[Ranma][FanFic] Biker 1/2 chapter 21
Calum Wallace
Come on, tell me what I'm supposed to be disclaiming. My memory can be like
a sieve at times... Ranma 1/2? Oh yeah. Well, it's not my fault.
Words in "<this>" kind of brackets are spoken in Cantonese. Those in
"{this}" are in wolf-speak.
Chapter 21: Kill, Crush and Destroy.
"Ain't it fun when you know that you're gonna die young?" - Guns 君 Roses,
郡uch Fun'
"Werewolves, ancient technology, magic, vampires, weird ass curses - all
part and parcel of the fun of being alive!" - General Eichii Honda, JSDF
Special Operations, quoted from a press conference in March 2000.
************************************
Akane snapped another clip into her FAL and opened fire again. She glanced
at Shampoo and jerked her head at the garden of the house across the street.
Shampoo gave a slight nod and the two sprang neatly over the wall, Shampoo
shapeshifting as she went.
They found a small group of Conservatives pinned down by fire from the dozen
or so Reformist Amazons who had hidden in the bushes. Akane grinned and
popped a grenade into her rifle's underslung launcher.
Shampoo grinned even wider and joined in letting off short bursts of fire
over the pinned Conservative's heads. Akane levelled her rifle and took
careful aim with the grenade launcher sights then pulled the trigger.
There was a massive explosion and a lump of the house behind caved in. The
four would - be flankers vanished in a spray of shrapnel then their bodies
slammed into the dirt.
Shampoo was aware of Kodachi and Mao Xing dropping over the wall behind
them. She signalled to the hidden Amazons to check out the house then the
four moved round the sides, Mao and Kodachi going one way while Akane and
Shampoo went the other. Shampoo whispered instructions to the other three
then they moved.
Sure enough they found three more Conservatives heading into the house the
other side. It took six seconds for the four Nerimans to mow them down.
The twelve Reformist Amazons popped out the windows a moment later. Shampoo
signalled them to stay in the house then she, Mao, Akane and Kodachi headed
back to the road.
************************************
Ryoga dropped off the roof of Nodoko's trailer unit with an AK47 in each
hand. The street beyond was degenerating into a melee and she had long since
emptied Akane's minigun.
She barged into the horde of advancing Conservatives, feet flying and AK
bullets spraying in every direction. A kick caught an enemy under the jaw
and sent her into a wall hard enough to embed her in it. Ryoga shot her a
couple of times for good measure while spraying shots from her other AK at a
dozen Conservatives who were returning fire.
"Man, this is-"
She ducked a sword blow and smashed it's owner in the face with the bottom
of her AK's pistol grip-
"-Fucking-"
A dozen bullets zanged off the kevlar lining of her leather jacket-
"-FUN!" She caught a dazed werewolf round the neck in a headlock and used
her to club another one then blasted both of them with a few of her
wolfsbane - tipped AK shells.
************************************
Akane glanced over her shoulder at the sound of machine gun fire and
explosions from the neighbouring house they had just checked out.
She went wide eyed then flung herself over the wall pulling Kodachi after
her. Shampoo saw what she was looking at then dragged her brother over the
wall.
There was what looked like a mechanical spider the size of a small car
spraying the house behind them with bullets from the ends of it's fangs.
"Holy shit, what the fuck is that THING?"
"Xian Pu not know!" The Chinese girl was shaken enough by the sight that her
Japanese had degenerated almost to gibberish.
Mao groaned. "I be know. It be ancient war machine what Kou Loun dig up from
ancient ruins."
"Say WHAT?!?!"
"We - how you say - screwed, no?"
Akane pulled her bazooka off of her back.
"I don't know, but I'm going to try screwing that!" She slotted a missile
into the weapon. "You three get out of here - it sounds like it's trying to
kill those poor sods we left in that house. Shampoo, cover me - I'm going to
blow that freaky spider machine to bits!"
Mao Xing glanced at Kodachi. "You shotgun not hurt that. Go other place, I
have thing to pick up." He dashed off into the Saotome-Tendo garden.
Akane stood up behind the wall and levelled her missile launcher at the
spider machine. "Screwed are we? Screw THIS!"
She fired the missile.
************************************
Mao Xing burst into the empty workshop and ran over to his bike.
He stopped beside it and started tearing bits off. Bits he had fastened to
it with cable ties to make it look like something it wasn't - a trail bike
made from old truck parts.
The bulky and misshapen black shape beneath all the bits of old Chinese
truck was something very different.
"{Ha. It's not just Kou Loun who salvages ancient war machines from those
ruins... pity it's gun was fucked.}"
He swung onto the bike and shoved the keys into it's jury-rigged ignition
then flicked the hidden switch.
************************************
Akane swore and stuffed her second missile into the launcher. The spider
machine hadn't even noticed her first shot - the missile had exploded
harmlessly off it's upper carapace.
"Okay, bullshitter! Let's try this again!"
She loosed off another round at it. The missile smashed into the machine's
leg. Again it was shrouded by a massive fireball.
This time when the fireball cleared the machine had one less leg. She
slotted the third missile into place.
"And another one!"
She fired again. This missile slammed into it's head and tore one of it's
machine gun fangs off.
Akane grabbed her last missile and slid it into the launcher.
"And one for the road!"
The spider turned and opened fire at her. She ducked as bits of the wall -
two foot thick stone - started to fly off.
Then the spider mecha's fire was answered from behind Akane. The report of a
gun she recognised - her 25mm cannon.
She looked round, expecting to see Ryoga.
Instead she saw an eight foot tall black humanoid machine that looked like
it had crawled out of some manga. And had her big gun clenched in it's
hands.
************************************
Mao Xing laughed maniacally. "{HAHAHAHA! Not so tough now are we, ugly!}"
His pride and joy - at one and the same time his bike and his secret weapon
- held Akane's massive anti-aircraft gun like a pistol.
He blasted off another couple of rounds then charged while the spider tank
was still reeling from the impact of his shots. The wall didn't even slow
his powersuit down -it broke before his charge like surf on a rock.
There was a massive bang as he bodyslammed the spider tank. He dropped the
25mm cannon and grabbed it's head then wrenched it back, lifting the
spider's forelegs off the ground. It's remaining gun fang swivelled towards
him and he grabbed it then squeezed.
He saw Shampoo joining him out of the corner of his eye.
************************************
Akane stared. The black mecha and Shampoo were rapidly tearing the spider
machine to bits. Ammo cooked off as the black mecha crushed the machine's
remaining machine gun. Shampoo clawed through the carapace, tearing strips
of ragged metal out of it.
Then she punched into the cockpit, found the pilot and ripped the
unfortunate Conservative Amazon apart.
************************************
Kasumi glanced out the window. Gunfire was still crackling sporadically away
but it was now mostly replaced by the sound of close combat. The two Amazon
groups seemed to be running low on ammo.
She took another draw at her spliff and returned to the bloodied Amazon she
was helping. The girl had stopped nearly a hundred rifle bullets - it was
hard to believe she was still going.
"Like, the miracles of being Amerai." Kasumi ferreted another slug out of a
wound. "It's kinda amazing, man. Like, wow... how can you have so much lead
in you and keep moving?"
The girl winced. "It's easy - ow fuck - if nothing's blocking your - OW! -
bones from moving in the right way. But it sure stings!"
"Can you feel any more in there?"
"I think there's a couple more in my arm... it isn't healing up properly. I
got a couple in the head but they went clean through. Fuck sake, have I got
a headache or what!"
"Like, shot in the head and you're still moving? Wow, man! Kinda how much
shooting does it take to, like, kill a Amerai?"
"Shit loads. Either that or explosive bullets."
There was a couple of thuds from the stairs. Kasumi frowned.
She finished extracting the last bullet from the Amazon's arm then went to
look.
She found a dazed man in a suit half fallen down the stairs. He lurched to
his feet and fell the rest of the way then started pulling himself upright
on the end of the bannisters.
Kasumi swayed over to him. "Like, what's kinda wrong?"
The man groaned. "Ahh fuck - Nabiki - she's been -"
Kasumi got her arm under his shoulder and helped him through to the living
room.
"What's happened to Nabiki?"
The Amazon who was helping her blinked. Kasumi didn't sound stoned any more.
The man shook his head. " -Dunno. Some fucker - hit me - from behind."
"Where's my little sister?"
"Gone." Honda slumped onto the couch. "I think someone sneaked in and took
her to Kou Loun."
"No shit! Su, get Dad. We've gotten heads to break!"
Her Amazon 径ssistant' dashed out and rapidly came back with an agitated
Soun Tendo, Mi Soon and another Amazon.
Kasumi frowned at her father. "Daddy, Nabiki's been kidnapped."
Soun narrowed his eyes and grabbed a naginata off the top of a cupboard.
"Where who when which what why?"
Honda shook his head. "I'm not sure but I suspect this Kou Loun person has
her."
The Amazon who had accompanied Mi Soon piped up.
"I spotted their camp when I was looking for that Akira guy's van."
Soun growled. "Well, what are we waiting for? Come on - let's go."
Kasumi grabbed the AK Akane had left her, dashed into the kitchen and shoved
her cleaver down the back of her belt. She slung on her trenchcoat, tugged
her driving goggles down then nodded at her father.
"Like, nothing and I mean *nothing* stops my hot-rod. Come on, Dad."
They and the werefalcon girl sprinted through into the garage. The girl
stared at the car within for a moment.
"Holy shit!"
Kasumi dived in through the open driver's window. "Stop gawking and get in!"
The Amazon and Soun followed suit through the passengers side.
Kasumi fired the engine then flicked a switch on the dash. The garage door
rolled up.
She switched on the stereo, put the car into gear, gunned the engine twice
then simultaneously jammed her foot on the throttle and dumped the clutch.
************************************
Nodoko was slashing at a frantically dodging Amazon when her opponent was
suddenly mown down by a wildly accelerating red Corvette.
She just had time to recognise it as Kasumi's car then it was gone leaving a
fading roar and a two dimensional Amazon to remind people of it's passage.
************************************
Soun blinked. "Did we just flatten someone?"
"I thought I felt a bump, man. But who gives a shit?"
"Argh!"
"Like, stop screaming. You're supposed to be a brave Amazon, ain't you?"
"Yes but not at this speed! Left at the next turning! Argh!"
The car flashed past a burning wreck - formerly a Hummvee.
************************************
Ranma frowned as the hot-rod shot off down the street and vanished round a
corner on two wheels.
"What th' fuck? Wonder where Kasumi's of ta?"
He turned his attention back to the dozen Amazons he was beating up.
************************************
"Right! Turn right!"
"Gotcha!" Kasumi tugged on the handbrake and let the back end slide out then
planted her foot back on the throttle. The car popped a wheelie as it slid
round the corner. The speedo was just touching 130 miles per hour.
"They're in the patch of woods about half a mile on!"
Kasumi slammed on the brakes and slid the car for about a quarter of a mile.
She switched off and climbed out.
"Right, let's move it!"
************************************
Genma frowned as a van pulled up and started unloading Amazons. Enemy
Amazons. He aimed squarely at it and started building up ki.
He spotted what the seven or so Amazons were unloading from the van. Ammo.
Shit loads of ammunition.
"No you don't!" He slammed his hands apart.
A vacuum blade shot out and hit the van bang in the middle.
Genma dived behind a wall as the pulverised van's fuel tank blew up and
touched off the ammo they had been unloading. The wall shook as cooking off
bullets smashed into it.
He nodded and went invisible again.
"Score another one for the mighty Genma Saotome!"
************************************
Soun crept towards the camp. Kasumi and the Amazon were hard behind him.
He swept his eyes across the camp. Around eight or nine enemies - they
looked like guards and were crowded round a camp fire playing cards.
He waved the girls forwards and began to edge towards the fire, holding his
naginata at the ready. It felt good to have that blade in his hands again -
it had belonged to his great-grandfather. It was a family heirloom that had
been carefully hidden away when the Allies demanded the disarmament of
Japan. Along with the hundred or so other weapons he kept in his house.
He got to within ten feet of the Amazons before one of them saw him. She
yelled and grabbed her AK.
Soun's next move made both Kasumi and the Amazons gasp. He leapt, did a
midair somersault over the fire while shapeshifting and landed beheading the
woman who had spotted his then spun round and smashed the two nearest
surviving Conservative Amazons guns away. All this took just under three
seconds.
Then he really got rolling. He repeated his leap over the fire, kicked two
of the guards, slashed another with his naginata and punched through a
fourth's chest, grabbed the second to last's neck in his mouth then swung
her knocking down the last guard. All at the same time.
He stopped with his teeth around one cringing Amazon's neck and his naginata
a hairs breadth away from the other's throat.
The rest of the guards were dead.
Kasumi and the werefalcon girl walked over.
"Where is Nabiki?"
The Amazon in Soun's mouth kept cringing. "Who?"
The other tried to shove herself into the ground. "If you mean the
Matriarch's prisoner she's in that truck over there! Please - don't kill
me!"
Soun spat his mouthful out and handed two bloodstained AK47's to the girls.
"I'll get Nabiki. You watch them. They move, they die."
Kasumi glanced down at the AK then looked at the other girl.
"So how do you fire this thing?"
"No idea-" KER-CHUNK! "-Just wing it."
Kasumi shrugged and copied the werefalcon's motions, cocking the gun.
"Okay!" KER-CHUNK!
Kasumi shoved the barrel of her gun into one of the two remaining
Conservative Amazon's ear. "Well, I do know that when you pull this trigger
thingy the end with the hole goes bang very loudly and bullets come out... I
think I can take it from there."
Soun snorted. "Maybe you should take the safety catch off?" He leant over
and flipped it to the full auto position.
Kasumi nodded. "Oh. Thanks, Dad."
************************************
Nabiki was scared, sore and angry. Her wrists were securely chained to a
section of the truck's rollcage. One of Kou Loun's lackeys had earlier
beaten her up a bit.
She looked up when she heard a few shouts and some crashing and banging from
where the guards were grouped round a fire. Somebody had probably cheated.
Something was sprinting towards the truck. A huge furry figure rolled in,
ripping the tailgate off.
It was around nine foot tall and had a very familiar naginata clenched in
it's right hand. Nabiki put two and two together, which made...
"Daddy?"
************************************
Soun glared out the car's windscreen. Nabiki was too shaken to go into ice
queen mode - she was curled up in his lap and crying.
He cracked his knuckles as they raced back into Nerima.
"Kou Loun, I'll make you suffer!"
************************************
Genma glanced around again. A couple of Kou Loun's Amazons were trying to
get behind Ranma who was battling a dozen or so other Amazons.
Genma grinned. Those fools couldn't see him, couldn't even imagine he was
there.
************************************
Akane slotted another clip into her AK and looked around, searching for
targets. She spotted a flicker of motion by the garden wall and cracked off
half a dozen shots at it, forcing whoever it was to hit the ground. Shampoo
dashed past her with the black mecha beside her.
The two killing machines - one biological and the other mechanical - smashed
through the wall and flipped a van over onto a half dozen enemies. Akane
waved Kodachi forwards and kept scanning while the other girl limped hastily
to the wall.
Kodachi snapped another drum into her shotguns receiver and stood half up,
scanning once more for targets while Akane dashed over the patch of open
ground.
Akane looked around again. The four of them were some distance from the main
area of fighting - Shampoo had thought she'd seen something being unloaded
from a truck and they had gone to investigate.
They were now beginning to realise just how large a distance three hundred
yards could be.
The mecha shot her a thumbs up then crouched down to examine some peculiar
scarring on the pavement. It looked like something very heavy with at least
six small wheels had run up the kerb and gone into the garden opposite their
position.
Shampoo nodded and slapped her last clip of ammo into her AK. She checked
both directions then started moving across the road while the other three
covered her.
She froze for a moment as a series of thuds then a muffled scream echoed
from the house across the street. "What in the?"
All four of them came to an unspoken agreement and bolted across the street.
They paused at the wall. Akane and Kodachi ducked into an alcove while the
other two jumped over.
A section of the house beyond the wall collapsed. Shampoo frowned and
started moving towards the wreckage.
The rubble moved.
"There's someone alive under all that?" Shampoo stopped by the ruins.
"Amazing."
The rubble shifted again. A claw - like arm burst out of it and grabbed her
crotch.
Akane shoved Kodachi flat on the ground. The black mecha dashed towards
Shampoo. Shampoo emptied her AK into the rubble then the minigun in the palm
of the claw opened fire.
Shampoo screamed once then went limp. Her AK clattered to the ground and she
shifted back to human form.
A second spider tank shrugged the rubble off it's carapace and tossed the
bloodstained Amazon away.
And another one bites the dust!
NOTES
Next - more violence, more destruction and more explosions as the first
battle of Nerima draws to it's blood soaked conclusion...
Now, I must publicly thank two people.
Firstly, thanks must go to my wonderful pre reader Paula Gray. She suggested
somewhere around 80% of the chain of events that takes place in this current
battle. At the time of writing I am waiting for her feedback on this
chapter, it should be sent to the moderators on Sunday the 6th if all goes
well.
Thankyou, Paula. Your suggestions have been a great help since I am shite at
plotting battle scenes.
Biker 1/2 has been given a home on the web! Go to
http://www.kistunesden.com
to find the archive; it's in the 敬osted' section of the site (in fact last
time I looked it *was* the Hosted section!)
Thanks must go to the lovely Carrie for her good work HTMLising Biker 1/2
and setting up the web page; she requested my permission to host the fic.
This request was gratefully received since I know nothing about HTML...
Thankyou, Carrie. Without you Biker 1/2 would have probably been relegated
to the bottom of the TASS archive for years.
Finally, I've been told I misspelled two names in Biker 1/2 - Nodoko (should
be Nodoka) and Jusenkyu (should be Jusenkyo). All I can say is D'OH! I'll
stick with the spellings I've used previously for future chapters of this
fic; other fics will contain the correct spelling. Eh - oops. My dyslexia
shows once again - man I love spellcheckers, but why couldn't Apple make the
AppleWorks spell checker understand Ranma 1/2 terms? Whine whine.
Please send any C&C to dog...@ratbike.org - my phone line is down once more
thus I can only access the virgin.net email address once a week at most.
Thanks.
Calum.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Ratbike - A motorbike made to look as fucked up and unroadworthy as possible
while still being street legal. Normally painted flat black.
Honda CG125 - Small single - cylinder 4-stroke road bike. Not very much of
anything but supremely reliable and dirt cheap. It's reliability stems from
having very little to go wrong and a low - revving 4-stroke engine.
Honda Fireblade - Insane Honda sportsbike. Mad but beginning to show it's
age.
Supercharger - A pump driven off the crank that forces more air into the
engine thus forcing it to run faster.
Nitrous oxide - Laughing gas. A petrol - nitrous mix burns faster than a
petrol - air mix therefore produces more horsepower and more wear in the
engine.
Top yoke - The yokes are two pieces of metal that hold the front forks
together and to the bike. The top yoke is the upper one. Known as triple
clamps in the US.
Gixer - Slang for a Suzuki GSXR (one of the craziest bikes built).
Chain lube - Motorbike chain lubrication oil.
Header tank - Tank that contains the spare water for the radiator on a
sealed cooling system as found in most cars.
Gasflowing - trimming off excess metal from inside the cylinder heads to aid
the burn rate of fuel within the engine. Gives a small horsepower boost.
Final drive - the drive chain that goes from the gearbox to the back wheel
and the cogs (final drive sprockets) that it runs on.
Conrod - The bit of metal that connects the piston to the crankshaft.
Alternator - Higher tech version of a generator.
Kill switch - The engine's 経ff' switch. Turns off power to the ignition.
Lid / skidlid - Slang for a crash helmet.
250 Superdream - CB250. The next up the Honda model range from the CG125 and
just a bigger version of the same.
500 Superdream - CB500. A CB250 with a bigger bore and heavier frame.
Engine clicking - An internal combustion engine heats up when run. Run it
hard and it heats up more, then when you switch off the engine will start
emitting a series of sharp clicks as the metal cools and contracts.
Stocker - unmodified factory - built vehicle.
Binned - crashed. Normally means written off.
Steering damper - a long, thin shock absorber that fits between the forks
and the frame. Helps steady the steering.
JSDF - Japanese Self Defence Force. The collective Japanese armed forces.
JGSDF - Japanese Ground Self Defence Force. The ground forces arm of the
Japanese military.
JASDF - Japanese Air Self Defence Force. The Japanese air force.