Ch.7
Ranger's POV
Ich…ni…san…I counted my punches as I struck the hanging punching bag in front of me. I was in the gymnasium, which I had bugged the people to make bigger from the original design that they had come up with. I was actually out of that tacky uniform they had been making me wear finally and I couldn't be happier. Stone was giving the tour for Duke and Scarlett and I'm sure Firefly was up to his mischievous way. I had noticed him hanging around the ones known as Tunnel Rat and Heavy Duty and I'm sure they'd probably get themselves into trouble sooner or later.
And me? Well, I was happy just keeping myself fit. I may not be a great user of ninjutsu, beyond the simple stuff…no I can't shoot fireballs and all that fancy stuff. And I wasn't a master of genjutsu either, beyond simple illusions. Nah, taijutsu was my one and greatest strength. Speaking of which, I gave the punching bag one last kick and noticed that it didn't break this time…I had a bad habit of doing that…
I was about to hit it one more time when I sensed presences behind me. I half turned to see…what were their names? Oh yea, Kamakura and Jinx right? I had learned that they wee Snake-Eye's apprentices and that meant they were ninja in training. "Something I can help you two with?"
They both were giving me suspicious looks, couldn't imagine why…Jinx was the one that spoke first. "Ranger right?"
I humored her with a smirk. "Last time I checked, yea, that was my codename."
Kamakura frowned. Honestly, what kind of ninja wore bright yellow on their clothes? "We couldn't help but notice…you've had some ninja training haven't you?"
I snorted. "I prefer the term shinobi gaki." I smirked as I watched them look offended at the term. "But yes, I've been trained all my life. You have something to say about that?"
Jinx crossed her arms over her chest. "We've never heard of you and the movements you exhibited are different from our sensei's."
Oh wow, give the kid a gold star. "Let's just say the training I received is one of a kind gaki."
"STOP CALLING ME A KID!" Jinx would have leapt at me if Kamakura hadn't restrained her. Hmmmm, this gave me an interesting idea…
"Alright, I'll stop calling you kids…" They both looked triumphant. "IF and only if, you prove yourselves." They glared at me again, but I smirked. "First chance we get, I'll let you have a test run against me, win and I'll acknowledge you. However, fail, and I'll keep calling you kids until you prove yourself."
Kamakura gave me a long suspicious glance. "And why not now?"
I shook my head at him. "Because gaki, if we were to do my lesson here, this ship wouldn't be afloat for long." They both looked shocked now and could only keep staring at me as I left. "So, get ready at some point, because I've never gone easy on rookies." I left cackling evilly as the door hissed shut behind me.
Stone's POV
I had noticed that Firefly, Tunnel Rat, and Heavy Duty had disappeared…no doubt getting themselves into trouble. Then again…along the tour for Duke and Scarlett, I'd probably have a chance to catch them. Hmmmm, that's when I noticed the familiar woodland smell that seemed permanently fixed to Ranger, and sure enough, the said shinobi appeared around a corner. She had changed out of the crewman uniform, and judging by how much she had been sulking while wearing it, I wasn't too surprised.
Duke and Scarlett seemed surprised at the shinobi's appearance, probably because Ranger was quite skilled at being able to move silently and almost never give any notice to her presence. I decided to see if she knew where the trio of troublemakers was. "Ahem, Ranger, do you have any-"
"They're in the kitchen. They haven't been in there for long if you're wondering." She gave me a smile and pointed down the hallway. "I'm thinking Chao won't be very happy."
Those three…well, actually, probably Heavy Duty and Tunnel Rat were to hold more of the blame. I nodded and smiled at her. "Thanks for the information lass…where you heading off to?"
Ranger seemed to stare at the ceiling for a moment. "That…Hi-Tech resurfaced the ship right? I'm thinking I'll head to the hanger to have a look over the vehicles before going for my meditation time." She shrugged. "Reminds, better go grab my stuff." She began walking away and gave us a short wave. "Catch you all later."
Duke watched the retreating back of the shinobi before turning to me. "So, where did you manage to get someone like that?"
I gave a helpless shrug. "Don't look at me old chap, General Hawk was the one who found her and recommended she be under my command while I was supervising over the Sea Titan."
Scarlett gave me a calculating look. "And what do you think of her?" Hmm, perceptive one, I could see why Duke relied on this lass so much.
"She's an excellent soldier, follows orders, but with some leniency. She also has initiative, I'm sure she's had leadership roles before." I crossed my arms and met Scarlett's gaze squarely, leave it to the chums if they wanted to figure out more. "Now then, shall we continue?"
Duke placed a hand on Scarlett's shoulder. "Let's see if we can get those two troublemakers out of the kitchen before they eat everything." Scarlett nodded and I turned, heading right for the said destination.
Tunnel Rat's POV
Man, Firefly was the coolest guy around. The guy was giving us a tour of the ship, albeit less boring then the one that Duke and Scarlett were probably getting themselves. At the present, we were, ahem, liberating some midnight snacks. On the way here, we had bumped into Firefly's other teammate, a real hottie named Ranger. She had only given us a once over before continuing on her way.
Firefly was behind us at the moment, protesting at our gorging. That when things went from good to bad in least then a second.
A cultured accented voice that was very familiar broke through the air. "Looks like the ship has rats." The light clicked on to reveal a smirking Stone with a scowling Duke and Scarlett behind him, also a big Asian man who was scowling as well. "Big ones to." I choked on a sausage that I had been eating and struggled to swallow it down.
Stone placed his hands on his hips as Firefly palmed his forehead. "Save some room for dessert chums." His smirk grew wider. "Got a smashing idea for their next mission Duke." His one brown eye glittered with amusement. "Call it operation diet!"
…oh no…
Some hours later
Heavy Duty's POV
We'd been chatting with Firefly; so far, he had agreed with us that Stone was a little stiff, but still a cool guy. But now here comes the money question…
"So…Firefly, what's your deal with Ranger?" I noticed that Firefly had stopped tossing the tomato in his hand and stiffened.
"…she's just a friend." He had begun tossing the tomato again, but his stiffness was still visible. "Great girl, a lot of spunk."
"Really? She single?" I wasn't exactly ready for the look on Firefly's face when he turned to look at me. A look of absolute…well, I couldn't actually identify it.
"No…she isn't." His tone sounded funny too…
Tunnel Rat chimed in. "Really? Who's the lucky guy?" Firefly turned to look at him and stared at him for a long moment, before tossing him the last tomato and getting up.
"You'll have to figure that out for yourselves." Then without a backwards glance, he walked back to the entrance to the ship. Wow…what was that about?
Some time later
Ranger's POV
Well, things were quiet…which was a good thing since I was currently in the hanger sitting on top of the Dragonhawk. Fully equipped, I was vaguely wondering whether I should go back to training.
That is…until the entire ship began to shake violently. What by Kami?! I almost toppled right off the Dragonhawk, but managed to stay on it. Where we under attack? Then I heard the resounding clangs as the doors on the ship clamped shut…that…didn't sound like a good thing.
That's when I noticed the door to the R.O.C.C driver side get blasted open as Long Range hopped out. "I got a really bad feeling about this!"
Then I saw Stone running along the ledge that was above the hanger and he shouted at both of us. "Long Range! They didn't get the V.A.M.P or the Dragonhawk!" He turned his gaze to me. "Ranger, ride with Long Range!"
Good idea, I would probably have to do ground combat at some point and that's better then being stuck in the air with Stone. I nodded as I hopped down and headed for the V.A.M.P and hopped into the passenger side while Long Range jumped into the driver's side. "Vamados!"
Sea Titan Deck
Long Range's POV
Well, things weren't looking too good. Stone had dropped us off before blasting off into the air to take care of the Fire Bats while we were stuck with the regular bats. Sitting next to me was the new member, fully equipped. She had her eyes fixed forward and an unreadable mask across her face.
Her full uniform consisted of her Sigma suit and several accessories. She wore a bandolier, but instead of bullets, it consisted of several daggers and containers. Strapped to both sides of her thighs were small holders for something, the lids buttoned down. A mask was perched on top of her head and a long sword handle extended out from her right shoulder. She wore yet another blade strapped across her back at the hip on a belt, but the handle leaned left. The belt itself contained yet more canisters and containers. On her right and left wrist were probably her laser weapons, but they probably served other functions as well.
That's when a lucky shot from one of the BATS hit the VAMP and we flipped over. Ranger, looking ticked now, was out of the vehicle in the next heartbeat. "Looks like the field's change."
Whoa…wait a minute, was she going to charge those BATs by herself?! I hopped out of the VAMP a moment after her with my rifle ready. "Whoa, chica, are you loca?!"
She turned to smirk at me as she reached for up her mask. "Some have called me that, I prefer the term reckless." The mask slid down over her face as the T visor glowed green for a second. She then turned as her right hand grasped the hilt of her blade and the left did the same. "Who's ready for a demolition derby?!" I could only watch as the BATs turned their attention to her and either charged her or fired missiles.
Or rather…at where she HAD been. In the blink of an eye, Ranger had vanished. Suddenly, two BATs found themselves sliced and exploded. In the smoke, I caught a brief glance of the mysterious Sigma before she flickered and vanished again. This time, a BAT found itself smashed into the ground, Ranger's foot embedded in its head. Another tried to fire at her from behind, but she blocked to her right blade as her left swiftly sheathed its blade and threw something at the BAT. What looked like a small black dagger embedded itself in the wiring of the BAT's neck before suddenly exploding, taking it out.
"Hey! Long Range! Stop gawking and help!" Her shout snapped me out of my daze as I took aim and took out a BAT. "Long Range! Watch the bridge!" She was gone again as BATs began to find themselves mysteriously slashed or smashed.
Things were starting to look bad though…some of the BATs had already been able to strike at the bridge…and one more shot would have finished it. Ranger was too busy trying with a crowd of them at the further end of the deck and I was tangled up with a bunch of them too. This deck needs a bug zapper! That's when we both noticed one was now floating right in front of the wrecked bridge, readying its missiles. "Shimatta!"
Then, laser fire suddenly tore the BAT to bits and we both looked at the source. "What the…who was that?!" Walking out, smugly, was Firefly with a machine gun in his hand. "So I heard you guys were going a little batty out here." With that, he raised both machines guns and tore a bat to pieces.
Ranger, even with her face hidden, radiated a pissed off air. "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU ALL THIS TIME?!" Before he could answer though, a BAT suddenly launched a number of missiles at him. Uh oh…
Firefly strapped the machine guns back on his hips and reached for the two sticks that were visible over his shoulders. With a growl, he swung the sticks forward…and was hidden behind a wall of emerald flames. "Aye Carumba!"
Firefly strode right through the wall, flames sticks in his right hand and a mask in the other. "Is it hot out here? Or is it just me?" His smug grin was hidden as he slid the mask on and the eyepieces glowed. He was suddenly an explosion of movement trailing emerald flames behind him as he proceeded to quite literally roast BATs left and right.
I think I heard a groan and a mutter of show off from Ranger's direction as her blade decapitated a nearby BAT. "Muy caliente hombre…"
Anyone looking at the deck now would have thought a green fireball was moving up and down the deck, along with a whirlwind of steel and fists.
Ranger paused, perched on top of the last BAT that we had managed to finish off. "I think we're in the…" BOOM! Suddenly, the Sea Titan rocked violently again, but we managed to keep our balance. "…I jinxed it…"
Things were not looking good… "They sunk our battle ship," I shouted as Firefly slid his mask back. "Not yet amigo!"
Ranger nodded as she slid her own mask up. "Not by a long shot!" That's when the Sea Titan shook again. We all looked down to watch as the Sea Titan began to transform. First, it split right down the middle and widened the gap on the deck. Extra weapon armaments appeared as the Seat Titan clamed down again, now looking like a real battleship. Then, it launched a storm of missiles that instantly wiped out all the Fire BATs in the air. Whew…looks like Stone could finally relax up there. "And here comes the finisher…" We all looked up at Ranger's word as one of the cannons on the Sea Titan swiveled and took a shot at the Cobra ship that had been on another attack. The shot missed, but clearly short-circuited the ship and we continued to watch as the cockpit ejected itself and the rest of the ship crashed in the ocean.
Firefly gave a sigh of relief and swiped his arm across his forehead. "Well, that's one giant pest taken care of." Ranger gave a dismissive kick to the BAT she had destroyed, sending it crashing over the ship and into the water. Firefly waved for us to follow him. "Come on, Duke'll probably want to brief us."
Ranger waved him off. "I'll catch up after you guys." She had her eyes fixed on the Dragonhawk as it came in for a landing. I shrugged, probably wanted to brief Stone down a bit. So, I followed Firefly as we both headed for the bridge.
Ranger's POV
I wiped off a bit of sweat that had been collecting on my forehead. That had been quite a work out on the deck…not that I minded. I smirked as I slid my wakizashi back into its sheath and the new blade I had discovered in my room into its sheath. The new blade was obviously a gift from Stone, not quite the length of a katana, but longer then a wakizashi.(1) I would have to…thank him later for it.
Stone had now dismounted the Dragonhawk and was walking toward me. "I noticed you had fun out there on the deck Ranger." His eye was twinkling with humor.
I gave a mock snort and crossed my arms. "Fun? That wasn't even a warm up." I could feel a smile tugging at the corner of my lip. That's when I noticed what was happening behind Stone and my smile quickly vanished. Stone, seeing my expression, gave a confused look and turned around.
Just in time to see the Dragonhawk engage its autopilot and power up its engines. "What…HEY!" However, the Dragonhawk was already off and the backwash of its engines blew Stone backwards…right into me.
I went down with a loud oomph, but my gaze…as well as Stone's were fixed on the dot that was the Dragonhawk disappearing. I could feel Stone's entire body tense up as his gaze looked in mine. "Love…if they crack the code on the Dragonhawk…"
…oh no…that would mean…we were going to be in BIG trouble…I groaned as I palmed my forehead. So much for looking forward to a breather…we had to get that bird back before Cobra cracked the Sigma code…and their hands on our technology!
Thank you again to everyone that reviewed! Extra thank you to Millen and mmkfire for reviewing so loyally! Extra cookies to you two! Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm also going to be a bit busy this week...and couple of weeks after...stupid college...so might take some time before next chapter comes...please be patient!
(1) Think of Sasuke's new blade if anyone has seen it.
