Project A-ko, Ranma OVAs.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma or Project A-ko. I also probably don't own this title, given how generic it is. Still, I'd much rather be warned than sued in any case.
Summary: Ranma Saotome is in desperate need of money, as everyone else is too busy yelling to bother trying to rebuild after the failed wedding. Fortunately for him, the Daitokuji family needs a bodyguard. Wait, did I say fortunately?
In the continuity, this fic fits after Ranma's failed wedding to Akane, and before Project A-ko: Plot of the Daitokuji Financial group. I'm lengthening the time between the original OVA and the second, because it always seemed odd that they could build that place in 3 weeks, and it helps my plot.
Anyhow, I hope you like this.
OVA 01. To Protect and be annoyed.
Genma Saotome was a fat, old, greedy, bald, cowardly waste of flesh. These were all things that Ranma Saotome already knew, but saying them to himself again as he walked down the street made him feel much better about himself and what he was doing. He'd also thrown implications at Soun Tendo, Nabiki, the Kunos, the Amazons, Ukyo and Ryoga, but somehow the oldest and most familiar insults were the most reassuring to hear.
Looking down to the map in his hands, the pigtailed martial artist checked the street he was on against it, and sighed. Normally, he wouldn't have to check so often, but the city he was currently in had one of the strangest road layouts he'd seen in a while, with a large, wide highway running in a spiral pattern from the edge of the crater where the city was built and down to the lake shore. As for what was across the lake, Ranma had almost dropped his backpack in shock when he'd seen it.
After all, he'd assumed, when Hiroshi had shown him the pictures a couple weeks ago, that they were altered, or something. Still, the spire in the middle of the lake still had a giant alien spaceship balanced at its tip, which was weird even for him. Shaking his head clear of those thoughts, the boy started studying the houses along the street he was currently on, looking for the one he wanted. As he did so, he couldn't help but notice the small new stone patches that dotted the walls every once in a while, almost as if he was back in Nerima.
About half way down the block he was currently on, he finally spotted the place. The people he'd asked earlier had told him that he couldn't miss the Daitokuji house, and now he knew they weren't kidding, as the place was three stories tall and about as wide as the Kuno compound. Even in a place like Graviton City, where the property values were about half what they were in Nerima, that was a pretty big accomplishment. He just hoped that the people who lived at this mansion weren't nearly as insane as the ones who lived at the only other ones he'd been to, or he'd soon find himself checking into the nearest mental facility.
Offering up a short prayer to whatever Kami were listening and didn't have it in for him, Ranma knocked on the place's front door. A few seconds later, a screen next to it lit up, revealing the face of an exasperated looking older man. "Yes, what is it?" He barked, quickly.
Ranma stopped to think for a second before he spoke, remembering what Nabiki had told him about making a good impression, as well as bringing an image of his mother sharpening her blade into sharp focus. Gulping, he started, "Hello, Daitokuji-san, I'm Ranma Saotome, the bodyguard you hired."
"Ranma, hmm? That idiot Tendo said he'd send the best he's… oh, just come in." The man said, before slamming his finger down on a button on his desk. The phone's image winked out, and the door clicked, swinging several inches inwards. Shrugging, Ranma entered the house, only looking around for a few moments and resisting the urge, trained into him since the age of six, to assess everything for its value at a pawn shop. For a moment, he wondered how he was going to find where Mr. Daitokuji wanted him to go, until he heard the obviously very annoyed man's raised voice from down the hall that lead off from the side of the front room.
Shrugging, he followed the sound to a set of double doors, and knocked. At Daitokuji's grunted "Come in!" The pigtailed martial artist pushed the doors open and took up a respectful position in front of the desk.
When he'd been standing there for about five minutes, his left eye was beginning to develop a severe twitch, and only the fact that the Dojo desperately needed the money, after the wedding fiasco, and that he was the one expected to get it, kept him from saying anything. The man abruptly looked up, blinking at the young martial artist. "Hmm? What are you doing here?"
Ranma kept himself from face faulting by an effort of will that would have made Cologne jealous, simply bowing again. "I'm the bodyguard you asked about." He said.
"Oh, yes." Mr. Daitokuji replied, looking Ranma over slowly. "Are you telling me you were the best they could provide?"
Ranma's eyebrow twitched. "I'm one of the best martial artists in my school." He explained. "They sent me because they didn't want to send anyone else into a place as dangerous as Graviton City."
Mr. Daitokuji snorted, then sighed. "Well, I suppose you'll have to do, given that none of the other companies I called would return my calls." He drawled, and then pressed a button on his desk. "Asa, bring refreshments to my office, please." After receiving a confirmation from the other side, he continued. "Now, the reason I asked you here is simple. I need someone to protect my little B-ko."
Ranma blinked. "Ya… erm, I mean…You want me to look after a kid?" He asked, confused.
The man cleared his throat nervously, then answered. "Well, B-ko tends to get herself into situations where she could get hurt." He explained. "Up until now, I've given her free reign with the company's resources during these… misunderstandings, but she's running up a large debt in destroyed equipment, and…"
"Wait, what's she doin to destroy high grade military technology?" Ranma asked, slipping completely out of the more polite mode of speech Nabiki had told him to use in astonishment. He'd seen some of the equipment the Daitokuji group had constructed for the Japanese military.
Mr. Daitokuji was about to respond, when a young girl, about Ranma's own age, came into the room carrying a tray, on which was sitting several glasses and a pitcher of clear liquid. The older man gestured at her to put the drinks on the desk, and continued. "B-ko is a very active girl."
Ranma shrugged, deciding that he'd find out what was going on later. Besides, how much trouble could some industrialist's kid be, anyways? Immediately after he thought that, a crack of thunder echoed from outside of the window. Ranma would have ignored this as nothing special, after all random crashes of thunder were routine with Tatewaki Kuno around, but the sound had apparently startled Asa so much that she tripped while carrying the drinks over to the table.
Ranma watched in horrified slow motion, as the pitcher slid off of the edge of the girl's tray, sending its contents across his legs and causing a familiar tingling sensation all over his body. As the young martial artist's view of the world descended by about half a foot, she heard the door to the room slam open.
"Father, why did you call Asa? She and the other girls were helping me work on a project." Came the voice of an irritated girl from the open doorway. Ranma thought about turning to face the newcomer, but also wanted to see what Mr. Daitokuji's reaction to her curse was. After all, this type of situation was the precise thing she'd been instructed to avoid.
For his part, Mr. Daitokuji was looking between Ranma and someone behind her, his eyes wide in shock. "H… how?" He stuttered, his eyes so wide that it was almost comical.
Ranma was about to explain, when the girl's voice behind her returned, now screaming. "A-ko? You… how dare… I can't believe… YOU'RE DISGUSTING! Girls, Kill!"
Ranma was about to spin to see if there was anyone named A-ko in the room, when she heard a tremendous crash from one wall. Turning to face it, she saw a massive metallic figure bursting through, plaster raining from its shoulders and head. "What the hell?" She started, right before the thing's massive head snapped up, locking onto her. Seeing where this was going, the pigtailed martial artist started moving immediately, which was a very good thing as several small missiles, launched from the massive machine's left shoulder, passed through the position she had occupied moments earlier.
As she heard the impact of the missiles and their subsequent detonation, Ranma thought about looking back to see how Mr. Daitokuji was doing, but reconsidered quickly, as the robot had started moving with a speed that was quite impressive given its size. She just barely evaded a large drill, which imbedded itself in the wall of the office, tearing away plaster and beams alike with almost no effort.
As she found herself backed into another corner, the young martial artist frowned. Unlike her opponent, she wasn't exactly able to bash down walls when they got in her way, and dodging was pretty well all she could do for now. Plus, her already slim chances of being hired by Mr. Daitokuji were decreasing every time the damned thing took a chunk out of his house. "Hey, stupid!" She called, noting that the machine's head turned towards her more quickly as she did so. "C'mon, follow me!"
After saying this, the martial artist threw herself through the window behind Mr. Daitokuji's desk, wincing as several pieces of jagged glass left scratches over her forearms. Straightening out from the ball she'd curled into, she bounced off of a tree in the large courtyard in front of the mansion, spinning in mid-air and landing with a negligible impact.
As she got a more complete look at the thing that had tried to kill her, now not constantly on the move, the pigtailed martial artist groaned. "Kami, what did I do to deserve this?" She moaned, noting the two massive drills the thing had for arms, plus the dozens of tiny missile apertures that lined its shoulders. She wasn't sure what the huge vent thing it had on its chest was for, but guessed it was a weapon like all the rest of the parts. "This is gunna be fun." She muttered, cracking her knuckles.
HR.
"Father, I know you have a womanizing streak, but how could you!" B-ko Daitokuji screamed at her father, backing him against one of the half destroyed walls of his office.
"H… how could I what, B-ko chan?" The older man asked, plaintively, raising his hands in warding signs.
"How could you date that… that… best-friend stealing A-ko!" B-ko thundered, pointing one shaky finger at the hole that Ranma had lead the mecha through.
"A-ko… isn't that the girl from your school?" Mr. Daitokuji said, shocked. "I can't believe you'd think that of me! I was having a business meeting with a new employee, when you…"
"I can't believe you could lie so badly!" B-ko sniffed turning away from her father. "It doesn't matter! First she takes my best friend, and now she's tried to take my father? I will not have it, A-ko!" Saying that, the younger Daitokuji bounded out the remains of the window, running across the grounds to battle her hated rival.
HR.
Ranma winced as yet another topiary Tanuki disintegrated under a hail of bullets that had been meant for her. If this was the kind of thing Mr. Daitokuji's daughter fought against, she now understood why he wanted a bodyguard. Flipping through the air, the red haired martial artist bounded off of the edge of a large pool, deciding that she'd dodged enough. Taking an evasive course, she worked her way closer to her opponent, looking for likely targets for an attack. Noting what looked like extremely weak joints at the knees, she concentrated energy into her hands… and took a missile in the chest when she lost track of her enemy for several moments.
A flash of white-hot pain shot through the cursed girl's entire upper body, as she was flung backwards, directly into the pool that she'd just jumped past. On her flight, however, she noticed something that made her blood run cold. About thirty feet behind the mecha that was trying to kill her and approaching fast was a girl with hair of the same distinctive light blue as her prospective employer's.
Her mouth gaped open in shocked amazement after this development, unfortunately just in time to fill with cool fountain water. She sprang off of the fountain's bottom, though her arms protested the sudden temperature change along their new burns, as she catapulted herself to the surface. The girl was presumably the "B-ko" that she'd been told about, though she looked a bit too old to be anyone's 'little girl,' she thought. "Hey, ya wanna get outta the way?" She hollered, hopefully.
"Be quiet!" The girl yelled back, as Ranma continued to do gymnastics in order to avoid the Mecha's seemingly infinite ordinance. "I'm going to kill you this time, A-ko."
What the girl did next caused Ranma to stumble in her head-long run, desperately recovering in time to put her directly in front of the girl… who had just ripped off her frilly white night-dress to reveal the bra and panties underneath.
"What the hell did ya do that for?" Ranma screamed, as yet another wave of missiles came from the machine that was trying to kill her, and she realized that she couldn't dodge without leaving B-ko in the line of fire. Grunting in annoyance, she bolted forward, grabbing the taller blue haired girl in her arms, and jumped away just in time to miss the explosion.
For some reason, after she'd landed, the Mecha was on its knees, bowing and pressing its head to the ground. Unfortunately, Ranma was far too adrenaline filled and annoyed to notice, shooting one arm out while still keeping B-ko safely cradled in the other, and gathering a ball of life energy that was fueled equally by irritation and panic as by confidence. "Moko-Takabisha!" She yelled, sending the attack cannoning at the robot. It looked up at the very last moment, only to get hit in the face by the massive ball of Chi, which rolled it over and threw it backwards to land in the pool.
After the column of water had died down, the yard fell into a stony silence, only broken by the hissing of fried electronics. That was, of course, for about thirty seconds. "So, erm, why'd ya rip yer clothes off when that robot was going to fry you?" Ranma asked, still curious as to what the other girl had been thinking, as she set her down and backed away. She was very careful not to stare for too long at anything that would get her slapped, and ruthlessly suppressed her blush.
"You know full well, A-K…" B-ko started to respond heatedly, until Ranma's eyes met hers in the redhead's desperate attempt not to get slapped. "Wait, your eyes… they aren't gold." She continued, slowly.
"Um, no…" Ranma said, confused, before Mr. Daitokuji ran up to her, panting.
"Mr… Miss Saotome, I've seen enough!" He said, causing Ranma to wince and imagine how much she was going to get yelled at when she came home, reporting that she hadn't gotten the job. "You're hired!"
"But Mr. Daitokuji, that robot wasn't my fault, 'n I tried ta minimize damage to your house, and… wait… did you just say I'm hired?"
Daitokuji nodded assuredly. "That is one of B-ko's more powerful combat mechs, and you fought it to a standstill. I wasn't impressed by you at first, but that demonstration was incredible!"
"Wait, that was yours?" Ranma said, now openly gawking at B-ko, as she returned an equally astonished "Hired?"
HR.
"Hmm," B-ko said, sipping a cup of calming tea as she sat in her home's main room across from Ranma. "So father hired you to act as a bodyguard since he's been denying me the resources I need to construct my mech designs?"
Ranma nodded, and then winced as the girl next to her; the same one who had spilled water on her to begin with, applied a stinging disinfectant to one of the long cuts on her arm. "Yeah, that's pretty well it." She answered. "But, I gotta ask, if he's not lettin ya build any new machines, how'd you get the one that tried to kill me?"
B-ko sniffed. "That's just the Max 5000. It's a little out of date, and not nearly good enough, especially with the idiot I had piloting it!" She snapped, turning a glare on another girl who stood nervously near the entrance to the room. The girl winced, and scuttled off into the building, and B-ko returned her gaze to Ranma, studying her.
The pigtailed martial artist fidgeted nervously under the blue haired girl's calculating stare, measuring her as if she were another weapons system for installation. "I don't really see what use you could be, even if you're strong enough to defeat one of my machines. Then again, maybe I need new subordinates anyways. Tell me, what else can you do?"
Ranma winced. "Well, I'm mostly a martial artist. I can cook okay, I guess, and I'm all right at construction." She considered not saying the next bit, but it was likely that B-ko's father would tell her later anyways, so it would probably earn her points with her new employer to get it out of the way now. "Also, I've got a curse. I'm a guy who turns into a girl when I get hit with cold water."
B-ko tried to scoff at the absurdity of the last claim, but unfortunately she was drinking tea at that moment, and began coughing. After regaining her composure, she glared at the martial artist across from her. "That wasn't a very funny joke."
Ranma shrugged, standing and walking over to the tea set next to B-ko. "Can I borrow this?" She asked, and getting an affirmative nod and a skeptical look, picked the thing up and dumped it over her head. As the change came over her, restoring his natural body, B-ko dropped her cup of tea from shock numbed fingers, and he could hear some whispering coming from what sounded like the walls of the room. Some of it, which sent a shiver down his spine, sounded distinctly like "Wow, he's cute!"
"Oh… I… see." B-ko said, as Ranma returned to his seat. For a moment, he noticed her looking over him again, before she stopped with a blush. "Well, at the very least, since father's agreed to hire you for at least this month, and put you under my command, I can find a few ways to use you."
Ranma shivered at that statement, recalling how the girl had looked at him earlier. Still, it meant that he had brought in at least enough to start repairs to the Dojo, especially since the Daitokujis were offering a ridiculous amount of money, at least in his opinion.
"It's getting late, so I'm going to bed." B-ko said. "Mari will show you where your quarters are."
"Yeah… sure." Ranma said, uncertainly, as B-ko stood, walking out of the room. As she moved, she withdrew a sketchpad from one pocket of the school dress she'd put on after destroying her nightgown, writing something in it.
Moments later, a shadow fell across Ranma's chair, and he looked up to see a very tall person in a similar uniform, their hair done up in two pigtails. "Hi, I'm Mari, nice to meet you." It said, in a voice that was far too high for its frame.
Ranma just shrugged, having seen much stranger before, and stood. "Nice ta meet ya too." He replied. "Hey, you know an Amazon named Dowel?"
Mari thought for a moment, rubbing one massive finger across her chin, then shook her head.
"Okay, just checkin." Ranma returned, before the muscular girl lead him out of the room and down the hall.
HR.
"Hey, get up." Ume, a rather chubby girl with square glasses and a bowl cut similar to Nabiki's, called as she shook Ranma's shoulder. The pigtailed martial artist didn't seem to hear her, merely rolling over and muttering something about his stupid old man.
"Hey, let me try." Ine, a thinner girl with buck teeth said, leaning over the martial artist and then down. The other girls wondered what she was doing, until she puckered her lips and tried to kiss him. Unfortunately for her, Ranma rolled to the side again, and she ended up with a face full of feather pillow.
"You tried to kiss him?" Asa exclaimed, shocked.
Ine shrugged. "Cute boys are rare around here." She said, in explanation.
"Here, let me try." Mari contributed, reaching down with both hands, picking Ranma up bodily and throwing him out the window. The other three girls looked at their larger friend in horror, but Mari just shrugged, pointing as Ranma recovered in mid-air, landing with a splash in the pool in the front yard.
"Damn it, why is it always water? Yer gunna pay for that, ol' man!" They heard the red haired girl yell, before she bounded back up to the fortunately open window, coming at Mari with a jump kick. At the last moment, she realized that it hadn't been her father who threw her out of the window, but it was too late to divert her momentum, and she slammed into Mari, who stumbled backwards and ended up tripping over Ine. By the time Asa and Ume tried to help her avoid falling, the final result was pretty well certain.
"Really, how hard is it to wake someone u…" Came B-ko's annoyed voice, as the blue haired girl opened the door to the guest room where Ranma had been sleeping. Seeing Ranma, in his cursed form, perched on top of her other four employees, she slapped her forehead. "I don't want to know how this happened, do I?"
"Probably not." Ranma said, getting off of Mari and offering the other girls help getting up.
"Well, it's not important, and I needed you in that form this morning, anyways. Now come with me." B-ko said, turning and starting from the room.
Ranma shrugged, rubbing sleep out of her eyes and following, but winced as she saw the time displayed on a clock as she passed the door. "Why am I awake at 5:30?" She complained. It reminded her of the bad old days, before her father had gotten too used to a comfortable futon in the Tendo guest room.
"Because I've got a plan, and it'll take time to prepare." B-ko said, and turned to look at Ranma with a gleam in her eye that reminded her eerily of Kodachi. The pigtailed martial artist was about to ask what the plan was, when the two entered a large room with a mirror on one wall, and what looked like a whole cosmetics store lined up along the other.
"Here, put this on." B-ko ordered, tossing the redhead what looked like a girls school uniform.
"Wha?" Ranma asked, confused, only to get a glare from B-ko. 'Great, another girl that likes playing dress up.' She thought, but fortunately had the sense not to say it. Sighing, she started stripping off her shirt, only to get an irritated "Ack!" from B-ko.
"Don't you have any modesty? Go into the corner or something!" The blue haired girl said, and Ranma could have sworn she could see a blush on her face. Grumbling about over-sensitive girls, she did so, and was quickly changed.
Moments later, B-ko had ushered her into what looked like a barber's chair, and Ranma was getting nervous. It was only the fact that she wasn't going for a set of shears that kept the redhead from bolting. "So, um, what's this plan of yers?" She asked, as B-ko began to untie her pigtail.
"It's simple." The taller girl said, giggling. "This morning, I'm going to fight A-ko, as usual." Ranma was about to interrupt, asking who A-ko was, since she'd only heard the name a couple of times before, but B-ko continued. "While I do, you're going to pretend to be her, and lead C-ko away from the battle. When I give you the signal that I've defeated A-ko, you can bring C-ko back here, and I'll have her all to myself!"
"Um, am I missin something here?" Ranma asked, totally confused. "Who're A-ko and C-ko, again?"
B-ko only responded by producing a file folder from apparently nowhere, tossing it on Ranma's lap as she continued working with the redhead's hair. For some reason, she seemed to be having an inordinate amount of fun teasing the red locks, but Ranma decided to ignore this for now, and picked up the file, beginning to read.
The file's contents were better organized than the blackmail records Nabiki kept, and gave a rundown of two schoolgirls. Now that she got a look at "A-ko," Ranma could see why B-ko had mistaken her for her, though the martial artist was a little shorter, had a larger bust and a different eye color. Apparently, this girl had somehow tricked C-ko, one of B-ko's friends, into ignoring her, and then attacked her when she tried to get her back. "What, she usin a magical artifact, or something?" The redhead asked, when she got down that far.
"Hmm?" B-ko replied, semi-distracted.
"Well, if she's making this C-ko person ignore ya, but she acts normal in every other way, sounds sorta like some of the stuff that's been used on me or Akane before."
"Hmm…" B-ko said, falling into a thoughtful silence, and withdrawing the same book she'd been writing in the night before. After she'd finished jotting down whatever it was she'd wanted to write, she looked back up. "Well, that's about as close as I can get your hair, now it's tine for your eyes."
Ranma blinked, just in time to miss one of the other girls scurrying in with a case of some sort. B-ko withdrew a set of contact lenses from it, holding them carefully in a soft cloth. "Wait, I gotta put those in my eyes?" The martial artist asked, nervously. She'd used glasses that tinted her eyes different colors for some of her Ryoga fooling disguises, but she'd never gone this far.
"Remember, father told you that you were under my command." B-ko said, and Ranma sighed, once again starting a mental litany against her father. "Wait, but if I'm distracting this C-ko person, who's gunna be protecting you when yer fighting A-ko?" She asked, as B-ko carefully set the contacts in place.
"Oh, don't worry about that." The blue haired girl said. "I'll beat that freak this morning, I know it!"
"…Right…" Ranma said, not entirely successful in keeping the skepticism out of her voice.
"Oh, be quiet." B-ko snapped, then spun the chair Ranma was sitting in around. "I'm done, now stand up."
Ranma did so, and blinked at her reflection, surprisingly not feeling the contacts in her eyes. It was quite surprising what manipulating her hair a bit could do, as she now looked quite a bit like that picture of A-ko. "So, ya done playing dress up now?" She asked.
"Yes." B-ko said, nodding, "but please try not to talk like that when you take C-ko. I'm sure she'll be able to see through your disguise if you speak like a hick."
"Hey!" Ranma objected, but she was ignored as B-ko left the room. "Do I at least get breakfast before we have to start this stupid plan?"
HR.
As Ranma walked to Graviton girls' high school next to B-ko and in front of her four employees, she got a much better look at the city. Nabiki had told her quite a bit about the place before she'd left, how it was one of the industrial and technological capitals of Japan, but she was only really seeing that now. Though the spaceship was the most eye-catching feature of the city's skyline, the place was also filled with gleaming, new looking buildings that looked straight out of a cyberpunk manga. Nerima, with its pre-millennial construction, was one of the most old-fashioned looking places in Japan, and Graviton was quite a contrast from that.
"Would you stop acting like a gawking tourist?" B-ko snapped, glaring over at the redhead walking next to her.
Ranma shrugged. "Well I am, sort of." She said. "Pops… I mean, my father never took me through this place on our training trip. Never really told me why, either." She shrugged, thinking it unimportant.
"Hmph." B-ko said, as they approached the entrance to the school.
"Hey, you don't want me to go in there, do you?" Ranma asked. "I mean, it's an all girls school, and I usually have pretty bad luck in situations like that."
B-ko sighed. "You're a girl right now, aren't you?" She replied, having apparently gotten used to the curse quite quickly. "But, for today, I want you pretty much anywhere but the school, at least until after I send the all clear signal. Now, go stand by the gate and get ready."
"Right…" Ranma said, sighing and moving over to the wall next to the school gate. As she did so, she casually looked around, noting that the repairs to this section of the city seemed most extensive. In fact, it seemed like no two sections of the school wall had been laid down on the same day. It almost brought back memories of Furinkan, but even that place hadn't taken quite this much damage.
Moving her eyes from the school, the pigtailed martial artist saw B-ko arranging the other four girls, each in large suits of battle armor, around the inner courtyard of the school. She had read the report on A-ko, and from what it said had gotten the impression that the other redhead was pretty strong, but this much firepower seemed ridiculous. It was probably enough to stop her on a good day, unless she resorted to using the forbidden techniques.
As she thought that, a steady line of students started trooping into the school, followed by an older woman, riding what looked a lot like a motor scooter. "Hmm, A-ko Magami, here early again?" The woman said, taking off her riding helmet to reveal hair of a deeper blue than B-ko's. "I suppose you're going to stay out here and gossip with Daitokuji again this morning?"
"Um, sensei, I…" Ranma said, unsure what to say.
"Oh, never mind. Just try to be in before the late bell this time, all right?" The teacher said, riding into the yard, and paying no attention to the massive powered armor suits arrayed there. Strangely, Ranma realized, no one seemed to be paying the war machines much mind, glancing at them as someone would Kuno in front of Furinkan.
Within a few minutes, all the students were inside the school, and B-ko was standing, looking out to the street. "Um, maybe she's not coming?" Ranma offered, looking down the road herself and seeing no one else on it.
"Oh, she's coming." B-ko said, narrowing her eyes. Ranma was about to make another comment, when she heard a sound. It was sort of like a super sonic aircraft, but it had this odd, high pitched whining component to it. Narrowing her eyes, she looked to the sky, and then down the street again. The speck appeared and started getting larger almost too quickly for Ranma to track, resolving itself into a red haired girl, identical to the one in the pictures in B-ko's file, dragging a smaller blonde by the arm. The other's feet were off the ground and dangling behind her, and Ranma had to wonder how her arm hadn't been dislocated.
"A-ko!" B-ko exclaimed, as the redhead came to a skidding stop, only allowing the blonde's feet to touch the ground when she was no longer moving.
"Ah, come on B-ko, can't we put it off this once?" The girl moaned, irritably.
"Do I ever agree to that when you ask it?" B-ko replied, heartily.
"There was last Tuesday." The blonde spoke up, causing B-ko to face fault.
"I had a cold, all right?" She said, her cool and dramatic façade almost completely destroyed. "But today I'm feeling just fine, so prepare to meet your doom, A-ko Magami!"
At this point, Ranma really wanted to join in on A-ko's side, given the force arrayed against her, but if she knew mind effecting magic and was as strong as the report claimed, that may not be a good idea. For once in her life, the pigtailed martial artist kept herself from getting involved in a fight directly, deciding to watch for a while first.
That was when B-ko's plan went into effect. First, she grabbed ahold of her uniform directly below her left sleeve and yanked, answering Ranma's question of the night before as she revealed that she was now wearing what looked like a ridiculously skimpy suit of armor under it. Abruptly, a clear face mask slid into place from the hair ornament she'd been wearing, and her employees stepped out from where they'd been hiding.
A-ko just sighed, irritated, and not seeming impressed by what was arrayed in front of her. "Well, I'll just wait for you in cla…" The blonde girl started, when a huge column of smoke appeared behind B-ko, obscuring the school from view.
"There, A-ko, now the school's been destroyed, so we can finally finish this without you running off and pretending it's because you're going to be late!" B-ko said, triumphantly.
Ranma knew that the school was still fine, and that B-ko had just used a lot of smoke bombs, but A-ko didn't. "I can't believe you did that!" She said, her mouth agape. "That's going a little too far, even for you!"
"Nothing is too far for me to get C-ko back!" B-ko proclaimed, charging at A-ko with one gauntleted arm raised. "Akagiyama Missile!"
Ranma watched, mildly impressed, as the redhead frantically dodged all of the projectiles, pivoting on one foot and bending backwards, incidentally giving everyone nearby a panty shot, before springing back to her feet and charging towards her opponent.
B-ko responded in kind, rocket thrusters on the wings in the back of her armor propelling her forward, and when the two clashed, another cloud of smoke exploded outward. This was Ranma's cue to act, and she did so, charging into the smoke cloud and using her aura sense to try and keep out of the two combatants' way. Waiting for a few minutes in the concealing shroud of smoke, she walked towards where she remembered the blonde girl was standing.
Once she'd blinked her eyes clear of the stinging cloud, she saw the smaller girl jumping up and down. "A-ko, are you done yet?" She asked, excitedly.
"Yeah." Ranma said, coughing slightly.
"Great!" C-ko exclaimed. "So, since we don't have school today, can we go do something fun?"
Ranma looked at the young girl as if she'd gone insane. "The school just blew up, and you want to go do something fun?"
"Yeah, just like two weeks ago, remember?" C-ko said, cheerfully.
Ranma really wanted to ask what had happened two weeks ago, but figured that that might blow her cover. Hearing a distant explosion, she decided to get away from the school, regardless. "Yeah, okay, we'll go do something fun."
"Yay!" C-ko said, grabbing Ranma around the shoulders and hugging her. When the redhead went stiff as a board, the blonde, who was actually about the same size as Ranma's cursed form, stepped back. "What's the matter?"
"Um, nothing." Ranma said, trying to shake off the feeling that she was likely going to be punished for that hug later.
HR.
"Wow, that was neat!" C-ko bubbled as she and Ranma walked out of an ice cream shop, both holding large cones. "When did you learn how to do that?"
Ranma shrugged. "It's pretty easy." She contributed, then grumbled, "Once you find the only place in town with male waiters. It's weird though, I haven't seen a guy under the age of twenty-five in this entire city."
"What was that?" C-ko asked, after taking a big chomp out of her chocolate ice cream cone. Fortunately, Ranma was saved from having to answer as the brain freeze from ingesting that much cold food at once hit C-ko's brain a moment later. "Ooohhh, that doesn't feel good." She muttered, clutching her head.
Ranma chuckled. "You shouldn't eat it that fast." She said, guiding the other girl over to a bench. Oddly, she'd been having fun the past couple of hours that she'd been distracting C-ko. She'd thought that the assignment would be boring, but it was, so far at least, pretty relaxing.
She was out, having fun, without someone trying to kill her and it sort of felt nice. Of course, she also had no idea why B-ko hadn't sent her signal yet. It wasn't as if their fight could still be going on, was it? True, she'd occasionally fought with Ryoga for six or eight hour stretches, but there was no way in the world that they could be as determined, was there?
"Hey, A-ko, can we go to the toy store so I can look at all the neat stuff?" C-ko asked, apparently having recovered from her headache and bounced to her feet. Ranma turned towards her, just in time to miss the huge dust cloud that erupted from the direction she'd previously been looking in.
HR.
"That's odd." A woman said, as she and her husband sat at an outdoor café, relaxing and sipping cups of coffee.
"Hmm?" answered her husband, lowering the newspaper he'd been reading and meeting her eyes.
"Isn't that A-ko and her friend over there?" The woman asked, pointing across the street, where two girls in the Graviton high uniform were walking.
"I wonder why they're not in school." The man said. "Maybe I should go talk to her?"
The woman nodded, and the two stood, leaving cash on the table to pay for their coffee. As they approached the two girls, the redhead's head snapped around, surprise evident on her face. The blonde apparently noticed her friend's reaction, and stopped to look as well. "Oh, hello Mr. and Mrs. Magami." She said, waving.
A-ko's face immediately went pale. "Um, hi Mom, Dad." She said, though her nervousness seemed to increase as she said it.
"Hello, are you two having a good morning?" Mrs. Magami said, calmly.
C-ko nodded rapidly. "Mmhmm." She said, cheerfully. "We went to the ice cream shop and the park and the…" She started, and everyone let her ramble for a few minutes.
After C-ko had wound down to a stop, Mr. Magami spoke up. "That's nice C-ko, but why aren't you two in school?"
"Oh, B-ko blew it up!" C-ko said, cheerfully.
The Magami parents were about to accept that answer, when something seemed to click in Mrs. Magami's mind. She threw a glance to her husband, who, through that annoying bond parents all seem to share, understood. "I see. A-ko, can we talk to you for a minute, please?"
"Um, yeah." The redhead said, nervously, and they both noticed that she reached to scratch the back of her neck for a moment, before forcibly stopping herself. C-ko stood nearby, rocking on the tips of her toes, before the redhead said, "Um, C-ko, why don't you go down to that toy store, I'll meet you there."
"Okay!" She chirped, running off.
For a minute, the three others stayed silent, before A-ko's father spoke up. "So, are you an alien shape shifter?"
The redhead shook her head.
"Android?" Mrs. Magami tried, receiving another negative response.
"Evil clone?" "Nope." "Magical duplicate?" "Nope."
"Hmm." Mrs. Magami said, reaching out and poking Ranma in the chest. "Well, she's not an illusion."
"Um, could you not do that, please?" Ranma said, blushing slightly.
They both sighed. "All right, then what are you?"
"So, this kinda stuff happen often?" Ranma asked, before answering.
"You'd be surprised." Mr. Magami returned.
"Fine, I'm not really here ta cause any trouble. I'm supposed ta be B-ko Daitokuji's bodyguard, but her dad ordered me ta do whatever she told me, so now I'm distracting C-ko while she and A-ko fight. Supposed ta bring her to the house when I'm signaled." Ranma admitted, deciding that she would likely suck at lying anyways.
To her surprise, both parents sighed in relief. "Well, if that's all it is, have a good day." Mr. Magami said, brightly.
"Wait, so yer not gunna interfere?" She asked, confused.
Both parents shrugged. "Given what A-ko may have to deal with in the future, B-ko's pretty mild, so we decided to let her handle anything related to the Daitokuji girl." Mrs. Magami explained.
"Don't worry, I've told A-ko to try not to hurt B-ko's employees too badly when she fights her, so you'll be fine." Mr. Magami contributed.
"Right…" Ranma said, distinctly creeped out by this turn of events. "I better go get C-ko. She doesn't really seem like the kinda person I should leave alone."
Both Magamis nodded, waving as Ranma dashed off down the street. "Hmm, she was rather nice." Mrs. Magami observed, as they turned back to their coffee shop, reassured that their 'vacation' in Graviton city wouldn't be interrupted by work.
HR.
As Ranma ran down the street, looking for C-ko, she winced to herself. She'd known there was a reason that she had let the other girl lead, and that had been because she knew almost nothing about the city. Fortunately, through asking several people directions, all of whom seemed to know C-ko as the short description she gave was always enough, she'd managed to track her down. Unfortunately, as she rounded the last corner and caught sight of the distinctive hairstyle of the blonde, she noticed a huge guy, wearing what looked like a trench coat, walking up to her.
The martial artist frowned, her eyes narrowing, as she saw the man reach out, grabbing C-ko around the waist. Moving quickly, she leapt up, bouncing off of a wall, and landed a punishing spin-kick to the man's side, causing him to let go of C-ko in surprise as he fell.
"Hey, are you all right?" She asked, dropping down next to the other girl.
C-ko looked at her, confused, and then down to her fallen assailant. "A-ko, why'd you hurt poor D?" She asked, sniffling.
"Huh?" Ranma asked, blinking stupidly.
"Yeah, what'd I do." The mugger said, pushing himself up to a sitting position. "I was only hugging the princess. I didn't expect to see her today!"
"Um…" Ranma said, realizing that she may have just done something really stupid. "Sorry? I thought… Well, there was this guy in a trench coat grabbing C-ko, and I just…"
"Oh, so now you're calling me a guy again, huh? That really hurts a girl's feelings!" The huge… man? Said, irritably. Ranma looked between the little girl and the trench coat clad person in confused silence for a moment, before deciding to bite the bullet.
"Look, D, I'm sorry. It was an accident." She said, and fortunately her horrible skill at lying didn't come into play, because it honestly was one.
"Hmm, well I guess that's okay." The trench coat clad person, apparently named D, said as she took Ranma's hand, offered to help her up.
"Yay, everything's sorted out!" C-ko proclaimed, and then started skipping around the other two. Ranma could feel a sweat drop building on the back of her neck. "Yeash, did she learn obliviousness from Kasumi, or something?" She muttered, fortunately too quietly for anyone to hear.
A few moments later, D had completely recovered, and the three walked through the busy streets of the market. Ranma was keeping quiet for now, not wanting to screw up any worse, while C-ko chatted cheerfully with the newly arrived apparent girl. Ranma had to wonder if D had been dropped into Jusenkyo or something, but knew that A-ko probably wouldn't know about the place.
"So, why are you out here today, D?" C-ko asked, curiously.
The oldest of the three shrugged. "The captain wants some things from here. We're planning on rebuilding the ship into an entertainment district, so we can get enough money to get off…" She trailed off, raising one meaty hand to clamp over her mouth.
"Wait, you're from that huge ship?" Ranma said, blurting it out before she could stop herself.
"Yes, we came to earth to rescue princess C-ko, remember?" D said, looking at the redhead in concern. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Um… yeah." Ranma said, and was saved from having to say anything else when the wall in front of them exploded.
"Aw, crap." the redhead complained, as she saw what looked like a huge black mechanical spider crawl its way out of what had once been a brick wall. "Not this again."
Next to her, both D and C-ko gasped. "That's an Alpha Cygnan battle mech, what's it doing here?" D asked, surprised.
As if to answer her question, the insect-like machine bent forward, and a hatch opened to reveal an androgynous looking figure wearing what looked like a reject from the military uniform bins of the worst space operas in the past twenty years. "DC 138621S113, stand aside and let me take the princess!" The figure exclaimed, in a voice that leaned more toward feminine than masculine, but not by much.
"AD 3142156?" D asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm tired of living on this dirt ball, and I'm going home with the princess! The figure said, loudly.
"You mean you've found a way home?" D asked, hopefully, as both Ranma and C-ko watched them, confused.
"Yes, but it's only got enough space for me and the Princess, so give her up!" The figure in the machine announced. "I have heard that the humans are going to be launching a shuttle at the military base outside of town, and it's meant for long hauls. I'm going to steal it and take it home!"
"You're going to use one battlemech to steal a shuttle that doesn't have warp drive and try to go home with it?" D said, before getting tapped on the shoulder by Ranma.
"Um, you do realize I'm right here, and I'm not gunna let them take C-ko." She said, simply. It was something A-ko would say, and besides, this guy sounded like a nut, so letting him have an innocent, if slightly annoying little kid wasn't something that Ranma would let happen.
"For once I have to agree with you, A-ko." D said, pulling a sword out from under her trench coat, and throwing it off to reveal…
"Urk… Y'know, that was a lot less traumatizin when B-ko did it." Ranma mumbled, shuddering.
"What's wrong with you?!" D demanded, taking up a stance in front of C-ko, her skimpy battle armor gleaming in the sun.
Ranma said nothing, shaking off the image she'd just seen.
"Hmmph." AD said, dropping down into her spider-like machine, the hatch clanging shut immediately afterwards. When two large cannons on the thing's forward section started to glow, Ranma was getting a bit worried. They discharged, sending bolts of hot plasma flying past the redhead's body, but ripping her uniform skirt slightly. Grunting, and still not entirely healed from taking a missile to the chest the night before, she rolled to her feet, noting that D had used the mech's distraction while firing at Ranma to charge forward, bringing her blade down along the cannons.
Unfortunately for her, the weapons were made of sterner stuff than she thought, and the blade bounced off harmlessly, only to be countered by a swinging leg, propelling D into the side of a building.
"C-ko, you'd better run." Ranma said, narrowing her eyes.
"But, what about you, A-ko?" The blonde girl replied.
"I can take care of myself." Ranma said, but C-ko's upper lip firmed determinedly. Cursing, the redhead grabbed the blonde bodily, leaping into the air. C-ko's arms closed tightly around her neck, and she once again got the ominous impression that someone was going to smack her in the head as she landed on a roof, dropping C-ko there and descending back into battle.
"Hey, that's not fair!" C-ko protested, starting up a crying fit suitable for Soun Tendo, and the martial artist felt a twinge of guilt as she ran back towards the fight, which increased as she noticed that D had taken another hit while she was gone.
"Moko-Takabisha!" She cried, letting out a blast of energy as she descended to the ground, and smirking in satisfaction as it took the giant spider thing in the center of mass.
It skidded back about a dozen feet, smashing through yet another wall, and Ranma winced. "Hmm, you never used that trick in our fight, were you holding back?" D asked, sounding almost hurt.
"Um, now's not the time for that." Ranma said, quickly, as the enemy recovered, sending an energy blast at her. "You know any big weak points on this thing? You said it's one of yers."
D sniffed. "I couldn't tell that to a non-Alpha Cygnan!" She said, sounding offended. "Besides, why don't you just punch it, like you did to all the other ones?"
Ranma blinked, and suddenly had a lot more respect for A-ko, or at least her fighting ability. The thing's armor was tough enough to not even crack when he hit it with a Moko-Takabisha, and she apparently only had to punch one to destroy it. "Well, I would, but I don't wanna, um, hurt the pilot." She said, lamely.
D snorted, but then nodded. "I guess you have a point." She grumbled, as another blast of searing laser energy hit nearby. Dashing forward, Ranma let loose a flurry of Amaguriken blows at what looked like a weak point, the occupant's hatch, but it didn't give. Even worse, since it was so close to the beam emitters, the metal there was extremely hot, and when Ranma tried to rip it open she ended up burning her hands.
As one of the machine's spider legs reversed its joint and tried to take the young martial artist's head off, she had an idea. Springing off of the mech's armor with her feet, she landed next to D again. "Grab C-ko and run." She ordered. "This place's probably gunna be unsafe to be in pretty soon."
"Right." The Alpha Cygnan warrior said, bolting for the building where Ranma had left C-ko. As the machine turned to follow, Ranma jumped on it, and yelled "What, gunna leave me all alone to chase them?" She wasn't sure what insults would work to piss AD.... whatever the hell its name was off, so she had to go with the old standbys. "What, you scared?"
"Pathetic!" She laughed, as she sprang out of the way of a cannon shot. "Is that all you've got?" As the enemy pursued her, Ranma could practically hear the screams of rage from the pilot's compartment, and more importantly, she could see the laser cannons firing over and over, laying waste to the store fronts along the street they were fighting in, though fortunately the civilians had evacuated at the first sign of trouble.
"C'mon, loser." The martial artist jeered, as she moved through the intricate spiral pattern of her most powerful technique, the enemy following blindly. It was only at the last minute that Ranma realized she'd never tried the Hiryu Shoten Ha on an opponent without a battle aura, but unfortunately it was too late to change her plans now. Reaching the center of the pattern, she launched one fist up into the air, letting the cold aura she'd been maintaining the entire time mix with the heat trailing off of the enemy war machine. Almost instantly, the funnel cloud formed, picking up rubble and whipping Ranma's unbound hair into her face.
It took a few seconds for the winds to rise to a level where they could lift something as heavy as the alien walker, but once they did, they whipped it around in a circle like a giant child's toy, gripped by the front, where the energy cannon had been producing so much heat. About thirty seconds into the attack, the machine disintegrated, its rear section, fortunately containing an intact pilot's cabin, soaring across the city.
From several blocks away, C-ko and D watched in amazement as the tornado roared skyward, and the speck that had been caught up in it was tossed into the distance. "Wow…" C-ko whispered, then giggled. "That was so cool!"
As she ran off, D chased after her. "Where are you going, princess?" She asked, worriedly.
"To find A-ko, of course!" C-ko replied, causing D to face fault.
By the time the hyper-active girl had reached the place where the battle had taken place, the tornado had died down, and Ranma was standing in the middle of a crater, wobbling on her feet. "Wow, that was incredible, how did you do it, A-ko?!" The little girl asked.
"Guh?" Ranma asked, then fell forward. C-ko ran up to her on the ground and poked her with one foot.
"Wow, I've never seen you that tired before." She mumbled. "Oh well, this time I get to drag you!"
"Guh?" Ranma said, as C-ko grabbed her right arm, resting it along her own shoulders.
"Okay, here goes!"
HR.
"This… isn't nearly as easy as it looks." C-ko panted, only about a block and a half away, as she supported Ranma, teetering down the street.
"Sorry, C-ko. I'll be okay in a minute." The redhead said, panting.
"That's what you said a minute ago, then you fell on your face." C-ko contributed, cheerfully. Ranma tried to glare at her, but through her one partially swollen eye, it didn't quite work. "And why are you making that funny face at me?"
The redhead sighed, muttering "This is so humiliating." as she continued to hobble along. "Okay, I think we're done for today." She decided, finally. "How about we, um, go check on B-ko before we go home." She said this, as not only was she barely able to walk at the moment, but she was beginning to think that B-ko had forgotten to send her signal after her fight with A-ko. Her position was given strength by the fact that it was almost three in the afternoon by this point.
"You want to go see B-ko?" C-ko said, surprised.
Ranma shrugged. "I, um, hit her a bit too hard this mornin." She lied, unconvincingly, but it seemed to work as C-ko immediately started getting worried.
HR.
About half an hour later, Ranma and C-ko had made it to B-ko's place, and Ranma had recovered enough to walk under her own power, which cheered up the blonde dramatically, especially since she didn't have to carry her anymore. As they entered the front yard, Ranma using a key B-ko had given her, they noticed that the place was still deserted, as Mr. Daitokuji was at work and B-ko apparently still in class.
"Hmm…" The usually pigtailed martial artist said, right before another explosion echoed through the area. She spun into a defensive stance, though she was afraid Kuno could maybe get a few good hits in, given her current condition, moving in front of C-ko as the smoke cleared from a massive hole in the wall.
"Would you just stay down?!" B-ko's voice screamed as a red form in a uniform about as tattered as Ranma's came shooting through the hole.
"No way, now would you leave me alone so I can go find C-ko?" A-ko Magami yelled back, catching herself on one hand. "I missed lunch because of you, and I don't even want to think of what trouble she's probably gotten in!"
"They're still… fighting?" Ranma whispered, her mouth gaping open in astonishment.
C-ko, on the other hand, was looking between Ranma and A-ko with a confused look on her face. "Wait a minute, two A-kos?" She asked, causing the other redhead to look over at them.
"What? Who are you?" A-ko asked, surprised, as she saw Ranma.
The pigtailed martial artist sighed, then threw up her hands in total exasperation. "The name's Ranma Saotome, and I'm really gunna make B-ko sorry about this…"
End.
Well, hopefully I'll have the second episode out at some point. Please review, and tell me what you think.
SHAMELESS PLUG!
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