CHAPTER THREE

	The wind whistling past Ranma as he soared through the air was hardly
an unfamiliar sensation, nor was the inevitable collision with a rather
sturdy tree as he reached the end of his journey.  He picked himself up
and brushed several chunks of bark from his skin.  "Jeez.  Ya try ta
help someone, and look where it gets ya.  Still, at least I got a head
start.  Now I gotta..." 
	It suddenly got dark.  He turned around, to see an utterly huge figure
looming over him. Apart from the man's short black moustache and the
ridiculously small spectacles resting on the bridge of his nose, he
looked for all the world like the Dojo Destroyer's bigger, tougher
brother. 
	Ranma backed up, raising his hands into a ready stance.  "Let me
guess.  You're one of the..." 
	The man nodded, and held out his hand - there, dwarfed in his massive
palm, was a small bonsai tree.  A tag tied to the tree read, in gold
letters, <20 pts.>. 
	"All right, then," Ranma said confidently.  "Looks like you're my first
opponent."  He beckoned at the giant in a quick motion.  "Bring it on! 
I'm ready... for..." 
	Ranma's sentence faltered as his opponent uprooted an unlucky larch
with one hand, apparently unconcerned at its weight and length, and
moved toward him... 

	"His name was Higashi Shima.  He was known as the Kareoke Kid. 
	"All those who had dared faced him in combat had regretted their
foolish actions.  He was a master of the lost art of the Musical
Warrior.  Well-versed in all its attacks - the Microphone Bash, the
Sonata Slam, and the deadly Back Beat - he was more than a match for
those he had been hired to fight, and he would keep them from..." 
	The heroic fanfare, which until then had been accompanying the young
man's monologue, suddenly ground to a halt.  He swore, then unclipped
the portable kareoke machine from his belt. 
	"Man, I hate when this happens," he muttered in a more normal voice. 
"First thing I'm gonna do after this is buy a decent battery pack...
these double-A's don't last as long as they should."  He replaced the
machine's power supply, and thumbed the 'PLAY' button. 
	As the music roared back to life, he took a deep breath.  "Where was
I... yes, and he would keep them from claiming the talisman he bore,
even at the cost of his very life.  All would fall before him..." 
	As might be guessed, this loud speech wasn't very difficult to track in
the stillness of the forest... especially if the listener had the
enhanced hearing of a cat. 
	"There was no enemy so powerful that he could not defeat them, no
challenge he could not surpass, no obstacle..." 
	A sudden sharp crack echoed through the forest, followed after a moment
by a wooden creaking sound. 
	Shima whirled around.  "Halt!  Who dares assault the legendary Kare...
o... o...  oh boy." 
	If a tree falls in the forest and hits a kareoke singer, does anybody
care? 
	Nuku Nuku happily scrambled over the tree she had knocked over with one
punch, and searched through its branches until she found the badly
stunned form of Shima.  A medallion in the form of a praying mantis
dangled from his neck - she snatched it from him and looked it over
closely.  "Aaah!  Fifteen points!"  She giggled.  "Lucky!" 
	"Speak for yourself," Shima muttered woozily as she scampered back
toward the stadium with her prize. 

	A solid punch to the stomach caused the cowboy-costumed fighter to
double over, only to be met by an uppercut from a second source - he
fell over, moaning in pain. 
	His assailants posed, rather ridiculously.  "Ha!" one shouted.  "That
will teach you..." 
	"...to defy the unbeatable warriors..." the other added. 
	"...of Anything Goes Martial Arts!" they concluded in unison, briefly
highlighted against the red and white background of the Japanese flag. 
	Soun rummaged through the cowboy's belongings, eventually producing a
small rubber chew toy shaped like an octopus.  "Good work, Saotome! 
With this, we're already well on our way toward winning!" 
	His 'partner' laughed.  "I told you, Tendo - together, we can beat
anything this competition throws at us." 
	"United with a permanent bond of friendship!  I'll just go turn this in
at the stadium, and meet you back here." 
	"Uh, hold on, Tendo..."  Genma's hand landed on his friend's shoulder. 
"Why don't I take care of that, while you look for the next prize?" 
	Soun made no move to hand over the chew toy.  "What?  But, Saotome... I
can't just give it to you, or we'll both be disqualified.  Remember the
rules?" 
	"Oh, just a mere formality, I'm sure."  Genma grabbed the octopus just
as Soun tightened his own grip on it. 
	There was silence for a moment.
	"Come now, Saotome.  It would be foolish to risk it, wouldn't it?" 
Soun pulled subtly at the chew toy, his gaze locked with Genma's. 
	"As I said, it's nothing to worry about.  Trust me."  He pulled on the
thing as well, not quite so subtly. 
	"What difference does it make who brings it back?  We'll split the
grand prize equally, remember?" *tug* 
	"Exactly!  Which is why I should bring it back."  *tug* 
	"I don't quite follow your logic, Saotome..." *tug!*
	"Let's not bicker over something so trivial, old friend."  *TUG!* 
	"Excellent idea.  We shouldn't jeapordize our friendship over money,
even though I've been feeding you for the past year..." *YANK!* 
	"Oh, cry me a river!  I've always been the brains of this partnership,
and you know it!  I deserve that money!" *YAAANK!* 
	"Oh, yeah?"
	"Yeah!"
	Just as it seemed the chew toy was about to be stretched to the
breaking point, Genma and Soun were engulfed in darkness.  They looked
up, and barely had time to register panic on their faces before Ranma's
former opponent, battered and scraped, fell from the sky above them and
crushed them into the ground.  A familiar form with a black pigtail
raced past them toward the stadium, snatching the octupus on its way. 
"You snooze, you lose!" 

	"Are my loyal servants within position?"
	"Yes, Master.  They are awaiting your command."
	"And the android?"
	"She has not traveled out further than two miles before returning,
Master." 
	"Insufficient.  Inform me when she reaches the three mile mark." 
	"Yes, Master."

	The event continued, but despite the heat of the day, the spectators
remained on the edge of their seats, and the match had lost none of its
tension. 
	"Oh, my.  It looks like Ranma's in the lead."
	"Yeah, but Nuku Nuku's gaining on him pretty quickly.  Quite the
nailbiter, eh, Akane?" 
	"Ask me if I care, Nabiki!"
	Akane was not happy.  Accidentally disqualifying herself had been bad
enough - not, of course, that it had been *her* fault.  But now, she
also had to listen to her father bemoaning his fate, wailing and weeping
at the injustice of it all.  At least Genma was still unconscious,
sprawled out where the paramedics team had left him after dragging the
two 'friends' back from the forest. 
	As she ended sitting next to him, and for lack of anything better to
do, she decided to strike up a conversation with Ryunosuke, the son of
her hosts.  Judging from what she'd seen of Akiko and Kyusaku, she'd
expected their child to be a bit... eccentric, at the very least.  To
her surprise, he turned out to be a remarkably well-adjusted and
friendly young man, and noticably strong-willed.  Though she wasn't used
to talking to people so much younger than she was, she found herself
taking an immediate liking to him, and they started chatting as if they
were old friends. 
	"Chotto matte yo!" he protested as she tried, with some difficutly, to
explain her family's situation.  "You're telling me that your father,
before you were even born, got you engaged to a boy that turned out to
have several other fiancees, has several other guys trying to kill him,
is apprenticed to a three hundred year old pervert, and turns into a
girl when he gets doused with water?" 
	"Uh... well... yeah."
	He glanced over to where Kyusaku and Akiko were arguing over who would
get to buy popcorn for their son.  "And I thought *my* parents were
bad..." 

	Ranma tore through the forest, leaping over rocks and stumps and the
occasional defeated competitor.  This thing was a piece of cake - there
were some good opponents, but none of them were anywhere near his level
of skill.  The only thing slowing him down was the time required to
actually find the stupid prizes... 
	"Ranma-kun!"
	He glanced over his shoulder, to see a certain pink-haired girl quickly
catching up to him.  "Hey, Nuku Nuku!  Having fun yet?" 
	"Hai!  Nuku Nuku has gotten to play with a whole lot of people today!" 
	He grinned, ducking briefly under a shoulder-height branch as he ran
past.  "Ya know, we're probably gonna have to fight eventually." 
	"Daijobu, Ranma-kun!  I'll make sure not to hurt you too much!" 
	"That ain't what I...!  Aw, never mind.  How about we race to the next
prize?  First one to find it gets a free snowcone?" 
	The cat-girl raised her fists over her head and cheered.  "Yahoo!  Nuku
Nuku will do her best!" 
	They ran, separated by no more than a few steps, neither one gaining a
definite lead as they raced ever deeper into the forest. 

	"The android has gone over three miles from the stadium, Master!" 
	"Then strike!  Strike, look you, and see that there is no mercy or fear
in the hearts of your warriors, that you may deliver an utterly..." 
	"..."
	"Oh, just attack.  Really, I don't know why I bother sometimes..." 

	The first thing that happened was that the two devices, magnetically
attached to POISON SEVEN's engines, exploded.  Arisa and Kyoko were
thrown free of the blast, shielded by the jet's sturdy wing, and escaped
with only minor sprains and bruises.  The assault vehicle was not quite
so lucky. 
	The third thing that happened was that the shockwave from the explosion
reached a point just over three miles from the stadium, and Nuku Nuku
quickly slowed to a stop.  Her ear flaps hissed into position, and she
looked back toward the resort to see a column of black smoke.  Without
another thought to the competition, she raced back toward the starting
point, leaving a puzzled and concerned Ranma to follow in her wake. 
	The second thing that happened was the horde of ninja. 

	Ninja.  Ninja, ninja, ninja.  Ninja from under the bleachers, ninja
from among the crowd, ninja disguised as hot dog vendors, ninja
disguised *as* the bleachers, ninja from concealed hatches in the
ground, ninja wielding katana and sai and naginata and accidentally
choking themselves with manriki-gusari... Their faces were covered and
they wore jet-black bodysuits in the traditional style.  Weapons
flashing in the sunlight, they formed a circle around the Natsumes and
their guests, a circle which closed in... 
	...And abruptly opened back out.
	After her initial surprise wore off, Akane struck back at these
black-clad assailants, and quickly found herself in her element.  It had
been a while since she had had to fight her way through hordes of male
students just to get to class on time, but she could feel the old
reflexes coming back to her, and while the ninja were more skilled than
the average Furinkan student, Akane was *much* better than she had been
when Ranma first arrived in Nerima.  She cut a swath through the stunned
attackers, who quickly found themselves backing off in the face of her
assault. 
	One of them, formerly disguised as a concession vendor and still
wearing a snack tray, felt a tap on his shoulder.  "Two sodas, please,"
Nabiki requested sweetly.  Too surprised to think, he handed over the
soft drinks... just before Akane decked him, causing him to fall onto a
pile of his fallen comrades in a shower of popcorn and ice. 
	A moment later a group of ninja, who so far hadn't had time to pay
attention to the unconscious be-spectacled man or the young woman
standing next to him, suddenly felt a massive presence behind them, and
turned to see a giant panda, dripping with spilled soda, looming over
them.  The girl took a sip of her own drink, then gestured toward the
ninja.  "Sic 'em." 
	The circle of ninja was thrown into chaos.  It had been bad enough with
the short girl kicking, punching, and generally battering her opponents
into submission - now a panda had been thrown into the mix, and many
ninja were temporarily airborne as the creature swung its massive paws. 
Two of the ninja, unimportant in the sea of black-clad figures except
for this conversation, looked at each other.  "We don't have time for
this!" one of them pointed out.  "The android will be back any moment!" 
	The second ninja raised a silver sphere in his hand, thumbing a small
button on its surface.  "Then grab the kid, and let's get out of here!" 
	He lobbed the sphere toward Ryunosuke, and it was clear that the boy
would not be able to get out of the way in time.  Akane leapt to his
defense, trying to shield him with her body from what was certainly an
explosive of some kind... 
	...and suddenly the sphere burst apart, surrounding both Akane and
Ryunosuke with a thin but sturdy net.  The edges of the net wrapped
around the pair and bound them together. 
	A fraction of a second later one of the ninja slipped a katana between
the holes in the net and pressed it against Ryunosuke's neck.  "Back
off," he warned, "or the boy dies." 
	Reluctantly, the panda stopped its attack, and the ninja kept their
weapons levelled at it as others bundled up their captives. 
	Akiko was beside herself in rage.  "How *dare* you?!  Let my son and
the girl go this instant!" 
	The katana-wielding ninja laughed.  "Oh, we'll let them go, one way or
another - it's all up to you."  He threw a shuriken, which embedded
itself in the wooden floor of the bleachers.  Something seemed to be
tied around it... 
	"Ryunosuke!"  The call was faint, but closing in fast.  "Ryunosukeee!" 
	By the time Nuku Nuku broke through the tree line - literally - the
ninja were gone, including their fallen, their injured... and their
captives. 

	The next few moments were rather confused.
	"Papa-san!  Where's...?"
	"...kidnapped!  And Akane..."
	"Her, too?  I ain't gonna let..."
	"...the pier!  It's the only place on the island they can..." 
	"It's too far!  They have too much of a..."
	"...can't just let them escape!  We have to..."
	"Nuku Nuku!  How far do you think you can throw me?"
	"Eh?!"

	"Let go!  Let *go* of me, you perverts!"  Akane tried to kick out at
her captors, but the net held her securely as she and Ryunosuke were
dumped unceremoniously in the back of a large speedboat. 
	"What do you freaks want with us?" Ryunosuke shouted, not a trace of
fear in his voice. 
	The driver of the boat, a large, heavily muscled man with tattoed arms,
looked over his shoulder at the captives.  "It's not what we want - it's
what our Master wants.  Don't worry, nothing will happen to you... if
you cooperate."  He looked at the ninja horde, which was gradually
pouring into other speedboats that lined the pier.  "Hurry up, you
idiots!  There's not much time left before the android..." 
	His sentence went unfinished, as a blurred object shot out of the sky
and crashed into a group of the slower ninja, then bounded off the
collapsed bodies to land on its feet. 
	The remaining ninja spread out, weapons ready... but instead of the
expected pink-haired girl, there stood a young man with black pigtailed
hair, his hands raised in a flawless martial arts stance. 
	After surveying this new arrival for a moment, the large man jumped out
of the speedboat, landing in front of the boy in one easy leap.  "What
have we here?  You don't look like android." 
	The youth smiled confidently, without mirth.  "I am Saotome Ranma, heir
to the Tendo-Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts.  You've
kidnapped my fiancee - I want her and the boy back." 
	"Ranma!" Akane cried out in relief.
	"Is that so?"  The large man laughed.  "Well, sorry - we didn't intend
to grab the girl, but we don't have time right now to release her."  He
waved at the ninja that had taken over the speedboat's controls.  "Go! 
I'll catch up later."  The ninja nodded, and the boat's engines began to
roar. 
	"I don't think so!"  Ranma prepared to leap onto the boat... but
suddenly the large man was there, with his hand around Ranma's throat. 
The young martial artist clutched at the man's arm, trying desperately
to get some air. 
	"As for the boy," the man continued as the remaining speedboats left
the harbor, "our Master has plans for him... and I won't let a child
like you interfere with them."  He cruelly squeezed, and Ranma had to
fight to avoid crying out in pain.  "Go home, boy.  Next time..." He
drew his arm back, dangling Ranma's limp body behind him.  "...I won't
be so... POLITE!" 
	And he threw Ranma in a high arc, sending him soaring through the air
for the third time that day until he plowed into the pier's maintenance
shed. 
	Ranma pulled himself out of the wreckage, still groggy from his
experience, just in time to see the big guy jump onto a jet ski and race
out over the waves, towards the speedboats.  "A... Akane..." he mumbled,
before falling over into an unconscious heap. 

---------------------------------------------------------
Visit the Nuku Nuku Otaku Haven at
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/8492/

With images, fanfics, and a wealth of information from
the new Bannou Bunka Nekomusume TV series!
---------------------------------------------------------