Third Labor, chapter 8
The abduction of Jay-chan? Oh my, the naughty nurses!
or... ersatz Senshi & the Red Rider
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---------
Akane looked up towards the ceiling with a worried
expression. "There's something... hang on."
Everyone stared with various thoughts running through their
heads as Akane pulled out a small cross on a chain and held
it over the table.
"Spirits of goodness and of light,
Lend to me thy distant sight,
A vision of the coming fight,
So i know which course is right..."
"And what was that supposed to... do... Akane?!" Nabiki had
tried to rally that little cynical portion of her persona.
As flickering patterns of light formed around the cross,
that skeptical fragment dragged itself off to a corner of
her mind and shot itself.
Akane seemed to go into a trance. "A heavenly host currently
searches for their brave hero. i see implements of torture
readied. And they come seeking..."
No one was surprised when Akane's gaze fixed on Ranma. "A
kami disguised."
Jared freaked, though not obviously to anyone watching. The
nursing staff had apparently found him and were about to do
all sorts of things to his poor injured body.
"Kami... disguised?" Soun repeated disbelievingly.
A little distressed that his stay had been cut short, Jared
shrugged. He'd have to leave soon if this was any
indication. "I'm afraid I've allowed your preconceptions to
remain without disputing them. I'm what you would call a
kami, here disguised by an 'ally' as Ranma so I'd have a
chance to heal. The *real* Ranma should be here in one
week's time."
Light sparkled in the back yard, forming a line which began
to part open.
"I don't have much time. The allies that seek me, well,
there's danger if they accompany me." (Danger to my health
and well being. Good intentions are, alas, not enough.)
"That's Staging Area Four, Asgard," Akane said in disbelief,
seeing the shapes in the background of the throng. "That
means..."
Jared had gotten a few items from the Rival Relief Office
during a brief visit. He'd mainly been intrigued. The RRO
tended to be low-powered individuals who scavenged for
resources on their missions to different universes. They
brought a number of items back to be analyzed and used in
future missions. Hoi Hoi Cappsules and Pokeballs were among
those items that were absolutely safe for the user.
Elemental bracers had proven to be less safe, and there were
other items that likewise were either unsafe (but kept
around in case someone could fix them) or just plain
unresearched.
Rather than take a chance with Mara again, Jared held up a
device that looked like a cube of clear jello. The Galaxy
Police Cube was an invocation of Clarke's Law: "any
technology sufficiently advanced enough is indistinguishable
from magic." The problem was that controlling the device was
darn near impossible. Potentially, though, it was of extreme
value to the Mage and why he had added it to his list of
"things to research when I get a free decade" (a truly huge
file). Theoretically, it had the ability to sort and manage
"stuffspace" to such a degree that one could darn near hide
a Galaxy class starship up one's sleeves with the device's
help.
Also instantly changing clothes and doing other impossible
things without magic. VERY useful if, as now, one's magical
resources had been cut off. One minor such feat was
teleportation. Jared abruptly vanished.
Nabiki squeaked when she saw HERSELF (twice!) in the
Heavenly Throng materializing in their backyard.
"Where is Jay-chan?!" A ponytailed girl floating in midair
asked. "His ki is so low I can't read it!"
"Scanning," said a girl with short blue hair, "I have a
trace!"
"TALLY HO!"
"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT!" Akane started jumping up and down,
waving her arms as the crowd flew over her head. "Take me!
Please! I'm "
**CLANG**
Kasumi lowered the skillet, now knowing that Akane was
trying to die for a reason. Something to do with the crowd
of divine (?) beings flying over the house. Well, Akane
would just have to wait. "Nabiki, can you give me a hand
dragging Akane back into the house? Nabiki?"
Nabiki was still staring out into the yard, though there was
nothing there currently.
"Father, can you..." Kasumi looked at the crumpled heap of
her father and sighed. Grabbing Akane's legs, she dragged
her little sister back into the house.
*WHACK!*
"Akk!" Akane woke up as her head bashed into the stone first
step. "Huh?"
*THUD!*
"Hey!" Akane said weakly, feeling her head impact the second
step.
*CRACK!* Door tracks. "No not the... " *WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!
WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! WHAP!* "...stairs.
Ittei!" *THUNK!*
Kasumi finished putting Akane to bed, wondering where all
these extra bumps and bruises had come from. Then got a
sponge to clean her younger sister off before dressing her.
----------
RIFTS Earth:
"Bringing up file," Rei said. She'd been inside Grey's mind,
so of course she had an idea what password to use. They were
a bit curious about their destination.
[Timeline RF-NX 100101][Mission 12 Notes][Jabberworks] a
hidden company set up by a group of adventurers who frankly
had trouble finding anyone local who qualified as "the good
guys" and so came up with their own company based on two
major finds. One, the pandimensional entity known as the
'Jabberwok' - a non-evil alien intelligence so alien that
they haven't found a means of communicating. The second, a
military base in Alaska that had survived the coming of the
Rifts but not the cutting off of supplies.
The Jabberwok uses a form of 'quantum origami' - things
near it tend to be folded along their probability lines. A
laser cannon might be folded into an old machinegun or some
other type of item, but it will always bear some resemblence
to whatever it originally was. Was not capable of getting
close enough to use a Universal Translator.
The military base was mainly a listening station.
Nothing fancy from the few reports, though that may be just
commonsense "nothing here worth looking for" and as the
mission didn't go up there, also nothing confirmed.
Jabberworks is mainly concerned with trade, using large
hover platforms or cargolifters to reach small communities.
They supply a number of one-of-a-kind items, which helps to
field test those items and determine if they are suitable
for reproducing and manufacturing.
This is their publically known emphasis. They have ties
to the Colorado Baronies, including a trading post in Hope.
It became obvious during the completion of the mission that
the organization lacks the raw power necessary to fight the
Coalition, the Federation of Magic, or any of the Big Bads
in a straight up. But their longterm goals are pretty much
diametrically opposed to said bad guys.
Further data unavailable. i request investigation as
soon as possible. If initial impressions bear out, these are
definitely candidates for whatever Divine Intervention can
be given them.
ADDENDUM: Additional presence/base in the old town of
Quartzite near what used to be the California/Arizona border
in that area.
"So what do you make of it?" Apple requested of her
colleagues.
Ree Fukami didn't look up from where she was driving. "I've
lined with Jabberworks. Guard dog positions and convoy
stuff. Bought stuff from 'em too. Heck, they've gotten me
spare parts for my Glitter Boy. Mainly, they're operators
and engineers, or like the report says - traders. Ya watch
out for 'em on lotsa stuff- the trade items are usually a
lotta crap or marked up hefty. Damn good fixers though, and
usually they don't charge that much compared to some of the
mech-heads out there. They put out a lot of basic type
vehicles. ATVs, some cycles, also camping equipment and
other basic supplies. They's considered small potatoes,
indeps, not important enough to warrant the Dead Boys goin'
outta their way for a stomping."
Apple blinked as she processed that. Rei tried to work out
the strange dialect.
Ree's voice altered to the flatter tones of Honey. "She
means that by maintaining a low profile, the Coalition and
other potential hostiles view them as not being worth the
value of the bullets required to kill them."
"So we're heading to Quartzite because..." Rei let her voice
trail off.
Apple answered. "Because Grey's native self is there. Do we
have any data other than Fleece's reference?"
"Yup," answered Ree, back to the odd twang she had when it
wasn't Honey or Minako speaking. "Look for a True Atlantean
Techno-Wizard who goes by the name Rimshot. Met him a couple
of times. Runs around with a Utility Belt and handful of
gadgets. We made a pretty good team as caravan guards. I'd
blast the big targets, he'd use his Porta-Wall or some other
gadget to give my powerarmor some advantage."
"What's a Techno-Wizard anyway? I find no record in my
memories." Apple asked of Ree, since she seemed to have most
of the answers.
"A type of wizard who incorporates spells into gadgets," Ree
said, driving around a few boulders and a fleeing cactus.
She hadn't known there were cactuar in the area. Too bad
they were in a hurry. The animal/plant critters were about
half the size of a cactus people and threw dozens of sharp
needles in a fight. But you could gather those needles up
and use them for a variety of purposes. Put a few hundred
together in a boom gun casing and it made a nice
anti-vampire round. "Rimshot's got a gun enchanted to throw
lightning bolts and fireballs, though I hear he mainly uses
a Wilk's 457 pulse laser nowadays. Goblin bombs, oh, and his
armor's got stealth and escape enchantments. Last I heard,
Rimshot was working on a way to put a TW enhancement on a
normal tech weapon like a Boom Gun. Think mainly he came up
with the idea after his helmet got damaged in that last run
and his hearing got a bit battered from being too close to a
shot."
"Too close?" Rei wasn't sure what that meant but it didn't
sound good.
"That powerarmor back there's called a 'Glitter Boy' and it
was passed down to me from my Uncle. Been in my family three
generations, at least! That big gun is the 'Boom Gun' and it
gets that name from causing a sonic boom when it's fired.
Does a *lot* of damage. Heck, one good hit'll cripple most
anything the Coalition put out. *If* you can hit 'em, that
is."
"So when do we get to Quartzite?" Apple was anxious to meet
this local version of her Master.
"About three more hours. There's lotsa holes and washes and
mountains we gotta go around. Ya don't wanna go near the old
freeway. Sure mainly it's a flat ribbon, even got bits of
the old road surface, but there's a dragon out near the
White Tank mountains and some real unfriendly types if you
go up towards Wormrot. So ya gotta go between. We can stop
at a small settlement called Nameless in between, stretch
our legs and get some java. Or oil if that's you're
preference."
-----------
The vehicle was nothing special as it pulled into Quartzite.
ATVs of various types, only marginally different from each
other, had been around for over twenty years. They weren't
fancy to begin with: just a minor vehicle tough enough to
withstand a few shots of laser fire and an electric or
gasoline engine.
ATV pickup trucks were *very* common in the New West for a
simple reason. They were tough, dependable, and very
utilitarian. It didn't matter if the owner worked on a
ranch, worked construction, was a merc, or a blacksmith, or
a vet. A basic cabin with a cargo area at a low price
appealed to the masses who didn't have the money or
inclination for fancy.
Jabberworks had four basic models and a number of
attachments and upgrades that the buyer could get installed
or install themselves later.
That this one was painted in a camouflage pattern of muted
browns and greys was also pretty typical. A few ranchers and
the like used bright colors, but there were a lot of things
out in the desert whose attention you were better off
avoiding.
A small dragon wearily lifted his head, sniffed the air,
then snorted and went back to his afternoon siesta.
A thin middle-aged man got out of the truck after stopping
in front of the general store. "Suzi, you stay here and keep
an eye on the truck."
"Nope," Suzi disagreed, getting out herself. "After roughing
it for the past three days? I'm going to get some soap and
some hot water and clean up."
The man shook his head as if he knew arguing would be
futile. "Fine. I'll see if there's any signs or portents
while you do."
"Do that." The woman shifted her long hair about and turned
an eye towards the horizon. "I'll tell you right now that
they'll be here in a few hours. Not before. And there's
something... oddly familiar about them."
Not for the first time, Rimshot found himself wishing he had
some clairvoyant talents like Suzi did. "Okay. Then we'll
meet them in a few hours, I guess."
"You won't need the rifle," Suzi said, concerning herself
with more important things. Like removing the layer of dust
that had accumulated on her.
------------
Akane groaned and stirred herself. Her head hurt. Sitting
up, she noticed that she was in her bedroom, that there was
an odd scent in the air and that she was wearing...
Akane kept from screaming but it was a very near thing.
Transparent, pink, soft, silky. Very very feminine. And
little pink lace panties. Akane didn't RIP the clothing off,
but it was also a very near thing. And then stood staring at
the garments as if they would get up and attack her.
Sniffing, she also determined that the odd scent was a
perfume or something similar and it was coming off of HER.
Someone had given her a sponge bath, brushed her hair,
and...
Akane was about to become ill. Someone had played dress up
with her while she was unconscious. Maybe she should sneak
off and go join that nunnery NOW. Soun Tendo said that she
was still too young to do this without parental consent, but
did she really want to believe anyone who had trained under
Happosai? All this needed to be truly something out of a
nightmare was for Kuno or someone to show up.
There was a polite knock an instant before Kasumi stuck her
head in. "Akane! Breakfast is ready!"
Akane winced, and not just from the still present headache.
If she'd been out of it that long then "Ranma" (whoever he'd
been really) would have already left *with* all those girls.
Kasumi watched her sister for a moment. "Oh, and Akane, I've
made an appointment for you to see a doctor today. You
haven't been looking well at all of late."
"Gee, i wonder why..." Akane mumbled.
Kasumi paused for a moment before adding. "Oh, and you might
want to put some clothes on."
The physically youngest Tendo spent a moment glaring at the
door before giving a long sigh. She'd just have to put on
the gi or those slacks and she'd be able to face them.
Akane went to the closet and frowned. "What the?!" No gi, no
pants, no t-shirts or anything of the sort. The only thing
that had anything approaching pants was a pink jumper (she
thought that was what it was called) that would eventually
be given to Ranma in the series.
It still felt *wrong* to be wearing feminine clothing. Yes,
that especially included underwear. Grey had been female on
four or five occasions (shudder) and had not once felt
comfortable doing it. Ranko and Banana had been special
exceptions, as it hadn't really been him - more like an
analogue - a seperate aspect of the same soul.
Serious creep factor in several respects to find that your
"elder sister" had taken an active role in taking care of
you. And had been rearranging your room. The frilly sheets,
stuffed animals, and... what in the worlds was Kasumi
thinking?!
Another knock on the door, and Nabiki opened it this time.
"C'mon, Akane, you can't sit up here all day. Dear me,
aren't you ever going to get dressed?"
"But i..." Akane pointed at the clothing on the rack.
"Where's my gi?"
Nabiki sighed, went to the dresser, pulled out a bra and
panty, then rummaged around in the closet. "HERE! Just get
dressed young lady."
"W-w-what?!" Akane stared at the clothing. THAT wasn't
something that she thought she could wear. *Especially* in
public.
"You haven't taken any religious vows yet," Nabiki gently
chided, inwardly smirking at the vengeance she was getting
on her younger sister. Then thought about seeing herself in
that Heavenly Host and lost enthusiasm for getting even.
"Look, Akane, Kasumi's been talking to Dr Tofu and a few
other people about how you were acting and she came up with
this as a measure. You'll go see the doctor later and
that'll be your chance to get this little agenda thrown
out."
"Why did she..." Akane's eyes fell on the stuffed panda and
she repressed another shudder.
"She got the idea that the whole thing with school and
everything was that you were forced into a dominantly
masculine role," Nabiki said, watching as her little sister
put the panties on backwards then corrected herself.
Privately she thought Kasumi *might* have something here
after all. "Anyway, so she's got this idea that your
feminine inner nature being suppressed by this forced
masculine outer nature is causing your current problems."
Akane muttered under her breath about not having any
feminine inner nature.
Nabiki raised an eyebrow but otherwise gave no indication
she'd heard. "So, Kasumi and Daddy came up with this idea of
reinforcing basic feminine behavior. You ought to wear that
more often, it looks good on you."
"No defensive value, thin fabric, barely covers anything..."
Akane mumbled. A yellow dress of some thin material whose
skirt barely covered mid-thigh.
"C'mon, sis..." Nabiki stopped. Her sister's face had always
conveyed what she was feeling quite well. It passed through
disgust and embarrasment to just plain "someone please kill
me." Nabiki cleared her throat. "Well, Akane, let's go. If
nothing else just think of how this'll..."
"Nabiki," interrupted Akane, "if you say anything at all
involving boys finding this sort of thing attractive, i will
be violently ill. All over you."
Nabiki shut her mouth with an audible click. "Oh well, so
much for that."
Akane's head came up and she glanced at the calender. March
3rd. She had a couple of letters to write.
Downstairs, Soun frowned and glanced at his oldest daughter.
"Are you sure about this Kasumi? Akane is the heir to the
Tendo school, and in that fight her skills were..."
Kasumi nodded. "I'm sure, Father. I don't really know about
this agreement with Saotome-san. But I'm sure if Akane meets
a nice boy, and has love and children in her life, she'll
have enough to live for that she'll forget all about these
suicide attempts."
Soun nodded. He still had two other daughters that could
fulfill the union. And neither Kasumi nor Nabiki had been
quite so negative after that disguised kami. "So what do you
expect Doctor Tofu to be able to do?"
"Check for a head injury, maybe something else. Possibly he
can come up with a better specialist in these sort of
problems." Kasumi looked up as Nabiki came down.
"Problem, sis," Nabiki continued to frown in thought. "This
is stressing little sister out more than it was."
"We'll see what Doctor Tofu can do..." Kasumi's voice
trailed off as a sulking Akane came down the stairs.
Apparently she had *not* brushed her hair or anything. Still
no makeup. Kasumi decided she'd have to do something about
that. Yes, Akane did need to find a nice boy and settle
down. Love could heal all wounds, and having children would
certainly settle any doubts Akane might be having about her
own femininity.
Kasumi continued to plan. If Akane had been able to read
minds, she'd have been halfway to China at this point.
As it was, Akane was just planning on raiding Nabiki's
closet. Turnabout was fair play, after all.
----------
Meanwhile, a mage named Jared was discovering one of the
Laws Of Anime Universes.
Which was: you can run, you can hide, but these are only
temporary solutions.
If someone is looking for you, and you don't want them to
find you, they will.
Jared, realizing he was cornered, pulled the PokeBall
containing Mara from his pocket. "Mara. I need an escape
route."
The demoness smiled. "But, of course, darling."
----------
Elsewhere:
Ginseng, the third of a series of marionettes built using
human engrams, groaned and got up.
*Diagnostic. All systems functioning within designated
parameters.*
Gennai and the others watched the PokeWoman get up off the
table and examine herself.
"i take it that you were able to recover enough of me that
you were able to rebuild me?" Ginseng finished inspecting
herself. "And that a male style body housing was
unavailable."
Gennai cleared his throat. "Something like that."
Ginseng nodded. "A female configuration. Well, it doesn't
matter too much i suppose. At least as a female-seeming
android i avoid some of the..."
Gennai and the others followed Ginseng's stare to a monitor,
then back. After a few minutes, they began to grow
uncomfortable.
Finally Doctor Lorelei broke the silence. "Is something
wrong, Ginseng?"
"Who came up with this overall shape?" There was a spark of
emotion in Ginseng's voice. Not a good one either.
"It was... one we had that was a spare with enough processor
capacity for..." Lorelei broke off at the glare from
Ginseng.
Ginseng clenched her fists and trembled briefly with her
eyes closed and a snarl on her face. When she finally opened
her eyes again, she seemed a little more composed. Slightly.
Gennai didn't feel the need to trigger a laser cage at
least.
"i suppose you couldn't have known. It's just... do you mind
if i use the processing facilities? i don't want to spend
one more moment looking like HER than i can avoid it."
"Uhm..." Lorelei looked around and others silently agreed
that this sounded bad. There was obviously something
horribly wrong with Ginseng's new body that wasn't apparent
to anyone besides Ginseng. "There's a problem with that..."
Birds were startled into flight over Castle Japonesse by a
shrieked "WHAT?!?!"
---------
Doctor Tofu closed the door behind him and spoke to Nabiki.
Kasumi had lost a great deal of respect for Doctor Tofu when
she'd brought Akane into the office. The good doctor had
been okay while examining her little sister, and had then
called Kasumi into the room to consult with her about his
findings.
Akane had screeched and yelped and had fled through the
window. Without opening it. And had then apparently spent
considerable time untangling her limbs and trying to pop
joints back into place. Nabiki had found Akane in Nabiki's
closet, replacing the clothes she'd left behind.
It had taken a few moments for Doctor Tofu to even notice
that his patient had fled.
Yes, Kasumi had lost a *lot* of respect for Doctor Tofu.
"So what is it, Doctor? Why is Akane acting like this?"
Nabiki crossed her arms and considered him briefly.
"I've never seen a woman's chi so far out of alignment. It's
a *very* male pattern. It's also much stronger than I would
have thought possible for Akane. What has been going on that
she's changed so much? Oh... YOUR pattern has changed too,
Nabiki. You seem more thoughtful, but underneath you're
seething as if you are confused about something." Tofu
straightened his glasses.
Nabiki frowned and began telling Tofu about what she had
observed. Kuno's challenge, Akane's stress, the horde of
hentai boys, a particularly bad day where Akane had taken
some decongestants (a pepper bomb from the school's Chem
Club had aggravated allergies) and gone to sit in the furo.
SOMETHING had happened, and Akane had been trying to kill
herself until Kasumi caused her to promise that she
wouldn't. Then she briefly went around trying to get someone
ELSE to kill her. Kasumi had put a stop to that too,
requiring Akane's promise in return for letting Akane out of
a makeover session planned for late afternoon. Kasumi had
merely rescheduled it, but no one was going to mention that
to Akane at the moment.
Doctor Tofu nodded. "Did you notice that Akane was using the
masculine forms when speaking?"
Nabiki nodded. She'd noticed that. AND would occasionally
break out in the Osaka dialect. And the way she sat, walked,
and ran were all masculine.
"It looks as though the trauma experienced at school was
sufficient to cause her to 'shift' in personality. She was
always a tomboy, and she was mistaken for a boy on occasion
when she was growing up, so maybe she decided that the
remembered male identity was a 'safe haven' from her current
problems." Tofu straightened his glasses again. "She's also
uncomfortable with her femininity. Any questions impinging
on that, or when I examined the shiatsu points around her
thighs or breasts, made her extremely uncomfortable. Even
more so than the last time she came in for an exam."
"Yeah, but that was almost a year ago," Nabiki pointed out
but nodded. This was pretty much what she and Kasumi had
come up with. "So what can we do?"
"Reinforce her feminine self image whenever possible. Let
her know that she's loved." Tofu thought for a few moments,
then began writing on a piece of paper. "It's possible that
Akane will come out of this on her own, but... There's a
couple of doctors to try. One's a physician, the other a
psychologist. If there's an organic cause I couldn't find,
the physician should be able to determine it. The
psychologist is in case there is no physical cause."
Nabiki nodded and took the paper. It would dent the family's
finances, but things couldn't continue as they were. "Thank
you Doctor. This will do."
Elsewhere, Akane had tried once again to call the office.
Once again, none of the numbers that Grey knew worked.
---------
Quartzite: RIFTS Earth
Rei looked up at the remote feed monitor. "What's Setsuna
doing here?"
Ree frowned, pulling the ATV to a stop. "That's not yer
Setsuna. That's the local equivelant, just as I'm the local
of yer Minako."
"You sure? Setsuna has some odd habit of showing up
unexpectedly." Rei remembered that, it had been most
annoying.
"How often did your version show up wearing Urban Warrior
body armor and carrying a staff that's *gotta* be magic?"
"What makes you think it's magic?" Rei glanced between the
monitor and Ree.
"Is the Pope Jewish? Of course, it's magic! Rimshot would
have given it a basic TW enchantment if he's hanging around
with her..." Ree frowned, not entirely sure where the sudden
bite of jealousy came from.
Blueberry/Ami/Mercury mumbled something in her (their?)
sleep from the back seat.
"Uhm... THAT's Master? He's... older." Hotaru frowned.
Mamoru Tengoku had been in his teens. Rimshot was in his 40s
or so.
"Oh dear." Apple increased the resolution and saw that this
was so.
A few hundred yards away, two people watched the ATV and
wondered why it had stopped, and what the occupants were
doing.
--------
"Nabiki-CHAN!"
Nabiki winced as Akane leapt over a wall, landing gracefully
beside her. Akane was wearing the red and white hakima that
indicated she was in "shrine priestess" mode. "Uhm, what is
it, Akane?"
"Nabiki, i'm *so* proud of you!" Akane beamed at her sister.
"You've cut back on the blackmail, the larceny, the
shameless taking advantage of any opportunity for a profit!
BLESS YOU!"
~I have?!~ Nabiki blinked with a squeegee noise, finding
herself the recipient of a sudden affectionate hug. ~When
did I do that?!~
"Sis, i've spent so much time worrying about you, wondering
if you'd ever purge the darkness corrupting your soul. Your
heart had gotten so cold..."
Nabiki stared at Akane when her little sister broke away and
wiped *tears* off her face. "Uhm... Akane... I..."
Akane smiled joyfully at Nabiki, tears still brimming from
her eyes. ~Dang it, emotional control is so difficult for
this body. Is it because this is a *normal* (relatively)
human girl?~ "Nabiki, i've been worried about you for so
long. Don't give up! You can do it!"
"Errrr..." Nabiki found herself blushing but a thought
penetrated her confusion. She hadn't seen Akane this upbeat
about anything in... quite some time. ~I haven't changed.
Have I?~
"Sis, I want you to have this," Akane reached into one of
her sleeves and withdrew a bag.
Nabiki took it, puzzled, opened it, and STARED. "Akane,
where did you get this?! There must be a couple of thousand
yen in here!"
"Spoils of war," said Akane with a bittersweet smile.
"There's 15000 yen, a Rolex, three switchblades, two diamond
rings, and a Nomo autographed baseball. i figured you'd be
able to get a better deal than me for them. If you want, i
can show you tonight, but you *have* to promise me not to
tell 'Daddy' - he'd freak just on general principles."
"Sure, Akane," said Nabiki, crossing her fingers behind her
back. ~If Akane's stealing stuff, this has to be stopped
NOW!~
---------
Nabiki had been a little concerned when her little sister
had knocked on her window at 7pm.
She had become a little *more* concerned when said little
sister had turned out to be wearing an outfit that was...
well.
Akane had started out with a blue one-piece swimsuit, and
had added a red skirt and red hi-top tennis shoes. Also red
gloves with a layer of padding over the knuckles. A red pair
of shoulder pads, red mask, and red ribbon in her hair
completed Akane's new look.
Nabiki was speechless, as one might well imagine, by this
sight. Akane simply grabbed Nabiki, put a gold harlequin
mask in her hands, and started leaping from rooftop to
rooftop at a rate of speed that made Nabiki wish she'd
grabbed a Dramamine.
Nabiki had quite lost track of where they were when Akane
abruptly slowed and the surroundings became less of a blur.
"Akane what are..." Nabiki found a hand covering her mouth
as she was set onto her feet once again.
"Shhhh," cautioned Akane and pointed below them.
Nabiki kept quiet and casually looked over the edge of the
roof, feeling a bit queasy when she noticed how far below
the ground was.
There was a group of local thugs, shaking down some girl
who'd obviously gotten lost. Nabiki frowned, then turned to
Akane to ask what exactly was going on. Nabiki blinked and
felt goosebumps form as she realized that her crazy little
sister was muttering under her breath and tracing glowing
lines in the air.
Akane finished whatever she was doing, smiled at her sister,
then stepped off the edge of the roof.
Nabiki looked down to see if what she feared was happening.
The thug adjusted his shades (despite that it was early
evening) and stepped forward. "Aw c'mon little girl, don't
you want to party with us?"
"I'll give you my money, just let me go!" The girl backed up
slightly, looking thoroughly out of place.
The thug smiled and shrugged. "Well, you'll give us the
money, FOR STARTS..."
*BOOM*
Something landed in the alleyway, proving to be a girl in a
very silly costume.
"Where bandits threaten, i'm there to take 'em down. When
evil wakens, my duty is to fight to it! Presenting the high
school babe! Sabre Mars! In the name of Justice, i'll punish
you!" Akane posed in sentai fashion.
"huh?!" Not only the thugs were sweatdropping, their victim
was a bit embarassed by all this too.
The first thug started walking towards the newcomer,
flipping a knife open in his hand. "Look, little girl, if
you want to play dress-up..."
"HURRICANE KICK!" *WHACKUM!* Akane's kick managed to imbed
the thug in the wall. Of the second floor. He hung there for
a moment before landing in a dumpster.
"She-she... She flattened Jigo!"
"LET'S GET HER!"
Akane seemed to become a red and black blur.
"A-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-TA! Wah-TAH!"
"Hah! Didn't even hurt!"
"Secret Amazon Technique: Poisoned chestnuts!" Akane held up
a long needle which had been concealed in her hand.
"Huh?!" *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD*
"Who? What?" The victim was staring around at a lot of
snoozing thugs.
"Sorry ma'am. It's just me and my sidekick, Mercenary Girl,"
Akane jerked a thumb towards the roof, "making the streets
safe for decent folk."
The girl blinked a couple of times, then fainted.
"Chikusho!" Akane looked at the crumpled heap. "They keep
doing that. Oh well."
In the manner of experienced RPGers everywhere, Akane
quickly stripped the bandits of everything valuable, carried
the victim to a safe haven, and returned to the rooftop.
Nabiki's expression was unreadable as 'Sabre Mars' rejoined
her. "Is this how you got that money?"
"Yes," Akane posed. "Criminals don't deserve to profit from
their evil!"
*SLAP!*
Akane looked startled.
Nabiki's eyes watered, both from her hand getting hurt and
from reaction. "You... STUPID!"
"What? What's wrong, Nabiki?" Akane was puzzled by this,
having expected Nabiki to be wildly enthusiastic about this.
"How could you?" Nabiki bit off saying something and tried
again. "Don't you know how dangerous this is? What if they
had a gun? What if you were hurt? What if..."
Akane blinked, finding her arms full of crying Nabiki and
completely unsure of how to handle this. She settled for
just holding her "sister" and murmurring encouraging sounds,
getting Nabiki to sit down after a minutes.
Eventually Nabiki got control of herself. Akane offered her
a bandana which Nabiki blew her nose with. Akane politely
indicated that Nabiki should hold on to it for now.
"...Akane..." Nabiki continued to hold onto her sister. "We
don't need the money *that* badly. Please don't go..."
Akane sighed and patted her sister on the back, and
reflected that it was a good thing that she was her sister
and not a guy in this situation. "Nabiki, we cannot always
choose how we live or how we die. We are part of a society
as a whole and to some extent the currents of that ocean of
humanity force us into roles we don't choose. You *can*
fight the current and try to go in a different direction -
though it's harder to fight the current and some do try and
fail."
"...but I don't want to lose my sister..." Nabiki sniffled.
Ignoring that her own hair was toinging and that she wanted
to know WHY Nabiki had changed so much from the "profit uber
alles" girl she HAD been, Akane continued to pat Nabiki's
back. "Nabiki. i can't promise that i'll always be there for
you. But i'm here for you now. Will you be here for me?"
Nabiki nodded and wiped tears even as she reached for the
bag. If her sister was going to do something so foolish and
irresponsible, at least SHE could make sure the money wasn't
wasted. THEN she'd do her best to talk little sister out of
this insane hobby!
Mercenary Girl stared at the loot. Well, maybe a hiatus at
least.
---------
RIFTS Earth:
The image of Fleece clicked and faded in and out like a
cheap hologram.
Appropriate as that was what it was.
Apple asked the same question again, hoping for a better
answer. "So why didn't he merge with Rimshot here?"
"I don't know," repeated Fleece. "Right now there's a lot of
system problems that the techies are sorting through. It
looks as though his aspects are fragmenting and he's been
merged with a non-Analogue aspect. Other than that we can't
tell the why or where." Fleece smirked. "There's plenty of
bets and speculation for now."
"Can we go there?" Grape shifted her vibrohalberd around.
How could she protect him if he was in a different universe?
Fleece shook her head. "Nah, transport's screwed up. Divines
are OK, we've got our primary methods. While the databases
and links are being rebuilt, everything else is subject to
crossrips and bounces."
"Like it hasn't always been," grumbled Rei.
"Hmmmph. Before you ask, I can't do it either," Rimshot
informed them. "Transdimensional spells are tricky and not
something Techno-Wizards usually work with. However, Suzi
here had an idea."
The native version of Setsuna nodded. "I come from a place
far from here known as Psyscape. If we were to go there, we
could utilize their resources and perhaps get to where your
version of Rimshot is."
"Or you could simply wait. In a few days things should be
stabilized enough that you can be relocated," Fleece pointed
out. "In any case, I'll contact you again if anything comes
up!"
Rimshot frowned. He wasn't sure about this gestalt thing.
"We may have a problem with getting to Psyscape. With the
Coalition's war with Tolkeen, going anywhere near the
Federation of Magic is going to be tres difficult."
Ree tapped the table with a nail, thinking for a few more
moments. "There's another possibility."
---------
Akumakun/Ranma timeline:
The Big Day had arrived.
True to the kami's word, they had received a postcard from
Genma stating that he would be in town with Ranma on a
certain day. That the mail had delayed this delivery until
the time they were supposed to be there was no surprise to
anyone, given the delays in the typical mail system.
Tendo,
Arriving in Nerima. Bringing Ranma.
Saotome.
Kasumi was staring sorrowfully at the little white notebook
she held in her hand while the kitchen burbled and bubbled
with the sound of a meal being prepared. To her, the list on
the lined page had grown distressingly long. ~Let's see, by
now I've promised to join her if she kills herself, shave my
hair if she does...~ That last was worth a whimper, because
she was worried that her sister might press it and she
didn't like that thought at all! ~And go on a Lady Godiva
ride in protest if Akane didn't dress properly and wear
feminine clothes.~
Kasumi's mind tried to freeze shut on that last thought. She
hadn't known what else to *do*, Akane was being so
obstinate! She honestly didn't believe that she'd go through
with it, but the threat had to appear real. It was Kasumi's
distress over this, though she didn't know it, that had
actually convinced Akane to take it somewhat seriously.
Lying didn't come naturally to Kasumi. It was worth some
distress.
Kasumi had threatened a hunger strike until Akane had agreed
not to deliberately set things up so that someone else would
kill her. Kasumi had also promised that she wouldn't require
Akane to eat sashimi in return for Akane seeing that nice
doctor. The appointment had gone smoothly, blood tests had
been taken, the doctor had asked a lot of questions, and
tomorrow she and Akane would go back to the doctor. THEN she
could find out if the Doctor's plans for treatment would
work. Though how to get Akane to take the pills, Kasumi
wanted to shrink in horror at what she might have to
threaten to get Akane to keep with the treatment.
Her father poked his head in the kitchen. "Kasumi, it's
time?"
The eldest daughter looked up from her meditations. "Oh?
I'll have to turn the heat down, I suppose. Do you know if
I'll have time to change?"
Soun nodded, disappearing.
Kasumi sucked in her lower lip. If she just rushed she could
get this meal ready and then leave it on to warm, then rush
up for a quick change to something formal!
Nabiki was closeted in her room, facing a big problem.
The big problem was her hobby, her pet project, something
she'd spent years in steadily building. A reputation as a
cold ice queen does not come without sacrifices, and the
image of someone to fear and tremble before (so that people
are prompt in paying their money) was carefully cultivated
and very fragile. Her business was at stake.
But somehow she couldn't even *imagine* one of her Heavenly
Selves doing this.
It was a fairly simple case: She had a student by the balls.
He owed her money, and was plainly and simply delinquent. It
was a simple case of tell his girlfriend what he didn't want
her to know, wait for the pain of that to set in, and then
threaten the next stage if he didn't pay up.
Open and shut, something she'd done often enough to *gain*
the Ice Queen iron mercenary reputation and by not doing
she'd begin to lose both, get the image of being a softy.
>From there it was straight out of business for her.
The thought of being called an iron mercenary twisted her
guts after the things her younger sister and that kami had
said and believed of her, but it was true. You either had
that rep or you didn't get on in this line of work. It
merely stank that people close to her, that she actually
*cared* about, had believed it. Especially to THAT extent.
To Nabiki it had always been something of a mask, something
she put on or took off as she pleased. A game where she was
in complete control of all the players.
Having that mask *taken* for her was still worth the
shudders.
Then there was her sister's active nightstyle. Nabiki had
reasoned and begged and pleaded, and Akane had agreed to she
lve 'Sabre Mars' for awhile. Not permanently.
There were other possibilities that Akane was trying to feel
Nabiki out on. Akane had explained that she would *not*
charge for her miracles. If Nabiki were to arrange something
that helped pay the bills, that would be Nabiki's
assistance. Or, Nabiki winced, as Sabre Mars' sidekick
Mercenary Girl (the name would *have* to be changed) they
could make quite a bit of money, but at a higher danger
level.
Nabiki continued to stew and ponder, her thoughts continuing
in a loop.
Soun knocked and poked his head in the room. "Nabiki, this
is the day Ranma is to arrive."
His middle daughter looked up from her work, brushing a
strand of hair out from her eyes. "Alright daddy. I'll be
ready. Have you told Akane yet?"
Soun winced. "I was, uh... waiting. Until, you know..."
Nabiki closed her eyes in exaggerated tolerance. "Daddy, you
*know* it won't get any better for waiting. If you tell her
now we'll have all that much extra time to fix whatever mess
she causes over it before they get here."
The head of the Tendo family bowed his head and murmured
something in agreement, then began to drag his steps over to
the dojo, where the shearing screech of a chainsaw was
clearly audible amid the tortured wails of its target.
Opening the dojo door revealed the source of Soun's pain.
Akane brushed a strand of one of her bangs back out of her
eyes behind her ear, adjusted the powertool, and with it bit
into the wood. Soon she had another limb cut from the trunk
in her improvised lumber mill and cut back the power on the
saw, removing her safety goggles to wipe sweat from her face
as Soun cried in the background. Then the youngest took her
stack of rough cut logs under one arm and went and carried
them over to her workbench where the other saws would
transform them into planks and boards.
The head of the Tendo household continued to cry.
Dumping her load of lumber into a bin, the youngest turned
to face her 'daddy', pulling off her ear protection and
dabbing at her face with a cloth - lacy and pink against all
her objections as to the impracticality of that style.
Unfortunately her red bandanas had vanished in the wash.
Soun was taking in his daughter's garb. She had agreed to
feminine. However, Akane had never agreed to *Japanese*
feminine! Kasumi had drawn the line at pants, but hadn't
been willing to perform the Ultimate Protest just because
his youngest was dressed as a Western Cowgirl. The
knee-length denim skirt was just long enough to cover the
tops of her boots, a rope was coiled up at her hip, cotton
blouse and cowboy hat were just jarring enough before one
noticed the Indian-style medicine pouch at her other side -
containing the items she commonly used in clerical
spellcasting.
Cocking one booted foot up against a rough-hewn log, Akane
chirped up. "Howdy! So what's up in these here parts that
y'all wandered by?"
The Japanese were very strictly bound up in tradition. But
*THEIR* tradition was all of what mattered. Anything else
stuck out and deserved ridicule, scorn or avoidance. Akane
had bet counting on the avoidance, and so far she was 100%
right. The local school boys avoided her like the plague.
She didn't realize how much of that was guilt and horror.
Soun wept over the injustice of it all.
His youngest daughter wandered, no, it must be said that she
*moseyed* on out of her own personal wood and leather
working shop (formerly the Tendo dojo) and went to saddle up
her horse.
"Wait." Soun choked out, barely audible out of his tightened
throat.
Chewing on the end of a straw, Akane pushed her Stetson back
and gave him the once over with her eyes. "Well, whaddya
want, paw?"
"I would appreciate it if you..." Soun took a deep breath,
not looking at her as he desperately tried to pretend that
everything going on here was normal. "I would appreciate it
if you wouldn't go tend the herd today. Our family has
important business to discuss."
Soun Tendo's flesh creeped up and down along his spine as
once again the question surfaced of how his youngest had
been able to get a job as a cowhand so quickly, and this in
spite of their proximity to downtown Tokyo.
Akane knew better. This was Nerima. All she'd had to do was
look for Martial Art Ranching and then found the appropriate
teacher one block over the next day, complete with pasture,
herd and range. The amount of yodeling one could get to do
in those southwestern style canyons was
impressive, too. Of course, after another week of this she
expected strange challengers to show up trying to burn her
farm or drive her off of the range, but that was par for the
course down here.
She'd already had to deal once with bandits and wild
Indians. The fact that native American Indians simply do not
occur in modern Japan seemed to be irrelevant. Cattle
rustlers would be any day now. And the Indians were a rival
school using Indian Wrestling style Martial Arts (2000 year
old ancient Arapahi tradition, etc, etc). Still, it was the
various black hatted fellows who were the most concerning.
In Japan, only criminals had guns. Akane was still far more
capable and comfortable with modern weapons than
bare-handed, so she'd put together a surprise, just in case.
Though the last bar fight had really been a rousing one, up
until she got near that table, that is. She *still* didn't
know where Black Bart and his Dozen Thieves had got the idea
that she should table-dance for them. They had barmaids for
that. Akane had a feeling that Bart & his Thieves would be
returning for revenge soon. It was in-genre.
She drew her attention back when she realized that her
'father' was saying something.
"...and so I would appreciate it if you would..."
She realized that he was in the midst of his third repeat,
his frozen brain unable to handle any more. Switching the
straw to the other side of her mouth, she answered. "Hey,
paw. This is the day we get them new hired hands, ain't it?"
Soun nodded desperately, unable to speak.
Akane mounted her horse (a paint with brown socks) in a leap
from behind it, rearing it just for style (and, well, she
*enjoyed* watching her 'daddy' turn white). "Send 'em on
down to the farmhouse, will ya? We've got lambing season
just ahead and it ain't proper nor rightly neighborly not ta
let them folks have a rousing good time roping them little
doggies! Yeeha!"
She rode off in a trail of dust, mysteriously summoned on
their paved street.
Soun wept even more.
Looking out her bedroom window, Kasumi frowned, biting her
lip as she remembered what Akane had promised to do if any
of them tried engaging her to Ranma. A Lady Godiva ride
would be the *least* of her worries, and rather pleasant by
comparison. At the very least, Akane had mentioned they
might eventually get a postcard from her - as she'd rather
live in the jungle and eat bugs the rest of her life than
marry a guy. Soun thought it was a joke. Kasumi knew it
wasn't.
Nabiki was watching from her window as well, and was shaking
her head. "I swear, any day now some guy in a sinister black
cape is going to tie her down on the railroad tracks - and
she'll *enjoy* it."
Not too far away, Black Bart sneezed into his capuccino.
----------
"Eeek! Perverts!"
A scream split the streets of Nerima. This, in itself, was
not unusual. A mob chasing after a lone running figure would
later become a local standby, and underwear theft downright
common. Where this scene diverged from the original is that
the crowd was NOT composed of outraged women seeking to
regain their articles of clothing, but a horde of perverted
boys seeking to steal more of them.
The object of this howling hunt was a young redhaired girl.
It was possible, that on an extremely good day, that the
right supermodel with four or more hours of makeup and
exactly favorable conditions could look this good if the
lighting was just right, but it wasn't likely.
She was currently chasing a runaway panda that was holding
her shirt, and holding an arm across her bare chest was
hindering her running style. Lagging a trifle behind the
furious supernatural beauty and the fleeing panda was a far
more normal Ranma-chan, laboring under the weight of three
heavy packs and trying not to let the mob get her as second
choice to the *other* redhead.
"Gimme back my shirt, you perverted furball!" Shouted the
abnormally gorgeous redhaired lass, presently bouncing along
trying not to be indecent.
[At the price that shopkeeper offered for it?] The panda
signed back, little yen signs of greed showing instead of
pupils in it's eyes. The sign flipped. [You've got to be
crazy.]
Ranko was panting heavily as she labored after the pair of
them. A guy on a bicycle caught up enough to try and grope
her as the sex-maddening figure of the faster redhead was
still far out of reach. Ranko gave him a punch that set him
flying and stole his bicyle, beginning to catch up to the
fleeing pair.
"I mean it! Give it back NOW!"
The panda stopped running, drooling little yen signs and
holding up the placard. [Wait! if he wanted that much for
the *shirt!*] The sign flipped. [How much would he pay for
the *panties!*]
"You wouldn't DARE!?!" Shrieked the absolutely gorgeous
girl, then, leaping over a net cast by the yen-crazed panda,
ran shrieking off ahead of the whole mob, both arms clasped
protectively over her bosom. "HEEEELP!!!"
It came from out of the sun, riding from the top of a rocky
crest, down a sandy slope and into the light, the pounding
of hooves heralding its approach.
VERY stirring banjo music also played, as Akane appeared on
the streets of Nerima, crouched low over the neck of her
horse, plunging the mighty steed into greater and greater
speed as she edged it dramatically past the crowd of lust
crazed teenage boys. Rising high in the stirrups,
leaping her brave mount over a gorge that had mysteriously
appeared in her way for no reason whatsoever, she passed the
girl on the bicycle with a neighborly tip of the hat, then
bore down on the rushing panda in full dramatic might.
Akane swung her off leg around the saddle so both feet
rested in one stirrup, charging her horse and guiding it
close to the side of the furry beast. Then she leapt,
grabbing the animal by the chops as her own horse swung
clear and the energy of the race she transmitted to the
panda bear
in a swing that used her whole body weight to turn the
bear's head about and flip it to the rushing ground.
When the dust cleared Akane had hogtied the animal securely
and was standing there posing. "Yeeha! That there be a
dangerous critter!" Ranko rode up and came to a stop,
panting, and in the speed of the chase it had not been
evident, but both of the redheads were soaking wet. Akane
tossed the shirt she had reclaimed back to the topless one
and went on gloating. "Well, young ladies, that there
varmint sure seems a heap a trouble! Ya'll look wet and
hungry too. Help me get this monster pole-cat up to the
Ranch and we can get ya dry and rustle up some good grub for
ya!"
"You got a deal!" Both the redhaired young ladies cried.
Just then the mob made noises as the found a way across the
chasm that had blocked their way till now. The one girl
*quickly* donned her shirt as Ranko panted from
overexertion.
Akane frowned as the mass of perverted thrillseekers tempted
WAY beyond their limits by far too much display of luscious
and tender flesh, moved forward with primal urges as their
goal.
Akane's horse came up to her side, without removing her eyes
from the dangerous mob, she grabbed the saddle horn and
mounted, pulling the loop of rope free of her side and
spurring directly on toward the onrushing horde o' hentai.
She rose in her stirrups, shouting.
"Old West style a Martial Art Ranching, Final Technique!
Rowdy Roundup!!" Her rope became a blur. When the dust
settled, she was riding calmly as the day is long away from
the entire horde all wrapped up and bound like a good bale
of hay, in fact she was chewing on the end of a straw stuck
in her mouth. Pulling in on the reins to halt next to
redhaired duo, she extended a hand down. "Y'all still wanna
come?"
All three girls cast a glance to the side where the hefty
panda had somehow worked his way around to be topside up and
was creeping away on fingers and toes without having untied
his bonds.
"Groww...urk!" A certain panda found a length of rope had
just settled across his neck and gone taut.
"Huh?!" The redheads' gazes followed the taut length of
rope, back to their really bizarrely clad rescuer. "What
the?" Ranma-chan sputtered.
"Don't worry there, pardner!" The girl tied the rope's end
to the saddle, then leapt off to land on the panda's head,
grabbing his ears and quickly tying the muzzle shut. "This
here little doggie's not gonna cause y'all any problems
now!"
"Uhm..." Ranma-chan said, not at *all* sure how to interpret
this.
"How'd you learn to do that?" Asked her redhaired partner,
now decently dressed again.
"Say, pardners, would y'all be adverse to me taking this
here problem up to the Ranch?" Akane finished tying down the
panda. Special Manuever: Tie Me Kangaroo Down! - Old West
Martial Arts technique that causes the ropes to get tighter
the more the victim struggles.
Ranma twitched. "Ranch? In Tokyo? Errr. What's a ranch?"
"A farm for raising animals." Whispered her gorgeous
companion aside to her, then looked back to their rescuer,
obviously struggling hard to think of words. "Um, howdy!"
Akane gave that girl a neighborly nod, then picked up her
hat from where it had fallen. That was HER Stetson, after
all. Wouldn't do to have some panda roll over and flatten
it.
"Grub?" Ranma-chan was still trying to puzzle this out.
Sure, she'd eaten bugs when they had nothing else, but
people did that when they had a choice??
The pretty girl was eyeing the tied up crowd warily, and
seemed nervous they might get loose. The fact that many of
them were chewingly actively on the rope that bound them
didn't help her any.
"Growf?" The panda was a little puzzled that the ropes
weren't coming off. The last time he'd run into knots like
this had been... the Master. Oh dear.
"Vittles, dinner, food, don't ya know," Akane supplied.
"Y'all look like ya been on the trail a long time, so come
along and I'll set y'all a place at the table. Get outta
this rain too!"
"Sounds good to me." The gorgeous redhead offered.
"Growf?! (Did someone mention food?) Growf! (Waitaminute we
cannot spare a moment in reuniting the houses!)"
"Food?" Ranma blinked, realizing she could put off her
father's plans for awhile. Ranma found herself smiling back
at the western girl. "What kind of food?"
------------
Soun fidgited. "Where are they?"
"Are you sure they're going to be here today, Daddy?" Nabiki
straightened her kimono for what seemed like the thousandth
time.
"Well, that is, I mean..."
Kasumi straightened up. "Father, I'm going to change clothes
and finish dinner."
Nabiki drummed her fingers on the table. "So where's Akane?
Tending the herd?" ~Well at least that means that 'Sabre
Mars' isn't active today. The gangs are trying to lay traps
still.~
Soun nodded. "Errr..."
Nabiki got up as well. "I'm going to change clothes too,
Daddy. Maybe they got delayed or they had enough sense to
get out of this cold rain."
Soun didn't think it sounded like Genma.
------------
Akane started setting plates in front of the redhaired girl,
who began drooling. That other girl had excused herself and
gone on out back to the Necessary.
An older fellow sitting nearby nodded at Ranma. "That Akane
sure knows how to rustle up some vittles, don't she?"
"Mmmmmfmmmph?" Ranma asked with a stuffed mouth.
"Aw, Kreiger, y'all know ah'm not a shadow on my big
sister!" Akane got a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Say, what
y'all think about that bear..."
"Growf?!" The panda went from drooling and tugging at the
stake he was chained to, to a rather alarmed expression.
"Why, Akane, I've never showed you but there are 101 uses
for bear fat!" Kreiger twirled his handlebar moustache and
eyed the bear speculatively.
"Not to mention bear jerky - ah've heard it's *quite*
savory," added Akane.
"And a pandaskin rug would be really nice," continued
Kreiger.
"Mmmmffff," said Ranma, mouth still full as she tried to
inhale a huge meal.
"Akane, I would not have believed it had I not seen it.
Someone with worse table manners than you!" Kreiger smiled
at his student's discomfort.
"That's beef stew, actually," Akane said to Ranma. "Figured
y'all weren't ready for my Volcanic Mars Chili. Oh, and that
there's mashed potatoes, them's greens, and that's steak. Ah
ain't that up on the finer aspects but this simple fare's
easy enough. Now my sister Kasumi, on the other hand, is a
gourmet and she's up on all sorts of Japanese dishes."
"Mmmmrffff?!" Ranma said. It sure beat Oyaji's cooking. And
this girl's sister was a *better* cook?!
"Oh, and y'all gonna want something to wash that down with.
We got java, but since this here's a *Japanese* cattle
ranch, ah thought y'all might prefer some tea." Akane
started pouring into some battered tin cups. "Sorry it ain't
as good as Kasumi could manage, but it'll do fer now eh?"
"Mrrff?"
"Uhm, girl, ya might wanna chew once in awhile." Akane
blinked at the continued prodigious rate of consumption, and
was gratified when Ranma began slowing down. "And actually,
no, it's just a fairly cheap genmai (brown rice) tea. It
washes the vittles down nicely. Hey, what's yer name,
anyway? Can't just keep callin' ya 'girl' or 'kid'."
Ranma swallowed and took a deep breath. "Ranma Saotome."
"Oh, just like *the* Ranma Saotome, eh?" Akane nodded.
"Well, that's kinda cool. Are you any relation to *the*
Ranma?"
The redhead blinked. "THE Ranma Saotome."
"That's the feller who's engaged to your big sister, ain't
it?" Kreiger grinned briefly. "Hell, he must be a *real* man
from what I've heard!"
Akane nodded and moseyed over to where a branding iron was
sitting in a fire. "Yup. Though ah hear his father's a real
idjit."
"Growf!" The panda protested.
"Engaged him to more'n a dozen girls," Akane said, turning
the metal stick around.
"Growf? (Was it that many?)"
"Dumped him repeatedly in a pit of cats," continued Akane,
"taught him a lot of things that weren't right."
"Well, *that's* accurate," mumbled Ranma, eyeing her father
and wondering how many fiancees there really was.
"Why, ah just been in contact with a little gal named
'Okonomiyaki Ucchan' about that daddy of his." Akane
inspected the red glowing end of the iron.
"GROWF?!" Which in panda-speak meant something like "This
sounds like a good time to go back to China."
"Okonomiyaki Ucchan," puzzled Ranma for a moment. "But...
he's a guy..."
"Nah, turns out she's a bit of a tomboy. Oh, and she was
engaged to Ranma when they were younger. Wild, huh?"
Ranma was staring at the panda. "...yeah, wild...."
Akane smiled, stepped into place behind the panda, and
slammed the hot end home just to the side of a fuzzy little
tail.
------------
"Aw, c'mon Mara! What kind of help is that?"
The demoness shrugged. "The kind I could give. I'm a
*demon*, curses are the best that I could do to hide you.
You're lucky you only have to share Ranma's curse. I *could*
have done Genma's or Ryoga's." She sidled up nice and close.
"And you were fortunate you had that suggestion power."
The gorgeous redhead talking to the demoness out behind the
outhouse glanced around shiftily. "Yeah, only now that's
flatlined, and my glamour that keeps me looking less
outrageously attractive than I am wore out and now I'm too
weak to replace it... This is NOT a good time to be a girl!
I've got so many abilities out of whack I couldn't even
catch that fleeing panda Ranma calls a father," she
grumbled.
"Much as I dislike being in that damn ball, you'd better not
leave me out too long. Akane there is sufficiently talented
that she can sense the presence of spirits and demons and
the like." Mara frowned and looked off towards the campfire.
"Though it looks like you missed Genma getting the business
end of a branding iron."
The redhead sniffled. "I missed that? I wonder if I could
get it on video tape?"
"I'd think so," Mara said with a grin. "So he's got the
brand of the Rocking Fist Ranch on his butt from the famed
Red Rider."
"Well... I guess that means I've got to go back. Mara,
return!"
--------
Ranma-j backed up and found someone had put a wall there.
Hmmm. Turning, he noticed there was someone's belt there.
His eyes tracked up, catching a chin.
BIG. Solid-looking. "Oh my."
"Plenty Bull," informed Akane at both Ranma's expressions.
"Practices the ancient style of Martial Arts: Indian
Wrestling. You know, the one where there's a buffalo born at
the same time as the child, and every day the child picks up
and carries the buffalo. Plenty Bull got twins."
"Unnnnnn," grunted Plenty Bull, surprised and pleased that
Akane remembered him that well.
"You here for our rematch, eh?" Akane chambered and stood
ready. "Well, i'm ready!"
"Unnnnnn," disagreed the massive giant.
"No..." Akane relaxed slightly. "Then what *are* you here
for?"
"Unnnnnn," explained Plenty Bull, then turned and walked
away.
"Well, thanks, but i *know* Black Bart is gonna try
something." Akane sighed, then caught the curious looks from
both Ranmas. "Oh, Black Bart is a practictioner and Heir to
Martial Arts: Stage Villainry. Favorite manuever is the
Snively Whiplash. He's got a dozen Thieves he's recruited to
be flunkies. Don't worry about it, one of the weaknesses of
his style is that he's gotta wait for suitably dramatic
moments to unleash his plans."
"Why?" Ranma-native asked.
Ranma-Jared and Akane answered at the same time. "Because...
it's the Code Of The West."
============
Jabberworks Basic Pickup Truck
Crew: 1 driver and 1 passenger (two if they're small or very
friendly)
Maximum Speed: 75mph (120kph)
Engine: gas or electric
Maximum range: 150 miles (240km)
Length: 12ft Width: 5ft
Weight: 1 ton (approximate)
MDC by location: Tires 5 each (4)
Main Body 45
General market cost: 6,000 credits if new. older models with
some damage can run as little as 500 credits.
Weapons: comes with none
this is the VW Bug (old style) of the New West.
Customization of these vehicles is a big thing in some
circles, others prefer their trucks to look battered and
well-used but still add upgrades.
Common upgrades: better armor, hover system, covered
bed, weapon emplacements, anti-theft systems, full
environmental, hydraulic bed, mechanic's bay (small crane,
tool chests, generator), remote signaller (extendable
transmitter tower and transciever), front winch, nuclear or
other engine replacement.
Rimshot's has extra large gastanks (increasing the range
to 300mi), the front winch, full environmental (cabin), and
better armor (MDC 90). The TW enhancements are Chameleon,
Armor (50 MDC), Mystic Alarm, Cleansing System, and Dispel
Magic Barriers. The front winch has an anchor with a TW
modification of Sticky (like a Carpet Of Adhesion).
-------------------------------
"Don't forget that for the acorn to
become the mighty oak, it starts with a
little nut that decides to stand its ground."
-Anonymous
metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/