Please take into consideration that this used to be one huge fic and it was
broken into parts. If you wish to find this story in its entirety, you can find
on my webpage http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~jeffwong/index.html
Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong
Bubblegum Crisis/Ranma 1/2: Just won't die 1 part 1
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!!!" Ranma shouted as he released a massive
hurricane blast toward the dark blue boomer hovering high above him "You
ain't gonna get away that easily"
The hurricane formed right in front of Ranma, engulfing him but
leaving him unharmed. The blast was so powerful it kept expanding until
it was about twenty meters in diameter. Some of the surrounding
building were torn to shreds as they were engulfed in the blast also.
Luckily, Ranma knew they weren't occupied since he was in the middle of
an abandoned town, the slums.
He watched as the dark blue boomer hovered backwards at an intense
speed, avoiding the blast just in time.
"Damn, this boomer's nothing like the other ones I fought!!!" Priss
said to herself. She had to push her hardsuit to the limit just to avoid
something that powerful. Heck, she had to push it to the limit just to
avoid the boomer down below her. She looked at her view screen within
the helmet and noticed that her scanners were going ballistic. She
couldn't get a reading on what class the boomer on the ground below was.
It seemed like this boomer was equipped with some scanner jamming
devices. This frustrated Priss even more, making her want to get rid of
this new breed of boomer even faster.
The blast abated, leaving Ranma standing in the middle of the
street, a massive crater surrounding him.
"Damn, I'm never gonna be able to hit that boomer at this rate." he swore
silently to himself, "It's too fast."
He stood there patiently, waiting for the boomer to hover lower so he could
jump up toward it. He was able to leap high into the sky, but nowhere near as
high as the boomer was hovering.
Priss looked down at the boomer, "Why isn't he following me?"
She hovered down and settled on the top roof of one of the taller
buildings, gazing down at him, "Hm, it looks like this is going to be
easier than I thought. This boomer can't fly. Strange, considering
how much energy it could generate. I guess I better pick him off from
up here."
She pointed her arm toward him and released several laser blasts
directly toward the boomer, only to have the boomer skillfully avoid
it, "Damn, this's one's freakin' agile boomer. And it's able to anticipate my
attacks."
Ranma managed to dodge the blast just in time, leaping out of the
way. As he rolled to his feet, he looked back toward where he was
standing and saw three tiny craters there. He looked up at the boomer
and said to himself, "Damn, that boomer's got a good AI. It's tryin' to
pick me off from a distance since it knows I'm dangerous up close."
Ranma dusted the sand off his clothes as he smiled confidently to
Himself, "If it's gonna play that way"
Priss watched in astonishment "Man, that boomer's even got an AI
that makes it brush its clothes when it's dirty. What kinda monsters
are Genom creating?! And it's even smiling!"
"Mouko Takabisha!!!" he shouted as a gigantic ki blast tore from
his hands, flying straight toward the boomer at an intense speed. The
blast was so strong that even the ground below it melted from the
shear heat. The building even started to melt before the blast hit
it.
Priss lunged forward and off the building roof just in time as the blast
ripped the entire building to shreds, continuing onward into the sky behind it.
She twisted in mid air as she fell toward the ground and saw half the
building just disappear from the intense heat and power of the blast.
Before she hit the ground, she managed to land safely via the use of her
boosters. But as she stood on the ground, her heart was racing. How on earth can
this boomer generate so much energy, she thought to herself. This boomer was
absolutely nothing like she had ever fought. Nothing.
Ranma stood there, watching the boomer intently, waiting to see what
it would do next. He knew that boomers always had a tendency to
charge forward to attack, and that would be its fatal mistake. He
would use his Kashuu Tenshin Amaguriken technique on it to finish it
off.
Priss stood there, waiting for the boomer's next move. She looked
down at her arm and noticed that it was a bit singed from before. She
knew her armor would not be able to sustain a direct hit from another
one of those deadly blasts. And she had to do everything in her power to avoid
it. It scared her to death to realize the damage her armor was take from being
within close proximity to this boomer's projectiles, let alone a direct hit.
Why isn't it coming at me, Ranma thought to himself. He was eager
to finish this boomer off, but it wasn't moving. He took a step
forward, only to have his steps matched by the boomer taking a step
back.
Hm, it looks like it's trying to avoid me, he thought. He shrugged
his shoulders. That doesn't matter, I'll just pick it off from here.
"Horizontal Blast revised, Hiryu Shoten Ha!!!" he shouted loudly as a
huge horizontal hurricane ripped from his hands straight toward the
boomer.
Priss wasn't able to react to it in time as the blast engulfed her
entirely. She was blown backwards into the building, the wall
collapsing in from the impact. If it weren't for her wearing the
armor, every bone in her body would have been broken, especially her
spine. It would have been shattered into a million pieces.
She slowly got up to her feet, clutching at her ribs. A few of her
ribs must have been bruised or broken.
Man, that boomer even acts like it's in pain, Ranma thought with a bit
of awe. I can't believe Genom got this far with its AI. It really looks
like it's hurt. For a quick second, he almost felt a bit of remorse.
Priss slowly made her way back out of the building through the
hole. She knew she was done for, all the boomer would have to do is
finish her off. But for some reason, it wasn't moving. It just stood
there, looking at her.
Ranma took a few steps forward and stopped, still a bit cautious
about attacking. He knew the boomer was faking an injury, so he
didn't want to be fooled.
"Hey, Priss, you okay?" Priss heard the communicator in her helmet
come to life, "Just keep it busy for a minute. We're on our way."
"Sylia," Priss spoke back "Stay away! This thing's a goddamn monster!"
But it was too late. The communicator went off. Her friends were on
their way. They would surely die if they attacked this boomer. This
boomer was probably capable of taking on a dozen Knight Sabers. She knew
what she had to do. She would have to turn on the suit's auto destruct
mode and sacrifice herself and blow the boomer up in the process.
Ranma stood there for a few moments, wondering what the boomer is
up to. It wasn't moving. He knew there was no chance it could ambush
him since he was too far away. He could just finish it off with his
Mouko Takabisha but something prevented him. He felt this bit of
compassion toward the boomer. Even though it was faking pain, it
almost looked like it was really hurt.
The ground behind him exploded as Ranma instinctively jumped
forward out of the way. He rolled to his feet to see a small crater
in place of where he was just a second ago, "Damn, that was close!"
He looked up into the sky to see two more boomers hovering above him.
They all looked like the same boomer he had been fighting all this time
yet different in some way. He noticed they all had a slightly different
exoskeleton and color.
Ranma could feel the adrenaline surging through him as he realized
he was outnumbered. This would be a very hard fight for his life. But
as he stood there, he knew there was a good chance he could take all
of them down before he succumbed. He turned around to look at the
boomer. He wanted to finish it off so he wouldn't worry about it
later on.
When his eyes rested on that supposedly injured boomer, he was
shocked to see another boomer, a small purple and pink one helping
it out.
Man, what kinda AI chips do these things have, he thought to
himself. He watched as the smaller boomer used its thrusters to fly
it to safety, placing the blue boomer down in the middle of the
street a dozen meters away from him, definitely out of his immediate
reach.
"You guys have to get out of here!" Priss told Nene, "It's a goddamn
monster! It's got energy blasts that's far worse than any boomer we ever
encountered!"
"What?!" Priss heard Sylia's voice from the communicator, "It's got
what?!"
"Energy blasts!" she talked into the communicator "They're powerful
enough to destroy this entire town."
She looked up and noticed Linna and Sylia turn their attention
toward her after hearing something like that.
They looked back down at that single boomer and hovered backwards a
bit defensively.
"It's got a weakness." Priss said through clenched teeth, "It can't
fly."
Ranma's gaze went back and forth between the two hovering boomers and
the other two in the middle of the street. It looked like they were
trying to communicate with each other. They were probably sending out
communication waves that he couldn't hear.
He knew there was one thing he could do if his assumption was
correct. He would have to destroy that injured boomer before it would
transfer the data of his fighting technique.
"Mokou Takabisha!" he said as he sent a ki blast rocketing toward the
two boomers on the street. He smiled at the thought of killing two
boomers with one blast but was shocked to see the little purple and pink
boomer's boosters blaze to life as it jetted them both away from the
huge blast. The blast kept going straight down the street until it
struck a building a short ways down the road, demolishing it.
"God, that thing's hot!" Nene commented about the ki-blast as she
looked at her suit. Part of her armor was singed like Priss' armor. It was a lot
worse than Priss' because she had reacted a bit late.
Sylia and Linna, as they both hovered high in the sky, both shot
several laser blasts at the human-looking boomer, shocked to see it
jump out of the way skillfully. They watched the boomer roll to its
feet and shout something.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha! Hiryu Shoten Ha!" Ranma said twice. He let loose two
hurricane blasts, one emerging from each fist, like a double uppercut.
The first one was thrown vertically toward the sky as the other was
thrown horizontally. The vertical and horizontal blast engulfed each
other to form a diagonal blast directly toward the two hovering boomers.
Suck on that ya damn boomers, Ranma thought with a smirk.
Both boomer managed to avoid the blast just in time, hovering to
safety.
"How the hell is it able to generate so much power?!" Nene said as
she watched the boomer attacking her friends while they did all in their power
to dodge its attacks, "How can it be so dangerous from a distance?!"
"Waitaminute!!!" Priss said into her communicator "Maybe that's the
only way it's dangerous, from a distance. If you close the gap
between the two of you, you might stand a chance. It wouldn't be able
to throw those blasts because it would also get caught in it."
Priss watched as her two friend nodded toward her to acknowledge
her idea.
"Let's get close to it and fight it hand-to-hand!" Sylia said,
readying to punch right through the boomer. She had activated her
exploding punch and was ready to blow the entire boomer to pieces. Linna
did the same.
Slowly, both of them hovered closer and closer toward the boomer on
the ground.
"That's it." Ranma said to himself with a smile, "Come a little closer
and taste my Kashuu Tenshin Amaguriken. I'm gonna break both of your
heads once ya get close enough."
He got into his battle stance, a smirk on his lips, as he waited patiently for
the two boomers to charge. He knew that this was where it would all end. He was
actually grateful. Not that he was near total exhaustion, but he was getting
tired from throwing all those ki-blasts. His breathing was heavy.
"Why's it smiling?!" Linna said when she noticed the boomers lips.
"I don't know." Sylia said, gazing at her opponent intently, "It's probably
got something to do with the AI chip it has."
Both of them stopped hovering as Linna spoke, "How come I got this funny
feeling that that's what the boomer wants, for us to get closer?"
While still in mid-flight, Sylia turned toward Linna, one eye still
cautiously on the boomer "You saw what it could do from far away. Our
only chance is close combat."
C'mon, why aren't you charging me, Ranma thought. Why are you two
hesitating? Does it have to do with their AI chips? Are they weighing
the odds of close combat as opposed to fighting from a distance? I
better not give them a chance to react and finish the job now.
Ranma leaped into the sky directly toward one of the boomers. He
maneuvered his body in mid-flight so that his legs would wrap around
one of the boomer's arms while he would use one of his own arms to
grab the boomer's other arm. That would allow him to use his Kashuu
Tenshin Amaguriken on it while he held its limbs in place, allowing him
to land every single blow on the boomer's chest. The maneuver brought back
memories of when he and Ryoga had fought shortly after Ryoga had learned that
really annoying Bakusai Tenketsu technique.
"Eek!!!" Linna shouted as saw the boomer jump straight at her.
Everything moved in slow motion as she watched the boomer twist in mid-
flight. Before she knew what happened, the boomer was attached to
her, holding her arms from moving.
"Help!!!" she screamed into her communicator as she saw the boomer cock its
arm back, ready to smash a hole right through her chest.
Ranma placed one of his feet and kicked as a laser blast almost
took his head off. He had used the boomer's chest to do a kickout so
he would be propelled backwards to avoid the laser shot. He twisted
in the air and landed back on the ground safely. He landed on the
sidewalk.
"Damn, how am I gonna be able to get close to them to use my technique?" he
said to himself. He jumped out of the way just as two bullets whizzed by his
head. When he rolled to his feet and looked toward where it had come from, he
realized it was now far from the purple and pink boomer.
"Whoa, that was close." he told himself, "I better be more careful"
He looked up toward the two hovering boomers and noticed they seemed a bit
distracted.
"Are you okay?" Sylia said.
"I-I'm fine." Linna said. But she wasn't. Her heart was beating
faster than it ever had. She had seen her life flash before her eyes.
She thought she was going to die right there, in mid-air.
"Where'd it go?!" Sylia said as she realized the boomer was still
nearby on the ground somewhere. She placed a hand on Linna's arm as
her booster went into full blast, rocketing the two to a higher
altitude to avoid the boomer in case it decided to jump again. Now
that they were high enough from its jumping distance, they were
sitting ducks for that hurricane-like projectile that comes from its fists.
Ranma looked up at the two hovering boomers "Damn, I can't jump up and
reach them now."
He turned toward the two boomers in the middle of the street. The best course
of action was take care of those two instead. He started to run toward them.
"Eek!!!" Nene said as she raised her hand and shot several laser blast in the
boomer's general direction, all of them missing, "Stay away from me!!!" She
continued to shoot toward the boomer as it got closer and closer to the two of
them.
As Ranma got closer and closer, he wondered why that purple and
pink boomer was missing him so badly. Boomers had perfect aim, and
this one was missing him completely. Or then again, maybe it was
missing him on purpose. Maybe it was a trap. Ranma stopped dead in
his tracks, not wanting to fall for a trap.
You ain't gonna get me that easily, he thought to himself. He stood
still waiting for something to happen.
"Why'd it stop?" Priss said as she slowly made it to her feet. She
was still clutching her ribs, more like the section of armor protecting
her rib, wincing as jolts of pain shot through her. She placed a hand on
Nene's shoulder to help keep her footing, "Why is it hesitating? Why
isn't it attacking?"
As Ranma stood still, even without having to look, he knew the
other two boomers had landed on the ground behind him. He didn't bother
to turn around. He knew they were trying to silently sneak up behind
him. To let the boomers know that he didn't realize they were behind
him, he slowly made his way toward that purple and pink boomer, taking
slow, steady steps, pretending he was getting ready for that boomer to
shoot another laser blast at him. But he knew it wouldn't because if it
did, it might hit the other two boomers behind him.
Priss and Nene watched silently as the boomer slowly made its way
toward them. They were holding their breath, not daring to breath. In
just a few short seconds, it would all be over. They both knew that
boomers had a weak spot that they couldn't see what was coming up
from behind them.
Once Ranma could sense that the two boomers were close enough behind
him, he squatted low to the ground and made a wide sweep backwards,
hitting one of the boomers in the ankle. A loud clank could be heard
echoing through the streets of the slums as his foot connected with
solid steel. The boomer he swept, fell to the ground clutching its one
leg as the other boomer executed a perfect roundhouse toward Ranma's
head, intent on cleaving it off his shoulders. He wasn't expecting the
boomer to kick him, him expecting it to attempt a punch, so he was
caught a bit off guard. All he could do was block the kick.
The boomer's foot connected with Ranma outstretched arms, and when
it hit him, tiny boosters located around its ankle blasted, allowing
it to follow the kick through. Ranma could do nothing but absorb the
impact. He was sent flying into one of the building walls, the wall
collapsing down on him.
"Are you all right?" Sylia asked, squatting down next to Linna as
she held her ankle.
"I think my ankle's broken." she said. She looked down at the armor
around her foot and noticed that part of it had been dented in by the
shear impact of that sweep, "I can't believe it did that. How'd it
know we were behind it?"
"I don't know, but let's get out of here." Sylia said as she placed Linna's
arm around her shoulder and gently helped her to her feet, "We have to retreat.
That thing's a monster."
Slowly, the two made their way toward Priss and Nene.
Ranma sat upright, holding his head, "Man, that really hurts."
He rubbed at a sore spot, wincing at pain jolted through his body. He then
looked down at his ankle "Damn, that metal's harder than I thought." His
ankle was swollen a bit. He tried to get up, but one of his arms wouldn't move.
It must have been dislocated from the impact of that kick. He gritted his teeth
as he used his good arm to snap it back into place. In all his years of
fighting, he had never experienced so much pain as what had just surged through
his body.
"Arghh!!!! That hurt!!!!" After a few moments, the pained died down and he was
able to move his arm around a bit, "I guess it's better than not being able to
use it at all."
"Damn, that was a nice kick." Ranma commented to himself, "I never knew
boomers could kick that high."
He threw some of the rubble off his body and used his one good arm to stand
up. Although he could still use his other arm, it was almost useless. What he
would do right now for some cold water?
He brushed some of the debris off his shirt and made his way back out
the hold he had created when he slammed against the building. As he
stepped onto the sidewalk, he caught sight of four boomers huddle
together.
I have to hand it to 'em, Ranma thought. This was one hell of a fight,
and he hadn't had this much fun in years. He didn't know if this would
be his last fight but he knew that if it was, he was going to go down
fighting. The boomers were like nothing he had ever fought before.
He snapped a crick in his neck as he got back into his battle stance, "I
guess it's time for round two." he said to himself with a smirk.
"Suck on this, boomers!" Ranma said as he launched another one of
his blasts, "Horizontal blast revised, Hiryu Shoten Ha! Horizontal blast revised
Hiryu Shoten Ha!" He let rip another massive hurricane blast. Without
hesitating, he let rip a second blast, the blast every bit as powerful
as the first. He decided to give it everything he got as he let rip two
more blasts "Horizontal blast revised Hiryu Shoten Ha! Horizontal blast revised
Hiryu Shoten Ha!" All in all, he had thrown four hurricane blasts, each one
right after another.
"Protect Priss!" Sylia managed to say just in time as the blasts
enveloped them. Nene and Linna had reacted instinctively and had
jumped in front of Priss just as all three girls were engulfed. They
struggled for a second while within the blast, but it was too much
for them. They force of the blast propelled all three girls backwards
into Priss as they were all thrown into one of the building walls.
Although the three girls were in front of Priss to protect her from
the blast, Priss still got hurt as she was slammed up against the
wall.
Ranma took a step forward, cautious about charging. One of his arms
weren't working, and his foot was aching from when he swept one of the
boomers.
Sylia, Linna, and Nene all fell to their knees, terribly shaken
from the force of the impact against the building. Their armor
started to crack around their chest. Priss wasn't as hurt since they
protected her, but she still sustained some damage to her armor. Her
armor was still intact.
"We must retreat!" Linna said as she slowly got to her feet, "Our
suits can't take much more damage!" She was shocked to look down and
see a large chunk of her armor fall to the floor. The armor's
exoskeleton had fallen off. All that remained was the thin inner
armor that protected her body. She saw shocked to see her other two
friends' armor fall off.
"Retreat!" Sylia said. She would have to worry about taking care of
the boomer later. The only thing she could do was upgrade their
battle suits. It probably wouldn't do much help against a boomer this
powerful, but they would definitely be better off than they were now.
Sylia reached down and picked up the breast plate to her suit as
Nene and Linna did the same. She couldn't allow Genom to get hold of
any part of their armor. She then helped Priss to her feet, "Let's get
out of here!"
All three girls' booster burst into life, only to die on them.
Somehow, their thrusters must have been damaged in that blast. They
attempted again, but it wouldn't work anymore. They couldn't retreat
even if they wanted to. They would have to fight this boomer to the
bitter end. The three girls got into their battle stance. There was
nothing else they could do but fight.
Ranma seized the chance to attack. Now that they couldn't fly away,
he would now have a great advantage. They were stuck on the ground
with him.
Linna tried to punch the boomer's head off only to see it dodge her
attack skillfully. Before she knew it, she was being thrown through
the air toward Sylia. If her boosters had worked, she would had been
able to twist in the air to avoid her, but they didn't. She was
slammed bodily into Sylia, the two of them falling down on top of
Priss.
Ranma smiled he watched the boomers desperately try to get to their feet. He
was distracted for a moment as he wondered why the two boomers looked like they
were in pain, which was all that was needed for Nene to execute a kick to his
ribs. Ranma saw the kick coming but wasn't able to dodge it in time. A sharp
pain surged through his body as he sent flying through the air. He twisted in
the air to land safely on his feet in the middle of the street. His gaze rested
on the boomer that had kicked him in the ribs. He clutched at his ribs.
"Damn, I can't believe I couldn't dodge that. I could have easily dodged that
in my other form." he swore silently to himself, "That boomer's gonna pay for
that."
He watched as the boomer charged into the street straight toward
him, ready to punch a hole through his gut.
"Horizontal blast revised, Hiryu Shoten Ha!" he shouted again as he ripped yet
another hurricane blast loose.
The blast enveloped Nene entirely. Before the blast abated, he
launched a massive ki-blast "Mouko Takabisha!!!"
Ranma watched with a smirk as the ki-blast was propelled forward from
his hurricane blast. He watched at the boomer stuck its hands out to block it,
but it was useless. The blast struck the boomer at such intensity that it was
blown backward a dozen yards, sliding on the ground to a halt in the middle of
the street.
Nene was shaken terribly from the impact of that blast, but thanks to
the inner armor that remained for her suit, she wasn't killed. She knew
she would have the biggest headache the next day, provided she survived
this fight. As she laid there on the ground, she wondered how on earth
they were going to defeat this boomer. Her thoughts were interrupted
when she felt this burning sensation on her chest. She looked down at
her chest and realized that her armor had melted from the intense heat.
The armor was glowing bright red. She knew that the heat would
eventually engulf the entire suit, and the best course of action was to
get out of her suit before the armor melted completely, fusing onto her
skin and killing her.
Nene quickly rolled around to her stomach and the back of her suit
opened. She quickly and instinctively got out of the suit before it
turned into a pile of melted metal. She stood there, in nothing but
her skin-tight suit as she stared down at what remained of her battle
suit.
Ranma started at the short, pink-haired girl is disbelief. What was
going on here? Why did a boomer just come out of that boomer? And why
did that boomer look totally human?
Sylia noticed that the boomer was distracted watching her friend
break free from her hardsuit. She used that opportunity to land a
powerful kick across the boomer's back. She watched in disbelief as
the boomer twisted in the air and landed on the ground safely,
unaffected by the attack. She wished that the boosters in her legs
were working because it they did work and went on during her kick,
she would have kicked that boomer in half at the waist.
Ranma smirked as he rubbed his back a bit. He realized that that
boomer's power must be real low because that kick it landed didn't
hurt at all. Now that he was sure there was no way he could get hurt,
he was about to have some fun.
He lunged forward and shouldered the gray boomer right into its gut,
falling down on top of it. He sat on top of the boomer's stomach as his
legs hooked around the back of the boomer's knees in a mounted position.
He brought his fist backwards and he readied to punch right through the
boomer's weak spot, its open chest. Although he could punch through a
full armored boomer, he knew this would be easy since the outer armor on
the boomer's chest had fallen off.
Ranma's hands glowed blue as he focus all his battle aura into his
hand. He would make the boomer die a horrible death. He wanted to
make it where there was no way Genom could salvage this prototype
boomer. These boomers must have been prototypes. None of the other
boomers were remotely as advanced as these.
As the boomer was about to punch a hole right through Sylia's chest,
Linna used her one good leg to propelled herself forward onto the
boomer. She had managed to put enough force behind her lunge to knock the
boomer off her friend, managing to landing on top of it. The boomer
punched her in the face once, but her helmet managed to absorb most of
the impact. Before it had a chance to punch her again, she grabbed the
boomers hand and entwined her fingers with its own and pinned it down
to the ground. The boomer used its other arm to punch her. The punch had
little affect. Linna knew that the boomer's left arm must had be damaged.
She leaned forward and pressed her weight down on the boomers hands
so its arms would be pinned to the ground. She knew if it pinned the
boomer to the ground long enough, Sylia would be able to finish it
off.
Ranma gritted his teeth. The boomer was pinning him down. It wasn't
attacking. It was just holding him down. He knew that the boomer was
waiting for the other one to come and finish him off. He knew he had
to get out of there and fast.
Ranma gritted his teeth as pain from his injured shoulder shot
through his body. Ranma flexed his arms, using all his strength to
push the boomer's arm back. Despite the fact that the boomer rested
most of its weight on his hand, which must have been several hundred
pounds, Ranma was able to move it back slowly.
Clenching his teeth, he pushed forward with all his might. If he
didn't get this boomer off him, he was a goner.
Linna stared down in astonishment. She couldn't' believe such a
small boomer could generate so much power to overpower her suit and
its weight. Her suit had been recently upgraded yet it was still
underpowered. She could hear the motors in her arm straining to stay
locked in place. She turned her attention toward Sylia as she was
slowly getting to her feet, "Help, it's getting up!"
Ranma arched his hips upward as he brought his hand back down to
his sides. Since the boomer was holding his hands, it had no way of
stopping itself from falling forward from the forward momentum his
hips and its weight had created.
The boomer hit its head on the ground with a loud thump as Ranma
pushed it off and got back onto its feet. That was a close call, he
thought to himself.
"Damn, that thing's also extremely strong!" Linna said as she
quickly scooted to her feet as she made her way to Sylia's side. She
then shook the cobwebs from her head from when it hit the ground
"Even with our upgraded suits, it's not enough! And damn, how the hell
does it know how to get outta moves like that?! I've never seen a boomer
use my own momentum to its advantage before!"
Ranma smiled at the boomers. These things aren't that hard. Their
power supply seemed to have been exhausted. He took a look over his
shoulder toward that red-haired, human-looking boomer. He saw it
kneeling down next to that blue boomer clutching its ribs. It looked like
it was helping the injured boomer to its feet.
Sylia noticed that the boomer's attention was toward Nene and
Priss. It was going to attack them. She stepped forward in front of
the boomer, directly between it and her two friends.
Man, what's with these boomers, Ranma thought. Why is it helping
each other out? It's as if it's trying to protect the other two. He
smiled. It didn't matter though. He would get to them as soon as he
finished this one off.
"Lookout!!!" Linna managed to say to Sylia, but she was too late.
Ranma lunged forward as he shouted, "Kashuu Tenshin Amaguriken!!!"
Hundreds and hundreds of punches struck the boomer within mere seconds.
Most of his attacks struck the boomer's chest, but he landed several
good shots on its head and gut also.
Linna watched in absolute horror. She had no idea this boomer was
this dangerous up close. Its physical attacks were far worse than its
energy blasts. She watched as her friend was struck hundreds of times
in the blink of an eye.
Ranma cocked his arm back to shove his fist right through the
boomer's chest, but he hesitated. He saw the boomer in front of him
fall down on to its hand and knees. It fell down before his feet, no
longer moving.
As his arm still remained back cocked backwards, he couldn't bring
himself to finish the boomer off. Before he knew it, a sharp pain
surged trough his lower back as he was sent flying through the air.
He twisted in the air and landed on his feet a few feet away.
He watched as the boomer that kicked him knelt down before the
boomer he had just punched several hundred times. He couldn't explain
why, but he felt a brief sign of remorse as he watched the boomer
help the damaged one. The boomer was acting human, as if it were
helping out a fallen comrade.
"Sylia!!!" Linna said as she gently cradled her friend in her arms
"Speak to me!!! Wake up!!!"
"Get away from here." Sylia managed to say before lapsing into
unconsciousness.
"No!" Linna said. She looked over at the boomer and then back at
Sylia. She had to get her friend to safety. She opened Sylia's suit
up and took her into her arms. She then proceeded to limp toward
Priss and Nene.
"Get out of here!!! Priss, use your boosters to take Nene and Sylia to
safety!!! I'll keep it distracted!!!"
Linna felt something grab hold of her shoulder. She knew it was the
boomer. She and Sylia were done for. She placed Sylia to the ground
and turned to face the boomer. She had to go down fighting. She
cocked her arm back and punched toward the boomer, only to have the
boomer catch her fist. She tried to punch it with her other hand, but
the boomer also caught it. It regarded Linna with curious eyes.
"What are you waiting for?!" Linna said, "Finish us off!"
Ranma released his hold on the boomer's hands as he placed one of
his hands over the boomer's throat but didn't squeeze. He watched
as the boomer used both of its hands to free itself from his grasp.
Why isn't it trying to attack me, Ranma thought. What is this, some
form of self-preservation Genom incorporated into its AI chips. It
should be fighting me until it can fight no more.
He placed his other hand on the boomer's shoulder and ripped the
outer armor off. He then ripped the outer armor over the boomer's
other shoulder. Even though this was a boomer, Ranma wasn't enjoying
this at all. Even though this was the same kind of thing that killed
his friends and family, his heart was aching.
As he held the boomer, Ranma looked down at the unconscious boomer
behind it. It looked human, just like that short, pink-haired boomer.
Ranma turned his attention back onto the boomer he was holding,
regarding it curiously. Maybe this boomer was like the other ones. He
brought the boomer closer to himself as he inspected for some way of
getting the inner armor off.
I wonder how I can get this thing off, Ranma thought, still looking
at the boomer seriously. He was no longer scared of the boomer
hurting him. It had exhausted its energy supply. After a few moments, he
saw something that might be able to get that helmet-like skull off. He
hooked two fingers under the boomer's chin and yanked upward,
ripping the skull off the boomer.
Ranma realized he was right. There was another boomer underneath.
This must be some kinda exoskeleton armor or somethin, he thought. To
his surprise, he found himself staring into the eyes of a beautiful
female boomer with short black hair.
Linna stared up into the boomer's eyes. She didn't know what to do.
There was nothing she could do. She was in the mercy of this boomer.
Actually, boomers didn't know what mercy was meaning she was as good
as dead. But why was it looking at her curiously?
The boomer let go of Linna's neck. It stood there, doing nothing.
Linna used the boomer's hesitation to get herself and Sylia to
safety. She quickly knelt down and threw one of Sylia's arm around
her shoulders, but when she took a step, her ankle throbbed as she
fell to the ground clutching her broken ankle in pain.
Ranma stepped forward. He couldn't believe how human these boomers
acted. Since it actually looked like it was in pain, it actually made his
heart ache. He caught himself almost wanting to kneel down and help
the boomer out.
He didn't know why, but he couldn't finish these two boomers off. He
couldn't finish any of them off. They were acting way too human, and
it bothered him. Even though they were acting, Ranma had a soft spot.
He would never kill humans, and his hesitation proved it.
Ranma continued to look at the boomer curiously. He didn't really
need to kill these boomers. If he met them again, he would be able to
defeat them again. During this battle, he had only exerted a
fraction of his energy. There was no need to kill these boomers. He
didn't have to worry about them returning back to Genom headquarters
and give them data on his fighting abilities because all of his energy
came from his ki, and there was no way Genom could reproduce that. Ki
was something only humans could possess.
Why isn't it attacking, Linna thought. She didn't care though. If
it wasn't then that mean she might be able to get Sylia to safety.
On one leg, she half-dragged Sylia toward where Priss and Nene was.
Maybe it's best that I finish 'em off, Ranma thought. He didn't want to
underestimate them. He didn't want them coming back and perhaps finishing him
off. Afterall, since these boomers had fought him, they would be familiar with
his way of fighting.
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. This was the best thing to do. Even
though he would most likely not sleep well tonight, there was no
better way. Once thing he had learned over the decades of training
was not to underestimate his opponents.
He walked up to one of the boomers and grabbed it by the neck. He
slowly began to squeeze.
Linna knew the end was near as she tried desperately to make the
boomer release its grasp. It was futile thought. She was too weak to
fight anymore. Whatever feeble attempts she used to make it let go
would be useless. She swallowed the lump in her throat as she waited for
death to take her. Tears started to form around her eyes as she realized
she would never be able to do the things she always wanted to do, that
this would be her fate, to die by a boomer's hands.
Ranma released his hold, shocked. He couldn't believe the boomer
was crying. What kind of boomer is this, he thought. This seemed to
make him feel a huge wave of remorse. He just had to find out.
"Are you scared to die?" he asked. Although he didn't like asking
something like that since it made him feel like some kind of monster,
but he just wanted to see how the boomer would respond. He was amazed
at how well the boomers could imitate humans, but he wanted to know if
it had any form of human emotion.
Linna gasped for breath. After a few moments, she looked up at the
boomer. Did she hear correctly? Did the boomer just ask if she was
afraid to die? What was it doing, toying with her? She wiped the tears
from her eyes but said nothing.
"I figured." Ranma said, "You can imitate human emotions, but you can never
feel it. For a moment there, I felt compassion toward you. What a fool I am!"
He bent down and picked Linna up by her collar. He cocked an arm back, ready
to cave this boomer's face in and end its so-called life. But he stopped when
the boomer spoke in a soft and timid voice.
"W-what are you talking about?" Linna said.
"I said you seem to imitate human emotions quite convincingly, but you
would never be able to feel it." Ranma repeated, "For a moment there, I
felt compassionate not to destroy you"
"Compassion? How can you feel compassion?" Linna said. She couldn't
believe the response her words had made on the boomer. It released
its grasp on her.
"You mean you're human?" Ranma asked slowly, cautiously. He looked
down at the boomer that was on the ground, supposedly unconscious.
Linna nodded cautiously, "Yes, of course I'm human." She noticed the boomer
was looking at Sylia. When her gaze rested on Sylia, she noticed a trickle of
blood flowing from her mouth. Tears started to form around her eyes again as she
ran toward her friend's side. She didn't care if the boomer was going to kill
her, but Linna wouldn't let the boomer hurt her friend unless it killed her
first.
Tears started to form around his eyes as he watched Linna cradle
Sylia in her arms, tears flowing freely. At that moment, he realized
that there was no way she could be a boomer. He saw Linna cry and he
realized that she was human. He knew one thing that could never
happen, boomers crying
He turned around "What have I done?! I-I thought you were a boomer!"
He looked down at the ground, ashamed. He couldn't believe he had
almost killed someone. Her death would have been on his hands for the
rest of his life. He had been steadfast to protecting people from
boomers, but here he was, about to kill the people he was supposedly
protecting.
Linna looked up at Ranma. Boomers were programmed not to attack other
boomers, meaning if he thought she was a boomer, then that meant he was
human since boomers never deviate from its programming, "Y-you mean
you're not a boomer?"
Ranma turned to face Linna, "No, I'm not."
He bent down next to Sylia and checked for her pulse, "Oh god, what have I
done?!" He sighed when he felt a steady yet weak pulse. He gently picked Sylia
up in his arms, her head resting against the crook of his neck and shoulder as
her arms fell over his back, "We have to get her to a hospital"
"You get away from her!!!" Ranma heard the pink haired girl yell at
him "You leave her alone!!!"
Ranma stopped for a moment before replying, "We need to get all of you to a
hospital." When he received a confused look from Nene, he continued, "I'm sorry
for this. I thought you were boomers. That's why I attacked you. I thought you
were boomers."
He looked down at Linna with soft eyes, "Are you all right? Can you
walk?"
Linna looked down at her broken ankle and then back up at Ranma.
She nodded her head "I-I think so" She tried to put a bit of pressure
on her foot, but it was too much for her as she feel forward.
Ranma reached forward and grabbed Linna's arm before she hit the
Ground, "Here." he said, "Lettme help"
Linna didn't pull her arm away from Ranma's grasp. She couldn't
help but notice how warm his hands felt as they were pressed against
her. She could feel her heart skip a beat as Ranma knelt down and
threw one of her arms around his shoulder "Here, lean against me"
As Ranma gently carried Sylia, Linna took careful steps as she
leaned her weight against it. She was so close to him that she could
smell the faint scent of his perspiration. It looked like the battle
had taken a bit out of him.
Nene left Priss' side and ran forward and stopped in front of Ranma
and Linna, "I said for you stay away from them!" She had no idea what she
was going to do, but she had to get her friends to safety. She took a step back
as Ranma looked at her with soft eyes.
"Look." Ranma said, "I'm sorry for what happened. I thought you were
boomers. Your friend here made me realize that you're human. I'm human also,
just like you."
Nene said nothing. She just stood there and looked up at Ranma in
disbelief. He was human? How could that be? Her sensors had never
picked it up. But then again, the power that he was able to generate
might have keep her sensors from picking it up.
"Are you okay?" Ranma looked over Nene's shoulder toward Priss, who
was trying to stand up while clutching her ribs. She had managed to
make it to her feet, but she couldn't walk. It was too painful. He
stepped up to Priss and extended one of his hands forward. He used
his other hand to carry Sylia.
Priss just stared at Ranma's outstretched hand. What kind of joke is that, she
thought. This boomer was acting human. There was no way a human could generate
this much power, "You're not human. You lie." She gritted her teeth as pain shot
throughout her body as she cocked her arm back. She was about to cave this
boomer's face in, but the pain was too much for her to bare.
She fell to her knees in pain. Nene rushed to her side and grabbed hold of her
"Priss, are you all right?"
"Do you need help?" Ranma asked.
Priss shook her head. She didn't need his help. Even though there
was no way she could do anything, and her suit and her body had taken
too much damage, she didn't want his help.
"Well, I don't care. You need my help." Ranma said. He reached forward
and took a hold of Priss' arms and was about to help her to her feet,
but Priss jerked her arm away.
She clutched at her ribs as pain shot through her from when she
jerked her arm. She quickly removed her helmet as a small trickle of
blood emerged from her mouth. The pain was intense and piercing. She
was in trouble. She would pass out from the pain in just a few
moments from now.
"Your ribs are broken." Ranma said, "You mustn't do this to yourself
or your ribs will puncture one of your lungs. You have to take it easy."
He reached out forward again to take her arm but she didn't take
it. He waited for her to take his hand this time. Even though he knew
she was the prideful type, he knew she needed his help. He smiled as
Priss took his hand and slowly made her way to her feet.
Nene rushed to Priss' side and threw one of her arms over her
shoulders. Priss smiled a bit as she realized how much the pain had
went away now that Ranma and Nene was helping her out.
"Which way to the nearest hospital?" he said. He had no real idea
where he was. He knew he was on some deserted, slum-like, man-made
island that was usually used as testing grounds for Genom's
prototypes. He had found out that this was where most of the advanced
boomers were being tested, and he wanted to get rid of them before
they had a chance to be put into production.
"The nearest one is five miles west of here." Linna said pointing
toward the horizon where the sun was now setting.
"Damn." he swore as he clenched his teeth "That's gonna take over two
hours to walk." He turned to face Priss and then looked over at Nene
"What are we gonna do?"
"I'm going to call Mackie." Nene said as she turned her attention
toward Priss "I'll use your communicator to call him."
She scooted out from under Priss' arm and walked over to where her friend had
dropped her helmet. She picked it up.
"Mackie! Mackie!" Nene yelled into the helmet "You there? Mackie!"
A voice came from the helmet "Mackie here. What is it, Nene?"
"We're in trouble." she said, "We need you to come pick us up. I'm
sending you our coordinates" She opened up a small panel on the side of
the helmet to reveal a small number pad. She then punched in a few
numbers.
"Now what?" Ranma said. He didn't know how long it would take for
this so-called Mackie to arrive.
"We wait." Linna said.