Written By Lisa Grey
Developed by Lisa Grey and James R. Axelrad
Edited by James R. Axelrad and Johnny G
Chapter 17
December 2009...
"This is SO embarrassing," Ranma whined. "I hope you're happy. I can't even go into town anymore for fear of being accosted by my 'adoring fans'."
"Oh, I'm thrilled," Lisa smirked with amusement. "I'm marrying the confirmed most desirable woman on the ship." Ranma grumbled under her breath. "What was that, Sweetie?"
"I should have told them I was a man-hating, militant lesbian," Ranma quipped. "I'm never gonna live this down." Lisa snickered.
"At least they let you transfer the recording and movie contracts to Minmei," Lisa said.
"Yeah, but only if I agreed to sing at least one track on her album and the backups," Ranma pointed out. "I just don't understand how I managed to win the silly thing."
"Think about it, Love," Lisa said. "You had the biggest support base. All the Marines, most of the pilots and some of the crew, plus a good portion of the civilians. Minmei probably had some of the pilots and a majority of the civilians, while I had most of the crew and some of the civilians."
'You knew, didn't you?" Ranma accused.
"I suspected," Lisa giggled. "I wasn't sure about the civilians, but I knew you'd have the military vote sewed up. You're so cute when you're being indignant, you know that?"
Ranma couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.
"Come on, Sweetie, I'm hungry," Lisa said giving her a wicked grin and grabbing her hand.
"But Lisa, that's the bedroom," Ranma mock protested.
"Yup," Lisa said as she pulled Ranma in and kicked the door shut.
(oOO/Oo)
January 2010...
"Vermillion Lead, Gunsight 1, one of my Veritechs is damaged. We're returning to the ship," Rick said over the Tac-net.
"Vermillion Lead, if the damage is not major, we need you to stay out there," Lisa responded.
"Negative, Gunsight 1," Rick said. "It looks like a direct hit. Vermillion squadron let's bring it home."
"Lieutenant Hunter, are you refusing to obey a direct order?" Lisa asked, sounding irritated.
Rick got pissed. How dare she tell him to stay out here with one of his pilots in a damaged Veritech? He was just about to start running his mouth when he heard something shocking.
"Hold it a second, Gunsight 1," Ranma said. "Vermillion Lead, Wild Rose Lead, do you have a visual on the damage?"
"Roger, Wild Rose Lead," Rick said. "It looks pretty bed. He's loosing fluid. Looks like hydraulic."
"Roger, Vermillion Lead," Ranma replied. "It's your call, kid. The safety of your pilots is your responsibility. Gunsight 1, I hate to say it but Rickhead is right this time. He can see the damage. You can't. You can't make that call."
"But...but...I..." Lisa sputtered.
"Negative, Gunsight 1," Ranma said. "You don't send a soldier into battle with a broken sword unless he's all you got. We ain't that desperate yet. Besides, Moose has a hard enough time keeping a Veritech under him without starting out with a damaged one."
"Roger," Lisa said through clenched teeth. "Vermillion Squadron, return to the ship."
"Roger, Vermillion Squadron inbound," Rick said. "Thanks, DL."
"Yeah, well, don't go thinking I'm going soft on you," Ranma snorted. "But you were in the right this time."
"Somebody's sleepin' on the couch tonight," Akane teased over the squadron channel.
"Yeah, well, she'll get over it," Ranma chuckled.
(oOO/Oo)
Lisa was waiting for Ranma when she exited the locker room.
"Lt. Commander Saotome, I would have a word with you," Lisa said coldly.
"Sure, Commander, my office," Ranma walked away without bothering to see if Lisa was following. She opened the door and entered, moving to stand behind her desk. She heard the door shut and she turned. Lisa was standing by the door quaking with fury.
"Something on your mind, Commander?" Ranma asked causally. Sometimes it was just better to detonate the explosive device than sitting around waiting for it to go off.
"Where do you get off undermining my authority over an open frequency?" Lisa demanded angrily.
"Where do you get off trying to order a squadron leader to make his pilots stay out in a potential combat situation with a crippled aircraft?" Ranma fired back.
"That pilot said he was fine," Lisa snarled.
"That pilot also doesn't have the sense god gave a common dog," Ranma said. "Come on, we are talking about a cherry that charged solo right into the middle of an enemy formation and nearly got himself killed. He has way more balls than brains. Firstly, he couldn't see the damage to his plane. Rick could, and Rick made the right call when he saw it leaking fluid. What would have happened if he took that plane into combat and the flight controls failed because he lost hydraulic pressure? Wouldn't you have felt wonderful knowing that you’re the one that caused his senseless death? You don't have to write letters to parents explaining to them why you let their sons or daughters get killed. I've had to write two too many so far and believe me, it's not at all pleasant, Commander Hayes."
"How dare you..." Lisa began, but Ranma interrupted her.
"No, how dare YOU second guess the pilot that's out there looking at it," Ranma said. "Out there is combat, Commander Hayes. Out there is death. Out there is the cold airless vacuum. Out there, there is no room for unnecessary risks. If a pilot comes running back to base and there wasn't a good reason for it, charge him with dereliction, but don't by god second-guess him when he knows there is a problem. You're not the only person on this ship that happens to be a professional. You know damn good and well that Rick was following procedure. If your ego is too overblown to admit when you're wrong then one of these days you will get someone killed."
"Lt Commander, don't you speak..." Lisa all but screamed in rage before Ranma interrupted her again.
"Don't like the truth?" Ranma snarled. "Then charge me with insubordination, because I ain't gonna sugarcoat it for you when the lives of our pilots are at stake."
"So that's how it is?" Lisa growled.
"If that's the way you want it to be," Ranma replied. "You could just let it go, forget about the whole thing. Hell, you could even apologize to Lieutenant Hunter and admit you were wrong."
"Fine," Lisa said. "You want to forget about the whole thing? Sounds good to me. Here you can have this back, you...you...FREAK!" Lisa took her engagement ring off and threw it at Ranma.
Ranma didn’t even flinch when the ring hit her in the face and clattered across the floor. The furious brunette whirled and yanked open the door to see the whole Wild Rose squadron standing outside, looking everywhere but at her. She stood glaring at them for a moment before storming off down the corridor.
Ranma stood still for a moment and then grabbed the edge of her desk to steady herself on her suddenly rubbery knees, feeling like she had been kicked in the gut by a destroid. She began to shake.
The five original Rose's plus Akane filed in the room. Max started to come in, but Erin stopped him with a hand on his chest and mouthed the words 'girl talk'. Max nodded and he and the new members moved off as Erin shut the door.
"Hey Hon, you okay?" Vicki asked gently, putting her hand on Ranma's shoulder.
Ranma shook her head, dislodging a tear from the many gathering in her eyes. The tear fell down to splash on her desk. Vicki collected her in a hug.
"Oh Honey, I'm so sorry," Vicki said and the dam broke.
Ranma's body convulsed once, then again, and then she was being wracked with sobs. Through the sobs she began to speak.
"Why?" Ranma sobbed. "Why couldn't I keep my damn mouth shut? Why couldn't I just let her get it off her chest? Then everything would have been fine. No, I had to prove a goddam point. I had to be right. Why?"
The five other women in the room came over and joined the hug, offering their support. One of them even offered an answer.
"It's because you two have synced up again," Marissa said softly. "Honey, she didn't mean what she said. It was just the PMS talking. Just like it was making you stand your ground. You were right, by the way. A little harsh, but right none the less. It'll be alright in a few days. Once she calms down and realizes what she's done. You two love each other too much to let this end things."
(oOO/Oo)
February 2010...
Over the next four days, the SDF-1 saw many new developments. They had made contact with UNEDC and were told to not return to Earth to buy time for them to prepare for the enemy. The enemy, in a horrifying display of firepower, had destroyed a large asteroid that was more of a small planetoid, miring the SDF-1's movements in the resulting debris field after a carefully placed shot that took out their long-range radar. And Ranma and Lisa were still not on speaking terms. It was safe to say that morale among the bridge crew and the flight crews was at an all time low.
Captain Gloval was seriously considering spacing his XO as he listened to her dress down yet another poor bastard that had committed some unintentional and trivial gaff in procedure. That made the third one today and the shift just started two hours ago.
"Vanessa, have you finished plotting a course out of this debris field?" Gloval asked.
"Negative, Sir, the debris field is too large to plot all the debris with our short-range scanners," Vanessa reported.
"Try switching to long-range radar," Gloval ordered. "It's not like they don't know where we are anyway."
"Sir, long-range radar is still being repaired," Vanessa said. "Repair crews say it will be inop for another two days at least." Gloval muttered something under his breath in Russian.
"Very well, we will send out a Cat's Eye to be our eyes," Gloval said. 'And this with will give me a great excuse to get rid of that insufferable irritating woman for a while.' "Lisa, I want you aboard the Cat's Eye."
"But, Sir..." Lisa began to protest.
"DON'T argue with me, Commander!" Gloval said harshly, a clear sign that his patience was at its end. "I'm sure we are all competent enough to handle things without you here."
"Yes, Sir," Lisa said with resignation.
Meanwhile, while Lisa left the bridge, Claudia was putting her own plan into effect.
"Hey Roy," Claudia said into the phone.
"Yeah, Claudia?" Roy asked.
"Gloval is sending Lisa out in a Cat's Eye to scan for a path out of the debris field," Claudia said. "I think Lieutenant Commander Saotome should be the pilot of that Cat's Eye."
"Both of them in the same plane, are you crazy?" Roy asked. "They'll kill each other."
"Either that, or they'll make up," Claudia said. "Either way morale will improve."
"You have a point," Roy chuckled.
"It's Claudia's..." Claudia announced.
"And Roy's..." Roy played along.
"Operation: Get Them Back Together Or At Least To Kill Each Other So We Don't Have To Listen To The Whining Anymore!" both of them intoned at the same time.
(oOO/Oo)
"What are you doing here?" Lisa hissed as she walked up, seeing Ranma doing a preflight walkaround of the Cat's Eye.
"I'm flying this crate," Ranma said casually. "Commander Fokker wants me to evaluate the new addition of a defensive weapons system to the Cat's Eye during this mission. He said he wanted someone familiar with the weapons system to test it out. Since I assisted Lang in developing it, I got the job. What are YOU doing here, Commander?"
"The Captain ordered me to lead this mission," Lisa sneered.
"I see," Ranma said carefully. "Well, I'm a professional and this is a mission. I don't see where my personal feelings have any place here."
"Well, I'm a professional too," Lisa said haughtily. "I won't allow my personal feelings to affect the mission either." Ranma snorted. "And what's that supposed to mean?" Lisa's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Nothing," Ranma dismissed, unconcerned. "Doesn't mean a thing. Just so you remember, I'm in command of the aircraft."
Ranma climbed into the cockpit and set about securing her restraints as a chief assisted her by hooking up the leads from her flight suit and helmet that would form the neural link to the aircraft. Lisa was doing the same.
"You're all set, Lt. Commander," the chief said.
"Thanks Chief," Ranma said and hit the button to close the canopy. She ran though the preflight checklist as the Cat's Eye was pushed to the elevator and lifted to the deck. Finishing the list as the elevator reached the flight deck; she began the start up sequence for the aircraft's engines. "Let me know when you've finished your preflight, Commander."
"Preflight complete," Lisa said a minute later.
"Roger," Ranma said as she taxied the plane over and began staging on the cat. The cat crew did their thing and soon Lieutenant Flynn was giving Ranma the spool up signal. Ranma throttled the engines up and asked, "You ready, Commander?"
"I'm ready," Lisa replied and placed her hands on the assist handles on her windscreen frame to keep them from striking something inadvertently during the launch.
Ranma gave Moira the thumbs up and grabbed her own assist handle. Flynn gave the signal and the shooter released the cat, launching the recon craft into space where the rest of Wild Rose Alpha Flight awaited them to fly escort.
(oOO/Oo)
"Longview 4, Wild Rose escort, I have six battle pods, inbound, 10 o'clock relative," Lisa announced.
"Roger, Stick and I will take care of them," Vicki acknowledged. "Fury, stay with the Cat's Eye." Vicki and Max broke formation and streaked toward the incoming Zentradi.
"Wild Rose 2, break formation and go help them, we can look after ourselves," Lisa said.
"Ah, Ma'am?" Akane asked.
"Um...Commander," Ranma said, "Wild Rose is based on a four plane flight and they are used to flying with one wingman as opposed to the new three plane flight with two wingmen."
"Yeah so?" Lisa said. "Are you saying your pilots can't do it?" Ranma sighed.
"It's alright, Fury," Ranma said. "We can handle things here."
"Roger, Ma'am," Akane said. "Wild Rose 2 breaking formation and engaging the enemy."
"Commander, you had better hope that one of my pilots doesn't get hurt because you ordered them to use an unfamiliar formation," Ranma said.
"Is that a threat, Lt. Commander Saotome?" Lisa asked dangerously.
"No, it's an observation," Ranma replied calmly. "Because you're going to have to live with the consequences." They continued on in silence as the dogfight raged some kilometers away.
"SDF-1, Longview 4," Lisa said. "We are nearing position and are initiating data link."
At that moment several things happened. Lisa picked up the signature of one of the enemy capitol ships and Ranma spotted four battle pods jumping them from behind a large piece of debris. She began evasive maneuvers as enemy fire began to come in. Ranma brought them around and fired the defensive lasers to keep the battle pods at bay as she angled away from the larger ship. Unfortunately she hadn't counted on the large chuck of debris, nearly four times the size of the Cat's Eye that had collided with the hull of the large enemy ship and was sent hurtling into their flight path.
"Son of a..." Ranma snarled as she caught sight of the rock.
Ranma evaded as much as she could but it wasn't enough. The Cat's Eye's large sensor array struck the hurtling rock and was torn free. The impact ripped Ranma's seat from its mountings and slammed her faceplate into the glareshield above the instrument panel shattering the strong transparent polycarbonate material and knocking Ranma out. As the structure holding the sensor disk was wrenched and twisted, one of the coolant lines for the defensive lasers ruptured inside Ranma's cockpit and sprayed hot fluid into Ranma's shattered faceplate. Miraculously, the abused cockpit maintained its integrity and held pressure.
"Ranma?" Lisa said, dazed from the impact. "Ranma? Are you okay?" There was no answer. "Ranma! Answer me!" Lisa said starting to panic as she still got no response. Then she remembered that she could call up the crew vitals on the status display. Hoping that the system still worked she brought up the display and breathed a sigh of relief. Ranma was still alive. Lisa concluded that she had been knocked out.
Her relief was short lived however when she heard a crunch and realized that they had been captured and were being taken to the large Zentradi warship.
"Hold on Commander, we're on our way," Vicki said over the comm.
"Negative," Lisa said. "Get out of here, save yourselves. We're done."
"Negative, Commander," Vicki said.
"That's an order, Wild Rose 3," Lisa said.
"Well, you'll just have to bloody well charge me when we get you back to the ship," Vicki said flippantly, "'cause you got our CO in there with you and we're bloody well going to rescue both your sorry carcasses."
Lisa sighed and wondered, 'Why is it those headstrong idiots never listen to me?'
"Commander, how is Mom?" Akane asked.
"Unconscious, I think, Wild Rose 2," Lisa responded. "I'm still getting good vitals for her."
The Cat's Eye was brought into a landing bay and placed on the floor, and then all hell broke loose as three pink and white battloids burst into the bay and began to lay waste to the enemy forces there. The enemy retreated into the ship and the Earth forces found themselves locked in the bay.
"Status," Vicki called.
"I'm almost out of ammo," Akane said.
"I'm getting pretty low too," Max said.
"Alright, Commander, let's get you out of there," Vicki said as she came over and ripped the cracked canopy off Lisa's cockpit. She held out her battloid's hand to let Lisa climb out on to it but before that could happen the door flew open and a larger than average Zentradi charged in and knocked Vicki's battloid skidding across the deck into the wall.
The Zentradi turned and received a punch to the jaw by Akane's battloid fist. The large Zentradi stumbled back a few steps and Akane stayed on him. They grappled, hand to hand, in a contest of strength. Slowly, Akane was losing, but she had a few tricks yet.
"Hey Stick, fire your missiles into the ceiling above me," Akane said.
"Okay, sure," Max said and fired, blowing a hole in the side of the ship and opening the compartment to space.
Akane rolled back, pulling the Zentradi with her and planted a foot in his gut. As her battloid's back hit the floor, she kicked up with her leg at the same time as she fired the foot thrusters into the Zentradi's belly. The Zentradi flew up and out the hole into space.
Meanwhile the cabin pressure was being sucked out into space as well, carrying with it whatever wasn't bolted down. This included Lisa who had managed to release her seat restraints and climb out of the Cat's Eye. As she sailed up toward the hole she was caught in the hand of Vicki's battloid.
"Gottcha, Commander," Vicki said.
"Thanks," Lisa said relieved as the alien ships hull sealed itself.
"Yeah, well, Mum would never forgive me if I let anything happen to her beloved, right," Vicki chuckled.
"In that case, you should have let me go," Lisa said glumly. "She probably would have given you a commendation since I'm sure she hates me."
"Hates you?" Vicki chuckled. "Don't be stupid, Commander. The only person Mum hates is herself for hurting you. Now let's see about getting her out, shall we. Fury, Stick, see about cutting through the airlock with your lasers, what."
"Roger," Akane and Max said and got to work.
"Oh dear," Lisa said as she climbed up to Ranma's cockpit.
"What's wrong?" Vicki asked.
"Her faceplate has been broken out," Lisa said. "And it looks like she was sprayed with HOT coolant." Lisa hoped that Vicki caught the implications since the other two weren't in the circle of people that knew.
"Bloody hell," Vicki cursed. "So now what? We can't exactly open this compartment to escape if her P-suit's been compromised."
"Well, just have to stuff her in your cockpit," Lisa said pragmatically. "You can fly hand's free right?"
"Sure," Vicki said. "I guess that'll work. Let's get her out first."
However, at that moment, the large Zentradi that Akane had thrown out the hole somehow managed to not only survive the vacuum but also found his way back on the ship. He descended from above them delivering a crushing blow to the head of Akane's battloid. Akane mule kicked the Zentradi and turned to face him, only to be caught in a flying tackle.
As the two wrestled on the ground, more Zentradi troops charged in and began to fight with Max and Vicki. Soon, three Zentradi soldiers had Vicki's battloid pinned and the large Zentradi had tossed Akane against some spikey projections sticking out of the wall of the bay. The spikes had pierced her veritech and pinned her to the wall. As the big Zentradi began to rip Akane's veritech apart, Akane ejected.
The large Zentradi leapt up and caught Akane out of the air. Max, seeing this threw off the soldier that was fighting him and shifted to guardian mode, rushing over to try to save Akane. However, as he did so, Akane's veritech exploded, blowing the large Zentradi away from Max's attack and blowing a hole in the side of the ship. The resulting rush of pressure leaving out of the hole and Max's own momentum sucked him out into space before the ship sealed itself.
(oOO/Oo)
Ranma groaned, slowly coming to. Something wasn't right. Slowly that something made itself known as a dull crushing ache between Ranma's legs and a general feeling of wearing clothes that are a couple sizes too small all over. 'I'm in guy form,' Ranma thought to himself.
"Oh thank god you're awake," a voice said from above him.
Ranma looked up into the scared and concerned face of Lisa and realized his head was pillowed in her lap.
"I was so worried," Lisa said as tears began to build in her eyes. "When you didn't answer me I thought you might have been d...dead and I never got to tell you I'm sorry and that I still love you." The tears began to flow as she stroked his hair.
"It's okay, Lisa," Ranma croaked. "I'm okay. And I love you too. Um...what happened?"
"We were captured by the Zentradi," Lisa told him. "Apparently, you were knocked out in the collision with the chunk of rock and your face plate was shattered. A coolant line also ruptured in you cockpit and caused your change."
"Remind me never to change in a flight suit," Ranma groaned and tried to adjust himself to ease the pressure on his currently crushed groin.
Lisa snickered a little at the absurdity of the situation. She had earlier unzipped the top of his flight suit so he could breathe a little easier and nearly broke into sobs. When she had done that she saw his dog tags lying on top of his sports bra. Next to them, hanging from the chain was both their engagement rings. She reached out and stroked them.
"You kept them here?" Lisa said.
"Yeah, close to my heart," Ranma said. "You can have yours back if you want."
"Please?" Lisa said with a tearful smile.
Ranma undid the chain and pulled Lisa's engagement ring off it, passing it to her. She quickly slipped it on and leaned down to kiss him.
"I'm so sorry for what I said," Lisa said. "I have no right to ask you to forgive me."
"You don't have to ask," Ranma said. "I forgave you as soon as you walked out. It was myself that I couldn't forgive for hurting you."
"You were right though," Lisa said. "About everything. I do let my ego get me into trouble and put others at risk. As much as what you said to me hurt, I needed to hear it. It didn't really penetrate though until I thought I had gotten you killed. If I hadn't sent Akane after the others, we wouldn't have been captured."
"Still, I was too harsh with you," Ranma said. "I was PMS'ing and I knew I was being mean but I couldn't back down. I just had to make my damn point. I'm sorry for that."
"I needed you to be harsh with me," Lisa smiled sadly. "It was the only way to penetrate the righteous indignation I was feeling. I felt so betrayed when you defended Hunter and told me I was wrong over the Tac-net. All I could think about is how stupid you made me look." She shook her head sharply. "How gaddam selfish I am. All I was worried about was looking foolish when I should have been worried about the lives I had put at risk. I deserved your harshness." Ranma reached up and wiped her tears away.
"I love you," he told her gently.
"I love you too," Lisa said back.
"You two are so bloody sweet I'm going into sugar shock here," Vicki said from off to the side.
Ranma's eyes widened and he looked over and saw Vicki seated next to Akane, who seemed to be brooding about something. From the way she refused to look at him, he could guess about what. Ranma sighed heavily.
"Max?" Ranma asked.
"Escaped, we think," Vicki said. "I saw him get sucked out a hole in his veritech." Ranma nodded.
"So anybody have a plan?" he asked.
"Not as yet," Lisa said.
Ranma sat up and groaned, his hand going to his head as he paused to let things quit spinning. When things settled he immediately felt the strong need to tend to another problem.
"Excuse me," he said climbing to his feet and stepping to the opposite side of the enclosure they were in. Unzipping his flight suit all the way he stuck his hand down his underwear and unkinked himself, breathing a sigh of relieve as he did so. Zipping back up partially, he turned, blushing sheepishly. "Um...sorry. It was really painful being folded in half like that."
Lisa and Vicki giggled while Akane ignored him.
"I take it you've told her?" Ranma said, gesturing to Akane.
"Yeah, the poor girl didn't take it too well that the girl she viewed as her idol and has a crush on turns into a guy," Vicki said.
Just then Akane stood up and looked at Ranma.
"It's you," she accused with narrowed eyes. "You're Genma's son. You're the one that he said betrayed him and set him up to get captured by those Amazon's."
"Yes, I was Genma's son," Ranma said. "No, I did not set him up. He stole their food all on his own. I just refused to fight them for him. He had just caused me to lose my manhood in those stupid springs and as far as I knew he had taken my dream of going into space from me as well. I'll be goddammed if I was going to suffer for him anymore. So yeah, I left him to their justice. I left him there and got away from him before he fucked my life up any worse. Not that I could think of how at the time, but I wasn't willing to take that chance anymore."
"So what kind of pervert goes around pretending to be a girl?" Akane sneered. "Did you get off on watching us in the shower? Did that do it for you, pervert?"
"I was not pretending," Ranma hissed. "I haven't been a guy in a long time. Unlike Genma's curse, I can't just change back with warm water. It takes boiling water to change me to male. Ever tried to intentionally pour boiling water on yourself? Believe me it ain't fun. So what choice did I have? Tell me Akane? What choice did I have but to make a life for myself as a woman? It was either that or die. Dying would have been admitting I was too weak to face life as a woman. So I chose to live my life as a woman, so that I could use my skills to help people. Anyway, who the hell are you calling a pervert. As I recall, it was you that was caught taking advantage of me when I was passed out drunk that one time. So Akane, do you get off on watching me and the other women shower?"
"You bastard!" Akane screamed and attacked with a haymaker.
Ranma stepped aside and planted his fist deeply in her gut. Akane folded over, coughing and collapsed to the floor.
"Not fun when someone makes accusations based on something you have no control over, is it Akane?" Ranma said to her as she knelt on the floor holding her gut. "I can't control the fact that I change sexes. But please try to understand, I have lived my life as a woman for the last nearly seven years now. I'm no longer a man, though I have a male body sometimes." Ranma continued to explain to her about the effects of the curse and how the only social education he'd ever had was as a woman. He explained that he was now more comfortable as female and that his male body was no longer his true form.
"You bastard," Akane growled. "It's all your fault I had to leave my family and give up being the heir to the dojo."
"How do you figure that?" Ranma asked stunned.
"If you hadn't run away from your father you would have been my fiancée," Akane said angrily. "My father wouldn't have tried to engage me to that sick pervert, Kuno and I wouldn't have had to leave to get away from them."
"Yeah, like you would have been any happier being engaged to someone that changed into a guy," Ranma said. "Don't blame me for your situation. I didn't even know you then. It was all your father's greed. I got out before my father destroyed my life. It seems to me you made the same choice I did, so don't go condemning me for doing the same thing you did."
"Mum's got you there, Love," Vicki said. "Look, all of us original Roses know about the...condition. Some of us took it badly and we made Mum prove herself by entering the Miss Macross pageant to prove she was really committed to being a woman. Who knew she would have won? Anyway, we've all accepted her as the person we came to know and trust. And if we don't mind being in the shower with you, then why should we mind being in the shower with her? Unlike you, we've never caught her checking us out." Akane blushed deeply, having been caught with her eyes on the cookie jar.
"Heh, yeah," Lisa said. "Ranma is so NOT perverted that I practically had to rape her the first time. Of course, after that she was much more willing." Now Ranma was blushing.