From: mikem@comspec.uucp (Ragnarok)
Subject: TRANSLATION:  Gun Smith Cats, Volume 1, Chapter 1
Organization: Comspec Communications, Inc. - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 92 06:07:19 GMT
Followup-To: alt.manga
Summary: A tale of two teenagers in Chicago
Keywords: Sonoda Ken-ichi, Gun Smith Cats, translation

This has been previously done, but I had just finished my version and
decided to publish it anyway, as it may offer some details the other
translation does not.  (And vice versa.)  I hope it is of some interest...

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Gun Smith Cats
Volume 1, Chapter 1
Written and illustrated by Sonoda Ken-ichi

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Translation by the Amatran Group, (C) Copyright 1992, all rights reserved.
No part of this translation may be quoted, published or distributed by any
commercial venture without the express permission of the translators.  It
may be distributed on a non-profit basis provided the text is maintained
as it was originally released.  Gun Smith Cats is (C) Copyright 1991-1992
Sonoda Ken-ichi/Kodansha International, Ltd., published monthly in Manga
Frontier Afternoon and reprinted in collected volumes by Afternoon KC.
Number of reprinted volumes available at the time of this writing:  1.
This translation is distributed as is, without any claims to accuracy.

Last revised April 17, 1992

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Chapter 1 - Feeding Trouble

Action in a hallway:  one cop down, another on the way, weapon only
half-drawn.  The unknown assailant continues firing a Glock handgun
at the doorknob, severing it and knocking the door open.  Inside, a
man, gun in hand, sprints for the window.  The attacker, a woman with
heavy-lidded eyes, transfers the Glock to her left hand, drawing a
Smith & Wesson M-19 from inside her overcoat as she enters.

Female:  (yelling) Dutch!!

The man races around a large sofa, just barely getting down behind it
as the woman opens fire with the S & W.  She fires through the sofa
three times, missing, while the man simultaneously returns fire shot for
shot, hitting her just above the right hip.  There is a momentary pause
as both combatants quickly survey the situation.  Suddenly, the man
raises the sofa on its end, prompting the surprised woman to fire
again.  Seeing no return fire, she quickly pushes the couch aside,
leaning outside the open window.  A car with a dented roof is just
pulling away.

Female:  Hmpf.

Using a gun barrel tip, the woman calls out on the room's phone.  As
she stays on the line, she opens her blouse, revealing a protective
vest underneath.  Putting the S & W away in a shoulder rig, she uses
her free hand to dig the bullets out of the vest above the hip.

Female:  (on the phone) I blew it... don't shout, taking him alive's
         going to be tough.  Yeah, right, I'll get him in time.
         Destination?  I'll make it a point to find out.

Finishing her call, the woman unholsters the S & W and ejects the
leftover ammunition as well as the empty casings into her hand.  As
she steps over to the body of one of the police officers, the "Chicago
Police" logo is visible on the dead man's left arm...

Elsewhere, in a quiet neighbourhood:  A blocky concrete construction sits
behind a certain residence.  Inside, it turns out to be a shooting range.
Here, Rally Vincent, a slim, tawny brunette, smiles as she unloads round
after round of 9 mm Parabellum from a variety of handguns:  Walther P38,
Luger, CZ-75 (old type), and others into different paper targets.  At
last she puts the last gun down and breathes a sigh.  Suddenly, a pair of
hands cover her breasts.  May Hopkins, a small girl with short blonde
hair, grins mischievously from ear to ear.

May:  Rally - your nipples are stiff!  What've you been up to?

Rally:  (upset) What are you doing, Minnie May!?

May:  No matter how many times I called you to breakfast you didn't
      come around!!

At the breakfast table, two pineapple-grenade dispensers and a potato-
masher-grenade pepper grinder grace the assortment of edibles...

May:  Home-baked croissants, bacon and eggs with coleslaw, and even
      fixed up some seaweed salad.

Rally:  You never told me you use such strange condiment containers,
        you bomb freak.

May grinds some pepper onto her eggs with the potato-masher-grenade
dispenser...

May:  (fork in mouth) Call me a bomb specialist.  ...Say, which job
      is it this time, Miss Pistol Whiz?

Rally:  (muttering to herself) Ugh... pineapple dressing dispenser...
        (squirting dressing on her salad) I'm looking for a cocaine
        dealer who jumped bail.

May:  Bounty hunter jobs aren't all that appealing.

Rally:  (reading newspaper) One by one it gets more interesting.  It's
        not enough to live a life just by getting older.  Besides,
        my real profession's as a gunsmith.  A gunsmith!

May:  Why, don't you earn less money as a gunsmith?

Rally slams down her cup of coffee.

Rally:  (irritated) Thanks for the meal!!

The wall clock reads five past eight.

May:  It's still too early to head off to the shop.

Rally:  Got a meeting with the client lawyer.  Would you lock up here
        for me?

Rally heads out to the half-sunken garage.

May:  W-wait up, I'm going too.

Rally's warming up her Shelby Cobra GT 500 Mustang as May comes
running out.

May:  Wait up, Rally!

Rally:  You're going to the shop to open up!!

May:  (getting in the passenger side) I can't take any customized gun
      orders by myself.

Rally:  (annoyed) Just ring up sales and whatever else you can handle!

May:  (smiling) If you'd just made me a business partner--

Rally:  (peeved) If you could do gunsight adjustments I'd consider it.

May sticks her tongue out, holding her small hands before her.

May:  I can't do sustained test firings with these cute hands.

Rally suddenly accelerates the Cobra onto the street, knocking May over.

Some time later:  A chubby, blond man with glasses and dressed in a
business suit smiles at the two women.

Man:  Pleased to meet you.  I'm lawyer Phillip Jones.

Rally:  (smiling) I'm Rally Vincent.  At your service.  This is
        my assistant...

May:  (brightly smiling) Business partner May Hopkins.  At your service.

Rally glares at May, as May in turn sticks her tongue out at Rally.
The lawyer turns to walk into a room, past a roped-off area
splashed with blood.

Mr. Jones:  This way please.

Rally:  (whispering) What was that for!?  Really!

May:  (whispering back) It's okay.

Inside the room, some police officers are engaged in working on the
scene.  A detective turns and sees Rally and May.

Detective:  What, you again?

Rally & May:  (simultaneously, smiling) Why, Officer, it's been a while.
              Nice to see you.

Detective:  Don't poke around too much and mess our work up.  Got it?

Policeman:  Miss Rally, please stay out of the roped-off areas.

Rally acknowledges the detective with a gesture and with May proceeds
to look the room over.

Rally:  This is where someone shot two policemen to death late the day
        before yesterday... and got away.  After all this trouble,
        the bail money is a write-off.

Mr. Jones:  Bail wasn't posted for money.  It was for testimony.

Rally seems surprised.

Rally:  John Harper?

Mr. Jones:  If this guy had been found guilty, we could have pressured
            him for the cocaine route.  Dutch wholesaled the biggest
            percentage of coke in Chicago.  However in fact when we
            picked him up we were unable to find anything important...

Something in the wall panelling catches May's attention.

Rally:  I saw it in the paper.  But it mentioned that he was found guilty
        of possessing a small amount of coke and received a two-year
        sentence.

Mr. Jones:  That along with trial testimony in exchange is the reason
            bail was posted.

Rally:  (looking at shot-up couch) Good time to be an exception isn't it?

Mr. Jones:  It's because coke extermination seems to be the city's top
            priority.  If we can get his testimony, I expect that Great
            Lakes coke market boss John Harper will be found guilty.

May:  Rally, over here.

Rally examines the wood panelling with May, turning away from the lawyer.

Rally:  But doesn't it seem excessive to have let him carry a gun?

May:  (whispered to Rally) Well?  Well?!

Mr. Jones:  No!  Even the police don't seem to know why he had that...

Rally pulls a glove over her left hand.

Rally:  (smiling) Then here's the reason that's been overlooked.

Mr. Jones:  Huh?

Rally sharply raps the bottom of the panel with her gloved hand.  It
hinges downward from the top to reveal a number of guns and automatics.
One gun holder is empty.  As mr. Jones looks on, amazed...

Rally:  I never ignore the smell of gunpowder and gun oil.  OK - I liked
        his taste in guns.  Please give me a copy of all the information
        you have up to now.  Successful completion fee is 5000 dollars
        for delivering him within the deadline.

May:  (grinning) Plus necessary expenses too.

Rally's Cobra speeds down the street.

Rally:  (grinning) Heh heh, flashy, flashy.  5000 dollars is OK.

May:  (smiling) And the shop can stay closed for a while.

Rally:  That's right, and I have to put a closure notice up.
        And gather some equipment from the shop.

May:  Going fully armed for one guy?

Rally:  It's not just one guy.

May:  (surprised) Huh?

Rally:  From seeing the range position and blood stains I think only
        a third party could have shot the policemen.  Afterwards
        the room was entered and Dutch escaped out the window.

May:  (thinking it over) There were bullet marks at the window.
      But the sofa and window had the policemen's bullets in them.
      .38 caliber Plus P...

Rally:  I don't expect that the assessment report has been released yet.
        Besides... the empty shells could have been loaded into the dead
        policemen's gun cylinders after those same bullets were fired from
        the same gun.  After all it wouldn't even be an hour's work but...
        I'm probably thinking too much.  But if they had to protect Dutch
        I expected them to be in position.  That lawyer doesn't sound too
        sympathetic to Dutch's crime with that tone of his...  It bothers
        me...

Rally backs the Cobra beside her gun shop, the Gun Smith Cat.  Behind the
the parking area is a shooting range.  Both women step out of the car.

May:  (alarmed) Wa-wait a minute!  Does that mean we might be up against
      a bunch of hired killers?

Rally:  (smiling) Maybe it'll come to that.

May: Then I'm not doing it!

Rally:  (smiling) Too bad - we're business partners aren't we?

May:  (annoyed) R-a-l-l-y...

Rally:  (unlocking shop door) Calm down, calm down!  When we get the
        money we'll go shopping for new clothes and whatever else...

Rally notices something odd about the door lock.  A loud noise from
behind prompts her to turn around.  Both May and Rally are totally
surprised by the small car that's skidding sideways at high speed
into the shop front.  Rally makes it just inside the store, immediately
turning and aiming her gun at the driver in a semi-kneeling position.
She becomes aware of a gun barrel at her right temple a moment later
(a Walther PP 9 mm).

Gunman:  Freeze, Miss Rally.  You're not going after Dutch.

Rally carefully unsets the hammer on her gun as she answers.

Rally:  I'm not after him yet.  I just got the contract two hours ago.

Gunman:  Same as us.  Too bad.

Car driver:  What, we can't go as far as killing her.  Until we take care
             of that guy we can put her in the hospital or something...

Somewhere, a grenade is triggered and thrown under the car, stopping
not far from Rally.  All are confused by its sudden appearance.  The
grenade goes off in a bright flash, sending up a smokescreen.  Rally
barely outruns a couple of bullets as she runs through another door.

Car driver:  Shit.

As the driver goes through the same door, Rally whirls around and fires
twice, hitting the driver in the chest.  As he falls heavily, Rally hears
a distinct sound just around the corner.

Rally:  (thinking) A shotgun pump sound.  Trouble.

As Rally stands up, she discovers that the downed man has somehow managed
to get a death grip on the left side of her pants.

Rally:  (thinking, alarmed) Deep trouble!!

As the other gunman brings the pump-action to bear through the door,
he sees that Rally is gone.  However, her pants and underwear have
been left behind.  Not far beyond the next doorway, Rally gasps for
breath, gun at the ready, waiting.  No shots come through the door.

Rally:  (thinking) It can't be...?

May:  (from around the corner) Rally, he's got me, a-ha-ha...

Rally:  (thinking angrily) That idiot!!

The remaining gunman holds the pump-action to May's head and yells out...

Gunman:  Rally Vincent, come out!  You hear me?  Toss out your gun
         where I can see it and put your hands up!!

Rally holds her gun by the barrel out the door, and drops it.
She walks out, hands up, a moment later.

Gunman:  (grinning) Well here we are.  Take off your jacket.  Slowly.

Rally, visibly upset, slowly eases her left arm out of her jacket sleeve.
As she begins to do her right arm, a small pistol pops into her right
hand.  The surprised gunman redirects his shotgun but Rally fires first,
shooting his left thumb off, destroying his grip on the weapon.

A short time later:  the surviving gunman has been tied to a chair
located at the concrete wall of the shooting range.  Rally, now
dressed in a white tube skirt, holds a Colt Lawman Mark III handgun
with a two-inch-long barrel.  She unlatches the cylinder pin.

Rally:  Dutch turning state's evidence troubles you...!  I wonder if
        you might be one of coke route boss John Harper's men?

Rally releases the cylinder to the left of the Colt.  In her left hand
she holds six bullets.  Her prisoner watches, but doesn't respond.

Rally:  You fellows talked about killing Dutch a while ago.

Rally carefully loads one bullet into the cylinder.

Rally:  You wouldn't have any guesses as to where he's gone?

Rally relatches the cylinder back into position with a flick of her hand.

Rally:  Well?

Gunman:  (disdainfully) Ha.

Rally:  Then maybe you'll tell me when you've seen my rarely-performed
        trick.

Gunman:  (leering) You going to show me a striptease or something using
         the gun?  Heh heh...

Rally begins to lecture...

Rally:  When the hammer is raised a little... the cylinder is free to...
        (spinning cylinder) Spin.  Estimate the timing...

Rally pulls the hammer all the way back at a chosen moment, making the
cylinder...

Rally:  Lock!!

The cylinder has ceased to spin, stopped by the action of the hammer
being cocked.  Rally points the Colt directly at the gunman's face,
just a few inches away.

Rally:  There's one bullet in the cylinder...

Gunman:  (smiling nervously) Hey, hey, just a minute.  You're threatening
         me with Russian Roulette now?

The gunman loses his smile and composure as Rally suddenly pulls the
trigger not once, but five times, quickly and without pause.  The gun
barely wavers as it clicks on empty.

Rally:  One more notch should do it.  The cylinder stopped as measured
        by the rhythm.

Gunman:  (scared) Ah... ahh...

Rally:  (smiling) The record so far is 12 times in a row.

Rally gives the cylinder another whirl.

Rally:  Whether you cooperate or not in my record renewal -
        (aiming gun at gunman's mouth) You're next in line.

Her prisoner stares at the barrel and makes a small sound.  Once again,
Rally pulls the trigger five times in a row, quickly.  The gunman screams
and tries to back away from the gun, leaning the chair against the wall.
He gasps for breath as he recovers.

Rally: (smiling) What's the matter?  There's two more to go.

Gunman:  (grimly) Ya... it's the yacht harbour.  At the third pier
         there's a cruiser for the use of our executives.  Dutch has
         the key.

The gunman breaks into a malevolent smile as he finishes...

Gunman:  ...But even if you go there right now... you won't be in time...

The door of the shooting range slams open and shut as Rally is out the
door and revving up the Cobra.

May:  (running out) Rally, wait!!

Rally:  (annoyed) It'd be best if you didn't come!

May:  (frustrated) What's the matter!?  Didn't you let me come before!!?

Rally:  I don't need a business partner who's easily captured and
        gets in my way!!

May:  And because I used my head when you entered the shop wasn't I able
      to counterattack!!?  I'm going to the yacht harbour too!!

Rally:  A whole bunch of those gunmen's buddies are going to be where
        that cruiser is!!  You'll just get in the way!!

The two women say nothing for a moment as Rally continues to rev the
engine.  She begins to close the car door.

Rally:  I'll see to Dutch by myself.

May:  (grabbing door frame) Just a...

As Rally jerks the door loose from May, a wire comes off in May's hand.
At the wire's end is some sort of small device.

Rally:  (surprised, thinking to herself) A bug?  It overheard... what?
        Dutch being at the cruiser in the harbour...!  Who?

Rally abruptly shifts into gear and drives away.

May:  (still holding wire) Rally--!

At the harbour, Rally spies on the third pier.  She sees two grim-looking
men wearing dark suits and shades, standing some distance from a cruiser
further down the pier.

Rally:  (looking through telescope) Those two right there... in front...
        Give me a break.  I can't get to that.  If it's really been set
        up like I was told even if I go I won't be in time.

Rally puts the telescope down and reclines a moment in the driver's seat.

Rally:  So then...
        (thinking to herself) ... The opportunity to plant the bug...
        At the parking lot when I met with Phillip.  John Harper's
        men... no, then the twosome who showed up at that point in time
        shouldn't have needed to come around to the shop.  In order for
        that lawyer to get Dutch before the police... there could be ten
        ways we could end up not being paid the bounty.  So that the
        police can save face again... no, there's a third side to this...

Rally pulls a photo out from the sunshade above her head.  It's a picture
of Dutch, smiling, with a woman.

Rally:  Anyway - if he doesn't turn up here then I give up.

The car door on the right side suddenly opens.  A gun is pointed at Rally.

Voice:  Out of the car!!

Rally has reacted by triggering her arm rig, popping the small handgun
out and aiming it at the intruder.  However, she hesitates, as the man
seems familiar...

Rally:  (incredulous) Dutch?

Dutch:  (surprised) Who're you?
        (looking at the photo in Rally's hand) My picture...

Not far away, a Mach I Mustang waits.  The driver, a woman with
heavy-lidded eyes, shifts the car into gear.  Meanwhile...

Dutch:  Hired by Phillip?  A bounty hunter?  A teenager like you?

Rally:  (defensive) Don't be an idiot!  Just now you're staying barely
        ahead of the police.

Dutch:  What can you do against the Harper gang?  I'm safer hiding out by
        myself until the day of the trial.

There is a loud sound coming in from behind Dutch.  As he and Rally look
to see what it is, the Mach I speeds toward the Cobra, sideswiping it and
pinning it between itself and a parking meter.  Rally tries to reverse
away, to no avail.  The Cobra's right-side door, ripped off by the
Mach I, lands near a surprised passerby.  The woman in the Mach I points
a .44 mag Desert Eagle (custom type) at Dutch and Rally.

Woman:  (smiling) Oh, hold it right there.  Both of you hand your guns
        over this way.

Dutch:  (worried) Bonnie...

Rally:  (to Bonnie) You planted that bug on me?

Bonnie:  Well, that.  Of the times you weren't on the move it was the
         best opportunity.  Even though this gun is a hollow-point, it
         will go through two bodies.

Having introduced her weapon's capabilities to the two, Bonnie turns
her attention to Dutch.

Bonnie:  Now, Mister Dutch, tell me.  When you packed up and ran
         you were hiding two hundred kilos of coke somewhere.

Rally:  (surprised) Ah...

Dutch wordlessly hands his gun, handle first, to Bonnie.

Bonnie:  (smiling) "Room 505, Hotel Mayfair, Miami"...?

Dutch:  (shocked) Bitch!!  How...

Bonnie:  Your wife in Miami or two hundred kilos of coke...
         Now, which one is it going to be?

Dutch:  (teeth clenched) Bitch...

Rally:  (offering her gun) Miss Bonnie, how about my gun?

Bonnie:  Let me have it.

Just as Bonnie is about to take Rally's gun, Rally executes a series of
deft manuevers, whirling the CZ-75 around from its handle-first position
to a proper firing position.  She smiles as she fires a shot at Bonnie,
shooting the thumb of Bonnie's gun hand off.  Rally shifts the Cobra into
gear and pulls away at top speed, to the surprise of some bystanders.

Dutch:  He-hey...

Rally:  All the commotion just now will bring those guys from the pier
        after us too.  If we don't get out of here quick, there's
        going to be hell to pay.

Bonnie cradles her hand and screams in pain as a bystander looks in.

Bystander:  Yo-you okay?

Bonnie blows the bystander's head off.

Bonnie:  (enraged) Damn it!  I'll kill them, I'll kill them!!

Taking the wheel with her injured hand, Bonnie goes after the Cobra.
Dutch looks behind as Bonnie shoots.  Despite the distance and her
injury she shatters the Cobra's rear window.  Rally and Dutch duck
down to avoid the flying debris.

Rally:  A-ha-ha, that's one hell of a Desert Eagle!

To Rally's surprise, her car phone rings.  At the other end, on a
portable phone, is...

May:  (smiling) Hi Rally.  Are you doing okay?

Another shot shatters more glass as Rally answers.

Rally:  (shouting) How can I be okay when I'm under fire!?

May:  (sincerely) Rally, you need me.

Rally burns with annoyance...

Rally:  Can you prove it?

May:  I'll be waiting directly west in front of the park fountain.

As Rally heads for the fountain, May opens the right side of her jacket,
revealing the grenades attached within.

May:  Two seconds after the bearing's removed...

May selects a grenade, and kisses it...

May:  (winking) I'm counting on you, Betty.

May walks over to her position as Rally comes into view...

Rally:  (smiling) Made it!  Slam-bang!!  We're going to go around behind
        that girl!

Dutch:  (incredulous) She's a kid!

Rally skids around May as the Mach I comes at full speed.  Still smiling,
May releases the safety catch on the grenade.

Bonnie:  (enraged) ...I'll run you down dead!

May tosses the grenade under the front and a bit to the Mach I's left.
It detonates, lifting the car upwards and sideways to the right.  Rally
just smiles and Dutch is amazed as the car flies over the Cobra.  Losing
its muffler and assorted other parts, it finally slams front-first into
a lamppost.  May lets out a sigh of relief, just as two hands suddenly
cover her breasts.

Rally:  (smiling) Hey Minnie!  Your nipples are stiff - what have
        you been up to?

May:  (furiously struggling) What!?  Rally!  Stop it!

Rally:  My, they really are stiff.

A few days later, at the Gun Smith Cat... there is a Lotus parked
where the Cobra usually sits.

May:  Phillip?  That tubby lawyer with the glasses?

Rally:  Right!  He was using the snake woman [Bonnie] to get that
        cocaine from Dutch.

Rally does a little work while May helps out.

May:  And the wiretap?
      (handing Rally a rivet gun) Here.

Rally:  (sitting on a ladder) Thank you!
        That was the snake woman too!  Phillip hired us and afterwards
        leaked that to the Harper gang which is why they made contact
        with us.  Phillip told Bonnie where Dutch's wife was...  Bonnie
        would have split the money with Phillip.  At the police hospital,
        in desperation, Bonnie spilled all the beans.

May:  (surprised) She didn't die?  Her bad luck's coming on strong.

Rally:  (riveting something) At any rate, the trial also ended safely.
        Hurray, hurray!

May:  So, how'd it go?

Rally:  Phillip got three years, and Harper got 20 years in Marion Pen.

May:  (concerned) No way!  What about the 5000 dollars?

Rally:  (putting rivet gun down) It's alright.  I got his office to fork
        over 9000 dollars.  Including my car repairs...

May:  (smiling) Then, after this I'm off making rounds of the boutiques.

Rally:  (distressed) Oh, you remembered.

Rally and May stand back to observe their work:  the addition of a large
"S" on a square of wood, tacked to the end of the "Gun Smith Cat" sign,
making it the "Gun Smith Cats".  The "S" is not quite in line with the
rest of the letters on the sign...

Rally:  I wonder if it somehow doesn't seem right.

May:  It's fine, it's fine, good job.

Rally & May:  (simultaneously) Perfect!

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Chapter 1 / End

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The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, | Ragnarok ----- mikem@comspec.com
Moves on:  not all thy Piety nor thy Wit    |---------------------------------
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