Ranma picked the rope up and frowned slightly. "I think the Americans are here already," he said. It was morning of the next day, they were at the site, and Gina's entrance into the ancient foundation was plain as day. As was Ryoga's graffiti, but that could have been made any time in the past year. Ryoga was probably in Singapore by now.
Genma waved vaguely. "They won't bother us," he said with all the certainty of a fool.
Ranma rolled his eyes. Oyaji was probably right – he couldn't imagine an American matching their skills. That didn't mean picking a fight was the smart move.
"Is this stupid?" Akane wondered.
"Probably," Ranma agreed.
Genma decided to be insulted by this and tripped Ranma into falling down the hole. "Keep your guard up!" he yelled.
Ranma twisted and hit the ground in a roll that absorbed the impact nicely. "Bakaoyaji!" he yelled back.
Genma leaped down while Akane climbed the rope. "Show some respect, boy!"
"Who are you people!? What are you doing here?"
Ranma, Akane, and Genma turned to look at the blond woman who spoke. Ranma recognized that the woman was probably curvier than his own girl side (and for some reason this upset him). Akane saw how she was dressed and wondered if she was some kind of American she-pervert. Genma saw a girl.
"Out of the way, girl!" Genma declared. "We have business here."
Gina scowled at the fat man. "And what business would that be?"
"Not yours," Genma growled.
"Like I'd buy that," Gina huffed. "This is my excavation, registered and legal, and you're trespassing."
Genma waved that off. "It's for the Art," he said solemnly. He walked past Gina. "Come on, boy!"
Ranma sighed and followed Genma. Akane bowed to Gina. "I'm sorry for his actions. He is hoping to find martial arts lore or equipment."
Gina blinked. She hadn't uncovered much about the identity of the man who called this laboratory home, but she was absolutely certain he was an enchanter and sorcerer, not a martial artist. "This ruin wasn't a dojo or anything, though," she said.
Akane shrugged. "Ranma and his father have stumbled on a bunch of old martial arts stuff in weird places."
Gina was having a hard time fitting this group into her worldview. The old man was strutting through the ruin like he was expecting…whatever he was after to jump out and say "Hi!" rather than taking care to inspect what he found. His son wasn't as oblivious, but he was clearly putting most of his attention on his father. Gina winced as the old man spotted something shiny, only to be thwarted by a lightning-fast blow from Ranma, who started berating his father for being foolish. Well, at least Ranma seemed to have his fool of a parent under control. That just left…"What is your name?" Gina asked.
"Akane Tendo," Akane introduced herself. She gestured to the Saotomes, who were having what amounted to a Martial Arts Slapping contest and fortunately not going all out and endangering the ruin and any innocent bystanders. "Ranma and Genma Saotome."
"Gina Diggers," Gina introduced herself. "My sister Britanny is around somewhere." Probably the bathroom, since not much else could keep Brit from protecting Gina with strangers around. "I don't suppose if I promise to turn over copies of any martial arts stuff you'll just leave?"
Akane didn't have a chance to answer before the floor exploded. "WHERE AM I NOW!?"
"Ryoga!?" Akane and Ranma yelled in surprise. Indeed, the infamous Lost Boy was hip-deep in the floor, having burrowed up from below. It seemed that ever since he learned the bakusai tenketsu and the shi shi hokodan he was no longer concerned with merely getting lost above ground.
Genma clipped Ranma with a smack. "Don't get distracted, bo-uoaf."
Ranma pulled his fist from Genma's gut. "I am not a bouoaf," he said calmly.
"I don't think that joke works more than once," Akane observed.
"Akane? Ranma?" Ryoga asked.
"Gina!" came a new voice. Brit ran into the room from…actually it was hard to tell given how fast she was moving. The dust trail said it was from deeper in the ruin. "What was that explosion? Wait…who are these people?"
Now, it should probably be noted that Gina had been speaking Japanese, as was only courteous given that it was the native tongue and she spoke it fluently enough.
It should also be noted that Britanny did not have her sister's intellect, and was not fluent in Japanese. So her English was not so well received by the Japanese natives, who just stared at the cheetah-like girl wearing a pink skirt, white top, and pink jacket.
Genma snorted, typical ignorant girl, couldn't even speak a proper language. Everyone spoke Japanese! Well, everyone important, anyway. That train of thought stopped in the face of an urgent message from his well-honed consequence avoiding instincts. The new girl was obviously part cat…and the Nekoken reacted unpredictably with such creatures.
Ranma caught a few words, and while "explosion" meant nothing to him he was able to correctly assume the newcomer was attracted by Ryoga's loud entry. The back of his mind was cataloging Britanny's feline traits and comparing them to fuzzy little demons and had decided that she was sufficiently different that freaking out wasn't required. As long as she didn't meow or something. So more important was the front of his mind, which had correctly identified Brit's speed, size, and obvious musculature as making her exceptionally dangerous.
Ryoga was remarkably multi-lingual, given his wanderings, but he wasn't really more than conversant in any given language. "I am Hibiki Ryoga," he said slowly.
Akane was a better student than some thought, and while she wasn't fluent beyond the highschool level, she was Ryoga's equal. "My name is Akane Tendo," she said. "He is Ranma Saotome. He is Genma. Who is you?"
Britanny caught the hesitation in Ryoga's voice and Akane's simple sentences and came to the appropriate conclusion. "Gina?"
"Yes I'll translate for you," Gina said in English. She turned to address Akane in Japanese. "Your English is not bad, but it might be better for me to translate. This is my sister, Britanny." She looked at Ryoga. "Brit wanted to know what that explosion was. I'm also curious. Are you a mage? Why were you traveling like that?"
"I'm no mage," Ryoga objected with pride. "I am a martial artist. And it's not my fault that someone hid the sky!"
"His sense of direction is bad," Ranma offered.
Gina blinked at that and tried to reboot her brain. Falling back onto old patterns, she deduced that she had stumbled into some kind of martial arts community that had developed "chi" magic. And, like most chi-adepts, did not call it magic. She also deduced that the two teenage males were hunks. Ranma in particular was an eleven on the hunkometer, even if he was very young. It was good Brianna had decided to sit this one out. "Um, okay. So you're lost?"
Ryoga ducked his head and Gina boggled as the hunk turned into a kicked puppy. Brit looked to Gina. "What are they saying?" she complained.
"Um, Ryoga has a bad sense of direction," Gina translated. "Although in this case I'd be more inclined to believe brain damage messing up his spatial reasoning."
"You think that's why he's here?" Brit asked.
Gina shook her head. "Even if he was able to find his way, there's nothing here for him. Whoever owned this place was very clearly working with werecreatures."
"Really?" Brit asked. "You found something?"
"Yup," Gina crowed. "Right before our 'guests' showed up. I don't have a name, or a reason, but I found some notes that explain some of the magic used here. He was definitely working on curing the lycanthropic 'thrall' curse. The weird thing-"
Gina never got to finish that sentence. Brit had set her on science mode and she had forgotten all about their Japanese guests, for the moment. Genma used the distraction to beat a hasty exit into the ruins to lootliberate the scrolls of martial lore that were worth lots of money rightfully his, as a proper Japanese master of the Art. Ranma just watched the catgirl warily. Akane and Ryoga tried their hardest to follow Gina's monologue.
"Wait," Ryoga cried. "What was that about a cure for the curse?!"
Gina had a sudden feeling that the world was about to go sideways. It was not a happy feeling.
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(Posted Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:35)
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