Nadesico Fan Fiction ❯ Retun to the Stars ❯ Journey to the Mall ( Chapter 2 )

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Chapter 2: Journey to the Mall

Yurika was getting bored. She had been aboard the Nadesico for the last 3 days and she needed something to do. As Akito was busy preparing the nights dinner with Hou-Mai and the others, the blue-hared Captain began wandering the corridors of the ship. After about an hour of this Yurika's boredom returned. Making her way back to the bridge she decided to take Ruri shopping with her.

"Hey Ruri!" Yurika called as the doors to the bridge slid open, and Yurika waltzed inside. "I need you to come to the mall with me."

"Why?" Ruri asked. "Do we need to pick someone up?"

"Nope, were going shopping!" Yurika proclaimed as she went into her victory pose.

"Baka." Ruri said as she sweat dropped and hung her head in shame.

-=30 minutes later=-

Sunlight flashed of the hull of the Hinagiku as it landed in the back of the parking lot at the local mall. As the ramp lowered, Yurika began chanting as she skipped down to the concrete. "We're going shopping! We're going shopping! We're going shopping!"

"Grumble grumble baka-bakka grumble grumble baka grumble." Ruri was not too happy about having to go shopping with Yurika. Luckily, she brought a portable Omoikane unit and her stuffed Gekiganger so she wouldn't get too bored. While they were walking past the various shops and restaurants, Yurika spotted something that caught her eye.

"Ooh! These are pretty!" Yurika exclaimed as she quickly grabbed a dozen colors of the same dress style. Ruri just ignored her captain while she walked into a nearby computer shop, she wanted to get a new graphics card for Omoikane since the current one was about six months old and she could always have Yurika pay for it.



* * *
Jun Aoi, Yurika's ex-fiancé & the Nadesico's Executive Officer, wandered the upper portions of the mall as he contemplated his current situation. He knew the Nadesico had another mission, but he did not want to be completely ignored by Yurika as he had been during the former trip to space. As he walked downstairs to leave, Jun began thinking about the time he had spent with Yurika. It was over a month ago but he could still remember everything about her, the way she moved, her hair, the smell of her perfume. "Yurika…" she sighed

"Yes Jun?" Yurika's face popped up in front of Jun. She and Ruri had walked up to him while he had been in dreamland.

"Aaaahhh!" Jun screamed as he face-vaulted when he saw Yurika's face. "Hi Yurika, Ruri. What are you guys doing here." He asked, covering his surprise while he climbed back to his feet.

"We're going shopping!" Yurika told him, once again striking her victory pose.

"Not by choice." Ruri grumbled.

"Jun?" Yurika asked. "Why aren't you going to the ship? Aren't you coming?"

"Huh? …O-of course I'm coming." Jun stuttered without thinking. "I just wanted to pick up some stuff before I boarded the ship."

"Ok!" Yurika said enthusiastically. "How about you come shopping with us Jun?"

Oh man. Jun moaned silently. What was I thinking? Now I have to join up. On the other hand, if she wants me to go maybe Akito isn't going. I know he doesn't like fighting so maybe he is running his own restaurant.

"Jun?" Yurika's voice snapped Jun back from his thoughts.

"Wha…? Er… um… yeah. Sure I'll join you"

* * *
"And then I banked the Aestivalis to the right, launched a volley of missiles and BOOM! That batta was nothing but slag." Gai Daigouji; the raven hared Aestivalis pilot, Gekiganger worshiper and all around stud, flashed a smile at the girl he had been chatting up in the mall, brushing back his hair, Gai moved in closer to her. "How 'bout you come with me and I will personally show you how to pilot an Aestivalis…"
The girl smiled and whispered into his ear. "I wouldn't go anywhere with you if you were the last man in this universe…PIG!" She gave his a quick slap across the face and stormed off. Gai shook his head and looked at his watch, it was going to be opened in a sec and he needed to get there fast Gai sprinted through the mall past loads of shops and people. He skidded to a stop just outside a comic book shop. The owner, an older man with gray hair and a beard was just opening up the shop now.

"Hey! Are they in yet?" Gai asked with urgency obvious in his voice.

The owner sighed and shook his head, "Yeah Gai…they're in, but I don't want anymore fighting in my shop ok?"

"Yeah yeah…"

Gai rushed into the shop and looked around…there they were! He leaped over the counter and picked up the all new Gekiganger boxed vid set. "At long last…"
The owner walked up behind the counter and pushed Gai back to the other side. "This going on your card?"
"Sure is my good man, just slap it on my bill."

Gai made his way out the back door and back down to the escalators. He eventually made his back to the car park but something wasn't right… sitting right in front of the mall was the Hinagiku. Gai recognized the shuttle and put 2&2 together.
"Damn, Yurika must be in the mall somewhere, maybe I can get my Aestivalis back." He said to himself.

Turning, Gai ran back into the mall and over to the customer service area. Unfortunately, neither Gai nor Yurika and her group saw the other and tried to step into line at the same time. The resulting collision left everyone rubbing his or her head and cursing some other person.

"Damnit!" Gai yelled at Yurika, not realizing who she was. "Why don't you watch were you're going!"

"Oh! Mr. Yamada!" Yurika exclaimed as she turned to the once dead member of her crew. "I thought you were dead!"

"Huh, wha…Yurika!?!" Gai, finally able to see her face, quickly recognized his former captain. "Oh, hi Yurika. Um…I was wondering, would it be okay if I got my Gekiganger back?"

"Mr. Prospector wouldn't like it if I just gave you an Aestivalis," She told him.

"Oh…" Gai said rather dejectedly.

"But I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I hired you as a pilot."

"Really! Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Gai stood back up and began dancing with a rather surprised Ruri while singing the theme to Gekiganger.

"Baka." Ruri said sullenly.

* * *
Outside, a young green-hared girl grumbled as she walked through the mall parking lot. She was a mechanic and extremely skilled in her field. "Damnit…" She cursed. "Can't believe that stoopid thing can't take a jamming!" She scowled and kicked a stone in front of her.

"Huh?" Xiaou looked up and smirked at what she saw.

"Cooool!" the teen mechanic yelled as she ran towards the military shuttle that lay before her.

"This is so sweet!" she said taking apart some of the Hinagiku's components. She was examining the shuttle's engines when she heard a voice behind her.

" I really hope you know how to fix that, because we would like to leave now." Yurika said to the young green-hared girl In front of her.

"Baka."

Turning, Xiaou saw a group of four standing with their arms crossed. "Um…yeah…I'm really sorry 'bout all this. Please don't call the police." Xiaou begged of Yurika.

"WELL YOU CAN SAVE THE GROVELING FOR THE JUDGE MISSIE, BECAUSE YOU ARE SOOO DEAD!" Gai hollered.

"Ah, don't worry. As long as you put everything back together again it'll be fine."

Not wanting to die at the hands of the psycho-yet-cute guy standing behind the girl who called her "baka", Xiaou was able to fix the Hinagiku in about seven minutes. Dusting off her hands, she turned to Yurika and said. "That's it, good as new."

"Hey," Yurika said admiring Xiaou's handy work. "We could use a mechanic with your skill on our ship. What do you say? Want to come with us?"

"Um…sure. I guess."

"ALRIGHT! NOW I HAVE SOMEBODY WHO CAN MAKE MY SUPER GEKIGANGER!" Gai said, running up to Xiaou and began shaking her hand while Xiaou grimaced and looked to Ruri for answers.

"It's okay, he's harmless. Stupid, but harmless none the less." Ruri said in her usual emotion less voice.

Prying Gai off the teen mechanic, Jun introduced everyone. "Hi! I'm Jun Aoi." He said shaking Xiaou's hand.

"Xiaou."

"No last name?" Jun asked with a smirk.

"I have one but it's really dumb, so…"

"Well anyway, that crazy guy is Jiro Yamada,"

"GAI DAIGOUJI!" Gai screamed at Jun.

"Anyway, the little girl is Ruri Hoshino and this is Yurika Misumaru, captain of the Nergal Battleship the ND-001 Nadesico." Jun said gesturing to the two girls.

"The Nadesico!?!" Xiaou exclaimed in surprise. "The second most powerful ship we had during the Jovian war?"

"SECOND!?!" Gai asked.

"The Cosmos..."

"Oh, that's ok then."

"Ok. "Yurika said to Xiaou. "We need to get going, time to head back to the ship."

As the rest of the party boarded the shuttle, Xiaou looked back to the mall. A lot was about to change in her life, she could go with the Nadesico, but she knew there was a chance she could be killed in the upcoming battles, she would have to talk it over with her parents.