by W. Samuel Ashley
[Ranma+Akane goes here]
“Why that little…!” Ukyô
drew her daihera and stomped over to the couple.
Correction, she realized: she tried to stomp
over but unaccountably failed to move. Someone had her arm in a
very strong grip. Only one guy here, other than her Ranchan,
could manage that.
“Hands off, Ryôga!” she spat without
looking back, without looking away from him, from her, from THEM,
sitting together and holding hands as if they actually meant anything to each
other, as if he could ever possibly be anyone else’s but
hers—
“Let it go, Ukyô.” His voice
cut through her building rage somehow, its sheer deadness shocking her back to
reality (and shocking her further as she realized what she’d been about
to do). “There’s no point.”
Tearing her gaze away from Them, Ukyô made the
mistake of looking the lost boy square in the eyes. They were more
lifeless than his voice, empty of hope, showing nothing but despair and pain
and deep regret. Before those eyes she couldn’t feel any trace of self-
pity, for she knew without doubt that Ryôga’s hurt went deeper far
than her own.
“It’s over, and we lost,” he
continued. “We were never even in the contest, really. All
either of us can do by going on is hurt them. Both of them.”
Sheer exhaustion damped his angst-aura down to the merest flicker of yellow-
green flame.
If Ukyô had a mirror, she’d have seen
traces of a similar fire licking around her as well. “I…oh
damn, I don’t know what to do anymore, I’m not even sure who I am
anymore…”
“It hurts, I know. But it heals,
Ukyô. If you let it, it heals.”
She slumped to the ground, and Ryôga sat down
with her, supporting her as best he could. Maybe helping her would heal
him as well, and even if it didn’t, there was no way he could turn his
back on anyone in that much pain. He knew it too well.
[foundations of Truce go here]
“[Coral Jade…if we don’t die here,
I…]”
Shân Pu stiffened slightly in his embrace.
“[Please, Silk, do not speak of it. If we live…it will
be as if this never was, you know that. Unless you can find the strength to
do what you must.]”
Mousse couldn’t help but shudder. It was
useless, he knew: even if, as he suspected, he was skilled enough to defeat
his love in battle, the very thought of raising a hand against her turned his
blood to ice. And he was not at all certain that such a victory could be
won without the use of far deadlier weapons than his hand. And yet…
There was the other way. The secret that
Shampoo knew nothing of. It would succeed, he was certain, but not for
months yet. Months that she would spend in futile, heartrending pursuit of that
idiot savant Saotome.
It would bring hope to her heart, if he told her.
But her Nüjiézú honor might compel her to use the
knowledge against him.
A muffled, uncertain noise escaped Shân
Pu’s lips. He looked down, to see the glint of a tear running down
her cheek.
He had to tell her!
“[Jade…I haven’t been as totally
brainless as it might seem, all this time. It’s all part of the
plan, the real plan.]”
Shampoo gave him a skeptical look. “[What
kind of ‘plan’ would this be, love? Something like the
time you tried to turn Violent Girl into a duck, or…]”
“[Nothing like that,]” Mousse assured her.
“[Not that I was really trying, anyway.
“[I realized, early on, that I’d never be
able to defeat Wild Horse in anything even approaching a fair
fight—I’m not sure anyone can—so I’ve been acting like a lovesick fool,
getting him to believe I’m no real threat. In about two months, the
last part of the plan will come into play…and our next fight will be so
utterly unfair that even he can’t possibly win. I’ll
beat him, completely, and in such a way that he won’t be able to adapt or
counter my methods. And then…]”
“[…And then, you would have the superior
claim,]” Shampoo concluded. “[But what kind of training or
power could work like that…? No,]” she shook her head, “[it is
better you do not tell me. I cannot trust myself any longer…but
answer me this:
“[Do you truly believe you can break the Wild
Horse? Is there really a chance to end this madness?]”
Mù Sî held her close and whispered in
her ear, tenderly yet with absolute conviction:
“[Far more than a chance, my love. I swear
to you, by the spirit of my great ancestor and by his name passed down to me,
by my true and secret Name…victory will be ours. I will never fail
you again, Coral Jade. Never.]”
And so they stayed, taking comfort in one
another’s warmth, while the war of monsters raged. While the
Destroyer was slain, while the victor succumbed at last to its own inner fire,
while the sleek airship damped that fire. As the near-dead Little One
soaked up the remaining radiation and completed its own metamorphosis, no
longer merely a gojirasaurus but a new and final Gojira, and lumbered back to
the sea.
The gathered youths allowed themselves to relax just
a little more. The world went on, a new day would dawn in a few hours’
time. Peace settled across Tôkyô.
Shân Pu sighed, set herself, and threw her true
love through what was left of a nearby wall.
“Aiyah!” she exclaimed, bounding perkily to
her feet. “Violent Girl let go of Shampoo’s husband!”
Have you ever seen that nuclear physics experiment
with the room full of mousetraps and ping-pong balls?
“Whaddya mean YOUR husband, you Chinese
bimbo?!”
“Foul sorcerer, your crab-demon lies vanquished
and you shall be next!”
“OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!
Hands off MY Ranma-sama, peasants!”
“RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!”
“Ranma no BAKAAAA!!!”
Old habits are hard to break. Not impossible by
any means, but certainly hard.
The boy whose true name was not Mù Sî
considered joining the festivities. No, not much point. In fact,
lying here as if seriously concussed would further the image of a near-
Kunô-level buffoon.
As his great ancestor had written, so long ago:
“When strong, feign weakness; when weak,
feign strength.”
Soon enough it would end. Two more months, and
his best and oldest friend would join him in the battle. The invincible
power, the ultimate hidden weapon, would be his to command.
Saotome Ranma would know total and irreversible
defeat.
And Shân Pu would be free to wed her true
love.
So swore Sun Mu Tzu.
Elsewhere…
“<Report.>”
“<Fleet Captain. Telemetry from probe
Zho-5 has ceased.>”
“<So the Gojira creature is no more.
But does its world still exist?>”
“<We cannot be absolutely certain, sir, but
it seems the aborigines were successful in their attempt to control the
meltdown.>”
“<A pity, Captain. It would have made
our task that much easier if another target simply ceased to be.>”
“<I believe I have made my feelings on this
matter clear many times, Commander. And you would be wise not to express
such opinions before subordinates.—You are dismissed, Lieutenant.
Do not repeat this conversation.>”
“<Sir!>”
“<…And so we continue down the dark
path. Another world for the Empires’ amusement.>”
“<Another world to speed the Day, Fleet
Captain. Or would you have the Warp remain…?>”
“<I will do anything to destroy the Warp,
Commander. No matter the price our people must surely pay. Earth
will fall, as have all before it…as will all other worlds in this
galaxy.>”
THE MASTERS OF HAMMERSPACE
Stage One:
MOUSSE AND JERRY CAN’T LOSE!
NOTES FROM DEEP LEFT FIELD
Yes, Mousse’s ‘great ancestor’
is who you probably think he is. And yes, he’s inherited
certain…talents. Ranma is in serious trouble. :)
Now, I’ve heard all those arguments insisting
Shampoo and Mousse shouldn’t be a couple. I even agree with most of
them.
But what if what we see on the surface isn’t
what’s really going on at all?
That was one of the random thoughts that led to
“MoH”. Others included speculations on the nature of ki
and how technology might work with it, similar musings on hammerspace, and the
desire to see Team Ranma in a really intense “alien invasion”
setting. (The aliens won’t be showing up until the end of Stage
One.)
Ranma, as you may have guessed, won’t be the
hero of this tale. A major player, certainly, but I really thought
Mousse deserved a chance to shine…along with his old friend from the
States, of course. ;)
This is mostly manga-based, with the odd anime
influence here and there. Kirin and crew exist, but not Toma; Sasuke is
hovering about but did not do anything for which Gosunkugi should
rightly be blamed. Kage no Don definitely exists and will play a rather
significant role.
Higashi-Ôizumi (which translates, more or less,
as East Big Springs), is a real neighborhood in Nerima (which is a pretty damn
big place, larger than Manhattan Island). Likewise, Shakujii-koen and
Sanpôji-ike exist (in the neighborhood just south). I picked H-O
as the center of martial arts activity in Nerima largely because it’s one
of the few with a creek flowing through it for Ranma to fall into. :)
As for the timeframe: it begins sometime before
Nodoka discovered the truth, and before either Konatsu or Akari showed up.
Oh, and the Cave of Lost Love incident never took place.
You’ll see why eventually.
“G-Force” has nothing at all to do with
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, Battle of the Planets, or (shudder) Eagle
Riders. It really is the name of the anti-Gojira team from the movies.
All Chinese in this ’fic has been rendered into
Mandarin, mostly because I have no idea what dialect folks in Qinghai Province
actually speak. I’m not entirely sure of the meanings of Shampoo
and Mousse’s names, as I have yet to acquire the manga with their first
appearances (the only places, I think, where their name-kanji appear).
But based on half-remembered rumor, this is my best guess.
It’ll be revised if necessary.
Crossovers in this series include, but are by no
means limited to:
-Parker Lewis Can’t Lose! (NOT the third
season.)
-Street Fighter (II and Zero/Alpha, influenced by the
White Wolf RPG)
-Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad (o/~They’re
cousins, identical cousins…o/~)
-Heisei Gojira (see below)
-Maison Ikkoku
-Wasted Minds/Dust Spot
-Tae Kwon Leep
LANGUAGE NOTES
Japanese:
-Kanazuchi: hammer (or “person who can’t swim” :).
-Kûkan: space, a universe/dimension.
-Meishujintachi: masters. (You won’t find it in
any dictionary, I had to assemble it myself to come up with a word that
implies everything English “master” does; “meijin” refers
to the master of a skill, “shujin” to a ruler, “tachi” is
plural.)
-Kaijû: monster (kai:mystery, jû:beast.)
-Daikaijû: giant monster.
-Daihera: giant spatula. :)
Chinese (with japanese into the bargain):
-Zhòuquánxiâng: Jusenkyô
(zhòu/ju:curse, quán/sen:spring, xiâng/kyô:
region.) Land of Cursed Springs.
-Nüjiézú: Joketsuzoku
(nüj/jo:woman, jié/ketsu:hero, zú/zoku:tribe.) Heroine
Tribe, the Amazons.
-Mù Sî: Mousse (mù:bathed,
washed, favored; sî:thread, silk.)
-Shân Pu: Shampoo (Shân (not
xian):coral; pu:raw jade.)
Note that, due to the limitations of HTML, several of
the diacritical marks above are inaccurate. The circumflexes in
“Shân”, “Sî” and “Xiâng” should
all be flat macrons, and the umlaut in “Nüjiézú”
should be an umlaut with an inverted circumflex above it. Finally, I
have no idea what diacritical should go in “Pu”, or “Sun
Tzu”.
CREDITS:
-Undocumented Features references appear by
the kind permission of Ben Hutchins, who will probably never read this as he
can’t stand Ranma 1/2. (“Argh! The wound!”)
If youve never heard of it, go straight to http://www.eyrie.net this
instant. What, you’re still here?
-The prelude title and Mousse’s musings on
History are both taken from Blue Öyster Cult’s “Godzilla”.
-For those unfamiliar with the modern Gojira films:
The revised, alternate plotline accepts the original 1954 movie, in which
Gojira is killed by the Oxygen Destroyer chemical weapon, but ignores all the
rest, which starred a second Gojira who popped up a couple of years
after the first. The “Heisei-era” films, so called because all
but one were made during the reign of Akihito, the Heisei Emperor (his dad
Hirohito was the Showa Emperor), assume that the second Gojira remained
dormant for thirty years or so after the atomic tests mutated it, finally
emerging in 1984.
…And no, the American “Godzilla” movie
has no place in this or any other continuity. (What kind of wimpy Gojira
can be killed by a lousy three Stinger missiles?!)
The seven Heisei Gojira movies:
-Gojira 1984 (1985 in English)
-Gojira vs. Biollante
-Gojira vs. King Ghidora
-Gojira vs. Mothra (subtitled “The Battle for
Earth” in English dubs to distinguish it from the ’60s original)
-Gojira vs. Mecha-Gojira
-Gojira vs. Space Gojira
-Gojira vs. Destroyer
Most or all of these are now available in English dubs. Check ’em out!
Comments, questions, or what-have-you may be directed to 73310.3217@compuserve.com; please put “To Sam” in the subject line, as it’s a shared address.
—Sam Ashley
Version 0.3: 5/15/00
“An object at rest—CANNOT BE STOPPED!”
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