“Man, giant robots are real?” Ranma said, trying to sound clueless. As near as she could tell, it worked pretty well, seeing as how Nabiki looked at her like she was stupid.
“Saotome, haven’t you been watching the news at all over the past week or so?” she asked in a tone one might use with a rather young child.
“Nope,” Ranma replied cheerfully. “I have enough problems as it is without hearing ‘bout the worlds.” Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that, but she had to admit he had a point. “So what’s the deal with those guys?”
“No one really knows,” the middle Tendo sister replied. “They showed up in the United States a few times over the past few weeks. Caused a lot of property damage too. These aren’t the same ones I think, although this one,” she pointed at Thundercracker, “does look like one of them.”
“Do you think they’ll come here?” Kasumi asked, looking a little pale at the thought. Ranma didn’t really blame her, although she thought she had it worse. After all, they'd probably just kill Kasumi, but they’s use Ranma as a slave and a weapon.
Keeping an unconcerned look on her face, Ranma shrugged. “Probably not. Nerima attracts crazy martial artists, not giant robots.” Picking up her manga, she headed for the stairs. “Night.”
"You’re going to bed?” Akane demanded. “With this going on?”
"Not my problem Akane. Not yours either. Besides, I’m tired.”
Akane glared at the girls back as she headed up the stairs. “That jerk,” she growled. “Can you believe him?”
“Actually, it’s just what I’ve come to expect from Saotome...” Nabiki’s eyes widened as she realized what was wrong. Ranma had been acting odd all night, and suddenly she’s back to her usual self. “Hang on a second,” she said, running for the stairs. The door to Ranma’s room was locked, but Nabiki had keys to every door in the house.
As she’d half expected, the bedroom was empty and the window was wide open. “I don’t believe it,” she muttered to herself. “He’s actually dumb enough to try and fight those things?!”
"So he just runs off without telling us,” Akane muttered, more then a little amazed himself. “Oh, I knew he was a stupid moron, but this, this is madness! How can he possibly think he can take on something like that?”
How indeed? Nabiki wondered. Normally, if Ranma was going to do something like this, she’d just charge in blindly. Instead, she had done a decent job of convincing everyone that she didn’t even care about something like this. If he hadn’t been acting odd earlier...
Could Ranma have something to do with those robots? Nabiki thought, before dismissing that thought. Something seemed to have changed Ranma, but most of those robots had been in the US so far. Resolving to get some answers out of the boy-turned-girl later, she headed back to the television. Maybe there, she’d see if Ranma survived this.
***
Ranma leapt from rooftop to rooftop, a steady stream of curses running through her mind. Cursing the Decepticons, Megatron in particular, herself for doing such a lousy job of sneaking out, Nabiki for being certain to pick up on her little lie, and the damn powerlink abilities that made her so damn valuable were just a few of them.
After a minute or two of roofhopping, Ranma decided that she was far enough away from the Tendo Dojo and transformed to Skylancer. The Minicon looked towards the central city area, where she could easily sense the energy signatures of the Decepticons. Odd, her sensors never used to be this powerful, but that was something to worry about later. For now, she transformed to fighter mode and took to the sky, hoping that she wouldn’t be too late.
Part of her wanted to get the hell out of here. After all, she had fled Cybertron to escape the plans the Decepticons had for her, and being anywhere near them was just asking for those plans to be carried out. But most of her being, Ranma and Skylancer both, knew that the Decepticons were here because of her. It was her responsibility, and her duty as a martial artist, to handle this. At the very least, lure them out of the city, where the JSDF might be able to handle them.
She just hoped there were no other minicons nearby to serve as victims, and that the police didn’t decide to make her a target.
***
Unknown to Skylancer, the news report of this battle was being shown right across the world, as this latest confirmed robot sighting increased the publics fear even more. This also meant that quite a few other interested parties were taking note of this conflict.
At Autobase, Optimus Prime ordered that the spacebridge be brought online for transit to Tokyo. In the old mining town of Silver Ridge, Nebraska, Megatron ripped apart a monitor in a fit of rage when he learnt of Thrust’s presence on Earth.
And more then a few minicons that had gotten their hands on television sets were glued to their seats.
***
Wreckage, leader of the Land Military Team, stared at the television with a mix of annoyance and fear. Next to him, Bonecrusher and Knockout were much the same. He ripped his optic away from the screen to duck over to the door. “Runway, Jetstorm, Sonar, get in here! NOW!”
Moments later, the Air Defense Team joined their friends in front of the television. “Oh, this is definitely not good,” Runway muttered.
“No doubt,” Jetstorm echoed.
“Uh-huh,” Sonar added.
“They showed someone before that looked a lot like Starscream after a paint job before,” Bonecrusher commented. “Apparently there’s only two of them this time.”
“One Decepticon is too many, Wreckage muttered. “Where’s this Tokyo place anyway?”
About half the world away from here,” Runway replied, “but with Space Bridge technology, that’s only a few seconds away from here.”
“Not long,” Sonar noted.
“Too fast,” Jet Storm added.
“You’re not kidding,” Wreckage said, used to the unique speech patterns of the Air Defense Team by now. “We’re pretty well hidden here, but it might be a good idea to – woah! What was that?”
***
‘That’ was a massive figure stepping out of a side street and nailing Thrust with a sucker punch that partially embedded him in a nearby tower. Pulling himself free, the Decepticon glared at the new arrival, a massive grey, white and orange-red figure, the Autobot symbol visible on his chest. “Jetfire,” he spat.
“Oh good, you recognize me,” the Autobot replied in a sarcastic tone of voice. “I was worried you’d forgotten me after so long.” His golden optics blazed with anger. “Get the hell off Earth Decepticon, and I’ll let you live this time. And be thankful that I’m giving you a chance Thrust, you know that you can’t take me on.”
“Normally, no,” Thrust admitted as he detached a small container from his leg. “But then, this isn’t a normal time,” he said as he removed a minicon and connected it to his left arm. “Now, let’s see how well you fare against me now rebel.”
“Fraghead,” Jetfire growled as he took up a battle stance. “All so high and mighty, while using those minicons as slaves to do all your dirty work.”
“Whatever gets the job done,” Thrust replied before laying into Jetfire with a blow that sent the larger Transformer reeling, following up with a spin that slammed him into a building.
Elsewhere:
See other episodes by Matrix Dragon
(Posted Mon, 10 Mar 2003 23:36)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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