"Shampoo, are you saying that you bought the game at a shop that wasn't there before and has since disappeared?" Nabiki asked carefully for clarification. "Didn't that seem a bit strange suspicious to you?"
"Shops open and shops close. Nothing suspicious about that. Is normal. Happen all the time," Shampoo told them shrugging. "Is no wonder that shop couldn't stay in business for long with its too too low prices. Game cost only a bit of change which was lucky cause Shampoo only had a pocketful of change with her that day."
"He asked for exactly the amount of money you had on your person when you walked into the store," Ukyou questioned beginning to see where this was going. "You didn't even have a chance to tell him how much you could spend before he named his price, didn't you?"
"So?" Shampoo asked still not seeing the point.
Akane meanwhile had knelt down next to the game careful not to touch it and was reading of the side of the box: "So much fun that you won't be able to stop until its finished."
"That no have to mean that game is evil magical artefact," Shampoo maintained. "could be totally harmless."
"It promises to 'suck you right in' here on the box," Akane argued standing up again and stepping back.
"You all just don't want to play Shampoo's game," the amazon complained huffily as she packed the box back in to everyone's relief.
"It could have been fun to play it just to see what it did," Kodachi said to no one in particular.
"Yeah, it is all fun and games until somebody gets turned into a monkey," Nabiki commented dryly.
"If silly girls are to scared to play Shampoo's game then we shouldn't play with Spatula Girl's cards either," Shampoo declared. "They look funny to Shampoo."
"What are you talking about, Sugar?" Ukyou demanded. "I got these from my attic not some wandering shop."
"And does Spatula Girl know who put cards in attic?" Shampoo snapped back."
"No, they must have been there for a while, but that is totally not the point," Ukyou defended herself. "Look those are totally normal cards. You see kids everywhere playing these kind of card games. There is nothing special about them."
Kodachi and Akane had meanwhile approached the opened box that contained the cards.
"I have to admit that while I have frequently observed schoolmates playing with similar cards I have never seen this exact brand before," Kodachi put in thoughtfully.
"Is it just me or do the cards look a bit glowy and sparkly." Akane asked carefully.
"Oh come on, this is just silly," Ukyou tried to tell them.
"They have a point there, Ukyou," Nabiki pointed out. "Can you honestly promise with absolute certainty that if somebody plays a card that let's say summons a fire-breathing dragon, a fire-breathing dragon won't appear for real in the doujou?"
"This is Nerima!" Ukyou told them defeated. "Of course I can't, but that doesn't mean that it is likely."
She still closed the box and put it away though.
"So I guess this means that I win," Kodachi observed smugly.
"I can't really see what sort of harm a computer game might do," Ukyou had to admit.
Akane carefully studied the still unopened box of the "Virtual Virgin Smackdown Tournament Alpha" game for any warning signs of evil magic.
"It does seem to be legit if a bit hentai," she concluded reading the description on the back. "Is there a special reason why the closes of the all female cast have to get ripped of during the fight? And I think it would be totally uncalled for to do this kind of thing to somebody just because they have lost a fight...."
"Shampoo think that Rose Girl forgot controllers," Shampoo cautioned.
"No I didn't," Kodachi told them. "This the new 'GameStation X-Treme' it supports Virtual Synaptic Control and the game is on of the first that takes advantage of that. You control the game with the help of these electrodes. You put them on the side of your head. They promise total immersion in the game environment."
"Have you tested it?" Ukyou asked sceptical.
"Not yet," Kodachi admitted. "But what could possibly go wrong? They wouldn't have started beta-testing the Virtual Synaptic Control system if it wasn't perfectly safe."
"Shampoo suddenly don't think that this is such a good idea," Shampoo declared.
"You and me both, Sugar,"Ukyou agreed.
"No offense Kodachi, but I am afraid I have to agree with them," Akane added.
"Luddites!" Kodachi called them. "You just don't have any sense of adventure."
"That just leaves Akane's and Nabiki's suggestion," Ukyou observed while Kodachi repacked her game.
"Shampoo no can see anything really bad happen from playing truth-or-dare or spin-the-bottle," the Chinese girl mused. "No can see anything good or exciting happen either."
"At least as long as we don't involve any alcohol," Kodachi added. "After a few drinks something is far more likely to happen."
"Something really bad or something exciting?" Ukyou wanted to know. "No wait, never mind."
"But I don't want to play cards with Nabiki," Akane complained.
"Yes, Shampoo no gamble with greedy girl!" the Amazon declared.
"Perhaps if we did not play for money," Ukyou suggested.
"I will only consent to play strip-poker if Ranma joins us," Kodachi made clear.
"We don't have to play for money," Nabiki assured them grinning. "I have some tokens that we can use."
"Shampoo still don't trust Greedy Girl," Shampoo maintained suspiciously. "Greedy Girl up to something"
The other three girls nodded their agreement to that statement.
"You wound me!" Nabiki mocked. "And here I was prepared to give all of you some valuable presents to use as stakes in the game."
"You were planing to give us something for free," her younger sister question incredulously.
"Yes, I did," Nabiki confirmed. "I thought I might give you all a stack of special Ranma photos to gamble with. After all Ranma is why you are all here. And that should made things more interesting."
Before they could reply to that she had given each of them a stack and curiosity compelled them to take a look.
"Ranma not wearing much in some of them," Shampoo discovered quickly.
"Nabiki!" Akane exclaimed loudly while blushing deeply after taking a peek.
"These are numbered," Ukyou found. "But some numbers appear to be missing while others are there in duplicate."
"If you want to collect the complete set you will have to win photos from the others," Nabiki explained. "The explicit series is marked with red numbers and there is only one of each in all the stacks together. The less rare black numbered photos are present multiple times."
"Why are there photos of the pig-tailed girl among those?" Kodachi complained. "They are more the sort of thing my brother would be interested in. Why isn't she here anyway?"
The other girls groaned.
"Crazy Girl too too stupid," Shampoo exclaimed.
Things degenerated from there into a shouting match and insult contest while Nabiki fetched her poker supplies and some snacks.
It appeared the middle Tendou girl had won that round and managed to convince everyone to go along with her plan.
Up in the rafters Ranma was thinking hard. Some potentially rather dangerous situations had been averted without him having to intervene, but Ranma did not trust his luck.
Whatever Nabiki had planed was bound to result in some sort of catastrophe for him. The photos were bad enough but Ranma knew enough about the girl to understand that they were only the beginning.
But what could he do?
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(Posted Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:25)
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