“Wha…?”
The tongue liked her face again, leaving a slimy trail behind, “Time for Nabiki to wake up.”
“Gah! Ranma, get away! Yuck!” Nabiki sat up flailing, wiping the saliva from her face. Ranma merely smiled as she bounded back into the forest. Nabiki had been increasingly worried about the cursed boy turned girl turned half-dragon; his intelligence seemed to be slipping and he didn’t even seem to notice. Nabiki had been forced to play on Ranma hopefully natural protective instincts and played the part of the “helpless maiden” in order to make Ranma sleep next to her at night. She hoped to create some sort of bond with the dragon-girl since she didn’t know how much longer Ranma’s sense of duty would hold the two together. She definitely didn’t want to be separated from him in this strange forest filled with monster-women.
A couple of fruits landed directly in front of her and she looked up to see the female Ranma-dragon in the tree grinning at her. “Nabiki eat, be happy.”
“Nabiki sat and picked up some of the fruit and brushed some dirt off before biting in. “I don’t see what there is to be happy about. It’s been two days and we still haven’t seen any sign of a road or town or anything.”
“Then Nabiki smile ‘cause Ranma did.”
“You did? What did you see?”
Ranma opened his mouth then seemed to get stuck on what to say, “Umm, tall, tall stick thing, made of metal, with lights that blink.”
Nabiki finished another bite before deciphering what was described, “A radio tower?”
“Yes, that is. Nabiki smile now, ok?”
“It might be a relay tower but even so it has to have a service road. Good job, Ranma, when did you see it?”
“Last night when Ranma go look around…” She stopped and cringed.
“You left me alone?” Nabiki asked coldly.
Ranma flinched as though slapped, “Nabiki not alone. Ranma keep Nabiki safe.”
“How am I safe if you’re wandering around like that? Any one of those monster-women could have come by and attacked me.”
Ranma was even sadder, “Monster-women like Ranma?”
“That’s not what I meant. Ranma, please listen.” She put her hand on the red head’s shoulder and turned the girl towards her. She looked so cute and vulnerable like this, but Nabiki still cursed the boys who forced this changed on the martial artist and her sisters. “Ranma, I’m a city girl, I’m not used to this. I need you to be there for me. I do trust you, Ranma. It’s just this forest that I don’t trust. Do you understand?”
“Trust Ranma keep Nabiki safe,” she said with a little more fire in her eyes.
“Yes, and it makes me scared when you run off like that.”
“Okay, Ranma be more careful,” she said with a smile.
“Now, let’s go find that tower.” As the naked dragon-girl martial artist led the way, Nabiki tried to keep the worry from her face. They would have to find something soon, or Ranma may not be with her for very much longer, at least not the Ranma she knew.
-----------------------------------
“Ah, civilization at last!” Nabiki stretched her arms above her head in anticipation of a bath and water that didn’t have fish swimming in it or a bed that didn’t invite every bug in the entire damn forest. Ranma was off to the right and didn’t seem to really care where they were. The radio tower was, in fact on the edge of a fair sized town, but to Nabiki, it may as well have been the golden city of El Dorado.
As they walked into town, she began to worry that she didn’t have any money with her, as well as her and Ranma’s state of undress. She had ripped the shirt she had on lengthwise so she could tie it in front for a bra and a makeshift loincloth. Even so, no one really seemed to notice since other women were in the same sort of undress as she and Ranma. Some did wear clothing that ranged from lace to push-up bras with bare nipples to dangerous looking leather outfits. All of them seemed to maximize the woman’s sex appeal, though she didn’t try to wonder too hard on how the sailor-fuku never seemed to go completely out of style.
In addition, the women were of a much wider variety than those she had seen in the forest. Most were more human or at least humanoid by comparison, but the fact they still had some variation to them did make Nabiki wonder. In contrast were the men, they too seemed to try and maximize sex appeal, or ruggedness, but often that wasn’t the case as scrawny, pimple scarred men walked with beautiful, over-endowed mega-women. It was the site of one of these ugly guys leading a barely-dressed-to-impress woman down the street on a leash that forced Nabiki to evaluate the roles of the two genders. In all cases, the women were subservient, doing the menial labor, or simply ornamental. That certainly clicked with the attitude of the men she encountered on her arrival.
There were some of these strange women walking on their own but they seemed to be running errands rather than out of simple enjoyment. So she and Ranma continued to walk toward the center of town in plain view and unbothered.
There was an open market as she expected but also a spectacle of some sort that had drawn a crowd. She made her way towards the center as she noticed two women fighting it out. One appeared to be a female minotaur, only prettier, the other looked human if you didn’t count the extreme amount of muscle she was sporting. Just inside the circle standing opposite of each other were two men shouting instructions to the combatants with enough intensity that you would think they were actually the ones who were fighting. The spectators were both men and women shouting encouragements with equal fervor, though some of the women took pains not to shout over top of the men they were standing next to.
One of the two men inside yelled, “Seismic Toss!” and the muscle woman grabbed the minotauress and leapt into the air. She added the momentum of two somersaults to the suplex as she drove her opponent into the concrete. The crowed roared in approval as they realized the match ended. The losing man ran over to the fallen bovine fighter and cradled her horned head as he spoke words of encouragement to her. He took out a red and white ball and the woman disappeared in a flash of red light as the ball sucked her into it. Nabiki felt a bit of a chill as she remembered her sisters disappearing the exact same way. Ranma simply yawned.
The winning man walked over and shook hands with the looser and said something in the way of good sportsmanship. The looser took out a wad of cash and handed it over, as many of the surrounding male spectators also paid off their side bets. A fairly standard system as far as Nabiki could tell.
The crowd dispersed and casually strayed close to the losing man. She heard him whisper to the closed red and white ball, “Don’t worry, we’ll get you to the Pokegirl center and get you healed up in no time.”
“Come on, Ranma.” Nabiki said, but got no response. “Ranma?” She glanced around quickly, annoyed that Ranma would start to wander in a town like this. She easily discovered the dragon-girl draped over a low branch on the edge of dozing off. “Ranma, let’s go.” Ranma gave her an annoyed look but lazily dropped out of the tree anyway.
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(Posted Tue, 01 Feb 2005 17:55)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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