Despite its status as the most populous country in the world, there were many parts of China still untouched by man. In these lonely and remote regions nature held sway, and all who dared to cross them were well advised to beware the more aggressive predators.
This was doubly true if one were currently a small cat.
Genma Saotome was lost and confused and nearly at the end of his rope. First, he had been somehow transformed into a cat. Before he even registered his change in species, his only son had succumbed to that shameful and foolish panic attack he was prone to. Now the boy was lost somewhere out there in the wilds of China. Genma had tried to catch up with the ungrateful brat, but the trail had vanished in the middle of a field, and now he was lost as well.
He had spent the last few days struggling to find his way back to civilization, or at least back to someplace with people. Those days had made him well aware that much of the local wildlife thought he would make a tasty mouthful. Oh, how fraught with peril was the path of a true martial artist!
Genma tensed as some instinct caused the hair on his back to rise. Casting about for the source of the feeling, he was taken completely by surprise when a HUGE shape swooped down out of the sky and pulled him from the ground. Panicking, he struggled to break free, but the grip that held him could not be denied.
As the ground fell further and further away below, his panic peaked, and the sweet bliss of unconsciousness beckoned. He knew he was hallucinating when the last thing he heard was a soft, gentle voice saying “Calm down, I’ve got you.”
“There’s Kasumi.”
Nabiki turned and looked in the direction indicated by Rei. Seeing nothing more than an oncoming speck, she was again mildly impressed. She knew Angels reportedly had good distance vision, but before Rei evolved, she had never realized just how good that vision was.
“I believe she is carrying a small animal.” the blue-haired Angel reported.
“Maybe she found Pop!” Ranma said excitedly.
Nabiki wasn’t quite as happy as her master was at this possibility. True, she had never met this version of Genma Saotome, but what little she had seen of his analog in her world had been most unimpressive. Served him right to get stuck as a Snorlass. More, from the stories Ranma had told them about his past in this world, Nabiki felt sure that this analog of Genma was no better. Still, if he was now stuck as a cat, he shouldn’t be able to cause too much trouble.
“Good thing Kasumi’s almost back.” Ranma observed. “That was a very ominous rumble of thunder. I wouldn’t want her to get caught in a storm.”
As Genma came to, he felt the ferocious beast landing. They must be back at its lair! Frantic, he managed to scrape together the beginnings of a plan. Maybe he could play dead and run the moment the beast took its attention off of him? Yes, that would work!
“You were supposed to bring it back alive Kasumi.”
“I’ve never seen a ‘dead’ animal breathe so hard.” another wry voice observed.
“Oh, that’s Pop all right. Lazing about as usual.”
Genma’s eyes sprung open. Spotting a very familiar figure he leapt.
“Rrowl!(Ranma!) Meow mew mew roawl!(I knew would wouldn’t abandon your poor father!) Mew meo-(Just what do-)” Genma was cut off when his leap was intercepted by a furry hand.
“Hold up there.”
Genma looked in surprise at the furry girl who had caught him in mid-leap. He vaguely noticed that Ranma had looked relieved by the interception, but not anywhere near as panicked as he had been just a few days ago. That barely registered, however, as Genma’s attention was now firmly occupied by the girl accompanying his son. Who was she? What was she? And why was she and FIVE OTHER GIRLS running around with Ranma?
Ranma sat and watched the cat that was once his father feast on one of Kasumi’s excellent meals. Yeah, there was no mistake. Even as a cat, Genma Saotome was a glutton.
“Master…”
“Yeah, Rei?”
“The Shampoo-analogue just cleared the far ridge.”
Ranma and most of the girls around him groaned. No one really understood why (although Ranma had some suspicions) but the Shampoo-analog they had encountered a few days ago seemed hell-bent on attacking them.
It wasn’t like Ranma hadn’t apologized. Once he realized the girl he was spanking wasn’t his pokegirl, he had immediately freed her and stammered out an apology. The girl seemed a bit confused by this, but wasted no time taking advantage of her freedom to run off into the night. At first Ranma and the girls thought that would be the last they would see of her, but such was not to be the case. Less than a day later she had shown up again, rearmed and even more hostile than before. Five times now she had found them, and Ranma was rapidly running out of tricks to lose her.
“Aw man, don’t she ever give up?” At Ranma’s nod, Rain shot a small blast of water at their cooking fire and the girls started shouldering their packs. Packs that had been suspiciously packed and ready when the girls 'suddenly decided' to follow Ranma through the wormhole. Packs that the Professor must have augmented with pokeball technology, given the amount of stuff so far pulled out of them. “Well, since we’ve got Pop, now we can leave this place. Maybe that will discourage her.”
“Hmph. Shampoo not see why we run. Master beat human-Shampoo-double once already. If she still want fight, Shampoo will fight her. Then Master can tame her so she not be so troublesome.”
Ranma winced. There was a reason why he had chosen to run and why he was really hesitant about having any of his pokegirls fight the girl. “You know I can’t go around ‘taming’ human girls.”
“We don’t have time for this if you want to avoid a fight.” Nabiki said, motioning the group toward the road. Intellectually, Nabiki knew that Ranma had a point. Human girls weren’t pokegirls. But still, how different could they be, really? Surely a good taming would at least calm them down. And that analogue of Shampoo really, really needed a good calming down.
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(Posted Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:12)
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