Some people may recall my recent question about whether there had ever
been a crossover between Bubblegum Crisis and All Purpose Cultural Cat
Girl Nuku Nuku. Well, this fic is the reason I asked. ^_^
This is my first effort at writing for Nuku Nuku, although I've done some
work on Bubblegum Crisis before. Please let me know what you think - all
C&C is appreciated and invited, with the possible exception of flames
(which will be put to the best use I can think of :).
AUTHOR'S FOREWORD:
If you wish to contact me by e-mail, my address is:
trmiller@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us
Bubblegum Catgirl Nuku Nuku A BGC/Nuku Nuku crossover
by Tim Miller
Episode One:
"Awakening"
An abandoned laboratory, in what had once been a thriving industrial
sector of Tokyo. Layers of dust covered equipment that had once been
fastidiously maintained by armies of technicians, and used by the scientists
employed in the research and development departments. Brushing the dust away
from some of the equipment would have revealed that it was manufactured by
another arm of the same corporation: Mishima Heavy Industries.
This laboratory hadn't been used since shortly after the Second Great
Kanto Earthquake; the disaster that laid waste to the city had also crippled
MHI by killing both the company's owner, and his grand-daughter who ran the
company.
But there was still functional equipment, and by some miracle, power
had been supplied to that equipment for the eight years since the earthquake.
It hadn't been steady; it hadn't always come from the same source, either. But
somehow, either by pure fate or by a gracious act of the kami, electricity
still flowed in the circuits of the banks of diagnostic equipment surrounding
the capsule in the corner of the room.
Beneath the layers of dust, a single display screen continued to print
its message - text that had been burned into the phosphor years ago:
| Android NK-1124 Off-Line
Nobody was there to see what happened at that moment. A power fluctuation made
its way through the circuits, tripping relays as it went - and the sound of
sparking emanated from the capsule. The unseen display changed:
| Android NK-1124 ON-LINE
| Diagnostics initialized
More racks of equipment came to quiet life, their LEDs emitting a glow that
managed to penetrate the dust covering them. After a few seconds, a new sound
was heard in the room:
" . . . Meow?"
After a moment, the hermetic seal on the capsule was broken, and the
cover split open down the middle, sliding down into the recesses. Inert gases
that had preserved the chamber's contents drifted away as the revealed figure
of a naked seventeen-year-old girl sat up, coughed a couple of times, and
stretched.
"Papa-san?" she asked, looking around. Then she repeated herself with
slightly more concern, "Papa-san? Where are you?" She swung herself off of the
table, landing easily on her bare feet. "Papa-san? Where are you hiding? Why
are the lights out . . . ?"
There was no response; the girl shrugged, and headed for a small
locker, finding her way through the dusty, darkened lab without any
difficulty. "I wonder what happened to everyone," the girl mused quietly as
she tried to open the locker, then simply pulled the door off its hinges when
it didn't open, stuck shut after years of disuse and no maintenance. Inside
the locker were bra, panties, and the skirt, blouse, and scarf of a 1990's
school uniform (female, summer version, 'sailor' style). As she got dressed,
the girl continued looking around - then tensed slightly as light showed
beneath the laboratory door.
(Someone's coming!) she thought. (Maybe Papa-san and the laboratory
staff came back to give Nuku Nuku a surprise party?) She quickly finished
dressing, then reached into the locker for one final touch: a wristband with a
pair of tiny bell-spheres on it. Slipping it over her hand, she looked around
for a suitable hiding place. (I'll surprise them!) she thought gleefully as
she crouched behind the chamber that she'd been in for the past eight years.
As she waited, she realized how dusty it was - not just underfoot, but
all over the room, and for the first time since awakening, she wondered just
how many years had passed since she 'went to sleep,' expecting to wake up as
soon as her systems had been stabilized. . . .
"This is the place, huh?" asked one of the men as they walked down the
hallway.
"Yep," one of his companions answered. "Mishima Labs, cybernetics
division. Madigan's office said they uncovered records of some research that
was done here back in the Nineties - "
The first man shook his head. "They sent us here for antiques? Why'd
we bother with the Boom squad?" He gestured over his shoulder at three
substantially larger 'men' that followed the first two at a slight distance.
All five were wearing business suits; the three bringing up the rear wore
sunglasses as well.
"Apparently NK-1124 was a big advance, light-years ahead of its time,"
said the second man. "That's what we're looking for, a then-experimental
android." He motioned for the others to stop, reaching into his jacket and
pulling out a cardkey and a scrap of paper. "Let's see here . . . " He tapped
the [Clear] button on the keypad next to the door, and was rewarded with a
beep and a green light on the pad. He slid the cardkey through the slot, and
punched in a five-digit code. The green light flashed, and there was a *clunk*
from the door as the bolt shot back. "We're in!" He opened the door.
The two men who had led the way down the hall walked into the room;
the man who'd opened the door reached over and flipped the light switch. The
room lights came on, and the first thing they saw was -
"It's empty!!"
Both of them were looking at the chamber that had recently been
opened. They'd expected to find an inert android and some automaintenance
systems, maybe operational, maybe not. The automaintenance systems were
obviously still operational . . . but no android.
"All right," sighed the first man. "Either Madigan's office screwed
up, or something's wrong." He looked out the door, motioning to one of the
larger men. "Get in here and scan."
"Affirmative," the 'man' replied as he walked into the room.
"SURPRISE!!!" a girl's voice shouted, and a teenaged girl with long
burgundy hair leapt out from behind the storage module.
The larger man looked at her intently, then reached up to take off his
sunglasses, revealing eyes with a faint red glow behind them. "Experimental
Combat Android NK-1124 identified," he said to the two other men in the room.
"Instructions?"
The two men traded looks as the girl regarded them. "Who are you?" she
asked.
"Are you Android NK-1124?" one of them asked, pulling out his ID card.
"I asked first," the girl said. "Who are you?"
The man walked forward, showing his ID card. "I'm Richards; this is
Yamaha," he indicated the man who'd opened the door. "This building and
everything in it is the property of Genom Enterprises - and that goes for you
as well, I suspect. Now: *are* you Android NK-1124?"
"Yes," the girl replied, "but Papa-san named me --" She was
interrupted, rather rudely she thought.
"You're coming with us," Richards said as he put his ID card away.
"Now, if you'll follow --" He was interrupted in turn, by the girl/android.
"Where's Papa-san?"
Yamaha said, "I think he means the guy who built her." He pulled out
the paper that he'd read the passcode from, and scanned it quickly. "That
would be a Natsume Kyuusaku?"
"Hai! I'm Natsume Atsuko, but --"
"Come on." Richards took 'Atsuko' by the arm, none too gently.
The android girl didn't budge. "Come *on!*" Richards snarled, yanking
her elbow. "You're Genom property now, so stop putting up a fight!"
"I'm *not* coming with you!" The girl pulled her arm out of Richards'
grasp. "Where's Papa-san?" She remembered the dust, and added, "How long has
it been?"
"The entire Natsume family died in the earthquake eight years ago,"
Yamaha told her. "That includes your creator and his wife, Akiko; their son,
Ryuunosuke, was reported missing, presumed dead, by his fiancee - " He glanced
at the paper. "It doesn't give her name."
'Atsuko's' eyes narrowed. "Papa-san and Mama-san are dead?"
"That's right," Richards sighed. "Now, will you come with us
willingly, or do we have to take you out of here by force?"
"Nuku Nuku isn't going anywhere with you!" the girl snapped.
"And who might Nuku Nuku be?" Richards asked with exaggerated
patience.
"Nuku Nuku is my *real* name."
"It makes sense," Yamaha said. "NK: Nu-ku. Can't imagine why it's
repeated."
"Sounds better," Richards answered as he looked at the third man in
the room, and nodded. "Take her."
"Acknowledged," the big man said as he stalked towards the girl.
Nuku Nuku frowned, then made a decision. Wing-like fins snapped into
view on either side of her head, emerging from somewhere beneath her hair, and
she settled into a relaxed ready stance.
The 'man' facing her stopped. "Warning: NK-1124 has entered combat
mode. Instructions?"
"Proceed with capture," Richards said as he and Yamaha backed out of
the room.
"Acknowledged." The 'man' resumed his forward progress, reaching out
for the android.
Two seconds later, the 'man' was hurled out the door by an android
girl half his size. Richards and Yamaha both started backing away in surprise.
"She was an *experiment*??" Richards gaped at the girl who was coming
into the hallway with a seriously displeased expression on her face.
"The files in the Mishima database were rather sketchy," Yamaha
answered. "And I don't think the info department told *us* everything they
learned."
The 'man' who had been thrown out of the room got to his feet, then
tensed visibly. Nuku Nuku looked up at him. "Yes?"
The 'man's' skin split and shredded as the concealed cyberdroid
exploded into its own combat form, newly-revealed blue metal shining beneath
the hall's lights. It was now three times the size of the android facing it,
with unhindered strength, mobility, and firepower.
Nuku Nuku actually took a step backwards, into the room. "What in the
world - ?"
"Genom's Bu-53C model Combat Boomer," Richards sneered. "Much more
up to date than you are."
Nuku Nuku glanced at the other two large 'men,' further up the
hallway, and determined that they were 'Boomers' as well from her own combat
sensors' readings. (Whatever these things are,) she decided, (they aren't
human. They aren't even alive. That means I can go full strength - for
whatever good that'll do . . . )
The first Boomer's mouth gaped open, and a lensed aperture of some
kind that Nuku Nuku didn't immediately recognize rotated into view, locking
with a *click*. Nuku Nuku immediately hurled herself at the Boomer's right
leg, using tricks of leverage that she'd learned in her years as Ryuunosuke's
unofficial bodyguard.
Much to its surprise, the Boomer found its leg being yanked out from
under it - then completely off of its hip. Yellowish nutrient fluids spurted
as the Boomer toppled to one side.
Nuku Nuku blinked at the leg. "Looks like workmanship hasn't
improved," she mumbled. "Sorry."
The Boomer started getting up, compensating for its missing leg. "Oh
no," Nuku Nuku admonished it. "I can't let you do that - I have to find
Ryuunosuke, if he's still alive."
The Boomer ignored her; Nuku Nuku just sighed, a little sadly. "Okay,
if you're going to be like that." She dropped the leg, picked the rest of the
Boomer up bodily, and flung it at the two presumed-Boomers that were still in
human disguise.
Yamaha and Richards stared in shock as one thoroughly out-of-date and
then-experimental combat android, in the form of a teenaged girl with metallic
wings sticking out of her head, calmly destroyed three slightly out-of-date
Combat Boomers just by throwing a fully-activated one of them into the other
two, which hadn't even shed their camouflage. Fortunately, none of them
exploded - which Richards chalked up to sheer luck, or would later. Right now,
he was so shocked that he didn't even realize he'd wet himself.
Nuku Nuku's sensor wings swung back down into concealment with a
pneumatic hiss, and she turned to face the two humans. "Now . . . I'll be
leaving." She walked back down the hallway, relying on the map she remembered
from the late 1990's.
A few minutes after she'd passed out of their sight, Yamaha took out a
cellphone and punched autodial. After three rings, a female voice answered
from the other end: "Did you get her?"
"No," Yamaha croaked. "She got us. Three Boomers down, she wasn't even
straining herself."
"Are either of you injured?"
"No . . . she didn't lay a finger on us."
"All right. Come back to the Tower; we're going to have to start from
scratch."
"But she's gone! She just walked away from us - "
"Leave her be," the woman at the other end instructed. "You can't do
anything about her now. Return to the Tower and await further instructions."
The line went dead, leaving Yamaha to fold the cell phone and return it to his
pocket.
"What'd they say?" Richards asked hoarsely.
"To get back to the Tower and wait for orders."
"Great. Are we dead yet?"
Yamaha headed down the hallway after the android. "Probably not. Maybe
the newer models will work better. . . . "
(What is this place?) Nuku Nuku wondered as she walked through the
rubble. (If this is Tokyo, what happened to it? Where's my home, where are
Ryuunosuke and the others? - The man said there was an earthquake, but if that
was eight years ago . . . how long has it been since I was shut down for
diagnostics? What's *happened?*).
The burgundy-haired girl leaned for a moment on the wall she was
standing next to. Something was wrong with her eyes - (That's right,) she
remembered. (Papa-san gave me tear ducts to help my eyes work better, but that
means I can cry, too.) She sniffled experimentally, then rubbed at her eyes
with the back of a hand. (No time to practice crying,) she chided herself. (If
there's anyone who can help me find Ryuunosuke, Papa-san, and the rest of
them, I *have* to find them! I have to find all of them!)
With a determined look on her face, Nuku Nuku stepped out of the alley
and onto the street. The wall she'd been leaning on a moment ago was part of a
garage of some kind, to judge by the open front wall of the structure; above
the doors, the name "RAVEN'S" was spelled out in glowing neon. Nuku Nuku
glanced into Raven's, and confirmed the nature of the building - and was
greeted by a strange look from the black-haired teenaged boy who was sitting
on the floor next to a motorcycle, doing some kind of repairs.
"Hello," said Nuku Nuku, a bit cautiously.
"Er . . . hi," replied the boy. Nuku Nuku guessed he was about
seventeen, the same age she was supposed to look. "Can I help you with
anything?" the boy continued.
"I don't know . . . may I come in?"
"Sure!" The teenager got to his feet, wiping his hands off on a rag
which he tucked into the belt of his overalls. "I'm Mackie; I think Dr. Raven
is around here somewhere."
"Who's Dr. Raven?" Nuku Nuku asked as she walked towards Mackie.
"Oh, he owns this garage," Mackie replied. "Hang on a second . . .
Doctor?" he called. "You there?"
A door in the back of the garage opened. "Right here," Raven answered
as he came out of his office. "What's the - eh?" The gray-haired man in a
dingy set of coveralls stopped in his tracks, blinking at Nuku Nuku. "Who's
your friend, Mackie?"
Mackie looked sheepish. "I don't know, she just appeared out of
nowhere . . . say, what *is* your name?" he asked the girl.
"I'm Nuku Nuku," she replied, "although my official name's Natsume
Atsuko." She held out her open right hand to the two males.
Mackie shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you," he answered. "Where are
you from?"
"Around here, I guess . . . where in Tokyo are we?"
Raven raised his eyebrows. "This is MegaTokyo - it hasn't been called
Tokyo since before the earthquake. We're down in the Fault right now, in the
area called Timex City . . . let me see if I can find a map." He set to
rummaging around on a table. "Anything else?"
"Ummm . . . " Nuku Nuku felt like there was a swarm of butterflies in
her stomach, or what passed for one. (As soon as I ask this, they'll know
something's strange.) "What year is it?"
"Today is August 8th, 2033," Mackie answered. "Why?"
Nuku Nuku felt weak as she sat down on the motorcycle's saddle, for
lack of a better place to sit. (Over thirty-five years,) she realized.
(Papa-san never came back to finish his work . . . ) She felt her eyes filling
with tears.
"Eh?" Mackie blinked, and touched her shoulder hesitantly. "What's
wrong?"
"They told me Papa-san and Mama-san were dead," Nuku Nuku whispered.
"I didn't believe it - I didn't want to believe it - " She sniffled.
Dr. Raven came back over, holding a fairly recent map of MegaTokyo.
"Your parents?" he asked.
"If they're alive, they've probably forgotten all about me." Nuku Nuku
rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, wiping away tears that were quickly
replaced. "And Ryuunosuke . . . "
Mackie looked up at Dr. Raven, his expression one of confusion and
concern. Raven just shook his head quietly, then held the map in one hand as
he crouched in front of Nuku Nuku and rested his hand over one of hers. "Who
are your parents?"
Nuku Nuku sniffled again, looking at Raven. "Natsume Kyuusaku . . . "
Raven's eyes widened. "Natsume? The old cyberneticist?"
"You know him?" Nuku Nuku stared.
"I've heard of his work," Raven answered as he stood up. "I think he
was one of your father's teachers, Mackie."
Mackie shook his head. "I wouldn't know about that . . . "
"Wait," Nuku Nuku said. "Papa-san was a scientist, not a teacher."
"Natsume Kyuusaku is one of the foremost names in the fields of
cybernetics and mechatronics," Raven told her. "Or . . . " He looked down. "I
should say was, since he was reported dead in the earthquake."
Nuku Nuku's breath caught, and she looked down again. "They were
telling the truth, then," she said numbly.
"Who were 'they'?" Mackie asked.
"Richards and Yamaha - they said they worked for a company called
Genom, when they came to take me away."
"What do you mean?"
Nuku Nuku looked up at Mackie, tears filling her eyes again. "I was in
the Mishima Heavy Industries cybernetics lab," she told him. "I'd just woken
up when two men came in, they had three 'Boomers' with them. They said I
belonged to Genom now and wanted to take me with them, but I didn't want to
go."
"Wait a minute," Raven said in consternation. "The old Mishima
cybernetics lab has been abandoned for a long time - what were you doing
there?"
"That's . . . that's . . . " Nuku Nuku hesitated, not sure how to tell
them what she now knew had happened, knew without a doubt.
"Doctor," Mackie interrupted, looking at Raven. "The others are going
to finish soon."
Raven looked at Nuku Nuku. "How old are you, anyway?"
"I was 'born' on Christmas Day, 1992 - but I've been asleep since
1997." (No help for it,) Nuku Nuku thought as she told them how long she'd
been 'alive.'
Mackie stared at her. "You mean you're - no way!"
"Mackie," Raven said, "I think we need to tell your sister about this.
Nuku Nuku, this may sound strange, but I've actually heard of you - not of
*you* specifically, but about you. You see, Natsume Kyuusaku was always
rumored to have built a working android, even though it was supposedly
impossible with twentieth-century technology and materials. But the android
was considered unstable - there were design flaws that he couldn't overcome.
The rumors always said that after five years, the flaws became too severe for
the android to continue operating; Natsume was forced to choose between
letting it keep running until its systems completely degraded, and
deactivating it before that happened."
"NO!" Nuku Nuku cried, clenching her fists. "Papa-san said he'd wake
me up as soon as he was finished repairing me!"
"Wait a second," Mackie interjected. "Doctor, are you saying that this
girl's an android?"
Raven nodded. "But it seems that at least a part of the rumor was
incorrect."
Another door opened, somewhere in the building. "Doctor Raven?" a
woman called. "Where are you?"
Raven sighed. "Out here, Sylia," he shouted back.
Nuku Nuku swallowed as she stood up, wiping the last tears from her
face as not one, but four young women emerged from the back room. The first
one had black hair with blue highlights, and dark brown eyes; she looked
similar to Mackie, as though they were related. She was followed by a ligher-
skinned woman with completely black hair and blue eyes, maybe a year younger
than the first, and a slightly younger woman with brown hair and reddish-brown
eyes. Bringing up the rear was a girl, maybe two or three years older than
Mackie, with bright red hair and green eyes.
The first woman stopped in her tracks as soon as her gaze fell on Nuku
Nuku. "Doctor," the woman asked, "who is this girl?" Nuku Nuku realized that
this must be 'Sylia.'
"She just showed up here, Sis," Mackie answered. "Dr. Raven thinks
she's the Natsume android."
"Android?" The brown-haired woman frowned, her eyes narrowing as she
started to reach into her jacket.
"Hold it, Priss," Sylia held up a hand, looking at Nuku Nuku. "You
were built by Natsume Kyuusaku?"
Nuku Nuku nodded. "That's right."
"I don't believe it," Sylia breathed as she walked over to study the
android girl. "After all this time . . . " She cleared her throat. "I'm
sorry. My name's Sylia Stingray; this is my brother Mackie, and Dr. Raven - an
old friend of my father's."
"Pleased to meet you," Nuku Nuku replied with a polite bow. "Who are
the others?"
"Nobody you need to worry about," Sylia answered calmly as she looked
over at the other three women. "That'll be all for tonight," she told them.
"I'll see you all on Wednesday."
"Good night," said the black-haired, blue-eyed woman as she headed for
her minivan. "Need a lift, Nene?"
"Thanks, Linna," said the redhead as she got into the passenger's side
of the minivan. "See you all Wednesday!"
Priss eyed Nuku Nuku cautiously as she walked around the group to her
motorcycle and put on her helmet. "Thanks for your help, Mackie."
"Not a problem," Mackie replied. "See you around!" He tugged Nuku Nuku
away from Priss' motorcycle as the brown-haired woman fired up the engine and
pulled out of the garage. As the sound of the motorcycle's engine faded into
the distance, Mackie asked, "What are we going to do about her, Sis? From what
she told us, Genom's after her already."
"In that case," Sylia answered, "I guess we're going to have to
shelter her. Do you have a name, Ms. Natsume?"
"My old records said it was Atsuko, but everyone called me Nuku Nuku."
The android girl looked up at Sylia. "What *is* Genom, anyway? They bought out
Mama-san's company, they think they own me - " She stopped as Sylia held up a
hand.
"Nene and I will try to find out what we can about your family," Sylia
promised. "And until we find them, you can stay in the apartment with me and
Mackie. I'd love to hear about your past, but you don't have to tell us
anything you don't want to. Is that agreeable to you?"
Nuku Nuku nodded. "Yes! Thank you, Ms. Stingray!"
The woman smiled. "It's all right if you call me Sylia. Now, come with
me. Mackie, are you done here?"
Mackie hesitated; Dr. Raven chuckled. "I can close up the garage,
Mackie; you and Sylia head on home. See you tomorrow."
"Thanks, Doctor," Mackie replied. "Sylia, where's she going to sleep?"
"The guest bed," Sylia replied as she walked towards her car. "That's
why it's there, after all." She opened the door, then looked back at Nuku
Nuku. "Coming?"
Nuku Nuku nodded, and climbed into the back seat of the car. Mackie
got in on the passenger's side as Sylia started the engine; as soon as they
had also fastened their seat belts, Sylia released the parking brake and drove
off into the MegaTokyo night.
AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD:
I had the idea recently of putting Nuku Nuku into BGC - I had a hunch
that somebody *must* have tried this before, but nobody on the FFML knew about
it if it had been done. So, here I present the fruits of my labor. Please let
me know what you think!
Next episode:
In Episode 2, Nuku Nuku begins the process of settling into the world
of MegaTokyo, 2033 A.D. It's not going to be an easy transition for her -
everyone she knew is supposedly dead, and anyone who's still alive from her
time is going to have changed a great deal and might not remember her.
But can Sylia keep the secret of the Knight Sabers from a naive and
intensely curious android catgirl? Curiosity has yet to kill Nuku Nuku . . .
will this be the exception?
And what about Genom? Richards and Yamaha had to report back empty-
handed; their supervisors will not be pleased. Genom is used to getting what
it wants . . . and now they want Nuku Nuku. What will be the outcome of this
struggle?
Acknowledgements:
Nuku Nuku, Mishima Heavy Industries, and the Natsume family (Kyuusaku,
Akiko, and Ryuunosuke) are from the OAV series _All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl
Nuku Nuku_, created by Takada Yuzo (who also created _Blue Seed_). Dr. Raven,
Mackie, Sylia, Priss, Linna, and Nene, along with MegaTokyo and Genom and all
associated environs, are from _Bubblegum Crisis_, originally created by Suzuki
Toshimichi.
Richards and Yamaha are characters of my own creation for purposes of
this fanfic.
Tim Miller
trmiller@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us
June 20, 1997