Well, here we go. Since Chapter 14, which is the second half of this chapter, was the longest in the series, so is this one. Ya know, I'm really noticing that I had people burst into laughter far too often in this fic. Meh. Anyhow, here's chapter 6. Enjoy!
Chapter 6. Pagentry.
Ranma waited outside of Mars Base's front entrance, looking anxiously for Commander Hayes. "There she is." He muttered as he saw her running out. "Hey! Over here. The Mockingbird is too slow to get out in time. Get in."
Lisa ran over and climbed into Ranma's Cockpit. Squeezing in to the small space behind the seat, she muttered something about sardine cans before closing the canopy. "Alright Saotome, get us the hell out of here." Her voice didn't have much enthusiasm.
"Yeesh, you didn't think I'd letcha die did you?" Ranma said as he maneuvered his guardian mode Veritech into the air. "After all, martial artists gotta protect the weak. Now this is gunna get a bit uncomfortable. Hang on!"
Ranma's Veritech switched into Fighter mode and he routed all the power to the engines again. The count down to explosion meter read, 1:25 and they were racing away from the base at a pretty good clip.
HR.
"Captain, Mr. Saotome reports that he has Commander Hayes and is returning to the ship." Sammy porter reported, a tone of relief in her voice.
Gloval nodded. "Status on the battle?"
Lang spoke up. "We're pushing them back slowly. The problem is that there's a battleship in orbit and if we break the atmosphere, it will open fire."
"Suggestions?" Gloval asked, looking around the bridge.
"Can't we use the Reflex Cannon?" Young asked.
Gloval frowned slightly. If they used the Reflex cannon, they would cause some serious damage to the city but it seemed that there was no choice. "Sound evacuation alarms and move all civilians to the shelters. Mr. Lang, prepare the Reflex cannon."
HR.
Ranma flew back through the battle zone on his way to land on the Macross. Lisa complained rather vocally about the bumpy ride as Ranma dodged enemy missiles. "Well, I can't do much about it, sorry. If you wanna be shot down..."
Lisa grumbled to herself and shut up.
As Roy flew around, shooting down enemy pods, He noticed that Ranma was flying back through the battle field. "The kid got Hayes?" He muttered as he covered Ranma.
"Thanks Roy, I can't do any quick maneuvering right now. Just keep 'em off of me until I drop off the Commander." Ranma's voice came over the Radio.
"No problem kid. Skulls got your back."
Roy formed on Ranma's wing and helped clear the way.
HR.
Ryoga Hibiki stood on the main landing deck, looking on at the battle out the main doors. He noticed that one of the Veritechs was moving toward the ship. "Ranma?" He muttered as he saw the words Vermillion 1 on the side of the incoming Veritech.
Ranma's Veritech landed, once again in guardian mode, and he popped the cockpit canopy. "Alright Commander, I've gotta get back out there so get out."
Lisa glared at Ranma. "Saotome, you're pushing it."
Ranma just laughed as Lisa climbed out of his cockpit. "Hey Ryoga! Get her back to the bridge, Ok?"
"Yeah, sure…Ranma. You owe me a match for this though." Ryoga said, trying to sound angry even though he could barely repress a chuckle at Ranma's standard diplomacy with women.
Ranma turned his Veritech around and jumped right back out the launch deck doors to engage the enemy.
"Is he ALWAYS like that?" Lisa asked Ryoga, remembering how caring and nice Ranma had sounded in the White Dragon.
"Oh? You mean Ranma? Nah. He's a pretty nice guy actually...of course, don't tell him I said that 'cuz I pretend to hate his guts." Ryoga said, with a chuckle.
Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Why do you do that?"
"Because I really did hate his guts at one time...and he offers the best training I ever had. My martial skills have improved so much since I met that guy, it's not even funny."
Lisa just shook her head, still pissed off with Ranma but not quite as much.
HR.
Vermillion 1 flew back into the fray, its gun pod blazing. Ranma took out 5 of the remaining battle pods on his first pass.
"Welcome to the party kid." Roy's voice came over the radio.
"Aw, c'mon Roy, you really think I'd miss this?" Ranma said as he got into the thick of things. "Vermillion, report status. Flight 1 report to my location."
"Vermillion Flight one, intact. Only slight Damage." Max's voice came.
"Vermillion Flight 2 intact." O'Hara, a member of flight 2, radioed.
Vermillion Flight one formed, the other two planes on Ranma's wings and then it broke again. Now, all three pilots were covering each other.
The remainder of the enemy pods was swept aside, the combined forces of Skull, Vermillion and Gold grinding them up and spitting them out. Well, mostly it was Skull and Vermillion. Gold was just a standard standby squadron and wasn't doing much.
Ranma and Roy's chi abilities were coming in handy, as Ranma was using the full extent of his Enhanced R-type Veritech to fire reflex beams from his cannon and vaporize a few targets at once and Roy was using enhanced speed, which he had just figured out how to pull off during this battle, in order to cut behind enemies.
HR.
"All enemy aircraft eliminated. Squadrons returning to the ship." Leeds reported, as Vermillion, Skull and Gold landed on the Launch deck.
"Good. Prepare for atmospheric exit and Transformation sequence." Gloval ordered, clutching his pipe in his hand.
The Macross' Gravitic drive whirred to life and the ship climbed from the planet's surface. With no power to the mines planted on the hull, the ship had no trouble lifting off.
Suddenly, as it exited the atmosphere, the Macross began to change. Its main thrusters extended downwards, Creating two projections at the bottom of the ship. The two Semi-Submersible Carriers, one on each side of the ship, moved outwards, and the Boom of the main cannon moved up slightly. The SDF-1 now looked like a horned Humanoid form.
"Transformation sequence complete, no human casualties reported sir." Lang reported.
"Fire the cannon." Gloval ordered, pointing at the large enemy ship on the main Viewer.
The boom of the Main cannon gathered energy and it was released in a massive blast. The blast impacted with the enemy Battleship before it could fire a shot and blew it to pieces.
"Enemy destroyed sir." Kim young reported, a note of awe in her voice.
"Reflex cannon fired without incident sir. No human casualties but heavy damage to the central region of the city." Lang reported, his voice level.
Gloval sighed in mixed relief and sadness. It would take them another week to rebuild that section of the city, and they would have to put it in a different area.
HR.
Ranma cursed his luck, again. Hayes wasn't just making idle threats when she told him that she was going to put him on report for threatening a superior officer back at mars base. That's how he found himself, serving 48 hours in the ship's brig.
"Hey, kid." came a voice from the bars at the front of the brig.
"Hey Roy, how's it goin?" Ranma asked, bored out of his mind from his day of sitting and doing nothing. When he'd started doing Katas to pass time, the guard had yelled at him to settle down.
"Oh, Nothing. Just thought you'd wanna know that you've won a medal." Roy said, offhandedly flipping a case through the bars.
"You're kidding me right? I mean they threw me in here...and gave me a medal?" Ranma's voice was showing his clear disbelief. He automatically caught the medal.
"Apparently, Gloval had you threatening Commander Hayes on record so he had to throw you in here. On the other hand, you did risk your life to save her so..."
"Feh, Some justice system we got here, huh?" Ranma said, chuckling.
Roy joined him in laughing. "Well, Vermillion's still yours when you get outta here tomorrow. Oh, yeah. Minmei said something about bringing you takeout later tonight."
Ranma perked up. "Really?" He looked like a hungry dog, almost drooling.
Roy smirked. "Yep, sorry kid but I gotta go. I got a flight in about half an hour."
"See ya later Roy." Ranma waved as Roy walked out of the room. About half an hour later, Commander Hayes walked in. "Hey, Saotome!"
Ranma jolted awake from the small nap he was taking. "What do you want Akane..." He trailed off and blushed slightly. "Erm...sorry. What is it Commander?"
Lisa's expression quirked in a small smile at Ranma's slip. "Ah . I just came to apologize for getting you thrown in here. I know you only said that stuff to get me out of there."
Ranma shrugged. "Don't worry. I'm used to stuff like that by now. About that Akane thing...I'm sorry, I just miss her and you sound a bit like her."(1)
"So, I sound like your girlfriend?" Lisa asked, her small smile turning into a grin. "Should I be worried?"
Ranma blushed more and scratched the back of his head. "Uh...C'mon Commander that's a loaded question and you know it. If I say "no" you'll take it as an insult and if I say "yes" You'll think I'm some sort of perverted jerk."
"Paranoid aren't you?" Lisa asked.
"You're only paranoid if the people aren't out to get you. I ain't paranoid." Ranma responded, deadpan.
Lisa smiled a bit. "You're alright Saotome. I'm still a bit pissed at you for threatening me but thanks for getting me out of there. I was acting kind of stupid back there."
Ranma shrugged. "Everyone acts stupid. I should know best about that kind of stuff."
"Well, I've got to get back up to the bridge. Nice talking to you Saotome." Lisa walked out the door and it slid shut behind her.
HR.
Ranma had finally gotten out of the brig. He had gotten his "White Dragon Takeout." but it had been sent with a guard. Minmei was apparently on another date with Lt. Hunter. Those two were getting pretty close now and Minmei seemed REALLY cheerful all the time. Rick just kept walking around with this dopey smile on his face. Ranma felt like laughing out loud every time he saw it.
As Ranma walked into the White dragon, he saw Minmei working at the counter, Humming happily. "Hey Minmei!" He yelled, as he walked over.
"Hi Ranma, What can I get you?" Minmei responded, cheerfully.
"I'll take my usual." Ranma responded, pulling a couple hundred yen bills out of his pocket and paying Minmei in advance. Grabbing the food when it was ready, he went to a corner table and sat down to eat. Noticing some movement out of the corner of his eye, he glanced around to see a small black Television mounted on the wall. He blinked. 'I wonder what that's about.'
"Welcome back to "Good Morning, Macross!" We just came on the air yesterday and this is our first broadcast of this show. Big news, the sections of the city that the modular transformation destroyed have almost all been rebuilt. Also, the mayor has announced that Macross city is going to have a "Miss Macross" Competition as part of the new Macross Television Network's schedule. It has been scheduled for the end of next week."
For some reason, a cold chill ran down Ranma's back. He dismissed it as a nervous twitch. He had been getting a lot of them since he got to the SDF-1.
HR.
Max Sterling was also watching the "Good Morning, Macross!" show. At the sound of the Miss Macross competition, an idea for a prank entered his head. Now, normally Max wasn't much for pranks but this one was too good. An evil smirk came across Max's face.
HR.
The next day, Ranma was confused by the small snickers and knowing looks being exchanged when he entered the Vermillion Briefing Room. Shrugging them off, he started speaking. "Alright, due to a request Mr. Sterling made to me a week ago, we will be taking the next week's patrols off. He has requested that his Veritech be modified for better performance, and due to his kill scores, I have authorized it. The whole squadron is being pulled off for these enhancements as Captain Gloval liked the idea. We are all to be upgraded to VF-1J aircraft accept for mine which will stay a VF-1R. Any questions?"
The whole squadron whooped and began clapping. A week off, excellent.
Ranma shrugged. "Well then, no questions I guess. Dismissed. Oh, Mr Sterling, would you stay behind?"
Max stayed as the rest of the squadron left. "Yes sir?" He asked, hiding his slight unease.
"Could you tell me what's going on here?" Ranma said, a slight tone of suspicion in his voice.
"What's going on here? What do you mean sir?" max responded, beginning to get nervous.
"I don't know. Everyone seems to be looking at me weirdly and I've been hearing muffled laughter from you guys all morning."
"Nothing's going on sir. I don't know why, I think Ben was telling a few jokes before the briefing, maybe that's it." Max said, lying through his teeth.
Ranma shrugged. "I guess. I hope that's it."
As Ranma walked out of the room, Max let out a sigh of relief.
HR.
Ranma walked along a street in Macross city, trying to find something to do. He'd already gone for a couple hours on the simulators and he didn't feel like practicing Katas at the moment. He stopped as he caught sight of Minmei, Running down the street and waving a paper.
"Hey Ranma! Take a look at this." Minmei said, tossing Ranma the paper.
Ranma read the top line. "Miss Macross Contestants." and then looked down to the first line to see Minmei's picture next to the words, "Lin Minmei, sponsored by the White Dragon Restaurant."
"Congratulations Minmei. I hope you do well." Ranma said, a bright smile on his face.
"Thanks Ranma. I got this GREAT idea for a song and..." She trailed off as she saw Ranma's eye twitch.
Ranma had caught sight of a blur of Red further down the page. His eyes were drawn to it and he saw... A picture of his girl form with "Ranma Saotome, sponsored by Vermillion Squadron" written next to it.
"WHAT!" Ranma yelled, causing the people near him to turn and regard him strangely.
Minmei blinked. "What's wrong Ranma?"
"PLEASE tell me I'm hallucinating this, Minmei." Ranma handed the form to Minmei with his finger next to his girl form's face.
Minmei blinked...and began laughing. "Ranma...Sorry but you weren't hallucinating."
Ranma groaned and slapped his hand to his head. "Someone's gunna die for this. I swear it."
HR.
At a nearby Cafe, Max Sterling sneezed violently, spilling his cup of coffee all over his clean flight suit.
HR.
Ranma stomped into the "Macross Television Network" main office and up to the secretary.
"Hello, Can I speak to the manager please?" He said, in a tightly controlled voice.
The secretary consulted a computer next to her. "Yes, He's not in a meeting or anything, Let me just buzz you in Mr..."
"Saotome." Ranma responded, taking his cue.
The secretary pushed a button on her desk and said, "A Mr. Saotome here to see you sir." A reply seemed to come through the secretary's headset. "Go on in Mr. Saotome."
Ranma walked into the office, still keeping under tight control.
In the office, a short balding man in a business suit sat at a desk. "Hello son, what can I do for you?"
Ranma slammed down the "Miss Macross" paper. "Could you please get me off this list?"
The short man blinked. "You're on the "Miss Macross" list? How did that happen?"
Ranma said, "I think it was a prank by my squadron. You see I'm that pilot with the weird curse and..."
The man's face cleared in understanding. "Ah, you're Captain Saotome. Well, I'm sorry but we can't get you off the list now."
"What!" Ranma yelled.
"Look, I'm sorry but we closed down admissions earlier today. If we took you off the list, we'd have to postpone the event for another week while we find a replacement. Anyway, if this picture of your other form is accurate, you have a good chance of winning."
Ranma's eye twitched and then he remembered how happy Minmei was that she'd gotten into the contest...and all those other girls, too. He sighed. "How do I get myself into this kind of crap?" he muttered.
HR.
Ranma Saotome walked down the street, his battle aura faintly blazing around his body. "I'm gunna kill..." He was cut off by slamming into Commander Lisa Hayes. "Oh...Sorry Commander."
Lisa and Ranma picked themselves up off the ground, Lisa straightening her uniform. "Watch where you're going, Saotome." Noticing the small glowing aura around Ranma, she stepped back and said, "Erm...Saotome, You're glowing."
Ranma blinked and realized that he was still letting off his aura. "Er...Sorry Commander." He said as he cut it off. "I'm just a bit pissed off at the moment."
Lisa blinked at the fading of the glow and said. "What's pissed you off?"
Ranma tossed the piece of paper, which he had been clutching in his left hand, to Lisa. Smoothing it out, she read...And started laughing. "You...You're in the..."
"Oh, yeah! Laugh it up Commander." Ranma said, sarcastically. "Someone in my squadron, if not the whole bunch, thought it'd be funny. The problem is that I CAN'T get out of it."
Lisa shook her head. "Saotome, Does this stuff happen to you a lot?"
Ranma laughed slightly. "You could say that. Hey, to pay you back for knocking you over, Can I buy you a bite at the Dragon?" He asked, unintentionally sounding like he was asking Lisa out.
"Um...Sure. " She responded, surprised.
HR.
Minmei was manning the counters again. Apparently, her skipping down the street was on her way back to the Restaurant. "Hey Ranma. Did you get that thing straightened up?" She asked, as she saw the pigtailed martial artist entering with Commander Hayes.
"No. I seem to be stuck. If I drop out they say they'll have to postpone it for a week...and I really don't want half the women on the ship angry at me." Ranma shuddered at this.
"So you're going to do it?" Minmei asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I've had to do worse before. Anyways, I'm not aiming to win. Actually, I'm looking to be kicked out the first round." Ranma responded. Normally, he was up for any challenge put before him, but this was more a prank gone wrong than anything else.
"So, what? You going to walk on in full dress uniform?" Minmei asked, grinning at the mental image.
"Actually. that ain't a bad idea! Thanks Minmei." Ranma responded, Surprising Minmei. "Anyways, Could I get my usual and a second for Commander Hayes? I accidentally flattened her on the street and promised to buy dinner as an apology."
Minmei nodded. "Sure thing Ranma." She said, as she began to prepare the food. Ranma was one of the White Dragon's best customers.
Lisa sat down at a table and Ranma brought the food over when it was ready. "Sorry for knocking you down back there. I was just kinda mad." He said as he sat down and set the two plates on the table.
"It's alright Saotome. I'd be pissed off too. Of course, I don't really know what it's like, thankfully."
Ranma laughed slightly. "It actually ain't that bad, and the free iced cream is a pretty nice bonus."
Lisa's eyes widened. "You don't?"
Ranma scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Um...he he he... Well, if you've got the opportunity to eat...right?"
Lisa laughed. "Saotome, you're something else alright."
They traded conversation for the next half hour as they dug into they're meal. Ranma got up first. "I gotta go hunt down my squadron and find out which of them signed me up for that contest... I see a temporary assignment to maintenance in their future. after all, we're off for a week and it won't hamper combat performance."
Lisa laughed. "Saotome, you're being a bit cruel aren't you? I mean temp maintenance workers are always assigned to..."
Ranma grinned evilly. "That's the point." Chuckling, He walked off, Missing Lisa's slight sigh and odd look after him.
HR.
"He WHAT!" Max Sterling yelled as he paced his Room.
Ben Dixon, sitting on a chair, responded. "He said he was staying in. Apparently, he couldn't drop out or the thing would be delayed for a week. Why are you so upset? It'll just make it more funny."
"He'll KILL me Ben. I mean all I wanted to do was have him on the list. I assumed he would be able to get out of it and would just think of it as a good joke when he got back. Now he has to go through with it." he began chanting "I'm so dead." under his breath.
Suddenly, a knock came on Max's door.
Max stopped cold in his pacing and started to shake. Getting tired of this display, Ben yanked open the door. "Oh! Captain Saotome."
"Hi Ben. Is max in there? I've gotta talk to him."
"Erm... Yeah, he's in here." Ben said, deciding to sacrifice his friend and not risk lying to a superior officer.
Ranma walked into the room and saw Max shaking. "Ah, so they were telling the truth then? You were the one who put my name on the list?"
Max dumbly nodded.
Ranma chuckled slightly. "You can relax, I'm not gunna kill you..." He waited just long enough for Max to relax and then continued, "Just wound you severely." He loved using that trick. Nabiki had shown it to him just before he had left Nerima.
Max jumped about 2 feet.
Ranma laughed harder. "Sorry Sterling. I ain't gunna touch you. One thing though. If you EVER do something like this again..." He left the sentence unfinished.
"So...you're not angry?" Max asked, hopefully.
"Not really. People set me up for much more humiliating things in the past. Oh, you're assigned to maintenance for the rest of the week. See you later." Ranma walked out of the room, still snickering.
Max slumped. "Dammit. He's confusing..."
Ben just laughed.
HR.
Ranma sat in his room, sorting through his pile of Chinese clothes. "Where the hell is that thing..." He muttered, as he sorted them. Finally finding what he wanted, a longer than normal Chinese shirt, he put it aside. "Now all I need is..." He continued, talking to himself. He resumed rummaging through the pile of cloths. If he was going to have to participate in this "Miss Macross" thing, the least he could do was actually try.
About 5 minutes later, he threw the pile onto the floor in frustration. "I know I brought it." Then he remembered the side pockets of his pack. He hadn't bothered to empty them, as they usually didn't contain much. Getting up, he hauled the pack out of the closet and opened the pockets. He found what he was looking for in the top left section and set it next to the shirt. With some interest, he noticed that the top right pocket was also full. "I don't remember putting anything in there."
Taking out a small brown rapped package, he tore it open. A small piece of paper and a black cassette tape fell out. Picking up the paper, this is what he read.
"Hello Ranma-Kun. I packed this tape to cheer you up while you're not in Nerima. Remember that song Akane sung last month? This tape has her singing it on one side and the other is the instrumental. Play it when you get homesick. I've also written the lyrics on the other side of this card incase you want to try it in your girl form. Everyone's going to miss you. From Kasumi."
Ranma flipped over the card to see the Lyrics for the song. Remembering back to when Akane had sung it as part of the school talent show, he smiled. Then his smile got bigger as he realized what he was going to do for the talent section of the contest. "It's not as sappy as that thing I had to sing last Christmas." Ranma muttered as he pocketed the tape.
HR.
The next week passed quickly as the crew of the Macross eagerly awaited the Miss Macross Pageant and the relief from the boredom of everyday life that it provided. The information that Ranma was participating in the contest hadn't seemed to spread very far, or really bother the people it spread to, and Ranma was glad of that. He didn't want to have to deal with the ribbing he was going to get after the contest, let alone the ribbing he was expecting before it.
The mayor of Macross had commissioned a large hall to be built to seat about half of the population of Macross City. All of the rest would have to watch from home.
Roy Fokker's skull flight was slated for patrol duty during the pageant and Roy was complaining about this to anyone who would listen. Finally, getting tired of his griping, Captain Gloval had ordered Sammy Porter to route the Television signal through the main transmitter and out to the flight.
HR.
Ranma sat, tapping her foot against a wall, waiting for the hall to open. She was dressed in her normal pilot's off duty uniform and had a large black sports bag over her shoulder. "Man, this is boring ain't it?" She muttered to no one in particular.
Minmei, nearby, spoke up, "Aw, c'mon Ranma. This is exciting. We'll be on stage in front of the whole city in a little while...actually, I'm kinda scared."
Sammy Porter agreed. "How can you be so calm, Saotome? I mean you're the one who should be most nervous about this."
"Feh, You haven't heard much about my life have you. I engaged in an eating contest in front of 40 rich people and if I lost, I'd have to marry a guy. This is cake." Ranma said, tossing the strap of the sports bag up in the air.
"...You're kidding me right? An eating contest?" porter asked, incredulously.
Ranma didn't get a chance to respond, as a short balding man, who Ranma recognized as the manager of the Macross Television Network, walked out of the front doors of the hall. "Would all contestants please proceed to the back stage dressing area, please?"
Ranma walked in with the rest of the women to the backstage area. Grabbing a black piece of cloth out of her bag, she tied it around her head, covering her eyes.
"Ranma...why are you doing that?" Minmei asked, confused.
"Keeps me from being pummeled." Ranma responded, shortly.
The few women in the room who knew Ranma started laughing as they undressed and put on the clothes they would be wearing during the pageant, while the ones that didn't just looked confused.
"Ranma, you can take that off now." Minmei said a few minutes later, trying to repress laughter.
Ranma gratefully took the cloth off of her eyes and opened the sports bag again, taking her dress uniform out of it. she rapidly changed and pinned her single service medal to her left breast pocket. Putting her cap on and straightening it, she looked in a mirror and nodded. "Looking good." she said, smirking.
Minmei and all of the others in the room blinked as they saw Ranma, dressed in a military uniform. All the rest of them, including Sammy, were wearing some sort of fancy dress. "Um Ranma?" Minmei asked, tentatively. "Why are you dressed in your dress uniform?"
"Well, they said fancy dress for the first presentation and this is the best suit I got." Ranma said, shrugging.
Minmei just decided not to comment.
HR.
The Hall was completely full by the time everyone was ready. The noise of the crowd was deafening. The manager of the Macross Television Network walked out onto the stage. "Hello, I'm Jerry Furbish and I'd like to welcome you to the first Miss Macross pageant. Today, we have many lovely young ladies, eager to show what they can do. First up, please give a big round of applause for Jan Arden. She's a famous movie actor from the United States who now hosts our "Good Morning, Macross!" news show."
A woman with long black hair, wearing a backless red dress, walked out of the back stage area and turned around slowly before walking back in.
Furbish continued to introduce the contestants. Ranma didn't recognize anyone accept for Minmei and Sammy. Well, she had seen most of the others in passing but didn't know them. Finally, Ranma's own turn came.
"Now, here's one of our stranger entries, Captain Ranma Saotome of Vermillion Squadron. Her squadron apparently pulled a prank on her and signed her up. Well, no matter why she's here, give her a round of applause." Furbish said, cuing Ranma to walk out onto the stage.
Half of the crowd, aware of Ranma's curse, laughed at the sight of her in full dress uniform walking down the stage. The other half, who either missed the rumor or didn't much care about rumors, just looked confused and wondered if they'd missed the joke. Ranma just smiled and waved, finding the reactions of the audience almost as funny as they did her.
Backstage, Minmei nudged Sammy. "What a ham."
Sammy just laughed.
Once all of the women had been introduced, Furbish asked the audience to cast votes to eliminate people. To Ranma's surprise, she wasn't eliminated in the first round. She had thought that wearing her dress uniform instead of a dress or skirt would get her knocked out fast but apparently she was wrong.
"Next up is the evening wear competition. Each of the remaining women will walk out in a dress and you will vote on who looks best. The people with the fewest votes will be eliminated." Furbish explained the rules.
Ranma pulled the long Chinese shirt out of the black gym bag and exchanged her dress uniform for it and a pair of boxers. The shorts were hidden under the hem of the shirt. Unfortunately for Ranma, what she thought was a "Long Chinese shirt" actually was a rather attractive Chinese mini dress. Akane had bought it for him as a prank. To Akane's annoyance, Ranma had just said, "Thanks. So you can be cute." and put the dress on, assuming it was just a long shirt and tucking it into his waist band. Without the waist band of a pair of kung fu pants to restrain it, the dress had fallen correctly along all of Ranma's female curves and made her look...well. Sexy.
As she waited her turn to go out onto the stage again, Ranma noticed Minmei and Sammy giving her odd looks, along with several of the other women that she didn't know. "Hey, Sammy, what's wrong?" Ranma asked, deciding to be blunt.
"Um, Ranma? Where did you get that dress?" Sammy asked, with a mixture of envy and confusion.
"Um...It's one of my Chinese shirts. It's kinda long so I decided to wear it. Figured it'd get me outta here by round two."
Sammy started snickering. "Sorry Ranma, if that's your strategy for getting voted out, it definitely won't work."
Ranma just blinked in confusion but was interrupted before she could ask Sammy what she meant by the call of "Ranma Saotome." coming from the stage.
"Sorry Sammy. Gotta go." Ranma said, as she walked for the stage entrance.
HR.
Max Sterling and the rest of Vermillion squadron sat in the front row of the Hall, waiting for Ranma to come out. "Well, from what I saw in the first round, she definitely isn't taking this seriously." He laughed as he remembered Ranma walking out in a dress uniform instead of a dress.
Ben shrugged. "She's actually a guy remember? She's only doing this because she has to."
Max shrugged and agreed. The three men in wing two just remained silent.
Suddenly, Ranma's name was called and she walked out. Max's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "Damn..." he whistled.
Ben's expression was glazed. The only other person that had looked that good so far was Minmei. "I guess she is taking it seriously..."
Wing two's pilots started whistling and hooting. Max and Ben dove for cover before Ranma could trace the sound back to them and made rapid shushing motions. "Shut up, you guys want extra flight duty for a week or something?" Max hissed, quietly. He still had some rather unpleasant memories of his just completed week in maintanence, and he was pretty sure that he'd never be clean again. The members of flight two immediately quieted down.
HR.
Roy Fokker cursed his bad luck at getting patrol duty today. From the sounds he was hearing from his radio, that was a really interesting pageant. The last few minutes had confused him though. Sure, he had expected the burst of cheering at Minmei. She was very cute, but why the hell was there almost as much cheering at Ranma's entrance. What the heck was going on? "Hey Rick. What do you think is goin on over there?" Roy asked, into his radio.
"I guess Ranma impressed 'em sir." Rick answered.
"Man, I'll never figure that kid out..."
HR.
Ranma sat just off stage, blinking in confusion. "What was THAT about?" She muttered as she heard the end of her cheering section.
Minmei walked up to her and said, "Ranma. Look in a mirror."
Ranma shrugged, got up and stepped over to the nearest mirror. Looking in, she noted the details. "Chinese shirt, Legs and arms exposed. Hair in normal pigtail...what's..." She trailed off as she realized that the shirt was actually looking a lot like a really small dress...and a pretty nice looking one, too. "Brilliant Saotome. Try and get yourself kicked out of a pageant by looking good." Ranma muttered as she surveyed herself again.
Minmei giggled behind her.
HR.
This was the third to last round, the swimsuit competition. Ranma was SURE that what she had this time would get her voted off. She looked in the mirror and nodded. The tight, body hugging red one piece was actually quite attractive. The thing she felt sure would get her out of this was the large, bold, black word printed across the front, right above the breasts. "BOY."
When Minmei saw it, she almost fell over laughing. She was wearing a modest two piece. Sammy had the same reaction as Minmei.
"Yep, this'll work." Ranma said, taking her position for when she was called out.
About 5 minutes later, she was called out. Ranma walked slowly across the stage, turning half way toward the audience to reveal the front of the suit. Suddenly, a ripple of laughter went from front to back as people who couldn't see were told about the suit by people who could. She smiled, waved and turned back to the stage exit.
"Now we will vote again, same procedure as the last two times." Furbish said. The room went silent as everyone cast they're votes. To Ranma's aggravation, she was still on the board and seemed to be catching up to Minmei and Jan Arden. Sammy was voted off, probably because of her very modest one piece.
"Next up is the talent contest. We will have one act from each woman." Furbish said, as he walked to the side of the stage. "First up is Lin Minmei with a song that she wrote herself."
Ranma clapped Minmei on the back. "Good luck out there Minmei."
Minmei smiled back and walked onto the stage. The lights dimmed and she began to sing. It was one of the most beautiful things Ranma had ever heard. The song was sung perfectly with no breaks or missed notes. When Minmei finished, the entire hall burst into applause. She grinned and walked back off of the stage.
"Minmei, THAT was incredible!" Ranma said, true wonder in her voice. "When did you write that?"
Minmei shrugged.
HR.
Roy Fokker whistled. "Man Hunter, that girlfriend of yours has a great set of pipes."
Roy could almost HEAR the grin in Rick's response. "Yeah, she does. Not to mention a great set of legs." Roy started laughing.
HR.
Ranma walked out to the middle of the stage, taking the microphone in one hand. "Hi, I'm singing a song that I first heard a friend of mine singing in a school talent contest a few months ago. I don't think I can do it justice but here goes."
Ranma began to sing. She wasn't as good as Minmei but she was nothing to sneeze at. She only missed one or two notes and the timing was perfect. When she finished, the crowd burst into a round of applause almost as big as the one for Minmei.
As Ranma looked at the results for the voting after the Talent contest, She began to get worried. She was right behind Minmei and she had left Jan Arden in the dust. Said Actress was sitting in the corner of the back stage area, glaring at everyone. Ranma just shrugged and ignored her.
There were only 5 people left in the running now and Ranma was one of them. This wasn't looking good.
Ranma sat on the chair, in front of four people that were going to ask her questions. She had heard what they'd asked the others and hoped she wouldn't have to answer some of them... Some of them had made her grind her teeth or shake violently.
"Alright, Miss Saotome." One of the people sitting in front of her said, "What do you think about Education."
Ranma blinked. "Like school?" The man nodded. "Well, it's supposed to be important but I usually slept through it and still managed to keep my grades above a fail." Ranma said, being far too blunt.
The crowd clapped and laughed. The man's eye twitched visibly.
"What do you think about being the first female RDF pilot?" Another person asked.
"First Female...what?" Ranma's eyebrows rose. "I'm not a female RDF Pilot. I'm a MALE RDF Pilot who turns into a female RDF pilot. Technically, I'm only the first Female RDF Pilot about 20 percent of the time, and I even try to avoid that."
More audience laughter.
The panel continued to question Ranma for another minute and she kept answering with what she thought was the correct and obvious answer. The audience thought it was a comedy show.
HR.
As Ranma walked off the stage, she saw Minmei snickering behind her hand. "Ranma, that was the funniest thing I've seen since Rick and Roy got into an hour long discussion of weather Gundam Wing or EVA were better and ended up in a thumb war."
Ranma blinked. "A what?"
"Never mind." Minmei said, as she walked out for questioning.
HR.
Ranma sat in a row with the other 4 finalists, waiting for the results of the final vote.
The announcer walked up to the microphone, with an envelope in his hand. "Now for the results of the vote. In fifth Place, Angela Lee." A Blond haired woman at the end of the row looked downcast and walked off the stage. "In fourth place, Andrea Haines." Another woman, on the opposite end of the row walked off the stage. "In third place, Jan Arden." The actress stomped off the stage, not even bothering to get her third place ribbon. "Well...And Now, our winner is..."
TO BE CONTINUED.
End Notes. Normally, I delete all of the notes from the original when I re-post it. The only reason this one's here is because, unlike most of the half-baked justifications and explanations in this series, it still makes some kind of sense.
(1.) Yeah, I know. Lisa's American Voice actor doesn't sound much like Akane but since both Robotech and Ranma were originally in Japanese and Ranma was originally a Manga with no voices, I call it poetic license. Deal with it.
Wow, even the author's notes from back then are kinda annoying... *Shrugs*