Disclaimer: The characters in this story belong to Rumiko Takahashi, not I. Some characters are from my imagination, but not many. Do not use this story without my permission.
The Great and Perilous Mission Send-off!
The day before the mission began, the day when all the boys and girls who would man the great as-of-yet unnamed ship, the Mendo family decided it would be a most prudent and beneficial idea to hold a gallant banquet for the crew and all of their benefactors. Of course such a dinner party would be held inside, as the heat was beyond excruciating. The limousines busing dignitaries and shareholders whose careful money was invested in the plan all sat in a line outside the Mendo compound, each man in their stuffy suits anxiously waiting their turn to enter and be ushered into the fresh, cold Mendo mansion. The guards led group after group into the main ballroom located in East Block, Sector 12 under the tenth Eastern Silo.
The guests were treated to a harmonic symphony of strings half of which were played by able-handed Dappya-men in formal environmental suits to add to the atmosphere of galactic significance. The human populace mingled effortlessly, talking of better days and what they'd been doing since the heat increased, while most of the aliens already in attendance impatiently and some violently attacked the buffet table with all their strength. Of those aliens, obviously, was Benten.
"Dammit" Benten huffed. She took a handful of food and stuffed it in her face. Ryuunosuke watched her and sighed. For once she was dressed to kill instead of killing over a dress. She had an armored one-piece-style space-suit and slimming black thigh-high boots. She leaned to the table and pulled Benten away by her hair.
"You know" Ryuunosuke began, "that food's for the other guests too."
"Screw them" Benten said, grabbing Ryuunosuke's hair and standing up. "I can't believe you, Ryu! Of all the people to offer illegal trade to, why'd you have to trade to an Oni?"
"What're you talking about?" Ryuunosuke asked. "Lum's your friend as much as she is mine! I was just trying to help her out."
"Still" Benten said "when you jip my people you're jipping the greatest space-explorers and fleet commanders in the galaxy! Right when I had adopted you as my sister, you go and do something so royally idiotic! Now we could both get in trouble if anyone traces this back to us!"
"So why're we here!?" Ryuunosuke demanded. They looked around and saw a crowd of eyes turned their way. They casually parted and huddled their backs to the crowd, leaning in to talk in privacy.
"Just in case someone's raiding our home base" Benten whispered "they won't be able to charge us with anything if they can't find us in direct possession of any incriminating evidence. If we're here, they can't possible arrest us for treason, cause we aren't actively using the stolen data for anything."
"I don't get it" Ryuunosuke bluntly admitted. Benten grinned and groped her head, tussling her hair around and forcing her down.
"You're pretty simple, ain'tcha?" Benten said. Ryuunosuke broke her hold, grabbed her hand and twisted her arm around her back Benten cringed in pain and moved to the side to try and get an upper hold over Ryuunosuke. A wrestling match had spontaneously evolved, with many of the guests in attendance watching the two space girls rumble and tangle with each other. Most people just moved past them and went to the buffet tabled next to them, remaining passive to their unfeminine grunting and wrestling about.
"Ladies and Gentlemen" a man in black shades announced, pulling the attention of the crowd including both Benten and Ryuunosuke his way. "The crew of the ship, and the leading force to save humanity. I present to you, proudly, young master Shutaro Mendo and his company!" The guard bowed and walked away as clouds of hissing steam poured out form the floor and a huge platform began rising up from below the ground. On this platform was a Harrier Jet, and standing beside that jet was the illustrious Shutaro Mendo himself, waving and sparkling his teeth as he posed in his pure-white suit. The much more famous yet less esteemed Ataru Moroboshi stood some ways away in a plain tuxedo, keeping his balance with shaking arms and bowed legs so he didn't fall over. Lum hovered next to him wearing her tiger-patterned side-split dress, hooking her arm around his, to keep him steady. Tobimaro stood on top of the jet in his unwashed robes, unnoticed as of yet by Mendo himself, with his hair blowing heroically in the wind.
"Hello everyone!" Mendo greeted as the stage stopped moving with a loud mechanical clank. "I trust you are all in good health to see us off!" There was applause. Obviously there were enough stuff-shirts around the world to appreciate the tacky flair of a Mendo entrance to a party.
"Looks like his crowd" Ataru said, looking out into the mass of unfamiliar faces. He scanned the crowd, mostly for beautiful faces, and upon finding the most familiar two that he could his jaw dropped and his eyes began to sparkle.
"Just humor him, Darling" Lum said. "You know how he gets when his reputation seems to be on the line. Just smile and wave, okay?" Somehow Ataru had broken away and left Lum hugging his empty shirt sleeve. He tore his way through the crowd and made a diving reach for both Benten and Ryuunosuke, wordlessly shouting his voracious lust. Both girls took two steps back, let him land, then made a perfectly symmetrical and simultaneous push-kick to his chest. Ataru was knocked off his feet, flipped through the air, and landed expertly on his feet. The crowd was astounded with his acrobatics and amazing endurance until he grabbed his chest and buckled down to the floor in pain. Benten and Ryuunosuke stomped their feet and cocked their hips with cocky flips of their hair.
"Nice to see you too, Moroboshi" Benten said.
"Nice ain't the word I'm thinking of" Ryuunosuke said. "It's nice to hit you, though." Ataru was crying, and grinning, so at least he was happy. Lum darted through the air and grabbed him by the neck, pulling him up and holding him tight with a furious face. She started shocking him, then looked happily at the two girls.
"It's nice to see you two!" Lum said. Benten looked aggravated, but she was holding it back behind a breaking smile. Ryuunosuke grinned honestly and modestly shifted her weight.
You better not make a spectacle of us, Lum Benten thought in anger. The less I have to explain to the Fukujin fleet who had one of their ships stolen, the better.
"Everyone!" Lum announced, speaking into a microphone, "I have a special announcement!" Benten's heart stopped. She clutched her plate-mail chest in pain as a fearful cold sweat began cascading across her skin. Lum hovered over and all the live camera feeds were focused on her, Ryuunosuke and Benten who turned away and panted. "These are the real heroes that made this possible. At the last minute, when I was nearly ready to give up hope, my two friends Benten and Ryuunosuke Fujinami were able to get us the ship that we'll be piloting on our mission to the sun!" Loud and roaring applause for the girls. Ataru wormed his way into the shot, crawling up Ryuunosuke's side with a perverted grin, only to get elbowed away and forced out of the frame.
Somewhere in Tomobiki a television set was left on, and that live feed was played into the house proper of Ryuunosuke's family at the school. Of course, it had been so long and the peace had been so comfortable, that Mr. Fujinami and Nagisa paid her name no mind.
"What's that about?" Nagisa asked.
"My son's up to something" Mr. Fujinami said. "Don't worry. We'll see him again."
"Oh" Nagisa said, turning to the TV, "right there he is." Mr. Fujinami turned as well.
"Ah. Yeah, that's him. Ryuunosuke." They just made the passive note of it all and went on eating. Eventually he changed the channel to animal sports...
Once things calmed down a bit the true event began, a regal and gallant dinner with amazingly crafted meals in sets of eight courses all served on the finest Mendo-clan marked plates the young master would bother to allow his guests to eat off of. He couldn't easily order a separate one for Moroboshi, but letting him slop all over his very best china would be an unforgivable thing. The main crew sat at the head table with all the greatest dignitaries, which now included spots for the Fukujin representatives Benten and her adoptive sister Ryuunosuke. Lum and Ataru were beaming to see them again while Mendo just tried to make sure Tobimaro didn't try to spike his food, as he was wont to do.
"You'll have to tell us" Lum said "all about what you've been up to later, Ryuunosuke."
"It's not all that" Ryuunosuke admitted. She stayed modest as ever and just shrugged and chuckled off most praise, though she was grateful to see her friends again. She even smiled down the table to Ataru when she addressed him. Benten wasn't very approachable. Now that she'd been found out she was sure a scathing rant from her superiors was in her future, and she couldn't bring herself to enjoy the free food and its massive quantity. Ryuunosuke nudged her to knock her out of her lethargic coma and pointed down the table.
"Oh yeah" Benten said. "Hey, great pick with that ship, Lum. It's one of the best in the galactic fleet, y'know?" Benten chuckled dryly.
"Yeah" Lum chirped back. "I read the specs on it and everything. It's just what we-"
"And you knooow" Benten said, toying with the rim of her wine glass, "that ship is owned by a really well-know Fukujin warrior clan....One of the best fighters in the galaxy, riiight, Ryu?"
"Uh.....yeah" Ryuunosuke answered, not sure where her trailing was leading. Mendo looked over and sipped from his glass, not drinking wine as it would be grossly irresponsible, but a mildly flavored water that tasted very vaguely of tea. He wanted to make sure that any conflicts that could arise would be quelled before they evolved into conflicts at all. He pushed his chair out and politely set his napkin on his seat to preserve it. Tobimaro reached over and poured something into his drink.
"So what'd you think'd happen" Benten said, beginning some lazy slur of her words to emphasize her point, "if he found out who'd taken it from'im and changed it without'is 'mission?" Lum blinked at her for a moment. Ataru leaned out and looked down the table at her seductive glare and was smitten immediately. Lum clawed his thigh and nailed him in place, exerting her anger on him rather than show it.
"Benten...." Lum began in a concerned, low tone. Benten grinned at her, still trying to find a way to save her own face. Ryuunosuke just nervously leaned back and tried to enjoy her meal as the sparks seemed to shoot out between the two alien friends. "Are you drunk already?" Lum asked. Benten caught herself just before her head hit the table and pushed herself back straight to calmly breath herself to a more relaxed state. "You've barely had three glasses already. If you're already getting drunk so fast maybe you should be training you stomach again. You used to-" Benten cut her off with a volume-controlled bash of her hand against the table. She was visibly irked now. She was just about to shoot to her feet and shout Lum's ear off when Shutaro came up from behind and preemptively placd his hands on her shoulders.
"There, there, Miss Benten" he said charmingly, rubbing her shoulders. She was more confused than shocked or angry, though the anger was definitely there. Ryuunosuke whistled and sipped on her drink while Ataru fumed and disappeared, leaving Lum once again clutching the air. "I have no doubts that the Mendo Family's negotiation powers cannot extend even to your people. I'm sure they will understand the pretenses of what had happened and I can promise you that nothing bad will come of this." Shutarp turned around, keeping himself charming and calm, and looked straight at Tobimaro. "I saw that Ton-chan" he said. "Get me another drink" he ordered with a snap of his finger. Tobimaro turned back and snapped his fingers in defeat.
"You know" Ataru began, "I never realized how knotted up you are, Benten." Shutaro looked down at his hands to see that he was massaging the air. Not surprising, though he certainly looked shocked at first, but Ataru had taken his place and was slowly rubbing his elbow into Benten's shoulder. She shifted with the weight of his pressing, shrugging one shoulder after the other, calm again at last. Lum would have killed him outright if he hadn't prevented a fight just now. Shutaro began to draw his sword to kill him out of sheer anger but Ryuunosuke stopped his hand with a tight grip and finished her drink.
"Non-alcoholic, huh?" Ryuunosuke noted as she peered into her empty wine glass. She snapped to a passing waiter and drew him forward while still holding Mendo at bay. "Excuse me. Can I please get some normal wine? Any kind will do."
"Sure thing" the waiter said.
"Thanks, man" Ryuunosuke replied as he left. Mendo went on his knees. His knuckles were being cracked by an outside force.
"You shouldn't worry so much" Ataru said. "What's the worst that could happen if someone finds out you let Lum borrow a ship? A war?"
"Nothing new would happen" Benten said "if the Fukujin and the Oni just up and decided to go to war. This is a new era, Moroboshi. I'll probably get some kind of prohibition and Ryu will get canned from the clan I just got her into."
"Not that I did much work" Ryuunosuke admitted, still crushing Mendo's hand. "You just harped them out constantly to get me in."
"It worked, right?" Benten said. She was feeling so relaxed by Ataru's expert hands that she decided to lean forward and rest her head in a nest of her arms, much to the appall of the dignitaries sitting to her left, over her blatant lack of table manners. Lum got up and floated over, just to monitor Ataru's work and make sure it was perfectly legit at all times. "Besides, at the very worst, if I take all the blame for it, I'll get a royal scolding and be suspended to some kind of probationary duties on Neptune....or something." Lum was getting worried over how much she seemed to be enjoying the massage.
"Don't worry Benten" Ataru said in as manly a voice as he could. "If you have to stay on Neptune, that's fine. I'll be sure to visit every single day to keep your spirits up!" Lum clawed his shoulder and broke his manly form, reducing him to the slack-jawed fool that he really was. She leaned in and flashed her fangs at him, then softly retracted her position and just stood at the side once more.
"The only thing I'm worried about" Benten began "is the lack of certainty there is to that thing. Even if it's a Fukujin craft, and even if it's equipped with the most awesome gravity machinery available.....no ship has ever been seriously designed to move anything as hot or as dangerous as a star. Never mind the size of your sun compared to other stars out there, it's still an incredible danger to the entire galaxy and a whole slew of other cosmic life forms if the orbit of the sun gets screwed up." Ryuunosuke finally released Mendo, who whined and groaned in a high-pitch squeal for a moment before returning flawlessly to his prince-like charisma.
"Never fear, Miss Benten" Mendo exclaimed. "I did not invite all these people here just to wine and dine them into safety. They know better. More than half the people here are from military services the world over. Without a demonstration there would be no point in contacting them whatsoever." Mendo raised an arm up over his head and pointed to the heavens. He parted his legs and swept back his hair with his other hand, then made an echoing snap with his fingers.
"Let the demonstration begin!" He announced. Tobimaro swapped his plate with Mendo's. "Put that back, Ton-chan" Mendo said, not averting his heroic gaze from the ceiling. Tobimaro pounded the table with both his fists in exasperation.
The moment of truth was finally here. The moment that so many people had waited for. The unveiling of the super-ship, the great marvel of space technology combined with the fantastic mechanics of Earth engineering, which was also done by aliens. With Shutaro at the podium stood his crew, Benten and Ryuunosuke as guests and representatives from the Fukujin, the president of the neighborhood market association Mr. Dappya and of course the ever-clueless Tobimaro.
"What's under that big cover?" Tobimaro asked, referencing the ship that laid in the entire eleventh silo, taking up all of its expansive space. Mendo refused to acknowledge him. Everyone else just ignored his question as an all-too-obvious joke. Mendo turned to the audience and began his speech.
"Since man first looked to the stars" he began in a dated cliché, "he has always wondered what there could be beyond them. Now we know, in just these past few years we have come to know all that we can about the galactic existence above ourselves. More recently, many of those such beings have taken up residence in our humble town of Tomobiki, and have cornered their own job market." The Dappya crowd, which was sizable enough to stand out, applauded at their mention. The Dappya president applauded as well, then stopped and motioned up to Shutaro to continue. "Now we face a great danger from our once benevolent space."
"Benevolent?" Ataru said with a skeptical glare. "What kind of benevolence tries to destroy the Earth on a regular basis."
"Darling" Lum hushed, "it's nowhere near regular. It's completely irregular, if anything."
"But it still happens" Ataru argued.
"An extra-solar anomaly" Shutaro exclaimed "has plagued us for the past few months. Where and how it may have formed, no one quite knows, but I do know this: we modest people have the Earth shall not gravely go into this torture that the universe has thrust upon us. I say we shall fight back against the greater nature and triumph over it, using the collective power of all our galactic knowledge, from end to end of the solar system and far, far beyond! This, my friends, is the result of so much hard work, dedication, and the ultimate collaboration between Earth and its universe! I give to you..." and he stalled with yet another snap. He posed with a hand fanned out onto his chest and a stylish little spin.
Nothing happened. He opened his eyes, not breaking his cocky grin, and snapped again. Ataru just grinned and watched him snap and snap again.
"Damn!" Shutaro shouted, gripping his own hand and glaring at it. "What's going on? That was the signal! They should lower the cover now! What the hell!?"
"Maybe you aren't snapping right" Ataru said.
"Oh, shut up you!" Shutaro demanded. Ataru stepped away from Lum, did a spin identical to Shutaro and ended in the same pose with his hand straight up and ready to snap. Then he flicked his wrist and snapped his fingers as he threw his head up. A dramatic chord of pounding taiko drums sounded out as the cover was slowly drawn down from the massive frame of the ship. Shutaro was dumbstruck, utterly speechless, while Ataru received all the praise and brushed himself off and straightened up his tuxedo to make it look even easier than it really was. Lum looked coyly at him from the corner of her eyes.
"You two sure do think alike" she said. Ataru started chuckling gleefully. Mendo just stared at them.
"Eh?" he finally squeaked out. The heavy veil finally hit the ground and was blown slowly away by the roaring engines of the super-armored vessel. Shutaro recovered himself and took the microphone from the podium so that he could pose and dance around with it as he talked. "Behold! The great ship of the future, the Dappyamato!!!" The ship was certainly bulkier than the former slender, sleek battle-ship frame it arrived in. The hull had been considerably added to, making it incredibly thick, tolerant even to a nuclear explosion. The bridge was reinforced and covered in a domed structure of Mendo super-metal, which provided it with more natural protection due to the shielded shape. The giant gravity cannon had been affixed to a platform that slowly rose up from within the hull and detailed with super-metal in key parts of its structure to keep it from breaking down in the intense vacuum of space.
There was also a promotional portrait of president Mr. Dappya painted across the whole thing. He was on the sides, grinning with peace signs, on the gravity cannon on a knee giving spirit fins of astonishment, he was on the bridge with a soldierly salute and if one could see closely, under the flag of Japan and the Mendo clan, he had his own flag there as well. The audience was quizzical, and while most applauded they did so with curious and very strange looks on their faces. This was one surprise that they weren't expecting. It certainly trumped the spontaneous massage between earth-man and space-biker and the girl-on-girl brawl earlier. This topped it easily. The Dappya crowd applauded very loudly and even cheered with their eponymous calls.
"Is that the best name you could come up with?" Tobimaro asked loudly.
"Well" Shutaro began smoothly, "most of the work was done by the Dappya-men as led be Mr....Dappya, head of the marketing union. We couldn't refuse something as simple as a name request. It goes along perfectly with both of our designs, as I wanted to name it the Yamato."
"Wasn't it the YamaMendo?" Ataru said.
"That's even worse" Lum said with a grin.
"I forget what that thing's supposed to be called" Benten said, pressing a finger to her forehead. "Something with 'dragon' and 'sleeping', but not 'sleeping dragon'."
"It was called the 'Fierce Dragon of a Sleepless Moon'" Ryuunosuke recited. "Even I remembered that, Benten. Try and keep up, will ya?"
"Ah, shut it!" Benten teased, grinding her fist into Ryuunosuke's head. Ryuunosuke returned the gesture and a mild power struggle ensued.
"But there's one problem we haven't addressed yet" Lum said. Mendo turned to her and offered her the microphone. She refused it and beckoned him in further. He leaned in and let her whisper to him. "That ship has a minimum crew requirement of over 500 trained people. We only have six.....I think we're short on a realistic crew, Shutaro." Mendo drew away and just grinned.
"Don't tell me" Ataru began in disbelief. Shutaro took out a comb and brushed his hair back.
"Obviously" Shutaro said "you didn't expect me to let a slight oversight like that slip by? I prepared for everything!" Shutaro casually brought a hand up and snapped his fingers, this time triggering just what he wanted immediately. From below, a veritable army stood, all suited up in representative space suits. There were white-suited Men in black Shades from the Mendo compound, proudly wearing Shutaro's family crest on their shoulders. A legion of Girls in blue Glasses sporting the sporty khaki colored suits with the Tobimaro clan emblem on their back. And of course, most qualified of all, the the most willing and adept space-cadets from the Tokyo region, the Dappya-corps. They all gave a click-heel stomp and salute to the powerful young man. Lum and Ataru were speechless.
"How is that, Miss Lum?" Shutaro asked smugly. "Is that enough learned crewmen for you?" He turned and grinned a sparkling, cocky smile at her. She just grimace it off while the sparkle cause a glare and blinded Ataru. Tobimaro was observing the army while Ryuunosuke and Benten continued their pushing contest at the other end of the platform.
"Is there more?" he asked.
"What!?" Shutaro exclaimed. "How could we need any more people!?"
"I'm just saying" Tobimaro began "that you could have gotten more, right?" Shutaro grunted speechlessly and slapped his forehead, smoothing his hair back with a tense hand.
"You" Shutaro said, glaring through his lashes at his childhood rival, "will not be making it back from the mission safely....I can guarantee that..." Tobimaro smirked and stepped forward to accept the challenge.
"We'll just see about tha-" and the fight found its way to him. Benten and Ryuunosuke accidentally plowed into Tobimaro and sent him down from the platform while Mendo smugly brushed his hair above, listening to the impact and the two girls harmlessly going at it while Tobimaro made no sound from below..
"I hope they're okay" Lum said.
"Ah, they'll be fine" Ataru said. "Tobimaro too. I'm sure we can bandage him up and throw him in the ship before lift-off, right Mendo?" Mendo nodded. And so the great ship was revealed, its proper crew established, and already the first infirmary bed was filled. Perhaps it would stay filled for the rest of the mission...