[Ranma][Fanfic][The Bet] A Very Scary Bet chapter 2 (rewrite)
Gregg Sharp
A Very Scary Bet, RAAC version
part 2a: Here's....Ranko?!?!
by greggsharp, metro...@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com
----------------------------------------------------
Ukyou looked around the lunchroom. "Well,
at least some of the guys aren't attacking us, otherwise
this'd look like an all-girls school."
Akane leaned back in her chair. "I don't see
why we gotta learn this stuff anyway. It's not like this
stuff is gonna be any use in runnin' a dojo."
"Hello girls, and how has your first day been?"
Nabiki slid into place next to her sister. For some reason
there were a lot of empty seats nearby.
"Lotsa garbage," summed up Akane's view of
the day. "Not like this algebra stuff has any practical day
to day use. And what possible use is this English stuff
unless we take gaijin in at the dojo?" Or if she could go
visit Ken, who was SO much better than these...boys.
"Not much different from school down in
Osaka," Ukyou said with a shrug. "Just a bit more violent
in the morning and the English teacher knows less than
I do about the language..."
"Now, now, Akane, don't be too quick to dismiss
the value of an education. Even if you get into running the
dojo, there's still those who'll judge you on your education
level." Nabiki smirked and started on her obento lunch. "Mrs
Saotome may be crazy, but she can really fix an obento, y'know?"
"Yeah, I s'pose. Hey, I can get a portable grill cheap,
maybe we could make and sell okonomiyaki during lunch?" A
smile lit Ukyou's face. She could do a lot with this sort of setup.
"Good idea," said Nabiki around a mouthful of rice.
"There seems to be a few opportunities for making some money
around here too. I made some pocket change at the village with
little things like my photography skills and bets on various
fights and the like. It'd be good to earn our keep in case we
gotta move out."
"Why would we do that?" Akane glanced up.
"Uhm, Akane, remember Ranchan?" Ukyou
shook her head. "I wonder what he's like nowadays?"
"No telling, and we can't let him meet his
mother until we know."
----------------------------------------------------
Ranma glanced over to where Shampoo and
this new amazon fiancee were being given a talking to
by the Doctor. "K-9?"
"Yes, young Master?"
"I need you to get something out of the TARDIS
while the Doctor is occupied."
K-9 processed this for a moment. "Do you mean
your temporal transmitter unit? Estimate a 75% chance that
the Doctor does know about the unit's existence."
"Last I checked it was still working," Ranma said,
apparently still studying the sky. "I made sure the door to
the TARDIS was unlocked, so you can get in and out without
any problem. If you would be so kind to get it and bring it to
the building whose face I am currently spotlighting with the
reflection from my wristcomp?"
"Affirmative, young Master." K-9 paused for a
moment. "You will remain behind? This unit...will miss all
three of you."
"I'll miss you too, K-9, and I know that 'Ranko'
will also feel your absence. Shampoo never really got that
comfortable around you, did she?" Ranma sighed. "This is my
time and my world. It's gonna feel awfully primitive and
small, but it won't be unbearable if I can bring my workshop
through."
"Affirmative, Master." K-9 trotted off. He would
immediately detect the two intruders, but determine that they,
like the girl still on board from their last visit, were not a threat
to his Master.
Ranma carefully removed his smile. Recreating his
workshop with "stone knives and bearskins" would have taken
him months. If this worked...
-------------------------------------------
Genma thought for a moment, then the panda put
away his binoculars and thought some more about how he was to do
this. He'd finally found Ranma, who hadn't been at the amazon
village when he'd checked the last time, but apparently the
boy had been on the move.
There was only the one trail that a Japan-bound
individual could use to get in and out of the Bayankala range.
He could "accidently" find Ranma there and defeat him, thus
proving to the boy that he still had a lot to learn about the
Anything Goes style.
Then the two could continue on and get the
necessary additional training before it became time for the
boy to meet his mother and see if he met her standards.
It was a good plan, thought Genma. Perfect.
Nothing could go wrong.
Thunder echoed through the mountains, or
perhaps it was the laughter of a passing god. Lian'Ascot, god
of temporary positions, perhaps.
----------------------March 11, 1992----------------------
Ranma waited a full hour after the TARDIS
disappeared. Shampoo and Vanilla watched, concerned,
as their fiance took a large sack and began pulling rods
of some greenish glass and silvery metal out.
"Oh, so you DID get it," Shampoo began.
"What you do, Ranma?" Vanilla finished with
a cool glance towards her rival.
"I spent nine months in a world known as
RIFTS Earth. Wonderful place, so much to learn there.
A bit too violent to live there, but for educational
purposes just fine." Ranma glanced back over his
shoulder at the two. "Do you have your packs ready?
We can go to Japan very soon if this works."
"Yes, Vanilla, you go get. Shampoo keep
eye on airen."
The albino's gaze flicked back and forth
between Shampoo and Ranma for a moment, then
she gave a barely perceptible nod. She jogged back
to her home, knowing that her adopted mother would
count on her to behave in a manner proper for an
amazon while she was gone. With some degree of
dignity, and some purely gratuitous violence. (No
one would expect gratuitous sex from either of them.)
"Airen? Did you remember pack Shampoo's
cycle?" Shampoo grinned at the memory. Most machines
she had no use for, but there was something about her
own hovercycle, wind flying past her, a powerful engine
thrumming between her legs. Shampoo shifted a little bit
as she remembered that feeling. It had been even faster
than her cursed form.
"Yeah," Ranma was now fitting the rods
together in what was taking shape as a very large
rectangular outline. "Mind you, it won't last long
here without some work. Your Tengu powerarmor
was the tricky one to store. Space limitations, so I hadda
disassemble the wings pretty thoroughly."
Ranma fitted the last rod into place and
started attaching a large boxlike device to one end
of the rectangle. "Anyway, I COULD spend a lot of
time putting together little bits of technology so that
I could eventually work with the really nifty stuff, OR
I could try to sneak in some stuff."
"Shampoo remember."
Ranma flipped a switch on the box and
stepped back. A sparkling glow began to fill the
rectangle. Shampoo involuntarily took two steps
back, though she was well clear of it. Ever since
that transmat device had removed her curse and
given her a nasty set of cramps, she'd been leary
of devices of this sort.
Shampoo watched as first the general
shape, then the details began to form on the vehicle.
Vanilla came jogging back, two large
packs in her hands, when she saw the shape
forming in the air. The packs, and her jaw, dropped.
------------------------
The Doctor looked up as something
fairly large moved through time. "That boy really
needs to learn subtlety."
"Affirmative, Master." K-9 quite
agreed. "Master, I have checked the condition
of that girl that you and the young Master saved
earlier from the world with the invaders. She has
now spent 72.385 hours within the healing capsule."
"Odd genetic structure, that girl." The
Doctor tugged unconciously at his scarf. "Very
odd. Human DNA, and I'm not sure what the rest
of it was."
"There was an unforeseen side effect,
Master." K-9 processed the remote data for an
extra five seconds, making absolutely sure of
what the sensors were telling him. "The girl has
regressed in age. Current age is approximately
nine terrestrial years."
"Get her out, then, the remaining
injuries will have to heal on their own." The
Doctor frowned. "Any data on that 'entry plug'
that she was found in?"
"Highly sophisticated biomechanical
interface, though unrefined. Certainly more than
one would expect for Terran technology circa 2015."
"Yes, yes. When humans believe themselves
cornered they can surprise you with their inventiveness."
The Doctor's eyes widened. "He wouldn't! Oh my."
----------------------------------------
Shampoo grinned as a 30x20x15 area
became filled with something she hadn't seen in over
a week.
"<Shampoo, what is that?>"
"Is transportation. Is airen's workshop."
"If everything goes well." Ranma watched
with a grin, hoping.
The glow flickered to a stop and a massive
weight settled onto the ground on thick legs. A few
creaks and and clanks could be heard as the box sat
there, smoke coming off of its outer surfaces.
Shampoo and Vanilla tore their eyes away
from the box to watch Ranma doing cartwheels and
laughing.
"Shampoo?"
"Yes, Vanilla?"
"Airen is...very strange."
"If too strange for Vanilla, should give up
now, Shampoo take up burden of being tai tai to airen."
"Well," Vanilla said after a moment, "at least
he not boring..."
"That true." Shampoo hid her disappointment.
If she couldn't get rid of Vanilla, how could she hope to
deal with the OTHER fiancees?
"Shampoo, Vanilla," Ranma palmed a panel on
the box and a pair of steps extruded from the bottom. A
door hissed open at the top of those steps. "Your
carriage awaits. Stow your packs and grab a chair while
I dismantle the chrono beacon."
"What language he speak now, Shampoo?"
"Is called technobabble. Shampoo not fluent
in that. Special language for engineer types." Shampoo
shrugged. Who could figure males anyway?
Vanilla started moving towards the steps,
but Shampoo entered first, wanting to confirm that
airen had packed her hovercycle.
Ranma whistled a happy little tune,
gathering up the network of rods he had set out
earlier. He didn't have to go back to stone knives
and bearskins! Laser welders, fusion packs,
molecular seamers, sensor suites, Shampoo's
hovercycle!
A shriek from within the transport ended
his pleasant fantasy. Barely a second later, Shampoo
flew down the steps and turned to unleash a rapidfire
stream of Mandarin that didn't sound at all pleasant.
"Airen!" Shampoo found him. "Chair grab
me! You tell chair not to grab amazon womans!"
"Huh?" Ranma blinked. "Oh, you mean
the restraint harness engaged?"
Shampoo looked at her airen, being able
to tell she was not going to get any sympathy out of him.
"Ranma, you know how Shampoo feel about machines
that move around without being asked."
"I know. You never would use that teaching
machine after that first time."
Shampoo pouted. She'd practiced this in
the mirror and knew the picture she was presenting to
her airen. Let's see Vanilla top this!
"Oh, Ranma," came Vanilla's voice. "What
mean this flashing light?"
"Don't touch ANYTHING!" Ranma grabbed
up the last rod and ran into the vehicle.
Shampoo held the cute pout for a heartbeat
then gave a disgusted noise. "Why? How did Shampoo
offend goddess? Shampoo want attention from airen!
Do she get? No! Don't want attention from stupid Mousse.
So Mousse always pester Shampoo. Urrr....."
"You coming, Shampoo?" Ranma stuck his
head out.
Shampoo looked up at Ranma, sighed, then
put on a happy face. "Coming right away, airen! You
tell chair only airen allowed hug Shampoo?"
The door whished shut behind Shampoo,
standing in the dimly lit area where Vanilla was already
strapped into a seat, and Ranma was sitting in another
seat. Shampoo made a face. She understood that her
hovercycle needed to be unpacked and made ready,
but she didn't care much for being enclosed like this.
Shampoo sat as close to Ranma as she could
looking at all the colored screens around her in distaste.
Too many bells and whistles. Shampoo preferred a
minimal amount of clutter and a smooth interface.
A clanking noise came from the door. "<Shampoo!
I love you, Shampoo!>"
"Is there way to lock door, airen?"
"Hmm. Oh, just push this button."
"Thank you." Shampoo pushed the indicated button
which flashed twice after being pressed. "Stupid Mousse!"
Ranma's eyes swept the control board. "Atomic batteries
to power..." The lcd gauge read that the batteries had just brought the
fusion plant online and it was putting out enough power. Ranma pushed
another button, throwing energy into the hoverjet system. "Turbines to
speed..."
Shampoo gripped her chair as she felt the box shake. "Maybe
some damage to thrusters? Shampoo put contra-grav engines on standby."
"No windows?" Vanilla's quiet voice somehow managed to cover
Mousse's startled squawk from outside the vehicle.
Ranma hit another switch and several screens around the seating
area flared to life. He frowned and one of the views changed so that it was
looking down near the doorway.
Mousse, hanging from a chain that had gotten tangled on one of
the steps, was currently fumbling for his fallen glasses. Said glasses were
continuing to fall as the boxy vehicle continued to rise.
"What is that moron doing?" Ranma stared at the monitor.
Mousse fumbled around in one sleeve, then started checking
another, still trying to find a pair of glasses. Unfortunately all this
jerking
around on the chain finally got it loose. Mousse fell. "<Shampooooooooooo!>"
Shampoo clapped her hands twice and began rubbing them
together. She'd seen Ukyou do this a few times. "Very bad for you, Mousse,
very bad you fall in spring. Terrible tragic story. So, airen, where we go?"
"Can you make a recording of this?" Vanilla asked with some
minor degree of interest. Mousse had managed to annoy even her.
Ranma tapped the auto-track control, zooming the monitor so
that Mousse's fall could be followed. As Mousse hit the water and was
submerged. All three watched as the water was broken a moment later by
the Jusenkyo Guide using a net to fish something out of the spring.
"He fall into spring of drowned bat?" Shampoo smiled. "Maybe
now he leave Shampoo alone, find nice batgirl?"
Vanilla nodded silently. That had a certain symmetry to it. She
liked symmetry. She'd especially like not being mistaken for Shampoo by
Mousse on a regular basis.
"Well, at least he's OK." Ranma pushed forward on one joystick
and the ship began moving forward. "Vanilla, can you see me from where you
are?"
"Yes," Vanilla acknowledged. This was why she'd chosen a seat
behind and to the side from the pilot's chair.
"Good, I'm going to go over the controls just in case either of
you ever need to pilot it. There's a voice interface, but it's programmed
for
English, which neither of you know."
"Shampoo just want know how to recharge hovercycle."
"<I have some vague familiarity with English.>" Vanilla responded
in that language. She had noticed that most of the controls and displays
were
in English. The little smiley faces for status indicators were a bit...odd,
however.
"Good. You'll be a great backup pilot."
Vanilla twitched. There was something disturbing about that
comment. She was immediately lost in thought as she tried to figure out why.
Ranma engaged the stealth systems as they cleared the
mountains. No reason to take chances, after all.
----------------------------------------
A Very Scary Bet, RAAC version
part 2b: Here's....Ranko?!?!
by greggsharp, metro...@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com
various people own the various char. no
trademark infringement is intended.
----------------March 13, 1992------------------
Ranma glanced down at the beeping
display. "Oooh. Lookit that. Reading some really
odd power readings there."
Vanilla looked up from where she'd
been going over an owner's manual, translating
it for Shampoo's benefit. "How is it odd?"
"Biological in nature, I think." Ranma
tapped a few controls. "Hang on, I'm gonna get
closer and get a better look." It meant dropping the
stealth field, but it was interfering with the sensors
to leave it running...
"Vanilla, what mean this?" Shampoo
pointed to the drawing then to the corresponding
part of the machine.
"It means that the halberd draws enough
power that you can't use the Stealth function while it
is engaged." Vanilla tried to explain.
Shampoo nodded. "Flying power armor, spears,
amazons. Some things just meant to be."
Vanilla was glad that Shampoo was familiar with
this hightech stuff. Vanilla wondered how it was that she seemed
to be as well.
-----------------------------------------------
"Thank you, spy, you have served me well."
Herb, prince of the Musk, stood. "Do you realize what this
means?"
"That some redhaired girl is engaged to some
purple haired girl?"
Herb slapped Mint, using a martial arts
manuever he saw on one of those 3 Stooges tapes he'd recently
gotten. "The Knucklehead nose slap," he thought it was called.
"It means," continued Herb, "that Ranko once
again walks the same lands as I. Mint, get the Dipping Ladle!"
"Yes, your eminence!"
Herb smirked and furled his cape in true villain
showmanship. At least he hoped it was, that was the effect
he was trying for. "Soon, Ranko, I shall show that upstart
Saffron up by claiming you for myself!"
The spy, forgotten for a moment, made a note of
this speech and proceeded immediately towards Phoenix
Mountain. Yuan would make Nabiki proud of her pupil.
-----------------------------------------------
"This is Go Sakurai, Action Five News Traffic.
The traffic buildup along Gojira Road is even worse than
usual tonight, due to a rollover accident on..."
Something Big and Fast shot by the Action Five
copter. Go blinked. It looked like a Winnebago. He'd seen
those covering baseball training camp in Yuma Arizona.
Winnebagos generally had wheels, this hadn't. Go blinked
again. Winnebagos also generally weren't found travelling
over a hundred feet above the road.
"Ufo," Go breathed, saying it as if it were a single
word. "A ufo..."
"Ufo..." breathed the pilot, who blinked a couple
of times himself.
"AFTER IT!" The two newshounds shouted in
unison. This was it, their big break, a national feed at the
very least! No more going to Yuma to cover training camp!
Yippee! No more camping trips in Ryugenzawa!
------------------------------------------
"She's back?!?" Saffron's eyes gleamed. "At
last, my beloved, now I may conquer your heart..."
Kiima made a face. Ick. Well, if she married Ranma
first, then Saffron wouldn't pursue this any further. Which
would be best for all concerned...
She briefly lost herself in memory of a few years
back. The plague spread by those cowardly creatures that
had teleported into Phoenix Mountain, hoping to tap into
Jusendo for their own purposes. How a young boy and
this man called the Doctor had come in and saved all of
them.
She especially remembered how she had been
dying of the fever, and of waking to find the young boy
replacing the cool cloths covering her again. Again and
again she awoke, and if he hadn't been at her side, he had
been close.
Kiima sighed. She'd still been unsteady on her
feet when they had left, but now she had a chance to show
her gratitude to the Doctor's apprentice.
-------------------------------------------
"Oh my gosh, look at that!" Tenchi
stared at the television. This caused the fight between
Aeka and Ryoko to break up. What was Tenchi finding
so fascinating?
"Hmmm. A hoverjet vehicle, fairly advanced
model, at least Galactic standard." Washu studied the
boxlike shape depicted on the television. "Doesn't look
like a familiar model, though. Might be a homebuilt."
"Wow!" Mihoshi exclaimed. "Could it be an
Earth ship?"
"Too advanced, but that does look like
English lettering on the side." Washu brought her
holographic keyboard up and began to make interrogative
noises as she typed. "Hmm. I think it just might be a
homebuilt."
"Ohmygosh!" Tenchi repeated, even more
intrigued. "It's the Sailor Senshi!"
"Hmmm?" Ryoko looked at the scantily clad
young girls fighting some large creature in a park setting.
"What's a Sailor Senshi?"
"Earth's guardian warriors against ancient
recurrent evil, similar to the Warrior Blades of Taikei or
the Righteous Ronin of Tau Prime." Washu's fingers were
really flying now as she attempted to analyze the data
available to her. She made a note to launch a few sensor
probes in the Tokyo area for future studies.
"Oh," said Ryoko, Aeka, Kiyone, Mihoshi,
and Sasami in an eerie unison.
Ryoko noted the way that Tenchi was staring
at these "Senshi." So he liked these sailorsuited warrior
types, did he?
Aeka smirked. So Lord Tenchi admired these
warriors of "love and justice" as was only natural of him.
Clearly the nobility of their cause was not lost on him, and
this gave her an idea.
Kiyone frowned. If they were like the Warrior
Blades, then they were acting as vigilantes but were
upholding the laws and morals of their society. As a member
of the Galaxy Police, she was to assist the Blades if her path
crossed theirs. Wouldn't this hold true for these "Senshi?"
Mihoshi grinned. Such pretty uniforms!
Sasami smiled. It reminded her of that dream she
had. Maybe Tsunami could help her out with something.
This could be major cool!
-------------------------------------
"Hmmm." Ranma strapped a harness around
himself, then fitted something like a leash between it and
an eyebolt near the vehicle's door.
"What you do, Ranma?" Shampoo looked at
the external monitors then back to her airen.
Vanilla looked a bit more closely at the monitor.
"Two of those girls are using Anything Goes martial arts
stances..."
Shampoo blinked and looked closer herself.
"Aiya. You right. Tall girl in green and short girl in blue
use very basic defensive stance. Might not be Anything
Goes though, as style take in other styles as part of itself."
"No, she's right." Ranma tested the leash
connections. "More to the point, I don't recognize the
two girls, but I DO recognize the way they're moving.
There's a couple of girls Nabiki sold 'fiancee cards' to
back when I thought it just meant I'd be training 'em
for free."
"Shampoo remember. Airen a little slow
back then." Shampoo nodded with a slight frown.
Ranma made a face. "Anyway, if they're
who I think they are, then I gotta help 'em out."
"What you think you..." Shampoo
stopped. It had become rather obvious what Ranma
was going to do. "But that should be Shampoo's job."
----------------------------------------
"Look out, Mars!"
Sailor Mars barely avoided the thing's lunge.
"Fire soul!"
"It seems to be immune to our special attacks,"
Ami noted. "Mars' fire and Jupiter's lightning don't seem to
have much effect."
"It's too fast," complained Sailor Moon. "It
won't stay still long enough for any of my attacks."
"I...WHAT THE HECK?!" Sailor Jupiter pointed
up.
The Senshi and the youma all looked up to see
a rather large box hanging in midair in just the way boxes were
not supposed to.
Ami frowned, a hover jet system? But it was so quiet
she could barely hear it when she was listening for it.
A door opened in the side, and a figure leaned out.
"How dare you menace such valiant warriors? I send you back
to hell with the Anything Goes final attack!"
"Anything Goes?!" Makoto's jaw dropped. It couldn't
be. No, it COULD be! She still had her membership card somewhere.
Ami blinked and brought her visor to magnify. It WAS!
She'd have to see if she still had her membership card.
Ranma pointed a dull black cylinder at the youma who
responded by snarling and preparing to uproot a tree to throw at
the vehicle.
"Behold a final technique so feared that the Coalition
States has banned its use in their territories!" Ranma turned on
the cylinder, which activated the turret it was slaved to. "Saotome
special technique! 'Nuke it till it glows!'"
A gatling particle beam spoke from the undercarriage
of the hovervehicle.
-----------------------------------
"Saotome?!" The man rubbed his chin, which was
badly in need of a shave. He stared at the televised picture of
a futuristic vehicle, no doubt built by someone nearly as much
of a genius as he was himself... How he'd love to go over the
schematics!
He grabbed a card from a pile of knick knacks
accumulated over the years, remembering a pledge at a frat party
years ago. His daughter would marry the son of a man named
Saotome. Years later, he'd gotten the card with a note about how
it was too bad that he didn't have a daughter...
But now he did.
"Atsuko!" She didn't answer. "Nuku nuku!"
"Yes, papa?"
"We've got plans for this weekend after all."
---------------------------------
Nodoka blinked among all the excitement.
The daughters Tendo were whooping, and young Miss
Kuonji was all but bouncing up and down in glee.
Ranma? Could this figure who brought
thunder down from the heavens to fight alongside the
Sailor Senshi be HER son?!
He was surrounded by young girls. But,
was he doing it in a manly fashion?
-----------------------------------
Sailor Moon dropped her moon scepter.
Tuxedo Mask, ready to intervene, let the
rose drop from his hand as he stared.
Sailor Mercury clucked and began working out
the various readings relayed to her from her visor.
Sailor Jupiter looked from the vehicle to what
remained of the target and wondered if she could get one
of those.
Sailor Mars rubbed her ears and really wished
that she hadn't rushed forward when she saw that the youma
had been distracted. She filed this under "Things That You
Now Know Better Than To Do."
The News 5 helicopter crew merely filmed the
smouldering crater with its evaporating bits of youma, and
noted aloud that the Senshi's new ally had a little problem
with overkill.
----------------------------
Brianna Diggers blinked. She blinked again.
"Guns. Big guns. Oooo. That looks like a rocket launcher
on that side."
"Sailor Senshi with rocket launchers?" Brittany
looked up. "That sounds just SO wrong."
"Naw, it's a guy." Little hearts appeared in
Brianna's eyes. "A guy who comes with gatling particle
beam toting weapons platforms! My kinda guy!"
"That does appear to be a fairly sophisticated
craft," Gina noted, the tablet in her hands temporarily forgotten.
"Interesting, the design of those jets...hmmmm."
Brittany looked back and forth between her two
sisters. "Aw c'mon, that guy looks like he's still in high school!"
"So maybe he's got an older brother," Brianna
cracked her knuckles. Yup, she just HAD to meet this guy.
They had so much in common. She'd show him her rocket
launchers if he'd show her that cannon.
Gina smiled. That vehicle, she'd love to have
a go over its systems.
-----------------------------------------
Washu stared at the television. So did Kiyone.
"How did he get a particle beam cannon of that
intensity onto such a small ship?" Washu demanded to
know, not that she really expected an answer. She could do
it, obviously, but someone of this planet doing it was more
than a little surprising. They HAD to be of this planet, no
one else would have a bumpersticker in English that stated
"Daleks suck for spare change" or one in Japanese that
read "If you can read this, you're in firing range."
"Discharging megawatt cannon in a restricted
zone," grumbled Kiyone. "I've gotta have a talk with that
boy."
Nobody noticed that Aeka, Ryoko, and Sasami
had snuck off. This would be regretted later.
------------------------------------------
Queen Beryl felt one of those large sweatdrops
move down the back of her head.
"Milady, these life energy readings..." Zoicite
grinned. "There is enough life energy being radiated from
that ship to put our plans ahead by weeks!"
"Zoicite, get me everything you can on
whatever a 'Saotome' is." She had a bad feeling about this,
a very scary feeling.
----------------------------------------------------------------
"Stealth systems, active. Chameleon mode active.
ECM on." Ranma checked the telltales. "Now if I just knew
where the Tendo dojo was..."
Vanilla held up a map. "Nabiki sell me this for three
pillowcases and a comforter."
"Sound like Nabiki," Shampoo said with a nod.
"Shampoo show Vanilla her power armor. Is too too cool!"
"Ah, next stop, the Tendo dojo." Ranma clicked
on a computer enhanced map.
"Airen," Shampoo said. "Next time you let Shampoo
do shooting, yes?"
"Sure, Shampoo, 'a woman's place is at the controls
of a weapons console.'" Ranma nodded, quoting something
Shampoo had said months ago.
Shampoo grinned, not recognizing the quote. "Airen
say such sweet things!"
Behind them, a news chopper began looking for
the odd ship which had abruptly shimmered and vanished.
--------------------------------
"So, let's see what you've learned." The
impending arrival of Ranma (their fiance) had finally
brought to a head the question of who the better fighter
was.
Nabiki had fought Ukyou. Nabiki's clothes had
developed a number of spatula cuts, while Ukyou's had
developed similar cuts from a number of cards. Ukyou had
proven to be better of the two. Akane had proven to be a
better fighter than Ukyou. And now...
Akane nodded. "For two lunches."
"The bet was for one lunch." Kasumi sighed. The
winner got to make the lunch in question.
"No holding back, you guys." Ukyou looked to
the two combatants. "Well, at least not much." She swung the
spatula down, signalling the beginning of the match.
"Hurricane Kick," Akane began one of her
flashier moves, specifically because she didn't want her
older sister to hold back anything.
Kasumi ducked under the kick and stabbed up
at Akane's leg with one finger as her younger sister passed
overhead.
Akane landed and frowned as she turned back to
her sister. "C'mon Kasumi, fight me for real!"
"If you insist, Akane," Kasumi said with some
reluctance.
Ukyou partially turned to Nabiki. "Yup, guess
Kasumi's won this one."
"She should _never_ have closed with her,"
Nabiki shook her head. "Akane remains impulsive."
"Hey guys, I'm still fighting here!" Akane
looked somewhat angrily at her other sister and Ukyou.
Kasumi tapped Akane on the back of the head,
then flipped back lazily.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Akane frowned. Well,
she hadn't wanted to use a chi attack against her own sister,
but this would at least demonstrate her skills. "HADOKEN!"
"No, Akane! Don't use that NOW!"
Kasumi's panicked look was enough to clue
both Nabiki and Ukyou in. Nabiki started looking for
a bucket.
Ukyou watched as Akane's hands went back
into the position for the chi-fireball attack, then locked in
place. "Akane, let go of the fireball. Let it go."
Akane knew she was in trouble at this point,
and tried but wasn't able to simply dissipate the attack.
"Uhm, Kasumi, could you unlock me before this explodes?"
Kasumi was already jabbing at a series of
pressure points. "Hang on, Akane."
Akane aimed the hadoken straight up. Her
sister had won this round, but she'd not make that
mistake again in the NEXT match.
<CLANG!>
"Clang?" Ukyou looked up.
"Clang?" Nabiki repeated, her eyes
widening as connections were made.
"Akane, I think we ought to move," Kasumi
said, walking towards the patio.
"I gotta bad feeling about this," said Akane.
She wondered if she should call Ken. Just to make sure
he'd gotten back to America all right. Or would that be too
much too soon? She didn't want to seem pushy or nothin'.
A shape started shimmering into solidity as the
hoverjets shut down and another drive system went active.
The shape filled the backyard, with a pair of jets
hanging down over the koi pond.
"Well, that explains WHY he did it," Nabiki noting
this with a nod. "Not HOW, but certainly why."
"Did what?" Akane sat down to watch this, accepting
a cup of tea from Mrs Saotome. She'd been writing Ken for the
past two years, but she wanted to hear his voice again.
"No rockets, no propellors, no jets," Ukyou noted.
"Antigravity?"
Nabiki nodded, wondering just what kind of goodies
she could get her hands on here. Whoever ended up marrying
Ranma would have access to all that high tech and the sort of
profits one could bring in.
Ukyou looked over the odd boxy ship. She wondered
if her Ranchan had been eating enough.
Kasumi watched Mrs Saotome with some concern.
Would she require immediate satisfaction?
The door on the vehicle hissed open just as Akane
was getting ready to comment on the English lettering on the
side. Whatever a "Winnebago" was...
A bouncy Chinese Amazon...uhm...bounced out
of the ship. "Kasumi! Nabiki! Ukyou! Oh, yes, violent tomboy..."
Akane pulled down her right lower eyelid and stuck
out her tongue, the Japanese "redeye." She was glad to see the
amazon too...
The next one down the steps was unhurried and
nodded once to Nabiki.
"Vanilla," said Nabiki for everyone else's benefit.
"Good to see you made it." She had some clothes that needed
mending after sparring with Ukyou.
Ranma stood at the doorway, having put on his
floppy hat and extra long scarf, red kevlar duster-style coat
looking particularly nice with the souvenier patches on the
sleeves. "Dantooine" proclaimed one. "DS9" proclaimed
another. "Jurai Freeport" declared a third. "San Diego Zoo"
read a fourth. He wanted to make a grand entry.
"Airen!" Nabiki exclaimed happily, drawing strange
looks from Shampoo and Vanilla.
"Oh, hey, Ranma," said Akane, still debating whether
she should call Ken or not. Maybe if she did but made it sound
like she had dialed the number by accident...
"Ranchan!" Ukyou said in midleap.
Kasumi noted the collision shortly to be taking
place and continued to watch Ranma's mother. She was uncertain
about the expression. How were they to tell if Ranma would pass
or not before she did?
==================================
A Very Scary Bet, Rough version rewrite
part 2c: Here's....Ranko?!?!
by greggsharp, metro...@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com
various people own the various char. no
trademark infringement is intended.
oh, and Jared suggested one scene
here, which was something i had already planned
so it was something that just HAD to be done, ne?
--------------------------------------------
"RANCHAN!" Ukyou managed a
flying tackle that would have done an NFL
linebacker proud.
"So, Akane, you get over problem
with poisonous cooking?"
"Hah, just you wait, you barbarian,
I'll show you! I'll show all of you!"
The two girls shared a laugh.
"Is almost like old times."
"Yeah, I missed you too, you bimbo."
Nodoka's eyes flicked back and forth.
"Why do you two trade insults back and forth
like that when you're obviously glad to see each
other?"
Akane spoke up first. "Uncle Genma
told us all about that. You've got to insult and
belittle people to show you care for them."
Nodoka blinked, her eyes sweeping
around the crowd. "...but Kasumi and Ukyou..."
"Oh, we just got in the habit to please
him. Some of us knew better." Ukyou said in a
cheerful voice, leading Ranma in by the hand.
She was with her Ranchan, all was right with the
world. The rest of Nerima might have been
overcast, but as far as she was concerned there
was sunlight beaming down on her and little
bluebirds fluttering about.
"I...see." Nodoka nodded, fingering
her silk-wrapped bundle. "So Dearest explained
how such things work to you..."
---------------------------
Thousands of miles away, a certain
heavyset man looked up from a hot cup of mulled
wine and shivered at the premonition of Doom
which had befallen him.
Figuring that he knew where it had
originated, Genma gave thanks that he was, in
fact, thousands of miles away.
But where was Ranma? Shouldn't he
have been trudging along by now?
---------------------------
"Son," Nodoka closed the door,
cutting off the following young girls. "We
must have a talk now."
"Yeah? Good. I don't see why
it has to be private, though, me and the
girls shared everything when we were on
the trail."
"Everything?" Nodoka said,
pausing as if considering something for
a moment. "Now, son, I hear you wouldn't
even look at these girls..."
"Oh yeah, right. Who'd you
hear THAT from, Akane? 'Look at 'em',
heck for a couple of weeks there, I was
riding 'em! Had to look at 'em then just
to hold on, didn't I?"
Nodoka blinked, somehow
making a little squeegee noise as she
did so. "Well, er, yes. That WOULD be
appropriate. So, uhm, you 'rode' these
young ladies before you all were
separated?"
Ranma thought back, the
memories bringing a smile to his face.
"Oh yeah. Heck all the time then. They were
all riding me or I was riding them, if we
didn't have to tend the cart or be training
in the martial arts. Heck, I rode Kasumi
for most of a day and a night there once!"
Nodoka's knees threatened to
give out. She misinterpreted the wistful
grin and distant look on her son's face.
Could it be? "You...and...Kasumi?"
"Yeah. That was cool, I think
Kasumi hadda be one of the best cause she
was so gentle and just made me feel all warm
and fuzzy when I'd lean into her."
Nodoka blinked again. "Oh my."
"Shampoo was cool too, when
we flew together, oh that was thoroughly
neat. You wouldn't think it, but she's really
light, so her weight when she rode me was
hardly any deal. And she gets going really
quick, y'know?"
Nodoka pulled out a paper fan
and began fanning herself. "My. And you
say you rode the others?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Nabiki rode
me a couple of times, but that wasn't much
special, though SHE got a kick out of it.
Kodachi was fun, but a little scary, y'know."
Ranma shook his head, riding the tiger had
been a really nerve-wracking experience
and he'd been trying to convince himself
that she wasn't really a cat all through the
ordeal.
"Akane was a little tricky, just
getting my legs around her at the time was
a pain, but interesting. I mean she's just
solid muscle, and feeling the way she
flexed and moved was really different from
any of the others." Ranma paused,
wondering why his mother had turned
that strawberry color. "Ucchan was great,
though. When we flew together, or she rode
me, it was almost kinda poetic at times. We
just seemed to move naturally together, y'know?"
Nodoka sniffled. "Oh, Ranma,
how MANLY you were. And at such a
young age, too."
"Huh?"
At that point Ukyou interrupted the
discussion by falling through the door, laughing
uncontrollably.
Neither Ranma nor Nodoka
understood the "private joke" that Ukyou
referred to.
------------------------------------
Nabiki listened to the discussion,
to the whispered explanations and speculations,
and realized she'd have to move soon. They'd
had two years to come to some decisions regarding
how to handle this.
She was NOT inclined to let her
dear (though really slow on some things)
brother/fiance die a meaningless death
because his mother would consider his
virginity (she considered this to be almost
completely certain based on her analysis of his
personality profile to date) to be a fate deserving
death.
Nabiki was not a warrior, though
she could hold her own. She had some skill
in Anything Goes, as well as in Amazonian Wu
Shu. However, her strengths were in some of
the other skills she had learned in her time in
the village. Herbcraft, alchemy, shiatsu, and
the secret techniques of the Chinese Amazons
(as opposed to the Norwegian, South American,
or Polynesian tribes) were Nabiki's favored
weapons.
She'd decided over a year ago on
a course of action and had been carefully
preparing the ingredients. The rarer ingredients
had only recently gotten to her, and Yuan
could still be counted on to send her the sort
of thing that could only be gotten from the
Amazons.
Once Nabiki had put together the
proper formula, there remained the question of
administering it, and one final question.
Then she'd have to decide who
would tame the wild horse. A smirk appeared
on her face as she pondered the possibilities.
--------------------------------
Shampoo considered. If she hadn't
sworn that she wouldn't use mind-altering
substances on Ranma, she knew the little
bottle of pills she'd picked up on Phase World
would take care of some stupid "man among
men" pledge.
(Shampoo also thought that was
a pretty stupid thing anyway. Now if it had
been a pledge to be a woman among women,
she could see it as at least a worthy goal. Or,
if it had been a "man among women" - well,
Ranma would have qualified as that quite
handily.)
Shampoo smiled. SHE had promised
not to use magic potions or the like on Ranma.
That didn't mean she couldn't get someone
ELSE to use the pills, did it?
-----------------------------------
Ukyou held her stomach, which was
still fairly sore from realizing that two completely
different conversations had been taking place
between Ranma and his mother.
Ukyou blinked. Waitaminute. She'd
bet, even with Shampoo spending all that time
around Ranma, that Ranma still hadn't done IT.
This could be a fatal thing with his mother's
weird attitude.
It was the work of a moment to
realize what had to be done, and who would do
it. Ukyou grinned at the thought. No, she had to
make this sacrifice for Ranma's sake.
A vision rose in Ukyou's head, of
Ranma head thrown back in passion as she rode...
"Ukyou? Are you okay? You look a
little feverish."
Ukyou blinked. "Oh, heh heh. Sorry,
I was just thinking about something, Kasumi."
Kasumi nodded and turned back to
her own contemplation. If she hit those three
shiatsu points, hmmm. She might be able to get
Ranma past this difficult point in his life.
----------------------------------
"<Masters' Residence.>"
"<Hello, Is Ken there? This Akane Tendo is.>"
She'd decided that sending letters wasn't enough. Today
she would CALL him.
"Ah, Tendo-san, Master Ken has spoken
of you and his other training partner." The butler's
voice was accented but otherwise passable in his
Japanese.
Akane all but shot off sparks. Ken had
spoken of her! Little hearts floated all around her.
"He's out with his girlfriend Eliza at the
moment. Do you want to leave a message?"
Little hearts crashed to the ground with
the sound of glass breaking. Akane stared at the
betraying and now crumpled telephone. "Girlfriend?"
"Gee, Akane, some of us might want to
use the phone ourselves." Nabiki shook her head,
wondering once again if Akane was really related
to her. It was something she'd wondered about since
their reunion.
"His girlfriend?" Akane carefully put the
crumpled receiver back on its cradle. "His girlfriend
Eliza. He's out with his girlfriend Eliza."
Vanilla pondered the young girl standing
by the phone and shook her head. She quickly crossed
over to Akane and gently put a hand on her shoulder.
"You need to stake claim on male, that way no one take
what is your property. Otherwise someone else just come
along and pffffttt! You end up watching YOUR property
go off with other womans."
Akane blinked and regarded the redeyed
amazon in front of her.
Vanilla nodded. "Is way of warrior, to strike
fast, strike hard, make intentions plain. Seize moment!"
Akane rolled her eyes. "This is Japan, not the
Amazon village, you just don't do things that way here."
Vanilla regarded Akane, cocking her head to
the side. "You no tell boyfriend you interested. Now other
girl stake claim. What part of this no apply?"
Akane blinked and looked down. She blinked
again, then moved off silently, deep in thought.
Vanilla nodded, satisfied that she had reached
her sister warrior. If only she could solve her own problems
that easily.
-------------------------------
"So, Kasumi," Shampoo sat next to her "sister" and
regarded the big pile of parts that Ranma was unloading.
"Cured or suppressed?"
"Altered. You?" Kasumi allowed a slight smile
to cross her face.
"Cured." Shampoo smiled as she saw what it was
that Ranma was putting together.
"I only transform into a unicorn now during the
full moon." Kasumi shrugged. "It's a lot more predictable and
liveable. As you've discovered, I'm sure, it's easier to alter or
suppress the Jusenkyo curses than eliminate them entirely."
Shampoo nodded. "Was on space station. Using device
called 'transmat' which move you from one place to another. Other
end blow up. Shampoo stuck in between until airen save Shampoo,
override controls and put Shampoo back together again. When
put back together, Shampoo no have curse."
"Ukyou has control of her curse. For the most part."
Kasumi watched her "little brother" putting together a vehicle
that looked like it had pieces of motorcycle and pieces of jet mixed
up. "I changed mine through an ancient ritual dealing with some
ancient moon worshippers.
"Nabiki suppresses hers through a bracelet. It works
MOST of the time, she says." Kasumi smiled.
"Ranma have something similar, except he just work at
repelling accidental splashings."
Kasumi nodded. "Well, we HAVE had these curses
for awhile, of course we'd all find ways to work around them.
Akane mentioned something about using some ancient
chi ritual to suppress her own change."
"Airen's cure no work that well. It deflect splashes
accidental in nature. No work against deliberate."
"Wait till his mother's away, then we can find out
what Ranko is like." Kasumi exchanged a mischievous glance
with Ukyou. It wouldn't be BORING, that was for sure.
------------------------------
Ranma set the power cord up, clicked the battery
switch to charge, and allowed himself a moment of rest.
Shampoo REALLY loved her hovercycle.
The sudden loss of flight ability after her transmat
accident had left the Amazon looking for some alternative. The
Tengu powerarmor was faster, but the NG-300 "Speedster"
they'd gotten from that chop-shop recruiter (who would likely
think twice before attacking an Amazon in powerarmor again)
was Shampoo's favorite.
Small, manueverable, capable of a top speed of 220mph,
with a ceiling of 120ft, and very responsive. It had required some
repairs during the period that Shampoo had learned to use it, but
she had gotten that determined look in her eyes and Ranma knew
better than to get in Shampoo's way when she had her back up
like that.
Of course, he wanted to add just a few improvements.
Little tweaks here and there. He'd wait for her birthday and
surprise her by upgrading the laser or something.
He'd just finished tightening the frame when he
was swept up by five feet of enthusiastic amazon.
=====================================
A Very Scary Bet, Rough version rewrite
part 2d: Here's....Ranko?!?!
by greggsharp, metro...@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com
various people own the various char. no
trademark infringement is intended.
this is written for enjoyment, distributed for
others to enjoy, and should not be confused
for even a picosecond as Great Literature.
----------------------------------------------
The Jusenkyo Guide placed the
young fruit bat in a safe place before running
out to see another young man wandering
dangerously close to the springs. "Oh sir,
you not want go there, is very dangerous!"
"Where the hell am I now?" Ryouga
turned around. "What kind of place is this?"
"This very terrible, very cursed
area known as Jusenkyo. Over one hundred
spring here, each with own terrible tragic story."
"Jusenkyo? It's real? So this is
where Ranma and Shampoo got cursed."
Ryouga wondered if maybe that meant that
the village Shampoo had spoken of was
around here as well.
"Sir, you come away from cursed
spring before you..."
<SPLASH!>
"Oh no, sir, you fall in very terrible,
very cursed spring of drowned..." The Guide wasn't
sure how to translate that into Japanese. He took a
deep breath and decided to go with just a literal
translation. "Yellow little pudgy kind of squirrel-fox
kind of creature that fall out of hole in sky caused by
two ancient magicians dueling!"
Ryouga looked down at himself, over
at the Guide, and very distinctly said "Piii KA!"
The Guide blinked. "Not sure what it is. Short
version is Spring-of-Drowned-Otherdimensional-Critter-
Number-Three."
"Pika..." The little yellow critter sighed.
"Pika?!"
"Yes. Have mirror, just one moment sir."
Upon being presented with the mirror, Ryouga
sniffled. All shojo manga fantasy characters had some insufferably
cute pet sidekick. He strongly resembled exactly that sort of
thing. "PiiKA!"
Ryouga sniffled again and looked at those sparkly
eyes, that squirrelish looking crooked tail, that plump body.
Oh, the shame, the horror.
----------------------------
Tatewaki Kuno sneezed, then eyed his
"troops" for the morning assault. THIS time, he
would have his goddesses. After two years of
failure, he would have them.
"You know your mission," he informed
the kendo team. "You know the prize. We shall not
accept defeat. We shall not accept anything less than
total and complete victory, shall we?"
"But sir, this isn't exactly regulation..."
Kuno eyed the subordinate with a gaze
that suggested contempt. "My travels did suggest
that unusual problems require unusual solutions.
The warrior uses what tools can be found to grant
victory over any obstacles."
"Yes, but..."
"SASUKE!"
"Yes, Master Kuno?"
"These devices, do they perform as
advertised?"
"They've never been tested, Master
Kuno. I just had them built today. Per your orders,
I found a promising individual who put these
together."
"Excellent, Sasuke. Tomorrow, then,
we shall enjoy victory and these women shall be
freed of whatever illusion that keeps them from
the side of the great Tatewaki Kuno!"
Hiroshi glanced at Daisuke. "I don't
like the sound of this at all."
-------------------------------------------------------
Shampoo ignored the small crowd that
had gathered. The charge read full, and as there
were a lot of new parts on it, this was almost a
maiden flight.
Electric engines came online. Shampoo's
grin faltered for a moment and she looked uncertainly
at Ranma.
"I added a noise suppression system."
Ranma thought the neighbors would appreciate it.
He turned back to the task of putting his workshop
underground where passing eyes couldn't see it.
The easiest method was the method he
had chosen. Two little reprogrammable workbots
(about the size of a five gallon jug) were outfitted
with digger arms and sent down to a distance of
900 feet. They would excavate the area, seal it, then
begin work on the access tunnel.
Shampoo blinked as her airen turned
away from her, knowing from his reaction to her
earlier hug that the vision of the mind-controlled
amazon that had hurt him continued to haunt him.
Shampoo turned her attention back to
the little cycle and shot it up to the maximum height.
She waited until the "shaky" feeling
caused by the hoverjets losing purchase passed,
then dropped twenty feet. Bleeding power to the
rear jet, Shampoo shot forward.
Shampoo's grin returned as she
leaned underneath the windshield. One hundred
feet up, and travelling at a little over two hundred
miles per hour, Shampoo was enjoying herself
quite thoroughly. Wind whipping through her
hair, it was easy for Shampoo to picture herself
as some hightech valkyrie. Or perhaps some
princess out to survey her early morning domain.
----------------------------------------
Alarm klaxons began screeching.
"Alert, alert, alert! Unidentified aircraft
approaching! All defensive systems ENGAGE!"
Lady Akiko stepped from the elevator
and looked around her control room. "What is the
meaning of this? Get me a visual!"
A large viewscreen flicked and showed
a purple-haired girl in a Chinese pantsuit on some
sort of jetcycle.
"So..." Akiko Mishima clenched a fist
and stared at the screen. "He DARES?!"
"Lady Akiko?"
"He not only has that cat android, but
he's made ANOTHER ONE?!"
"Lady, I don't think..." The technician
trailed off as her boss glared daggers at the little
supporting character that was daring to correct her.
"Never mind."
"Ahem. Arisa! Ready Poison One!"
"Arisa still has the, ah, you-know."
Lady Akiko stopped. Arisa couldn't
do much if she couldn't leave the bathroom for
more than a few minutes. "Back up pilots, go!"
"Uhm, ma'am? You laid off the backup
pilots last week."
------------------------------------
Shampoo swooped in, landing her
hoverbike neatly in the tight space between the
outer wall and the massive workshop. She had
to get ready for school, after all.
"C'mon, we've got to get to school
early. You don't want to be late to your first day,
do you?" Nabiki chided from the veranda.
"Airen go school too? Shampoo
get to sit next to him all day, is good!"
"You're not the only one going to
school," Akane told her colleague. "And he's
not YOUR airen."
"Akane? You're actually anxious
to go to school today?" Nabiki raised an
eyebrow.
"Of course," Akane's gaze was
flat and unreadable. "If I understood English,
I could go visit Ken. I'm sure this is all just some
misunderstanding."
"Yeah, right."
Shampoo and Vanilla exchanged
a look, Shampoo grinning. One less competitor.
---------------------------------------
Kasumi took a moment to look over
her iinazuke/little brother. Tall, leanly muscular,
with eyes that seemed to glitter unnaturally, his
long hair tied back in a pony tail.
His dragon nature seemed to have
leaked slightly over into his uncursed form.
What she could tell from the brief hug she'd
given him was that his body felt almost like
it was sculpted from rock or wood. There had
been a feeling of smooth hardness about him.
She also noted that he had seemed
embarrassed and couldn't quite bring himself
to hug back. Which had proved the point she
had wanted to determine. Unfamiliar with any
sort of physical affection.
The dragon nature was most visible
in his eyes, the enlarged canine teeth, and the
slight point to his ears.
His eyes. Kasumi's attention kept
coming back to that feature. The old line about
the hypnotic gaze of serpents played in her
mind. Certainly his eyes seemed to draw one
in. Kasumi chewed on her lip as she thought
about those eyes.
Once this morning, those eyes had
caught her. Just for a moment, but she'd felt all
her skills and training and iron control desert
her in that moment. She'd wanted...well, she
wasn't quite sure what she'd wanted.
Shrugging, Kasumi tried to turn
her attention back to the study guide. She was
finding it surprisingly difficult.
--------------------------------------
Nabiki, Ukyou, Akane, Ranma,
Shampoo, and Vanilla were walking to school
when the crowd of boys came into view.
"What the heck?" Ranma stopped.
"It's a bunch of boys who are fighting
us to get the privledge of dating us," Nabiki said
drily, not mentioning that they were STILL just
going after Akane and Ukyou. This really really
rankled Nabiki.
"They study Amazon Law?" Vanilla
blinked and studied the group with a cool expression.
"Shampoo just got uniform now has to
get it dirty fighting stupid boys who wants date
Amazon womans?"
"This is MY fight. Stay OUT of it."
Akane growled as she looked over the crowd.
"Be my guest, Akane, I know that I'M not
looking forward to this crap." Ukyou drew her spatula.
"Can no do, Akane. They is outsider males.
Nabiki is Amazon, therefore Akane is sister to Clan sister.
They challenge you, but is not one on one. Some have
weapon. Shampoo is effectively War Leader for this
group. Vanilla is Champion. Ukyou has shared blood and
salt with Shampoo, is sister to Shampoo."
Nabiki shrugged. "She's got a point there,
Akane. If they want to do one-on-one formal challenges,
that's a different matter."
"We does special attacks on count of five,
clear a path?"
"My flour bombs and exploding tempura flakes
don't have that kinda range."
Shampoo glanced at Ukyou, noted Vanilla's
shrug and Nabiki shaking her head. "No chi attacks?
Shampoo have to take couple of days give sisters very
special training."
Ranma shrugged, reached into a pocket and
drew a small device out of his pocket. "I could send a sonic
beam through the center of them."
"Not use hightech stuff yet, airen. Right now
is just melee fighting, simple weapons. Akane? One, two,
three, four, five."
"HA DO KEN!" Akane's chi fireball
left a black streak in the ground underneath as it raced
towards the crowd.
Shampoo summoned her own chi into the
devastating manuever she'd learned on that one world.
"FLAME ARROW!"(1)
The five watched as a path was cleared,
mainly by people scrambling to get out of the way of
the two attacks.
As they did so, five other figures stepped
forward.
"Power armor?" Ranma and Shampoo
exclaimed with slightly more interest.
"BWAHAHAHA!" Kuno stood in front of the
mecha, bokken raised high. "It is beneath the dignity of a
true samurai to use such methods, but then, that is what
lackeys are for!"
One of the power armors turned to another.
"I dunno, lackey just doesn't do it for me..."
Another power held up a gunhand. "Well, I
prefer it to 'flunky' myself, but it does seem to lack a
certain dignity."
"Silence, peasants!" Kuno snarled at his troops.
"Now, my dears, I shall at last..." Kuno's voice trailed off
as something penetrated.
The five continued to walk forward, Ranma and
Shampoo mainly paying attention to the power armor.
"Steam powered power armor? Look, they're on
extension cords!" Ranma snickered at such an obvious
target.
Vanilla twitched. There was something very
disturbing about this. An image of a huge tacky orange
and white robot on an extension cord flashed across her
consciousness, making her wonder where THAT had come
from.
"Daisuke, use your rifle. THAT one. FIRE!"
Daisuke's power armor shot a high powered
stream of water, completely drenching the group.
Akane's glare was murderous as the rhino
stepped forward, having been caught unprepared for
the wave of water. Ukyou was sufficiently startled that
wings popped out of her back. Nabiki, Shampoo, and
Vanilla merely got wet.
"Oh no, look at my clothes," Ranma-chan
whimpered. "And I wanted to make a good impression
today, too."
"PONY TAILED GIRL!" Kuno started forward.
He was interrupted as a small, but quite muscular, rhino
slammed into him. A moment later, carried by the force of
the charge, Tatewaki Kuno was imbedded in the wall.
"Hurmf!" The rhino snorted and looked quite
miserably at the group.
"Hot water!" Ukyou exclaimed.
"Uhm," Daisuke said in his power armor.
"Pardon me, but..."
Vanilla and Nabiki quite calmly went around
and turned off all the portable generators. Nodding to
each other, they walked past the now inert powerarmor
and into the school.
-----------------------------------------------
"Battle of Hastings." "375.12" "Shakespeare,
at least by most sources. Some feel it was Francis Bacon
and plagarized." "Ieyasu, who wasn't nearly that nice in
person." "Nobunaga, who wasn't nearly that nasty in
person." "1875." Ranma looked bored.
Mister Matsudeira was playing "stump the
new student." He'd quickly been able to eliminate both
Shampoo and Vanilla, and had smirked as the two girls'
educational shortcomings were exposed. Shampoo had
been embarrassed. Vanilla had simply blinked.
This Ranma Saotome on the other hand...
"Thulium after 2250, Gold from ancient times
until stable extraterrestrial contact."
"Please restrict yourself from these flights of
imagination, Mister Saotome. Gold was the correct answer."
Matsudeira pushed his glasses back up on his nose. "Well,
Mister Saotome, if you're so smart, solve this!"
"I thought this was English class," said Akane
to her neighbor Ukyou.
Matsudeira finished writing the equation out,
covering both blackboards in a long formula. "Well, wise
guy?"
"Teacher?"
Matsudeira looked smugly at the student. "Yes,
Mister Saotome?"
"Is that a dot there between the three and the
nine?"
Matsudeira turned, frowned, and erased the
errant chalk mark.
"Really, teacher, this is too simple." Ranma
snorted. "Look, it's a textbook example of trying to find
a Unified Field Theory. This is mathematical proof of a
more than a four dimensional world. Using these
equations you come up with the answer of fifteen. Of
course, that's wrong, but that's where this goes, now
if you want it corrected..."
Matsudeira turned, glanced at the book on
quantum theory he'd copied it from, and stared for a
few heartbeats. "Saotome, go stand in the hall," his
voice was a ragged whisper. (2)
"Teacher?"
"GO STAND IN THE HALL!" Matsudeira's
eyes were getting a little wild looking. "The rest of the
class, turn to page 45 of the textbooks..."
-----------------------------------------
"Hiroshi?"
"Yes, Daisuke?"
"Any luck?"
"I think I may have moved an inch."
"It'll take us all day to get the power
turned back on at this rate."
"How do I get myself into these things?"
"Because you've got the hots for Akane,
Gosunkugi. That's why. Me, I'm here because of that
show of 'solidarity' the girls did. Nobody dates anyone
until this Akane & Ukyou thing is resolved."
"Thank goodness the air vents work."
Everyone murmurred agreement to Sanjuro's
statement.
"Still," Hiroshi said a moment later. "It went
better than I thought it would."
There was a brief silence. "Damn, I've got
an itch."
"Maybe we should call for help?"
"With the echoes in this thing? No way."
Another pause.
"Damn pigeons," swore Daisuke.
----------------------------------------------
"Fi-fi-FIANCEE!"
Kuno stood up at his desk, his eyes wild.
"Yeah, your pony tailed goddess, Akane, Ukyou,
(myself, not like you or anyone else around here seems to
notice (grumble, complain, grumble)) and those two other
girls you saw this morning. All engaged to be married."
The thought to occur at that moment to Kuno
was that whoever the scoundrel, that should be HIM! He
could just picture himself, surrounded by loving wives.
A piece of chalk bounced off Kuno's forehead.
"Kuno, go stand in the hall!"
"Yes sir," Kuno's voice was distracted as he
considered doing this and that, and having this and that
done to him. Why he had to go find the parents and convince
them that these engagements should be switched to him.
For was he not Tatewaki Kuno, a true samurai!
===========================================
(1) It just looks like a Kamehameha. So does the
Hadoken. At the time that Goku first learned the manuever,
he could just break brick walls with it, and even then not
very thick ones. (Pilaf's tower held him quite well until the
full moon came up.) So don't expect these people to blow
mountains apart with the manuever. Maybe in "Fist Of
Orion"- not here.
(2) Petty, off on a power trip, has his own agenda
that doesn't actually involve education. Didn't we all
have teachers like this?
Series that have been crossed over so far in
A Very Scary Bet: (this is an eclectic series where craziness
is supposed to abound, after all)
DOCTOR WHO: (UK) live action series about a time
travelling alien with good intentions and the desire to
meddle.
RANMA 1/2: (J) anime about a martial artist teenage
boy, his strange Chinese curse, and the even stranger
people around him.
SAILOR MOON: (J) sentai anime series about reincarnated
female warriors out to save the world from recurrent evil.
TENCHI MUYO: (J) anime about a young boy priest/martial
artist related to extraterrestrial royalty and the strange (often
alien) people around him.
CATGIRL NUKUNUKU: (J) anime about a girl who's actually
a high powered android with the brain of a cat providing the
emotional and reactive portions of the mind.
HOKUTO NO KEN: (J) angst filled anime about high powered
martial artists and the consequence of duty unfulfilled.
EVANGELION: (J) anime based on Revelations as seen through
the X-files.
RIFTS (US): a game setting/mileau of a future world where magic
has awakened, the dimensional barriers frequently fail, and hitech
and magic are used by all the various sides of a whole lotta
conflicts. i typically keep a set of the books near the fanfic pile
for people to read during Metroanime meetings when we're showing
something that they might have already seen.
POKEMON (US): aka "Pocket Monsters". None of the basics really
appear, but Ryouga's got some serious problems coming with him
having fallen in "Spring of Drowned Pikachu."
Planned:
CUTEY HONEY: (J) series dealing with an android girl, this one
a bit different from NukuNuku. She fights an ancient recurrent
evil, just like Sailor Moon does.
DEVILMAN: (J) anime series dealing with a boy who takes on
the power of a demon in order to fight demons. Akira Fudoh
shows up after volume 2 of the OAV to join the Senshi and
Cutey in fighting what turns out to be a common enemy.
OH MY GODDESS: (J) anime series dealing with the goddesses
Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld and the love affair between Belldandy
and Keiichi (a mortal engineering student.)
EL HAZARD: (J) anime series dealing with an ancient world.
One of the Ifurita series androids joins the cast from this side trip,
to the horror of many of the rest of the cast.
THE MOUSE THAT ROARED: (?) it's been years since i've seen
it, but there is a planned use for the Grand Duchy Of Fenwick.
DARKSTALKERS: (J) at least two of the characters are gonna
turn out to come into this mess. One, Dimitri, is going to be one
of Beryl's competitors. With him on the side of the bad guys,
and after several of the girls, how can Frank or Talbain NOT
show up? Talbain and the Senshi. Hmmmm.
Fist of Orion is comparitively tame, crossover wise.