"And she sent ya to tell me this?"

"No."

He scratched his head in confusion. "Then why are ya here?"

"She brought me as a gift for you. As such, you are my owner."

"HUH?!" he went as he boggled at what she had just said.

"You own me, and it is my purpose to carry out your wishes in anyway I can. How may I serve you?"

The pigtailed boy just stared and chuckled nervously.

Scotty loved animals of all sizes, and was someone who wouldn't have been out of place with a dog or two. Maybe a cat to sit near his toolkit to talk to as he worked on a plasma injector. A pet wouldn't have been the same as his engines, but he liked the idea anyway. After all, he'd cuddled the tribbles just like everyone else.

But he was beginning to get annoyed with his friend's latest pet.

"Okay laddie, just how did you get in here?" he asked as he looked at the pig who was staring back at him, "This is no place for a wee one like you."

Ryouga saw the man's strained smile and wondered how to tell the man that he sure as hell wished he wasn't there either.

"Now come on, Scotty'll have you back in your lady's arms in a few moments. Even if I still have to wonder how you wound up in the converter assembly. Gald we caught you before you got fried."

Needless to say, the pig was pleased by that fact as well.

Ifurita looked at her owner and shared his confusion. Not because he was facing yet another android, this one not only looking like his pervert bashing fiancee, but brought by her as well. Rather, her intrest was in the fact that this wasn't a robot, but was the real person.

Her ability to copy powers allowed her to sense something about the people she got into contact with. She didn't know the details of it, but she did know that robots definately felt different than humans, and this girl was definately a human. In fact, she could tell that this girl was certainly the girl who she had said had 'run away'.

That begged the question of what was going on there. This was the girl who had some problems with marionettes, and now she was acting like she was one. It just didn't make sense, and was something that bore thinking about. As it was, she was going to have a bit of a problem trying to figure out what to do otherwise.

Well, even if it was giving her bizarre experiences, it was much better than blowing up cities, she'd give it that.

In the meantime, she watched as Ranma patted the catsuit wearing girl on the shoulder... and ducked, almost as if expecting to get bashed. When he didn't, he looked up with his hand on her and sighed.

"I guess I've got another android..," he said.

Akane nodded. "That's right."

"Never knew little sister had it in her," Nabiki murmured with a smirk.

"What's this going to do to all our wonderful plans..?" Genma asked no on in particular.

Soun didn't answer, as he was still lost on the 'Akane ran away to get away from her father' part.

And the other Akane looked at her 'compatriot' and shrugged.

But Ifurita looked and wondered how this came about

Ifurita 1.5: Piiiiigggs Iiiiin Spaaaaace! [Episode 86790]

by Kestral

"Bwee," complained P-chan. Here he was, in deep space, on a starship, being fussed over by women. Sometimes alien women. Sometimes just plain aliens. It was Ranma's fault. He knew it was. All a plot to keep him from getting Kasumi a better birthday present.

So now he was sitting in this Uhura's lap, while she and a few others talked about this planet they'd just begun orbitting. Boring.

"...beam down... planet of hot springs..."

"Bwee?" P-chan exclaimed, not having been able to find any hot water since his arrival. At least that he could reach.

"Yes, I hope the Captain finishes negotiating soon," said Uhura. "I wonder how he's going to convince the Senator to let us use the facilities. She seemed quite against allowing 'military personnel' to beam down in any numbers."

"Buqiii," said P-chan, rolling his eyes. Did no one in the actual crew understand how he had gotten the nickname of James 'Tomcat' Kirk?

"I hear he's got a knack for this sort of thing," said Yeoman Kelly.

P-chan made a little groaning noise.

"I'm not entirely sure," said Uhura. "I've been with the Captain for almost two years now and he seems to know someone or make friends in every port we come to."

P-chan made a gagging noise.

"Say, maybe your pet would like a hot bath too, I remember something about pigs rolling around in hot mud or something," suggested Yeoman Kelly.

P-chan nodded his head very rapidly.

"I don't know, what do you think Bocki?" Uhura asked P-chan. "Maybe Miniature Space Piglets are fond of hot water? He keeps trying to knock over coffee or tea in my quarters."

Not having any clue as to how much worse his situation could get, P-chan bweeed and tried to give his best pleading look.

Ranma tried to figure out what to do with his latest android. "Okay. Uhm."

The problem was that he was used to doing everything himself. Knowing how to delegate was not something he'd learned.

Being faced with the obedient Akane android,

Ifurita 1.5: Questionable Intentions [Episode 87460]

by Kender

Ranma had a problem. Actually... he had lots of problems, but this one was his most immediate one. Standing before him was an Akane android that Akane herself had brought for him, after he'd already told Nabiki about how he was certain that she'd kill him if he tried to reset one. But now she had given him one which happened to be dressed in something that was both totally covering and damned revealing.

Sighing, he turned to look out at the yard so that he could think.

Only his arm hit something round and firm, and that bounced against his elbow.

"ERK! Sorry!" he blurted, holding out his hands placatingly at his newest android.

"For what?" she asked.

"Huh? Ya don't mind..?"

"Should I?"

With a nervous chuckle, he looked at her. "Ya mind if I ask ya a question?"

"Of course not. You can ask all the questions you want."

"Uhh... Good. So can tell me just why Akane gave me an android? I mean, I thought she'd be totally against it."

"She was not. She wanted to get an android and decided that you would be the best person to give me to."

That made the pigtailed boy blink. "Me? Why?"

"You have three other androids, and have cared for them greatly. She could not own me herself, so she thought that you would be the best owner for me."

"And I'm your owner, completely?"

"You are my only owner. I am programed to find happiness in doing what you tell me, no matter what it is."

"You can do anything?" Genma asked excitedly.

"I must do whatever my Master says," she replied.

"Great! Now you can tell them to extend that to all the others!"

"I can not do that."

"Why not?!"

"Firstly because you are not my owner," the 'copy' Akane told him.

"Then Ranma can tell you to do it! Or even better, just tell them!"

"Pops," Ranma drawled.

"What?"

"Ya drive Akane away and then ya start in on me!" A swift kick from his son and the elder Saotome was out cold. "Stupid panda..."

Nabiki smirked at the sight of the portly fighter and turned to her owner. "You're not going to go after my little sister?"

"Hey, yeah... Where is she?"

"Away," his new android replied, "She had no set destination, and will likely return when she can."

"Great... So what do I do now? And what can ya do?"

"I am a general Akane model, with skills in the Tendo style of Anything Goes."

"So you're just like the real Akane. Okay..."

"I can get adjustments at Cyberdyne if you wish," Akane told him.

Staring at her for a moment, Ranma thought over his options

Ifurita 1.5: Akane tweaks [Episode 87586]

by Kestral

Akane waited for her Master to suggest something. She was... happy. She was owned and she belonged. She didn't have to make any decisions and nobody would be pestering her.

She was at peace with herself in a way that she hadn't been in a long time. Though admittedly she wasn't aware of that. Her mind had settled into a blank "rest state" as it continued to adjust itself to the new perception that she was an android.

"What kinda 'adjustments'?" Ranma asked.

Nabiki spoke up. As she had internal scanners of various sorts, she could tell that if this was an android Akane, it was damn faithful to the original. So far though she only had a niggling suspicion that there was something odd about this unit. "Physical adjustments are easy. If you had her responsiveness turned up, she'd be able to feel more pleasure - for example."

Ranma thought about that. If anyone, even an android, was happier in their existence and it wasn't skin off him - why not? "Okay. That sounds good."

"You can add skills," said Nabiki, "you could make her a concert pianist or a violin virtuoso. You could make her an expert at carpentry or bricklaying. You could improve her figure a little."

"Huh?" Ranma scrunched his face up before he asked his new android a question. "Do ya want any of that?"

"I want whatever you want me to want," said Akane, a little confusion showing on her face.

"You could make her an expert in some other form of martial arts, or do a lot of other things, like Kodachi's 'Usagi-chan de cue' enhancements," pointed out Nabiki.

Ifurita's eyes widened. Had that been it? Akane was playing the part of one of her androids to see what it was like from the other side and make her mind up based on that? Or had she taken the battle between them so badly that she was acting this out as a charade in order to have more fighting skills downloaded for a rematch?

"As many times as the place gets trashed or someone comes through a wall instead of a door, some fixit skills would be handy," admitted Ranma.

Nabiki blinked, keeping tally of the changes to be made to this Akane unit.

Akane stood there, listening but otherwise still in a rest state.

Ranma came up with an idea finally. "Hey! You two know better'n me what can be done, and Nabiki - you know Akane better'n me. So why not take this Akane down and have 'em make adjustments. Just so it isn't something that Akane will give me grief over when she gets back."

Nabiki shrugged. "Sounds good. Kodachi and Kasumi are probably still there. We can get their input too."

Ifurita 1.5: Upgrading In Confusion [Episode 88109]

by Kender

Kumiko looked up from her conversation with Kasumi as the new arrivals entered the store. At first she had thought to tell them that she would be with them momentarily, but as she saw who it was, that was forgotten. Which gave her a problem as she found that she both wanted to finish up with the eldest Tendo girl, and see about the trio that had just come in.

Luckily Kasumi made the decision for her. "Nabiki! Ifurita! I didn't know that you were coming here!"

"Hi sis," Nabiki replied with a little wave. "We didn't know it either, but it just turned out that way."

"Oh really? Why is that?"

"We're here to get Akane here some upgrades."

"You are?" Kumiko asked with a bit of surprise coloring her voice, as the store scanners had discovered that this was the real girl.

"Yeah, we are. She's all ready to get them, and came here without a problem."

"She did?"

"Yup," joked the middle Tendo daughter, "She must really want some power ups. Heh."

It took a moment of staring at the silver clad girl for the salesgirl to come up with some explination for what was going on, and the transformed girl had come up with it. Akane must have decided that since her sister had gotten a new body, and the other Akanes were already more powerful, she needed something to be able to compete. After all, she had seemed to feel inadequate compared to them, and confused, so perhaps a wish to have something special would have arisen.

Having come to that logical, if incorrect conclusion, the marionette salesperson asked Akane, "What would you like?"

"What will I get?" Akane asked, turning to look at Nabiki.

Her sister smirked. "Let's see shall we... Ranma did say that getting some building skills would be good. But how's about we add in some physical enhacements too, huh? Maybe getting you some more in the breast department. And while we're at it, enhance her other curves while we're at it."

"Nabiki!" gasped Kasumi.

"What?"

"How can you..."

"Relax. She doesn't mind," the younger Tendo replied as she turned to the youngest, "Do you?"

"I don't," Akane answered.

"See? We can do what we want? And why not be a little bit naughty? It'll get Akane's goat later, or maybe relax the two of them.

"Oh..," the elder girl said. "If it's okay..."

"She said that it is."

"Then why not give some techniques, or something? Give her a library of that sort of thing, and the ability to use it."

"Go Kasumi!" the transformed Tendo drawled, "I didn't know you could have it in you..."

Kasumi blushed heavily. "I know it's not me, but I suppose that I can be a bit naughty once in a while."

"Be naughty! Be naughty!"

"Ohh..."

"How's about a roleplaying pack. Or a sexual responsively to him? Maybe a bit of submission just to be fun. Or..."

"Or you can stay ahead before he runs off with the thousand and one things you'll put into her," Ifurita commented, still wondering why Akane would want to go this far in seeing how it felt to be an android.

Her words brought an expression of chagrin to the marionette Tendo's face. "I get the picture, though him being such a prude can be so disappointing. But Akane here doesn't have to be, though you're right. We should get her some other skills."

"Well, you can do technical, and Kodachi is medical..."

"Okay then, what if we make Akane the physical? Not like your power level, but in addition to the fun stuff, we give give her all the construction skills. And maybe some houseskills, like Kasumi's been teaching you."

"That would be so nice," the named girl declared.

"Is there anything that you would want?" Kumiko asked the still figure in silver.

Akane considered what was going on. As it was things were going wonderfully, and she felt more relaxed than she had in years. Ranma had proven to be a good choice as owner, and she had found that following his orders was easy. She had managed to walk all the way there in an outfit that her bouncing and striding in front of everybody, and she hadn't minded. Still, she knew that there were advances that she could make to herself that would be make her even better.

"Other than serving Ranma," she said simply, "I don't need much. Perhaps an enhancement of my body so that I can survive perfectly well on less sustenance? And as a fighter, he will need me to be able to fight when necessary. So maybe an increase in strength, a resistance to injury and fighting skills?"

That was understandable in the salesgirl's estimation. "Okay then. If no one has any other suggestions..."

"Maybe an improvement of the brain so that she doesn't have to study things, and can recall information as necessary?" Ifurita suggested.

"That can be done," Kumiko replied, and turned to Akane, "If you'll come with me?"

The Demon-God watched as the silver clad figure was led away, and sighed. She hoped that giving the girl that sort of ability would be helpful, and would smooth any ruffled feathers that the girl might still have. After all, once the teen was finished trying to see what it was like being an android, it would be good not to have to have her challenge her again.

Still, it was a game of wait and see

Ifurita 1.5: Mechanism of change [Episode 88187]

by Kestral

The changes made to Akane had been tallied. Some decisions had been made by Akane herself. Others by Nabiki or Kasumi. Ranma had only agreed that something had sounded good but had avoided making any decisions himself.

The one that he'd OK'd he hadn't understood.

Pleasure sensitivity/responsiveness: x4

Other than that, all he'd said was that some fixit skills would be handy.

Nabiki made a few suggestions. Followed by Kasumi's rather surprising addition.

Increase breast size +3

Add Submissiveness to Owner: Level 3

Add Sexual Techniques 1

Add Seduction Techniques - Basic

Add Sexual Techniques 2

Add Basic Carpentry

Add Basic Bricklaying

Add Basic Plumbing

Add Basic Electrician

Add Basic Gardening

Add Basic Housekeeping

Add Beginning Food Preparation

Add Specialty - German Cooking (Basic)

Add Specialty - Brewing (Beers & Ales)

Add Specialty - Korean Cooking (Basic)

Add Specialty - Thai Cooking (Basic)

Add Specialty - Mexican Cooking (Basic)

Add Specialty - Macrobiotic Cooking (Intermediate)

All of this could have been accomplished simply enough. There was enough understanding of the human body that enhancing her figure or minor cosmetic surgery would have been a snap. Adding information to a human brain was a little trickier, but there wasn't that much difference between bioroid and human designs to make much of a difference.

It was Akane's alterations that gave them pause.

She wanted to survive on less sustenance, an increase in strength and in fighting skills. The latter two could have been accomplished with a training regimen in a high gravity environment, but that would take considerable time and not address that first desire.

Then had come Ifurita's suggestion to rewire the brain to give Akane an eidetic memory and ability to memorize things quickly.

There really weren't that many ways for Akane to do this and remain Akane with a chance of returning to the old Akane, because Cyberdyne did verify three times to be sure that this was indeed Akane Tendo and that she wasn't under some external mind control that they could detect. And they could detect quite a lot.

Finally it was decided to cryogen the original body, downloading mind and transferring soul to an Otome Kairo II or to a replacement body. The final choice made was:

Ifurita 1.5: Akane, Mark II [Episode 88745]

by Kender

As she came back to consciousness, Akane felt like she had been sleeping a long was that lethargy, and slow awareness growing for a few moments, at least in her reckoning. But once she reached a point when thought could be completed, total wakefulness came back to her and her eyes fluttered open.

She got up and realised that even though she still could move without thinking about it, something about her was different.

"How are you feeling?" a voice asked, and she looked to see Kumiko standing there looking thoughtful.

It took a moment of thought for her to answer. "I am fine."

"That's good, because even though we have it down to a science, we worry about the possibility of our customers becoming disatisfied or even worse."

"I can't find anything wrong."

"I'm glad. If you would like to see your new body..," the salesgirl told her.

"'New body'?"

"We did not wish to do anything we couldn't undo, so we've put your consciousness into a bioroid body, which is made of artificial tissues, but is so close to a human's that no one would ever suspect unless they had equipment that could detect it."

Akane nodded at the words, and looked to the marionette. "You were saying about 'seeing'?"

"Right this way," Kumiko replied, and guided her to a rather simple viewing device... a mirror.

Standing before the pane of glass, Akane looked over her nude body, and took in all the differences that it had with the 'real Akane Tendo'. Without the obscuring factor of clothing, she could see how her expanded chest bounced as she moved. Every bit of the body, from shapely legs and taut buttocks to slim arms and supple back, was fit and toned, with tight muscle and curves managing to blend into an attractive form that had an easy grace. The naked skin was blemish free and glowing, with not a single hair on her head out of place. A bit of bending and flexing gave her the chance to see that she was quite limber, and that her cleaveage was firm enough not to need a bra.

Only two things would tell one that she wasn't human, and that was a small serial number 'tattoed' onto the small of her back, and the odd look of her navel, which she automatically knew was a communications port. They said that not only was she made, but that she was a machine that could connect to other such devices. She was as she saw, a creation, and perfectly at home as she was.

And then she stopped to go through the changes in her mind. A single thought was all that was needed to come up with a recipe so that she would have it always there to follow exactly. She could easily repair a wall, from framing to utilities. Just thinking about Ranma Saotome made her warm, and she could think of ways of maximizing his pleasures...

All of which confirmed in her mind what she'd already 'known'. She was an android, owned by Ranma Saotome to serve him in any way that she could, and this bare form put on the outside what had been inside. There would be no need for anger, frustration or suffering, since she had a simple path, and she could find happiness in serving him. He would own her, give her orders, and treat her as well as he had treated his other androids, giving her the chance to be worry free and relaxed, no matter what he would need of her.

Standing there at attention, she found herself seeing a future of blissful service to a kind and generous master.

The marionette salesgirl didn't know this however, and she smiled as the girl took it in stride. It seemed that she was pleased by her alterations, and would have a chance to enjoy some rather interesting... changes without having to have them be permanent. Even if she might want to keep them later, this kept an option open, and she could afford it without any concerns.

"Is there any other things we have to do?" the formerly human girl asked.

"Not unless you can think of anything else you would like," Kumiko told her.

Considering the possibilities for the moment, Akane looked thoughtful

Ifurita 1.5: Ryoga at the planet of hot springs [Episode 88842]

by Kestral

"You have to be mistaken, that couldn't be the real Akane," said Kasumi.

"Unless she's trying to pull on over on Daddy & Mister Saotome," said Nabiki. "They were riding her fairly hard on this. I never would have figured Akane to be subtle though. She tends to be a bit more direct."

"I don't understand it myself," confessed Ifurita. "The only conclusion I could come up with was that she was trying for an informed decision and wanted to see what it was like herself."

"Check out the fate of Akane units before letting them get marketed further?" Nabiki asked, finally nodding. "Okay, I can see her doing something along that line. She wouldn't be able to pull off the acting though. Just bumping up against her breast would cause her to pound Ranma into next week."

Kasumi came up with an idea. "Unless... no. That couldn't be it."

"What couldn't be it?" asked Nabiki.

"If she also was curious about how Ranma was with these," said Kasumi.

Nabiki grinned. "I knew she was kinky but clueless, now she wants to try something like this? Way to go, little sis."

"If it is something she wanted to explore, then we should go along with it," said Kasumi.

"In that case, maybe little sis..." Nabiki got an impish expression. "I think I'll order some outfits for our new Akane unit."

"Don't forget a few for the Kasumi unit," brought up Kasumi.

"Yeah, that too... Kasumi?" Nabiki asked as she caught up.

"Why not? It sounds fun," said Kasumi.

Nabiki shook her head. Kasumi getting kinky? What next?!

After shrugging at this, Kasumi and Nabiki began designing new outfits.

P-chan gathered himself. They had taken him down here and left him over to the side but now he'd charge around corner, splash into a hot spring, and then explain that he was not a miniature giant space pig!

P-chan charged forward, took a left, charged across the slick tiled floor. "BWEEEEEEEE!" Lost traction on the slick tiled floor. BOING! Ricocheted off a rubber curb. BWONG! bounced off some really fat guy's stomach right above the towel line. CHING CHING CHING CHING CHING CHING! Got bounced off two bumpers which almost dribbled him like a basketball between him. "BWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEE!" Became airborne again as he arced up over a divider. SPLOOSH! and went directly into a hot spring.

"WAAAAA!" said Ryoga as he stood up, sopping wet. "At last! Now I can... uh oh."

He was on the girl's side. Standing up. Naked.

"Set disruptors on 'fry'," said a Klingon who had been looking forward to spending some time doing something that didn't involve all the usual Klingonese politics.

"Eh heh heh, uhm..." began Ryoga wondering how he was getting out of this.

Akane fingered the plug on her communications port, her expression blank.

She should check with her owner, there might be duties she could be performing for him. For that matter, he should check out all of her functions so that he was familiar with them.

That decision made, Akane decided:

Read the comments on this episode

Ifurita 1.5: Dressing Up [Episode 89612]

by Kender

"Are you sure that this looks okay?" Kasumi asked as she posed in front of her sister.

Nabiki grinned slightly. "It's more than okay. It'll knock his socks off."

"You mean that?"

"Definitely. A guy'd have to be dead three days not to appreciate this."

"Oh Nabiki..."

The grin became a full grown smirk as the middle Tendo daughter took in her big sister's outfit. While it was basically tasteful and well made, it was certainly going to make any guy's blood pressure rise. A tight mid-thigh skirt showed off a long length of shapely stocking-covered leg, while a fitted blouse covered her bosom totally though it fit closely enough that she pretty much didn't need to wear anything under it. Heels graced her feet, while a small cap was in her hair.

Basically, any guy who looked at her would see a beautiful maid who they would love to have cleaning their place.

Of course, it was more risque than anything that Kasumi had ever really worn, so she was a bit... hesitant about it. "This won't be too much, will it?"

"Listen sis," Nabiki said with a sigh, "You look gorgeous. But are you sure that you want to go through with this? Do you really want to see what being Ranma's android is like?"

"Yes, I do. It's very nice, right?"

"Well, I think so, but then again, I'm a bit biased. I mean, I could have gone to some real loser or a complete and utter bastard, but I lucked out and got him. I like the way things are. But for you it's something you chose to do."

The older girl shrugged. "I haven't done something like this before, and... being able to have some fun without anyone knowing sounds like fun."

"You know Kasumi, just when I figure that I've got you pegged, you go and surprise me."

"I hope that's a good thing..."

"Trust me, it sure is."

"Oh, then I'm happy that you're happy. But shouldn't we get finished with Akane's outfits?"

"Definately. We've already sent up one, so we still have a couple to get before we leave."

"Won't Ran... Master be surprised?" Kasumi said happily.

Her sister gave a slow nod and chuckled. "I'm sure he will."

Kumiko looked over the now dressed Akane and nodded approvingly, mostly not because that the outfit looked good on her, which it did, but because the girl seemed to like it. At the very least, she hadn't gotten angry over it, and seemed perfectly comfortable wearing the clothing she had been given. The only problem that she could see was that the new android had put them on without even seeing what she had been given, though Cyberdyne would never have given her something that she hadn't already agreed to.

Basically, she was dressed similiarly to her sister, with some obvious differences. Thigh highs replaced the stockings, the skirt barely brushed her thighs, her blouse showed a rather nice view of her cleaveage, and her heels were higher.

Not that there seemed to be any problem with that, as Akane stood in front of the mirror and nodded to herself. "Will you need anything else?" the salesgirl asked.

"No. I must return to the Dojo," Akane replied, "I have things to do."

"Understandable. And don't worry about payment. This only took a small part of the funds from the sales of the Akane units. So this is already paid for."

"I understand."

"Well, Nabiki, Kasumi and Ifurita are waiting for you. Though I understand that they've been busy while we have been here."

"They have?"

"Yes. And it's going to be interesting to see what they've come up with."

Akane had to acknowledge that, though she wasn't as caught up in the possibilities. As it was, her 'owner' had told her to let her two fellow androids make the decisions, so she was fine with it. But now was time to go back to his home so that he could make use of her, perhaps with some ideas she could give him.

She just hoped that he would be pleased with her, and that she could serve him well. He'd already given her such an easy time, so she wanted even more to please him.

"The lobby is this way," Kumiko told her as she handed over a small parcel.

Without a word, Akane followed, ready to walk back to the Dojo in her new clothing and body

Ifurita 1.5: Going home [Episode 89633]

by Kestral

On the way home, Akane went over her physical capabilities. She thought of herself as just another android Akane, and she was currently in an synth body, so as far as she was concerned these were merely upgrades.

Physical strength was quite high of course. Her physical strength was such that she could easily lift weights that the "real" Akane would have balked at. Endurance and speed were likewise high. Hmmm. Kasumi had stayed behind to get a few more outfits made.

"Ifurita. Nabiki. There are faster modes of travel than walking. Why do we not avail ourselves of them?" Akane asked.

"Hmmm. I guess you can keep up," agreed Nabiki. "Shall we?"

Ifurita flew, it was her fastest mode and more dignified than running.

Akane leapt to the roofs and from there made her way along towards her Master with a grace that a gazelle might have envied. True flight was something she couldn't manage, but she did have the ability to negate the effect of gravity on much of her mass. She was, after all, stronger than some locomotives, faster than most cars, and able to leap a large number of buildings in a single bound.

The abilities had been added to combat grade models because Nerima had an awful lot of insanely powerful martial artists. In order for the higher end models, particularly those with bodyguard functions, to compete with chi-users - they had to have some means of performing similar feats. So in addition to tougher materials, they had to be able to draw on resources that could compete. Minor anti-grav generators would allow brief lifting of greater weight than normal or leaping large distances. An integrity field could increase tensile strength likewise. Nanite healing factors to repair damage at high speed. Internal storage batteries for an adrenal response replacement.

Akane realized that she was having fun - this leaping from rooftop to rooftop at high speeds. Her first few were clumsy before she settled on enough weight to keep from moonwalking but light enough not to damage the roofs she was landing on. Once you got past that though - this was quite enjoyable.

She landed a full 1.047 seconds ahead of Nabiki on the compound wall of the Tendo home. "I wonder where Master is?"

"Scanning," said Nabiki. "There. See his infrared signature there on the roof? He probably ducked down just prior to our arrival. He doesn't feel comfortable showing that he cares."

"I lack an infrared sensor. I have normal vision with some light intensification and polarization abilities to function in higher or lower light levels." Akane filed that fact about Ranma away and was about to leap to the roof and report in when she felt Nabiki touch her shoulder.

"Don't. He's one of those guys who needs his own space," said Nabiki. "Give it time. Come on in with me, we'll get you set up with Akane's room while she's off sulking."

Akane nodded.

Ryoga ran as if his life depended on it.

Which was fairly accurate.

Energy beams shot in all sorts of directions from behind him.

"If you're going to shoot the walls, use 'Heavy Stun'," suggested someone in the pack. "That way we won't get kicked off the planet."

"Good point," acknowledged the Klingon.

Ryoga turned a corner and saw a nice ornamental fountain in the middle of a four way intersection. Splash! SAFE!

"Where'd he go?" asked the Klingon.

"Let's split up, each group takes a direction," suggested Uhura.

"Good idea," said the Klingon woman. "I see humans aren't as blithering as I've been led to believe."

"You seem more reasonable than the average Klingon," acknowledged Yeoman Forest Kelly.

"I'm not strictly a warrior, I'm a 'commodities broker'," said the Klingon with a snaggle toothed grin.

"Ah," said the Enterprise girls, translating that to smuggler immediately.

Ryoga sighed in relief as the girls spread out looking for him. Safe. He'd never been so glad for the curse.

"Hmmmm, what have we got here?" asked a familiar voice.

"BWEE?!" said P-chan as he was picked up.

He had been found

Ifurita 1.5: Patience Problems [Episode 93374]

by Kender

Kirk groaned as he held the small animal and wondered how one simple creature could cause so much trouble. He hadn't thought much about it when he'd heard that Uhura had a new pet, once he had made sure that it wouldn't multiply all over the ship. But his calm about the situation was proven a bit too hasty, as the damned thing was always all over the ship. It managed to do what the Tribbles had all by itself, what with appearing in Scotty's machinery, Bones' sickbay and odd points all over the ship.

And now it was interrupting even more delicate negotiations! There was a senator waiting for him back in a private section of the springs for their personal talks, and he had been deep getting where he was almost deep within their rapport when the sound of an angry mob was around. He'd been forced to pause his consulation with the senator, and head out to see what was going on, only to find that damned pig there!

"I don't know how, and I don't care, but I'm going to have to put you someplace, even you can't get out of," the captain told the piglet, "Much as I count Uhura as a trusted friend and a crew member, I can't let her pet get in the way of this much of our missions. I'll just have to put you where no one will see you, until we leave this planet."

For once, P-chan was in full agreement with him, as he didn't want to get those women after him again. It wasn't like he had done anything to get them mad on purpose anyway. He wasn't Ranma after all.

Ranma wasn't worried at all. He didn't care how long they took to get the upgrades for his new Akane android, and he wasn't worried about what the original would say when she got back. Not that he was concerned about what she would think about what he did with his robot. It wasn't like he was keeping an eye out to see when they were coming, and he wasn't keeping an ear out to hear them coming in. There was not a bit of him that was curious about how it went.

He just had to stop trying to convince himself about that fact.

'I'll just let 'em come to me..,' he idly thought as he lounged in front of the television, 'They'll come sooner or later... yeah... that's the ticket...'

Satisfied with that, he sat back, and tried to watch what was happening on the screen. He tried to make himself stay attentive and ignore the fact that he had some android girls going up the stairs to do who knew what. They would take care of things anyway, and he still felt uncomfortable sticking his nose into their stuff. Sure he owned them technically, but it wasn't like he was concerned about them or anything... Well, maybe a little...

Realising that he had been staring at the screen for ten minutes and had no idea of what had happened, he gave a frustrated sigh, and flicked it off. 'I need ta relax somehow... Maybe I should do my homework or somethin'... Hold on... 'Do my homework'? How desperate am I?'

Ifurita 1.5: Akanelog open [Episode 93424]

by Kestral

Her new bioroid body had a number of functions and capabilities.

Having decided that she was Ranma's android and that the "real" Akane had run away from home to avoid the two fathers - she went on to optimize her abilities in this role.

Going through the Cyberdyne Online Catalog, she noted a number of potential upgrades that would be quite suitable. By being able to draw on the bank account of "the original Akane" - she could afford quite a lot.

There were a lot of Akane out there after all. The Akane Factor was still in play.

Akane pulled out a keyboard with holo-display, plugged it into her belly button, and began a defrag of memory with viruscan and anti-spyware search. Just in case copying information from "the original" had produced any lost files or broken chains.

Though the sale of new Akane units was postponed, the existing orders still had to be filled. The general purpose AT units were also being upgraded, since those were also existing contracts. Tokyo PD had two units, SWAT Akane and Officer Akane. There were Akane for the fire department, one was a greeter at a major electronics store, and a Mermaid Akane was working at the community pool as a lifeguard for children.

Satisfied, Akane turned her full attention to system maintenance

Ifurita 1.5: Isolating Self [Episode 105001]

by Kender

The maintenance programs had been created to keep both AI programs and transferred minds from being corrupted due to any number of possible dangers. After all, both the creation process and daily dangers both provided situations where problems might come in. Just the problems of normal processing was enough, and when one put in the possibilities of everything from electromagnetic fields, to viruses to active hacking, such measures were the least of what was needed.

So it was only natural that an android would bring in such programs to prevent any errors in her functioning.

And the program did its job well, making even formerly hazy memories clearer. It cleaned up the memory, made it easier to run, and made sure that no nasty viruses or individuals with ill intents had gotten it. Fortunately as it ran, it found that there had been little leakage, and it had more work with restoring the 'original's' memories than it did with any problems.

However, as it worked, it discovered what seemed to be an error with the personal identifiers for the unit. Its searching determined that this was supposedly a transferred individual, but the unit was identifying herself as an android. Obviously this was a problem to its logic, so it decided to fix this.

But there were problems with that.

It wanted to either restore the true identity, or to delete the false 'transfer' markers, depending on what was best in the case.

The protection programs, which Cyberdyne had put in to prevent anyone from altering, or destroying a unit's mind, especially a transferred one, wouldn't allow an erasure of such a vital part.

However, in her current state, the mind in charge could not accept that she was a transferred individual, especially as her current 'belief' was creating a mental 'refuge' of sorts.

Faced with what could be a major logic problem, which had the possibility of becoming a major mess, the maintenance programs did the only thing they could do.

They isolated the part of Akane's mind that was still identifying her as Akane Tendo, and put it someplace so remote that it was effectively separate. That didn't mean that it was gone, but it would keep it from causing too much damage. And it did not mean that it could not come back, as it most likely would once the situation was altered, such as if she returned to the self identification of 'Akane Tendo'.

Not that Akane particularly noticed this. It had taken less then a blink to do this, and she considered the matter settled. That nagging sensation that she was the 'original' was gone as far as she could tell, and she felt free to approach her owner and present herself for service.

It did allow for a difference in the 'processing' though. Now she could do what she whatever was possible without that odd little reluctance to act as she thought she should. Instead of that little part urging her to hold back as Akane Tendo could never do certain things, being completely at peace with being an android owned by a certain young man. There would be nothing stopping her from acting completely and clearly as his android. And all the repression that part of her had done was quieted now.

But the fix up wasn't done, and it did take a bit to go through all the data in her mind to do other repairs.

Once it was done though, she unplugged her add-ons, fixed her clothing, and went to seek out her owner.

However, she didn't realize in her current state that the part of her that knew that she was the original Akane was only resting for a later date.

Kirk gave his communications officer a hard look as he stood there with his arms across his chest. "I don't care Lieutenant. That creature goes back up to the ship immediately."

"I know sir," Uhura replied as she held her pet, "But I was sort of hoping that I could let him walk around..."

Though he would have agreed with this sentiment, P-chan was too busy twitching because the woman holding him had him against her chest while she wore a swimsuit.

"He's already walked too long," the captain said evenly. "I can understand why you would want to have a pet, but I'm not about to allow it to wander around a planet that we're only starting to begin relations with."

"Understood sir..."

"And find something to hold it. He is only one little pig, but he's gotten into just about every place the tribbles did."

That brought a wince from her. "I will sir."

"Good. Make sure that you do, or I'll have it dropped off with the authorities on the next Federation planet we land on." "Understood sir."

"Then that will be all Lieutenant."

Nodding smartly, Uhura walked off with her pet.

Leaving Kirk to wonder how that pig had managed to annoy him again. He had thought that the cage with its solid walls and no exit would have kept it in, but somehow he'd gotten around just in time for his communications officer to find it. And it hadn't been that long since he'd left it, congratulating himself on his plan.

Just how a small animal could manage to get past walls made of duranium he didn't know, and didn't want to.

Sitting down reading a manga was something Ranma figured would be safe enough. After all, it wasn't like it was a perverted one like Hiroshi and Daisuke were always trying to get him to look at. Then there was the fact that it wasn't like he was doing anything bad, or that could be interpreted so. And he was keeping himself occupied and out of trouble.

But then trouble had a habit of finding him, as it did in the form of the noise of foot falls coming on the floor before him.

Sitting on the floor of the dojo as he was, he had to look up... and immediately freaked out. His position and the one of the person in front of him was so that if he looked up, he not only got to see who it was, but he also got a clear view of her style of panty. Previous experience with females had proven that when a male got an unapproved look of such things, it usually meant a bashing was in the near future.

In this case, Akane merely stood there and looked at him, standing so she was right where he could see her..

"What are ya doin'?!" he yelled out as he realized what sort of situation this would be.

"I have come to inform you of my return and see if you need anything.," she replied.

"Ya did?"

"Yes. You are my owner, and I have to follow your orders."

"All of 'em?"

For a moment, she considered telling him just how far that would go, but she remembered Nabiki's words and held back. "Yes. If you have any task for me, I will do it."

Slowly, he began to relax as he realized that he was not facing his fiancee, as far as he knew, and that there was no hint of imminent physical violence. That still left him a little freaked though, and he hoped that the fact that she wasn't embarrassed by him seeing her in that way would mean that she wasn't as... sensitive in that regard as her 'originator' had been. "So... ya ain't gonna bash me?"

"No. Why would I?"

"'Cause I saw ya... ya know.., I mean, I had to look at your..."

"So? I am your android, and it is fine for you to look."

'Okay that's just freaky. Gotta get away from that,' he thought to himself. "What 'bout Kuno or Happosai. What if they see ya? Are ya gonna bash them then?"

"Without hesitation, but with an intense need to cause them pain," she told him without hesitation.

"Well, at least that's the same..."

She blinked at him. "What?"

"Nothin'. So... What d'ya wanna do?"

"I don't have anything to do at the moment other than to ask you if you need me to do anything."

"Ya don't got anythin' ya wanna do?" he asked helpfully.

"Pretty much. With my systems upgraded, I have more to offer, but I don't have a set plan."

Ranma just looked up at his newest android standing there in her maid uniform

Ifurita 1.5: system request [Episode 105014]

by Kestral

Ranma looked over Akane and noted the differences now that he could clearly see with her in her maid uniform. She was a little more buxom, the waist looked tighter, the hips a little wider. There was no sign of that little scar near her elbow and her expression was of some faintly pleased sort - not upset that he'd been staring at her.

"Uhm, so... what can ya do, anyway?" asked Ranma.

"I am capable of anything that the original Akane Tendo could do," Akane informed her owner. "I am also familiar with a number of construction techniques and several food preparation styles."

Ranma scratched his head. "I can't think of anything. What do you want to do?"

Akane blinked at that. "I would request pleasuring you in a direct manner."

"Hah?" asked Ranma.

Ifurita 1.5: Loving Panic [Episode 106418]

by Kender

Scratching his head, Ranma tried to figure out just what Akane meant. Despite having several female androids, and having lived for some time with a trio of sisters, he still didn't really understand girls. Not that he ever expected to, since no one was putting out a helpful manual with each one. But he couldn't help wondering just what this 'copy' of his fiancee wanted.

As he considered what she was saying, he tried to figure out what sort of thing 'direct pleasure' would be in this case. With Shampoo or Kodachi, he knew that grasping hugs were to be expected, and that their way of trying to make him feel good was to try to give him stuff. However, Akane preferred to make him stuff, and this was an android based on her. Which meant that all the jumping on him stuff would not be anywhere close to possible, or so he figured. Yet, that was the closest thing that he could come up with. There had been the way that Nabiki had treated him that time he'd woken up...

"So... ya wanna cook or give me a massage or somethin'?" he asked.

Akane gave a small nod. "Whatever I can do for you would be good enough. You just have to ask."

"Well... I ain't hungry, but sittin' here's got me kinda stiff, and I do have all sorts of aches from trainin'... Guess a massage would be good."

"I would enjoy that too. How much would you like?"

"As far as ya wanna go, I guess..."

Smiling slightly, Akane moved with a quiet grace and knelt behind him as she put her hands on his back and began to knead. She moved slowly up from his bottom up, moving in simple, yet pleasurable strokes that released the tension from his muscles. Her work made him sigh with pleasure as strong fingers worked the kinks out, coming to where his shoulders met his neck.

He was enjoying it so much that he closed his eyes and smiled.

But then his brow furrowed as he wondered if he really was feeling her breasts bounce against his back.

Nabiki wondered just why she had to go to school as she came down the stairs. After all, it was rather pointless if one thought about it. Math was easy when one had processors that could do the work, and her science was beyond what was in the classroom. The rest could be handled by simply handled by subject downloads, save physical education, which had its own problems for an android. About the only time she would have to work would be when they had discussions or other thought exercises.

Of course, it wasn't like she was going to have a job in the traditional sense as far as she could tell. She could though, and probably would, since she would need to do something.

Which was oddly enough why she was glad for school. It gave her something to keep occupied, and so long as she didn't try any high tech shortcuts, it was kept from being totally busy work. And it was good to get out amongst those she knew.

It still meant that she didn't need much time to do her homework.

Which was why she was out and about. She needed something to do, and going around to find an activity seemed to be a good idea. There was a chance to find Ranma and maybe spend some time with him. Plus she knew that she had to check up on her little sister. If both were okay, then there were some other things to do.

Except that most of them went out of her mind when she spotted Akane and Ranma. As she peered into a doorway, she saw him sitting with the younger Tendo girl working on his shoulders. It was innocent enough on the surface, but when one looked, they could see Akane breathing on his neck, and lightly pressing her bosom into his spine. And to top it off, she had her knees on either side of his hips.

'Go sis'..,' Nabiki thought to herself, even as she felt a twinge of jealousy. The girl had managed to get further than she had after all. But this was more than she would have expected of her younger sister before, and it was a welcome sight. She had been way too wound up even before all this happened, and to see her making a move was something nice to see. Perhaps pretending to be an android had been what she needed...

And then the middle Tendo daughter got an idea from her train of thoughts. All the other Akane units had a definate 'anti-pervert' policy attached to them. But Akane herself was apparently quite willing to make an advance on the pigtailed boy, and didn't mind him in any way. However, he didn't know that she was the real thing, and likely thought that he was getting a massage from a copy.

That brought up an interesting possibility. As far as he knew, Akane had given him an 'android' for his personal use, but as things were progressing, he would find out that this one was not only willing to allow things that might seem 'perverted', but was actively propositioning such. Because of that, Ranma had been the only one given such an 'android Akane'.

All Nabiki'd have to do would be to 'explain' that to him. Since Akane had been the one to 'give' him an 'robot version of herself', she had been the one who'd set what the rules would be. And because she had given him an android that was willing to bed him, she had to think it was okay.

From there, she thought that she might be able to get him to think that if Akane didn't mind him coupling with an android in that case, then perhaps she'd wouldn't be adverse to him with others.

Then she could really work with it.

Akane moved around to Ranma's front, satisfied with how things were progressing. She had managed to get her owner very happy, and that made her pleased in response. When he had said that he would allow her to go as far as she wanted, she'd been jolted for a bit, but then she interpreted that as his permission for going into the full work over. She activated a seduction routine, and other than a few confused expressions, she'd thought that she'd managed quite well.

This was something that she'd really wanted, and just being able to do what she had already managed was wonderful. There was no frustration, or aggravation with her situation, and she knew that she could get more of a chance to enjoy what she was doing. Not only did she have no problem with what she was planning, she actually desired to follow it all the way through.

The image of what she thought would happen came up as she worked on his legs going up from foot to calf to thigh. She worked diligently to make him feel as good as she could manage. This was a simple thing, and not all that she could come up with, but it was a good first step.

Ranma sighed in happiness as he got a massage that had to be the best that he could have hoped for. He'd been given one or two over time, but the simple stuff he'd gotten when hurting a muscle or something like that was nothing compared to the full body work up that he was getting at the moment. It was nice to get something nice like this without having to worry too much about getting bashed, but so far, it'd been pretty good. Other than the odd sensations of feeling her against him, things had worked out so that he wasn't too concerned. So far, he'd been able to explain away all the things that had been happening without too much work.

But that changed as she made him lay flat on his back. It wasn't due to the fact that she had done that, as it was expected.

Rather, he started to sweat when she sat across his lap with her calves straddling his thighs. Added to the way that she was showing the valley between her breasts as she bent over his chest, he knew that the time for concern was definitely there.

When she gave him a look of desire as she parted her soft lips, he returned her look with wild eyed panic as he tried to become one with the floor

Ifurita 1.5: Interruptions [Episode 106496]

by Kestral

Akane was making her move. Ranma was panicked now, but she calculated a 77% chance that once she began his resistance would crumble to nothing.

Add to this the presence of the watching Nabiki and Kodachi, who were behind the two exits to the room and most likely (66.4%) waiting for her to finish so that they could join in on round two.

Everything was going as planned.

CRASH!

Akane blinked. Ranma blinked. Nabiki slapped her face in sheer frustration. Kodachi nodded as she'd calculated a 33% chance of this happening.

Plans rarely survive the battle. Especially in Nerima. With guards at the door and window, naturally someone had come through

Ifurita 1.5: Run Around [Episode 123014]

by Kender

Plans rarely survive the battle. Especially in Nerima. With guards at the door and window, naturally someone had come through the floor.

"HOW DARE YOU CHEAT ON AKANE WITH A CHEAP COPY!" Soun bellowed as he stuck his head and shoulders up through the whole he'd just made.

It was easy for Ranma to take note of the elder man's entrance, as even at that moment he hadn't been out of it enough not to note the explosion of floorboards. That the man had managed to do so while still bandaged was amazing, but he wasn't able to focus on that at the moment. Rather, his attention was on the 'demon head' he was getting right then, along with the yell. "I WASN'T TRYING ANYTHING!"

"YOU'RE LAYING ON THE FLOOR WITH HER ON TOP OF YOU!"

"IT WAS HER IDEA!"

"AND THAT'S SUPPOSED TO MAKE IT BETTER?!"

"WELL..."

"Actually Daddy, it is," Nabiki murmured as she came into the room and sighed. Things were not going as she'd hoped they would, and now she was going to have to salvage what she could from it.

Her father turned to look at her. "How can you say that?!"

"Simple. If you remember, none of the Akane 'copies' can do anything perverted, right?"

"Ummm... yeah..."

"You know I'm right. That's why you were so uptight about bothering my dear little sister."

"This isn't about my plans. It's about loyalty to your sister."

"Not quite," Nabiki replied, "If this was just another 'copy' then she couldn't actually do anything intimate, and therefore, he couldn't cheat on Akane with her."

"But it sounded..."

"Like what? Were you... eavesdropping by any chance?"

"Of course not! I was just... concerned is all. Besides, I could have been right."

"If you were, and he could do anything with her, then there was one question you should ask yourself," the middle Tendo daughter told her father, seeing an opportunity for her own plans. "She was given to him by Akane and she would have had it programmed how she wanted. So if this one were able to do something with Ranma... then my dear sister might just have wanted it that way..."

"EH?!" came bursting from both males.

"Think about it. She is a gift after all..."

Ranma took one look from Akane to Nabiki and back again before twitching slightly. Just the idea that Akane would think like that was weird, and he didn't know just how to take it. Before she would have bashed him for ever considering pressing the reset on one of her copies, and now he was supposed to think that she would give him one that he could go further with. That simply did not compute for him, and he shied away from any connotations that might bring.

Soun, on the other had, took a rather... predictable route in his thoughts. He had found his future son-in-law in a compromising position with a copy of his daughter. But his daughter would never have allowed a copy to do anything that she considered perverted. As such, the only way that an android copy of her could act this way, was if she gave the say so. So there was only one reason that he could come up with that would fit the scenario as he saw it.

Akane was obviously now seeing Ranma as her future bedmate, and saw nothing wrong with him bedding something that looked like her, which certainly meant that her resistance to the plan the fathers had for the couples was gone.

"My baby girl has grown up so much!" the Tendo patriarch cried, "She's doesn't want her fiancé to have to wait for the wedding night, so she's allowed this to happen!"

The assembled androids, and their owner merely stared stupidly at the man as they tried to consider just where he'd gotten this idea.

"We'll have to prepare the wedding for when she returns!"

"Oh brother..," Ranma groaned as he slipped out from under Akane and out of the room. "I can't believe this..."

Nabiki let him go, and tried not to rub her temples. But it was a loosing proposition, even if she knew that she couldn't get headaches as she used to. Habit did not ask for rationality at all.

"I was hoping for another outcome," Kodachi murmured as she slipped inside and over to her fellow androids.

"Me too," Nabiki admitted, "But then why should now be any different."

"Hmm?"

"When does a plan ever go right around here?"

"Ahh... too true..."

"Shouldn't we go after him?" Akane asked.

Her sister shook her head. "Give him a little time. Besides, we also have to handle Daddy, and likely in the near future, 'Uncle' Genma."

"I know that you girls will want to help out too," Soun called out, "Won't you?"

"Yeah, right... You want to know what we want Daddy?"

"What?"

"We want to know just how you got in there."

"I used my skills as a martial artist."

"Really?" Nabiki said with a shrug, "then maybe you can use them to get out of your hole. We have things to do."

Blinking slightly, Soun watched the trio leave, and then slowly allowed a realisation to come over him. He patted the floor with his hands, and jerked his hips slightly before stopping with a sickly look to his expression. "I'm stuck..," he muttered nervously

Ifurita 1.5: Here, There, And Everywhere [Episode 123057]

by Kender

Most of the time, Nabiki was in full control of her emotions, but that did not mean that she didn't show them from time to time. She had no problem in smiling, frowning, or shaking her head in disbelief. Despite being the 'Ice Queen', she wasn't totally cold, and could quite easily grin over a triumph, or bite someone's head off when they angered her. But she was always one to behave with some sort of cool dignity when she did anything.

It was a bit of an oddity to see her sitting crosslegged on her bed and looking rather like she was pouting. "This was not the way that I wanted things to go."

"Unfortunately, with Master's... nervousness, and your father's interference, it was unavoidable," Kodachi commented with no little amount of chagrin in her voice, "was it not?"

"That's the problem. It can be amusing from time to time to have him be so skittish, but I'd like to sort of be with him eventually, if you know what I mean."

"Indeed, I do. The difficulty is that we can not force him into actions that he is wary of. Doing so seems to make him run in the opposite direction."

"Which really stinks. With willing girls ready to make love to him every time he wants to, he'd be in a position that other guys would hang themselves for." The middle Tendo daughter gave a wry grin. "But then that's part of his charm, isn't it?"

"You are right on that aspect. And with us being his property, it is not like we would be trying to marry him."

"Him getting married. Now that's a concept that I didn't really think of. Not that we can prevent that, or should. We're his marionettes. If he fell for someone, then so much the better for him."

The Black Fox gave a negligent flick of her hand. "And as it stands, the field of marriage has been narrowed. Out of the viable candidates, there are only the chef, the Amazon, and your sister. Of course, given the plan as it stands, your elder sibling will make him think that he will have no Tendo daughters for marriage."

"That isn't true," Akane disagreed, her voice ringing with certainty.

"Oh?"

"Akane Tendo is still out there, and when she returns, she can marry Master. And even if she weren't, Kasumi would be still only thought of as on a trip."

A look passed between the other two marionettes, and the elder sister looked at the younger. "Hold on a sec. What would that mean for you?"

"Things would stay the same no matter who Master marries. I am his marionette, to do with as he pleases, no matter the task."

"Really? And you'd have done anything he asked in your... previous body?"

"Of course. It was his property. He could use it, use me, as he wanted."

"You mean that?"

"I didn't mumble," the short haired marionette replied, a bit of peevishness tinging her voice.

"I see."

"I hope that you do."

Nabiki arched a brow, but didn't say anything. Instead, she tried to figure out just what her sister's words would mean. She knew that the girl in front of her really was the youngest Tendo, but apparently the girl herself was insisting that the whole 'Akane's on a trip' story be the 'truth'. It was a bit confusing, but she didn't know how to unravel the reasoning. After all, had Akane continued on in her birth body, Ranma would have full access to the entire form, and would have possibly been able to have sex with it any which way he wanted.

Pushing away any wondering over what he'd say to owning a fully 'organic robot', the elder Tendo merely sighed. "Whatever you say. Still, we have to figure out what we need to do. I don't want to force him into anything, but making him feel easy enough to get to be with us might be nice."

"And how do you plan on managing that?" her sister asked.

"Simple. Very, very slowly. We have to make him feel comfortable first, and hopefully ease him into sharing himself with us in the future."

"Perhaps he might even decide that he might like to be sharing a room with one of you," Kodachi suggested.

"What? Wouldn't you want to sneak him off to your place?"

"Certainly. But I would not think that my brother would have the same... willingness."

"Ah. He can be stubborn. What about you, Akane?"

"If it would help our Master," Akane answered calmly, "then I am all for it."

"Good then. Let's put our heads together, and get organized," Nabiki told them, and the three of them got close in together to start their discussion."

"Man... My life's weird," Ranma sighed heavily as he walked with his hands behind his head, and knew that he'd only been speaking the truth. Only a little while earlier, he'd been only having to deal with old perverts, idiotic rivals, and girls who wanted to be romantic with him. Now, he had to handle owning robot girls, seeing robots all over the place, and realizing that there was a whole lot of stuff that was out of his realm of experience.

Not that he was complaining about that. Other than a few small things, he thought that he was handling it all okay. He didn't see anything about the marionettes that would make him think of them as only machines, especially his, and he'd always known that there was a lot out there that was over his head. So, rather than worry about it, he just went along as best he could, and tried to make the best of his confusing situations, including getting an Akane android which was the only one that would allow anyone to get 'perverted' with it. She'd been a gift from Akane herself, which made it all the weirder, though he at least could hope that the marionette's behavior was an intentional part of her programming.

'Hmmm... Speakin' of Akane, where is she?' he thought to himself as he looked up at the ceiling over him. ''Course, I don't blame her for runnin' off. With what Pop and her dad've been doin' ta her, she'd probably want time off from them. I'd want that myself.'

The silent hallway didn't say anything, but he did get a bit of inspiration anyway.

'She could've gone ta that forest again. She'd possibly be okay there. Then again, she did go ta Cyberdyne. Maybe they sent her off on a vacation or somethin'. For all we could know, she's on some other planet, enjoying alien hot springs or somethin'. Knowin' them, they'd send her off ta relax and work ta make sure that she could do it.'

Satisfied with his theory, Ranma let himself smile a bit, and allowed his shoulders to rise a bit as he walked through the house.

Kasumi knew that this was rather strange for her, but she just couldn't help herself. For years, she'd always let herself simply enjoy being the person that she was. She'd always liked who she was, and found pleasure in the sort of relationships that she had with the neighbors. But she'd known that once she took on the 'role' of Ranma Saotome's 'marionette Kasumi', her appearance would be out of her hands. Besides, she felt a little mischief might be a fun thing, and a good start to what she was planning on doing.

So, she was walking home in her maid outfit, with some of her packages on her arm, and more to be shipped to her home. It was terribly exposing to go about the neighborhood like this, but it was also rather freeing. She let the appreciative looks from the men passing by go over her body, and blushed at the idea that they found her attractive in that way.

However, she did think that it might be nice to make at least one of Ranma... Master's favorite dishes, and so she had made a diversion to the market on her way home. More people saw her this way, and she almost let herself feel embarrassed enough to duck her head, but she went along as if she did this every day. This outfit was actually more covering than a bikini, or a one piece, and she'd gone out in those. Remembering that made it easier, though she did know that it was surprising to see Kasumi Tendo in a maid's uniform.

It became easier to do as time went on though, as she got used to the looks. Most were finding her to look attractive, even if they were confused at the moment. And since she'd never had a problem with anyone she'd met, no one had been troublesome about her mode of dress.

Then she went to the fruit stand, and was looking over the selection, and was finally confronted by the reactions of someone, who was the stand keeper, in this case.

"Why hello... Kasumi?!" he blurted, his eyes wide open as they scanned her form.

She cocked her head to the side and blinked at him. "Yes?"

"What are you... why are you..."

"Hmmm?"

"That outfit..."

"Oh. This," Kasumi replied with a deep blush. "It's rather attractive, isn't it?"

"Well, yes... But..."

"Yes?"

"I've never expected that you would... wear that."

"I did think that."

The stall owner looked like he would have choked on the understatement. "But when did you decide to dress like that? Not that you're fully grown, and able to make your own decisions. It's not like your father could choose your clothing for you now."

"That's..." she began and then realized that her 'role' was coming into play, and that if she wanted to cement it for now, she'd have to start here."

"Is something wrong?"

"I do think so. You see, I think that you have the wrong idea."

"I do?"

"Yes. But it's not your fault. You see, I'm based on Kasumi Tendo."

"'Based'? How do you mean?"

"You know those copies of Akane that were being sold?"

"You mean those... You're an android?!"

Though she disliked lying, she felt that it was what she'd have to do. "I am."

"But I didn't know that she'd let that happen."

"That's because they're... starting a new set of me. There are plenty of them, but not all things are allowed."

"We still can buy one of her, can't we?"

"If you want, and agree to what the offer says, they'll might let you."

"Ah. That's good," he said, thoughtfully.

"Really?"

"I'd say so. Everyone around likes the girl that you're based on. Such a sweet child, always with a good word for everyone."

"You mean it."

"Nothing could make me say otherwise. What about yourself? Have you been sold?"

"'Given', actually. I'm going to Ranma Saotome to be his," Kasumi replied, knowing that this was at least true.

"Hmmm... Lucky boy. Very lucky boy..."

"Oh my..."

"It's the truth."

"Thank you."

"Now, you don't need to bow."

The eldest Tendo straightened up from the mentioned action, and smiled brightly. "Then shall we discuss your fruit? I would like to make a good first meal for my Master."

"As you wish, my dear android."

She giggled at the same he chuckled, and the two of them looked over what he had to sell,