“Can’t forget those, even if you’re set to be some big PokéBattle Warrior,” said Nabiki, settling down some as she sat on the roof tiles with her family’s houseguest. Kami-sama, how she hated the PokéDex at times. She would’ve sworn whoever wrote up those entries must’ve had a hatred for Cheshires!
Thankfully, there were other programs in those devices, such as the Skill Trainer records, that could further show the strengths and skills of an individual pokégirl. Nabiki had no delusions that her breed had a lot of ‘quirks’ that needed to be worked through, hence why she went on to test for a few various skills in possible bureaucratic venues or other various paper-pushing professions. Pokégirls of various breeds and elements were commonplace, but ones that specified for skills outside of personal protection and domestic use were a whole other story!
Looking at his PokéDex, Ranma tried to ignore how close Nabiki was sitting next to him. He’d never known the middle Tendo daughter to be this... affectionate?
Yeah, ‘affectionate’ sounded right. While she wasn’t doing anything near the levels he knew Shampoo to have reached, let alone gone over, it was a little uncomfortable for him. Admittedly that might have been due to her being so feline now but at least she wasn’t a full cat. Hopefully as long as he kept in mind that she wasn’t a complete animal like the creatures had thrown him into a pit with he’d stay cool.
Cool. Damn, he wished he were cool right now. He could feel himself sweating a little; but whether it were from the heat or a growing nervousness, he could neither say nor, more precisely, admit to. Bringing his right arm up, he wiped his brow with the back of his hand before bringing it back down to the PokéDex with his left one. “Let’s see...” he said slowly. “You have some decent skill in a lot of things but your biggest strengths are sneaking...”
Grinning, Nabiki answered, “Of course!”
“...And accounting,” Ranma continued as he looked over to his right, staring Nabiki in the eyes. He turned back to his Dex, trying to suppress a shudder of fear. Kami! Even her eyes were more feline now, with those slitted pupils and irises that glimmered with the sunlight. Trying to take his mind off of those terrifying eyes, he asked, “So... why are you so skilled with accounting? You get a lot of practice or something?”
While the Cheshire’s smile didn’t fade, it lessened quite a bit. “Hey, what can I say? Someone has to get things done. Mom’s always getting on dad’s case to aide with the upkeep of the home but you know how he is. He prefers to sit back and let the women take care of the home. Mom takes care of a lot of things but she was never good with math or numbers.” Her grin came back in full bloom. “I, on the other hand, excel!”
Ranma blinked his eyes. “I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same,” he thought seriously.
He paused for a moment as he got an unexpected response to that train of thought. Such is the case in regards to Nabiki Tendo, the Great Will clarified for him. While the Tendo family is not in the dire financial straights it was before the retcon, pokégirls are expected to take care of certain tasks; James Sukotto had originally conceived them as the all-purpose girlfriend. While Nabiki still works on the family finances and her sister Kasumi does help out with the housework as to help the household run smoothly, the presence of their mother Kimiko helps take a lot of burden off both of them compared to reality before retcon.
Slowly nodded his head in understanding Ranma had to admit that did make a lot of sense. No matter what, he was pretty sure he’d be a martial artist no matter what happened to reality. What was to keep the Tendo women from retaining the skills they had?
Still, the Great Will had brought up a good point that made Ranma curious. To what extent did Kasumi still have her previous skills?
With that thought in mind, the heir of the Saotome School of Martial Arts stood up on the roof. He aimed the red box-like device at Kasumi and paused for a moment. He frowned as he realized he wasn’t seeing any button that he could associate with skills before realizing what he had done in the first place: audio command. “Skills,” he spoke up loud enough to activate that feature of the Dex.
Skills are listed using the standardized Lowell-Flannery System developed for monitoring Skill Trainer testing.
Kasumi Tendo
General Schooling - High School Graduate. Cooking - Adept. Cleaning - Intermediate. First Aide - Intermediate. Camping - Novice. Unarmed Fighting - Adept. Katar Fighting - Adept. Telekinesis - Novice.
Looking over Saotome’s shoulder, Nabiki frowned as she saw what it listed for her sister. Damn. She was listed ‘Adept’ at so many things more than Nabiki herself was. She knew she shouldn’t feel such way, but there was a pang of jealousy that bothered her tremendously. Still, maybe she could emphasis on the fact that Kasumi actually had a couple of ‘Novice’ listings in a few of her areas of specialty while the Cheshire herself was no lower than ‘Intermediate’ in anything.
Nodding his head, Ranma closed the PokéDex and put it back onto his belt; making mental note to try and check out the other little gadgets that were on it later. “I got to admit,” the pigtailed martial artist started to say. “You girls are surprising me.”
Her right ear flicking, the middle daughter of Kimiko Tendo tilted her head, sail swaying back and forth behind her in curiosity. “What do you mean?”
“Well, for one thing... fighting styles. You’re listed not only as knowing unarmed combat but as being skilled with a staff. Kasumi is also listed at knowing how to use katars.” He frowned at that thought. While he had been interested in Kasumi being a Fighting-type... those knuckle daggers could be a serious threat to an opponent.
Shrugging her shoulders, Nabiki replied, “Well Tsuruko Aoyama is a harsh teacher. We may not have been able to pick up on the God’s Cry School of Swordcraft but she’s helped us find our niche as to make use useful to a PokéBattle Warrior.”
Blinking his eyes, Ranma asked, “Tsuruko?”
“You know,” Nabiki said seriously. “Dad’s other pokégirl.”
Ranma’s eyes widened. “HUH!?”
“Of course,” came a calm female voice from behind Ranma. “Do you think the Tendo Training Hall would be in use if it weren’t for me?”
With a surprised cry, the Cheshire jumped into the pigtailed martial artist’s arm’s; tail swaying wildly. Oh, how she HATED when Mama Tsuruko did that!
Letting off a yelp, Ranma stumbled back, almost losing his footing on the roof thanks to the sudden added weight that was suddenly thrust upon him. Sliding on the roof-top 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 young Saotome gently put Nabki back down on her feet before he turned to look at the woman standing on the roof with them.
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; long 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. Samurai pokégirl and secondary wife of Soun Tendo, the Great Will helpfully supplied.
She smiled prettily for a moment, before bowing her head to the two. “I am sorry to surprise you both. However, when I noticed you both up here talking and Ranma using his Dex it made me curious.” Left unsaid was what had really caught her attention was that she had noticed Ranma talking to himself a bit and acting nervously around Mrs. Tendo and her two daughters. Something was off with the situation but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
Unless...
The Samurai’s smile became a bit more genuine, trying to put the young male at ease. The decisions she knew he was coming to would not be easy. “Is the son of Genma finally ready to get things underway?”
Blinking his eyes once, twice, Ranma curiously asked, “Underway?”
“Your decision of course,” the woman politely replied. Not that she was trying to rush him but the way he was acting, in hindsight, he reminded her much of Mr. Tendo. How the man had hemmed, hawed, fiddled with his Dex and tip-toed around the subject before finally offering her to become his pokégirl. It was rather cute, really.
Dropping down from a tree, the retainer to the house of Kuno felt he’d seen enough. Hitting the ground running, the ninja speedily made his way back to base; he needed to report back to Master Tatewaki Kuno immediately. “Hard to believe,” he thought in shock. “After so long, young Saotome is making a choice! If Master Kuno is to get what he wants he better act fast!”
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(Posted Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:33)
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