Ranma 1/2, Gargoyles
Ranma, the Time of Changes II: New York!
By Brendan O'Donnell
Chapter One
David Xanatos looked coldly across his desk "I have no intention of kidnapping someone who once saved my sons life."
"Oh no need for kidnapping Mr. Xanatos, but you've seen what I've done with just a few tissue samples. A few hours in the lab, a week or two with some unobtrusive monitoring equipment and I could do so much more." Dr. Sevarius responded with a wide smile. "I'm sure you can convince some little kid easily enough."
"Ranma Saotome is not what you'd call weak willed." Xanatos replied, leaning back in his chair. "However he does have a few strings that I can pull. All right I'll try to get him to agree."
">No way!<" Ranma said. ">I am not going to let some Frankenstein wanna-be take a probe at me!<"
">If you're adamant I'm not going to push.<" Xanatos replied casually. He looked down at the manila folder he had brought with him. ">But that doesn't mean I'll give up.<" He pushed the folder across the table. Sipping his tea he looked up at Kasumi who was standing by the doorway to the kitchen. ">Excellent tea by the way.<"
">Oh thank you Xanatos-san.<" Kasumi replied with a smile before she walked back into her kitchen.
Ranma had opened the folder and was looking at the photographs inside. ">Who are they?<"
">Test subjects. Using the tissue samples taken when you broke your leg Dr. Sevarius was able to design a rather impressive medication which actually promotes limited tissue regeneration.<" Seeing Ranma's blank look he said, ">The first picture is of a woman whose face was severely lacerated by broken glass. Current medical technology would have left her with half a dozen scars that anyone could see from ten feet away. Thanks to Sevarius's formula, you'd need a magnifying glass to find any evidence of the accident, and only if you knew exactly where to look. The second is a policeman who was shot in the knee in the line of duty. Thanks to you he can walk normally without a limp.<" Xanatos leaned forward, looking at Ranma with an intense expression on his face. ">Sevarious did that with a few tissue samples. He thinks that with a few more tests he can do a great deal more. You could cure cancer, or make it possible to heal paralyzing injuries. Are you absolutely sure you don't want to help?<"
">Well. . . I. . .<"
">Don't rush your decision. If you do accept my offer all Sevarious will need you to do spend a couple of hours in the lab, spend a week or two wearing some small monitors, and drop by the lab for a final hour or two and you're all done. I'll even let you stay at my home in New York while everything's happening. Haven't you ever wanted to visit someplace far away?<" He took out a business card and put it on the table before Ranma. ">If you want to take me up on the offer just call the number on that card.<"
Three men in partially armored black outfits crept quietly through the unlit halls of Nightstone Unlimited's New York office. Reaching their target, they slid into positions, two watching the opposing directions while the third slid a modified card into the slot beside the door. A few manipulations on the hand held keypad connected to that card and the green light on the panel lit. The door opened and they entered silently. A second later the lights went on in the room.
"Hi, you must be spies." Ryouga commented from the end of large room as he casually spun a bandana he was holding.
The three all pulled guns and raised them to aim at Ryouga who had thrown the bandana and started to move toward them. Ryouga's projectile traced an arc through the air and sliced the barrels off the guns, which fell apart with a loud hiss.
"YAAH!" Ryouga called as he leaped at the trio. *Their actually pretty good.* He thought to himself as he calmly lashed out at them. When the fight was done he thought of his performance.
Despite their slowness compared to his opponents in Nerima, it had taken eight attacks from him to hit each of them once. Of course unlike Ranma, they stayed down after one hit. *I've been training harder than ever since I came to New York, but there aren't any good opponents to fight. I hope I'm not loosing my edge.*
Contemplating his skills, he found himself thinking of Ranma, his hated rival's smirking face laughing at him. Ryouga began to think of how much of his pain was Ranma's fault. Then he thought of Akane. He closed his eyes and shook his head. *Akane. . . Ranma took her away from me forever, but I gave her my word.*
">But Ranma, wouldn't this trip to New York be the perfect Honeymoon? I'll start setting up the ceremony right away. . .<"
">NO WAY am I getting married, especially not to that Tomboy!<" Ranma proclaimed. A second later he was knocked to the ground by a quick elbow attack from Akane.
">DAD! There is no way I am getting married to that pervert! And I have no intention of going anywhere with him!<"
">I thought you were going with me?<" Nabiki commented as she looked up from the English textbook she was reading through.
">I AM! I'm going to help Nabiki, not to be with Ranma!<"
">Dinner's ready!<"
">Coming Kasumi!<" Soun called in response, his tears forgotten.
">Yes, thank you.<" Cologne hung up the phone. ">Shampoo.<"
">Yes Great-Grandmother?<"
">Have you ever wanted to visit America?<"
Shampoo thought a moment. ">Shampoo not think her dancing good enough. Also need much work on English singing voice.<"
Cologne glanced at her great-granddaughter, then remembered which American films had been screened most often near the village. ">That's just in the movies, most real Americans don't sing and dance in the streets.<"
">To bad, Shampoo always want to see in person. That also mean they not all use big ugly guns all time?<"
"<. . . Not to that degree.<" Cologne looked at her granddaughter a moment. ">Ranma will be traveling to New York in a few weeks, if you're interested in going with him.<"
">Shampoo go with Airen!<"
">Shampoo, No! You don't need to follow Saotome into that. . .<" Mousse stopped talking as he ran into Shampoo's kicking foot.
">Stupid Mousse, Shampoo glad not see him in America.<"
">I'm afraid he's going with you, Shampoo.<"
Shampoo blink in surprise. ">Why stupid duck boy go with Shampoo?<"
">Money. To rent you a room in New York would require me to either have gold sent from the village, or tap some of the long-term securities I've been converting the Nekohanten's profits into. The loss of face would be unacceptable. Fortunately Mousse's great uncle moved to New York thirty years ago, and is willing to put the two of you up for your stay.<" She shook her head. ">You'll be his uncle's guest so you'll have to remain restrained when you put duck boy in his place I'm afraid.<"
A distasteful look passed over Shampoo's face. ">But Shampoo can stop Mousse if Mousse bother Shampoo or Airen, yes?<"
">Of course, It's also your duty to protect your host from being dishonored, especially from another guests lecherous behavior.<"
"Goliath!"
"Is there something you want, Xanatos?"
"Oh no, I just wanted to warn you in advance that we'll be having some visitors in a few weeks. I think we can trust them with the truth about you, but I wanted to check with you first."
"What if I don't share your optimism?"
"I'll have them stay in the lower part of the castle and come up with some excuses to keep them off the roof as much as possible."
"Tell me more about them."
"Oh you'll like them. There'll be three of them. The first one I met was Ranma Saotome. . ."
"It's going according to plan." Dr. Sevarius commented into the phone he held. With a grin he glanced at the table of his lab, empty except for a computer and a tray of small circular objects.
"Excellent! You're certain your sensors will work the way you promised?"
"Well, that depends on what happens while he's here. If his stay is uneventful. . ."
"HeHehe! Don't worry Dr. I doubt anything he does can be uneventful."
"Hopefully your right Cologne. I would prefer not to rush part two of our little experiment."
The morning sun glinted off the XanatosCorp logo on the Learjet as it touched down onto the runway. The door opened, the ladder extending to the tarmac.
Ranma casually jumped out of the doorway to land nine feet from the plane.
">Stupid jerk, can't resist from showing off.<" Akane muttered as she walked down the folding out stairway..
">Hey, after being cramped up all this time I need to exert myself a little.<"
">Cramped?<" Nabiki commented as she followed her sister. ">It's not like you were even awake most of the time.<"
"Ranma!"
The three turned to the source of the voice. Fox Xanatos was striding confidently out from the main airport. She was dressed in a simple red one-piece aviator's jumpsuit with a baseball style cap and sunglasses.
"Xanatos-san. I am very pleased to meet you." Nabiki said in a very deliberate manner, bowing slightly.
"It is good to . . . be here." Akane added more tentatively.
"Yeah, it's good to see you again Mrs. Xanatos." Ranma commented smoothly.
Akane shoot an angry glance at Ranma while a scowl flickered across Nabiki's face. Fox blinked.
"I didn't know you spoke English." Fox commented to Ranma.
"Dad heard rumors about American Martial Arts and free food when I was eight, so he conned passage on a ship to Hawaii, and later to California." Ranma folded his hands behind his head. "We didn't end up back in Japan for almost two years."
"Don't ask him to read English of course," Nabiki added with a smirk.
Ranma glanced at Nabiki in annoyance, then sighed and turned back to Fox. "So where's Dr. Sevarinstien? I'd like to get this done as soon a possible."
"Oh your appointment with Sevarious will be tomorrow. Today you can concentrate on getting settled in to enjoy our hospitality for the next two weeks. If you'll follow me? She turned and walked down the blacktop.
"Um, don't we have to get our bags or show someone our passports?" Ranma commented as he and the Tendo's fell into step behind her.
Fox turned her head and grinned. "One advantage of being the guest of a Multinational corporation is that our lawyers have already taken care of most of the passport hassles. You'll just have to sign one form at the tower and it's all taken care of. And someone's driving your luggage there as we speak."
She stopped before a large red helicopter and slid open the rear door. "Get in, we should only have to wait for one passenger jet." Opening the front door she hopped into the pilots seat and began preparations that had become a ritual through long practice.
"Ayiah," Shampoo quietly commented as she looked around the busy airport terminal. "Almost as much crowd as Tokyo." She glanced at Mousse, then blinked as she realized he was not standing beside her anymore. Glancing further around she saw him bowing before a somewhat portly man with grey streaked hair.
"Uncle! it is good to meet the man my father has spoken so much of."
"I'll bet he talked about me!" The man replied jovially as he folded a large sheet of paper with six Chinese characters written on it. "I'm just surprised you would want to be in the same city as me after hearing what he must have said."
"Well, considering what dad said about New York, I figured seeing you was worth the risk to get a good look at those giant hamsters." Mousse laughed, and his uncle joined in.
Ryouga sat in the restaurant contemplating the food in front of him.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
Distracted by the sultry feminine voice from across the table, Ryouga looked up at his companion. The auburn haired young woman from the Nightstone's secretarial pool leaned forward, and he looked away again, feeling his face heat so fast he half expected to catch fire.
Sarah Drake shook her head and laughed quietly. "You have got to do something about that shyness of yours." She grinned. "But then," she clasped her hands together and spoke in a voice an octave and a half higher, "that make you so Kawaye."
Ryouga laughed quietly, raising a hand to rub the back of his neck. *I'm not correcting her.*
"But seriously, you were looking like you were going to start crying or something. What's wrong, it's just food."
"It's Unagi." Ryouga said quietly. "My parents were both as bad with directions as me, so we almost never had the chance to see each other, but when we did, we had Unagi." He looked down at his plate. "It's the same flavor, but it's really different too."
Sarah looked at him. Looking down in front of her she picked up a piece of Tuna sushi, dipped the fish side in the soy, and popped it in her mouth, fish side down. "It may not be the same, but it's still tasty. Tell you what, it'll rotate back to me in. . . a week and a half, and we'll have lunch somewhere that reminds me of Chicago."
Ryouga blinked then his cheeks reddened again. "Oh, I'm sorry, I. . ."
"Don't apologize. I understand homesickness." She picked up another piece of sushi, Octopus this time. "And it's incredible how food can make you feel the most out of place."
"Wow," Nabiki wispered in awe as she looked out the windows of the helicopter.
Fox grinned and called back, "I've been flying in this city for a few years, and the view's still incredible to me." She changed her course slightly, her well honed sense of drama making her plot the course that would give the best view of the castle with the clouds and the still rising sun. She grinned as she saw the mist thinning before them. "There it is, straight ahead."
As they flew upward the mist faded, and there was castle Wyvern, great polished stone that shone in the sunlight pouring onto it from the side. Below the stone walls, a great glass tower descended into the clouds, which the sunlight made look like a great field of molten silver.
Ranma shook his head. "That's something I've never seen before."
">Oh, like your some sort of world traveler,<" Nabiki commented with a smirk.
"I've been a few places." Ranma shrugged. "Dad tended to jump on any rumor of potent Martial Arts."
The helicopter climbed suddenly as Fox deftly piloted up the side of the castle. A few more moments of familiar maneuvering and she touched down on the hellipad on one tower.
"Here we are."
Shampoo extracted herself from the small car she had traveled from the airport in, and looked at her and Mousse's temporary home while she stretched the kinks from her back.
Mousse's uncle owned a three story building, with the first two floors taken up by a fancy Italian resterant.
Shampoo blinked, and looked closer at the building.
">His brother in law was a top rate Gennoan chief with no business sense.<" Mousse quietly wispered to Shampoo.
Shampoo clenched a fist, then caught herself. "Mousse speak English! Shampoo must practising."
"Of course, Shampoo! I'll help you. . ." He glanced at his uncles retreating back and coughed into one fist. "I'll help you master your English."
"You can stay here." David Xanatos commented as he walked with Ranma through the room. Pointing to one door he said, "The bathroom's through here. Not quite a furo, but you should find it servicable." He turned and opened the other door. "And here's the bedroom." He glanced at the enormous four posted bed.
"Big." Ranma commented, as he glanced around him.
"You're an honored guest. Besides, anyone I invite into my home is by definition deserving of VIP treatment. I actually picked these rooms because I didn't think you'd appreciate the really fancy ones.
"So, will you be wanting to sleep off the trip? It is prety late in Tokyo right now."
"Naah, I slept on the plane, so I'm set. You might want to check on Akane or Nabiki, though."
Xanatos grinned. "One of the tricks of being married is learning when to trust your wife without reservation. This is that sort of time."