Mizuno Productions Presents
Bubblegum Crisis: The Bubble Burst Side Story : Hide and Seek
A Side Story Based on the Ranma 1/2|Bubblegum Crisis Story The Bubble
Burst by Fire
By Richard Beaubien
****
It had been less than a week, Linna noted as she tried to relax her
strained muscles. They were screaming out in pain from the workout program
she was now in, a program led by her friend and fellow knight saber Nene
Romanoff, the eternal couch potato. At least that was until she
remembered that she was the legendary master of some weird martial
arts school, Linna always forgot the name, Ranma Saotome.
Now Nene, no she was really Ranma, was going through a workout and
training program that would put a world class athlete to shame. It was
all part of Ranma's plan to get back in to tip top shape, though Linna
tended to call it inhuman torture. Some of the forms and stretches
employed by her were just mind boggling in their difficulty, so that
when Linna tried to perform one her whole body ached for hours.
Linna cursed herself, noting that she really didn't have to do this. She
could have been taking the easier program Ranma was using with the other
Knight Sabers. That program was just composed of defenses and simple
counters to a school Ranma helped found, a school which had lead to
Ranma's recovery of memories and a school being used by the latest
generation of boomers. A school that had caused an untold amount
of damage to MegaTokyo, both in material and in human costs recently.
That school was the Inoshishi Atama Ryu, the Wild Boar school, and it was
why all of the Knight Sabers were on a crash training course. Even Sylia
was in the gym, working out with the others while she was out looking for
Ranma's niece Reiko.
But for some reason Linna wanted to learn more than just the simple
basics, she wanted to learn some of the movies that she had seen Ranma
practicing. Maybe it was the martial artist part of her acting up, wanting
to learn and digest the strange new world Ranma had opened up for her. Or
maybe she wanted to stay close to her friend, to be there to help her
through the pain and suffering she was going through while she was
adjusting to the changes that had happened in her life.
Whatever the reason was, it all added up to a hurting Linna Yamazaki. At
the end of most days she barely felt like moving. Even though her speed
and strength were increasing with the training the added power wouldn't
help her out if she was too tired to even fight. She wasn't like Ranma,
who was pouring all her energy into training, performing all of her moves
fluidly as if it was second nature to her. No, it was more like first
nature to her the way she was able to weave the complex forms togther.
"Are you ready to start again Linna?" Ranma asked as she finished off
the final bit of her form, shaking Linna out of her thoughts, "I want
to get in a final set before the others get here and I think you can
handle it." The pig-tailed girl, Ranma had switched to that hairstyle soon
after her memories came back, smiled her way, which filled Linna with
confidence.
"Sure, I'm ready to go!" Linna exclaimed as she leapt to her feet, assuming
the starting position of the form. It was the most complex one of the set
yet at the same time the most simple. At the core of the form were a bunch
of simple standard martial arts forms, but they were combined togther in a
weird nonsensical pattern of moves. Punch followed a jump, kick followed a
throw, with a dash of what looked like Tai-chi added in all at a breakneck
pace. Ranma had called it his æanything goes form' a form that follows the
tenants of her school. Linna called it "hell" herself . . .
But she would finish the form of today, Linna thought as she readied
herself. Her breathing became calm and she started to let herself go as
Ranma suggested, letting the katas flow as she moved through them. Her
body danced around, following the weird pattern almost on its own,
before it stopped in an Instant back in it's starting position.
"You did great Linna!" Ranma exclaimed as she walked over to Linna's side.
She felt dog tired and wanted to slump to the ground badly, but she
finished it. In what seemed like an instant to her she had performed the
form, and even though she was moving at such a rapid rate she was still
able to see the path of her moves and control her motions.
"Thanks, Sensei," she said with a smile as she managed to bow to Ranma, letting
some of her worries from before escape. With the way Ranma was acting
Linna was sure that she had all of her problems under control.
"Bravo!, Bravo!" Linna heard from the sidelines, quickly turning to see Priss
clapping, "If you keep that up you'll be starring in Martial arts flicks in no
time flat."
"PRISS!"
"Okay, okay," Priss laughed as she walked over to the middle of the workout
room, "It's just I don't see the point of all that martial arts stuff. Just
give me a good rail gun and knuckle buster any day!"
"You'll see the point if one of those Boomers ever connects with you," Ranma
lectured as she toweled her sweat off, "When used by a normal human the
Inoshishi Atama Ryu has enough strength to tear down a mountain. When used
by a boomer who knows what kind of destruction it could cause."
"Yes, yes, Nene-sensei," Priss replied in mocking tone which caused Ranma
to wince slightly, "Getting hit bad, hitting Boomer good. Yes I understand
Sensei, now do you want me to snatch the pebble from your hand?"
"PRISS!" Ranma yelled as Priss broke into full laughter. Linna was doing
her best to control the urge, but she soon lost that battle and joined
in with Priss. "Feh, you two are gonna get it today!"
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help laughing," Priss snickered as she watched
her friends face turn beet red. "Okay, no more bad martial arts jokes before
class Nene, I'll save them till after the class."
"That's a big help Priss," Ranma replied sarcastically, "Anyway, we'll
start the program once Sylia gets here. I have a few more simple Tai-Chi
forms which should help direct away some of the more advanced strikes of
the Boar school."
"Umm, Nene didn't you read your e-mail today?"
"No, I didn't check it at all," the red head nervously laughed.
"Sylia sent an e-mail to you saying she couldn't make it in today. I was
there when she typed it in," Priss paused as she tried to remember a few
more details of the message, "She also wanted me to ask if you could send
a few files from the last data hacks you did. She said there might be some
info in those files we could use to fight these Kung-Fu boomers."
"Well," Ranma stumbled as her unease grew, "That would be a bit difficult
to do actually."
"And why is that?"
"Well I've sold my computer actually," Ranma answered, causing both Priss
and Linna to sweatdrop.
"What? You sold your Computer?" Linna asked as she looked at her friend
with a confused look, "You loved that computer, loved hacking around and
upgrading it! Why did you sell it?"
"I didn't see myself using it anymore," Ranma casually answered, "Now that
I've remembered who I can stop hiding from the past and face what it is
I am. And that's a martial artist and not some computer hacker."
"Feh, that's bullshit," Priss sneered as she walked over towards Ranma, her
face full of anger. "Pure bullshit Nene! I saw how much you loved that
computer and you were into all of the hacker crap. You wouldn't just give
that up for nothing."
"Priss, I was using computers to help hide the truth from myself," Ranma
calmly replied, "It was a replacement for me practicing my art. But I
don't need that anymore now that I'm whole again."
"But Nene!"
"But nothing," Ranma yelled back in response, her own anger growing.
"Can't you understand Priss? I'm no longer just Nene Romanoff! I'm
Ranma Saotome, master of the Anything Goes school of Martial arts and
I wish you can see that!"
"I'd wish you'd see that your still hiding NENE!" Priss screamed as
she turned away from Linna and Ranma. "But I guess you can't see that
you are, damn it."
"And what, you want me to go back to being plain old Nene? Or are you
jealous that I'm now the best fighter on the team and no longer the
couch potato you pushed around!"
Linna winced as the words escaped Ranma's mouth, knowing full well
the reaction they'd produce. She glanced over at Priss and saw that
she had grown silent for a few seconds, before she started to walk
to the door. "Priss, wait!" Linna exclaimed, hoping that she could
stop her friend from leaving. The two girls need to sit down and
talk things out, and Priss storming out wouldn't help matters.
"I'm going for a ride," Priss coldly answered as she opened the
door, "You enjoy your kung-fu." And with that she left the room,
slamming the door behind her loudly as she left.
A silence gripped the room for a few minutes, as both Ranma and
Linna tried to digest the events that had just occurred. Linna
was the first to break the silence, speaking in a weak voice,
"That was a cruel thing to say to Priss."
"I know, it seems I've retained my habit for putting my foot in
my mouth." Ranma slight chuckled, her face still a mix of anger
and nervousness.
"I'll say..."
"Don't worry Linna! I'll apologize later to her later. It's
just I wish, I wish she'd understand what happened to me a bit
more," Ranma answered as her eyes began to water slightly. "
I haven't changed that much and I still want to be her friend."
"I think she knows that," Linna replied as she wrapped her arm
around Ranma, "It's just the change shocked her a bit and she's
had a hard time accepting that. She's still your friend though,
even if she is being stubborn about accepting the changes you've
gone through."
"Yeah," Ranma paused as she thought things through, "And like I
said I was a bit of jerk..."
"It's okay, things will work out okay," Linna smiled as she stood
up, "But let's try and forget about this by doing some light sparring."
"Linna, thank you!"
"No problem," Linna exclaimed as she assumed her stance.
"But I'm not gonna take it easy on you though," Ranma said as a wry
grin appeared on her face before she leapt towards Linna. And once
again the two girls where in the middle of their dance, forgetting
the world around them as they moved to their own beat.
****
Light from hundreds of computer monitors surrounded Sylia, her eyes
soaking in the information at a pace only she could manage. Each screen had
a different view from a different tape or a different text document
on it, each cycling through the main part repeatedly. But none of them
yielded the information she was looking for, information on Nene's, no
Ranma's, young niece Reiko. Or on the source of the rampaging martial
arts boomers that had been plaguing MegaTokyo lately
The door to the computer whooshed open and Sylia quickly blanked the screens.
If she couldn't solve one problem then she'd try to solve another. She had
heard part of the story between Ranma and Priss's argument and she wanted to
extinguish any bad feelings between the two before they affected the
performance of the Knight Sabers. They needed to be operating as well
an oiled unit when they finally did attack the source of these Inoshishi
Atama Ryu boomers.
"Yo Sylia," Priss greeted in a drab tone as she entered the room holding
her motorcycle helmet in her hand. She had obviously just finished riding
as her face was flush and full of sweat. Her bike was one of her ways to
relieve stress, and it looked like Priss had spent a long time trying to
work some of her anger out.
"Hi Priss," Sylia replied calmly, "I'm glad you could make it in today."
"Yeah, well I have a few things I need to get off my chest to you as
well," Priss said as she casually leaned on one of the computer terminals.
"I assume you've heard about the argument yesterday."
"Linna told me everything, yes."
"So..." Priss trailed off as she looked at Sylia, "What do you think
about what Nene did? Selling her computer and all."
"She's a grown girl and she can make her own choices Priss."
"Bullshit Sylia," Priss snorted as she smashed her fist into a nearby
wall, "She loved that computer Sylia, and she would never give it up
unless something was wrong!"
"But that was before she remembered who she was," Sylia answered as her
face remained a mask of calm, "Now that her memories have returned she's
gone back to the life she used to lead as Ranma Saotome."
"I understand that, but that doesn't mean she has to give up being
Nene Romanoff!"
Nothing was said after Priss finished her outburst, the awkward silence
holding the room in its iron grasp. Sylia mind worked on overdrive as
she tried to figure out a way to respond to Priss's statement. She never
really paid much attention to the issues behind the return of Ranma's
memories as she was throwing herself headlong into the search for Reiko
instead. Better to stay busy working on things that she could deal with
than to spend time on issues she couldn't handle.
"Priss, this is up to Ranma," Sylia finally answered, "She know what's
best for her right now so trust her please."
"No, not right now," Priss replied as she got up, "I don't think she's
sorted out some of her problems, I think she's still hiding from part of
her personality. Only this time she's hiding from the present not the past."
"But Nene was just a mask she wore. I'm afraid you'll have to accept the
fact that Nene is really Ranma!"
"Damn it!" The yell filled the room as she punched the door,
"I won't blindly accept that. Nene's life over the past few
years wasn't just doom and gloom. It was also filled with fun
times and happiness, and I'm not going to give up on that even if you are."
And with that she stormed out of the room, leaving a stunned
Sylia alone in the room, the monitors flickering to life behind her.
*****
"Priss?" Mackie asked as he poked his head from out of his
doorway. "What happened, and what's with this racket?"
Priss stopped, her anger still smoldering from her confrontation
with Sylia. "Nothing really, Sylia and me just had a little argument."
"Oh. Well try and keep it down please, I'm trying to sleep."
"Sorry Mackie," Priss replied as she slouched in apology,
"But I'm just so pissed at Sylia right now that I can't help it."
"It's Nene isn't it?"
"Yeah, Sylia is just acting way to cool about the whole thing!"
"Well what can we do?" Mackie asked, concern appearing in his
face. He too was worried that Nene might disappear from his life.
And he hadn't even had a chance to, had a chance to...
Priss paused as she thought things through for a second,
"This Ranma doesn't seem like the type to pass up a challenge
Mackie. So we play her game Mackie."
"Eh?"
"Come with me Mackie, I'm gonna need your help with something,"
she replied as she started walking down the hallway, taking a confused
Mackie with her.
*****
It was a few days later, at one of the less-seedy restaurants
in MegaTokyo, when Priss and Ranma meet after their fight.
Priss still dressed in her casual clothes and Ranma still wearing
her warm-up clothes that she wore to her daily training sessions.
Both were mostly eating and avoiding talking, although Priss was
taking her meal slowly. Nene on the other hand was tearing through
her meal with reckless abandon.
Priss watched on with a huge smile on her face, as she watched Ranma
tear through the huge sundae she ordered for dessert. "Ah, there are
advantages to being a girl," she said as she finished the last bit
of ice cream in the dish and set it to the side, "Maybe I'll have a
chocolate cake before we leave."
"Feeling a bit hungry today aren't we?"
"Training takes a lot out of me," She responded as she tried
to flag a waitress down, "And the best way to replace that
energy is with cake."
"If you say so," Priss idly responded as she looked over the menu,
"Maybe I'll try that theory out and order some of that chocolate
cake too, since you are paying."
"Priss!" Ranma cried mockingly as she gave her order to the
Waitress, "Just because I'm paying doesn't mean you can go out
of control!"
"Hey, you were the one who suggested an apology dinner,"
Priss trailed off as she looked out the window, "So I think I
should be able to go wild."
"But did you have to have Lobster!"
"Hey, I haven't had seafood in a long time!" Priss replied with a smile
as she sipped some more of her wine, "And the lobster here is just so good."
"Mou," Ranma fumed as she looked towards Priss, "I said
I was sorry!"
"I hear you, I'm just making sure you are!"
"PRISS!"
Priss broke out in laughter at Ranma's response, "I know,
I know. I was partly to blame as well, I should have known to
give you some space to find you way. But I can be a bit hard
headed sometimes, as you know."
"Believe me, I know that feeling," Ranma responded
with her own laughter, before she sobered up, "I'm sorry
Priss, I really am. I know this is as tough for you as it is for me."
"We'll make it through these tough times, we've done it
before," Priss paused as she looked at Ranma's long face,
"And we'll find Reiko, I promise you!"
"Thanks Priss."
"Anyway, enough of this serious talk, let's move
onto something more fun!"
"What do you have in mind?" Ranma asked as her chocolate
cake was placed in front of her.
"Well..." Priss trailed off as a wicked smile appeared on
her face, saying nothing more as the two girls ate their respective cakes.
*****
"What are we gonna do here Priss?" Ranma asked as they entered
the training area underneath Raven's Garage, "If you want to do
some training then come to the morning sessions with Linna."
"Nah, I don't want to do that type of training," Priss commented,
leading Nene down the hallway. She stopped her at one of the plainer
looking rooms, which was used as more of a lounge for the girls than
anything else. A plain couch was in the room, along with a TV and fridge.
And in the middle of the room were two of the more powerful computers in
the building, linked togther with various wires and devices.
"Priss, what are you planning?" Ranma enquired as she calmly looked
at the setup in the room, "You know I'm not interested in computers
anymore."
"I know, that's why I got this setup," Priss answered as she sat down
in front of one of the computers, "I figure I might want to get into
the whole computer file stealing scene so I picked up a couple of neat
computers."
"It's called Hacking, Priss"
"Yeah, that's the name!" Priss exclaimed as she hit the on switch,
bringing both computers to life, "I'm gonna become the best hacker ever."
"And how do you propose to do that?" Ranma asked in a curious voice,
wondering just what her friend had in mind.
"Oh by utterly defeating the only hacker I know at her own game."
"And that would be..." Ranma trailed off, already knowing what
the answer would be.
"Bingo!" Priss cheered as pointed at Ranma, "It'd be you there,
Little Miss.Ex Hacker."
"But I'm retired, and even if I was still in the game I could
easily wipe the floor with you."
"Ah so you say," Priss smirked as she responded, "But I think
I can easily beat you now. I've been training with Mackie every day!"
"So, that doesn't mean you can beat me. Mackie couldn't even
come close to my skills, and I don't do the computer thing anymore. So..."
Ranma didn't finish as she turned to leave the room. Priss's smile grew
as she saw this, "Well if you're too chicken to take me on . . . "
This stopped Ranma's exit, causing her to turn around
and face Priss head on. "What did you say?!"
"I said you were a chicken, but then who can blame you?
Your going to lose horribly anyway so you're better off just
running away anyway."
The red hue of anger on Ranma's face was quickly replaced
with a look of determination. "If you think you can beat me than
bring it on. I never back down from a challenge!"
"Then let's do it," Priss calmly said as Ranma sat down at the
computer across from her, "We'll start with a simple game just
so I can take it easy on you."
"Just worry about yourself," the red head commented as
she looked at the screen in front of her. It was the
starting screen of a 3D shooter, the online type that
was still enjoyed by most of the old school hackers
over the new Virtual Reality replacements. Here the hackers
could show more of their skill as they could hack and play
with the source code as they went along. They were encouraged
to cheat, in fact it was the only rule of the game.
Ranma snorted as the game started, picking her usual graphic for
hacking. She never really liked these types of games,
instead preferring more meaningful pursuits like hacking Genom
computers. But she knew more than enough to make her way through
the games, playing well enough to get through and attract the attention
of the obscure Hacker who might have that one scrap of info she
needed to crack the really complex mainframes.
Ranma shook these thoughts out of her head, they were the masks
she used to protect herself from the truth. That she was Ranma
Saotome, martial artist and the person responsible for the
great Kanto quake which so devastated Tokyo and lead to its
rebirth as MegaTokyo.
But she was no longer hiding from these truths and as such no longer
needed to be protected from them. She could give them up and return to
her life like it was before, training for the next big fight. The fight
for Reiko.
So she looked at the screen in disdain, noting that she had been goaded
into yet another fight she didn't want to get into thanks to her ego.
This time against Priss, who seemed hell bent on beating Ranma at her
old game. Not that she was gonna lose mind you, she was going to beat
Priss quickly and put and end to this nonsense. And that would be the
last time she would use a computer.
Looking at the map in the top corner, she started out to look
for her rival. Having a good idea of what tactics Priss usually
employed Ranma made her way into the biggest room on the map.
Priss after all preferred to fight in the open than to hide.
And as she entered the room, Ranma saw Priss's character
standing in the middle, waiting for her.
That was when the screen went red for her, as her character
dropped to the ground. Ranma looked up to see Priss chuckling
softly at Ranma's misfortune. "Lucky shot," Ranma growled as
she wondered were exactly the shot came from.
"Oh, than I guess this is a lucky shot as well?"
Ranma wondered what Priss was talking about when she looked
at the screen again, her character back up and in a different
location. Ranma brought her out into a hallway when she quickly
saw her enemy again, soon to be followed by yet another red screen.
"Damn it," Ranma swore as Priss's laughter grew. 'There was no
way she could have got here that fast', Ranma thought as she looked
over the map, ‘But it doesn't matter because in the end I'll win!'
*****
The game continued on like this for the next hour or so,
with Priss building up a huge lead over a fuming and
perplexed Ranma. Sure, she managed the occasional kill, but those
were few and far between and seemed to be mercy kills given by Priss
so Ranma would remain interested in the game.
Priss was already into full laughter, trying out the full array of
built in taunts that Mackie added into the game. Each and every time
she used them it riled Ranma up, and caused an outburst on her part
that only made Priss's enjoyment bigger.
That was until recently, when for some reason Ranma suddenly got
very quiet. The taunts weren't working anymore, and for some weird
reason Priss couldn't find her anywhere on the board. She even tried
all of the cheats Mackie built in, including the one where she would
appear beside Ranma's character and she still couldn't find Ranma.
So she was left with one final alternative, the instant kill trick
Mackie had built into the game for her.
Priss grinned as she was about to press the trigger key, noting how
surprised Ranma would be when she dropped dead instantly with nobody
around. She depressed the key and waited for the kill message to cross
the screen with childish glee.
Only nothing happened when she pressed they key, which confused Priss.
She quickly looked over the cheat sheet that Mackie had given her and
noted that she was using the right key to perform the move. So she pressed
it again, and waited for something to happen.
And almost immediately her character on the screen was surrounded by
more than a hundred clones of Ranma's model. Each on of them was
sticking their tongue out at her, laughing in unison before the screen
became covered with a long stream of the kana for cheater.
Nothing was said for a few seconds as Priss looked at the screen
in shock, before she looked over at the smiling face of Ranma.
"Yahoo! Still got it!" Ranma exclaimed as she leapt out of her chair.
"Well it looks like you're better at hacking too," Priss muttered
as she stood up, slowly walking to the door. "But at least you had fun, right?"
Ranma paused as she thought this over, she did seem to enjoy
herself while at the computer. But it wasn't anything like training
in the martial arts, or the rush she felt when fighting a good opponent.
Well, hacking some systems felt like a really good fight some times,
especially the Genom systems. But that was nothing like fighting Tarou
or Ryouga. Was it? She wasn't sure really . . .
"Nene, Ranma," Priss interrupted Ranma's thoughts as she opened
the door, "You just finished hiding from one part of your past
this week. Don't start hiding from another part of yourself okay?"
And with that she shut the door gently, leaving Ranma alone in
the computer room looking at the flashing monitors. She was
staring deeply into the screen, a screen that had been part
of her life for so many years.
"Hiding, eh?" She said to herself as she looked at the screen,
wondering just whom she was hiding from. She was facing
the problems of Ranma Saotome head on like she needed to and she
wasn't hiding anymore.
"But what about Nene Romanoff?" She thought, wondering if she
was hiding from her. Wasn't she just a mask to keep the pain of
her final fight with Saffron away? Wasn't she?
And yet the other Knight Sabers had come to love that mask, and
her coworkers at the ADP as well. They saw her as a teammate, a
partner in their fight against Genom, and most importantly as a
friend. They didn't see Nene as a mask, but they saw her as Nene
Romanoff. And Ranma had tried to take that away . . .
"Maybe, Maybe I can still buy my computer back," Ranma,
no Nene Saotome, wondered as she left the room, "Or maybe
I can buy something better!" She exclaimed, slamming the door behind her.
*****
The computers were still turned on when Mackie entered the room
to return them to their proper homes. He had agreed to set them
up to help Priss with her plan with Nene, and that meant unfortunately
he was stuck with the task of setting and cleaning up after them.
He sighed as he looked at the computer that had cheater being printed
across the whole screen in Kanji. Mackie knew that Nene was way more
skilled at this type of thing then he was, and he expected the computer
to be in this shape after the game. But since it was limited to the game
it would be easy enough to clean up, compared to other kinds of computer hacks.
Pressing down the keys required to shut down the game and return
to the OS, Mackie saw the screen return to normal. Now all he needed
to do was to insert the recovery disc to make sure there was no trace
of the virus left and everything would be all right.
The screen went black after the disc was inserted, which surprised
Mackie. ‘The virus shouldn't have made it to the OS', he thought,
‘I put in enough safe guards as it is'. He quickly tried to restart
the computer, only to notice that the keyboard and power switch were
locked out.
Sighing he looked up and saw some text being printed out in the screen.
It read
To Mackie
Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
From Nene Saotome
(Never an End)
*****
Well this is my first side story done for another writers work, and I must
say it was a fun experience. Thanks to fire for letting me doing this,
helping me out with some grammar checks and writing such a good work for
me to build upon.
Check out his fine story at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~dzillman/fire/
Thanks for reading...:P
Ja ne!!
Richard Beaubien
----------------
Suzuki Arimi, Mizuno Ami, Aya-san forever!!!! WAI!!!
Fanfic homepage http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~beaubird/