Genma felt it necessary and fled, but he hadn't reckoned on one thing.
With +99% of all men and boys cut from the population, they stood out. Even crossdressing didn't exactly help.
What Genma was discovering also was that he was becoming very very popular. While his looks MIGHT have triggered revulsion in many prior to the plague, the women who didn't dislike the male prior to the plague found him newly intriguing due to several biological factors in place. This wasn't the first time since homo sapiens had come into being that the male population had taken a nosedive, though prior instances had been due to natural factors or wars usually and not a magically enhanced plague.
Ranma too had this "benefit." It didn't matter if Genma dressed him up in frills and lace, which Ranma at this point didn't care for at all, the girls KNEW that there was something off about the little tomboy scowling at the world.
When it was obvious that angle was not working (though Genma didn't know why it wasn't working) it didn't take long for the "clever disguises" to be dropped.
"That 'old housewife' disguise of his is kind of-" Mercury tried to find a way to put it politely.
"'Disgusting'? 'Pathetic'? 'Disturbing'?" suggested Mars.
"Well, yes," admitted Mercury.
"Where are they?" asked a cold-eyed woman in a military uniform.
"Bullet train to Osaka, we can move in to capture them at any time," said her equally hard-eyed subordinate.
"Don't bother," said the General. "They'll simply escape again. As long as we can track them, have agents around to intervene if necessary but leave them alone."
"General?" asked the aide.
"Men do not thrive in captivity," said the General. "Besides, I had family prior to Pluto's Kiss. If anything will draw out that bitch, his continued presence will do it. I want at least two snipers ready at all times. Have one load teflon bullets, the other use some of those fragmenting rounds."
"No grenade launchers?" asked the aide.
"Might hit the boy with the blast radius," said the General. "With that woman apparently able to sidestep certain defenses, we can't try to capture her alive. More's the pity."
"We're still going with the idea that the woman is part of a larger organization based on her comments and those weren't simply 'red herrings'," said the aide. "Her energy projection abilities might be a single talent while another utilized the transporter mechanism."
"People will be evaluating and re-evaluating that event for decades at least," said the General. "Just make sure the cordon is in place when they exit."
"There he goes," said Natasha.
"Are all units in position?" Inga asked.
"When he gets off at the station, the crowd will be thick enough. One tap with the stick, the drug injects," Natasha held up the short cylinder, "nighty-night for the boy and his father. Then all we have to do is load them up in the van and head out to the intercept point. Once we've the helicopter they won't dare shooting us down as we'll have the two."
"This is where they'll get off," said Atsuko Nakamoto of ACTion 5 News. "Take your places people, we've got ten minutes before the train arrives."
"We going to try for an interview?" asked the camerawoman, analyzing the light angles.
"Nope, we're going to follow him from a distance, send it to the station but not broadcast live - that way we won't cause a mob scene but the police can't easily confiscate our tapes if they find out." Atsuko winked. "We're going to film this guy as he does his martial arts and stuff, then edit things so it isn't obvious where he is - our ratings are going to go through the roof the longer we milk it out!"
"Well, he entered this universe at the age of five, now he's eight," said Mercury.
"He's gonna be a looker when he hits the present," said Venus.
"Hmmm? AHHHHHHHH!" Mercury proclaimed, pointing at where the tied up Pluto had been left.
"A LOG?! That ninja trick again!" Venus clenched a fist so hard her nails dug into her palm. "This time I break all her limbs!"
"AH! Silence Glaive... too slow!" declared Saturn as a shape leapt through the Gate.
"She's going after him again!" realized Mercury.
"It looks like she's planning on ambushing him in that train station!" Mars observed, gritting her teeth.
The train stopped. Genma and Ranma got out, taking in the barely crowded station for a moment before:
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sat, 25 Sep 2004 06:44)
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.