Characters of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi and those of Robotech belong to Harmony Gold.
Chapter 10: Escape
"Captain, sensors are picking up what appears to be a fold operation," Vanessa called out from her station. Even though the radar wasn't fully operational, since the launching of the Cat's Eye patrol, some functions were available.
"It appears to be just one ship." she went on to add.
"That's odd," Gloval mumbled to himself while standing in the center of the bridge. "Why would they bring in one ship?"
Working under Gloval for so long, Vanessa understood his question and commented that the ship left the group. She went on to give the location before Gloval asked for it. It was the same general area of Lisa's last known position.
They hadn't heard from Lisa in over an hour. Gloval asked Sammie, who was manning Lisa's station, if there was anything from the patrol. Sammie turned to him and gave the answer he didn't want to hear.
"…and I haven't been able to reach Vermilion Squadron, too!"
The next day Roy drove into town. This wasn't going to be one of those trips that he would enjoy. Ranma and his team had been placed on the MIA list. There was no evidence to prove that the three plus Lieutenant Commander Hayes and her co-pilot were dead. Another patrol was sent out late yesterday and only found Battlepod wreckage.
It wasn't like they were the first pilots to ever be listed as MIA. However the others were soon found dead. He hoped beyond all hopes that Ranma, his men, and Lisa would not become part of that statistic.
Now his had to tell his big sister that her son was missing. He would have to do the same for Minmei. Following that, he would have to decide to either assigned Rick back to Skull Squadron or outfit Vermilion Squadron under his command. That all depended on when Rick could return to flight status. The next group of ensigns to leave the "academy" was in a week.
About fifteen minutes later, he stood against the White Dragon smoking a cigarette. He couldn't believe Nodoka hadn't told him about her move to the Hotel Continental. He was going to finish this cigarette before hopping back into his jeep and making his way there. Though he wasn't an advent smoker, he knew that when he did light one up, make sure Nodoka wasn't around for she hated cigarette smoke.
Too bad he wasn't fortunate enough to put it out before Nodoka spotted him. She was walking down the street with Minmei and a couple of Minmei's friends from school. He had that look of being busted as he quickly spit it out of his mouth and put it out with his shoe.
Nodoka had seen the cigarette and shook her head in disgust. She couldn't believe Roy still smoked. She would've thought he'd quit after their aunt died of lung cancer some five years ago.
"Ah, hi," Roy said sheepishly.
"Roy, I thought you said you quit?" Nodoka said, giving that older sibling glare.
Roy winced and said he was trying. He was now down to a pack a month as compared to a pack and a half a day. Still that wasn't an acceptable answer.
Changing the subject, Nodoka asked him what was Ranma doing since he had missed another day of lessons. She knew the RDF was on high alert after that rumbling of the ship two days ago. However after a day, soldiers returned to city on their off duty time, so it was natural to expect Ranma for his lessons.
Roy didn't know how to tell the two most important women in Ranma's life that he was missing. He'd always had a way with women, but this was his sister and the other was "sort of" his niece. It wasn't like this was the hardest thing to do. He wrote many a letter to parents of those killed while serving under him. He was going to have to tell them something nonetheless. "Um, it's about Ranma."
"What about Ranma!" both women asked, instantly pick up on his nervousness.
"Well he went out on mission yesterday and hasn't return, yet."
That garnered gasps from both of them. They thought the same thing. Only Minmei spoke it. "He's dead!"
"No, I'm not saying that."
"He's not coming back?"
"There's still the possibility."
Unfortunately, Minmei wouldn't to hear what Roy had to say and ran off crying.
Roy turned to his sister, who looked to be on the verge of tears herself.
"Don't get down, sis. I'm sure Ranma and the others are just fine."
"But...But...But…"
That's when Nodoka could no longer hold back the tears, and she started to cry. Ranma was her life. Sure there was the teaching and the esteem she received from her colleagues. However all she needed was her little boy. Though she put up a good front those years he was away, she didn't think she could live with the actual knowledge that Ranma would no longer be in her life.
Roy watched his big sister cry. The only thing he could do was to take her into his arms and let her cry on his shoulder. It was a very brotherly thing to do.
Minmei's two friends, unaccustomed to such feelings that precipitated, felt now was the time to leave and perhaps find Minmei to see how she was coping with the news of her brother.
As for Minmei, she made her way to the one place she felt happiest whenever she was with Ranma, the miniature golf course. It was the place Ranma took her the day of Rick and Kim's first date. Neither of them were good but playing together was the best time she had on the ship. Especially when Ranma hit the ball too hard, and with some weird deflections, it ended up hitting herself square on the forehead. It was one of the weirdest things Minmei had ever seen, but it was also the funniest.
It was memories such as these that came to Minmei while she held a putter in her hand.
Somewhere in the folds of time and space, Ranma, Lisa, and Ben sat in their container, wondering what might happen to them. Lisa and Ranma were acting rather childish, where Lisa would make a comment and Ranma would make his reply through Ben. He was not happy about the predicament that Lisa had gotten them in.
It wasn't like Lisa cared, for she thought he was acting rather juvenile. She tried to make herself appear busy by using the mini-digital camera, which the Zentraedi didn't take away from her, to scan their surroundings. Every once in awhile, she'd catch herself stealing glances at Ranma as he laid on the floor. Ben was doing pretty much the same thing. So Lisa came to the conclusion that they had to be some of the laziest people in the world.
"Ya know, Ben, I don't know why that tomboy is working so hard with that mini-cam? It's not like it's gonna help us escape," Ranma said.
Lisa gritted her teeth as she heard him call her a tomboy. It took all she had to take the high road.
"I wonder if Max was able to get out safely," Ben said in response.
Not far away from the room housing Ranma, Lisa, and Ben stood something that was quite out of place for a Zentraedi battle cruiser. The white and blue of Max's Battloid hid in doorways as it was going through the ship in its attempt to find the other three.
Max had gotten lucky or maybe unlucky. After being sucked out of the bay, he quickly reoriented himself to go back in and rescue his commander, his teammate, and the first officer of the SDF-1. As with Breetai's case, the created hole sealed up quickly. Max reconfigured to Fighter mode, and while hugging the hull so not to alert the Zentraedi radar, he searched another opening.
It wasn't long before Max found the opening he needed by pure luck. The hole in the hull was clearly caused by an explosion. He reconfigured back into a Battloid and walked onto the ship. While he was in the corridor made from the hole, things started appearing weird. It was the moment of the spacefold jump.
Now he was inside the ship, searching. If he had only knew where they were, he would have never passed the room.
Lisa was finally finished taking pictures of the room they were being housed. Now she was having a seat with the others, now sitting up from their relaxing position.
The day had been long for all of them, and there was no telling how much longer it would be before they saw their captors. They knew they'd been in their containers for hours, but none of them knew just how long.
Lisa looked down at her watch to see exactly how much time had passed. She had turned on its chronometer function before the Cat's Eye launched. "We've already been gone for ten days," she announced.
"Ten days. How can that be?" Ben asked. "We've only been in here for about six hours."
"Well, you see, Ben, time flows differently in hyperspace," Ranma stated. "Though it seems as if we've been in here for about six hours, in actuality it's been ten days. That means where they're taking us must be far away from our solar system."
Wow! He's rather educated, thought Lisa, her eyes wide in shock. She'd been judging him by their few encounters, in which Ranma came off as a jock, especially when watching him at the gym.
"If we've been here for ten days, I guess we've missed Minmei's debut," commented Ben.
"Yeah, I guess so," replied Ranma.
Unfortunately they wouldn't know of the press release saying Minmei was postponing her debut until further notice because of family concerns.
It wasn't long after this comment that objects outside of their container seemed to solidify instead of a red haze of three images.
"Well, it appears where here," Ranma said, as he got up and walked over to the side nearest the window. Lisa and Ben soon followed.
"Where do you think we are, lieutenant?"
Both Ranma and Lisa had to close their eyes and shake the heads to avoid from commenting. Ben maybe a good Veritech pilot, but he wasn't the brightest person. Obviously they were being taken to the Zentraedi headquarters or something like that. However a void of space was all they saw. As the ship proceeded on, a group of twinkling stars appeared in the distances. As the ship got closer, they could make out something.
Then they saw the first group of Zentraedi battleships. They gasped, appalled by the sheer number. But that was just the start. The number of ships increased every passing second. First it was several hundred, then several thousand, and soon it had to be a couple of million. They couldn't be sure by just eyeballing it. So Lisa quickly put her camera into action, making sure she had every ship they could see recorded. If they ever got back to the SDF-1, she would get it to Robotech scientists for a count.
They proceeded forward and soon had a clear view of what was twinkling. It was the biggest ship they could have possibly imagined. It wasn't big length-wise; it was big height-wise. It was a green mountain, quite possibly as tall as Mount Everest, if not taller.
"Something tells me that's their headquarters," Ben stated.
Ya don't say, thought both Lisa and Ranma.
They continued to watch as an opening appeared and soon the Zentraedi ship was swallowed inside. Once inside, they gasped again as there were even more ship inside this mountain of a ship.
"So you decided to bring them here," said a bald man over Breetai's projecbeam monitor. This was the Zentraedi Supreme Commander Dolza. He was the oldest and tallest of all the Zentraedi.
"Yes, Lord Dolza," replied Breetai. "I decided it would be best to interrogate them here in your presence so that you would be personally informed of their knowledge of Protoculture."
After a moment of thinking it over, Dolza said it was wise that Breetai brought the Micronians there. Then he informed Breetai that he would come to his ship. This caught Breetai off guard. Dolza explained he wanted to prevent contamination amongst the rest of the Zentraedi. Breetai understood what he meant that it was for the greater good of the Zentraedi.
So as soon as Dolza ended the transmission, Breetai ordered the prisoners to be brought to the interrogation room.
Ten days had passed since the reconnaissance mission went missing. In that time the scheduled debut of Lynn Minmei had been postpone. Since that was to coincide with the release of her debut album, the burgeoning entertainment community decided there should at least be a release party. They didn't put any obligations on Minmei for they knew about Lieutenant Saotome, especially Minmei's manager, Vance Hasselwood, since he had to meet Ranma before he could have the job.
The party was highly exclusive, with the only way one could get in was with an invitation or you a date of someone with an invitation. Kim Young was fortunate to be one of those. It was obvious Rick would get an invitation, with him being a close friend to Minmei. Rick was on leave from flight status while he healed, but when he returned, he would be given command of Vermilion Squadron until they either found Ranma and the others or they were declared dead.
When Rick heard Minmei postponed her debut concert, he wasn't surprised. Ranma meant more to her than he did. However he was surprised when the invitation was delivered to him. Initially he thought that this might provide an opportunity for him and Minmei. He was thinking in terms of those Hollywood premieres or MTV events he watched as a child. That was until he talked to Minmei and found out she didn't know anything about the party, and now that she knew, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go. As she explained, "It's much too soon for me."
When they parted that day, Rick thought that maybe he should just ignore it. If it weren't for Roy, he would have done just that.
"You should seize the opportunity," Roy said as they were walking together back to the base. "There's no telling if you'll ever get this again."
"Some opportunity. The girl that the party is for didn't know about it until a couple of hours ago," Rick replied.
"And I bet you wanted to take that girl to 'said' party?"
Rick scowled at Roy for that sarcastic remark. Like it wasn't obvious to those who knew Rick that he had a thing for Lynn Minmei, aka Miss Macross.
"Ya gotta understand," Roy continued. "It's been six days since she misconstrued my explanation for Ranma. Next to the Lynns, he was her family."
Rick smirked at him as if saying that he already knew that, especially with the threat Ranma gave him about a year ago.
"What I'm saying is go," Roy finished.
"Yeah, go dateless," Rick responded.
"'Ey, if you really need a date, why don't you ask Kim. You two seemed to be good together."
"That would be a date," Rick said without thinking.
"Well, that's what I thought the two of you were doing."
Rick wasn't quick to respond to that statement. He realized what he said and what Roy said. Then he realized that he and Kim hanging out could be seen as dating to some.
That ended that conversation with Roy. He went to his room and called Kim. He figured he could use this as a thank you for helping him when he sprained his ankle. He was lucky to get in contact with her then, for she had just walked in. Kim was surprised that he wanted to take her with him. Her first thought he was definitely using her against Minmei, though she hoped that wasn't so.
She hadn't seen him since his accident. Things had become too busy for everyone in the RDF. With Lisa being declared MIA, they were training Sammie to perform her job; that meant Kim had more to do.
When the day arrived, Rick went to Kim's barracks to pick her up. In front of the door to her room, he stood with a bouquet of flowers. He wore a pair of khaki slacks, a long sleeve, buttoned down, blue-green-white plaid shirt with a matching tie, and a navy blue sweater vest. He wasn't sure if this event was casual or dress, so he thought this outfit would fly for both types of dress.
When the door open, and Rick got his first glance at Kim, he backed away from the door, nearly falling on his butt. The vision that stood in front of him was much different than the Kim that he always hung out with. The Kim he thought he knew always wore shorts, may they be long or short, sneakers, and simple shirt. The Kim in front of him wore a strapless black dress that came down just above the knee with matching accessories. That threw Rick for a loop since he never seen her wearing makeup (or failed to noticed.)
One would need to take into account that Rick was a seventeen-year-old "boy" trying to woo the sixteen-year-old Minmei. In front of him was a nineteen-year-old "woman" looking more beautiful than Minmei.
Rick heard some snickering in the background and came out of his stupor. Changing his point of focus, he looked behind Kim, into her room, and saw both Sammie and Vanessa. But he paid them no mind as he shifted his focus back to Kim.
"H-Hi, Kim. T-These are for you," he said, handing her the bouquet. It surprised him that he was suddenly nervous around Kim. In the months that he'd known her, he'd never been nervous.
"Thank you, Rick," Kim said, accepting the bouquet. Rick failed to notice her cheeks were a deeper shade of red, making her blush unnoticeable. It was the first time that any guy had given Kim flowers.
"Good evening, Lt. Hunter," chimed Sammie and Vanessa.
"Hi, ladies," he replied, waving into the room. Then he came back to Kim. Offering an arm, he said, "S-Shall we go. I rented us a limo."
Rick was lucky to get it, as all of the partygoers took them. It wasn't like Rick couldn't afford it. Except for the outfit he was wearing, he rarely spent any of his wages. In fact most pilots rarely spent their wages. To go out and eat, they could use their ration cards (accepted at all restaurants in Macross City). They live in barracks on base. There was a jeep for every five pilots-no car payments. That only left items such as TV, DVDs, Blu Rays, and gaming consoles to buy, and for some pilots, they were unnecessary.
For instance, before Nodoka started teaching, the majority of Ranma's pay supported her.
After she came back from placing the flower in some water, Kim wrapped her arm around Rick's and said that she'd be glad to leave.
"Say, do you think something might happen?" Vanessa asked as the two left.
"Sure something's gonna happen. With all the stars that are suddenly emerging on the ship. We'll definitely hear about it on the news," Sammie answered.
"No, idiot. I'm talking about those two," stated Vanessa. "Didn't you see that look on Lt. Hunter? It was the classic, 'Oh my god! I've just seen the most beautiful woman in the world,' love at first sight look."
Sammie had noticed that look. "Well, maybe Lt. Hunter thinks it's time to take the next step. They've only been dating since October."
Rick definitely wasn't overdressed. Held at the same hotel where Minmei was living, the party had people in various types of dress from casual to formal. There were even some women there in what appeared to be rehashed prom dresses. Except for some of the friends Minmei had made on the island, everybody was pretty much older than both Rick and Kim.
Minmei did decide to make an appearance at her party at the beginning. But the instance she saw Rick together with Kim, the feelings she had whenever she saw the two surfaced, and she promptly left.
At 9:00 the album debuted without Minmei's presences. At first, people just sat around, eating and drinking, while listening to the music. The majority of the songs were originals written by Minmei with two cover songs. One cover was a dance tune Minmei song with a guy. The other was a mellow duet in which another girl sang the lead vocals.
One song that appeared to be popular over all the rest was called My Boyfriend's a Pilot. Rick already knew about it. Minmei told him about it a couple months ago. And he was pretty sure the song was about him.
The second time the album was played, some people started dancing. As the night progressed, more people started dancing until it was a regular dance party.
Also as the night progressed, the more inebriated Rick became. He didn't do it on purpose. When getting drinks for him and Kim, he wanted to try something new. However he thought he was getting safe, non-alcoholic drinks, such as daiquiris. Unfortunately he never mentioned the word "virgin."
Slowly Kim started noticing the signs. She, herself, had stayed partially safe by drinking mostly soda. He hadn't become seriously drunk yet, but she knew she needed to get the two of them out of that environment before he did something stupid. Unfortunately their limo wasn't bound to pick them up for a couple of hours.
Fortunately she saw Nodoka Saotome. Recognizing Ranma's mother, Kim had a feeling that she could help, especially since Rick was a member of her son' squadron. She went to her and explained the problem. After Nodoka had a talking with Rick, she left the room, only to come back a minute later. She had gotten Rick a room so he could sleep the alcohol off. She was upset that Rick had drank it, but grateful that the girl with him was looking out for him and brought it to her attention.
However it did allow her the opportunity to get Rick to commit to continuing his education. She could not have her "relatives" go through life without a high school (or in Ranma's case-college) education. She would just have him join Minmei during her home schooling sessions.
Kim was thankful to Nodoka. She didn't ask how she was able to get the room. The Continental was rebuilt with mostly penthouses for dignitaries caught in the fold. Fortunately there were a couple rooms that where still considered hotel rooms.
Kim took him up to the room. Needless to say, some things happened that weren't planned at the beginning of the evening in that room. In the morning, clothes would be found strewn around the room, and a couple of "teenagers" would realize they lost their virginities.
Ranma, Lisa, and Ben found themselves standing on a big table after being transferred to another room. It was quite possible that this was where their interrogation would take place. The room they were in was huge. It was pretty dark except for a light above them.
Off to the sides of the table were two Zentraedi. The one on the left they recognized as the one that attacked them in the bay. One thing Ranma thought he looked a hell of a lot taller just sitting there than when Ranma looked at him through the Battloid's monitor.
They could tell the Zentraedi on their right was shorter than the other. His body seemed misshapen. In a comparison between the two Zentraedi, he had two eyes where as the other guy had a metal plate covering a portion of his right side, with a crystal jewel where his eye would be.
What went unnoticed by the three at the time were the three other Zentraedi soldiers sitting behind them at the table.
With all the Zentraedi that surrounded them, they decided to face the one side left open. They stood in silences, almost like they were waiting for someone or something. Then there was the sound of a hatch opening and closing. That was followed by the sounds of footsteps, and out from the shadows appeared this gigantic bald Zentraedi, wearing a purple robe with a high collar. He sat at the end of the table, towering over everyone there.
Once settled into his seat, he spoke. "I am Dolza, Commander-in-Chief of the Zentraedi. You will submit to my interrogation. If you choose not to, then you will die."
Ranma, Lisa, and Ben started talking amongst themselves. They couldn't believe that the alien had just spoken to them in their own language. While they were talking, Lisa secretly brought out her mini-digicam, attached it onto her chest, and turned it on to record. Surprisingly nobody noticed her movements.
"It appears the translating device is working properly," said the Zentraedi to their right, also in the Zentraedi language.
"I must commend you on efforts to allow me to speak to these primitives, Exedore," the one named Dolza said. Then he returned his attention to Ranma, Lisa, and Ben. "Now explain why you continue to resist us? Surely Breetai has demonstrated our superiority."
Guessing that the one named Breetai sat on their left, Ranma pointed to him and said, "He attacked us first. We've just been defending ourselves from…"
"It does not matter," interrupted the one identified as Breetai.
"Like hell it does," Ranma mumbled.
"We just want what is rightfully ours, Zor's ship," Breetai finished.
Momentarily Ranma became the unofficial spokesperson for the group. In response to what Breetai said, he pretty much intimated the finder's keepers rule by saying if they were talking about the SDF-1, which crashed landed on Earth, which they rebuilt, it was now theirs.
At that point words started flying amongst the Zentraedi and Ranma until Lisa put a stop to it.
"I'll no longer have you badgering those under my command," she said, stepping out from the three.
There were some murmurings amongst the Zentraedi over the disbelief of a female commanding two males.
Dolza cleared his throat to quiet the group. "Tell us what you know of Protoculture?" he demanded.
Lisa gave him a confused stare. Well, they all had confused looks on their faces. They had never heard of Protoculture.
"Do not deny your knowledge of Protoculture?" stated Breetai.
Lisa wanted to give a look back to Ranma and Ben, but that would undermine the position she'd just put herself in.
Since he wasn't getting any responses, Dolza warned Lisa not to underestimate the seriousness of the situation.
The room went dark with the wave of Dolza's hand. To Ranma, Lisa, and Ben, it appeared they were now in deep space, surrounded by a star field with a planet very reminiscent of Earth to them in the distances. As the planet came closer to them, Zentraedi ships started folding into view, surrounding the planet. Ship after ship appeared, layering themselves around the planet until they pretty much smothered it.
Then they all opened fire.
Lisa's gasp was quite audible because of the destruction she'd just witnessed. The others had their mouths gaping open. It was clear they were amazed by the display of firepower. All the while, Dolza talked over it, explaining to them how powerful the Zentraedi truly were.
When the Zentraedi came back into view, Lisa instantly put on a face of non-intimidation, and then said, "You don't have enough power to destroy the SDF-1, Dolza." It was an obvious bluff, but she hoped he wouldn't call her on it. "The SDF-1 has more power than you can dream of!'
What's that girl doin'? thought Ranma.
Dolza didn't like the way the female Micronian talked to him. "Impertinence!" he yelled, and he pounded his fist onto the table, knocking the three captives down. Then he reached out, grabbed Lisa and held her tightly in his right hand.
Ranma wanted to kick the crap out of Dolza as he heard Lisa struggle to breathe while in his grip.
"Now, my feisty female, I want to know by what process did you become Micronian?" Dolza decided to take another approach to this interrogation. He was sure she would have to tell him about Protoculture from this measure.
Ranma was clutching his fists to put down his anger. He couldn't believe that dumb Zentraedi asked Lisa a question while not allowing her to breathe. "Stop squeezing her," he said through his teeth.
Then he said, "If you want to know, we're born this size."
"Born? What is this born?" asked Exedore.
"Well, you know…Coming from our mothers," spoke Ben.
"What is this 'mother'?" asked a voice from behind them.
Ranma and Ben spun around to see the three Zentraedi, dressed in red uniforms, behind them.
"Mothers are the female parent," replied Ben. He looked at them as if they were idiots for not knowing what a mother was.
"You mean you actually come from the female of your kind?" stated Exedore.
"And by what way do you come from the female of your kind?" added Breetai.
Ben looked at Ranma to see if he wanted to answer this. All he got in return was a look of confusion. The thing Ben didn't know was Ranma only knew the textbook version of how babies were made. He just learned human physiology the other week. Biology wasn't his strong suit, so Nodoka proceeded at slowed pace.
The two were the same age with Ben older by a couple of months. However, due to the nature of their upbringing, Ben was the more experienced of the two. Hell, Ranma had yet to kiss a girl unless you want to count that kiss with Akane during the Romeo and Juliet play. Though it wasn't like he was completely clueless with the things he heard in the locker room. He was simply naïve.
Seeing that there wouldn't be a response from his commanding officer, Ben went on to say, "Well, by making love."
The Zentraedi were confused by the term of "making love."
"And how does this 'making love' work?" asked Exedore.
"Usually it starts with a kiss between a man and a woman," Ben started.
That's all he got out before Dolza bellowed out, "You two, demonstrate this 'kiss'."
"What! No way!" Ranma expressed. "I ain't kissin' no guy!"
That was one of Ranma's worst fears since obtaining his curse, as if by kissing a man, he will start liking them.
"Do it or I squish the female!" Dolza said.
"I ain't like that!" Ranma said more emphatically, hoping he'd get his point across.
Fortunately Lisa saved him from embarrassment. Using every ounce air she could muster, she volunteered to do it. Since Dolza wanted a demonstration, he placed Lisa back on the table.
The first thing Lisa did once she was out of Dolza's grip was take a couple of deep breaths. Once she could breathe easily, she walked over to Ranma. "Okay, Ranma, I want you to kiss me," she said in a near whisper.
"Why does everybody want me to kiss 'em?"
"Are you afraid of a kiss?"
"I ain't afraid of nothin'." Everyone could almost see Ranma's chest expand as he tried to show his pride.
"Look, Ranma, it's just a simple kiss. Besides I want to get their response on the digicam."
"Then why not with Ben?"
Lisa took one look at Ben, and the unconscious part of her brain that was attracted to Ranma immediately told her, Not in your life, sister.
Snapping her head back, she said, "'Cause I rather it be you."
"Well, you better make it an order, commander."
"Then it's an order."
Accepting that order, the two moved into position. Once in said position, Lisa maneuvered the digicam so she could capture the Zentraedi's reaction. "Okay, we're ready," she said. She turned her head to face Ranma. Her head started to inch closer to Ranma and Ranma likewise. Just before their lips met, Ranma said to himself, Akane, please forgive me.
When their lips met, it was like lightning struck. Well at least it did for Lisa. There was no tongue exchange, just a simple lip-lock. Lisa went into this thinking it was just something she had to do as part of her duty. However, moments into the kiss, her legs turned to jelly and her heart rate went up. She had to lean against Ranma, or more like melted into him, to show some semblance of standing.
While Lisa was feeling all this, it was the Zentraedi's turn to give the appearance of being appalled. This was the most reviled thing any of them had ever seen.
If it wasn't for Ranma's recognition of supporting the weight of two people, there was no telling if they would have stopped before the groans of the Zentraedi became audible.
When Ranma separated his lips from Lisa, she continued the kiss, but now it was air.
As Ranma backed away, Lisa almost fell to the table. Almost because Ranma quickly realized Lisa was in no condition to stand, though he didn't know why. For him the kiss meant nothing. Sure he felt a tingling sensation that started at lips and went down his spine. He just expected more.
"Lisa, are you okay?"
Hearing Ranma call her by name, Lisa realized the kiss was over. She instantly blushed in embarrassment for holding that position for so long.
By that time, the two realized the commotion their display caused. Dolza was already out of the room, fearing that if he stayed any longer, he would be contaminated by the Micronians. But before he left, he ordered Breetai to lock them up.
Before Ranma, Lisa, or Ben could realize what was happening, they were back on a cart and wheeled out of the room. As they went down corridors, Ranma couldn't help but notice that they were going in a different direction than the one that led them to the interrogation room.
As they made their way to so unknown destination, they passed by the hidden Max. Though no one would have recognized the Battloid, as Max had effectively disguised it in a Zentraedi soldier's uniform, after fortunate encounter in what appeared to be a restroom.
Once he recognized who was on the cart, Max proceeded to follow at a discreet distance. They were placed in a room that was completely different than their first room. It had to be a holding cell, as there wasn't any viewports to look out into space. They were spilled onto the ground with the door closing with a resounding thud.
"What a fine mess you got us into, Lisa," Ranma said, just as soon as the door closed.
"Oh, shut up, Ranma," Lisa replied. "How you could blame this on me?"
Neither had realized that both referred to the other by their first names instead of rank.
"I'm pretty sure it had something to do with that kiss you insisted on," Ranma retorted.
"Man, what a kiss it was," Ben said, adding his two cents. He was the only one that witnessed the reactions of the Zentraedi while his commanders kissed. It was he who told them exactly what happened.
"What did I say," Ranma commented once Ben finished.
"What! I was doing my job. Or have you already forgotten how to do that now that we're captured," Lisa fired back.
"I am doing my job! But if some stupid tomboy didn't feel the need to take things into her own hands and foul up a mission when she should have kept her ass on the bridge, none of us would be in this situation!"
That was all Lisa could take. She had been seated on the floor, but after that comment, she was instantly on her feet and moving towards Ranma, fist cocked for a monstrous punch. She didn't care that they just shared a kiss that just made her legs turn into jelly. She was out for blood.
Unfortunately she never made to him. She had been caught by Ben, who felt it was his responsibility to stop this latest fight. He didn't mind words flying around, but he would not let things get physical. He knew (as well as everyone in the fighter wing) that Ranma was an accomplished martial artist. Only having knowledge of martial arts from the movies, he didn't want to see what would happen if the two got into throwing punches. However Ben didn't know about Ranma reluctance towards fighting women.
"Look, you two. I don't think fighting is gonna answer our problems," Ben said, trying to sound profound. "We should being trying to figure out a way to get out of here and back home."
Lisa's aggression disappeared. Feeling the tension release of her body, Ben let her go, to which she returned to where she had been sitting. Ben also took a seat while Ranma just leaned against a wall, hands behind his head.
Ranma began thinking if he knew any techniques that could get him out of this. That led him to his two most advance techniques, the Katsü Tenshin Amagurikin and the Hiryü Shöten Ha, yet he knew that neither of them would work. Sure throwing punches at the speed of the amagurikin would eventually start bend the metal door, but there was no telling how thick the door was or even the walls. As for the Hiryü Shöten Ha, with the hot chi Lisa could produce out of anger, there were consequences in actually attempting the technique.
There was silence in the room while the three thought. Ranma going through what could and could not be done through brute strength, Lisa using her head, and Ben was just scratching the surface for any idea.
Then Lisa came up with an idea. "Say, why don't we, when the guard comes, surprise him by kissing?"
The comment was clearly directed to Ranma. Why does it have to be a kiss? he thought. "Oh, no! You're not kissing me again," he replied.
"Come on, Ranma. You heard how Ensign Dixon said they seemed repulsed by our kiss," said Lisa.
"Then why not kiss Ben?" Ranma came back.
Knowing he didn't really have a chance, Ben instantly showed her his kissing face. Lisa saw this and said, "I thought we already had this conversation."
Dolza had regained his composure and returned to the interrogation room, where Breetai, Exedore and the three operatives (Rico, Konda, and Bron) still remained. There were discussions on what just happened. Discussions that were not meant to leave that room.
"Clearly the Micronians know more than they are willing to tell," stated Dolza.
"I would concur," Exedore agreed, "but how much do they know about Protoculture?"
Rico, Konda, and Bron were confused. They hadn't a clue as to what was being said, especially this Protoculture. That was quite natural as only those that needed to know had the information about Protoculture.
Still they asked the question, "What is Protoculture?"
Dolza pondered for a moment before readily supplying them with the information, but he premised it by saying that what he was about to say was to stay in the room. After a quick affirmation, Dolza proceeded. "Protoculture is the essence of Robotechnology, developed by our ancestors." He let it sink in for effect, for not many of the present Zentraedi could remember their ancestors. "In the beginning, the Zentraedi were the same size as these Micronians. At one time we, too, lived together with our female counterparts, in something called a 'society.' But through the use of Protoculture, we evolved to our present size, strength, and superiority. Unfortunately a series of events that even now must be kept secret led to the loss of our understanding of Protoculture."
The room was silence as what was said was taken in. Then Breetai said, "If the Micronians do know more than they're letting on, we need to place someone on Zor's ship to find out."
"Are you talking about placing a spy on it?" asked Dolza.
The minute Dolza said that, Rico, Konda, and Bron started discussing amongst themselves. Ever since their recon mission, they had been fascinated by what they saw. And now the perfect opportunity was becoming available to them.
"Yes, sir. That's exactly what I'm thinking," replied Breetai.
"Do you have in mind for this mission?" inquired Dolza.
"Sir, we would like to take the mission," said Rico, the short, black haired, ashen skinned Zentraedi.
Dolza thought about this for a minute. He thought about how luck just fell into their lap. With these three volunteers, there wouldn't be a need to train more soldiers in the Micronian's language.
"Are all of you sure about this?" he asked. He was given three affirmations as a response.
In another portion of Breetai's ship, Max staked out the door that was holding his compatriots. Standing in front of the door was a soldier in battle armor. So Max just bid his time, waiting for the opportunity to catch the soldier off guard.
Behind the door, nothing had been said since Lisa's kissing suggestion. During that time, Ranma was allowed to mull it over. The more he thought about it, the better the idea became, much to his disliking. He was already dead if Akane were to ever find out what he did. Moreover he realized that it was part of his responsibility to get the information on the digicam into the hands of those that could do something with it.
Lisa did have a point. If what Ben said was correct, if he and Lisa kissed the next time the guard came, they'd be able to escape.
"Okay, I'll do it," Ranma announced, breaking the silence.
"Huh?" said both Lisa and Ben.
Ranma explained to them that he would go along with the kissing plan. "But don't think I'm gonna pucker up once we're out of here."
"You make it like I want to kiss you," Lisa retorted. Though in the back of her mind, that's exactly what she wanted to do.
Suddenly they heard some commotion outside the door. Instantly they knew that this was their opportunity. Lisa directed Ben over to the right side of the door, while she and Ranma positioned themselves in the middle of the room, ready to kiss the minute the door opened.
They kissed the second the door opened. From Ben's prospective, it was clear that the Zentraedi was startled. "All right, guys, we got 'em," he announced.
Ranma and Lisa quickly broke the kiss and started to make their way out. Then they heard a familiar voice.
"Wait, guys. It's me, Max." With the lifting the cap, they all saw the blue head of Max's Battloid. "Sorry, it's taken me so long." He then brought in the guard he'd knocked unconscious.
"That's okay, Max," Ranma said, as Max laid the guard on the floor, "but we should leave now."
"Sure thing." Max lowered the Battloid and extended the Battloid's left arm to the floor with the palm of the up. Lisa and Ranma immediately hopped aboard. Ben made his way over, but Max brought the other hand down in Ben's way. "Sorry, buddy, but three's a crowd," Max explained. He lifted the hand and placed Ranma and Lisa in the left breast pocket. "Besides, wouldn't want you to disturb the two lovebirds." Of course Max was just joking. Unfortunately Ranma and Lisa weren't quick to realize this, as they instantly protested.
Max did have a reason for separating the three. Knowing that he was going to have to walk away from this area, he figured that having them in the same breast pocket was bad. The weight of three could leave a noticeable bulge. Hopefully with them in separate pockets, he could move around without being discovered. He had done a good job of this so far.
Once he was finally set to move, Max left and made his way down the corridor. Things were going fine for the first ten or so steps. Then a Zentraedi soldier, wearing a power battle suit, turned from another corridor and walked in his direction. Max quickly informed his passengers, who quickly crouched down into their respective pockets.
Ranma caught a glance of the soldier as he passed them. Both he and Max hoped he wasn't on his way to their "prison cell." Unfortunately that's where he stopped. The solider had intended to go, but things were suspicious as no one was guarding the door of some Micronian prisoners. So it was only natural for him to open the door to see if everything was all right. What he saw instantly made him know things were not right, as the guard was lying on the floor, unconscious.
Immediately he called to the soldier walking away. He wasn't initially suspicious of the guy. He just wanted to know if he knew anything.
Max heard the soldier call at him but couldn't understand what was said. So he started to move the Battloid at a faster pace.
Seeing the increase in pace, the Zentraedi was quick to realize something was up. Now he called for Max to stop. Since Max didn't speak Zentraedi, he continued to ignore the soldier. That's when the soldier brought a weapon to bear and opened fire. Once that happened, the alarms were sound, and more soldiers made their way to the corridor.
Ever the quick thinker, Ranma ordered Max to change modes. Max was in the same frame of mind and was already changing to Guardian mode, allowing for a increase in speed.
Due to changing Veritech modes, another problem developed. The cockpit section had torn open the shirt. Ranma, Lisa, and Ben had to hang on for their dear lives as the shirt flapped in the air.
As the Veritech's engines provided the needed velocity to elude the Zentraedi, Max went about trying to find a place there weren't any Zentraedi. In doing so, he crashed through Breetai's command bubble as he flew through the bridge.
It was at the exact moment that Breetai, along with Exedore and Dolza were informed of the Micronian break. As the Veritech sped away, Dolza gave Breetai a look of displeasure. He immediately told Breetai that he wanted those Micronians found as soon as possible.
Max continued on through the ship, still under fire. Eventually he came upon a dead end in the form of an elevator. It looked as if they would crash, but luckily the elevator opened. Unfortunately a Zentraedi soldier stepped off it. He immediately ducked to his right and tried to make himself a fly on the wall to avoid both the Veritech and rifle fire.
Max entered the elevator. He made an attempt to close the door, but there was another problem. The servomotors in the arms were fried. The left couldn't move to pull the lever. He told Ranma, and Ranma braved the short traverse down the arm through laser fire and pulled the lever down.
The door closed and the elevator started down. That's when Max presented everyone with their next problem. The Veritech's systems had overheated, meaning it was set to explode. Everybody quickly got off the Veritech and waited for the elevator to stop. Just knowing about the added danger, the wait seemed to last an eternity. When the doors finally opened, they thought maybe being in an elevator with a Veritech about to explode wasn't too bad, for they were greeted by an unsuspecting Zentraedi soldier.
When the soldier realized what he was seeing, he lunged at them, causing them jump over his arm and out of the elevator. This separated the group into pairs, Lisa with Ranma and Ben with Max. Making a quick getaway, they went their separate ways down a corridor, one pair to the left, the other to the right.
The Zentraedi soldier stood and started its attempt to capture the Micronians. Unfortunately that was when the Veritech decided to explode, killing the soldier.
Ranma and Lisa ran for about ten minutes after the explosion before they realized Max and Ben weren't with them. They ran into a room, and while Ranma was concerned about the two ensigns under his command, Lisa noticed and started recording the large tube-filled room, with three of the tubes filled with some type of liquid. In them appeared to be bodies.
"Say, Ranma, look at this," Lisa said, getting his attention.
Ranma turned around and almost screamed out in surprise. What else would one do if they found a room with large tubes with Zentraedi bodies in them? Then right before their eyes, the three bodies shrunk in size, reappearing in a smaller tube at the bottom of the large tube. Lisa gasped in surprise. Ranma was able to hold his surprise, but then again, could Ranma really be all that surprised about that? He had seen humans turn into animals, large mallets appear out of nowhere, and shriveled up old people projecting huge auras. Hell, he, himself, changed into a girl (though not so often since he'd ended up in space).
While Lisa continued recording what she saw, Ranma heard the footsteps of an approaching Zentraedi. "Ah, Lisa, I think it would be best if we leave now."
Lisa snapped back to her senses and saw the Zentraedi that Ranma had sensed coming. "Yeah, I think you're right."
And with that, they took off before the Zentraedi noticed there were Micronians in the room.
In another part of the ship, Max and Ben weren't as lucky as Ranma and Lisa. They were being closely pursued by a trio of Zentraedi soldiers. They didn't have time to attempt to rejoin Ranma and Lisa. They were more concerned about self-preservation than anything else.
Ahead of them appeared just what they needed, those they didn't realize initially. They ran down the corridor until Max had the presence of mind to realize that they were passing through a hatchway. Looking up, he picked up on the hatches controls, and with his gun, shot the hatch closed.
Back on Breetai's command bubble, thing weren't going well. Clean up was going on for the damaged caused by the Micronians. How they were able to get one of their war machines on board was still trying to be solved.
Then a report came in telling how they had just lost two of the Micronians because of a hatch that just came down.
Dolza didn't like any of the reports coming in. Finally he turned to Breetai and said, "It has become clear to me that you aren't capable of completing this task."
Breetai gave him a stunned glance.
"You have been unable to capture Zor's ship, and now those Micronians are running amok aboard your ship." After a moments silence he continued. "For this, I'm going to have to relieve you of your command."
Breetai was surprised to hear this. He had spent many years searching for the fortress, and that was now taken away from him. He just couldn't believe it. Nonetheless he would not complain. He was a soldier and sometimes things like this happen.
"Who's going to deliver the packet?" Breetai went on to ask. He said in a manner stated his indifference to what Dolza just said.
"Azonia is fully capable of completing this mission," was Dolza's response. "She has never failed me,"
Breetai didn't like the sounds of that. It was mainly because Azonia was female, and in a society in which the sexes were segregated, no male was going to like being pulled from command and replaced by a woman. But doing his duty, he took it in stride.
"Understood, Lord Dolza."
Ranma and Lisa entered what appeared to be an armory. It wasn't Ranma decision to stop, but Lisa wasn't in the same physical condition as himself. On the other hand, who on the SDF-1 spent every waking moment since the time they could walk training to become the greatest martial artist to ever live?
They stood behind a gun rack, trying to stay out of sight. No sooner had they stopped running had Lisa gone into what they had just seen.
"And you think that this makes them clones?" Ranma questioned.
"Don't you get it? Don't you remember Dolza asking us how we became Micronians?" Lisa asked.
Ranma nodded.
"Well, they had to be wondering if we have chambers like those we saw," Lisa explained.
"But that still doesn't explain your belief that they're clones," Ranma went on to say. "For all we know, they could be supersized humans."
Lisa couldn't believe she just received a statement like from Ranma. But she didn't know his mother was schooling him, and biology was not his strong suit.
"Ranma, haven't cha noticed that several of the Zentraedi look exactly alike?"
Certainly Ranma had seen some soldiers that looked alike, but he thought they were the same soldier. He hadn't really been paying attention to the appearances of each individual Zentraedi soldier. But now that he thought about it, what Lisa was saying made sense about them being clones.
Unnoticed by the two, a Zentraedi had spotted them and was closing in on them as quiet as he possibly could.
"It makes perfect sense for them to think we became Micronian the same way as them," Lisa continued. "In fact, I've been thinking. What if the Zentraedi were original our size but had to macronized to fit a new environment."
"Okay, Lisa, now you're stretching it," responded Ranma.
"How come, Ranma? How else can you explain the one Max sent into space coming back into the ship?"
Ranma was beginning to understand where she was going. Unfortunately before he could respond to the statement, they heard a deep growl. Though Ranma hadn't eaten in some hours, he knew it wasn't his stomach. So where did the growl come from? Ranma received his answer in the form of a gigantic gloved hand coming out of nowhere and seizing Lisa.
"Ranma, Help!" Lisa yelled as she was picked up by a Zentraedi.
Lisa didn't really need to ask for Ranma's help. He was already into motion in coming to her rescue. Not thinking about the size of the Zentraedi, he figured a punch to the face would stun the giant long enough for him to get Lisa out of the Zentraedi's clutches.
The Zentraedi saw Ranma coming, so he tried kicking him away. Unfortunately it worked against him. Instead of going away from him, Ranma used the foot as a springboard to aid in his climb up the Zentraedi's body.
Foot, knee, hip, wrist, and chest. Ranma was helped immensely by the Zentraedi's armor. From the chest, Ranma leapt up, and with all his strength and power, even more than he ever used against Ryoga, he threw a punch, aimed at the chin.
Unfortunately he didn't know the strength of the face shield of the helmet. All that happened was the spider-web cracking of the shield. The next thing he had to worry about was the fall back to the floor. This was the highest he would have ever fallen. But he would not have to worry about falling straight down, for the Zentraedi swatted him away like a bug.
With the add momentum Ranma went flying into a gun rack, and guns fell upon him.
Lisa gasped, shocked by what just happened. Unfortunately with the gasp, she released her grasp of the digicam. When she realized she did that, it was too late to do anything about it but watch it crash onto the floor. Because of this she started to sob.
The Zentraedi soldier smiled behind that spider-webbed face shield. He was sure to receive a commendation for capturing two of the Micronians, maybe more. It was short lived for he heard the sound of laser fire. That was a scant second before it pierced through the face shield.
Prefect head shot-instant death. It was only the remains of the face shield that hid the blood. The body instantly fell back onto the wall.
Ranma dropped the gun that was many-times his size. There was no need for another blast. He knew the soldier was dead. In pain, he ran over to the body, which had fallen down like a chopped tree, to see if Lisa was okay.
When he made it there, he breathed a sigh of relief. The Zentraedi fell to his left; Lisa was in the right hand, so she was okay. Then Ranma heard some sobbing. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe Lisa had somehow been hurt in the fall. "Lisa, what's the matter?" he asked, as he pried the fingers off of her.
"Ranma, go on without me," she replied.
Now that had Ranma concerned. In the past months he had seen tons of war movies, and he knew the only time anyone said something like was when they were mortally wounded.
"Lisa, where does it hurt the most?"
"N-Nothing hurts."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I-I lost the digicam."
Ranma wanted to bang his head against the Zentraedi's finger. He couldn't believe he'd showed some concern towards Lisa for something so trivial. "Lisa, it's all right."
"No, it's not," she retorted. "I can't complete my mission."
By this time Ranma could hear in the distances the steps of more soldiers heading their way. Freeing Lisa, he told she was going to have to live without it. "…but we have to go now."
It wasn't long after Ranma said this that they heard the shouts of the Zentraedi soldier. Taking Lisa's hand, Ranma pulled her out and took off, not caring if he dragged her or not. Where they were was no longer safe. And for a while, he was dragging her. When Lisa didn't like the rag doll treatment, she started running by her own means.
Unlike the first time where they ran to hide, this time they were running for their lives. There were soldiers on their tails. Ranma ran at a higher rate than before. Now that Lisa was moving by her own means, a gap started to develop between the two, but he wasn't doing it on purpose. He was subconsciously performing the Saotome Final Attack, making him much faster than her.
Lisa could clearly see the gap opening, and there was nothing she could do about it. She was running as fast as she could, and the gap was still growing. Finally she screamed for Ranma to wait up.
Ranma glanced back and saw the gap. That's when he realized what he was doing. There was only one thing he could do in order to keep the rate that he was going. He was going to have to carry Lisa. He should have done it at first instead of just grabbing her hand.
Lisa was rather surprised when Ranma came back and picked her up. It was just another first that day. First there was her first kiss; now a guy was carrying her in such an intimate way, the classic cradle position. Not realizing what she was doing, she rested her head on Ranma's shoulder as he flew down the corridor. If her conscious mind hadn't realized it yet, it had to be asleep, for the subconscious mind had definitely fallen in love with the guy whose arms were holding her body close to his.
Ranma quickly returned to the rate of speed he had before picking up Lisa. He instantly noticed she was lighter than Akane. He put that information aside as he looked for a place to hide. However there was not a single corridor to turn towards or room to hide in.
Ranma could see there was a section of the corridor with no light. The closer they got, Ranma could notice that part of the corridor was different than the rest. In fact he could tell that the floor was to become a bridge in the section. An idea came to him as he realized that this was his opportunity to hide was on the horizon.
So in to the dark he went, carrying Lisa all the while. That's when he realized a most fatal of errors. He had planned to jump and catch onto any possible dangling wires. But he was thinking on human scales. He realized this when he jumped for them. Coming up just short, Ranma and Lisa came back to the gangway, but now they had to worry about laser fire. Dancing around the laser fire, Ranma started his way over to the other side. What Ranma didn't realize, by the Zentraedi shooting at them, they were shooting out the gangway, too. When the floor came out from underneath, Ranma lost his hold on Lisa, and another gap formed as they fell to who knows where.
Ranma and Nodoka made their way to the Tendo Dojo. They had returned to Tokyo after visiting relatives. It had been nice to see his uncle after all those years. Ranma had waited for this day since the two had started visiting relatives. He hadn't seen Akane in three weeks, and with that absence, he fully realized what he had. He'd missed all the girls whose affection he held (well, maybe not Kodachi or Shampoo whenever she was trying something sneaky), but it was Akane he missed the most.
Somehow from all of their fighting, he had fallen in love with her over Ukyo and Shampoo. She wasn't the cutest. That title went to Ukyo. She wasn't the sexy. That definitely went to Shampoo. Whatever she had, he had fallen in love with it.
And today, with the heirloom his grandparents had given him, he was going to show his love to her. He was finally going to commit to just her.
Ranma and Nodoka stopped in front of the gateway of a cement wall. Next to the gate hung a sign proclaiming this site as the Tendo Dojo.
"Well, we're here, Ranma," Nodoka said. She knew what her son was about to do. It was something she could take pride in. Knowing the difficulties that her husband and his friend had in getting at least one of the two teens to commit to the engagement, she would gloat over them since it had taken her a month to do something they couldn't do in seven.
"I know, mother," Ranma replied, hiding his anticipation.
They walked the path to the front door, which Nodoka knocked. They waited a moment before the door opened. Behind it stood Kasumi, and by her expression, she seemed surprised to see them.
"A-Auntie Saotome. Ranma. It's good to see you," she said.
"And it's good to see you, too," Nodoka said as they entered the house.
"We weren't expecting 'til tomorrow."
"We got back early."
"Father and Uncle Saotome are inside, and Akane's in the dojo," she informed them. She knew they were who the two would want to see the most.
Nodoka followed Kasumi into the house, and with that bit of information, Ranma took off for the dojo. He made it there, and as expected she was breaking bricks. He did nothing to distract her from what she was doing. She didn't know he was there until she went to get more bricks to make new stacks.
When she saw him, she went over and gave Ranma a hug, which quite surprised him. "Ranma, when did you get here?" she asked as she stepped back from him.
"Oh, just now," he said, trying to sound nonchalant.
With a "glad to see you," they started talking about their respective vacations. Akane talked about returning to the ski resort, and Ranma told her about meeting his grandparents and his uncle and visiting a Shinto temple down south.
Mentioning his grandparents, Ranma went into his plan. He started talking about how much he wished she could have gone with him and how much he'd missed her.
Unnoticed by the two, everyone in the house had made their way out to the dojo. They all ended up there for various reasons, but one singular reason was to stop what was about to happen.
Akane was clueless as to what Ranma was getting at. At least not until Ranma got on one knee and brought out a box from his pants pocket. And then Ranma said it.
"Akane Tendo, w-will you marry me?" With that Ranma opened the box and present her with a diamond engagement.
Gasps could be heard as all the Tendo girls got a glimpse of the diamond. It was a big as the ring itself, and with the light in the dojo, it sparkled. Jokingly, Nabiki put on a pair of sunglasses.
Ranma waited for Akane's answer. By the looks of it, she was so startled by the proposal that a tear started to run down her face. Ranma thought this as a good sign.
It was a sign but not the sign he was looking for.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Ranma," was the first thing out of Akane's mouth. And she truly was. At one time this was what she wanted but not now. "But I can't."
"W-W-What?"
"I can't."
"B-But I love you."
"And I love you too, but I'm married now."
And right on cue, Ranma noticed a wedding band on her left ring finger. Suddenly a shadowy figure appeared behind Akane and wrapped its arms around her.
"Akane, no!" Ranma said.
"Ranma…"
"Ranma…"
"Ranma…"
"Ranma."
Ranma heard his name and woke to picture of beauty. With his eyes watery, his vision of Lisa Hayes, her hair now wet and straight and face full of concern, was more beautiful than a smiling Akane, which was what he based beauty on.
"Ranma."
"Huh," he responded.
"Oh good, you're okay," Lisa sighed.
"Why do you say that?" he asked as he sat up from laying position.
"It's just that we fell into that pool of water, and you've been out for a half hour."
Ranma looked over to his right and saw the pool of water. Next he looked down at himself and sighed in relief that he was still a man.
"Thank you for saving me," he said next. Lisa looked surprised. Ranma went on to explain that she most surely had to fish him out of the pool while he was unconscious.
"Say where do you think we are?" he asked.
"We must be in a water recycling chamber."
They both looked around and saw that the place was definitely low in the maintenance department.
"They sure like to let things get run down," Ranma stated. "Almost like they don't know how to fix this stuff."
With the snap of her fingers, Lisa understood what that meant. She was surprised she hadn't of it sooner. Ranma looked at her strangely, wondering why a grin appeared on her face suddenly. Her expression reminded Ranma of Kodachi whenever she laughed.
"C-Can you stop smiling like that? It's kinda freaking me out," Ranma said nervously.
Lisa dropped one expression and gave him a confused one. At that point Ranma asked why she was grinning.
"Don't you get? Haven't you noticed that we've have not seen a single technician? They're all soldiers."
"Uh, yeah!"
"Maybe they only know combat, and maybe they don't know to repair their equipment. And I bet their Battlepods are simply to operate."
Ranma shook his head in agreement.
"So now they're all cloned soldiers?"
"Yeah! Why would you make clones to repair things? I bet all they know is war," Lisa went on to continue. Then she became a little solemn. "In many ways, they're just like me."
She caught the perplexed look Ranma gave her. She continued talking. She told him about the fact she comes from a military family, so essentially war was the only thing that she'd ever known. What struck Ranma was the quote she gave. "Only where there's battle being waged is there life being lived." It was actually Lisa quoting her father, but it was relevant to Ranma.
"Why do you say that?" Lisa asked.
"I didn't grow up in a military, but my life has also been nothing but fighting," Ranma stated. "I've trained since I could walk to best martial artist to ever live. My pops took me all over Asia for the ten years to train under various masters. So I've always been fighting to improve.
"One of the principles of my school is to never step away from a challenge. So before coming to Macross Island, all I did was defend the honor of my school. Ya know, be its champion."
"I guess we're a little alike," responded Lisa.
"Maybe. But I'm no head of the class material."
"How did you know about that?" Lisa asked. She didn't know the pilots knew of her academic history.
"Oh, all the pilots know," replied Ranma. "Some of them call you Supergirl."
That's all Lisa needed. She was already chastised by Claudia for that, and now she knew the pilots were talking behind her back about it. She remained silent, not having anything else to say.
After a while, Ranma thought it was best that they get moving. They still needed to find the others and make their way back to the SDF-1.
As they walked, Lisa remembered that she wanted to ask Ranma something. "Ranma, do you know why it looked like you phased between a female's body and a guy's body when I took you out of the water?"
Ranma froze. He wasn't as fortunate as he thought. It had been so long since the curse activated in front of anyone outside of his family and the Lynns.
"Uh, well. Uh, do you believe in magic?"
He looked at Lisa to see her reaction. She was a little put off by that statement. What was that suppose to mean? So she just started walking again, thinking that she was just going to get a lie as a response.
"You could've come up with a better lie. Or do you say that to all the girls, like Akane?"
Ranma had started to follow her but stopped a second time. First of all, her comment came out of left field, totally unexpected. Secondly, how did she know about Akane?
"How do you know about her?" he asked.
"'Akane, No!' You were saying it while you were passed out. Is she something special to you?"
Ranma laughed at that while scratching the back of his head. He didn't know he'd talked while unconscious. "You can say that," Ranma replied.
Deep down Lisa hoped he wouldn't say that. "Well at least you have someone to go back to. Me, there's just the job."
"That ain't right. You're too cute for a guy not to notice you."
Ranma received that same reaction from Lisa as he did with Ukyo that first time. Lisa, herself, couldn't explain why she reacted that way. Before she could comment, she heard Ranma mention something about seeing a way out.
Sure enough, there was an opening before them. As they moved closer, they could feel a breeze.
When they arrived at the opening, they did not like what they saw, more Zentraedi battle cruisers. Seeing them was demoralizing. The possibility that there were at least a thousand on this side of ship made one wonder how many there actually were.
The two stood there and marveled at the sight until Ranma heard the noise of someone coming from behind them. Ranma quickly ushered Lisa over to the side and hoped the Zentraedi hadn't spotted them. Their heart rates went up as the sound of boot steps grew closer.
Then their growing anxiety diminished when they heard, "All right, we made it out." It was the voice of Max Sterling. Ben was most definitely with him.
"Hey, guys, you finally made it," Ranma said as he and Lisa stepped out from the side.
The reunion feeling was brief as Max and Ben caught a glimpse of the ships. The reaction from Max was greater than Ben, mainly because Ben already knew what was outside.
Lisa was the first one to suggest that they needed to get off the ship. The statement brought Max back to the here and now as they all needed to figure out a way to get away from their present location and hopefully back to their solar system.
"Hey, it looks like that ship's gettin' loaded up to leave," Ranma said as he pointed out to what made out to be a conveyer connected from this ship to another kilometers to the side.
A half hour later, they were on the other ship. Quickly they found hiding spaces amongst Battlepod storage. Fifteen minutes after that, the ship they were now in left Dolza's flagship and proceeded out to another cruiser.
Azonia sat in her command chair on the bridge of her cruiser. She was preparing to go deploy into the area that Commander Breetai had returned from. She was looking forward to this tour of duty. Replacing someone of Commander Breetai's stature was a monumental task. Going into a war zone against an enemy that forced Commander Breetai to lose his command made it a dangerous task.
On the other hand, excitement ran through her veins. It was a task made for her, being the most accomplished female commander. She and her all women crew were well known for their tenacity in battle. Though the Micronians weren't to find this out, as her primary mission was to contain them.
She also was tasked with delivering spies onto Zor's ship. The method of delivering them walked onto the bridge. Miriya Parino of the Quadrono Battalion was the ace of all Zentraedi aces. There were none her equal on the battlefield amongst the Zentraedi race or their enemies. Of course none of the latter were alive. She made sure of that whenever someone told her of an enemy ace.
What she didn't know, there was no equal when it came to her beauty. If she were human, she was supermodel material. Furthermore she could pass for human more easily than three spies that were to infiltrate the SDF-1, as she had the right bone structure to go along with the skin color of a Caucasian. Her long green hair and green eyes only enhanced her appeal.
She had been told not too long ago the purpose she was being sent out with this task force. And she was not happy about it. "Delivering spies onto the SDF-1 is hardly using my talents effectively."
The blue haired Azonia did not like the way Miriya said that.
"After all, I'm a combat pilot, not some delivery drone," Miriya added.
"Stop you bickering," Azonia snapped back. She and Miriya weren't on the best of terms. Forever rivals, Azonia held a position over Miriya solely because of the fact that Miriya preferred the thrills of combat. "Lord Dolza has deemed it a mission of vital importance."
There was nothing Miriya could say. To do so would show displeasure with their commander in chief. Azonia knew she had Miriya in a bind.
"If you don't have anything else to say, prepare yourself for folding."
Ranma and gang were in the Battlepod hold when the fold operation started. Lisa had been busy trying to motivate the men into doing something. Ranma was resting on the floor. It had been a long day. He was tired and hadn't eaten in hours. It was time to conserve some energy. Max was doing the same thing, having spent so many hours in the cockpit. Ben just talked to Max.
That was until Lisa became more assertive, having checked her chronometer to see another day and a half had already passed. Clearing her throat, she told Ranma to get up. This time she called him by rank. It got him up, but very slow and deliberate, not the way Lisa wished.
"Don't you think we should be planning our escape for when the fold operation is over?" she asked.
"Already thought of one," Ranma replied. "We simply use the materials available to us. Namely one of the Battlepods in this room."
"Well, do you think we can just hop into one and be able to fly it? A day and a half has already passed."
"Don't worry, Lisa. If we are headed back to the SDF-1, with three ace pilots here, we should able to pilot one of those things in no time."
"Boy, Saotome, that was so funny I forgot to laugh," Lisa said dryly.
Ranma glared at her. He didn't like the tone in which that was said. It reminded him of Nabiki when she was blackmailing him.
"Okay. Okay. We'll get to learnin' the controls of the Battlepod," Ranma said.
Within a half an hour, Ranma had them all inside a Battlepod. By the time Lisa's chronometer read two and a half days, the three pilots were busy figuring out the controls. They kept this up until the chronometer read ten days, and the ship came out of hyperspace fold.
"Hurry, Ranma. We're here."
Ranma didn't need to be told to hurry. Positioned at the flight controls, he figured things out an hour ago. Max had himself on the lasers, while Ben was on communications.
"Okay, here we go," Ranma said.
The Battlepod came to life. The Battlepod's view screen came online, presenting the escapees a view of two Zentraedi soldiers standing in the hold.
"Oh-no, we've been spotted," Lisa cried out.
Ranma immediately ordered Max to take them out. Before the two soldiers realized a Battlepod was active, Max fired and killed them. With a couple of well-placed laser blasts, a hole was created, which sucked them out into space.
Minutes before defolding, in another part of the ship, a Zentraedi soldier wheeled a cart into another bay, where there was a large capsule. When the cart came to a stop, the top lowered, and from it stepped three small figures. Make that the three micronized Zentraedi spies. As micronization wasn't common, the spies wore robes of cloth, tied by string and no footwear.
The soldier went over to the capsule. Opening it, he had the three spies to get in. The capsule was padded and had body restrains so that the spies wouldn't come to any harm.
"When we exit hyperspace, you'll be taken to the Micronian vessel by Miriya Parino," the soldier said.
That excited the three spies. It was great honor that their mission was deemed worthy enough that the great Miriya Parino was brought in to deliver them to the SDF-1.
At the same time on Azonia's ships, Miriya, suited up in a female battle suit, made her way to the bay holding the female power armor. The power armor was the primary vehicle for the Quadrono units. Much different looking than the Battlepod, the power armor was humanoid in shape with an assortment of missiles in its backpack and laser on its hands.
Miriya made her way to the unit being prepped for her mission. The female tech promptly told her everything was ready as Miriya walked towards it. Miriya acknowledged her a hand gesture but essentially ignored her. She wasn't there for some chatter.
She hopped into the power armor as the defolding process ended. Securing herself into the unit, Miriya was set to head out when Azonia appeared on a view screen.
"We'll draw their attention so that you can complete your mission," she said. Before she went off she said, "May you win all your battles."
Miriya did not reply to Azonia. It was standard saying for the Zentraedi before going into battle. However since Miriya was on an unbelievable win streak, she paid no attention.
She stomped through the bay and out the hatch into space, where she saw Azonia's diversion in the form of a battle progress before her. With said battle in the distance, Miriya launched into space and zoomed over to the adjacent ship where the capsule holding the three spies shot out and ended in her hands perfectly. She completely ignored the stray Battlepod that wandered away from the ship.
With capsule in hand, Miriya made her way to the SDF-1 but not taking the most direct way. Though she was under orders not to engage the Micronians, she had to show off. With the maneuverability of the power armor, she zigged and zagged her way past Veritechs engaged in combat, making them wonder what they just saw, including Roy Fokker and Rick Hunter.
Miriya was next to the SDF-1 so fast that she hadn't been picked up on radar. Ripping a hole into the hull, she deposited the capsule, to the celebration of the spies, and made her way again through the chaos for battle and back to Azonia's ship.
Ranma did the best he could to avoid being hit by a Veritech. That was a risk of piloting an enemy war machine during a battle, though none of them expected to end up in the middle of a battle. The fact that they made it back to their home system was a miracle. Even though he was trying his best not to get hit, Ben and Max helped the cause of the RDF by taking out a Zentraedi vessel here and there. Through all this, Lisa worked to tune the radio onto any of the frequencies.
It didn't take long before they heard the sounds of an old song from Earth.
"...And I'm in so deep. You know I'm such a fool for you.
You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha.
Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to,
Do you have to let it linger?
You know I'm such a fool for you.
You got me wrapped around your finger, ah, ha, ha.
Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to,
Do you have to let it linger?"
They could tell that it wasn't being sung by its original artist. It was Ranma who commented (though it was supposed to be to himself), "I can't believe she allowed that one to be released."
"What do you mean by that, Ranma?" Lisa asked.
"I know who's singing that song. That's all," he commented. It happened to be one of the covers that Minmei wanted her to sing. Ranma ended up was singing the lead vocals because Minmei could not figure out how to do the song justice.
"Does that mean it's coming from the SDF-1?" she asked next.
It was a valid question since they constantly picked up radio waves that escaped from Earth.
"Yeah," Ranma answered plainly. "It's Minmei and her friend, Ranko Hasegawa."
Everyone else in the Battlepod was excited while Ranma tried to concentrate on not getting them killed. While Lisa tuned to one of the command channels, Ranma began noticing the withdrawal of Zentraedi troops.
Right when it appeared that they were the only Battlepod in space, Lisa was able to get one of the military channels. It wasn't the command channel, but it would do nonetheless. "Please respond, SDF-1. This is Lieutenant Commander Lisa Hayes and members of the Vermilion Squadron. We are currently in an enemy Battlepod drifting in your airspace trying to make contact with home base. Do you read? Over."
With the communication device off, she said, "Do you think they heard us, Ranma?"
Ranma surely hoped they did because three Battloids converged on them. They soon realized this was their answer as the Battloids pushed them towards the three hostages and a stowaway were on their way home.
Author's notes
The song Ranma recognizes is Linger by the Cranberries.