The Amazon and the Moneylender: Episode 5, Part 1:
Akane vs Copycat Ken.
-------------------------------------------------------
Copycat Ken fiddled with the little vial, laughing
quietly. By now Akane should have opened his little
package and soon, if not already, Ranma would be
coming for the antidote. It was something he should
have thought of long ago. He watched the vial twirl
through the air one more time and laughed again. Even
in the event that Ranma beat him, there was no way
that he'd figure out how to use the antidote
correctly. He was probably the only one in the world
that knew about the substance.
Copycat Ken was happy, there was no way for him to
lose now. Ranma Saotome was doomed. He caught the vial
looked beyond the soccer field�s fence. He saw the
approaching glow of a large battle chi and smiled
again, snickering. He secreted the vial away in a
pocket somewhere as he walked out onto the soccer
field.
He looked around at the small gathering of people
at the field, not as many as he had hoped for, but
more would follow in Ranma�s wake. Everything was
going his way, and nothing could go wrong.
"How�s Akane doing?" Copycat Ken asked as he heard
the fighter land behind him, he turned around in time
to see the chi surrounded fist flashing towards him.
He barely ducked the attack and jumped out of range,
that wasn�t Ranma�s normal method of fighting. It took
him less than a second to realize that his opponent
was not Ranma. "Akane Tendo?" He asked laughing. "I
take it this means that you didn�t get Ranma�s gift."
The crowd was gossiping among themselves at what
Akane�s presence meant for the battle.
"I�m going to kill you," Akane promised from where
she stood. Copycat Ken laughed as his leap peaked and
he began to settle to the ground.
"Damn it," Sayuki muttered. "We missed them again."
"How do you know that they were ever here?" Yuka
asked, a little bored. Sayuri pointed to the back of
the restaurant, where it curved around out of the
girl�s immediate line of sight. Yuka walked a few feet
to the corner and looked around the bend.
"Oh, I see," Yuka commented. The rear wall of the
restaurant had a gaping hole in the wall. "Where
should we try next?" A group of people ran by, moving
towards Furinkan High School.
"Hey, I want to place a bet," somebody shouted upon
seeing Sayuri and Yuka. "Akane to win over Copycat
Ken!"
"Akane fighting Copycat Ken!" Sayuri and Yuka
shouted together. They joined the rush, taking bets
along the way as they did.
"Ryouga," Ukyou said wearily. The bandanna-ed boy
stopped his stride and turned to face her.
"What?" he asked, honestly curious. Ukyou pointed a
little to her left, where she stood about three feet
behind him. He turned and saw the sign of the Tendo
dojo.
"We�re here," she told him.
"Oh, heh," Ryouga said, embarrassed. "I guess so."
Ukyou rolled her eyes and waited for Ryouga to get to
her before walking to the door, dragging him along by
the arm.
"I don�t get lost that easy," he protested quietly,
in some obscure language. She glared at him, but since
she didn�t understand what he said, that was it.
"HOW COULD THIS HAVE HAPPENED?!" the shout rang at
just as Ukyou went to knock on the door. It was
followed by a full Soun Tendo wail. Ryouga and Ukyou
glanced at each other and then ran into the dojo.
Ukyou had to grab Ryouga before he rushed into the
kitchen, but otherwise they made it fairly easily to
the source of the wailing.
"What�s going on?" Ryouga demanded as they turned
into Ranma�s room.
"We�re ready to help if it�s�" Ukyou stopped when
she saw the situation, Ryouga stopped only a stride
later. She had expected Akane to be the one in
trouble, instead she saw an unconscious Ranma
surrounded by Soun, Genma and Kasumi.
"Wait a minute where�s Akane?" Ukyou would have
kicked Ryouga if she hadn�t been thinking the same
thing.
"Where�s your fiancee, Akane?" Ken asked snidely.
He whirled the kerchief past his face and stood there
in Ranma�s body.
"Where�s the antidote you freak?" Akane demanded,
rushing in at Ranma-Ken. Ken blocked and dodged the
exchange easily. He jumped to the side and laughed
snidely.
"Let me guess," Ranma-Ken laughed. "He found the
package first, right?" Akane growled at him. He
smirked and drew out the antidote vial "I don�t seem
to need this then, do I." Akane�s eyes widened.
"Give me that," she shouted. She leaped at him,
kicking out with one foot, Ranma-Ken dodged to the
side.
"Uh, uh," the doppleganger tsked. "What if I were
to drop this?" The smile on his face wasn�t anything
Akane had ever seen before on Ranma�s face, and hoped
to never see it again.
"How�s this going to prove your better than Ranma?"
Akane asked him.
"Good point, but I don�t really care," he laughed.
"Here, catch." He turned and tossed the vial across
the field, with unerring aim straight for the far
goal.
"NOOO!!!!!" Akane momentarily ignored Ken as she
rushed for the vial, and nearly reached it when
something smashed into the back of her head and she
fell to the ground. Akane rolled to her feet almost
instantly, but the vial was already out of her reach.
It was a mere foot from smashing against the goal�s
metal frame when a blue ribbon snatched from the air.
"Oo-hahahahahahahaha!!!!" They both turned to see
Kodachi as she caught the retrieved vial. "Something
tells me that you�re not my Ranma-Darling." The mildly
disturbed gymnast asserted.
"How�d you guess?" Ken asked, eyeing her angrily.
"Saotome, for all his other faults, does not strike
women," Mousse said as he landed next to Kodachi.
"Need help Akane?"
"This is my fight," Akane answered. "Just take that
anidote to Ranma. I�ll handle Ken." Ranma-Ken laughed.
"You�ll handle me?" the kerchief passed again and
in Ranma-Ken�s face was another face Akane easily
recognized. "Ranma almost lost to this one, how do you
think you�ll fare?" Akane hesitated, looking at
Saffron�s adult form, then she smiled viciously and
took her stance.
"Akane?" Mousse asked again.
"GO!!!" Akane shouted. Mousse and Kodachi
hesitated, and Akane turned to them again. "I can
handle a fraud like him." Her aura flared around her
as she said it. Saffron-Ken laughed and took his own
stance.
"As you wish," Mouse nodded and turned to Kodachi.
"Good luck, Akane Tendo," Kodachi declared before
laughing and leaping away. Mousse followed quickly
behind.
"They don�t know how to use it," Saffron-Ken
laughed. "Ranma�s gone, get used to it." Akane growled
and rushed forward.
Mousse found Kodachi waiting just beyond the sight
of the soccer field.
"What are you doing here?" Mousse demanded. "This
is your chance to win Ranma�s heart."
"I�m going," Kodachi asserted. "But you�re not,
Akane is going to lose. You know that as well as I,
what would Shampoo think of you if you succeeded in
defeating that crass shape-changer? Surely you must be
a great warrior in order to do that."
"I hadn�t thought of it that way, this is a good
chance to impress Shampoo," Kodachi winced.
"Just make sure its Ken you�re hitting and not some
spectator," Kodachi sniped.
"Well, try to not mix your paralysis powders with
that antidote," Mousse answered back. They glared at
each other for a moment.
"Be careful," Kodachi finally said, softly, glare
fading to nothing.
"I will." They stared for a moment longer in
awkward silence before splitting up to accomplish
their separate tasks.
"How could I have missed that," Nabiki was thinking
to herself, as she sat on the bench next to Shampoo.
The park was oddly deserted for the time of day, but
Nabiki had purposefully avoided people so she wasn�t
sure why. It didn�t weigh much on her mind anyway.
"How long have they been in town? What else have I
missed?"
"This sundae very good," Shampoo said.
"Really?" Nabiki asked, pausing in her thoughts.
"Can I try a bite?"
"Sure," Shampoo scooped out a spoonful a directed
it toward Nabiki, who leaned forward and accepted the
ice cream.
"Mmm, that is good," Nabiki agreed. Her thoughts
continued on a different track, "I have been
distracted recently. I know that, not been paying my
affairs the proper attention."
"Where everybody?" Shampoo asked, gesturing about
the empty park.
"That�s a good question," Nabiki noted. She scanned
about the park as well and stopped on Shampoo�s face.
"Hey Shampoo, you got some whipped cream on your
face."
"Oh," Shampoo wiped at her mouth a little. "I get
it?" She asked after a moment.
"No not yet," Nabiki said. "It started about a
month or so ago." Then she rolled her eyes at
Shampoo�s attempts to find the evasive spot of whipped
cream. "Here, just a moment." She reached forward with
a napkin and wiped it away.
"Thank you, Shampoo fine now?" Shampoo asked.
"Yeah, I got i-" Nabiki�s voice cut off as her eyes
connected with Shampoo�s merely inches away from her
face. Her heart raced and her mind went blank as she
became aware of the blue-haired Amazon�s closeness,
the warmth of her body and the cheerfulness of her
aura. "I�.uh�I�ka�"
"Nihao?" Nabiki blinked. Shampoo�s hand passed in
front of Nabiki�s eyes a couple of times. "Nabiki
okay?"
"Uh, Shampoo, shouldn�t you be getting back to
work?" Nabiki asked as she stood up suddenly. Shampoo
looked confused and then leaped to her feet.
"Aiya! You right, Shampoo late!" She started to run
off towards the Cat Caf�. She paused a moment and
hugged Nabiki quickly, it was almost becoming a habit
with her. Nabiki�s breath caught as Shampoo�s arms
encircled her. "See you later, okay? Bye bye." Then
Shampoo was gone. Nabiki released her breath and
collapsed to her knees.
"What was that?" Then Kodachi landed on the
fountain above her and dashed off with a jarring laugh
towards Nabiki�s home. Nabiki shoved the other
question to the back of her mind and immediately
followed. "What is she up to?"
Nabiki came home to a rather chaotic mess, which
was normal. She entered the thick of it without
anybody noticing that she was there. Of course, there
was no telling whether Kasumi noticed her or not, its
not like she would behave any differently either way.
"This is very convenient for you," Ryouga pointed
out. "Ken poisons Ranma, Akane fights Ken, probably
loses, and you bring the cure for Ranma."
"You are saying that I would ally myself with that
creature?" Kodachi was livid.
"I think you�re capable of doing anything to get
poor ranchan to marry you," Ukyou agreed with Ryouga.
"As if you two are any better," Kodachi snapped.
"Always plotting together."
"Well, I guess that was true," Ukyou admitted. "But
I never poisoned anyone, that�s your game."
"Plotting? When did we ever plot?" Ryouga was
rewarded with a pair of blank stares from Ukyou and
Kodachi. They blinked almost in unison at him.
"Is he always like this?" Kodachi asked.
"Am I always like what?"
"You have no idea." Ryouga sweatdropped.
"Shouldn�t you be giving Ranma the antidote?"
Kasumi asked mildly.
"Of course, it�s right�" Kodachi searched around.
"WHERE�D IT GO!!?!"
"Don�t play games girl," Genma lectured.
"If you�re stalling�" Ukyou twiddled a pair of
mini-spatulas.
"I�m not playing games, where�d it go?"
"You mean this?" Nabiki held up the open vial for
all to see. "Give me a moment to finish mixing it."
She took a small knife a sliced a thin cut alon
Ranma�s arm, mixing the blood into the vial.
"Nabiki, you know this drug?" Soun asked her,
pausing from his wailing. She had closed the vial
again and was shaking it up.
"Something mom taught me," it was Nabiki would say.
"This is Copycat Ken�s work?" Her eyes narrowed
dangerously. "I should have been paying more
attention, he couldn�t have collected the ingredients
for this without somebody giving me an alert." Then
she started asking other questions of herself. "What
is going on with me, I�m making all sorts of mistakes.
And, why was I so out of it with Shampoo earlier?"
"Excuse me, Nabiki-san," Kodachi asked sweetly.
"But what exactly does this chemical do?"
"Yeah, right," Ryouga snickered. "You�re going to
get an answer out of her."
"I saw those big purple eyes and it was like I
couldn�t think anymore," Out loud Nabiki responded
unconsciously to Kodachi�s question. "You drink it and
takes your spirit to where ever the spirit of who�s
ever blood is mixed with it." Nabiki was oblivious to
the various shocked stares that were sent her way.
"Oh is that it?"
"Shampoo is very�.what am I thinking?" then Kodachi
snatched the vial from Nabiki�s hand. "Hey, what do
you think you�re�" Then Kodachi opened the vial.
"Aahhh!! Wait you don�t know�" The Kodachi drank the
vial dry and her eyes rolled back as she fell to the
ground unconscious. "�what you�re doing." Nabiki
sighed.
"That isn�t a good thing I�m guessing?" Genma said.
=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)
http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html
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