Spontaneous Avatars - Part 2

The phone rang.  Then rang again. 
 
Dr. Tofu started to lift himself off his mattress. 
 
Kasumi:  "Why don't you let it ring?" 
 
Dr. Tofu walked to his living room while Kasumi followed him.  He 
picked up the phone. 
 
Dr. Tofu:  "Hello?" 
Sakura:  "Tofu?  Hi!  Its Sakura." 
Dr. Tofu:  "Oh.  Hi, Sakura.  How have you been?" 
 
Kasumi hugged Dr. Tofu from behind and he found it hard to 
concentrate with the feeling of her bare body against his. 
 
Sakura:  "Fine.  I didn't know what I was going to do after my 
	television series got canceled, but they've already assigned 
	me to take over the nurse's job at Furinkan High School." 
Dr. Tofu:  "That's nice."  [trying unsuccessfully to quietly stop 
	Kasumi] 
Sakura:  "Would it be all right if I stopped over tomorrow while I 
	check out the place?" 
Dr. Tofu:  "That would be fine.  What time were you thinking of 
	coming over?" 
Sakura:  "Is nine okay?  Oh, and I heard you got married!  
	Congratulations!" 
Dr. Tofu:  "Thank you.  And nine would be fine.  Kasumi and I are 
	looking forward to it." 
Sakura:  "OK!  See you then!  Bye!" 
Dr. Tofu:  "Bye." 
 
Dr. Tofu hung up the phone, and spun Kasumi around until he 
pinned her body against the wall. 
 
Dr. Tofu:  "Now... what did you think you were doing?" 
Kasumi:  "I was being a faithful and dutiful wife." 
 
Dr. Tofu found it hard to appear angry.  He led Kasumi to the furo. 
 
************** 
 
Ranma finished teaching his class.  Most of it at this stage was 
teaching the students the basic throws once they learned how to fall 
correctly, so the class had passed quickly.  He supposed that Akane 
and the others had already left for their trip. 
 
He didn't know what it was, but the combination of Akane and the 
name of the place, the Hida/Higa/something-like-that mountains just 
didn't feel right.  He tried to tell Akane how he felt about it, but all 
they did was wind up getting into another argument. 
 
Ranma didn't think things were this hard in any of his other lives.  
After the class left he walked up to Akane's room and knocked, even 
though he knew she was gone. 
 
Ranma:  "Argh!  Stupid Akane!" 
 
Ranma looked down the hall at the door to Ukyou's room.  Maybe he 
should have talked to her about how he felt, but he didn't feel right 
talking to her about Akane, even though he could talk with her about 
anything else. 
 
Ranma knew that it was because Ukyou still loved him, and he was in 
love with Akane. 
 
************** 
 
Shampoo waited outside of Dr. Tofu's clinic for the others.  The 
amount of camping gear she carried was almost laughable 
considering she left her village in pursuit of Ranma with only her 
weapons.  She didn't exactly know why she was going on this 
training trip. 
 
She had never been close to her two rivals.  She was in love with 
Ranma, and until he actually made his choice, she had as much 
chance of being picked as Akane or Ukyou.  Ayuki was proof of that.  
Ranma could have loved her just as much as the others. 
 
But Pink and Link's arrival showed her how much she no longer was 
an amazon.  She still entered, and won, some of the local martial arts 
contests, but it wasn't the same as when she won her village's yearly 
competition.  She no longer had the motivation she once did. 
 
The others walked up.  Akane and Ukyou from the dojo, and Ayuki, 
Keiko, and Midori from the Saotome's.  While they were getting 
ready, Kasumi came out of the clinic and gave them some cookies for 
the train trip. 
 
The six girls left for the train station. 
 
************** 
 
Kentaro:  "And these are the new garages for the tank police." 
Miyuki:  "Tank police?  They're putting us in tanks?" 
Kentaro:  "Its some new experiment.  They're taking some tanks from 
	the self-defense force and training the drivers in police work.  
	They'll be a separate department reporting only to the chief." 
Miyuki:  "Won't the weight of the tanks require special reinforcement 
	for the pavement?" 
Kentaro:  [shrugging]  "I don't know all the details.  I think they're 
	making the tanks out of some lightweight composites.  
	You'll have to ask the tank jockeys tomorrow." 
Natsumi:  "Hey!  You okay about us joining you?" 
Kentaro:  "Well... look.  Its nothing about you two.  I was about to go 
	and solidify my cover, but now I have to figure out how to 
	include you in it." 
Natsumi:  "So what are we going up against?" 
Kentaro:  "Tomorrow.  I'll brief you both tomorrow, after the 
	ceremony.  Its Class-A, so make sure you have your dress 
	uniforms with you." 
Miyuki:  "What time should we be here?" 
Kentaro:  "Just show up at eight.  That should be fine.  The Genom 
	Tower opening ceremony is scheduled for two, but its just a 
	big show for the mayor to welcome some new company to 
	the ward." 
 
Miyuki and Natsumi climb into their subaru and drive back to their 
homes in the Bokuto district.  Kentaro Muramoto re-entered the 
station, tired and ready to go home. 
 
Dispatcher:  "Oh, Inspector.  A young lady left this for you." 
 
Kentaro looked at the note.  It read: 
 
We have to talk about us.  Meet me tonight at seven at the 'Live Spot 
Bacardy'. 
			-Nabiki 
 
It wasn't totally unexpected.  Especially after what happened during 
the riots.  Kentaro had just been hoping that she would have forgotten 
about it. 
 
************** 
 
Mara lifted the lid of her coffin, still sore from that last blast that Urd 
gave her while she was the Lord of Terror.  She figured that 
Belldandy must have stopped Urd from destroying the universe, since 
it was still around. 
 
Mara supposed that she should be grateful.  After all, she might have 
died the true death for demons.  But she was a demon first class 
unlimited, and that meant that being grateful was not one of the 
feelings she was allowed to feel. 
 
Mara formed her clothes and went off to plague Keiichi.  That was 
always good for a few laughs. 
 
************** 
 
Nodoka quietly placed the plates of food on the dinner table, then 
went to the small foyer facing the garden. 
 
Nodoka:  "Soun.  Dearest.  Its time for dinner." 
 
The front door slammed open as Ranma came back from the dojo.  
Nodoka frowned at him as he sat down. 
 
Nodoka:  "You shouldn't be in such a rush, Ranma.  Did you get to 
	talk to Akane?" 
Ranma:  "No." 
 
Nodoka knew she should pursue the matter further.  But she also 
knew not to pursue it in front of the two fathers, so she decided to 
change the subject. 
 
Nodoka:  "Well.  Is Nabiki coming to dinner?" 
Ranma:  "She said she was going out tonight to some kind of 
	concert." 
Nodoka:  "Then I suppose its okay to get started." 
 
Nodoka started to fill the rice bowls.  The table seemed empty with 
the girls gone. 
 
************** 
 
Akane stirred the pot of stew as it bubbled on the fire.  The others 
finished setting up the tents. 
 
Keiko:  "Can you believe that guy?  Telling us to watch out for 
	monsters." 
 
Akane remained silent.  There was something about this place that 
seemed familiar.  It had been an hour's walk from the train station 
and they were at the edge of the forest, but it almost seemed as if she 
had been there before.  The plan was to follow the river for another 
half-day further up the mountain until they reached their final 
campsite for the next two nights. 
 
The rice finished cooking and she moved it away from the heat.  The 
campground was strangely deserted, though.  Undoubtedly part of it 
was due to being early February, but it seemed that there were very 
few locals around considering how mild the weather was. 
 
Akane called the others to dinner as she took out the bowls and 
eating utensils.  First placing the cooked rice into the bowl and 
ladling the hot stew over it. 
 
Ayuki:  "Wow.  Looks great, Akane." 
 
Akane smiled to herself.  Her last camping trip was primarily Ranma 
and his father running away from her cooking.  But that was before 
Nodoka started to teach her how to cook.  She wasn't as good as 
Kasumi or Nodoka, and her repertoire was limited, but she could 
cook food that the others wanted to eat. 
 
Thinking of Ranma brought to Akane's mind the realization of how 
much she had grown used to having Ranma nearby every day. 
 
But she wanted to spend some time away from him to think about 
their relationship.  It had almost been a year since they first met.  
They had spent time talking, and fighting, and kissing, and just 
holding hands.  She wasn't sure if she was ready to go further than 
that. 
 
She knew Ranma was waiting for her to tell him she was ready for 
greater physical intimacy.  She was a little scared of taking that step.  
Afraid that once they did it, their relationship would change.  Afraid 
that it would hurt, that she might become pregnant, other reasons. 
 
At the same time, she couldn't deny that Kasumi seemed happy with 
Dr. Tofu, and that she must have gone through the same thoughts 
before they made love for the first time.  Akane was a little less afraid 
at that; maybe sex wasn't so terrible after all. 
 
************** 
 
The Komodo Dragon, a giant of its type due to the water of the 
Spring of Life, sniffed at the small deer it killed before it started to 
tear into the flesh. 
 
It didn't know that by the same time tomorrow it would be dead, a 
puppet of a demon seeking an avatar of chaos and destruction. 
 
It didn't yet have a name.  But the people would come to call it 
"Godzilla". 
 
************** 
 
Nabiki sat in one of the small chairs that made up the bar section of 
Live Spot Bacardy.  She was ostensibly here to scout out one of the 
bands, the T.A.T. Show, to see if they were worth investing and 
promoting.  But she was really here to talk to her reluctant boyfriend. 
 
A group came in and Nabiki checked them out.  She recognized some 
of them as the Tank Police that were at the station earlier today, but 
Kentaro wasn't among them.  The big one, Brenten, seemed to be 
buying drinks for everyone. 
 
The crowd started screaming as the T.A.T. Show started their 
performance.  The three players had something to them, Nabiki 
admitted to herself.  Nabiki scribbled a small note and gave it to the 
waitress, with instructions to pass it along to the band. 
 
************** 
 
Belldandy quietly unpacked the last of her things as Keiichi set up 
the television in the living room.  While she experienced a special joy 
to cook for the people she loved, Belldandy had to admit there was a 
special-ness to going out every so often. 
 
Skuld was busy with making sure all of her machines made it in 
working order, while Urd was taking inventory of her magical 
ingredients.  Belldandy thought to herself that Skuld seemed to be 
growing up emotionally, which worried her a little. 
 
With the three of them stuck on the Earth due to the Yggdrasil 
system rebuilding the Universal Superstring, that meant that they 
were responsible for each other.  Belldandy wondered if the effects of 
becoming a woman had rushed Skuld toward puberty.  She wondered 
if she should share her concerns with Urd. 
 
Belldandy didn't remember much about going through her own 
'puberty'.  Since the almighty one had decided that adolescent gods 
and goddesses were even greater dangers to the universe than the 
Lord of Terror, puberty lasted only a very short time and the mature 
god emerged from seclusion.  Belldandy remembered falling asleep 
on her bed one night and when she woke up she was an adult, with 
an adult's knowledge. 
 
There was a knock at the door. 
 
*************** 
 
Kasumi held a small dish with cookies as she waited for an answer.  
The door opened. 
 
Keiichi:  "Hello?" 
Kasumi:  "Hello!  We're your neighbors!  I'm Kasumi, and this is my 
	husband, Tofu." 
 
Keiichi shook Dr. Tofu's hand. 
 
Keiichi:  "I'm Keiichi." 
Kasumi:  "I've brought some cookies.  As a welcoming present." 
Keiichi:  "Thank you.  Won't you come in?" 
 
The others came to the door to see what was going on.  Skuld took a 
cookie from the plate. 
 
Keiichi:  "This is Skuld.  And Urd.  And Belldandy." 
 
Keiichi moved toward the living room and didn't notice Belldandy 
and Kasumi staring at each other.  Keiichi turned around when he 
noticed no one following him. 
 
Keiichi:  "Is something... wrong?" 
 
Kasumi and Belldandy reached out to touch each other.  Their forms 
started to meld and draw into each other.  A single form that seemed 
a mixture of the two women fell unconscious to the floor. 
 
Tofu:  "Kasumi!" 
Keiichi:  "Belldandy!" 
Skuld:  "Sis!" 
Urd:  "Hmmm!" 
 
****************************finis 
 
[Next Chapter:  Nabiki meets with the Inspector.  Urd explains the 
title of the story.  Skuld undergoes puberty.  The three fiances talk 
about boys.  Nodoka talks to Ranma.  Godzilla grows up.  Akane 
remembers her past.  Genom Tower's grand opening.  Mara meets 
Godzilla.  Maybe a little more, a little less.] 
 
[Author's Note #1:  Ranma 1/2 and Lum! Urusei Yatsura copyright 
Rumiko Takahashi, etc. etc.  Oh My Goddess! and You're Under 
Arrest! copyright Kosuke Fujishima, etc. etc.  Bubblegum Crisis 
copyright Kenichi Sonoda, etc. etc.  Amazing Strip copyright Ippongi 
Bang, etc. etc.  Dirty Pair copyright Haruka Takachiho, etc. etc.  
Dominion Tank Police copyright by Masamune Shirow, etc. etc.] 
 
[Author's Note #2:  Ranma 1/2 continuity up to Viz Volume 5.  Oh 
My Goddess! continuity up to the "Trials of Morisato" storyline.  
You're Under Arrest! and Amazing Strip continuity as per their 
limited series.  Bubblegum Crisis, Dirty Pair, and Dominion Tank 
Police adapted as necessary.]