Standard Disclaimer: All characters are the property of
their respective creators, including my miniscule efforts.
Please don't sue me, I have no money.

                   Rescue Nerima
                 A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
                 By Valandar the Red

     "Alright, people, move! That storm has caused a lot of
property damage, and we need to get moving!" Toshiro had been
in charge of the Nerima District Emergency Services department
for twenty-eight years, and knew how to get the volunteers that
would inevitably show up to work their hardest.
     "Sir, we got some people trapped over here!" yelled out 
one volunteer. "They're under a lot of concrete!"
     Toshiro sighed. The old storefront just couldn't withstand
another storm, thanks to the constant shockwaves and other
depredations of the local martial artists. Now, he had people
trapped under...he made some mental calculations... about ten 
tons of concrete slab and steel girder. Fortunately, most of
the glass had shattered outwards, into the street. "You three,
get to work clearing the smaller debris. You in the grey, take
those two next to you and try to find some way in from the back.
You, with the purple jacket..."
     "Excuse me, sir, we're here to see what we can do to help."
     He turned, and saw several of the martial artists of the
area. One wore a red Chinese shirt, another had a yellow and black
bandanna on. A third was carrying what looked rather like a large,
flat-bladed shovel, while a fourth just looked like a normal young
girl with a cute bob. "Okay, go help those three in removing the
debris. Be careful, there's peope under there, and we won't get the
crane over here for ten minutes, at least.
     "No problem," said the bandanna'ed boy. As the other three
helped clear away the wreckage, he simply cracked his knuckles. 
Toshiro started to go over and yell at him, when he stopped. The 
boy had bear hugged a concrete support pillar that had fallen, and 
actually LIFTED it off of the pile of rubble, then tossed it aside.
Then, the boy in the red shirt and the girl with the bob had taken
two sides of a huge slab, which must have weightd almost a ton, and
simply flipped it into the empty lot behind the fallen storefront.
     Others had stopped working to watch in amazement. "Don't just
stand around, idiots, we have people that need our help! MOVE!" 
They rushed away, to continue their respective assignments.
     "Hold it, stop!" yelled the boy...or was it girl... with the
weird shovel. "Don't move that! If you do, the three slabs are gonna
collapse right on those people!"
     "Gotcha, Ucchan. Ryouga, try to crawl under there, and brace it
with your back. I'll handle this side. We'll hold it up, while
Ucchan and Akane gets it out of the way." The red-shirted boy 
seemd to be taking command, and the others reacted without a
second thought. In moments, the last of the impossibly heavy
fragments had been cleared, and they got a clear view of the trapped
people. 
     Three people were down there, where apparantly the weight 
of the fallen ceiling had collapsed the floor above the basement.
One was okay, and quickly scrambled to safety, but the other two
were pinned by the floor. "Get that doctor over here!" growled
the overworked supervisor.
     The four teenagers dropped into the basement, and set to work
at trying to rescue the two remaining victims. Unlike the top floor,
the ceiling of the basement had landed in two huge chunks, with only
providence and a now crushed freezer unit preventing the two victims
from being killed instantly. "Ryouga, get ready to do your thing.
Ucchan, use your spatula to help stop the fragments. Akane, get
behind somethin' until he's done, then help 'im lift the ceiling."
The teens nodded, and got into position. "Go!"
     At first, Toshiro could not figure out what they were doing. 
The boy, Ryouga, simply poked at the massive slab, far from where the 
trapped people were. Then, to his amazement, a five foot wide section
exploded in a shower of stone fragments. The huge...spatula, did he
say?...stopped a lot of the shards, while the red-shirted boy exploded
into action, catching the shards that went towards his victim, his
arms too fast to even see.This was repeated several times, until
a good portion of the floor had been separated from the rest. With
just a nod, the girl with the bob, Akane, he thought the name was,
joined Ryouga at the edge of what remained. They heaved, and lifted it.
Rather than pull out the injured, the other two grabbed huge pieces of 
debris, and wedged it under the slab. The victims now had a good two
feet of clearance between them, and the stone that would have been
their doom.
     The doctor, one of the most respected in the area despite his
youth, dropped down into the basement. "Thank you, Ranma, Akane, Ryouga,
and Ukyou. I can take it from here." He began to deal with the victims' 
injuries, while the four teens climbed out, and approached Toshiro.
     "I don't know what to say. You just saved two lives, kids."
     The boy in the red shirt, Ranma, grinned. "A martial artist's
duty is to protect the weak. An' not just against demons, neither."
     "Hey, boss, we got a problem three streets over!"
     Toshiro looked at the four. "We're not done yet. That storm took
out a lot of power lines, and many of the buildings in the district are
old, and just about fell apart in those shear winds. Come one, we've
got a lot to do." He turned, and began jogging towards the 'problem'. If
he could get these kids, currently running alongside, to permanently
join Emergency Services, then Nerima, or even all of Tokyo, would be a
much safer place.


- Valandar the Red of the Empty Tankard