Are You Serious?
Chapter 8
By Gabriel R. Lopez
Ranma, groaned, murred or whatever as her feline form entered the arcade . Due to a most unfortunate series of circumstances, Ranma discovered she was a black cat with a hideously large bandaid across her forhead. Just another one of those things the vicious little panda girl lied about… worse, she was stuck that way, until she could find some hot water. Which irritated her to no end as she was closed off in some strange Man's bedroom.
"ACHOO!" bamph. "…" Ranma was momentarily shocked when she discovered she was now once again human. And, that she was still dressed as sailor moon. Well, this would certainly make things easier. Ranma wandered across the hall and involuntarily sauntered down the stairs of the two story building. Ranma, momentarily hid herself behind a cardboard cut out of Sailor V as Andrew passed. Andrew was busily carrying three cases of imported Rockstar cola into the kitchen and walked past Ranma without a second glance…. Although he didn't quite remember when he got that cardboard cut out of Sailor Moon.
The guy carrying the cases of soda passed her without a second glance. Ranma decided to keep it that way, as the sight of a raven haired blue eyed girl in a sailor suit of justice was bound to raise a few eyebrows. Ranma was sure of it the moment she saw her reflection in a mirrored wall of the arcade. Ranma hadn't really noticed the oddity of her reflection, as she had grown so used to being a blonde, the very idea of her reflection having blonde hair went completely unnoticed even though her hair was now raven black. If only she wasn't wearing such a glaring eyesore… oh how she wished she wasn't wearing the miniskirt leotard combination at all. The large red bow practically made her a target of unwanted attention the outfit almost seemed to glow as Ranma concentrated on how much she hated it and whished she wasn't wearing such a hideous…Ranma's eyes expanded to the size of dinner plates in shock.
Andrew tripped and fell to the floor like a klutz when he noticed the naked girl out of the corner of his eye within the arcade mirror to his right. He knew it must have been his imagination, because when he looked to the left and no one was there. Just above Andrew, lurking like a ghost in the shadows. A very undressed and very scared Ranma Saotome clung to the cealing. Only now did Ranma noticed her hair was raven black. She also noted that her hair was still rolled into two buns with streamers falling from them. If she was lucky she'd get out of this without completely embarrassing her self… odd ranma never noticed how much embarrassed sound a lot like "in bare ass" until now. Andrew pulled himself to his feet and brushed a streamer of hair back away from his…face. Knowing immediately the hair was not his own, looking up, his eyes met Ranma's.
"Boo." was Ranma's stealthily reply.
Andrew screamed like a little girl. And with good reason. Samara Morgan was hanging from the ceiling and was out to get him "ahhh!" running out of the arcade in a panic, and creating a man sized hole in the process, Andrew started shouting unintelligibly in English " she's real… oh god she's real. I don't wanna die!" Ironically, it had been almost seven days since Andrew watched "The Ring." And, the sight of a mysterious, naked, black haired, teenage girl, magically clinging to the ceiling like a ghost was creepy. More so, after the phone call that warned him he had seven days… at the time he thought he was being punked by his girlfriend. Personally he felt the movie relied too much on surprise to be taken seriously…but now his life depended on him illegally burning a copy of the movie to DVD.
A confused Ranma relinquished her ghost like grip on the ceiling of the arcade. Ranma then used her almost feline agility to twist herself around like a cat and land on her feet. Making sure there was no one else in the arcade she quicky rushed up the stairs, rushed back into Andrew's room and stole an oversized pair of blue jeans, a belt, and a Kappa Mikey T-shirt. Ranma went to the bathroom to solve another one of her problems. Removing the bandage revealed a moon shaped tattoo on her forehead. Ranma momentarily wondered if it was a scar but dismissed the idea. Sadly the ondango's seemed to be held together by magic somehow. She could unravel the Ondangos, brush it through with a comb, shape her long hair into a pigtail and tie it off but afterwards the hair would just unravel and curl into two bun like ondangos. Irritating as it was she had been playing with her hair in Andrew's apartment for well over a half hour. Ranma sighed, she Didn't have anywhere to go. She didn't know where she was, and she didn't want to marry Akane. Despite her reservations, Ranma went to the pay out counter downstairs. Resting next to the telephone was a copy of the yellow pages. After finding the entry for the Tendo Dojo Ranma decided to give them a call. . .
Elsewhere…
"wah!" a very unhappy ham ham cried.
"Hiya Oxnard! What you up too?" Ryoga called out. Oxnard stopped crying jumped to his feet and gave Ryoga a big hug. Ryoga's left eye twitched as he noticed a rouge sunflower seed that appeared to be sticking into Oxnards butt.
"Hamtaryoga! It's you. We were all so worried" Oxnard squeezed his friend tighter. Ryoga struggled to get away. All the warm fuzzy feelings were making him nauseous.
"That's nice Oxnard, you can let go now" Ryoga tried to break free of Oxnard's grip. Oxnard finally released Ryoga and started crying again.
"what's wrong Ox?" Ryoga asked concerned.
"Sniffle, My sunflower seed has gone missing."
"uh…huh." Ryoga rolled his eyes.
"have you seen it?" Oxnard asked
"stand still." Ryoga quikly reached behind Oxnard and peeled the sunflower seed off his butt. "Tada!."
"wow! Thank you Hamtaro, you never told me you were a magician." Oxnard one again hugged Ryoga.
"yes I'm truly amazing. please, no more huggles." Ryoga pushed Oxnard away. "Is Boss around? I've discovered something about the Jusenkyo curse…"
Meanwhile at the Tendo dojo…
"I'm not your dolly, and you can't make me wear that!" Genma whined . She was wearing a towel around her midsection, her hair a dripping wet mass of pink. "I'm a man!" the nerve of that Kasumi girl trying to force her into wearing such an unsightly outfit.
"Look, I'm sorry Akane burned all your stuff and probably killed Ranma. But I warned you not to call her her a violent maniac. Besides, in an hour we're all going to th Juuban District, and you can buy whatever you want. But for right now you can't just run around the house naked."
"watch me!" Genma Stuck out her tongue.
"GOT HER!" Nabiki shouted in triumph as she grabbed a hold on Genma. Who was still modestly covered by the towel as she kicked her legs at Kasumi
"NO, I don't wanna' wear the overalls!" Genma whined.
"look, it's the only outfit we have that will fit you."
"No, I won't do it. You can't make me wear that!" Genma steamed.
Ten minutes later…
She put up a brave fight, but was unable to overpower Kasumi and Nabiki. As a result she was now wearing a bright orange sweater with blue overalls, yellow socks, and neon pink high tops that were two sizes too big for her feet. She felt like a clown. To make matters worse, Nabiki had tied her hair into the most ridiculous hairstyle imaginable, apparently haven taken Ranma's "yam head" comment to a whole new level. Genma would make them pay for the humiliation he now had to endure…well maybe not Kasumi, but Nabiki was definitely going to feel the wraith of Genma Saotome just you wait.
Genma harrumphed as she flopped onto the sofa, and used the channel clicker to turn on the TV. Genma was worried, It was still morning and there was still no word from the boy. The News anchor was reporting about a fire that had broke out the night before as a result of the Sailor Senshi's battle with the doom and gloom girls leaving an entire city block homeless. Then a news anchor interviewed some moron who thought he saw the ghost of Samara Morgan. Genma laughed when they showed a segment about a little girl who was desperately searching for her missing gerbil named Hamtaro. Little Laura Haruna, the daughter of a local school teacher, had even put up flyers of the little bandanna clad rodent all over Tokyo.
"all right everyone, time for breakfast." Kasumi walked in front of the television and obscuring all view of the momentous reunion of Usagi Tsukino with her parents. "that means you too young lady."
"fine," an irritated Genma growled as she entered the kitchen. Stupid curse, stupid outfit, stupid hair. "stupid Akane!" of all the things to say aloud. Akane glared at her all through breakfast. It was a withering glance that literally sent shivers down Genma's spine.
Back at the arcade…
"we're sorry, the number you are trying to call has been disconnected." came the mechanical voice of an automated teller. Ranma hung up the phone for the second time in as many minutes.
"Just great." Ranma thought aloud as she tore the page out of the phone book. Ranma figured the address was good and decided to make a go for it. After finding Andrew's bike, slipping on a pair of flip flops, and rolling up the oversized pant legs of the jeans to a more manageable length. Ranma was off to find the Tendo Dojo.