The sun had barely climbed past the horizon, illuminating the street, to signify the start of a new morning, when a second light source blossomed on the vacant lot.
Where once had been no one, now stood two people—well, one person and one android.
“Man, that was bright,” Ranma muttered, blinking his eyes to force them back into focus.
“Sorry, Master,” Serena responded, twiddling her fingers. “I never bothered to take into account the optical effect of the new transporter systems.” She straightened up, pounding one hand into the other. “No worries! I shall endeavor to overcome this minor drawback in the redesigned system and make it work perfectly!”
“Uh … yeah, you do that,” Ranma responded, a sweatdrop on the side of his face. True, he hadn’t exactly assimilated all of Admiral Ruby’s memories, but even now, he could tell that the ten thousand years alone hadn’t exactly left the AI … normal.
Or sane…
Actually, he had better make certain she couldn’t launch fiery death upon certain locations of the planet if she felt they had done wrong to him. It be best not to give her any chances to require him to reset her to a system default. She had, after all, thought the best way to help him was a massive concussion.
“We should probably get going,” Ranma stated. “School starts in a bit.”
“But … don’t you need your books?” asked Serena, falling in step with her Admiral.
“Nah,” Ranma waved off. “If I actually pay attention when I get back, they’ll freak out. Have to do it slowly, or I’ll never get any peace.” While Admiral Ruby may have increased Ranma’s study habits—at least in things of a non-martial arts nature—it had also given him an ability he was often sorely lacking.
The ability to plan ahead.
And since he had no wish to constantly end up attacked by people thinking he was somehow possessed, it was best to slowly ease them into the new him.
Hell, even he wasn’t sure just what the new Him entailed yet.
Serena just followed in step behind him, wearing what was the traditional Furinkan High female’s uniform … modified to allow her access to the standard abilities of her android form, should her Master require them.
At least … until she procured a sample of Princess Serenity’s DNA and proceeded to the next step in robotic evolution!
“Serena, stop laughing like that,” Ranma cringed, “it is freaking me out!”
“Sorry, Master!” she eeped. She hadn’t meant to laugh at that moment. Hmm, perhaps she needed to work to achieve some semblance of an inner voice once again. She had been without an audience—aside from Queen Serenity—for ten thousand years…
“Halt!”
The duo blinked, looking out from the street they had entered, spotting … a military command bunker.
“Identify yourselves!” came the cry from a megaphone peeking out from over a pile of sandbags.
“Um…” Even Ranma wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Ranma Saotome and friend,” he offered. He really hoped that it wasn’t what he feared.
That hope dropped as he saw a member of the JSDF open up a small booklet, look into it, and then grab the megaphone. “Is the friend a … fiancée, either contracted or through some other means?” the military man yelled.
“No!” Ranma yelled in response. “She’s just a friend!”
“He is my master!” Serena yelled back.
“Um, Master, is something the matter?” she asked, noticing Ranma was now palming her face.
The guard seemed to ignore that, turning the pages in a book several times, as a man behind him was on a radio. “If that … turn to Page 79… If responded looks like… So I go to Page 504 now…”
“Um, Master, what are they doing?” asked Serena.
“Comes with my life,” Ranma replied, as a military jeep came racing down the street, stopping before them, and letting out a female military officer.
“Saotome,” the woman growled.
Ranma gave a weak smile. “Major Takahashi.”
“Where the hell have you been?” she yelled out, staring at him. “You’ve been gone for a week! You never filed travel papers! Do you know how much shit I’ve been put through because you didn’t follow the rules!?”
“WAAAA~AAAAH!” cried Serena. “I GOT MY MASTER IN TROUBLE!” She would have continued, but Ranma had been quick to place his hand over her mouth, lest she let the world know he now had access to weapons that could fry this section of the galaxy.
Slowly, the Major paused in her rant, glancing at the crying blonde. “Explain, Saotome … now!”
Ranma just shrugged. “Got abducted by an ancient warship, just now got back.” No need to tell her he had learned that he was a reborn military officer and that technically, not only did he outrank her—if Japan and the former Moon Kingdom had any sort of alliance that was still valid—but he actually controlled it. That could only end poorly.
Takahashi just stared at him, before pinching the bridge of her nose. It was probably the truth, which meant more paperwork for her. But at least her team could stand down. With Saotome back, this district might not devolve into a massive super-human battle zone.
‘Might’ being the operative word there. Just remember, you could be stuck over in Minato Ward like Major Takeuchi. “And her?”
“He is my master!” Serena chirped, tears dried up, before looking at the Major nervously. “Um … sorry, I didn’t mean to get my Master in trouble! Please don’t be mad at him!”
“Would you believe I freed her from the ship?” Ranma asked.
She just turned a dead glare on him. Letting out a deep breath, she walked into his personal space, before whispering into his ear. “If this comes back and bites me in the ass, Saotome; I promise one of my last acts before they try and toss me out will be to make certain you pay. Is that clear?”
“Crystal!” he squeaked.
“Colonel!” came a cry from the sandbag bunker. “We got incoming! Breach-7!”
The Colonel just let her eye twitch, deciding it was yet another heaping of ‘perfect’ to her already perfect day, not even feeling it necessary to turn around, even as the whining sound of a heavy-attack helicopter started getting louder.
Serena just blinked, her records having never come across any files within the Japanese Military computer systems, let alone another other military powers, including the UN. She, after all, had no idea that the whole point of the system that kept certain ‘anomalies’ from moving freely about Japan, was designed to leave no trail. If she checked the records of the military personnel nearby, she would have discovered they were all assigned to low-level desk duty.
From a street to the side of the intersection where they trio stood, the copter came in low, following the road, smoke billowing out a massive hole in the side, before striking the ground, pavement tossed up as the massive military vehicle was forcibly slowed, the rotors no longer spinning due to a safety feature to prevent massive accidental death lawsuits.
The only reason Serena didn’t grab her master and leap out of its oncoming path was that her calculations put it stopping only a few feet in front of them—a fact bore out as it finally stopped exactly where she thought it would.
Ranma barely gave it much of a look, only making an idle comment that whoever had made it, had changed the tail design.
Takahashi just continued to twitch, before she slowly turned towards the bunker. “Someone get Colonel Takada on the line and tell him that—once again—his perimeter was breached.” She hated having to deal with the fact that man couldn’t maintain a perimeter if he was to guard a trash can.
The fact that Mishima Heavy Industries always paid what was required of them for incurred damages didn’t matter, it was the principle of the thing.
“That was fun!” came a loud female cry from the smoking wreck.
Paling, Takahasi slowly turned. “Oh shi—”
“Nuku!” cried Ranma happily.
From the billowing smoke, a fuchsia-haired girl walked out, her school uniform slightly damaged, looking about. “Friend Ranma?” she asked, before spotting him, launching herself at a speed that surprised even Serena, and tackled him. “FRIEND RANMA!” she cried, as he spun her around to dissipate the force that would have crushed normal men.
Serena just glared, ignoring as Takahashi stormed over to the bunker and began yelling into the radio, preferring to scan the female who was being so familiar with her Master. Scans showed it to be a cyborg, advanced for the current technological level of the world, not even early iron tools when compared to Serena’s own design.
Though she did note darkly that the model did seem to have a larger bust than her own, causing her to alter plans for the technorganic model to have a larger chest size.
“How’ve you been, Nuku?” Ranma asked, setting the smiling girl back down onto the street.
“Nuku-Nuku heard Friend Ranma was missing, and wanted to help look for you. But the angry female Colonel told me that I couldn’t cross the line! And then Papa-san grounded me after they caught me trying to use a jetpack he borrowed Eimi-chan to go over the line and—WAAAAH! Nuku-Nuku is just happy Friend Ranma is back and she got to see him!”
Ranma just chuckled, patting the girl on the head—which for some odd reason, she preferred over a pat on the shoulder. “Yeah, got to travel to space, learned some stuff and came back with a new friend.”
Nuku-Nuku narrowed her eyes. “Friend?” Ranma’s friends tended to play mean.
“Yeah, but she’s a good friend, not a fiancée-friend,” he offered. “This is Serena,” he said, motioning to the android.
Blinking, then blushing that her Master called her a good friend, Serena stepped forward, extending out a hand. “Hi!” she stated. “Nice to meet you!”
Of course, she wouldn’t be a replica of the original Moon Princess, nor someone who had spent nearly 10,000 years alone, if she didn’t happen to blurt out things that came to mind.
“Why do you have a biological feline brain as your main central processor?”
Apparently, isolation can cause a lack of tact.
The street went silent. Nuku-Nuku’s eyes went wide as a look of panic formed on her face, afraid of how her secret would affect her friendship with a guy who had a bad fear because of what some naughty, hungry kitties did to him. The JSDF forces nearby dove behind their bunkers, clutching their service pistols, and praying they weren’t about to be forced to use them … to end their lives and avoid the pain that was about to descend on them.
Takahashi was only standing there, radio dropped, and wondering why the Kami hated her.
Ranma just blinked, wondering why the knowledge that Nuku-Nuku had a cat brain inside her—effectively making her a cat and justifying many of her mannerisms—wasn’t making him freak out. Maybe it is because of Ruby’s knowledge? he pondered, wondering if Ruby had—
“Oh!” he stated, blushing, and remembering a few incidents Ruby had with some of the Mao staff, including a pair of twins before he had been promoted to Captain. Sure, they had been in their humanoid forms on those occasions, but apparently it was enough to seriously deaden the fear the Nekoken had placed in him.
At least it didn’t mind Nuku-Nuku anymore. “Huh, how about that,” Ranma replied, scratching his chin. “Good to know, I suppose. How’d that happen, Nuku?” he asked.
The cyborg catgirl just blinked. “Friend Ranma isn’t scared?”
He just shrugged. “Let’s say I learned a lot in space and leave it at that.”
Takahashi narrowed her eyes, but put the locking strap back on her weapon. She’d have to order a closer watch on Saotome, just to make sure he wasn’t some clone.
The last two from some magic mirror were still causing trouble, even after they had been returned to their mirror. Some men still went to the base shrink, crying about how they missed them. It was probably a good thing Saotome didn’t know just how far some of those copies had gone. “Saotome!” she called out.
Blinking, the trio turned towards her before Nuku-Nuku could even tell the tale of how she became the android-woman she was today.
“My men just showed up with your school supplies, as well as a bike for Ms. Natsume. Don’t you think you three should head to school before the tardy bell sounds?” she asked, knowing it would end this uncomfortable meeting and finally allow her to go drown her sorrows in some expensive liquor while using her subordinates to do what they were meant to do: her paperwork.
“WAAA~AAAH!” cried Nuku-Nuku, realizing she would be late for school. “Talk later, Friend Ranma! Nuku-Nuku can’t be late again, or Papa-san will ground her from making mice-meat cheeseburgers!”
“… Don’t you mean ‘mince-meat’?” asked Ranma uncomfortably, praying Akane had never ‘accidentally’ used the furry rodents in her cooking.
“No! Mice-meat! BYE-BYE!” she cried, taking off at speeds no mortal bike should have been able to handle.
WHAM!
“Someone call a medical team for those pilots,” Takahashi muttered, as the female duo landed back inside the helicopter they had just exited from.
As the stressed-out military woman proceeded to head back to her jeep—and as a very nervous enlisted man handed Ranma his pack and lunch, though Ranma did note that the man’s vehicle also held a standard care package for Kasumi—the duo resumed their trek into Nerima, towards Furinkan High.
“You know a lot of weird people, Master,” Serena stated after they passed the bunker that was now being dismantled.
Ranma just chuckled. “Wait till you see my classmates.”
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(Posted Sun, 23 Jan 2011 02:55)
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