Part 4... @_@

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Ranma 1/2: Big Trouble in Orlando, Florida
By Ryoga Masaki and Jupamana

Chapter 4: Planes, Trains, and (wannabe) First-class Seats
(Friday, May 30, 7:26 AM)

"Oh, Ryoga... You are so wonderful!"

Akane hugged Ryoga and snuggled against him over Ranma's grave. She
smiled and looked up at him.

"You were so wonderful, the way you defeated that evil Ranma. You truly
are my one love! Ryoga... I love you!" she said peacefully. "Let's go
and get married right now!"

She turned around and looked down at Ranma's final resting place. "As
for you, Ranma... I wonder how many pairs of shoes I'll need? Hmmm...
Will this pair go with that skirt?"

Ryoga said, "Huh?" as a questioning look grew over his face. The scene
faded to black, and Ryoga felt his eyes tingle.

P-chan squirmed a little on Akane's bed then oinked quietly. His eyes
opened, and he looked over to see Akane going through her closet,
putting the last few pairs of clothing in her suitcase.

"Ah, this swimsuit will look so cute!" She put it in and reached into
her closet again. P-chan watched her happily. Soon, with Ranma out of
the way, Akane could be his. They would finally be happy together. She
held a short sundress out in front of her and twirled around in front of
her mirror. P-chan oinked with happiness. Yes, they will be happy.

Akane heard the pig and turned around to see him on the bed. "Oh, you're
up!" She pulled the pleats of her dress across her legs. "How do you
think this will look on me, P-chan?"
He smiled. "Bui!" he oinked approval. She laughed, folded it, and put it
in with the other clothes. She snapped the suitcase shut and sat on her
bed. Picking up P-chan and setting him on her lap, she stroked his ears.

"I'm sorry, P-chan, but you can't go with us. You're going to have to
stay behind with our neighbors. They'll take car of you until we get
back," she told him. Ryoga did his best sad squeak and pushed against
her. She smiled and giggled.

"You are just so cute!" she said as she picked him up and kissed him on
the forehead. He blushed and put his arms out. She laughed and put him
under her arm. Standing up, she grabbed the suitcase. As she walked out,
she saw the glint of the necklace from Ranma on her dresser. Hesitating
a second, she picked it up, set P-chan and the suitcase down, and put it
on. She picked the black piglet back up and entered the hallway smiling.

She went outside. It was a beautiful morning, with birds singing and the
sun shining brightly. She set the suitcase down in front of Soun and
Genma, whose hands were already full. They yawned as she said, "I'm
going next door to drop off P-chan."

Leaving them behind, she went next door and dropped. She told them
various instructions, then bowed poiltely, thanked them, and left.
P-chan sat on the windowsill, watching her go.
Akane got inside the rental minivan with Nabiki and Ranma already in the
back seat. She took the front seat. They would only need the vehicle
until they got to the airport, then they would leave it there. Akane
looked behind her and saw Ranma asleep with his head back, drooling and
snoring quietly. Nabiki was rummaging through her personal bag, looking
for a Japanese-English dictionary. She yawned once or twice while
searching. None of the family was used to waking up so early, except for
Kasumi, who cheerfully rose at six o'clock every morning to prepare
breakfast for everyone. Genma and Soun were loading the van while Kasumi
looked over everything to make sure all was packed. Both Genma and Soun
yawned as the put suitcases and duffle bags in the back of the minivan.

Akane, trying her best to stay awake, rested her chin in her hand and
stared out the window. They would be gone for almost the whole summer,
which was why they had left so soon. Wow. 'Oh, well, the place can't be
that bad, right?' she thought, then yawned.

Kasumi opened the side door and climbed unto the front seat, next to
Akane. "Alright, we're ready to leave," she said to the tree. Genma
climbed into the driver's seat, and Soun sat on the passenger side.

Genma yawned and started the car and pulled out onto the main road. Soun
turned behind him and said, "The airport is only about half an hour
away, so don't get too comfortable."
Akane kept looking out the window and listened absently as Nabiki
practiced her English. All the excitement from last night as she was
packing was now gone. It was replaced with, 'Why do I have a bad feeling
about this?' Even hitting Ranma didn't make her feel any better. She
sighed and felt the necklace from Ranma around her neck. For some
reason, knowing it was there helped to calm her. Smiling, her eyes
gently closed, and she fell asleep.

The group made it to Tokyo International Airport with time to spare.
They walked leisurely through the airport, stopping at a few places.
Nabiki made it a point to stop at the currency conversion booth. Akane
stopped and bought a magazine. Ranma bought Pokemon for his Gameboy. He
had been saving his money for a while to get it, and now wherever he
walked, he had his head down, staring at the game.

When it was finally time for them to board, they placed their suitcases
and other luggage on the carousel and headed onto the plane.

Ranma, now wide awake, sat on the outside row, being nice enough for
Akane to have the window seat. (Actually, he was too busy pressing
buttons and muttering, "C'mon, Pikachu, get that Mystical Bird!" to
notice where he sat.) Nabiki and Kasumi sat directly behind them, and
Genma and Soun sat to their left. They all got settled in, each doing a
particular thing to keep them busy for the seven hour flight.

Meanwhile, back at the next-door neighbor's house, Ryoga quickly stepped
out of the steamy bathroom and snuck out the back door with the
neighbor's car keys in his hands. He walked over to the car and opened
it's door. From inside the house came a muffled, "HEY!" Ryoga looked up
to see a woman coming towards the door.

"Che!" he muttered. He started the car, threw it into reverse, and
floored it. He saw the woman come out the door and start to chase him.
He smiled and pulled his eyelid down into the mirror, hoping she'd see.
He turned the corner recklessly and squealed to a stop in front of the
where he and the other three had met the previous night. Ukyo, Shampoo,
and Kunou weren't there.

Ryoga groaned. Was this going to become a constant thing, everyone being
late? He heard yelling behind him and saw the woman running towards him.
Ryoga emitted a worried "gahh" and hit the gas, fully rounding the
corner. Going down the street, he saw Kunou, Shampoo, and Ukyo walking
together (what a coincidence! ^_^). He stopped by them and yelled "GET
IN!" through the open window.

The other three had sweat drops and blinked.

"Uhhh... Ryoga? Where did you get the car?" Ukyo asked.

"Who cares? Just get in!"

They shrugged and opened the back doors and got in. Ryoga took his foot
off the brake and took off down the road for the airport. He saw the
woman running along the sidewalk through his mirror, then stop. Ryoga
laughed and sped up, the three hanging on for dear life in the back.

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Achika stared at the car going down the road as a worried sweat drop
appeared. "How am I going to tell Nobuyuki that our car was stolen?"
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Ryoga pulled into the A Terminal, passing the white zone (which is for
the loading and unloading of passengers only. ^_^). They parked a
distance away from the Tendou's rented minivan and walked carefully
inside the airport, keeping an eye out for either the Tendous or
Saotomes. They came to a bank of lockers and were about to cross the
hallway to the other side when they saw Ranma sitting on a bench,
playing a Gameboy. Ryoga looked at his companions and held a finger to
his mouth. In unison, they tiptoed across to the other side. Ranma never
looked up. There they waited in a store until all six had gotten onto
the plane.
Shampoo started to walk over to the hallway that led into the plane, but
Ryoga pulled her back. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

She looked confused. "We go with Ranma, ne? Why we not follow?"

"We'll be seen if we actually get into the cabin with them!"

"Then how we get there?"

"Follow me." Ryoga led the group out into the crowd and over to the
luggage carousel. "Hop on," he commanded.

Kunou took a step back. "Is't there not a safer, more sane route with
which we can follow Saotome?" he asked.

Ryoga grew impatient. "No, no c'mon!" He jumped on, hoping that everyone
would follow. The remaining three looked at each other, and shrugged.
They followed.

The carousel led down onto the runway, and the four jumped off right
before they got to the luggage loading attendants. The plane was all the
way on the other side of the runway, and the four started running
towards it. As they got closer, the plane started to roll towards the
take-off strip.

"Hurry!" Ryoga yelled as he saw the plane start to move. The group ran
faster. Ryoga pointed to the left wheel and told Shampoo and Kuno to
grab onto it. He and Ukyo would take the right wheel.

 "ARE YOU INSANE?!?!?" Ukyo yelled at him.

 "There's no other way!"

 "You said we would be going first-class!"

 Ryoga ignored her. "Just do it!" He looked over and saw Shampoo jump
forward to catch the axel. Kuno did the same and Shampoo helped him up.

 "N'uh-uh, no way I'm riding in the wheel compartment for seven hours,
especially with you!" Ukyo called to Ryoga.

 Ryoga grabbed the axel and pulled himself up into a sitting position
facing Ukyo, who was still running. "Fine, then, stay behind. Shampoo
will have Ranma to herself." The wheels began to go up. "I'll tell her
for you! I'm sure she'll appreciate it!"

 Ukyo yelled back up to him, "That Amazon? With my Ran-chan?" She jumped
forward and grabbed the axel as it went up into the wheel well. She
looked at Ryoga's face as it became dark. "I think not," she said
plainly.

 Up in the cabin, Akane, Ranma, Nabiki, Kasumi, Genma, and Soun all put
on their seatbelts. Akane looked out the window and gasped. Was that...
Kunou-senpai grabbing onto the wheel? She shook her head, blinked, and
looked back. The wheel was now completely hidden inside the plane as the
jet glided into the air. 'No...' Akane thought. 'I'm seeing things.
Gotta lay off that caffeine. Kuno wouldn't follow us... would he?' She
sat back in her chair, the bad feeling about the trip growing.
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 In the darkness of the wheel well, Ryoga and Ukyo moved around trying
to get in a mutually comfortable position.

 "You'll pay for this, Hibiki," she growled.

 "Excuse me if my contact decided to head off for Jamaica at the last
second!" he replied.

 She acknowledged him with an indignant grunt. Finally they found a
semi-comfortable position where both of them were facing each other.
Coldy, Ukyo said, "I'm never going on a trip with you again."

 Ryoga ignored her and sighed. "Well, it's going to be along trip. We
better try to find a way out of her."

 "Damn right! I'm not staying in her with you the whole trip!" Ukyo
retorted. She began to feel along the wall in search of something that
would let them out. Ryoga saw what she was doing in the dim light, and
did the same. Feeling above him, he felt that there was a large panel
above them. "Ukyo, I found something!"

 She looked up where he had his hand. "Get back a little," said Ryoga.
"I'll handle this."

Concentrating for a second, he pulled back his fist, and, with all his
force, punched the panel.

 Above them, in the cargo area, a loud CLANG resounded, as a dent
appeared in the wheel well covering, followed by a muffled
"OWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!"

 Ryoga grabbed his wrist with his unhurt hand and winced in the corner.
Ukyo sighed and shook her head. "Listen, YOU just stand back and let me
handle this!" she said.

 "No way," he mumbled. Ukyo put her face in her hand because of his
pig-headed-ness.

 He closed his eyes.
 'What if we fail? What if Akane and Ranma DO get together? How will you
deal with THAT?! You're just an incompetent fool!'
Ryoga clenched his teeth at his own insult. Concentrating harder, a
faint light grew around his right hand. As sweat drops appeared on his
forehead, the light grew brighter, and brighter. Soon it was a ball of
energy in between his hands he pointed it up.

 "Shishi HokouDAN!"


 A ball of pure energy shot upwards, blowing away the panel and sending
it flying and smouldering to somewhere in the cargo bay. Ukyo had her
eyes closed and her hands over her face as he did his special technique,
but now looked up to see the cargo bay's ceiling.
 Ryoga breathed heavily, his energy now greatly decreased. He turned to
her and said, "C'mon." He pulled him self up from the small wheel well
and helped Ukyo up as well. He looked around. Ukyo watched him with a
certain amount of admiration. He was a natural born leader and had
managed to bring the four of them, who normally almost hated each other,
together for one cause. And he was doing all this for the one he loved!
It was sweet, she thought.

 "Well?"

 "Huh?" Ukyo asked as she snapped back to reality.

 "What should we do now? We need to find out where the Tendous and the
others will be staying. Got any ideas on how to do that?" he asked her,
his face turned slightly so he didn't look directly at her.

 She put her finger to her mouth and looked up, thinking. "Hmmm...."

 As she thought, a door clanked open. The two jumped back down into the
wheel compartment and watched as a woman in shorts and a regular t-shirt
walked over to another door that Ryoga and Ukyo hadn't seen before and
walked in. She walked out a minute later wearing a short burgundy skirt
and a button down shirt with a faux tie and a hat. She back out of the
cargo area and into the main area.

 Ukyo watched intently and snapped her finger when the stewardess left.
"I got it!"

 "What?"

 "Just follow me!" She jumped out and headed over to the door. Ryoga
followed behind her and waited outside the door, still wondering what
she had in mind. She stepped out wearing a full white chef's uniform.

 "Ok, Ryoga, your turn!" She pushed him in, and closed the door.

Ryoga's notes: Ok, another LOOOONG chapter, by far the one I've spent
the most time on. I've also rewritten this one the most, including those
new scenes with P-chan/Ryoga, and the new ending. Plus, Ukyo no longer
gets herself and Ryoga out of the wheel well (for two reasons: 1)
explosive okonomiyaki batter just isn't believable, and 2) I finally
learned Ryoga's attack was Shishi Houkodan. ^_^). Sorry Ukyo fans!
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-Ryoga Masaki
"Leave it to that KICK-ass Ryoga..." -Ukyo Kuonji (well, kinda...)
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/4189