And not to be a killjoy or a whiner... but did no one read my Might v.
Right, challenge fic?
Ok, here is HT 9�. And I know I have kvetched and moaned and been told
that my fic endings are ok and that people like the "slice-of-life" feel
that they provide, but as I copied this from my notebook to my computer I
noticed this story has a really weak conclusion, not really bad, just a
little, I don't know, incomplete. So please, any help or suggestions and
criticisms would be very much appreciated.
Anyway, enjoy the show,
Sweet water and light laughter
As always, C&C to
TRyoga@juno.com
Ray "The Texas Ryoga"
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/5220
disclaimer: yadda, yadda, yadda, read the fic, we know they aren't my
characters�
Ranma 1/2
Hidden Talents
part, the ninth
Hikaru Gosunkugi's day was going according to its standard
schedule. He had woken up at 6:30 am, just in time to see his harried
stockbroker father run out the front door for work. He was able to
discern the normal call of, "Lunchmoneysonnatable, haveagooddayatschool",
and then he was gone. He had missed his mother's earlier exit, as normal,
the job schedule as the personal assistant for one of the most powerful
corporate CEO's in Japan was a grueling one. He knew that they'd both
trudge home closer to eight p.m., then seven, tired, weary, and eminently
satisfied with their accomplishments for the day. He had padded off to
school and had come in with less then a minute to spare. His new tactic
of showing up as late as he dared, in an effort to bypass certain people
seemed to be working. It did have its own dangers, however, for a
tripping and a shove in the hallway had almost cost him being tardy to
his first class.
The fact that he didn't have to stand in the hallway was not much
of a relief. As soon as he sat down and as the class droned on, the
surlier students quickly started their morning ritual of teasing and
mocking, whenever the teacher's back as turned. After suffering through
three classes of abuse Hikaru found himself in his present predicament.
Namely, facing off with three burly, roguish students in an isolated
corner of the school lunchyard. The three were what he mentally dubbed
'The Wednesday crew', meaning that these were the three thugs who shook
him down on Wednesdays for his lunch money. All the school bullies seemed
to have an agreed upon schedule concerning him.
"Hey, pay attention when I'm talking ta you! You weren't gonna be
trying to buy anything with 'our' lunch money, were ya?"
Yep, right on schedule.
Hikaru shook his head in a negative manner. He had occasionally
tried to stand up to the bullies, but he was a tad on the thin and weak
side, and he always wound up losing his lunch money one way or another.
Of course, this meant he went without eating, which made him weaker and
thinner and on and on and on. He briefly considered a suicidal dash for
the school building when he heard something quite unexpected.
"Why don't you guys leave Gosunkugi alone?"
It was a rich voice. A strong voice. The voice of Ranma Saotome.
The collection of thugs and Hikaru jolted in surprise. The trio
nervously looked to one another and back at the premiere martial artist
in Tokyo, Hikaru regarded Ranma with hope and confusion, he knew he
wasn't one of Saotome's favorite people, why the rescue?
The Wednesday crew was apparently wondering the same thing, and
nervously, and a little defiantly, the largest one skittered forward and
faced Ranma.
"What's your beef Saotome?"
Ranma regarded the looming figure with slight regard and glanced
over his right shoulder. Watching the scene, with arms folded across her
chest stood Akane Tendo. Ranma turned back.
"No beef, Shinji, but I've got a friend who believes you
shouldn't bully the weak."
Shinji looked at Ranma with hard eyes. He glanced around and
inwardly groaned as he noticed the gathering crowd. People always wanted
to see what Ranma was up to, but now, in such a public showing, Shinji
knew he couldn't back down. If he and his friends backed down to Ranma,
it would be a horrible loss of face, for talented martial artist or not,
it was still three on one. But Shinji also knew that Ranma could probably
wipe the floor with the lot of them� still� he did have an ace up his
sleeve.
"Fine Saotome, be that way. Your funeral." With that he suddenly
swung his right fist and tried to tag Ranma with a right cross. Ranma
sneered and dropped underneath the cumbersome attack without a thought.
He waded into Shinji, and the other two thugs charged him, one of them
pausing long enough to give a quick, hard jab into Gosunkugi's stomach.
Gosunkugi folded onto the ground and barely managed to raise his head
enough to see the proceeding fight. For Ranma, this was a piece of easy,
none of these guys could possibly get lucky enough to actually touch him,
let alone take him down. The only thing on their side seemed to be the
fact that they were inordinately stubborn. They just wouldn't stay down.
Ranma snorted in derision as he dodged their clumsily launched attacks
and responded with well-measured, calculated blows of his own.
Gosunkugi tried to clear his throat and get some wind back; he really
needed to tell Ranma something about the Wednesday crew. But just as he
managed to get breath into his burning lungs, Ranma found out the hard
way that the Wednesday crew numbered four, not three. With a deft move,
Kentaro Tsunamato, clocked Ranma across the back of the head with a
rather heavy, dense Algebra book. The crowd watched in stunned silence as
Ranma staggered and then began to fall under the foursomes sudden assault
of kicks and punches.
"Hey, you guys can't do that! That's cheating!" a vibrant voice declared,
announcing Akane Tendo's presence into the fray. With Akane's arrival,
and the unfair, blindside blow used to stagger Ranma the scene quickly
diffused into a free-for-all. Akane's fans and friends piled into the
fight, along with a few of Ranma's pals that didn't appreciate seeing
their companion get blindsided. Shinji and company weren't exactly
popular, but that didn't mean they were too lacking in the associate
department, either. The principals in this small battle quickly became
forgotten as students rushed in from all sides and began throwing
punches, kicks, and occasionally, each other. Kentaro Tsunamato, went
down to a deluge of punches from Hiroshi and Daisuke. Ranma moaned,
groggily. Shinji Takata roared like a bull and swatted at the crowd of
people trying to drag him down. Hikaru Gosunkugi managed to stagger
forward, with only one coherent thought resounding in his mind. Akane
Tendo dealt out punishment, throwing bodies too and fro until she reached
the spot she had last seen Ranma in.
Ranma was gone.
* * *
Hikaru Gosunkugi staggered through the streets of Nerima. He was
very unused to carrying people and Ranma was seemingly getting heavier
with every step. He knew that he'd probably get in trouble for cutting
out after lunch, but what could he do? Ranma had stood up for him, had
tried to help him out, and had been sucker punched in the back of the
head for his troubles. The way Hikaru figured it, he owed Ranma to at
least try to get him out of that fight area and get him somewhere a bit
safer. So, with one stumbling step in front of the other, he slowly
trekked home.
* * *
Ranma Saotome's eyes slowly fluttered open. He lay very still for
a moment, paying attention to his body and trying to determine where he
was and what had happened. He realized that he was laying down in a bed
somewhere, and that he was indoors. He could hear a muted humming of a
computer and, faintly, the clicking of a keyboard. He couldn't see,
beyond a hazy white and he realized there was a towel over his eyes. It
was damp and moist, and felt pleasant against his face. His thoughts
gained some speed and began to flow less sluggishly.
'My head hurts', he thought, numbly.
"You awake?" a thin, wavering voice asked.
"Who's asking?" He didn't try to move yet.
"Umm� it's Hikaru Gosunkugi, Ranma. Ummm� you kinda jumped in and
saved me against Shinji and his gang. And you kinda got hit in the back
of the head. I felt I kinda owed you and got you out of there."
"Where are we now?" Ranma's head was throbbing less now and he
was beginning to toy with the idea of sitting up.
"Uh.. well, we're at my place. I couldn't really think of
anywhere else to go."
"Oh, well� thanks Gosunkugi." Ranma reached up and pulled the
towel off his face and sat up. He braced himself for the worst, and
closed his eyes. The head rush wasn't as bad as he thought and he swayed
for a moment as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat for a
moment, eyes still closed. "Who the hell hit me, anyway?"
"Oh, that would be Kentaro Tsunamato. He, umm� hang on a minute,
okay?"
With that cryptic message, Ranma's ears picked up the sound of
rapid typing. He opened his eyes and blinked in surprise at what he saw.
If anyone had ever asked him to describe what Gosunkugi's room looked
like, he would have thought of a very dark room, with candles flittering
in the corners. Dank, and small, it would have dark walls and no windows.
It would have been a bit disheveled with books and scrolls on magic
tossed haphazardly around as well as several straw statues and a bit of
camera equipment mixed in.
The truth was a room of a totally different shade. Ranma blinked
again as his mind began to assimilate what was before him. He was sitting
on a fairly nice, brightly colored bedspread. There was a skylight above
them, through which the sun and clouds could be seen. The walls were
colorful and bright with anime and manga posters. A small telescope was
positioned near both the side window and the skylight. Bookshelves lined
the far wall, and while one shelf did seemed to be full of Gosunkugi's
"magic/voodoo" supplies, it seemed dwarfed by the shelves full of camera
equipment and books and the tons of computer manuals. Gosunkugi was
sitting at a desk positioned near the door furiously typing away on his
computer. The machine in front of him had what Ranma could see as a huge
screen and there was an even larger tower case sitting on the floor.
Gosunkugi was wearing a headset with a boom mike and as Ranma watched he
clicked a few last keys and spoke into the headset.
"Night Raven, this is Ghost. That slice for the access code
worked like a charm. I owe you one."
A sudden, digitized voice filled the room, causing Ranma to
start. He realized as he listened that it was coming from the speakers on
Gosunkugi's computer and he could hear a faint, feminine tone to it.
"Good trade, Ghost. I'll take a future favor from you over a
thousand warez anyday." There was a light laugh.
Gosunkugi shook his head, "Flattery will get you everywhere,
Night Raven. Ghost out." He clicked on a few more buttons and swiveled in
his chair to face Ranma. "So, like I said, thanks, Ranma. You didn't have
to step in for me like that."
Ranma brushed it off with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry about
it, Gosunkugi. um� at least part of the credit has to go to Akane� she's
the one who saw what was going on." Ranma paused a moment and looked
curiously at Gosunkugi. He had been expecting a much more, well, strange,
home for the guy. And Gosunkugi looked very much at home on his computer,
in this brightly-lit room. Ranma gestured at the computer, where a series
of numbers was running across the screen. "So, what's all this, and who's
Night Raven? I mean, if you don't mind my asking."
Gosunkugi blinked and then smiled. "Oh, no I don't mind."
Gosunkugi gestured grandly and said, "This, is my baby. A new,
revolutionary, P3 1000. It's so new that this is still basically what you
would call a prototype computer. I've got it hooked up to a T6 fiberoptic
cable, with a full gig of RAM and 450 gig of harddrive. I've got a 40
speed CD and a 32 by 12 'burner. Plus, it's got Zip, Jazz, Maxi, 3.5,
and even a 5 � drive. I just tweaked it out to a RealAural sound card and
a sweet new Voodoo 2 3D card with 32 meg. I mean, that looks really good
on this 24 inch monitor." He paused and took in Ranma's dumbstruck face
and laughed. That act alone startled Ranma, because he had never heard
Gosunkugi laugh before. It didn't sound anything like him. It sounded
strong and joyful. "Let me guess, Ranma, you didn't understand anything
of that." Ranma nodded, still a bit overwhelmed by the sudden flood of
technobabble from the normally quiet and shy Gosunkugi. Hikaru shrugged.
"Let's just say it's the fastest personal computer you've ever seen
before in your life. As to who Night Raven is� hmmm, let's see�" He
rummaged around in his desk and pulled out a photo, which he handed to
Ranma.
Ranma regarded the figure in the photo. It looked to be a young,
fairly attractive girl, probably about 16. She had a nice figure, and
short, brown hair. Hesitantly, Ranma asked, "So, she's a personal
friend?"
Gosunkugi paused. "Well, not really. She's a computer friend. I
mean, she doesn't know who I am. I mean, I only have her photo 'cuz I
once hacked her ISP and traced her computer. Then I went by her house and
kinda snooped around until I could get her picture."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ranma said, "Wait a minute, you're telling me
you are a hacker?"
"Not just a hacker, Ranma," Gosunkugi sniffed, a bit derisively.
"I'm the best hacker on the planet. Hence my name, 'Ghost'. Nobody can
bust me. As a matter of fact�" The numbers on the computer screen
suddenly stopped moving and a certain number began flashing. "Alwright,"
he muttered, "hold on a sec," he absently directed at Ranma while he
scribbled down the number.
"What's that?"
"Access codes for encryption files kept by Mishima Heavy
Industries", Gosunkugi responded offhandedly. Before Ranma could respond,
Hikaru pressed a few buttons and the screen suddenly blanked. "Don't
worry, I can't get traced, I've got over 42 different buffers placed in
the signal and I bounce through more then 1000 different dead-end wire
locations. And before you tell me anything I'm up to is illegal�" a
printout silently whirred out of a nondescript laser printer beneath
Hikaru's desk. "This is a list of every city ordinance code and municipal
damage that has ever been listed that I could attribute to you. There's
probably a few I don't know about."
'Whoa', thought Ranma as he regarded the formidable list, 'didn't
I see stats like this when we talked about the firebombing from the war
in history class?' Ranma glanced around the room again, his eyes falling
once more on the shelf of magic trinkets that seemed so out of place in
this techno world. "So why the mumbly-numbly?" Ranma blurted out before
he could think.
Hikaru sighed heavily. "I'm an ace at this computer biz, Ranma,
but it doesn't really do anything for ME. I mean, I'm the Ghost. I have a
cool name. I use my voice-mod program, Night Raven and ShadowHawk and the
other hackers I talk to hear a cool voice that I designed. I can crack
into any system that is connected to the internet in the world. But it
doesn't make me any more popular, or tougher. I always kinda hoped that
maybe I could get that through the magic stuff." He regarded Ranma for a
moment and his face scruched up a bit. "Umm.." his voice lost all
confidence and he shifted nervously, once again the total geek and slight
wretch that Ranma knew. "I know that sounds really pathetic, huh. I hope
you won't tell anyone about this, I mean, I always liked to keep this as
my little hidden talent. And, I might get into some trouble."
He looked at Ranma with quivering eyes and Ranma couldn't help
but think and feel a bit of sympathy for him. Hikaru Gosunkugi. Ranma was
aware that Hikaru didn't have many friends, was aware of how thoroughly
the man was crushed on a regular basis. For a moment Ranma debated with
telling him to let people know about his talent. He might be able to
impress more people. But for once, he actually thought before he opened
his mouth. Gosunkugi might impress some people, but they'd be impressed
at what he could do or provide, rather then be impressed with Gosunkugi
as a man. 'And he'd probably have to put up with people asking him to do
them all sorts of favors, and using him for what he could make. Geez, I
know how that fear goes.' This thought flashed through Ranma's head like
a stray bit of information, like cut through wood. And if he couldn't be
a friend, or make all of Gosunkugi's wishes come true with a thought, at
least he could do him this favor and keep his mouth shut.
"Sure thing, Gos� I mean, Hikaru."
Gosunkugi offered a tentative smile. Ranma returned one.
"Thanks, Saitama."
"Hey, what are friends for�"
fini
HT 10 is a big one. Akane Tendo - vroom vroom
Then we follow it up with the elder Kuno sibling and the perverted master
Happosai. Going back to my roots, I hope that both 11 and 12 will be well
recieved, nice, simple, and (trying to be) beautiful stories. (you'll
never guess their talents... and after you read them, I don't think
you'll be too outraged and dissapointed in them)
Sweet water and light laughter
Ray "The Texas Ryoga"
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/5220
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