[Episode 249981] [Episode 249981]Tendo Nabiki was tired. Over the past month and a half without Saotome Ranma, her possible brother/sister-in-law, things had gotten dicy. The Yakuza, having heard that Nerima's greatest constant defender had gone missing, had sent agents in to start a solid base for future, illegal endeavors. Many call her a mercenary, but Nabiki did have some standards, and working for a criminal group wasn't in her plans for the future.
The problem with this was that once approached by the Yakuza, you could either join them as an agent . . . or as an enslaved prostitute. Because of this, she was forced to cut her information and service dealings to a minimum, leaving the Tendo household barely surviving on what they had left. While this wouldn't be that bad under normal conditions, having both Tendo Soun and Saotome Genma leave on a training trip with most of the money in the house didn't help. What helped even less was when they started sending the bills back home, forcing Nabiki to dip into emergency supplies just to pay for it all.
Her mind flashed back to the day that started this mess. It had been normal enough. Ranma, the cursed martial arts prodigy, had been tossed into the koi pond by his father, also cursed. By the time breakfast was served, Ranma was a busty redheaded girl and Genma was a panda. She had walked to school early, leaving Ranma and Akane to rush to school, late as usual.
At lunch, Ukyo, Okonomiyaki chef and one of several, alleged, fiancés that Genma had 'set up' for his son, started making Ranma food. At the same time, Shampoo, Ranma's alleged Chinese wife, showed up with a large take-out box of ramen for her airen.
Oddly enough, Akane didn't have anything for her fiancé that day. Rumor had it that he had managed to trick her into tasting her own cooking, and the shock of it had halted all cooking endeavors for the Tendo tomboy. Still, she wasn't pleased by the fact that Ranma was 'flirting' with the two other girls.
That's when things went fubar. It wasn't because of Akane's infamous temper though.
Hibiki Ryouga, Ranma's rival, who could get lost in a closet, blew through the wall of the school courtyard. Normally, the fanged Lost Boy would show up, yelling either "Damn you Ranma! Because of you, I've seen Hell!" or "Saotome Ranma, prepare to die!"
Not this time. This time, there was a gleam of insanity in his eyes, and when he saw Ranma, freshly splashed by a cold cup of punch he had been holding, he let out a mad laugh, "At last, Ranma, I have found a means of revenge!"
Ranma, preparing for some new martial arts technique, was surprised to find her rival brandishing a gold amulet in front of him, "I banish you, Saotome Ranma, to your own personal Hell! Klaatu barada..."
The amulet started to glow with an ethereal light. Ranma's hackles rose, and the pigtailed boy-turned-girl backed up slightly.
"... nikto!" The amulet fired a beam of light at her. Ranma dodged, only for the beam to follow her. Before she could blink, it struck her!
A flash of light later, and Saotome Ranma was gone.
Ryouga cackled madly, but wasn't given a chance to revel in his victory. It wasn't due to Kuno Tatewaki, who was staring in shock at where his pigtailed goddess had vanished. Nor was it due to Ukyo or Shampoo, who were horrified at what just happened.
It was due to a mallet, slamming down on top of his head, wielded by none other than his 'dear Akane'. And it didn't end at that.
Five minutes later, Nabiki herself had to risk a flying tackle just to break her little sister out of her berserker rage. Once the red cleared from her eyes, the youngest Tendo was horrified to discover what she had done to the Lost Boy.
It would be easier to say what bones weren't broken in his body. Blood seemed to ooze from his body, and rattling breaths escaped from his lips. Later on, Akane would hear how Ryouga had slipped into a coma, and no one was sure if he would ever wake up.
Despite Akane's willingness to turn herself in, the local police wouldn't hear of it. Ranma had always helped them out by keeping the crime rate down and helping to return stolen panties to where Happosai took them from. As Ryouga had taken away their champion, they were willing to call this as 'extenuating circumstances'.
It took Akane a few days to convince herself that it wasn't her fault, and she finally left her room. That changed the next day, when she came back to school only to find eighty percent of the male student population of Furinkan High charging at her.
Nabiki had just found out about it that morning, and had pulled every favor she had to get complete coverage of the massacre from every angle. In the end, it was the only thing keeping a shitload of angry parents from suing them for medical expenses. Akane barricaded herself in her room again, and only left it when Elder Cologne came rushing in the next day, having heard the results.
Since the wedding over three month ago, Akane had started to try and curb her temper, especially where Ranma was concerned. The first week had shown some progress, and then things got harder. Her temper started spiking, and Akane sometimes had to force herself into the dojo at times, just to keep from hitting her fiancé. Ranma and Nabiki had been concerned, but the father's had just brushed it off, and no one was willing to go bug Cologne about it.
Turns out, they were right not to trust the old bitch. She had taken to dosing Akane at night with a drug meant to increase aggressive tendencies. She was hoping to use the girl's infamous temper to create a schism between her and Ranma. The only problem was that Akane kept stubbornly working to control the rage, which had forced the old ghoul to start upping the dosage.
However, she hadn't meant for it to go this far. She was more than willing to break a few eggs to get what she wanted, but Ryouga's mauling had given her second thoughts. When she felt a pulse of pure rage reach her the morning before, she grew scared.
A true berserker was a dangerous thing. Cologne MIGHT have been able to handle her, but not without cost...
Cologne had been quick to administer treatment, and was more than willing to help the girl get her rage down. Still, the damage was done. Akane was truly and deeply terrified of her temper, and wouldn't even lift a finger to defend herself. Ukyo had to move in just to keep Kodachi, who had been enraged at the near murder of her brother, from killing the youngest Tendo. She had long since apologized for her part in the wedding disaster, and had been offered a tentative truce from the two wronged parties.
She still loved Ranma more than anything, but had started to consider either begging Akane just for a chance to be Ranma's mistress, or running far away from Nerima for a chance to let go. She wanted her Ranchan to be happy, but she had far too few friends as it was. In fact, Ranma and Akane were pretty much it, not including Konatsu, her stalwart male kunoichi and servant.
A month later, and Ukyo had taken it upon herself to keep Akane from falling into despair. The girl was a far cry from her normal self, jumping at the slightest sounds and unable to bathe herself without breaking down and bawling her eyes out. The house was falling apart around them, and money was becoming an issue.
Finally, Cologne returned, amulet in hand. After much research, she had determined it to be celestial in origin, and therefore could not have sent a good person like Ranma to Hell. Instead, he would have been sent to another dimension.
Cologne had found this dimension, and now, she was looking for volunteers.
Ukyo and the Tendo girls, however, didn't have it in them to go on a wild goose chase. Nabiki and Kasumi were busy trying to keep the household afloat, and while Ukyo was ready to go, she could not, in good conscious, leave Akane, or worse, take the shaken girl into a dangerous situation.
Cologne left peacefully that evening, only to return with Mousse and Shampoo the next morning, shaking all four girls out of bed and forcing them to join their hunting party. Cologne had already ambushed Konatsu, who had been standing guard.
This lead to their current situation: traveling in a hostile setting, with bestial humanoids roaming the land, after already seeing one of their number become critically wounded and captured by the enemy.
Finally, Nabiki had enough. She was not a fighter, and she was definitely not cut out to be traipsing around a new world like this. "Alright, that's it!" Jabbing a finger at Cologne, she proclaimed, "We've been here for ten days now, and we have yet to see any intelligent life. All we've seen are a bunch of freakish monster girls, who are either trying to kill us or each other! For Kami's sake, we don't even know how long Ranma has been here! What are we doing here?!?"
Cologne narrowed her eyes at the 'insolent' child. "The other Elders of my tribe have ordered that I secure Muko-dono for ourselves, by any means necessary. I will drag him back by his pigtail if I have to, damn the consequences."
"And what if he has a family here? What if he has other obligations? What then, hag?" Nabiki snarled back, ignoring how Ukyo, Shampoo, and even Akane flinched at her words.
"He'll be coming back with us, whether he likes it or not," the old woman dictated, "and if you don't watch your tongue, I'll..."
"You'll what?" Nabiki retorted, fed up with it all.
"Nabiki, please!" Kasumi begged.
"Calm down, Onee-chan!" Akane chimed in, becoming aware of her surroundings due to Nabiki's rant. Still, it wasn't soon enough, as the Elder leapt towards the girl...
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(Posted Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:41)
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