Disclaimer; This fanfiction uses existing ideas, characters and or worlds, but is an independent work of art. I own nothing, hence the reason for publishing my writings here instead of in real books where I could make some money.
-Chapter Three-
Discoveries
Ranma was out hunting, nearly two months later, and had gathered enough so they would not go hungry to bed.
As he contemplated returning to Zumi, he heard the Pikachu's distressed cries from the cave.
Without a second thought, Ranma set off at speeds that made even some of the larger trees sway dangerously in the vacuum he left behind. He stopped in the nearest tree to the cave, and took stock of the situation.
There was a boulder with arms floating about trying to hurt Zumi. Not far away stood a green-haired woman, garbed in Amazonian armour, with a backpack and a belt with small spheres. She was holding a larger version of those spheres in her hand, as though readying it to be thrown. And what set Ranma off, was that the woman, though attractive, was commanding the boulder to attack Zumi.
Nobody attacked his friends unpunished, even if she was the first human he had seen in months of only having an electric mouse for company.
With a roar, Ranma sent a massive but relatively harmless ball of ki at the boulder and landed between Zumi and the Amazon woman.
"Leave my friend alone," he threatened, looking very savage with a knotted vest of brown leather and shorts to match, a few feathers of those delicious birds stuck into the holes near the top of his shoulder for decoration, and several of the same dead birds hanging limply from his left hand.
"Go away, male, know your place!" the woman threatened back, fingering the spheres on her belt. The way she announced his gender made his opinion of her as an Amazon rock solid.
Annoyed, Ranma flipped backwards and landed in front of the now confused hunk of rock before tossing it at her, quickly following up with a stronger ki-blast.
-BOOOM!-
The Amazon and her boulder were launched into the horizon, vanishing in a sparkle that looked almost like a twinkling star.
He looked after her for a few seconds before turning to his friend.
"Are you okay?" he asked and started lifting the mouse's ears and arms to check for injuries.
"Pika!" Zumi called when Ranma was fussing at his worst. With his foot, he wrote "Is fine!"
"Well, okay, but we need to pack," Ranma responded. "That woman knows where we live, now, and if or when she returns, I doubt she'll be very happy with us."
The Pikachu agreed with his statement, and sat on the ground for a moment, looking around.
"What use carry?" he asked finally, scratching his yellow "hair".
"I anticipated that question, and ..." Ranma walked to the very back of the cave, shortly after, returning with a crude blanket. "… made this blanket to sleep in. I can just carry anything else in my pockets."
"Got pockets?"
"Not real ones, no," Ranma replied. "It's a martial arts technique to hide weapons. But since I despise them, I adapted it to hide anything else I want to."
Zumi looked dubious, but nodded anyway. Ranma demonstrated by stuffing the large blanket in his vest, seemingly not taking up any space at all. While Ranma went about gathering what they had, placing the dead birds in the pot and the gold in his shoe, Zumi spotted something and left Ranma's sight.
Not until the only sign that there had been human presence in the cave; was the dark spot where the fire had been, did Ranma notice his friend missing.
"Zumi?" he asked, fearing the worst.
"Pikachu!" he heard him reply from the direction where the Amazon had been standing.
"Zumi, what are you doing?" he asked, curious, concerned and sternly.
The Pikachu turned around with the red and white sphere with a black line along the weld in his arms, presenting it to him with a small " Chu."
"What is this thing?" asked Ranma as he accepted the sphere, examining it.
"Pokéball," wrote Zumi after a bit of pondering on how to write the explanation. "Use keep Pokémon in, cage."
"What is a Pokémon?"
Zumi pointed at himself in response to Ranma's question.
"I thought you were a Pikachu?"
"Am, Pokémon also," Zumi then pointed at the feathers on Ranma's leather vest. "Were Pokémon also. Ursaring. Pidgey." His paw then directed itself at the bracer with the bone senbon needles. "Magicarp." Then directed his paw back at himself. "Pikachu."
"Aaah, Pokémon are animals."
Zumi nodded slowly at this.
"Well, I'm not going to have a prison with me," said Ranma with determination. His arm raised and he prepared himself to throw it. Only to have it halted by Zumi.
"Check, maybe full," he wrote. Ranma paled at the thought of condemning a poor defenceless being to starvation in a cage.
"How do I check it?" he asked seriously, turning the ball around in his hand, looking for a latch to open.
"Try cage Zumi."
"What?!"
"If full, no work," wrote Zumi while looking sagely, as though he had witnessed this before. "If not, Pokéball Zumi cage."
"There must be a better way," Ranma pleaded. Zumi looked pensively at the sphere that was identified as a Pokéball. With a determined look that rivalled Ranma's when he was about to throw the Pokéball, Zumi punched at the white button that was at the centre along the seam of the opening.
The sphere cracked open and a red beam of light hit Zumi, and enveloped him, before swallowing the red light and Zumi. The button blinked in red for a few minutes before it stopped.
Ranma nearly panicked and tried to pry the two halves of the thing apart with no luck even with his massive strength.
"Zumi, come out!" he called desperately.
To his amazement, the ball popped open, and it spat out a red light, releasing Zumi.
The Pokémon didn't even get the time to shake off the after-effects of the Pokéball before he was nearly choking against Ranma's shoulder in a hug that would have crushed steel.
"Pi!" he squeaked pitifully and waved his tail in Ranma's face to make him let go.
"Huh?" Ranma asked and held his friend at arms' length.
"Am fine," Zumi wrote on the ground and shoved the Pokéball towards Ranma's vest. "Keep, Zumi cage. If hurt, cage. If tired, cage. Ask, open cage."
Ranma hardly understood, but pocketed the ball in a sub-space pocket, with all their other things.
"I'm going to have to make you something for putting up with me," he stated. "Would you like a headband? Or a vest?"
Zumi blushed while considering, his right ear twitched slightly as he reached a decision and indicated his chest.
"Vest it is," agreed Ranma, "I'll make you one tonight when we make camp. Now, let's get going."
He held out a hand to the foot tall Pokémon and tapped his shoulder. Zumi took a hint, and was soon resting on Ranma's shoulder as they headed west in search of human civilisation.
For the next few days, all Ranma and Zumi did, was walk, eat, train, write, hunt and sleep. Ranma found it very useful to keep his ki-blade out at all times, as insects the size of his head kept popping up around them, and tried to attack the smallest member of the duo before attacking Ranma. This was, of course, unacceptable, and resulted in said insects falling to the forest floor in several pieces.
Ranma refused to use the Pokéball again, and noticed the relieved expression Zumi gave at the news.
When Ranma had made Zumi the promised vest, out of leftover leather strips, the creature hardly stopped hugging him, and proudly wore the piece of clothing.
Zumi's training in the martial arts was going excellent. While the species of Pikachu, according to what Ranma could get from Zumi, is naturally fast, they are weak. This was something Ranma could fix easily. He knotted a small backpack that Zumi was made to carry, and filled it with rocks. This would not only build strength, but also endurance. Speed was trained after they had made camp, so that the electric Pokémon would not lose it. Ranma set up something similar for himself, to keep his own strength and endurance up, although he rather tied a large boulder to his back instead of a backpack with rocks.
The electrical attacks that Zumi used became stronger as well, due to the constant use when writing.
Their friendship had only grown stronger, and Zumi no longer showed any shock or surprise when Ranma changed genders because a pigeon-like bird took off from tall branches and shook water from either rain or dew down on them.
To make it easier, Ranma simply tightened the string that ran through her vest and after those incidents remained a woman until camp had been made. It would have been a waste of time to stop and boil water, only to be splashed shortly after the warm water had been spent.
Zumi didn't mind one way or the other and learned more and more words every day. Ranma, unlike what was thought of him during his school days, was smart. It was his father's fault that Ranma acted as dim as he was. It was unmanly to be intellectual, so when Ranma was a child and got good marks, his father would go on and on about the virtues and priorities of a martial artist, so in the end Ranma simply pretended, and did an excellent job of it. He nearly wanted to buy a book on grammar to give Zumi, to help the mouse along. Maybe a dictionary ... Ranma mused. There was bound to be a bookshop when they got to a proper city, if the Amazons weren't the most advanced, that is.
After a week of walking, they met a cobbled road, leading from north to south, or the other way around. Flipping a carved bone was the only logical way to choose which way to go.
They ended up going south.
Not wanting to take chances, they camped just out of sight of the road when resting.
It took them another two days to reach a village apparently named; Shieldon, if the sign was any indicator of the name. It was, as Ranma suspected, an Amazon village, so out of reflex, he splashed himself with water.
Getting in around the guards was easy with Ranma's skills, and she had, reluctantly, put Zumi in his Pokéball, as he had requested. It would be hard sneaking in with a foot tall yellow mouse either following or riding on her shoulder. With her clothing, nobody suspected Ranma of being an outsider as she exchanged some of the nuggets of gold for money.
With the newly acquired money, Ranma made some purchases … mostly supplies. These Amazons were surprisingly modern in their shops. A sleeping bag, food, a tent, a proper pot with a stand, bowls and spoons, a thermos, some other clothes - similar to the outfit she was wearing - and the much desired dictionary ("Weedle's Fifth New International Dictionary"). The saleswoman managed to push some more of those Pokéballs on her, but luckily not more than two, as she had deducted that she was going on a long trip from all the supplies. She had tried to sell her some potions, but Ranma had refused, earning an appreciative nod from the Amazon.
"You're right," the saleswoman said, "only weaklings need to use potions. But I am forced to try and sell them anyway … Pokémon League rules, you know …"
She then pointed out some stickers on the side of the shop that had letters or pictures on them. Apparently, "trainers" used these to mark their Pokéballs so they could tell them apart. Ranma declined, but purchased a handbook for what Pokémon she could encounter in the wild around these parts.
"Remember your training, sister," the saleswoman said as Ranma was leaving the shop. "When catching wild Pokémon, weaken them first! That makes it easier to catch 'em, and you'll waste less Pokéballs."
Nodding absently, Ranma left the shop, and took a look around for something else to do while in human contact again.
She walked around a bit, and came upon what claimed to be a Pokémon Gym.
Curious about how Pokémon would train in this facility, Ranma entered it, expecting to be greeted by a health club filled with Pokémon and their Amazon owners at various machines or activities to strengthen them. She did not expect to see that the entire building was open on the inside, and a small field was painted in the centre, where young Amazon girls were standing in line before a middle-aged woman with bluish-green hair. In the field was a small dragon, looking to be no more than a baby, competing against a giant blue turtle with a pair of cannons sticking out of its shell. The girl was desperately commanding her dragon to evade the blasts of water the turtle was spewing from the cannons.
Curious, still, Ranma took a place at the back of the line. She wanted to give this a try.
Studying the handbook, Ranma took note that the girls used a wide variety of Pokémon. There were the nine Starter Pokémon of the three continents where the Pokémon had migrated from, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Treecko, Torchick, and Mudkip. Those were the ones used the most. Then there were others. A boulder like the one that had attacked Zumi back at the cave, a Geodude according to the handbook. A bat without any eyes, Zubat. A golden brown fox with hands, Abra. And a Pikachu.
Finally, Ranma was first in line, after having seen each of the girls lose with such ease on the woman's part that it seemed they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag compared to her.
"You seem a bit old, sister, are you certain you wish to challenge me?" the woman asked.
"I'm sure," Ranma replied, having spotted the weaknesses in the woman's slaves. "Bring 'em all on."
"Confident, aren't we?"
"I have good reasons to be."
"Very well, sister, if you wish. Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, Golem, Alakazam, Scizor, I choose you!"
Six of the blasted spheres were thrown into the field, and six creatures popped out. The first was a massive, orange, western-style dragon with a violent glint in its eyes. The second was the huge turtle. The third, a blue reptilian quadruped with a large flower-like palm tree on its back. The fourth was a huge ball of boulders with a head, two arms and two legs. The fifth, looking like a padded Abra with a moustache, a star on its forehead and a spoon in each hand. And finally, the sixth looked like a preying mantis with red armour, and mouth-like clamps with jagged, teeth-like edges in place of the traditional scythe. They all lined up in front of Ranma.
"You still have a chance to back out, sister," the woman called as Ranma evaluated her opponents and planned how to win.
"No killing, right?" Ranma asked to make sure she understood the rules of engagement.
"Right, just incapacitation without permanent injury."
Ranma nodded in understanding. "I'm ready. On the count of three. One."
"Then take out your Pokémon!"
"Two."
"Take out your Pokémon, sister!"
"One, attack!"
Before a third warning was issued, Ranma stepped into the field and took a ready stance.
"Are you crazy?! You'll be killed!"
"No."
"Fine, but I'm not cleaning you off my floors! Pokémon, attack!"
These things have no cooperation skills, thought Ranma as she charged into the oncoming burst of fire from the Charizard. The woman winced at what she thought to be the demise of a brave Amazon warrior, but was shocked beyond belief when Ranma ran out the other side of the blast, only slightly singed.
Before the Amazon could bring herself to speak, Ranma raced at the dragon using speeds that made the rest of the fire extinguish from pressure.
Using the creature's height against him, Ranma jumped up and while kicking, ran up the chest of the massive thing, ending with a back flip when reaching the head, making the head of the Charizard snap back.
Not waiting, Ranma proceeded to land in front of the falling dragon and leap onto the turtle, dropping as heavy as lead on its head, knocking it out at once.
Using a revised version of the Breaking Point technique mixed with pressure points, Ranma knocked the Golem out with a single tap before facing the three difficult opponents.
Ranma realised quickly that she was unable to move towards them anymore, because she was suspended a few inches above ground. By the looks of it, it was the Alakazam that was doing it, due to the intense concentration it was showing.
The Venusaur was starting to inch some tentacle-like vines towards her, while the Scizor was circling her and leaving afterimages.
Time for drastic measures, Ranma thought and memorised the set pattern the creatures were moving in. With a roar, she threw out her arms and sent three white ki-blasts, hitting each Pokémon directly, and causing them to faint from the power she put into the blast.
"Now, lets get it on," stated Ranma and cracked her knuckles as she advanced on the woman.
"Cheater!" the woman cried as she came over the shock of the seven seconds long match.
"I followed the rules," said Ranma as she came closer.
"You did not," the Amazon protested. "Trainers are not to interfere in a Pokémon battle! You are a cheater, and cheaters are punished!"
Although she was feeling confident in her ability, Ranma did not want an entire Amazon nation out looking for her blood because she handed a group of warriors their posterior. So, she did what the Saotome school of Anything Goes dictated … she ran away, leaping out the window several metres above ground, and fled the village before she could get caught.
As she ran, and jumped the walls surrounding the village, Ranma heard the guards being alarmed, and people organising something. This was not the first impression she had wanted to leave behind. While running, she released Zumi, and made sure to grab the mouse before he was left behind.
"Sorry, no time for you to ask me what's wrong," she said as the two rushed north on the cobbled road. "I was accused of cheating in a match, and they plan on punishing me for it."
"You have me fight for you!" stated a sign Zumi pulled from nowhere, just before it impacted on Ranma's head from the fierce winds the high speed met. Where do people get those signs? Ranma wondered as she ran like the wind, literally. It must have been some martial arts move, or magic at work, but where does an animal that can write get hold of those signs?
"How was I supposed to know that?" she asked, "I like to do my own fighting!"
"Is how done!" the next sign said, this time not banging against her, but was hidden away. "Understand? Is rules! Follow rules!"
Ranma growled at the point her friend was making.
"Fine, but you are going to learn everything in the dictionary I got you, within a month, as punishment!"
"Pika!" squawked Zumi in undignified outrage. "Why punish?"
"Because, not letting me fight my own battles is punishment for me, and misery loves company!"
Ranma kept up the running for the rest of the day, not stopping to look behind her once.
As the dark crept over the land, the two refugees sought shelter a good few paces out of sight from the road before making camp.
Zumi found his new ability to hold out signs to speak was much more amusing and productive, as not everybody would bother to look at the ground where he had written, therefore would not notice. A Pikachu holding up a large wooden sign with writing ... that was taken notice of. Ranma could only groan in frustration. But even she had to admit that it was a time-saver.
She quickly filled the thermos she had gotten, with warm water, before dumping the rest on herself.
Ranma set the pot down on the fire, once more filling it with water, but this time was not for splashing, it was to mix with the powdered or dry food he had gotten in that Amazon village. He had to admit, that powdered and tinned food was very good to use when preparing a meal in the wild … one just had to be careful what became of the waste. Zumi quickly agreed with Ranma once he had tasted the finished product, even if he had questioned the taste of something that looked like it had just come out of a pig with a bad stomach, mixed with a few colourful bits of something.
The only training the two did that night, was trying to sneak pieces of food from the other's plate, without Ranma getting shocked in a moment of righteous fury.
Slightly singed, and twitching every now and again, Ranma tried to fall asleep in the tent and bag, but the signs that kept bopping him on the head kept Morpheus away.
"Please?"
"No."
"Pretty please?"
"No."
"You very pretty, please?"
"Why do you even want me to etch something into your cage?"
"Call Pokéball, for tell apart, my mark."
"You want your own mark on the Pokéball?" Ranma asked to confirm what he had read.
"Yes. Please?"
Ranma groaned in defeat.
"If I do so tomorrow, will you let me sleep?"
"YES!" the sign was followed by an enthusiastic "Pika!" another sign bopped the martial artist on the head. "Good sleep!"
"It's "good night", Zumi," Ranma corrected tiredly, "Sleep well."
The sign bopped Ranma's head once more, "Good night!"
By noon the next day, Ranma and Zumi, who was out of the Pokéball and on Ranma's male shoulder, arrived at another village, named Stabit.
Unfortunately, Ranma got splashed just before he entered the village, and immediately spotted a hunting party handing out her picture marked with "wanted". Behind the hunting party, several huge pigeons with colourful plumage were waiting.
Not long after that, she was spotted, forcing her to seek refuge in a house that had a conveniently unlocked door. Once inside, Ranma poured some of the thermos over her head. Zumi shook his fur and vest with disdain while letting out a complaining " Chu!"
Ranma was about to pull the curtain of a window aside to check if he lost his pursuers, when he heard a gentle "Oh my!" from behind him. He spun around, and came face to face with a woman he could have sworn was Kasumi with redder hair and at a younger age of twenty. She was clad only in a fluffy pink towel, and looked at him like he was death-incarnate.
"Please don't hurt me!" she pleaded at once, most likely thinking him a sexual offender.
Ranma quickly covered the woman's mouth and shushed her quietly, showing he had no ill intent towards her. He quickly explained the situation to her in low whispers, leaving out the change of gender, and pleaded her not to give him away. When the woman was relatively calm, all things considered, she initiated the introductions.
"My name is Delia, Tekkomikon Delia."
Ranma accepted the offered hand and gave it a gentle squeeze and gentlemanly kiss.
"My name is Ranma, er ... Ketchum Ranma," the name was the first one that sprung to his mind, due to what the saleswoman in the previous village had said about "Catch 'em" while referring to Pokémon. Technically, Ranma was ronin, as he had run away from home, but it always sounded better to have a family name while introducing oneself. It also seemed that one followed the tradition of stating family name first during introductions here, as they did in Japan …
The two had a casual conversation, forgetting about the state of undress Delia was in, and only occasionally interrupted by Zumi, who also wanted a say in things.
Delia was very surprised at a Pokémon that could write, let alone make the words appear on a sign, even if the vocabulary was rather limited. It took a few moments before Ranma thought to look for his hunting party.
"They're gone," he sighed. "I have intruded on your hospitality long enough, good bye, Tekkomikon-san."
"Wait!"
Ranma halted as Zumi climbed onto his shoulder.
"Take me with you!" she pleaded. "Mother sees me unfit to choose my own husband, and is right this minute in the village of Scarred to interview the mother of a potential one. Please, I want to have an adventure before I'm forced into marriage!"
This hit home for Ranma. He knew what it was like with arranged fiancées, and knew that if someone had been a chance to escape the fiancée mess at the beginning, he would have latched on as well.
"Okay, you can come," he agreed.
Zumi looked questioningly at his friend.
"Great!" Delia squealed in delight and grabbed his hand. "You can wait outside my room while I pack!"
Being pulled up the stairs as easily as he was, Ranma started to wonder why she chose to wait until they arrived to run away from home. While the excited woman ran around frantically and packed her backpack, Ranma and Zumi leaned against the wall while sitting … just waiting for Delia to finish, as promised.
"Remember to only bring anything you can't live without!" he called out as a reminder … it wouldn't do for her to slow them down by bringing more than she could carry.
Fifteen minutes later, Delia stood in front of him, dressed in a red and black cloth version of his clothes, and ready to go. Ranma noticed the Pokémon belt she had on. He was relieved that she only had three. At least she wasn't all that bad. On her back was a modern backpack with most of the same equipment Ranma had with him, only she was not able to hide it all within the folds of space.
"Follow me," she stated and pulled the martial artist with her to the balcony on the first floor. Delia took a Pokéball from her belt and tossed it in the air. "Columba, I choose you!" she called.
The red and white sphere opened and spewed the red light Ranma had come to know. When the light vanished, a bird like the ones that were behind the hunting party was hovering in place.
"Climb aboard!" she called after having settled herself. Zumi nodded at Ranma's questioning look.
"Okay," he agreed and climbed in behind the attractive woman.
"Columba, to the forest, head east!" Delia called out.
As the large bird took off, none of the people on the streets or marketplace in the village seemed to react. It was almost as though it was commonplace for people to fly off on large birds.
Author's Notes: As some of those who really followed this story may have noticed, I changed the name "Delilah" to "Delia". The reason for this is that I checked multiple sources I did not know of when I originally wrote this story, and merely quoted the name from memory, which is a really bad thing to do, as the mind has a way of distorting everything slightly even if the information is beat into the brain. Also, I have discovered enough sloppy mistakes only to this point to make me ashamed of myself for not doing a more thorough job of checking the story before posting it.
