Mechwarrior Ranma: Trials of Chaos

Disclaimer: You read the one in the first chapter, right? RIGHT??? Well, I guess you didn't. So, here it is. I own neither Ranma ½, nor Mechwarrior 4. I can honestly guaranty that I have no intention of claiming any ownership of them, and if I did, the lawyers would probably suit me for everything I have, including my dropship and all my 'mechs. Life is so tragic, isn't it?

Chapter 2: Basic Training

Ranma sighed from within the cockpit of the Raven that Specter had lent him. The light circuit on Solaris had just begun taking off, and the promise of 2 million C-bill had lured out some stiff competition. However, that wretched lady, Boredom, had sunk her claws firmly into the young Saotome, and waiting for the starting buzzer was proving to be pure torture. It did, however, give him ample time to reflect.

The disbelieving stares had finally dissipated after seeing his reaction to the view outside the porthole. His story was further re- enforced after demonstrating several katas and various martial art forms, including his Chi and Ki attacks. The final straw, however, was when he was in the mess, and in the middle of demonstrating the Saotome Speed-Eating technique, when a glass of cold water fell on him, triggering the curse.

It only took him a week to explain that one.
.

Training to pilot the 'mechs was. interesting to say the least. Oh, to be sure, actually piloting one was no problem. The weapons, however.

"Specter, Exactly why do I have to use guns? I'm a martial artist, damn it! Guns are against my code as well as being dishonorable!"

Specter's expression hardened, and his next words were delivered with a force uncommon to the man.

"Listen here, Chaos, you may be the greatest martial artist of all time, but this is the middle of the longest, dirtiest, and nastiest war to ever curse the race of man. Because of the weapons we now use, ground infantry is a thing of the past. You may be able to destroy FF armor with a touch, but when a light 'mech running at 120 KPH steps on you, what then? Where will all your skill be when you're a smear on some Raven's foot? "

Specter paused, and took a breath. "Now then, if you want to fight, you use a 'mech. And if you use a 'mech, you use guns. If you want to keep up with this attitude, then I will gladly drop you off on the next planet we stop at. Now, Are we clear on this?"

Stiffening, Ranma responded with, "Crystal, sir."
.

After the initial awkwardness had passed, Ranma soon grew to be quite adept with the weapons systems installed on the various 'mechs. Even though he was quite the gunner, Ranma was still a better pilot, and as such, did most of his training with lighter scout 'mechs. Eventually, Zyken Mao Loong, or Specter as he was known, reached the conclusion that even though Ranma was a good pilot, what he needed was experience. So he had Castle, otherwise known as Tiara Loong, set in a jump for Solaris.

Upon arrival at Solaris, they entered him in the light 'mech jungle circuit. Which led Ranma to his current position, hip-deep in the middle of the lake, in the jungle.

The announcer was droning on and on about some big-shot's cousin and how he was expected to go far on the circuit. Ranma just yawned again.

Castle's voice over the com ripped him from his quiet reverie with a start.



Laughter was heard over the com for a moment.

The Buzzer rang, finally!

With a quick scan of his active radar, Ranma leapt off towards his nearest target. A glance at the display showed that it was an Owens, a light mech designed for fire-support. As such, it carried a large payload of missiles and only a few beam or ballistic weapons. As he watched, it was seen to be squaring off against a Wolfhound, a light mech designed to hold lasers. LOTS of lasers.

Smirking slightly, Ranma decided to help out the Owens a little. Throttling down to 0%, Ranma called up the scope and selected NARC beacon. He then patiently scanned, until the Wolfhound's head was targeted. And then he fired.

Quickly disengaging the scope, Ranma watched as the streak impacted against the Wolfhound's head. And the Mech promptly turned and opened fire on him.

Fighting down a brief period of panic, Ranma throttled up to 100%, shifted into reverse, and began firing his light pulse laser while backpedaling. The entire time, Ranma was hoping against hope that the Owens would take the hint. Eventually it did, but not before Ranma managed to back into a wall.

Just as Ranma stopped, a salvo of missiles slammed into the back of the Wolfhound, knocking it over and under the water. Not wasting the opportunity, Ranma opened up with his own missiles and lasers. The combined fire proved to be too much for the enemy Mech's armor to handle, and an escape pod was sent rocketing over the arena.

Grinning in satisfaction, Ranma spared a moment to look at his damage readout And boggled for a moment. Left arm and left torso redlined already? Center torso was in the yellow? How much damage had he taken?

'Hmmm. Better lay low for a while.' he thought.

Casting about, Ranma looked for a place to wait out the battle. So focused was he, that that the sound of incoming missiles failed to register in his mind. The sensation of being slammed into the side of the cockpit as a volley of missiles exploded against the side of his 'mech caught his full attention, however.

+Damage, critical. Weapon, destroyed. +, The synthesized voice of the onboard computer pleasantly informed him.

"SHIT!!!" Ranma screamed in response. Sparing a glance, he noted that the center torso was flashing, the left torso and arm were black, and the NARC beacon was destroyed. This moment of inattention cost him, though, and a laser beam caught him in the left leg.

Throttling up to 100% and switching to forward, Ranma began desperately searching for any place where he could hide. Which is why the gauss shot from the side caught him completely off guard. It was also the final straw for his 'mech's armor, as the Raven ejected him across the Jungle, moments before exploding.

During his short flight across the Jungle, one thought kept replaying in Ranma's mind. 'Specter's gonna kill me.' ________________________________________________________________________

End Chapter two.

Author's notes:
Okay, you can cancel all those contracts out on me, I finally updated. The main reason this is taking me so long is that I'm fighting my way through college, trying to find a job, and dealing with a serious case of writer's block. Sorry!

Anyway. I haven't got any pairings in mind, but I'm open to suggestion! In addition, at the end of the next chapter, I'm going to put a vote out to you, the readers, on where the 4th chapter should take Ranma. I'll get further into that in the next one! Anyway, thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this story! R&R is always welcome!

Also, if anyone knows where I can go to get a history of the Mechwarrior universe, I'd welcome it! Just e-mail me the URL, please!