She scanned the instructions briefly. She was to report to the tower, pose as a reporter, assess the situation, and manage crowd control. Contingencies to be aware of were if the fight ended she would interrogate the victor, regardless of whom it ended up being. It was also going to be her responsibility to make sure that no civilians were harmed; one of the combatants involved was claiming to be a J.S.D.F. operative, and that meant that if things went bad, the blame would come to them first.
It wasn't an assignment that worried her much, outside of dealing with the combatants at all, as she wasn't much of a fighter, and had no real weapon skills. She was, primarily, actually a reporter, a rare combination of charm, hormonal balance, and latent (if weak) psychic powers allowing her to influence and sense the emotions of those around her.
She couldn't read minds, as much as she wished she could, but with her other skills, she was a natural seductress. Not, of course, that she'd ever given more than a peck on the cheek to anyone; she was good enough she could get what she wanted with the offer to hold hands, usually. It took time to set up, but assuming that her assistants in crowd-control didn't mess up, she was relatively confident she could get whoever was responsible for what was going on in the tower to explain everything to her.
The major concern, of course, was getting him in such a position that she could seduce him. As long as whoever won the fight was a human male. Her assistants were normal humans, but not fully-ranked J.S.D.F. Special Operatives. They had weaker latent psychic powers than her own, but with training, she was able to work with them to 'bounce' her emotional projections across more people, and to greater effect.
As soon as her van ground to a halt, fourteen of her amplifiers scattered from it and the two other vehicles that had followed, all dressed casually. They vanished nearly instantly into the crowd, only Nanami's vague sense of them letting her know how well they had placed themselves.
Her camera-man, Mizuhara Makoto, climbed out ahead of her, and hoisted the bulky equipment to his shoulder. "Okay, Nanami-chan," he asked, "do you want a shot of the tower?"
She shook her head, pointing to a thick knot of reporters, clustered around two dark-haired girls. As Nanami approached, the taller of the two girls growled, "Listen, no means no! I'm not selling any exclusive rights! Now leave us alone!" She brandished the naganita menacingly, but the reporters crowded closer.
The shorter girl made a frightened noise, and hugged the taller girl. Something in the polearm-wielder's features shifted, and her image went from annoyed to very angry. Whipping the naganita around her with practiced ease, she slashed the lens of the nearest camera off. "Last warning," she breathed.
The cluster of reporters dispersed, leaving Nanami, Makoto, and the two girls alone in an island of emptiness amid the crowd clustered around the tower. Debating for a moment her best plan of attack, Nanami began projecting calm through her amplifiers, to make sure the crowd didn't riot. The girl who had scared the other reporters off eyed her coolly, but did not approach or order her to leave.
The smaller girl gradually seemed to relax, and then said, "I want to learn how to use one of those, Akane-nee-chan!"
'Akane' blinked at this, and then looked at Hotaru askance. "Well, I guess I can teach you," she said cautiously. "You're about as old as I was when Daddy taught me...."
"Excuse me," Nanami said, stepping closer, and projecting more calm at Akane. "I'd like to ask--"
She was interrupted by the sudden simultaneous arrival of two more girls. The first was a girl with long brown hair trailing behind her in a spray of color, dressed in an okonomiyaki-seller's uniform, with a huge spatula held in one hand, hefted over one shoulder. The other was girl with slightly longer purple hair, wearing a two-piece Chinese pant-suit, and carrying a long-handed Chinese mace in each hand.
"Where Airen?" the purple-tressed girl demanded.
A heartbeat later, the okonomiyaki-seller asked, "Yeah, where is Ranchan?"
Akane pointed at the tower, and Nanami smiled. Not just one, but four people who apparently knew at least part of who her quarry was. "Excuse me," she said again. "Hi, I'm with channel eight. Do any of you girls have time to answer a few questions about Operative Saotome?"
"'Operative Saotome'?" the two new arrivals chorused.
Then the okonomiyaki vendor asked, "What do you need to know?"
***
Ranma's initial plan of attack on Tarou was relatively simple; use the long ropes of pantyhose with the rebound trick to jump off the tower, and then slam into the beast on the way back. It turned out to be less impressive than he had hoped.
While the pantyhose had the elasticity he needed once he infused them with a little chi, with even minimal martial skill, and eight extra limbs, Tarou just deflected what should have been a crushing blow, and Ranma very nearly flew off the edge of the tower before he caught himself with a hurled length of his makeshift rope. He spun out over the city, exiting through the west archway over the observation deck, then arcing around and re-entering through the southern archway.
After landing, he slipped into the Umisen-ken. He hadn't wanted a protracted fight, but unless he was willing to escalate to lethal measures, he wasn't certain how to beat Tarou other than slipping through his defenses and wearing him down.
This proved to be a mistake; while Tarou couldn't see him, he seemed to be able to sense Ranma's general position when he drew near. A lashing tentacle was easily avoided, but then two more followed in a combination blow. Ranma twisted to avoid them, and found himself captured in Tarou's hand. The other hand clamped on him, and held him still, struggling as Tarou began to chuckle.
***
"What's going on!" Ukyou shouted, breaking off Shampoo's explanation of this 'Saotome Ranma's' exploits. Nanami and Makoto both whirled to look at the edge of the tower, where Tarou was now dangling the would-be hero, unconscious, by one ankle.
"Oh no!" Akane yelped. "We've got to help him!"
"How?" Ukyou asked worriedly. "I can't throw that far!"
"Hope," Nanami decided, sensing the power of Ranma's emotions from the ground. He was struggling not just with unconsciousness, but a lack of confidence at the moment. Whatever the beast had done, it had certainly shocked or taken the fight out of the boy.... But Nanami had reasoned based on what she'd heard that Ranma was the 'good-guy' in this sortie, and even if he weren't, she'd rather try and seduce him than the beast.
She sent out an impulse through the amplifiers, trying to make the crowd more susceptible to suggestion, and a chant began from somewhere. Quietly at first, and then with increasing volume it went. "Sao-to-me! Sao-to-me! Sao-to-me!"
***
Ranma shook off the daze he'd received when Tarou had wielded him like a club, and smashed out the rest of the observation deck's ceiling. He'd always been resilient, but that had been a powerful blow ... though he felt oddly energized, as though some strange power was pulsing from the crowd below, restoring his strength to him.
Then he heard the crowd, chanting his name, and groaned. "Tarou," he coughed. "Listen ... I ... gotta say something."
Tarou narrowed his eyes, but nodded dubiously, hefting Ranma higher, to be near the beast's ears. "I ... want you to know," he began, drawing in the cheers of the crowd below like chi to, "that ... you suck. Mouko Takabisha!"
A brilliant sphere of golden energy erupted from his hands, slamming into Tarou's surprised face, and jarring him enough to drop Ranma.
Revitalized, he surged into action, using his bath-towel to control his fall until he could snag a support strut, and then rebounding back up to the tower.
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(Posted Wed, 20 Jul 2005 03:47)
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