Ranma decided he needed to ask about Kasumi. After all, he needed a quick catch-up in figuring out what was going on around him, didn’t he? This PokéDex seemed to be his ticket to straight, forward answers.
So, holding up the red box-like device in his hand, Ranma aimed down from the roof towards the striped feline Tendo who was intent on sunning herself as she wore bikini and sunglasses. As she reached for her margarita once more, the Dex activated
Scanning pokégirl. Type found. Registry found.
Species: Tigress, the Fighting Feline
Branch Type: Cat
Element: Fighting
Physique Type: Near Human Animorph (Tiger)
Level: 21
Registered to: Soun Tendo (Father), Ranma Saotome (Pending Acceptance)
Notable Abilities: Enhanced Olfactory Senses (x6), Enhanced Hearing (x5), Enhanced Agility (x3), Enhanced Strength (x5), Quick Recovery Time, Claws, Night Vision
Notes (brief): One of Sukebe Incorporated’s original pokégirl breeds, the Tigress proved to be very popular come the days of the Red Plague. A deadly warrior thanks to enhanced senses, strength and agility, not to mention the attributes given to her by her tiger genetics base, such as claws and night vision, this was a pokégirl breed that was highly adaptable to most given situations
Physically, the Tigress breed has strong genetic association with their namesake. The breed is built with muscled, sleek feline frame, having furred tail and cat ears and normally covered in reddish-orange fur with black stripes, covering their bodies entirely. The breed is noted for their healthy breast-size, which hovers around a large C-Cup. Most Tigresses stand at a height between 5’5” and 6’, all of which is well toned, sleek muscular forms that are capable of some impressive flexibility which can be used in combat or the bedroom. All of these physical traits are what make the Tigress so highly sought after.
Almost universally, the Tigress pokégirl species possesses a very passionate nature.
Nodding his head slowly as he listened to the device prattle on about what Kasumi was, Ranma had to admit he was despising himself right now. Here she was, having been changed by the whims of his two perverted friends, no longer a human being and... he was actually thinking this was pretty darned cool. No, not the aspect that she was changed and certainly not that her physical appearance scared the crap out of him... no. What he was finding interesting that ‘Fighting’ was an element and that Kasumi here seemed to excel in it. She could be a challenge, maybe even know the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts beyond the levels Akane knew and-
He froze where he was as realization hit him like a sack of bricks. He looked down at the PokéDex. “Kasumi is registered to me?” When the small box did nothing, he held it up to his face. “Hey, I asked you a question. Why is Kasumi registered to me?”
Kasumi Tendo (Tigress): Registry is pending acceptance, barring final decision from either the receiver Ranma Saotome or primary owner, Soun Tendo, (Father)
Sighing as he realized the little red box’s answer wasn’t really giving him what he wanted to know, he asked in a low voice, “Hey, Great Will? What’s this about Kasumi being registered to me? Why would I possibly own her?”
Kasumi Tendo is currently her father’s heir of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts and a practitioner God’s Cry School of Swordscraft thanks to her step-mother Tsuruko Aoyama. With her martial arts background and love for battling, Soun decided to offer-
“Wait, wait!” Ranma interrupted. “Step-mother? But ain’t Mrs. Tendo still living?” He asked, pointing down to where Kimiko was finishing hanging up laundry; the Nekomama raising her left arm and wiping her brow with the back of her hand.
With the decrease in the female population for awhile and the need to imprint that is within pokégirls, it was more than likely that more than one pokégirl could imprint on the same person. When a person owns more than one pokégirl, an hierarchy of sorts will eventually be established, with the lead pokégirl becoming the ‘Alpha’ of the team, or in the case of a married setting, the primary wife. Soun Tendo has three wives.
The pigtailed martial artist visibly twitched. “Three?” He asked.
Yes. Kimiko Tendo (Nekomama, Alpha), Tsuruko Aoyama (Samurai) and Kumori Mizuno (NurseJoy; Blue-Haired Variant). The latter two were actually Mrs. Tendo’s decision to take in, the two pokégirls having imprinted on the man as their owner since that time.
His eyes going as wide as dinner plates, Ranma inquired, “Wait... Mrs. Tendo was the one that said Mr. Tendo should take more girls? Why the heck would do that?” Although in all honesty, a part of him felt that this must’ve been karmic or something. Here the man had been, trying to force him and his daughters together and in this new time-frame/world/whatever, he was stuck with three of his own!
During the height of the Red Plague in early 1987, hospitals had become a place of death and the women were dropping like proverbial flies. Mrs. Kimiko Tendo ended up in such a place and she was cared for by Physician Dr. Kumori Mizuno, whom soon succumbed to the Plague herself and became the woman’s roommate as it was the first open bed available; Kimiko’s previous having died off soon before Kumori herself was diagnosed and showing symptoms. The two bonded, talking and sharing life histories as they lie there, waiting to die and it was a bond that was only strengthened when they were both given their turn with Sukebe Incorporated’s technicians. As larger family structure were becoming the accepted norm and seeing as how Kumori had no marital ties thanks to divorce from a previous husband, Kimiko was quick to talk her husband into accepting the woman-turned healing pokégirl.
Ranma winced. “What about this Tsuruko woman?”
Tsuruko wouldn’t come into the picture until much later. The head practitioner of her family’s Shinmeiryuu, the then-Ronin looked to be the heir of the school until the Aoyama estate found itself under attack of a Team group; much worse the troupe of thieves being led by the man she was to wed in a planned ceremony to take place years down the road. While she survived, having been retreated back into her PokéBall after receiving a fatal wound, when she came out she would find her family dead and her home ransacked and burned to the ground. The only survivor being her youngest sister Motoko, whom was already at the PokéCenter for an overnight stay thanks to an illness. Upon finding out the girl’s story from Kumori, Kimiko set about to sway her husband to do what she said was the ‘right thing’.
Nodding his head slowly, Ranma asked, “So... he took her on as one of his pokégirls?”
Correct. He also ended up adopting Motoko from that incident, whom also stands to be one of the pokégirls available for your possible acceptance.
“Oh, yeah!” Ranma replied, remembering where this all started. “Now that I know why he has more wives, let’s get back to Kasumi now. How is it she’d be registered to me?”
As stated earlier, Kasumi Tendo (Tigress): is pending acceptance to be registered as the pokégirl to Ranma Saotome. Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome had pledged to unite their schools years before the Linda McKenzie unleashed the Red Plague that decimated the female population. Although the concepts of a family unit have changed with the world, the two still sought to keep their promise. You have not mad a decision regarding your father and Mr. Tendo’s pledge, but the fact remains that Soun is more than willing to hand over ownership of Kasumi to you, should you decide that she be the one you wish to accept as your Alpha Pokégirl and finally set out to form a team of Pokégirls for PokéBattle.
His eyes focusing on the distance, again the little voice, that desire for fighting, was tempted within the young martial artist. “PokéBattle?” He asked curiously.
PokéBattle is sport that has picked up in the past decade, with Pokégirl Trainer becoming a lucrative position. As you can guess from the name of the sport, battles between pokégirls and teams of pokégirls are the central aspect of the PokéBattle Arenas. The competitive sport are used to train pokégirls to become stronger, possibly attain evolution, and for some it is but a stepping stone to reach certain goals and objectives. It should be noted that while Pokégirl Trainer is not a paying profession, the possibilities to make money with it are endless. Gambling has been legalized for the sport is the most common outlet to make profit with those who win sometimes gaining cash purses along with the other prizes. However, as fame grows, other aspects can open up. The more successful Trainers have gone off to have careers in advertisement or working in the private sector with security. Others have gone on to write books or work in other forms of news media. Some have even used it as advertisement to raise awareness for a family business or dojo.
Slowly nodding his head, Ranma realized where this was heading. Although he really didn’t feel he needed to ask, he wanted some clarification. “So... accepting Kasumi would get me started on the road to becoming a Pokégirl Trainer and I’d be entering her into a fighting Circuit where I’d be training her and preparing her for battles to come?” Although it excited him to be genuinely be training someone, it also irked him that he wouldn’t be the one participating.
Then again, as long as he WASN’T a pokégirl, he felt he should consider himself lucky.
Affirmative. Soun Tendo has been waiting on you to finally choose one of his daughters as your Alpha Pokégirl so you could finally get you registered as a Trainer and get you working to gain fame and fortune for the Tendo Dojo, which you stand to inherit should you choose to take such a road.
“Let me guess...” the pigtailed martial artist grumbled. “It’s not a choice. I’m stuck here rather than going off training like I used to because Pops and Mr. Tendo are waiting on me to finally break down and make a choice so that I can finally get out of here and really start working, even if it’s for them?”
Affirmative. If you become successful in PokéBattle, you’d not only win much needed finances but gain even more needed fame for the Tendo Training Hall, putting the school into prominence beyond the few martial arts classes.
The heir of the Saotome School of Anythng Goes Martial Arts grimaced. While that was what he had been expecting, he had to admit one thing. It was a lot more proactive than the original reality pair’s idea: try and keep them together and hope for marriage so they can have early retirement. Here, they’d probably have him sending home everything he won rather than waiting for him to make the Dojo a success.
But wait! That last part struck Ranma rather oddly. “This place has students?”
“Of course,” came a calm female voice from behind Ranma. “I do my best to teach those who come here to practice Kendo.”
Needless to say, the voice from an unknown source caused the pigtailed martial artist to yelp and lose footing in his surprise. Sliding on the room a little, he turned his right foot inward, using the heel to put the brakes on the motion. As soon as he was stopped, the son of Genma looked up and just stared at the woman standing there.
The woman was tall and lithe, yet with definite muscle definition that gave her more of an athletic look that was tempered with the elegance of the white karate gi and hakama pants; land black hair flowing behind her, framing her pure white skin which held a set of eyes that were like two shimmering brown orbs. To her left hung a katana and on her right shoulder perched a golden crane. Her presence was one that portrayed grace and beauty yet commanded respect.
Tsuruko Aoyama, the Great Will helpfully supplied.
Calming down a little, Ranma raised his right hand to the back of her head. Fingers scratching along the back of his neck, he told her, “Oh, heya, Tsuruko. You kinda surprised me there.”
The pokégirl allowed herself a smile. “What’s this? No ‘Mrs. Tendo’? I must say, I’m surprised to hear you call me that. Does that mean you’re finally relaxing around me?” She asked him in a voice that conveyed no specific emotional tone, yet was betrayed by that small smile and a noticeable twinkle in her eyes.
“Uh, yeah... I guess...” he eyed her nervously, watching as her left hand idly moved along the hilt of the sheathed weapon. “...You’re going to hurt me now, aren’t you?”
Tilting her head, the woman seemed to consider his question for a moment before finally shaking her head. “I think not,” she answered the now relaxing pigtailed youth. “I believe you get enough of that from Akane and my younger sister Motoko?”
Although he wasn’t sure about the latter person, he knew his uncute fiancée’s tactics all too well. “Oh, you could say that Tsuruko.” He looked at her as she gave him that smile. “Uh... you want me to go back to ‘Mrs. Tendo’ or something?”
Shaking her head, the Samurai told him, “No, I prefer to hear you use my name. Despite the circumstances, I feel there is only one true Mrs. Tendo.” Her gaze turned to the Nekomama whom stood by the koi pond, tossing bread crumbs in for the fish. Almost as soon as she looked at the Cat-type, her gaze was back on her family’s young male guest. “I noticed you from the Dojo... you were talking to yourself quite a bit and acting nervously around Mrs. Tendo and her eldest daughter. Is everything all right?”
While not the best liar, Ranma was able to tell half-truths pretty darn well. “Oh, I’ve just got a lot on my mind, you know?” He told her. Seeing her continue to stare at him, he continued, “There’s just... a lot to accept. So much going on that I have no control over and it’s becoming difficult to cope.”
Tsuruko nodded her head in understanding. “I know how you feel. We rarely have control over our lives, as if there were some Great Will that guided us, despite our best wishes.”
She doesn’t know the half of it.
As Ranma twitched, the skilled swordswoman continued, “You know my story Ranma, so I’m not going to go into specifics. The fact remains though. You can only do good with what life hands you. This isn’t the life I’ve envisioned for myself but I make do. While not the people I grew up with, I have a wonderful family and will do my best to help out and make sure everyone’s happy.” She took a deep breath. “That includes you.”
Such concern startled Ranma, even more than when she’d first surprised him by sneaking up behind him. “Huh?” He asked in surprise. “Me?”
“Of course,” the Samurai said in all seriousness. “I know you have a lot of problems concerning accepting pokégirls thanks to the experiences your father put you through growing up. But it is getting to be time where you need to decide what you’re doing. You must choose who shall be your Alpha and if you want any others to go along as well. I’m willing to support your choice, whatever it is.”
Ranma was just... stunned. He’d never had anyone offer to back him up with anything, much less the fiancée mess! Or was it pokégirl mess now? The way she spoke it gave him the feeling the option to choose more than one girl was prevalent. “Um... thanks,” he said slowly, not used to really thanking anyone. “It’s nice to know someone cares about how I feel in all this.”
She nodded her head. “We all care. Mrs. Tendo wants what’s best for her girls. Dr. Mizuno wants what’s best for her daughter. I would like what’s best for my younger sister... who still needs a lot of work if you ask me.” She really hated when that girl slacked off in her training. Maybe she needed to put the fear of the kami into her younger sister again.
Nodding his head, the pigtailed martial artist considered her words. Oh yeah. He knew what he needed to do...
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(Posted Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:10)
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