Hi minna!
It's been a while since I've submitted anything to the list (and those
who would remember me would have a better chance of doing so from the
address Akihiro@webtv.net {no longer valid}). Well, I have since teamed
up (officially) with my fiancee (Vodka) and started a web site for our
fics (if you want to check it out, the URL should be in the sig at the
bottom of this mail).
Unlike most other Hair Care projects, I went at this one alone. But
fear not, me & Vodka are still a team.
As for this fic, it was inspired by "Y2K: The Movie," but has nothing
more to do with that show beyond the similarity of the title. With that
said, I'll get on to the fic!
________________________________________
R2K: The Fanfic
By
Akihiro
DISCLAIMER: Ranma 1/2 characters are property of Takahashi Rumiko and
any other group or individual with a legal copyright claim. Y2K: The
Movie is property of NBC (unless I'm mistaken). I claim no ownership to
either.
{...} Indicates character thoughts.
NOTE: As this is set well after the Ranma series ends (early November,
1999 through January 1st, 2000) I have made some changes from what was
in the actual story. For example, Ranma and Akane are now married (as
Takahashi-sama said they one day would be). All other pairings are to
suit what the author thinks.
________________________________________
Saotome Ranma was next to the koi pond in the yard one evening going
through a kata to help him relax. It had been a rather long day, but as
his body flowed naturally through the motions of the kata he felt the
stress and anxiety slowly begin to leave him...
Only to be replaced by a rush of adrenaline as he heard Akane's scream
from inside the house.
"RANMA!!!"
He immediately broke from his exercises and dashed into the house. He
frantically searched the entire Tendou home room by room trying to find
Akane. Just as he was to start thinking of possible kidnappers, he
heard a lound noise in the kitchen. Ranma quickly dashed into the room
expecting the worst. {Well, maybe not the worst,} he thought. {Her
cooking is a lot better than it used to be.} As he entered the room he
was left totally speechless by the sight before him.
Akane seemed to be carrying every jar, pot, tub, and bucket from the
entire household along with anything else that looked like it would hold
liquid. In her left hand she held about half of the containers while
the right held the other half, which were apparently already filled with
water.
Ranma slowly walked toward her and carefully extended a hand to place on
he shoulder. "Akane-chan?" he asked hesitantly as the adrenaline rush
started to ease away.
Akane, who was entirely unprepared for the move, jumped straight into
the air, inadvertantly dropping all she held onto Ranma. "WHAT DO YOU
THINK YOU'RE DOING?!?!?!" she screeched at the redhead before she calmed
a small bit. "You could have given me a heart attack!!!"
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Ranma replied as she pulled
herself from beneath the pile of empty containers. "I thought someone
was trying to kill you or something and I come in here to find you
hogging the water like it's going out of style. You can't possibly be
that thirsty can you?"
"No, baka! It's for Y2K!!!" she responded as though it should be
blatantly obvious.
A look of confusion crossed Ranma's face. "What's a 'Y2K'?"
Akane looked over the martial artist in frustration before showing the
girl to the family room where both sat down. "Y2K is the year
two-thousand. All sorts of problems are going to happen when the new
year hits because everyones' computers aren't able to recognize a four
digit year."
The other girl was still confused. "So, what does that mean?"
"That means that all of the computers of the world will think it the
year nineteen-hundred instead of two-thousand!" she explained as she
started to work into a panic again.
"Well," Ranma replied with a smile. "There is one good thing about
that."
Akane developed an inquisitive look, but remained silent.
"We hadn't been forced into this marriage in nineteen-hundred."
When Ranma woke up and felt the lump on his head, he decided that not
everyone could appreciate good humor. {Well, at least someone changed
me back.} He stood and started looking for Akane to offer an appology.
Back in the kitchen, Akane had just finished filling the last of the
water containers and placed it into a cabinet. She was about to head
for the bedroom to get the shopping money so she could stockpile canned
goods and dried foods when a voice came from behind her interupting her
thoughts.
"That was a joke, you know," Ranma said simply as he leaned against the
door frame.
Akane took a deep breath then slowly exhaled. "I know," she said
without turning. "But we're all in so much trouble even if the world
doesn't end that we just can't make jokes about this."
"Whoa!" he cut her off. "Let's talk about this some more. I'll make a
deal, no more bad jokes if you won't just blindly say that we're all
gonna die like that. How about it?"
"Alright, but I have a condition too. After I explain, you have to help
me prepare.
"If I'm convinced that we're in that much danger, I'll do anything you
say," the pig-tailed martial artist replied.
"Fair enough," she relented. "But even if you aren't convinced, you
can't interfere wth my preparations."
Ranma nodded before leaving for the family room again. They both sat
down as Ranma turned to his wife. "Now why don't you start with how you
got started on this 'high blue A' thing."
"Y2K," she corrected. "And it started while you were outside working
out. I saw this program on the television about Y2K and it got me
thinking aout it."
The young man carefully watched Akane as she started to explain.
"Like I said before, the computers of the world won't recognize a four
digit year and they will all shut down because of that."
"No computer in the world will be working after 12:00 AM January first?"
Ranma asked skeptically. "As far as technology has advanced I find that
hard to believe. Besides, what if the computers do shut down, we don't
have one here. All of the dojo's ledgers are in a paper file in our
room. And what does that have to do with water?"
As Akane prepared to answer, a small figure found its way into the
family room and sat quietly near the pair to listen.
"All of the utilities are run by computers, so we have to stock up on
water, wood to burn for cooking and heating, and we have to have a large
supply of cash on hand since the bank's computers will be out and we
can't write checks."
"But if all computers will go out like you're saying, why bother having
cash on hand?" Ranma asked. "I mean, aren't all of the cash registers
and stores run on computers these days?"
P-chan shot a dirty look at Ranma and wished he could shout {WHAT ARE
YOU DOING, TRYING TO MAKE IT WORSE?!}
Ranma winced as he realized what he had done.
Akane's eyes got bigger as she realized what Ranma meant. "OH MY GOD!!!
YOU'RE RIGHT!!!" she screamed. "We won't be able to buy anything!!!"
{Why did I say that?} Ranma absently wondered as he desperately tried to
calm his wife from her renewed panic. "It'll be okay Akane. It's still
two months away, and even if all of the computers do go out and the
monetary system is destroyed, we'll all probably go back to the barter
system anyways, everyone has something to trade. If we need any goods
or services we can trade martial arts lessons. Besides, I'm used to
roughing it," he added. "Have you forgotten that me and Oyaji were on
the road for ten years with no technology at all? And that was without
two months of preparation before we left, we signed the contract with
Ofukuro, grabbed some clothes and left just like that. I'm sure we'll
get through your Y2K just fine, no matter what it throws at us."
"Even nuclear missiles?" Akane inquired.
The miniature black pig turned to Akane in shock as though to say
{WHAT?!}
"What are you talking about now, Akane?" Ranma asked in even more
confusion than he had started with.
"Do you remember that American movie we saw a while back called
'Wargames'?" she asked. "You know, the one where Ferris Buller almost
started a nuclear war by hacking into a government computer."
"Oh yeah!" Ranma exclaimed. hat was a good show!"
"Well do you remember when Ferris asked why they didn't just turn the
computer off to stop it from launching?" she continued. "The response
was that the computer would think that the base had been wiped out and
would automatically launch the missiles anyway. When the American
government computers shut down, their missiles may launch. And not just
American missiles, but Russian and any other country with nuclear
missiles as well, it may well turn into doomsday for anyone not in a
fall out shelter."
P-chan rose from the floor and darted in the direction he thought would
get him to the bathroom, unnoticed by the other two present.
{I'm scared of fall out too,} thought Ranma. {According to Ofukuro,
Oyaji was about my age when he started loosing his hair.} It took a
supreme will to repress his own laughter to a simple smile which he
quickly followed up with a kiss to Akane's cheek so she would think it
was out of affection. "That was just a movie, they needed an
explanation for why they didn't just turn the damn thing off. It was
only a plot device," he said soothingly. "I promise you we'll be fine."
"Well," Akane replied. "I apparently haven't convinced you of all of
the trouble we're in..."
Ranma shook his head in the negative.
"But I'm gonna be ready!"
***
Ranma awoke the next morning to find himself alone in bed. {Did I
oversleep?} he wondered tiredly. {Akane is always the last one up.}
His concentration was shattered, however as he heard an explosion in the
yard followed by a
shout.
"No, Ryouga," called Akane in exasperation and exhaustion. "If you're
gonna do this for me it has to go deeper."
"Sorry, Akane," replied the martial artist in question sounding almost
out of breath. "I just don't know how deep you need it. I've never
done this before."
Ranma's curiousity was peaked when, after another blast he heard Akane
shout again in a winded voice. "OKAY!!! Okay! No more, that's deep
enough!!!"
The pig-tailed man of the house could not refrain from following the
voies to there source where he found Ryouga and Akane in a large hole in
the yard. Both were covered in sweat and dirt, and Akane was holding a
shovel. "Good thing Tendou-san went to the Alps with Oyaji," Ranma
muttered. "He would die if he knew what was being done to the yard
here."
***
Somewhere deep in the Swiss Alps the repeated echo of a sneeze was
heard. After several minutes of dead silence, an ominous rumbling arose
and grew steadily into a thunderous roar, a roar which was quickly
followed by what seemed to be two shrieks of terror multiplied
one-thousand fold.
***
"You're doing what?" Ranma asked in amazement.
"We're making a fall out shelter for when the nuclear missiles launch,"
Akane said cheerfully.
"Whatever," Ranma replied. "I'll go ahead and teach your classes for
you so you can continue."
"Thanks, Ranma-kun!" Akane said as she gave him a quick peck on the
cheek. "It'll be quite a while before we're done because we still have
to get six one foot thick steel panels to enclose the hole, make a door
on the top panel, attatch a ladder, place five feet of dirt on top of
the shelter, assemble shelves for storing all of the supplies, actually
go buy the supplies, install an air filtration system so we can breath
once we're inside, and get a lot of all kinds of medical equipment. It
might take us a little while."
Ranma's eyes had gotten steadily larger as Akane's list did the same.
"Okay," he finally said. "But you're paying or it all." He then
continued on to the dojo to teach the day's classes.
***
Ranma watched each morning for nearly two months as his wife and his
best friend (though he would never admit it) continued to work on their
Y2K fortress. And as if the paranoia of Akane and Ryouga wasn't enough,
every time they went for supplies they felt it was their duty to warn
all of the other unsuspecting Nerima residents. By mid-December,
Tokyo's Nerima ward was in total Y2K panic mode.
Ukyou had hired extra hands at Ucchans and would be open twenty-four
hours every day until the new year so people could stock up on her
okonomiyaki (or at the very least drop in on New Year's Eve for a fine
last meal).
The Nekohanten had made similar arrangements to remain open having
brought Lin-lin and Ran-ran back along with several other Jokestuzoku to
help out. When Ranma asked wh they didn't just return to their remote
part of China, they informed him that if the nukes did go off they would
not survive as the Chinese government itself had a missile pointed at
the village. "Their ultimate revenge for us not rolling over and
playing dead," Cologne had explained.
The Kunou Mansion had been encased in state of the art anti-Y2K
technology almost overnight and also included a fall out shelter with
working air-locks and radiation suits to take walks outside and avoid
cabin fever.
Nabiki came back to Nerima to withdraw her money from the local bank.
"This is the only financial institution I would even show my money to,"
she had once said. Of course such a large withdraw, word spread and
there was soon a run on the bank.
Principal Kunou even moved his Hawaiian style hut of an office to the
center of the school yard where he had it placed inside a giant steel
pineapple.
Ranma simply continued with every day life as usual until all of his
martial arts students had quit the classes to make their own
preparations. After that happened, he simply worked out each day to
maintain his own level.
***
"Come on, Ranma!!!" Akane shouted. "There's not even an hour left! We
have to get home to the shelter!"
Ranma looked around Ukoyu's 'End of the World Party' for a few moments
before replying, "Surely we can stay a little longer!"
"No, we can't!!!" Akane demaded. "We are leaving... NOW!!!"
"Fine," he muttered. "Dull party anyways, everyone we know already
left."
The Saotomes returned to their home and, along with Ryouga and a few
others, climbed down the ladder into the Y2K fortress.
Ranma sat quietly between the two hospital beds. On his left laid a
slender man in a full body cast with just a touch of black hair visible
(though the black was obviously fading to a grey). To his right, there
was an extremely large creature (also in a full body cast) making
unintelligible sounds.
"I'm sorry, Oyaji," Ranma said. "But you can't change back right now,
you were messed up too bad in that avanlanche. And it was made even
worse when the thaw that let you be found changed you into the panda
form. If you changed again before you heal it might kill you."
"Wise words, son," the mummy to Ranma's left said in Soun's voice. "You
obviously care greatly for your father."
"No," replied the young man. "I don't want him to die because we're all
gonna be down here until Akane sets us free, if I'm stuck here so is he.
Anyway, I'm going to make sure everyone is settled in okay."
As Nodoka approached the group, Ranma got up to patrol the room.
Toufuu-sensei and Kasumi seemed okay, they would watch over the wounded
and keep everyone calm.
Ukyou and Konatsu were setting up a mini okonomiyaki grill. "We don't
need to stay at Ucchan's, we should be with our friends," she had
explained.
Shampoo showed Ryouga to his bunk. "Some need help him," she had said
before she escorted him from the party earlier that night. "He nice
gentleman like Airen."
{Well,} Ranma thought at the memory. {If she has to call me 'Airen'
still, it's nice that she at least acknowledges the existance of other
guys.}
Satisfied that all was well, he found his way the bed that had been set
aside for him and Akane. "I'm going on to bed," he told her as he
flopped onto the matress. "I'm worn out!"
"I know what you mean," Akane replied with a yawn as she joined him on
the bed. "Let's just sleep in the new year and hope it won't be our
last."
Ranma was almost asleep when Akane put her arms around his neck. He
slowly turned toward her and softly whispered in her ear, "I love you,
Saotome Akane."
Akane fell asleep with a brillant smile upon her face.
***
January first at six AM, Ranma awoke to find Akane in a panic.
"I knew it!!!" she shouted. "The entire world has been wiped out!!! We
are the remains of humanity!!!"
{That's a scary thought,} Ranma thought with a chuckle. He quickly
sobered though as he realised what Akane was saying. "How can you be so
sure?"
"The radio," she explained. "There's nothing on the radio. If there
was anything left of the radio station, there would be a message every
hour to inform listeners if it was safe outside or not."
"Well..." Ranma started, but was cut off as a knock came on the hatch
leading to the surface.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" everyone shouted in surprise at the
unexpected sound.
"RADIOACTIVE ZOMBIES!!!" screeched Akane as she passed out from one
shock too many.
"Some welcome," Hiroshi muttered as he stepped off the ladder, shortly
followed by Daisuke, Yuka, and Sayuri. "We come over here to check on
how you all were doing after that party last night. You all seemed
rather weirded out when you left."
"Yeah," added Daisuke. "We started to worry when we couldn't find
anyone in the house, but the Sayuri tripped over one of the hinges up
there."
Sayuri nodded. "Then it took the guys nearly an hour to jimmy the lock
on the outer door."
"While they did that, I went to the hardware store and bought some bolt
cutters," Yuka finished. "That's how we got through the scond door so
fast."
"Wait a minute," Akane asked as she regained consciousness. "You mean
everything is okay?"
"Well," Sayuri said. "Hiroshi drank the last of our coffee, but
otherwise everthing is fine."
"But what about the radio?" Akane insisted.
Yuka looked at Akane as though she were a total fool. "Baka! What kind
of signal do you expect to receive through five feet of dirt and one
foot of solid steel. That's like expecting to find a skylight when
you're buried by an avalanche."
Somewhere in the back of the room two shouts of fear could be heard as a
shared experience was relived.
"Well then," said Ranma as he started toward the new arrivals. "I told
you all of this was rediculous. Let's get out of this hole before we
get claustrophobic."
Ranma and company filed out of the shelter one at a time leaving only
the two in body casts behind. After a few minutes, Ranma returned.
"Sorry Tendou-san, Oyaji," he started. "But when Akane had the beds put
down here before she put the ceiling on, she just knew we'd be here for
a while so she never planned on how to get them out. I'm really sorry
to tell you this, but you're stuck down here until the doctor says you
can climb out on your own." With that said, Ranma turned and left.
________________________________________
This was inspired by the concept of "Y2K: The Movie." I did not watch
the movie and I don't want to. I was frankly disgusted at the fact the
it was made. There is already enough mass histeria and paranoia about
Y2K and they have to go make a movie to add to it all. This started as
an idea for what I thought the movie should have been, called "Y2K: Life
Goes On," but it wasn't going too good so I decided to turn it into a
Ranma fanfic. As soon as I did that it went perfectly smooth (if I
could type faster, I probably would have finished this in two hours or
less). As for the questions of "What about Vodka?" and the like, she
and I are still happily together, I just had this idea and didn't have a
chance to get her colaboration yet. If there is a re-write she'll help
me.
Well, as usual I welcome with open arms any C&Cs, MSTs, donations, and
invitations to large social gatherings (haven't got any of those last
two yet though). But seriously, let me know what you think (and if
someone does MST this please e-mail me a copy directly so I can put it
up here too, as I am no longer on any mailing lists).
Until next time, ja nee!
Akihiro
TendouNabiki@webtv.net
http://community.webtv.net/TendouNabiki/HairCareFanfic