A Soldier in Tokyo
Chapter 4: The Deal is off!
Many days passed until Tank returned, and Barsoum didn't tell him about the little 'incident' he had. Nor of the many others that happened during those many days, each ending with a panda attack. In the end, the squirrel and Egyptian came to a sort of understanding, which he did tell Tank about.
"Ahh…dude, how the hell do you come up with an understanding with a squirrel?"
"I don't know, we just did. We respect each other, he's actually pretty tough." Barsoum said, remembering how he had gotten hold of the critter and slamming it against a tree before it could call for his little 'friend'. It didn't seem to phase the animal, and the attempt, while commendable, ended like the others: in the jaws of a rather pissed off panda.
Tank simply shook his head in puzzlement, sighing as he did so. "Whatever you say man. Just so long as he doesn't fuck with us anymore."
"It won't. We don't fuck with it, it don't fuck with us." He was very sure on that, having earned it the hard way.
"Ok, gotcha." Tank sat on a log, pleased. Barsoum joined him on another log, asking, "I'll guess that you got with the guy?"
A nod, then, "Yea, I did. Taught me quite a bit. Guy's good man, might give you a run for your money."
"Shiiiit. I'll take his ass." Barsoum said confidently. Tank shrugged.
"Maybe, maybe not. Might have to set up that little fight sometime."
"You do that. I'll kill'em. I'll rip his fuckin head off." Barsoum glared with wild eyes at Tank, who couldn't suppress a laugh.
"Man, you look like someone just shoved a stick up your ass when you do that." Barsoum couldn't help but break out and laugh his rivet-gun laugh at that.
Calming, he asked, "So, you ready for some more training?"
Tank smirked, anticipating this. "Yup. Let's go!"
A routine developed over the months. Tank trained with Barsoum most every day, increasing his skill in the martial arts from constant practice and usage. Two days out of the week he trained with Ranma, acquiring other techniques and ways of fighting. He blended it all together with his own unique way of fighting, utilizing everything that was useful to him, and discarding what he felt he didn't need. It didn't favor either style, yet it wasn't superior to either one.
Neither of his trainers minded this, not discouraged him from it. A martial artist must find his own way of self-expression in the arts, and his was developing rapidly, and might soon be on the same level as theirs.
After a particularly grueling session, both Tank and Barsoum decided to take a break for a couple days to relax. The changes in both men were great. They had toned up incredibly, being in better shape than they probably ever had been in their lives.
Barsoum chuckled slightly as he lay back against a limb in their home. Their 'home' was the giant gnarled tree that Tank had first found himself against on his arrival. Tank looked at him quizzically. "What?"
"You man. I'm just impressed with how much you've improved. I really have to work now to fight you." He rubbed his face, feeling the stubble there. "It's like you're developing some kind of sixth sense."
Tank shrugged. "Probably because I'm getting used to how you fight."
"Eh, maybe. But it's weird. Lately it's like I can't hit you without you picking up on it. It's like you read my mind or something."
Tank thought a moment, going back over their fights. "Hmm…ya know…you might be on to something there. Well, I'm off to get some stuff. You wanna go?"
His friend shook his head. "Nah man, I'm beat. I want to rest for tomorrow when I meet this Ranma guy. Besides, they all look at me funny."
"Shit, I look at you funny man." Tank shot out.
"That's cause you look funny." Barsoum fired back, grinning. Their wits hadn't dulled any during the past few months.
"Touche." Tank chuckled, then climbed down from the tree, retrieving his pistol from the cubby-hole in the trunk as he left. They had decided on staying in the woods, instead of going to an apartment, due to their very physical activities they had been doing of late, and the fact that they technically didn't exist in this world.
Thanks to the money he got from Nabiki they'd been able to get food and other essentials without a problem. With a little more arm-twisting on his part, he even got her to give him the location of place where he could get ammunition. Now he had a full magazine for both his M4 and his M9, which was on his person whenever he left the protection of the woods, with plenty of ammo to spare.
On top of that, they'd been able to do a little work creating a more secure and permanent place to live in the woods. The giant tree they had turned into a home was perfect for the job. The limbs were strong enough for a few boards to be tied down to, letting them place their tents up off the ground. A few footholds, along with a weapons cubby-hole in the trunk, complete with a lockable camouflaged dropdown panel for access, and they had a first rate living area, safe from prying eyes that might pass by.
He smiled, "Things are really looking up for us." He whistled a little tune, which was sounded a lot like the original Mario Brothers game theme song as he got some food and something to read, highly pleased with how life had improved, and praising the good luck he'd had so far at avoiding trouble.
As should be expected though, his run of good luck was going to run out.
Just as he got in the park where his home was, he heard someone cry out behind him, "Monster! Run!"
"Shit" Tank thought silently, as he turned around, bag in hand. Sure enough, there was a youma there, complete with evil general (available in stores now), draining life energy from those foolish enough to attempt to flee.
"Fuck me!" He cried out as he dropped the bag, diving for cover. Cover in this case being mailbox, it would have to do. He pulled out his sidearm, thoughts whirling though his head. "Ok, this isn't good. I only have one clip, and no protection on my head this time. Need a plan." He looked about wildly, as unconscious bodies fell to the ground. "Wait a sec…had a deal with these guys. I don't fuck with them, they won't fuck with me. Ok, good plan."
He could almost hear the voice in the back of his mind point out, "That's no plan you stupid ass."
"Shut up." He muttered aloud. He glanced out, watching the youma holding a crystal out, draining people left and right.
"Ooook Sailor Scouts…time for you to do your thing here…" He said, disgruntled. It rankled him that to keep from being possibly killed, instead of unconscious like the people around him, he had to keep himself from opening up on the youma.
Having morals and ethics sometimes was a bitch.
Sure enough though, he could hear a high pitched voice yell out, "I'm Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon…" He looked over to the left, and there stood the Scouts doing their ridiculous poses. He just shook his head as they finished, "…we shall punish you!"
"Damn you brats! Youma, finish them!" This dark general vanished, leaving his lackey to do the dirty work. In short order the chaos of battle filled the air as both Scouts and youma fought, neither side seeming to have the advantage.
Tank stayed under cover for the time being, watching the fight unfold. He winced as he watched the girls fight. "Good lord…these people are horrible! How the hell do they expect to win? No real teamwork, and only one of them with any real fighting ability. Damn, the guys before this fucker must have really been weak!" He felt an urge to leave cover, and did so, jumping clear of the box just before it was blasted by a near miss by the youma.
He rolled to the side, looking for cover anywhere he could. He dove behind a park bench, as if its slat-sides were going to provide any real protection. "Gotta find something better!" He ground out, looking for something more substantial.
From her spot behind cover, Sailor Mercury saw the mailbox get blasted, and a familier figure dash for cover, first behind a park bench, then behind a concrete water fountain. She started in surprise at seeing him of all people. Mars looked over at her, a question on her face.
She pointed, "It's him! It's that Sergeant!" Mars looked, also started.
"Him? What's he doing here?" She asked, then dove to the side to avoid a punch from the creature, sending a firerey blast back at it. It didn't phase it.
"No time to worry about him. He can take care of himself! Sailor Venus, look out!"
The warning came too late, and Venus took to the air from another hard punch, landing painfully not far from where Tank squatted. For good measure, the beast fired a dark blast at Venus, driving her into the ground, smoke rising.
"Shit!" He yelled as he dove towards her body. The other Scouts continued the attack while he checked her vitals. "Ok, good, she's alive, just out." He looked her over for any obvious wounds, but didn't see anything, just as he felt a familiar presence behind him.
He looked up and said cheerfully, "Heya buddy. Fun day eh?" Barsoum just chuckled at him as he also looked the teen over.
"Damn…you didn't say they were this fine dude!" He exclaimed.
"Oh shut up dick. This isn't the time for that. Help me get her up. Translator on." He switched to Japanese as he tapped her none-too-gently on the cheek. "Wake up Sailor Venus, you got some ass to kick."
Barsoum also tapped her cheek a couple times, and then said, "Fuck that." Can flat out slapped her hard. Her eyes fluttered as she came too, his buddy grinning, "Works everytime."
Tank rolled his eyes as she regained consciousness. "Wha…what happened?"
"No time. Bad guy, that way, go get." He pointed, where the others had yet to subdue the creature.
Her eyes recognized the scene, and with a final, "Right!" she was off to join the fray, leaving the two friends to take cover again.
"Translator off." Tank turned to his buddy, "What brought you out man?"
A blast singed the air between them, making them duck from the debris that flew in the opposite direction. Barsoum pointed to the smoking crater, "That shit. One minute I'm napping, next I see some tree get blasted! Man they make a lot of noise! I was having a good dream too." He grumbled about the last.
"This isn't working!" Jupiter yelled, just before she took a hard punch to her gut, knocking the wind out of her.
"Jupiter!" Moon cried out, just before being sent flying by an energy blast. When she managed to refocus her vision, the youma stood over her, grinning and preparing killing blow. Just that moment a red rose cut across it's body, forcing it to clutch itself as it looked at the source.
In typical fashion, Tuxedo Mask stood on a light pole perfectly, calling out, "You are a fool to try to kill what is un-killable. Love and beauty cannot be destroyed. Finish it Sailor Moon!"
From cover Barsoum looked over at Tank as he translated for him, then looked on in disbelief. "That all that fucker said? What kinda pussy is he?" Tank shrugged, at a loss as Sailor Moon used her strongest attack, knocking the creature down to the ground, smoking.
"I think they got'em man." Tank said, and stood up from cover, his buddy following suit. They walked over to the Scouts who had clustered together, wary.
"This is unusual…it should have vanished." Mercury commented, gazing at the monster. Before anyone could comment, the heard someone speak in slightly accented English behind them.
"Damn man. That's one ugly fucker."
"Yea, no shit."
Mercury flushed, being the only one to understand the two as the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask turned their gaze on them.
"Translator on. Heya." Tank said cheerfully, pistol still in his hand. His friend had a sword on his back, and he looked over the girls, obviously having never seen them before.
"Hello Sergeant. Who's your friend?" Mercury asked.
"Him? He's an Army buddy. Same problem as me." Leaving it at that, he pointed to the creature, "Shouldn't that have vanished?"
"Well…yes. We were just wondering about that." She answered, just as the youma suddenly lunged upwards, firing a blast straight out.
"Look out!" Tuxedo Mask cried, and the Scouts dodged or dove away faster than the blast.
"Oh fuck me!" Both men yelled as Barsoum allowed himself to phase out. Unfortunatly for him, Tank took the full brunt of the blast, flying backwards several feet and landing hard, smoking slightly.
He cringed in pain, skittering a bit as the evil energy played havoc with his nervous system before he got full use of it again. "Ok…that's it. Deals off bitch!" He ground out as he stood back up, very pissed.
He turned to Barsoum, who looked on in astonishment. "You alright man?"
Tank waved it off, yelling, "I'm fine, let's get this fucker!" Barsoum grinned as he phased back in, pulling the katana from its scabbord with a twirl, taking up a stance and holding it point down. Tank turned to the Scouts, yelling to the (in essence ordering), "Stay back, this fucker's ours!"
They looked at him in shock as he picked up his pistol and took up a stance beside his bud.
"Is he insane?" Tuxedo Mask asked Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon had no answer.
Mercury replayed the scene over in her mind a moment, thinking on what just happened. "He spoke English one moment…then Japanese the next without changing the translator…how did that happen?"
She obviously had other priorities on her mind.
Tank glanced at the Egyptian. "Whaddya think? Anything special or should we just run it over?"
"I don't give a fuck! I just wanna finally kill something!" Barsoum laughed, yet focused.
"Alright then. Let's go!" Tank charged in, with Barsoum following, sword behind him.
The youma, in great pain and a little dizzy, could never have imagined a more incredible sight than a crazed Egyptian leaping up at it's head, and some nutty red-head diving and firing some noisy thing. And the things that one shot hurt like hell!
It roared in pain, just as Barsoum impaled its mouth with the katana. He landed on its shoulders and pulled the blade back out, flipping backwards to avoid a wild strike. Tank gave it a vicious side-kick into its solar plexus doubling it over. With great skill Barsoum brought the sharp blade down and lopped off an arm, then quickly rushed behind it as Tank fired two shots, one to each eye, really pissing it off, but blinding it nonetheless.
He grinned. "I think we got this piece of shit man."
Barsoum held the sword above his shoulder, the tip pointed at the sky. "Let's finish the bitch then!"
"I'm on it!" Tank dropped the pistol and leapt up, catching the now flailing creature under the jaw and flipping over slowly, bending the big monster almost in half. At that moment Barsoum used all his strength as he sliced directly at the bend point, cutting the thing in two. Tank let go as he felt the piece he was holding suddenly start to drop, landing on his feet and facing it.
The pieces kicked about for a bit, while the two soldiers watched wary until they stopped and finally vanished, leaving the energy crystal behind.
The two buddies turned to each other and clapped their hands together, slid apart, then punched down and up in their own little victory celebration.
"Good shit man." Tank said, retrieving his pistol. He felt like hell, but having been a victor took some of the sting away.
Barsoum, for his part, was too busy grinning like a madman. "Finally! I got to kill something!" He burst out laughing, and Tank couldn't help but laugh with him.
From the sidelines, the Scouts and Tuxedo Mask could only look in fascination.
"Wow…he's better than last time." Venus muttered, in surprise.
Jupiter opened and closed her mouth a couple times before she found her voice. "How…did they do that?"
Moon simply said, "I was going to do that." Everyone looked at her darkly, with Mars saying, "Yea right."
Moon pouted, "Well I would have."
Mercury walked up to the victors who were still jabbering away. "What gave you the idea to jump it and flip it like that man?"
Tank shrugged, "I saw it in an anime Street Fighter movie." His friend laughed hard. "Hey, it worked didn't it?"
"Well yea, but you didn't have to do that, I could have cut it either way." Barsoum laughed harder as his buddy scowled at him.
"Well why the fuck didn't you tell me you had a plan?"
"I didn't think about it till after you jumped." Barsoum laughed even harder now, holding his sides as Tank clapped himself on the forehead.
"Um…excuse me Sergeant." Mercury said, getting their attention, although Barsoum took a little while to get his laughter under control.
"Yea? What is it Mercury?" Tank said, again in flawless Japanese, before turning to Barsoum and whispering in English, "Will you zip it for a sec man?"
"Sure-sure man…bwahahahaha!" He couldn't stop himself, and fell to the ground. Tank just hung his head, shaking it, before turning back to the confused Scout. "What's up?"
Mercury turned her attention to the task at hand. "Well, it's your translator."
"What about it?" He asked, curious now.
"It seems to be malfunctioning."
Tank became serious, asking, "What do you mean? I'm talking to you just fine aren't I?"
"Yes. And you talk to your friend just fine too. One problem though…" It hit Tank before she could say it.
"I haven't told it to shut off or turn on…" Mercury nodded.
Tank thought a moment, feeling his throat and not feeling any pain or discomfort. "Well, it seems ok. Guess I've been saved a little time then."
"Possibly." She replied, still slightly worried.
He noticed the concern and tried to ease her mind. "Don't fret about it. It's better this way probably."
He turned to his now calm friend. "Well man, whaddya think? Time to end the day?"
"Fuck yea man. Two workouts a day is a bit too much. Good thing this was easy." Tank nodded while Mercury nearly dropped her jaw at the comment.
Turing back to her, he said, "Well, it's been fun, but we've got things to do tomorrow, so I guess we'll see each other."
The both made a move to leave when Mercury said, "Wait! Please." She added the last almost absently.
They both turned to her, puzzled. "You fought with us again. Why? I thought you didn't want to become involved."
Tank chuckled darkly. "Tell you what, you meet us here tomorrow morning, and I'll explain things to you. You'll have to follow us though, we've got a schedule to keep and it'll be a bit tight."
She nodded, determined to find some answers. "I'll be here."
"Good. Good night ladies." He bowed slightly while Barsoum looked at him strangely. As they walked off, she overheard the darker man ask, "What did ya tell'em?"
Tank filled him in, and then he said, "Oh. Ok. Hey, can ya tell'em that that dude is a fucking pussy or something? Who the hell fights with flowers in a tuxedo?"
She flushed, knowing exactly who the 'dude' was as she heard Tank groan. "Man…Mercury there knows English. You probably just told'em yourself. Shit."
"Ooh…oops. My bad man." He broke out into laughter again as they both entered the woods.
Suddenly she was surrounded by the others and bombarded with questions. She sighed.
It was going to be a long night until tomorrow morning.
To Be Continued…