Disclaimer: This parody is a work of fan-fiction, and is distributed
purely for it's subtle political effect.  A-ko and all related
characters are copyrighted by Soeishinsha/Final-Nishijima and Central
Park Media and are not used with permission.  All original material is
copyright 1996 by Henry J. Cobb.  Permission is granted to browse and
redistribute this material, but not to modify it.

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Project A-ko: "Promise" Chapter III: "Wednesday, Connections"
  By Henry J. Cobb

B-ko made it into class just before the bell on Wednesday.  She had
taken a final pass through the estate that morning to ensure that no
trace remained of A-ko's visit on Monday.

As B-ko sat down, A-ko greeted "Good morning B-ko", but she ignored
her.  There would be time to deal with A-ko later.

"I'm glad to see that everybody is here on time today." Miss Ayumi
announced, "As you all are aware we have a field trip to Southside EDF
Air Station today as part of our program in practical education"

[Bus trip to the base]

[Speech by Director Monty Zuma]

[Class is shown around]

[B-ko sneaks off Hanger 3B, is followed by A-ko (Curious, wants to be
friendly) and C-ko (A-ko is holding her hand).]

[B-ko locates Sargent Akira, starts asking "schoolgirlish" questions,
gently prying at what she wants to know.  C-ko gets very bored and
leaves, A-ko goes after her.]

[A-ko is now searching for C-ko.]

"C-ko!, C-ko!" A-ko shouted, and then stopping to listen she heard an
ominous sucking sound.  Hurrying towards it, she found C-ko sitting on
the steps of the base commissary energetically working on an all-day
lolly, while her obvious benefactor, a man in the uniform of an EDF
pilot-lieutenant, continued his monologue.  "C-ko, I really dig girls
that are shorter than me and act half their age, can you sing?  I fly a
big jet fighter, would you like to take a ride?  It's got variable
geometry, if you know what I mean."

A-ko didn't like the way he said that, there was something about this
short man with with unruly black hair that seemed unwholesome to her.

As A-ko approached the pair, C-ko looked up and suddenly her whole
demeanor changed, taking the enormous lolly from her mouth, she rebuked
the lieutenant. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!", she cried,
striking him soundly on the noggin each time, "Whaaa!", she wailed.

A-ko grew most alarmed, even though she had seen C-ko do this many
times, and she was about to pick up her pace, when she was stopped in
her tracks by the stern voice of authority behind her.

"So, there you are Lieutenant!"  The speaker was a woman of average
stature only a few centimeters taller than the lieutenant, her medium
brown hair had a regulation curl in, just above the shoulders of her EDF
Lt-Commander's uniform.

A-ko had always envied women who keep their hair and clothes as neatly
ordered as their lives.  She thought it had something to do with the
grace, preparation and patience to walk regally everywhere they went,
instead of having to dash about supersonically, just to be always a
little late.

"But, But, Commander, the girl here was lost and I was just helping
her", the lieutenant yammered, dazed.

"Come along now lieutenant, I haven't finished my report on the
reactions of the unisexual aliens to displays of human affection, yet.",
The commander explained, while helping the lieutenant up.

"Why don't you take Ben instead Commander, I'm busy."  The lieutenant
brushed the dust off of his uniform and tried to put it into a halfway
presentable shape.

"You know I'm not allowed to date enlisted men", then catching the slip,
the Commander corrected with "I mean, I need somebody who's shoulder I
can look over to observe the alien's reactions.  Now, come and get ready
to dance, I'll lead."

"You'd better make that an order Commander", the lieutenant sulked.

"OK, you lead, just hurry up before the sedatives I put in the Captain's
decaf wear off and he goes into heebie-jeebies again over those alien
spider pods."

Seeing her "benefactor" depart, C-ko's expression changed again, this
time to radiant joy as she rushed forwards to hug A-ko. "Oh A-ko!, I'm
so happy to see you!"

"Me too" A-ko replied warmly, "Why did you wander off?"

"You were having so much fun with B-ko", C-ko sniffed "I didn't belong."

"Oh C-ko, you'll always belong, now let's get back to the class before
anything else happens."

B-ko stepped back from the Mecha and continued "...then changing the oil
to Hexium-6 and adding that extra filter trap fixed the excess wear
problem?"

"Yeah", Sargent Akira replied.  "We're up to an estimated lifetime of
10,000 hours now.  I just wish Daitokuji would test this junk before
dumping it on us."

"I have to go now", B-ko noticed A-ko's return. "It's been nice talking
to you Sargent Akira."

"Yes. It's nice to talk to somebody who understands this
stuff, miss, uh?" he inquired.

"Daitokuji."  B-ko replied, then noticing his sudden blanch continued
"Don't worry about it, you been most helpful.  Tell you what, next time
you have a problem with one of my designs, why don't you call me
personally."  Reaching for her coat, she pushed one of her cards into
his fear-stiffened fingers.

As the three girls hurried back to rejoin the group, A-ko asked "What
was that all about?"

"A customer service call", B-ko replied.  B-ko knew of her father's
contacts with the ineffectual high command of the EDF.  She intended to
weave her own web of contacts much lower in the rank and file.  She did
not intend to contest for control of the EDF, she just needed more
reliable feedback on how her designs actually worked in the field.

[Lunch]

[Afternoon classes]

As the bell rang, C-ko popped out of her seat, ran in front of B-ko's,
grabbed A-ko's hand and blurted out. "A-ko, I've got tickets to Ninja
Jungle Commando IV tonight, will you come?"

"What?, it's out already, sure I'll come along!"  A-ko enthused.

Typical, B-ko thought as she packed away her school things, I'll have to
have them watched of course, but she froze when she felt C-ko's small
hand on hers.

"I have three tickets",  C-ko announced. "Would you like to come too,
B-ko?"

No, B-ko thought, my father would be furious if I was seen with them
now, and even though I'm caught up with my homework, I still have that
attack helicopter to finish for next week.

B-ko looked up, the refusal on her tongue, and was trapped in the beacon
of C-ko's giant green eyes.

"Yes," B-ko replied "I'd be happy to come along."  B-ko never could
resist those eyes.

[Take B-ko's Limo to the theater]

[A-ko and B-ko explain the premise of the series]

As the movie began, the camera followed a man running through the
jungle.

"That's Ninja Jungle Commando's boyfriend."  A-ko explained, "he used to
be one of the bad guys, but NJC won him over with the purity of her
heart."

Stumbling through the underbrush, the man was surprised by two women in
iron masks and armor, that didn't cover very much besides their faces.

"Those are the Iron Dragonesses"  A-ko pointed out.

"They're real bad." C-ko elaborated.

The two women quickly cut him down, grabbed a scroll he was carrying and
departed.

At that point another woman, slighter in build, approached.  She wore
traditional Ninja garb, only in jungle camouflage.

"Ninja Jungle Commando!", A-ko and C-ko squealed in excitement.

The Ninja kneeled down and gently cradled her lover's head in her
lap. "Oh, Keiichi!", she sobbed.

"I'm a gonner", he choked out, "but those papers, they prove that your
father is not a traitor, you must retrieve them."

B-ko quickly lost interest in the picture. There simply is no
intellectual or romantic angles to this picture, it's just a series of
incredibly silly fight scenes, she thought.

Wait a second, B-ko mused, I've seen that move before, but where?  Then
she blurted out "A-ko, you did that!"

"Huh?" A-ko muttered distracted, her attention still on the screen.

"You did that!" B-ko repeated "The corkscrew kick, you tried it in our
first superfight!"

"Oh yeah", A-ko acknowledged, "I get get all my moves from Ninja Jungle
Commando.  I told you I'm a big fan of her's".

"What?" B-ko could scarcely believe her ears.

"All the fighting moves N.J.C. makes are totally ludicrous."  A-ko
continued "No normal person could do any of it, but I'm fast and strong
enough to do most of it."

On the screen an Iron Dragoness threw the Ninja over her shoulder.  The
heroine took the throw, did a half-roll, bounced off the wall and
returned to kick her foe in the back.

"I bet you wondered where that one came from" A-ko pointed out, "last
month."

"To think" B-ko said, "while I've been wasting all of that time and
money on personal martial arts trainers, you've been going to the
movies."

"The reason I've been cleaning your clock B-ko" A-ko explained "is that
your moves are perfect for hand to hand combat, but we fight at inhuman
levels, so we need ludicrous moves."

"What?" B-ko chided, "I can take you anytime."

"Sure" A-ko admitted, "now that you know my secret, you can just rent the
tapes yourself."

"A-ko" C-ko interrupted, "you've got a personal trainer too."

A-ko quickly interjected "You mean yourself, don't you C-ko, after all,
you watch the films too."

C-ko looked at A-ko quizzically then quietly replied "Yes, that's it."

[Another confrontation at B-ko's estate]

"I'm sorry father, but when C-ko asked, I just couldn't resist".

$Id: promise_chp3.txt,v 1.4 1996/06/28 05:51:34 hcobb Exp $