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 Space Voyage of the Amazing, Super-Versatile Crew!!!
The ship ascended far above the atmosphere, above the thin blue outline of our precious planet, and aimed its bow for the sun. With the open darkness of space and the moon far behind it, the engines kicked on to a full sparking blast and a streaking line of power shot across the sky like a bright shooting start carving through the starry night. The Dappyamato, a ship greater than its name, began propelling itself through space with the heavy gun stored for use under the deck, a fully manned crew taking their stations within the mighty ship. At the command center, taking the helm of the captain's seat was Tobimaro, whose only duty at the present was to sit and warm the seat. He didn't take grudge against the orders, or question. He just did them as they were simple enough for him to understand and do effortlessly. What other reason should he need to do such a simple job?
Mendo was fine once more and sat up in his bed with gauze rolls in his nostrils. The infirmary, though alien in build and construction, bore great resemblance to a regular earthly hospital. It had the rows of beds against the wall with the machinery for maintaining basic life functions pre-built into the hull. The heartbeat and other miscellaneous vitals were read through a holographic digital read-out screen in Fukujin and Japanese text that hovered right over the patient's bed for all to see. A legion of nurses and doctors made rounds, even though they only had one real patient and many space-sick travelers, wearing all-white suits and dispensers around their waists that drew out sterile gloves and tongue depressors.
Mendo clasped his hands together and sighed, then turned to his friends who had gathered with a grin.
"Worry not, everyone" he said. "I am quite alright now. Thankfully, they had plenty of AB positive blood in storage to keep me alive, and though my spleen has suffered a great duress to resupply my body in such a short time, I have been ensured that it too will make a full recovery."
"You're blood type is AB positive too?" Ataru said in amazement. He then giggled gleefully. "Man, we're like twins!"
"I'LL KILL YOU!!!!" Mendo roared in reflex. He drew back, looking between Ataru and the floor, with a gracefully withheld rage on his face. "In any case, I'm just glad to see you finally obeying some orders for once, Moroboshi." Ataru was dressed in his commander's uniform. It was much like Mendo's except the color scheme of his was white with red triangular marks and his top was looser and bound tight to his waist with a technology-powered utility belt. In it were multiple pocket dimensions that led off to some compressed super-space where he had a whole menagerie of items at his disposal, like cameras and binoculars and tongue depressors and, for some odd reason, rope. He could pull miles and miles of rope from one pocket along his belt.
Ataru gave himself a look over and kicked the tough heels of his space boots against the floor. "Yeah" he began, "well, I wear it pretty well." He puffed out his chest and pressed his fists against his hips, striking a heroic pose with a manly face. "You have to be a great kind of man to wear something like this!" Lum grabbed the fat of his belly and forced him to exhale all his manly energy and drop back down to his regular self, scowling at Lum as she continued to clutch his stomach.
"I hate you" Ataru said. "You know, just as an aside." Lum stuck her tongue out playfully and drew her hand back with a smile. Her outfit was the same, but much tighter and form-fitting. Also, it was obviously tiger-stripped to suit her own alien preferences and she kept her regular casual boots on over the skin-tight stockings. Benten's was white and red, standard Fukujin colors, but the scantness of its tightness made her uncomfortable, and she was busy scanning over her body very carefully, front and back, knowing she wore nothing but a micro-fiber weave of energy-resistant fabric.
I get how Lum can be comfy in this Benten thought. She's used to flying around, half naked, and she's got no reason to be ashamed of it. Neither do I, per se, but still, it feels like I'm naked. And with Moroboshi so nearby..... Benten felt a shiver. The leering eyes of some pervert were definitely on her, stripping her slowly from top to bottom, emitting a terrible lecherous aura. Benten clutched her breasts and tried to huddle her knees together in vain while Ataru and Lum silently bickered with light pushes and hot glares. Still, through it, they were smiling, and they were glaring at each other.
But Benten slammed Ataru on the head with a wrench anyway, as a reflex.
"Die, perv!" she roared. Lum looked down at her Darling, then up at the weapon and the panting Benten, grabbed the wrench and jolted Benten with a quick zap. She smoked and smoldered for a moment before opening her mouth and puffing out a cloud of black smoke. "What'dya do that fer?" she asked.
"Why did you hit Darling?" Lum demanded, hovering protectively over his body.
"He was creeping me out!" Benten said with a visible shudder.
"How?" Lum demanded. "He wasn't even looking at you! I was staring him dead in the eyes the entire time!"
"Well I felt someone staring at me!" Benten said. Shutaro slowly drew his eyes away, then turned his head with a diabolical grin.
Of course she blames Moroboshi he thought. Who else would do it? Certainly not me, the esteemed Shutaro Mendo and head of the current Dappyamato expedition, would glare so lecherously at any beautiful girl. Not I, who is already in the throes of intense pain and hospitalization, but the perfectly and perpetually healthy Moroboshi! Of course.... Shutaro look down at the defeated Moroboshi as Lum's rage escalated.
"Darling's better than he used to be!" Lum shouted, stomping down onto his back as she tensed up her stance. Benten stomped as well, just barely missing his head. "He doesn't just randomly flirt or grope girls anymore when I'm around. And even when I'm not, I haven't heard of him doing anything terrible around town! He's a much better Darling!!!"
"Like I'd believe that!" Benten roared. Shutaro's evil grin resonated with a red glow.
And with this he thought, it is my victory, Moroboshi!!! The doctors walked past the scene, half-stopping to see it, then they turned and walked away. Mendo reiterated his victory for good measure, widening his eyes with menace. Mine! MINE! Not yours! MUAHAHAHA!!!
"You okay, Shutaro?" Lum asked, catching him in the act. She leaned in to look at his face but he nervously turned away and laughed it off. Benten just crossed her arms, finally knowing the truth, while he continued to laugh and laugh. Ataru rubbed his head and stood back up, used to the pain, and saw Lum hovering over Shutaro's bed. "You looked bad for a second. Are you in pain?" Shutaro didn't answer her. He was too nervous to give himself away. He just kept laughing while Ataru and Benten watched curiously. Then Ataru looked around.
"Where's Ryu-chan?" he asked with pursed lips. Benten cocked her brows at him, then cupped her chin and titled her head away to think.
"Hmmm" she hummed. "Where did that guy go?"
Ryuunosuke posed in a mirror. At first it was a straight and narrow pose, then she took a more feminine pose to accentuate her figure. One arm up and palm resting on the back of her head, the other pushing at her hip while her leg cocked up. She tried half-shutting here eyes and pursing forward her lips, but the effect was absolutely not feminine as intended. Her safety wrap was showing too greatly in her gray and blue skin-tight suit, and aside from that the great discomfort of feeling naked struck at her and made her unable to think right. She posed again. This time both hands on her hips, her hips cocked to the side, and a quick throw of her head so her bangs would flip to the side and swing back down to give her a windswept look.
She continued to pose while Dappya-monsters made their way in and out of the locker room, wearing their regular sea-blue scaled environmental suits that doubled as space-ready with just the slipping of gloves over their fins. Ryuunosuke realized her defeat with a sight and began removing the arduously well-fitted suit. She unzipped it partially from the back, as far down as her reach there would go, and then just peeled it off with her hands. As she did she continued to sigh and look at the extra men's regulation uniform on the bench to her side. Her last option. It would feel like regular clothing at the expense of her femininity, but it would be better for her to wear than something that feels like nothing at all.
This sucks she thought as she stripped. She stopped at her sarashi wrap and sighed, watching her chest barely move. I thought I'd get past wearing this if I hung out with Benten long enough. I mean, she doesn't use one and she's just about as girly as I am...but I guess I can't just kick a habit that I went on forming for nearly all my life so far.....I can't just get used to not wearing this and being fine with it. It doesn't work that way... She placed a hand at her chest and gripped the top layer of the wrap, slowly pulling it out. Her breasts seemed to fill the slack the wrap gave up to a certain point, a certain D-cup sized point. I swear, these things keep getting bigger and bigger! I hope they stop soon. Eventually it ain't gonna matter how tight my wrap is...
Ryuunosuke went to put on the male uniform, but stopped for a moment and deeply considered her option with a very serious thinking pose. Well, I guess I could just not wear my wrap and tie it down with a belt. That'd make my chest stand out, but then again, without a bra I'd just be leaving it unguarded entirely. And with Moroboshi on board......Damn. I guess I'm totally out of options. I'm gonna have to wear my wrap no matter what. The least I can do is leave it a little loose so it isn't choking me down or nothing....
Ryuunosuke was about to give in and surrender to her limited options when she looked up and saw something in an alien speak. It was Fukujin, a language she had been learning and nearly perfecting recently, and it was on a guiding sign that led down a turning hall. She read it carefully, knowing how the ancient script could be easily misread. It read 'ARMORY' each time she read it. Ryuunosuke made a hurried grab and pulled on her panties, making sure she was at least partially clothed before marching off in that direction.
Meanwhile, outside the dressing rooms of the ship's aft section, near the engines so the showers could heat faster, Tobimaro made a bored pace. He was stretching his arms over his head and leaning his body in time to some inane rhythm that pulsed inside his head.
"I'm bored" Tobimaro said. "I wish this place had a place for me to train in. I can't stand just sitting around, not doing anything, for so long.....where am I?" He looked up at the Japanese sign for the women's changing room and turned around with a stern stare to the floor. His mouth was in a quivering tension. "Ah, I see, I've wandered all the way here. I should go then. Wouldn't want any unnecessary slip-ups or awkward situations to come up around me...." He was too late. He heard the stomping of metal feet against the floor as they came in his direction from the changing room. Ryuunosuke returned to the floor decked in armor, plated and padded space armor fit for flying amidst the ballistic battalions without a ship around her. Superior armor for fighting on any planet that didn't use lasers, or superior against the brute physical force of the Fukijin traditional ground wars fought with clubs and sabers and spears.
Tobimaro was first amazed with the flawless crossing of modern and old, traditional Japanese themes in the armor. It was part Samurai with plates tied to solid plates, part domineering Hockey equipment with the soft yet firm padding and the wide, wrapping grips of the leg and arm braces. There were even six slots where swords of differing types could be fitted around the waist, but they went unused. Ryuunosuke had the helmet down behind her like a hood. When activated a lower jaw rose up as the helmet was drawn over the head and when clamped together the wearer had nigh impermeability in the head region. Closed it was sealed and rounded to fit a face with a ring of holes around the mouth and a one-way reflective visor at the eyes, otherwise forming a very dense yet distant dome around the head.
Tobimaro took one look, one half of a look, and instantly was enthralled by it. The perfect blending of contemporary and modern, the flawless designing of the fitting clamps and the straps that held the shoulders so loosely to the breastplate for easier movement. He approached it and awed over it as if it weren't occupied. Ryuunosuke looked down and grabbed him by his ponytail, tugging at it so that his starry eyes and agape, drooling mouth were fixed on her face instead of her armored chest.
"See something you like, pal?" she asked humbly. Tobimaro grabbed her hand and puffed steam from his nose.
"Where did you get this armor!?" he demanded. Ryuunosuke used her other arm and pointed behind her, into the women's locker room. Ignoring the obvious, Tobimaro made a dashing sprint through to the armory wing and cackled loudly as he ripped through it to find more armor. He finally reached a far wall where rows of the same armor hung down gloriously, like heavenly fruit bore from the branches of a Buddha-incarnate tree. Tobimaro fell to his knees and sobbed.
"It's all so perfect!" he said, covering his face with his sleeve. "The design, the textures, the effortless assembly, all at a limited-time offer value scheme of color! The customizability, the mobility support, the protection....It's all so wonderful!!! AHHHH!!!!!" Such was his ecstatic joy that he had to scream it all out. He had no more words for the armor. It was just too beautiful. Ryuunosuke, meanwhile, was drawn aback with her eyes wide and mouth twitching as she watched the apparently mad boy roar from the far back of the ladies changing room.
What the hell? She thought. Is this guy some kind of freak or something? Ryuunosuke began a slow retreat, inching herself away from the room where the frantic boy howled, and made her way to the main deck alone...
"Why is no one manning this place!?" Ryuunosuke loudly demanded. A few Dappya-men and a Mizunokoji technician were working a few of the lower-level consoles on the bridge, but that was it. No one was delegating. No one was in the captain's seat.
"Everyone else is in the infirmary, sir" the woman said with a salute.
"That's ma'am to you!" Ryuunosuke shouted. "I'm a damn chick!" The woman sat back down timidly. Ryuunosuke looked around and sighed in disappointment. She ran her hand through her bangs and flipped them up. "Man, this ain't very good organizing. Those guys'll be hearing this all the way to the sun and back if we don't get things in order. But I can't expect too much out of 'em. I mean, Tobimaro's not that much of a leader. He's okay, but he's too easily swept up in nonsense. Benten's gotta be our leader. This ship is from her people, so she should know how to fly it better than anyone else, but I know Mendo's gonna try and pull some political crap or hold his high and mighty status over me to get the captain's position. Gah, this sucks. My first time back on Earth and already I've gotta deal with the messes these guys make."
Ryuunosuke finished her complaints and sat in the captain's chair, feeling quite tall and enforcing in her heavy armor gear. She monitored the moving texts and read-outs, scanning through the glowing text, until she had read it all and gave a satisfied, relieved smile. "Alright" she said, "everything's going good. We're on course, engine output is optimal, gravitational break is imminent. Things are going great for once. Hopefully those guys can manage not to screw this up for too long."
"Ma'am" a Dappya called. Ryuunosuke looked down to the lower floor instantly, so giddy at being called ma'am for once. "We've got a message going through the ship. Shall I display it to all the crew, Dappya?"
"Where's the communication coming from?" Ryuunosuke asked.
"The infirmary" the woman said. "It may be young master Shutaro Mendo issuing some form of decree."
"Well it's his mission" Ryuunosuke said. "Alright, go ahead. Let the whole crew hear it." The woman nodded and worked her console to network the visible Shutaro's face on a projected image through the entire ship. Every room and from many monitors in the larger rooms, Mendo's face appeared struck with seriousness and ready to deliver an important message.
"Greetings, crew" Mendo began. "This is the honorable Shutaro Mendo speaking."
"Duh" Ryuunosuke said. She rolled her hand and leaned into her wrist against the solid arm of the hover chair. "Get on with it, stupid mouthy rich boy..."
"As of now" Shutaro began "I officially relinquish my position as captain proper." The entire crew gasped. Even though they had planned this announcement beside him, Lum and Ataru gasped as well. "It is my duty to see that all of the crew is returned safely to Earth in the event of a disaster at space. Therefore, as a captain, I would be ill-advised from leading a full-scale evacuation. In lieu of that information, I have changed my rank to that of the Commandant First-degree, meaning that I am the highest ranked civilian class crewman, and a representative of the entire crew. Should a catastrophe befall the Dappyamato, I will lead the evacuation of all but the captain's closest crew."
"So I'm captain now, eh?" Ataru said off camera with an irk of aggravation. Shutaro ignored him and continued staring ahead into the camera. He could tell that his crew was confused and worried, unsure about this new change, but really they weren't being emotional at all. It was an obvious move, for Mendo at least, to change his rank if it would mean going down with the ship.
"The new rank of captain," Shutaro continued "and all the other-worldly benefits that go with it, will be given to the next person able to make it to the captain's chair." Ryuunosuke's eyes went blank. The crew below her slumped down in their seats, weighed down by their guilt. They were a part of the plan all along to get someone into the chair. Ryuunosuke was just the unfortunate first to get to it. "It may seem like a grim thought now, but keep in mind the chances of the Dappyamato encountering anything that even scrapes the surface of the definition of 'disaster' are basically zero. Whoever gets there will have a free ride on the lap of luxury, a spacious bed and gourmet meals prepared from spices never before to touch an Earthly beings lips. Pleasures beyond our limited galactic understanding, all up for grabs, to the first person in the captain's chair...." His challenge was certainly inviting enough, and caused a wide-scale panic, but Ryuunosuke refused to be pleased. She gripped the arms of her chair so hard that he space-gloves creaked under the pressure of her grip.
"What a load...." she said. She suddenly shot up from her seat and started shouting at the one-way transmission. "Fukujn captains don't do CRAP! They just sit at a seat and shout things people already know! I've fought Fukujin captains before! They're fat, arrogant, noisy slobs who couldn't crank a valve if their hands were made of DAMN WRENCHES!!!!"
"Calm down, ma'am" the Mizunokoji woman called as Ryuunosuke breathed heavily. "You can just as easily give up the seat and let the next person come in to claim it! We can pretend we never saw you!"
"No way!" Ryuunosuke said, making a sudden sweep with her arm. "I'm no damn coward. Besides, it'd be better if I were captain anyway. We have a job to do. If Moroboshi or Shutaro got it they'd have the absolute authority to divert the ship's course and send it straight to Neptune or some other planet to hit on alien chicks. If Lum were captain we might get stuff done but then she'd start pandering to Ataru and give him too much power for his own good. Of course Benten's acting like a damn coward. If she got into the seat she'd try to deliver the ship back to the General we stole it from to stay out of trouble."
"Oh, would I?" Benten said.
Ryuunosuke turned around sharply in her armor and saw Benten leaning against the side of the chair. She forgot, however that it was a hover chair and pushed it away, causing her to lose her wall and fall straight to the floor. A bead of sweat formed on Ryuunosuke's head as she waited for Benten to regain her composure. She stood up, at last, and wiped her nose to relieve its pain. "You don't know me very well for a girl who claims to be my sister."
"Oh, yes I do" Ryuunosuke said, tensing her fists. Benten laughed down at Ryuunosuke with her head turned up and away, a very haughty and taunting laugh, then she grit her teeth and glared down with her combative smile glaring through Ryuunosuke's guard.
"You wouldn't admit this outright" Benten began "but you know that I'm the best for the job! You just want that cushy bed and all the delicious, free food you can eat! Well I'm not letting you spoil yourself rotten like a little richy, spoiled puke for a day just because you can get away with it! We're Fukujin warriors! We don't need fancy beds or perks to do our jobs!"
"Then why would you want it?" Ryuunosuke demanded as she rushed at Benten.
"Isn't it obvious!?" Benten shouted. She dashed forward with a shoulder-tackle and blasted apart Ryuunosuke's shoulder plates. Then she grabbed Ryuunosuke's exposed arm and flipped her over her head, back flat to the ground and armor shaken. "I'm just gonna blow up the extra sun!!!" Ryuunosuke shot her eyes open. She rolled onto her back and kicked her heavily armored legs in a windmill to get back up. She rushed in again, throwing her other arm armor off with a punch, then proceeded to deliver a quick flurry of brawling swings at the elusive, dodgy Benten.
"You moron!" Ryuunosuke shouted as she delivered a low knee-kick. Benten turned away from it and kicked Ryuunosuke's hip so hard the clasps of her armor came undone. "That'd kill people! An explosion of that caliber could even mess up the real sun!"
"So?" Benten asked. "This ain't the only planet human's have!" Benten punched. Ryuunosuke quickly activated her helmet which got dented beyond use and detached from the rest of her suit, saving her from a terribly powerful punch. Ryuunosuke couldn't tell but the skin-suit that Benten wore was manufactured from the same material, and in the same style, as the powersuit she had used before. It amplified her physical strength multiple times and protected her body from the pain of delivering such high-power blows. Benten went on the offensive and began dismantling Ryuunosuke's armor, blow by blow, latch by latch until she was stripped down of all her glorious armaments. Benten jumped back and prepared for a finishing blow when she saw it. Ryuunosuke wasn't ashamed or embarrassed or even the slightest bit reserved, for in the armory, inside each set or armor, was a matching set of spandex shorts and sports bras!!!!!!!
"Spandex....?" Benten awed. Ryuunosuke was proudly standing, her breasts unbound and held fast and firm by the thick and supportive bra around them, while her legs were as free as if they were naked but clad in the white and red colors of the Fukijin fighting tradition. She grinned and charged in with a roar and one fist wound tightly by her hip. "I didn't thin you'd wear spandex...." Benten was struck and defeated all at once by the mighty, floor-to-face uppercut that Ryuunosuke delivered with a growling scowl. Ryuunosuke landed from the lifting hop and got into her pose. Benten landed on her side and rolled to her back a moment later, unconscious. Ryuunosuke panted and moved to the seat, placing her booted foot on it and forcing its heavy, hovering metal frame to lean slightly forward.
I guess I might as well just take it she thought. Obviously, if Benten can't even take it by force, I'm the only one who can hold it down...
"Uwaaahhh!" a Dappya crewman moaned. "Too much fighting. I need a place to sit!" He wandered by Ryuunosuke and tried to hop up onto the floating throne. Ryuunosuke denied it and moved it away swiftly, causing him to land straight on the ground while she looked down with her hands planted at her hips.
"No way" Ryuunosuke said. "We aren't having any of that crap on my bridge." Already, she could feel the commanding power she held, and she held it with pride in her sports-bra covered chest.
