Charles Xavier's mind travelled to the Nerima district almost instantly.He found the Tendo dojo thanks to Ranma's indications and began scanning its inhabitants for mutant signatures.
Akane Tendo was in the family dojo, breaking bricks. The professor could feel the anger emanating from the young girl, it was almost as strong as Wolverine's berserker rages. Thankfully, she was a normal human. Someone with her temper with potentially destructive mutant abilities ? Thanks, but no thanks.
Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome were playing shogi. Ranma had told him about Genma's curse so he wasn't surprised to find a panda with human thought patterns. The two fathers were also humans.
Happosai... Well, he was human too (thank god). Xavier was disgusted at the cesspool that was the perverted grandmaster of Anything Goes' mind.
The little pig in Akane's room, Ryoga Hibiki's cursed form, was mentally ranting about Akane's unstable behavior and how it was all Ranma's fault. No mutations in him. Xavier breathed in relief. Was everyone in this house insane ?
Kasumi Tendo was busy preparing dinner as always. Her mental signature also marked her as a mutant, an active one even. He probed a little deeper to see if she knew what she was.
*****
It is well known that the Nerima district is a crazy place, filled with serious to downright ludicrous martial arts schools. This concentration of skilled fighters discouraged criminal elements to make business there, which is why the authorities and Nerima's residents tolerated the martial artists and their mad antics.
Still, it didn't completely explain the low crime rate. After all, if a yakuza syndicate had the will to set up shop in Nerima and was willing to use all means at its disposal, no one could stop them for long.
Martial artists were only human after all. They had defaults like everyone, making them susceptible to corruption. Some had families that could be targeted for blackmail. They had to sleep, eat and drink, making them vulnerable to assassination. Last but not least, few martial artist were quick enough to dodge bullets or tough enough to survive bomb explosions.
No, the other reason for organized crime to leave Nerima in peace was that the district had a protector.
Kasumi Tendo was born a mutant. At age 14, she discovered she could shapeshift into animal forms like in that old american TV show Manimal. With training, she also became capable of assuming human/animal hybrid forms : werewolf, kitsune, catgirl or any combination she could imagine.
With her power, no place or building was safe from her. Security systems hadn't been created to warn of birds or rodents entering. When an Oyabun nearly died of a snake bite, the yakuza understood the message and left Nerima alone.
Gangs thinking the meek little housewife would be easy prey quickly became disillusioned when Kasumi tendo shifted into a tiger or some huge beast to teach them a lesson. Martial artists abusing their power got visits from the Queen of Animals as well.
Kasumi didn't tell anyone about her double life as a vigilante. Her father would cry and forbid her to continue. Nabiki would react the same way. Akane as well and there were good chances her little sister would be jealous and resent her or worse, want to help...
She had tried to look for Ranma after he disappeared but her efforts were for nothing. It was as if he just vanished. She sighed and concentrated on making dinner. If Ranma ever came back, she would have to speak with him about serious matters. Like if he was interested in a partnership. Such activities could only make him grow up.
*****
"Kasumi's a WHAT !?" Nabiki and Ranma were stunned at the news. Sweet and innocent Kasumi had been fighting crime all these years and fooled everyone with her vacuous demeanor all along...
*I know it's surprising for the both of you but it's the truth* Xavier's voice echoed in Ranma's mind. The young mutant had a question nagging him however "How come Akane's not a mutant if her sisters are ?"
Xavier thought about this and came up with an explanation *It can happen sometimes. Two full mutants can have purely human children. The X-Factor is not always strong enough and can go recessive* The professor remembered Graydon Creed, son of Mystique and Sabertooth, Nightcrawler's brother. Yet he was born a simple homo sapiens.
"All that is well and good..." Millia had enough with the silent telepathic chat and turned to Nabiki "I think the question is... Do we contact your elder sister and offer her to come to our school or not ?"
See other episodes by Jamil Nate
(Posted Mon, 09 Dec 2002 22:57)
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