[Ranma][FanFic] Drive to Survive 1
Calum Wallace
A Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Calum 'doghead' Wallace.
In this story I decided to transplant Ranma 1/2 into the world of my wargame
Roadkill. Exactly what's going on will become apparent as I write it. I'll
include a rough outline of the world in the game's setting at the end of
this post.
Beware, this includes swearing, references to decidedly sick stuff and a
fair bit of terminal violence. Don't look if you're scared of blood on the
carpet.
The original story Ranma 1/2 is completely and utterly not mine. It was
written by a wonderfully inventive woman called Rumiko Takahashi but I
suspect you already know that. Any elements from Ranma 1/2 in this story are
simply being borrowed without any permission whatsoever. I'll put them back
when I've finished with them. I promise...
The world this fic is set in and any things not from Ranma 1/2 are entirely
my invention. Earth 4, Manta Industries and all other Earth 4/Roadkill
concepts and characters are property of me.
Book 1: Welcome to wherever you are...
*************************************************************
Akane Tendo was pissed off in a big way.
First her 'admirer' Tatewaki Kuno and his antics had got her raging mad
during school but she had calmed down a bit on her way home. To finish
calming down she had gone out to her families training hall. Akane was a
martial artist and one of the most skilled in town.
However, she had been interrupted while training. Worse still she had been
interrupted for a boy.
Therefore she was glaring at her father.
"An arranged marriage? Dad, that is ever so much bullshit!"
Her father, Soun Tendo, rolled his eyes.
"Look here, you three! I know growing up here in Australia has loosened your
morales to a degree-"
"Aw for crying out loud! What's that supposed to mean?"
"Akane, as a martial artist you should understand this! Myself and my old
friend Genma Saotome agreed to join our families schools some sixteen years
ago! For the sake of family honour, that sort of decision cannot be gone
back on!"
"Dad, family honour doesn't matter any more."
"It does to myself and my peers. It should to you, Akane. You are after all
the heir to our school. Genma and I were trained in different aspects of the
Anything Goes style. We wish to join those two aspects of the style. While
we cannot honourably train each other's children - or an outsider - in our
family school we can train our grandchildren - IF and ONLY if they are the
grandchildren of each of us! Our Anything Goes schools are incomplete as
they are!"
Akane rolled her eyes. "You're living in the past, Dad."
"One more thing, dears." Soun glanced round the three girls - Akane, Nabiki
and Kasumi. His daughters. "Genma and his son Ranma have spent the last
seven years travelling around Europe."
"You mean they're road warriors?"
"Yes. I mean exactly that. Ranma is listed at number five in the Road
Warrior magazine All Time Top Kills."
Nabiki let out a low whistle. "That means he's killed over a thousand
people!"
Soun nodded. "Yeah. I've never met the boy but I do know this much. He
follows a very strict personal code of honour."
"YOU'VE NEVER MET HIM?"
"Well, not since he was six months old."
"Oh My God! How do you know about this 'code of honour' of his?"
"A recent interview on Radio Kaos."
Engine noise began to build in the background.
"You mean that British anarchist radio station?"
"Yep... Hey, look at that car!"
Everyone looked round as a large black car rumbled past the house. It had
the word 'SAOTOME" on the side in large red letters. And a pair of equally
large machine guns mounted in a cage - like turret on the roof.
"That's them!"
Soun dashed outside with Nabiki and Kasumi hard behind him.
Akane sat and glared at nothing very much. That was until her father and
sisters came back in looking shaken up.
Akane stared.
A panda, a short redhead girl and a tall, willowy blue - haired woman had
just walked through the door behind them.
She looked at the redhead. Dressed in a hide jacket, shredded denim jeans
and home - made boots that were simply bags of rabbitskin tied round her
ankles with old baler twine. A gunbelt with a crude hand - made revolver and
a Swiss army knife hanging from it, a chainsword slung over her back. The
neckline of her jacket was low enough to be downright revealing. Her hair
was cropped short at the front and tied in a ponytail at the back. She
looked angry.
The tall woman was dressed in a battered and threadbare pair of overalls and
was not armed. Looking closer she realised that the tall woman had what
looked like a cybernetic right arm that was way overdue a new skinjob. Her
carbon steel knuckle joints and fingertips protruded from the ragged
memplastic in a gruesome fashion.
Her father stared at the two (obviously female) individuals.
"Um..."
The redhead snorted. "I'm Ranma Saotome. An' this Shane."
Soun Tendo took the easiest way out.
He fainted.
Some ten minutes later the whole group - Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, the panda,
Ranma and Shane - were seated on the floor round Soun, who was laying flat
on his back and looking miserable.
Nabiki growled something incoherent.
"Look here, Daddy! Do you see a son here?"
Ranma growled as Nabiki's hands approached her breasts. "Keep yer hands to
yerself, lady."
Shane sighed. "Ranma...."
"Sorry, sorry."
Soun spluttered for a moment. "He told me he had a son!"
Akane groaned. "Daddy, they're still guests!" She turned to the two. "So
you're Ranma. And you're Shane? I'm Akane Tendo... do you want to be
friends?"
Ranma shrugged. "Er - dunno."
"Ranma..."
"Sorry, Shane."
Akane shot them a confused look. "What is it with you two?"
"Shane's trying to teach me to be civilised."
Shane rolled her eyes. "Not an easy task..."
"Just because I've been roadfightin' all my life-"
"I don't need to take the piss out of you."
"I really gotta come up with a new complaint."
"Yes, your old one's getting repetitive..."
Akane once more tried to start a conversation. "I hear you do karate?"
"Yeah - a bit. So does Shane."
"I guess you'd be better at driving?"
"Nah - Dad does most of that. I just shoot an' put off any scumbo's what
board us. Shane can't even point a gun in the right direction - hell, she'd
have been wasted if we didn't find her and scrape together the spare parts
for her arm. She's an ace techie though."
Akane tried to get her head round this. A road warrior who couldn't shoot
straight? That was kind of weird.
"Would you guy's like me to show you round the dojo?"
Ranma paused then nodded. "Uh - yeah. I'd guess so."
Shane shot her an exasperated look. "We'd be delighted."
They followed Akane outside. Ranma paid little attention until they got
inside the training hall.
"Wow - neato place. Bet you're glad for being in Australia, huh?"
"Yes, I'm told the rest of the world is pretty wild."
"That's a goddamn understatement and a half! You can't drive four miles
without getting in a fight and you certainly can't walk four miles without
getting squashed flat by some suicidal twat-head."
"Suicidal twat-head?"
"Git who's gone mental in a car... I think it's called combat stress but I
dunno. They're normally pretty harmless unless you're walking. I seen one
suicidal twat-head in a banged up old pre-war 1.5 Eagle... it had an auto
gearshift and he was sitting back to front on the steering wheel. I plugged
him right in the - sorry, I'll likely gross you out especially if I tell you
what we found in the car's boot."
Akane hastily changed the subject. "Um - you fancy a sparring session?"
Ranma frowned. "Well - it's like this - I only ever fight to kill. I don't
really know how not to waste someone..."
Shane laughed. "Ranma, you dope! I'll spar with you, Akane."
"Um - your cybernetic arm -"
"It's nothing high-performance." Shane rolled up her sleeve and fiddled in
her own armpit then rolled the battered plastic skin off. "See? We could
only find old pre - war civilian components for it."
Akane nodded. "Oh. Okay."
Ranma watched the two of them from the sidelines with evident interest.
Akane found herself unable to touch the tall woman. Shane seemed to float
round her blows, but didn't swing at her even once.
She lost her temper and went for it with a full - strength, full speed
punch, only to find herself with her arm buried up to the elbow in the wall
as someone tapped her shoulder.
Looking round she found Shane smiling at her.
"Huh- wow, you're good... Um - why didn't you try-"
Ranma snorted. "Akane, look at Shane's eyes. Haven't you figured it out?
That and why she can't shoot?"
Akane looked at Shane closely.
Suddenly she realised that a tiny camera was staring back at her from the
centre of each of Shane's eyes. Shane tugged the back of her overalls collar
down a bit and turned her head.
There was a registration number on the back of her neck.
"Yes - I'm an android. My programming prevents me from inflicting any harm
whatsoever on any living thing. Even something as simple as a sparring
session."
Ranma nodded. "Neither of us are good enough hackers to remove the block,
Shane knows how but can't do it. Plus she doesn't want to be turned into a
combat android. She had a flat battery when me and Dad found her - it took
us weeks to find parts for her generator. And her arm was smashed. I reckon
if someone else had found her they'd have stripped her for parts and sold
the bits. Sick, huh? I mean, she's a class eight secretary model android -
she's fully sentient - she has fucking emotions - she's harmless - how was
I gonna let some shitface do that to her?"
Shane nodded cheerfully. "I can't attack. But I can dodge."
"And now she's an essential part of the team. Me and Dad aren't much in the
way of mechanics or nothing. We found a memcube with masses of stuff about
fixing up machines in a trashed Army android we dug out of a ruin and Shane
installed it into herself. Me and Dad couldn't upload it into our brainware
- we run IBM compat while her AI's Mac OS. And since the army use Mac OS -
well."
Akane nodded. "You've got cyberbrain?"
"Yeah - Dad had it from before the war. And we did this deal with a minor
kingdom in France - they gave me cyberbrain in return for a year's service
in their army."
Akane nodded again. "I never went for cyberbrainware - it kind of creeps me
out."
"It's too useful for us to be squeamish." Ranma tapped her handgun. "I've
got a guncamera on this and my reflexes are ten times as fast as they were.
We'd be dead a thousand times over without cyberbrain."
Akane nodded again. "Um - Ranma..."
"Yeah?"
"Maybe I should help you learn not to kill..."
Some time later the trio walked back into the house. Ranma sat down cross -
legged and started cleaning her weapons.
"Damn, I hope we get this mess cleared up soon, Shane."
"Why don't you just explain?"
"How am I gonna explain that?"
Shane paused. "Um - I suppose so."
Nabiki peered into the living room. A fat man dressed in furs was talking to
her father in low tones
"Er - Kasumi - who's that?"
"Beats me but he used to be a panda."
Nabiki shot her a funny look. Maybe Kasumi's finally lost it?, she mused.
Kasumi stepped out onto the veranda. "Ranma! You're all covered in road
grime - there's a bath run - and you, Shane!"
"I'll pass on that until I get new insulation." Shane held up the battered
prosthetic limb. "I'll fry all my circuits otherwise."
Kasumi blinked. "Oh! I hadn't realised you're an android!"
Shane shrugged. "You'll get used to it."
Kasumi sighed. "We used to have an android - but she had a system crash and
we couldn't get it to reinstall... now I think about it she's still in the
loft."
Shane frowned. "Want me to have a look? What OS does she use?"
"Mac OS. She was a Manta F40037 series."
Shane smiled. "Oh, that's the same model as I was. I've been upgraded a lot
since then - did you check her S-RAM?"
Kasumi looked blank. "Er-"
"Oh, I'll have her booted up again in no time! Here, get her down from the
loft and I'll run a full diagnostic - Ranma installed a whole load of repair
gear into me so I could at least tell them what was going wrong with me if I
started to break down."
Ranma sighed. "You go play with your sister then, Shane. I'll be in the bath
if you need me. The software memcubes are in my pack."
Shane nodded. "Thankyou, Ranma."
She hurried outside to the car and fished Ranma's pack out. The memcubes
were in the side pocket as ever.
"I really must get a second OS hard drive. I can't keep half of this stuff
installed."
Kasumi frowned. "Um..."
"I know what's on these cubes and what it does because I indexed them on my
hard drive. I can't use any of it unless the cube concerned is in my
cubedrive. Well, apart from these four - they're my recollection and OS
backups. We back me up every evening - Ranma doesn't want to lose me."
Neither of them were aware of Nabiki telling Akane that the bath was ready.
Ranma laid back in the furo and stared at the ceiling.
"So what the hell do I do now?"
Pause.
"Oh well... I might as well get out now... They're gonna find out soon
enough."
Again he cursed the name of that place in China. He started to climb out -
- and the door opened.
Akane stared at him and he at her for several seconds. Then she shut the
door and pulled on her clothes.
She walked out of the bathroom, completely unable to talk.
A thud issued from the landing. Kasumi and Shane peered at her.
They were holding the inert form of the Tendo's old android.
Kasumi frowned. "Oh my - wasn't Ranma in the bath?"
Shane groaned. "Oh drat. Yes. Ranma was in the bath."
Akane pointed at the bathroom door. "Who... who... who..."
Kasumi frowned. "Er - Akane? Are you alright?"
"WHO THE HELL WAS THAT NAKED GUY THEN?"
The bathroom door opened. A young man - dressed in Ranma's clothes - stepped
out. Shane pointed at him.
"You mean him, right?"
"Probably... I'm Ranma Saotome. Damnit to hell I hate goddamn military
fucking nano!"
"Ranma!"
"Sorry Shane."
Akane glared at the boy. "Who the hell are you?"
"Ranma Saotome. Don't look at me like that - it's not my fault the Feds
dropped a bad dose of military nano on us. You saw the panda - that's Dad."
There was a blank silence. Ranma shifted his feet uncomfortably.
"Er - um - how?"
"You know what military nano does if it doesn't kill you? It plays hell with
your DNA. I change sex when I get splashed or rained on or whatever. The
same thing turns Dad into a panda... Hot water changes us back."
There was another blank silence. "HOW?"
"I already told you that! I mean, when it comes to it we got of lightly." He
turned to Akane. "This is why we didn't do the full year for that kingdom I
told you about. They don't exist no more - the feds dumped a new type of
nano they wanted to test on them. Me and Dad only made it because the stuff
reacted with the healing nano we use and did this to us instead of melting
us."
Akane suddenly lost it. "You pervert!"
She barely caught Shane's whispered "Oh, shit." as Ranma went red in the
face.
He took a step forwards and grabbed her wrist.
"So you think I'm a pervert, huh? You're coming with me!"
She was too surprised to resist as he dragged her down the stairs and
outside to the Saotome's car. He let go of her wrist, yanked the door open
and fished around in the glove compartment for a minute. He came out with
half a dozen dog - eared copies of Road Warrior magazine, which he threw at
her.
"Have a look through these, look me in the eye and say that again. Then I'll
know to kill you for thinking you're not talking shit!"
He turned and stormed inside. He was back a moment later with Shane
following him and a set of ignition keys clenched in his fist.
"Ranma, are you sure you've though this through?"
"No! But I'm going to. Oh, don't worry - I'll be back when I've calmed
down."
He swung into the car, slammed the door and fired it's engine. The massive
V12 let out a thunderous roar as he drew away.
Shane turned and glared at Akane. "Sometimes I think being a combat android
wouldn't be such a bad thing. You need a slap in the face. Ranma was half a
damn inch from shooting you... And rightly so!"
Akane stared after the android girl as she stormed inside.
"What the hell? I thought androids couldn't even think violent!"
Ranma hung a hard left, sliding the heavy car round the corner. A trail of
black smoke shot out of under the back wheels as they spun up. He changed
down a gear and floored it round the next corner, the supercharger letting
out a whine from it's slack drivebelt and the tyres screaming as the
hardened kevlar ground sideways across the tarmac. He shifted up and floored
it again causing the back wheels to spin up as they momentarily lost
traction on the dusty tarmac.
By the time he got back to the Tendo's house he had calmed down slightly. He
glared around then switched off.
Walking inside he found Akane reading one of the magazines. She had an
expression of horrified fascination on her face.
"So do you see any of that crap here?"
Akane mutely shook her head.
"Gimme them." Ranma grabbed the magazines. He tossed five onto the table and
flipped through the last one, searching for a specific page. Then he handed
it to her.
"Me and Dad's first appearance in Road Warrior magazine. That's the hit that
got us noticed by the big boys. We trashed our old Ford in that fight, but
we managed to steal a Manta Eagle off the bastards. They didn't stand a
chance - I'm far too good for them... I won 136 pitfights before that with a
little help from Sue." He patted his chainsword. "That's how we made enough
money to keep in petrahol. Dad's too chicken shit to fight for money, I'm
better than him so guess what. Of course, we made a few enemies that way -
gangbosses who were trying to fix fights only I wasted their men. That sort
of thing. After a while they discovered they were better off betting on me
winning and pulling their men from the fight. I'm just too good for these
small - time thugs."
Akane examined the page. It detailed how a then unknown duo of roadfighters
had gone about systematically destroying one of the more horrific gangs she
had read about.
"Er - why did you kill them?"
"Because fucking bastards like that who torture women and little kids and
kill people for the hell of it and stuff don't deserve to live, that's why.
Dad was against it but I told him if he didn't help I'd rip his fucking face
off and rub engine oil into what was left. We found Shane when we were
killing off the survivors. She was buried in wrecked buggy - apparently some
bastard had stole her from some corp and was going to rip her up and sell
the bits. He'd taken off her arms and legs so she couldn't get away. We
found one of her arms and both her legs but her other arm and part of her
torso were smashed up. She told us how to fix her after we installed the
repair and diagnostic software we'd found in a car we scragged. We got the
bits from dead bastards cybernetics and a trashed hardsuit. Best use for
them."
Akane let out a somewhat strangulated sounding squeak."You used dead
people's cybernetics to fix her?"
"Yeah, that's what I said. Though I wouldn't call them 'people'. Bastards
like that don't have a scrap of 'person' in them."
"What if the guy comes back and haunts her?"
"Akane, that's bullshit. Everything I own was taken from dead bodies.
Including the clothes I'm wearing - you should be able to see the bullet
hole the last owner of this jacket left through. The trouser's came from a
bastard who's head I cut off with Sue. Sue came from a bastard who tried to
sneak up on me while I was asleep. He was thick enough to leave his
chainsword ticking over, and in the Dez one mistake equals game over. I blew
his brains out - literally. I've probably killed more people than you've
ever met." He tossed another copy of Road Warrior magazine at her. "Read the
section from page twenty. It's a feature on me."
Akane glanced at him. He no longer looked like he was about to bite her but
he still looked angry. She obediently flipped to the page.
The first thing that met her eyes was a full page photograph of Ranma
standing on his father's car's bonnet, chainsword in hand and wearing a
smirk on his face. He was looking directly at the camera.
She glanced at the page opposite.
'Name: Ranma 'Junior' Saotome.
Age: 15
Kills: 1486 confirmed, 2073 probable.
Ranma Saotome is the younger of a dynamic two - man team who have been
shaking up the status quo out in the badlands recently. With over a thousand
kills to his name and six times Radio Kaos Kill of the Week he is definitely
in the top ten deadliest people in the Dez today. We met up with the
Saotomes in Scotty's Spliff-O-Rama, Hell Point.
Road Warrior: Well, so you're the famed Ranma Saotome.
Ranma Saotome: I'm not a disappointment am I?
RW: Not at all. Tell me, how did a man as young as yourself rack up such an
incredible kill tally?
RS: It wasn't hard. They were all crap. I'm the greatest martial artist in
the world, man. Nobody can deal with me!
RW: So you're aware that you're in the top ten.
RS: Yeah. I'd like to see what would happen if I ran into some of those
other guys - that would be fun... Especially that Freakliner guy.
RW: Let me get this straight. You want to pick a fight with a guy who's been
World Martial Arts Freestyle Champion no less than eight times, the last
eight years the contest was run?
RS: Yep. And I know he's half Sidhe.
RW: That would certainly make the headlines - Junior Saotome versus
Freakliner! Two of the scariest men alive... I look forwards to watching the
footage!
RS: Aw, you know as well as I do that Freakliner likes blowing Tri-D
choppers outta the air.
(At this stage Ranma Saotome was called away by his father. We managed to
get the older man to delay long enough to take the photograph opposite but
that was it)'
Akane looked up from the magazine. "You've killed over a thousand people?"
"Er, those kill figures are vehicles, not people... I've done over three
thousand. Most of them I shot. Only around five hundred in H-to-H. And half
of them I killed with my bare hands - that was before I got Sue. I prefer
using her."
"Um - why do you call your chainsword Sue?"
"Old joke. We once had a fight with this psycho called Sue. She usta scream
whenever she was fighting - before she met me, that was. She sounded like a
chainsaw so I nicknamed my chainsword Sue since it sound like that psycho
bitch screaming. Last thing a couple of hundred people heard. There's three
photos of my best kill over the page."
Akane flipped to the next page. Again, the Saotome's car was there. A
sandrail was upside down in mid air beside it with one front tyre blown out.
Ranma was leaning out of the car's window holding his chainsword.
"Er - what did you do?"
"The film clip the chopper got was better - that's just a few stills. I
slashed his tyre as he pulled alongside us - there was a damn Raptor on that
buggy and even I don't like fighting half ton man-eating dinosaur men. It
flew out and sanded it's face off on the tarmac. That one got frontpage an'
Radio Kaos kill of the week. The Raptor got what it deserved - when RW
interviewed them it ate the camerawoman alive an' she was a twelve year old
slave."
Akane looked sick. Ranma nodded.
"You get some totally disgusting bastards out there. Be glad you're living
in Australia where it's nice and peaceful and there's laws..."
Akane nodded. "I am... What about Boat Town?"
"Boat Town? Boat Town? Civilised? Akane, there's over three hundred and
sixty MILLION people in Boat Town. That's over fourteen thousand for every
pig in the city. Nobody gives a flying fuck about the law. You hit on
someone else's chick, you spill their drink, you even look at them funny and
you're in a gunfight. Sure, the Slime play with minitanks and power armour.
Oh, big deal. There's around twelve things are illegal in Boat Town and a
duel to the death isn't one of them. Murder is punished with a sixty Euro
fine unless you top an Army boy or start an autoduel in which case you've
got helicopter gunships up the anus. And there's around sixty guns per
person in that city."
Akane did some quick mental calculations. "Twenty - one BILLION guns?"
"Yeah. Something like that. Someone dropped a shooter back in the war, odds
are it's in Boat Town. And a lotta people dropped guns. The biggest weapons
factory in Boat Town is the Manta Industries factory. They make six hundred
guns a minute, 24-7. And eight hundred thousand bullets a minute. Everyone
has a gun and spares at home. Some people have lots of really big guns.
You're only safe in Boat Town if you're a multimillionaire so you can afford
to live up Nob Hill."
Akane set the magazine down. "Look - about what I said earlier..."
"What about it? If you still think I'm a perverted bastard then I'm gonna
shove Sue straight through your head."
"It was just... that nano thingy... and the android..."
"Akane, I am a virgin."
"What?"
"What does it sound like? People think every guy out on the road - and a lot
of the girls - rape everything that gets in their way. Sure, most of those
bastards do that but every rule has it's exception. And you know I said part
of Shane's torso was wrecked?"
"Huh?"
"Nobody can ever fuck Shane. She just doesn't have the right bits... only
thing we could find that we could make fit were bits of trashed hardsuit."
"You what?"
"Do I have to spell it out? Shane has no vagina. Therefore fucking her is
physically impossible. Sure, she started off with one - most goons are sex
mad - but a .50 machine gun bullet removed it. We shot up the buggy she was
stashed in with our twin 50's... Browning M2HB heavy machine guns in a twin
linked mount. Those are the two big guns on my car's roof."
Akane stared at him. "You did what?"
"She was in a freight compartment. A couple of bullets went straight through
it - one smashed her arm to bits and the other hit her in the ass. It blew
her ass outta her crotch. Of course, some other bullets went through the
engine block and another blew the front axle off. Oh, and another removed
the driver's heads."
"Heads?"
"Mutant. We found two trashed skidlids with bits of brain in them and the
other guy still had his head - but only half a chest. And the driver
definitely had two necks - or stumps of necks with bits of jaw attached to
them. Shane says he had two heads before I blew them off - he was always
arguing with himself. His heads hated each other."
"That is sick!"
"Yep. Especially what he did to Shane's owner's daughter after the hit. She
was six - I'm not even gonna think of describing it, I'm just glad I blew
both his brains out... It was about fucking time."
Akane shut her eyes. "I don't wanna know."
"I wish I didn't. But I do - unfortunately. At least I know I've made the
world a better place... in a way."
A fat man dressed in furs waddled into the room.
"Hey, Dad - what's the story?"
"Ah, Ranma. You will start attending the local school in a couple of days."
"You what? Are you cracked?"
"The decision is already made, boy."
"Well - I'm gonna use the car. I found it, me and Shane fixed it so it's
fucking MINE, fat boy."
"Whatever, whatever. Just don't start any autoduels. The Australian
government allows the possession of firearms but not the public use of them.
So no firefights, do you hear me?"
"I ain't gonna start anything, Dad..."
Tatewaki Kuno sat and stared down the street.
The Aussie kids were filing past him - they had learned not to mess with the
Japanese refugee boy long ago.
He glanced at his watch. Surely the Tendo's should already have arrived?
A rumble down the street announced something out of the ordinary. That
something was a huge black car.
He recognised what it had once been - a Manta Eagle of some form or another.
The growl it's engine was making sounded like a supercharged Dragon series
V12 in combination with clapped out silencers. He'd heard that tone coming
from a lot of cars and pickup trucks before.
But this one looked like it had jumped out of a roadfight program on Tri-D.
It was dirty black, had mesh reinforced tinted windows and a cage - like
turret with two substantial machine guns on the roof. He recognised it from
somewhere.
He zoomed in with his cybernetic eye. This enabled him to read the letters
across the top of the windscreen.
"Saotome... Ah yes, the famed roadfighter duo."
An Aussie kid - one of his pals - glanced round. "Huh?"
"The vehicle approaching bears a striking resemblance to the one owned by
the Saotomes. They are a pair of roadfighters - father and son. Very
talented - Junior Saotome is in the Top Ten CK list. I think he's at number
five."
"It's gotta be some groupie, man. I mean, what would bring guys like that
here?"
"Mayhap the promise of a peaceful life."
The car turned into the schoolyard. Any doubt that this was the real thing
faded from Kuno's mind.
It had visible bullet holes. Crash marks. Bloodstains on the bumper. Spikes.
Barbed wire around the roof turret.
It's engine cut off. The driver's door opened.
Ranma looked around. "Nice place, huh?"
The other door opened. Nabiki and Akane Tendo got out.
"Nice? This dump?"
"It's sure prettier than Hell Point!"
Kuno looked at the young man who was leaning idly against the car. He had a
cigarette hanging from his mouth, a gun hanging from his belt and a
chainsword across his back. He was otherwise dressed in a rag-tag mix of
screwed up denim and furs.
"And who might you be, to make so familiar with Akane Tendo?"
"Ranma 'Junior' Saotome, one of the ten most deadly men ever. I have 1672
confirmed kills to my name. And that's not the body count, that's vehicles.
So who the fuck's asking?"
"I am Upperclassman Kuno-"
"Right. Kuno. Get this straight, pal. Nobody who I haven't seen fight for
the right damn reasons gets my fucking respect!"
"And what might the right reasons be?"
"To me? To stop some goddamn bastard who goes around fucking and killing
anything he can force to sit still long enough. To stop the scum who screwed
over this world the way they did. I've done my bit - my roadfightin' days
are over. You want me to respect you? Go out to the Dez with a set of wheels
and survive for seven years then come back with a scrap of humanity left and
I'll think about it."
Kuno paused.
"Very well. I am Tatewaki Kuno, captain and champion of the local Kendo
club. I have made myself well respected within the fencing world..."
"Sorry pal, but that don't cut no ice." Ranma unsheathed Sue. "You see this
baby? She's had a few hundred. Fencing and a fight to the death are a long,
long way apart. Because in close combat there ain't nothing's unfair and the
only rule is last man breathing wins." He thumbed the fireup button on the
back of the blade. Sue snarled into life.
Kuno frowned. "But surely a chainsword cannot defeat a katana in a fair
fight? Is not the katana the ultimate in sword design?"
Ranma sniggered. "That's why Manta Industries based the shape, balance and
weight of this model of chainsword - the FA2573 series - on the traditional
ninja's katana. To stay ahead evolution is essential. The chainsword is the
next step in the evolution of the sword. I'd guess Sue is a third the weight
of your stick - and she'll slice through nanohardened steel in seconds."
He flipped the power switch back to 'off'.
"Humph. Words, just words. That is all you are, Saotome! For the honour of
the Kuno line, I shall defeat you!" Kuno drew his bokken.
"Prepare for a reality check, pal." Ranma restarted Sue and yanked the
throttle wide open. He snapped the screaming chainsword out.
Kuno's bokken fell in two pieces. The older boy stared at the sword.
It's blades were whirling past half an inch from his throat.
"You're not in my league, Kuno. And remember this - I am a killing machine.
My personal body count's more than triple my CK. I fight to survive. And
where I come from surviving means killing quickly and efficiently. It's the
only way you can protect the things you give a shit about out on the road.
Get in my way and I'll slice you in two. Do you understand me? I use
cyberbrain which has multiplied my reflexes - already fast from karate - by
a factor of ten. I could have beheaded you before your stick had even left
your side. And don't you ever forget it. Try to start a fight with me again
and you'll leave a full head shorter."
He switched off then sheathed Sue and walked silently into the school.
that's the lot for now
Who hoo! Another of my 'little ideas' has grown big enough to be transferred
from untitled status to the 'active fanfic' section of my hard drive!
In this one I decided to transplant Ranma Saotome and company into the world
of my post-apocalyptic wargame Roadkill. I set the action in Australia as
this is one of about two remaining civilised nations in the game's back
story. I'll be continuing this every time I need a break from Biker 1/2.
Okay, now for my traditional 'glossary of terms'.
Memplastic - high tech plastic that changes shape when charged with
electricity.
Techie - Any mechanic or technician.
Cyberbrain - Nanocomputer augmentation of the brain. Having Mac OS and IBM
compatible is my idea of a joke. See the Ghost in the Shell manga for a far
better description than I can come up with. The idea of your brain running
Windows is a bit scary, isn't it... And don't worry, I'll do something
dealing with a cyberbrain crash somewhere in this story...
Manta - Manta Industries. The biggest megacorporation in the Roadkill
background. They make anything technological, but mainly guns and cars.
Manta Eagle - Model of car. The Eagle is basically a factory built dragster,
powered by a 9.9 litre capacity supercharged V12 engine. It is also Earth
IV's most common model of car.
Memcube - Crystalline mass digital storage. Much like a multi-terabyte Zip
cartridge.
Nano - Microscopic robots. Used for a variety of functions.
Combat android - Android which lacks the 'a robot may not harm humans' part
of Asimov's three laws.
Petrahol - Alcohol fuel. The equivalent of petrol (gasoline) Diesahol
replaces diesel.
The Dez - The North Sea Desert. What used to be the North Sea only it is now
dry due to a distorted planetary crust.
Raptor - Think seven foot tall built like a brick muscle bound and dog ugly
carnivorous stegasaurus man and you won't be going far wrong.
Tri-D - Holoprojector telly.
CK - Confirmed Kills.
(Extract detailing the background from my up and coming wargame Roadkill
follows. Roadkill and all related concepts are copyright 2001 Calum J
Wallace / Mad Dog Games, used with my own permission. An MDG website is
presently 'in the works'. Terms that I've not defined above will be
explained when (or if) they come up in this story)
THE STORY SO FAR...(Or, What the hell is going on?)
In the two war's between 2140 and 2148 humanity was decimated.
When the survivor's crawled, shaken, bloodied and swearing from the mess
they found a somewhat changed world.
At a glance it looked much the some, albeit with a number of large holes in
it. The meek tried to inherit it, but rapidly fell victim to the quick, the
well - armed and the mean.
The state of the world today is best described an area at a time, so that is
what I will do. Starting with, as it is my nationality...
SCOTLAND
The land o' the glen's, of heather and whisky, home o' the tartan and deer,
salmon and.... Not any more. Thanks to the activities of various political
pressure groups and various groups of ecoterrorists (most notably the entire
Shiak species and the Amerai Clan Scunamara), Scotland, especially the
Highland's, is shrouded by rapidly growing forest's, where wolves and wild
boar run free and the deer live live's of constant fear. The Loch Ness
Monster (Some fuckin' HUGE beastie that's supposed to live in this massive
loch called Loch Ness) is still reported on a monthly basis. The cities of
the east of Scotland, places such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and
Aberdeen are near ghost towns, ruled by varied warlord - wannabes. The vast
majority of the country's surviving population has fled to the relative
safety of Boat Town. However, many of the smaller west coast communities and
the inhabitants of the Outer Isles and the Hebrides are still eking out an
existence on their wind - swept home islands, even if the available
technology in these far away places keep's getting less. For most of them,
the only way to leave is by a long, dangerous journey in one of the few
boats able to make the trip and the available number of boats keep's getting
smaller. The Islander's are rapidly heading towards technology - free
savages. Most of the Mainlanders are dead.
THE REST OF BRITAIN and IRELAND
The trend in the east of Scotland carries on throughout England, Wales,
Northern Ireland and Eire, only it's worse. London is deserted, only a few
hundred people now pick through the remnants of what used to be a city of 12
million. The rest of England is a low - tech warzone, with tribes running
rampant on the roads, on the railways and in the air. If you thought the
cities of the 1990's were dangerous at night, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Anyone who leave's their home unarmed after dark might as well kill
themselves. They wont survive five minutes without getting murdered, or
worse kidnapped. Kidnapping means either a slow and lingering death or a
life of slavery probably leading to an even more horrible death. Even in the
day, cities like Manchester and Peterborough make night time L.A. in the
2000's look safe. Best to leave - it's what most people have done.
Wales is now one of the wildest places in Europe. Joke's about sheepshaggers
no longer apply - there are maybe 100, 150 at the most people in Wales
today. And about 5 million sheep - but shagging one of these sheep would not
be a good idea, as they are wild buggers and you'd be asking for a set of
horns in the nads if you tried. (I just HAD to mention sheep, didn't I...)
Ireland is even more war - torn than mainland Britain. Virtually every
person in the country is part of some group or another with a 3 - letter
acronym for a name, and they somehow manage to be more violent than even the
tribes of Aberdeenshire, who are the most notorious bunch of psychopaths in
mainland Britain. They specialise in bombs and sniper attacks, and people
regularly get killed in all manner of horrible ways for things like walking
home on the wrong side of the street, or wearing the wrong colour of
clothing, or any number of similarly minor sounding infringements.
THE NORTH SEA DESERT
Due to a certain bomb (See the section on Germany), almost the entirety of
what used to be the bed of the North Sea is now at an altitude of 300 feet
above sea level. The area is littered with old wreck's, grounded shipping,
old oil rig's and in one small area the entirety of the U.S. and E.U. North
Atlantic fleets.
There is one area known as the Oil Sea, where billions of gallons of crude
oil spilled out of a busted oil rig. The whole section, a previously
nonexistent depression in the sea bed caused by that bomb, simply filled up.
It's stopped, but there is now a gigantic lake composed of a mixture of
crude oil, water, dead sealife, scrap iron from six supertankers and twenty
other ships, the corpses of over six thousand people, eighty tons of
military quality nanomachines and weird fallout from that bomb. In this
bizarre stew, a strange chemical reaction causes some very interesting
crystals to form. No - one is sure what these rock - hard, six - foot long
lumps of black boke are good for, but they must be good for something, or
why would the Megacorporations pay so much for them...?
The patch of Dez the U.S. and E.U. fleet's grounded on is now probably the
best defended patch of land on the planet. For this reason, this patch of
nowhere is now also the biggest and fastest - growing megacity in history,
with a population of over 360 MILLION at the last count. It is also one of
the few places left on earth with any form of police force.
However, this police force has far less to work with than is considered the
norm in the 1990's. It's not that they are lacking in manpower, not that
they are underequipped, it's just they don't have that many law's to work
with. The only crimes they fight are tax dodging, possession of illegal
chemical's (E.g petrol and diesel), autoduelling on the streets, murder and
annoying the government. The government in Boat Town boil's down to one man
- Admiral John Rottweiler. He is the highest rank surviving officer in the
combined U.S. and E.U. fleets, and was not expecting 360 million - odd
people when he accepted leadership. He's also dangerously short tempered.
Fortunately for the annoying elements of the population of Boat Town, he
also has a little war on his hands. Or rather, a fuckin' huge one.
The rest of the Dez is comparatively civilised in those few places you can
find life - mainly round the Oil Sea. In these dredging towns not a day goes
by without someone getting murdered but fully blown road war is not that
common due to the large numbers of corporate goons, military personnel and
well - armed badass dredgermen to be found in these ramshackle
corrugated-iron-and-old-car's townships.
However, once you get to the old English Channel things start to get nasty.
This area is a tribal thoroughfare between England, France, Germany,
Belgium, Denmark and Holland and most of the time various motorised psychos
are to be found hurtling about on a mixture of ramshackle old bangers in
clouds of dust, smoke and bullets. The former Channel Islands are now
patches of fortified greenery in a salty, wind - swept wasteland.
FRANCE, BELGIUM, HOLLAND and SPAIN
These once - proud nations are now a shadow of their former selves. France
is much like Britain, only with a different language and an affinity for
wine rather than beer.
They also take their food a little too seriously.
Belgium is almost literally a ghost nation. Thirty tons of nuclear waste
were accidentally spilt across the heart of this country during the war when
the Underworlders blew up a large truck containing the deadly stuff. The few
people left in this radioactive hell are either dying, mutants or both.
Holland, however, has the second highest population in Europe. 30 million
people call this patch of battered real estate "Home" (or the Dutch
translation, don't ask me how to say it it's all double - Dutch to me) and
they are some of the most determined people on the planet.
They are hell - bent on surviving in the land of their forefathers and have
so far done a pretty good job of it. This has lead to a new meaning for
"Dutch" in the English language - a person referred to as "As determined as
a Dutchman" or just "Dutch" is someone who is just too bloody - minded for
his/her/it's own good.
Spain is probably worst off out of the lot (Except, of course for Belgium).
The Spanish - the 8% of them who are still alive, that is - are some of the
most wretched people on the planet. The U.S. Air Force dumped 15,000 ton's
of military nano on them during World War 3, and those the horrific stuff
didn't kill it changed irrevocably.
The Spanish come in, literally, all shape s and sizes. The nano played
"playdough" with their D.N.A. Ever seen a man who has three arm's, four eyes
and who keeps changing colour at random? Didn't think so.
GERMANY
The, err... Modifications Germany suffered are so extreme it get's a section
all to itself.
To put it rather simply, half of Germany and 99% of German's no longer
exist.
The Underworlders opening strike was to drop a black hole bomb on a
trajectory that would rip a huge hole through Germany and out of Texas on
the other side. The resulting damage to Earth's crust caused the North Sea
bed to be pushed up to above sea level, and damn near blew the entire planet
to bits. Therefore half of Germany is now a huge hole about twenty or thirty
miles deep, with the second thinnest crust on the planet at the bottom, and
full of water. There is a continuous volcanic eruption in progress in the
middle of this hole, producing a surreal "cone in a pit" effect.
THE REST OF EUROPE
is just more of the same. Small tribe's of a few dozen people, wreck and
ruin, and the majority of survivors have fled to Boat Town.
AFRICA
is now one of the oddest place's you can go.
Technology is in plentiful supply, with one major exception. Fuel.
The Megacorporations control all the supplies of this stuff on the
continent, and thus the horse - drawn (or rather, animal - drawn) vehicle is
once more the commonest form of wheeled transport as it is cheaper to keep
and feed a team of twelve animals for a year than to buy one gallon of
petrahol. The animals used vary in species and are often cybernetically
augmented giving similar top speeds to European tribal motor vehicles. It's
not that uncommon to see a trashed old Manta Eagle with no engine, steering
or front bodywork hauled by a team of cyborg cheetahs ripping across the
Sahara at around 270m.p.h!
ASIA
Is now the poorest area of the world.
The social breakdown that occurred in Europe has not happened in the
majority of Asia, but the technological decay has.
The cities of this part of the world were hammered by earthquakes in the
aftermath of that bomb that hit Germany, and quite simply trashed.
There is still varied governments, but they are mostly totalitarian states
who's citizens live in terror of the secret police.
Anyone who could get out is now in Boat Town, and thousands still pour into
the megacity every month.
NORTH AMERICA
This continent, once home to the mightiest superpower in history, is now a
shattered wreck.
90% of Texas is simply gone, now a bloody enormous lava pit.
Conditions in the rest of the U.S.A. are similar to those in Europe only
worse.
The United States had the biggest army on the planet; most of the huge
quantities of military equipment is still intact. Guess what Yank road gangs
use - M50 Lincoln main battle tanks, F-53 Hellcrow jet fighters... The list
goes on.
Fortunately for the safety of Boat Town citizen's (25.6 million of whom are
American) the modern FA-663377 Shadowhawk Interceptor varifighter is easily
able to knock any ramshackle old F-53 that attacks the megacity out the air
before it does that much damage.
The worrying thing is the sheer quantity of military aircraft, military
ground vehicles and nuclear weapons lying around in the States.
If a Yank road gang warlord somehow manages to unite the various warring
contingents, the entire planet is (to put it bluntly) in deep shit.
SOUTH AMERICA
Is the lowest - tech area of the world.
There are no motor vehicle's at all, very few guns and possibly two Net
decks on the entire continent. Cybernetics are not available, possibly 20
towns have electricity, and the whole area has basically returned to
mediaeval technology, society and way of life.
JAPAN and the ORIENT
These lands - Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea and the other old nations
of the Far East, are the exact opposite of South America.
The whole area is now one mighty nation/state, known as Greater Japan.
This country is a vast, sprawling kingdom of teeming megacitys, god - like
megacorporations and high technology. In the cities neon lights flicker and
jetcars scream to and fro, and in the country there are vast swaths of rice
fields split by superhighways which teem with thundering trucks, cars and
the incessant howl of motorbikes. The laws are the most effectively enforced
in the world, with security cameras in literally every room, street,
alleyway and vehicle, all linked to one gigantic central computer system
which alerts the cops to any criminal activity it spots.
Sort of like a version of "1984" only with very lax laws - well, they're not
so much lax as riddled with so many loopholes per square inch that you can
even get away with murder if you do it the right way. And computers do
exactly what the programmer tells them to.
Oh yes, and all firearms are illegal unless they have no projectile, which
means that almost every person in the area carries laser guns or plasma
weapons, which are perfectly legal, as are swords (if you do the right
martial arts, that is...) And the rate of change of laws in Greater Japan
makes the term "Snail's pace" seem like greased lightning.
AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND
Little has changed in these nation's. Beer, barbecues and generally having a
good time is still at the forefront of most Aussie's minds, and those of
Kiwis as well. These nations are peaceful places, and the cataclysms that
hit the rest of the world have had little or no affect on the average
Australian's life. Sure, we had some bad earthquakes but who cares, y'
fuckin' wingein' pom?
THE REST OF THE WORLD
Is, basically, fucked up to one degree or another.
Either road war and technological decay or mass extinction of humanity.
EARTH ORBIT
A few hundred miles straight up is a cold, dark, relatively empty place
known as "Space". There are twelve manned orbital platforms up here. They're
still around, and still manned.
Six of them now form an independent state, three are affiliated with Boat
Town, one is allied to the U.L.S, one to Japan and the final one is
Australian.
All of them are balanced precariously above oblivion.
THE MOON
The 36 lunar colonies are now one nation, the United Lunar States.
The whole of Earth's moon is claimed by this conglomerate, and the U.L.S. is
one of the modern superpowers. Albeit in a relentlessly hostile environment.
THE ASTEROID FIELD
The asteroid fields, thousand's of tons of mineral resource, are what the
ongoing war between the U.L.S, Greater Japan, Boat Town and the M.F.S. is
over.
This is because they are the richest unclaimed mineral resource in the solar
system and mineral resources are what World War 3 and 4 were about. Now that
the Underworlders have declared all terrestrial mineral supplies off limits
to surface dwellers, one ore-bearing asteroid is worth a fortune.
MARS
Before World War 4, the U.S.A. had an enormous colony of 50.7 million people
on Mars.
When the Underworlder bomb went off, the then President of the U.S.A. (a man
with the rather unfortunate name of Gangreen McCoy) was on an inspection
tour of the Martian colony.
Guess which psychotic, xenophobic vote-rigger is still on Mars? Yes,
President McCoy is now the ruler of the Martian Federated States.
And a sick - minded psycho he is too.
THE OTHER PLANETS
The rest of the system's planets have various outposts of the varied
superpowers of Earth IV either on their surfaces, on their moons or in
orbit. They are for the main part mining and military station's.
OUTSIDE THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Who knows what lurks out there?
It's a question that may never be answered.
THE DEEP BLUE SEA
Is the most alien place in the known solar system, but people live there.
Old military vessels are now high-tech pirate ships, preying on every other
vessel that ploughs the seven seas, forcing seamen to arm and armour their
ships. After all, you cant capture wreckage or when you are wreckage...
SANCTUARY
Sanctuary is a parallel world, accessible from one place - a cave in
Scotland. It is ruled by the Amerai, and is to put it quite bluntly Earth as
it would have been if humanity had been wiped out sometime during the
caveman era. In other words unspoilt and beautiful.
Oh, and vital.