yo, minaasan. here's the latest
Featherbrite's Tale, the Bet. Rough version
by Gregg Sharp based on Rumiko Takahashi's situations/char
other char TM other authors.
Metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/
5c: Some Interest
------------------------------------------
 "Shampoo no like these odds."

 Featherbrite flitted past the amazon and
frowned. "Shampoo, how about if I cast a glamourie
on you?"

 "Is what?"

 "Uhm, a disguise spell."

 "That help get me closer," Shampoo
admitted. "Still not do good against guns. You
have anything make Shampoo bulletproof?"

 "I..." Featherbrite blinked as she
spotted a manga store. There was a big poster
for one of those magical girls' series on display.
An idea came to her. "Shampoo, this is really
dangerous to me, but I've got an idea."

 "How is dangerous?" Shampoo kept
an eye out, knowing the truck would be coming
past this point from what the faerie had told her.

 "It's exhausting and I may not be able
to get free. I need your permission, though."

 Shampoo's attention was focussed on
the truck as it turned onto their street. "You do
something, do fast. It showtime."

 Featherbrite sighed. At the very least
this was going to hurt. "FUSION!"
---------------------------------------
 A crowded Tokyo city street. Today,
however, something quite unusual was occurring.
It would have raised less attention in Juuban, but
this was still nominally Nerima.

 A TV crew filming a commercial got the
break of a lifetime.

 "I am the (do Shampoo really have to
say this, it silly) sailorsuited warrior of love and
justice, Sailor Amazon!" Shampoo muttered
something under her breath about how silly this
was and couldn't she just go break some heads?

 *No, Shampoo. Use your chi to bolster
my magic as I'm showing you. They'll hesitate to
shoot a popular public hero. (Besides, they're all
guys and the short skirt'll distract 'em.*

 Said sailorsuited warrior hovering on
broad dragonfly-like wings in midair, caused the
torturously slow traffic to grind to a complete halt.
Several motorists tried to get directly underneath
the flying "sailor scout" but she started moving
rather quickly.

 "This better work," muttered Shampoo.
"This sound awfully silly. What do 'in genre' mean?
Oh, okay, Shampoo do. Airen will need to comfort
Shampoo because dignity taking big beating today."

 Shampoo flipped her currently blonde hair
back and held a hand up. Speaking in a louder voice,
"For kidnapping innocent girl and preying upon
weak, I shall punish you! KAWAII HURRICANE!"
She pointed both hands at the truck.

 Nothing happened for a long second. Three
men started getting out of the truck.

 *Now, Shampoo! Use your chi!*

 The whirlwind struck.
--------------------------------------------------
 "GUYS! Look at this!"

 "Wow! Could she be from the Silver Milennium?"

 On the TV, Sailor Amazon made her speech,
waited a moment and unleashed a whirlwind upon the truck
that pulled the panel walls apart and sent them through as many
storefronts as she twirled and spun through the air. The
sailorsuited winged figure then dropped into a small crowd of
similarly attired persons.

 "Magnificent," said Makoto as Sailor Amazon
unleashed a brutal seven strike combo on a gunwielding
businessman.

 "Ouch," said Ami as she watched Sailor Amazon's
kick to another man's chin raise the unfortunate target into the
air briefly.

 "She's...not bad," admitted Rei as Sailor Amazon
disarmed one gunman and threw him into a pack of others
emerging from a second vehicle. That the one gunman was
still stunned from the magnificent display of leg revealed by
that kick and a very short skirt was not immediately obvious.

 "Wow," said Usagi, admiring the wings on Sailor
Amazon's outfit. They looked so real.

 Sailor Amazon grabbed someone restrained in
what remained of the back of the truck, and flew straight
up at high speed. The camera followed her until she was
a speck lost in the distance.

 "There you have it, live from Nerima! Is this
a new Sailor Senshi? Who IS Sailor Amazon? We'd like
to hear from you, 555-71...."

 Ami turned the TV off and looked over both
Luna and Artemis. "Do EITHER of you remember a
Sailor Amazon?"

 Not surprisingly, neither of the moon cats
remembered a Sailor Amazon, nor did anything come
up on Ami's computer.
--------------------------------------------
 "Kasumi say meet at park?" The blonde sailor
suited amazon asked herself. "What Kasumi do?"

 *I don't know. I didn't read her mind.*

 "There is...Kasumi?" A little ways past some
guy cooking hot dogs over a fire, there was her big sister.

 Kasumi stood there, smiling at her little warrior
sister, parasol perched jauntily over one shoulder, and
a mound of luggage behind her.

 "Shampoo never own that many bags, airen just
have backpack last Shampoo knew..." Shampoo's voice trailed
off into a gasp as Featherbrite seperated from her and she
returned to normal.

 "My goodness, Shampoo, I had no idea you were
a Sailor Senshi."

 "Shampoo not know either." Shampoo winced at
the sudden headache. "Shampoo got to beat on bad people
for hurting airen, so not entirely bad experience."

 "They'll be coming!" Featherbrite warned, trying
to open the gateway. As she was noticeably exhausted it was
quite slow going.

 "How will follow? Shampoo fly pretty fast." She
shuddered at the memory. Shampoo wasn't that thrilled with
being thousands of feet over the ground with no visible
support. It had been quite unnerving. A hundred feet, no
problem. A thousand... Shampoo remembered dropping an
egg off a cliff once. Her imagination added purple hair and
changed the colors a little.

 "Did they inject Ranma with the tracking tag, then?"
Kasumi sadly looked over at the still unconcious Ranma.

 "No problem, I'll (huff) just (puff) make an exclusion
for (wheeze) that when I get the transport...(unnggg) going!"
There was nothing she'd like better to do than rest, but if she
did Featherbrite knew not everyone would be there when she
woke up.

 "Big sister, why you bring all this luggage?"

 "Because, Shampoo, I need to get away and think
about things for awhile." Kasumi looked slightly pensive. "And
I'm not sure I want to be around Genma Saotome right now."

 Shampoo grinned. Big Sister agreed with her on what
a schmuck the panda was. She'd make a proper amazon yet, maybe
not a warrior, but a proper amazon nonetheless.
-------------------
 A few yards away, Ryouga's head snapped up.
"Ranma?!" Those two were talking about Ranma? There
couldn't be another one, could there? No, it had to be
Saotome!

 A rising glow began to appear around the two
girls, the mound of luggage, and whoever that was that the
one girl had slung over her shoulder.

 Could it be that his quest was finally over? "RANMA!
For the insult of the bread, for the missed duel, I shall make you
pay!"

 Ryouga started walking but realized that both luggage
and girls were fading out. They were getting away! He switched to
running.

 Shammi noted her airen running and instincts took over.
She gave chase.

 Ryouga crossed a boundary and began fading away.
Shammi, a half second later, also faded. Rei Ga, staring from a few
feet away, wondered what the heck was going on here. After a few
minutes of checking the area for signs, she decided to contact
Cologne for additional instructions. Di Na would make a good
courier while she remained behind to keep an eye on things.

 Rei Ga nodded, it was a good plan.

 By the time the Yakuza arrived, the park was empty.
------------------------------------------
 Ryouga ran through the boundary of the spell and so
was ALMOST where Ranma and the others were. Shammi went
through the same part of the field as Ryouga and so ALMOST
ended up where Ryouga was.

 Not being directionally challenged, Shammi was able
to find her airen without much difficulty.

 Shammi watched her airen go stumbling about until
a BIG Thing started towards him.

 "AaaaaaH!" Ryouga managed when confronting
something that rather resembled a nine foot long three-eyed
boar.

 "Heheheh, foolish mortal," the boar grinned. "You
have intruded into the territory of Greaket, forest imp of the ninth
level of the Unseelie Court. You are SO very doomed."

 "A talking pig?" Ryouga drew his umbrella. "Uh huh.
And how exactly am I doomed?"

 "Urrr," Greaket paused. This wasn't how it was supposed
to go. Wasn't the mortal supposed to be cringing in fear? "I am the
mighty Greaket, mortal, and I can call upon you the Doom Of Pigs."

 "Big deal. Now why don't you tell me where Ranma is?"

 "Huh?! Aggghhhh!"

 125 pounds of curvy amazon warrior impacted on the boar's
head. "Hello, darling! When did you learn to speak Mandarin?"

 "Huh? You're speaking Japanese?" Ryouga froze up as he
realized what she had said.

 "How dare you use the mighty Greaket as a landing site?
You shall be punished!"

 Drawing a set of knives out, Shammi grinned. "Darling husband
such good provider. Shammi shall make wedding feast!"

 "Greaket Final Attack. Doom Of Pigs!" Greaket concentrated
and a herd of pigs materialized, splitting up to head for the two mortals.
--------------------Tendo-ke, Nerima----------------
 Nabiki was not a happy camper. She was not, in any stretch
of even Genma's imagination, pleased. She was unsatisfied with the
current situation more than mere words could place it.

 The contract had been left out on the table. Her father and
Genma had apparently left to go celebrate. She'd seen them leaving
and had exchanged a few words with them. Then she'd found an empty
house, no sign of Ranma, and THIS on the table.

 Nabiki prided herself on her business skills. She skimmed the
contract then began seperating the meaning from the legalese mumbo
jumbo. It didn't paint a pretty picture.

 Akane entered the house, somewhat angry over having
been to school, gotten into a fight , then discovering that it wasn't
even a school day!

 "Where is everyone?" Akane said after watching Nabiki
reading something and groaning every few paragraphs.

 "Our wonderful father and his friend have decided to go
celebrate this lousy business deal that they have just made." Nabiki
covered her eyes with her hands. If her father knew about this, then
this would be worse than the time he'd gotten that "good deal" on
Kobe beef. From then on, Kasumi had done all the shopping.

 "Dad got another deal?" Akane frowned. "Not another
one of those 'once in a lifetime' deals?"

 "From this, I'd say that Mister Saotome's business skills
are at least on a par with father's."

 "That bad, huh?" Akane looked around. "So where's
Kasumi? For that matter, where's that fiance of yours?"

 "Kasumi?" Nabiki blinked, it just now penetrating
that she hadn't seen any sign of her elder sister.
--------------faerie realm----------------------
 Shampoo held the collapsed pixie in her hands. "Featherbrite
asleep now. So now what do?"

 Kasumi spread a blanket out on the grass and clucked to
herself. She should have brought a thermos of tea. Well, one couldn't
think of everything. She found where she'd stowed the kettle.

 "I wonder if there's any water nearby," Kasumi said. She
looked around at the grassy field with a few odd trees sticking up. Ranma
would probably be more comfortable if he were male.

 "That way," a large crow croaked, wing extended to Kasumi's
left. "Stream."

 Shampoo stared. Kasumi merely bowed politely and thanked
the crow.

 The raven, for that is truly what it was, merely shrugged. There
should be some leftovers around soon.
----------------------------------------
 The fire crackled cheerily. Strips of meat were cooking on tiny
little sticks, filling the air with the smell of roast pork.

 "Husband is such a good provider!" Shammi smiled, maybe this
would work out after all. Too bad they weren't back at the village, she
really
hated to waste the meat but there was too much to carry.

 "H-hu-husband?" Ryouga repeated for what had to be the
twentieth time since Shammi and Ryouga discovered that they could speak
to each other.

 "Yes, husband." Shammi's eyes flicked towards her new
husband. He seemed a little shy, which she found endearing. Much easier
to take the proper aggressive in-control role for an amazon with such
a mate.

 "MMMRgghhhhhfffff!" The decapitated head of Greaket
struggled to spit the apple out of his mouth. He was still quite angry
about this turn of events. Was he not the mighty Greaket? This was a
temporary setback! He'd teach these upstart mortals to mess with a
member of the Unseelie Court!

 Ryouga stared at the woman as if he couldn't believe this.
A girl. A pretty girl. A pretty girl was interested in HIM!?! No, it
couldn't
be. This was a joke right? Right. Had to be. A pretty girl couldn't be
leaning
close to him now, brushing his hair back so that she could look into his
eyes.
A pretty girl couldn't be giving him a slightly pouty look and asking him if
he was hungry for anything, just anything at all...

 With a fountain of blood erupting from both nostrils,
Ryouga fainted.

 Shammi stared for a moment, swore, and turned back to the
cooking meat. Feh. Fighting got her hot, she knew. All revved up and
nowhere to go. Maybe this wouldn't work out after all.
-------------------------------
 "Where's Kasumi?" Ranma tried to sit up, only to
fall back immediately.

 "She try to get water, been gone long time." Shampoo
was torn. Her airen couldn't defend himself, and her big sister was
out there without anyone to defend her. The little faerie was still
unconcious. What was she to do?

 "Shampoo," Ranma gasped. "I'll be fine. Drugs are just
making me woozy. I don't seem to be as able to fight 'em off in my
faerie form as I would if I were a guy. But I can cope..."

 Shampoo watched her airen collapse again. "Shampoo
think airen is, how Nabiki say, full of it." Maybe she should just
check up on Kasumi and come right back?
-----------------------------
 Kasumi filled the kettle with the cold water from the stream.
She'd still have to find a way to heat it up, but that would come when
she could rejoin the others.

 Kasumi stopped as she felt a presence. Background data
began to accumulate. A faint smell reached her, a not entirely unpleasant
smell that reminded her of old leather easy chairs.

 The large cave near the waterfall seemed to be the source of
the smell and the feeling of presence.

 "Uhm, hello, is anyone there?" Kasumi called, wondering if
this was some sort of faerie like Featherbrite.

 Glowing yellow eyes, each bigger than Kasumi's head
appeared within the darkness of the cave. A low growl rumbled
as something made itself known.

	With a roar, the beast launched itself forwards.
------------------------
	continued...