[Episode 211743] [Episode 211743]Gendo Giovanni continued to stare at the screens before him, watching as the two pureblooded humans chatted with the pokégirl clone of the female.
Normally Gendo would never have tolerated such acts in Team Rocket. Pokégirls were tools, weapons, pawns to be used and disposed of when the need and situation required. They were not to be coddled, spoke to kindly, or held in such a manner. But the pureblooded humans were a resource, a resource that needed to be brought in just right for maximum reward.
“Report, Dr. Akagi,” he said, before the blond had even finished entering his office.
The blond female gulped slightly, recognizing the tone Gendo had used; he was in a bad mood and wanted good news NOW!!! “Tests have confirmed the two remaining clones have a stable genetic base. The others that were experiencing failure at the DNA level have been successfully changed to rare pokégirls.”
“Have them cycled immediately,” said Gendo. “If their memories are copied like a pokégirls, then we do not need them with divided loyalties.”
Ritsuko nodded; glad that her own line was human female for several generations, almost as happy as she had been when puberty had ended for her without any pokégirl genes activating. As such, she was too valuable to ever be Balled and Cycled.
No, it was straight to some rich ass’s bedroom after a nice lobotomy. You didn’t need an IQ above ninety to say “Harder!”
“The two who ruined Clone 3?”
“They were Balled and changed into common pokégirls before being shipped to Entertainment,” she replied. “They were Cycled at Level Four as per your orders, so as to have some idea of what they would be going through.”
Entertainment was a lounge area within the base, a place where certain Rocket members with certain fetishes could enjoy said sexual desires without worrying about damaging any pokégirls, namely because said girls were as disposable as socks with holes in them. Who cared if said pokégirls ended up dead in any number of ways? There was always more. It was said that some of the lucky ones who went quick ended up in the Viridick Gym lobby on display.
“What of the team we sent to Pewtit?” he asked.
“They have yet to arrive,” said Ritsuko. She took in a deep breath, preparing for whatever lashing out Gendo would do at the next bit of information. “Our main contact in the area was recently arrested, apparently trying to scam the male human out of money.”
“I see,” said Gendo coldly, his eyes momentarily hidden by a glare off his glasses. “Fallout?”
“They had no vital intelligence, if anything the Police may find some supplies they were to hold for any agents we needed in the area, stuff that will only appear as if he was either stockpiling for himself and perhaps his cousin.”
“Arrange to have them on the receiving end of an accident in their detention,” said Gendo. “Their pokégirls?”
“They certainly know nothing,” said Ritsuko. “The men only took them out to battle or to work, and they knew our policy of having witnesses. One is currently in the hands of Tamer Saotome, a Peekabu. The others will likely be given to Tamer Saotome after the Court finishes the trial, as the supposed debt they owe Tamer Saotome is well over two hundred thousand SLCs,” she finished.
Gendo stared impassively. “Have one of the agents with a psychic do a complete scan on the men and the pokégirls. If any are able to identify our agents or provide a suitable bit of evidence we were linked to him, they too are to receive accidents.
“What of our source who first alerted us to the humans?” he asked.
“That man is still stationed at the Buggy Woods,” said Akagi. “He will be unable to make a trip to Pewtit for the next three weeks without arousing suspicion.”
Gendo lowered his head. That meant they had no main agent in Pewtit, as well as the proposed base of operations was out. He’d have to arrange for the garage to be destroyed as well, something that looked like a former customer of Krankcase decided to get some payback on the soon-to-be-dead man. “I want options for the team in one hour; new base of operations, and completely new procedures to acquire the necessary genetic data. I want to know if these four humans are pureblooded or have poké-ancestry.”
Akagi nodded, making the necessary notes on her notepad.
“Genetic samples from the human male have not been procured?” he asked.
Akagi shook her head. “Jeremy seems … shy. He has not initiated any intimate contact with the converted clone, the female Ichikoo, or any of the pokégirls sent to acquire sperm samples from him.”
“And the egg samples from the clones?”
“No progress,” said Akagi. “Their reproductive systems are stable, but the eggs lose viability outside of the body. This is most likely due to their natures and should stabilize after a few months.”
“You informed me they were stable,” Gendo growled.
“Their bodies are stable, but reproduction is currently beyond them, at least for obtaining egg samples to use outside their bodies. We calculate a forty-seven-point-three percent chance that impregnation may also be a problem for them for the same time period.”
Gendo’s right hand tightened. Without working samples, he was limited to what subjects he could clone from. Pure human sperm and egg specimens would have allowed him to create new females, new pureblooded humans with which to begin his plan. Already the two he had were hesitant to trust him, certainly not trusting enough to allow a situation where they could be examined in such a way to acquire samples.
Perhaps he would have more luck with those four in Pewtit, when the team arrived. “Team status?”
“Holding an hour away from Pewtit at a rest area, awaiting further orders. Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki did not want them roaming around town without a plan of attack.”
He nodded at that. His former Sensei was always a bright man. “Very well; step up efforts to acquire samples from the male here,” he said. “The female can be brought in under the guise of a medical checkup, provided you can find a way to quickly acquire the needed eggs. I don’t care how you get it, just get it!” he finished.
Ritsuko nodded quickly. She knew he was very serious; he wouldn’t give a damn if she was the one to suck the samples out of the puny teen, as long as they were acquired.
“Have our agent at Buggy Woods do something useful, like learn what happened to the second team that was there.” Both teams had been sent in to capture a Buzzbreast hive in the area. The first team had stumbled upon the humans; the second team had continued on and hadn’t been heard from since. Considering what the outfit had carried with them, failure should not have been a possibility, and if their excuse—assuming a survivor was found—was poor, Entertainment would get some new additions soon.
“And the supposed alien skunk girl?” asked Ritsuko.
“I assume the Sub-Commander issued orders on that as well?” Gendo asked.
Ritsuko nodded. “We are to capture her alive, interrogate for technology, knowledge, and such, and keep alive to perhaps use for some purpose to be determined later.”
Gendo slowly scratched his forehead. Damn the old man, he already had a plan, he just wanted to see if Gendo could think of it too. What possible use could there be to keeping it alive? After you learned all you could from the mind, the body was the next stop, and certainly the old man wasn’t squeamish about doing a vivisection. What other possible use was there for such a…
And then Gendo smiled, an act that nearly made Akagi wet herself—and not in a sexy manner either. “Brilliant, Sensei,” he muttered. What better way to push forward a human-agenda than by portraying the abomination as proof of say … alien influence to destroy humanity. Obviously Sukebe had used the alien DNA to create pokégirls, part of some plot to wipe out humanity. A reason why didn’t matter, enough conspiracy theorists would fill that in. But it would turn many people against pokégirls, the supposed army of the invading aliens.
Ritsuko nearly purred as she watched Gendo’s smile change once more, forming a smile she knew all too well. Like her human mother, Ritsuko had a fetish, a fetish for men with power, and very few rated higher than Gendo.
“Dr. Akagi, here, now,” he growled, as he stood up, hands already fumbling with his belt.
With a happy sigh of content, Ritsuko moved over to his side of the desk, bending over, placing her hands on the hard oak top after pulling up her skirt, revealing a lack of undergarments.
Akane slowly blinked, as reality reset for her. “Huh?” she asked, looking around.
“Oh, welcome back, Akane,” said a smiling Kasumi, a thick book in her hands, several more on a nearby table, along with a glass of milk. “We were a bit worried when you froze up like that when Kiiro hugged you goodbye. So I agreed to stay and watch over you.”
Akane blinked at that. Kiiro was the blond furred mouse girl … who had kissed her goodbye … with tongue. A deep blush fell on her face as she recalled the incident, the shock leading to her ‘locking up’ for a bit. “She … and then … I…”
Kasumi nodded. “Kiiro is a very friendly and affectionate pokégirl. Poor dear was treated pretty badly by her old Tamer, and she likes to show her heart so readily, we didn’t have time to tell her not to say goodbye like that to you.”
“She stuck her tongue in my mouth,” stated the shocked Tendo sister.
Kasumi nodded, recalling her own sessions with the Peekabu. “Oh my,” she said worriedly, as she put down the thick tome she had been reading, searching the pile of books for what she needed. “I almost forgot that part of the exam,” she said, finally sighing as she found what she was looking for.
Akane just stared, wondering why her sister was ignoring the fact that once again someone had taken a kiss from Akane without asking, when she paled, seeing the title of the book Kasumi was now studying.
“The Art of Taming: A Female Tamer’s Guide to Taming Pokégirls”
“Kasumi?” squeaked Akane, pointing at the book, the French kiss from Kiiro now forgotten.
Blinking, Kasumi looked up at her sister, before looking back at the book. “Well Akane, I can’t really ask Ranma to Tame my own pokégirls all the time, can I? That would be very rude to both him and my team.”
“But I thought… Don’t you need… But then you’ll have to…” Akane sputtered, trying to make sense of what her sister had just said. Was her sister planning on having sex with pokégirls as well? Nabiki had mentioned that Ranma had to, something about Taming filling some need and all. But how could a woman fill that need?
Kasumi nodded, as she reached under the bed. “Oh yes, why the Nurse Joys got together and bought me a starter gift to help me along the way.” The fact said gift was for the great scene in the bath and was probably because a few hoped she would use it on them was left unsaid. “This is a Maxus Super-Squirting Double-Ended Dildo,” she said, holding the item up for her sister to see. “With this, I’m promised any pokégirl and female Tamer will enjoy themselves.
“But first, I have to study; I’m told the Female Tamer’s test will be a bit more difficult than a male Tamer’s. And I don’t want to fail for any reason.
“If you want,” she said, motioning to the stack of books, “you can study with me. I know Nabiki is studying as well, and we really should all have our licenses in case we need them. Nabiki said it would grant us more rights, but she didn’t elaborate too much at the time.”
Akane could only stare in continued shock, wondering what the hell was going on. Surely this wasn’t the Kasumi she knew, surely the Kasumi she had grown up with wasn’t interested in such things.
Or was she? Did this mean she never really understood her big sister, that there was a side of Kasumi hidden from them? Was this world changing Kasumi?
Hell, would it change her too?
“Now don’t be like that, Akane,” admonished Kasumi, seeing the look on her sister’s face.
“But you were never like this…”
“I never had a chance to be like this,” Kasumi said sadly. “When Mother passed, I … I threw everything I had to taking care of everyone. I never had a chance to be a wild teenager.”
She closed the book, her eyes conveying the effect such memories of the past were having on her. “Here Akane, we can be … well, free from what is expected of us. No one knows of the Tendo-Saotome agreement here, no one here knows of what we went through after our Mother passed away.
“Here, we can reinvent ourselves, be free, and express a side we were afraid to express back home, for fear of whatever shame it might have brought.” And she would know, having heard a lot of gossip while at the market. Who knew Nerima was filled with so many busybodies that had nothing better to do than gossip. “Besides, I’m a little shocked at how you reacted to Kiiro’s kiss,” she said, replacing the frown on her face with a teasing smile, a familiar sight from when they were younger.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked a confused Akane.
“Well, you were dating Ranma for a while essentially,” Kasumi said. “And it would have been seriously rude of you not to accept Ranma’s dual-gender nature.”
Akane could only blink. Sure she had thought of kissing Ranma. But to kiss him as a girl? Well, there had been the odd dream or two about that. “I … I never really thought about it,” she murmured, blushing deeply.
“Well you should,” said Kasumi, as she reopened the book. “From what Nabiki said, the only known Jusenkyo in this world won’t help him, especially if the local Ranma disappeared there. So he’ll be stuck with his curse. And if you can’t accept Ranma for who and what he is now, then you probably shouldn’t string him along.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Akane asked.
Kasumi just shook her head. “You have to figure that out for yourself Akane. But if you want to make an effort to get over that hurdle, then being a Tamer would help.
“But I wouldn’t even think of showing this to Ranma-chan,” she continued, hefting up the dildo from earlier. “I doubt Ranma is that comfortable as a young woman to allow something like the Shiranui Tamer anywhere near her special place.”
Akane could only sputter at such thoughts, continuing to do so even as Kasumi handed her a book on the basics of being a Tamer. Oh, it was ever so much fun to tease her little sister. I wonder why I ever stopped, she thought.
Ash J. Williams was having a very good day, you can bet on that. He got four customers, well only one since only one was paying, but he was buying for the four.
And they were buying a lot. Oh yes, no chance in hell of his balance sheet being in the red this month. The pigtailed Tamer and his human girlfriend were buying more in this one trip than he usually sold in a week. Outfits, medicines, and taming supplies, oh my.
And advice, they were listening to his advice. Oh, not fashion advice, he wasn’t girly or anything. That he left up to the Seamstress in the back who was finishing up some quick changes to the outfits.
“You all need anything else?” he asked, addressing the human female directly, instead of the pussy whipped male. An important part of being a salesman was to always address the one who pulled the purse strings.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a catalog or something similar we could look at on the road, in case we need something later.”
“Sure thing,” Ash said with a smile. Reaching under the register, he pulled out a small device. “Just plug this into your PokéDex, it’ll let you look up what we here at AsS-Mart, as well as any local specials by syncing up with whatever AsS-Mart systems you’re closest too.”
Nabiki smiled. Yes, that would be pretty useful. It also meant that a PokéDex would be a fairly good piece of equipment to have if it had internet access beyond just listing what Ranma had in the bank. I hope they have a handbook for the thing, she thought, wondering if Kasumi would let her look hers over when the eldest Tendo girl passed her test. “Thank you,” she said, looking over the device. It looked like it would fit in one of the terminal ports on the bottom of the PokéDex.
“Now then,” said Ash, “if you will just insert your PokéDex into the register slot,” he said, motioning to a terminal port beside his register, “we can get you folks out of here to continue on your day and try out your purchases.”
“Oh yeah,” smiled Cyan, drooling slightly at the thought of all those outfits she’d be able to try on. Alice was certainly going to be jealous she hadn’t been with them. She’d have to wait until they got back from Pete’s Garage before she could try on her outfits, let alone play with the glorious yarn.
Shrugging, Ranma pulled the device out of his pocket, taking a moment to figure out which end he was supposed to insert into the terminal—while grumbling how everything about this world seemed to involve something inserted somewhere.
Ash looked at the screen, smiling as the information began to cycle through. “Ah,” he said, “I see you’re a member of the AsS-Mart Club, which gives you a five percent discount off most of your purchases today.”
Nabiki nodded, looking as the screen before her began lowering the prices of individual items. “Throw in some applications for that; the others will love that, and those are items will need more of later.”
Ash pointed to some brochures on the counter. “Right there, Lady. Now the total is…” he trailed off, as a second discount appeared.
“A full fifteen percent off everything?” he muttered. “What the hell is a Platinum Discount?”
“No clue,” said Ranma.
“You mean you don’t know what clubs you’re a member of?” asked Ash.
Chuckling nervously, Ranma scratched the back of his head. “Um … I kinda lost a lot of my memories a while ago, didn’t even find out I had been missing till yesterday.”
Ash sighed. Why did the odd ones always end up in his store? Reaching back under the counter, he pulled out the AsS-Mart Employee Manual, and began to look for the section on discounts. “Platinum, platinum, plati—oh, here it is.”
His eyes went wide. That discount was reserved only for close family members of those who owned enough stock in AsS-Mart to be on the Board. Obviously daddy-dearest or if pussy-whipped was genetic, his mother was on the Board.
“So what is it?” asked Ranma.
“Well,” said Ash with a smile, “seems like one of your parents is on the Board. Them and their children are the only ones that get that sort of discount.”
The humans blinked at that. Both couldn’t envision Genma Saotome being on some board. But Nodoka Saotome however…
Nabiki hissed slightly at that as Ranma’s face fell slightly. She had never even tried to see if Auntie Saotome was alive on this world.
“You folks okay?” asked Ash.
“We didn’t even know his mother was still alive,” said Nabiki, giving into the urge and grabbing Ranma’s hand to offer him some comfort.
“Well, didn’t she ever try and e-mail you?” asked Ash, forgetting about lost profit for the moment, what with the upset child of a stock holder in his store and all. Pissed off children could gripe to a pissed off parent, who would them tell someone that would fire Ash, and send him out of the store without a job.
And he needed this job, damn it! Dealing with Infernals who kept attacking him was costly, what with repairs to his home, ammunition, and fuel for his chainsaw.
“E-mail?” asked Ranma.
“Man Kid, whatever hit your head must have been one helluva hit,” murmured Ash, as he held out his hand. “Here, let me show you,” he said, as Ranma handed him his PokéDex, the bill paid.
“Damn,” muttered Ash, “no wonder you never got any letters from home, your inbox is full of mail from two years ago. That must have really been one helluva knock to your head.”
Ranma just nodded, looking at the list of messages. He knew a little about that stuff from school, Hiroshi and Daisuke had showed him a bit about it, but it was quickly stopped when they explained how they used it to receive nude photos of girls.
Nabiki looked over the Subject Lines. “Damn Ranma, half of them are from people who seem pissed at you, the other seem to be asking for you to stop by for a Taming.”
“GAH!”
“And look, you have two folders ready for the ones you want to keep, labeled ‘Pricks’ and ‘Booty Calls’,” Nabiki teased.
“Yeah, well,” Ash started, handing Nabiki the PokéDex, “you might want to clear some space; someone important might be trying to get a hold of you.”
Nabiki smirked. “Ranma, want some pills that promise the taming strength of a herd of Kattle?”
“NO!” he pleaded in embarrassment, solidifying to Ash who wore the pants in that relationship.
“How about wanting to call back a … female Tamer named Lina who specializes in magic-types,” Nabiki puttered out, realizing there was yet another bad crossover now in her life.
“Can we do this later?” he asked.
“Sure,” she replied, immediately going through and deleting what junk mail she found—which was a lot—and placing other mail in the proper inbox folders. If nothing else, she’d learn what other possible crossovers she had to worry about. Besides, you never knew when a list of enemies or friends might come in handy, even if the friends were apparently fuck-buddies for Ranma’s analog.
Ash just chuckled. It was always nice to see someone else getting pushed around, especially when it didn’t involve him in any way. “Well then, let’s get you all packed up so you can head out,” he said with a smile.
That smile only grew as he saw the nervousness of the male Tamer as they both caught Nabiki palming a few clothespins as well as attaching the whip to her side. Oh yes, someone was going to get lucky today.
Probably wouldn’t just be Ash this time. Hell, he had made it so far today without a single attack.
“Thank you and come again,” said Ash, as he watched the two humans and the now fully laden pokégirls leave. Sure, he lost a bit of profit, but he was now going to be known to a member of the Board. Yes sir, this day was going great.
He spoke too soon, as something crashed through the roof, revealing a pissed off Succubus. “I WILL SWALLOW YOUR COCK AND THEN YOUR SOUL!” she bellowed.
“Aw shit,” muttered Ash, as he pulled out his trusty boomstick. “I hate Mondays.”
“Oh calm down, Ranma,” said a smirking Nabiki, noticing the nervous stares the boy sent her way. “Be good or no more free shows,” she said.
Ranma just shuddered a bit. What was it with this world and what it seemed to do to the Tendo sisters? Nabiki never pulled stuff like this back in their world. What was next: Akane trying to jump him in bed when she got better?
Nabiki just smiled. She had no intention of giving Ranma another free show. The whip was mostly for show—though she did admit it felt like she was living a childhood dream about being like Indiana Jones. And the clothespins were mostly to mess with him. “Really Ranma, you need to build up some tolerance for this sort of thing. You could be exposed to such things at any moment, and unless you build up some tolerance, it might cost you a fight.”
Ranma just glared at her. She expected him to have tolerance for that sort of stuff? Was she insane? He was more likely to die of exhaustion at this point.
“Oh, thank you, Master!” cried Cyan, as she tackled her Tamer, oddly also drawing attention away from the flashes of light from the store they had just left. “Thank you for the great clothes, oh, you’re the perfect Tamer!” she cried happily, purring.
Nabiki noted that Ranma had at least built up some resistance to his fear at least, he wasn’t freaking out like he had the first time they had run across the cat-types. In fact, he was reacting more like he had been glomped by a fiancée than something from his worst nightmares.
That became especially true when Cyan placed a lip-lock on the confused pigtailed Tamer.
As she pulled back, the Cheetit continued to smile. “When my turn is up, I’m going to give you a Taming you’ll never … ever … forget,” she purred.
“Uh … okay?” asked Ranma.
Nabiki just shook her head. Put him against an inhuman fighter that promised certain death and he would face it without flinching. Put him before a grateful female oozing sex appeal, he’d fall apart. “Enough of that, you two,” she said, taking control of the situation. “Can you two get those packages back to the Pokécenter without any problems?”
The two nodded. “It should be of little trouble with Cyan’s strength,” Cassandra said.
“Good, put them all in my room when you return,” said Nabiki. “We’ll give the clothing out before or after dinner, depending on how long it takes us to find Jolie and gets those contracts signed.” What she left unsaid was that she was hoping that said contracts didn’t have a time limit, let alone had to be sent via email. It would seriously ruin her good mood if she lost money because no one had emptied the old Ranma’s inbox. You think someone as tech-savvy as Asrial would have picked up on a ‘You Got Mail’ alert when she was playing with that thing yesterday.
“Awww,” pouted Cyan. “Can’t we have them now?”
“Wouldn’t you rather give Ranma here a nice fashion show when we get back?” asked Nabiki huskily, sauntering over to the duo.
“We did buy everyone outfits,” said Cassandra.
Cyan sighed. “Well, true, and I would like to see Mistress Kasumi’s face when she sees the outfit we bought.”
Nabiki blinked. “Wait, you bought outfits for all of us?”
“Oh yes,” said Cyan smiling. “Even Master needed some new clothes.”
“What’s wrong with what I got?” asked Ranma, looking down at his clothes.
“Nothing Master,” quickly answered Cyan. “But it isn’t very fashionable. It barely shows off your hot bod or anything.”
“We had a most difficult time, considering such outfits needed to be wearable and fashionable to both your forms,” said Cassandra.
Ranma gulped at that. Somehow, just by saying that, a shiver of fear Ranma down his back. “I’m not gonna look like some pretty-boy, am I?” he asked, half pleading.
“Oh no,” said Cyan quickly, as she dug quickly into one of the bags she had set on the ground when they had stopped. “See, this shirt is much better for you!”
“I have to admit,” said Nabiki, as she looked over what Cyan held, “it is a pretty decent upgrade to your wardrobe, Ranma.”
Ranma just stared at the shirt. It wasn’t his usual silk shirt, that much was certain. “Is that spandex?” he asked.
Nabiki just smirked. They were right; both his forms would look good in that. “Later ladies; just head back for now and see if Kasumi needs any help with dinner. We’ll be back as soon as we can. Just make sure no one else in our groups sees what we bought until then.”
Cyan let out a deep sigh. At least she still had her yarn, her ever-so-hypnotic yarn. And sure, she couldn’t put on the nice clothes she had bought. But she did get the promise of displaying them to her Master after dinner, and doing all of that was certainly better than working in some sweaty garage with the Alpha. “Fine.”
Nabiki just shook her head as they took off. Sometimes there were like little kids. “Well let’s go, Ranma. We still need to track Jolie down.” She turned her head slightly. “Know where she lives, Ranma-baby?”
“Yeah,” he said. “She lives pretty near the Pokécenter.”
“So … we could have gone back together,” Nabiki mentioned.
Ranma chuckled nervously. “Uh … yeah, but see, I don’t know exactly where she lives. For the date, I sorta met her at the station.”
Nabiki’s shoulders slumped. “Well, that’s helpful.”
“Hey, it’s not like she told me or nothing!” he growled out. “Besides, we can go to the station and ask where she lives.”
The middle Tendo could only sigh. “Guess we have to,” she muttered. The idea of walking into such a place never sat right with her. After all, she preferred to interact with as few people as possible. At least with Jolie, they could get in and out as soon as possible and get all the files they need, plus explained. “Not like she’ll contact us.”
“YOU’VE GOT MAIL!”
“Not possible,” she muttered, as she grabbed Ranma’s PokéDex from his pocket, eliciting a squeak as her hand went into his pants pocket.
Sure enough, she opened it, and the only new mail message available from the partially cleaned out inbox was an email from Officer Jenny, wanting to know if they could meet at her place, followed by directions to get there from the Pokécenter.
“Only for you, Ranma, could something like this happen,” she grumbled out.
“Well, let’s go,” she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along. “And while we’re on our way, we can clear out a bit more of this inbox.
“Now then, would you like to give your bank account information to the lawyer of a forgotten long lost relative in the Crescent Moon League so he can move out millions of SLCs?”
“Really?” asked Ranma. “Man, Pops never did tell me too much about our relatives.”
“Ranma, Ranma, Ranma, let me explain to you about email scams.”
He winced slightly. Why did she love to torture him so?
“I have to admit,” said Jolie, as she opened the door for them, “that this wasn’t what I had in mind when you said you needed some help.”
“We appreciate it,” said Nabiki with a smile. “We’re just sorry to ask you to help us down here on your day off.”
“No problem,” said Jolie. “I still haven’t gotten a chance to contact Brock yet to see if he can help you with your RV.”
“That’s okay,” said Ranma. “We got someone who knows her stuff to take a look at it.”
“But isn’t it locked up in Pete’s for the moment?” asked Jolie.
Nabiki shook her head. “He means they looked at one not completely broken down into spare parts. If they feel up to it, we plan to have them come here and try and fix it back up.”
“Well, let me know when you do,” said Jolie, as they entered into the station. “Pete’s inquiry isn’t going to well for the bastard, odds are he’ll be in the poor house before its over. We already changed the locks on the place, and it’s doubtful he’ll even have a pokégirl to his name, let alone his cousin, when they’re finished.”
“Great,” muttered Nabiki. That meant they’d likely get both the pokégirls and Pete’s Garage out of it. And the only people in their group that new squat about repairing things weren’t people they could even use as a front, let alone help give them time to sort things out. It was pretty hard to look for a way home, let alone help Asrial find her friends and rescue them from Team Rocket, if they were tied down to one location. That didn’t take into account some of the threats Ranma had received via email. Oh, those were certainly some people she never wanted to know where the Saotome/Tendo group was staying.
“Um, guys,” said Ranma, standing still, “why are all the Officer Jennys looking at me like that?”
Nabiki noticed that sure enough, many of the Jennys were staring at them, Ranma specifically. Some looked one without emotion, as if weighing some information against what they were seeing. Quite a few looked like they were ready to jump across their desks and attack him—and not with violence. “Jolie, did Ranma have a reputation with Jennys in general?”
The pokégirl winced slightly. Horny bitches, couldn’t they not act in a manner that might jeopardize their code. And it wasn’t like she could play it off as a possible video release from the restaurant. That place was very strict on privacy, hell, it would double your bill if you wanted videotaped, as well as written consent from all involved. But, there was one way to play it off. “Let’s just say Ranma Saotome has never shown a Jenny a bad time and leave it at that.”
Ranma nodded, though Jenny could tell Nabiki wasn’t quite buying it. And it certainly didn’t help when one Officer Jenny, Heather, sauntered up to the Tamer, and slipped him a piece of paper directly into his pants pocket.
“Call me if you ever have an itch that harem just can’t scratch,” she purred, before she walked away, an extra wiggle in her hips as she did so.
The effect wasn’t lost on Ranma either, as he stared, gulping deeply.
And like a signal, the remaining Jennys made their move.
“Back!” yelled Jolie, as she finally shut the door to the observation room of one of the interrogation rooms, her coworkers banging against it, wanting the rare Perfect 10 Tamer to tame them.
“You okay, Ranma?” asked Nabiki, as Jolie continued to secure the door. Who knew police officers were so desperate for male attention in this world? All of the sudden, living in seclusion sounded pretty good.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay,” he muttered, as he pulled several pieces of papers with contact info—including several pairs of panties with said information written in marker—from his shirt and pockets, a few from his boxers. “I’m going to need an address book or something,” he muttered. He’d like to throw them away, but that would be like an insult to the girls.
That and it would likely piss off people who had the law behind them and he had no desire to end up handcuffed and locked away because he pissed off a girl. He’d rather not have several pissed cops after his ass, unlike a certain part-time panda. Really, as if a police officer was going to believe a seven-year-old child ran up a hundred-thousand-yen bar tab.
Nabiki sighed. “Hand them here, this thing probably has an address book too.”
“F9,” said Jolie, as she threw the final lock. It had been meant for cases of their building being overrun by ferals, it never occurred to her she might need it to keep out horny pokégirl coworkers. Probably confusing a lot of the male officers and the other pokégirl types. “Then select Contact Info and select Address Book.”
Nabiki did as she was told, finding that there were already a few names in the system, including Lina Inverse. I wonder if this is why Akane is usually so grumpy all the time. Hell, I know he’s expected to sleep around on this world, and I’m getting pissed at how many women just seem to get thrown on his lap. “Can we print the files we need in here?”
Jolie nodded. “We can use the computer over there to print them out,” she said, pointing to a small station across from the two-way mirror. “He can sign them in the interrogation room. The table there isn’t in the best of shape, and I’m pretty sure it’s only luck holding that computer stand up, budget cuts and all.” Really, how were they supposed to catch the bad guys when their budgets were always being targeted? Stupid politicians, promising tax cuts but never mentioning what was being cut because of the lack of funding.
“What all is there to it?” said Ranma.
“It is mostly just legal paperwork for transferring Gary’s funds to you,” Jolie replied. “A few are standard clauses and such, stating that you are aware the family can petition to deny the award and so forth. The RV is not on the table because it was claimed as salvage. But his grandfather could still protest the monetary part of the judgment.
“Worst case, you’ll probably have to meet with Professor Stroak and settle it before a judge. But given that Gary attacked you and attempted to rape human women after failing at Love Balling them, it would be a wasted effort on the man’s part.”
“And the other two bozos?” asked Ranma.
Jolie shrugged. “Any close family to speak of and any distant relative isn’t close enough in blood to issue a challenge.”
“That’s one less issue, I suppose,” said Nabiki evenly. She had paused in entering the contact info to return to the mailbox, needing to vent somewhat about the sheer audacity of some of those Jennys. Seriously, some of what they added to their info to entice Ranma would be things Shampoo would have gotten a nose bleed saying. At least she could lose herself for a few moments in the mindless deleting of junk mail. They really needed to see about a filter for the main program. Aside from the letter from Lina hinting at her desire for another ‘taming marathon beneath the stars’ a year and a half ago, there were no other names that really stuck out at her.
Well, there was one from this universe’s Ryoga Hibiki, proclaiming he had seen Hell thanks to Ranma, and that he would make the pigtailed Tamer pay for ‘defiling his pure sister, Yoiko’. But that was more dinner conversation. Surely Akane would like to know a Ryoga existed here, apparently with a sister. And it did make her wonder if they had siblings in this world they didn’t even know about.
Switching back, she looked at the available funds they had. Sure, they had spent more than she had desired, but that amount lessened by the surprise discounts. If Gary’s grandfather fought too much over even half the money they were getting from him, it would definitely put a crimp in their plans, even with Kasumi’s deal on Milktits. Not like we can expect a great deal on what we need for her to raise them properly.
In a small motel room, Mike struggled not to pass out, but continue watching the great porno the human girl had left behind. “So freaking hot,” he muttered, wishing that his equipment both worked and that he could use them on the Milktits he brought with them. There wasn’t anything on the planet that could make the scene better.
And then the human girl walked into the bathroom scene.
He wouldn’t die that night from old age, but he would later swear he saw heaven.
And she had pink areolas.
Nabiki blinked as she looked at Ranma account. She mentally knew how much SLCs were supposed to be in it, especially after their purchase.
There was more than that. A lot more.
She pulled up a recent listing of transactions, finding three deposits. The first was barely for anything, but was apparently a fund transfer from Genma Saotome’s account. Why am I not surprised he barely had any savings. I am somewhat surprised he even had enough to open an account to begin with. There really is something to this economic system they use.
The second was apparently a scheduled dividend payment from whatever stocks were in Ranma’s name. She’d have to check later, but hopefully whoever had first set up those payments had enough foresight to hire an accountant of some sort to file taxes for this world’s Ranma while he was gone. Tax collectors in this world were probably even scarier than the ones in her world.
The last was something that shocked her. At first, she was ready to dismiss it as a mistake. But recognizing the first name, her heart nearly sank.
It was a fund transfer to Ranma’s account from a Nodoka Sexum. If this was her maiden name in this world, Nabiki almost feared what Nodoka Saotome’s had been on their world.
But the simple fact was that Ranma’s mother was on this world, and to be truthful, she wasn’t certain how Ranma would take it. He never liked lying to the woman, and she doubted he could lie to this version of her about the fact he was who he was, Saotome could never be cruel enough to give someone those false kinds of hopes. Hell, she didn’t even know if she could pull such a thing off, if their analogs were missing as well, and the analog of the Tendo matriarch was alive and well.
Her mind was brought back to the present as Jolie began to boot up the computer, preparing to print off the needed files and documents Ranma needed to sign off on to acquire Gary’s fortune. Sighing at how many odd turns Fate seemed to be throwing them lately, she quickly returned to clearing out the inbox. With any luck, she wouldn’t run into any more Tamers or pokégirls in the letters that she knew of from anime and such.
Otherwise, they’d be making a quick stop on the way back to the Pokécenter to purchase enough liquor to make her forget her troubles, but not enough where she would wake up the next morning hung over and a warm naked body beside her own.
She’d never hear the end of it if Kasumi found out.
She lost herself in the task, and soon enough, Jolie had the papers printed.
“Here you go,” said Jolie. “Now most of this is legal mumbo-jumbo, nothing really of substance but lawyers needing a hundred words to say a single sentence.”
Nabiki took the papers before Ranma could, running her eye over it. If you didn’t explain things right to Ranma, he’d sign away his name.
Not that he ever had, who wanted a name with such a poor credit history? But his father had instilled a ‘leap first’ attitude, something he needed to break in this world.
“Um, Nabiki?”
She held up her left hand, delving into the papers. “She’s right, just seems to be about solidifying your desire to pursue Gary’s funds in retribution for his assault on you and your party in Buggy Woods.” Nabiki shuffled the papers once again, looking at them still. “Most of the pages also seem to be itemized account balances, items, and such for what Gary has that we can claim,” she finished.
Jolie stared at the girl for a moment, before sighing. Grabbing the papers had been a bit rude, but she could tell the girl did care somewhat for Ranma. The problem was there was something off about her, something Jolie noticed last night when they had returned to the Pokécenter. Maybe it was time to have a nice little chat with the human girl. After all, the better off Ranma was, the better off her chances were of getting a Taming like last time. Thousand Gods, her knees were still a little weak from their episode, and that had been after he had tamed some of his harem. Would she survive him when he was fresh? “Here’s a pen,” she said, handing one to Ranma, as Nabiki finally handed over the papers. “Just go in there and look through them, sign them, and then we can file them for you.”
“Cool,” said Ranma, as he entered the interrogation room.
Silently, Jolie shut the door between the two rooms, and turned to face the Tendo sister, who was back to clearing out the inbox on the PokéDex. “Excuse me?”
“Hmm?” said Nabiki.
“Is there anything you want to talk about?” asked Jolie.
“Not really,” said Nabiki, trying to keep quiet. She didn’t want to possibly say anything to upset their delicate situation.
Jolie just stared at the girl. There was no way the girl wasn’t hiding something, something dark about her past, something very bad for any non-threshold female still within the reaches of puberty to do. Puberty was the general time frame when a girl could threshold into a pokégirl. And depending on both genetic lineage and mindset, that change could go any number of ways. Holding something in like that, hiding emotions, being so controlling, all were bad signs that the girl could threshold into a Dark-type pokégirl, maybe even Infernal. And until the Tendo girl exited puberty, there was always the chance Threshold could hit. “Fine,” said Jolie, as she stormed up to the girl and took away the PokéDex.
“Now listen to me,” said Jolie. “That Tamer has gone through hell. He’s been missing for two years, hasn’t even got the faintest idea what half this world is about, and he’s still fighting to protect you and his harem. Hell, he was nearly spider-chow because of how out of it he was and him trying to save your sister’s ass,” she finished, poking Nabiki in the chest.
“Defensive of him, are you?” asked Nabiki, her face taking on her usual Ice-Queen façade.
“He’s a great guy,” said Jolie. “Do you know how many pricks we get through here? Hell, how about how many sadistic Tamers I run across in my duties here and in Buggy Woods?
“Hundreds, probably thousands before I even become a Pokéwoman. So you’re damn right that I’m going to defend one of the best and kind ones I’ve seen in a long time.
“Hell, I had a friend on the Gate that let Gary enter the Woods. She told me in no uncertain terms that those three were some of most arrogant, worthless men she’d have ever come across. She stated that she knew for certain why some girls would enjoy becoming Psi-dykes with little shits like him running around.
“So tell me what your problem is?” demanded Jolie.
“Why?”
“Because girls like you that hold it in, keep that seed of darkness buried, can be influenced by it when they Threshold, and I know for a fact you’re not out of puberty yet. Amanda at the Pokécenter told me as much during your initial exams.”
“Doesn’t that breech doctor-patient privilege?” asked Nabiki.
“Not if it is a matter of safety, we’re supposed to know the health of every assault victim, which included you.” Jolie took a deep breath, before releasing it, knowing that she was letting her passion for the pigtailed hunk in the other room to cloud her judgment.
Nabiki’s eyes narrowed. Depending on how good of a detective this pokégirl was—and there was a good chance she was one of the better ones if the tale Ranma told her about Pete’s garage was any indication—she might not be able to bluff her way out. “Maybe I’ll still a little unnerved by our attack in the woods, let alone what happened to Asrial; I do care for her, you know.”
“That’s not it at all,” said Jolie, shaking her head.
It also gave Nabiki the knowledge that the police pokégirl had forgone a bra of any type. Probably hoping to get another go at Ranma. She just couldn’t understand why that thought stirred up a little feeling of resentment.
“It has to do with why you don’t like people calling you Nabs,” Jolie concluded, smiling as she saw Nabiki’s right eye twitch at the mentioning of that name.
“You got all of that from our late night chat?” Nabiki asked with sarcasm.
“I know how to read people,” said Jolie. “And I know whatever it was is affecting your relationship with him,” she finished, pointing to the pigtailed Tamer behind the glass. “You seemed to get along with him, even enjoyed when he called you cute. But the minute he called you Nabs, your whole attitude changed.
“So … tell me why?” she asked, leaning against the wall.
“That is private,” Nabiki growled. First Kasumi and now Bimbo Cop wanted to know her past. Seriously, why couldn’t she just leave it be?
“Ah,” said Jolie. “Some jackass broke your heart? That I can understand.”
Nabiki flexed her hands. By the Kami, she was pissed at the moment. Why did everyone have to focus on her all of the sudden. If they weren’t trying to get her laid, they were trying to get her to open up. Hell, Ranma had been at the Dojo for over a year, and she never once had to worry about Kasumi trying to get the middle Tendo bedded by the pigtailed stud, let alone work on why Nabiki was essentially an Ice Queen.
Kasumi said we could open up on this world a small voice deep in Nabiki’s psyche called out. And this lady is not going to let it go, she’ll probably even risk losing access to a taming from Ranma to make sure he’s safe.
Hmm, guess she’s smarter than most of the so-called Fiancée Brigade.
But I suppose if I have to tell someone, it should be someone who I can control whether or not she gets another fix of Vitamin R.
Vitamin R? Kami, my mind is thinking in low-budget porn terms…
“Fine then,” said Nabiki. “But if you laugh even once, I’ll make sure you never even get a whiff of Ranma, let alone another chance to Tame. Do we have an understanding?”
Jolie nodded slowly. Man, did this human girl need a fucking or what.
In the past…
Nabiki was on her way to meet the greatest boy in the world. Sure, she’d only known him for a week, ever since he had saved her from those bullies that had tried to get to her younger sister Akane through her. But he was a great boy, always able to make her smile, always there to tell her she could do what she dreamed of.
Sure, she realized she was feeling a bit loopy, her mother had even explained it, after promising not to tell her father about him. Daddy always reacted badly when he learned any of his girls had an interest in boys. He usually started yelling about ‘impure dogs sniffing around his precious and delicate flowers’, followed by crying when their mother yelled right back at him, then usually some mumbling about joined schools or something. Nabiki didn’t know; she usually left before she found out what the next thing he’d do was.
The boy was Nabiki’s first crush, maybe even love, since you rarely understood which until a while later. And Nabiki should allow her heart to enjoy it, while tempering her actions with intelligence. She said something about free milk after that, but Nabiki wasn’t really listening after the first few minutes. Her mother tended to ramble at times.
But today was going to be a very special day. Early that week, they had gone out to the park together—he met her at school, for some reason his father had put him in some all-boys school despite that Nabiki’s school was closer to where they were supposed to live. But when they came across an ice cream vendor, he had tried to get them some cones, but he didn’t have enough money on him.
Actually, he hadn’t had any money on him. When he emptied out his pockets, all he found were some gambling tokens and a few corks that smelled like the stuff her father drank on occasion, sicky or sake, something like that.
She had paid for them together and he promised that today when they met, he’d have the money for her.
“But you were saving up for that school thing, Nabs!” He was the only person she ever let get away with calling her that. It sounded wrong when her parents or sisters called her that, but it felt like a dream when he called her that.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “It’s still on sale the rest of this week. And when you pay me back, we can go get it together. I still don’t see what you have against Hello Kitty.”
The boy shivered. “Just don’t like those furry little demons.”
Nabiki couldn’t help but giggle as she looked at the boy, and deciding to do something on the spur of the moment. And seeing he had some ice cream above and on his lips, she dashed in quickly and kissed him.
It had been her first kiss, something she was glad to have shared with him. Her mother had said that a girl’s first kiss should always be special, and it most certainly was. And he had made such a cute face when she pulled back, a mixture of shock, confusion, and happiness.
But those thoughts disappeared when she turned a corner, spotting a slightly overweight man wearing some dingy clothes that resembled some of her father’s outfits, carrying a large bag, and picking up what looked like Ranma’s backpack.
She quickly realized it was Ranma’s backpack, when she saw a sticker she put on it earlier in the week. “Hey!” she yelled out.
The man looked over to her from where he was standing, watching as she ran up to him. “Yeah; what is it?”
“What are you doing with my boyfriend’s backpack?” she demanded loudly.
“Boyfriend?” he muttered before he turned, grumbling as he stared at the sack he had been holding.
“Yeah, where’s my boyfriend?” Nabiki demanded.
“Um … he’s dead,” said the man, “killed by a bunch of rogue ninjas that attacked the two of us, angry about something the Boy stole from them, I’m sure of it. Oh, why did the heavens curse me with such a worthless son?” he called out.
“Ninjas?” she asked, full of disbelief. She may have been born at night, but it certainly wasn’t last night.
“Yep, we fought them off as best as we could, but the Boy went down, crying after he stubbed his toe, probably daydreamin’ ‘bout you,” he said, glaring at her, trying to scare her off.
It wasn’t working. If she didn’t give up her guilt under her mother’s glare when asked who had tried to bury Kasumi’s bras—it really wasn’t fair that the eldest Tendo was growing there so much, it wasn’t!—she certainly wasn’t going to give in to this meanie. Instead, she smiled and held out her hand. “Then you can pay me what he owes me,” Nabiki said with a smile. If this guy wanted to play a game, she’d indulge him, at least until some more adults showed up on the street.
The man paled, looking around nervously. “Um … the Boy never mentioned he owed money.”
She knew he was lying, he had the same look her father had on his face when her mother asked him about where all the sicky went. “Don’t buy it, he was paying me back today.”
“Well, he can’t,” the man said, looking about. “After he fell to those ninjas and I defeated the rest, he was attacked … by grave robbers, yeah, they looted him while I was saving an old lady from the rest of the zombies.”
“I thought you were under attack by ninjas and don’t grave robbers rob graves, you know, after someone is dead and buried?” she said sarcastically.
“Ninja zombies,” the man hurriedly corrected himself. “And you know how the economy is, everyone is suffering, so they’re obviously not waiting for someone to be in the grave now, are they?”
“I don’t believe you,” she proclaimed.
“Well … um … ask the Boy himself, he’s right behind you!”
“Huh?” she said, looking behind her. But there was nothing there, especially no boy who owed her money.
“Hey!” she yelled, turning around. But the overweight man was already running away from her down the street.
“Get back here!” cried Nabiki, as she ran after the man.
“That’s horrible,” said Jolie, looking into the human girl’s eyes, and seeing the sadness and the amount of anger she held for the boy who broke her heart.
Nabiki nodded, trying to hold back her tears. She wouldn’t start crying for that bastard again. She had shed all her tears long ago for that boy. “My mother helped us find where they had been staying, I learned that the man really had been his father, and that they had ditched without paying two months’ rent.” She had also learned they hadn’t been the only ones looking for the deadbeats. Half a dozen others had also stopped by, trying to track the big guy down.
Nabiki had shed tears often that week for the boy whom she thought was special, later for the woman who died a few months later leaving the Tendo family minus one matriarch; she would not shed them for that rat bastard kid and his worthless lying father now.
“At least Ranma is better than that,” Jolie said with a smile, spotting the Tamer through the glass in the interrogation room. It was somewhat cute the way he stared at the documents, mouthing the words as he read them, making sure he was signing the right things. Most Tamers would just quickly sign and leave, it showed Ranma was smart enough to make certain he wasn’t scammed in some way or agreeing to things he didn’t want to.
Nabiki let out a relieved sigh. She was right, say what you could about Ranma, he’d never pull some stupid trick like that. But even if it had been him, even with his Swiss-cheese memory, surely Saotome would have recognized her after such an amount of time. Hell, he recalled Ukyo within a day, same for Ryoga!
Her eyes opened wide. It couldn’t be, she thought, as she turned and stared hard at the pigtailed boy. The way he had called her ‘Nabs’ the night before… The fact that when he had first walked—more like been carried by a soaked panda—into their lives, she felt some connection to him, which made the neo-girl seem very cute… His fear of all things cat…
But surely she would have remembered if the boy in her past had been Ranma! Sure, the story she had been fed at the time sounded like the usually stories Uncle Genma had spouted when caught. But still, she’d have remembered Ranma as the boy, right?
She closed her eyes, fighting against the instinct to keep the memories buried, to keep the pain away. But Nabiki needed to be certain, needed to know if what she thought was true.
And as she released them, the images of the overweight man became clearer, and she gasped.
Saotome owed her a Hello Kitty School Binder.
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(Posted Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:37)
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