Halftime
By Aaron Ziegler
alziegle@norcia.cs.csbsju.edu
http://bingen.cs.csbsju.edu/~alziegle

Chapter 9: Recovery Time

   Ranma awoke a while later to see the concerned faces of Ukyou
and Dr. Tofu. Dr. Tofu, the Tendo's family chiropractor, was a
tall, handsome, bespecticaled man in his mid-twenties. Ranma
found himself male again, and in much less pain than before,
though he felt an uncomfortable throbbing in his left leg. "Ah,
good, you're awake," said Dr. Tofu. "How do you feel?"
   "Much better!" exclaimed Ranma with a bravado he didn't really
feel. He sat up suddenly, and was nearly overwhelmed with a
headache.
   "Don't move too rapidly," Tofu warned, "You were beaten up
pretty badly."
   "Nnnn," groaned Ranma, lying down again. "'mpossible. Mousse
can't beat me up."
   "He nearly killed you," scolded Ukyou.
   "Jus' caught me by surprise, tha's all." He suddenly noticed
something. "Hey, I can't move my foot!"
   "You twisted your ankle pretty severely," the doctor
explained. "You're going to have to leave it in a cast for a
couple of days until it heals. I want you to put as little weight
on it as possible until then. I'll be loaning you a wheelchair
for the time being."
   This got Ranma's attention. "What? I'm no cripple! I can walk
perfectly well!"
   Dr. Tofu looked stern. "I mean it, Ranma. No walking if you
can help it."
   At that point, Soun Tendo burst into the room. He collapsed to
his knees, tears streaming down his face. "Oh, my poor, poor son-
in-law! Ukyou explained everything over the phone! To be maimed
for life! Cut down in the prime of youth! What a tragedy!!!" Soun
broke into convulsive sobbing.
   "Mr. Tendo, I'm not maimed for life!" mentioned a somewhat
exasperated Ranma. Soun was too far gone to hear his words,
however, huddled at the foot of Ranma's bed.
   "Are you OK, son?" came his father's gruff voice from the
doorway. Genma stepped through, a concerned look on his face.
   "Look, I'm fine!" insisted Ranma. "I've had much worse,
really!"
   Ukyou looked sheepish. "Well, maybe I exaggerated a little
over the phone..."
   "You said he was DYING," accused Genma.
   "No, I said he was nearly killed!" Ukyou shot back.
   "You mean to say that you dragged all of us down here for-"
   "All of you?" asked Ranma suddenly, "Even...Kasumi?"
   Genma paled. Soun stopped crying and looked up in horror. "Oh,
no! She'll be here any second!" Soun exclaimed, "We've got to get
out of here!"
   Too late. "Good afternoon, Doctor Tofu!" Kasumi smiled
cheerfully, standing in the doorway.
   "Ka-kasumi!" stuttered Tofu, his glasses fogging over and his
brain shutting down, "Imagine meeting you here!"
   Kasumi giggled. "Well, this is your office, Doctor. How's
Ranma?"
   "Oh, he's fine, fine. I was just about to remove Betty-chan's
appendix. It's been inflamed something awful!" Dr. Tofu suddenly
grabbed Betty, the skeleton he always kept around his clinic, and
threw her onto the operating table. Unfortunately, Ranma was
still there, and he yelped in surprise. Dr. Tofu grabbed a random
scalpel and swung awkwardly at the table, neatly shearing away a
lock of a startled Ukyou's hair on the way. Ranma cried out, and
rolled to the floor with the skeleton on top of him. Ranma
cautiously peered over the edge of the table, and saw the
scalpel, quivering slightly, buried up to the handle in the
smooth table surface--right where his heart would have been.
   "Oh, my," said Dr. Tofu, "I wonder where Betty's run off to? I
guess she wasn't sick after all." Dr. Tofu leapt up onto the
table top and began trying to pull the scalpel free.
   "Now's our chance, boy!" exclaimed Genma. He grabbed Ranma up
off of the floor, and shoved him into a wheelchair. He wheeled
him madly toward the door, grabbing Soun with a free arm. He
crashed into Ukyou, who was feeling her hair, stunned, knocking
her off her feet and onto Ranma's lap.
   Kasumi, still enthralled with the mad doctor, nevertheless
calmly stepped aside as the frenzied foursome careened out the
door. "I'll see you later!" she called to them. "I'm going to
stay with Doctor Tofu for a little while longer."
   "Just be home for dinner!" called a diminishing Soun, afraid
that if Kasumi wasn't home to cook dinner, Akane would...
   A while later, the breathless group coasted to a halt at the
Tendo home. "We're alive!" laughed a crazed Genma. "We're alive!
We're alive!"
   "Um, you can get off of me now, Ucchan," said Ranma, a bit
embarrassed. Ukyou had decided that she didn't at all mind her
unplanned position atop her fiancee, and had taken advantage of
the opportunity to snuggle. Reluctantly, she released her cozy
embrace, and stepped to the ground.
   Ranma started to get up as well, but Ukyou pushed him back
down. "Oh no you don't, Ranchan. Doctor Tofu said that you had to
stay off your feet for a while."
   "But-"
   "No buts," his father interrupted. "If that's what the doctor
said, then that's what you're gonna do, boy," Genma insisted.
Seeing that Ranma was still unwilling, he added, "Do you want us
to tie you down?" Ranma sagged, and shook his head miserably.
"Good."
   Then Ranma perked up. "What about Robo? He can probably use
his Cure Beam thing to fix this right up!"
   "Sorry, He left with Frog and Ryoga on a trip to Tokyo for the
weekend."
   "Tokyo? Why?"
   "They wanted to search the libraries there to see if they
could pinpoint the exact location of Jusenkyo, so we'd be able to
find it again if we ever returned to China."
   At that moment, Robo, Frog, and Ryoga were standing by the
Eiffel Tower, looking confused and drawing stares. "I didn't know
that they moved the Eiffel Tower to Tokyo," Ryoga muttered.
   "I knew it was a bad idea to let Ryoga lead the way," said
Robo.
   "Hey, I've been to Tokyo lots of times!" Then he began to look
uncomfortable, "Of course, it was never my destination when I
found it, but..."
   "That does it. Give me the map, Ryoga."
   Back at the Tendo home, Soun had broken down and started to
sob anew. "And we're all out of french fries!"
   Ranma was frustrated. "So, I'm stuck in this stupid chair
until they get back. Just great."
   "I'm home!" Akane announced, strolling cheerfully into the
house. When she saw Ranma in his wheelchair, she gasped and
dropped her brown paper bag. "Ranma! What happened!"
   "He just got pounded by Mousse," Ukyou offered helpfully.
   "Hey, I wouldn't say I was pounded exactly-" protested Ranma.
   "M-mousse?" said Akane weakly, taking a step back. "He did
this to you?"
   "Yeah," Ranma grumped, "he decided to exercise all of his new,
improved, patent-pending, hidden weapons on me. He couldn't have
picked a worse time, either. I was following--er, on an important
errand. I don't know how he found me."
   "How bad is it?" asked Akane fearfully, bending down to pick
up her bag (which, fortunately, hadn't spilled any incriminating
cookware onto the floor).
   "The cuts and bruises should heal quickly, but this sprained
ankle's gonna take a few days--hey, Akane, what's wrong? You look
pale."
   "It's nothing," she answered. "Er, I'll be in my room, ok?"
She quickly rushed upstairs.
   "What's the matter with her?" asked Genma.
   Ranma's face darkened. "I have my suspicions. I need to talk
to Akane. In private!" he added, noting Genma and Soun's
interested looks. Ranma rolled to the stairway, and then looked
up at the stairs, temporarily balked. He slid out of the
wheelchair, and folded it into its flattened storage shape. He
then flipped into a handstand, picked up the wheelchair with his
good leg, and proceeded to climb the stairs on his hands.
   "That's my boy!" grinned Genma, pleased. "Saotome's have
always thrived under crippling conditions."
   "I'm NOT a cripple!" Ranma called back, irritated. At the top
of the stairs, he unfolded the wheelchair again. He climbed in
and wheeled his way over to Akane's room.
   As he raised his hand to knock on her door, he heard Akane
say, "Come in, Ranma." He entered the room, shutting the door
behind him. Akane was sitting on her bed, gazing at the floor
guiltily.
   "You told Mousse where to find me, didn't you?" he asked.
Akane nodded. "Why?"
   Akane looked up angrily. "Why? I told you! I didn't want you
to follow me. I had hoped that you would have gotten the hint
after Kunou and Shampoo!" She looked down again. "But I didn't
want you to get hurt, not badly anyway. I was certain that you'd
be able to mop up with Mousse, just like you always do when he
challenges you. I wanted enough time to get too far ahead for you
to follow."
   "Well, your little plan worked," said Ranma, bitterly. "I sure
won't be able to follow you like this."
   "You idiot!" exclaimed Akane, channeling some of her guilt
into her anger. "Why were you following me anyway!"
   "You're my fiancee. I need to take care of you," said Ranma
softly, gazing at Akane solemnly.
   Akane deflated like a balloon. I hate it when he's like this,
thought Akane to herself. He's so easy to deal with when he's a
pompous, arrogant, chauvinist pig. But this, this I don't know
how to handle. One part of me wants to slug him, and another
wants to hug him!
   Ranma, for his part, saw only that Akane was sitting on her
bed, fists clenched tight. Her eyes were wide, and confused, and
she was opening and closing her mouth. Oh, shut up, he told the
section of his brain that had begun wildly cheering for him.
Ranma slowly turned, and rolled toward the door.
   He opened the door, and Genma and Soun collapsed into the
room. "You're worse than Nabiki," he told them, and proceeded to
roll ungently over them and out the door.
   Downstairs, Ranma found Ukyou gazing into a mirror. She turned
as he approached, and he noticed for the first time how lopsided
Doctor Tofu's impromptu haircut made Ukyou look. She smiled wanly
at him. "Looks pretty bad, doesn't it, Ranchan?" Ranma nodded
sympathetically. "Guess I should get the rest cut then. Do you
think I'll look all right with short hair?"
   "Even bald you'd look great, Ucchan," said Ranma simply. Ukyou
blushed, and said goodbye, heading out the door.
   Ranma mused thoughtfully for a moment. Why is it so easy for
me to compliment Ucchan, and so hard to compliment Akane? he
wondered.
   Because she's Ucchan! the other, normally dominant (and
resenting its temporary submissive state) part of his mind
answered. Good ol' Ucchan! Best buddy Ucchan.
   So?
   Well, Akane's just...just...too violent.
   Ucchan can be and has been just as violent as Akane.
   Er, Akane's a tomboy.
   Ucchan lived as a boy for ten years after we abandoned her.
   Akane...well, she's...she's...Akane!
   Ranma slumped. Then I guess that has to be the answer, he
thought with a sigh.
   The weekend passed. Akane continued her cooking lessons
without Ranma's unwanted company. She worked on perfecting her
rice boiling, and was now able to consistently cook up a pot of
boiled rice that was not only non-toxic, but actually tasty. At
the same time, Dakochi had her periodically try some more complex
recipes, but these attempts continued to result in meals which
produced sickness and nausea in laboratory animals.
   "Hello, Dakochi!" Akane greeted cheerfully as Dakochi let her
in for Monday's lesson.
   Dakochi shut the door and grinned widely at Akane. "Ah, I have
good news, Akane! Today is your final lesson!"
   Akane was confused. "But I've hardly learned anything," she
said.
   "Oh, but I've learned so very, very much!" Without warning,
Dakochi pulled a long gymnastics ribbon out of her pocket. She
whipped it at a startled Akane, and it twirled around her body,
wrapping her up like a mummy. Only Akane's head was uncovered.
   Akane struggled briefly in her encasement, succeeding only in
falling to the floor. She froze as Dakochi laughed an
unpleasantly evil laugh. Dakochi threw off her lab coat, flipped
off her glasses, and posed triumphantly in her purple and black
leotard. "Kodachi!" gasped Akane.
   "I just wanted to thank you, Akane," Kodachi purred. "You've
taught me things about poisons that I had never dreamed of! And
now that your secrets are mine, there is nothing standing between
my darling Ranma and I!"
   Akane's face burned as she realized how she had been used.
Dakochi...Kodachi! It was so obvious. "Ranma will never submit to
you!" she yelled.
   "Of course he will, you silly girl! Especially when he sees...
this!" With a flourish, Kodachi produced a syringe filled with a
greenish-brown liquid (from where she produced it was uncertain,
as there seemed to be nowhere to hide such an item on her form-
fitting leotard). "This is the essence of your cooking, a poison
more potent than any I have concocted before! When Ranma sees
that I have mastered your art, you will have no more hold over
him!"
   Kodachi stepped over Akane and grabbed the door handle. "Oh,
don't worry. Once darling Ranma and I are married, I'm sure you
will make an excellent test subject in my lab." Kodachi laughed
again. "But for now, accept this gift as a thank-you for all
you've done!"
   Kodachi tossed a an object at the prone figure. A bouquet of
black roses landed in front of Akane's face, and emitted a cloud
of black gas. "Kodachi!..." said Akane again before falling
unconscious, evil laughter ringing in her ears.
   Kodachi laughed and laughed as she leapt and bounded across
town, vaulting easily from fence posts and rooftops to lampposts
and car tops. Occasionally, she even touched the ground. Her mind
was a happy jumble of thoughts, visions of her and Ranma together
(often very close together) dancing through her head. Soon she
reached the Tendo residence, and found Ranma practicing katas
from his wheelchair. A wheelchair? thought Kodachi angrily.
Someone would have to pay for hurting her dearest Ranma. Then she
sighed dreamily, just watching Ranma for a few moments from her
position atop a neighbor's roof. He was so exquisitely handsome!
The epitome of the male form, and soon he would be hers, heart
and soul--and body... But enough daydreaming. Her time was at
hand.
   Kodachi flipped easily through the air and landed in front of
Ranma. "Ranma darling!" she enthused.
   Ranma, Kodachi noted, responded with his usual coyness. His
eyes bugged out, and he said "Gyahh!" while trying to leap
backwards, succeeding only in flipping his wheelchair onto its
back. It was just too precious!
   Kodachi flicked out with another ribbon, and pulled Ranma and
chair back up, strapping Ranma firmly to the chair in the
process. Kodachi knew that Ranma liked her to be assertive. She
crawled seductively into his lap and whispered into his ear,
"Finally, we can spend some quality time together..."
   Ranma was sweating and twitching feebly in his confinement.
"K-k-kodachi," he finally managed to babble. Oh, how sweet his
voice, even overcome as he was with joy at finally being united
with his one true love. "G-get off! We c-can't, er shouldn't-"
   Kodachi frowned, and then smiled. Of course! He still lives in
fear of Akane! Now is the time to show him. "Don't worry, dear,
I've taken care of that nasty Akane! You don't have to worry
about her any more."
   "WHAT?" Ranma suddenly regained his composure. "What have you
done with Akane?"
   Kodachi laughed, "Oh, nothing yet. But I'm sure we can come up
with a thousand ideas once we marry."
   "You're going to marry Akane?" Ranma asked, confused.
   How delightful his naivete was! "Of course not, silly! I'm
going to marry you!"
   "No you aren't!" answered a panicking and still thoroughly
bound Ranma.
   Hmm, thought Kodachi. Still he relents. Akane must have quite
a hold on him. Time to reveal her newfound prowess. She once more
produced the syringe. "Do you know what this is, Ranma dearest?"
Ranma gazed at the greenish-brown liquid suspiciously, and shook
his head. "This is the essence of Akane's cooking, in its purest
form! All of Akane's secrets are mine! Mine!"
   "Gyahh!" yelped Ranma again, and managed to flip his chair
again in his efforts to put as much distance as possible between
himself and the syringe. Kodachi fell off of him and rolled to
her feet, being careful to avoid breaking the syringe or
injecting anyone with it.
   Kodachi once more pulled Ranma upright, and frowned at him
thoughtfully. Still he resists. Time to get tough. But who...
   "IS IT IMPOSSIBLE TO SPEND A DAY IN NERIMA WITHOUT SOMEONE
THROWING WATER AT YOU?"
   Kodachi turned at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, and saw
an unfamiliar blue-haired girl in a white robe ranting at Ryoga
and that funny frog person. Perfect, thought Kodachi with a
smile. A flick of the wrist, and Kodachi's ribbon unwound itself
from Ranma. A subtle twist, and the ribbon arced through the air
and coiled tightly around the surprised blue-haired girl. A quick
tug, and Kodachi yanked her close. She held the needle to her
impromptu victim's throat.
   "Now, listen carefully, Ranma dear," Kodachi smiled. "You have
until the count of ten to tell me that you'll marry me, or you'll
get to see what it's like to have Akane's cooking coursing
through one's veins. One."
   Ranma leapt to his feet, yelped with the sudden pain doing so
produced, and fell back into his chair.
   "Two."
   "Break free, Robo!" called Ryoga, "You're more than strong
enough!"
   Kodachi grinned to herself. Robo's her name, huh? Well, she's
not going anywhere. "Three." She isn't even struggling, the
loser.
   Robo's eyes were wide, and all of the color had drained from
her face. She was hyperventilating, and her heart was beating
wildly. All in all, she was clearly scared spitless.
   "Four." Without even looking, Kodachi tossed a couple of
gymnastics pins over her shoulder, striking the approaching forms
of Ryoga and Frog in their foreheads, dropping them cold.
   "Look, can't we talk about this?" sweated Ranma, "I mean...
marriage! It's just so sudden."
   "Five. Oh, don't worry, Ranma. We'll have plenty of time to
plan for the wedding, after you've given me your word of honor
that you'll marry me. Six."
   Word of honor? thought Ranma with a gulp. Akane, Ukyou, and
Shampoo would kill him if he promised to marry Kodachi. But Robo
was dead if he didn't. Then he had an idea.
   "How about I let you be my fiancee," he asked desperately.
   "Seven. Don't insult me. I know you already have three other
fiancees. I want you as a husband, not as a fiancee. Eight."
   Ranma stared at her, hopelessly. He tried to envision a future
with Kodachi as his wife, and shuddered. He tried to think of
some way to delay Kodachi, but his mind drew only blanks.
   "Nine. Best make up your mind, Ranma dearest." Kodachi pressed
the needle against Robo's throat, drawing a single, bright drop
of blood. Robo gasped slightly, and began to sob.
   Ranma seemed to collapse. He gazed up at Kodachi with despair,
and said, "All right, Kodachi. You win." Kodachi gazed at him
with a look of feral joy. "I, Ranma Saotome," Kodachi leaned
towards him anxiously, but without losing her grip on Robo,
"solomnly swear," Forgive me, Akane! thought Ranma, "on my honor,
and the honor of my family," Yes! Yes! thought Kodachi, Go on!
"that I will marry Ko-"
   "STOP!" a commanding voice suddenly called. Kodachi whirled in
irritation, and abruptly found herself soaking wet with
uncomfortably warm water.
   She sputtered and spit. "What? Who? Someone dies! Urk!"
Kodachi was abruptly cut off, as she felt something metal clamp
tightly around her neck. She was lifted off of her feet. Kodachi
felt herself being turned, and soon she was face to face with a
rather wet robot. It was wearing Robo's robes, and had several
pieces of torn gymnastics ribbon festooned about it. It had a
tiny scratch on its surface where the head met the torso, right
about where Kodachi's needle would have been. Though its face was
incapable of expression, the robot still gave the impression of
being very, very angry.
   Without a word, Robo took the syringe Kodachi was still
holding loosely in hand. He threw it to the ground, and crushed
it beneath a heavy, metal foot. All of the grass around it
instantly died. Kodachi looked at the machine innocently. The
robot's glowing eyes returned her gaze impassively. Then, Robo
threw Kodachi up into the air, and spoke the words, "Uzi Punch!"
He reared back and punched into the air at Kodachi. His fist
disconnected from his arm on a chain and slammed into Kodachi
with blinding speed. It retracted and flew out again, and again.
After several dozen lightning-fast punches, Kodachi's still form
flew out of sight, trailing a comet's tail of wilted black rose
petals.
   "Wow, that looked painful," noted Ranma, eyeing Kodachi's
receding form.
   "She was needling me," answered Robo. "But where did that
water come from?" He and Ranma turned, and saw the small wrinkled
form of Cologne perched on her staff atop the Tendo wall. She was
holding a water bucket.
   "I couldn't very well stand around while my future son-in-law
proposes to some other woman, now could I?" asked Cologne. She
leapt to the ground and whapped Ranma on the head with her staff.
"You are for Shampoo! Never forget that, boy!"
   "Ow!" protested Ranma, rubbing his head.
   "But how did you know-" began Robo. But Cologne had already
vaulted out of sight.
   Ranma sighed. Cologne had her ways, and it was little use
trying to decipher them. Suddenly, he remembered that he had been
waiting for Robo to return. "Oh, Robo! As long as you're here,
would you mind fixing up my leg?"
   "Very well, but then there is something I must do." Robo began
to charge up his Cure Beam when he suddenly realized that Frog
and Ryoga could use some attention as well. "Heal Beam." he said,
and spun around. A wave of light spread out from his metal form,
and the air sparkled around all present. Ranma's leg ceased
throbbing, Robo's scratch disappeared, and Frog and Ryoga began
to wake up.
   With a few well-placed blows, Ranma shattered his cast. He
stood and did a few experimental leaps. Satisfied that his leg
was in working order, He turned to thank Robo. To his surprise,
he saw Robo leap into the Tendo pond, and surface as a girl.
Without a word, Robo walked across the yard and stood before
Frog.
   "Frog, I apologize," she said. "You were right. I should have
been spending more time in this form."
   Frog nodded solomnly. "Thou hast made a wise choice. Didst
thine encounter with that madwoman affect thee so deeply?"
   Robo shuddered. "When she was holding that needle to my
throat, I was so scared that I could not move. All I could think
of was how vulnerable my human body was. I did not like that
sensation." She turned to Ryoga, "Ryoga, would you help me to
train this body? I do not ever want to feel so helpless again."
   "What're ya askin' that wimp for?" snorted Ranma. "If anyone
should help you its-augh!" Ryoga grabbed the boastful martial
artist and chucked him into the Tendo pond before he had a chance
to finish.
   Ranma surfaced and launched herself at Ryoga, shouting, "I was
talking, you moron!" Soon the two were in pitched battle.
Sighing, Frog led Robo into the dojo to wait.
   A half-mile away, a battered Kodachi made a rough landing in
an open dumpster. The battered Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnast
groaned painfully, and brushed a banana peel out of her face.
Getting her bearings, she discovered that she had landed only a
few blocks away from her rented apartment. They will all pay, she
thought angrily. Once I retrieve my notes, I will be able to make
as much poison as I choose. Nothing will stand between me and my
darling Ranma!
   She pulled herself out of the dumpster, and dropped to the
ground. She stumbled a moment, and grabbed onto the dumpster for
balance. Her equilibrium restored, Kodachi staggered to her
apartment. Kodachi opened her door, and walked into the room,
utterly failing to notice that Akane was no longer on the floor.
In the next room, she found that the floor was covered with tiny
scraps of white paper. "No! My notes! But who?--Uh oh." Kodachi
whirled around, just in time to see a large, painful, and rapidly
descending hammer.
   When Kodachi came to, she found that she had been tied down to
a chair in front of a dining table. "Hello, Kodachi," said a
cheerful voice. "Did you sleep well?"
   "Akane!" hissed Kodachi. "When I get free I'll-"
   "Oh, I never did get to thank you properly for your lessons. I
felt that the best way would be to treat you to a meal, just to
show how well you've taught me!" Akane produced a platter of
steaming food, and set it down in front of Kodachi.
   Kodachi eyed the food with horror, the color rapidly draining
from her face. "No..." she whispered hoarsely.
   "I hope you're hungry," continued Akane, "I've prepared a
seven course meal..."
   Kodachi began to scream. The screaming didn't stop for a very
long time.

Afterword:
   Oh, the Horror! The Horror! Not even my dark id would wish a
fate like that on Kodachi (though it was able to think of it).

Chrono Trigger Tip #9:
   I'm Mindlessly Obsessive, and-
   Aren't we all?
   -er, whatever. Anyway, I'm trying to get my characters to
level 99, and I was wondering where I might find a good place to
build up Experience and gather Tech points.
   That's not a question.
   Allow me to rephrase. Can you tell me where I might find a
good place to build up Experience and gather Tech points?
   Yes.
   ...
   ...
   Well?
   Well what?
   WHERE CAN I FIND A GOOD PLACE TO BUILD UP EXPERIENCE AND
GATHER TECH POINTS?
   Well, why didn't you just ask me that in the first place?
   I hate you.
   Actually, the best places to get Experience are not
necessarily the same places that provide a lot of Tech points.
Probably the best source of Tech points is on the Black Omen,
where you can fight those weird little blue blobs that use Lock
All to prevent you from using Techs or Items. The little buggers
are hard to hit with your weapons, but if you manage to kill
them, you get tons of tech points.
   As for Experience, there are really two good options. Probably
the better of the two is in Geno Dome in 2300 A.D., Robo's place
of origin. When you enter Geno Dome, you are forced to ride along
a conveyor belt where you are attacked by scads of enemy robots.
Ride the conveyor belt a few times, and you'll build up a lot of
experience.
   This, however, can become boring. To balance it, I would
suggest using the Black Omen. Technically, it's possible to
destroy the Black Omen three times each game. How? After it first
appears in 12,000 B.C., the Black Omen continues to hover in the
air for many millennia, as it also exists in 600 A.D., 1000 A.D.,
and 2300 A.D. In 2300 A.D., it isn't worth much to you. After
all, Lavos has already won, and Queen Zeal will just laugh at you
when you try to board her fortress. However, you can still
destroy the Black Omen in the other three time periods--as long
as you remember to start at 1000 A.D. and work backwards. After
all, if you destroy it in 12,000 B.C. first, then it just won't
exist in the future anymore. So, destroy it in 1000 A.D., then go
back in time and destroy it in 600 A.D., and then in 12,000 B.C.
(Paradox? What Paradox?)
   As I mentioned, destroying the Black Omen isn't as great a way
to gain experience as fighting the robots in Geno Dome, but it
does provide a welcome break from the monotony of riding the
conveyor belt.
