Something was wrong.
Something was very wrong.
He had just got back to Fuurinkan from a wonderful time down in Kansai when he had sensed something quite amiss.
Something that didn't please the grandmaster of Musabetsu Kakutou-ryuu.
One: those two huge nexi of ki he currently sensed were at Fuurinkan High School. They hadn't been there when he had left several days before to go down to Osaka and improve on his collection of silky darlings. Where had they come from?
Yes, one of those was female -- a young female, he believed -- but with the sheer strangeness of the power he currently was sensing as he bounded from rooftop to rooftop, he doubted he could personally take advantage of it.
Pity.
And Two: he couldn't sense his heir anywhere in Nerima.
Of course, the second point wasn't really worrisome. The boy constantly headed off on training trips to improve his Art all the time. No doubt, something had happened which sent him off into the woods to improve himself. It would be pretty interesting to test him when he got back.
Well, it was time to have some fun.
Had to keep the boy in shape, after all.
And with that, Happousai went to work.
Genma and Souun perked. "The Master's returned," the former then announced.
"Yes. Heading into the local Ginza, I believe," the latter confirmed.
Nodoka and Kasumi stared curiously at the two men relaxing in the living room of the Tendou home. "My husband, please don't tell me he's going to . . . "
"I'm afraid so, my wife," Genma breathed out, and then he smiled as he stared at her. "Isn't he going to be in for a surprise."
Nodoka gazed on him, and then she stared to laugh as the potential implications of this sank in. Souun and Kasumi soon joined in.
Mahora . . .
"Hey, Asakura-san! You okay?"
Asakura Kazumi seemed to blink confusedly as she felt what all Windtalkers always addressed as "the Call" -- the strange clairvoyant summons that attracted them instantly to news that deserved to be broadcast. Standing up, she bowed to the head of the classroom. "Please excuse me, Negi-sensei. I have to go somewhere."
And with that, she teleported out. "DWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!" half the girls in Class 3-A screamed out in shock on seeing their resident paparazzi vanish like that.
The other half -- the girls who either knew Kazumi's secret or suspected something quite abnormal about her -- could only sigh. "Here we go again," Kagurazaka Asuna moaned to herself as she sank her head into the palms of her hands.
At the head of the room, Negi Springfield could only shake his head. He hoped the Headmaster would understand it when the news got to him.
"Turn on the television," the Headmaster asked his secretary, he enjoying a cup of tea in his office. "I think we're about to see something very interesting."
"Hai!"
First he needed to get juiced up.
The students at Saint Hebereke Girl's School were more than willing to "help" him out by allowing him to take their silky darlings into his care.
Then he got hungry.
A visit to a nearby yakitori bar took care of that.
Of course, the yakitori owner wasn't so accommodating.
"THIEF! COME BACK HERE AND PAY!"
Happousai laughed as he bounded clear. "If you want revenge, go to the Tendou doojou and challenge Saotome Ranma for your payment!" he called back as he bolted to a nearby telephone pole, just as a crowd charged with righteous female fury came storming down the street, handy instruments to deal out loads of pain at the ready.
Unfortunately, this time, things were going to be a lot different!
"Oh, my!" Kasumi gasped after flicking on the television. "Father! Auntie! Uncle! Windtalker-san's transmitting something again!"
In a flash, the three adults of the house were seated in front of the screen.
"Ladies and gentlemen, viewers across Japan and the world, my apologies again for interrupting your viewing day, but here is a news flash!" Windtalker declared as she telekinetically floated alongside Happousai, her webcam aimed on him. "For the first time since he began to terrorise the innocent residents of Tokyo's Nerima Ward and some of the neighbouring principalities, I present to you the so-called Panty Thief, otherwise known as Happousai, grandmaster of Musabetsu Kakutou-ryuu!"
"Huh?!" Ukyou gasped as she looked up from cleaning her stove. "That damned pervert's back?!" she demanded.
Shaking her head, the okonomiyaki chef then grabbed her combat spatula, ready to act in case the little troublemaker was heading her way.
"As you just witnessed right now, not only is Happousai a notorious lech willing to steal the intimate possessions of every young girl currently resident in this part of Tokyo, he's a thief as well," Windtalker carried on. "He just robbed a poor yakitori vender of many of his wares. And what's worse, instead of taking personal responsibility for his actions, he tries to force it onto the shoulders of the most well-known and respected student of that school, the most famous member of the legendary 'Nerima Wrecking Crew,' the handsome and noble Saotome Ranma!"
"AH-CHOO!"
"Bless you, Saotome-kun! Are you alright?!"
Ranma moaned as he moved to rub his nose. "Sorry about that, Sensei! Someone's must be talking about me."
The school's history teacher took that in, and then he sighed. "If it's going to be another challenger, try not to destroy the whole ward when you fight him, please?"
"Hai . . . " Ranma drawled.
The door then snapped open, revealing an excited third-year student. "EVERYONE WHO'S GOT WEB TV ON THEIR PHONES, FLICK 'EM ON! WINDTALKER'S TRANSMITTING NEWS!"
Silence fell, and then students screamed out as nearly half the class whipped out their devices in question. "What frequency?!" Sayuri asked.
"All of them!" the other student declared before he raced off to pass on the news.
As people instantly crowded around those lucky enough to get a good signal, Kanami then stared to the head of the room. "Um, Sensei, how about . . .?"
The teacher himself had his camera phone out. " . . . class?" she finished, and then she sighed. "C'mon, bro," she then beckoned Ranma with her. "Something's going on."
"Hai, hai, sis! Right behind you," Ranma breathed out.
Both walked out of the room, they followed by Akane. The others in the room don't take notice of their departure.
"Your wonderful reporter has learned in her studies that ever since he came to Nerima after a decade-long personal training journey in the martial arts supervised by his father, Saotome Genma-oh-sensei, Saotome Ranma has been engaged in (what would seem to some) a never-ending battle against foes of every possible description," Windtalker continued her commentary as Happousai bounded up to a low-rise apartment block to grab some interesting things hanging out from nearby windows.
"'Oh-sensei?!'" Nodoka, Kasumi and Souun chorused as they gazed on Genma.
He had, at least, the courtesy to look sheepish.
"And here, viewers, is one of Ranma-san's most dangerous and determined opponents, the very own grandmaster of his particular school of martial arts," Windtalker carried on as Happousai leapt away from the apartment building he just visited, various flung kitchen instruments flying after him from irate housewives. "A man who willingly, without a care in the world as to what his actions might do to others, abuses his vaunted position as the senior teacher of Musabetsu Kakutou-ryuu! All for his own personal pleasure! How many have suffered from his perversions?! How many women have had their innocence shattered forever because he fondled them, stole their personal property, embarrassed them in front of their peers?!"
"Negi-sensei, aren't you going to go help?" Miyazaki Nodoka whispered into Negi's ear. By now, all the students of Class 3-A were watching the news on the cell phones of those people lucky enough to have wireless phone-television service.
"Don't worry, Nodoka-san," Negi whispered back. "Besides, if I disappear to go down to Nerima and Nitta-sensei finds out . . . "
Nodoka jerked, and then she nodded in understanding.
"And lest we not forget what we just witnessed earlier, ladies and gentlemen," Windtalker continued the commentary as Happousai made his way towards Fuurinkan High School. "Remember how willingly Happousai shoved off his responsibility for his actions, forcing them onto the broad shoulders of Saotome Ranma?! How many times, viewers, has this happened before?! Perhaps too many to count! How many times has Happousai actually gotten away with this?! Only Ranma-san himself could potentially answer that question! But it does make you wish to think, doesn't it?"
"She's laying it on pretty thick," Nabiki mused as she watched with the rest of her class on the cell phones located there, including the teacher's.
"NABIKI-SEMPAI, IS IT TRUE?!"
Nabiki balked, and then she spun around to see a large group of girls from all the classes standing there, they teary-eyed, the guilt they clearly were feeling now quite obvious to all. "Wh-wh-what's true?" the middle Tendou daughter sputtered out.
"That old pervert Windtalker-san's filming about now?!" one girl demanded. "Is it true that he constantly shoved off all his perversions on poor Ranma-kun?!"
"Is it true?!" another screamed out.
"IS IT?!" they all bellowed loud enough to knock Nabiki over.
Nabiki giggled as she rubbed the back of her head, and then she nodded. She couldn't make money off this one, not with that Windtalker lady here practically putting out the news for free. "Hai, it's true! Ojii-chan always loved to pull fast ones on Ranma-kun, especially since he knew that Ranma-kun would do everything he could to stop his panty raids and all the other things he did!" She then added with a wink, "But I think that Ranma-kun's getting a lot better about it these days!"
"What about Kanami-san?!" a girl from Ranma's homeroom class wondered. "She was just split off from Ranma-kun to live her own life! What will the creep do then?!"
Nabiki blinked, and then her grin turned feral as she noticed something out of the corner of her eye flash past the classroom windows, heading to ground level. "Something tells me, girls, that Kanami-chan won't have anything to worry about."
The others stared curiously at her . . .
"Ah, time to relax for the day!" Happousai declared as he moved to finish his run in the Fuurinkan High School girl's change room, a favoured place for him to visit. "I wonder if Kasumi-chan's got lunch prepared!"
Unfortunately, his words were being transmitted across all of Japan thanks to someone he had yet taken notice of floating off to his left. "No doubt, the evil Happousai speaks of the eldest sister of Saotome Ranma's fiancée Tendou Akane, Tendou Kasumi!" Windtalker declared. "Could it possibly be that this vile monster, atop his constant abuse of Ranma-san, actually takes gross advantage of the hospitality granted to him by one of his other students, Tendou Souun-oh-sensei, father of Kasumi-san and Akane-san, by using his position as grandmaster of Musabetsu Kakutou-ryuu to allow himself a perfect base of operations so he could have his so-called 'fun.'"
"'Oh-sensei?!'" Genma, Nodoka and Kasumi chorused together.
Now Souun was blushing to his toes.
The telephone then rang. "I'll get it," Kasumi announced as she walked over to answer the phone. "Moshi-moshi, Tendou residence, Tendou Kasumi speaking," she called into it, and then she gasped. "Oh, my! Councilor Yamada, how are you today?!" A pause, and then she nodded. "Hai, Father's here! Would you like to speak to him?"
Souun tensed, and then he sighed. "Wish me luck, Genma."
"I think he'll understand, old friend," Genma noted.
"Hopefully."
"HEY!" Kuonji Ukyou screamed out. "YOU CRAZY REPORTER! GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT! RAN-CHAN'S MY FIANCÉ, NOT AKANE'S!"
With that, she grabbed her battle spatula, then raced off. "Ukyou-sama!" Kenzan Konatsu called out in vain after his employer.
"Wonder who's here now," Happousai mused aloud as he bounded through a window into the change room, he quickly noting that a class was currently in the swimming pool doing physical education classes. "Opportunity for me!"
As soon as he came through, he then stopped as he felt something literally shift around in the local ki fields. Very much like -- no, exactly like -- Genma's Umisen-ken null-ki cloaking field. But how . . .?
He then paled as he sensed a huge torrent of ki flow past him.
Very alien ki.
"Hello, mousie!" a voice then declared.
A voice Happousai instantly recognised . . .
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(Posted Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:51)
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