A/N: Okay, to make up for the last crappy chappie (Hey that rhymed!) and the extended length of time of not updating, I have made this chappie is more than 3 times longer than a normal chapter. (The readers simotaniously fall out of their seats disbelievingly.) Go ahead and read it. I'm NOT lying about the length. I've added some more juice to the story, making you guys more likely to mallet me from afar the next time I don't update as quickly as you'd like.
R2R's:
Dragon Man 180- I didn't include that, but in the flashbacks, you can tell that Abbey's mother acted as though she cared about him, so you can assume she worked the process out.
Mewy- I'm glad you do.
Sk8er7- My writing style may seem simple because I'm a stickler for correct grammar.
Chapter 6: The Red Knight Appears
I woke up bright and early. Akane did as well. She said it was her way of avoiding awkward situations with my brother, whatever that meant. So, she and I both got ready together. When we were in the bath water, she asked me what I thought of Thomas.
"I don't know. He's cute, and mild-mannered. I don't really think I'd mind marrying him... at one point."
"You're lucky," she said.
I almost asked her what she meant when I remembered my brother; rude and inconsiderate, it's no wonder she would say something like that. "I think I understand," I said.
She nodded, feeling my remorse for her relationship.
After that, she and I went for a casual, martial arts run, meaning too fast for unfit people.
I always had loved running; just feeling the wind blow across my body and past my ears, that numb feeling in my lungs, along with the constant, 'tap tap, tap tap,' of my tennis shoes on the pavement. Except now I had someone to run alongside me, with the, 'plip plip plip, plip plip,' of her shoes, creating a new beat. All I heard on that run was a constant, 'plap plap plip, plap plap.' That is, that's all I heard until a beastly shriek echoed through our ears and Akane and I stopped dead in our tracks and turned to face our foe.
Akane just stared at it. Bugs sometimes look disgusting, but this giant firefly, literally fire, had to be the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my entire life.
By the time Akane looked back over to me, I had already transformed into my Mew form. She was stunned to say the least; seeing me like this for the first time.
I attempted to distract it away from the normal populous by front flipping over it to the opposite side of Akane. While scanning the firefly for any weak spots, I noticed that the flames burned the strange layer of skin it had on its but, that seemed to continuously regenerate faster than human stomach cells. I could definitely go for its eyes, but not without risking a blow from its antennae that had some sort of powdery substance. I could also attempt to put out the fire on its but with water, trapping the air out of the equation. That second idea seemed more sensible, but I couldn't leave Akane to get the water. Where was Lettuce when you needed her?
"Akane! Run back and get lots and lots of water!" She hesitated until I yelled, "Now! Don't worry about me! I have some friends coming!" She nodded and began to run as fast as she could, stumbling and almost falling along the way. It took her six minutes to return to the dojo.
Kasumi was in the kitchen cooking another delicious something when Akane came bolting in through the door. "Kasumi! Come…on! We…have…to…get…lots…of…wat…er! Now! Hurry! Renee…needs…help!" she said between breaths.
Ranma heard this and left in a hurry, without any water.
Nabiki stumbled into the Kitchen a minute later and saw a half-full cauldron on a wooden board with wheels being filled by her sisters. She raised an eyebrow towards them, but they didn't even notice she had come in. Finally she voiced her question. "What's going on?"
Akane spilled all over herself what she'd been carrying to the cauldron. Her eyebrow twitched in anger and then she resumed frantically filling the cauldron. "We're getting lots of water for Réchan! She's fighting some giant and really freaky looking firefly! Aren't you going to help us get so..," Akane stopped mid-sentence because Nabiki had vanished from the kitchen. Her eyebrow twitched again with more anger.
When Nabiki had heard that, she just ran out of the kitchen dialing her cell phone to get her employees down to that spot immediately, while thinking, 'I just knew she'd be beneficial!'
Reneé tried with all her might to keep the fly away from the civilians, but to no avail. They kept running up to it, just several feet away. 'Idiots, curiosity killed the cat. Oh well, I'd better try plan 2 because 'Kanechan isn't back yet with that water.' She called forth her whip and struck its eyes from a distance. It let out a shriek of pain and anger.
'Oh crap! It's going to attack the civilians!' Renee thought as its but minimized in size and burned hotter. "Run everyone!" The people just stared. 'Mindless drones!' She ran through the crowd, clearing a path for the fly as she went.
Oh look! It's Nabichan! She'll help! "Nabiki! Get them out of here! I need more room!"
At first she just stood there, pen paused in the air as if in thought. Then she yelled, "Alright everyone! If you don't back up at least twenty feet, I'll raise the prices to all of my photos, including the pictures of Ranma, Ranko, and Akane!"
"No!" most guys and girls yelled in agony. The whole group, excluding a couple of guys who hadn't heard the announcement, meaning drooling while staring at Renee, backed up the recommended length.
"Going once, going twice!" Some guys dragged most of the guys back. In fact, all of the guys had been dragged back except one stepped forward at the last second. You guessed it. It was Kuno. "Awe, too bad," Nabiki sounded remorseful. "The prices are raised."
"Kuno! Look what you did!" some guy shouted. "A pack of guys got extremely angry, ready to pummel Kuno for his stupidity.
All this while, Renee had been successful in distracting the flaming fly. "Halt, foul monster! Thy burning flesh dost not become thee!" The fly turned toward the very, very stupid Kuno. 'Uh oh,' Renee thought. "How dare thee attack such beauty! You are but a bug on my windshield of a day free of the foul sorcerer Saotome!" Now Renee was curious. Was he talking about her father? 'Hey wait, did he say I was beautiful?' This thought distracted her for a moment as the angry bug lunged for Kuno while he was still speaking.
'Oh no! Stupid git!' Renee's thoughts raced until she came up with a solution. "Oy! You, stink bug! Weren't you fighting with me?" It worked! The bug had changed course and was now headed toward her!
...headed toward her.
...Headed Toward Her!
...HEADED TOWARD HER!
"Crap!" Renee muttered when she barely dodged a Pokemon-like flame-thrower. The bug attacked again, hitting Renee on full force!
"Oh no..." Renee thought, glancing at her burns, "It's over..."
Just then, a man with long, dark brown hair in a red version of the outfit the Blue Knight wore, rushed at the giant fire fly, fists raised. With a few maneuvers of major dirt flinging, the bug was down temporarily.
He approached Renee, picking her up bridal style. Her blurry vision prevented her from studying the victor's face. He was about to leave when Kuno walked up to him and said, "Halt! I..."
"If she doesn't get medical attention soon, there's no telling what may happen. So just let me take her to the clinic before you go on about beauteous creatures and it being your fight when it was really hers and you interrupted and made her insult it to get its attention off you." With that, he leapt into the air and proceeded to roof-hop to Dr. Tofu's office.
The audience stared after him, slack-jawed. Kuno's brow twitched in anger. It was then that a very wet Akane and Kasumi showed up with the cauldron of water, completely out of breath. "Are...we...too...late?" The audience turned to them and nodded simotaniously. Akane tiredly fell over, but Kuno caught her. "Oh beauteous Akane! You've finally come to declare your love to me! I shall date you!" Akane was too tired to object.
"No Kuno," Kasumi interjected. "We came here with the water that Mew Renee requested. I just wish we'd gotten here sooner." She looked remorseful.
"Oy! Kuno! Put 'Kane down!" Ranma shouted, very angry. Kuno turned, swinging his wooden sword in a side arch. In doing so, he cut the cauldron in half, it's contents flying towards Ranma. But it was too late. "Kuno!" the now female Ranma screamed in rage.
"Oh my pig-tailed goddess!" He dropped Akane in his pursuit of Ranma. "You've finally escaped from the vile Saotome!" He wrapped his arms around the busty redhead, only to get his head slammed into the pavement.
Tofu sensed a window in his clinic slide open. One chi signature left while the other stayed behind. He went to go check on it when he found a girl with purple hair that had 3rd degree burns on what looked like her entire body. He immediately went for the burnt cream and aloe vera.
