“Hey Mystique, Fred sat on the TV again, yo!”
“I’ll be down in a minute…” Ranma wracked his brain for a name to go with the voice from the other side of the door. “...uh, Todd!”
There was silence for a moment, before the teen on the other side of the door spoke up hesitantly. “…um, alright then. Later.” A series of thumps moving down the hall were all Ranma needed to tell that the guy was gone.
Sighing in relief, Ranma glanced curiously around the room, taking in the sights. It literally looked like a bomb had gone off, or to be more accurate, one large bomb and a number of smaller ones. The remains of a vast, ornate bed, a wardrobe, a dresser and a desk had been piled in one corner, along with the shattered remains of what could have once been a chandelier. A section of the carpet and floor against one wall, most likely where the bed had been, had been blown to pieces, and burn marks were scattered across the floor, walls and ceiling. “…little bitch ever shows her face around here again, and I’ll…” He grimaced and shook his head. “Woah, where did that come from?” A memory of a freaky-haired blonde walking away flashed in his head, but it didn’t really help.
“I guess I’d better head downstairs before those morons break something else.” Not entirely remembering just who the morons he was muttering about were, Ranma shoved open the door and stepped out of the room, locking the door behind him. The walk downstairs to the dining room/kitchen had him shaking his head in disgust. “Man, this place is a dump!”
A massive blonde kid with a mohawk answered absently while ripping open a bag of nachos. “Yeah, but what can you do?”
Information popped into Ranma’s head. ‘Freddy Dukes. Blob. Super strength and invulnerability.’ He remembered recruiting the hefty teen from a monster truck rally, where he was essentially a sideshow attraction.
A longer-haired brunette pouring milk into a bowl of cereal looked Ranma up and down curiously. “That’s an interesting new look for you, Mystique.”
‘Lance Alvers. Avalanche. Earthquakes.’ Picking up the brunette ground-shaker and giving him his codename was the clearest memory Ranma had of the one-time X-Man. Prompted by Lance’s observation, Ranma once again took in his own new appearance; he still looked somewhat like Ranma Saotome, only aged to his mid to late twenties, with dark blue skin and dark red hair. His lean but obviously muscled body was clothed in loose black pants tucked into equally black boots, topped with a black muscle shirt and gloves.
The pale twerp perched on a chair took a break from slurping away at the flies buzzing over the sink. “Hey yeah, man! I was wonderin’ why you sounded so different a minute ago! What's the deal?”
‘Todd Tolansky. Toad. Human frog, ‘nuff said.’ Ranma had mixed thoughts as he stared at the skinny teen. On the one hand, Todd kinda reminded him of a kicked puppy, and he was his…MYSTIQUE'S first recruit and lackey in the Brotherhood. On the other hand, Todd smelled. Badly.
“She’s a shapeshifter, insect. Do you honestly think that she’s gone all these years without taking on a male form every now and then?”
While the boys of the Brotherhood considered this line of thought and shuddered in distaste, Ranma eyed the attractive girl who’d kinda defended him. ‘Wanda Maximoff. Scarlet Witch. Bad-luck bolts.’ It took a second for Ranma to notice that the Scarlet Witch was studying his body appreciatively, in much the same manner Nabiki occasionally did when she thought he wasn’t looking. ‘Quick, think up a distraction…AH HA!’ “What happened to the TV?”
Toad glared and pointed accusingly at a suddenly sheepish Blob. “Chubbsey-ubbsey over there parked his massive butt on it, yo!”
The gigantic teen flushed in anger and embarrassment as he glared back. “It isn’t my fault; people keep moving it around!”
Slamming his fist on the table, Lance stood up to get some height over the sitting Fred. “No, Fred, we don’t move the TV around! We didn’t move it around the last time you sat on it, and we didn’t move it around the time before that. The TVs are always in exactly the same spot they were always in, every single fucking time you sit on them!”
Ignoring the slightly quivering floor, Freddy shot up out of his seat, ready to defend himself. Fortunately for the structural integrity of the building, Ranma stepped between the two, absently noting that he was no longer as short as he used to be. In fact, he was the second tallest person in the room, with only the huge Blob being any taller. He pushed away those thoughts for later. “Enough! Sit down, both of you!” The two teens glared at each other, but reluctantly backed down on Ranma’s command. Once they were seated, Ranma decided to try a little Nabiki-esque dealing, aided by Mystique’s lurking cunning. “I want this place cleaned from top to bottom, and you guys are gonna do it.” They three males naturally looked like they wanted to disagree, but Ranma cut them off. “The cleaner this place is by the time I get back, the bigger the new TV will be.”
Suddenly intrigued, the three original Brotherhood members glanced at each other before Lance spoke up for them. “How clean are we talking about?”
Ranma thought it over for a second. “…clean all the garbage out of the group areas, empty out the fridge and cupboards, and the bathroom, toilets, and kitchen have to be spotless. I’ll leave you some money for lunch and dinner, and we’ll discuss the TV tonight when I get back. Deal?”
Again, the three male teens silently conferred, before nodding to each other and turning back to their blue-skinned boss. “Deal.”
Freddy eyed Ranma suspiciously. “What are you going to be doing all day?”
Todd piped up. “And what about my cuddle-bumps?”
Ranma wasn’t particularly surprised when Wanda hexed Todd into a wall - he'd done similar things whenever Kuno had hit on his girl form - and he waited until they’d both regained their composure before answering. “I’ve got some stuff to do. Nothing big, but Wanda will be coming with me.”
Staring into a mirror just inside the front door of the Brotherhood house, Ranma tried to figure out how Mystique’s power worked so he could change himself into a more normal-looking form. ‘Ok, gotta look…’ He blinked his suddenly blue eyes as he noticed his now Asian appearance. “…normal. Huh. That was easy.”
“What is?”
The transplanted martial artist spun in place to face the chaotic mutant walking down the stairway towards him. “Nothing! Uh, ready to go?”
Wanda arched an eyebrow, both at Ranma’s reaction and his new appearance. “I guess. Where are we going, and why do you need me?” Ranma didn’t answer, instead waving for her to follow him out the door and to the footpath. “No car?”
Ranma winced faintly, easily imagining the end result of him trying to drive with incomplete know-how. “Nope, no car. And I don’t really need any help, I just thought you’d rather get out of the house than help that lot with the cleaning.”
The Master of Magnetism’s daughter stared at him curiously. Mystique had helped her escape from the hospital, introduced her to a woman who could teach her control, and given her a place to stay, but Wanda was under no illusions as to the shapeshifter’s motives; Mystique wanted revenge against Magneto, and Wanda was just the weapon she was looking for. That suited Wanda just fine, because she wanted to kick her old man’s ass, too. But now, that same manipulative woman was acting…nice. It also didn’t hurt that Mystique’s new body was easy on the eyes. “So, where are we going?”
The metamorph frowned, confused. “What?”
Now Wanda knew something was off with the older mutant. Mystique was the sort of woman who NEVER looked confused. “I don’t have anything better to do, so I’m coming with you.”
“…well, if you’re sure. Anyway, something weird happened this morning, and I need to
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(Posted Tue, 23 May 2006 18:35)
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