Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma Saotome: OF STAR COMMAND! ❯ Chapter One: Written In Reflections! ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: SSTR87
A note to all those who are reading this, I would like to know if you know of anyone who uses my writing style (which can't be properly displayed here). I don't think I've ever come across it before, so I don't have an official name for it yet.

Clark's Law:
Arthur C. Clarke formulated the following three "laws" of prediction:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Anime/Manga: Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.14.2007 | Updated On: 12.14.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 4.0K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Completed

Ranma Saotome: OF STAR-COMMAND!
 
Chapter One
 
 
Chapter One
Ranma stood in front of Commander Nebula, the head honcho in Space Command. Today was like a dream come true; he had just completed his rookie year and was now receiving the merits he had earned.
“For his bravery in the face of danger, his patience when he was assigned to traffic duty leading into Trade World, his exemplary performance in single-handedly saving Star Command from a plot by the Evil Emperor Zurg; we award Ranma Saotome with the Rookie of the year award, the rank of Captain and the Buzz Lightyear award of excellency.”
The cheers rose from the assembled officers. Ranma gave a firm salute to Commander Nebula. “Thank you, Commander Nebula, sir. It brings me great honor to receive these awards.”
“Saotome, you've earned `em,” Nebula confirmed. He patted Ranma on the back and turned to face the crowd to allow for photographs. “Now, smile for the cameras, captain.”
Ranma gave a large grin. If not for Happosai screwing up that spell at the last moment, he would still be on Earth, in the Milky Way, but now he was in a completely different galaxy. Even though the residents within named the galaxy “Galaxy”, he was proud to play the role of protector.
The hero of legend, Captain Buzz Lightyear approached the newly promoted officer, smiling proudly. “Welcome to the Captain's Club, Ranma, I always knew you would go far as a Space Ranger.”
Ranma saluted the man who was responsible for Ranma becoming a Space Ranger in the first place. “Thank you Captain Lightyear,”
“Please,” Buzz suggested, waving the formality off, “call me Buzz; you've earned it. Now how about I introduce you to my team?”
An amalgam of metal, red lizard-hide and blue skin whirred and plodded its way over. “Congratulations, Captain Ranma on getting the “Rookie of the Year” Award,” Booster offered, smiling brightly at Ranma.
“Yeah… Congratulations,” Mira Nova, the princess of Tangea offered, though her heart wasn't entirely in it.
“I still think I should have gotten it,” XR, the only AI member of Star Command complained, folding its robotic arms around the meshed mass that was the three-Rangers-in-one's body.
Ranma smirked confidently. “I've always said I was the best, and now I have the medal to prove it.” Ranma gripped the medal between thumb and forefinger, displaying it to the robot.
Buzz laughed lightly at Ranma's teasing. “Ah, the days of youth, when I would taunt others with my supremacy.”
“Buzz, you used to taunt others with your skills?” Booster asked, disbelief weighing his voice down.
“Well, not gloat, per say, but I did tease people who thought I didn't deserve it,” Buzz explained, turning a meaningful look at XR.
Commander Nebula returned to the group of assembled officers. “Good, Buzz you're still here,” he crowed, cheerfully - well as cheery as he ever was. “For the next year I have assigned Ranma to serve under you as your apprentice. Say hello to your newest member of team Lightyear.”
A round of gasps followed, starting with the current team Lightyear and extending to everyone in the room when gossip circulated. “But I've already got three Cadets, sir, I don't know if there's even room aboard 42 for another person,” Buzz tried. Before teaming with his three cadets he had vowed to work solo, and here it sounded like Nebula was trying to get him situated with a new partner, albeit very nonchalantly.
Ranma stretched his arms and back languidly. “If you don't want me to be your partner I don't mind, I've got plenty of experience leading war parties back home.” That last sentence made Ranma remember something of importance. “Have you ever heard about the time I lead my two greatest rivals with me to fight a Phoenix-god?” Ranma asked the blue-skinned princess.
#
“So there we were, Buzz and I back-to-back facing off against two hundred hornets,” XR recalled, though the story was being highly edited to fit his fancy. “I deployed thirty different blasters and we fought our way through the corridors of Zurg's flagship. Right when we reached Zurg, Buzz was shot in the leg and I had carry him on back, commando style, out the closest airlock, where we retreated to Star Command HQ.”
Ranma listened with rapt attention. “That sounds like a great battle, too bad I hadn't graduated from Academy yet, I would have loved to be a member of your team.”
Booster knew this story and wasn't impressed with XR's rendition of it. “Oh, I remember what happened next! When you guys got back, the LGM's were going crazy, and I had put you back together. Then we raced after Zurg, and beat him back to Planet Z!” No one would ever be able to confuse Booster's excitement with any other Space Ranger than Buzz.
Ranma smiled at Booster. “I take it you really like Buzz, don't you?”
Booster nodded emphatically. “Oh yeah! He's the best, and he helped me to become a real Space Ranger, instead of just a janitor.”
“So what's your story, Princess?” Ranma inquired. The look in his eyes said that he was finding a keen interest in her association with Buzz. “I hope you don't have a crush on Buzz? I swear he's got worse female problems than me!”
“Excuse me?!” Mira shouted, not liking where this was heading. “Sure Buzz is kind of attractive, in a mature man kind of way, but I do not have a crush on Buzz!”
Ranma grinned at the princess. “That's good to hear,” Ranma leaned back as the waitress a yellow bat-eared woman, set their order on the table, giving Ranma a sultry wink. “Every time…” Ranma grumbled under his breath.
“Wow, Ranma, she's totally crushing on you!” XR nudged at Ranma's side.
“Trust me I know, just pretend you don't notice.”
“W-Why would you do that Ranma?” Booster inquired, hoping to get some lessons on how to pick up a girl.
Ranma grumbled incoherently under his breath and dug into his food at insane speeds.
“I'm sorry, what was that?” Mira asked, cupping a hand over her ear. “I could have sword I heard you say something about an engagement?”
Ranma sighed and set his eating utensil to the side. “Well, since we're going to be working together and all, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you guys… and girl,” Ranma amended when he saw the all-too-familiar look in Mira's eyes. “You've met Gravitina haven't you?” They nodded, repressing the urge to shudder. “She has a younger sister with powers slightly weaker than hers, only she's still in the Ranger's Academy, trying to become my partner or cadet.”
“Umm, okay? I'm not seeing the problem here.” Mira urged, separating her foodstuffs to different areas of her plate.
Ranam released another sigh. “She declared herself as my fiancée, along with a chick named Petra, twin Coilans, Copper and Strinna. You've never seen a fight until a mistress of gravity, a punk-princess and two top-of-the-line cadets are at each others throats, declaring themselves the wife-to-be of a guy who never asked for it. It was because of them that I graduated early, I was trying to get away from them, not show off my abilities. I guess the instructors took pity on me or were tired of having to pay for repairs at the school, because they aced me through their classes.”
“Wait, you mean that you didn't really receive the highest merits in the training program?” Mira demanded; she had busted her butt to rank the second best of all time, topped only by Buzz.
“Don't get me wrong, I breezed through physical activity, strategy and leadership training, but the fundamentals were boosted by twenty points each,” Ranma explained.
“So, you cheated to earn the Rookie of the Year and Buzz Lightyear awards!” Mira was furious. She and team Lightyear had worked their collective butts off, earning the awards and here a cheater got their prize. “Oh, this is so typical!”
Ranma rubbed the bridge of his nose. “How can you cheat when your Captain has to hand in official documentation to Commander Nebula, who several eye-witnesses confirm every report turned in?” Ranma inquired. “Everything I've done for my rookie year was real. Everything,” The last he directed pointedly at Mira, who seemed ready to call Commander Nebula and have the awards stripped from him.
“How can we trust a lying cheater?” Mira challenged.
“At least you didn't fall in love with me or nothin'… Did you?”
Mira flushed a light hue. “Wh-why would I fall in love you? I mean we just met, and…” Mira stumbled for reasons that she wouldn't have fallen for Ranma.
Booster, always ready to back up his fellow team mates, shouted, “and you're a cheater!” He aimed his giant hand at Ranma.
“A cheater, yeah that's right,” Mira added, firming up her voice.
“Fine, you want to call me a cheater go ahead, but I didn't ask no one to cheat for me, I worked hard at my studies, but you three were instantly made into Cadets, if anyone's a cheater, I would say it was you three,” There was silence as the thought was mulled over. “Now who else is hungry?” Ranma returned to ravishing his meal.
 
 
 
Chapter One
Ranma opened his eyes painfully, to the repulsive sight of a Manila-skinned alien with a bloated forehead that sagged to cover its eyes. “YAAH!” Ranma shouted, retreating backwards as quickly as possible. His unscheduled retreated was halted when he knocked over another the aliens, this time a young female - or so he thought it was…
“Bambi make boom-boom with fleshbag!” the young female threatened, cracking her knuckles intimidatingly.
“C'mon ugly aliens, can't we just get along?” Ranam tried. He wasn't particularly fond of the term “boom-boom”, and didn't want to find out the meaning behind it.
Rather than give an answer, the two placed their hands to their foreheads and charged up their inner energies…
#
Princess Mira Nova, the Crown Princess of the proud race, known as the Upper Tangeans, was in a bad situation at the moment. Her father had engaged her to one of the uprising Lords and expected her to become a baby factory.
That in itself was not that distressing for royalty, but she had other plans, she was going to become a Space Ranger and serve the Galactic Alliance, like the hero Warp Darkmatter did, before Buzz Lightyear vaporized him. She had trained for nearly a decade just to reach the physical shape necessary to enter as an apprentice, and by her mother, she would see her dreams come true!
“Mira-dear, are you in there?” came a voice that Mira knew as well as her own. It was the voice of her chamber-maiden, Lucia Nova.
For the briefest of moments, Mira thought about not answering, but knew it would not do any good. “Come in, Lucia! I'm just getting ready.” Mira coaxed the young woman who could pass as her twin, except Lucia had darker red hair.
The familiar sound of an Upper Tangean phasing through solid matter greeted the princess's ears. “I'm sorry to bother you, my lady, but there are reports of Grounders staging an assault near the Chapel base, and a cessation has been ordered for the ceremony. Isn't that great news?!” Lucia announced, her hands were clasped below her chin and she gazed adoringly at her mistress.
Mira dropped the Tangean wedding dress, the most ugly piece of clothing Mira owned, and eyed her young charged suspiciously. “Wait, you mean the wedding has been canceled?!” Mira exclaimed. “This is great! I don't have to marry that old fart now!” Mira grabbed the small hands of Lucia and began dancing around the room in joy.
Lucia laughed mirthfully, in time to Mira's own laughs, and let herself be lost in the moment of her mistress's joy. This was the most joy she had witnessed her princess display since she was forced into this engagement, five years ago.
The two were brought back to reality when the sounds of blaster fire echoed off the halls outside the room. Quickly, Mira and Lucia ran to the wall and attempted to ghost through, but ran face-first into it instead. Rubbing her sore nose Mira couldn't help but remark, drolly, “Well, that went really swell!”
Lucia rubbed the sore spot on her bottom and stood to her feet. “There must be Grounders nearby,” she informed the princess, as that was the only way their phasing abilities didn't work.
Mira nodded and accepted the hand offered to help her to her feet. “You know Lucia, it's at times like these that I really hate Upper Tangean architecture…”
It was true that her race were geniuses and that they had been space-faring for millennia before the next race had even evolved to being upright. Yet, they had neglected to build doors. In their short-sighted holier-than-thou attitudes they forgot that Grounders stripped them of their greatest advantage over other races.
“What do you think we should do, Mira-dear?” Lucia questioned. `If anyone would know of a way out of this pickle, it would be Darkmatter's greatest fan,' she correctly assumed.
However…
“We need to get to some blasters Lucia, but we can't phase through any of the walls. And you know what that means?” Mira informed her charge, giving the woman a strangely invigorating smirk.
Lucia shook her head slowly. “I don't know, what does it mean?” `Ohhh! I've never been much of a thinker, and Mira-dear knows that!”
#
A man wearing a form-fitting bodysuit, based in black, with purple shoulders, knees, ankles and gloves, brought out a blaster cannon and trained its sight on the wall leading to the princess's room. “If you're behind this wall, Princess Mira Nova, I'd advise you to step away or risk bodily harm,” the male's voice beseeched, though his tome said he didn't care either way.
With no real concern for the well-being of the Tangeans, much less their princess, the man blasted the wall to rubble.
Smoke billowed from the newly ripped hole, obscuring all from sight. The sounds of stone and mortar falling rang loudly through the gloom of the smoke cloud.
Mira and Lucia took the opportunity to rush their assailant, knocking him to the ground with a grunt and disarming him.
In the gloom and shadow of darkness, the sound of a blaster rang. Then again, and again, and one last time, leaving the piercing ring of silence…
#
Ranma dodged another blast of lightning-like yellow energy. He felt he was having a real go at it, after all how often does one come across cavemen with the energy to knock down a raging Ryoga?
Well, Ranma's life didn't really count in the equation…
Back to the story, Ranma had escaped from the duo chasing him, by slipping behind a tree and using the Umisenken to disguise himself from their detection.
Ranma allowed himself to exhale in contentment, then pushed away from the tree, in search of some manner of civilization. Al he really needed was a phone, and he'd be able to call the Tendos.
“With my luck, I'm probably somewhere in China, that no one but the old biddy and old freak know about…” Ranam thought dryly. Things were not looking particularly good here.
“Why Block stop?” came the question of a voice Ranma associated with bad news, the female alien.
“Block think he hear something…” the male replied, his voice low and nearby Ranma's position. “You smell smoke, Bella?”
Ranma took a moment to sniff at the air and indeed, he did smell smoke. Just where was it coming from?
“Look Block!” Bella, the female alien, instructed her counterpart, pointing at something up high in the distance, beyond Ranma's field of perception. “Upper Tangeans be attacked; but who by?”
Block shielded his eyes to the bright sunlight and focused his eyes on the object in the distance. “Maybe it Buzz Lightyear?” That was his guess, anyway…
#
On an evil galactic cruiser, a man dressed in a full-bodysuit, and wearing no helmet or mask, was none other than the galaxies greatest enemy, Buzz Lightyear, who sneezed for some inexplicable reason.
“Bless you, Buzz,” remarked one of the purple, insect-like creatures mounting a control panel.
Buzz Lightyear blasted the troglodyte into his base atoms after having been surprised. “Oh, Uhhh… Thank you?”
He cleared his throat and went back to watching the monitor screen….
#
Ranma dropped from his perch, on the backside of a hoverscooter and landed in a tuck-roll across the uppermost platform of the Upper Tangean Capitol City.
It hadn't taken much to get the duo to give him a lift up here. They were easier to manipulate than Ryoga had been; all he had to do was change genders and put the star-cloth over her head, feigning to be an alien like them.
They had bought into it due to Ranma's superb acting skills and cunning (in other words, they weren't very bright and were willing to believe whatever the redhead said was true).
Now that Ranma was here, he was going to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was going on. The sooner, the better.
Just as soon as she found some hot water, or a door…
 
 
 
 
 
 
LWH (laarcae@laarcae.com)