Ranma:Xero
Part 4
End of an Era.
"School?" Ranma sat across from his father with a distasteful look on his face.
"Well, we are going to be staying a while boy," said the man with a self satisfied nod.
"I guess so," muttered the boy. He didn't put up too much resistance. They had been at the complex for several days now and he had not left the building since their arrival. "Say pop, where is this place anyway? You never said where we were. All I know is we're close to Tokyo."
Genma looked at his son in surprise. "Really? I thought I'd mentioned that. This is the NJSA building."
"This is the National Japanese Security Agency?" the boy blinked and looked around the room in mild surprise. "I always thought it would be more...military."
"Well it is a private agency," said the older man with a shrug. "By the way son, your mother is coming to visit in a few weeks. Try to stay out of trouble for a while this time."
Ranma frowned at the statement, but let it pass.
"Regardless, you know how she is," muttered the man with an annoyed look on his features.
"No, not really. I haven't seen her in..." Ranma suddenly seemed to realize what his father said. "Mom's coming here? What for?"
"Foolish boy! She wants to see her son! It's been ten years, or have you forgotten?"
"Forgotten what? What the hell are you talking about?" said the boy with a confused glare at the man.
"Never mind son. Just make sure you're here to greet her when she arrives," snapped the man impatiently.
"Sure thing." Ranma stood up and left the room in a daze. He hung his head and grabbed the bag that waited for him by the door. "Mom? I'm really going to see her again?"
Nabiki seemed to rush by as she moved through the halls in a hurry. She paused and blinked as she passed by Ranma. "What are you doing?"
"Goin to school I guess," said the boy without really paying attention.
Akane rushed up behind her sister with Kodachi Kuno at her side. "You are?" asked the girl in surprise.
"I look forward to seeing you there Ranma-sensei," said Kodachi with a small smirk appearing on her face.
Ranma looked up at them as they rushed off towards the exit of the building. All of the girls were dressed in school uniforms. "Wait a minute..."
Nabiki rolled her eyes as she took a seat on the train that would take them into the city. "You could have told me you didn't know where the school was you know. You didn't have to scare us half to death."
"Who was scared?!" snapped Akane angrily.
"I recall you screamed louder than any of us at his sudden appearance," commented Kodachi with her satisfied grin.
"Who asked you anyway?!" retorted the angry girl.
"You ran off before I thought about it," replied the boy with a shrug. He had jumped out of the third story window and nearly scared the three of them out of their wits as he landed in the middle of their little group as they rushed out the doors of the building.
"When we get to school you don't know me," said Akane with a frown.
"Whatever, I don't want to be associated with an uncute tomboy like you anyway," snorted the boy distastefully.
"Hohohohohoho! My you do know Akane well don't you Ranma-sensei?" said Kodachi.
"You jerk!" snapped Akane as she punched Ranma into the ceiling of the train car. Thankfully he only dented the roof a bit and came down on the ground rather roughly.
A few moments later the group was walking down the street towards the school from the station. Ranma was glancing around and rubbing his head on occasion as he gave Akane dirty looks. "Where the hell are we anyway?"
Nabiki turned towards the boy and sighed. "Nerima ward. It's the closest school to the complex. Daddy wanted to put one in the building for us and hire tutors, but the financial board said it would cost too much, and it would compromise security."
Ranma noticed the building a short distance away and frowned. "Furinkan High. I guess this is it huh?"
Nabiki nodded and stepped to the side as Akane rushed forward.
"Hate boys, hate boys, hate boys, hate boys!!!!" snapped the young girl as she rushed towards a large crowd that was gathered in the front yard of the school.
"What the?" said Ranma in confusion as he started to move after her.
"Don't worry about it, this happens every morning," said Nabiki with a sigh.
"To think that they fear speaking to me so and are forced to humble themselves for Akane Tendo because I am so out of reach! How I pity them!" cried Kodachi dramatically. She swooned unconvincingly and staggered for a moment causing Nabiki to roll her eyes again.
"Come on and get inside or we'll be late."
Akane rushed forward as the boys charged her. "I love you! Akane this is for you! Please go out with me!" cried various students within the crowd as they neared her.
She growled under her breath and slammed into the front lines sending bodies flying in every direction as she charged through the boys. She screamed in rage as her fist and feet tore a path through the male population of her school.
A rather large boy stood in her path with his arms spread wide. He screamed as he dove for her and she turned to face him with a scowl on her face. The last thing he saw was her fist closing in.
Shampoo screamed in rage as she parried another blow by spinning her spear into the long chain that had emerged from the red mech's arm. Its hand had shot forward slamming into her chest surprising her and leaving three distinct claw marks in the armor. The parried claw glowed with energy as it's superheated surface slammed into another hut sending it to the ground in a ball of flames. The Amazon unit pulled the spear to its side and waited for the next attack.
The red mech snapped its arm up and the chain was pulled back again returning the clawed hand back to the waiting wrist. It stepped forward slowly and spread its arms out in preparation to grapple with the enemy mech again.
Shampoo didn't wait for it to charge. She dashed forward jumping into the air in a diving slash that sent another shower of sparks as she gained yet another clean strike against her foe. Unfortunately all she managed to do was put another long scratch across its chest armor. The thing was pushed back though and she snarled with a feral anger as she slowly moved back again in defense.
"If this thing gets a hold on me I'm through," she thought grimly. The charred remains of Joketsuko smoldered and burned around her and she felt her chest grow tight again. "I've got to get him out of here!"
Fei watched the girl circle around her and sat silently in wait. The village burned around her and she knew that the pilot would succumb to her anger soon enough. She needed only to wait. The homemade spear the unit was using posed her no danger and the girl seemed to have a minimal understanding of the weapons that she possessed inside the unit itself. She only knew the basics of operating it; she had no clue of its real strengths and weaknesses. "Pity she is an excellent pilot."
The two giant robots circled around one another near the edge of the forest. Shampoo paused as the red mech stopped in front of the wall of fire that surrounded the village. With a war cry she charged forward pushing its waiting arms upwards and slammed into its chest pushing it back. A small screen lit up in front of her again with the smiling face of the redhead leering at her dangerously.
"A foolish attack, your unit us much weaker than mine!"
The two robots clashed with Shampoo pushing the red mech back about twenty yards towards the firewall. Two long grooves were cut into the earth as the thing pushed back and stopped her charge cold.
Shampoo growled and struggled with the controls. "No! Damn it! I need more force!" Almost as soon as the words left her mouth she felt something mechanical move on the unit's back. "What the?" She was slammed into her seat as G-forces suddenly pushed against her. The woman on the display suddenly grimaced as she was lurched forward by the force.
Mousse desperately rushed along the wall of flames shielding his face as he desperately searched for a way into the village. "Shampoo! Damn it! What the hell is going on here?!" He turned and moved along the wall of flames as the cries of his people floated over the roar of the flame. The sounds of metal striking metal managed to overthrow even the almost deafening sound. "Shampoo!" He cried desperately.
He paused as two shadows appeared from inside the wall of flames, a loud boom resonated through the valley as they emerged from the firewall. "Oh shi-!" He dove to the ground as the two mechs burst from the flames at an amazing speed. The red mech passed over his head with the right leg missing his face by inches. He felt an incredible heat and rolled onto his back as the pair blasted into the forest behind him. "What the?"
The purple mech was pushing the red one away from the village. Two jets had emerged from hidden compartments in its back and where emitting a blue flame as they roared forward. Mousse felt his hair stand on end as he watched the pair crash through the vegetation. "No! Shampoo! That's the river!" He turned away from the village and chased after the two battling giants.
Shampoo screamed in fright as the water rushed up in front of her. The head of her mech was stuck under the arm of the red giant and she saw them moving at an alarming rate towards the water. "No! Stop you stupid thing!"
The jets cut out just above the water at the center of the river. The pair fell into the water and sank beneath the surface.
A few minutes later, Mousse rushed up with a look of horror on his face as the surface bubbled violently where the pair had vanished. "Shampoo...no..." he fell to his knees and clutched the dirt with a dark rage building up inside of him. "You bastard!" He paused and stepped back as he saw something rising up from the bottom. "What the?" A bright orange glow appeared beneath the surface of the water and he staggered back in fright. "How?" It was all he managed to say before a geyser of flame burst into the air reaching a hundred feet above the surface of the water. "Shampoo!" he cried with a faint hope in his voice.
The Amazon girl managed to push off of Fei's chest and watched as he sank deep into the waters of the river. She paused and watched it sink like a rock below her. "What's happening?" she managed in shock as she glanced around. "I'm not sinking?" Her mech floated just below the surface of the deep river, she knew that the waters extended almost a thousand feet to the bottom.
Fei growled angrily as several warning sirens blared around her head. She clenched her teeth in frustration and worked desperately at the controls inside the cockpit. "She may be smarter than I realized. Damn her!" The smile returned to her lips as the alarms died down slowly. "That was a smart maneuver little bug. Too bad I have to swat you. My, my this is getting interesting."
Shampoo's mech turned in the water moving its arms experimentally through the water. She remained upright and didn't move much. She smiled as she realized slowly began to realize what was happening. With little effort she moved the mech forward through the water and it seemed to slide through the water effortlessly. She smirked and slowly began to move down towards the bottom. Despite the low level of light she could still see clearly as the screen suddenly took on a greenish tint. "I have you now!" A red glow greeted her as she neared the ground. "So, you're still here! I'll have my revenge you bitch, prepare to die!"
"No, not just yet little bug," said a familiar voice as the red glow grew more intense. Shampoo paused and saw something unfamiliar moving towards her from below. It looked like a black and orange stream of clouds that moved through the water at an alarming rate.
Not able to do anything else, Shampoo grit her teeth and prepared for the impact.
"Stay out of my fights!" snapped Akane as she stood in the hallway with two sets of buckets in her hands.
"Huh? What was that all about anyway?" said the boy in confusion.
The girl turned her head away and blushed. "At the beginning of the school year Kuno made this stupid speech. He said that anyone who wants to go out with me has to defeat me in combat."
"Lucky for me I guess. I already did that," commented Ranma lazily. "What about your dad. You're supposed to be an important pilot or something right? Why does he let this happen?"
"He tried that once. He even sent some guards to school with me once. It worked, but I couldn't stand having them hovering around me all the time." The girl hung her head and a look of anger crossed her features again. "I told him to mind his own business and leave me alone. That was about the time they recruited Kodachi. Now I fight Kuno and his mob every morning. Although I win every day for some reason."
The boy shrugged his shoulders and looked up in the air. "Well when a guy fights a girl he lets up a lot."
"Hey! You should try me for real sometime!" snapped the girl in retort.
"And what do you call what happened in the dojo the other day?" said Ranma with a smirk on his face.
Akane looked on the ground and growled. "Jerk!"
"Jeez, what the heck is your problem tomboy?" he commented under his breath.
"You take that back!" cried Akane.
Ranma already had his attention elsewhere though. "What the?"
"Never! Never Ranma Saotome! I shall never accept your engagement to Akane Tendo!"
"Oh great," muttered the pigtailed boy as the windows to the classrooms burst open revealing a large number of shocked students.
"Wait! Our parents!" stammered Akane as she tried to diffuse the situation.
Kuno ignored this and charged at Ranma. "Cur! Face me!" He slashed the pigtailed martial artist bucket in half as the boy dodged away from the bokuten strike.
"This is no place to fight Kuno! If you want to face me, follow me!" Ranma dashed down the hall with Kuno and the student body of Furinkan close behind him. He turned and dashed out of a window.
"This is the third floor!" cried Akane as she rushed up to the window.
"No sweat!" commented Ranma. Kuno had followed him blindly and looked down in shock. Ranma turned his head and sighed. "Great, I didn't know the pool was there. Now I'm gonna get wet." Immediately after that he splashed into the water with Kuno landing in a belly flop directly behind him.
The pigtailed boy surfaced and gasped for air before turning in search of his opponent. Kuno was floating face down in a daze in the middle of the pool. "Stupid jerk," commented Ranma as he pulled him up and out of the water.
Once on the pavement Kuno awoke with a jerk. He grabbed Ranma in a bear hug. "Ranma Saotome I fight on!"
"Gah! What the hell are you doing you jerk!" screamed the boy as he pushed him away.
"Surely this is far enough for our battle of honor?" said Kuno with a smirk on his face as he raised his bokuten up and pointed at the boy.
"Sure, whatever," snorted Ranma without much worry. He cracked his knuckles and smirked as he stared the boy down. "Let's just get this over with..."
TBC...
Next time: The fate of Joketsuko, and Ranma beats up Kuno some more. Plus, a new threat rears its head in Tokyo.
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com
URL Http://www.geocities.com/misatira/
I just want to clear something up, I've gotten a few questions about it in the past. The reason Shampoo's speech is normal right now is because she's in China. She's speaking Chinese, so are Mousse, Cologne, and the rest of the Amazons. I didn't see the need to point this out since I thought it was pretty obvious, and it is. Now I'm going to tell you directly. They are speaking Chinese, not Japanese, and not English. Shampoo would not sound like a three year old in her own language.
Using different quotes such as [] for Chinese for thoughts is a bad writing habit and should be avoided. Believe it or not doing that is bad English. You should always use quotation marks "" for all speech and thoughts. Any dialogue should be in quotes no matter what. It should be obvious if they are using another language. The only instance that I could see someone using something other than quotation marks to distinguish different languages is if there are two or more different languages in the same scene. Thoughts should still be in quotes, because they should be made obvious anyway. This can be accomplished by using such amazing phrases as 'he/she thought' Yes this amazing phrase can instantly tell your readers that the person is thinking and not speaking the dialogue out loud.
Hopefully this will help a few people out. As well as stop people from telling me that I should distinguish different languages with different quotes. I will not, it's just bad English. I'm trying my best to avoid that.
Thank you.