Please take into consideration that this used to be one huge fic and it was
broken into parts. If you wish to find this story in its entirety, you can find
on my webpage http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~jeffwong/index.html
Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong
Bubblegum Crisis/Ranma 1/2: Just won't die 1 part 5
Ryoga looked up at the front entrance and couldn't help but chuckle.
The glass front doors were shattered and the glass was everywhere. There
were also hundreds of bullet holes sprayed along the concrete and steel
walls. There was definitely some excessive damage.
"Ya think Ranma did this?" Linna's said, the exterior speakers allowing Ryoga
to hear what she was saying. Otherwise, she would had just spoke into her
communicator, "Do you think he threw off those blasts of his?"
Ryoga shook his head, "No. He'd do much more damage. Also, there'd be one big
hole, not hundreds of little ones" He looked up toward the top of the looming
tower, his neck almost hurting from being bent back at such an angle, "Man, it's
going to take quite a long time to get to the top, are you sure all of you are
up to it. I mean, this isn't really your fight."
"Let's just say we've been waiting a long long time for this." Sylia's voice
could be heard, "We've been meaning to find something about Genom that is dirty
enough to put it under once it's revealed. Let's hope Ranma found something
worthwhile."
Ryoga nodded "Okay, let's go."
"'Bout time you showed up, Ryoga!" Ranma's voice echoed from high above. He
was looking out one of the windows, half his entire body practically out. He
also noticed Ryoga's backup and couldn't help but add a snide comment, "What's
up, Ryoga? You needed their help to find your way here."
"You take that back!!!" Ryoga spat, running backward so he wouldn't have to
look up at such an extreme angle. He shook his fist toward Ranma, who was many
stories above "You may be twenty or so stories above, but I can still jump that
high. And you'll be sorry!"
"Whatever you say. I know you can't jump this high." Ranma said, "Anyway,
Ryoga, try and get up here as soon as possible, there's somethin' here that's
really going to surprise you. You won't believe what you're going to see. Just
take the elevator to the nineteenth floor. I'll meetcha there."
"What's there that's so important?" Sylia spoke.
"Hey, waitaminute!" Ranma said, realizing something, "Can't you girls just use
your boosters to get him up here?"
"I guess we could." Sylia said. She turned toward Ryoga, "Well, you want us to
use our boosters to carry up there?"
"Shit!!!" Ranma's voice could be heard as his head disappeared back into the
window. Moments later, hundreds of bullets shot forth from the window, spraying
the adjacent building. Ryoga and the girls realized that the boomers must had
located him in the room and had opened fire on him, shelling him with everything
they got.
Ryoga and the girls ran through the front entrance, out from under the
falling debris. They gazed backwards as the debris continued to rain down
on the front entrance for several long moments before it finally
stopped.
"Well, I guess it's best we head up the long way." Linna said, heading toward
the elevator. She immediately realized the elevator was down since the doors
opened yet there were no elevator. The steel rope holding the elevator must had
broken and the elevator must be smashed up several sub levels below.
"Oh no, does that mean we have to take the stairs?" Nene said. She
didn't like the thought of running up twenty flights of stairs in a
hardsuit, "There's gotta be an easier way."
"Nope." Linna said, heading toward the stairway, "Quit bein' so lazy, Nene.
You need the workout anyway."
She was too busy laughing at Nene to see the boomer standing behind the door
she opened. When she turned to head back up, she managed to catch a quick
glimpse of the boomer's red metallic hand as it closed down on her helmet. Soon,
the other hand came down on her helmet, squeezing.
Linna didn't even need to shout before she was saved.
Ryoga made it to Linna's side before any of the other girls had reacted. He
reacted up and took hold of the boomer's arms by the wrists and squeezed, the
hands falling off like it had just been severed from the forearms. Once Linna
was out of harms' way, Ryoga headbutted the boomer, caving its metallic head all
the way in.
The boomer twitched a few times before falling to the ground.
"Let's go." he said, beginning his ascent.
Linna couldn't help but comment on how much that looked like it would
had hurt Ryoga.
"Man, that's gotta hurt"
"That's because he's got a hard head." Ranma said with a chuckle after hearing
Linna mention what Ryoga had done to a boomer several minutes ago downstairs. He
and the others were somewhere on the fifteenth floor. Ranma had came down the
stairs to meet them halfway, but after they met each other and proceeded toward
the twentieth floor, bullets started raining down on them, causing them to jump
out of the stairwell to safety. They had waited several minutes for the boomers
to come after them, but they seemed to be playing it smart and waiting instead.
"Shut up, Ranma!" Ryoga said.
"Are you friends or enemies?" Linna couldn't help but ask. She had to know.
They seemed to help each other out yet they wanted to kill each other.
"Enemies." Ranma and Ryoga said in unison. Ryoga was about to add a few more
words when he noticed the confused looks, "It's kind of a long story, we're more
like arch rivals. We just don't like each other that much. We're only working
together because we have a similar goal, to topple Genom. But after that, we'll
become enemies again."
"Jeez, when do these things stop coming!" Ryoga added, "We must've blown up
hundreds of these boomers yet they keep coming."
Several boomers had emerged around a corner to block the path straight ahead
of them in the hallway, "And what's worse is that we can't use our special
techniques because it'll be too strong and it'll cause debris to fall down on
the city below."
Ranma shook his head, casually stepping into one of the rooms as bullets
zipped by. He spoke to Ryoga, who had stepped through the adjacent door.
"Hey, what're ya complainin' about. That's the fun part."
Akane opened her eyes and slowly took in her surroundings, recognizing nothing
familiar about the plain looking ceiling. She sat upright. This doesn't look
like my house, she thought. The last thing she remembered was sitting in the
livingroom watching television with the Ranma, her family, and P-chan before she
saw some bright light. Where was she now? She noticed she was wearing the same
clothes from before.
She looked down and noticed many wires attached to her body.
"What the-" she said, looking down at her wire linked arms. She then looked
around the room again and noticed she was surrounded by these large computers,
the screens seemingly monitoring her vital signs. But that didn't matter. Her
eyes rested on a young woman in a white labcoat
and a nametag that said 'Lisa Kurinagi'.
"How're you feeling." the young woman said, her eyes almost glimmering with
happiness.
"Fine." Akane replied, "Where am I?"
The woman looked a bit nervous but answered, "You're not really going to
believe this, but this is the future. You died over thirty years ago. You've
been brought to life."
Akane looked at the woman like she was crazy and said, "I don't believe you. I
must had been kidnapped or something. That always happens."
Lisa hugged Akane, "This is great! I can't believe the project is a success!"
"What are you talking about?" Akane said, "And why are you hugging me? What's
this 'project'? What's goin' on here?"
At that moment, Ranma and Ryoga and the others entered the room.
"Oh my god!" Ryoga's voice echoed in the room, "Akane? I-Is that really
you?"
"Yeah." Akane said, "It's me. What's going on here?" She looked at him
more carefully, "How come you look...older? You too, Ranma." She then peered
over their shoulders toward the four female looking robots, "And what are those
behind you?"
Ranma walked up to Akane, about to cry, "Look, you're never gonna believe
this. I just hope you're not going to be angry. This is gonna be one long story.
We'll explain all of this later."
"Explain later?" Akane said, hopping of the table. Upon her feet touching the
floor, she noticed her joints feel a bit tight. Nothing a little stretching
won't fix. She looked at Ranma and then Ryoga, her arms across her chest, "I
want an explanation now."
Ranma turned toward Lisa, "Hm, maybe this is a little TOO Akane. Maybe you
shoulda left out all downloading those uncute tomboy habits she had."
"Baka!!!" Akane said, slamming her fist into Ranma's face. She was absolutely
shocked to see Ranma getting thrown back with such force that when he slammed
against the wall, the wall collapsed. She didn't care how old Ranma looked her
elder. She would still hit him.
Ranma got up from the debris, unscathed and laughing.
"Yep, that's Akane all right."
Ranma and the rest of the group were all assembled around Linna's
apartment. They had all left Genom Tower shortly after Akane awoke.
Ranma and Ryoga had decided to abandon the plan to find one of Genom's
dirty secrets for later. And since they left, the Knight Sabers had to
go along, since they would become overwhelmed within moments without
Ranma and Ryoga's assistance. Besides, they were interested in who or
what this Akane Tendo was.
"You're not gonna really believe any of this, but I'll try and do my best to
explain." Ranma began, "First off, this isn't the 1990s, it's the 2020s. That's
why Ryoga and I look a bit older, even though not much. You see, you died over
thirty years ago."
"What?" Akane said "I'm dead?"
"Lettme explain." Ranma said, "Over thirty years ago, we were all in the
livingroom enjoying a quiet day when all of a sudden you saw a white light. Do
you remember that?" When Akane nodded he continued, "Well, that bright light you
saw, was everyone getting killed. You see, there's these things called boomers.
They're like robots, but for conventional purposes. Well, the company that makes
them, Genom, also made combat boomers for military use and they just so happened
to let one of their boomer supposedly go rouge in the middle of Nerima, killing
almost everyone. They went rouge so Genom could test them out. It just so
happens you and everyone else were caught in their massacre. Ryoga and I
were the only ones that survived from the 'Nerima Massacre'."
"What about everyone else?" Akane had to ask. She was starting to grasp what
Ranma was getting at, but there were still some things she didn't believe, still
didn't want to believe, "What about Nabiki, Kasumi, Dad, your Dad? And what
about everyone else?"
Ranma didn't have the heart to look at her, "I'm sorry. They all died."
Akane started crying, "That can't be. They were fine just several hours ago."
The four girls couldn't help but feel very sympathetic, especially Priss and
Sylia.
"Akane." Ranma said, "It's been over thirty years since that had happened. You
still think it happed a few hours ago because you never experienced the passing
of thirty years because you had died. You were brought back to life. It seems
Genom, the same people who got everyone killed, also brought you back to life,
to kill me. Thankfully, I managed to stop it in time."
"Kill you?" Akane said, "W-what kinda world is this?! How'd they bring
me back?"
"Lisa, she told me she extracted your DNA from your remaining bones and
decoded all that info into a computer and downloaded it. That's why it feels
like everything happened just hours ago." Ranma said in one breath, taking
another to continue, "But for this to have happened, they needed a body, and
what they used was a boomer's body"
"A boomer?"
"Yes, you're a boomer. You're part machine." Nene butted in. This was her area
of expertise, machines and computer, "You may have a human conscious, but you're
actually a machine with human conscious. There are some good sides to being a
machine. First of all, all your senses have been heightened and even your
physical powers."
Sylia found her way into the conversation, "I'm pretty sure you're going to
start asking question on if you're human, and believe me, you are. As long as
your conscious is human, you're human. And don't forget that."
Akane found those words soothing. As soon as she heard that she was a machine,
she started wondering about her humanity "T-thanks. I won't."
She turned back toward Ranma and then Ryoga, "Now what are your stories?"
"Well, nothing much happened." Ranma said, "Almost immediately after you died,
Ryoga and I each went on separate training trips, to train and clear our minds.
And now, thirty years later, we've come back. Nothing else had happened on my
behalf. As for Ryoga, I don't know. He probably been out partyin' and hanging
out with girls."
"Ranma!!!" Ryoga said, "I did not do any of those things. All I did was
train."
"What happened to Nerima?" Akane asked "Do we still have a home?"
Ranma's voice was calm, "Nerima burned to the ground. As of right now,
all three of us have nowhere to really go."
"Well, if it'll make you happy, you're welcome to stay at my place." Linna
offered. Her heart went out to poor Akane. Such a sweet girl shouldn't have to
stay out on a cold night like this. Linna already knew that Sylia and Nene and
Priss would be staying the night if Akane said yes. They were probably as
curious about her as Linna.
"T-thank you." Akane said, "B-but I'll go with Ranma and Ryoga. I mean, I
don't even know you."
"You two can stay here tonight also." Linna said.
Ranma and Ryoga looked at each other for a moment. They both swallowed
their pride and accepted and said in unison.
"Thanks."
It was around dawn when Ryoga caught sight of Ranma about to leave Linna's
apartment. Ranma and Ryoga both had little sleep, the girls having stayed up
most of the night chatting with Akane and about how it felt to be in that body
and such. Their chatter constantly kept them up since they had to sleep in the
livingroom and there was no place to talk except there. But now, they were all
soundly asleep. Priss had stayed behind, Sylia and Nene having gone home. Sylia
most likely had something to do, most like doing a background check on Akane,
while Nene had to work tomorrow.
"Where're you goin'?" Ryoga said.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Dunno. Anywhere. I can't sleep. I'm goin' to
the roof."
Ryoga also shrugged his shoulder before attempting to try and get what little
sleep he could.
Ranma opened on of the windows and hopped out onto the fire escape. He then
took a leap into the air, landing on the apartment building's roof. There, he
was able to be alone to have some time alone.
He laid down on his back and brought one of his hands toward the sky, and then
whispered, "Mouko Takabisha."
A ki-blast shot from his hands, disappearing beyond the clouds.
Ranma shook his head, "What have I become?" When he was young, he
needed to concentrate all his energy to create such a huge blast. But
now, even his weakest ki-blast was stronger than his strongest ki-blast
from when he was young. The thought of how much power disturbed him. Why
couldn't he be just a normal person? Perhaps if he had, he might had
died alone with Akane.
"No, I can't think like that." he said softly, "If I died, I wouldn't be able
to avenge her death." But now that she was no longer dead, what was Ranma to do?
Should he still go after Genom? He knew he had to, to get some money to pay off
all that damage he had done, but that would be it. Right?
He held his hand up again and whispered, "Mouko Takabisha."
But this time, the ki-blast didn't fire off into the sky. It formed around his
fingertips, hovering in the air. He had willed it to remain where it was. As he
gazed at the ball of energy, he couldn't help but wonder how he had managed to
control something like this.
The door to the rooftop opened, startling Ranma, causing him to lose his
concentration, the ki-blast firing off into the sky. Ranma sat upright and
looked over his shoulder to see who it was.
It was Akane.
"Is it all right if I sit with you?" she asked.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "I guess so."
Akane sat down and several silent moments passed before someone spoke.
"Akane, I've missed you a lot." he said out of nowhere, taking Akane by
surprise, "Don't act so surprised. When I was young, I wouldn't had said that if
my life depended on it, but I guess people change over the years."
He looked at Akane for a moment, "Well, not everyone. You've remained the same
after all these years, but then again, there's a good reason to it."
"Um, I'm pretty sure I would have missed you, too, Ranma."
Ranma waited a moment before answering, "You and I don't belong here. I mean,
this isn't the world I grew up in, even though it's the same one. I missed those
first few years together. I just wish I can go far away from here, but there's
nowhere to go."
In the far off distance, thunder could be heard.
Akane looked toward Ranma and noticed he didn't even bother to move.
"Yes, I found the nanichuan." Ranma said, reading Akane's mind, "But I never
jumped in. I didn't want to."
"How come?"
"It's hard to explain." he began slowly, "You know how it is. Imagine day in
an day out you spar with you father, but you always lose. But then, one day, you
finally win. Fair and square. You get this empty feeling, even though you
finally accomplished something. Well, I don't want that feeling. My life's been
empty enough...without you."
Akane was silent. Ranma had indeed changed. But for the better. Even though he
still acted like a teasing jerk sometimes, at least he was more honest with
himself and also Akane.
Ranma got up and proceeded toward the rooftop entrance door, "I don't wanna
really get wet, none of the others know about my curse, and I don't want any
complications."
He held the door open for Akane. As she passed, he smiled a bit.
He always missed that dress she wore.
Ranma and Akane walked down the streets together. Akane had asked Ranma to
show her around the new town so she could get used to it since she was going to
be living here from now on. Everyone else were probably still asleep back at
Linna, allowing Ranma to relax a bit easier. Ryoga would probably challenge him
to a fight if he saw him with Akane.
"Excuse me." came a voice from behind them, a female voice, "Can you please
help me?"
Ranma and Akane both turned around. They both regarded the middle aged
woman.
"What seems to be the problem?" Akane said.
The woman pointed toward her car across the street. The car was parallel
parked, boxed in on both sides. She only had about a foot both ways to work her
way out of that spot, "Can one of you dears please help me get out of my parking
space. I need someone to help tell me how much room I've got."
Ranma gazed at the car, "I've got a better idea. I'll get it out for you."
The woman looked at Ranma cautiously. MegaTokyo wasn't that great a
neighborhood. She wasn't going to give him her car keys so he could pull
it out for her. He might take off with her car.
Akane said, "And just how will you do that? You don't even know how to drive."
"And how will you know that?" he said, "It's been over thirty years, and
people do learn new things over that long a period of time."
Akane felt a bit embarrassed. She had already forgot Ranma was somewhere in
his forties. He still looked like the same Ranma she knew, perhaps just a little
bit older, "Well, do you?"
Ranma scratched the back of his head, "Well, no. I mean, I've never got 'round
to gettin' a driver's license and all. I was trainin' in the mountains all these
years." He turned toward the lady, "Don't worry, you don't have to give me your
keys. I'm pretty sure you think I'm gonna take off once I get this car outta
this parking space. This way's a lot easier."
Akane and the middle-aged woman watched in disbelief at Ranma's capabilities.
They stared, mouth gaped, as Ranma casually squeezed in between the space in
front of the car. He then leaned forward and gripped the bumper and lifted, the
entire front of the car leaving the ground by a foot. While holding it, Ranma
sidestepped toward the street. Within moments, he placed the front of the car
back down, and then did the same thing for the back end.
"There ya go." Ranma said rather triumphantly. He always liked the feeling he
got after a job well done.
The lady looked at him for a moment, "T-thank you."
She quickly got into her car and sped off.
Ranma shook his head, "I betcha she thinks I'm some kinda superboomer.
I seem to get mistaken for that a lot."
He turned around, only to see Akane was no longer there.
"Akane?"
Ryoga woke up when he received a kick to the ribs. He slowly opened his eyes,
allowing his vision to clear. When it did, to his disappointment, it was Ranma
"What do you what?"
"Yo, P-chan, wake up. There's trouble." Ranma said, turning back around to
leave apartment. He had come all the way back to Linna's apartment to tell
someone he felt a bit dubious of telling, "Akane's been kidnapped."
That seemed to wake Ryoga up, "What?" So it wasn't a dream. He had dreamt that
Akane had been brought back to life, and that she was alive and well. But now,
she might not be anymore, "How the hell did she get kidnapped? What happened?"
"I dunno." Ranma said, "But I'm pretty sure she was taken back to
Genom Tower. Let's go."
Ryoga quickly got to his feet and followed after Ranma. But at that moment,
Priss stepped out of the guestroom and caught sight of the two just as they were
leaving.
"Where're you two goin'?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She
didn't even bother to conceal the fact that she was wearing only a large sweat
shirt and panties.
"We're goin' back to Genom Tower again." Ranma said, "One minute, Akane was
with me, and the next, she wasn't. It think she's been kidnapped."
Ryoga, overhearing what Ranma had just said, glowed red "What?! You
were with Akane and you let her get kidnapped?! Why I oughta..."
He didn't bother to finish it. He'd take care of Ranma later. Right now,
Akane was the one he was worried about.
"What?" Priss said, immediately waking up, "Kidnapped?"
She felt like she wanted to slap Ranma because he had let he get kidnapped.
Priss had already considered Akane a friend, like how she considered Sylvie a
friend. But this time, she didn't want anything to happen to Akane like it did
to Sylvie.
Without saying a word, she quickly ran to Linna's bedroom and banged on the
door, "Linna, get your ass up. Akane's been kidnapped."
Within moments, the door opened and out emerged Linna, dressed in a rather
skimpy nightgown. Ranma and Ryoga, who stayed to see what was going to happened,
both turned around, wishing both Priss and Linna had a better sense of modesty.
"Well, let's go after her." Linna said, turning around to head back into her
bedroom, "I'll go call Sylia."
Ranma turned around and shook his head, "What? You're coming along?"
"Of course." Priss answered, "What'd ya think we were going to do, sit here
and wait?"
Ranma took in a deep breath, "Well, no. But this has nothing to do with
you. This is our fight, not yours."
Ryoga nodded, albeit a bit nervously.
Priss stepped in front of the apartment entrance, "Don't you go thinkin' of
leavin' us behind. And don't you dare say it's too dangerous."
She regarded Ranma and noticed the muscles in his jaw tighten.
"Look, we want to help." Priss said, "I...we care about Akane, and want to
help, that's all." She didn't bother to tell them how much Akane reminded her of
Sylvie. It still pained her to think of her friend, and on how her death could
had been avoided.
The muscles around Ranma's clenched jaw seemed to relax as he nodded
"Okay, fine."
Akane slowly opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings bit by bit.
It only took a few moments before she realized she was in some kind of
laboratory, lying flat on some weird looking table. And it only took
another moment before she realized she was in the same laboratory she
had first awoken in. The room was empty, void of everything except for
several large computer terminals and screens.
She sat upright, only to find out that she could not. Almost every part of her
body were in restraints.
"What's going on here?!" she yelled to no one in particular. She
struggled against the restraints, trying to break them through brute
strength. Her boomer body was screaming from the over exertion she was
putting it through as it began to shudder from such intense power
output.
Akane stopped for some reason. Something flashed in her subconscious
that her body was well beyond its limit, and that it would soon
malfunction. At that moment, she remembered that she was no longer in a
human body.
"Ranma!" she called out, frightened. She wanted him to rescue her,
like he always did. But she knew she was all alone, where ever she was.
She had to get out.
She struggled to free herself again, the motors and pistons in her arms going
taut against the restraints.
She stopped when she heard someone enter the room from behind her, out
of her view, and said, "Who's there?"
Madigan smiled as she came into Akane's view. She regarded the sexaroid for
several moments. It had came to her as a shock when she found out Ranma had
stolen her right out from under Genom's nose. When she had come back into Genom
Tower after that little incident where those damn boomers tore up the front
entrance, she immediately headed for the room that held the OMS uplink, praying
that Ranma hadn't gotten his hands on it yet.
But when she did arrive, she found no one, and she realized he must had
tricked her, told her that to distract her. When she realized that, it had been
too late. Ranma was gone, along with this sexaroid. But to be on the safe side,
she had taken the OMS uplink to the summit of the tower.
"Who are you?" Akane said.
"Who I am doesn't matter to you. What matters is what you're going to
do for me." Madigan said, smiling, "Because you carry a special homing device,
we finally discovered where Ranma had been hiding out all this time. At first, I
didn't really know why he took you instead of what he mentioned earlier, but
soon I realized that you must be connected to Ranma in some way. And when I did
a thorough background check on you and him, I found out that you two used to
live under the same roof."
There couldn't had been a better timing than now. She had intended to create
Akane to get rid of Ryoga, but now, she could use her to get rid of the both of
them.
"W-what are you goin' to do to me?"
"You'll never know." Madigan said wryly, "I'm not going to disclose that
secret to you. All you will know is that you'll be the one who kills both Ranma
and Ryoga."
She turned around and walked over to a nearby intercom and pressed the button,
"Lisa, get in here."
The door opened and in entered a young girl dressed in a lab coat. Akane
immediately realized it was the same girl she saw when she first woke up. This
girl had was the one who seemed to have made this all possible for her to see
Ranma again.
Lisa looked at Akane meekly, scared that Akane's visage would show some form
of recognition. But luckily, Akane didn't.
She turned to her superior, "What is it Madigan-sama?"
"I want you to input the program." came the reply, "And do it now. Who knows
how much time we've got before he comes back here after her."
Lisa looked around nervously "O-okay."
"What are you going to do with me?!" Akane said, starting to struggle again,
trying her best to free herself, much to no avail.
"She's going to do nothing, Akane." Ranma said, anger in his eyes.
Ranma had made his way to Genom Tower in record time. And the actual process
of making his way through the corridors were a lot easier since he had wiped out
most of the boomers. He overheard the conversation from outside the door. It had
taken him everything he got to stand still and listen. He and Priss, who was in
her hardsuit, had been eavesdropping. Sylia and Linna and Ryoga where nowhere
around, the three of them having gone up higher to find this so called OMS
uplink Ranma kept talking about. It was about time they stopped Genom once and
for all.
But Ranma had finally heard enough.
He walked up to Madigan, who took several steps backwards
"You again!!!" he snapped. He didn't care if she was a woman, he wanted to
slap her. But he managed to hold back. He stared at her for several moments
before turning away and heading toward the computer. With on fluid kick, he
destroyed the computer, "I can't believe you're still trying to kill me. The
more boomers you send after me, the more of 'em you'll lose. How can you live
with yourself, knowing that many innocent people are being killed just so you
could test out those stupid boomers?"
Madigan's throat was dry. What could she say?
Ranma walked over to Lisa, "Who are you?"
He remembered Lisa mentioning to him that she would get in deep trouble if
anyone found out she had helped him. With his back turn toward Madigan, Ranma
was able to give Lisa a quick smile, letting her know he was doing what she had
asked him to.
Lisa said nothing. Naturally, she had to act scared. Actually, she was trying
to keep herself from laughing. She always wanted someone to put Madigan in her
place.
Ranma turned around and faced Madigan again and noticed she was trying to slip
silently out of the room, "Where do you think you're going? You're staying
here."
Madigan made a run for it, but she never made it. Ranma grabbed her by the
back of her shirt
"Why are you doing this?!" Madigan said, realizing that she could feel tears
starting to form around her eyes. She quickly banished them.
"Why?" Ranma said, still holding her, "I guess revenge is the best way to
describe it. Genom killed my family first so now I'm gonna return the favor.
Nothing more, nothing less. If my family and I had been left alone over thirty
years ago, I wouldn't be here. Genom messed with the wrong person, that's all.
It's about time somebody exposed Genom of all their dirty little secrets."
The door opened and in walked Carper. One of Ranma's hands moved in a blur an
Carper was knocked out before he managed to even catch sight of what had hit
him.
Ranma release Madigan as she ran forward and got down next to Carper, "You
asshole!!!" She never really admitted it, but she actually cared for Carper. He
didn't deserve this. All he was trying to do was make her life easier and make
her happier.
"Now you know how it feels." Priss said coldly, silent until now.
Ranma nodded. He didn't want to beat around the bush anymore. The best way to
get the message through to someone like her was to show her, "But he'll live, I
just hit one of his pressure points. He'll be out for a few hours. By then,
we'll be long gone."
"Can someone please release me?" Akane said, exasperated.
Priss walked up to Akane and released the restraints.
Ranma smiled at Akane, "You okay?"
When she nodded, he turned to face Madigan again, "Now, where's that OMS
thing? It wasn't in the room I first saw it in. Where'd you put it?"
"I'll never tell you?" Madigan spat, anger in her voice.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders, which seemed to anger her more, "Sure. You do
know you're in no position to say no. If I were some bad guy, like you are, I
could just do this."
He walked over to where Carper was lying and picked him up.
"W-what are you doing?!" Madigan said, "Let him go!!!"
Ranma walked over to the window, Carper in his arms, "Think of it, I could
throw him out the window right now if I wanted to, and he would most definitely
die. I mean, we're over twenty stories up." He had no intentions of throwing him
out but wanted to make sure he got his point across. To his surprise, Madigan
yielded, "It's on the top floor. It's in the room labeled 'Research
Development'."
Priss stepped forward, "Why should we believe you?"
"Look at her." Ranma said gazing at Priss with soft eyes, "She's scared to
death I'll kill him. Besides, if she's lying, I'll come back for him."
He turned around and left, Priss and Akane following closely behind
him.
"You wouldn't really kill him, would you?" Priss whispered.
"Or course not. I'm not that kinda person."
"Where are you going? That goes back down." Linna voice filtered from her
hardsuit, an exasperated voice. How can someone have such a bad sense of
direction? "We go this way" she pointed the other direction.
Sylia shook her head once, a smile crossing her lips. It was strange
how someone like Ryoga could have such a flaw like this. She wondered if
Ranma had a flaw like him. And what could it be?
"Hey, guys, where are you?" Sylia heard Piss' voice through her
communicator, "We got Akane and we're on our way up."
Ranma voice also entered into Sylia's helmet, "Hey, how's this thing work?
Cool, I jus' speak into it? Okay, hey Sylia, Linna, you there? Well, we found
out that OMS thingie is on the top floor, we'll meetcha there. Let's hope Ryoga
don't get ya lost on the way."
The last comment made Sylia laugh. Ranma didn't seem to have much trouble
bringing a smile to her face.
Ranma and Akane and Priss were all waiting patiently at the top floor
and greeted the rest when they emerged from the stairway.
When Sylia entered the tiny room that had 'Research development'
written on it, she had this foreboding feeling that something wasn't
right. It couldn't be this easy to get the OMS chip, which would signify
the downfall of Genom. This had to be a trap.
"Hey, wouldn't it be funny if this were a trap?" Ranma said, casually kicking
the massive iron door down with an easy front kick. When he kicked that door,
Sylia wondered how much damage her suit would be in if Ranma had kicked her like
that. She shuddered at the thought.
"Is he always like this?" Linna asked Akane softly, the two at the rear of the
group.
"What do you mean?" Akane asked, looking at the armored girl
curiously.
"I mean, even though this could be a trap, he just walks in like he
doesn't have a care in the world." came the reply.
Akane gave Ranma's back a meaningful glance before she said, "No, he's
never been like this before. He's changed. I guess whatever he's been
through could do that to you. He used to be very different"
"Oh? How?"
"Well, um, he used to be a real jerk."
Linna was silent.
At that moment, a huge ball of fire exploded from the door Ranma had
entered. Ryoga, who had been behind Ranma right before Ranma had entered
the room, was blown backwards from the blast, slamming into Sylia and
the rest of the crew.
"Ranma!" Akane called out.
When the smoke cleared up, Ranma, slightly scorched, got to his feet
"Damn, that's rather rude of her, sending us right into a trap. But it
doesn't matter, I got the OMS thingie. I guess it was a safety device.
If the chip was removed from the box, the box would explode in an
attempt to destroy the chip before it leaves the building."
"God, why didn't you use caution, you idiot?!" Akane spat. She had
been worried that Ranma could had gotten hurt.
Ranma was brushing the debris from his shirt when he said sarcastically, "I'm
glad you were worried about me." He rubbed the back of his head from when he hit
Ryoga. He looked behind him and crouched
low where the Sylia, Priss, Linna, and Nene were strewn about. They were all on
the ground, "Are you all right?"
Sylia winced from below her helmet, pain shooting through her. It
wasn't the actual blast that had caused her pain, but from the pain of
being slammed into the wall bodily when Ryoga and Ranma slammed into her
"Y-yeah, I-I'm okay." she lied. She felt incredibly disoriented, and she
knew her other friends were feeling the same.
"Aw, my ribs." Priss said through clenched ribs. Her ribs still hurt
from when she first encountered Ranma, and having him and Ryoga slam
into her didn't help one bit in its healing.
Ranma helped the girls up, "Um, perhaps you should stay out here. We
have no idea what's behind these doors."
"God, my thrusters are damaged." Nene said, getting to her feet,
surveying the damage her suit had taken. Part of her armor now cracked.
Linna looked at the tiny damage display screen within her helmet,
"Mine too." She and Nene had slammed into wall with their backs, where
their boosters were located.
"Ryoga and I'll go inside, jus' wait out here for a short while. We'll
be back in a minute." Ranma said.
He knelt down near were Priss lay keeled over, clutching her ribs, and he
placed a hand on her shoulder, "Are you okay?"
Priss said nothing. Her ribs were killing her. It was extremely
painful.
"You must have broken a rib." he commented, "Here, take off your suit,
I'll stop the pain."
"How?" Sylia asked. From where she stood, she noticed that Ranma
wasn't holding a first aid kit.
Ranma turned toward Sylia and said, "Don't worry about it. Just do as
I tell you."
Priss turned toward Sylia, wondering if she should comply. If she took
off her suit, then her identity would be exposed. Sylia, on the other
hand, didn't care. Her friend was hurt and needed healing and fast.
"Do it." Sylia said "C'mon, help get Priss' suit off."
"But-" Linna began.
"Just do it." Sylia interrupted.
Linna nodded and walked over to Priss, Nene and Sylia following. The
three girls began to gently remove Priss' suit. When Priss was half out
of her suit, Ranma intervened, "Priss, what I'm going to do will hurt at
first, but it'll stop the pain completely, but only for a while."
Priss, through clenched teeth, nodded.
Ranma took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He then placed one of his hands
on her chest, almost looking like he was trying to grope the hapless female.
Priss yelped in pain as Ranma administered some pressure on the broken rib,
causing the girls and Ryoga to look alarmed.
Ranma started to glow as he let his ki enter Priss' body. Priss' eyes
widened as she felt this. It was a feeling she had never felt, like she
was being surrounded in warm water, or something akin to that. As she
breathed, she could feel the pain in her chest slowly starting to
dissipate.
"God." Priss said, realizing she could breath easier, the pain gone,
"What did you just do?"
What she got back was a warm smile and a curt reply, "I used my ki to heal
you. I set your rib back in place, but you're still going to have to get it
treated."
"Ki?" Nene asked, curious. She had never seen something like this before.
Priss had been hurt just a second ago, and now she wasn't. What was going on?
"Don't worry, I'll explain later." came the reply.
Ryoga said, "Um, don't look now, but we got company once again." He
pointed toward the dozen or so boomers a short ways off down the corridor.
Ranma sighed, as he sat down on the ground, "This sucks. Where are all
these things coming from. C'mon, we must have blown up a hundred of
those. Y'know what, where do they make these things? I think it'll be
better to destroy the factory. That way, Genom can't make anymore, ne?"
"Now's not the time to be talking about that, Ranma!" Akane said.
Linna and Sylia caught sight of the oncoming boomers and immediately
started opening fire, spraying them with their rail guns, their bullets having
little or no effect.
Ryoga said, "Oh great, there're more coming down the other way."
He pointed in the opposite direction where another dozen or so boomers where
coming down the corridor. In no time, he and the rest of the group would be
caught in a crossfire. When he caught sight of several missiles flying straight
toward the group, he reacted on instinct and said, "Bakusai Tenketsu!!!" as he
struck his index finger into the ground.
The entire group fell down one level, covered in debris.
Ranma, who was holding Priss in his arms since she was out of her suit, said,
"Jeez, a little warning would have helped, Ryoga."
He looked upward through the hold Ryoga had created and saw several missiles
fly by "Ooh, those woulda hurt if they hit us" He looked toward Priss, who was
clinging to him, "You okay?"
Priss nodded.
"C'mon, everybody, let's get outta here, we got what we came for."
Ranma said, placing Priss on her feet and proceeding toward a nearby window. The
best way to get out of the Genom Tower was out through the window and straight
down to the ground below. Everyone started running down the corridor.
"The suit! Where's my suit? Oh no, it's still on the level above."
Priss said.
"We have to destroy it before anyone finds it." Sylia said, panic in
her voice. She didn't want Genom to find out the technology the Knight
Sabers possessed.
"Destroy it?" Ryoga said, "Are you sure you want us to destroy it?"
"Yes!!!" Sylia said.
"Okay." Ryoga said. He raised an arm toward where the suit would most
likely be the level above, "Shi Shi Hakodan!!!"
He sent a ki-blast rocketing from his fingertips and toward the hole in the
ceiling.
"No!!!" Ranma said, "The corridor's too small!!"
Ryoga's ki-blast struck the ceiling. Ryoga's eyes widened as he realized what
Ranma meant. His ki-blast exploded within the corridor, and since there was no
where for the explosion to go, it started expanding down the corridor in every
direction, even toward the group.
"Oh shit!!!" Priss shouted, her heart racing, her life flashing before
her eyes as a huge wall of flames came flooding through the corridor
toward them like a deluge of water through a large pipe, melting the
walls and doors in its path.
Ranma turned toward Ryoga and started arguing, "You idiot!!! How
stupid can you be?! Throwing a ki-blast like that!! What's wrong with
you, pig boy!!!"
"You shut up!!!" Ryoga shouted, turning toward Ranma, his back toward the wall
of fire coming toward him, "How dare you say that to me?!"
"Quit arguing!!!!" Priss shouted, "What the fuck are we going to do?!?
We have to get outta here!!!"
Priss' voice seemed to snap Ryoga and Ranma back to reality. Ryoga
turned around and saw the flames eating everything in tits path, heading
straight down the corridor and toward the group.
"C'mon, Ryoga, we'll settle this later. Let's get outta here." Ranma
said.
"Get outta here?! How?" Linna said. The group was trapped at the end
of the corridor. "The only way out was through the window....oh no!!!"
Ranma smirked, "Yep, you guess it!"
He lunged forward and pushed everyone out the window, just as wall of
fire enveloped the area where the group had been a split second ago. The
entire floor they had been on exploded, shrapnel flying everywhere.
Ranma looked upward and caught sight of the flames shooting out from the
window the had jumped. And it didn't even cross his mind that they had
just jumped out of the one of the highest floor of Genom Tower.
The girls shrieked in absolute horror as they rushed toward the ground
at intense speeds. Ryoga seemed to be too busy to worry about the fact
that they would hit the ground at well over a hundred miles per hour in
less than a minute.
"You idiot! Now what?!" Ryoga said, gripping Ranma's shirt collar as
everyone fell. The wind that rushed passed them from the descent was
causing everyone's eyes to pop from the pressure.
"Relax, I got everything under control." Ranma said, almost enjoying
the descent. He we even smiling, "I'll just use my Hiryu Shoten Ha to
cushion the landing."
As everyone fell, Ranma twisted in mid-air so that his head was closer
toward the upcoming ground. He then closed his eyes in concentration.
"Oh my god!!!" Linna managed to say, despite the fact that her heart
was in her throat. She pointed upwards where several boomers seemed to
be also on their descent. It seemed several boomers had jumped out the
window to follow pursuit.
The boomers were angled in a way that would prevent the least wind
resistance, and they were using their built-in boosters to thrust them
down at a faster velocity. They would catch up to Ranma and the group in
a matter of seconds, where they would have a good shot at killing them
off one by one.
The boomers opened fire toward the group as everyone fell, missing them by
inches. It seems the boomers were having trouble getting a lock on them due to
the motion of falling.
"I'll handle them!" Ryoga said, twisting in air so that his entire
front was exposed toward the incoming boomers.
He extended his hands forward and said, "Shi Shi Hakodan!!!"
A massive ki-blast flew from his, hitting one of the boomers. Luckily, the
blast had been so powerful that the explosion consumed the other following
boomers.
Unfortunately, Ryoga hadn't anticipated the thrust one of his ki-
blasts produced. The kickback from the power of his ki-blast sent him
rocketing toward the ground, spinning out of control.
He hit into Ranma just as he was about to release his Hiryu Shoten Ha.
"You idiot!!!" Ranma shouted, "Now look at whatcha did!!!"
"Now is not the time to argue!!!!" Sylia shouted, her life practically
passing before her. The buildings down below were getting larger and
larger as they continued to fall.
"Do something!!!" Nene shrieked, almost bursting into tears. She was
too young to die.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!!!" he shouted as a huge column of wind ripped from
his fist and toward the ground below.
When the column of wind finally hit the ground, it had only two other
places to go, up and outward. As the blast expanded outward and upward,
the upward blast from the whirlwind managed to slow the group's descent
considerably.
Unfortunately, they still hit the ground at a pretty high speed. Even
though no bones were broken, Sylia, Linna, Nene, and Priss had the wind
knocked out of them. Priss got hurt more since she no longer had a
hardsuit to protect her.
Ranma had landed on his feet, Ryoga too. They were the first to notice
the dozen or so boomers already on the descent. It seems those boomer
Ryoga had destroyed weren't the only ones that followed.
"Don't look now, but we have some more incoming boomers." Ranma said, pointing
upward. He would have executed another Hiryu Shoten Ha, but the wind would have
carried everyone back up into the air where they would be slammed into the
falling boomers.
"We gotta get outta here!" Ryoga said. He was about to use another Shi
Shi Hakodan, but the falling debris would most likely get someone hurt.
"Grab 'em." Ranma said, pointing toward the winded girls as he grabbed Linna
and Priss, holding them around their waists. The fact that Linna was still in
her hardsuit, which probably weight close to half a ton, didn't seem to faze
him.
Ryoga did as he was told.
"What do you want me to do?" Akane asked.
"Try and keep up!" Ranma said with a smirk. He turned toward Ryoga and
said, "Let's go!"
Ranma, carrying a winded Priss and Linna, raced down the street.
Ryoga, who was carrying Sylia and Nene, both clad in their hardsuits,
did the same, Akane following suit.
Bullets were sent flying everywhere as boomer after boomer landed,
shooting everything they got toward their targets' general direction.
"You two all right?" Ranma asked, casually jumping high into the air
as bullets rained down at where he had been just a split second before.
"Yeah." Linna managed to say, even though she wasn't. She, like the
rest, had taken the landing too hard. Even though she was still winded,
she held onto Ranma for dear life.
"Goddamnit, how many bullets do they have?!" Ranma said, doing
somersaults to avoid the bullets.
"A lot!" Ryoga commented, following closely behind, also doing his
share of dodging projectiles.
"I'm gonna buy us some time." Ranma said, jumping up onto a wall and
propelling off it for added height. Before Linna or Priss had a chance
to ask what he was doing, Ranma twisted in mid-air so that he would be
facing the incoming boomers, letting go of Linna for a split second to
free his hand and yelled, "Mouko Takabisha!"
A single ki-blast shot from his hand and landed in front of the
following boomers. The explosion had caused the boomers to go into a
defensive mode and take cover.
Ranma chuckled, "This is too easy!"
"Fuck!!!" Madigan shouted, "How on earth could they let them get away,
and with the chip!!!" She felt like she could rip all of her hair out
from the shear frustration of Genom's boomers constantly failing.
She looked over toward where Carper lay still on a couch in the
office. She wished he were awake. He would probably have something good
to tell her to keep her from going over the edge with frustrations.
As she looked toward him, her features relaxed a bit, but not by much.
She was glad he was all right at least.
She walked over to where he lay and wondered how long he would be
unconscious. His breathing was normal, and she remembered Ranma telling
her that he would be all right.
As if on cue, Carper stirred, "Ugh."
"Carper." Madigan said, "Are you all right?"
It took a moment for Carper to realize where he was or who he was talking to,
"I think so. What happened?"
For once, Madigan's countenance didn't get hard like it used to. Her
visage remained calm.
"You were knocked out." she said softly, "But thank goodness you're all
right." She even managed to smile. That was probably going to be the only smile
she would see for a long time. She had lost the OMS. Her life was down the
tubes.
Carper was grateful he could hide the heat that was flooding to his
cheeks. Did she really mean that about him being all right?
"All I remember was when I entered the room was seeing that
superboomer, and then all went black." he said, sitting upright. He
looked around and noticed the chaos surrounding him, "What had happened?"
"You mean Ranma, not superboomer."
Carper nodded a bit, "Yeah, I meant Ranma. Jeez, I totally forgot he's
Human." He brought a hand to his head to shake the cobwebs out.
"They got the chip." Madigan said, "Genom is gone. Once the chip is brought to
public attention, Genom is going to go down the tubes."
"The chip?" Carper asked, "What chip?"
"The OMS chip."
"Oh that? No they don't." he said, his voice calm. There was even a small
smile on his lips.
"And what makes you say that?"
"I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of moving the actual chip to
another location and replacing it with a fake one." he said. He just hoped that
while he was unconscious, no one had found out the location to the real chip.
"You did what?" she said, shock in his voice, "Where did you put it?"
Carper reached into one of his pockets and produced a little black chip, "In
my pocket"
Madigan, in a fit of happiness, bent down and kissed Carper. He had just saved
her career, and perhaps her life. What would she do without him?
But, within moments, she realized what she had done. She didn't become
the woman she was because of her lack of controlling emotions.
She steeled herself and sat upright, pretending the kiss was considered a
thank you kiss, nothing more, nothing less, "Thank you."
Unfortunately, there was no way she could hide that embarrassing blush
that was flooding to her cheeks.
Carper didn't say a word. He just sat there, he eyes wide. But, when he
noticed the blush, he knew he had to do something. So, naturally, he did what he
had wanted to do since he first started working for her.
He got up off the couch and wrapped his arms around her, and then kissed her
back passionately.
C&C welcomed ^_^
-OneShot
Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong
http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~jeffwong/index.html