Of Martial Arts and Giant Robots
Chapter 1:
"Damn them all to Hell," Akane muttered to herself as she stripped out of her wedding dress and changed into her pajamas. "Why did those idiots have to push this on us? And to bribe me with a cure for Ranma, too... And the worst part is, I went along with it. And now, Gods know what will happen. Ranma's probably pissed at me because his cure is gone, although he's probably even angrier at that old lech for drinking the damned thing, those idiot fiancees of his are probably going to try shit like this again, and to top it all off, even Ryoga went for that water. Does he hate Ranma so much that he would ruin a wedding to lessen his chances of being cured? For crying out loud, a years-old fight about some bread isn't worth that."
Grumbling to herself with language that would make the most experienced and worldly sailor flush, she attempted to fold her dress neatly. This wasn't easy, and she eventually gave up. Instead of folding the damned thing, she wadded it into a ball and threw it across the room. It landed in a pile of random junk, and kicked up a small amount of dust.
She wanted to be angrier than she was; she wanted to break things with her trusty hammer, to completely level the dojo in a sign of her displeasure. She wanted to break the bones of her father and Ranma's parents. She wanted to wreck bloody vengeance upon all of those people who ruined her wedding, but she didn't have the energy. So, instead, she cursed at them with some of the most vile imprecations ever uttered, even outdoing the most drunken sailors. After a couple minutes, the walls of her room were noticeably dingier.
Pretty soon, that got tiring as well, and she flopped onto her bed. "It's a good thing P-chan's not here..." she murmured. "I'd probably wind up hurting him, too... just like I did to Ranma. None of this was supposed to happen..." she sobbed. "I should really burn that thing, but Ranma said I was beautiful in it... Speaking of which, I don't hear any cries of anguish from downstairs. I wonder where he got to. I would've thought he would've been beating the hell out of his father by now... Although, this day wouldn't have been a complete waste if Ranma would have just answered my question... even though I already know the answer. Why did this have to turn out this way?"
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Slowly, Ranma plodded up the stairs to his room. His tuxedo was scorched in several places, and his jacket was a torn and bloodstained mass. The only consolation was that none of the blood on it was his. "It never fails... just when things start going well for a change, something comes along and fucks everything up. And this time, it actually wasn't my fault... the bastards knocked me out and forced us into this, and then the rest crashed the party. An' how the hell was I supposed to react when I heard there was a cure just sittin' around?"
Grimacing, he pulled off his jacket and threw it into his room before turning around and punching the door. He wanted to beat his father into a bloody pulp because of this, but his mother had claimed that duty. "Heh... Judging by the look of terror on the old man's face, I'd say he's gonna get exactly what he deserves... I'd be surprised if he's able to walk tomorrow."
Faintly, he could hear an argument break out downstairs, something about inviting the wrong people, for the wrong reasons. He chuckled to himself as he heard his mother start tearing into Nabiki about that particular mistake. "She can get very loud when she puts her mind to it."
At that, he chuckled a bit.
"Speaking of people who can get really loud... I probably royally fucked myself over with Akane today. Why the hell couldn't I have answered her question? Why can't I tell my own fiancee the truth about how I feel about her? For god's sake, I'm Ranma Saotome, master of the School of Anything Goes martial arts... I fear nothing, except for cats. I have taken beatings that would easily kill lesser men. I'm faster and stronger than pretty much anyone else. I faced a demi-god in mortal combat and... killed him. Dear god, I killed for her... so why the hell can't I her that I love her? It shouldn't be this damned difficult."
Sighing, he climbed out the window and perched himself on the roof of the dojo. The sounds of cleanup slowly wafted up, and he smirked as he heard Genma attempt the Crouch of the Wild Tiger. It didn't work terribly well, and the old man flew out of the house and landed in the koi pond, emerging as a panda. "Y'know... For a martial arts master, he's really easy to pummel..."
"Wait a minute... that's it!" Ranma exclaimed, slamming his fist into the palm of his hand as a grin spread across his face. "A way to get out of this mess... to get those meddling farts off our case. Hmmm... I should tell Akane. This should cheer her up a bit. Unfortunately, we'll need Nabiki's help on this one, and her services don't come cheap."
A knock on her window startled Akane out of her reverie. Looking up, she saw Ranma hanging outside her window with an odd look on his face. Slowly, she got up and opened the window.
"What do you want, Ranma? This had better be important."
"Uhh... I figured out a way to get those morons off our case. Is that good enough?"
"Maybe... but this had better be good. Come in."
Quickly, Ranma sprang into Akane's room and slid bonelessly into her chair. Akane plopped down on her bed, and glared at Ranma expectantly. "Well?"
"It's simple, really... This wedding is supposed to unite our schools, isn't it?"
"Yeah... so?"
"In order to do that, wouldn't we have to both be masters of our respective schools? I know I am, but... well... you aren't," Ranma said, bracing for sudden blunt-force trauma.
Akane almost summoned her mallet and put Ranma through the floor. Two things stopped her. One, he had a point and two, she just didn't have the energy to clobber him. "Maybe later."
"Y'know, that just might work," she said as a faint smile appeared on her lips.
"One other thing. I was thinkin' that they need to be taught a lesson."
"I agree... do you have anything in mind?"
"Actually, yes. But here, the walls have too many ears. So, I was thinkin' we should head off somewhere... maybe come up with something over a meal..."
The smile on Akane's face got a little wider, and took on a slightly evil tone. "Did he just ask me out? Oh well, one way to find out..." "Are you asking me out?" Akane inquired.
Ranma immediately froze up, and incoherent sounds started issuing from his mouth. He looked like he had seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and just realized that it was from a rather speedy train. "I'll take that as a yes, then," Akane mused.
"Oh, relax, I was kidding. I know you'd never do that. Now, get out of my room," she laughed. " I need to change. Meet me on the roof in five minutes... and it seems that your tux has seen better days," she said, gesturing to the various stains, burns and tears adorning it. "You might want to do something about it."
Dumbly, Ranma nodded and shuffled out the door.
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Downstairs, the rest of the Tendo and Saotome households were attempting to clean up the mess that had been caused by the wedding disaster. Happosai was nowhere to be found. Soun was rather useless, as he was sobbing uncontrollably while Nabiki calculated how much it would cost to repair all of the damage. Kasumi and Nodoka were attempting to get everything organized. Genma had become quite meek all of a sudden, and was doing all that he could to please his wife. This most likely had something to do with the katana that she was carrying, as well as the dirty looks he was getting from everybody in the room. Faintly, he could hear some rather foul language drifting from Akane's room. None of them were looking forward to facing those two any time soon, even Kasumi, who hadn't been directly involved.
"Will they ever learn?" Kasumi wondered as she prepared to browbeat the rest of her family into being intelligent for a change. The damage to the house and dojo, she could forgive... up to a point. The damage to her kitchen, however, was another matter entirely.
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Four minutes later, Ranma stood on the roof, clad in his trademark black kung-fu pants and red Chinese vest. To say that he was nervous would be a rather large understatement. He was about to spend a rather lengthy period of time with Akane, and she had that hammer of hers. Also, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that many would consider this a date, which would just make things worse. He knew how he felt about her, even if he couldn't tell her; but that was not was the problem; he could deal with that. The problem was he had absolutely no idea how she felt about him, and had no clue as to how to find out without making a fool of himself. The fact that he could faintly hear Kasumi speaking sternly to everyone downstairs wasn't helping, either.
"Where the devil is she?" he wondered out loud.
"Right behind you..." she responded. "You know, you're really easy to sneak up on... I got up here just after you did."
Startled, Ranma jumped a bit as he whirled around. "How did... never mind. Let's go," he said as he prepared to roof-hop.
"What are you doing, Ranma?"
"Roof-hopping. What's it look like?"
"I can't do that!"
"Oh, right..." Ranma replied as he swept Akane into his arms and leapt onto a nearby roof. He then hopped several more roofs, finally landing on the street near a local restaurant.
Akane promptly smashed him with her mallet, and what many would consider a date began. But to those directly involved, the main purpose of the night was revenge.
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At a large underground facility in Siberia, a lone man stood on a catwalk spanning an enormous room filled with rows upon rows of uniform white tubes eight feet in height and four in diameter. He appeared to have seen better days; his left arm appeared to be made of steel and a massive purple disfigured his vaguely Caucasian face. The manner in which his pants fell insinuated that his legs were not made of flesh either. Other than that, he was remarkably fit.
As he surveyed the room, home of the Project codenamed FORGE, he smiled grimly. "Let them try to stop me now," he thought to himself. Idly, he scratched at some recent scar tissue on the back of his skull. "This whole facility was the brainchild of one of the Whispered, some Asian bitch from Japan," he mused. "I'm surprised Silver didn't scarf this up just for that..." In fact, his two students (and the first test subjects) had been her daughters. That had saved her life; that and the fact that there were still more secrets tucked away in her brain. It was a pity that Mithril had captured the two, doubly so since he had hoped the twins would die in their assault on Hong Kong.
Kashim and his employers were quite resourceful, it appeared, if they could take those two alive.
The PHOENIX project showed promise as well, although the Keystone needed replacement. He had several candidates for that position, most of them located in Tokyo. A retrieval operation was commencing even now.
Mad laughter echoed throughout the frigid chamber. "Let them come... let them all try to stop me now."
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Several hundred miles to the west, Leonard Testarossa sat at his desk reviewing the status of the various projects he had control over. ANVIL was proceeding ahead of schedule; HAMMER and MANDREL were almost complete and production runs had already begun. BLADE was almost ready to begin; all that was required was a Whispered with chemical knowledge, and the Intelligence Directorate was searching for such an individual. Most likely, he would be able to move on that in four weeks.
Idly, he wondered, for the umpteenth time, if it had really been a good idea to grant Iron-san the FORGE and PHOENIX projects. The FORGE project was not of great importance in the grand scheme of things, but PHOENIX, well...
PHOENIX had resulted in the destruction of a mountain in China, without the use of any weapons or explosives. This was slightly worrying, even more so since he had no agents in place in that project. "Something may need to be done."
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Slowly, a lithe female form attempted to sit up in her bed. She did not succeed, as her limbs were bound to the frame of the bed with handcuffs and leather straps. An IV ran into her left arm, and was fastened with tape.
Her throat hurt like hell, and her right arm was encased in a plaster cast. Glancing around, she noticed a pair of bags on the IV tree, one filled with Prochlorperazine and the other with Sodium Thiopental. An antipsychotic and a barbituate sedative... interesting.
The room itself was unfamiliar, with florescent lighting, white-painted walls, and a tile floor. The ceiling tiles each had four hundred holes arranged in a grid pattern, and there were 226 of them. The room itself was a twelve foot square with a reinforced steel door and a security camera. Next to her bed, a rack of medical equipment was monitored by a young male orderly, who appeared to be staring at her in some shock, his mouth gaping wide.
Odd, that.
She tried to speak, to ask after her sister, the only other thing in the world worth caring about, but the orderly pressed a button on the IV tree.
As she dropped back into unconsciousness, her mind's eye presented a picture of a burly man with a large scar on his face. For some reason, a burning sensation filled her gut and she felt her fist clench.
Shaking, the orderly picked up a telephone and dialed a number.
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In an entirely different wing of the Mithril High-Security Medical Facility, an identical woman cried out in pain. Her return to consciousness had not been pleasant. Her body had been severely injured in her attack on Hong Kong, on behest of her sensei. He had wanted to draw out one of his enemies, in hopes of hilling him.
The things she had seen that white AS do with the Lambda Driver were, to say the least, worrying.
None of this crossed her mind as consciousness returned. Instead, her mind was focused on her sister, her dead sister. Her sensei had killed her, albeit indirectly. For that, he would have to pay.
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Lieutenant Commander Kalinin shook his head in wonderment. GEMINI ONE and TWO, so called due to their familial relationship and the fact that no-one knew their actual names, were awake.
One had been dead for almost a week, and the other had been severely injured in the cockpit of her Arm Slave. Now, both were kept in the High-Security Medical Facility. Out of deference to the fact that they were family, each had been told that the other had survived. Out of deference to the fact that the medical staff didn't have a death wish, they were kept separate and sedated.
Each of them had, independently, informed the officers that had attempted to speak to them that they would only speak to Kashim. He really didn't need this on his plate as well, but there was no way around it.
At least Gauron was dead.
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ATTN: Sergeant 2nd Class Souske Sagara
OP: ANGELIC CHOIR
RE: HONG KONG
Proceed immediately to MERIDA ISLAND via Route 3 to interrogate/evaluate GEMINI ONE and GEMINI TWO.
Other civilians have been placed under your purview; WRAITH has been informed. Report to Lt. Cmdr. Kalinin for briefing immediately upon arrival.
ENDS.
