“There,” The woman in her mid-thirties yet still retaining a voluptuous figure said seriously. “That is a brief History of PokéBoys and how they came to be. So, are you ready to start your Taming Journey, Miss Saotome Ranma?”
“Hey!” The redhead that had been sitting patiently shouted. “I ain’t no ‘Miss’, all right? I mean, I know I look like one at the moment, but if you get me some hot water...”
Turning her head away from the visual aid, Prof. Katherine Pussywillow, (aka ‘PussyKat’) blinked her eyes in surprise. She looked the redhead up and down, but she couldn’t see it. Then it hit her, having heard the stories and seeing the news reports about the visitor from an alternate reality. “Um... Why are you here if you’re really a guy?”
Ranma-chan placed her hands on her hips. “I came from an alternate world. Folks said this was the place for training.”
Prof. Pussywillow rolled her eyes. “That’s ‘Taming’...” The PokéBoy Researcher shook her head. No use arguing it. “Oh well, you have the required anatomy on at least a part-time basis, and who am I to judge? Sign your name here...”
“What do you mean I gotta sign stuff?” Ranma-chan asked. Was this some sort of insurance clause?
“Because we need to get you registered as a PokéBoy Tamer. And to do that, I’ll need your conformation via signature,” Prof. Pussywillow said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Then again, this girl, err, boy, uh… whatever, wasn’t from her world, so the ignorance could be over-looked and genuinely helped. “This way, you’ll be legally allowed to own and battle your PokéBoys against another Tamer’s PokéBoys.”
Frowning at that, Ranma-chan was very verbal on her thoughts of not getting to fight. “Wait a minute!” She pointed her thumb at herself. “Look, lady, I fight my own battles!”
“Now listen, Miss Sao-”
“MISTER Saotome!” The petite yet buxom redhead shouted. “I’m a guy, you know!”
Prof. Pussywillow looked a little put off by the redhead’s vehemence towards the situation. Still, she held a cool air about herself and calmly explained, “You know, I knew a woman like you once. She insisted on doing everything her way. She wouldn’t follow the rules like everyone else did, and was insistent on doing everything her own bloody way, damn the consequences.”
“Really?” Ranma-chan asked, her curiousness piqued. If someone else could fight her own battles against these PokéBoys, why not her? “What happened to her?”
Leaning forward and looking the redhead in the eyes, Prof. Pussywillow told the younger, (sometimes) woman, “She ended up biting off more than she could chew. A-ko thought she could handle that Gladiatorock and instead found herself and her little cheerleader C-Ko, sliced to ribbons and then tenderized.” Leaning forward, the buxom reddish blonde with fair skin and a perfectly rounded ass was now touching noses with the shorter redhead. “The point is, Ranma. You’ve already been given a lot of leeway by the Indigo League Officials because of your unique circumstances, especially with them looking the other way with you not needing to take any tests. So at the very least, you’re going to have to pay the League lip service...” Or ay least pay her PokéBoys some lip service if she REALLY wanted this Taming Job.
“C’mon, I just wanna go and fight some of these guys! I was watching them the other day and what they can do is incredible…” Her cute red eyebrows narrowed over her expressive blue eyes, giving her the cutest pout. “I need the practice, since it seems no one here knows how to get me back to my own world!” She all but shouted that last part.
Standing up from her chair, Prof. Pussywillow shook her head. “There’s nothing we can do. I’ve been watching the news, and I’m pretty sure you know what’s going on. I mean, you were there, weren’t you? Team Outer destroyed that dimensional-folding device on their raid to destroy any PokéBoys in the area. There is a chance that a Lab of League Headquarters will be chosen so they can figure it all out from the original creator’s notes, but you heard them yourself. You’re looking at a decade or more before they can replicate the original experiment that landed you here.”
“Exactly! I’m the one in a bind here!” The pigtailed redhead shouted. “So why do I have to be a Tamer if I wanna work with PokéBoys?” Ranma’s frown deepened. “The last time I jumped into a fight to check out what those two guys were doing, some ‘OfficerJerry’ guy came outta nowhere, handcuffed me, and dropped me off in a jail cell, ‘til they figured out who I was!” The redhead was still a little peeved over that, to be sure. That she was interrupted from fighting two powerful opponents AND that she was beaten by a policeman in bicycle shorts.
Professor Pussyillow sighed again at the stubbornness of the young would-be Tamer before her. “Ranma, I saw the ‘Inside Report’ With Katie Couric the Twenty-Second. You’ve only been here a week, and I can see that even thought you have some skills in martial arts, you DON’T have what it takes to keep up with PokéBoys.”
“You just need to see what I can really do!” The redhead shouted.
“You mean those punches and kicks you’ve been practicing with?” Prof. Pussywillow snorted. She waved some of her long locks of reddish blonde hair out of her face. “None of that will allow you to face up to PokéBoys.” She then smirked. “BUT, as a Tamer, you can protect yourself with other PokéBoys that you’ll come to capture, train, tame, and own. And with them, you’ll get to freely wander around, doing good deeds to earn your keep, and you’ll also be able to stay at PokéCenters, where you’ll be able to learn more about this world. Some of it may even come in handy if, and I mean IF you’re ever able to return to your own world.”
When the older woman was done talking, Ranma-chan’s vision was matching her hair. How DARE this woman tell her she couldn’t stand up to PokéBoys!? She was Ranma Saotome, Heir of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts! Slayer of the Phoenix God Saffron, and all-around ass-kicker! “Look, lady! I can fight these things just fine! Hell, back home, we had some pretty weird stuff too! Only thing is, it’s gotten old, fast! And I need some new challenges, or else I’m gonna get rusty!”
Leaning over, Prof. Pussywillow smiled at the redhead sweetly... A little TOO sweetly. “Ranma,” She said slowly, softly. “When you attacked those PokéBoys who were PokéBattling for their Mistresses in the park the other day, what happened?” The Professor knew, of course. She just wanted to make sure that the pigtailed girl got in through her thick skull. This redhead really must’ve been a man. Only men had this much trouble grasping such simple, logical concepts.
“Um...” Looking down, Ranma-chan blushed at the memory. “Well, I...”
“You got your cute bubble-butt kicked, that’s what!” Prof. Pussywillow stated as a matter of fact, which, it really was. Not everyday you see a pure-blooded human make the news, especially in a story about one getting into the middle of a PokéBattle between a Prickachu and a Sixpacker.
“HEY!” The redhead shouted, her ire growing again. “I wasn’t expecting some yellow mouse guy to throw bolts of electricity at me! And how the hell was I supposed to know the football-helmeted blue guy could spray beer bubbles so fast?”
“Exactly,” Prof. Pussywillow said. “You didn’t know what to expect. If that OfficerJerry hadn’t been around, your cute little ass would’ve been grass.” Her eyes flashed with seriousness. “And those were common, run of the mill PokéBoys. There are ones far, FAR stronger and more vicious out in the wilds that wouldn’t have hesitated to make mince-meat out of you after they .”
Crossing her arms underneath her breasts, Ranma-chan grumbled, but couldn’t really come up with anything to say to that. Still...
“Is it really too much to just be able to spar with these things?”
“Look, Ranma,” Prof. Pussywillow sighed, feeling like she was going in circles with the redhead in her office. “It’s just NOT how things are done. Besides, Tamers fulfill a useful everyday purpose!” The buxom PokéBoy Researcher said seriously. “Without Tamers, wild PokéBoys would attack women indiscriminately. Natural disasters would require more resources than the Fire Departments or Police could field. There are also rogue elements like PokéBoy Tamers gone bad and criminal groups like Team Rocket that the police don’t quite seem able to handle, which good Tamers are able to handle.”
Ranma-chan didn’t say anything... Even though she really wanted to be able to just train by fighting against the super-human guys... Well, there was something about being a help to others that went along well with the code of the martial artist.
Even if the Professor meant it would be the PokéBoys doing the work, and not her... Bah!
Shaking her head at the short woman’s reluctance, the reddish-blonde reached down and opened a drawer of the desk. She held up a small red device that looked to be a cross between a small book, a calculator, and a Nintendo GameBoy. “This is a PokéDex. It will give you more information about what a Tamer’s duties are, will identify you as a Level One Tamer, act as a GPS so you won’t get lost out there, and when you’re at a PokéCenter, you use it to contact me, and vicea-versa. It will also periodically update me on the status of your work as a Tamer, as will the League update you on their work concerning that dimensional-crossing project, if any.” The PokéBoy Researcher handed over the small gadget to the redhead. “Be careful with it. They can’t be replaced easily.”
“Yeah, yeah...” Ranma-chan grumbled as she accepted the small red device from the woman. How was it women always knew how to railroad her into doing what they wanted? Why, for once, couldn’t they just see things her way, and let the pigtailed martial artist just practice her art for the sake of the art? Why’d they have to go and complicate things and make it so confusing for her!?
“Your choice of an Alpha will be very important, as what you have effects how people perceive you. Having something cute tends to draw others to you. Having something dangerous can repel people and make them distrusting of you. And the elements, don’t get me started on how those effect how people view you! But no matter what you choose for a PokéBoy Alpha, they are nearly always out to do your bidding, and are more or less, the one covering your back.” The reddish-blonde smiled at the double meaning of her statement.
“So...” Ranma-chan said slowly, feeling she was going to have to accept this if she wanted to get to work with these PokéBoys at all. “I take it you have something here I can use for an Alpha.”
Nodding her head, Prof Kat Pussywillow told Ranma-chan, “You’re in luck. I just happen to have one good PokéBoy that I am willing to part with. He’s a...”
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(Posted Fri, 19 May 2006 14:30)
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