Characters of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi and those of Robotech belong to Harmony Gold.

Chapter 3: Lost & Found

Three days in the future...

Ranma and Nodoka were to visit the Tendo Dojo today. Life proceeded as normal. Kasumi was busy cleaning the house, Nabiki was in her room, doing whatever Nabiki did, and the fathers were in the middle of another game of Go. As for Akane, she was up in the guestroom. Ranma had left some things and hadn't been back to pick it up yet. She wasn't sure if Ranma remembered, but she was going to show that she cared for him by giving it to him.

There wasn't much she needed to do. Akane had already gathered the items together and placed them out of sight of Genma, but she did keep the bracers Ranma wore those first days. He claimed they were lost, but when she found them, they were very much in plain sight. She couldn't place them with the rest of the items, for they reminded her of the brash teenager that turned her life upside-down. Though at the time she met him, she really hated boys. But the time he'd been out of her life, she learned how much he meant to her.

She only wished that she had the courage to tell him how she felt. Tell him that she liked him; that she might even love him. But she was going to tell him that today, even if it embarrassed her. Of course that meant that her dad and Uncle Saotome would force them to marry before the end of the day. She just hoped she could convince Auntie Saotome that it wouldn't be in the best interest for both her and Ranma. That's if he felt the same way.

Akane moved to add the bracers with the other items, but as she held them, the thought occurred to her as to why Ranma said they were missing. She thought there might be something to the location she found them. She moved the chest and bent down to see if there was anything under it. She was a little disappointed to find nothing. Then again it wasn't like Ranma had secrets.

Like he could keep one, Akane thought.

One thing did happen that she hadn't expected. By moving the chest, she disturbed the dust that had settled around it. The dust made its way to her nose, causing her to sneeze, thus kicking up more dust. In turn, Akane started a sneezing fit.

During her sneeze fest, Akane noticed a hole in the floor. She hadn't known of any damage to the house not related to martial artist, but there was a small hole, maybe about the circumference of a pinky finger. Curious, she stuck in a finger. Not expecting to feel anything, she was surprise to feel something like paper.

What was paper doing under the floor?

Her first thought was of a lost item belonging to the family. Hooking her finger, Akane lifted the floor panel, hoping she wasn't about to rip up the floor. To her surprise, it lifted easily. What she found was a stack of letters. She thought maybe she found some love letters between her parents. Grabbing the first letter, she opened it and read.

"Dear Ranma." Those two words were definitely not the words she wanted to see. "Why that jerk," she fumed. "He's been hiding love letters all this time." Akane was certain that this one was from Ukyo, but when she went down to the bottom, it read:

Love, Minmei

"Minmei! Who the heck is Minmei?" she asked herself. She didn't know of any Minmeis in Nerima. Then she saw the date of this letter. It was a week after he and his father had arrived at the dojo.

Akane was instantly inflamed. She picked up and went through the rest of the stack. She didn't pay attention to content, just the fact they all ended with "Love, Minmei."

Using her powers of deduction, she seemed to understand why Ranma was so set against their engagement, Ukyo's engagement, and being Shampoo's husband. He was stringing them all along. He already had a girlfriend, living god knows where.

Now she really couldn't wait for Ranma to get there. She would kill him for her developing feelings for him when he already had a girlfriend. Then she would find this Minmei and give her a severe beat down for taking her Ranma. And she was pretty sure Ukyo and Shampoo would love to help. Yes, the three of them would do it together, something of a bonding ritual between women.

Resolved in letting the other fiancée know, she stumped out of the room and down the stairs to call Ukyo. Unfortunately she never made that call. As she walked over to the phone, Akane noticed the stranger in the living room. He was wearing a military uniform and looked to be very official.

Seeing Kasumi, she asked who the man was. Kasumi replied, saying that he was there to talk to Uncle Saotome. It was obvious the guy wasn't there to arrest Genma because he hadn't fled after being introduced to the gentleman standing in their living room. She snuck closer to hear what was being said.

"... It is with our deep regrets to inform you that your wife and son were both on Macross Island when the terrorists detonated the nuclear device. Sir, your wife and son are dead."

Akane didn't want to believe what the man just said. Instantly she went into denial and. Ranma couldn't possibly be dead, not after all the things she saw him do. She screamed the military man, calling him a liar. Then she ran to her room, where she cried into her pillow.

Genma wasn't better off. In fact he was pretty much catatonic. The one woman he loved with all his might and his legacy were now gone. He didn't cry, wouldn't cry.

It didn't take long for the news to spread. The disaster at Macross Island was major worldwide news event. Reports had said terrorists made another attempt to take over the SDF-1, but since it was complete, it made an emergency take off. Not long after that, the terrorists detonated a nuclear device in hopes to catch the spaceship in its wake and destroy it. Unfortunately the shockwaves didn't catch the spaceship, but the magnitude of the blast completely destroyed the island, ending the lives of everything on it.

And that's how the adventure of Ranma Saotome ended, death by nuclear explosion. The Amazons went back to China, Ryoga grieved for his rival, sometimes friend, Kodachi was finally committed, and Kuno proudly proclaimed that the evil sorcerer was no more. Ukyo also grieved. She thought about leaving and going back to her father, but she saw a person in need in Akane, so stayed.

Eventually life went on in Nerima, granted much different than while Ranma Saotome was living.

Present...

Breetai and Exedore saw the bright light emanating from the point the battle fortress descended into the atmosphere. Being two of the oldest of their species, they didn't need to be told what it meant.

"A fold!" Breetai said with a little amazement. "I don't believe it!"

Exedore commented on the improbability of such a thing occurring. The Zentraedi believed it was impossible to perform a spacefold operation while under the influence of a planet's gravitational pull, but maybe Zor's ship was different. Maybe it could achieve something that was deemed impossible.

That is if it survived the jump.

Breetai didn't care about the improbability of the situation. He had ordered the bombardment to prevent a spacefold jump, and it happened nonetheless. Balling his hand in anger, he bellowed orders to find the location of the battle fortress.

All quiet on the far reaches of the solar system…

Pluto seldom had visitors, except for the occasional comet or Earth satellite leaving the system. Suddenly the calm of space was shattered by the arrival of a mysterious bubble. Inside the bubble of trapped Earth atmosphere was the SDF-1, two aircraft carriers, Macross Island, and one small fanjet.

No sooner had it materialized that the bubble burst. Atmosphere quickly disappeared, replaced by the cold of space. The water surrounding the island and carriers quickly froze. Frost covered everything due to the rapid loss of heat, including the canopy of Mockingbird.

The first to notice something wrong were the crews on Prometheus and Daedalus. Unfortunately, since they were not equipped for operations in space, the carriers were scenes of horrific deaths.

Next were the citizens of Macross in the shelters. They were fortunate that the shelter were constructed to be airtight, so they had oxygen to breathe. When they started floating in the air, it was obvious that was a problem, since it not possible on Earth. Only they didn't know they were no longer on Earth.

On the bridge of the SDF-1, everything was lit in the red of the emergency lights. Gloval quickly asked for some lights. He was worried that something was wrong. According to Dr. Lang, the fold system shouldn't have taken that much energy.

Kim immediately complied, and the bridge was back to its normal illumination. It took a moment for everybody to readjust to the light, but soon they were all back doing their jobs. With the light on, everyone could see the floating debris. Unfortunately they didn't know that it was from Macross Island or even that Macross Island had followed them into space. So they had no idea where it was coming from.

That was until Vanessa's voice rang out. "Sir, radar shows a large object just beneath us." That was expected by Gloval. Their target had been behind the moon. But Vanessa replied that that the object was too small to be the moon. Then she put the image on the main screen. Everybody immediately knew what it was.

"It's Macross Island!" exclaimed Sammie.

"And it's coming straight at us," added Vanessa.

But Gloval could tell different. They were the ones moving through the debris. "No, we're moving towards it." Gloval quickly grasped the magnitude of the disaster that had occurred. He ordered Claudia to fire the retrorockets to slow the descent. Claudia made attempts to do so but got no response from the engines.

Lisa quickly understood why the engines weren't responding. It was the same reason why the emergency lights came on. Fold system had sapped so much energy that systems ship-wide were inoperable. Lisa sounded the collision alarm and went over the PA, "Emergency! Emergency! Brace for impact! Brace for impact!"

The SDF-1 crashed into the ground with a sickening crunch and slid across the island, destroying many of the still standing buildings.

Things were not going so well in Mockingbird. One moment Rick was in full control, then suddenly the canopy frosted over, and the fanjet wouldn't respond.

Rick was able to scrape a portion of the canopy clear to see what was going on, and it made him worry. When they left the SDF-1, it was clear skies with the sun setting in the distance. Now it was pitch black with debris floating around.

For some reason, Rick theorized the light he briefly saw somehow sent them into space. But how did it get us into space, Rick thought. And if that was true, he was thankful for the fanjet's pressurization or else they might dead.

Minmei snuggled up close to him. "Rick, I'm getting cold," she said. Rick hadn't noticed was the loss of heat.

"How much longer will it take?"

"It won't be long," he lied. He had no clue where anything was.

Soon he would need somewhere to go. A piece of the debris struck Mockingbird, nudging it into motion. That wasn't the least of their worries. The impact caused a small fracture between the canopy and the fuselage, and their atmosphere started seeping out little by little. The noise was loud enough that Minmei asked about it. Once again Rick lied to her, rationalizing that it was for her own good that she didn't know how bad their situation was. But he did take off his scarf in an attempt to plug the leak.

He needed to find someplace safe. As luck would have it, he could make out the SDF-1 in the distance as the frost disappeared. It was lying on what appeared to be a big rock surrounded by laser fire, meaning it was under alien attack. He couldn't concern himself with that. Right now they needed to get back on the SDF-1 before they died of asphyxiation.

Knowing the propellers weren't going to work, he turned to the rockets, but he couldn't use them liberally since there couldn't be much fuel left after that booster climb earlier in the day. Exploding the rocket covers, Rick gave them a short burst to get them moving forward.

It wasn't a quick trip. The initial burst moved them rather slowly. But once Rick got forward momentum, he used the rockets as directional thrusters. When he finally made it back to the SDF-1, the first place he went was where they left, but it was sealed. Next he tried the fighter bays, but they were closed due to the surrounding combat.

Rick was starting to become desperate. There was no telling how much air they left, and the small amount of fuel left, there was no way for him to position himself for another pass. Just then Rick got lucky. A Veritech hit a Battlepod, and the Battlepod tumbled into the SDF-1, leaving a gaping hole that might be just big enough for Mockingbird. Telling Minmei to hang on, he fired the rockets in a long burst and shot for the hole.

Carrying a lot of momentum, Mockingbird rocketed through the hole. While going through the hole, a descending bulkhead clipped the tailfin and wings. Now inside the ship, Mockingbird spun out of control until some dangling wires caught it.

Upside down, the canopy opened, and Minmei and Rick fell to the floor.

"Are you okay?" Rick asked as they separated.

"Yeah," replied Minmei. "But where are we?"

"I'm pretty sure we are in the bowels of the ship."

Rick stood up, then helped Minmei up. They looked to see which way to good. After a moment Rick made the decision to go to the right.

"Are you sure that's the way?" Minmei asked.

"Ahhhh, not really. But it's a start."

With that they started off in an attempt to find a member of the SDF-1 crew.

"That's the last of the enemy," reported Sammie.

Gloval was grateful to hear that. But right now he was waiting to hear word from headquarters. None had yet to come. There was a question as to there being a problem in one of the systems, but Vanessa informed them that all systems were now functioning properly.

There was an unspoken fear that the enemy might have done further destruction to Earth with the SDF-1 not around for protection.

"Is there any further signs of the enemy fleet?" Gloval asked.

"None, sir," Vanessa replied. "The scope is all clear."

That's odd, Gloval thought. Their target was behind the moon, so the enemy should still be out there.

As he thought about that, his mind started wondering until he remembered the inhabitants of Macross were in the shelters. Then there were also the carriers. Though there wouldn't be anyone alive, it would be good for someone to go to them and see if there are any bodies that could be returned to their families.

He was just about to give the order for retrieval when Vanessa chimed in that she had their present location. "Why would I need that? We should be behind the moon," he said.

"I know, sir. But the computer plot has us in the orbit of Pluto."

There were gasps of surprise throughout the bridge. Gloval groaned, as he couldn't believe what was happening. Then he remembered that there was no cause for panic. The ship could simply jump back to Earth.

That was when the phone connecting the captain to engineering rang. Answering it, Gloval had a brief conversation with whoever it was on the other end. When he got off the phone, he groaned again and started to leave the bridge.

"Is something wrong, captain?" asked Lisa.

Gloval paused, looked at Lisa, and said, "It appears the fold generators have disappeared." There was another gasp. Gloval continued on, but before he left, he ordered retrieval teams to the shelters and the carriers.

Ranma was extremely bored. Normally he would go through his katas to pass the time, but this Ranma had a mother that wanted her child to know that there was more to life than just the Art. A mother that appreciated the things that he had kept secret from a father that would have deemed them useless to the Art.

Sure he still strived to be the best martial artist in the world. He just didn't want it to define who he was. So after going through his katas twice, he got bored.

There was the strange light show. After it was over, he became slightly disoriented and fell onto the floor. After picking himself up, he returned to the ready room, where his uncle left him. Hours has past since he'd seen him. In fact it had been hours since he'd seen Minmei, and his uncle told him he'd bring her right back after showing Rick a surprise. He hoped nothing had happened to her.

He didn't have long to think about Minmei's whereabouts as returning pilots interrupted his thought. They looked exhausted, as if they had just came back from a fight. Ranma knew the feeling.

"Ranma! There you are," a familiar voice said.

Ranma looked out and saw Roy coming towards him.

Good, I was able to find one of them, Roy thought as he walked. Roy felt exactly how he looked, like crap. First there was the failed docking because of the bombardment, next the hyperspace fold, and then there was the attack from the aliens right after they the jump. The final thing was going back to retrieve Rick and the girl, only to not find them there.

"Sorry it took so long. Hope you didn't get too bored," Roy said ending his walk.

"Where's Minmei?" Roy hoped that wasn't the first thing he'd say.

"Well, Rick showing her his plane," Roy replied. It wasn't an outright lie. Rick could be just that. "I'm sure they'll be here any minute now." Now that was a lie. All he could do is hope his nephew wouldn't be too angry with him.

Rick and Minmei had been walking for what seemed like forever, at least that's what Minmei thought. In actuality they were still only a short ways from the plane. Also it seemed they hadn't made any head way in finding another person.

Rick's flashlight continued to shine down the corridor. So far they have seen pipes, pipes and more pipes. They had also come across a compartment full of scrap metal. Eventually they came upon a doorway.

"Say, let's see what in there," Rick said.

Surprisingly it was well lit compared to the other compartment, and it was huge. Just like the other one, it was being used for storage, but unlike the other compartment, this one had mostly crates of various sizes.

The thing that set this compartment apart was the huge door that might lead to the outside. Rick quickly figured the compartment housed an airlock. He turned to tell Minmei but she was nowhere in sight. Believing she may have climbed up the crates, Rick climbed up to possibly join her. At the top, she was staring out a window at the wreckage.

"Look at it. What do you think happened?" Minmei asked.

"I don't know," Rick replied. "It looks like the whole city exploded."

Minmei didn't want to hear that. Her thoughts instantly went to her family on Macross Island. "Do you really think that, Rick? That it might be from my home? From Macross?"

"No, no, no!" Rick tried spinning himself out of this. He didn't need Minmei to panic. Faking a yawn, Rick said, "Say, why don't why head back to the plane and rest for awhile before continuing."

Minmei agreed because she was tired but didn't want to hamper Rick's effort in finding a way out. They navigated themselves back down the crates and made their way back down the corridor. Not far from the compartment, Minmei said, "Rick, I'm thirsty."

Rick was getting thirsty also. "I think I might have something in the survival kit in the plane."

They walked for a little longer, listening to the sounds of the ship, in particular the drip of liquid. It took awhile for Rick to realize one of the pipes that lined the corridor must be for water. "Hold up for a minute," he said. He touched the various pipes to determine the water pipe. Once he found which pipe, he found a bar on the floor. He placed the bar in between the bulkhead and pipe for leverage to bust it open. While doing this he explained to Minmei why he was doing it. No sooner had he said that, the pipe cracked open, causing a geyser of water to fly in the air.

At that moment, Minmei couldn't be happier to have water rain down on her. As she danced amongst the drops, she thought it would be a good idea to wash away the sweat.

"Rick, could you move that thing over there, so I can take a shower?"

Rick moved a piece of miscellaneous metal and was rather surprised to see that it made an effective curtain. He sat against it and waited for Minmei to finish so they could head back to Mockingbird, when he heard her scream. Thinking Minmei was in trouble, he quickly jumped over the metal curtain, but only found Minmei, clothes clinging, giving him a look of accusation.

"What?" he asked rather innocently.

"I thought I saw someone peeking."

"It wasn't me."

"Ri-i-ight!"

"Honest."

Knowing he wouldn't convince her, Rick went back around the metal and took his place on the floor. He heard Minmei start humming a tune that that sounded vaguely familiar to him. He couldn't quite place it, but it reminded him of his mother who died long ago.

As he sat, Rick realized that Minmei might need something dry to wear. Her dress had to be soaked. He made his way back to Mockingbird to grab some work clothes in it. They were not much, but they would do the job.

He wasn't gone long, but when Rick came back, he heard Minmei call out to him in a voice of fright. He rushed over as he wanted to see if there was any trouble, but the thought of her with no clothes on stopped him. To help clear those thoughts, he tossed over the clothes. He cleared his throat and calmly said, "I went and got you some fresh clothes. It's not much, but I hope it will do."

Minmei came from behind the metal curtain a few minutes later. Rick grabbed a quick shower, and then they both headed back to Mockingbird. Rick pulled his emergency rations out from his survival kit. He hoped he would never have the need to eat them, but now he was grateful to have them. After handing one to Minmei, he tore into one.

Minmei watched him eat and felt it was unwise for him to eat it with reckless abandon. "Rick, I really think you shouldn't eat it all. There's no telling how long we'll be here."

"Ah don't worry. We'll be out of here in no time."

Rick and Minmei ate (Minmei less than Rick) and went to sleep. When they woke, Rick thought it would be better if he went out on his own. Minmei didn't argue. So on the "second" day, Rick went off, and Minmei tried to make their area a livable space, especially after having mice walk on her. Later in the day, Rick came back with a depressed look on his face, and Minmei tried to cheer him up. That's how the next day went and the next and the next.

By the seventh day, Rick got the idea to use the airlock and, with his helmet, float up to another airlock and get help that way. Unfortunately, the plan didn't work, but they were lucky when Rick came back inside with a blue tuna.

Elsewhere on the SDF-1, the refugees from Macross Island were trying to make themselves comfortable. When they came aboard, the RDF had to set up tents and cots so the 70,000 refugee could have some semblance of normalcy. Before long the RDF salvaged Macross Island for extra supplies. At some point it was decided to reconstruct the city within one of the vast holds of the SDF-1. Since there were many holds not in use, there was plenty room for a city to form inside the that decision, they started salvaging building material floating in space.

Everything brought out to Pluto's orbit was made useful, including the Prometheus and Daedalus. After a memorial service, the two carriers were cleaned, made airtight, and fused onto the battle fortress as replacements to the ARMDs carriers. Soon all the Veritechs were placed on their hanger decks.

Of all the people that where mistakenly brought out to space, the only civilians that weren't having a tough time of things were the Saotomes. Because her brother was an important officer onboard the SDF-1, Nodoka was provided the quarters on the military base. It's wasn't much, three rooms, a living room/kitchen combo, bedroom, and bathroom. Ranma slept on the RDF provided couch, giving her the bed. At first she felt guilty that she and Ranma was receiving some type preferential treatment, but after talking to Lynn Lena, she felt she could put up with it for the time being. Besides it was nice hosting the Lynns in the evenings.

Ranma, during this time, spent his days angered, worried and depressed, avoiding everyone he knew. He avoided Roy because he was angry for lying to him. As for his mother and the Lynns, he just couldn't face them. Minmei was his responsibility, and now she'd been lost for a week. He'd let them down.

He spent most of his time helping the refugees reconstruct Macross City inside the SDF-1. When he wasn't doing that, he went to secluded areas and went through kata after kata and other exercises to stay shape and get over his guilt for allowing his uncle to take Minmei. At times, his anger would come forth, and his movements were more forceful and violent.

Eventually he was no longer angry with Roy, just disappointed. Rick, on the hand, was in for some serious pain. Ranma had placed the blame of Minmei being missing on him. When they were found, Ranma would surely treat him like the many that threatened Akane.

His days usually end late, so he would fall asleep on the couch. At first it didn't bother Nodoka. Not fully knowing her son, she thought his behavior could be normal. But as he started to push her away, she became worried. In the short time she did know her son as either Ranma or Ranko, he was always happy to be around her. But he was distancing himself as if he had done something and was avoiding punishment.

She talked with Lena one day over this topic. Lena said she noticed how Ranma shied away from helping with the White Dragon reconstruction. She suggested that it might have to do something with Minmei being missing.

"And if that's true, I'm sure your son will be back to normal," Lena finished. "Once they find her."

"But they don't know where to even start looking," Nodoka said.

Ranma was tired from another boring day. It was a rather taxing day but boring nonetheless. Though he wouldn't say it, he missed the action. He was grateful to be living with his mother, but he hadn't been in a fight for months now.

It didn't matter as Ranma entered their room, for it wasn't long before he was asleep

Dream sequence...

Ranma was sitting on a red checkered picnic blanket. In front of him was an assortment of food that he looked at with trepidation for on the other side of the blanket was Akane. She gave him a huge smile. Though Ranma was afraid for his life, his heart could not help but to melt.

With a bit of hesitation, he picked up the plate of what could be curry. At least it looked like curry. Eating a spoonful, he was surprised to find that it tasted good, way better than usual.

If it was possible, Akane's smile grew as she watched Ranma demolished the curry. "So you like?" she asked.

"Sure," Ranma said, with food in his mouth. "I always like Kasumi's food."

Akane briefly grew angry at the comment, but she remembered what Ranma's mother said about controlling her emotions. "Well, Kasumi didn't cook it. She didn't cook anything here."

Akane was pleased when he continued eating. Pleased he was eating something she made without much complaint. Ranma went from dish to dish with the same type of enthusiasm.

He looked up and saw Akane wasn't eating at all. His mind started waving caution flags. "How come you're not eating?" he asked. "There's plenty here."

"Oh, don't worry about me. I made this all for you."

Ranma stopped eating. The fact he was still alive made him realized Akane learned patience while cooking while they were apart. He couldn't help but to give her a compliment. Akane was touched. She was always jealous when Ranma would compliment Ukyo on her food. There was a warm feeling in her heart now that he did the same for her

Ranma went on eating, and Akane decided to pick a plate and join him.

They ate together in silence when out of nowhere a red-haired little girl came running towards Ranma. Even in the distance Ranma could see the combination of Asian and European features. As she drew closer, he could recognize familiar features in her. Her hair was the same shade of red as his girl-side, and she had his blue eyes. He was starting to become uncomfortable. He just knew something was about to happen that would be misunderstood.

What he hoped wouldn't happen happened. "Papa, I made it," the girls said when she made it to the blanket.

Ranma took one look at Akane and saw that she was pissed. He could almost see her aura.

"What's the meaning of this?" Akane's voice was very controlled, but clearly she was angry.

"I-I don't now who she is?"

Initially the girl looked hurt by Ranma's comment. Then she had a look of remembrance. She turned to Akane and said, "I'm Ruri Saotome, and this is my papa. At least he will be."

Akane's attitude changed, thinking that her daughter in the future just appeared at their picnic.

That was until Ruri said, "Papa, who's this?"

Confused, Akane said, "If he's your dad, then I would have to be your mom."

"No you're not," Ruri said in a rather authoritative tone.

Ranma, completely ignoring the conversation, asked, "Can you explain why you're interrupting a picnic?" Ranma was displaying the maturity gained from living with his mother.

"You sent me."

"Huh?"

"You sent me to help you find Auntie Minmei.

"Minmei's in trouble!"

Akane looked confused as she watched the two talk. The girl was Ranma's daughter, but she was not her mother. And who was this Auntie Minmei. Ranma didn't have any siblings.

"She is in a hold that is just below what will become Macross City. At least that's what I think you told me to tell you."

He looked at Akane and said, "I gotta go."

Ranma woke up with a start. When his eyes adjusted to the dark, he expected to see Akane in the room. When he remembered Akane wasn't with him, he realized it had to be dream.

"Man, that was a strange dream. Akane's cooking actually tasting going."

He settled back down on the couch and went back to sleep, completely forgetting about the little girl in his dream.

On the eighth day, Minmei decided to rejoin Rick. She was bored and tired of spending most of the day by herself. The day's route took the two in the opposite direction from where Minmei had been. Rick had spent the last two days going in this direction. For some reason he was confident if he kept going this way, he would find a way out of their "prison."

Rick was glad that Minmei wanted to come with him today. He often wished for some company during his search. He just hadn't had the courage to ask Minmei to come along. She seemed pleased playing house with what was left of Mockingbird, all stretched up and broken with the parachute draped over it like a tent.

Of course there was that day with the tuna, but that was something different. Without her then, he might not be alive.

They were walking in silence. After awhile, Minmei started humming to herself. It was the same tune she hummed while taking the showered that first day. It was a song that was a favorite of hers. It took her a while to learn the lyrics. She seldom sang it around people, but she sang it then.

Rick heard humming behind him. It was so familiar but couldn't quite place where he heard it. He was saddened when she stopped humming, but soon it started to sound like she was singing.

"Born a poor young country boy

Mother Nature's Son

All day long...

I'm sitting singing songs for everyone…"

"That's beautiful," said Rick when she finished.

Minmei blushed at the compliment. She hadn't meant for Rick to hear her.

"Did you make that up?" Rick asked.

"No. I learned it from Ranma," replied Minmei.

"Oh!" That was the first time Ranma's name had been brought up in a while, mostly because Rick didn't want to be reminded that the girl has a boyfriend.

"Ranma has a great voice and knows a lot of songs."

"I'm sure you hate being away from him?"

"Not really!"

That took Rick by surprise. He expected Minmei to miss her boyfriend. Then he thought that maybe their relationship wasn't very strong. There was hope.

"We don't see each other that often, but I know if I'm in real trouble, Ranma will try with all his might to be there for me," Minmei added, and Rick's little hope disappeared.

"You must really love your boyfriend to have that much faith in him."

Minmei started laughing. Ranma being her boyfriend was the funniest thing she'd heard in a week.

"What so funny?" he asked.

"You thought Ranma was my boyfriend."

"Yeah!"

"I do love him, but he's my big brother," Minmei explained. Minmei told him about the time when she was ten and was being bullied on the way from school. Ranma suddenly appeared and told them to leave her alone. When they persisted, Ranma took them out then walked Minmei home in case they decided to come back.

That's how their friendship began. For two months, Ranma would walk her to and from school. He said it was to protect her from the bullies, but she thought there might be more. He told her stories of all the "neat" adventures he had with his father, though she never met his father, and she didn't think Ranma wanted her to either. Her parents fell in love with him for being there for Minmei and always had food ready whenever he came over.

"So, there's nothing between the two of you?" Rick asked, interrupting her tale.

"Nothing. What we have is more like the protective brother and the little sister. That's why I call him my big brother. I bet if I were to call out his name, he would come and find us?"

Rick stopped and pondered this for a moment.

"Okay, I'm game. What do you need to do?"

"Simple." With that, Minmei cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted for Ranma.

"Now we wait three days."

"Three days! Why three days?" Rick asked.

"Because that how long it usually takes him," explained Minmei.

"Oh," was all Rick could say. Then he asked, "So what da ya wanna do now?"

"How 'bout we go look at the stars."

Ranma popped up out of his sleep for the second time. This time it wasn't because of a strange dream. This time he was sure he heard Minmei called for him. If Minmei called for him, she was definitely in trouble. "Just like that girl said," he said, in a tone of surprise.

"Like what girl said, dear?" a female voice asked.

Ranma looked in the direction of the sound and saw his mother and uncle at the table drinking tea. He could see her mouth moving, hear the sound, but couldn't understand what she was saying. All his thoughts were on the girl in his dream. If she was right, he knew where Minmei was.

"I know where she is," he said.

"Where who is?" asked Nodoka.

"Minmei."

That peaked the interest of the others in the room. Nodoka quickly asked how he did he know. Ranma explained that he had a dream where girl appeared (purposefully not mentioning Akane) and told him where Minmei was.

"I have to go get her," Ranma said, getting off the couch and to the bathroom to freshen up. He came back out wearing his usual red silk Chinese shirt and black pants.

"Ranma, come with me," Roy said. Roy had gotten up from the table and walked out the door, motioning to Ranma who followed. Confused but he still followed.

"What's up, Uncle Roy?" he asked once they were walking away from the room.

"Well, I know you're mad at me for leaving Minmei with Rick," Roy said.

"Aw, not anymore," replied Ranma. "You were just doin' your duty. It's not your fault Rick's an idiot."

Roy was happy his nephew was no longer anger at him. He could remember times when either he or his siblings were upset with another. It would last for weeks on end.

"Um, thanks. Anyway, Minmei and Rick have been out there for a week, and there is no telling what type of supplies they have. So I gonna get you some."

Ranma was surprised. He didn't expect his uncle to do something like this without asking. He didn't know what to say at the gesture, so they walked in silence until they came to where they passed out the rations. Like usual there was line of refugees waiting for their daily rations.

Roy, being a high-ranking member in the military, brought Ranma to the back so to avoid them.

"So how many days do you need?"

"Five."

"Five?" Roy didn't expect him to say that. Though they had been missing for seven days, five days seemed a bit much. It shouldn't take him that long to get to them if he knows where they are. "Why five days?"

"Well I figure with Minmei being gone for seven days, she might like the extra food," Ranma explained.

Roy noticed he had yet acknowledge that Rick was with her, but surely not all five days worth of rations were for Minmei. But he wasn't going to complain. What he did was get five days of rations and a pack for him to carry them in.

"Tell mom I'll be back in a couple of days," Ranma said, shouldering the pack. With that he made his way away from what was becoming a city.

Roy headed back to his sister's room. This was really the first time he had the chance to talk with her since she arrived on Macross Island, though it was she who asked to see him. He was just fortunate to get some time off.

It didn't take him long to make it back. He could get there with his eyes closed. In fact he was walking with them closed. Closed until he heard, "And where do you think you're going?" Opening his eyes, he turned and saw his girlfriend staring at him quite angrily.

"Cl-Claudia, hi!"

"Don't 'Claudia, hi,' me, mister," she said with attitude. "Do you know how hard it was to get free from the bridge so we could spend some time together?" It paid for her to know his schedule.

"I-"

"I didn't think so," she interrupted him, or maybe the other way around. "And here I find you wondering around."

Roy stood there and realized the opportunity that just presented itself. Neither of the two women of his life had met. Why not use this opportunity to do it now? He was on his way back to Nodoka's, and Claudia was right here.

"Say, I want you to come meet someone," he said, finally getting a word in.

"So you're finally gonna introduce me to that nephew of yours. You know, I never seen Lisa get so agitated as she did when he called her a tomboy."

Roy had started walking without her, so she had to run to catch up. No one spoke but it didn't matter. Just being together was okay for the time being. Soon they stood in front of a door, and Roy pressed the buzzer.

The door opened with Nodoka behind it. Claudia was shocked that Roy had taken her to meet another woman.

"Oh, good, you're back," Nodoka said, making way for Roy and Claudia could enter. She asked, "Where's Ranma?"

"Oh, he'll be back in a couple of days," he replied.

"Roy, who's this?" Claudia interjected.

"Claudia, this is who I wanted you to meet. Claudia Grant, this is my big sister, Nodoka Saotome. Nodoka, this is my fiancée, Claudia."

Nodoka was somewhat surprise to learn her little brother was going to marry someone not Japanese. Considering their family background, she really shouldn't. "It's nice to meet you," Nodoka said with a bow.

"Same to you," Claudia said, returning the gesture.

"Would you like to join us for tea?" Nodoka asked.

Seeing that Roy was already seated at the table, it was hard for Claudia to refuse. Nodoka went to retrieve another cup for Claudia, while she sat adjacent to Roy.

Leaning over, she whispered, "Why didn't you tell me your sister was on the island.

Roy just gave a short laugh of avoidance. "Well, it was sort of hard due to the situation."

"What's so funny?" Nodoka asked.

"Oh, I was just commenting on how come Roy hadn't mentioned he had a sister," Claudia lied.

"Well, has he explained why he hasn't told his family he was seeing such a lovely lady?" Nodoka replied.

That got Roy a punch in the arm. "Owww. What was that for?" But he didn't get a response as Nodoka poured tea.

Sitting down, Nodoka continued where she stopped. "Like I was saying, I'm really worried about Ranma."

"Why do you say that? He seemed fine to me," Roy replied.

"It's like he's trying to distance himself away from me again. I just got him back. I don't know if I can take him pushing me away."

"Whaddaya mean 'just got him back?'" Claudia interjected.

"Nodoka's husband took Ranma on a ten year training trip," answered Roy. "Maybe it has something to do with being in space."

"I don't know, Roy. Whenever I see him when I'm down in the reconstruction zone, he appears to be moping around. Almost as if he's missing something."

"Well, there is Minmei."

"Isn't that the girl who's missing?" Claudia asked. The siblings nodded in response.

"But I think it's something more than that," continued Nodoka.

"Maybe it does have something do with being in space," Claudia suggested. "Ya know we all get use to certain things, in a certain routine that when it's gone, it takes awhile to adjust."

There was no response as they had a collective sip. Nodoka had to think about what Claudia said. With what Ranma had told her his life was before he moved in with her. He hadn't been in a fight in that amount of time. She didn't want to believe that fighting was that much apart of his life.

"Well, he hasn't got into a fight in a while," Nodoka threw out the comment.

The first impression Claudia had of Ranma was a juvenile delinquent. She couldn't picture that handsome boy she saw on the viewscreen as a delinquent. Then again, he could've been on his best behavior with his mother around.

"I wish there was something I could do, sis. But there wasn't a dojo in the city, and the only people with any formal training are the pilots."

Claudia was lost in the conversation between siblings. Why would Roy mention fighting with the pilots when it was strictly forbidden for the pilot to fight with the civilians?

"But what if he joined the RDF?" Roy asked.

It was a question that came out of nowhere and took the ladies by surprise. It took Nodoka awhile to return from the stupor that Roy's question.

"No!" she said.

"Roy, how could you ask such a question?" Claudia responded.

Roy thought it was a valid question. He knew what the pilot numbers were and was sure once things were settled, there would be a recruitment push.

"It just that we're gonna need pilots," Roy started to explain himself. "And you said Ranma is the best martial artist of his generation. I'm sure he has the mental make-up and both mental and physical stamina for the job. And as for piloting, he's Hasegawa man. Once he gets inside a Veritech, I bet he'll be the best there is. Next to me, that is."

Nodoka was still hesitant on committing her son to death. Like she said, she just got him back. She didn't want to send him off to die. "I-I don't know, Roy."

"I know you're a little hesitant. I know I don't want to send my nephew out there to face the enemy. Do you how much mom and dad would hate me for sending their only grandson to his death."

"Maybe we should ask Ranma." No sooner had Claudia said that, that Nodoka gave her the look of death. She thought to herself, And maybe I should keep my mouth shut.

"Claudia's right." Roy backed his fiancée. "After all it would be his decision. And if he says no, I don't bring it up again."

"But that's what I'm most afraid of. From what I know, Ranma thrives on danger, especially when it means protecting those he cares."

Ranma was surprised how big the interior of the ship was. He had really thought it would take about a couple of hours to get Minmei. But right now he felt like Ryoga, lost. He passed through the reconstruction zones at least three times, and each time, he felt stupid. The first day he decided to give up and spent the rest of it with his mother, who was surprised to see how much more lively her son was. She was also quiet. Ranma seem to sense there was something she wanted to say but didn't want to say.

Figuring he wasted one day, he left early the next morning. This time it took half the day to get off the level he was on. The silly thing, he never thought to ask his uncle how to get off this level. Ranma rode the elevator down. He started his search three levels down. He never imaged how vast the holds were. He searched this first level without finding anyone.

He went up to the next level, where he set up camp for the "night."

As he slept, something weird happened to him. A wraith of energy appeared out of nowhere and made its way to Ranma. For a minute it hovered over him. Then it descended onto him and surrounded him. Ranma's body was suddenly in an "energy" cocoon and hovered off the deck. This lasted for several minutes, and then it stopped. And as mysterious as it appearance, the wraith was gone.

It was the night of the third day and Ranma hadn't showed up. Minmei laid in their makeshift tent (Mockingbird with a parachute draped over it) and listened to Rick tale his story on how he became the amateur stunt pilot champion. It was an interesting story, but her mind was not into it. Ranma had never failed to show up three days after she called for his help.

She was nervous that something might have happened to Ranma. When she was nervous, she found the only way to calm herself was singing, and she had done a lot of singing these past nine days.

"When the midnight bell tolled

the magic spell dissolved.

Down the staircase

she rushed at its head,

the glass slipper remained."

Rick looked at Minmei, just loving the sound of her voice. "You really have a beautiful voice. You should like go professional."

"You really think so?" questioned Minmei, getting a simple nod. "That's what I really wish to do. I've been taking lessons since I was four."

"That's almost like my life," Rick said. "Flying's been my while life since I was little."

By now Minmei was sitting up with her legs drawn close to her chest. "Do you think you'll ever be able to take me flying again?"

"Yeah. I'm sure we'll be able to once we've been rescued."

'Once' was not the word Minmei wanted to hear. She had expected Ranma to show up before they made their preparations to sleep.

"But that's just it. We'll never be rescued!"

Rick sat up and looked at Minmei. She appeared distraught, nothing like the girl he drew so much of his confidence from. "You mustn't think that way."

Minmei wasn't paying attention to what he said and moved from out of the tent. "We'll be lost forever and there was so much that I wanted to do. I want to be famous. I want to fall in love. I want to be bride. I want to see my family."

Rick didn't know what to say. He wanted to help her in the worst way, but he never knew how to act around girls when they were like this.

"Well, who said you can't be a bride?" It sounded like a question, but Rick meant it as a statement. He wouldn't mind if Minmei was his bride. Besides it was the first thing that popped into his mind.

"Huh?" Minmei wasn't quite sure she heard Rick.

"I mean we could have ourselves a wedding right here. It won't be real. Just pretend."

"Really. You would do that for me."

Rick nodded.

"Then let me use your scarf as a veil. It might be the only one I ever wear." With that Minmei promptly took it from around Rick's neck and placed it on her head.

"Minmei, you look beautiful."

Minmei didn't reply to that comment. Just held her hands out, and he took them. "Ah, so what do we do next?"

For a minute or two, they did nothing, said nothing. Then Minmei drew herself closer to Rick and started crying in his chest. "Oh, Rick, why hasn't anyone come for us? Have they just forgotten?"

"I'm sure they haven't forgotten. And what about Ranma? I bet he's on his way right now." Rick wasn't that optimistic on that, but she had so much faith in him that he didn't want her to give up.

"But the third day is almost up, and he didn't show."

Rick didn't quite understand the three day thing. This ship was huge, probably too huge for Ranma to find them in three days. "Well, then we give him more time. Until then, I'll be here for you."

"Really?"

"Yes. I always will because I love you." Rick was surprised how easy it was to say those words.

Minmei thought Rick was acting since it was suppose to be a fake wedding, so she said she loved him too. Then she looked into his eyes, and not even realizing it, inched closer to his head. Rick's mind picked up the signal and inched closer himself.

Before they realized it, they were kissing. There was no passion behind it, but it wasn't a kiss between two friends. It wasn't a simple peck, but for someone who just arrived the moment the kiss initiated, it was way too long.

"Mind if I interrupt," said a voice out of the blue.

Rick quickly separated from Minmei. Both looked in the direction of the voice and saw Ranma standing just outside of the shadows.

"R-Ranma, is that you?" Minmei asked.

"The one and only," he replied, his usual smile on his face.

Instantly Minmei ran to him and started crying again. "Awe, come on, Minmei. There's no need for that."

"I'm just so happy you're here."

"What? You make it sound like I'm late. I mean this is the third day isn't it?"

Minmei separated herself from Ranma and gave him a pouty look. Then she explained that she expected him earlier in the day, not at the end. Then Ranma presented them with a revelation they hadn't expected. It was only the afternoon. Rick quickly asked how could that be for his watch was saying it was "night."

Ranma didn't really wanted to hear Rick speak, but seeing that Minmei looked healthy and okay, presented him a watch set to the ship's chronometer, and it showed that Rick's watch was four hours off. He handed Minmei the bag with food and water. Unfortunately no one had the chance to look inside it. The ceiling crashed to the floor, right where Mockingbird used to be.

Then voices could be heard.

"Is everybody okay?"

There were some affirmations. Then came the questions of what was it that came crashing down. There were speculations ranging from enemy missile to a bomb. Someone finally replied that engineering said it was a converter subunit.

About this time flashlights started shining down the hole so they could see the subunit. As the beams swept across the area to spot all the debris, one came across Ranma. At first it continued on its way until the owner of the flashlight realized that it was a person the beam came across, and quickly the light came back on Ranma.

"R-Ranma, is that you?"

Raising a hand to block the light out of his eyes, Ranma recognized the voice as that of the mayor. In the week that everyone had been aboard the SDF-1, Ranma had got to know the citizens while helping in the reconstruction.

"Yeah, it's me, mayor," he replied.

"Well, what are you doing down there."

"I found Minmei."

A second beam shone in Ranma's direction and picked up Minmei. Now confirmed what Ranma said, more lights appeared through the hole. Soon everyone could see all three on the level below them. Ten minutes later the three were brought up to the main level of the reconstructed Macross City.

Minmei was amazed at what had been accomplished. She was reunited with her family. She was all smiles and full of energy in comparison to what she was just a half hour ago.

Watching it all was Rick, who seemed out of place.

Author's notes:

The first thing Minmei sings is a verse from Mother Nature's Son by The Beatles (a Lennon/McCartney song). The second thing Minmei sings comes from Cinderella by Mari Iijima (Japanese voice of Lynn Minmei), translation off of AnimEigo's Macross release.

The idea of Ranma being a closet singer is based on the DoCo animated videos. I chose Mother Nature's Son as a song he would sing is show the mass appeal The Beatles would still have.