The Sum of All Parts : Yellow
All-Purpose Cultural Mecha Boy Ryu-kun
Phase 0-I
"Meow!"
Natsume Ryunosuke tossed about. Sleep, he thought to himself.
Must... go back to... sleep...
"Meow!"
"Uhnh..." He shut his eyes tighter, as far as the bio-servos would
allow. He'd stayed up all night studying and now it was threatening to
disturb his sleep cycle, and he wasn't sure his dad would enjoy
readjusting his timing.
Then again, maybe he would. His dad was always tinkering with
something on him; his optics, his joints, even - sheesh! - 'Little
Ryu-kun' down there. Was his nutrient suspension fluid pressure okay? Did
the transition process between his normal and 'active' states proceed
smoothly? Ryunosuke was beginning to think all the diagnostics kept him
awake as much as studying did.
"MEEE-YOW!"
"Ah! Ah! All right! I'm getting up!" Ryunosuke shouted, bolting
upright.
He found himself face-to-face with a brown-and-white cat with some
of the hair on its head standing upright, kind of like a cat cowlick. It
had a toothbrush in its mouth.
"Oh, it's just you, Nuku-Nuku," he said, rubbing his eyes. "Is it
morning already?"
"Mee-yow."
"Okay, okay, I get the drift. I still have to make breakfast for Dad
and me." He stood up, grabbed the sheets, hoist them in the air, and
folded them in one swift motion. "C'mon, Nuku-Nuku. Let's go."
Nuku-Nuku leapt up onto Ryunosuke's shoulder as he exited his room
and headed toward the kitchen.
"Dad. Dad. Hey, Dad, it's time for breakfast."
Apparently, noted Ryunosuke, his father had pulled another
all-nighter. Or rather, was in the death throes of an all-nighter that
hadn't realized that the 'night' it was 'all' of had already passed. An
ashtray, filled to the brim with butts and smelling of a combination of
tobacco and burnt filter, was testament to this.
"Dad. Are you going to eat or what?"
"In a minute, Ryu-san. I'm nearly done here." Kyusaku Natsume then
typed in the finishing touches to his 'important' paper and pressed the
return key with a flourish. "Ha ha! Done!" Without looking he put out his
cigarette on Ryunosuke's hand.
"Look, Dad," continued Ryunosuke, "if you don't get moving we'll
both be late for class."
"Yes, yes, this is important. Since this is my last day to teach at
the college and all I thought I'd prepare some documents for my new job at
NERV. Anyway, that's my boy, learning responsibility at such an early
age." Kyusaku patted his thirteen-year-old son on the head.
"Of course I learned responsibility at an early age! Who do you
think had to look after you ever since we left Mom?"
"There, there, Ryu-san, I appreciate your efforts. You know I do.
Why, I feel so proud every time..." Kyusaku looked down. "Uh, Ryu-san,
your hand..."
Ryunosuke looked down at his hand, then back at his dad. "So what?
I'm impervious to heat below two thousand degrees Celsius. And that's just
my outer bio-layer. You should know; you built me that way."
Kyusaku gave his son a stern look that filtered through his long
bangs. "Son. You know better than that. Haven't I always told you that you
should react to stimuli like any normal person would..."
Ryunosuke finished wearily, "...so that I can fit in like any normal
member of society. I know, I know."
"That's good, Ryu-san."
A long moment passed.
"Well, get on with it," Kyusaku urged.
"Do I have to?"
"Absolutely."
"Okay, then. Ouch."
"Not good enough. That's not normal. It needs more feeling."
Ryunosuke sighed. This was starting out to be a long day.
For three blocks in all directions, a scream ripped through the
otherwise peaceful Monday morning air like a low-flying 747 going at Mach
2, breaking several window panes and rattling a few tooth fillings loose
in the process.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"
"Happy, dad?"
"What?"
"I said, are you happy? I did what you asked."
"What? I can't hear you, Ryu-san."
"Never mind."
Ryunosuke pulled his cap backward and gave a look at the full-sized
racer bike that his father had attached a sidecar to and grinned. If there
was one thing he looked forward to every morning, it was this.
"Well, Ryu-san," said Kyusaku with a piece of toast in his mouth and
papers in hand, "you know what to do."
Ryunosuke nodded. "Active Mode."
Ryunosuke shut his eyes as the command raced through his organic
brain out towards the electronic receptors, relaying it to the rest of his
body. Immediately his frame began to grow, his bio-covering compensating
for the extension of his cybernetic endoskeleton. Ryunosuke liked the
feeling; it made him feel like a superhero of sorts, complete with
transformation sequence, only there wasn't any namby-pamby background
music, nor did he need to chant something like 'Mystical Bishonen
Transformation' or something. That and the fact that his
specially-designed clothes obeyed the same activation commands; otherwise,
things would get a little uncomfortable.
He felt his joints lock back into place and he opened his eyes.
"Well, I'm ready, Dad," he said in a significantly lower voice.
Kyusaku looked over his son as if to admire his handiwork. "Damn,
I'm good. You could pass for eighteen. And your clothes look good, too."
"Of course I could pass for eighteen! You built me this way."
Ryu-kun cleared his throat. He could never get used to the abrupt change.
Then again, maybe he didn't want to. It gave him a rush, for some
reason...
"Ha ha, that's right. And your body is built to progress naturally
along the aging process until you hit twenty-one. Plus, you are fully
functional, if you know what I mean, right down to the raging hormones
you're supposed have at that age level."
"Dad! I'm thirteen! I'm not supposed to worry about that sort of
thing yet!"
"Ah, but what if the opportunity arises, especially considering that
you're MY son and you've no doubt inherited my manly good looks, eh? It's
best to be well-prepared, and well-equipped, for the job!"
"DAD!"
Kyusaku grinned. "Well, enough of that." He stepped into the
sidecar and put on (and held onto) his hat. "Let's go!"
"Roger! See you later, Nuku-Nuku!"
"Meow!" Nuku-Nuku called back from the third floor balcony.
"Contact!" Ryu-kun shouted, bringing the bike from zero to sixty in
three seconds.
"Ryu-kun! We do need to get to school in a hurry, but not like
this!"
"Why not, Dad? It's a shorter path, right?"
"Yes, but does it have to be as the crow flies?!"
"...And so, I've decided that I can't go on making war machines for
your grandfather any longer. My conscience simply won't allow me to do
so."
"What?!" Natsume Akiko screamed at the video recording. "You have
the gall to have compunctions about my grandfather's line of work after
you married into the family? After you married me? Damn you damn you damn
you Kyusaku!"
"...and so I'll be taking our son Ryunosuke with me, and I'll raise
him on my own," the tape continued. " Say goodbye to your mother,
Ryu-san."
Akiko watched though teary eyes as her then-twelve-year-old son
smiled and waved onscreen. "Bye, Mom! Don't worry about me and Dad, we'll
be just fine! You look after Great-Grandfather for me!"
Akiko paused the tape to look at her son more closely. His dark eyes
lit up by his smile, his brown hair highlighted by a natural red streak.
"My Ryu-chan! I'll never forgive Kyusaku for taking you away from me!"
Her reverie was shattered as someone entered the room.
"Excuse me, boss, but there's something you might want to... Oh,
great, you're watching that darn video again, aren't you?"
"That's none of your business, Kiyone! I don't pay you to make
comments like that."
Kiyone sighed, brushing her long black hair back with her fingers.
"Well, if you're going to be that way, ma'am, there's nothing I can do.
Anyway, Mihoshi was watching one of those morning feature news shows
and..."
Akiko shrugged. "I never did care about those shows, what with their
traffic updates (as if I needed to know about traffic! I ride a
helicopter!), interviews with celebrities, who's sleeping with whom, who's
carrying who's child..."
"Not even if your husband is on one of them?"
"WHAT?! Let me see!"
Kiyone smiled and inserted in the tape.
On the screen popped up an image of Kyusaku riding the sidecar of a
bike flying over the Yamanote Line 7:30 train as it passed the crossing. A
rather handsome young man in a school uniform, probably in his late teens,
was driving the bike.
"That's amazing!" Kiyone breathed as the bike vaulted over a bus and
went in an apartment complex's third floor corridor, much to the surprise
of its residents.
"Who do you think he is?" said Akiko in wonder. "He's even got a red
streak through his hair like my little Ryu-chan!"
"Maybe he's your husband's gay lover?" Kiyone suggested.
Akiko glowered at Kiyone.
"Or, ah, that is, maybe he's a close friend of your husband?" Kiyone
quickly added.
"Well, whoever he is, he seems very strong and powerful..." Akiko
whispered.
"An Olympic athlete, maybe?" posited Kiyone.
"Yes... yes, that must be it," Akiko murmured to herself.
"I thought so," Kiyone said.
"It's Android MB 1124."
"Yes, it... What?!" Kiyone exclaimed.
"There's no doubt about it, that's the MB 1124 my husband was
developing before he left the company! He used my grandfather's resources
to fund the project then left the company with the prototype! And he has
the gall to pattern it after our - my - son!" She slammed her hands down
on her desk. "Kiyone!"
"Yes ma'am!"
"I want you and Mihoshi to find my son!"
"Yes ma'am! We won't fail you this time!"
"And when you've rescued him from Kyusaku," continued Akiko,
"eliminate the problems with POISON ONE!"
"What?" Kiyone asked in disbelief. "Isn't that a little too harsh,
ma'am? And what about your grandfather..."
"I'll explain it all to my grandfather! Just get going!" Akiko
barked. "Oh my poor Ryu-chan's probably going to some dirty public junior
high somewhere! Don't worry, I'll save you, my darling son! Mommy's coming
to get you!"
"We're here!" Ryunosuke yelled, screeching to a halt at the bike
parking area.
"Now remember, Ryu-kun," cautioned Kyusaku, "no one must know that
eighteen-year-old Ryu-kun and thirteen-year-old Ryunosuke are actually the
same person."
"Yes, Dad, you tell me that every morning."
"Well, you can't be too careful, you know? And don't call me Dad
when you're in that form. I'll be at the College if there's any trouble."
"Yes, I know that," Ryu-kun replied, unaccustomed to not adding a
'Dad' at the end of the sentence. "Now get going. I'LL be here if you need
anything."
"Right, then. I'm off!" And with that Kyusaku ran into the college
building.
Ryu-kun discreetly stepped into the storage shed and shut the door.
He shut his eyes and muttered the words 'Normal Mode'. He felt his body
returning to its same old thirteen-year old state.
"Everything seems to be in place. The clothes are the proper size,
my joints don't feel at all stiff... I guess the transformation went well.
Oh, well." Ryunosuke then ran off to the junior high a few blocks down.
"But Kiyone, I still don't understand why we have to work as office
ladies here!"
"Mihoshi, I already told you, we have to go undercover on this
planet because we tracked down a dangerous space pirate to this location!
Plus it gives us access to military-class vehicles that aren't regarded as
suspicious. I mean, we're not supposed to reveal our identity as Galaxy
Police Officers to the local people!"
"But the job?"
"Well, we have to eat, don't we?"
"I suppose..." Mihoshi looked over the map, her blond hair tied up
in a fluffy topknot. "I still don't understand what you're trying to say
about the map, though."
Kiyone slammed a fist down on the map table. "How many times have I
got to tell you? Since Kyusaku teaches at a school we have to track down
the road routes and try to find a school in the vicinity!"
"But..." Mihoshi gave Kiyone the sad-doggy-eyed look.
"*sigh* But what?"
"But, well, why can't we just trace a straight line from the
apartment complex since we know the direction they were going in and try
to see if there's a school in the way?"
Kiyone slapped her forehead. "There are roads, Mihoshi! You know,
those long things cars drive on?"
"But they were in a bicycle, not a car!"
"That's not the point!"
"But it IS the point!" Mihoshi argued. "The bicycle was spotted
making a beeline toward somewhere and it wasn't necessarily using the
roads! So..." Mihoshi traced a straight line on the map, "they should be
running into a school right around..." Her finger stopped at a university.
"HERE! And look! There's a junior high school only three blocks away!"
Kiyone opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
"Of course, I could be wrong, Kiyone," Mihoshi said cheerily,
sticking her tongue out. "I mean, you're always the one pulling me out of
trouble, right? Kiyone? Kiyone?"
"Mihoshi, you're scaring me. You're actually making sense."
How in the world did he end up out here again?
Ryunosuke was currently standing out in the hallway four pails
hanging from each hand, one from his teeth and one perched on his head -
and not a drop spilled.
All he did to warrant this punishment was stare at Rei in class,
and if anyone deserved staring at, it was her. Her short hair, her
delicate face, her soft brown eyes...
Ryunosuke chuckled. If there was anything he inherited from his
father that he was proud of, it was his intelligence. Otherwise, he mused,
he'd simply be thinking something like 'Rei is cute'.
He sighed, dropping the pail that he was holding with his teeth and
catching it with his foot. Of course, the main problem with Rei was her
reluctance to speak about anything. Every time he spoke to her he'd end up
saying a lot and she'd answer with a soft 'yes' or 'no'. Heck, he was
lucky if he even got a 'I don't know' from her. At least that was longer
than one syllable! Sometimes he felt like such a fool, shooting his mouth
off when she would only volunteer so little of herself.
He smiled, flipping the pail from one foot to the other. Then again,
she was a girl. His dad always told him it'd take more than genius to
figure out the opposite sex, and he figured since he was only thirteen,
there wasn't really any rush.
Besides, he could wait. He could live forever, after all.
Kyusaku spoke to his college physics class after exams were over.
"Students, I think I can say that you all did well in my class this
semester, and I would just like to say that I actually enjoyed teaching
this class. I thank you all." Kyusaku chuckled. Of course he enjoyed it.
He'd be hard-pressed to find a more hormonally-driven class than this one.
Give them one double-entendre while teaching friction and they'll remember
the lesson for life.
"Also, I may not be teaching again next semester, as I have found a
job where I can use my extraordinary genius properly. Hahahahaha!" He
struck a pose, giving the class a 'V' sign. After all, he was going to
start work as Technical Advisor at NERV if his interview went well. "Well,
as I was saying, thank you very, very much, and..."
Kyusaku paused and stared out the window, face pale. That sound!
It, it can't be... "Uh," he blurted out, "I've got to be going now! Bye!"
And with this he ran out of the classroom at breakneck speed.
He switched on his radio transceiver watch and attached a wireless
earphone to his left ear. "Activate radio reception, code MB 1124! Come
in, Ryu-kun! Can you hear me?"
Ryunosuke blinked as his father's voice filled his head. Damn, did
radio-band transmissions grate on the neurons!
[Yes, dad?]
~ The Poison One is closing in on your current location. Switch to
Active Mode and draw them away from the school! We don't want any large
incidents around locations where you're known to frequent. I'm homing in
on your location and am headed that way! ~
[Roger that, Dad. I'm headed up to the third floor.]
~ Good boy! I'll try and get the Land Rover from the machine shop if
it's ready. Out! ~
I can pick up the helicopter's sound signature, thought Ryunosuke.
[ETA five minutes. Good. ]
He reached the door to the rooftop and activated Active Mode before
breaking the door down. Sure enough, he could pick up the image of the
Poison One in the distance. Come and get me, he thought.
"Kiyone, I'm picking up the image of that cute android guy on the
rooftop of Ryunosuke's junior high!" Mihoshi said, lifting the visor of
her helmet, which had 'Police Magic' written on each side.
"Roger that, Begin our approach," Kiyone responded from the gunner's
seat, the Galaxy Police insignia on her helmet. "Arming dummy warheads on
hardpoints three and four."
"Uh, Kiyone, I don't think that's such a good idea..."
"Why not? They're not explosive warheads, they're just to warn that
android guy of the power of Mishima Heavy Industries!"
"Yeah, but what if he doesn't listen to your warning?"
"Why wouldn't he pay attention to my warning? Is he that stupid?"
"Well, Kiyone," Mihoshi said thoughtfully (such as it was), "you
warn me all the time and it still doesn't do any good, right?"
Kiyone blinked. That sort of made sense, too. She shook her head to
clear it. "Ah, skip it, Mihoshi! The boss said she'd explain everything to
her grandfather, so all necessary procedures have been initiated in order
to authorize us to use deadly force! Besides, I haven't had this chance to
release my stress from you in a long time! Firing dummy warheads!"
"I don't believe this!" Ryu-kun exclaimed. "They're actually firing
missiles at the school! Activate scanner sweep!" He raised an eyebrow at
the readings. " That's odd, no explosives armed? Great! That means I can
do... This!"
Ryu-kun caught one rocket by the tail fin, bent it, and released it
timed and angled precisely to strike at the other missile, sending both in
a calculated trajectory into the hangout of one of the school gangs he
didn't particularly like. "Sorry, Bomber Boys, but you deserved that," he
apologized half-heartedly, leaping off the building and onto the
windshield of the Poison One.
"Did you see what he just did, Kiyone? That was so cool!"
"Shut up and shake him off, or he'll break through the mylar
windshield!"
There he was, striking at two different places at once, one with his
left elbow and another with his head.
"Do we have to? He looks so cute!"
Kiyone snapped at Mihoshi, "Yes, yes, he's cute, but if we don't
stop him we'll get killed! Now climb two thousand feet and make an abrupt
nose dip at the peak!"
"Roger that, Kiyone! Maneuvering over the lumberyard and beginning
ascent!"
Ryu-kun figured through a quick calculation that by exerting
fluctuating striking force at differently angled locations of the
windshield he'd cause a sizable stress fracture in the mylar polymer
windshield in only a few minutes, which he would then utilize as a tear
point (since if he bludgeoned his way totally through the damn thing
sledgehammer-style it'd take him around half an hour just to get through -
mylar did withstand striking blows very well).
However, another property of the windshield was that it was
Teflon-coated, and he was finding it increasingly tough to keep a grip on
the surface as it accelerated upward, since it showed no exposed seams.
Suddenly the chopper dipped, and Ryu-kun slipped off the windshield
and fell. Two thousand five hundred feet. Ryu-kun wasn't sure if his frame
was built to handle falls properly but he did know that his legs were the
best-built to handle the most stress, and he'd calculated terminal
velocity at standing position already, so he positioned himself and braced
for impact.
"That's it! Good work, Mihoshi!"
"Thanks, Kiyone!" Mihoshi grinned and scratched the back of her
helmet sheepishly.
Kiyone gave a pained grin, then started as the sensors began to
beep. "Oh, hey! I've picked up Professor Natsume on the sensor sweep! He's
approaching the lumberyard!"
"Okay, gotcha, Kiyone! I'm beginning our descent!"
"Ryu-kun!" screamed Kyusaku as drove into the lumberyard in his Land
Rover, helplessly watching his son crash into a pile of huge timbers at
terminal velocity. "Please let him be all right..." he whispered as he
watched the Poison One land in front of the Rover.
A figure stepped out of the cockpit. She took off her helmet,
revealing the face of a pretty dark-skinned blond girl. "Professor
Natsume, please turn over Young Master Ryunosuke to us and no one else has
to get hurt. I'm very truly sorry we had to do that to your android
friend, but we have our orders. So I order you to do so, in the name of
the Galaxy Police!"
A very loud *Ahem* rang out from the Poison One's speakers.
"Oh. Oh, right. Let's try that again," the young lady said, grinning
sheepishly. "I order you to turn over Young Master Ryunosuke to us in the
name of Miss Akiko and of Mishima Heavy Industries! Better, Kiyone?"
A very loud *Sigh* droned out from the Poison One's speakers.
Kyusaku growled, "Tell your boss I'm never turning over Ryunosuke to
her, after what she did to him last Christmas Eve!"
"Uh, okay, I'll tell her that," Mihoshi said. "Uh, what exactly did
she do?"
*Mihoshi!*
"Oh. Uh, I'm afraid we can't allow that, Professor Natsume, we have
our orders. So, uh, what do we do now, Kiyone?"
*What else? Threaten him with deadly force!*
Mihoshi wiped her temple with a handkerchief. "Uh, oh dear, isn't
that a little too harsh?"
*MIHOSHI!*
"All right, all right already! Sheesh, what a grouch!" Mihoshi said.
A rumble erupted from the pile of timber.
"You can't threaten us like that! I won't allow it!" Ryu-kun cried
as he burst from the mess of lumber, carrying one particularly massive
tree trunk over his head.
"Uh, I didn't catch your name, sir..." Mihoshi said, carefully
inching out of the way.
*Mihoshi! Stop exchanging pleasantries with the enemy!*
"Fine! You wanna know who I am? I'm Natsume Ryu..." Ryu-kun began,
but caught a look from his father and he changed gears in mid-sentence,
"...Taro, and I won't let you push us around anymore!" With that, he threw
the trunk at the Poison One.
If the windshield had a stress fracture before, it was totally
cleaved now; it was completely ripped out from the metal chassis of the
Poison One as the trunk crunched through metal and plastic, sending the
ex-chopper skittering sideways for twenty meters.
"Ki...Kiyone!" Mihoshi cried.
"Was that a little too much?" Ryu-kun asked his dad sheepishly.
"Uh, it was just about right, Ryu-sa... Ryu-kun," Kyusaku said,
catching himself.
"Kiyone!" Mihoshi called out. "Are... are you okay?"
*Of course I'm okay!*
A metal figure emerged from the wreckage, carrying the log with both
metal hands.
Kyusaku's jaw dropped open, although the cigarette stayed glued to
the side of his mouth. "It's a Power Suit! Those things weren't fully
developed when I left the company!"
*That's right, Professor Natsume! Witness the true military might of
Mishima Heavy Industries! A small troop of these suits can wage war on a
small country! It's a state-of-the-art weapon, just like you, Ryutaro!*
Kiyone's voice cackled through the speakers on the Power Suit.
"You're wrong! I'm not a weapon!" Ryu-kun replied. "I'm the product
of a labor of love!"
Kyusaku gave a start at Ryu-kun's words. He's right, he thought.
*It doesn't matter what you say! Turn over Young Master Ryunosuke or
else! Mihoshi, take cover so you won't get hurt!*
"Uh, I was doing that anyway, Kiyone!" Mihoshi called out from
behind a tree.
Ryu-kun suddenly jumped on the log and dashed toward the Power
Suited Kiyone.
*Stop right there!* Kiyone cried, dropping the log and firing
several shots from her Arm Cannon.
But Ryunosuke deftly dodged each shot. [Actuators at the joints,
power source located on the backpack. Perfect.] He leaped in front of
Kiyone, and before she could react he had already made several well-placed
shots at the Suit's joints, rendering it immobile. Then he ripped off the
compact fusion accelerator on the Suit's back and hurled it into the sky,
where it exploded eight thousand feet in the air.
He pointed a finger at the awestruck Mihoshi. "You go tell your
mistress that we won't take any more of this from her!" He smiled. "Got
that, cutie?"
Mihoshi blushed and nodded weakly.
"Good!" Ryunosuke said, grinning. He walked toward his Father and
gave him the thumbs-up sign.
Kyusaku returned the favor with the 'V' sign.
"So, uh..." Ryu-kun began, not sure how to address his father in
this form.
"How 'bout just plain Kyusaku?" his father said, grinning wryly.
"Um, okay, then, Kyusaku," Ryu-kun started, uncomfortable about not
calling his dad 'Dad', "I guess it's back to class, huh?"
"What for? You've already missed most of today's lessons anyhow!
Let's go get you recharged!"
"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of a hamburger and
some French fries..."
"What a dreamboat..." sighed Mihoshi.
"Mihoshi! Get me out of this thing! Mihoshi!!!"
=====
w.o.m
TimeRunner's Web Page:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/7482
=====
"Most people who want to be writers don't really want to be writers. They
want to HAVE BEEN writers."
--- James A. Michener