Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma but I call dibs on any techniques I invent for this story.
"" Speaking
>> Thoughts or telepathy
#Sound Effects
( ) Author wants to make a pun/comment
Bold Feline spirit is talking
Italic Speaking over a loudspeaker, on the other end of a telephone, or Diary Interlude
Chapter Three: School is in Session"The Nekoken!" Ranma exclaimed. He was in shock that Nabiki and Dr. Tofu would know it. "You two know the Nekoken?"
"Actually, we know the true version. Not the tainted version that your idiot of a father taught you." Tofu explained. "That version was banned for a reason."
"True version? What're you talking about?"
"I'll explain upstairs." Tofu told him. "If you two would like to practice a little more then go ahead. I'll just prepare some breakfast for the three of us. I'll call you when it's ready."
With that said, Dr. Tofu went back upstairs leaving the two youth alone in the underground dojo.
"Well…" Nabiki spoke up after finally catching her breath. "…I'm going to do my usual training exercises. You can join me if you like."
"Sounds good." Ranma replied as he followed her deeper into the dojo.
Ranma spent the next half hour watching Nabiki's amazing workout. First she started out with one hundred sit-ups. Then she moved on to two hundred jumping jacks. After that she moved on to two hundred squats and deep knee bends.
"How is this training?" Ranma asked curious. His usual training exercises consisted of several different katas which he was doing while watching her.
"I'm just trying to get back into shape." Nabiki told him. She did her one hundred and fifty-second squat before continuing. "I've haven't been training for a very long time so I need to work out if I ever hope to be as good as I used to be."
"You seem good enough to me." Ranma replied still shocked that she'd beat him in a sparring match.
"If your referring to my beating you, it doesn't count." Nabiki responded. "One hundred and fifty-six. I was lucky."
"You were?" Ranma replied in shock.
"Yeah. If I hadn't caught you in the Cat's Cradle technique I would have been two seconds from losing." Nabiki confessed. "Hopefully I'll be back to the way I was soon. Then I can get around to mastering the Merger."
"The what?" Ranma asked curious.
"The Merger. One hundred and sixty-seven." Nabiki explained. "It's the final technique of the school. Once mastered, the only one who can defeat you is another Nekoken Warrior."
"I see." Ranma said as he digested this new information. "Is it hard?"
"Very." Nabiki answered. "It pretty much resembles you when you go under the tainted Nekoken. Only with the Merger, you have complete control over it."
"Whoa!" Ranma replied impressed. "That's kinda cool."
"I know." Nabiki said.
Ranma watched as she finished her squats and knee bends, when she asked for his help in the next exercise. He was surprised by what kind of workout it was, but was also impressed. Nabiki assumed a handstand position with her knees bent. Then Ranma placed some pallet boards on her bent legs, followed by approximately over two hundred and sixty pounds of weight on top of them. From this position, Nabiki would start pushing her body up and down, similar to pushups, for about two hundred times. While this did look dangerous, Ranma remembered his own father trying a similar technique on him when he was younger. He was about to ask how she was able to handle the weight so effortlessly when he noticed her arms glowing from the Chi-Tattoos technique she used earlier.
When Nabiki finished her two hundredth handstand pushup, Dr. Tofu's voice filled the dojo.
"Nabiki, Ranma! Breakfast is ready!" His voice told them.
"Where'd that come from?" Ranma asked confused.
"Daddy installed a loudspeaker system a long time ago." Nabiki answered as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. "This way if I'm training while he is upstairs and one of the Tendo's shows up, I can get upstairs quickly."
"I see."
"Can you tell my dad I'll be a few minutes?" Nabiki asked. "I wanna get a quick shower in."
"Sure thing." Ranma told her as he headed upstairs, while Nabiki headed for the changing room.
Once inside, she stripped off her sweat filled gi, and climbed into the shower stall. She then began to scrub herself clean as the warm water poured all over her body.
>So Ranma's joining the school huh?> The voice of Nabiki's feline spirit, Aurora asked in Nabiki's head.
"Looks like it." Nabiki replied as she let out a sigh as the warm water relaxed her aching muscles. "I always wanted to help him with that tainted version, but I couldn't without revealing the truth."
>You don't have to explain it to me.> Aurora replied. >I may have been sealed within you, but I saw everything you did the last couple of years. >
"I know." Nabiki said. "It just hurt to know I could help him and I couldn't do anything about it."
>You really like him don't you?> Aurora replied in teasing tone of voice.
"No I don't!" Nabiki responded blushing.
>Yes you do!> Aurora teased. >Ranma and Nabiki sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First come love, then comes…>
"Cut it out!" Nabiki yelled at her spirit beast. "I have not now, nor have I ever liked Ranma!"
>Say's you. I can tell you know.> Aurora told her.
"Why don't you come out here and say that?" Nabiki said as she finished her shower and began to dry off.
>Nah. It's more fun to bug you from in here!> Aurora replied.
"Aurora I'm gonna…" Nabiki started to say when the door to the changing room opened and Ranma walked in. He quickly blushed as he realized what he was looking at.
"Ahhhh!" Ranma exclaimed covering his eyes. "Sorry!"
"What the hell do you think your doing?" Nabiki asked as she quickly covered herself with her towel.
"Doc said I could use a shower too." Ranma answered sounding very embarrassed.
"Oh." Nabiki said as she realized why he'd walked in on her. "You didn't know this was the women's changing room did you?"
"Women's?" Ranma exclaimed as he finally looked at her. "You mean there's more then one down here?"
"Of course." Nabiki replied. "Just step outside and feel the wall around the left side of this door. You should be able to find it then."
"Okay." Ranma said as he headed for the door. Before he walked out he turned back to her though. "Sorry about walking in on you."
"No harm done." Nabiki told him. "Just knock next time."
"Gotcha." Ranma replied as he left the room.
>Well, you didn't seem to mind him seeing you in the buff Nabs. Could you be planning to do the same, hmmm?> Aurora said when Ranma was gone.
"It was an accident." Nabiki insisted as she changed into her clothes. "It couldn't be helped. Also, I am not going to peek on him, and that's final!"
>Yeah sure. Keep telling yourself that, and maybe one day you'll believe it as well.> Aurora responded.
"Whatever." Nabiki muttered as she left the changing room.
"Wow! What a spread!" Ranma exclaimed after he'd had his shower.
Dr. Tofu had gone all out in making a hearty breakfast. He'd decided on a western style meal. On the table in front of them sat plates of scrambled eggs, pancakes, French toast, bacon and sausage, and a big bottle of maple syrup. Ranma looked at the meal and felt his mouth water. It all looked very delicious.
"Please, help yourselves." Dr. Tofu told his two students as everyone began to dig into the food.
Nabiki made herself a plate of eggs, two pancakes, and five pieces of bacon. Dr. Tofu had the same, only with French toast instead of pancakes instead. Ranma took a little bit of, well make that a lot everything.
"So Ranma, I promised to tell you about the school correct?" Dr. Tofu politely brought up.
"Yef u did." Ranma replied with a mouth full of pancakes. (Translation: Yes you did.)
"Well, let me begin." Dr. Tofu started to explain as he sipped some tea he'd prepared. "The true Nekoken was developed not on this world, but another."
"Unofer wood?" Ranma questioned. (Translation: Another world?)
"It's not polite to talk with your mouth full Ranma." Nabiki said chastising the pigtailed martial artist. "It's also disgusting."
"Sorry." Ranma replied embarrassed. "So what do you mean another world doc?"
"The true Nekoken was developed on the other-dimensional world of Jade." Dr. Tofu continued. (That's right folks! This just became a Ranma/Gold Diggers, crossover!) "In this world all kinds of creatures considered to be myths exist. The Nekoken fighters are considered to be one of the top fighting styles there."
"I see." Ranma said. "So why is it here on earth?"
"Well it was originally developed to combat the different Were-Creatures that reside there, until we realized that they were no threat and just wanted to live in peace." Tofu continued. "We'd heard about several dangerous creatures here and decided to help this world out. So, with the help of mages some of our warriors came to earth. That was when the trouble all began."
"What trouble?" asked Ranma as he ate some sausage.
"Many different fighters grew to become jealous of our skills in the art." Tofu answered. "So jealous, that they tried to steal our secrets. This resulted in the tainted version."
"You see Ranma, several spies entered one of our camps one night undetected, and witnessed our putting a trainee into a pit with fish sausages." Tofu continued to explain. "Then they heard the sound of cats and assumed that that was the secret to mastering it. They continued to try until finally hungry cats were used."
"So how was that the creation of the tainted version?"
"Because the trainee was going into a pit of cats, but not hungry cats." Tofu told him. "They entered the pit to become their friend and trusted ally by sharing their only food, the fish sausages, with the cats. Then they would accomplish the first step in mastering the Nekoken."
"What's that?" Ranma asked.
"To be able to bond with any felines in question. To determine if they had a feline spirit within them." Tofu explained. "If the trainee couldn't bond with the cats, then he would not have a feline spirit and could not master the Nekoken."
"What the heck is a feline spirit?" asked Ranma.
"I'll field this one daddy." Nabiki said finally speaking up. "Many cultures in our world and in Jade, believe that an animal spirit exists within the human spirit. These animals can range from bears, to wolves, to birds and even cats."
"So the masters of the Nekoken are able to call upon the feline spirits within themselves and use them to aid them in combat." Nabiki continued. "They can even use their own chi to create a temporary body for the spirit outside their own and communicate as though it was another human being."
"You've gotta be kidding me." Ranma replied skeptical.
"We can prove this Ranma." Dr. Tofu told Ranma as he leaned across the table and pressed a Shiatsu pressure point on Ranma's body. "Forgive me, but I figured I should use the Shiatsu Calmness point before proving our claim. For the next three hours, you will feel no fear."
"Why'd you do that?" asked Ranma curious.
"Hi there!" A voice that sounded full of energy said next to him. "Nice to finally meet you Ranma!"
Ranma looked curiously to see who was talking only to find himself looking face to face, with a very large mountain lion with emerald green eyes. As he stared at this sight for a few seconds, he finally reacted like any normal person would.
"HOLY SHIT!" Ranma exclaimed in shock as he jumped a few feet away.
"What's with him?" The mountain lion replied looking at him funny.
"You…you can talk!" Ranma exclaimed in surprise.
"Of course she can." Nabiki said as she ate some of her eggs. "Ranma, I'd like you to meet my feline spirit, Aurora."
"Like I said, nice to meet ya!" The mountain lion said.
"Likewise." Ranma replied finally calming down. ""Now that is a cool technique. Do you have one too doc?"
"Of course." Dr. Tofu answered as his body glowed for a few second. Then a large black panther appeared.
"Greetings young Ranma." The panther said bowing his head. "My name is Stalker. I am honored to meet you."
"Thank you." Ranma said bowing in respect. "I am honored to meet you as well."
Ranma then sat back down at the table and began eating again. All the while Stalker sat on the floor next to Dr. Tofu, while Aurora wandered around the room.
"So, do you control them, or what?" Ranma asked curious.
"No Ranma." Dr. Tofu answered. "Even though they are a part of us, they have their own will."
"We work along side our human halves, but make our own decisions." Stalker continued.
"I see." Ranma replied thinking about it. "So, do you have any idea if I have one of these spirits?"
"Actually, I do believe you do have a spirit." Dr. Tofu answered. "To act the way you do when your fear of cats becomes too strong, you'd have to have one."
"How so?" Ranma replied confused.
"Because that is the spirit within you taking partial control." Nabiki responded.
"I see." Ranma said considering this new information.
"With our help Ranma, you will become even better then before, but we have a favor to ask." Dr. Tofu told him. He waited until Ranma asked what the favor was before continuing. "That you keep our school a secret. It would be very dangerous for us if anyone discovered we practice the true Neko-ken."
"Why's that?" Ranma asked.
"Because so many people tried to copy us and use the tainted version, they created an army of beserkers." Nabiki explained. "Those same beserkers almost destroyed several major cities. Our ancestors fought them and ended up losing a great many numbers. So it was decided that the teachings would be forbidden to anyone except one chosen by the Neko-Warriors."
Ranma quietly pondered this new information. He could understand their reasons and he felt that these two were honorable enough to be telling him the truth. He decided to keep their secrets. Here they were, trusting him not only with the secrets of their school, but also with the fact that they were father and daughter. The least he could do was honor their request.
"I swear upon the blood of my ancestors, that I will never reveal any of your secrets." Ranma vowed to them. "I will forfeit my own life before I betray you."
"Very well Ranma." Dr. Tofu replied with a smile. "Welcome to the Ono-school."
"So Nabiki, when does the training begin?" asked Ranma as he and Nabiki walked home an hour later.
"Tonight of course." Nabiki replied. "Daddy will first want to rid you of you fear of cats, then take it from there."
"Cool." Ranma replied as he realized something. "Say, how'd you and doc know I was in the room when I was using the Umi-Sen-Ken?"
"Have you ever wondered how a cat knows a mouse is hiding from it, yet you never see the mouse?" Nabiki asked. When Ranma shook his head she answered. "It's kinda like that. Our feline senses can detect things like that."
Ranma accepted that explanation and continued talking to Nabiki about her training methods, offering advice on certain things. In return, she explained about what to expect in his lessons.
"One of the major things you'll have to learn is your own chi technique." Nabiki said and Ranma interrupted her.
"What do you mean my own chi technique?" Ranma asked.
"As part of our teachings, and before you can even try to master the Merger, you must develop your own chi technique that daddy will approve of." Nabiki explained. "The Chi-Tattoos technique was daddy's when he was a student."
"Cool. Have you got one?" asked Ranma curious.
"Kinda." Nabiki answered. "I'm still working the bugs out of it though."
"Can I see it?" Ranma asked her. "Maybe I can help."
"Well, okay." Nabiki said as they ducked into a nearby alley. "Now remember, this is still in the experimental stage."
Ranma watched as Nabiki picked up three small stones off the ground into her right hand. Then her right hand started to glow. Ranma stared in amazement as the glowing stopped and Nabiki released the stones. Only two things happened. One, the stones were glowing with the color of Nabiki's chi, and two, they never touched the ground. Instead, they were floating in the air before her.
"How're you doing that?" Ranma asked amazed.
"I infused the rocks with a bit of my chi!" Nabiki explained. "Once mastered, I hope that I can control inanimate objects like these rocks as though they were part of my own body."
"So, you'd be able to move them as if they were your arm or leg?"
"Yep." Nabiki answered as the chi faded and the rocks fell. "The problem is that I can't hold the chi in the object for too long before it fades away."
"Hmmmm, maybe you could talk to Mousse about this?" Ranma suggested.
"Mousse?" Nabiki replied confused.
"Yeah. He infuses those weapons of his with his own chi all the time." Ranma continued to explain. "It's what gives him so much control over his chains."
"Sounds like a plan." Nabiki said as they left the alley and continued on their way back to the Tendo household. "I'll look him up after school."
"Damn! I forgot about that. It's a school day isn't it?"
"Yeah." Nabiki replied. "You know, since your helping me with my training, maybe I can help you out with your school work."
"Why?" Ranma said confused. "I plan to run a dojo. What do I need a diploma for?"
"Ranma, you're an idiot." Nabiki responded.
"I AM NOT!" Ranma replied defensively.
"Yes you are." Nabiki continued. "How do you plan on doing the books for your dojo? Are you gonna teach for free?"
"I…that is…" Ranma started to reply in his defense. "Pop always told me not to worry about that."
"I see. He plans to do the books." Nabiki said thinking over this new information. "I bet he plans to live off of you for his retirement. Fix the books here and there while pocketing the extra cash. Maybe even sell the dojo since if you marry Akane, you'll be a minor and to young to inherit the dojo."
Ranma pondered what Nabiki had just said and came to one, and only one conclusion. It made perfect sense. Genma was truly a bastard enough to go ahead and do something like that. He'd been living off of Ranma's sweat and body for years. It all made sense.
"That's it!" Ranma proclaimed. "From this point on, I study harder then I ever have before!"
"That's the spirit!" Nabiki agreed. "In fact, I have just the thing to help you stay awake in class!"
"How?"
"I challenge you to stay awake, and learn all your lessons well!" Nabiki answered.
"Huh?"
"What? Don't tell me the great Ranma Saotome is gonna back down from a challenge?" Nabiki replied and added a chicken impression as well.
"Your on!" Ranma said as he just realized what happened. "Pretty sneaky Nabs. Using my own ego against me like that."
"It's a gift." Nabiki told him. "Shall we set the terms?"
"Go for it!" Ranma said excited. A good challenge always made his blood rush.
"Very well." Nabiki said. "If I hear you fell asleep in class, and are failing your lessons, you have to spend a week for every hour you sleep in your girl form. That includes dressing like a girl."
"Wait a sec!"
"I know you don't like dresses, so shall we say blouses and tight pants. Tomboy kinda clothing."
"Done." Ranma agreed.
"Also, in your girl form, for every failing grade, you have to wear the skimpiest, sexy, most revealing womens underwear I can find!"
"Now wait just a second!" Ranma objected.
"Chicken?"
"How revealing?" Ranma replied with a sigh of acceptance.
"Depending on the grade." Nabiki said. "C's equal normal bra and panties. The lesser the grade, the kinkier you dress."
"What about A's and B's?"
"In the event of an A or B, you don't have to where the underwear."
"Deal!" Ranma replied happy to have some good incentive.
"Very well." Nabiki said. "Also, I'll help out a bit by tutoring you in your subjects."
"Thanks."
"No problem. I'll just add it to your debts." Nabiki said. She chuckled when Ranma looked at her in shock. "Just kidding!"
"I'm gonna get you for that one!" Ranma jokingly promised.
"I look forward to it."
Diary Interlude One: (Translated from Chinese)
Nihao!
It has been awhile since I wrote in this. Great Grandmother thinks keeping a diary is for the weak, but I like having one. I can tell this my deepest feelings. Things I can't really tell to her.
Anyway, enough with the personal reflection. There are strange things going on in Nerima. As usual it involves Airen.
For the last two weeks he's been acting strange. He actually has gone to school and other places dressed like a girl. Plus, I swear he was wearing a very revealing piece of lingerie last week. When I asked him why he was wearing it, all he said, was it was going to make him a better student and he left it at that. How lingerie is supposed to make him a better student I have no idea. Unless he is taking lessons from Happosai, but he's still in America for the Miss America Contest.
I've also noticed some other peculiar activity. Six nights ago I went to surprise him for when he awoke, only to find he wasn't in bed. I searched all over the house and couldn't find him anywhere. The only thing I did discover was Nabiki was gone as well.
Curious about this, I spent the next night keeping them under surveillance. At around two in the morning, the both of them left the Tendo home, and walked to a rather fancy looking neighborhood. They entered a large home, and didn't come out again until around Eight o'clock.
I tried to get closer to the house for a peek at who the owner might be, but the security system in place would take me over twelve years to disarm.
I passed this information onto grandmother and she instructed me to investigate more. I looked into their behavior at school and discovered that Nabiki and Airen have been spending losts and losts of time alone together. Even Akane doesn't know what they are up too. Of course she was also calling Airne a pervert like usual and threatening to hit him with her mallet.
Personally, I never understood her using her mallet. A set of bonbouries works much better than a mallet any day.
Anyway, all this information has lead me to only one conclusion.
Nabiki is trying to steal my Airen from me!
She tried this once before and I thought I had scared her off, but I guess I didn't do it well enough. Later today, I'll finish the job I started.
Obstacles are for killing, and Nabiki is an obstacle!
End of Diary Interlude One:
>Where the hell is he?> Nabiki thought impatiently as she stood outside Furinkan High School.
Usually, as she had been doing for the last few weeks, she'd be hanging out with Ranma and going over her training. Today however was not the case. Ranma would be busy for a while, because Ryoga and Kuno decided to attack him at once so Nabiki told him to have fun and she'd meet him at home. Besides, this gave her a chance to talk to Mousse.
She'd been waiting to talk to him for a while, but he kept brushing her off. Now however, she would have his undivided attention. She'd called the Cat Café and asked Shampoo to tell Mousse where to meet her. She really needed his advice if she was to master her Fuse technique. She needed that technique if she was going to get around to trying to master the Merger.
#Ching Ching#
"Finally." Nabiki moaned as she looked in the direction of the approaching bicycle.
To her surprise however, it wasn't Mousse riding towards her, but Shampoo. Odder still, was that the Amazon was dressed in her usual battle garb.
>This can't be good.> Nabiki thought as Shampoo pulled up in front of her.
>I think your right.> Aurora's voice said in her head.
"Hey Shampoo." Nabiki said. "Where's Mousse?"
"Mousse say to meet him at special location." The bubbly Amazon replied. "Shampoo lead way for mercenary girl."
>Now I know this isn't good.> Nabiki thought. Since when is Shampoo Mousses errand girl. >This reeks of a trap.>
>I think your right.> Aurora said. >So what do we do?>
>I guess we go along.> Nabiki replied. >There's always a chance she's telling the truth.>
>Yeah, and maybe Happosai is gonna live a clean lifestyle and become a priest.> Was Aurora's response. >Then the Kuno family is going to willingly admit themselves into a mental hospital because they feel they need help.>
>Let's just give her a chance.> Nabiki insisted. "Lead the way Shampoo."
Nabiki quietly followed the Chinese Amazon for several blocks. She eventually asked her why she was wearing the armor, and Shampoo told her that she had some special training Cologne was putting her through requiring that she wear it. Eventually the two girls reached the park.
"So where's Mousse?" Nabiki asked looking around for the near-sighted martial artist.
"At Nekohanten." Shampoo answered as she removed her bonbouries from weapon space. "You is obstacle! Obstacles is for killing!"
"Whoa!" Nabiki replied nervously. "What's all this about Shampoo?"
>Don't say I didn't warn you!> Aurora told her.
>You be quiet!> Nabiki ordered before continuing. "I'm sure we can work this out."
"No talk! Kill!" Shampoo yelled as she swung her weapons at Nabiki. To her surprise however, Nabiki easily ducked the blow.
"Will you please tell me why you're trying to kill me?" Nabiki demanded to know while she continued dodging Shampoo.
"You try steal Airen!" Shampoo accused. "Stand still and take punishment!"
"I have not tried to steal Ranma!" Nabiki responded in her defense. "Can't we talk about this?"
"No talk! You die now!" Shampoo yelled as she swung her weapons at Nabiki's head. Nabiki ducked, just like Shampoo wanted and the Amazon delivered a kick to Nabiki's head that would make a field goal kicker jealous.
Nabiki hit the ground like a sack of bricks, out cold.
"Now mercenary girl die!" Shampoo said as she raised her bonbouries for the killing blow.
The weapon came crashing down and Shampoo expected to see Nabiki's head crush. What she didn't expect though, was for Nabiki's legs to shoot up, and mule kick her a couple of feet away. Shampoo quickly jumped back to her feet and looked at the Ice Queen in shock. Nabiki actually got to her feet from that kick? Shampoo had used that kick to crack coconuts, and Nabiki got up? She did more then get up too. With her body as stiff as a board from lying on her back seconds before, Nabiki practically floated to her feet. Once there she hunched over and didn't move an inch.
"Mercenary girl should learn to just take punishment!" Shampoo ordered as Nabiki lifted her head and looked at her.
Shampoo's blood ran cold for some reason as Nabiki looked at her, not with her own eyes. Instead, she looked at her with a pair of emerald green cats eyes. Then Nabiki spoke up, in a strange voice.
"Round two bitch!" Nabiki said sneering. As she did this, Shampoo swore she could see fangs, glistening in Nabiki's mouth. "Now it's my turn!"
To be continued…Author's Notes: Well, that's it for Chapter Three. Sorry I've been away for a while, but two things interfered with my work. My actual work in security for one, and writer's block for the second. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter in sooner. I would sincerely like to thank each and every one of you for all the great reviews I have been receiving. It feels so good to get so many different opinions and comments on this story, which I am working so hard on for your enjoyment. Also, be sure to check out my new website, there's a link in my author's page. I plan to have a story I've been saving for a special occasion on it soon. In Chapter Four we will have the aftermath of this fight, the explanation as to why Aurora was talking out of Nabiki's body, as well as Nabiki finally getting around to mastering her new technique. It's Chapter Four: Ramifications. Until then, See-ya, Ciao, and Hasta la bye-bye.