Her moped coming to a stop, Officer Jolie put her transporn into brake mode as she shook her head from side to side. “Another parking violation...” she mumbled as she took a pen and pamphlet of ticker-papers off from her belt and started writing out a fine. You just don’t part right next to a fire hydrant! It’s just common sense.
However, before she could put the pen to paper, the police pokégirl heard someone call for her. “What’s the problem, citizen?” The OfficerJenny asked as she lifted her head up to look at the person shouting for an officer. She blinked her eyes as the sight that greeted her was that fellow she met last night; Ranma Saotome. The Pet Owner was carrying his Skunkette in his arms... but who was that Peekabu? She wasn’t with him or the Tendo sisters before and she knew there’d been no sanctioned PokéBattles that she knew of in town in the last three days or so outside of the Gym.
Blinking his eyes once, twice Ranma stopped in mid-step for a moment. He was glad he was able to find and OfficerJenny so fast but, “Officer Jolie?” He asked curiously. “I thought you were working at the guard house?”
“I was on the night shift then,” she told him. “My shift ended soon after, I went to bed and after getting up I clocked back in around an hour ago. I’m working the beat as it were and this person,” she motioned to the hover-car she was standing next to. “Has parked too close a fire hydrant.” Shaking her head, she said, “But enough about that. What can I do for you, Pet Owner Saotome?”
“About that...” Ranma carefully held Asrial so his hands weren’t a seat for her posterior. “How do you file complaints against other Tamers?” He asked curiously. Feeling the Peekabu tug his shoulder, the pigtailed man turned his head to look at Sparkplug. “Yeah?”
“Tradesman,” the Electric-type pokégirl corrected him. “He’s licensed as a Tradesman.”
Nodding his head, Ranma replied, “Right.” Turning back to the OfficerJenny he again asked, “How do you file a complaint against a Tradesman?”
Blinking her eyes once, twice, the police pokégirl curiously asked, “What for?” Although she had a feeling it had to do with the Peekabu with them.
Blinking his eyes once, twice, the pigtailed main went silent for a moment. After a moment, he intelligently responded, “Uh...”
Well, so much for that. Shit! What was he going to say? He didn’t know how to describe things that went on in this world with a lawful slant. He looked to Asrial and Sparkplug for assistance. They’d been the ones that were wronged, so it was possible they could least described what had gone on.
Fortunately for Ranma, the Electric-type pokégirl was quick to respond. “Officer, there was an unsanctioned PokéBattle; he,” she motioned to Ranma. “Wasn’t even present to give orders to his Skunkette!” The Peekabu grinned at the look of shock on the OfficerJenny’s face, even though she had a heck of a bruise on her face. She could tell her former master was going to be in some trouble.
Breaking the pencil in her grip, the OfficerJenny took a deep breath to calm herself. It wouldn’t do to show favoritism; justice was supposed to be blind. With her features schooled after a moment, she asked in a calm voice, “What do you mean?”
Deciding to not implicate herself if she could help it, the Peekabu continued to shout, “Not only that but property damage!” The Electric-type’s cheeks sparked. “Peter Krankcase has tried to Tame his Skunkette!” She pointed to Asrial. “And her ass is hurting!”
At having that pointed out, Asrial winced. However at the look the OfficerJenny gave her, she numbly nodded her head. “Yeah...” she replied slowly. It had hurt, that was for sure, but the humiliation was worse in her opinion! “You can head over to that garage back there and see the damage for yourself.” She tried to motion in the direction with her face. Her limbs still weren’t responding.
“And can we get a NurseJoy too?” Ranma asked curiously. “My... pokégirl needs it, and that ass might need the help too.”
Nodding her head, the OfficerJenny told Ranma and Asrial, “Let’s talk this out in the garage. I want to speak to this Mr. Krankcase myself.” Ranma had seemed like an all right fellow, if a bit off. That someone had given him trouble after just entering the city, when she told them it was okay... that made a liar out of her and Jennys didn’t lie.
Slamming a book closed, the middle Tendo sister nodded her head. “Okay... so those are Limbec Pirates, huh?” Nabiki muttered to herself as she wrote down some information on the notepad next to her. “Note to self, do not engage a pirate gang that has a Panthress and an unusual Sabretooth Tigress...” especially since they were Rock-types and from what she recalled from that PokéMon game of Kasumi’s, Rock-types were weak around water and she didn’t want to know how powerful a Rock-type pokégirl was if she could deal with water...
Shaking her head, Nabiki just vowed to not get involved with any forces of the Limbec Pirates if she could help it. “But knowing Ranma’s luck, he’d probably have to deal with them.” She muttered as she opened another book. Hmmm... this one at least had information on the various Leagues and regions that the world had. “Notable Tamers and pokégirls for each area?” Well, the more information the better.
Looking over the information, Nabiki could see that the Pewtit Museum really was the main attraction of Pewtit City. On the first floor, she read up on how there were what were referred to as “Pre-Sukebe” relics concerning the daily living and interests of humanity are on display and the second floor housed a space exhibit featuring several meteorites, (thought to be Moon Stones) and a large Space Shuttle, the Discovery. However, that last bit made Nabiki curious. How the heck did they have a space shuttle and why was that name familiar to her?
Then it hit the middle Tendo daughter. That was the name of one of the last working space shuttles of the United States of America. “Wait a minute!” She shouted as little gears turned in her head. She got up from the table she was working at and went through a few aisles of books. She stopped at an index section and took out two books that were both world Atlas: one current and one Pre-Sukebe. Upon opening both books to the global view, the woman’s eyes widened. While there was so much missing in this world and a little added about... this WAS planet earth!
Sweat trickling down her brow Nabiki could see that from the comparison of where the Indigo League lie compared to the newer map, they were in the mid-western United States. She flipped pages in both books trying to match up the United States Map to the Indigo Map. After a moment of studying, all Nabiki could do was frown. She couldn’t really tell, even with the two pictures side-by-side, but it looked like Pewtit was somewhere along what had once been the Kansas/Missouri border. “Great...” she mumbled to herself. At least now that she had some sort of reference as to where they were they could try and work things out. She did not look forward to doing it though.
Shaking her head, Nabiki sighed. This was not what she wanted at all. Well, it could be worse. “At least Japan survived whatever happened...” Though from what she saw on the map it looked like it got moved over and merged with those dirty Koreans. Hey, she was Japanese and like most of its people, extremely prideful of their home country.
At least it was called the Edo League. That had to mean Japan survived as the strongest nation.
Still, besides such interesting notes, the middle Tendo sister knew there was still far more to learn, far more important things to discover. Shaking her head to banish earlier thoughts of her home-country’s state in this world, she idly wondered what she could do for help. She hated to admit it, but she was pretty sure perhaps the place Gary talked about... Viridick? If they kept control well enough, they might be a spring of information to help them.
So with that in mind, Nabiki placed to two world atlas books back on the shelves before moving back to the table where she had the other books she’d been reading through. She took hold of the one concerning the region, people, and pokégirls and began flipping through a number of pages until she found the section on Viridick City. However, there was a name in there and description of its most prominent citizen that made even the fabled Ice Queen of Furinkan High’s blood run cold.
“Gendo Giovanni,” Nabiki read aloud. “Bearer of the Earth’s NERV Badge, heads the Viridick City Gym. Wielding numerous high-level Ground-type Pokégirls with a pair of formidable Rock-type and Steel-type pokégirls in the mix, the Gym Leader is one of the tougher challenges for Pokégirl Tamers to face. The Gym Assistants tend to follow a similar vein, with their Harems comprised of Ground-type pokégirls with either a Fighting or Rock-type thrown in for good measure. It’s suggested that only experienced Tamers take on this Gym.”
NERV? Gendo? ...Giovanni... the middle Tendo sibling began to sweat-drop heavily at the implications of all this. “Oh kami above! A bad fusion of Neon Genesis Evangelion and Pokemon!” She wanted to deny it but there it was on the page right next to the information, a picture of the man that was as clear as day. Glasses, goatee, white gloves, permanent scowl...
Although she considered herself adaptable with dealing with information and devising how to best react, the middle Tendo sister was having a problem accepting this. “Great... if there’s a pokégirl named Lilith and a giant one called Evangelion, we’d be so screwed.” Although she was tempted, Nabiki decided she’d save checking for that for a little later. She was worried enough already and there was still so much to learn, so much to integrate... it might’ve been easier to just photocopy everything. But with her luck it would mean she'd have to pay for each copy.
So there was only the drawn-out option. Read everything she could now, write it down, bring back to others when done and repeat tomorrow. Looking back at the desk she’d been working at, covered in open books and paper, Nabiki sighed. She was NOT looking forward to this...
Sitting back in his chair, the owner of Greasy Pete’s Garage ranted to the OfficerJenny sitting on the couch in front of him. “As ya’ can plainly see Officer, I’m the victim here!” The lard-ass shouted as he pat himself on the chest with the flat of his right hand. “I’ve had damage done to MY property by this man’s pokégirl and now he’s trying to turn around and make me look like the criminal! There ain’t no trusting these out-of-towners I tell ya’!”
“YOU!?” Asrial shrieked. “You beat me up and then tried to fuck me up the ass!” By the octave of her screaming, it was obvious the Salusian of Imperial birth was feeling a lot better. The OfficerJenny had called a NurseJoy down to deal with the injuries of herself... and sadly, Pete.
Glaring at the perceived pokégirl, Pete shouted “Hey! It’s not my fault if yer trainer decided to whore ya’ out! Ya’ should’ve been a good little slut and let me get off first!” He yelled back. “Just fer that, I’m not fixing the shitty RV of yers!” He still had a concussion, so his speech patterns were distorted.
At hearing that last part, a sudden chill went down the pigtailed martial artist’s back as a sudden premonition of what that meant hit him. “Uh... Officer...” Ranma spoke up. “There was no damage. I just wanted to have him check it out and see if there was anything I could have done to it...” well, Asrial wanted that really but he had to put up a good front. Pokégirls and girls that apparently could pass for them apparently weren’t supposed to have much say in anything.
“Sez you.” The mechanic muttered. No need to let them know that after Asrial had resisted he had taken some ‘liberties’ with the engine and taken it apart slightly. It was what had taken him so long to get to Taming that girl.
Getting up from his seat, Ranma walked out of the room. It was only two seconds before they heard a roar of, “SON OF A BITCH!” The sound of feet storming was quickly followed lead to the side of an angry looking pigtailed martial artists standing at the door-frame. “What the hell did you do to the engine!?”
Schooling his features, the overweight garage owner stared at Ranma. “I have no idea what you mean,” he replied, trying to act innocent.
Ranma frowned. “The engine is in pieces... the thing is incapable of driving now! And that is NOT the state it was brought in here!”
Hearing that complaint, the OfficerJenny frowned. “Excuse me a moment...” she said before she left to take a look herself. She looked at Ranma and the pigtailed youth stood aside for her to pass. In less than a minute, she came back with an annoyed look on her face. “That’s quite a mess they have there...”
Confused at all that was going on, the Peekabu got up from the stool she was sitting on and went to look out into the other room. She grimaced at the sight of the RV’s front. “I don’t recall it being like that!” She cried out in shock. “And I barely saw it!”
The older and overweight mechanic glared at his Electric-type pokégirl. “You didn’t see nothin’m ya’ stupid bitch! I only took ya’ out for battle! Now sit yer ass back down!” The look on his face promised pain for the mouse-like pokégirl.
Suppressing a shiver from the obvious threatening tone, the Peekabu knew she had to act now, or else she’d be stuck with this jerk. Frowning, Sparkplug turned about to look at the OfficerJenny. Taking a deep breath, the pokégirl steeled herself before asking, “Um... can I request a transfer of ownership?” Hopefully it wouldn’t be too hard, now that the Officer was there and seeing everything for herself...
“WHAT DID YOU SAY!?” Pete snarled as he suddenly stood up from his chair. He rose his hand in preparation to strike the traitorous bitch...
Only to have his hand grabbed in a tight grip. His fist was pulled back and he was then pushed back against one of the walls of the office space. “HEY! No hitting girls!” Ranma yelled at the man as he outright scowled. “Besides, I still owe you for what’cha did to Asrial!” He cracked his knuckles, ready to beat the shit out of this fat bastard. He was no better than that Gary asshole!
Seeing that Ranma was about to assault a man and get himself in trouble the OfficerJenny coughed loudly into her hand. “Excuse me!” She spoke up, her voice having a decidedly hard edge. Seeing both men looking at her, she told them, "Sit down, both of you! I wish to ask a simple question of Mr. Krankcase.”
Although he was still tempted to pound the man anyway, Ranma sighed and grumbled in annoyance. He was holding back too! Still, there wasn’t much he could do with the policewoman standing there. So sitting down he tried to suppress his annoyance, yet he blinked his eyes as he noticed Asrial smiling at him. For some reason, her smile gave him a small bit of comfort. “Eh heh...” he chuckled nervously and blushed as he suddenly felt the Sparkplug hug him tightly, the Peekabu letting off a happy squeal. He had to wonder, did girls like it when he stood up for them? Akane always gave him such a difficult time whenever he had to save her bacon.
Grumbling at the sight of his traitorous pokégirl, the mechanic turned back to the Jenny. “What do you want, ya’ stupid bitch?”
Her eyebrows furrowing at the insult, Officer Jolie corrected, “That will be ‘Officer’, not ‘bitch’.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Anyway, I was curious... would you say that the RV is inoperable as is?”
Nodding his head, the man replied, “That’s correct. Thing is horribly messed up. It’s gonna need someone with a proper touch to get it to drive again; someone like me. Not that I’m going to do it now after all that bastard did to me!”
“All right...” the Jenny said firmly. “And you would say the RV came in, in such condition?”
Nodding his head, Pete replied, “You got it, Officer. And I want to report property damage too! So much is broken because of what that guy’s Skunkette did! He owes me at least five-hundred thousand SLC, minimum! I’ve lost some precious parts that are going to take time to replace!” Oh yes, he was going to try and bilk that Edo bastard for all the League credits he could!
Considering the man’s side of the story for a moment, the OfficerJenny nodded her head. “All right... then tell me, Mr. Krankcase... HOW did she get the vehicle down here? You told me earlier she was the only pokégirl.” She frowned as she stared at the mechanic that was blinking his eyes. “Face it, there’s no way a Skunkette could move that all by herself.” Her eyes flashed. “And further more, explain to me how I saw that RV last night in perfect working condition at 0300 hours this morning! I lead them to the PokéCenter myself and they parked it in their lot, meaning that Landmaster was still working at 0439 hours. Please! Tell me how a Class-A Landmaster goes from near-perfect condition to a PIECE OF SHIT in less than nine hours!?”
“Er... uh...” Pete gawked a little, not expecting such a reaction. “You see-”
Officer Jolie but in before Pete could finish making up a pathetic excuse; she was in no mood for his bullshit. “I see you bitching about property damage and yet I see what you’ve done to that machine...” the Jenny frowned. “Do you know what property damage is legally defined as? No? I'll tell you. Property damage is damage or destruction done to public or private property, caused either by a person who is not its owner or by natural phenomena.”
Trying to huff out his chest the mechanic tried to turn things around. “Yeah and his girl was the one who-”
The OfficerJenny cut him off once more as she continued. “Property damage caused by persons is generally categorized by its cause: neglect, (including oversight and human error) and intentional damage. Intentional property damage is often but not always malicious. Property damage caused by natural phenomena may be legally attributed to a person if that person’s neglect allowed for the damage to occur.” She frowned deeply. “Pet Owner Saotome got a perfectly working Class-A Landmaster RV from Tamer Gary Stroaks in salvage. The state its in now can only be described as a malicious attack on private property with the intent on causing drastic damage.” Her eyes narrowed. “While I might not be able to do anything for what you did to his Skunkette since we all know pokégirls are fucked no matter what happens; most juries laugh at the concept of claiming a crime of TWOC against someone else’s pokégirl. However, what you did to his other property is inexcusable and punishable by the law!”
At that last part, Asrial frowned deeply. The policewoman couldn’t do anything about what that fucker did to her? What the hell!? Were pokégirls absolutely nothing but secondary property in this hell-hole!?
Sweating lightly, the man tried to get the focus off of him. “But... Officer. My garage! She caused so much damage! What am I supposed to-”
“Save it!” Officer Jolie snarled. “From what you described earlier, I can tell your OWN pokégirls caused the damage. Even if she was dodging to save her skin the pokégirls you and your employee own committed such destruction. Ranma Saotome is in no position to pay you, instead you owe him.” She frowned. “And the law states if you don’t want a prison sentencing of up to three years, you pay for the damages owed and a fine to the city of Pewtit.” She took a pad of paper off her belt as she started writing with a pen from her pocket. “Oh, a fine of such is easily seventy-five thousand SLC and you’ll be paying over double that. I’d say the cost to now fix this RV is going to be just over two-hundred thousand!”
Staring as the OfficerJenny was writing him a ticket, Pete did a decent impression of a motor-boat. “B-bu-buh-but I can’t afford that!” He protested. There was no way he could! He was just a mechanic, not rich!
She then gave him a devious smile. “Sure you can. You have to pay the city in Standard League Credits but you can easily pay off the damages to Saotome in other ways... such can include the sale of the establishment and the transfer of pokégirls... although Uncommon breeds, a Peekabu and CharAmanda of the levels you have them at will go for around forty-thousand each. That’s eighty-thousand right there to pay back Saotome.” Her grin widened much like a Jokette’s. “Of course you’ll still need to make the cash for the town...” she looked around. “Perhaps you can sell this place. The sale should be able to generate enough profit to cover your costs to the town...” she smiled. “And you’d best just sell it. If we send you to prison, ownership would automatically revert to the town for sale anyway.”
It was then Pete broke down blubbering about the fate of his business. He was ruined!
As the sobbing man had his face in his hands, Officer Jolie turned to look over her shoulder at Ranma. She winked at him.
Blushing a bit, Ranma had to admit... it was good to be on someone’s good side, although he wasn’t sure how he managed that. Still, he had gotten revenge for Asrial AND the Peekabu was his now. What could go wrong?
“Gah! You have got to be kidding me!” Nabiki’s eyes were actually wide as she read through that last passage book in the book she was holding. “There really IS an Evangelion in this world!?” Oh they were so doomed! DOOMED! DOOOOOMED!!! “Now we just need a Lilith, an angel named Rei and an Evangelion in the same area at the same time...” the middle Tendo sibling muttered to herself as she shivered slightly in barely suppressed fear. She was certain now: this world sucked!
Still, even as she considered that, Nabiki knew they seemed safe. The history of the Evangelion showed that it was in hibernation under water within an area of the Orange League; formerly Australia. She sighed... that place had been smashed into ISLANDS!
“Note to self,” Nabiki thought irritably. “If Ranma and Gendo ever meet, get Ranma to put Gendo down.” Better not take any chances. Ranma would understand her opinion. Though he wished they could find a Shinji in this world so that they could give that complete and utter tool a beating that would toughen him up slightly. That was something that had always annoyed her about that.
Hey, they man have been safe at the moment but better to take out the problem so that something like that would never come up. Then again, from what she read, Gendo help a pretty powerful position here. She doubted she could just have Ranma take him down with no repercussions. Sighing Nabiki shook her head. This couldn’t get any...
“Wait!” The middle Tendo sister shouted as she caught sight of a name sticking out on an open page to one of the books she had around her. Picking up the Indigo Index, Nabiki read with wide eyes. “Originally founded as Chiba City, Stone Town gained its prominence thanks to the illustrious, (some say notorious) Kuno family. The city has become famed for the nearby mountains where numerous deposits of Evolution Stones naturally occur. Stone City accounts for almost twenty of the entire collection of Evolution Stones found in the western hemisphere. Professor Kocho Kuno is the current head of the Kuno family and has an on-site research facility in his family's home where the study into Evolution Stones is a continuing process. Kocho’s son, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Balls of Stone Town is next in line to lead the Kuno family and the monopoly they hold over the Evolution Stone trade.”
Lowering the book, the most mercenary of the Tendo daughters couldn’t help but snicker. “Blue balls?” She had to admit, it suited him better than ‘Blue Thunder’. Nabiki chuckled, her shoulders shaking slightly. Still... wait... if there was a Kuno then...
Her eyes widened. “Could... there be a Tendo or a Saotome family in this world!?” Looking further into this Stone Town to see if there was any info, Nabiki frowned as she realized that no, neither Saotome or Tendo were listed with the area. They were either too unimportant or not there at all. However she took notice that the current owner of the Golden Pair Ranch in Stone Town was one Mikado Sanzenin. A man noted in the book as being famed for having Tamed over one-thousand Ice-type pokégirls.
Nabiki had to whistle. Okay so there may or may not be a pokégirl world version of her family. Still she idly wondered if there was, and if Ryoga or the Amazons had dimensional counterparts. Then again... hadn’t she read earlier about a breed of AmazonChan pokégirls that took the Indigo League area by storm before it was the Indigo League... their leader named Cologne? She’d thought it coincidence at first... but now seeing this with the Kunos and Senzanin...
Nabiki realized she was going to be here for awhile, that was for sure...
“Thanks.” Ranma said to the OfficerJenny when they arrived police station. She’d managed to clear up so much that had happened; he was genuinely thankful.
The Peekabu nodded her head in agreement. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she realized that, yes, she was free now. Or rather, at least free from her old master. Ranma seemed like he’d be a much better choice!
“It’s quite all right...” the OfficerJenny said as she led them to her office through the throngs of crowded police office space. “We’ve had word about the possible wrongs of Mr. Krankcase for quite some time now with complaints from out of towners... you just happen to be the first one I can prove he was committing wrong against.”
“Well, okay...” Ranma rubbed the back of his head slightly in embarrassment. “Just glad that that’s taken care of...”
“Sorry about your RV...” the Jenny apologized. “If you want, I know someone we can take it to. He’s rather good with his hands and could probably fix it for you...”
At that comment Asrial frowned. She was pretty good with tech. Why were they making such a big deal when SHE could handle it? Okay maybe she’d need some tools, but she COULD handle the job and make it better while she was at it!
“Well, I dunno...” Ranma softly replied as he tapped at his chin slightly in thought. “After what happened...” he chuckled nervously. “No offense but I don’t really know if I could trust anyone in the city... present company excepted.”
Smiling lightly, the OfficerJenny told Ranma, “You’d need not worry. He’s a good friend and an upstanding citizen if not a pillar of Pewtit’s community.” Opening the door to her office, she held it open for him as she stood aside, allowing the human to enter first.
Ranma nodded as he, Asrial and the Peekabu stepped inside. “All right... but what about that jerk’s pokégirls?” Although honestly the only one he had intention of taking with them was ‘Sparkplug’ and that was because the Salusian was rather set on it.
Walking in after them and closing the door behind her, Officer Jolie replied, “That’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about and why I brought you here.” She turned around to look at the group. “Please, you can all take a seat.”
“Yeah?” Ranma asked as he sat down. Honestly, he wasn’t a Pokégirl Tamer, he was just acting like one at the moment. He hoped she had no tricky questions for him when he didn’t have Nabiki around to cover his ass. Looking between Asrial and the Peekabu for a moment, Ranma made his way to the wooden chair and sat down.
“We can see to it he sells numerous assets of his and pays off his debt in fines to the city and yourself...” the OfficerJenny started to speak as she made her way to her desk. “But from what Asrial was telling me... I think you wouldn’t mind having the Peekabu as part of your harem, am I correct?”
“Well, uh...” while he really wasn’t pleased about the concept of the Peekabu traveling over into his possession as ‘property’ but... well, he saw how happy the Peekabu had been when Asrial had wanted her to join his group. “Yeah... I guess.”
Smiling lightly, Asrial pat Ranma on the shoulder. She was pleased to just get that girl out of the situation she was in at the garage.
“REALLY!?” Sparkplug squeaked out excitedly. “You want me as part of your harem!?” Her eyes were practically shining with hope.
Ranma winced from the sheer volume of her screaming but he couldn’t hold her excitement against her. He nodded his head and soon found himself being floored, (literally) as the Peekabu glomped him, causing him to crash onto the floor as his chair was flipped over.
“Thank you, Master!” The Peekabu cried, literally cried. “Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! I promise I’ll be a good pokégirl! I’ll do laundry! I’ll clean! I'll provide power on demand! I’ll PokéBattle! I’ll let you take every orifice I have! I’ll let you humiliate me! I’ll let you use me as a pimp token! Anything!” Apparently, she saw such as normal treatment of pokégirls... which said something as to the levels of how badly her previous owner treated her.
With all the Electric-type pokégirl was telling him, Ranma sweat-dropped. Slowly, he hugged the Peekabu back gently. “Uh... don’t worry about being pimped out...” he told her seriously. Really, he didn’t want to be anything like his old man.
The Peekabu didn't seem to notice as she continued to hug onto him. Sparkplug just seemed too relieved and excited as to have a new and wonderful owner as him! Oh she couldn’t wait to Tame him; he was just so nice to her! She’d also looked forward to making sure she properly treated Asrial as the Skunkette’s position of Alpha required!
Although the OfficerJenny smiled at the scene, this brought up why she wanted him here. “While I can see that you do want the Peekabu... therein lies the problem. You can’t just have her right now.”
Hearing that made the Salusian’s eyes widen in shock; she quickly turned to look towards the OfficerJenny. “What?” Asrial asked. “Why can't we take Sparkplug with us?” She winced at having said that. Not because she was being dominant, but that she called the Peekabu by that name. It was a HORRIBLE name! She’d have to talk to Ranma about giving her a better, less humiliating name.
“Because I need Ranma’s records as either a Pet Owner or a Tamer,” the blue-tressed policewoman said seriously. “Until that’s taken care of, we have to make a temporary storage space here at the station’s computer system and keep her in digital storage until Mr. Saotome is licensed...”
At hearing that, Sparkplug pouted and slumped down on her owner. “That...” she sighed and nuzzled against Ranma. “That’s not fair...”
Sighing, Ranma gently brought a hand up to pat the Peekabu’s violet strands of hair. “Sorry ‘bout that...” he apologized to her as he moved himself up into a sitting position.
“I’m sorry but that’s the way it goes...” the OfficerJenny said seriously as she turned on the computer stationed with her desk. Sitting up in the chair, the police pokégirl typed, keys clacking quickly as she moved with precision. “All right. Now I’m going to need a bit of information to create a temporary storage field. Name?”
With the Peekabu letting go of him, the pigtailed man slowly got back to his feet. “Ranma Saotome,” he replied as he pushed his chair back up.
The OfficerJenny typed it up. “All right now we’ll...” she blinked her eyes as her console started making a ringing noise. “Wait...” she said slowly as she looked over the information on the screen. She blinked her eyes once, twice, looked up at Ranma and then back down at her screen. “I thought you said you weren’t a Pokégirl Tamer...”
“I’m... not...” Ranma replied slowly, trying to remember all that he’d been saying and planning with Nabiki’s help within past twenty-four hours. As the woman stared at him, the pigtailed man blinked his eyes slowly. “What’s wrong?”
Frowning, the OfficerJenny turned the computer screen around showing an image of pigtailed teenager standing in a winner’s circle and holding a large trophy. “Is this not you?”
Staring at the image on the screen, Ranma’s jaw dropped in shock. “Uh... yeah, that’s... me.” He didn’t understand it! He hadn’t even been in this world for a full two days yet! How did they have a picture of him in such a pose!?
Turning the monitor around, the Officerjenny continued typing. Her frown deepened as she got more information. “It says here you’ve been a Tamer for two years... until you and your father disappeared along your Taming Journey. You two were last seen heading towards the Jusenkyo Spell Dump... you were thought MIA or KIA when a wandering Tamer found the gear belonging to you and your father along with some identification.”
At hearing the OfficerJenny explaining what she knew, Asrial held back a gasp as a realization hit here. There was another Ranma here? Did that mean there could possibly be ANOTHER her!? Oh, she did NOT want to think of that possibility...
His eyes widen, Ranma slowly blinked them. “I... don’t recall that...” he finished lamely. Oh crap and a half. This wasn’t good.
Standing up, the OfficerJenny looked at Ranma seriously. “Follow me,” she commanded in a tone of voice that booked no room for argument.
“Yes ma’am,” Ranma replied as he got up and followed her. He winced as he realized by standing quickly, he’d knocked the Peekabu off from his lap.
Landing harshly onto the floor, Sparkplug reached back with her right hand and rubbed her butt. “Owwies...”
“Sorry...” Ranma apologized before he followed the OfficerJenny out of the room. Looking over his shoulder, he felt a little relief as Asrial and Sparkplug followed behind him.
Leading the young Tamer from her office, Officer Jolie looked over her shoulder for a moment to make sure that he was still following her. Pleased to see he was, as were his pokégirls, she continued to lead the small group to the back of the building. Right next to a door that led to the jail cells, there was an area that was sectioned off and surrounded on all sides by thick chain-link fences, a series of lockers lined up in the area while allowing for maximum walking space. “This is the evidence locker.” Opening a small pouch of her belt and taking out a set of keys, the OfficerJenny searched for the right one for a moment before using it to open the padlock on the entrance gate. Opening it, she told them to, “Enter.”
Staring at the OfficerJenny holding open the door, Ranma did so, looking around as he made his way in. “Huh... not much in here, is there?” And, yes, while he could see there were lockers filling the area, the way it was set up was mostly wasted space. To him, unless they had to hide a body or three in here, there was almost no reason to have this much space for evidence.
Walking over past the first set of lockers and stopping at the second row, the OfficerJenny told them, “You know, we’re very lucky for this opportunity... when the Saotomes were reported missing, it was by a Tamer from Pewtit. Finding the gear, he had his Whorizard fly him back the distance to report the crime in his home town...”
“Oh... so... what?” Ranma asked, not sure where this was going. “You think that I’m the same guy that disappeared, only to reappear with no memory?” While not something he looked forward to, it might help him establish some sort of identity in this world.
Stopping at one of the lockers, the OfficerJenny took her keys and fiddled with the lock. “That’s what I’m hoping. Either we prove such now... or you’re in deep shit for impersonating a lost Tamer and will be held for questioning and a Psi-Probe.”
Ranma winced as he heard Officer Jolie say that. Yeah, that was the last thing he needed. “Well... I am Ranma Saotome.” He said honestly. A sudden thought came to him as he shouted, “Maybe that guy was impersonating me!” At the look she gave him, he chuckled pathetically. “Or not...”
Slapping herself on the face, Asrial sighed. This was not going well.
Opening the locker, the OfficerJenny replied, “We’ll see.” She took out one of the two black plastic bags in there. She looked and checked the tag. “Unsolved Case number forty-two fifteen ninety-six zero one-B.” She opened the bag and took out a red PokéDex. What stood out about it was the noticeable scratch on the cover. Opening it, she held it to Ranma. “Activate it. It has thumb-print/DNA encryption.”
Looking up at Officer Jolie and then down at the device, Ranma gulped. “This is it...” he thought nervously as he pressed his thumb onto thing that looked like some sort of scanner; a little black square with line patterns.
Oddly enough almost as soon as he had done there, there was a small whirring sound that came from it as circuitry booted up. “Hello,” a voice came from the device. “PokéDex Model zero-eight-zero-zero-one-three-five-six: ‘Dexter’; registered to Pokégirl Tamer Ranma Saotome re-activated.”
Asrial blinked her eyes as she looked at the PokéDex. “That thing can talk?”
The OfficerJenny blinked her eyes at that. “Yes, they can and they can also be set to a silent mode,” she replied to the Skunkette before turning to look at Ranma. “It appears that such is your gear...” she tilted her head. “I believe we’re going to need to talk but for now it seems that this belongs to you.” She grabbed the other two plastic evidence bags of Ranma’s and his still-missing father’s gear. “We’ll need to get your Tamer’s status reactivated amongst other things...”
Ranma chuckled nervously. “Swell.” Ah well, at least he could admit that little scare HAD gone a lot better than he could have hoped.
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(Posted Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:04)
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