Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Aa! Megami-sensei! ❯ This Little Piggy Went to a Temple... ( Chapter 6 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Peter_L._Ward 
Anime/Manga: Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.22.2001 | Updated On: 11.12.2001 | Pages: 10 | Words: 5.1K | Visits: 810 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Ah My Goddess Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 10.22.2001 | Updated On: 11.12.2001 | Pages: 10 | Words: 5.1K | Visits: 810 | Status: Completed
Imported From: RAAC
falcon@best.com (Peter L. Ward)
Aa! Megami-sensei!
by Peter Ward
Episode 7: Making Tracks Part 1
"Morning, everybody!"
Belldandy and Urd looked out from the kitchen to where Jun was
standing in the hallway, holding a basket from which Joe's head
was poking out of.
"You look nice this morning." Belldandy commented, observing
Jun's outfit. "Are you planning on going with us to the racing
match today?"
"Or do you have a hot date?" Urd cut in with a wink.
"Well, both, kind of. One of the guys in the Auto Tech Club at
school asked me if I wanted to go with him to this meet, and I
decided to go." Jun replied, blushing slightly.
"Way to go, kid!" Urd said cheerfully. "You've only been at
Furinkan for less than a week, and you're already getting the
guys' attention! So, who is it? I hope it wasn't that Kuno
jerk."
"No, it wasn't." Jun said with a hint of relief. "I think he's
already fixated on two other girls. Besides, he may be good
looking, and rich if Nabiki's to be believed, but I'm not so
certain about his mental state. You know what I mean?"
"You're not so certain?" Urd replied. "I'm pretty darn well
certain that he's a loon. Then again, so's his father, the
principal. Of course, I do have a few things up my sleeve to
deal with the son. Anyway, enough about those two...who asked
you out?"
"It was one of the guys in my class. Akagami Tetsuo."
"Tetsuo? Are you sure you know what you're doing? I've gotten
some pretty bad vibes from him..." Urd said uncertainly.
"Now, Urd, you really shouldn't jump to conclusions about people
like that." Belldandy admonished. "Jun, I'm sure that your date
will turn out all right. Breakfast's just about done, so if you
can call the others in, I'd appreciate that."
"Okay! I'll have to eat it fast, though. I'm supposed to be at
Furinkan in an hour or so. Urd, can you please give me a tele-
portation lift there?"
"Sure thing, kid! Wouldn't want to have you stand up your date
now, would we?" Urd said, then muttered to herself, "Even if he
is undeserving...."
"Really? Thanks!" Jun said as she started to go towards the
temple exit. "I'll go get the others!"
A minute later, Jun returned with Skuld, Keiichi, and Megumi
following closely behind. As soon as everyone seated themselves
around the dining table, Belldandy came out with the food and it
was quickly devoured since everyone in the room was familiar with
how good Belldandy's cooking was.
"That was very good, as usual, Belldandy! Thanks!" Jun said as
she finished. Everyone else at the table was in agreement with
Jun's sentiments.
"Thank you very much. You're too kind." Belldandy replied
humbly.
"But you made so much! It'd be a shame for all that good food to
go to waste. What are you going to do with all that?" Jun asked.
Before anyone could reply, though, a loud voice boomed from the
temple yard. "Yo! Morisato! Is the bike finished?"
"This should answer your question." Keiichi said to Jun, who
looked a bit confused.
A moment later, Tamiya and Ootaki stormed into the kitchen area,
promptly sat themselves down at the table, and proceeded to eat
the leftover food that was sitting there.
"Hey, Morisato, who's this?" Ootaki asked between gulps, indicat-
ing Jun.
"This is Kokashi Jun." Urd answered before Keiichi could. "She's
a guest of mine and will be staying here indefinitely as well as
attending the high school where I'm teaching."
"Really?" Tamiya mumbled with a full mouth. "You planning on
going to NIT by any chance?"
"Nekomi Tech? Maybe. I've been considering it even before I
came here, since it's supposed to have a good parapsychology
department." Jun replied warily.
"Oh! Good! Good! I'm Tamiya, and this is Ootaki. We're
Morisato's senpai, and that means we'll be your senpai as well if
you decide to go to NIT. We run the NIT Motor Club...are you
going to join?"
"I dunno...I'm not really too familiar with cars and such..." Jun
said, getting really nervous as Tamiya looked at her expectant-
ly.
"Awww...." Tamiya said dejectedly. "You are going to the meet
today, right?"
"Well, yeah, but I'm going with some of my fellow students that
run an Auto Tech Club there."
"Really? Well, see if any of them are going to Nekomi when they
graduate! We can always use new members at the Motor Club!"
"Uh, yeah, sure...." Jun said, trying to find a way out of the
situation.
"Hey, listen guys, the bike's ready if you want to look it over
before we go to the meet." Keiichi cut in, noticing how nervous
Jun was when dealing with Tamiya.
"Good, Morisato! You followed the blueprints we gave you to the
letter, right?"
"Well...." Keiichi said while giving Skuld a quick glance.
"Come on. Let's go check out Morisato's work!" Ootaki said while
getting up. He and Tamiya dragged Keiichi from the table while
Megumi and Skuld followed behind. This left Urd, Belldandy, Jun,
and Joe behind in the kitchen.
"Geez! Those two wiped out any possible leftovers!" Jun comment-
ed, observing the empty serving dishes on the table. "Are they
always like this?"
"Yep. But they're a cool bunch once you get used to them.
They're here fairly often since they like to pick Keiichi to be
their driver, as well as chow down on whatever Belldandy has
cooked up at the time."
"Ah, well, I was really considering NIT, but if those two are
going to be my seniors..."
"Hey, don't let them scare you off." Urd replied with a wave.
"NIT's a great place to hang out. And besides, Keiichi will be
there, as well as Belldandy and Megumi."
"That's right, Jun." Belldandy said. "We'll make sure that you
fit right in. You'll love it there!"
"Ready to go?" Urd asked as Belldandy began to clean up the
table.
After making sure that Tamiya, Ootaki, and Megumi were still
preoccupied (along with Keiichi and Skuld) with the bike, Urd and
Jun slipped into the living room and used the TV in there to
teleport into the teacher's lounge at Furinkan high. After
exchanging quick goodbyes, Urd teleported back out, leaving Jun
alone in the room.
A couple of minutes later, Jun walked out the front door of the
school building and out into the courtyard to find Nabiki sitting
under a tree, working with an abacus.
"Hi Nabiki! Are you going with the ATC today?"
"Yeah. Minoru asked me to be their financial officer a few weeks
back." Nabiki replied, looking up from her abacus and a notebook
full of figures. "I don't know much about cars except for
pricing and values, but I do know an opportunity when I see one!"
"Really? What kind of opportunities?"
"Well, as part of the deal, I get a certain percentage of any
earnings they make. But that's not the real opportunity here.
You see, quite a few girls have a thing for Minoru since he's
pretty good-looking, as well as one of the few guys here who can
actually drive."
"Go figure." Jun said with a smirk.
"Right. I've gotten a lot of experience selling pictures of
people in the past year, so I think I can set up a deal where I
can sell different-sized prints of Minoru to the other girls. I
considered doing the same with Kuno quite a while back since he's
rich and good-looking, but most girls avoid him since he acts
really weird."
"No kidding. I don't think I've ever seen a science paper
written in iambic pentameter until this week. How did you guys
do with that, anyway?"
"We got lucky and got a B with that, though Urd-sensei did write
some commentary about Kuno's report writing style. Remind me not
to let him write up the team reports ever again."
"Hahahaha!" Jun laughed. "Even if you don't, I'm sure Buffy and
Suzie will make sure that he doesn't, between Buffy's strength
and Suzie's claws."
"That's true. Anyway, getting back to my little enterpise here,
I figure I can make a good profit selling pictures of Minoru. I
might be able to make a little extra money selling dartboards
with Tetsuo's picture on it, but the dartboards might be too
expensive to make it worthwhile."
"You too?" Jun frowned at Nabiki's comments about Tetsuo. "Come
on, he can't be all that bad."
"That's right, you're new here, so you wouldn't know too much
about his reputation. Listen, he's really bad news, Jun. It's
too late to call off your date with him since he'll be here in a
few minutes, but I did remember to pack in some purse-sized
cannisters of mace and pepper spray that I cut a deal on a while
back. 1000 yen for the mace, or 2000 for the pepper spray. It's
a really good deal. I'd take it if I were you."
"Thanks, but no." Jun replied cooly. "If Tetsuo's really as bad
as you and everyone else says, I can take care of myself."
"Okay..." Nabiki drawled as she put her financial stuff away in a
bookbag. "Just don't expect these prices when you come crawling
back to me..."
Before Jun could reply, Nabiki noticed Joe's head sticking out of
the basket and picked her up. "Where'd you get that piglet?"
Nabiki asked with a hint of suspicion.
"Jo's been a family pet for quite a while now..." Jun said,
wondering what was bugging Nabiki.
"Oh, okay..." Nabiki said as she inspected 'Jo'. "This one's a
female, so it couldn't be P-chan..."
As Nabiki continued giving Joe a lookover, Joe directed a thought
at Jun. <'Family pet?!' Where'd you come up with *that* cover
story?>
<Oh, be quiet, Joe!> Jun shot back mentally. <Would you rather I
tell the truth and tell Nabiki that you're actually supposed to
be a human guy?>
<Ummmm...I guess not.> Joe "said" as he considered what Nabiki
would do if she ever found out the truth.
<Good.> Jun thought as she turned her attention back to Nabiki.
"So, what's this about a 'P-chan'?"
"Hmmm?" Nabiki said as she finished looking Joe over. "Oh,
that's my sister's pet piglet. He's been lost for over a couple
of weeks now, and it isn't the first time he's been lost. I
thought maybe you picked him up and made him your pet."
"Nope. He was...given...to me by my parents..." Jun said, then
made a quick thought flash to Joe, warning, <not a squeal from
you about that!>.
"Okay. I remember one instance where P-chan got taken by some
ice-skating ditz, and a martial arts ice skating duel was held
between her and her partner and Akane and Ranma. Akane and Ranma
won by default due to the ice rink getting busted up. Anyway, if
you see a male piglet that has a bandana around his neck, that's
probably P-chan. You know, maybe we ought to get Jo and P-chan
together...."
"Queeee!" Joe squealed as if in warning, remembering the last
time he nearly got put together with a male piglet...
As both Nabiki and Jun looked at Joe wondering what got her
upset, a mini-van pulled up in front of the school gate, and out
stepped Dozul, Billie, and a mechanoid that resembled a 6' Fire
Valkyrie, instead of the classic Valkyrie known as Mackie that
was in their class.
"Hi guys!" Jun called out to them from where she and Nabiki were
sitting. "Who's the new mechanoid? I thought Mackie would be
with you guys."
"Ah. Let us present to you ladies the all-new and improved
RXF-95A 'Mackie'!" Dozul called back as the three walked on over
to where the girls were sitting.
"That's right, it's really me!" Mackie said, with his voice being
the only thing recognizable from the way he used to be.
"No way!" Jun gasped, looking over Mackie's new body. "You guys
did this all by yourselves?"
"Um, yeah." Billie stammered. "Designing the body wasn't very
hard, especially when we had one of the transformable toys to
base it on. Getting the parts for it was tougher, though.
Luckily for us, my family owns Kraftwerk Heavy Industries, among
other such companies, and I was able to get the parts custom-made
for Mackie."
"And I was able to use my years of experience with model-painting
to get the colors just right to match how the Fire Valkyrie
appeared in Macross 7." Dozul said with pride. "We even designed
the speaker system in the shoulder pods for when Mackie wants to
play guitar, so he doesn't need a seperate amp! It also doubles
as a PA system!"
"Yeah, too bad my folks haven't sent over my guitar yet. Some-
thing about hell freezing over, they said." Mackie said with
disappointment, then cheered up and asked, "So, what do you
ladies think of the new bod?"
"It's...something." Nabiki said, trying to find the right words
to fit her reaction to the garishness of the new body. "It's
certainly flashy..."
"Yeah! Ain't it cool?" Mackie enthused.
After a moment of deep thought, Nabiki continued, "You know, I
think I know how we can use you to raise funds for the ATC.
Since you do resemble that fighter from Macross 7, I'll bet any
kids at the meet would love to have their pictures taken with
you, and I'm sure the parents will pay so the kids would be
happy. I think 1000 yen a shot should cover it, with the ATC
getting 450, me getting 450 since it's my idea and my camera, and
you getting 100. Does that sound good to you?"
"Sure does!" Mackie said, without giving a thought as to how
little he'd be getting compared to Nabiki or the ATC. While
Dozul looked on as though it were normal for people to be gouged
like that, Jun and Billie exchanged quick glances as the inequity
of the deal dawned in their heads.
Before either Jun or Billie could say anything, though, the
honking of a car filled the air and all five ran out the school
gate to see a convertable sitting by the curb, with a trailer
holding a go-cart attached. While Minoru and Noriko were sitting
in the driver's and front passenger's seats respectively, Tetsuo
and Minoru's father sat in the back seat in his most laid-back
style.
"Hey, there!" Minoru called out from where he was sitting. "You
guys ready to go? We don't have much time since it's a bit of a
drive to Nekomi City!"
"Okay, I'll be right there!" Jun called back. However, Nabiki
grabbed her shoulder before she could go on over.
"You sure you want to pass up the deals on either the mace or the
pepper spray? Last chance for those prices I quoted you..."
"I said I could take care of myself, thank you." Jun said with a
hint of ice as she slipped Nabiki's hand off of her shoulder.
"Okay, just thought I'd offer since it looks like I'm riding with
the nerd-and-otaku patrol there." Nabiki replied, motioning the
mini-van that the other three were getting into, with Dozul's
father driving.
"Have fun!" Jun teased as she got into the back seat of the
convertable.
"Yeah, right." Nabiki groused as she meandered off to the mini-
van.
A while later, both vehicles in the small caravan were on the
highway leading to Nekomi City. While things were pretty calm in
the mini-van (since all Billie and Dozul wanted to talk about
were mecha design ideas), it was livelier in the convertible.
"So, what are you guys going to do after high school?" Jun asked,
having to raise her voice high enough to be heard over the
traffic.
"Well, I've applied at Nekomi Tech for next year since I want to
go into the automotive field." Minoru yelled back. "Didn't you
apply for NIT as well, Tetsuo?"
"Yeah, bud! I especially want to check out their Four Wheels
Club!"
"Lemme guess, Tetsuo," Noriko shot back, "they have pretty girls
in that club, right?"
"That's right!" Tetsuo beamed. "You can't really bury yourself
with mechanical stuff all the time, right?"
"Yeah, but you take it too far, dude." Minoru said. "Besides, if
you ever bothered to pay attention to the scoreboards rather than
to the babes, you'd know that their Motor Club is the one to
join! They don't have the budget or the babes of the FWC, but
the MCC does have the better record for wins!"
"You just have to watch out for the seniors running the club."
Jun cut in.
"Huh? You follow the racing scene, Jun?" Minoru asked.
"Um, no, but I just met the two who run the club this morning.
One of Urd-sensei's sisters has a boyfriend who's the driver on
their team. In fact, they asked me if I knew of anyone who's
going to NIT next year."
"Really? You know Morisato Keiichi??" Minoru yelled back. "That
guy, along with that girlfriend of his, have got to be among the
better drivers on the college circuit these days. I've seen
pictures of the vehicles that the NIT MCC has him drive, and it's
amazing at times that he manages to finish at all, let alone win!
Hey, can you introduce me to them?"
"Sure thing, since they know me. I'm certain they'd like to meet
you since you plan on joining next year."
"That's cool!" Minoru said. "Hey, I don't suppose Urd-sensei's
going to be there by any chance, would she?"
"Yeah! She's going to be giving them moral support, she said."
"I knew it!" Minoru exclaimed as a mental light dawned in his
head. "I knew I recognized her from somewhere! I must've seen a
picture of her in one of my racing magazines or something!"
"Hey, when we get back to your place, " Tetsuo cut in, "you've
got to dig up those magazines! I want to see some of those
pictures!"
"Tetsuo!" Noriko shouted at him. "She's our teacher! Don't you
feel the least bit ashamed for lusting after your own teacher?"
"Okay, okay!" Tetsuo said. "Maybe that sister of hers that Jun
mentioned...."
"In case if you haven't been listening earlier, she's already got
a boyfriend." Jun said, ice dripping from her voice. "Besides,
you're on a date with *me*, remember? And get your hand away
from that area or else I *will* make you regret it."
"Hey, babe, you don't have to get all jealous on me...Ouch!"
Tetsuo lifted up an arm to find Joe biting away at it, an angry
expression on her piglet face.
"Oh, Tetsuo, meet my pet piglet, Jo. And my name's 'Jun', not
'Babe', and I don't find your 'kidding around' to be very funny.
Just watch it around me, okay?"
"Alright, already. Don't get so uptight! Then again, I could
always give you a good backrub..."
"I said *watch it*!"
"Calm down, everybody!" Minoru called back, very familiar with
how things usually wound up between Tetsuo and any given date.
"We're almost there, so we'll need to be ready to set up our
stand and equipment, alright?"
As the cars from Furinkan drove on towards their destination, the
NIT MCC were already setting up their pit area.
"So, what's the high school competition going to be, Keiichi?"
Urd asked.
"According to the information packet they gave us, they're
supposed to be racing in go-carts after the first two heats,
while the collegiate and amateur teams race in cycles." Keiichi
explained.
"Does it say where Furinkan's going to set up?"
"Not really, Urd, it just gives spot numbers for the most part,
and only told us which one ours would be. Too bad, really. I'd
like to see what kind of students you're teaching."
"I suppose we'll find out which team they are soon enough if we
keep our eye out for them." Urd remarked. "For one thing, Jun
will be with them, and I'll recognize at least one other, that
being her date. That'll be the second thing...I'm pretty sure
she'll try to fry the guy if I read him right."
"Speaking of 'recognizing', Urd, are you sure you want your
students to see you in that?" Keiichi pointed out, indicating
Urd's skimpier-than-usual attire for the occasion.
"I don't see any problem, Keiichi. I think it looks great on me,
wouldn't you agree?"
"That's not the point..."
"Besides, this isn't an official school function, so it's not
like I'm breaking any rules or something like that, ne?"
Before Keiichi could follow up on that, Tamiya came up and
yelled, "Hey, Morisato! Stop standing around yakking and help us
set up!" With that, Tamiya grabbed Keiichi's arm and dragged him
back towards the tent.
After watching Tamiya put Keiichi back to work for a minute or
so, Urd looked towards the grounds entrance and saw Minoru's
convertable pull in. "Looks like they're here already." she
mused, recognizing four of the occupants as the convertible
pulled into their lot, followed by the mini-van. "Looks like
it's time to pay them a visit."
"Be back in a bit, guys!" Urd waved as she walked down the
pathway towards Furinkan high's assigned lot. As she approached,
Noriko was the first to spot her since she wasn't as busy with
helping setting up the tent as the others were.
"Sensei?! Um, nice to see you here...." Noriko said as she
looked over Urd's outfit in shock.
"Hi Noriko!" Urd answered, not noticing the look on Noriko's
face. "Saw you guys pull up and I thought I'd say hi!"
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Jun said that you'd be here since
you're with one of the collegiate teams. I guess when Jun said
that you'd be here for moral support, you meant cheerleading."
Noriko said, looking over Urd's outfit.
"Of course! By the way, I've been meaning to ask you if you're
related to a Hasegawa Sora."
"Ummm...nope, I don't know anyone by that name. Why? Is she
someone you know?"
"Yeah, she's on the NIT MCC team. Hmmm...I guess the only things
you two would have in common would be the family name and the
glasses. Oh, well...thought I'd ask. You know where Jun is
right now?"
"I think so. She's supposed to be helping the guys set up the
tent...wait, there she is." Noriko replied, pointing out where
Jun was tying down one of the tent lines.
"Thanks!" Urd said as she headed over to where Jun was. While
this was going on, Nabiki stood to the side, pretending not to
notice. However, she held a camera under one of her crossed
arms, semi-concealed, and was taking pictures of Urd.
<This will be even more profitable than the pictures of Mackie.>
Nabiki thought. <All this will cost me is photo developing and
printing, and all the rest of the money will go to me when I sell
these pics to the guys at school.> Smiling slightly, she walked
off when the roll of film in her camera ran out.
As Nabiki walked towards Mackie to set up their little fundraiser
as the kids in the area were starting to form a crowd, Jun saw a
shadow fall over her and looked up.
"Hey, kid! Long time, no see!"
"Urd! Uh...what's with that getup?" Jun asked as Urd grinned.
"Didn't I tell you earlier that I'd be giving the Motor Club some
moral support?"
"Um, yeah, but I didn't think that meant dressing up like a
showgirl or something, no offense intended..."
"Hey, none taken." Urd replied, then lowered her voice to an
almost-conspiratorial whisper. "So, is Tetsuo behaving himself?"
"Okay, I'll admit that you might have been right about him. He
was such a jerk on the way over. I can take care of myself,
though, so you don't have to worry about me."
"Alright, but if you need a hand, you know where you can go."
"And not spend at least 1000 yen for the help."
"Let me guess, Nabiki offered you something for that much,
right?"
"Yup. I don't need it, though." Jun said with a nasty grin.
"Hey, watch it with your powers. You don't have the proper
control over them yet."
"I'll be careful with them, 'mother'!" Jun teased.
"Don't call me that! I'm way too young to be your mother! By
the way, what's with the Fire Valkyrie there? Is he related to
Mackie or something?"
"That *is* Mackie, believe it or not. Billie and Dozul managed
to build that new body for him the past few weeks."
"That's pretty impressive." Urd said with a whistle. "They're
about as good as Skuld is, except that the new body seems to be
working right, unlike most of Skuld's designs."
"That's true..."
Before the two could continue, Minoru stepped out of the tent,
dressed in his racing suit, and turned to where Jun and Urd were
talking.
"Hey, Jun, is everything...all...right.....yowza!"
"I take it I made an impression, Minoru?" Urd teased.
"Whoa, sensei, and I thought your usual outfits were some-
thing....geez..."
"Minoru! Would you please stop drooling over Urd-sensei?" Noriko
spoke up, annoyed at Minoru's reaction.
"Don't be too hard on him, Noriko." Urd said.
"What's up out here?" Tetsuo said as he poked his head out. As
soon as his eyes fell on Urd, he just merely gawked open-mouthed.
After a second of this, water splashed on him from nowhere.
"Hey?! Where'd that come from?" Tetsuo shouted as he looked up
to find a clear sky and no evidence of a bucket above him. "Now
I'm going to have to fix my hair!"
"I'm sure you'll find plenty of motor oil and grease in the stuff
we brought." Jun said coldly.
As Tetsuo went back into the tent grumbling and Noriko drug
Minoru off to the side for a chewing-out, Urd gave Jun an odd
look. "What were you trying to do that time?"
"Actually, I was trying to dump some ice cubes on him to cool his
jets. Didn't quite get it right, though..."
"As I said, you really have to be careful with your spells there.
Looks like things are under control here, so I think I'll be
heading back to the NIT tent."
Before Urd could step away, though, Minoru's father stepped out
of the tent with a curious look on his face. "Hey, what's going
on here, kids? Tetsuo's pretty ticked off about some-
thing...um...who are you?"
"Oh, Mr. Tategawa!" Jun answered back. "This is Urd-sensei.
Urd-sensei, this is Mr. Tategawa, Minoru's father."
"Well, it's nice to meet the parents of my students." Urd said
pleasantly to Mr. Tategawa. "So, what brings you here? Are you
chaperoning for the club?"
"Um, it's nice to meet you too, sensei..." Mr. Tategawa replied,
looking over Urd's outfit with uneasiness. "Yeah, I'm chaperon-
ing the club here. Besides, Minoru's on a learner's permit now,
so he's got to have an adult around whenever he goes driving on
the streets."
"I see. I just dropped by when I saw you guys come in. I'm with
Nekomi Tech's club, by the way. My sister and her boyfriend go
there and they're on the Motor Club's team."
"Really? Minoru will be going there next year, if he passes his
exams. I think he's interested in that club, the way he follows
it in the magazines."
"Well, I'm heading that way right now. If we can get him away
from Noriko, I think I can take him over for introductions and
all."
"Really?" Minoru piped up, having escaped Noriko's fit of jealou-
sy while the others were talking. "I'd like to meet the team
since I'll probably be joining up if I get admitted to NIT."
"That's great! You know anyone else who'd like to come on over?"
"I'll come." Noriko said with a stern look as she stepped up.
"After all, someone's gotta keep an eye on Minoru here." After a
second, the stern look disappeared and she gave Minoru a playful
wink.
While Minoru, Jun, and Noriko went with Urd, Tetsuo stepped out
of the tent after fixing up his hair and getting partly dried
off. "Where did everyone go?" he asked noone in particular.
"They went over to the NIT Motor Club's tent with Urd-sensei,
Testsuo." Minoru's father replied.
"Oh. Thanks, Mr. Tategawa." Tetsuo said as he looked around.
"Hmmm....I wonder if there's anything else going on.
Wait...looks like there are a lot of babes at that tent down that
way. Wonder which club that is...aha! The NIT Four Wheels Club!
I think I'll go over there instead..."
As Tetsuo made his way to the FWC tent, Urd was introducing
Minoru and Noriko to everyone at the MCC tent.
"Hey, it's great to meet you guys in person!" Minoru said enthu-
siastically. "I've been following you guys in the racing maga-
zines, and if I ever get admitted to NIT, I'd consider it an
honor to join this club."
"Hey, we'll be looking forward to it next year..." Keiichi said,
extending a hand. Before he could finish, though, Tamiya barged
in on them.
"So! You're really going to join up? Wonderful!! Let me
welcome you to the club, my friend!!!"
As Jun and Noriko looked on, frozen in shock, while the MCC
regulars looked on in morbid familiarity, Tamiya proceeded to
give Minoru an embrace that would make a bearhug look gentle in
comparison.
After a minute of this, Tamiya finally loosened his grip and
Minoru collapsed to the ground, moaning and clutching his sides.
Noriko ran up to where he lay on the ground, shouting his name in
alarm.
Next Episode: Making Tracks Part 2
All Aa! Megamisama and Ranma 1/2 characters copyright Fujishima
Kosuke and Takahashi Rumiko, respectively. All other characters
copyright Peter Ward, Tim Dunn, Tim Holt, "Snafu", and Ray Yeen.
E-mail all comments, suggestions, etc. to falcon@best.com.
They're always welcome...even the flames to a certain extent ^^;
Peter L. Ward falcon@best.com Kyusaku on IRC #Anime!
Caretaker of the Urd Shrine (http://www.best.com/~falcon/urdhome.htm)
"Okay, *here's* an idea...I've heard the best cure for memory loss
is...SHOCK TREATMENT!!" - Urd
falcon@best.com (Peter L. Ward)
Aa! Megami-sensei!
by Peter Ward
Episode 7: Making Tracks Part 1
"Morning, everybody!"
Belldandy and Urd looked out from the kitchen to where Jun was
standing in the hallway, holding a basket from which Joe's head
was poking out of.
"You look nice this morning." Belldandy commented, observing
Jun's outfit. "Are you planning on going with us to the racing
match today?"
"Or do you have a hot date?" Urd cut in with a wink.
"Well, both, kind of. One of the guys in the Auto Tech Club at
school asked me if I wanted to go with him to this meet, and I
decided to go." Jun replied, blushing slightly.
"Way to go, kid!" Urd said cheerfully. "You've only been at
Furinkan for less than a week, and you're already getting the
guys' attention! So, who is it? I hope it wasn't that Kuno
jerk."
"No, it wasn't." Jun said with a hint of relief. "I think he's
already fixated on two other girls. Besides, he may be good
looking, and rich if Nabiki's to be believed, but I'm not so
certain about his mental state. You know what I mean?"
"You're not so certain?" Urd replied. "I'm pretty darn well
certain that he's a loon. Then again, so's his father, the
principal. Of course, I do have a few things up my sleeve to
deal with the son. Anyway, enough about those two...who asked
you out?"
"It was one of the guys in my class. Akagami Tetsuo."
"Tetsuo? Are you sure you know what you're doing? I've gotten
some pretty bad vibes from him..." Urd said uncertainly.
"Now, Urd, you really shouldn't jump to conclusions about people
like that." Belldandy admonished. "Jun, I'm sure that your date
will turn out all right. Breakfast's just about done, so if you
can call the others in, I'd appreciate that."
"Okay! I'll have to eat it fast, though. I'm supposed to be at
Furinkan in an hour or so. Urd, can you please give me a tele-
portation lift there?"
"Sure thing, kid! Wouldn't want to have you stand up your date
now, would we?" Urd said, then muttered to herself, "Even if he
is undeserving...."
"Really? Thanks!" Jun said as she started to go towards the
temple exit. "I'll go get the others!"
A minute later, Jun returned with Skuld, Keiichi, and Megumi
following closely behind. As soon as everyone seated themselves
around the dining table, Belldandy came out with the food and it
was quickly devoured since everyone in the room was familiar with
how good Belldandy's cooking was.
"That was very good, as usual, Belldandy! Thanks!" Jun said as
she finished. Everyone else at the table was in agreement with
Jun's sentiments.
"Thank you very much. You're too kind." Belldandy replied
humbly.
"But you made so much! It'd be a shame for all that good food to
go to waste. What are you going to do with all that?" Jun asked.
Before anyone could reply, though, a loud voice boomed from the
temple yard. "Yo! Morisato! Is the bike finished?"
"This should answer your question." Keiichi said to Jun, who
looked a bit confused.
A moment later, Tamiya and Ootaki stormed into the kitchen area,
promptly sat themselves down at the table, and proceeded to eat
the leftover food that was sitting there.
"Hey, Morisato, who's this?" Ootaki asked between gulps, indicat-
ing Jun.
"This is Kokashi Jun." Urd answered before Keiichi could. "She's
a guest of mine and will be staying here indefinitely as well as
attending the high school where I'm teaching."
"Really?" Tamiya mumbled with a full mouth. "You planning on
going to NIT by any chance?"
"Nekomi Tech? Maybe. I've been considering it even before I
came here, since it's supposed to have a good parapsychology
department." Jun replied warily.
"Oh! Good! Good! I'm Tamiya, and this is Ootaki. We're
Morisato's senpai, and that means we'll be your senpai as well if
you decide to go to NIT. We run the NIT Motor Club...are you
going to join?"
"I dunno...I'm not really too familiar with cars and such..." Jun
said, getting really nervous as Tamiya looked at her expectant-
ly.
"Awww...." Tamiya said dejectedly. "You are going to the meet
today, right?"
"Well, yeah, but I'm going with some of my fellow students that
run an Auto Tech Club there."
"Really? Well, see if any of them are going to Nekomi when they
graduate! We can always use new members at the Motor Club!"
"Uh, yeah, sure...." Jun said, trying to find a way out of the
situation.
"Hey, listen guys, the bike's ready if you want to look it over
before we go to the meet." Keiichi cut in, noticing how nervous
Jun was when dealing with Tamiya.
"Good, Morisato! You followed the blueprints we gave you to the
letter, right?"
"Well...." Keiichi said while giving Skuld a quick glance.
"Come on. Let's go check out Morisato's work!" Ootaki said while
getting up. He and Tamiya dragged Keiichi from the table while
Megumi and Skuld followed behind. This left Urd, Belldandy, Jun,
and Joe behind in the kitchen.
"Geez! Those two wiped out any possible leftovers!" Jun comment-
ed, observing the empty serving dishes on the table. "Are they
always like this?"
"Yep. But they're a cool bunch once you get used to them.
They're here fairly often since they like to pick Keiichi to be
their driver, as well as chow down on whatever Belldandy has
cooked up at the time."
"Ah, well, I was really considering NIT, but if those two are
going to be my seniors..."
"Hey, don't let them scare you off." Urd replied with a wave.
"NIT's a great place to hang out. And besides, Keiichi will be
there, as well as Belldandy and Megumi."
"That's right, Jun." Belldandy said. "We'll make sure that you
fit right in. You'll love it there!"
"Ready to go?" Urd asked as Belldandy began to clean up the
table.
After making sure that Tamiya, Ootaki, and Megumi were still
preoccupied (along with Keiichi and Skuld) with the bike, Urd and
Jun slipped into the living room and used the TV in there to
teleport into the teacher's lounge at Furinkan high. After
exchanging quick goodbyes, Urd teleported back out, leaving Jun
alone in the room.
A couple of minutes later, Jun walked out the front door of the
school building and out into the courtyard to find Nabiki sitting
under a tree, working with an abacus.
"Hi Nabiki! Are you going with the ATC today?"
"Yeah. Minoru asked me to be their financial officer a few weeks
back." Nabiki replied, looking up from her abacus and a notebook
full of figures. "I don't know much about cars except for
pricing and values, but I do know an opportunity when I see one!"
"Really? What kind of opportunities?"
"Well, as part of the deal, I get a certain percentage of any
earnings they make. But that's not the real opportunity here.
You see, quite a few girls have a thing for Minoru since he's
pretty good-looking, as well as one of the few guys here who can
actually drive."
"Go figure." Jun said with a smirk.
"Right. I've gotten a lot of experience selling pictures of
people in the past year, so I think I can set up a deal where I
can sell different-sized prints of Minoru to the other girls. I
considered doing the same with Kuno quite a while back since he's
rich and good-looking, but most girls avoid him since he acts
really weird."
"No kidding. I don't think I've ever seen a science paper
written in iambic pentameter until this week. How did you guys
do with that, anyway?"
"We got lucky and got a B with that, though Urd-sensei did write
some commentary about Kuno's report writing style. Remind me not
to let him write up the team reports ever again."
"Hahahaha!" Jun laughed. "Even if you don't, I'm sure Buffy and
Suzie will make sure that he doesn't, between Buffy's strength
and Suzie's claws."
"That's true. Anyway, getting back to my little enterpise here,
I figure I can make a good profit selling pictures of Minoru. I
might be able to make a little extra money selling dartboards
with Tetsuo's picture on it, but the dartboards might be too
expensive to make it worthwhile."
"You too?" Jun frowned at Nabiki's comments about Tetsuo. "Come
on, he can't be all that bad."
"That's right, you're new here, so you wouldn't know too much
about his reputation. Listen, he's really bad news, Jun. It's
too late to call off your date with him since he'll be here in a
few minutes, but I did remember to pack in some purse-sized
cannisters of mace and pepper spray that I cut a deal on a while
back. 1000 yen for the mace, or 2000 for the pepper spray. It's
a really good deal. I'd take it if I were you."
"Thanks, but no." Jun replied cooly. "If Tetsuo's really as bad
as you and everyone else says, I can take care of myself."
"Okay..." Nabiki drawled as she put her financial stuff away in a
bookbag. "Just don't expect these prices when you come crawling
back to me..."
Before Jun could reply, Nabiki noticed Joe's head sticking out of
the basket and picked her up. "Where'd you get that piglet?"
Nabiki asked with a hint of suspicion.
"Jo's been a family pet for quite a while now..." Jun said,
wondering what was bugging Nabiki.
"Oh, okay..." Nabiki said as she inspected 'Jo'. "This one's a
female, so it couldn't be P-chan..."
As Nabiki continued giving Joe a lookover, Joe directed a thought
at Jun. <'Family pet?!' Where'd you come up with *that* cover
story?>
<Oh, be quiet, Joe!> Jun shot back mentally. <Would you rather I
tell the truth and tell Nabiki that you're actually supposed to
be a human guy?>
<Ummmm...I guess not.> Joe "said" as he considered what Nabiki
would do if she ever found out the truth.
<Good.> Jun thought as she turned her attention back to Nabiki.
"So, what's this about a 'P-chan'?"
"Hmmm?" Nabiki said as she finished looking Joe over. "Oh,
that's my sister's pet piglet. He's been lost for over a couple
of weeks now, and it isn't the first time he's been lost. I
thought maybe you picked him up and made him your pet."
"Nope. He was...given...to me by my parents..." Jun said, then
made a quick thought flash to Joe, warning, <not a squeal from
you about that!>.
"Okay. I remember one instance where P-chan got taken by some
ice-skating ditz, and a martial arts ice skating duel was held
between her and her partner and Akane and Ranma. Akane and Ranma
won by default due to the ice rink getting busted up. Anyway, if
you see a male piglet that has a bandana around his neck, that's
probably P-chan. You know, maybe we ought to get Jo and P-chan
together...."
"Queeee!" Joe squealed as if in warning, remembering the last
time he nearly got put together with a male piglet...
As both Nabiki and Jun looked at Joe wondering what got her
upset, a mini-van pulled up in front of the school gate, and out
stepped Dozul, Billie, and a mechanoid that resembled a 6' Fire
Valkyrie, instead of the classic Valkyrie known as Mackie that
was in their class.
"Hi guys!" Jun called out to them from where she and Nabiki were
sitting. "Who's the new mechanoid? I thought Mackie would be
with you guys."
"Ah. Let us present to you ladies the all-new and improved
RXF-95A 'Mackie'!" Dozul called back as the three walked on over
to where the girls were sitting.
"That's right, it's really me!" Mackie said, with his voice being
the only thing recognizable from the way he used to be.
"No way!" Jun gasped, looking over Mackie's new body. "You guys
did this all by yourselves?"
"Um, yeah." Billie stammered. "Designing the body wasn't very
hard, especially when we had one of the transformable toys to
base it on. Getting the parts for it was tougher, though.
Luckily for us, my family owns Kraftwerk Heavy Industries, among
other such companies, and I was able to get the parts custom-made
for Mackie."
"And I was able to use my years of experience with model-painting
to get the colors just right to match how the Fire Valkyrie
appeared in Macross 7." Dozul said with pride. "We even designed
the speaker system in the shoulder pods for when Mackie wants to
play guitar, so he doesn't need a seperate amp! It also doubles
as a PA system!"
"Yeah, too bad my folks haven't sent over my guitar yet. Some-
thing about hell freezing over, they said." Mackie said with
disappointment, then cheered up and asked, "So, what do you
ladies think of the new bod?"
"It's...something." Nabiki said, trying to find the right words
to fit her reaction to the garishness of the new body. "It's
certainly flashy..."
"Yeah! Ain't it cool?" Mackie enthused.
After a moment of deep thought, Nabiki continued, "You know, I
think I know how we can use you to raise funds for the ATC.
Since you do resemble that fighter from Macross 7, I'll bet any
kids at the meet would love to have their pictures taken with
you, and I'm sure the parents will pay so the kids would be
happy. I think 1000 yen a shot should cover it, with the ATC
getting 450, me getting 450 since it's my idea and my camera, and
you getting 100. Does that sound good to you?"
"Sure does!" Mackie said, without giving a thought as to how
little he'd be getting compared to Nabiki or the ATC. While
Dozul looked on as though it were normal for people to be gouged
like that, Jun and Billie exchanged quick glances as the inequity
of the deal dawned in their heads.
Before either Jun or Billie could say anything, though, the
honking of a car filled the air and all five ran out the school
gate to see a convertable sitting by the curb, with a trailer
holding a go-cart attached. While Minoru and Noriko were sitting
in the driver's and front passenger's seats respectively, Tetsuo
and Minoru's father sat in the back seat in his most laid-back
style.
"Hey, there!" Minoru called out from where he was sitting. "You
guys ready to go? We don't have much time since it's a bit of a
drive to Nekomi City!"
"Okay, I'll be right there!" Jun called back. However, Nabiki
grabbed her shoulder before she could go on over.
"You sure you want to pass up the deals on either the mace or the
pepper spray? Last chance for those prices I quoted you..."
"I said I could take care of myself, thank you." Jun said with a
hint of ice as she slipped Nabiki's hand off of her shoulder.
"Okay, just thought I'd offer since it looks like I'm riding with
the nerd-and-otaku patrol there." Nabiki replied, motioning the
mini-van that the other three were getting into, with Dozul's
father driving.
"Have fun!" Jun teased as she got into the back seat of the
convertable.
"Yeah, right." Nabiki groused as she meandered off to the mini-
van.
A while later, both vehicles in the small caravan were on the
highway leading to Nekomi City. While things were pretty calm in
the mini-van (since all Billie and Dozul wanted to talk about
were mecha design ideas), it was livelier in the convertible.
"So, what are you guys going to do after high school?" Jun asked,
having to raise her voice high enough to be heard over the
traffic.
"Well, I've applied at Nekomi Tech for next year since I want to
go into the automotive field." Minoru yelled back. "Didn't you
apply for NIT as well, Tetsuo?"
"Yeah, bud! I especially want to check out their Four Wheels
Club!"
"Lemme guess, Tetsuo," Noriko shot back, "they have pretty girls
in that club, right?"
"That's right!" Tetsuo beamed. "You can't really bury yourself
with mechanical stuff all the time, right?"
"Yeah, but you take it too far, dude." Minoru said. "Besides, if
you ever bothered to pay attention to the scoreboards rather than
to the babes, you'd know that their Motor Club is the one to
join! They don't have the budget or the babes of the FWC, but
the MCC does have the better record for wins!"
"You just have to watch out for the seniors running the club."
Jun cut in.
"Huh? You follow the racing scene, Jun?" Minoru asked.
"Um, no, but I just met the two who run the club this morning.
One of Urd-sensei's sisters has a boyfriend who's the driver on
their team. In fact, they asked me if I knew of anyone who's
going to NIT next year."
"Really? You know Morisato Keiichi??" Minoru yelled back. "That
guy, along with that girlfriend of his, have got to be among the
better drivers on the college circuit these days. I've seen
pictures of the vehicles that the NIT MCC has him drive, and it's
amazing at times that he manages to finish at all, let alone win!
Hey, can you introduce me to them?"
"Sure thing, since they know me. I'm certain they'd like to meet
you since you plan on joining next year."
"That's cool!" Minoru said. "Hey, I don't suppose Urd-sensei's
going to be there by any chance, would she?"
"Yeah! She's going to be giving them moral support, she said."
"I knew it!" Minoru exclaimed as a mental light dawned in his
head. "I knew I recognized her from somewhere! I must've seen a
picture of her in one of my racing magazines or something!"
"Hey, when we get back to your place, " Tetsuo cut in, "you've
got to dig up those magazines! I want to see some of those
pictures!"
"Tetsuo!" Noriko shouted at him. "She's our teacher! Don't you
feel the least bit ashamed for lusting after your own teacher?"
"Okay, okay!" Tetsuo said. "Maybe that sister of hers that Jun
mentioned...."
"In case if you haven't been listening earlier, she's already got
a boyfriend." Jun said, ice dripping from her voice. "Besides,
you're on a date with *me*, remember? And get your hand away
from that area or else I *will* make you regret it."
"Hey, babe, you don't have to get all jealous on me...Ouch!"
Tetsuo lifted up an arm to find Joe biting away at it, an angry
expression on her piglet face.
"Oh, Tetsuo, meet my pet piglet, Jo. And my name's 'Jun', not
'Babe', and I don't find your 'kidding around' to be very funny.
Just watch it around me, okay?"
"Alright, already. Don't get so uptight! Then again, I could
always give you a good backrub..."
"I said *watch it*!"
"Calm down, everybody!" Minoru called back, very familiar with
how things usually wound up between Tetsuo and any given date.
"We're almost there, so we'll need to be ready to set up our
stand and equipment, alright?"
As the cars from Furinkan drove on towards their destination, the
NIT MCC were already setting up their pit area.
"So, what's the high school competition going to be, Keiichi?"
Urd asked.
"According to the information packet they gave us, they're
supposed to be racing in go-carts after the first two heats,
while the collegiate and amateur teams race in cycles." Keiichi
explained.
"Does it say where Furinkan's going to set up?"
"Not really, Urd, it just gives spot numbers for the most part,
and only told us which one ours would be. Too bad, really. I'd
like to see what kind of students you're teaching."
"I suppose we'll find out which team they are soon enough if we
keep our eye out for them." Urd remarked. "For one thing, Jun
will be with them, and I'll recognize at least one other, that
being her date. That'll be the second thing...I'm pretty sure
she'll try to fry the guy if I read him right."
"Speaking of 'recognizing', Urd, are you sure you want your
students to see you in that?" Keiichi pointed out, indicating
Urd's skimpier-than-usual attire for the occasion.
"I don't see any problem, Keiichi. I think it looks great on me,
wouldn't you agree?"
"That's not the point..."
"Besides, this isn't an official school function, so it's not
like I'm breaking any rules or something like that, ne?"
Before Keiichi could follow up on that, Tamiya came up and
yelled, "Hey, Morisato! Stop standing around yakking and help us
set up!" With that, Tamiya grabbed Keiichi's arm and dragged him
back towards the tent.
After watching Tamiya put Keiichi back to work for a minute or
so, Urd looked towards the grounds entrance and saw Minoru's
convertable pull in. "Looks like they're here already." she
mused, recognizing four of the occupants as the convertible
pulled into their lot, followed by the mini-van. "Looks like
it's time to pay them a visit."
"Be back in a bit, guys!" Urd waved as she walked down the
pathway towards Furinkan high's assigned lot. As she approached,
Noriko was the first to spot her since she wasn't as busy with
helping setting up the tent as the others were.
"Sensei?! Um, nice to see you here...." Noriko said as she
looked over Urd's outfit in shock.
"Hi Noriko!" Urd answered, not noticing the look on Noriko's
face. "Saw you guys pull up and I thought I'd say hi!"
"Oh, yeah, that's right. Jun said that you'd be here since
you're with one of the collegiate teams. I guess when Jun said
that you'd be here for moral support, you meant cheerleading."
Noriko said, looking over Urd's outfit.
"Of course! By the way, I've been meaning to ask you if you're
related to a Hasegawa Sora."
"Ummm...nope, I don't know anyone by that name. Why? Is she
someone you know?"
"Yeah, she's on the NIT MCC team. Hmmm...I guess the only things
you two would have in common would be the family name and the
glasses. Oh, well...thought I'd ask. You know where Jun is
right now?"
"I think so. She's supposed to be helping the guys set up the
tent...wait, there she is." Noriko replied, pointing out where
Jun was tying down one of the tent lines.
"Thanks!" Urd said as she headed over to where Jun was. While
this was going on, Nabiki stood to the side, pretending not to
notice. However, she held a camera under one of her crossed
arms, semi-concealed, and was taking pictures of Urd.
<This will be even more profitable than the pictures of Mackie.>
Nabiki thought. <All this will cost me is photo developing and
printing, and all the rest of the money will go to me when I sell
these pics to the guys at school.> Smiling slightly, she walked
off when the roll of film in her camera ran out.
As Nabiki walked towards Mackie to set up their little fundraiser
as the kids in the area were starting to form a crowd, Jun saw a
shadow fall over her and looked up.
"Hey, kid! Long time, no see!"
"Urd! Uh...what's with that getup?" Jun asked as Urd grinned.
"Didn't I tell you earlier that I'd be giving the Motor Club some
moral support?"
"Um, yeah, but I didn't think that meant dressing up like a
showgirl or something, no offense intended..."
"Hey, none taken." Urd replied, then lowered her voice to an
almost-conspiratorial whisper. "So, is Tetsuo behaving himself?"
"Okay, I'll admit that you might have been right about him. He
was such a jerk on the way over. I can take care of myself,
though, so you don't have to worry about me."
"Alright, but if you need a hand, you know where you can go."
"And not spend at least 1000 yen for the help."
"Let me guess, Nabiki offered you something for that much,
right?"
"Yup. I don't need it, though." Jun said with a nasty grin.
"Hey, watch it with your powers. You don't have the proper
control over them yet."
"I'll be careful with them, 'mother'!" Jun teased.
"Don't call me that! I'm way too young to be your mother! By
the way, what's with the Fire Valkyrie there? Is he related to
Mackie or something?"
"That *is* Mackie, believe it or not. Billie and Dozul managed
to build that new body for him the past few weeks."
"That's pretty impressive." Urd said with a whistle. "They're
about as good as Skuld is, except that the new body seems to be
working right, unlike most of Skuld's designs."
"That's true..."
Before the two could continue, Minoru stepped out of the tent,
dressed in his racing suit, and turned to where Jun and Urd were
talking.
"Hey, Jun, is everything...all...right.....yowza!"
"I take it I made an impression, Minoru?" Urd teased.
"Whoa, sensei, and I thought your usual outfits were some-
thing....geez..."
"Minoru! Would you please stop drooling over Urd-sensei?" Noriko
spoke up, annoyed at Minoru's reaction.
"Don't be too hard on him, Noriko." Urd said.
"What's up out here?" Tetsuo said as he poked his head out. As
soon as his eyes fell on Urd, he just merely gawked open-mouthed.
After a second of this, water splashed on him from nowhere.
"Hey?! Where'd that come from?" Tetsuo shouted as he looked up
to find a clear sky and no evidence of a bucket above him. "Now
I'm going to have to fix my hair!"
"I'm sure you'll find plenty of motor oil and grease in the stuff
we brought." Jun said coldly.
As Tetsuo went back into the tent grumbling and Noriko drug
Minoru off to the side for a chewing-out, Urd gave Jun an odd
look. "What were you trying to do that time?"
"Actually, I was trying to dump some ice cubes on him to cool his
jets. Didn't quite get it right, though..."
"As I said, you really have to be careful with your spells there.
Looks like things are under control here, so I think I'll be
heading back to the NIT tent."
Before Urd could step away, though, Minoru's father stepped out
of the tent with a curious look on his face. "Hey, what's going
on here, kids? Tetsuo's pretty ticked off about some-
thing...um...who are you?"
"Oh, Mr. Tategawa!" Jun answered back. "This is Urd-sensei.
Urd-sensei, this is Mr. Tategawa, Minoru's father."
"Well, it's nice to meet the parents of my students." Urd said
pleasantly to Mr. Tategawa. "So, what brings you here? Are you
chaperoning for the club?"
"Um, it's nice to meet you too, sensei..." Mr. Tategawa replied,
looking over Urd's outfit with uneasiness. "Yeah, I'm chaperon-
ing the club here. Besides, Minoru's on a learner's permit now,
so he's got to have an adult around whenever he goes driving on
the streets."
"I see. I just dropped by when I saw you guys come in. I'm with
Nekomi Tech's club, by the way. My sister and her boyfriend go
there and they're on the Motor Club's team."
"Really? Minoru will be going there next year, if he passes his
exams. I think he's interested in that club, the way he follows
it in the magazines."
"Well, I'm heading that way right now. If we can get him away
from Noriko, I think I can take him over for introductions and
all."
"Really?" Minoru piped up, having escaped Noriko's fit of jealou-
sy while the others were talking. "I'd like to meet the team
since I'll probably be joining up if I get admitted to NIT."
"That's great! You know anyone else who'd like to come on over?"
"I'll come." Noriko said with a stern look as she stepped up.
"After all, someone's gotta keep an eye on Minoru here." After a
second, the stern look disappeared and she gave Minoru a playful
wink.
While Minoru, Jun, and Noriko went with Urd, Tetsuo stepped out
of the tent after fixing up his hair and getting partly dried
off. "Where did everyone go?" he asked noone in particular.
"They went over to the NIT Motor Club's tent with Urd-sensei,
Testsuo." Minoru's father replied.
"Oh. Thanks, Mr. Tategawa." Tetsuo said as he looked around.
"Hmmm....I wonder if there's anything else going on.
Wait...looks like there are a lot of babes at that tent down that
way. Wonder which club that is...aha! The NIT Four Wheels Club!
I think I'll go over there instead..."
As Tetsuo made his way to the FWC tent, Urd was introducing
Minoru and Noriko to everyone at the MCC tent.
"Hey, it's great to meet you guys in person!" Minoru said enthu-
siastically. "I've been following you guys in the racing maga-
zines, and if I ever get admitted to NIT, I'd consider it an
honor to join this club."
"Hey, we'll be looking forward to it next year..." Keiichi said,
extending a hand. Before he could finish, though, Tamiya barged
in on them.
"So! You're really going to join up? Wonderful!! Let me
welcome you to the club, my friend!!!"
As Jun and Noriko looked on, frozen in shock, while the MCC
regulars looked on in morbid familiarity, Tamiya proceeded to
give Minoru an embrace that would make a bearhug look gentle in
comparison.
After a minute of this, Tamiya finally loosened his grip and
Minoru collapsed to the ground, moaning and clutching his sides.
Noriko ran up to where he lay on the ground, shouting his name in
alarm.
Next Episode: Making Tracks Part 2
All Aa! Megamisama and Ranma 1/2 characters copyright Fujishima
Kosuke and Takahashi Rumiko, respectively. All other characters
copyright Peter Ward, Tim Dunn, Tim Holt, "Snafu", and Ray Yeen.
E-mail all comments, suggestions, etc. to falcon@best.com.
They're always welcome...even the flames to a certain extent ^^;
Peter L. Ward falcon@best.com Kyusaku on IRC #Anime!
Caretaker of the Urd Shrine (http://www.best.com/~falcon/urdhome.htm)
"Okay, *here's* an idea...I've heard the best cure for memory loss
is...SHOCK TREATMENT!!" - Urd