Disclaimer: I don't own "Ranma ½", I'm not Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own "Jem and the Holograms"; Hasbro and Sony do from my research. What is mine is the story, and only the story alone; I'm writing this for fun and not profit.
Outrageous Ranma by Lioconvoy
Chapter 1: An Outrageous Beginning.
Nabiki stood in front of the Starlight Music building. It had been their first mother's dream to be a famous singer before she married their father; that was why when she died, their father started the business so others would be able to live their dreams. While he was healthy Starlight Music thrived, but when his health started to decline so did the business. The blame lay upon Eric Raymond, his assistant, who started to run things. To her knowledge Starlight Music no longer held any contract with any of the musicians that once sang for them.
Her father's other venture was the Starlight House, a home for foster girls. In addition to her true sisters, Kasumi and Akane, she shared her home with thirteen other younger girls. The number had been fifteen, but two of the former Starlight girls were her age and moved on with their lives.
She and Kasumi themselves were both attending college, but after their father's death they couldn't leave the Starlight House as it was. While their father was sick the House had fallen under disrepair, Akane and Hinako did their best to take care of her father, the girls and the house but it really was a lot of work. Personally she believed their Second mother should have called them back, but she knew Hinako was only doing her husband's will by not getting them involved until the end came.
Turning her thoughts back to Starlight Music, she was here because Mr. Raymond was not obligating his agreement. Although he received half of Starlight Music in her father's will, he was obligated to continue to share the company's profits with the Starlight House and that was not being done.
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Ranma looked out the window of the plane; soon he'd be arriving in the United States. Every year around his birthday he would go on a training trip, normally with his father. This year the trip was not for training and he was doing it alone. This trip was for him to meet his fiancée, one of the three Tendo sisters. Which sister apparently didn't matter, but his father promised him to be married to a daughter of his former training companion.
Putting his seat in the upright and locked position, the pigtailed boy wondered what the sisters would be like. His father had never mentioned Mr. Tendo before and knew nothing about the three girls that he was arranging his son to.
As the plane began it descent, he hoped one of them be able to accept him as he was. He didn't enjoy being cursed, but the likelihood of him getting cured anytime soon wasn't all that high. Would any of them be willing to marry a boy who was part girl?
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Making her way to her father's office, Nabiki did not like what she was seeing. Instead of the kind old Mrs. Bailey, sitting in his secretary's seat was a young woman doing her nails and blowing a bubble with gum. "I'm here to see Eric Raymond."
"He's not seeing anyone sweetheart."
Sweetheart? What was Eric doing to her father's business? "Tell him Nabiki Tendo is here to see him."
"He's not seeing anyone; that means you, whoever you are. He's expecting some important clients"
"I don't care who he's expecting, he's seeing me now whether he wants to or not." With those words Nabiki stomped past the secretary and into what was her father's office. The large office was much the way her father left it, but Eric sat at his desk. Standing in front of it she waited for Mr. Raymond to acknowledge her.
"Nabiki, what brings you here? Shouldn't you be in school?" Eric gave a polite smile to his former boss's daughter. She seemed rather steamed, but he knew there was nothing she could do to get in his way.
"A percentage of Starlight Music's profits are supposed to be going to the Starlight House. I checked the books, and the Starlight House has been getting nothing since my father became ill." The middle Tendo daughter did not like Mr. Raymond's attitude. She had a feeling things would definitely not go smoothly.
"This is a business; the Starlight House puts nothing in; why should it get any of the profits?"
"Starlight Music has always been more then able to support itself and the Starlight House. In case you forgot you don't have full ownership of Starlight music, you don't get to make the decision to cut the Starlight House out of the picture." Her father's former assistant received only half of the company, why her father even gave him that much she didn't know.
"I own half of Starlight Music, you and your sisters each own one sixth; having the majority I can make whatever decisions I want."
"That's where you're wrong. Kasumi and Akane gave their shares to me. That means I also own half the business. You can't make any major decisions without consulting me." Kasumi wanted to be a doctor, and she wanted to continue the Starlight House with their stepmother. Akane just wanted to be a musician and didn't want anything to do with the more complicated things in life. Her own goal had always been to succeed her father in the business.
"You're a business student, and I have real world experience. Go back to college and when you're done I'll have Starlight Music making more profit that it has ever before." Eric did not like the young Miss Tendo wasting his time; unfortunately the Misfits were running late. "Trust me the talent I have lined up is better than anything your father ever represented."
"The talent…" Before she could finish her sentence the office door was smashed open and three girls on motorcycles came riding in. The girls circled around her laughing and enjoying themselves, if this was the talent Eric was talking about then Starlight Music was soon to be ruined.
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Ranma waited for her bag. She was rather annoyed that she was currently female because someone not paying attention to where they were walking spilled a drink on her. With cold water she became a she, and hot water returned her to her true form.
There were definitely people staring at her. If only she had some way of staying in her male form as she did for staying female. Unfortunately the form sealing earrings, given to her by Kelún didn't look right on her as a guy. As her backpack made its way down the conveyer belt she wondered where she could go to get some hot water, and then where she could find a cab.
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Nabiki parked her van in the Starlight House's driveway and then got out. She was furious; Eric Raymond was without a doubt going to ruin her father's business. She'd stop him, she had to stop him. "Akane! Kasumi!"
"What is it Nabiki?" Kasumi came out with her youngest sister, and a couple of the Starlight girls. The middle sister seemed rather angry.
"We have less than a day to get a band together." Tomorrow Eric planned to hold a rigged battle of the bands that the Misfits were sure to win. He was going to use that to launch their career. Although only Akane was interested in pursuing their mother's dream, both she and Kasumi also played instruments. The ones they had weren't too new but they would work.
"Are you serious? We've played together before, but to actually be a band? You two aren't even familiar with my songs." Akane didn't know what her sister was up to but she didn't think things would work out the way she wanted them to.
"We have to Akane, if we don't Starlight Music will be ruined." Her hatred for the Misfits wasn't just because their leader Kodachi tried to run her over after their introduction, but she didn't think they had an image her father would have approved of.
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With the help of Ba Nee, Ryoga made his way from the basement to the backyard where the Tendo sisters were practicing. Akane had mentioned her sisters had talent but he was surprised how well the three of them played together. The last two hours they had been practicing non-stop and they were coming along great. "Thank you Ba Nee."
"You're welcome."
Ryoga watched the youngest of the Starlight girls rush back into the house. He sort of wondered if the young Vietnamese girl had a crush on him. He had Akari so he wasn't really in the market for a girlfriend. Ranma would kill him if he ever dumped the brown-eyed model. "Don't you think you guys should take a break? It's going to get dark soon."
"Ryoga we have to be ready by tomorrow, and we're still missing something." Nabiki believed they were good, but they weren't good enough.
"We need a more dominant voice. Akane, you're good, but I don't think you're lead material." Kasumi knew her younger sister had been preparing all her life to be on stage, but if what Nabiki said was true, they needed to be better.
"Are you saying you or Nabiki would be better?" The youngest sister couldn't believe what Kasumi was suggesting. Her voice was the most dominant of the three of them.
"Excuse me is this a bad time?" Ranma was brought to the backyard by an older Japanese woman. Unfortunately she was once again female after a water pipe in the front yard had bust open. There were times when she could live with her curse, but today just wasn't one of them.
"Megumi! I heard Ranma was coming what are you doing here?" Turning from the sisters Ryoga saw his friend's cousin with Ms. Hinako.
"Ryoga?" What was the lost boy doing in America? Although Ryoga was her best friend, she didn't want him knowing about her curse, and had done a good job keeping it a secret from him. "Um, Ranma sent me ahead of him to scout out the Tendo sisters."
"I guess that's fair, I've been telling them all about him."
"Ryoga, a pipe burst in the front yard, do you think you can repair it before you leave for the night?" Hinako was grateful for the lost boy, if not for him the house would be worse off than it was. Frowning she wished she had done a better job of up keeping it while her husband was sick.
"Sure. I'll see you before I leave Megumi."
Ranma watched Ryoga leave with the older woman who brought him to the backyard. "Why is he here?"
"He lives around here, can you sing?"
Looking at the short haired guitarist addressing her, the pigtailed girl couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Ryoga lives in Tokyo, Japan…"
"You're joking right? I know Ryoga gets a little lost, but to come all the way from Japan?" Akane couldn't accept that. As often as Ryoga was around and the fact that he always walked everywhere, there was no way he lived in Japan.
"No, he lives a block away from Ranma, they've known each other since they were five." What was she doing? It was just the four of them; she should tell the sisters that she's not a spy for Ranma but that she was Ranma. "Look…"
"No you look, I asked you a question. Can you sing?" Where Ryoga came from wasn't important at the moment, to Nabiki nothing was more important than saving Starlight Music.
"I do karaoke a lot, but I don't know if that counts" Ever since she was fifteen her mother would make her go on dates with girls from her job, most of those dates included karaoke. A year later when she received her curse her mother started making her go out with guys from her job whenever she was mad at her husband, those dates also often included karaoke.
Kasumi got up from the drums and handed the redhead the Lyric sheet. "Can you sing for us please?"
"How is the tune supposed to go?"
Akane started playing the music to her song and then Megumi nodded her head and handed the Lyric sheet back to the older sister. She couldn't help but wonder if her sisters were putting too much faith in this stranger.
"There's music in the air. News is in the makin'. Music in the in air. Somethin' big is breakin'. Wow, look around at the sight and sound. Did we take you by surprise? Bet you can't believe your eyes. Whoa! This is only the beginning. Only the beginning."
"Stop! You're definitely our new lead singer." Nabiki smiled as brightly as she could; with Megumi's voice they were finally complete. There was no way they could lose Eric's battle of the bands.
"That was amazing!" Kasumi grabbed the redhead's hand. With the pigtailed girl's help they would save Starlight Music.
The youngest sister herself couldn't deny Megumi's talent. After listening to her, she couldn't argue that the redhead was exactly what they needed to make their group perfect. Wait…; there was one thing they were missing. "We still don't have a name for the band."
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An hour later the sisters still didn't have a name for the band but it was getting a little too dark to practice outside so Ranma helped them put the instruments into one of the two vans parked in front of the house. With everything that was going on, she still hadn't told them about her curse, and now she was a little afraid to. They were getting to know "Megumi" and telling them she didn't exist might cause trouble. Why couldn't anything in her life be simple?
"Megumi, where is your cousin? Wasn't he supposed to be arriving today?" Nabiki leaned against the van as the redhead put the last of the instruments in it. Kasumi and Akane had already returned inside to help Hinako with dinner.
"He got delayed a little. He was practicing in the airport and security got worried. It will be a day or two before they let him out."
"What does he look like? Is he cute?" Ryoga told them quite a bit about their would-be-fiancé, but the middle Tendo wanted to hear from as many sources as possible.
"He's pretty much a male version of me, 'cept he has black hair. People are always saying we could be twins." As far as her mother's friends knew she and Ranma were twins. It was only her own friends; that knew she didn't have a sister, that were told she and her original form were cousins.
Nabiki pictured a male version of Megumi and liked what she was imagining. "How smart is he? Ryoga mentioned he missed a lot of school training with your uncle."
"He did, but he was enrolled in cram schools and made up for the missed school. He passed the entrance exam for Todai." Before she was told about the marriage arrangement she thought she'd be spending the next few years a student at Tokyo University. However since she didn't really have a major in mind, her mother saw no problem with her honoring her father's arrangement now rather than later.
"He got accepted to Todai?" Tokyo University was the most prestigious college in Japan, and Ranma got accepted to it? The middle Tendo couldn't help but wonder if Megumi was making her cousin look good. If it was the truth though, maybe the engagement wasn't a bad thing. Still she had to convince Ranma she was the one for him.
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After dinner Ryoga said his goodbyes, Megumi grabbed her rather large back pack and looked to be heading out the door too. Akane grab the redhead by the arm to stop her. "Where are you going?"
"I was going to find a hotel." She'd probably be spending much of the next morning as a girl so Ranma wanted to at least spend the night as a guy.
"You should stay the night here. We may not have much, but since we've dragged you into our problem it's only right that we share what we do have." Kasumi tried to grab the backpack off the redhead's shoulders but it was unbelievably heavy. What did Megumi have in there?
"Kasumi is right, since we're forcing you to help us; the least we could do is allow you to stay here. You can use my room and I'll sleep with Akane." Since the pigtailed girl was a scout for Ranma, Nabiki was going to try and get on her good side.
"I really don't want to inconvenience you." She also didn't want to stay as Megumi all night; she was spending more than enough time female as it was.
"It won't be an inconvenience at all. Nabiki and I used to share my room anyway." The room that was now her sister's used to be shared by Shana and Aja, Kasumi used to be the only one to have her own room.
There was no escape was there? The cursed girl sighed and started to regret her decision to keep her condition a secret. It was too late now there was no going back; she had to stick to the path she chose.
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The next morning Ranma was up bright and early. Unfortunately "Megumi" wasn't a martial artist, so she might raise some eyebrows if she started practicing. It was early enough she might get away with it, but she'd rather not take the chance. With nothing better to do the redhead went into her backpack and took out a notebook. Taking out a pencil as well, she opened the book up, and started to draw.
Her mother would be happy; she loved it whenever her 'daughter' drew. Before she left her mother gave her three choices…. Was someone opening the room's door?
"I'm sorry to disturb you; I thought you'd still be asleep. I just want to grab something quickly." It was a little awkward sneaking into her own room, but she didn't want to bother Megumi. The redhead was to be their secret weapon, and she'd show Eric she knew what talent really was.
"You're not disturbing me; I've always been an early riser. Besides, this is your room feel free to come and go as you please." 'Megumi' gave the middle Tendo sister a smile. It was nice having the room to herself, but since she was a stranger in the house she expected to be walked in on, that was why she didn't try changing male. "Um, since you're here can you tell me why this Battle of the Bands is so important?"
Nabiki went to her closet and tried to find something nice to wear for the concert. Shana had made some things her and her sister could wear. "When my father died my sisters and I inherited the Starlight House, but only half of Starlight Music. The other half of Starlight music was bequeathed to Eric Raymond, our father's assistant. Part of Starlight Music's profits are supposed to go to the Starlight house, but Eric hasn't been sending any our way, and now he's trying to ruin Starlight Music by promoting a band of… of… of misfits. The Battle of the Bands this afternoon is rigged, so that his band wins. A stunt like that will be the downfall of everything my father worked so hard for, I can't allow it."
"So that's why you and your sisters formed your own band? You plan to win it yourself?" An interesting strategy but how talented was the band their father's assistant put together. The redhead was a little worried about just how well she'd sing in front of a crowd. In front of one or two people she was fine, but ….
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On the other side of the park the battle of the bands had already started, so it seemed no one was paying attention to them setting up their own stage. Apparently Nabiki was able to borrow some speakers and other sound equipment from Starlight Music since Eric Raymond was out of the building. Right now a group called the Misfits were playing, and 'Megumi' wondered if they were the band the middle sister was talking about earlier. Couldn't she have found a better word to describe them than the band's name? The redhead thought they actually did have talent, but she just didn't like their style of music herself.
The lead singer was Japanese and had long green hair, probably dyed, and wore a very peculiar leotard. The next girl with purple hair, like the lead singer played an electric guitar, was Chinese; you could hear a heavy accent in the words she sang. The last member seemed the most talented playing a Keytar, she dressed as flashy as the other two, but her hair was a normal color. The third girl looked oddly familiar
With the last speaker put in place 'Megumi' went to join the Holograms in the van to change. One of the Starlight Girls had given Nabiki the idea for the band name with a drawing she did. Samantha had designed a revolutionary entertainment system that could produce holograms and was powered by a pink gem; from that the middle Tendo decided to call their group Jem and the Holograms. The sisters were the Holograms and she of course was going to be Jem.
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Everything was going as planned. The groups were just as lousy as when they auditioned for the Battle of the Bands. As the Limp Lizards finished their song Eric stepped up to the center of the stage. "Let's hear it for the Limp Lizards!"
The boos were music to his ears. "How about the Leatherettes? Did you like the Space Cadets?"
As he introduced both bands the disgust was obvious in the crowd's cries. Then his chosen band took center stage. "Then let's hear it for the Misfits!"
The cheer made it obvious everything had fallen into place. "The first winners of the Starlight battle of the bands are…"
"There's music in the air. News is in the makin'. Music in the in air. Somethin' big is breakin'. Wow, look around at the sight and sound? Did we take you by surprise. Bet you can't believe your eyes. Whoa!"
What was that sound? Looking across the park he saw Nabiki, her sisters, and an unknown redhead on a smaller stage. Above them was a sign that read "Jem and the Holograms" and as they played more people rushed over to their stage. This could not be happening. With the Misfits in tow Eric rushed to the other side.
"Eric, you better take care of this. I will not allow those no talent commoners to beat us." Kodachi took out her gymnastic ribbon, if Eric didn't do something about this, she would.
"Shampoo think business girl get in over her head." Shampoo unsheathed a sword she had hidden within her guitar. The short hair interferer was going to pay dearly.
"Hey, they're not that bad." Ukyo pulled out a few small-sharpened spatulas. If a fight broke out she'd get in trouble for not helping. Something was familiar about the redhead; what it was though, she had no idea.
"Girls, girls. Let me handle this." As Nabiki's group finished he got right up in front of their stage. "You can't play here, this is by invitation only!"
"She invited us." 'Megumi' pointed to Nabiki. The middle Tendo would take things from here.
Nabiki put down her instrument, and smirked. She was going to enjoy this. "In case you've already forgotten Eric darling, I own half of Starlight Music. I can invite anyone I want to a Starlight Music event. I wasn't going to allow this rigged contest to soil my father's company."
"You think you can run this company better than me?" Who did this child think she was dealing with? Little Miss Nabiki Tendo was in for a rude awakening; Eric Raymond was no pushover. "In six months I'll make the Misfits more popular than Jem, and we'll have another battle of the bands. If you win, you get Starlight music; if I win I get all of the company."
"I accept that challenge." With Megumi's help, the middle Tendo knew they didn't stand a chance of losing. It was obvious the crowd was not only taken in by her voice, but also by her looks. The Misfits would lose this contest.
"Allow me to sweeten the deal."
Nabiki looked over to the new voice. He was an older man with dressed in a suit and tie, and had a mustache that sort of reminded her of her father. With him were two other men in suits with sunglasses.
"I'm Howard Sans, a movie producer. I'll offer the winners a movie contract and this fabulous mansion." Howard pointed to a picture one of his assistants unrolled. This could be a big draw for his studios.
Nabiki looked at the mansion, and thought about the movie contract. Their goal was to save the Starlight House and Starlight Music, but this 'sweeten deal' could be a great reward for all the hard work they'd have to endure for the next six months. There was only one problem she should have thought about before agreeing with Eric in the first place; was Megumi willing to spend the next six months with them?
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Lio's Corner:
- On Ranmafics(dot)com's forum there's a discussion about rare crossovers. After talking about several I'd like to see, this popped into my head, and stayed there for a while. To get it out of my system I'm going to write it. If no one cares about it, the story will end after the second Battle of the Bands, if there is enough interest I'll continue it. Yes I know this is a fusion not a crossover.
- If you didn't read my Live Journal I was unhappy with the original version of this story and I was having trouble continuing it. This version I think I'll have an easier time of producing additional chapters.