Ride of the Valkyries, Part 2
Ryoga continued to walk, his footsteps slow and unsure. Why was it taking
him so long to walk back to Nerima? His sense of direction couldn't be so
bad that he couldn't find his way off of the huge spaceship, was it? All
around him, metal walls and conduits were the only things that he could see.
Ryoga licked his dry lips. Water was a lot harder to find, but it was also
easier to avoid. The lost boy blinked in surprise at seeing the little
shattered plane again. It was draped with a parachute, but no light was
visible.
Maybe... maybe they'd found some way out? Rick and... what's her name.
Minmei. "Hello?" Ryoga called out. He walked over to the plane and checked
to see if he could see anybody else. Huh? What'd happened to the little
camp?
"Hey, Ryoga! Good to see you again," Rick Hunter piped up, trying to put on
a cheerful face.
"Rick-sama! You found a way out!" Ryoga cried out, hugging the surprised
boy.
"Uh, yeah." Rick was baffled. He couldn't still be lost, could he? They'd
move his little flyer down here near the hangers, from the section
underneath Macross City over a week ago. I wonder if he realizes that the
SDF-1 is out in space? "Do you need some help finding your way back to
Macross City?"
"Could you? Say, what were you doing here, any ways?" Ryoga asked.
Rick looked at the poor little jaunty plane. "Just saying goodbye."
Ryoga just looked at the younger boy oddly. How do you say goodbye to a
piece of metal?
-
Rick glanced back to make sure that Ryoga was still following him. With a
shrug he opened the door for Ryoga.
"Hello! Shampoo very happy to greet new customer!" Shampoo chirped as she
turned around. "Oh, just you, Rick. Aiyah! Is Ryoga, lost-boy! Where you run
off, Lost Boy? Shampoo not finished with you! You make Shampoo lost in
space!"
Ryoga held up his hands defensively. "I didn't mean to! Besides, you were
the one who started fighting!"
"Stupid Lost Boy splash Shampoo, of course Shampoo fight!" Shampoo's eyes
twitched as she flung three orders agilely to a table, without spilling a
drop of the Raman. Customers taken care of for a moment, she held up her
fists, turned sideways in preparation for a leap kick.
Minmei blinked in surprise. "Who's this, Shampoo?"
"This Hibiki Ryoga! Very strong warrior, almost as strong as husband!"
Shampoo stated, her gaze never wavering.
"Oh? From Tokyo?" the young girl asked.
Shampoo nodded.
"Say, Shampoo, could you wait to beat on me until after I get some food?"
Ryoga asked. Not to mention how thirsty he was. He could drink an ocean.
"Shampoo let you get strength so you good fight!" And truthfully, she really
didn't want to fight the premiere runner-up martial artist. She'd almost let
her bravado get the best of herself.
Soon, Ryoga was sitting and slurping up noodles and eating rice at a very
fast pace. Life couldn't be much better without being able to get home.
-
Akane looked at herself in the mirror. The stiffness had finally left her
limbs. She was scheduled for some cosmetic surgery, to help with some of the
scars. Her hand drifted up to touch her ruined eye. With sudden hurried
motion, she put the plain black leather patch on, hiding the missing organ.
What would he think of her changed appearance? Her doctor had said that she
would soon be able to have a glass eye and learn to use it so that people
would have a hard time telling that she was missing the eye. She bit her lip
in sudden anxiety. Would Ranma want a broken fianc�e?
She'd let Victor talk her and Ranma into getting together and getting a
chance to talk. And so here she was, as nervous as a schoolgirl going on her
first date.
"Akane? Ranma's here!" her uncle Hyaki called out. The older portly man just
chuckled as he watched his niece fret with her hair in the bathroom, trying
to hide her patch as much as possible. She looked every inch the young woman
her mother had been.
Ranma flinched at the older man's words. He'd been expecting the worst, ever
since Captain Adam Victor had bamboozled him into coming here and taking
Akane out. His nerves had been stretched as taut as piano wire ever since.
He was wearing his uniform today, something that had become almost second
nature. He turned towards the sound of light footsteps coming down the
hallway.
Ranma blinked in surprise. Other than the patch, Akane looked remarkably
normal. She was wearing a cute little blue sundress. Something about her
appearance seemed slightly off, but Ranma couldn't quite tell what it was.
"Uh, hi Akane."
"Hello, Ranma." Akane nearly choked on her nerves. Ranma looked so serious
in his uniform. Was this his way of saying goodbye?
Hyaki just smiled at the two nervous teens. "They make a pretty good pair,
don't you think, Francis?"
Francis Shoemaker, Hyaki's long time roommate, nodded. "Ze make a good
match, very true." He was a gregarious middle-aged Frenchman, with a twinkle
in his eye as if he new some joke that he was just waiting to tell you.
"I don't want to see you two for at least two hours. Ranma, you treat my
niece nicely now, understand?" Hyaki stated emphatically, giving Ranma a
very serious look.
"Uh, yeah! Of course!" Ranma nodded his head frantically.
"Come on, Ranma! You can practice your dad's crouching tiger move later,"
Akane said, miffed by her uncle's words.
"What? I wasn't..." Ranma rebutted as he was dragged outside.
"They'll be fine," Hyaki reassured his old friend. "So, what are you up to
for the next couple of hours?"
"Nothing that I couldn't be persuaded to... ignore, my friend," Francis said
slowly, letting a smile steal across his face.
-
Akane slowed her breakneck trot down to a slow amble as they got a block
away. Neither one seemed to be willing to start a conversation.
Finally, Akane took up her courage and spoke up. "So, what are you doing
now? In training, I mean!"
"Ah, just more basic flight school stuff. A little bit of simulator and
schooling. They say I'm going to graduate from high school pretty quick."
Ranma opened his mouth to continue, but finally opted to leave it at that.
Akane noticed the pause. "Anything else?"
Ranma looked at her just a moment. "Um, the doctors are working on
desensitizing me to c-cats."
"Oh? They're working of curing you of your phobia?" Akane asked
interestedly. She smiled wistfully at how playful and trusting Ranma was
when he was in the throes of the Cat Fist. And how he'd only ever calm down
on her lap.
Ranma winced, but nodded. "They say they aren't going to promise me
anything, but they have a lot of ways to help with my sort of problem."
Ranma laughed suddenly. "Dr. McGill wanted to press charges against Pop."
"Is he?" Akane asked. She just had a hard time seeing Genma in court. He'd
probably run away and disappear.
"Naw. Told him it's not worth it. And it's not like he meant it or nothing.
Just more training." Ranma sneaked a sideways glance at Akane as they
stepped onto a path in the small central park of Macross City. Adam had
recommended a little oriental restaurant that had recently reopened. He'd
said that a lot of pilots had taken to hanging out there. "So, um, what're
you up to?"
"School, mostly. A bit of physical therapy to help with my wounds. Did my
uncle tell you that I'm in the same class as Kodachi?" Akane said, a scowl
appearing on her face.
"Kodachi Kuno? What's that fruit cake doing here?" Ranma blurted out in
surprise.
"She was here for the opening ceremony. They put her in a regular school
afterwards." Akane frowned in thought for a second. "She seems to be doing
alright, actually."
Silence stretched out uncomfortably for a minute. "So, you're doing a lot
better?" Pain seemed to fill each word as Ranma talked.
"Yes. My physical therapist is saying that I should be fully recovered in
just another week or so. And they're talking about a glass eye that'll match
my old one perfectly. After my cosmetic surgery is down, of course." Akane
saw Ranma flinch at her words as she talked about her eye. Her heart nearly
broke as his gaze stayed away from her face.
She let her eyes lay on him, to etch into her memory his face one last time,
when she finally realized it wasn't disgust or loathing that made it so
Ranma wasn't looking at her. It was... remorse or guilt. And quite a bit of
fear, she realized. "Ranma? W-what's wrong?"
"Noth-nothing. Are you sure you want to go grab a bit to eat?" Spend time
with a failure that couldn't even protect you?
Akane thought about that a second. "Of course I'm sure! It's the first day
that you've been released that I've had free. And I'm going to enjoy it!"
Ranma felt and looked confused. Akane almost seemed to be saying that she
wanted him. Wanted him to be here and to stay with her. The agony of not
knowing, of having this shred of hope put before him was too much. He had to
ask her. "Aren't you angry at me? For not protecting you?"
"Angry? Why would I be angry?" Akane's mind whirled. Of course! That's why
Ranma's been so different recently. "You did everything you could. And...
and you saved me, didn't you? Why should I hate you?"
Slowly, Ranma's eyes lifted up to meet her gaze. "I... I thought that you
didn't like me because I let you get... hurt."
Panic turned to relief as she turned and grabbed the front of his shirt.
"You dummy! Adam told me that he believes that you saved my life! Why would
you think that?"
"Well you're always getting angry and your old man gets mad if I even ignore
you and you should see the times when he thought you were in danger he was
so mad and upset and angry..."
"Ranma, just shut up a second. My family isn't here and I am! I'm not mad at
you for getting hurt!" Akane stated loudly, almost shaking him.
She watched in fascination, as the stress within him seemed to melt away and
he became the self-assured young man that she was familiar with. He seemed
to struggle with something to say, something that wouldn't anger her, when
she suddenly threw herself into a hug, holding him desperately tight.
Ranma's face started to glow a crimson hue in embarrassment. He really wasn'
t in any position to hold her back, but that didn't seem to be what Akane
wanted right then. After a moment, Akane started to sob into his chest,
almost uncontrollably.
The poor young pilot didn't know what to do, except just be there for her.
Minutes later, she finally calmed down. Ranma was struck by how odd it was
that Akane only cried out of one eye, nothing had come from the ruined eye.
"I was so afraid that you didn't want me because I was damaged," Akane said
finally.
"What sort of stupid thing made you think that?" Ranma snapped unthinkingly.
"Well, you wouldn't look at me," she replied angrily.
"That wasn't why I couldn't bear to look at you!"
"So you can't even look at your own fianc�e now because she's damaged
goods?" Akane almost shouted.
"You keep twisting my words! I didn't say that!"
"So you do want to look at me?"
"If I say yes, you'll just hit me, if I say no, you'll just hit me too! How
the heck am I supposed answer that?" Ranma asked loudly, obviously
exasperated as he waved his arms around.
Akane blinked in sudden thought. "Oh." She then grinned mischievously, much
to Ranma's ire. "You're supposed to say that I'm very tempted but I'm too
much of a gentleman to do so."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry, Ranma, I'll give you some time to figure it out. Come on, let'
s go get some food!" Akane said as she sprinted down the trail.
Ranma scratched his head, then shrugged and took off after her.
-
Ryoga was finishing his second bowl when the door dinged, signaling another
customer. Shampoo and Minmei looked up expectantly.
"Ranma! Nia ho! Shampoo very happy to see husband!" the young amazon
chirped, bouncing over and latching onto Ranma.
Ryoga's chopsticks snapped under his immense strength. No, he couldn't be
here too, could he? "Damn him!"
"What happen to Pervert Girl? Now Kitchen Destroyer even uglier, with
patch-eye and face scars," Shampoo said snidely as she walked up to the duo.
Ranma almost growled at Shampoo, "She was hurt during the attack on Macross
Island." Akane looked like she was about to break down and cry.
"RANMA!" Ryoga stood up and whirled, weariness suddenly gone, replaced by an
intense anger at Ranma's unthinking actions. "How dare you let Akane be
hurt!" He spun and picked up his umbrella.
"Ryoga?" Ranma and Akane chorused.
Ranma's surprise faded almost instantly. "What's it to you, P-chan? I didn't
see you there," Ranma said coldly. "Of course, I'm not surprised to find you
onboard the SDF-1."
"For that failure, I'll kill you!" the Lost Boy shouted as he charged.
The many pilots looked on in amazement as Ranma easily sidestepped the
enraged martial artist and let him crash through the front door and throwing
glass and steel far down the street. Ryoga turned around just in time to
have a kick smash into his face, knocking him back, but hardly phasing him.
"Come on, Pig Boy. I'm not taking this kind of crap from you anymore. You
want a piece of me, come get it." Ranma's stance was loose and ready, his
eyes alight with a cold glee.
"Die, Ranma!" The youngest Hibiki lashed out with his umbrella, using it as
if it were a foil.
-
Lisa Hayes scowled as she shut off the radio channel. The new pilots being
trained were proving to be quite a bother. None of them knew anything about
proper procedure. She took a moment to grab her coffee and take a sip before
responding to the next call. This one should be simple, it was from Macross
City's police force. The Mayor was probably wanting more information on when
the Macross residents would be released.
"Bridge here," Lisa said, tapping some more keys on her panel.
"Bridge, this is Captain Marley, MP. We have a situation developing here
that we can't handle." The voice sounded unsure. In the background, the
sounds of concrete being smashed and metal tearing could be heard.
"What is the situation?" Her coffee was instantly forgotten. That sounded
like a battle!
"We have two figures that are fighting each other and destroying vehicles
and small buildings. One appears to be wearing a pilot's uniform, with cadet
markings. The strength of their blows in unbelievable." The sound of more
metal crunching could be heard. "They are at the intersection of Debois and
Chambers. Are they even human?"
Lisa flipped on her screen, patching in the overview cameras that helped
during reconstruction. Amazingly enough, it showed a figure wearing the RDF'
s pilot uniform kicking the non-uniformed young man through a concrete wall.
Seemingly unfazed, the unkempt man leaped to his feet and towards the
slightly smaller foe, easily thirty feet away.
"Captain? I'm not sure what to make of this!" Lisa exclaimed. All of the
bridge crew looked over or tapped into the view.
"Isn't that Saotome?" Claudia asked. The unusual young man had become a bit
infamous already, even to the bridge crew. Kind of cute, the tall, black
American thought.
"Thunderations, they're tearing apart Macross City. Order him to stop
immediately!" Captain Gloval commanded. He watched the console over Lisa's
shoulder.
"Yes, Sir. Cadet Saotome, you are to desist this activity immediately!" Lisa
barked over the intercom.
Ranma never took his eyes off of Ryoga, but he signaled to the watching
camera that he had heard. He changed his entire method of fighting, suddenly
blocking and dodging with his normal flare. "I wish it were that easy."
"Who's that, Ranma? Another girl friend?" Ryoga shouted, even further
enraged if that was possible.
"That was Commander Hayes, second in command of the SDF-1, you idiot. If you
didn't notice, I'm part of the RDF now."
"Oh, someone else to hide behind? Bakusai Tenkatsu!" Ryoga shouted, suddenly
stabbing the ground, trying to distract the martial artist.
"Captain, Saotome's attacker is continuing to fight. Captain Marley is
correct, his troops can't handle something like this." Lisa blinked in awe
as saw Ryoga explode the ground with a mere touch. Ranma didn't seem
affected, some sort of strange blur shielding him from the explosion.
"Hmm. Send out two Destroids, armed with rubber bullets and tear gas. And I
want answers about this when it's over!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Vince and Jack couldn't believe their ears as they revved the engines up on
the walking behemoths they piloted. They were being ordered to subdue two
people? In just a few short minutes, they arrived at the scene of the
destruction and started to change their minds. Look at this mess.
"Uh, commencing with pacification," Vince said over the radio. With a shrug,
he flipped a switch and started to pepper the area with his mecha's handheld
gun, loaded especially with anti-personnel rubber rounds. To his amazement,
both figures dodged the shots.
"Switch to thermal imaging." Jack thought it was a much better idea to
saturate the area with tear gas. He really hoped these guys were human and
that this worked. He launched a single rocket from the shoulder mount that
burst into a spread of tear gas containers, covering the whole area.
Ryoga and Ranma both started to hack and cough. Ranma wisely raised his arms
up in surrender, even as his eyes and lungs burned. Ryoga turned his
attention to the gigantic machines of war that had attacked him. Running
slowly towards the figure, he leaped up and aimed to land on top of the
machine.
Jack shouted in alarm and reacted instinctively, the metal shod hands moving
with inhuman speed. There was a solid wham of tough flesh being struck by
metallic armor. Ryoga sailed through the air and smashed into the ground,
leaving a sizable dent in the pavement.
Ryoga didn't get up at that point.
-
Ranma stood at attention, awaiting for the arrival of the debriefing
officer. His uniform was stained and tattered, his eyes red from the tear
gas.
"All right, Saotome. Explain this debacle. Now," Lisa Hayes stated in a tone
of voice that brooked no argument.
Ranma saluted sharply. "Yes, Sir! Uh, Ma'am. I was, uh, going to dinner with
my fianc�e and ran into an, uh, old acquaintance. He attacked me after
learning that Akane, er, my fianc�e, had been injured during the liftoff
battle. He kind of became, uh, unstable and berserk."
"Ma'am. And how are you both able to do so much damage?" Lisa asked coolly.
She tapped her toe in frustration.
"Huh? Oh, we're some of the best martial artists there are. I know a dozen
or more people that can do that sort of stuff."
"Next you'll be telling me that you can throw chi blasts from your hands
like some arcade game hero."
"Well, yeah. It's not really that tough." Ranma shut up suddenly, feeling
he'd just said the wrong thing as her eyes bored into him.
"Really. Well, Mr. Saotome, you've just earned a thorough physical and
mental examination by Dr. Lang and the science staff. If they check out what
you say, you'll be released. Depending on what they say, you may even be a
pilot still." She turned to leave and then stopped. She then pointed out to
Ryoga where he lay imbedded in the ground. "By the way, Saotome, does this
gentleman happen to have the same sort of problems you do?" An insane
martial artist machine of death and destruction was not something she wanted
to contemplate. What could he be afraid of, she wondered?
Ranma, of course, thought of their shared problem immediately. "Oh, yeah! He
turns into a piglet if you splash him with cold water."
Akane froze in mid step, from a scant ten feet away from behind Ranma. She
did not just hear that. She couldn't have heard that. Ranma must be trying
to pull some prank.
Lisa blinked. He seemed sincere. "Anyone else here with one of these
remarkable curses?"
"Sure. Shampoo, she's one of the waitresses of the White Dragon, she turns
into... a c-c-cat." Ranma tried to calm himself like the psychiatrist taught
him.
Akane's heart thudded painfully in her chest. He didn't even realize that
she was there.
"Very well. Captain Marley, take him into custody." Lisa turned and walked
away.
Little jigsaw pieces of a disjointed puzzle started to fall into place for
Akane. All of Ranma's comments, always calling P-chan Ryoga and vice verse,
always being so damned jealous of a pet. He'd always known. And he hadn't to
ld her!
"You! YOU! And Ryoga! Making fun of... You... creep!" Akane's battle aura
flared to life, a dangerous and brilliant red. "I hate you!" Akane gulped in
a large breath of air. "I never want to see you again, stranger!"
With that, she turned and fled, leaving a totally flabbergasted Ranma
wondering what he'd done. "Akane! Wait!"
"Don't do it, kid! Slow and easy." Captain Marley and his squad of MPs
trained their handguns at Ranma. "I think you'd better let her cool down."
Ranma collapsed to his knees. "Akane." What had he done? She'd never been
that mad before. Ever.
Lisa released her held breath. Maybe Ranma hadn't been lying when he talked
about some of the things he could do. Those powers and abilities, they
weren't human.
But that reaction was, it was so normally human it was scary.
-
Akane walked slowly home from school. In the past week, she'd been a mere
shadow of her former self, merely going through the steps of life. Not even
Kodachi had been able to goad a reaction from her. Her foot steps finally
halted, only half way to her uncle's place. She just couldn't stand to go
home right now.
Her footsteps finally took her to the same park that she'd talked to Ranma.
A time that seemed so short, yet so painfully long ago. She'd thought that
she hadn't lost him and then found out the terrible secret. Not that it was
much of a secret, she'd found out. Shampoo had known. And from her she'd
learned that almost everyone it seemed had known.
And Ranma had known. And hadn't told her. Oh, sure, he'd be snide and say
his name. Ranma would even be jealous at the drop of a hat, if it looked
like 'P-chan' would be taken to her bed. (That thought almost made her
nauseous.)
But come out and tell her? No, he was too much of a jerk. Always teasing
her. Never telling her about Ryoga.
'But he always called that pervert by his other name, no matter what form he
was in,' a small voice nagged at her.
'So?' she retorted back halfheartedly. 'He should have just said that Ryoga
was using his curse to dishonor me!' She'd had this argument with herself
almost constantly for the last week, each time it got weaker and weaker.
'Weren't you too busy punishing him for hurting poor P-chan? Always
protecting that pig, instead of hearing what Ranma said?' it continued
unstoppably.
A painful feeling welled up in her chest. Memory after memory of Ranma
calling Ryoga P-chan, angering the lost boy. Guilt twisted a knife into her
heart. Of him calling the little piglet Ryoga, angering her 'pet'. Unbidden,
a memory arose in her mind.
-
"Charlotte! You're my darling Charlotte!" squealed Asuza. She was bouncing
up and down.
"Bfah! Ridiculous! My name is..." Ryoga said, shrugging off the little
kleptomaniac's accusation.
"P-chan!" Ranma said interrupted suddenly, appearing on Ryoga's shoulders.
She somehow looked quite tiny as she looked over Ryoga's shoulders. "His
name is..."
"Will you shut up!" Ryoga roared, flinging the petite redhead away, across
the ice rink.
-
Her guilt gouged at her heart, a cathartic pain that left a void in her
heart. Ranma had been trying to tell her, in the only way he knew how.
Trying to get past her obstinacy, her unwillingness to see that Ryoga was
P-chan.
'Always too busy defending that pig, weren't you?'
Akane nodded her tear streaked face as she curled up on the bench, feeling
smaller than an ant. Than a microbe.
'Blaming him for picking on poor wittle P-chan?'
Sobs racked her body, sending her farther into a gray void of self loathing.
How could she have missed it. Ranma had all but come out and called her
deaf, dumb and blind about it. Now here she was, Akane the dummy, Akane the
really stupid, Akane...
"Akane? Akane?" the quiet voice tried to reach her.
Akane finally looked up to see who had intruded on her self-beratement.
"Ra-Ran-ma?"
"Yeah. Uh, your uncle called up the base and said that you'd disappeared. I
got released finally..." Akane interrupted Ranma as she slammed into him,
her grip deathly tight. "Jeeze, you need to relax, Akane."
Akane only responded with sobs. He didn't hate her. That was all that was
really important. Finally, the pain in her chest started to lessen, becoming
just a dull throb. "Th-thanks, Ranma."
"Huh?"
"For coming and looking out for me. Even if you don't... like me." She'd
just let him go, she suddenly decided.
"What? I never said that!" Ranma played with his seemingly too tight uniform
collar.
"So you like me?" Akane inquired hopefully. "Even after I've treated you so
badly because of Ryoga?"
"Well, I didn't like that!" Ranma paused to take a breath. "I couldn't
understand how you couldn't see what he was doing. That stupid bandana
should have been a big clue!"
Akane's face fell, returning to anguished remorse almost instantly. "I feel
so bad. I was so stupid!"
"Hold on! It wasn't really your fault! Please, don't cry!" Ranma
unconsciously started to rock her slowly.
Akane let him sooth her for a minute, her arms wrapped loosely around his
waist. She looked up at him, their faces only inches apart. Her arms slid up
his back, pulling him slightly towards her.
Their lips touched, a jolt of energy seeming to jump between them. For long
moments, they held themselves there. Finally, the parted enough to look back
at each other.
"Wow," Ranma muttered. That had been much more intense than any kiss he'd
ever had.
Akane blinked in bemusement. Slowly she smiled, a strange warmth suffusing
her. The pig-tailed martial artist seemed to be willing to get back to work
on their relationship. She hadn't lost him like she'd thought. He was just
so far away. "Ranma? Why did you join the RDF?"
Ranma swallowed suddenly. "I couldn't protect you from the aliens. The only
way to protect you right now is the RDF. And I couldn't bear to see you hurt
again."
"But what about joining the families? You can't do that if you're in the
military!" Akane asked plaintively.
"Sure I can! But I have to protect you first."
Akane looked into his eyes. "So you're doing this because it's your duty."
Ranma eyebrows creased in thought. "No. Well, not entirely. That's not it."
"You... you still want to... ?" Akane stuttered out in surprise. A rosy glow
appeared in her cheeks.
Ranma finally twigged onto what she was alluding to. "Well, yeah. I... do
want to... someday."
"Is it because of the promise?"
Ranma shook his head slowly.
And that was enough.
-
Ranma took a deep breath as he walked to the lift, where a group of trainee
pilots waited on him. "Get a move on, Saotome!" Lieutenant Watts barked out.
"Yes, sir!" Ranma snapped out the reply automatically.
The lift ended on the main flight hanger, where maintenance crew worked on
outfitting sleek Veritechs for their first unattended flight. Ranma checked
out his Valkyrie, doing his walk by just as he'd learned. Satisfied that
there wasn't anything left unchecked, he hopped into the cockpit.
He closed the canopy and started flipping the transformable mecha on. He
slipped on his helmet and sealed it up quickly. Almost immediately, he felt
a cold but powerful presence radiating from the machine. "Damn." His flight
instructor had said that it could take dozens of flights before he could
feel the mecha through its mind/slave linkage. This was going to be like
playing an arcade game while doing a Hiryo Shotan Ha.
He mechanically followed directions, keeping right after their flight
leader. Pretty soon they were maneuvering the powerful ship, taking them
through the different forms and how they changed for tactics and moves.
Lieutenant Watts blinked at the sleek movements that Ranma's Veritech was
undergoing. "Hey, Saotome, you're flying pretty good for a novice."
The Veritech suddenly wobbled, veering out of control. "Damn. Sorry! This
takes a lot of concentration."
"Saotome! Get back in formation."
"Yes, Sir!"
The lieutenant watched as he got control of the space fighter and slid it
back into the group. "All, right. It's time to see what you pansies can do.
Your Valkyries have been outfitted with targeting laser. You to try and
shoot me down. That's all." Watts opened the turbo-charged engines of his
latest model fighter, pushing it for all it was worth. They were in standard
models, no match for his fighter.
He was experienced enough that these kids weren't going to even get close.
At least not without some serious teamwork. He had to hand it to them, they
really tried. For ten minutes, he flew rings around his students, peppering
them with oversized paint pellets.
Ranma growled in frustration. He had just barely dodged the latest attack.
It kept feeling like he was fighting his ship, instead of it following his
orders like it was supposed to. A memory from one of the other pilots came
to him. 'You live one of these ships, not fly it!'
Ranma waited until he had a moment free from attack and then let out a deep
breath. Don't think, Ranma. Live! The Art isn't about thinking, it's about
doing! He relaxed suddenly, letting the cold presence seep into him, even as
he let his senses drift out into the ship.
Lieutenant Watts shook his head as his ship came zooming back in. He'd only
managed to hit Saotome's ship once on one wing. It was time to end this
lesson and get some lunch. "You're 'it' Saotome."
Ranma didn't respond as his feet and hands moved, almost faster than the
machine could cope. The Veritech suddenly leaped as if kicked by some giant,
rocketing in a dizzying pattern, faster than the unaided eye could follow,
shifting mecha-forms for increased maneuverability.
Watts swore as he pegged the control into a corner and snapped out at the
last second. Where the hell had he learned to fly like that? Adrenaline
surged as the two pilots danced back and forth, thruster blaring up into the
red.
The older pilot suddenly jinked to the side while transforming, his pellet
gun managing to stitch a line of paint down the top of the Valkyrie's
canopy.
Ranma blinked in surprise. "Damn. Got me any ways." He looked over his
shoulder to see the Lieutenant Watts banking around. The roar of his engines
trying to cool down was overwhelming.
"Not bad. Not bad at all, Ranma. Fall in and let's get back to base."
Ranma acknowledged with a wag of his battloid's hand and turned back. He
toggled his radio to the SDF's control frequency. "This is T-Blue four,
requesting permission to land." He flipped a switch to transform back into a
fighter jet.
Lisa Hayes frowned at the familiar voice. Why had she been out voted when it
came to booting this particular pilot out of the RDF? "This is the SDF,
T-Blue four. You are clear to land on the Daedelus, runway two."
"Aye aye, Commander!" Ranma said smartly, toggling off the channel. She
lined up the landing easily, even as her throat started to itch and her ears
started to hurt terribly. Sudden vertigo hit Ranma forcibly, knocking her
off course. The airplane skidded sideways for just a second. Landing gear
snapped silently in the vacuum of space. The veritech started to flip, fuel
igniting unchecked. The canopy exploded outwards, flinging its sole occupant
out into the void.
The small figure was scooped up by a giant mecha that reacted promptly,
carried as carefully as a kitten by its mother. With a flash of thrusters,
the veritech handed the singed figure to the deck crew at the airlock,
frantic motions dragging the comatose body into the airlock.
-
Dry eyes blinked to wakefulness. It took long moments for the lights above
her to come into focus. Turgid thoughts were replaced by minor aches and
pains. She struggled for a second to sit up, the rest of the hospital room
becoming visible.
"Huh? What happened?" Ranma rasped out, startling the nurse where she was
filling out a form.
"My goodness. You're awake?" She looked surprised.
"Yeah. Hey, what happened? I was in my fighter and... that's all I can
remember." And I'm a girl?
"You were lucky. We're not sure, but you blacked out on landing and your
veritech crashed. That was yesterday. You were knocked around and banged up
pretty good. No broken bones thankfully. I thought the doctor was going to
keep you sedated for a while longer."
"That' probably why I feel so woozy." Ranma was busy stretching, feeling the
kinks and pains in her body. Not too bad. "So, when can I leave?"
The nurse blinked in surprise. "Ah, you have some internal bleeding. We
really can't let you leave."
"Hmm. I've taken a lot worse training."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Nope. Why'd you ask?"
She stepped out for a second. "Dr. Jennings, I need you to come talk some
sense into this pilot."
A moment later and Dr. Jennings appeared, slipping a clipboard under her
arm. "What's the problem?"
The nurse whispered into her ear for a second. The doctor nodded and sent
the nurse away. "Now, Miss Saotome..."
"I'm a guy, damn it!"
"... Ranma. You've been in a serious accident and we're going to need to
keep you here in the hospital for at least a week for observation. You're
quite lucky to be alive."
"A week? I've got an appointment with Dr. Lang today! He wants to do some
more tests. I thought you were going to check me out and let me leave?"
"I'm afraid that isn't going to be possible..." The doctor stopped in
surprise again. She'd seen victims of decompression and near explosions.
They were all terribly bruised, especially around the eyes, looking like
they'd gone three rounds with Rocky Balboa. She been in here just an hour
ago, to check the sedatives that this young woman was on. She did not match
the figure in front of her. She could almost see the bruising fading away.
"Monica? Can I have you come back in here?"
"Yes, doctor?" The earlier nurse walked back in.
"Was the bruising this far along in healing?"
Monica looked over. She looked harder, scrutinizing the red head quite
closely. "She definitely wasn't this far healed just ten minutes ago."
"You gotta learn how to bounce back! Takes a long time to toughen your body
that much, but it's worth it."
"I'm getting too old for this. I have some rounds to make. I'll see if
you're fit to be released later."
-
Lisa Hayes sighed, turning a page on her extra workload that the Captain had
assigned her. Why did she get all of the weird ones?
Her phone buzzed, demanding attention. "This is Commander Hayes. Yes, I was
aware that Ranma Saotome is in the hospital. He's almost fully recovered?
How is that possible?" She paused to listen. "I'll be right down."
At least it'll be an excuse to avoid the bridge for an hour or so. Just a
few minutes later and she was walking down the hallway of the hospital
complex. She knocked at the door.
"Come in!" called out the voice.
Lisa stepped in and stared at the renewed figure in front of her. She'd
stopped by yesterday to see how Ranma was doing. The petite figure that
hovered on death's door last night only barely resembled the lean figure
standing up. Ranma snapped a quick salute.
"At ease. You do look much improved. Dr. Jennings says you are claiming that
this is due to training?"
Ranma nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."
"I'm to accompany you for your examination by Dr. Lang." She caught Ranma's
change in expression. "Is there a problem?"
"Ah, not really. Just feel like a lab rat."
"I'd like to ask you some questions as we go along."
Ranma fell in step behind her. "Sure."
"So, explain to me what happened yesterday during your landing."
"Well, I was lining up to land. Pretty basic stuff, even if I'm a bit rough
yet. I remember my throat starting to itch, my ears started to hurt and then
I... well, blacked out."
"Hmm. That matches what we've managed to get out of your black box. We think
that you decompressed. That matches with your itching throat and then
blacking out. Your flight suit is supposed to prevent that, but yours had a
ripped seam." Lisa looked at him for a second. "We're almost positive that
the paint pellets cracked your canopy. I'm going to be terminating that
particular exercise before anyone else gets hurt."
"Will I be allowed to fly still?" Ranma asked worriedly.
"It doesn't appear to really be your fault. I'm going to write you up for
letting your flight suit get damaged, but under the recommendation of your
instructor, you'll be right back in the cockpit."
Ranma sighed as they stepped into the elevator.
"Don't be too relieved. I don't need any hot dogging pilots. If you screw up
again, I'll nail you. Got that, Saotome?"
"Ah. Yeah."
-
Akane ran through a series of kata's on a large mat, lost in the moment of
motion. Around the edge, men in sweat suits slowly arrived and watched. She
was dressed in her habitual gi, just as she always did when she practiced
the Art.
"So, are you the new instructor?" one of the men asked. She looked pretty
decent as a martial artist. Around him the other men were chatting in the
main gymnasium on base.
Akane stopped, taking in the men around her. "No, I'm here to practice with
my fianc�. He's a pilot."
"Lucky devil."
"Uh hmm," Ranma cleared his throat right behind the bigger man.
"S-Saotome?" Derrick stuttered, clearly shaken by the younger man's sudden
presence.
"Ready, Akane?" Ranma asked walking casually onto the mat. He was also
wearing a gi.
"Hiya!" the girl cried out, lashing out in a set of punches and kicks. Each
kick and punch was evaded or blocked casually.
Ranma attacked just slow enough that Akane had to work hard to either duck
or block. As an exercise he was snap out punches to target areas and use his
amigurikan speed to hit each spot in the air hundreds of times every once in
a while.
"Hey, Saotome, I thought you were good?" the instructor called out good
naturely. Burns was a ripcord muscled man of average height with a buzz cut.
"Whatcha talking about?" Ranma asked while ducking, blocking or leaping over
his fianc�e.
"How about a little match?"
"Nah. How about you, Akane? I think he might be a good challenge for you."
"Quite dodging!" She stopped and considered for a second. "Sure, I guess."
"I'm Roger Burns. Nice to meet you." The man held out his hand to shake.
"Hello, sir. I'm Akane Tendo," Akane said as she accepted the handshake.
They broke apart and started to circle one another. Akane lashed out in a
set of punches and kicks, testing his speed and durability. She was
disappointed when she nearly knocked him over in the first set of punches.
She let up even more, not using a great deal of her strength. In just a few
minutes, far too short in her mind, Burns held up his hands in defeat.
He looked moderately interested, even as he shook his battered arms out.
"You were holding back. Not that I'm complaining, mind you." He pursed his
lips thoughtfully. "You wouldn't be interested in training these louts,
would you?"
That grabbed Ranma's attention back almost instantly. His fianc�e looked
surprised and then thoughtful. "I'd have to finish high school, but that
sounds interesting. Sure!" Finally, someone who thought she was worth
something in the Arts.
"Yeah, you sure should," Ranma said brightly. He'd get to see her more
often.
All of a sudden the lights started to flash red, off and on. Over the PA
system, an officious women started to bark out orders. "All pilots, to your
fighters! This is not a drill. Prepare to sortie out. I repeat, all pilots,
to your fighters!"
Akane started trembling at the warble of sirens. She was a strong girl, not
a child. The room emptied rapidly, Ranma giving a quick wave, his mind
already on the battle ahead. In the changing light and confusion, he failed
to notice her expression.
Moment by moment, her trembling intensified. Unable to resist her terror,
she collapsed to a huddled ball. She put her hands head, trying to shut out
the noise, the terrible noise. "Mommy..." she managed to rasp out. Don't
leave me!
-
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Adam Victor shouted. He spun back
around to look at his souped up fighter. "How long until you can get it back
together?"
A technician scratched his head. "Maybe ten, fifteen minutes, sir. I'll have
to get extra men to do it tho'."
"I don't have fifteen minutes. Hey, it's going to take at least five minutes
for the pilots that went to Macross City to get here, right?" He snapped his
fingers. "I'll commandeer one."
"Uh, I dunno..."
"I'm pulling rank, damn it. Get me next one and work on getting mine
repaired." Captain Victor snapped out even as he snagged his helmet. He
turned to the nearest unranked pilot's Veritech, yelling at the ground crew
to get him airborne in two minutes.
They managed it in just under his demanded time. Moments after the
acceleration of the catapult, he was reconfiguring his board for his
wingman. "All right you yahoos, fall into line. TAC says that we've got
incoming alien pods. Let's do some good team work and kill the bad guys."
"Yes, sir!"
"Right on!"
The three fighters were part of the first wave of Veritechs that slammed
into the disorganized line of battle pods of the Zentraidi. Chain guns spat
high speed death into their midst, even as the pods retaliated with particle
cannons.
Adam pushed the fighter as hard as he could, jinking back and forth. Timing
it just right, he released two missiles that homed in on one battlepod. The
pod tried to spin and shoot the missiles before they hit, to no avail.
He cursed under his breath. This Veritech just wasn't as highly tuned as his
was. And it was showing. Adam slammed the controls back and forth as quickly
as possible, joystick moving from forward left to back left to straight
right. He switched to battleoid to spin around faster, pelting the three
pods behind him with gunfire. Two exploded spectacularly, while the third
one was merely winged.
The control panels and screen flickered and died. Fear gripped his heart in
its icy embrace. "Oh, shit." He hit several switches, eliciting no response.
Scrabbling fingers flipped open the panel that covered the emergency
ejection lever. With a convulsive jerk, he pulled the lever. He heard two
bangs within the confines of the cockpit before his seat was slammed into
bulletproof armor at full power.
"Captain!" his lead wingman screamed. "Get out of there!" He pulled in
behind the ostrich-like pod that was arrowing in on the helpless fighter.
His gattling gun rattled as it unloaded it's depleted uranium shells into,
stopping its attack before it could shoot the floating mecha.
A mecha that suddenly blossomed into a plasma ball of death. "Captain..." he
whispered in shock.
-
Ranma slid around a corner and into the launch bay. He skidded to a halt,
looking around frantically for his Veritech. "Hey, Jeanette! Where the heck
is my ride?" he asked his normal tech that worked
"Captain Victor took it! His ship wasn't ready!" she yelled out from under
the Veritech that she was referring to.
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"Don't ask me!"
"Damn." Ranma hopped up to the open cockpit of the fighter. He toggled a
switch or two, getting an overly familiar mousy haired officer on the line.
"Hey! Captain Victor took my fighter. Any idea what I'm supposed to do?"
Lisa snapped out at him, "Take the next one that doesn't have a pilot!
Bridge out!" Definitely not officer material. Couldn't he see that they were
in the middle of a battle?
"Aye aye!" Ranma replied to the blank screen, wincing. That lady really
didn't like him, he thought ruefully.
"Yo, Jeanette! Which birds don't have a pilot?"
"The one you're sitting in, dumpkoff!"
"I just got orders to take it from Commander Hayes."
She leaned back so that she could look him in the eyes. He seemed to be
telling the truth. And hell, the fighter was just sitting here. "Looks like
your lucky day. You get to fly one of the hottest Veritechs in the flight
roster. You break it, you answer to Adam! Give us five minutes!"
"Right!" Ranma spun around to sit in the chair. He spent the next few
minutes checking over the controls, which were slightly different. "Oh,
right. Visually Inspect Self Safety!" Ranma muttered to himself. He checked
all of the major seams like he'd had pounded into him for the last week. His
probing fingers found a ripped seam up on his shoulder.
"What the hell? I just checked this suit out from the quartermaster!" Ranma
groused. He grabbed some tape and sealed to hole quickly. He finished up his
check, finding two more holes, which he also repaired.
"Saotome! Your clear!" another flight technician called out.
Ranma gave him a thumbs up as he latched his helmet down. The canopy slid
down and with a flick of a few switches, he was launched out, with only one
Veritech behind him. "Green three reporting in!" Ranma called out.
"Where the hell have you been?" Lieutenant Watts snapped out.
"Someone took my bird, sir! I'm zeroing in on you! ETA is fifty seconds!"
He really hoped so, as he was in serious trouble. He frantically manipulated
his controls, sending his Veritech diving and rolling, the three battlepods
right behind him. One of his wings was sheared off, sending him wobbling
from a single blast.
All of a sudden, the three pods exploded as black and red striped officer
Veritech made its presence known. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah! I'll live, but my birds all shot up." Watts breathed a sigh of
relief. That was too close.
"Don't worry! I'll join up with another wing! You get back to the ship."
"Don't get your ass... shot... off. My God! Look at him go!" he exclaimed in
surprise.
Ranma was spinning his mecha around like it was a sparrow, shifting modes
almost too fast to follow. He'd already racked up an immense amount of
kills, expecting and getting 120% power from his engines. The battlepods
were discovering to their dismay that the pilot seemed to know where they
were going to fire before they did, causing them to miss. Its return fire
was always deadly accurate.
-
"Commander Breetai!"
"Yes, Exedore. What have you found?" the giant Zentraidi asked, light
gleaming off of his faceplate that covered his missing eye.
"Sensors are detecting a high level shift in Protoculture energy!" the
smaller, nearly malformed alien studied the panels in front of him. The two
leaders of the attack force were situated up in the command bubble,
overlooking the bridge of the mighty vessel.
"Are they preparing to fire their main cannon?"
"No, sir. This is coming from a fighter! The energy bands are twice as
energetic as any of the other micronian ships of that size."
"A single fighter will not make a difference."
Exedore looked up from his screens. "That may not be true, sir. That one
fighter has amassed almost a fifteenth of the micronian's kills against our
forces."
"Impossible!" Breetai surged to his feet. There were dozens of micronian
fighters. "Get that fighter on the screen!" he demanded, slamming his fist
against the console.
In moments, a red and black banded Veritech appeared on the holo-monitor. It
was obvious that the camera was having a hard time following. The screen
suddenly shifted to another Zentraidi's as his face appeared on the screen.
"Commander! We are prepared to begin the frontline assault!" the captain
ranked officer declared.
"Good hunting!"
"I know you over rode my objections, but this one fighter worries me. If
they can get this sort of performance out of all of their fighters, they
could prove to be a deadly foe." Exedore's face was beaded with sweat.
"There are no worries in my mind! Captain Jolzai will capture the super
fortress!"
"The micronians are reacting to the threat from the cruisers!"
"On screen!" Breetai's commands brought forth a view of the shifting form of
the battle fortress. He gasped in shock as the too-angular ship took on an
aspect of a giant techno knight. "What are they doing?"
"I don't know! This is unprecedented!"
"The micronians are firing their main cannon!" the disembodied voice called
out. "Jozai's forces have been utterly destroyed."
"Recall all battlepods! We have the information we needed. Their main cannon
does work." Light glinted off his face plate coldly. "I want something more,
Exedore. And soon."
-
Ranma sighed in relief as she guided her ship back into the maw of the
SDF-1's main hanger bay. She touched down normally, rolling the Veritech up
to its bay. She popped the canopy and shucked her helmet. Who would have
thought that the stale air of the SDF-1 would smell so good? As the engines
idled down, she hopped to the ground.
She noted another pilot headed her way. "Hey! Uriek, right-toof!" The sudden
punch to her jaw caught her totally off guard, knocking her to the ground.
"You bastard! You sent Victor out to die out there in your ship!" Uriek
screamed out, attracting the attention everyone in the hanger.
Ranma bounded right back to her feet. "What the hell are you talking about?"
she shouted right back angrily.
"Your bird just shut down without being hit! Adam didn't even eject before
it then blew up!" Three other pilots grabbed the distraught wingman, holding
him back, barely. "He probably couldn't!"
"You idiot! I didn't even know he took my fighter until I got to the hanger!
How the hell could I have done that?"
Uriek broke free from and lunged at the girl. Ranma was ready this time, her
hand effortlessly snagging his wrists with frightening strength. A gunshot
suddenly stopped the fight.
"That's enough! Saotome, Beckman, back off! Right now, you're both under
arrest!" Lieutenant Watts snapped out, lowering his gun to point at the two.
For a few tense seconds, nobody moved. Finally, Ranma released him. The
lieutenant waved them over to the side of the hanger. He held up his hand
forestall everyone following him. Anger bubbled up within him. How could
Ranma cause so much trouble? His angry glare noted that Ranma was a girl
right then, trying to find fault with that. It almost bypassed the gray
pieces of tape on both shoulders and on one side of her neck. A cold chill
suddenly danced down his spine.
"Saotome, what's wrong with your suit?"
"Huh? Oh, I found some rips when I did my VISS like you told me to do..."
"Those sons of a bitches. Those sons of bitches tried to murder you in cold
blood," Watts declared, his face turning white in shock.
Uriek Beckman snapped a startled glance, noting the same patches.
"You two are coming with me!" the officer announced, waving them ahead of
him with his gun.
-
"Ryoga Hibiki?" a voice called out from jail cell doorway.
"Yeah?"
"I managed to get you sentenced lightened to community service. You're
damned lucky that the judge was as nice as he was," the officious looking
man said as he led Ryoga out of his cell. "He said if he ever saw you again,
he'd throw everything he could onto your next sentencing."
The Lost Boy winced, knowing that was likely true. He did wonder how that
had happened. He was halfway down the cell block when the door opened and
two figures were led down towards them. He was stopped by his lawyer. "We
have to wait for them."
Ryoga grinned as he saw it was Ranma that was being led towards a cell with
another fellow.
"You two will stay here until the murder investigation is done."
Ryoga started at that. His arch nemesis merely nodded her head and entered
the cell. "That can't be right!" Ryoga suddenly exclaimed.
"Oh?"
"Ranma's no killer!"
"That's up to the judge."
-------
Arthur Hansen
http://home.utah-inter.net/arthurh/art.html
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