After school, Ranma tells his crew (thanks mom) that he will meet them at home because he wants to get things ready for some training for when they get there. 'OH Yeah, Kurt or Tenma said he is going to show up tonight sometime so we can get to know each other.'
Ranma quickly (to everyone else but not for him) runs home. 'I have some things to go over with mom.' *** You see Scott openly scowling at the 'Brotherhood' crew and especially Ranma.
"Now Scott, you know full well that he did what he did to get to his mom and stop her from doing anything stupid."
"But Jean...he is a rouge...human....mutant...or whatever. We know that whatever he is, Mystique holds his allegiance, but is it coerced or something more sinister?"
Kitty and Kurt watch him rant and Kitty chimes in, "Scott, you are just pissed and scared that this one person, whether he is Human, which I doubt, or Mutant, stomped on and tossed most of us around like pathetic newbies. But you have to at least admit that he is cute, right Jean?" Kitty asked her with a huge (shitty) grin on her face.
"Ah, Um...I can't say Kitty...Ah...I was not looking that closely." she finished lamely, blushing, looking back and forth between Scott and everyone else.
Her answer, or lack of one, set off another round of laughter (except from "sour puss Scott" and Jean).
"Well Kitty," Kurt said,” can't say if he was cute, but I guess I can say...that he is handsome. And yeah, he sure made us look like we were...?"
"Newbies, pathetic, standing still...I can go on" Rouge offered.
"Not needed Rouge." Scott answered.
"Oh Kurt. Are you still going over tonight?"
"Yes I am Rouge. Have you changed mind?"
"NO! I want nothing to do with that woman."
"What about Ranma? His is our brother."
"Your brother, and at best, my adoptive brother. That is if I even want to."
"It is your choice Rouge, but remember, how it was with us when found each other and discovered the truth? I count that as a great day for me. To find out that I had a sister. Add to that, how we have become a family."
"O K Kurt, I get it, but I make no promises with him. And you know how I feel about her, so don't ask."
"Hey Kitty" Jean called out sweetly. "Isn't that Lance over there? Maybe you can "Pump" him for some more information." You could see the look of “payback is a bitch” on Jean’s face.
"You go girl" Rouge catcalled.
‘I am going to get Tabitha for starting that!’ “Hey, it was just two friends sharing pizza, nothing more!” Her face was scarlet as she tried to explain herself. She decided that talking to Lance was a good idea, if it would get her away from her “friends.” “Hey Lance, wait up.” Both Kitty and Kurt ran down to talk to them.
“Hey yourself, Kitty. What’s up?” Lance said with a genuine smile. He was happy to talk to her anytime. Maybe soon, he could ask her out on a ‘real’ date.
“Earth to Lance? Are you still here?” Everyone was laughing at him because Kitty was waving her hand in front of his face and he was totally zoned out.
“Of course, I am” he grumped out trying to cover it up, but failing miserablely. “What do you want to talk about?”
Well, Kurt and I were wondering about that guy you were talking to? The new kid here at school.” She added a couple cute eye blinks to help out.
Kurt, Todd, Fred, and Wanda were trying hold back their giggles, and thankfully, they were successful.
“Uh, you mean Ranma? Well…you remember how I was telling you about when we were sent by Mystique to deliver a care package to Magneto’s secret base? That package, it seems, was intended for him, but he did not need it because he had already broken out. Just sticking around long enough to put a hurtin to all of them, including Magneto.”
Kitty smirked and looked back a Scott who back to scowling at Ranma’s quickly disappearing form. “I guess we should not feel so bad now. What I figure is from what you were saying is that he escaped from Magneto, and then he arrives at the mansion to save his mom. From what I was told, he hopped the fence and then took out the defenses by hand. He dodged around Scott’s blasts, and somehow he got around him and cold cocked him. Jean tried to stop him, but he shot out an energy blast of some sort and distracted her so he could get away. Kurt…” she looked at him with some pity. “Kurt tried to stop him and that did not work. Here is the strange thing, he was ‘bitch slapping’ Wolverine around then somehow created a tornado to take him out.”
The Brotherhood was stunned. Then Wanda started laughing, closely followed by the other ‘hood’ members. Kitty and Kurt looked on in confusion and concern.
Wanda explained. “You could say that we understand your pain. I guess after he left your place; he and Mystique came back to her house. Pietro tried to act big and bad, but as you can guess, Ranma knocked the guys around.”
“Is that true Todd?” Kurt asked.
“Yeah. I tried to get him and all I remember was coming down to land on his head. The next thing I know was, ‘Ow, I hurt. Oh the fight's over?' Fred, you have anything to add.” He smirked at Fred.
“Ha ha, for a little guy, he sure can hit. He even used a paper fan to throw me into the air. Let me tell you, that hurt.” He started to laugh again.
Everyone joined him in laughing.
***
“Mom…are you here?” he yelled. Ranma was scanning, a little worried (ok, maybe, worried a lot). Not that he would admit it.
“In the back Ranma. So, how was school?”
“Hey Mom." he sighed in relief. "School was school. I guess it was better than Furinkan, but I understand now what you were saying. I really wanted to thump on a bunch of bigots and also that ‘baka’ with the red glasses. I was hoping you had a few minutes? I wanted to talk with you about some things.”
"What is it Ranma?" she asked concerned.
"Nothing Major, I just wanted to toss out some ideas and ask for your take on our "team."
'Thank you God!' she thought and thought again on the strangeness of her of all people, talking to God again.
***
"Ok everyone. Today, we will start with conditioning. I need to get you all into better physical shape and also into the proper mindset."
"So how are we going to do that?" Lance asked as they followed Ranma out into the yard.
"Easy" Ranma smiled. He pointed at some stakes in the ground. "This will be our Dojo, our place to practice."
Todd wanted to ask about something that was bothering him. "So, where are the materials, the tools, and who is going to build it?"
"That is easy Todd, we are." Ranma said to a surprised crowd. "Not only will we work on strength and flexibility training, but we can work on our powers and teamwork."
"What?...No Way!...How is this going to work?...Oh, I am going to die!"
"That is what I like to hear." he laughed. "An ounce of prevention equals a pound of pain."
Everyone, including his mom, was looking at him like he had a screw or two loose.
"Now team, how can you or your powers help us with this challenge?" He looked at each in turn waiting for any answer. "Lance? Do you have anything?"
"I have my powers, but they are not exact. I could use my powers to compact or loosen the soil." he said while pondering some more on the question.
Fred chimed in, "Strength, ah...that is it. Hmmm, yeah, that is it."
"All I know is I am not using my tongue in the dirt. It takes too long to get the grit and taste out of my mouth." Everyone else chuckled at his comments.
"Well," Wanda started. "I do not think that my powers will help in anyway I can think of."
Ranma watched their confusion and figured it was normal. They had to get to know him and it looked like they were going to have to get to know themselves too. "Powers, wowers then, we will do this the normal way then. Everyone grab a shovel and we will begin."
There was the expected grumblings of, "What a heartless bastard." "Hey, I hear Kitty calling." "I am definitely asking for seconds tonight." "Nos Morituri Te Salutamus (We who are about to die, Salute you)."
***
"Boss Lady, can you get the door."
"Todd, you can get it yourself you lazy boy."
"No, Mystique" Wanda croaked. "We can not lift our arms. I do not even think that I can scratch my backside. And no Todd, I do not need your help for that! Lance has not made it to the door yet, he is about 6 feet out and still crawling."
"Die Fucker, Die!!! When I get control of my arms again, I am going to shake you so hard; they are going to call me 'the Nanny.'" Came a pained muttering.
"Ok, Ok, I am coming." She went to the door and saw Lance, Todd and Wanda looking almost like the children from 'Oliver.' All three somehow were covered in dirt and Todd and Wanda were both swaying in place like they were on a ship at sea. Both of them seemed to fall through the door and head to the bathroom to clean up. That is until Wanda used her powers to make sure that she won that race. "Todd, I must ask you to pick yourself up and when you are done bathing, I want you to clean up your mess that you made." She was able to hide her smile at their antics. "Ranma, Fred, hurry up out there, dinner will be ready soon and I want you both cleaned up before then. Oh and if Lance has not made it by then, pick him up and bring him in
"Ok Mom"
"Coming!"
She turned around to finish the meal when she heard a blood-curdling scream come from outside. She rushed to the door with one of her hidden guns drawn expecting the worst. What she saw was Ranma hosing down Lance, who still has not made it inside. "Ranma, what in the heck are you doing?" She was trying to break her habit of cursing because she has put this restriction on Ranma and as a mother, (she is trying) she has to set a good example.
"Huh, what do you mean mom? I thought seeing how Lance did not seem to be able to get to the shower to get cleaned up that I would help him out." Somehow, only a little smirk was visible.
"!*^%#!!!" (I will not print what was said incase there are young reader reading this)(But I am sure that people can fill in the blank)
Fred just stood back, thankful it was not him getting hosed down. And if Lance wanted to get back at Ranma and not him, he would wish him good luck. He was feeling bad enough as it was, he just did not want any more crap if he could help it.
"Ranma,..." she tried to be stern, "just make sure he is dry before he comes in. I do not want anymore mud in here. Todd already has his mess to clean in here. Fred, don't stand there. That is unless you are waiting for your turn or are you waiting for a chance to squirt Lance?" She said this with a knowing look on her face as if she already knew what was going through their head. She turned back to finish up in the kitchen.
Fred decided that getting out of the field of fire the best thing he could do.
"Hey Mom, how much time till dinner?" Ranma asked coming through the door.
"Ranma...where is Lance?"
He motioned her to the door and points outside where she can see soaked Lance drip drying on a make-shift drying rack that Ranma put together.
She just shakes her head and points at Ranma then points at Lance, then walks back in. She doesn't like the mess in the yard either, so she goes to get her portable holographic generator to make the yard look normal, at least for the time being.
***
(After dinner)
"Ranma, don't you think you over did it today?"
"No I don't mom. I think that I was doing the hard part. All they had to do after the first hour is carry the buckets. Except Fred, I had him add duck walks every other trip. They will thank me for this later, I am sure of it." He said this with a sincerity that would convince almost anyone.
That is except the other people in the room who were staring looks of pain and immolation at him. They were feed and about ready to fall asleep where they sat when everyone heard what sounded like a car crash outside.
"Mom...did you forget to shut off the...what's it called...hologram...off?"
She gave an embarrassed nod of her head. Then she remembered that Kurt was coming over to get to know his brother better. 'Ah shit'
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:10)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.