So this is set 2 months after the last manga was publicized. a semi-self inserted, i say semi as i have alter the OC character to a degree to make it more fun!
this is a story of Adventure, Gunslinger Action (for the guys), Humor and Romance (for the soft hearten) with a bit a music stuff on the side
Warning: this story contains; coarse language, sexual references and adult humor
We find our forsaken and gender-shifting hero in one of the more likely places to find him, the Tendo dojo but he was practising with an unusual newcomer to town and better still to the country! He's a temporary transfer student serving a semester abroad and the Tendo family were chosen as his home-stay family to look after him because of Soun Tendo's position in the town council, much to Nabiki's dismay concerning the household budget. As for the sparring session at hand; our foreign friend was actually holding his own... for a while, it ended with Ranma sweeping his opponent off his supporting foot before he could recoil from a kick he threw and landing flat on the floor panting. Ranma moved to lean on the wall under the dojo shrine.
"I gotta say Brock, for someone who says they're not into Martial arts, you sure can put a decent fight and I'm surprised that a few attacks connected, where'd ya learn it?" Even though the fight went as expected Ranma was still breathing a bit heavier from the uncounted skills of his opponent.
"My... Dad and... and Uncle were in the SAS during the Gulf war and Iraq conflict, ...the Desert Storm Op and all then moved on to the Afghanistan conflict's initial days" He said between gasps.
Ranma was surprised 'maybe he's military trained and all... I wonder.'
"So they trained ya on how to be a commando and stuff?" What he didn't realise is that he was pushing buttons he shouldn't.
Brock shook his head, "Just dad, like I said they were only there for the initial days, then while on patrol; dad was driving the Humvee and uncle Duncan was on the 50 .cal, they made a right at a roundabout and in the opposite direction of a church, and you guessed it Duncan copped a bloody bullet to the head from the bell tower... after that Duncan went home in a box and my dad followed with an honourable discharge and a Veteran's pension, he was ok with it and so am I, so no pity please, anyway dad didn't want to drop the military altogether so he's now a drill instructor at the base a few kays outside of our town" Brock got up to leave and motioned Ranma to follow, "But ya know, uncle Duncan did more good than harm to the family." raising an eyebrow to this Ranma got curious of where this war story was going.
"Really? How so?" the Aussie teen grinned and tapped his nose.
"World War one... the Davies twins... but that's a story for another time, right now I smell BICKIES! LET'S GO!" Brock bounded into the house while Ranma was dumbfounded 'I'll never understand his native tongue' and walked inside.
Ranma came into the living room to find Brock snacking on cookies and Akane showing an appreciating smile. 'Oh no! It can't be, I'm too late to save him... better go get a bucket for the imminent vomit' but that never happened, in fact he was on his second and offered one to Akane, "Wha... what's going on?!" they turned to greet him.
"I figured out your missus' problem on cooking, here try some they're lil' burnt but that was my fault; I set the timer ya see", Ranma took one from the plate, his twitching hand inching to his mouth, 'he ate them and still wants more, hmm maybe if I try it and like it Akane will hate me less' biting a chunk of cookie while checking for a clear path to the toilet just in case.
"WOW! How did you two do it?!" Akane saw stars after the compliment was given, sure it was 2 months since Ranma beat Saffron and the wedding from hell but while their relationship had grown some, it was peppered with arguments and insults, plus the competing fiancées would try and rub themselves all up and down him or stuff him with fine home cooking, so it was good to see him enjoy HER cooking for once. Brock explained that in hearing that many had tried and failed at getting a decent non-explosive or toxic meal out of Akane, whether it be her mother's notebook or Kasumi's subtlety approach or even in some Martial arts competition, it ends in a destroyed kitchen and/or Ranma with stomach cramps and lumps on the head from the usual insults. So instead he tried a hard-core military approach while implementing an unorthodox element of calm music in the background and ta-da! Normal cookies.
"You mean it Ranma, it's actually delicious?" he nodded.
Across the room on the porch Tendo and Saotome were play their usual game Shogi with a bottle of Sake to the side. Genma was using his cheap distract-to-cheat method but looked up to see Soun actually distracted at the teen trio chatting away about the difference in their cultures,
"To think a simple foreigner was all we need to cut the amount of times those two argued with each other AND help my Akane cook right, 'ey Saotome?"
He hummed his response as he nodded, but didn't notice Soun rearrange the board and put his "final move" piece. "Gotcha!"
Genma cried in agony for another game lost to his friend.
Later...
"Come on down, dinner is ready!" Kasumi's soft voice rung out from the kitchen, and like routine they came in one by one; Soun from his seat on the porch, Genma finishing in the furo, Happosai doing something perverted and Akane & Ranma from math study. They fell into their usual spots at the table, then Nabiki had shown up with a satisfied smirk and found her seat while Brock and Kasumi were going back-and-forth from the kitchen setting the food and plates to eat on. As the last food plate was down, everyone else eyed curiously at the food they were served, one thing was sure it was a western dish, Mr. Tendo piped up "Ahem, my… what have we here? This is definitely not Kasumi's handy work but mind telling us what it is?"
Brock grinned as he struck a pose mimicking a butler, though his Japanese was only a lil' dodgy at times he was still able to put a British accent behind what he was saying, "Tonight we have an Australian dish composed of Pigs in Blankets, a side of a personal favourite and all time classic; Toad in the hole AND for dessert we have rocky road on ice waiting in the fridge!" Kasumi held her soft smile since she knew what he meant as the rest of the family hung their mouths in confusion.
Brock cleared his throat and started again but differently, "Pork sausage wrapped in bacon and skewed to hold it, the side dish is toasted bread slice with an egg in the middle and dessert was going to be chocolate sauce that hardens after mixing marshmallows in it with Ice-cream" after that everyone else calmed and began eating. The mood was peaceful, well for Nerima's standards and our Aussie friend was well acquainted with it within the week he had stayed so far, but he had yet to meet the few that go to Furinkan High, and conversations were light, except Brock was doing the most talking since a lot of the family hadn't heard or seen much about Australia, unless the prime minster made a trip to Japan or in books and school-work for social-studies, until strange beeping noises were heard upstairs, but it was Nabiki who caught on first.
"Hmm that beeping sounds familiar... Hey Brock, isn't that Morse code?" Upon hearing this Brock raced out of the room, leaving the others in a confused statethough Kasumi still held her signature smile.
(A/N: all you Morse code trained guys gimme slack if I stuff up I'm working off a Morse alphabet sheet I got off Wiki)
Upstairs since Genma had been moved in with the old pervert, Brock was now sharing Ranma's room. He ran in and got to a device in the corner and put on old, but in good nick set of headsets, flicking switches and dials and began tapping away at the transmitter connected to it, '- - -.- / ... - .-.. -.. .. . .-. / ... .-. . .- -.- .. -. -. -..- / .- ... - / .. ... / .. - ..-..'(1), the Tendos and Saotomes and even Happosai had come up to see what the fuss is about. They found Brock jotting something down on a notepad as the transmitter tapped and beeped on its own, the device stopped sending its message and Brock followed finishing his recording but jerked his head back in surprise then a smirk replaced his focused look while lightly shaking his head, "You cheeky bugger!" his spoke in English this time, his voice dripping with his homeland's accent.
Though some were vaguely familiar with the language, the younger teens were more fluent from learning it in school, Ranma was first to speak, "Um... what's the matter Brock? And what's that do-hickey ya got there?" the girls on either side of him dropped to a blank stare at his idiocy moment to obviousness of said happenings.
Genma lightly smacked the rear of his head and growled, "Boy are you blind?! He's being contacted by his secret-agent-commando buddies or something!" Brock glanced at the group in the doorway still holding that proud smirk.
"Actually Mr. Saotome, you're not far off! It's an ex-commando and my dad at that-" Genma sneered proudly at his good guess, "-and the problem is Ranma, is that he's using an old German 4 Rotor Cypher Key Enigma Encryption Machine and it's a bitch to decode at my mediocre skill level, but I still deciphered it so... all good!" Nabiki started nodding taking this new information in.
'the girls in Brock's class with Akane and Ranma have been pestering me on info on this guy's life but from what I've seen observing this guy and his skills; I'll only get half of what I need to cash in at school and a lot of the more spicy stuff he's got written down in that log book/journal of his is encrypted in that same old German encryption code... for once, and surprising as it is, I've got my work cut out for me!' Nabiki came out of her train of thought to see Akane and Ranma walking up and sitting beside him.
"So what's he saying anyway?" Akane asked as she eyed the machine with fascination but furrowed her brow as she noticed some inscriptions on the control panel that she didn't recognise from English class, 'it looks more European...'
"Uhh... let's see, starts off with his call-sign; Captain Australia, which means he's been reading those crummy old comics of his which mum wants sold uhh... this part of decoding was hard, it's either something about respect your superiors cause I signed on informally or his penis is inferior to the recruits he trains-" his eyes shot up, and cheeks swelled like a chipmunk with too many nuts in it, the other two teens showed similar action with Akane crumbling trying to hold in her guts and mouth with one hand each and Ranma scrunching his face shoulders jolting violently, "BAHAHAHAHAHAHA *GAAASSP* HAHAHAHAHA AHA HEHEHE." They rolled on the floor trying to hold the stomachs in.
"Hehe ok, I'm ok HA nope... okay-okay I'm fine, oi pack it in you two! Lemme finish!-" they pulled themselves together and quieted down, "Uhh... he says all is good on home front, how's it up there? Mama bear says hi and hope I don't cause another Darwin incident, he goes on to say it's going great with the current batch of recruits the base then stuff about we're proud of you etc. etc." He readjusts the headsets and began replying through Morse code, '. ...- . .-. -.- - ... .. -. -. / .. ... / -. .-. . .- - / -.-. .- .-. - .- .. -. / .- ..- ... - .-. .- .-.. .. .- / .- .- .-. .- -. / ... .- ... / -. - - -.. / . -.- . / -.-. .- -. -.. -.- / .-.. .. -.- . / - ... . / -... ..- .. .-.. -.. .. -. -. ... / .- -. -.. / ... - ..- ..-. ..-. -..- / -... ..- - / .- / -... .. - / -.-. .-. - .- -.. . -.. / - ... - ..- -. ... -..- / .- -. -.- .- .- -.- / -. .. ...- . / - .- - .- / .- / ... ..- -. / .- -. -.. / -.- .. ... ... / ..-. - .-. / - . / .- -. -.. / .. .-. .-.. .-.. / ... . . / -.- .- / .. -. / -... / - - -. - ... ... -..- / -. - - / - - / -. - / ..-. .. .-. ... - / -.. .- -.- / .- - / ... -.-. ... - - .-.. / .- - / - -.. - - -..- / - - -.- / ... - .-.. -.. .. . .-. / ... .. -. -. .. -. -. / - ..-. ..-. / -.-.- -.-. .-.. -.-.-'(2).
"Uhh... Brock? What this Darwin business about?" Ranma asked curiously while scratching his chin.
He pulled a cheeky grin and chuckle, "Ah that was the most fun I had but I seriously paid after... let's just say it involves my 12-year-old self, a 1st Armoured Regiment Abrams tank and the base commanders vintage convertible... hehe, ka-boom! Hehehe."
An hour later...
Everyone had confined to their respective rooms and Ranma and his new room-mate just doing their own thing until Brock straddles on his knees to the draws to get some clean clothing for bed. While digging for some underwear he finds something half expected, but didn't really think he'd actually find, "Soo... this redhead of yours, you turn into... she's a C cup is she?" since he didn't need to speak in Japanese for the sake of the adults, he relaxed back into his native tongue. Ranma on the other hand had frozen to stone in hearing this.
"Umm heh... why do you ask?" he nearly fainted seeing Brock holding a simple black bra, "Uhh... I can explain! Please don't hit me!" shielding his face defensively he waited for the usual Akane special but nothing happened.
Brock sat there furrowing his brow in confusion and tilted his head, "why would I flog you mate? Your skills surpass mine like a country mile so I wouldn't want to try anyway and besides, considering you flip gender with just some water, seems only natural to have a second set of clothing for your other half", Ranma had moved to his futon and folded to cuddle his legs, he nodded in agreement, but still looked ashamed.
"You suffered from both conditioning from that fat panda and rejection from society, haven't you?" he nodded, "well looks you need someone to talk to, eh? How's about this; I become your shrink, I mean ya stuck with me for the next six months, so if you got issues bugging ya, all ya gotta to do is call on a mate and I'll listen then give advice."
"Are you even qualified to be a Doc?" Brock put the bra back and moved to a hanging sheet in the corner acting a blind screen so he could change.
"Well my mum is a school psychologist and I do take after both ends of the family, so yea, I don't have a Ph.D. or what not but man to man talks are common, had a lot of them with dad especially when he blended a life moral with a Davies family war story," he sighed, "good childhood...", he came out from behind the sheet in black boxers and a camouflage sleeveless T-shirt.
In mirrored movement they lay down on separate futons, stretched out and folded their arms under their heads, Ranma yawned, "I may take you up on that but now let's just get you to survive your first school week, eh?" He smirked at his own comment, knowing the chaos living here, he'll have to get used to it.
Brock chuckled, "Amen mate, amen..."
The warm, late summer sun was a blessing in itself,but best thing to Ranma's morning was no stupid farther to throw him out the window or pour water on him to start the morning spar. No, he had a decent rest as it were but it didn't last, as he rolled over to face the door his nose caught a scent wafting in the air. His eyes shot open as he was familiar with that smell, "Mmm... is that... pancakes?!" He jumped out of bed and pulled out his usual red silk shirt and black pants and then yanked open the underwear draw when suddenly *Splash!* He had failed to notice the glass of water on top of the cabinet and ended up spilling water on him, triggering the curse, and soaking his last clean pair of boys underwear. She sat there thinking, 'aw man! What do I do?! All I have left is the bras and panties my mom bought me but I can't wear them cause I'm a guy! Well... Brock did say it seemed natural since I turn into a girl half the time... but what if Akane finds out! But I can't go to school with nothing on underneath!', Sighing in defeat Ranma slid herself to the next drawer over and pulled out the same black bra as before and matching panties and started to change.
She exited the room and was about to descend down the stairs when a deep loud voice boomed throughout the Tendo compound.
"FIGARO!" All remaining tiredness was blasted away as it rang from one ear to the other and the voice continued on, "Figaro... Figaro... Figaro... Figaro... Figaro... Figaro... Figaro... Figaro...Figaro!" she raced down to find the source of the anomaly,
"FIGARO! Son qua.
Ehi, Figaro! Son qua.
Figaro qua, Figaro la, Figaro qua, Figaro la,
Figaro su, Figaro giu, Figaro su, Figaro giu." Ranma came to a skidded stop to find Brock at the stove flipping pancakes and singing away to instrumental orchestras playing on his Music Player on the kitchen bench corner while Kasumi was at the centre bench, smiling that smile she was famous for and dressing the already made pancakes with a hazelnut spread with the jar reading in English "Nutella" and topping it with mixed fruit slices. Brock began the next verse, his back still facing Ranma as her presence went unnoticed.
"Pronto prontissimo son come il fumine:
sono il factotum della citta.
(della citta, della citta, della citta, della citta) *whew*", wiping the sweat from his brow, he spun on his heels doing a 180° turn and with a flick of the spatula he flipped a fresh pancake onto a plate, looking up from what he was doing to see a pigtailed redhead he was well acquainted with, a cheeky grin appeared as his eyebrows bounced up and down on his face, his response was a "yea, whatever" kind of roll of Ranma's eyes. Turning back to his work, Brock placed the pan on the stove and poured more mixture into the pan as he began to sing again, his spare hand waving it's index finger like he was the conductor himself!
"Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo;
Ah, bravo Figaro! Bravo, bravissimo;
a te fortuna (a te fortuna, a te fortuna) non
manchera.
La la la la la la la la la!
a te fortuna (a te fortuna, a te fortuna) non
manchera." When the mixture solidified, it began to dance around the pan and catch air as its creator jerked the pan over the gas-lit stove, he was almost finished cooking as was his singing.
"Sono il factotum della citta,
Sono il factotum della citta,
della citta, della citta,
DELLA CIT... TAAAA!" Without even looking, he flipped the pancake over his head and it landed squarely on the plate next to Kasumi.
Lightly applauding, Kasumi gave her best warm smile as Brock turned to face his audience, "My, Brock, you cook as good as you sing! These pancakes are all well-done, but still light and fluffy, excellent!" His response was as expected; a proud smile crept on his face and he bowed his head slightly as a "thank you".
He spoke up, "After the Darwin incident, which I will not talk about or repeat for Ranma's sake, dad got me put on mess hall duties at the army base near our town that he works from and after a while I stayed in it longer than needed, that's when dad organised for me to get paid and then quite literally; feeding an army became my weekend job! And as for my singing, I am one quarter Italian on my mother's side, so that's where my creative flare comes from."
Ranma chuckled, "That would explain so much!"
"What's the matter with you people!?" Ranma jumped out of the way as Nabiki stumbled looking like she went to hell and back!, "Who's idea was it to turn this place into an Opera house this early in the morning!" The air seem to drop below the negative as it seemed like she was out for bloody murder, she was rewarded with a mug of black steamy coffee from Kasumi, something so simple seemed to have dropped most of the tension as Nabiki chugged it down hastily.
Brock cleared his throat to get their attention, "Well if all is good I'll head up to get changed into proper clothes, Ranma could set the table for us?" With thumbs up as a reply he weaved through the three women and headed for the stairs. Nabiki headed to the dining table after getting a refill, after the extra ears in the walls were gone Ranma piped up an embarrassing issue in the back of her mind, "Umm... Kasumi? I've got a problem to talk about..."
Kasumi faced her and gave a motherly concerned look, "Whatever is the matter Ranma?"
'Come on, say it! This is your back up plan if things go south!', a light blush crept from one cheek to the other and she found her feet interesting, "Well ya see, as you can tell I got water on me again but this time I got my last pair of boys underwear wet a-and I had to wear the..." He cleared his throat nervously, "other sets that mom got for me..."
The young woman tilted her heard, "I understand Ranma, but I don't know what the issue is", sighing Ranma thought for a moment and then found the right words to say.
"Well if Akane found out she'll go in a 'not talking to you' mood with me and yell, call me a pervert and even flatten me with that mallet that comes outta nowhere, so if she does could you calm her down, like take her up to her room and explain why I casually wear girl's underwear so maybe she'll forgive me?" The older girl was thinking it over nodding in agreement.
"Akane is rather quite a spirited girl, but I'll see what I can do if the need arises, and I'll be doing the washing today so no need to worry about tomorrow".
Ranma's blush grew in colour as a thought came to mind.
"I... I w-was just th... thinking... maybe I c-could wear this tomorrow, ya see I'm still not used to it so I figured ya know, and tomorrow I have P.E. but no sports bra so could you buy one for me, you know my size anyway...", Kasumi's motherly smile showed up as she understood this as a form of "coming to terms" kind of thing considering the amount of failed attempts to a cure.
"Why of course Ranma! I was going out to buy foodstuff for dinner, but I can detour a little for you", Ranma nodded a "thank you" and using her skills from working at the Nekohaten and Ucchan's was able to carry most of the plates, leaving a couple for Kasumi to carry. Awaiting Ranma was the Tendos, her farther in cursed form as well and the old lecher who, by the way, began to see stars.
"Oh Ranma! You did this just for your master! You shouldn't have!" Rolling her eyes and ignoring him, she set the plates down and Kasumi followed up behind with of the last pancakes and a bottle of maple syrup.
Genma eyed the meals with hunger and curiosity, [Is this another one of Brock's meals?] He wondered as he flipped the pancake, [And why so little portions?!]
Kasumi was first to respond, "Because, Mr. Saotome, we had only so much batter mixture to make two each", Genma couldn't go against Kasumi's kindness and with his panda paw took the syrup and drizzled it the side of the plate for dipping chunks of pancake later.
The family began eating but before they got a second mouthful in, third if you count the three free-loaders, Brock entered and sat down at the low table. What he was wearing was quite a sight, from top to bottom he wore a fur felt hat and chinstrap, the left half of the brim pinned to the side with a rising bayonets medal holding it in place, his top was a light khaki green short-sleeve dress shirt with his name-tag and even darker coloured green formal dress pants and leather belt, to finish the set was polished black steel cap, leather combat boots. He sat down as Soun looked up from his morning paper, "So son, starting school eh?"
He had swallowed his first mouthful and nodded, "Yes sir! Paperwork signed and filed, orientation of school grounds and local neighbourhood and now I just gotta pile a list of cool sightseeing spots to go to."
Nabiki was more curious about the two stripe rank chevron patches on the sleeves of his shirt, "Hey Brock, what rank is that? Is it Corporal or something?" Nodding in acknowledgement, he had finished most of his meal and was nibbling on the assorted fruit slices provided. He was about to comment when a knock came at the front door.
"Oh my, a visitor", Kasumi got up to answer and walked out, after just twenty seconds of muffled chatting she came back, "Brock, a deliveryman is here to see you."
He frowned, "I didn't order anything but I'll talk to the man, anyway, we better get a move on right guys?"
Akane, Ranma, Nabiki and their new addition to the morning route to school were about to begin aforementioned route when Brock stopped to sign the delivery invoice and followed him out past the dojo compound gate to find the other teens staring at said delivery but that was an understatement. This was no parcel, this was a steel bucket on four by fours! When Brock saw it, his eyes were dinner plates and jaw slamming the ground, for what he saw was the vehicle he stared at for months before his birthday just last month in July; a 1944 model Willys MB Jeep. A note was on the left-hand driver's seat with a caption "happy B-Day and enjoy travelling Japan with this from the ENTIRE Davies family" written on it. After a little convincing they were roaring down the street, with Nabiki in the side passenger seat and the two other girls, blushing like crazy, sitting shoulder to shoulder on the stretch one-seat in the back, but they all still amazed at how well this boy could drive and his handling a car of this age.
Ono Tofu was happily sweeping away just outside his clinic, he paused after hearing a motor engine rev then chug as it shift gears, he pushed his glasses up with his finger as the Jeep flew past. Glancing he sees Akane and girl-type Ranma glancing back and waving, he smiled and waved back then chuckled as he thought, 'teenagers!'
After parking Brock told them to sit for a bit because he wanted a word, sliding out he spun around and faced the three girls. His heart jumped a little because being a male teenager it was natural for him to feel excited in certain organs from having three cute girls curiously staring at him, shaking it off and correcting himself, 'I'm trained better than that!'
"Ahem, look I'll put this plain and simple, Ranma-" he pointed at her and stared hard, "-I got one rule with you, if you're brawling, whether you started it or not, you stay AWAY! From this truck, hell I don't want you to even be able to see it during fights, okay? Am I understood?" Getting the facts straight with a sweat drop nod as a reply, "I mean it mate, you and your martial arts junkies smash this car and you'll be up two million Yen plus!" Ranma's jaw slammed down only to be caught by Akane and set back in place, the redhead stared at the Utility truck she was sitting in and back up to the military uniformed teen and nodded till her head almost fell off.
Nabiki had gone on ahead and the younger teens were bounding up the front door stairs when Akane paused and turned her head to glance at the school gate, "I feel like we missed something, how about you Ranma?" Ranma pinched her chin in thought but then shrugged as she couldn't think of what it was.
A sly, confident grin found its way to the teen soldier's mouth, "Maybe it's that looney fella of yours, Kuno was it? Since I drove you here we're five and half minutes early before the bell and so he can't ambush you! AH! Here comes the bloody tosser now!" As said, Tatewaki Kuno was just turning into the gate with Bokken in hand leaning against his right shoulder but stops as he sees both his beloveds, well to him and his sick-twisted mind that is, and the new foreigner to the school at the front steps, staring back at him. Brock still held that grin that would make Hannibal Smith from the A-team proud and even more so since he was now pulling out a "fake" thin cigar from his breast-pocket, sticking it in the left half of his mouth, "HEY KUNO!-" raising his fist, knuckles out, "get stuffed! Ya bloody poo-jabber, HAHAHA!" With a final move he flipped the bird to him. Kuno maybe slow at time, and due to this teen's accent and slang so this no exception, but the theme of the message was received and understood CLEARLY!
Our uniformed teen turns to face the other two, still holding that damn confident grin and fake cigar in mouth, "I love it when a plan comes together!"
I'm on standby to start the next Chapter, so if people like this i will start the next one, so thanks for sticking it out and as always READ & REVIEW! XD
(1) Toy Soldier speaking, who is it?
(2) Everything is great captain Australia Japan has good eye candy like the buildings and stuff, but a bit crowded though, anyway give mama a hug and kiss for me and I'll see ya in 6 months, got to go first day at school at 0800, toy soldier signing off (clear)