[Episode 22405] [Episode 22405]Genma had no idea where he'd found the kumquat-sized, fleshy lump. He had a vague memory of a bar, a strange man in a hooded robe, something about a contract, and then everything was blank. When he'd woken up the next morning, the strange piece of living (and hadn't that freaked him out when he discovered it?) tissue had been in a special container in his lab, and a thin file lay on his desk.
Reading through the file, he'd found nothing to indicate where either had come from, or who'd been responsible for them ending up in his lab.
What he had found though, was that the so-called "Gene-seed" had been invented by a genius so great that he'd been declared a God, to be used in the creation of his superhuman warriors, the "Adeptus Astartes" (Genma didn't even try to pronounce the foreign word). The file then went on to describe, in general terms, the function of the organs would grow from each of the nineteen kernels in the Gene-seed - everything from improving the taste buds to a secondary heart and a third lung to venom glands and a built-in chest plate.
What the file didn't describe was how the organs were to be grown in vats and then implanted, over some eight years of physical, mental and emotional conditioning, liberal brainwashing, constant medical surveillance and hormonal treatments, in a person selected from amongst billions of potentials to match a specific genetic profile.
Genma, in his ignorant genius, decided to implant the cells directly into the foetus, allowing them to become natural parts of his heirs body. Said and done, he went about creating a foetus using the Gene-seed as well as his and his wife's DNA, which he then implanted in his sleeping wife - a process made much easier by her willingness to engage in wild sex anywhere, at anytime, until one or both of them were unable to continue. The trickiest part of it was wearing her out enough that she'd fall asleep in the lab, but that was one effort in the creation of his heir that Genma was happy to make - and really, why would anyone with a hot young wife ready, willing and eager to play "Mad Scientist and Assistant" or any variation on that theme complain?
Point of fact: the main reason Mido Nodoka married Genma was because, despite her insatiable sex drive, she had no intention of committing adultery, and only a high calibre martial artist stood any chance of matching her endurance. Well, that, and the "Horse" name tradition among the men of the Saotome clan was descriptive, in more than one way.
Over the following nine months, Genma would occasionally repeat the process (sometimes he had to try once or twice before he managed to stay awake afterward, but that was hardly a chore) of getting his sleeping wife onto his lab table, so that he could implant and monitor the Gene-seed's special cells. In spite of some nervousness on Genma's part - he was well aware that his improvised procedure might have failed - the baby developed, if not normally, then certainly healthily enough. There was a small snag though.
When Genma delivered his son, having no intention of letting someone who might notice the discrepancies (two hearts, three lungs, corrosive saliva...) get their hands on the boy, he immediately noticed something he hadn't counted on. As the boy came out of his mother's womb, he was covered in soft, black plates, which rapidly hardened as they dried off. The Black Carapace, despite the description as a "chest plate" (which would have been bad enough, in retrospect) seemed to be more along the lines of "full body armour".
Frantically, Genma wrapped his screaming son (who seemed determined to prove that three lungs could be louder than two) in the soft towels he had prepared and tried to think of something, anything, that would let him stay alive and preferably in one piece.
"A-anata..." Came his wife's voice, "can I see him? Our baby..." Genma cringed. Despite every ounce of his self-preservation screaming at him, despite knowing that he was signing his own death warrant, Genma couldn't keep his son from his wife. For a moment he felt an odd sensation, fear, not for himself, but for his son, and he prayed that the boy wouldn't lose his mother's love because of his father's folly. Then, the far more familiar sensation of fear for his own skin returned, and he prayed that his son wouldn't lose his father to his enraged mother. Unable to stall any longer, Genma handed the towel-wrapped bundle to his wife and turned away in shame. He couldn't bear to see his beloved wife's reaction as she saw their son, nor did he wish to see the accusation he knew would come as soon as she figured out the most likely culprit for their child's condition.
"Our baby boy..." He heard his wife's breathless whisper, and despite the urge to cry or run away, Genma steeled his back. This was one mistake he couldn't run away from.
"I'm- I'm sorry, No-chan..." Genma began, forcing his voice to remain steady. "I- I didn't, I mean, I never meant to-" His wife interrupted.
"You're sorry?" His wife sounded incredulous and Genma couldn't help but wince as he imagined her facial expression. Still, he could not bring himself to turn around and face her.
"I- I experimented. On our son. Or my son was an experiment, I don't-" He got no further before his wife interrupted again, her voice tinged with suspicion.
"Experiment? What kind of experiment, Genma dear?"
By now, Genma was past cringing and entering a strange sort of calm, the certainty of his grisly fate replacing his fear with acceptance.
"It wasn't- It was meant to make him a worthy heir. Not that he wouldn't have been anyway, but I- there was an opportunity. I had, well, a chance, a way to make him more, more than just a man, more than a mere mortal. I saw the chance and, well, I took it." By now, Genma was rambling, the true proof of his scientific genius - the Mad Scientist Monologue.
"It was so easy; just ensure that the foetus carried certain identifying markers in the genes, monitor it's, his, development, implant the special cells so that they'd become a part of his body. Even just with the first three, he'd be bigger, stronger and tougher, with the other... Some, I'll admit, weren't really necessary - but the Larraman's Organ? Any bleeding, be it little scrape or an open wound, closing as fast as the blood can flow through! And the Preomnor - he'll never go hungry, ever! He could live on grass or even dirt! With the Omophagea, he can eat animals and gain their instincts! How to hunt, how to survive... How to fight! Kung Fu? What can the masters teach him of fighting like a tiger or a snake when their blood flows through his veins, their spirit flows through his soul?!"
Genma paused, taking a deep breath. He didn't need to turn around, his imagination supplied his wife's face, contorted in fury and disgust. Yet he had to explain, for his son's sake, if not his own.
"The others... Better eyes, better ears, better senses overall! His sweat will protect him against the burning desert or the freezing tundra, his skin will instantly adapt to protect him against the sun! Two hearts, three lungs, an extra liver, even injuries that would fell Benkei will barely slow him down!" Now, Genma was on a roll, gesticulating wildly as the thoughts that had led him to try the whole experiment were finally being expressed, after almost a year of silence.
"He would be a man, no, not a man; more than a man. He would be a super-man, not that silly Gaijin hero, but a real one, flesh and blood yet so much more! Except..." Genma's voice broke down, the image of his son, covered in black, chitin-like plates filling his mind. "That damn carapace... It wasn't supposed to be like that! None of my tests showed it, how could I even begin to suspect it?! It was supposed to be an interface for an armour that doesn't exist, it was supposed to be a natural body armour protecting his chest! It wasn't supposed to be-" Here Genma turned around, the sheer momentum bringing him face to face with his wife.
For a moment, he cringed again, expecting to see the hate reflected in those blue eyes. What he saw though, had him blinking as he lowered his arms, his mental train thrown off track and turned into a tulip in high orbit thinking; "Not again!"
His wife, worn by childbirth, under a thin blanket on the medical bed, her red hair striped with sweat framing her face. Her shirt open, laying bare her full bosom, against which she pressed the bundle containing their son (subconsciously Genma crossed out one of his fears; at least his son was safe...). His wife's expression though, wasn't one of disgust, nor hatred. It was tense and somewhat mercurial - as she gaze down on their child, her features relaxed and filled with pure joy and love. As she gazed up at him, the love remained, but her gaze also hardened, one eyebrow rising sharply.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about, husband dear..." She began, her voice completely normal and all the more terrifying for it. "But I could've sworn that you just claimed to have been experimenting on my little Ranma?"
Disbelievingly, Genma stared at the head attached to his wife's nipple. It wasn't covered in a helmet of black plates. In fact, the only black on it was a thin mop of hair, on top of the healthy creamy pink skin of his newborn son. The martial artist-slash-scientist could only blink disbelievingly, before meeting his wife's eyes again. Nervously, Genma swallowed.
Oh shit...
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(Posted Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:11)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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