[FFML] [Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 35 - The Mother of Invention

[Daniel Jess Gibson]

[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 35
- The Mother of Invention

Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories.

C&C , MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
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ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/Sic-Semper-Morit
uri/

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/ftp/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/type/Si
c-Semper-Morituri
(these are the original versions)

What has gone before:
About Book 11 of the Tankoubon Manga, Akane and Soun Tendo throw
Ranma out of the house. Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him.
They meet EVA pilots Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley
and Jeffrey Davis.
All of the pilots react to the disaster surrounding the
destruction of Cthugha and his cult in there own ways. Nabiki
retreats, Asuka investigates, Jeff attacks the SEELE supporters, Ranma
seeks a decisive battle and is frustrated in this end, Rei and Shinji
try to support Nabiki.
One of the SEELE members is killed in Osaka, and Natsumi Matsuda
witnesses the entire event, Jeff and Misato are sent to investigate.
Asuka takes Ranma to Tokyo University, meeting Belldandy and Keiichi.
Then they return to enjoy the carnival set up on the school grounds.
The arrival of an assassin of Nyarlathotep's cult spoils everyone's
evening as it attacks the pilots and senior staff, Asuka in Unit 02
destroys him. In the aftermath, Ranma, Rei and Asuka, make efforts to
draw Nabiki out of her shell.
The S2 engines are tested, and NERV Tokyo vanishes. Nabiki and
Rei escape and land outside Roswell, NM., they must deal with the
aftermath and loss at NERV Las Vegas. NERV Tokyo, in the Great White
Space, becomes the battle ground between the crew and alien invaders.
With the base is the Outer God Ghroth, on the Outer God's surface is
the device that brought the base there, the trapped and intermixed
spirits of the victims of Angel Malaise, including Toji's sister.
Ghroth awakens and takes revenge on the Pilots and especially
Nyarlathotep. The NERV crew develops a plan to return them home.
Toji visits an unusual woman's kitchen, and gets a commission.
The other pilots all suffer nightmares. Rei summons the Meliorist and
the Scholarly Dragon to effect a rescue. She also contacts another
self who just died. Shinji escapes on his own, the Scholarly Dragon
helps Asuka escape, Ranma has to rescue himself from his nightmare.
With the return of NERV Tokyo, everyone is celebrating, except
Asuka who realizes their enemies are taking a direct interest in the
pilots. Nabiki and Rei are returned to Tokyo separately, Rei by
express, Nabiki aboard the Spruce Goose with cargo for the EVAs.
Shinji, Asuka, Toji and Hikari meet with Yumiwashi.
Rei locates and confronts Jeff on the anniversary of Samuel's
death. She remembers her feeling on the death of Yui Ikari, and how
she arranged Naoko Akagi's death. Jeff wants to be left alone, Rei
decides he needs to talk about events, and doesn't take no for an
answer. Including revealing how he killed her years earlier in
Boston.
At the welcome home party for Nabiki and Rei, the Azores mission
is revealed. Ranma will move in with Asuka and Sammi.
Three shoggoths, once fragments of Ritsuko, fight and are
defeated by Ritsuko, Ranma and Jeff. But only by combining, there are
some side-effects as the trio's personalities temporarily bleed into
each other.

I am ready to meet my Maker, whether my Maker is ready for the ordeal
of meeting me is another matter -
Sir Winston Churchill

Acurst Be He That First Invented War
July 10, 1947
Jeff walked towards Rei's apartment. He realized he'd seriously
underestimated the effect of the merging on himself. He'd seriously
underestimated the force of Saotome's personality. Ranma! This is
_ALL_YOUR_FAULT_!_!_
While neither truthful nor fair, it seemed appropriate. The
Saotomes' sniggering in the background at their `victory` over him,
didn't help a bit. The major part of the problem was screening out
Rit-ch . . .
_DOCTOR_-_AKAGI'S_!_!_ he screamed in his own head.
"You're supposed to be the bloody expert in this stuff!" he
growled, "Can't handle one martial artist and one woman? Can you?"
The real difficulty was Saotome's sense of fair play, all three
of them: Ranma, Ranko, and 'the other'. The 'other' wasn't human, but
somehow or other it was definitely a pack animal. Jeff had never
heard of a cat as a pack hunter, not with 'other species' at any rate.
Which is how 'the other' saw most of the other pilots. While 'the
other', Ranma, and Ranko's need for social interaction would have been
a fascinating subject of inquiry at any other time, their reaction to
what Jeff knew had to be happening to Rei was an immediate call to
action by them. Their warcry of 'Charge in all guns blazing, take no
prisoners, no time like the present, erase the stain on honor,
warrior's duty, firing until you can't see the whites of their eyes,
protect the weak, avenge the honor of the pilots, I love the smell of
napalm in the morning, only the pilots can safeguard the world', etc.
etc. was an elemental force. Stopping it was like trying to
extinguish a forest fire by screaming 'water' at it.
Then he'd felt one of her tormentors waiting in ambush for Rei.
He'd desperately tried to put it aside, but Saotome wouldn't let him
alone. Worse, Saotome discovered he _had_ a plan, then it was either
implement it himself, or get dragged along and watch Ranma try to
carry it off. It seemed that Saotome's 'honor' was more emotional
than rational. Jeff's normal level of detachment was sorely tested.
He felt the anger Ranma would feel at someone beating up on the
helpless. It required immediate and forceful intervention.
He had tools that would force them to back off. More insidious
tools than Saotome had or would ever consider. Ranma might beat them
up, Jeff intended to put them through Hell. He was a little surprised
Ranma and Ranko weren't more alarmed at his strategy. The 'other'
wanted to watch and take notes.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was telling Ranko about some of the experiences that she'd
had, since that fateful June day. She felt awkward talking to Ranko.
After what Rei had told them about how she'd spent her time with
Raccoon, Nabiki felt she didn't have an excuse to hold back
everything.
"I blamed you, for what happened to Hiroko. I also blamed me,
and Raccoon, and the others in SAR, and . . . and . . . " she paused,
composed herself. She was surprised Ranko hadn't blurted something
out yet, although the poor girl looked like an attack dog straining at
a leash, she wanted to say or do something, but couldn't. "It's going
to take some time to get this all straight. I want to go on this
mission. I hate having to depend on other people to protect me and do
everything." She smiled at Ranko, "You probably don't know what I
mean."
Ranko shook her head 'no' vigorously.
"All right speak, you won't send me tearing off into the corner."
"I got a real good lesson, I nearly killed Asuka's dreamself, the
Scholarly Dragon, a couple of Reis and some of their friends, cause I
couldn't ask for help, and I couldn't accept that _friends_ help each
other."
Reis? Plural? Nabiki wondered, but let Ranko talk.
"So, yeah, I understand," Ranko said quietly, "Don't ask me if I
like it."
Ranko changed, sat and looked at Nabiki differently, "The trauma
will take some time to abate, and you also should be aware of the
anniversary effect, in which the trauma revisits annually and
unexpectedly." Then Ranko returned to normal. She shook her head.
"I hate this!"
"What just happened?" Nabiki asked, not sure she wanted to be in
the same room as Ranko.
Ranko smirked, shook her head. "We had to, well sort of - "
Ranko changed again, her expression almost looked like Ritsuko's.
"We merged to facilitate combat. Ranma's, Jeff's and my - " Ranko
paused, she looked like herself, "I can tell it. Just give me some
time!" Ranko growled. "Anyway, all three of us were together, we
didn't separate completely. It'll go 'way but I wanted to talk to
you. But it's like that kid at the front of the class, who gives the
answer before the teacher finishes the question."
"So . . . Ritsuko and Raccoon are part of you?" Nabiki leaned
close, "What does he think, about Ritsuko, you and me?"
Except for her pants, Ranko became monochrome, hair, skin and
shirt were all bright red. "Ah . . . uh . . . oh . . . he kinda . . .
"
Ranko changed, "I thought you liked me." Ranko looked stricken,
"Hey no fair! It's not like that! It's not - I'd never say that! Oh
look, an Angel, I've got to call it in." Ranko leapt over her and
raced down the hall.
"Hmm, this is better than I thought," Nabiki said. She stood up
to see where Ranko had run off too, she also decided a thermos of hot
water might be a wise addition to her pursuit.
----------------------------------------
Belldandy was leaving - that `girl's` - apartment. Since the
`girl` allowed no reflective surfaces, no standing water and no
radios, neither Belldandy nor her sisters could simply appear in the
building. They had to climb the stairs and walk some distance before
returning home.
The walking stick, virtually materializing right in front of her,
was her first warning that something was amiss. She'd felt nothing,
no she'd felt an entire area that was the same throughout. The trick
was to spread your spirit through an entire area, make it all appear
as 'you', then there was no center or focus to detect. It was a
technique used by the most elite and militant demon hunters, Angelic
demon hunters, no humans should know . . .
No, she thought, There were 60 humans who'd been painstakingly
taught the techniques.
"Necessity," he spoke in German and translated her correct name,
"They say necessity is the mother of invention. Is that why you hang
around with that boy, you need a father?" The tall boy in the suit,
another pilot, uncurled out of the shadows.
Belldandy would have missed him, he had learned well from some
_very_ good teachers.
"Deciding when that girl will meet her Fate?" He used the
translation of Urd's name, his voice was friendly, but Belldandy could
feel his hostility.
"You shouldn't trouble yourself - "
"No trouble at all," he cut her off, "I know all about 'not
troubling myself.' Agenor, Achen, Menefelius, and K'naar taught me
all about 'not troubling yourself with things beyond your ken.' But
in Japanese, ken means sword, so I won't use the sword." He lowered
his walking stick.
Belldandy suppressed a shudder. Agenor, Achen, Menefelius, and
K'naar were well respected demon hunters/Renegade killers, but they
were considered obsessive, even by the standards of other obsessive
demon hunters. For a human to know even _one_ of those names was
unfortunate in the extreme, especially if another angel ever had to
deal with that human. For a pilot to have served under all four was
something to be afraid of.
"I've learned that a mere human can't understand what's 'Truly
Important', so I suppose getting down on my knees," he said as he did
it, "And begging you to leave her in peace will fall on deaf ears."
He stood up, brushed the dust off his pants.
Belldandy only smiled, then he interrupted her soft answer.
"Yes, I know, I don't understand what's really happening here,
you can't simply allow the girl to explore her recently rediscovered
humanity." He leaned close and gave her an unsettling smile, "You
know all, since you aren't human," he told her sarcastically. "But
after I showed you that little trick, do you really believe I'm as
blind as all that?"
Belldandy considered, If he mastered the technique to hide, then
he and the others must have mastered the original technique to sense.
Then he probably was more aware of the situation than a human was. It
was also clear to her that he was not fully human. There were other,
alien elements, not the things later grafted on, like the other
pilots, but something else entirely. Something that was part of him
through and through. She recoiled slightly in surprise.
"Ah good, you noticed, then there are fewer reasons for
deceptions, self- or otherwise. I think you will find we can police
ourselves adequately. This is not the Book of Enoch, and you are not
Gabriel. And in any case, Miss Ayanami hardly fits the ancient
pattern. She's a hero, rather than a monster."
"You don't understand," Belldandy told him, she didn't fully
understand it herself. To a great extent, she agreed with his
premise, that Ayanami was a threat only to the Great Old Ones and
Outer Gods. Only the `Angels`, not the humans, were the ones who had
to fear her. If the blue-haired Nephilim's recent, diligent rescue of
both Tendo and Davis wasn't proof, then there was no proof. She
didn't have anything she could tell him, her instructions from the
Celestial Hierarchy made that clear. So, despite what he might
genuinely understand, she was instructed to offer only silence on the
subject. She knew it would only reinforce his prejudices.
"And you _have_ to follow orders. I learned that the hard way.
You and your counterparts, the cogs of the machinery of Heaven . . .
tell me," he considered, "Is that boy you keep getting into and out of
trouble with . . . "
Belldandy froze. She hadn't considered that a pupil of Agenor
and the others would, and could, hunt Angels as well as demons and
renegades.
"Is he orders too, or just a bit of fun while you fulfill your
real mission?" He jerked his thumb back at the - `girl's` -
apartment, "And he is a lot of fun isn't he? Even more fun than most
humans."
Belldandy blushed furiously, turned away, looked at her feet.
"Swept away to bliss, while the tide of emotions and sensations
cleanse away everything except that single perfect moment? Yet
knowing another such perfect moment may happen in a minute, or a
second, or maybe never. It must be very bewildering," he sounded
almost sympathetic.
Belldandy didn't think she could be more embarrassed. Being with
Keiichi was indescribable. Just sitting quietly with him was bliss so
wonderful she thought she'd just shatter. The others around him were
wonderful too. She could understand how the betrayal occurred, and
the current prohibition.
"You rotten hypocrite! You condemn her for something you
yourself plan to do!" he shouted at her, shattering her revery, "She
didn't ask to be born."
"I would never . . . " she realized she'd just walked into a
trap.
"You really aren't, are you, and you haven't told him?" he
laughed, "Oh, I'd really like to be present for that little
conversation. He's his parents' only son, but you already know that.
I suppose his sister could inherit. However, of course _you_ can
handle it. Fresh from the light of the Upper Heavens, but not the
lowly grubs polluted by the Earth. Of course the others had to fail
first, before you realized the danger and had to take steps. So what
is the current policy, vengeance to the 7th generation, the 10th, or
total annihilation of all their kind? Only in the last case does Miss
Ayanami qualify."
"No." Belldandy wasn't sure if she was asking him to stop
talking, or if she was answering his question. Belldandy had
confusing orders to cover this as well. The pilots had to learn to
protect each other from external threats, so they could later protect
each other from themselves. But nothing in her instructions covered
the possibility of a pilot confronting her directly, treating her as
one of those external threats. They had not even addressed it. Now
he was hammering her, by twisting everything she'd done and said.
"Still, I can't touch you, even with all the tricks and
techniques mastered over the years, there's no way I could strike
you."
Belldandy nodded, feeling a little relief.
"As a master of curses and enchantments, I've always wondered if
I could craft a spell so subtle, that even one of your kind couldn't
detect it." He shrugged dismissively. "I know it's impossible - " he
paused, grinned at her, "But that's what humans are good at, the
impossible, and old-fashioned viciousness. Even the demons can't
compare with us."
Belldandy felt a chill, she couldn't keep the look of horror from
her face.
"Just because I can't touch you, don't think I can't rip your
heart out." The smile was the most malevolent thing she'd seen in a
long time.
"You can't! You mustn't!" she cried, "He's done nothing to you!"
"And she's done nothing to you, nor is she guilty of the
traditional crimes which would justify your behavior and concerns," he
replied coldly, "A fair exchange me thinks. Oh, don't worry, I
wouldn't think of killing or torture, that would be inhumane, it just
isn't done. Of course what happens if _you_ interfere?" He shrugged.
"Also, it's pronounced - 'they' - not 'he'."
Belldandy's eyes went wide. She knew of human cruelty. The
world had been rife with it, but one of the pilots . . .
"Consider it a wonderful opportunity to experience all the
uncertainties of humanity," he said cheerfully, "Not knowing if bad
things are random chance, or directed action." He extended his hand,
in it he had a pocket mirror with a leather wrapped lanyard. "I
should be back in about a month and a half. We can discuss it further
then, I will be waiting on pins and needles to hear your insights on
the subject. Good day to you, ma'am." He put the mirror in her numb
hand, tipped his hat and walked away.
Them?! Belldandy's mind was racing, Keiichi and . . . Megumi?
And others, how many others? Just Keiichi's friends, or the other
girls Megumi works with? The softball team talked with Pilot Ikari,
were they targeted too? She realized the mirror had slipped from her
hand, instants before it hit the ground. The sound forced her to
concentrate, to force aside her terror. She stooped to pick up the
polished steel, and she left through it an instant later.
----------------------------------------
Belldandy reappeared in the temple. She could feel no spell, she
couldn't imagine how someone would have gotten past the defenses that
Skuld had assembled.
But if he got to Keiichi and Megumi at school?! she thought as
she rushed through the house. She thought of calling on her sisters,
or Heaven itself, then wondered if that was what would set off the
effect. Then she wondered if her presence would be what would give
the curse the strength to hurt Keiichi, or if her searching for it
would power it. She kept searching for him . . . them, but not
willing to call out and alarm them. He found them at the dining room
table. Keiichi had a tweezers and magnifying glass, Megumi had her
hand on the table and a pained expression on her face. He was
removing splinters of something from her hand.
No, NO! NO! she could feel her horror rising.
"Hey, Bell. Don't worry, it's my own fault. I got some mason
jars for mom. One of them was broken. It's just a sliver or two,"
Megumi told her.
Belldandy turned and ran, she had to find Urd and Skuld. She
ignored Keiichi's worried calls after her.
----------------------------------------
What Fool First Invented Kissing?
Ranko waited in Raccoon's room, it would be Ranma's room until
the four all got back. She'd burst in here in a total panic, she was
certain she'd blown it with Nab-chan completely. Scaring her first,
then insulting her. Ranma did like her, a lot, so did Raccoon and so
did Rit-chan, but in different ways. The feelings Raccoon had for
Rit-chan sort of fed on Ranma's and the others' feeling for Nab-chan
and . . . the whole thing had spiraled out of control so fast. She
believed that Nab-chan hadn't realized what she'd set off. Ranko had
to get out of there before she said or did something really stupid.
Something that really hurt Nab-chan.
She didn't want to hurt Nab-chan, not again, not the way Ranma
already had. But she knew that retreating from a bad position wasn't
the same as running away completely.
Ranma'd tell her, he would. When he could figure out what to
tell her. When the very thought of talking to her wasn't so
frightening.
Once I get my emotions back under control, Ranko admitted.
Raccoon walked in. Ranko examined his entire posture, his stride
and his expression.
"Okay, what did you do?" Ranko recognized it all, she wondered if
it was Asuka, Nab-chan or Gendo who had been the victim.
"What makes you think I wasn't just out strolling?" Raccoon asked
innocently, a dead give away. Plus, he wasn't as 'poker-faced' as he
usually was.
"You only look that innocent after you've pulled something off,
and . . . " She reached out and touched him. "Your aura is screaming
'satisfaction' at the top of its lungs. Now Nab-chan and Rit-chan can
get their own revenge during the trip, Asuka's been here the whole
time, so I can just imagine what you did to ole' Stoneface. Not that
he doesn't deserve it."
"No, no NERV victims," Raccoon said warily.
"Do I have to beat it out of you?" Ranko stood cracking her
knuckles.
Raccoon cowered theatrically. "It's better you don't know. You
can't beat them up, and I can't do anything directly. But . . . that
doesn't mean I'm helpless."
Ranko shivered, remembering that black crystal, Raccoon had one
more to use. "Why do I suddenly feel sorry for whoever it was?"
"They were persecuting our favorite, blue-haired stoic," Raccoon
said coldly, "What's that do for your sympathy?"
Ranko cracked her knuckles again, not as a joke. The rage she
felt was oddly mirrored on Raccoon's face. Rei was hardly Ranma's
favorite person, but she hated the idea of anyone attacking her.
Without orders, a threat to her life, or someone _else_ to protect,
Rei would probably just sit there and take it. Any sympathy she felt
was gone. "Only a real coward would attack Rei," she growled.
Or a fool, Ranko thought, If they're hiding behind someone so
Raccoon isn't allowed to fight them, and I can't, they are beneath
contempt.
"I hope you really hurt them," Ranko said, she was pretty sure
she meant that.
"I couldn't be sure," he said, then smiled, Ranko backed away
from that smile, "But I can make them _looongg_ for death. Without
anything more than drawing a circle, labeling it 'Here be Dragons' and
asking if they hear the roar." He continued in a teasing tone, "You
learned that your own mind can make you more scared than anything
outside."
Ranko held up her hands. "You're right. I _don't_ want to
know." Ranko suppressed a shudder at the memory of the helpless
feeling that plagued her in those dreams. Worse than the cat phobia,
was the feeling while standing back, letting others fight and get
hurt, while Ranma could do nothing. She had to trust that Raccoon had
protected Rei, especially if Ranma couldn't beat them up. Ranko
decided she'd make sure Rei was with the others as much as possible.
"So you intended to make me write all that in German?" Ranko
accused, then realized Raccoon hadn't the faintest idea what she was
talking about.
"I doubt I had direct control over your actions," Raccoon
replied, "I might have made a strong case and you agreed. Besides,
what's wrong with learning German? Langley, Nabiki and I speak and
write it, fluently. If all the pilots speak and write it, it gives us
a private language. Kaji speaks it, Major K's is worse than her
English."
"Exactly! She'll lord it over me all the time. 'I speak five
languages, and you don't!'" Ranko lamented.
"Actually it's more like 11, but that's neither here nor there.
You speak Japanese and some Chinese?"
"Yeah, Mandarin and a little Cantonese."
"And you can write Japanese and Chinese, especially the
pictographs?"
"Kanji, yeah, so who can't?" Ranko couldn't see the point.
"Asuka Soryu Langley, that's who," Raccoon told her, "You could
offer to help with her kanji exercises, just help her work them out."
Ranko's smile was truly catty. She took his hand and led him out
of the room, and past Nab-chan, who'd just arrived.
Nab-chan will understand. Anyway, she knows about the bet, she
thought, Besides, we did this before.
----------------------------------------
Asuka was in her room, rereading Tallhofer, waiting for the
martial idiot to go home. She needed to talk to Raccoon about
actually teaching Horseface something useful. He needed to learn to
use his new sword. She might be able to use one of the claymores
without embarrassing herself too badly and losing credibility as an
instructor. If she couldn't keep his respect and attention, Horseface
would always be a rotten swordsman who depended on Karate and Judo
tricks to `drive` a sword, never learning the martial art of the
sword. She'd seen kendo, the martial art of Japanese swordplay, even
_if_ she could get permission for someone to teach Horseface, Japanese
swordsmanship was a lousy joke, too artsy for a real fight with
someone trying to kill you. The same way fencing had devolved, use
the rules of 'right of way' and allowed strikes when trying to defend
yourself, and a competent opponent would kill you.
No, I'll have to go back to the old school, real fighting, she
thought as someone knocked on her door.
"Come in." She wasn't about to stop reading, besides only
Raccoon wouldn't simply barge in.
What came crashing in shocked her. The center was Raccoon,
flailing desperately as he fell, because Horseface had her legs
wrapped around his waist, her arms wrapped around his head and his
face pressed firmly between her breasts. Horseface arrested their
fall with her legs and arms, without ever releasing Raccoon. As soon
as he was safely down, she quickly changed the location of his face
from her cleavage to her face.
Asuka leaned over to get a better look at this aberration. What
the _HELL_ is happening?!
She thought that Horseface's movement atop Raccoon was too random
to be undulating and no evidence, despite Horseface's emphatic
moaning, of the pain that would make it a writhe. Asuka managed to
tear her eyes away, long enough to see that Ice Princess was as
appalled by this as she and Raccoon obviously were.
Horseface broke the kiss, raising up by arching her back, panting
heavily, breasts heaving, practically purring while she did it. Then
Horseface smiled and dove in for act two. Asuka would have hit them
with her book, but it had slipped from her nerveless fingers. She had
seen the look of rapture on Horseface become pure craving before she
started again. It was making Asuka _extremely_ uncomfortable, not
jealous, but reeling, Horseface is a _guy_, isn't he?
Horseface sinuously straightened up, until she sat down across
Raccoon's hips.
"Eep!" Horseface squeaked, falling forward, then catching herself
before she fell face to face with Raccoon. "Raccoon, you're _so_
naughty!" she purred, licked his lips, then stood up. She looked over
her shoulder with a smoldering gaze, she blew Asuka a kiss as she
stepped through the door. "Oh, Nab-chan," she growled, "He's a
grrrrreat kisserrr. So passionate."
Ice Princess stared open-mouthed at Horseface walking back to
Raccoon's room, then at Asuka, back to Horseface, back at Asuka again.
"WHAT TH - " Asuka's voice cracked, "What just happened?"
"I was hoping you could tell me," Raccoon said in a bewildered
tone, "My glasses seem to have fogged over."
"You aren't wearing your glasses," Ice Princess reminded him.
"Oh," Raccoon said in a small voice.
"Do I even want to know what just happened?" Ice Princess asked.
"My teeth are remarkably clean," Raccoon said, "Although I think
my fillings have melted. All I suggested was that Saotome and Langley
could exchange lessons in German, for lessons in kanji."
"I'm better!" Asuka shouted in her defense, and to disrupt the
memory of what she'd just seen.
"And Saotome is better still." Raccoon sat up, slowly. "Oh, I
remember, I have something for you."
"If it's like what Ranko just gave _you_," Ice Princess said,
"I'm getting a minister, then a cold shower."
Raccoon headed for his room.
"Will they need a chaperone?" Ice Princess asked.
"Only if you have a crowbar," Asuka told her, shook her head.
I am _NOT_ jealous, she told herself.
Raccoon returned, he carried a large bundle.
"Your firstborn already?" Ice Princess teased, "You work fast."
Raccoon ignored the jibe, setting the package in front of Asuka.
"I think Saotome needs a few lessons in swordsmanship." He looked at
Ice Princess. "Pack your Le Mat, _we're_ working on that."
Ice Princess stuck out her tongue. Anything Asuka might have
said was drowned by what she saw as she helped pull away the
wrappings. She couldn't believe that it was what it was. She ran her
hands over the smooth gray metal, the faint variegation without being
true damascene. The shape was unmistakable, as was the craftsmanship.
"Is that a sword or an axe?" Ice Princess approached.
Asuka was speechless, she tested the edge, it was as sharp as it
could be. She wanted to believe this was all real, that she had it in
her hands, a sabre-halberd head.
"H . . . h . . . how?" she said in a small voice, as if a loud
noise would wake her from this wonderful dream.
"I had some friends, they duplicated it, as closely as was
possible to the Meliorist's," he told her.
"It needs a haft," she said quietly, her hands still running over
the sabre-halberd of their own accord.
"I thought you needed a hand weapon. That also gives you the
responsibility to train the others. That includes Shinji and Rei,
they need some knife work."
"Okay," Asuka said, she was practically in another world, but she
would have agreed to nearly anything to keep this `old friend` with
her. She was aware of Raccoon and Ice Princess withdrawing, but her
mind was on more important things. She kept touching the blade, as if
it would disappear with her daze.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki followed Raccoon back to his room. He held the door for
her and closed it once they both were through. Ranko was carefully
packing Raccoon's books into his huge steamer trunk. Nabiki
remembered lugging that thing.
"Have you both gone completely insane? Or did I wind up in
another universe?" Nabiki asked. She watched Ranko closely as she
walked towards the redhead. Despite the precise movements, her lips
quivered and occasionally a tear trailed down Ranko's cheek. As she
stepped close, Nabiki wanted to comfort the girl.
"Langley's off in another world," Raccoon told her.
Nabiki's acid comment was brought up short by Ranko's loud, sharp
snort, then a snerk, then Ranko started laughing uproariously. The
redhead barely managed to get her arms around Nabiki's waist as her
knees collapsed. She buried her face in Nabiki's hip, her laughter
shook both her and Nabiki.
"You're a _bad_ man!" Ranko managed through the laughter, "She
won her bet!"
"You PLANNED that?!" Nabiki accused. She couldn't manage much
outrage, she was too glad Ranma could laugh. She couldn't remember
anytime in Nerima when Ranma or Ranko laughed so freely, or so
forcefully. Hearing it was wonderful, and that she felt comfortable
enough around them to do something so ridiculous, made her feel better
about herself.
"Not I," Raccoon said with unfeigned innocence, he seemed as
confused as Nabiki had been.
"In my head," Ranko sobered a bit, stood to face Nabiki and
explain to her fellow pilots, but she couldn't maintain it. She got
her arms around Nabiki's shoulders before the laughter made her
collapse again.
Nabiki caught her and wondered how much any of the fiance/fiancee
brigade would have paid to trade places, her `continuation fee` was
just holding Ranko up and keeping her own mouth shut.
"I suspect it was cross-contamination," Raccoon explained, "I had
a `Ranma-moment` of my own earlier this morning, she could be really
nasty if she had a mind to be. So she assumes that her 'nefarious
plan' was due to my influence."
Nabiki felt the laughing girl nodding as her tears soaked through
Nabiki's shirt. "So it was all an act," Nabiki announced, "Poor
Raccoon, she doesn't love you, it's so _sad_."
Ranko's head came up, she was about to blurt something out, then
her face changed. She still looked like Ranko, but Nabiki could see
`overtones` of Raccoon and even Ritsuko in that coolly, calculating
expression. "Would you like to _really_ know how he feels about you?"
Nabiki was a little worried about the intellect looking out from
Ranko's eyes, none of it was borrowed, only the training, and the
honing in combat. The raw material was clearly there before.
"He thinks it's completely plutonic."
Nabiki relaxed, she'd overestimated Saotome, "That's _pla_tonic."
"No, _plu_tonic. He thinks, you believe you'll feel lots better
lying in piles of money."
Nabiki frowned, wondered if she could get away with beating him
up just once. She contented herself with a scowl, which Ranko spoiled
by dissolving into laughter again, resting her head on her shoulder.
"She fears you no longer," Raccoon said, "You'll have to settle
for being loved."
Nabiki froze. She wasn't sure if she was more frightened that
someone really said it, or Ranko laughed harder, nodded, patted her
back and offered sympathetic noises. It hadn't been meant as an
insult or a profundity, just one of Raccoon's loony observations
before he went back to packing for the trip.
It can't be! Nabiki wanted to shout, she could hardly ignore the
kiss in Asuka's room, back `home` that little scene would have gotten
Ranma married to the recipient the instant he'd even mentioned the
plan. But there was also some feelings behind it, or Ranko was a
better actress than Nabiki thought.
But . . . me? Nabiki thought, she felt very small and vulnerable.
Hiroko had loved her, and died, her mother had loved her and . . .
Nobody can love me, not really.
Ranko straightened up, stared into Nabiki's eyes. "I think you
shocked her." She gave Nabiki a kiss on the lips that was a lot more
than just friendly.
All Nabiki could do was look at Ranko as if she were a thousand
miles away, untouchable.
"I know what she needs!" Ranko said happily, rushed off to the
bathroom. A moment later Ranma walked out.
"Hey! Saotome!" Raccoon said angrily, "If you've been hiding in
there, why weren't you helping Ranko?"
Nabiki shook her head, ready to tell him _once_again_ about the
curse.
"She started handling your library and sighing." He did an
impression of Ranko being cutesy. "I had to go in and throw up,"
Ranma replied as he walked past with a big grin on his face.
Raccoon nodded, as if accepting it. Ranma stopped about a meter
away from her. "_I'm_ still afraid of you," he said in a small voice,
but couldn't completely banish the smirk.
Nabiki smiled as sweetly as she could, carefully wrapped her arms
around his chest, rested her head on his shoulder, and tightened her
grip until she heard his ribs creak.
"Can't breathe!" Ranma whispered.
"Nonsense," Raccoon told him.
"Blue's a good color for you," Asuka said as she opened the door
and looked around.
"Help!" Ranma whispered.
"I never said _I_ wasn't afraid of her," Raccoon said.
"Oh, I'm afraid of her too," Asuka added, "I'm just more afraid
of you two nuts. I'm afraid you're contagious."
"Langley, do you think you can teach Ranma some real
swordsmanship and knife work? I'm sure he'd be eager to learn,
considering how poor his stance and grip are."
"Hey!" Ranma softly rasped.
"Sure, if he survives. Ice Princess obviously doesn't have that
problem," Asuka replied, sighed, "You do realize we have to save him."
"Yes, if he dies . . . " Raccoon sighed, "I hate paperwork."
Nabiki heard them both close in on her, standing just in her
peripheral vision.
"Ode to Joy?" Asuka asked, stood with her arm folded, one finger
pointed at the ceiling, like a dueling pistol at the ready.
Nabiki glanced at Raccoon who was standing the same way. Nabiki
dreaded the thought of Raccoon demonstrating his singing, if that was
what Asuka was suggesting . . . I must run away, I must run away, she
thought.
She was unequivocally relieved when the two of them started
whistling instead. Her relief was extremely short-lived.
----------------------------------------
Ranma wasn't sure whom the manner of the `rescue` confused more,
him or Nab-chan. She hadn't really been strangling him, but if she
wanted to think so . . . She was giving him her 'I am nasty, fear me'
glare, when Raccoon and Asuka attacked. The glare was instantly
spoiled by one eye clamping shut and the other bugging out, with her
shark smile becoming increasingly jangled.
In time to the whistling, Asuka and Raccoon were poking Nab-chan
in the backs of her knees. How they knew she was ticklish, and where
to bombard, he didn't want to know, but Nab-chan went from trying to
squeeze the life out of him, to desperately hanging on.
He glanced over her shoulder at the spastic dance Nab-chan was
doing to try to keep her ticklish regions out of reach, but it wasn't
working. The grimaces and contortions on her face, in time with the
music, made it look like she was suffering horribly. Only a complete
villain would fail to help a girl in such straits.
"I can save you," Ranma told her, a look of hope suffused her
facial jitterbugging. "For a reasonable fee, let's talk stock
options, let's talk - " The tragic look on her face almost broke his
heart.
Almost, he thought.
"Let's talk about lump sum versus perpetuity."
She stared at him with trembling lips, although her eyes were
still spasming.
"Let's talk about picking up the tempo!" he announced.
Nab-chan shook her head 'no!' as emphatically as she could, while
the attacks landed with increased speed and no less precision.
Nab-chan grimaced and started beating her head against his chest, then
finally gave in, the real source of her agony vanishing. She started
laughing like a crazed loon. She'd probably _never_ be able to
intimidate any of the trio again.
Sammi rushed in, to see what they were murdering, and stayed to
watch. Ranma wondered why the woman put up with the raucous noise.
Nab-chan sounded like somebody was using a buzzsaw to slice up a live
moose, and she was totally helpless against the continuing attack.
----------------------------------------
Ranko stepped out of Raccoon's bathroom, wearing one of Sammi's
shirts, which was too big, and a pair of Asuka's shorts, which were
uncomfortably small. Raccoon was in the room, back to packing for the
trip.
"How could you do that to her!?" She couldn't really manage the
proper outrage because she could hear Sammi, Asuka and Nab-chan
laughing in Asuka's room, where they were cleaning up Nab-chan.
"You were the one who let her climb Mount Saotome to escape her
tormentors," Raccoon said offhandedly.
Except her tormentors are taller than Ranma. So even sitting on
my shoulders wasn't a rescue, and no where I put my hands to steady
Nab-chan wasn't ticklish, Ranko thought as she frowned at him.
"I hope you noted all the points of contact, they may be useful
in the future, during negotiations especially."
"Quit changing the subject," Ranko said, her ire diluted by an
increase in the other girls' laughter, all three of them, "Why didn't
you stop?"
"Before or after she `marked her territory`?" Raccoon asked
innocently.
Ranko marched over and aimed a palm strike at his nose, with
every bit of her strength behind it. What kept his head on his
shoulders was she had next to none of her speed behind it. So all she
did was push him over. "You embarrassed her!" Ranko shouted, she had
to keep Raccoon listening to her instead of the girls' laughter.
Which seemed to give lie to the idea that Nab-chan had suffered any
permanent physical, social or psychological damage.
"I give up." Ranko threw her hands up. She was glad the
connection was lessening. The two of them were going to have a hard
enough time explaining their bizarre behavior, let alone living it
down. She sighed, a similar insanity had affected Asuka, Nab-chan and
Sammi, without an outside cause. So maybe they'd be willing to keep
it to themselves. She smiled at the thought. "Is this why Misa-chan
gets drunk?" she asked, "So she can do stuff like this?"
"Probably," Raccoon replied.
"We didn't need to." Ranko shook her head. "I don't think I
want to do that trick again."
"Agreed. I'm putting it down to sleep deprivation. Except for
the nightmare, I don't think I've slept more than four to five hours
this whole week. People get awfully strange without sleep," Raccoon
said, turned to her, "But did you get a look at Langley's face. She
was staring at me the whole time." He started laughing.
Ranko laughed too. "I thought she was going to die. Then when
you two started tickling Nab-chan and she wouldn't laugh. I've never
seen someone so . . . okay, once was fine, but never again." Ranko
sighed. "Sometimes I don't understand her. Not what she does, but
why she does it."
"You're trying to protect her and stand up for her," Raccoon told
her as he stood up, "There's nothing wrong with that. But maybe
you're angry because you're scared that 'Nab-chan' feels comfortable
around you, the change and both Ranma and Ranko, more comfortable than
anyone else is with it, including you. Now she's going away for a
while. And you don't want her to."
Ranko considered that Raccoon had only gotten part of the answer.
"And when you feel that way, you run away?" Ranko asked, "Did you
really want to run away, or did you want someone to come after you?
Do you even know? Have you bothered to look?" Ranko felt angry about
that. She'd trusted Raccoon for help, but when he needed it, could
have asked her for it, he ran away. She'd seen how angry Rei got.
For once they were in perfect agreement.
"So how am I supposed to know what I want?" Raccoon asked her
quietly, "Do you know what you want?"
Ranko considered, fidgeted, she knew she wanted . . . something
from Nab-chan and Raccoon, but putting it into words was impossible
for her. There were too many complicated feelings, too many subtle
shadings, too many differences when it was Ranko and when it was
Ranma, all of them conspiring to keep her from thinking straight when
she considered.
Raccoon put his hands on her shoulders, gripped them firmly. She
looked up at his knowing smile. "Is this what you want?" he asked.
He released her as he sat on his bed, then he pulled her into his
lap and enclosed her in his arms. For a moment Ranko panicked, then
relaxed as he sat, went no further.
"Or is this what you want?" Raccoon asked, then he lay down,
twisting slightly so she wound up lying atop him. Ranko was stunned
for a moment. Even more when Raccoon brushed her hair off her cheek.
"Or is it this?"
Ranko rolled off him instantly. She seethed with confusion and
no small amount of rage.
Dammit! He would have to `talk` to me like that, so I understand
perfectly, she thought, as she pulled her legs against her and wrapped
her arms around them, 'Do I want a mentor, a comforter/confessor, or a
lover?' It wasn't that he'd asked the question, but that the answer
was something . . .
Ranko realized his question was a diversion, she hadn't asked to
answer _his_ questions, But that might not be a bad idea, Ranko
thought, as she unfolded herself. Then pushed Raccoon, so he
precariously perched on the edge of the bed's wooden frame.
"Right now. This is what I want." She knelt behind him, as he
tried to balance and keep away from her at the same time. She wrapped
one arm around his shoulders, the other around his waist, leaning him
back from the edge so he rested against her. She placed her chin on
his shoulder and held him tightly against her. "This is what I want.
This is what we all want." She tightened her grip. "This is what
_you_ taught us," she lectured, "Then you don't let us help you. That
isn't a gentleman's way. Placing himself outside the others around
him."
"I'm sorry." Raccoon relaxed a bit.
"You can also be wrong occasionally. Nobody has to be perfect
all the time, nobody can, not even the divine Ranma Saotome. But
don't tell him I said that. I'm sure we can arrange times for you to
be wrong." She chuckled, and was pleased Raccoon laughed once too,
then relaxed in her arms.
----------------------------------------
Beats All The Lies You Can Invent
Keiichi had enough of this, the sun was coming up and the
frenetic activity hadn't slackened. Belldandy, Urd and Skuld were
methodically disassembling the whole place: the temple, the garage,
the outbuildings, etc.; examining everything minutely, before
replacing it. More often than not, they didn't put it back where it
belonged, or worse, they replaced it where _they_ thought it should
go.
So Skuld rearranged the kitchen, Urd rearranged his room, and
Belldandy rearranged both Skuld's and Urd's rooms. He was vaguely
surprised somebody hadn't blown up the entire temple by either mixing
things that shouldn't be, or seeing the mess one of her sisters left
her private place.
He'd escorted Megumi home, and returned. Belldandy looked so
worried as she rushed around, Urd and Skuld alternated from angry to
worried, occasionally stopping at frustrated. He dodged out of the
way as Belldandy rushed into the tea room and searched it. She
examined everything, except the little mirror on the table, she
ignored that. Before he could ask, she rushed off. He walked in to
look at it, and was nearly thrown out of the room as Skuld charged in
with a device, she used it to examine everything in the room, except
the mirror, then charged out without saying a word.
The mirror was a piece of steel, with Belldandy's name and
address neatly carved in the edge. Both of the large faces were
polished and without any markings. The maker had carefully drilled a
hole in the corner and looped a leather-wound wire lanyard through it.
Keiichi couldn't see anything special about it. It's ordinary, he
thought, Is that why they're ignoring it?
"Belldandy?" He walked out with the mirror, "Is this what you're
looking for?" He'd done it so often, it was embarrassing, walked
right past what he was looking for a half-dozen times. He didn't
figure goddesses would be vulnerable to that.
She came out of the kitchen, looked at the mirror, and covered
her mouth in horror.
"Keiichi," she said carefully, "Please, put that down."
He did as she asked, he wondered what horrible thing he'd done by
moving it.
"That can't be it?" Urd asked as she approached, "Can it?"
"What are you talking about?" Skuld asked as she lugged yet
another machine behind her, this one looked like a tank vacuum cleaner
with a fan and a half dozen types of antennae on the nozzle she was
sweeping around the room. "There's nothing here."
"What about this?" he held up the mirror again. Belldandy looked
horrified, Urd looked ill and Skuld looked shocked.
"Where did you get that?!" Skuld demanded, aiming the nozzle at
him menacingly.
"Off the tea room table, you can have it back," he said as he
tried to hand it to Skuld.
She drew back as if he'd offered her a poisonous snake.
"Belldandy." He turned to her. "Please tell me what's going
on."
She sighed and led him, and her sisters, back into the tea room,
where they all sat down.
----------------------------------------
Belldandy told him a complete tale, minus a few key details which
she was not to reveal to any mortal. He understood, but he wished she
could at least hint what was so important about them.
He had nodded while she spoke, understanding her feelings. It
was hard to remember that while they might understand the ebb and flow
of the universe, the goddesses had great blindspots when it came to
humans.
Tamiya and Ootaki had played this same kind of trick on him a
half-dozen times, before he caught on. Sending him to the Naval base
for Relative Bearing grease was a particularly . . . interesting
experience. He'd learned a lot of new English that day, little of it
usable in polite company. Keeping a straight face while they
described it all was very difficult. He was glad Megumi hadn't heard
this, she wouldn't have been able to keep from laughing.
Finally he told them, "There is no curse." He wished they didn't
look at him as if he'd suddenly gone insane.
"But he said . . . " Belldandy was near tears.
"No, he never _said_ anything of the kind." He tapped the
mirror, "Do you usually take the mirror you use with you? I watched
all three of you ignore this or not notice it. This is the subtle
spell he was talking about. He said something to lead you to believe
there was a curse. The Americans call it 'Putting the fear of God in
someone'." The angry stares from Urd and Skuld told him to hurry this
along. "Uh, sorry. You've been scaring yourselves and each other.
We met those two pilots Ranma and Asuka, Megumi met two pilots, Ranma
and Shinji. You told me about the pilots. If any of them were really
serious about hurting you, Megumi and I would be in custody, there
would be Marines and Army all over the temple, and a couple of EVAs
chasing you around."
"So there's no curse?" Belldandy seemed relieved and bewildered.
"Why would he do such a terrible thing?"
"Like he told you. As a warning," Keiichi explained, "You've
been talking to this other pilot, and probably scaring her. So, he
scared you. You might want to consider what you've been saying to
her, the effect it actually has, not what you expect it to have."
"We can't talk about that," Skuld warned sharply.
"Fine," Keiichi relented, "One of them just proved he can hurt
you or frighten you, anytime he wants to. I'm just saying you should
be careful."
"I'll fix him! I hate him!" Skuld announced.
"Agenor and K'naar trained him," Belldandy said softly.
Urd looked like she'd sat on something sharp, Skuld looked like
she did when Sora tried to make ice cream, and got too much rock salt
in it.
"When did they let him out?" Skuld shouted.
"During El Nureenen's War," Urd said quietly, "This is very bad."
Keiichi would ask Belldandy who those people were, later. Right
now he felt he had to stick up for a fellow human. "I don't think he
would have given you a present this useful." He tapped the mirror.
"If he hated you all that much. Like I said, he gave you a warning.
And this is a bribe. You've been using the wrong approach."
Belldandy nodded, Urd looked worried, Skuld looked sullen. He
would ask Megumi to ask about the pilot who had done this. Maybe he
could aim him at Mara or one of the other monsters that endlessly
marched through his life. Carrot and stick, he thought, _BIG_ stick.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko stood in Sammi's kitchen sipping coffee. None of the
kids had returned, so she had come to Sammi's apartment to check on
them. They were all bedded down in separate rooms.
"You could wake them up, do your running tests," Sammi suggested.
"I'd like to live," Ritsuko said. Sammi had described the
midnight events to her. "When did they finally get to sleep?"
"About 5:00 A.M.," Sammi said as she stood and sipped her tea.
"I think they exhausted themselves, and I think letting them sleep in
is a good idea."
"When Misato acted like that in college, I was angry," Ritsuko
said, "Yet I let the kids act like that . . . I think it's kind of
sweet."
"They are 14, not 19, and after all that's happened, anything
that makes them laugh that much is a good thing."
Ritsuko smiled. "Are they planning a surprise going away party?"
"Ranma probably is."
"You know, a few months ago, if you would have said Ranma, party
and planning in one sentence . . . he's come a long way. I guess I'm
proud of . . . `my son`."
"Well, you should be," Sammi replied, poured more coffee and tea,
"There are things the kids haven't told you, and I'm not going to tell
you, but I think I'm the only one who really has a good bead on young
Saotome, his history and psychology."
"What about him?" Ritsuko asked, suddenly concerned.
"I don't think Asuka's and Jeff's dreams were anything except
accurate, even though they don't match. Some of it he's better off
not knowing, other parts he'll figure out along the way. Yet he's
happy here, happier than I think he's been in a long time," Sammi
admitted.
"You don't know how terrifying a statement that is," Ritsuko
replied, "Ancient monsters, mortar barrages, assassins, and gods know
what else. And you tell me he's better off."
"I said happier, not better off. He also has people who care
about him, and a chance to prove himself, a chance to be proud of
himself and have others he respects proud of him. He's a lot like
Shinji in that respect, people kept hurting him, he wanted it to stop,
he wanted someone important to him, to be proud of him. Ranma's smart
enough to see that the others tear him up because they expect him to
be a lot better. There's a huge gap between 'you're no good', and 'I
expect better of you'. He's smart enough to feel the difference, even
if he doesn't understand it."
"You're too young to be having thoughts that old," Ritsuko
commented.
"Good stock," Sammi teased back, "You're the one they really
worry about."
Ritsuko was terrified of what had to be coming next.
"They know you aren't happy, and they don't know how to fix
that," Sammi said.
"You're going to give me a heart-attack, you know that," Ritsuko
said, then took a long drink of coffee, the action steadied her
nerves.
"You should have redundancy built in to handle that," Sammi
commented, "Maya's the odds on favorite, but . . . ," she stopped
before Ritsuko reacted.
----------------------------------------
July 11, 1947
It Will Be Necessary To Invent Him
"That's it?" Asuka replied as she looked at Ranma's closet, the
lack of variety and quantity of clothes. "We have _got_ to take you
shopping!"
Ranma wondered _why_ he had asked for Asuka's help in packing.
Because everyone else is helping Nab-chan, Ranma reminded himself.
"I think my clothes are fine," Ranma replied as evenly as he
could, "Considering my condition."
"A few bras, some more formal wear, some socks, a couple of
winter jackets." Asuka ticked off the points on her fingers. "I'm
not saying dresses or skirts, although Raccoon wears a skirt pretty
well. Maybe even some clothes specifically for practicing in, a
proper gi, that kind of thing," she told him as if it were obvious.
She put the entire contents of his closet in a box.
It seemed reasonable that he didn't have much, not like the huge
baggage train she'd brought with her. He didn't need much, did he?
"Oh, here!" She tossed a briefcase to him. "Put your personal
papers in that, set the combinations on the latches so nobody else can
open them."
"I know what a briefcase is for," he replied.
"Then I'll leave so you can get your private stuff out of
hiding." She turned to leave. "Say, are you taking the bunkbed? Or
are you - " she giggled and sighed, "Or are you going to sleep in his
bed?" She retreated before he could throw the briefcase at her.
He carefully closed the door, then set the briefcase's
combinations and put his journals and notes inside. Then when he was
sure no one was watching, he got the picture album out. He'd snuck
the negatives from Nab-chan and Raccoon, and had his prints made.
Mostly of the pilots and their friends together, a few of Nab-chan,
Raccoon, Rei and Asuka. They weren't the shots Nab-chan sold,
definitely not the racy ones. But the blurry ones, the ones that the
others wouldn't use, the ones that showed them moving too fast for the
camera and the light. He hadn't wanted to explain to Asuka why he
wanted these, he wasn't even sure why he wanted these and not the
others. Still, these seemed to be the people to him, not the fixed
poses, the unmoving images that others wanted. Nevertheless, though
blurred and sometimes shadowy, he could still recognize them.
He sighed, he still had the going away party to plan. He hated
the look Asuka had given him when he laid out his plan for the welcome
party. Like he offended her by actually coming up with a plan, even
for something as simple as a party. Except when he tried to let her
plan this one, she _really_ got offended. I just can't win, he
thought.
----------------------------------------
Maya was more than a little nervous. She had asked for help, but
she hadn't figured Sempai would come herself. She was a little less
embarrassed that Rei was with her. Rei seemed to be operating to a
preset program, if an embarrassing one.
"Doctor, Ibuki-san?" Rei held out a black dress, "Is this both
fancy and formal enough for a party?"
Maya had _never_ had the courage to wear the dress with the low,
v-scooped neckline and the side-slit. She'd always suspected she was
under alien influence when she'd bought it.
"Yes, Rei," Sempai told her.
"Rei-chan," Maya asked nervously, "Who told you such embarrassing
things?"
"Both the Second and Nabiki-kun were specific in what was
necessary," Rei explained calmly, "I limited myself to the items that
existed on both lists given. On this they were both quite specific,
and in total agreement."
Sempai looked like not laughing was doing her an injury, Rei
stared at her, waiting for an answer. The stare, fortunately, was not
a combination of Asuka and Nabiki's impatient stare. Rei seemed
prepared to wait for Maya's answer, forever if necessary.
"I guess it goes," Maya mumbled. "Rei-chan, you really shouldn't
call her 'the Second', it's disrespectful."
Rei nodded, carefully hung the dress in the trunk, then selected
several more pieces.
Maya thought about how she was going to `thank` Asuka and Nabiki,
for the advice they'd given Rei.
----------------------------------------
Toji glanced at where Hikari and Yumiwashi were in
Kraznyzamok-san's kitchen, he could hear his sister lecturing Rei
while his quiet classmate watched the pair preparing food for the
rest. While Yumi's attitude had always irritated Toji, she seemed to
have Ayanami's rapt attention. He wished Shinji were here, or
Kensuke. But Shinji in Unit 01 was unloading the HK-1 Hercules of its
cargo of sonic glaives. Kensuke was down there taking pictures, of
course. Mirei was practically hanging off Ranma, and everyone had
formed little knots of conversation. Akagi-sensei and Kraznyzamok-san
had interposed themselves between Maya-san, and Sour Kraut and
Tendo-san, respectively.
He returned his attention to Sour Kraut, and her explanation of
the week's events to Mirei. "What does it mean that words are assimto
- assimt - " Toji still hadn't figured out why he'd accepted an
invitation to the farewell lunch for Nabiki and Raccoon. He
understood less why he was arguing with Sour Kraut, and she was
certainly trying to make him _understand_, rather than just screaming
how stupid she thought he was.
"Asymptotic?" Sour Kraut asked in an irritated tone, "Words have
no intrinsic meaning. Each word brings the meaning closer to the
reality. An asymptote refers to a curve that approaches, but never
reaches a certain value. For example, I say 'chair'. Do you know
what that means?"
"Yeah, sure," Toji said.
"No, you don't, beyond something to sit on. Your mental picture
of a chair, is it wood, or metal? What color is it, red, brown, blue?
Now if I say 'Blonde oak, four-legged, cane-back chair', then we are
closer to both having the same idea," Sour Kraut looked around to see
if her audience was still following, then continued, "More words bring
the idea closer, but can never exactly duplicate it."
"I understand . . . I think," Toji said. He was glad Yumi'
walked through with some fresh potstickers, it gave him a moment to
think. It also let him see how happy she looked, after all those
months in a coma, she seemed to have bounced back faster than he'd
hoped.
"I don't," Ranma said, he'd been staring at them in confusion as
Sour Kraut finished.
"Look, both of you," Sour Kraut said, "I'm not going to explain
the universe to a couple of jocks. All I can do is get you close -
clos_er_ to understanding, does _that_ make sense."
"You're just being you," Ranma complained. The others were
drifting over to listen in.
"No," Toji realized, "She _can't_ explain it exactly, because we
don't see things the same way."
"Great," Ranma complained, "More words."
"Connections," Rei said as she put Nabiki's hand in Ranma's,
"That is what is important."
Rei paused, she realized that everyone was paying close attention
to her. She reached out and caressed Ranma's face, then balled her
fist and mimed a punch at Nabiki.
The first had confused Ranma, but he instantly pulled Nabiki out
of range of the second, she wound up nestled under his arm. He
blushed when he realized what he'd instinctively done.
Sour Kraut tensed as Rei walked over to her.
"I love you as a friend and as a lover," Rei paused. "I hate
you! I wish you dead!" Rei hissed, then stepped back. "The meanings
are the same, the connection is the same. Connections are _all_ that
is important."
"I doubt that," Sour Kraut said.
"You are incorrect. Chemistry is about connection of atoms and
molecules, Physics is connection of matter and energy, Engineering is
the connection of large arrays of forces, materials, chemical bonds,
and their interactions," Rei said.
"Okay, I'll grant that," Sour Kraut admitted, looked like she'd
been stung, but continued, "By that reasoning, math is the connection
between thought and reality, and language is the connection between
thoughts and the thoughts of others."
"Yes."
"I say you're wrong, but you proved my point anyway," Sour Kraut
said, "I can make myself think like you for a limited area and time."
"So what's Martial Arts? What connection does that make?" Ranma
asked.
Rei considered for a moment. "Connecting opponents with their
unconscious self." She paused to let the others' groans die away.
"Beyond the purely physical? Mind with body," Rei told him.
Ranma considered.
Toji thought that made sense, although Ranma didn't want to admit
that. He was also struck that Rei, who shunned and was shunned by
others, thought connections the most important thing there was. He
wondered what all the time alone had meant to her, how lonely she must
have been all those years. He hadn't considered it, and that bothered
him.
----------------------------------------
Ranko was hanging up her clothes in Raccoon's now-empty closets.
She wasn't comfortable with this. Once again, she was kicking Raccoon
out of his `home`, she knew that wasn't really what was happening, but
that's what she felt. Asuka was out of the apartment, helping
Nab-chan settle in on the carrier.
Why did she not want me there? she wondered. Asuka and Nab-chan
had their heads together, talking in German, since they got up. Every
time Ranma or Ranko got close, they both shut up and stared at him or
her, until they were let alone. Ranma was getting nervous about it.
Raccoon was helping Ranko unpack, before he left for perhaps two
months. "So, Saotome, are you all right with this? Not just Ranko,
but Ranma?"
"Yeah, I guess. I still think I should go with."
"You aren't trained in deep diving, and there's no facilities to
train you aboard the carrier. Besides, our enemies can read the
newspapers. They'll know one of the EVAs and both alternates will be
gone. If you were in charge of the opposition, what would you do?"
"Hit NERV as hard as I could," Ranko admitted.
"So what do you see your duty as? Moral support for two experts,
or concrete, combat support for the others?" Raccoon asked.
Ranko sighed, she nodded. Honor demanded a martial artist stand
to protect the people, despite cost to himself. "So it's duty, not
honor?"
"Of course. I'm not exactly honorable," Raccoon told her, "But I
am a gentleman."
Ranko asked, "So what is a man?"
Raccoon considered, "Others can tell you what a man is better
than I."
Ranko frowned, fidgeted.
"I _can_ tell you what a gentleman is," Raccoon said coldly.
"And what is that?"
"A gentleman is the final arbiter of fear."
Ranko withdrew a step from the change that had come over Raccoon.
"A gentleman allows others to feel at ease in his presence. He
will succor the weak, he will comfort the wounded. Even a blood enemy
can feel at ease in his proximity, as long as his enemy has come with
no ill-will."
Ranko relaxed.
"A foe . . . "
Ranko tensed up again. I know I can beat him. I know I can beat
him. Echoed in her mind as Raccoon approached, as she backed up.
"A foe will never know rest, never take a meal without glancing
over his . . . or her, shoulder, wondering when the blow will fall.
For it will fall without warning, without mercy, and without remorse."
"How's that different than honor?" Ranko asked as she wilted
under the gaze.
"It is different because it serves not the man, but the
community, and the community becomes the anvil. While others speak of
his manners, witty conversation, good meals and good comradeship.
Instead, the blackguard feels as if someone had invited a waiting
Death to the party, and seated Him at the blackguard's table."
Ranko had backed up until she was against the wall, as he bent
down towards her, she felt her heart pounding in terror. Still, he
bent closer. She prepared to defend herself if necessary.
Then he put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead.
It was like someone had cut the strings of a puppet, she nearly
collapsed as the tension vanished. "I think I understand."
Raccoon nodded. "Good. Ranma should strive, not to honor, but
to be a gentleman. For there is real power."
Raccoon left, Ranko hung her head. "I'll _never_ figure out how
he does that." Her heart was beating wildly, she wondered if it was
just fear.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki stood on the fantail of the U.S.S. Bennington. She was as
close to the rearmost 40 mm. anti-aircraft guns as she was
comfortable. Behind them was another, smaller carrier. Supposedly, a
second small carrier and a pair of battleships accompanied them. She
watched Tokyo dwindle in the distance. She'd only been away from
Japan in this, her new existence. It was an odd feeling, the first
time it had been a rush of panic, this time she'd `volunteered`. How
she felt confused her, she always thought of herself as an adventurer,
a risk taker, braver and more flexible than the martial artists. Yet
she felt uneasy leaving her homeland behind.
Before she left, she'd visited Hiroko's grave, telling her that
she was leaving, asking her to look after the others. She'd wanted
Hiroko to look after _her_, but she would survive without it.
"Troubled?" Raccoon came up behind her, looking where she was
looking.
"I was thinking about a dream."
"The Cthulhi ripping open the guts of NERV, and blowing up the
world by spitting the remains of the pilots into something?"
Nabiki stared at him, drew back. "You . . . too?!"
"Yes, I woke up as the fireball erupted out of what was stored
deep in NERV," Raccoon told her, "I woke up screaming. I was so sure
I was still on fire, they sprayed me with fire extinguishers then
wrapped me in a blanket and `put me out`. CO2 extinguishers are
_cold_."
She chuckled at that, "Did Rei tell you?"
"She told me the dream she had, and that she believed you
suffered through it also."
She wanted to change the subject, "What got into us, yesterday .
.. . this morning?" she asked and laughed, "Just happy to be alive?"
"Being overly tired, and feeling safe," Raccoon admitted, "We've
all been through a lot in the last month. I've been shot at before,
but not as much as since I joined NERV Tokyo."
"I'm sorry about not being there . . . well, you know."
"Rei learned well whatever you taught her. She was - " He
paused.
Nabiki suspected he was searching for a polite way of saying it.
"She accepted no evasions on my part. Was forceful in that
course."
"She wasn't 'takin' no bullshit', you mean," Nabiki said, smiled,
"She wouldn't leave me alone either," Nabiki said wistfully, "I . . .
I haven't felt like that . . . that way, in a long time."
"Yes. Of course in my case it was like getting blanched and
peeled first," Raccoon said.
"So what _did_ happen?"
"I'm guessing part of it, Nyarlathotep collected peoples' spirits
to power a spell to bring NERV to the path of Ghroth, the Harbinger of
the Great Old Ones. Toji and I found the base."
"How did you do that?" Nabiki asked, frowned as Raccoon looked
around.
"Magic. Anyway, we were able to link with the Units 01 and 02
and then we fought Nyarlathotep."
"The Inspector?!"
"Yes," Raccoon told her, "They didn't beat him, Ghroth did. I
don't know who sent the dreams, Ghroth is better known for waking
things up."
"I landed in Roswell, New Mexico. 'Little gray men in their
flying saucer' or weather balloons."
"Can you imagine the hysteria if they'd told the truth?" Raccoon
asked.
"So you don't mind being the instigator of a panic? There were
all kinds of crazy stories about it in the Las Vegas newspapers,"
Nabiki said defensively.
"There was a big 'mysterious airship' scare in 1896.
Unidentified flying objects have been with us since the clouds and the
birds. You forget, the Great Old Ones are mostly extraterrestrials."
Nabiki narrowed her eyes at him.
"The word has been around since the Civil War, the American Civil
War. Besides, when I was Ranma in the dream, do you think I sat
around and waited for people to challenge the dojo?" Raccoon asked, "I
studied. Our enemies and other things. I got a doctorate in
Metallurgy/Materials Science, Masters in Chemistry and Chemical
Engineering. Langley got a triple Doctorate in Physics, Mathematics
and Biophysics with a healthy dose of Metaphysics."
"Sorry, I keep forgetting what information junkies you are,"
Nabiki teased, got a smirk in return.
"You just think too small. No grand plans or ideas."
She _hated_ being teased, "Oh? And _you_ had a better idea of
how to run grand schemes in Nerima?"
"In Boston, I had a racket with a throughput of around $30,000 a
month, that is, in terms of that 'future' I saw, about 400 million yen
a year. I'd say I can handle big schemes. Don't play kicks with a
mule, young lady. A couple of people are finding that out
themselves."
Calm down Nabiki, she told herself, He said 'throughput', not
profit.
"Oh? Some other deep, dark plot. Perhaps to conquer the world?"
"No, just dragging a few things out into the light," Raccoon
replied, "Kicking and screaming the whole way."
She also hated when he got all cryptic, it usually meant he
expected _her_ to solve the mystery. And the not knowing would nag at
her until she did figure it out.
----------------------------------------
July 12, 1947
Teaching Swords
Ranma stood on the roof. He had his sword and scabbard. Asuka
was approaching, she clearly wasn't happy about being awake to greet
the sun. He suspected pointing out this was the best time of the day
would get him an introduction to the ax-bladed naginata she carried,
and how good she was with it. The weapon looked exactly like the one
the Meliorist carried, he knew how good _she_ was with it.
"You need to learn how to use that," Asuka told him, pointing to
his sword.
"I don't hit girls," Ranma replied, the major sticking point of
this training.
"Good." The stroke was so fast he barely got the sword up, while
he easily dodged to get out of the way, so there was no way she could
hit him. Instead she caught and yanked the sword out of his hand with
her weapon. As Asuka continued her turn, she thrust backward with the
haft, Ranma dodged it easily. As she completed the circle, the blade
went through where Ranma's head would have been, if he hadn't dodged
the haft. The blade stopped directly between and below where Ranma's
ears would have been.
I could have dodged that, Ranma thought.
"By a couple of centimeters," he added a moment later.
"Considering how rotten you are with a sword . . . " Asuka
removed the sword from where she'd trapped it with her own weapon.
"That won't be a problem for several weeks. First, you'll learn to
actually hold on to this, instead of being afraid of it."
"I ain't afraid of - " Ranma shouted.
"Cats. And keep your voice down, normal people are sleeping,"
Asuka continued, "Second, you'll learn the stances and the
nomenclature."
"I know how to use a sword," Ranma told her, arms akimbo, "I just
need some pointers."
Asuka frowned, she stared at Ranma for a moment, then casually
threw the sword over the side of the building.
"Hey! That's mine!" Ranma shouted as he ran to the edge and
looked down.
"If you're going to be stupid, my pointer is: learn to depend on
other people to protect you. You'll just hurt yourself otherwise."
She turned and headed for the stairwell.
Ranma ran after her. I can't hit her, but - he thought as he
yanked the weapon from her hands.
"Maybe you," he told her as he threw it out and away as hard as
he could, "Shouldn't be so smart." When he turned back, Asuka had her
hand practically in his face, her fingers outstretched. "You missed."
"No, I'm teaching," she said calmly.
"What are you teaching?" Ranma sneered.
----------------------------------------
'Asuka,' Ranma heard Sammi's voice. "You're just being cruel."
"He needs to learn realities," Asuka said primly, "Besides, I
dragged his useless carcass back here didn't I? She would have been
lighter, but I didn't do that."
"Oh, what hit me." His hand found the bag of ice on the back of
his head. He was face down on the living room couch.
"My sabre-halberd," Asuka told him, "Haven't you ever heard of a
boomerang?"
Ranma tried to sit up, Sammi pushed him back down.
"Rest. You had a hard knock on your head. Your sword didn't
land on anyone when it took _its_ little flight. If you're going to
use a sword, you have to hang on to it."
He heard Sammi walk away.
"Very wise," Asuka said in a chirpy tone that made Ranma's
headache worse.
Asuka carefully rearranged the ice pack on Ranma's head. "What
say we try again tomorrow," she was still chirpy, "You have to
understand there are a lot of things you need to learn. The first,
does your magic weapon return when you call it. See, a real
professional always puts that in when he makes a powerful weapon. It
can even be used to attack. Can you imagine how?"
Ranma groaned, not just from the headache he had now, This is
gonna be a _long_ month.
" 'I'm Ranma Saotome,'" she said in his usual tone, patting his
shoulder, " 'I can never be defeated.' Especially by a girl."
Oh shut up! Ranma thought he could feel his headache getting
worse.
----------------------------------------
Click. Clatch. BLAM. Click. Clatch. BLAM. Click. Clatch.
BLAM. Click. Clatch. BLAM. Nabiki hated this, she didn't like guns
in the first place. The noise, the smell, they were a cheat, not an
`honorable` weapon. She'd always known you didn't need much skill or
training to use a gun. Watching the bullets eat up the center of the
paper target, with 20 Marines and a few dozen sailors watching, didn't
help. She stood in the Bennington's cavernous hanger deck and kept
her fingers in her ears, and flinched with every shot. Finally
Raccoon emptied the pistol, then the shotgun barrel into the target
set up on the deck edge elevator of the carrier.
"Not bad at 50 feet," the Marine ordinance sergeant said. He
took the paper target down while Raccoon carefully reloaded the
pistol.
"Okay, okay, show's over," a Marine captain - `major` told the
audience. The men grumbled and left, while the other Marines set up a
few partitions. The better to let Nabiki save face, when she tried to
use _her_ pistol.
She remembered the discussion this morning in her cabin after
breakfast. Raccoon had finished closely examining her pistol and
needed to talk to her about it.
----------------------------------------
Raccoon held the pistol up, Nabiki had just watched him remove
all the bullets and check the barrel, from the breech end.
"Okay." He set the empty weapon between them, careful to set it
so the barrel wasn't pointed at either of them. "What condition is it
in?"
"It's loaded with a bullet in the chamber," she repeated in a
bored tone, "I was listening."
"But you still don't respect it," he replied, "Unlike the martial
artists of Nerima, this is worth respecting, if only for how dangerous
it is."
"It's empty," Nabiki said. She didn't even want to touch the
thing, that it came from one of their alien enemies seemed almost
appropriate, she wondered if Nyarlathotep had given the human race
these things just to help destroy them.
Raccoon had a Government 45 on the table between them as well, he
picked it up. "You really think so?" He pulled back and locked the
slide. He put a wood pencil in the hole the empty bullets came out
of, then released the slide with a snap. The pencil's top half flew
through the air, the bottom dropped out the hole where the clip went,
after the slide cut the pencil in half. "I suppose you could hope and
pray that Saotome discovers some martial arts technique that lets him
deal with these monsters. Then put in an extraspecial prayer that he
can figure out what he did, and then pray for direct intervention from
God Almighty that he can actually _teach_ it to you. Or . . . you can
overcome your own prejudice and learn to protect yourself."
Nabiki frowned at him. Ritsuko had made it abundantly clear,
that Nabiki would learn to shoot. Ritsuko then had to lower the boom
on Maya, who was just as ignorant, fearful, and unwilling.
"Maya's at least learning to use a rifle," Nabiki groused, just
looking at the thing made her uneasy, "You, Rei and Asuka can hit
things at hundreds of meters with a rifle. What good is this?"
"In a city you won't have hundreds of meters. Tens, or more
likely ones of meters, especially with that shotgun," Raccoon
explained patiently.
That was the other thing that bothered her, he seemed to have
settled in for a siege. He expected her to be `unreasonable`, so he
had a soft, clear answer for every one of her objections. She'd seen
him do this to Ranma on several occasions, wearing down resistance,
pointing up positives, praising any progress no matter how slight.
She _never_ expected to be the recipient of that treatment, of being
treated as a stubborn, willful child.
"There is a major design difference between your Le Mat and most
modern pistols," Raccoon told her as he picked up the .45 auto.
"Half-cock." He pulled the hammer part way back. "Is a safe
position."
He handed her the pistol, butt first. "Pull the trigger."
She pointed it away from him, she'd gotten a lecture about that
from Asuka and Rei weeks ago, then almost the same words from Ritsuko,
Raccoon and an ordinance officer this morning. The trigger wouldn't
pull.
"Take it to full cock, then let down the hammer."
She did as she was told, not losing the hammer this time.
"But your Le Mat - " He handed her the large pistol, and double
clicked it to rotate the cylinder. "Pull the trigger."
She did, it took a lot of finger strength.
"But at half cock - " He pulled the hammer back so it clicked
once, the cylinder didn't move.
She barely touched the trigger, and the hammer dropped. "What
was that?"
"Hair trigger, some kind of double set trigger. I'll have to
find out if that was standard on the Le Mat, or a modification." He
took the pistol back, fully cocked it, then pulled the trigger and
lowered the hammer to half-cock. "With practice, you can do the same,
the lighter trigger pull will be useful for accuracy."
Like I'd ever shoot something, she thought sullenly, Why couldn't
I get a sword or a bow, something useful?
----------------------------------------
"Shouldn't I be learning to use a rifle?" Nabiki asked, banishing
the memory.
"Teaching the use of a rifle requires a level of physical
intimacy," Raccoon told her in Japanese, so the Marines wouldn't
understand.
"It was a date?!" she sputtered, "Do you do _anything_ without a
second motive?"
He stopped, paused, considered, then shook his head, 'no.'.
"Okay. Aim from here, to here, to the target. Just squeeze the
trigger. Don't worry about hitting the target."
Just try not to hit anything else, she thought he wanted to say.
Click. Clatch. click. She blinked, looked at the pistol, there were
bullets, well _shells_ in it. Or are there?
"Is this a standard trick, fill a gun with empty cases and real
bullets?" she asked angrily. She didn't like these games everyone was
playing with her about this thing.
"Maybe, you still flinch when you pull the trigger. Why don't
you assume they're all spent casings and just cock the hammer and pull
the trigger a few dozen times to get used to it?"
More being reasonable, she thought as she cocked it, took aim and
.. . . another empty. So was the next, and the one after, and the one
after that. All nine were that way.
It was with some contempt she flicked the switch to fire the
shotgun, cocked, took aim and _BLAMM_!_
"Congratulations. You didn't flinch until after!" Raccoon told
her happily.
She hadn't finished the flinch, still was recoiled and tensed
from the noise and force of the gunshot. It didn't register that from
20 feet, with a shotgun, she'd missed the target completely. Instead,
everyone was happy about her not flinching.
She didn't really hear the soothing words of encouragement
Raccoon was saying to her, as he peeled her fingers, one-by-one, from
the death grip they still had the pistol in. Two of the Marines
carefully set her in a chair, her arms and hands locked as if she were
still holding the gun.
"I think I've figured out your real problem," Raccoon told her.
Other people's words were starting to register on her consciousness
again.
"Wha -?" she said intelligently.
"You haven't named it," Raccoon explained, "I know it's silly,
but things aren't really yours until you've named them. Even if the
name is only 'my car'."
Visions of Asuza of the Golden Pair danced in Nabiki's head,
urging her on from mere consciousness to true sentience. That's
disturbing enough!
"Name -?" she said.
Oh, great! she thought as she shook her head to clear it.
"In Japanese, they call howitzers kyokushahou: arc shooting
cannon, or ryuudanhou: pomegranate bullet cannon. So you should call
it kyokukibi, it means fancy or tricky playing on an instrument. It's
appropriate, once you've let me train you, you'll be a regular Annie
Oakley."
Her mind finally queued up the kanji for the word. "It could
also be read 'meandering bullet'." She told him.
"What an amazing coincidence!" Raccoon sounded genuinely shocked.
Nabiki took the gun from his hand and marched over to the
ammunition table, missing the smile and thumbs up from the ordinance
sergeant as she reloaded, with live ammunition.
----------------------------------------
Invention Arises From Idleness
Admiral Adams looked at his small battlegroup. It felt strange
not having the Bennington's standard air group embarked. All it took
was one look at the damaged flight deck, and he could see why the
operational orders had included no plans for aircraft aboard
Bennington. Even the typhoon off Japan in June '45 hadn't done that
much damage.
He couldn't fault the EVA pilot, Davis had been excruciatingly
careful. The damn thing was just too heavy for an unarmored flight
deck to handle. There had already been talk about swapping an Essex
or two to the Royal Navy for an Illustrious-class or two. H.M.S.
Victorious had worked with the U.S.N. before, and H.M.S. Formidable
was in reserve. Installing the secondary generators, to give them the
150,000 horsepower necessary to tether power an EVA, had to be easier
than the flight deck repairs the Bennington or any other Essex would
need from one trip with an EVA.
But I'm not in charge, he thought.
"Penny for your thoughts, Admiral," Capt. Casey, his flag
captain, and Capt. Garibaldi, his chief of staff, approached.
"Just wondering whether capturing one of these things is a good
idea. We lost Castor and Pollux to two of the monsters they thought
were captured."
"There is that, Admiral," Capt. Casey replied, "But then we
aren't a freighter, and we aren't trusting the thing to stay asleep."
"We also have a technical staff to study it, Admiral," Garibaldi
added, "And extra Marines."
Adams nodded. Without the air group and its support personnel,
there were a lot of empty berths. The NERV troops took some up,
enough that the ladies each had their own cabins, and one head all to
themselves. It also meant they had a short brigade of Marines aboard,
mostly armed with the weapons that certainly seemed to work on the
monsters.
"Schedule a fire drill for about an hour before first light.
Then get the Marines up to speed on fighting fires at sea, dismissed."
"Yes sir," Casey turned and left.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Garibaldi remained.
"Of course."
"It isn't the monsters we're worried about," his chief of staff
told him, "It's the sealed orders."
"State your case."
"All the Marines, all the special weapons, two battleships
sheparding us. The Angels aren't really bothered by battleships,
somebody's expecting something else . . . and so are you."
"You could get a job as a carnival mind-reader," Adams told him,
"I've got rotating coverage, so there's always surveillance, fire and
'repel boarders' drills will cover the troops going armed a lot of
places. Putting them near the hull so the battleships can shoot
through. But it isn't enough."
"The special team is flying out of Pearl. They'll be here
tomorrow noon. We've still got enough flight deck to conduct
landings."
"Thoughtful wasn't it?"
"Admiral Simson's idea, sir. Anyway, why worry about something
we don't have to worry about, yet. We'll know for certain in a few
days."
"Thank you, Mr. Garibaldi, dismissed."
Garibaldi saluted and left the Admiral. Admiral Adams returned
to his own thoughts about his oath to protect and defend the
Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. He had to wonder
how peremptory that oath required him to be.
----------------------------------------
Asuka looked around Wondergirl's apartment. She restrained
herself from walking over to the wall, and scraping off the brown
layer to see what exactly was underneath. First, she didn't want to
know that badly; second, she doubted she'd ever get the gunk out from
under her fingernails.
" 'You all no doubt wonder why I've called you here today',"
Asuka quoted all bad detective stories, "So spill it, Spineless. Are
we here to sandblast these walls, or have you finally decided to
consummate your relationship with Wondergirl, and you need witnesses
and instructions?"
"NO!" Spineless shouted.
Asuka couldn't figure out whether Spineless or Wondergirl was
blushing more.
"Okay, Spineless, speak." She turned her back to them.
"Misato met this guy."
Asuka rolled her eyes, she knew where this was going.
"Penicillin, Spineless, or there's delousing powder."
"No, he seemed nice," Spineless said, "She isn't dating Kaji . .
.. she's going out alone, and getting drunk. Almost every night."
He'd gotten quieter with each phrase.
Asuka considered, "So what do you want me - us to do about it?"
"I'm not sure, that's why I needed to talk."
"All right," Asuka said gently, as she turned to face them.
Lead the children through the forest, Asuka told herself to stay
calm, No need to tell them about the wolves.
"We need to know who he is, where he lives, what interests -
Wondergirl, why are you writing this down?" Asuka asked her as she
scribbled frantically on a pad.
"It may have other applications," Wondergirl explained.
I may not have been too far off, someone may have to explain
things to them on their wedding night, Asuka thought.
"Wondergirl, there's a book, it's called the Kama Sutra, I
think."
"I have it."
Asuka stopped, she briefly wondered if this was how Horseface
felt when he encountered unfathomable mysteries, like long division
and wearing socks. She blinked, shook her head and hoped the crews
had cleared the wreckage of her train of thought. "Did you read the
words, or just look at the pictures? Don't run away Spineless, she
hasn't asked for volunteers yet."
"I can read all of it," Wondergirl seemed ashamed of the
admission.
Translation, I _have_read_ all of it. Asuka couldn't get the
images that conjured out of her head, Wondergirl sitting up nights
wondering what possible benefit this all brought, and whether it would
increase or decrease her and Spineless's combat effectiveness. Asuka
debated sending her to Sammi, or Admiral Simson, or both to ask those
questions. The idea of Wondergirl and Spineless actually trying what
was in there made her want to laugh and made her skin crawl, at the
same time.
Although telling Horseface it's a close combat stamina drill and
having an appropriate partner was critical . . . , Asuka thought, That
would certainly be good for a laugh.
"I'll -" she dropped the idea and returned to what they had been
talking about. "Wondergirl can find out anything. So let her find
out where he lives, where he works. Then we can observe him. If he
likes baseball, we can invite him to a softball game, let him meet the
other pilots. I understand the school's girls softball team is going
to have a few practice games. One's tomorrow. Getting Misato to come
will be interesting, we might even invite Kaji, just to make things
stimulating."
"They might fall into conflict," Wondergirl pointed out, as if
Asuka hadn't considered it.
"Of course, they'll fight over Misato. Remember how Spineless
felt when you fought for him?"
Again with the double blush, Asuka thought in disgust, Are they
one person or two?
"I remember," Wondergirl said quietly.
I ought to introduce these two to Belldandy and Dishwater, her
boyfriend, Asuka thought, The only other people on the planet as
totally clueless about romance as these two. She paused, considered,
No, even Horseface knows more, at least Ranko does.
"Okay, it's settled then," Asuka announced, "I'll go get some
more people, you find him and invite him, and her of course."
"Jawohl, mein Grosse Feldmarschall," Wondergirl said. [Of
course, my Grand Field Marshall]
Asuka stared at her. "Was that supposed to be a joke, Wonder -
Rei?"
"Nein."
"It isn't a joke?"
"It is nine jokes," Rei said, "Do you know what they all are?"
Asuka sighed, "I'm going to stop letting you talk to Raccoon when
he's going to get out of my reach." She left the room shaking her
head. Erin was waiting with Tomiyo outside. "Tomorrow we'll be
having a picnic at the softball game. I'll be spreading the word to
some friends and acquaintances. Spineless and Wondergirl will
probably need some transport, they've got a mission of their own."
"Naturlich {natšrlich}, mein Grosse Feldmarschall." Erin
snapped to attention and saluted. [Naturally, my Grand Field Marshall]
Raccoon, I am going to kill you so slowly when I get my hands on
you! Asuka thought as she headed back to the jeep with Erin marching
after and holding her salute.
----------------------------------------
Shinji glanced over at Rei, "What is a . . . ?" he wasn't even
going to try.
"A Great Field Marshall," Rei explained, "I looked up the highest
ranks in the German army and navy."
"Your idea?" Shinji was confused.
"I no longer wished to call her 'the Second', Maya suggested it
was disrespectful."
"Her name's Asuka."
"I do not wish to call her that either," Rei told him.
With anybody else, he would have thought they were trying to
evade the question. "We'd better start looking."
Rei nodded.
"How is that spelled anyway?"
"me-i-n gro-sse . . . "
----------------------------------------
Equal License In Bold Invention
Asuka walked into the warehouse, she'd been directed here by the
people at the university. She carefully picked her way through, Erin
was following, there was junk all over the place. Half assembled, or
half-disassembled machines, cannibalized parts, bookshelves made from
crates, all of it mixed together. The floor was clean, which
surprised her. Somebody took the time to dust and sweep in here, but
not reorganize.
Curious, she thought as she followed the voices near the back.
It sounded like a small, but friendly, argument.
"Keiichi Morisato," she announced. She recognized the boy, and
one of the girls, the other girl might have been a relative. The
corner she'd tracked them to was subtly different, the parts were more
organized, the few tools weren't lying around. The projects were
smaller, some clearly completed, a single small engine and a few other
motorized projects, some with wheels, some with wings. A couple of
postcards of German, American, and Japanese planes were thumb tacked
to one of the exposed wooden beams.
"Langley-san," he said as he stood, bowed, "I wasn't expecting to
see you again. There was nothing wrong with the quilt was there?"
The two girls had also bowed worriedly.
"No, it served its purpose admirably," she said, she looked
around, "You built all this?" She waited for him to nervously nod.
"A friend of mine builds a lot of stuff, he might have a paying
project or three for you, when he gets back in the country. He
demands the highest quality, this stuff looks like it might pass
muster."
The other girl, not his girlfriend, stood up, "Does he let girls
build stuff, does he - "
"Megumi," Keiichi warned, "Sorry, my sister works at the college,
she, uh . . . "
"She helps you build this stuff," Asuka calmly finished for him,
"Have you seen the EVAs? The long spear they started using recently?"
"The sonic glaives?" Megumi asked, "Yes, I've seen them."
"My design," Asuka told her, "So, no, he doesn't have a problem."
She tried to make her tone friendlier, "I was wondering if you wanted
to meet the pilots."
"Is Ikari Shinji-san going to be there?" Megumi asked
enthusiastically.
Good God! Spineless has a fan club! Asuka thought.
"Yes, and his girlfriend Ayanami Rei, and Saotome Ran - ma,"
Asuka said.
Yeah that would be our luck, it isn't supposed to rain tomorrow,
but Horseface changes right in the middle of a crowd, Asuka
considered.
"Yes, he does!" Megumi said for Keiichi, who didn't protest.
"When is it?"
"Tomorrow early afternoon," Asuka told them, "It's sort of a
command performance."
"Tomorrow," now Keiichi sounded a lot less enthused. He kept
glancing to the two girls flanking him.
"A command performance?" his girlfriend Belldandy asked.
"That means you have to come . . . or else."
The girl paled. "Or else . . . what?"
Asuka leaned close, smiled. "Something truly terrible, think
about it." Asuka straightened up, the girl looked ready to faint. At
least Keiichi and his sister got the joke.
Is there anyone in this country who has both a brain _and_ a
spine? she silently asked.
"Where?" he sounded like he wanted to refuse.
"Shibuyan park, am I pronouncing that correctly?" Asuka asked.
"Yes, no problem he'll be there." Megumi said quickly, "We play
softball there after the middle school team finishes."
"We'll be there to watch a friend who plays on that team," Asuka
explained.
"Well . . . " they still hadn't convinced Keiichi.
"We can have the picnic another time," his girlfriend offered.
"Well if it's a picnic you want, we already have people bringing
food. And if you want to drag her off into the bushes, nobody'll say
anything."
Good grief! Asuka griped inwardly, Horseface _and_ Spineless get
the same stupid, stupefied look, I wonder if they teach it in the
schools?
"Well now you have to go!" Megumi insisted, "And Bell's the best
cook, she could probably cater the whole thing if you wanted."
Belldandy suddenly looked alarmed.
Job, catered, Asuka put two and two together, You don't have to
drop an anvil on me, unlike the others around here.
"Well, full meals for . . . well it's twenty people, but they eat
like fifty." She pulled a billfold from her skirt pocket. "Would $40
cover the food, preparation and delivery costs, as well as a premium
for a rush job?"
It's only money, besides it'll give Curly and Hikari, and
Wondergirl and Spineless, a better atmosphere, and hopefully Misato
and her new boyfriend too, Asuka thought as she extended the bills.
There was no response except stunned looks from the trio. Megumi
shook herself loose first. "Yes, of course. We can do it. 13:00
hours?" She carefully took the money from Asuka.
"Yes, very good. Oh, one last thing, couples only, I'm afraid
I'll have to insist on that."
Megumi looked grim but nodded. The other two still looked a
little stunned.
"You said they were pilots," Megumi said, "Does that mean you can
fly planes too?"
"Yes and no, I can fly a plane, so can Raccoon, if it's a little
one," Asuka explained, "But the others can't." She paused to let them
ask any other questions, then Asuka took her leave.
"Mein Grosse Feldmarschall is too kind and generous,"
Erin told her when they left the warehouse.
"Double rations for lunch and dinner for the rowers on the
galley, and cancel all my appointments. I'll be water-skiing all
afternoon," Asuka said breezily.
"Too kind for words," Erin assured her.
----------------------------------------
Megumi took Keiichi's hands and danced around him. "We're saved,
we're saved! Belldandy said we didn't have to worry, it would be
provided for, and it was! The money you needed for the club and the
money we needed for the softball team just walked right in the front
door! You pay the fees, we get new equipment, HA!"
"But fifty people," Keiichi said.
"Oh good grief, for new equipment all the girls will pitch in,
the University cafeterias clean out all the unused food tonight and
we'll be doing the cleaning. Oh, it'll add me and Sora, and Tamiya
and Ootaki, and . . . that's sixteen, we'll call it 20 more. That's
seventy total."
"Tamiya and Ootaki?!" Keiichi was dumbfounded.
"You and I aren't carrying food for seventy people," Megumi told
him firmly, "Besides, I've seen the bodyguards the pilots have.
Saotome-san's looks like she could kill and eat a bear for breakfast,
and Ikari-san's is no weakling either. Besides there won't be any
beer or wine anywhere, they'll behave."
"I guess," Keiichi said.
"And did you hear? She can fly a plane," Megumi added.
"So?" Keiichi asked.
"That fighter you have hidden." Megumi saw her brother blanch.
"I'm not going to tell anyone, I don't want to see you go to prison.
But you always said you just wanted to see it fly. How do you expect
to fly it? If you try to get flying lessons, they'll arrest you
immediately. You have a chance to do a favor for a trained pilot.
You sell the plane to one of them, they can help get parts, and they
can fly it once it's finished." Megumi paused to let that sink in.
"Think about it, you might even be able to go to the States to work
designing cars or planes there. That's what you always wanted, ever
since we were kids."
"You've got my whole life planned out for me," he joked
nervously.
"Well somebody has to look after you," Megumi joked back. She
glanced at Belldandy, "She was joking about the 'or else', if she
really wanted us, she could always send out the army and drag us there
in chains."
"How can I tell Urd she can't come?" Belldandy asked, "She
doesn't have a date."
"And Skuld does?" Megumi thought that was hilarious.
----------------------------------------
Asuka walked in, she could smell Horseface's cooking. He wasn't
as good as Raccoon or Spineless, his stuff tended towards bland, but
he was no where near as bad as Misato. She was exhausted, Hikari had
been enthusiastic when Asuka told her, Yumi' had been equally raring
to go. Asuka wondered when those two would join forces and make sure
Curly married Hikari. It was almost scary. Mirei and her parents had
been delighted as well, although they teased Asuka about the endless
life of parties the pilots lived. Mirei's oldest brother had been a
fighter pilot, and had lived a similar lifestyle. They didn't have to
tell Asuka that he was dead. The Allied air forces had destroyed the
Axis air forces, survivors of long service were the exception, not the
rule. Spineless reported that Wondergirl found Hiro Takemono, he
could come, he also was looking for a position as an English teacher.
Asuka wondered if he could teach Misato and Horseface.
Whose English is painful to the ears, she thought she was
misquoting Shaw.
As Asuka sniffed the air, something didn't quite smell right, or
rather it smelled too familiar. "Hello? What is that?"
"Sausage, potatoes and boiled cabbage okay, Mar-chan?" Horseface
called from the kitchen.
She was about to say yes, when the last part caught in her mind.
"Mar-chan? Who's Mar-chan?" Asuka headed up the stair to the second
floor.
"You are," Horseface said, "Mein gro sen fe . . . Marshan.
Mar-chan."
Asuka began plotting whom she should kill first, and how much
they should suffer, before and during.
"I don't think that's a good nickname, Ranma." Sammi began
setting the table with forks, knives and spoons.
"Why not?" Horseface asked.
"It sounds like 'march on' in English, march on Poland, march on
Czechoslovakia, march on France . . . no, never mind, it's perfect,
don't change a thing."
"I'm surrounded by idiots," Asuka rumbled threateningly, "And
_NOW_ they think they're all comedians!"
----------------------------------------


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