Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Change! Getter ½ ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Change! Getter ½


Chapter 2


**********


Remember:-

"Blergen" = Japanese.

"{Quartz}" = Chinese or other Foreign language.

[Yedden] = Panda sign or other written note.

'I wonder if poking this bear with a stick is a bad idea' = thoughts.

*BLAMMO* = Sound effects.


**********


Nodoka was enjoying her son's company. She was listening to some of his stories, namely the time spent with his friends "Ucchan" and Ryoga Hibiki.

'I should see if I could find them for a reunion,' she thought to herself.

"No-chan, mind if I speak to Ranma for a moment?"

"No, go right ahead, I need to get some more tea," Nodoka left the two to their conversation.

Ranma turned to the newcomer. "What is it, Uncle Takeshi?"

"Ranma, what do you remember what happening during shielding experiment?"

Ranma furrowed his brow in concentration. "I think the reactor output seemed strange. It felt like it was pulsing, like a heartbeat."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, it became faster, the closer I got to it. Does that help any?"

"I'm not sure. I trying to get a feel for what happened."

Ranma looked at the plate of snacks he'd barely touched. "I don't feel as hungry as I normally do. Is that a side effect of the radiation?"

The professor shrugged. "I don't really know. These Getter rays are still a new discovery. What was the reactor temperature on just before the accident?"

"Er, I think it was 500 Kelvin in the core. What do you consider to be normal operating temperature?"

"We're looking to get it running at peak efficiency below 360 Kelvin. No sense in roasting the crew."

Ranma chuckled. "Yeah. How much longer before we can get back to work?"

Nodoka reappeared at the door. "Not for a few more days, son."

"Sorry, Mom. It's just that I need to do something, I can't just lounge about like Pops did."

Nodoka winced internally at Ranma's correct assessment of Genma's motivational deficiency, though she was glad that Ranma had not picked it up. "Well how about you get some martial arts practice in? I want to see how good you are."


**********


Outside Ranma started his usual stretching and warm up kata. Remembering that he really had hardly practiced since his arrival at the lab, he added a qualifier. "Keep in mind I've been focused on other things for the last six months."

Nodoka and Takeshi nodded.

Ranma flowed through his work out; it incorporated various styles from basic kempo to advanced kung fu.

When he finished, he took a deep breath. "Well?"

Nodoka nodded in approval. "Yes, Genma did a fine job in teaching you martial arts. You say you've not really practiced for six months?"

"Yeah, I was busy in the lab with uncle Takeshi. I did a quick warm up every morning, but I would have worked out a lot harder with Pops around."

Takeshi was in thought. 'Perhaps Ranma would make a good test pilot? He's willing to keep trying to get something done; he certainly meets the physical requirements easily. I'll have ask him nearer the time.'


**********


Having decided to surprise her son, Nodoka searched for this Ucchan character. She thought it would be nice for Ranma to be reunited with his old friend.

"Hello, is that Ukyo Kuonji?"

*Yes, who wants to know? *

"I'm Nodoka Saotome, Ranma's mother. I was wondering if you'd like to pay my son a visit?"

Ukyo nearly choked in surprise. *Yes, I'd like that a lot. Where are you? *


**********


Ranma was really happy at his mother's news that Ucchan would be coming for a visit. "I can't believe that I'll be seeing Ucchan after all this time. I wonder how he is?"

A knock at the door startled him out of his reverie.

"I'll get it," Ranma called out.

"Hello?"

"Are you Ranma Saotome?"

"Yes." Ranma looked at the visitor for a moment before recognition finally occurred. "Ucchan!"

"Ranchan!" Ukyo managed to hold off cutting Ranma with a razor sharp spatula. 'I'll get my answers before I kill you, you bastard.'

"Come in Ucchan, how have you been?" Ranma invited the cross-dressing chef in. "I haven't seen you in years. I want you to meet my mother and my uncle Takeshi."

Nodoka and Takeshi bowed to their guest.

"Why Ranma? Why did you leave me behind?" Ukyo got straight to the point of her visit.

"What are you talking about Ukyo?" Nodoka asked.

"I was supposed to be engaged to your son. Genma ran off with the dowry. My life as a woman was over before it began," Ukyo angrily replied.

"But you're a guy, aren't you?" Ranma asked confused by the actions of his best friend. "Unless you went to Jusenkyo…"

Ukyo smacked Ranma over the head. "You jackass! I've always been a girl.
I spent the last ten years tracking you and your father down. I will have my revenge."

"Oh." Ranma hung his head low. 'Yet another girl that hates me. One more problem caused by Pops.'

Nodoka turned to Ranma. "Did you know about any of this?"

Ranma shook his head.

"I see. Well thank you for coming today, Miss Kuonji. I'll give you the last known address of Genma."

"But I could still marry Ranma," Ukyo protested weakly.

The look Nodoka gave Ukyo told her that she did not want some violent girl around her manly son. "I don't think so."

"I'll be leaving then."


**********


A large metallic object sped past the asteroid belt towards the probe's signal. It indicated that a good concentration of Getter rays had been found. The intelligence onboard corrected the course to land on the dark side of the moon.

The information it had been supplied with had indicated that the proposed landing site would be out of the detection and scanning ranges of the indigenous intelligent population. Though there was some debate about how intelligent these life forms were.


**********


Ranma started stretching his body. "Well, might as well get some practice in. I've neglected my training too much during these last few months."

Moving slowly at first to regain a feeling for his balance, Ranma started out with some basic tai-chi exercises.

After a few minutes, he decided to kick it up a notch with a few kempo punch and kick combinations. Five minutes of this and he decided to go with a few of the advanced Anything Goes kata.

When he finally stopped his jumping around, he noticed the half a dozen or so rosy-cheeked women that were watching him train.

"Er, hello. I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma vaguely greeted his audience. "I wasn't bothering you or anything, was I?"

"Don't stop on our account. Would you like me to go out for some ice cream?" one particularly beautiful woman asked as she stepped forward. "Oh wait a minute, you're _that_ Ranma Saotome aren't you? You turn into a girl, don't you? I couldn't possibly be associated with someone like that."

Ranma looked at the other women who nodded in agreement. "She's right. I wouldn't want anybody thinking I was a pervert like him."

As the crowd all started to murmur in agreement about Ranma's perversions, he sank to his knees. 'They all think I'm a pervert. They all hate me. What am I going to do?'

A muscular girl in a yellow gi glared at Ranma. "If you try anything, I'll make you regret it," she spoke as she hefted a set of free weights in a threatening manner.

A girl in a boy's school uniform and an oversized baker's peel stepped forward. "I'll make you pay for ruining my life, you bastard!"

Ranma fell to his side and curled up into a foetal position. As the other women started to verbally abuse him, he began to weep.

"Ranma," a voice called out. "Ranma."


**********


"Ranma!"

Ranma's eyes shot open. Looking up he saw that he was not in the garden, but in his bedroom.

"What happened?"

"You fell asleep after Ukyo left. Are you all right?" Nodoka asked.

"Yeah, I just had a nightmare that every woman on Earth hated me."

Nodoka was not impressed with this Ukyo. Yes honour was important, but what about her son's happiness? This wasn't the warring states period anymore!

"Do you want me to get you anything? Something to eat? Prepare the bath for you?"

"To tell you the truth, I'd rather get back to the lab with uncle. I want to see if we can regain some of the time we lost because of the accident." Ranma just needed to do something to take his mind of Ucc- no Ukyo wanting to kill him.

"Well, if you promise to be careful, I might let Takeshi take you back to work tomorrow," Nodoka offered.

"I promise to do what I can to avoid accidents in the lab," Ranma solemnly swore.

"Ok, now how about something to eat?"

Ranma's stomach answered yes for him.


***********


On his first day back at work, Ranma was surprised to see everything back to normal. The test reactor was back in its place with a new, thicker covering. All the glass and debris was gone and the rest of the personnel were busying themselves as if nothing had happened.

'Kinda weird,' Ranma thought. "What have you got for me to do today?"

"Well, I wanted to see how your presence affects the reactor."


**********


At lunchtime, the Saotomes were discussing their findings on the effect Ranma had on the Getter reactor's output.

"It seems that the reactor output is not connected to your cursed form or your proximity, Ranma."

"Oh, I guess it was because I was focused on the reactor at the time of the accident," Ranma offered.

"Focused on it? In what way?" The professor was now intrigued.

Ranma paused in his eating. "I was looking at the temperature of the core. My mind wandered when I remembered that you mention something about shape changing properties when I first started here."

Takeshi thought for a moment. "Maybe we should redo the tests, with you looking at the focusing on the reactor?"


**********


When Ranma awoke as normal a few days later, his body felt a little strange. It felt unfamiliar, he knew it was supposed to be his and that it was male, but something was just "wrong" with it.

Getting out of his bed at home, he stumbled as he realised his balance was off. Standing up straight, he noticed he had a better view of his room. "That's weird. Everything seems smaller."

Nodoka knocked on the door. "Ranma, are you up for some breakfast?"

"Yeah Mom, I'll be down in a minute," Ranma spoke as he quickly dressed. 'Eh, that's odd. My clothes don't fit properly.' Before he could ponder it further, his stomach rumbled loudly. 'Louder then usual,' he mused.

When Ranma descended the stairs, he was dressed in an ill-fitting red shirt and kung fu pants combination.

"Morning Mom, Uncle Takeshi," Ranma managed before devouring the food in front of him.

When Nodoka returned with some more tea, she blinked. "R-Ranma, are you alright?"

"Yeah, just really hungry. Is something wrong?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, Ranma you've just had a growth spurt, that's all. Mind if I check something?"

"No, go right ahead, uncle."

When Takeshi splashed Ranma with cold water, the shirt became on almost obscene on his cursed form.

"What?" Ranma asked. Her voice was deeper, sultrier.

The lonely scientist started to drool at the vision of loveliness before him.

"Takeshi, look away!" Nodoka chided her brother-in-law. "Ranma, it seems that your recent growth as affected your girl body as well. You are going to be beating men off with a stick when you go out."

"Great! I'm going to kill Pops when I get my hands on him. It was bad enough when I was in my old girl body." Ranma was slowly getting more aggravated with his father.

Nodoka poured hot tea on Ranma to check on the change. It would also distract him from his planned felony.

"You'll be beating the girls off as well, son."

"What? I thought that girls hated me."

"Whatever gave you that idea, Ranma?"

"Oh, I don't know. Perhaps it was the last FIVE girls I met all wanted to do me harm?" Ranma was most upset with the entire female gender.

"Go for a walk around the block son, then tell me how many women wanted hurt you," Nodoka suggested. Ranma was attractive, but this new body and face? It made his old set look like Genma!


***********


The lunar landing for the alien craft proved to be a relatively gentle one. The dark side of the moon had proved to be just as secluded as had been hoped.

Preparations were soon under way for the construction of the power station and ore refinery. There was a lot of work to be done before the next stage could be implemented.


**********


As Ranma nearly completed his lap around the neighbourhood, he had caught the eye of several women and was being followed home by one.

'Well, I guess Mom was right. I haven't been attacked yet,' he mused.

Stopping at a pedestrian crossing, he was jostled by tall brunette walking into him.

"Oh my, I'm terribly sorry about that. I wasn't looking where I was going," she apologised to the "new and improved" Ranma Saotome.

"That's alright, Miss." Ranma willed the lights to change; this young woman was making him feel uncomfortable when she undressed him with her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I must be going," Ranma quickly ran off before the woman could give her name.


**********


When Ranma returned, he gestured to his uncle that it was time to go to work at the lab.

"Well son?" Nodoka asked.

"Nobody tried to hurt me, but it's still early." Something still disconcerted him about his mother and her behaviour.

Nodoka frowned. 'He must have been really hurt when he was vulnerable.' "Well, you two have a good day."

"Bye, Mom."

"See you later, No-chan."


**********


At the lab, Ranma needed to get some new swipe cards made up. She grumbled at the leers she received from the reprographics staff.

"It's not your fault your attractive in the that form, Ranma. If I remember rightly, your mother had similar problems when she was younger."

"Yeah, well I still say it sucks having guys come on to you, trying their sleazy pick up lines," Ranma failed to suppress a shudder.

Takeshi was at a loss for words. "Anyway, here's your new id for 'Ranma'."

One of the female staff had scribbled a note onto the back of the envelope. If Ranma saw it, he gave no indication.

They had to wait for a few minutes to get 'Ranko's' id. It had been decided that it was best if Ranma went by the name Ranko when in his cursed form.

"Here you go, Ranko."

'Ranko,' Ranma thought bitterly. '"A man among men" my ass. How can I be a man among men when every female I've met lately has tried to hurt me? Even my own mother. Perhaps it would be best if I committed seppuku. At least then I wouldn't have people leering at me or trying to hurt me.'

"Let's go, Ranko"

"Coming, uncle Takeshi."

Professor Saotome frowned at Ranma's recent depression. 'I don't know what to do. He used to be so lively. Normally, I'd recommend a girlfriend, but he has trust issues. Maybe I can find someone who knows someone…'


**********


On the dark side of the moon, the alien craft had finished its power station. Soon, the first of the manufacturing facilities would be completed and the production of weapons would soon start.

The indigenous life of the third planet would soon start to perish, allowing for an easier colonisation and exploitation of the local Getter ray sources.


**********


Nodoka was not impressed with Ranma's behaviour. While it was one thing to be shy around women, he was under the impression that every woman on the planet wanted to castrate him.

"Genma has failed. Perhaps I should have him fulfil the contract…" Nodoka considered the implications of that course of action. "No, it would be better for Ranma to work out his problems, it'll be good for him. He needs help, not interference. And if he wants it, he'll ask for it."


**********


At NASA's Houston office, the man in charge was looking at the print out that one of the SETI team had handed to him.

"{Are you telling me that you've found an extraterrestrial signal being sent from the moon?}"

"{It looks that way. We're only getting fragments of it because of its location on the dark side.}"

"{We need to be sure about this, or we'll look like idiots. We don't need any more screw ups, the public have little faith in us as it is.}"

"{I've got people checking the latest signal origin right now. What are we going to do if we're right?}"

"{It depends if they're hostile or not. But don't hold your breath about being keep in the loop on this thing if you're right about it being alien.}"


**********


Kasumi Tendo thought about the man she saw the other day on her early morning shopping excursion. ‘He certainly looked like he needs someone to look after him, maybe I could get Nabiki to track him down? She's good at that sort of thing.’

“Kasumi, is something up?” Nabiki had arrived in the kitchen for something to snack on.

“I was just wondering if there was someone you could track down for me.”

Nabiki was a little surprised by this request. Kasumi normally went around in her own little world, cooking and cleaning occasionally commenting on how silly Dr Tofu was. “Who do you want me to find for you?”

“I don’t know his name, but something about him seemed familiar.”

“Is this a drawing of him,” Nabiki held up a sketch of a handsome man with a truly hurt look in his eyes.

Kasumi gasped. “Oh my, yes it is. Where did you get that?”

“A few of the local art college students saw him the other day and asked me to track him down for them. It seems he caught your eye as well, sis,” Nabiki replied. ‘Of course, I wouldn’t say no to him if asked me out.’


**********


Ranma walked out of the lab for some fresh air. He was not terribly overjoyed when his sneeze seemed to activate the sprinkler system, causing him to change. Having been turned into the lovely redheaded Ranko, Ranma decided that enough was enough and it was time to go home and have a bath.

On the way home, “Ranko” saw Nabiki Tendo waiting for someone. ‘I wonder who she’s planning on mistreating?’

Then she saw some arrogant fool walk right up to her and start spouting something that might have passed for poetry.

“Fairest of all maidens, would thou doest me the greatest of honours and allow my humble self to provide you with a hot beverage to warm yourself on this chilly afternoon?”

“What?”

“Kuno! I thought that you wanted pictures of Akane,” Nabiki shouted as she saw the delusional kendo captain hassle the tall beauty.

Kuno reached for Ranko’s hand and gave it a kiss.

“You pervert!” Ranko shrieked as she slapped Kuno.

Unfortunately, Ranma had yet to get a feel for the level of strength in either form and so smacked Kuno against the café window.

‘Such formidable strength, yet such beauty! I must find out all I can about this fiery maiden. No doubt the attractive, yet mercenary, Nabiki Tendo will be able to help me,’ he thought as he righted himself.

“Touch me again and you’ll be eating hospital food.”

Nabiki looked at the pigtailed woman from behind. ‘She seems familiar.’

Walking off purposefully, Ranko left the two to conclude their business.

“Nabiki Tendo, you must find out all you can about that goddess,” Kuno insisted as he pulled out his wallet.

Nabiki considered the proposal. ‘I guess I could bilk him with a few false leads…’ “Ok, I’ll see what I can dig up. But you should know that this will require a retainer’s fee.”

“7000 yen a week, plus a healthy bonus for any good information. Any photos you can get of her will get you a truly handsome sum,” despite the request for enough information to stalk someone, Kuno managed to sound noble in a deranged way.

“So you’re dumping Akane?”

“Alas, I must let the pure and tidy Akane Tendo down,” Kuno admitted, “it truly pains me to know that it will be some other man who wins the heart of your sister. I take it that you will make sure that it is not some vile cur or lecher that gets his hands on her?”

“Of course, Kuno-chan. Now, about that first payment…”


**********


Ranma slammed the door to the Saotome house shut as she announced her return.

“Ranma, is everything alright? You’re home early.”

“Yeah, it was going badly at the lab, so I decided to leave early when I got splashed when I was out for some fresh air. I’ll be in the bath if you need me.”

“Ok son.” Nodoka knew that there was something else, but decided not to pry.


**********


Things were happening at NASA. Not the normal, “we need a billion dollars for a new shuttle program” but more of a “get me all the data you can.”

It had been confirmed that a signal of extraterrestrial origin was being broadcast from the dark side of the moon and now the Air Force were taking charge.

General Ellis sat down at the conference table with the head of NASA, Professor Ennis, and various other underlings.

“{So then director, what kind of threat to the planet are we talking about? Biological? Chemical? Nuclear?}”

The director was not terribly surprised by the paranoid attitude from the military. “{General, we don’t know if they are hostile yet. We’ve only just confirmed that the signal is coming from an alien intelligence. Prudence demands that we take this slowly. It wouldn’t do for us to make ourselves an enemy. Especially one with a level of technology much higher than our own.}”

“{And just how sure are you that we don’t already have one?}” The general asked as he sipped his coffee. “{I realise that it’s an alien intellect, and therefore not subject to our lines of reasoning. But this thing has not tried to contact us to try to alleviate any concerns we might have. Not that I’d trust them.}”

“{I understand. But please, General, don’t act hastily. There’s so much we could learn from it with its cooperation.}”

“{Agreed, we’ll take it slowly. Now when did you first pick up the signal?}”

One of the SETI team had prepared his brief. “{Sir, it was first discovered a week ago. We needed to be sure that it was alien in origin before we moved.}”

General Ellis nodded. “{It makes sense. We don’t need another Roswell incident. When do you think that contact should be attempted?}”

“{As soon as possible. What about our allies? They need to know, that way we can offset some of the cost of sending a new probe to the moon.}”

“{Yes, but the public will panic if we just come out with the news that there are aliens on the moon,}” the general pointed out.

“{We need to discuss this with the other permanent Security Council members. They’ll be able to pick up the signal.}”


**********

To be continued…

Thanks go out to Chi Vayne for pre-reading for me.


Any questions and or comments should be given to me in your usual manner.

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