[Episode 131614] [Episode 131614]They guy they followed had handed his balls over to the pink haired nurse behind the counter as Nabiki walked up. (Nabiki rolls her eyes at the pun just made.) The nurse put the balls on a tray and sent them on a conveyer to a room in back before she turned back to the counter, “Can I help you?”
“I need help and I need to report a crime.” At least, she prayed that capturing her sisters and turning Ranma into a monster was considered a crime. “You see, my sisters were caught by these.” She displayed the balls that she carried. “And Ranma here is not acting like herself.” She indicated the empty spot beside her. Looking around, she saw Ranma start to make a meal of a fern in the lobby.
“Oh, the poor dear looks like she’s about to go feral,” the nurse said with dismay. “When was the last time she was tamed?”
Nabiki was a bit puzzled by the nurse’s terminology. “You see this sort of thing often?”
“Only when the pokegirl is neglected by it’s tamer, which is rare, thankfully.”
“So, she needs to be ‘tamed’ then?”
“Oh, yes. A good taming is essential in this situation; otherwise she could go feral and become a danger to everyone. I’d hate to see such a rare breed as her put down. But, do you think you could stop her from destroying my plants?”
This didn’t make sense to Nabiki. You tamed things that were wild then train them to perform tricks depending on their intelligence. How did taming give someone back the intelligence they lost? She was obviously missing something. She went over to Ranma and touched her lightly on the shoulder, “Ranma?”
“Mew?” Ranma said through a mouthful of fern fronds.
It was at that moment that something clicked for Nabiki. Feral was when these girls had lost their intelligence. For Ranma, ‘feral’ would mean being taken over by the cat-fist. A hyper fire-powered, dragon-Ranma in the grips of the cat-fist was not something she would want to unleash on any community. She would have to be “put down.” Right, like anything could stop the cat-fist even when Ranma was normal.
Nabiki steeled herself before this animal side of Ranma could sense her fear, “The nurse wants to look at you now.”
Ranma stood up from where she was crouching and spit out a mouthful of ferns, “Okay, Nabiki come with?”
The human girl gave a quiet sigh of relief, “Of couse, Ranma.”
The nurse looked skeptical, “Er, do you think you put her back in her pokeball?”
“She doesn’t have one.” Nabiki remembered the ball that exploded as Ranma burst his way out. “It broke.”
“It is shameful how someone could be as neglectful as this.”
Nabiki thought the nurse was expecting somebody to take ownership of Ranma or her, or both. “Listen, could we talk in private? This is part of the crime I mentioned before.”
“I think that would be best. Follow me, please.” The nurse turned around only to let out a startled, “Oh.”
Ranma was standing directly behind her with blue reptilian eyes boring into her own, “Nice lady help Ranma?”
“Yes, little one,” the nurse replied in a sincere motherly way, “I will.” She led the pair to a plain examination room in back. “Please wait in here.”
Ranma hopped up on the examination table and promptly fell asleep. Nabiki looked at the small computer on the desk but found the screensaver was password protected. With nothing else to do, she waited. She hated waiting. After what seemed like an eternity the door opened again to reveal two plain clothed officers as well as the nurse and an older gentleman in a lab coat.
“My name is Detective Ross Silibus, and this is my Jenny, Naomi.”
“Call me Armitage,” the short amber haired girl said. “This is Professor Mahogany and you already know Nurse Joy. And you are?”
“Nabiki Tendo.”
The Professor ignored the introduction and went straight to Ranma, who was still sleeping. “By my stars, you’re right, Nurse Joy. A previously unknown Dragon Type Pokegirl. Absolutly remarkable. What is it called, girl?”
“Excuse me, but what are you a professor of, exactly?” Nabiki was a bit put out at being addressed simply as ‘girl’.
Nurse Joy answered for him, “I’m surprised you haven’t heard of Professor Mahogany, one of the foremost expert in Pokegirl research in the Edo League.”
“Right.” With the law officials here it was time to lay out the cards. “And a pokegirl is what, exactly?”
Everyone looked at Nabiki as though she had grown a second head.
“Why, my dear. A pokegirl is what you are, as well as what your friend is,” the Professor explained, “as well as Nurse Joy and Officer Armitage.”
Nabiki gave him a skeptical look, “That doesn’t explain anything.”
The professor looked slightly offended but Armitage jumped between them, “Wait. You’re human, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. What kind of question is that?”
Officer Silibus held out a piece of paper, “That would explain this. A bounty for a human female pokegirl thief.”
“A wanted poster? You’re going to arrest me?! They were my sisters!!”
Armitage jumped between Nabiki and Ross, “You will calm down, right now. It is not a wanted poster, it is a bounty. Outside of the towns, it is extremely difficult to enforce the laws so tamers will usually take care of their own. We thought this bounty looked suspicious since the one’s who posted it never reported the theft as a crime.”
“Eh?” Professor Mahogany looked up, “You were the one who stole those pokegirls from my grandson?”
Nabiki’s glare turned ice cold, “Your grandson, Gary and his friends tried to rape me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, you silly girl. Gary is a good boy; he would never do something like that. Dressed like that, you maybe asked him to.”
Before Nabiki could jump down the Professor’s throat, Nurse Joy spoke up, “Nabiki, what were you saying about your sisters?”
Nabiki forced her anger down. “They were captured,” she said, “in here.” She held up the two red and black balls. “They were human like me. Ranma was too, but h… she was able to break out of her ball. But it changed her into…” she simply nodded toward the sleeping form of the dragon girl.
Armitage took the balls, “Let’s check these out.” She went over to the computer and put the balls into the depressions next to it. Nurse Joy took a seat and opened a program as Ross and Armitage looked over her shoulder.
Ross whistled, “Definitely illegal.”
“Looks like your standard black market Threshold Ball.” Armitage said. “Those bastards.”
“This is still no proof that my grandson had anything to do with it.” Professor Mahogany protested.
“There should be something more.” Nabiki said. “When Ranma broke out it was because it was like something was messing with her mind trying to make her submit.”
After a moment of typing Nurse Joy said, “Oh, those poor girls. Officer, there is a Level 2 Programming built into the pokeballs. It’s designed to give a bond to the girl captured.”
“Bonding without taming? That’s efficient. Can you bring up the registry, Nurse Joy?” Ross inquired.
“Certainly. One is registered to John Johnson, a.k.a. ‘Da Big Johnson, and the other is Jackson Kinoff. They are friends of your grandson, aren’t they, Professor?” she asked in an innocent tone.
The Professor sputtered, “This doesn’t prove that my grandson…”
Armitage interrupted him, “The posted the bounty in this town. Did you see them recently, Professor?” Professor Mahogany hesitated, obviously trying to decide how he should answer. “Forcing a human girl into threshold would not look good for one of the leading Pokegirl researchers.”
The professor finally relented, “They… They’re staying with me, at my lab.”
Ross took out his radio, “Dispatch. Send a car to Professor Mahogany’s lab. Pick up three trainers for questioning.”
Nabiki was grinding her teeth and glaring at the Professor, “Officer Armitage, how many people and the knowledge and equipment to modify a ‘Threshold pokeball’ with a ‘level 2 program’ for their favorite grandson?”
“Now wait a minute, missy. If you think you are accusing me…”
“Stop.” Armitage stepped up, “Professor, if you please, it would be better if you waited elsewhere.” She took Professor Mahogany by the arm and led him out of the room as he grumbled about the disrespect of youngsters.
“You’re not going to let him get away with this are you?!” Nabiki nearly screeched.
“It will be looked into, I assure you.” Ross said.
“But he…”
“It will be looked into.” Ross repeated forcefully. His radio chose that moment to beep at him. “Go ahead,” he answered.
“The Professor’s place is empty.” The voice on the other side said, “If someone was here, it looks like they left recently.”
“Roger that, Silibus out.” The police officer sighed as he put the radio away and turned back to Nabiki, “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. We’ll have the bounty taken down and put out an APB.” Nabiki was quiet but looked like she could spit nails. “Look, I know how you feel, but right now you have more important matters to consider.”
Nurse Joy spoke up, “I can run another level 2 program to erase the bonding that was created as well as transfer your sisters to another pokeball, but we need you to decide what to do with them, not to mention your friend.” She indicated Ranma, still asleep.
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(Posted Tue, 01 Feb 2005 22:05)
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