Takahashi and Co. Please don't sue me. I'm just a fan (not a fanboy).
Other Note: Well, I've finally found a temporary solution to my anti-space formatting problems. You guys should be able to tell when one scene ends and the next begins, now. I've also made these corrections on the previous chapters. Enjoy!
Ranma-chan: female Ranma
P-Genma: Genma in Panda form his signs
C-Shampoo: Shampoo cat form
D-Mousse: Mousse in duck form
'…': denotes thinking
(B-D) : Scene Change!
:-) Flashback (-:
LEO: Low Earth Orbit
The following afternoon Ranma sat nervously in the classroom as he served his sentence of one hour of detention. It was disturbingly quiet, as it seemed that everyone else in school had gone home, despite the fact that it was only 4 o'clock.
'Stupid Ryoga. What ever happened to that truce till this thing was over?'
He remembered how Ryoga had managed to find him during lunch and attacked him furiously. Ukyo and Akane were barely able to avoid the flying rocks of the Breaking Point attack as Ranma led Ryoga to the field trying to find out why he attacked. Of course, it had something to do with Akane, and did he say something about a slave? Ranma sighed. This was the first time he'd ever been given detention for fighting. It couldn't be any worse, either. Just sitting in a room for an hour with nothing to do but…homework. Oh, the humanity! Just then the door opened.
"Aloha, keike. You be enjoy'n your punishment, yay?" Ranma ignored him. "Mr. Godi, I be need'n ta speak wit you for da moment."
"Yes sir…" replied the detention supervisor.
The supervisor left to see what Principle Kuno wanted, leaving Ranma in the room alone. After a few minutes, the silence was starting to get to him. His danger sense started to go off and he began to glance about nervously. He looked at the clock to see how much longer he had to go before he would be free from this classroom prison. Only 4:17 p.m. Still had forty-three minutes left. He then noticed two more things about his surroundings. First, the conversation outside had stopped and Mr. Godi had not yet returned. It had been about three minutes since they stopped talking. The second thing he noticed was that he was no longer the only one in that classroom.
'Oh, God, please don't let that be who I think it is…'
"You know," said an all-too familiar voice, "you don't call, you don't write, you don't even stop my panty raids anymore. I think it's time to make up for it."
Ranma went a deep pale as he turned to face his master, which in this case meant in more than just in the martial arts.
"Aw, man," sigh Ranma.
"There's no escape this time, Ranma. I made sure that the Principle would see to that."
"What? You and Principle Kuno working together?"
"Well, I promised him a session with you if he agreed."
Ranma went pure white at this statement as he began to go into shock. Happosai, satisfied with his victory, produced a bucket of water. Ranma-chan didn't even notice the change.
(B-D)
"Faaather! Phone call for you!"
"Thanks, Kasumi. I'll be right there."
Kasumi told the caller to hold on for a minute and placed the phone next to the receiver. A few seconds later Soun appeared and picked up the phone. Nabiki walked by intent on a snack in the kitchen when Soun stopped her. She stood there, waiting for him to get off of the phone. After a few seconds Soun went into shock and nearly fainted, only to be saved by Nabiki. After another minute the stunned Soun hung up the phone.
"So what was that all about, daddy?" asked Nabiki.
"What did you do, daughter?" Soun replied with a cold glare, freezing the Ice Queen.
"Um, what are you talking about, daddy? I didn't do anything."
"Well, just tell me how you got the money for it."
"For what?"
"You must have done something horrible to get enough money to have the property and all of our debt completely paid off."
Nabiki double-blinked.
"Wha…what?!"
Soun looked at Nabiki's shocked face. "You mean…you really didn't know?"
"Dad," said Nabiki after catching her breath, "I have no idea how or who did it, but you better believe I'll find out. They may come and try to take over the dojo or something."
"Yes, please do, Nabiki. Things are bad enough already…"
"Father!" called Kasumi from the kitchen.
"Yes, Kasumi?"
"Kodachi sent a note here about an hour ago. I left it for you by the phone."
Soun and Nabiki glanced at each other, then found the note. Soun then began to read it out loud.
"I know that I cannot ask for forgiveness for what I've put Ranma and your family through over the past year, but please accept this as an act of retribution for my past sins."
Nabiki took the note and read it. Soun then noticed that an envelope had fallen to the floor. He opened it and gasped.
"What is it now, daddy?"
"This…this is…a receipt."
"For what?"
"The house…"
Nabiki joined her father in a fainting spell. Enter Kasumi.
"Oh my, Ranma's so lucky to have such a good friend. Now Nabiki won't have to work as hard to keep the house anymore."
Kasumi then picked up Soun and Nabiki and took them to their rooms so they could wake up comfortably.
(B-D)
"So all he did was jump and sit on your head, huh?"
"My back. I wasn't as strong as I am now, and that was before I started seriously training, so he got me every time."
"Heh, he wouldn't even do that much to me."
"Hey, Akane, he thought I was a guy back then. I bet that if he'd known I was a girl, he wouldn't have jumped on my back like that."
"If you say so. The only time he's ever taken me seriously was when we sparred with him last week."
"You know, that was fun. We should do that again sometime."
"Hey, why don't we do some training and really surprise Ranma next time he thinks he can take us both on at once?"
"Good idea…huh?"
Ukyo and Akane stopped as they heard some people running by the open door of the Ucchan's and the word "fire" came through. The two went outside to see someone standing there looking into the distance.
"What's going on?" asked Akane.
"Don't know," said the glorified extra with only one line. "Someone said something about the high school being on fire or something."
The girls looked in the direction the glorified extra was looking and saw smoke rising from the top of Furinkan High.
"Guess we got no school tomorrow, huh," commented Ukyo.
"Guess not…but wasn't Ranma still in detention?"
Ukyo looked back at the clock.
"It's only 4:30. He had a half-hour left…He'd be able to get out of a burning building, couldn't he?"
They glanced at each other for a moment, then ran as fast as they could. Hoping with all their might as they ran, they failed to notice two shadows jumping from roof to roof in the direction of the Cat Café.
(B-D)
"Nihao. Welcome to…Aiya! Ranma, what happen? You all white?"
Ranma-chan sighs as she sat down at an empty table. Cologne then entered the room.
"I thought I told you that your mistress would be needing you," said Cologne to seemingly nothing.
Suddenly a blur appeared at the table seated next to Ranma-chan. A person seemed to form, also completely covered with dust and ash.
"I was, but she told me that she'd be fine and to go check on Ranma."
"And a good thing, too," continued Ranma-chan. "If it weren't for him, I'd be spending some 'quality' time with the freak."
"I see. So Happy is starting to get serious now, isn't he?"
"No kidding," replied Ranma-chan. "Now he's got the principle working with him." cring
"Hmm, interesting," said Cologne. "He's trying to move the battlefield to the school now. Go and clean yourself up for work. I have to meditate on this for a while."
Cologne hopped up the stairs while Ranma-chan went to the bathroom for clean off. Shampoo quickly returned to work, completely forgetting about Susuke, who left as quickly as he appeared.
(B-D)
Suddenly she awoke in a cold sweat. As she glanced around she realized that she was in her room. She wondered for a moment how she got there, but that thought was soon overshadowed by another.
"Man, that's one heckofan act of retribution," mused Nabiki. "Well, now that that's taken care of, I don't have to extort so much money from people anymore…not to mention that near fortune I made from Kodachi earlier." Nabiki then laid down on her bed to absorb the recent events. Just then there was a knock on the door. "Sheesh, I'm getting a lot of visitors these days…come in."
"Excuse me, but where's Furin…huh?"
"Well, well, welcome back, Ryoga-baby."
"Huh? How'd I end up back here?"
"Don't know, but you might as well take a break and relax for a while." Ryoga sighed as he placed he backpack on the floor. He took a seat, finally giving his legs a rest for the first time in three days. "Comfy?"
"Um…yeah," replied Ryoga. At this point he began to realize the situation he was in.
Nabiki noticed the growing nervousness emanating from Ryoga. She grinned slightly as she remembered their last encounter during the fight. "Calm down, Ryoga-baby, I'm not going to do anything to you." This gave Ryoga little comfort. "So tell me, what did you get for my sister this time around?"
Ryoga glanced at her in surprise. "Um…why would you…um…"
"Just curious. Every time you come by you have some little nick-knack or something for Akane. I'm just wondering what you have for her this time."
"Um…well, I kinda don't have anything for her this time…sigh I thought I had left town already."
"Heh, that's funny."
"It's not so funny when you can't get to where you want to go…ever."
Nabiki was a little taken aback by this comment. Here she was trying to make conversation with the boy and he's snapping back at her. Oh well, she'll just chalk that up to travel fatigue…for now.
"Ok, so I see you not in the mood for conversation right now."
Ryoga then realized his rudeness. "Oh no, it's not that…I'm sorry. My mind's just on other stuff right now, that's all."
"Oh really? Do, pray tell, let me know what's on your mind. Dr. Tendo's counseling session is in and for this time only it's free." Ryoga seemed shocked at this announcement. "Despite what's happening this month, things have been making a turn for the better here."
"Um…ok." Replied Ryoga, unsure as how to approach this oxymoron of a free session with Nabiki. "Well, first of all, I'm trying to find Ranma again."
"What for?"
"Well, I heard from a reliable source that he had Akane take his place during one of his sessions with Happosai…'
"And what source was that?"
He thought for a moment…. then another moment past. "It was an old seer I happened across."
Nabiki then realized why he had attacked Ranma earlier that day. "I see, and when did you meet with this 'seer'?"
"Just this morning. I was in Tokyo when he called out to me. He said that there was some disturbance in the force or something and told me what Ranma did last night."
"Go no further, I think I know what happened."
"Huh?"
"That was no seer, Ryoga-baby. That was a trick. Was the seer really short with big eyes and a pointy mouth?"
"Well, short, yes, but he was wearing a hood over his head, so I couldn't see his face very well…but now that you mention it, his mouth was kinda pointy…"
"Well, that explains what happened at the school today. I think Happy tricked you so he could have some time alone with Ranma."
Ryoga thought on this for a moment, then pounded his fist on the floor. "I thought that voice sounded familiar!"
"You know, you got a weakness against people in disguise."
"Yeah, it's not easy sometimes…you're not going to tell anyone…"
"This session is completely confidential. I'm feeling very generous today."
"Wow."
"Mind if I ask you something?"
"Um, sure."
"What's in your bag?"
"Oh, this…nothing much, really. Just camping stuff."
"Oh?" she said as she stood up and made her way to his backpack. Ryoga started to get nervous as he saw just how long her legs were in those short shorts of hers. Nabiki, being an observant character, a rare thing in this universe, noticed his stare and decided to have some fun with him. "Mind if I take a look inside?" she asked cutely.
"Um…"
"Thanks." She bent over the bag, bending her right leg bent up while standing on her left leg. After going through the top layer she noticed a small side-pocket. "So many pockets in here…how do you know where everything is?"
"Um, I don't know…I just, well, you know…use it for stuff…"
As she checked this side pocket she noticed a map with several 'X's on it. Seeing as she knew about his sense of direction, she snickered and brought it out. "And what's this?"
Ryoga recognized that map and began to make a grab for the map. This caught Nabiki completely off-guard and she tripped back toward her bed. She barely managed to dodge his first attempt at the map, but he managed to grab her other wrist. Unfortunately they were both extremely off-balance. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Nabiki?" called Kasumi through the door. At this point they managed to fall onto the bed with a light 'oof' with Ryoga in a very compromising position. They were both at a loss for words as to their position, but naturally Nabiki was quick to recover. "Nabiki, is everything alright?" as the doorknob began to turn.
"Oh, everything's fine, I just didn't hear you," she replied, then she whispered to Ryoga "Don't make a sound." All Ryoga could muster was an affirmative nod. "What is it, Kasumi?"
The doorknob was released as she answered. "Dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes."
"Thanks, sis. I'll be down in a bit."
"Ok…by the way, have you seen Ryoga anywhere? I thought I saw him around the house earlier."
They glanced at each other, faces mere inches apart. Ryoga was doing his best to keep his nose from bursting out.
"No, not yet, but I'll let you know when I see him, k?"
"Ok, see you in twenty minutes."
And the initial crisis had passed. After a minute for staring at each other Nabiki broke the silence.
"So, when do you plan on getting off of me?" No reply. "Well?" Still no reply. She frowned as she took her free hand and pushed a little. He moved a little, but still no response. "Oh, I see now. Silly boy, you really are shy, aren't you?" And she pushed the paralyzed carcass of Ryoga off of her. She sat on her bed for a moment to catch her breath and recompose herself. What the heck happened just then? She knelt beside him to examine him. Sure enough, he was paralyzed with fear and embarrassment. 'Well, this won't do.' She shook him a little to wake him up. After another minute he finally began to come to. "You ok?"
He looked at her with some serious fear in his eyes. He moved quickly into a technique he had learned from Genma a while back. Nabiki recognized it immediately.
"Oh, I didn't know you knew the Pounce of the Wounded Tiger technique."
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…" he pleaded.
"Shut up already, I wanna ask you something." Ryoga promptly shut up. "Now you're going to tell me what the deal is with this map or I'm gonna make you sorry for ever thinking of pulling a stunt like that again on any Tendo for the rest of your life."
Ryoga, defeated, sat down on the floor. "It's a long story, but first, can I get a tissue?" She threw the box at his head. Ryoga winced. This is the absolute last person he wanted mad at him. He cleaned his nose as he began. "I had to swear to protect that map at all costs. If that map should fall into the wrong hands, it would be a disaster."
"Ok, what's the big deal about this map, anyway? What does it lead you to?"
"In my travels I came across several lost artifacts with some weird magical powers. Once my backpack was stolen and this old master from a far away town helped me find it. The ones who stole my backpack found several of these and used them for their own personal gain and had managed to almost destroy a small nearby village. The old master told me that it wouldn't be safe to carry all of this stuff with me, so we went to the far reaches of Japan and buried most of them. That's the only map that tells of their locations."
This really got her attention, as she remembered a lot of the stuff that had caused Ranma a lot of suffering that was because of some magical tidbit brought by Ryoga.
"So that's why you put this near the top of your backpack for easy access for anybody looking through it, right?"
"No, I put it in the deepest darkest pocket in my pack!"
"It was in the first side pocket on the right."
"…"
"Anyway, so this old master was the one who marked this map, right?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, so that means the locations should be legit." Then a light bulb clicks on in Nabiki's head. "Can you tell me what stuff you had to bury?"
"That wouldn't be a good idea."
"I don't see you having much of a choice, Ryoga, after your failed attempt to accost me and all…"
Ryoga sighed in defeat once again.
(B-D)
Friday had finally come without much incident. During the day they feared for their sanity, but now that night has come they must now face yet another challenge…how not to kill each other during the next two weeks.
"So how's this gonna be?" she asked.
The other met her gaze, equally determined and unsure. "Don't know. What Spatula Girl think?"
"Well one thing's for sure, we can keep going on like this."
"No kidding."
"Here's an idea. How about a little sparring?"
Shampoo looked at her with interest. "You? Spar with Shampoo?"
"Yeah, it worked before with me and Akane."
"Sure, why not? Shampoo don't mind some practice. Let go rooftop. More space there."
"Sure thing, and since we'll have so much space, let's spar with weapons to make things real interesting."
An evil grin appeared on Shampoo's face at this suggestion. Normally this would be a chance to take out the competition, but this would prove a far better experience. Since it's simply sparring, she can find out some weaknesses in her defense for future reference. Yes, this would be a learning experience indeed. Soon they were on the roof, weapons brandished and ready to have a "friendly spar." They circled one another, sizing the other up. How to proceed?
"Remember, Shampoo, we're just sparring, right?"
"If you say so, Spatula Girl."
Grins came upon both faces as they readied themselves. Now the fun begins. Ukyo starts things with a short hop and a headshot. Shampoo easily ducks, seeing that Ukyo was serious about the sparring bit. She tried to sweep Ukyo with a bonbori, which she easily hops over. They trade blows for about a minute before they pause.
"Heh, not bad. You haven't lost your touch considering you're a full-time waitress and delivery girl."
"You not bad yourself for full-time business owner, like Shampoo."
Ukyo arched an eyebrow. "You mean you own the Cat Café?"
"Yes. Great-grandmother training me to take over. I work like employee so Shampoo know what expect from future employees."
"Heh, not a bad idea. This some kind of Amazon tradition or something?"
"No," Shampoo snickered, "is just common business sense."
Ukyo lowered her guard for a moment. "So what's with the ditzy act, then?"
"Just because no can speak Japanese well no mean Shampoo stupid." She smiled as her words sunk in. "Oh, and thank for opening."
"Wha…whoa!"
Shampoo swept Ukyo's legs from under her, making her land right on her butt. She sat there for a moment berating herself for letting her guard down when a shadow came over here. She looked up to see Shampoo offering a hand.
"You leave opening, Shampoo take advantage. No can help." And she smiled.
Ukyo laughed to herself. "Heh, can't blame you." She took Shampoo's hand. While she pulled her up, Ukyo shifted her weight and performed a classic leg throw. It was Shampoo's turn to berate herself for thinking that Ukyo was defeated so easily. They both jumped back into a battle stance, both ready for anything. Ukyo was the first to crack a laugh, and Shampoo quickly cracked one, too. After a few seconds they were both laughing at each other.
"Heh, heh…I think that's enough for now, don't you think?"
"Shampoo agree. Is time for other training now."
"What training?"
"Shampoo least favorite part of business…book balancing."
"Heh, boy can I relate. Want a training partner?"
Shampoo regarded this Spatula Girl with curiosity. What was she trying to pull? Why should she let her look at the books for her business? And why was she being so friendly for? 'Try to get along with each other…at this moment you are both victims in the same situation. It would be wise if you could support each other rather than compete with each other.' Those were her grandmother's words. Perhaps she could practice this friendship thing with her so she can be ready to be Ranma's closest friend.
"Hey, you ok?"
Shampoo shook herself out of her thoughts. "Yes, Shampoo fine, just thinking."
"About what?"
"About what I know that you don't know," she replied with a grin.
"Ok, Martial Arts Book Keeping. Accounting will never be the same again."
The two girls laughed as they went back inside the restaurant. They didn't realized, however, that they were being watched by a shadow. He smiled, then hopped off the tree to return to his master. Then two other shadows leapt from another rooftop onto the roof of the café.
"See, I told you."
"Okay, Mousse, you made your point already. Now we just gotta figure out who the heck that was."
"That's a given, but you still gotta say it."
Ranma grumbled for a moment. "Fine…I admit…your hearing is…better…than mine."
Mousse beamed at the forced compliment. "Ok, shall we follow?"
Ranma looked to see if he could still see the shadow Mousse heard earlier. A slight movement caught his eye. "There!" And they leapt after the mysterious shadow. They followed quickly and quietly, making little noise and hiding quickly if the shadow looked back. After a few minutes the shadow finally reached its destination.
"You have got to be kidding," whispered Mousse.
"I know. This is the last place I want to be right now." They were sitting in the higher branches of a very familiar tree, overlooking a very familiar home, with a very familiar dojo, with a very familiar panda playing with a tire next to a very familiar pond. "Geez, I hope that's not somebody trying to kill me. He's not gonna be happy to find I'm not home."
"Um, Ranma…" said Mousse as he pointed toward the moon. They both looked up to see some sort of flying creature coming from the moon. As it got closer it became clear who it was.
"What the heck is he doing here?"
"Don't know, but he's not the only one. Check that out."
They looked at the door to see a tall person standing there. Kasumi answered. They were just able to hear the exchange.
"Hello, I'm here to see the grand master…" he looked at a piece of paper, "Happosai?"
"Oh yes, please come in, Mr…"
"Sanzenin, Mikado, of the world famous Golden pair of figure skating."
"Oh, yes, I do remember you. You and your partner skated against Ranma and Akane last year."
Mikado winced. "Um, yes, that was I. May I come in?"
"Oh my, I'm so sorry. Where are my manners? Please, come in."
Mikado took Kasumi's hand and gave it a quick kiss. "Thank you, Miss Tendo."
Mousse and Ranma glanced at each other for a moment.
"What the heck is goin' on here?"
"I've no idea."
"Well, look down there. We better stay quiet."
Mousse nodded as they both watched this strange meeting near the pond of the Tendo Dojo. There was some kind of monster with horns on his head, what seemed like tentacles bunched up on its back, and a tail with what seemed like eyes. The shadow they were following earlier jumped down from the roof next to the monster, then quickly fell to the ground and inched away while frantically pointing at it once noticing what he was next to. Mikado came out, and his eyes went wide. Suddenly the main attraction showed up, with a kettle.
"Change back already, you're scaring everybody," said the short shadow as he threw the kettle at the monster. It didn't flinch when it hit it, slashing hot water over it. The other two were shocked beyond words as the monster turned human in an instant. "Ok, now that that's over with."
"What the heck is going on, Master?"
"Relax so I can introduce you guys," commanded the short shadow as it revealed itself. "As you know, I am the grand master, Happosai." He gestured to Mikado. "This is Mikado Sanzenin, the best in Martial Arts Figure Skating." He then turned to the cloaked shadow. "Take off that stupid cape, Ken."
"Sorry, master," he answered as he removed his cloak.
"This is Copycat Ken, imitator extraordinaire. He can imitate any attack and form he sees. And finally, the muscle of the group…"
"I am Taro," he interrupted.
Happosai shot a growl at Taro. "Yes, this is Pantyhose Taro, the terror of China."
BONK!
"Don't call me that!"
Snicker, snicker.
"Laugh and I shall destroy you both."
The snickering promptly stopped.
Happosai grinned. This is gonna be fun. "Let's play nice, now." Their attention was now on Happosai. "I've called you here for a reason. I have a few girls to spend some time with, and they're playing hard to get. I'm willing to let each of you have a little free time with them once we can bring them here, alone."
Mikado and Ken pondered this while Taro's face became red with embarrassment or anger, no one could tell.
"You dare summon me across the Sea of Japan just so you could spend some stupid time with some stupid girls! I'll hear no more of this. In fact," he starts to crack his knuckles, "I should kill you now so I wouldn't have wasted this trip."
"You sure you wanna do that?" ask Happosai. "There could be a name change in it for ya." This froze Taro in his tracks. Defeated, he turned around to listen to what he had to do. "Good. What say you two?"
"A strong offer, grand master," answered Mikado, "But there's only one girl that has resisted me, and I must make her want me."
"A man after my own heart," replied Happosai with sparkles in his eyes. "Well you're in luck. One of the girls just so happens to be that same redhead that spurned you before."
"Then I'm in."
"And Ken?"
The three looked at Ken, who seemed somewhat nervous. "Well, I could help, but I just want you to train me so I can beat that Ranma guy."
"Then you're in. Good. Come back here tomorrow mourning and I'll give each of you your assignments."
The three nodded and dispersed. Mousse and Ranma glanced at each other and nodded. Once the coast was clear, they fled.
(B-D)
Wouldn't you flee if you saw that crew? I know I would. Of course you know, Happi lied to Mikado about Akane, the one girl that actually resisted him, but he doesn't need to know that. Anyway, I really hope you enjoyed this. Keep leaving me feedback so I can continue this story. I have a few more ideas, but I'd really like to hear what you guys think. Is everybody still IC? Did I have any major screw-ups in here? Let me know. See you in a couple of weeks.
© Den Scurman 2004
