Nerima, located in the head of a keyhole-shaped valley where Fuji-san once stood in the days before Sukebe and his Revenge, was one of the mid-sized towns influenced and controlled by the Edo Pokegirl League. Boasting several gyms and fair-sized pokegirl breeding ranches along with all the necessary support establishments required for an isolated mountain settlement lacking a dirigible airfield, Nerima was a popular destination for the average wandering Tamer, one looking either to expand his personal harem with choice pokegirls from local ranches or give his harem unique fighting challenges to expand their personal abilities or possibly evolve them into a stronger type of pokegirl.
As common throughout the known continents and leagues on this world, most women living in Nerima were either pokegirls or the more mature and fertile pokewomen. There were many pre-teen girls in Nerima, those innocents who had been born human but could possibly face the life-shattering touch of Threshold in the near future. And there were the scattering of those mature women well past the average age that Threshold posed a danger to their humanity. Finally, there came the exceptions to these social norms.
Nabiki Tendou was now going to visit one of them.
"Good morning, Nabiki," an Officer Jenny looks up, giving the brown-furred Catgirl a pleasant wave. "Off to see Mistress Karen?"
"Yeah, Noa, I am," Nabiki waves back, her whiskers twinkling delightedly as her brown-and-beige furred tail swayed to-and-fro, a visual indicator of her very good mood. "The Mistress told me a couple of her friends were coming by to visit today."
"Really?" Noa perks. Like all Jennies, she has green hair, though it is styled very short, cut to a taper at mid-neck and combed in a wave from the right side of her scalp. "None of us have seen any newcomers today."
Nabiki stops, then her tail droops. "That seems typical, eh?" she mutters to herself, then straightens herself. "Well, I've gotta go."
"Have a good day," Noa nods as the Catgirl heads off, then as soon as Nabiki is out of hearing range -- for her particular breed of pokegirl, that was a considerable distance -- the pokegirl policewoman mutters, "Still trying to answer the big question, eh, Nabiki?
"Who is Karen Tanenobu?"
Approaching from the south, a lone figure in a white button shirt and sturdy black trousers stops on seeing Nerima spread out before him. "Nice looking place," Ranma mutters to himself, then reaches into his shirt pocket to draw out the black card. Holding it close to his mouth, he calls out, "Kimiko-chan? Ataru? Tariko-chan? Any of you guys hear me?"
Again, silence is the only response. "Damn..." Ranma hisses as he looks on the communicator, then with a grunt, slips it back into his pocket before heading down the street towards the town centre...
Music.
There was always music playing whenever Nabiki came to visit Karen.
Stepping into the living room of the Tanenobu home, the Catgirl slips off her shoes, then stands at the archway as she gazes on a lovely brown-haired and eyed girl in her mid-teens, dressed now in a flower-print dress. She is currently playing a lovely medley on a piano which had been made well before Sukebe's time. Standing beside the piano are two other teenage girls, both looking as human as their host. One, a younger girl with shaggy, short-cut brown hair and deep brown eyes, made Nabiki immediately think of her missing sister, Akane, what with her boyish clothing -- a tank top, leather jacket and faded jeans -- and the strong, Tomboy-like demeanor she projected. The other was a slender girl about Karen's age, had long black hair tied in a thick French braid and blue-green eyes under round-framed reading glasses. Like Karen, this other girl is conservatively dressed, a knit sweater loosely tied cape-like over her cotton blouse and knee-length skirt.
Nabiki remains quiet as Karen finishes her song, then braces herself as the younger girl gazes her way. "Mistress," the Catgirl nods politely, not knowing what to expect from Karen's friends.
All three gaze her way, then the tomboy walks up to give the pokegirl a closer examination. "This is Nabiki?" she glances back at Karen.
"Yes, that she is," Karen rises from the piano, beckoning her other friend with her. "Stand easy, Nabiki. They're friends."
Nabiki visibly deflates, then grins. "Stand easy," a military phrase from pre-Subeke times, was the code-phrase Karen used to indicate that her lover didn't have to act like a "brainless, sex-crazed marionette." "Then can I give my Tamer a kiss?" her eyes twinkle amusedly.
"Always," Karen opens her arms.
They embrace, sharing a tongue-filled kiss as the others watch them, approving smiles crossing their faces. As they break apart, the tomboyish girl muses, "Why don't you come out and admit that you're her Tamer, Karen? It would make things a lot easier."
"Not here, I'm afraid," Karen laments as she waves the others to the sofa. "Girls can't be Tamers in the Edo League, remember?"
"Yeah, that's true," the other girl grumbles, sitting in the armchair across from the sofa. "Hell, even letting girls be pet owners in this place isn't the right way to make yourself popular with the League." She gives Karen a knowing look. "How soon for her?"
"Hard to say," Karen deflates, then gazes at Nabiki. "But soon, hopefully."
The Catgirl's fur bristles for a moment, then she relaxes as she stares at the other girls. Her nose twitches as her mind locks in on their particular scents, then she breathes out. "Are you both...? From where Karen comes from?"
"Yes, we are," the bespectacled gives Nabiki a sympathetic smile. "And please, don't be angry at Karen for staying silent about our origins. When the time comes for you to learn everything, Nabiki -- and it will come, be assured of that! -- you'll understand why."
"I hope it comes soon, then," Nabiki reluctantly nods, then reaches over to grasp Karen's hand. "We're lucky that Dad's still wrapped around the bend because of what happened to Akane. If he knew that I'd actually started being Tamed -- by a woman atop that...!"
"Does you other sister know?" the tomboyish girl asks.
"She does. She doesn't mind it, um..."
The visitors perk. "Oh, how rude of us!" the bespectacled girl blushes, then indicates herself. "I'm Marie Susumu and this is my friend, Mamoru Itou," she waves to the tomboy. "Karen's told us so much about..."
Her voice fades as she turns, peering intently towards the south. "Marie, what's...?" Mamoru stops, then gazes that way herself. "Wha...?"
Nabiki gazes on the visitors, concentrating her vision on their eyes. Sure enough, the irises and pupils both go pitch black. A glance to her Tamer reveals the same thing. The Catgirl didn't understand what sort of power this was Karen and her friends possessed. It did lend credence to the possibility that Karen Tanenobu wasn't exactly human, but a "very near human" type of pokegirl who had the ability to mask herself from any type of scanning equipment available even to the higher-ranked officials of the League.
But if Karen WAS a pokegirl, what type was she? The only marks on her body which weren't normal for humans were those Gothic cross-like tattoos on her upper arms, markings that she kept covered whenever she was out in public. Those markings did seem similar to what had been seen on the bodies of the mysterious Dark Angels, the only type of pokegirl whose attributes and abilities remained beyond the grasp of pokegirl biologists. Was Karen a Dark Angel? Was she another type of pokegirl? If so, what type? Was Karen actually a human girl with Blood Gifts, something that had been speculated on for many years, yet remained scientifically unproven?
"It's him," Karen smiles, her eyes reverting to their normal brown.
"You wanted him, did you, Mamoru?" Marie gazes on her friend.
"Damn straight," Mamoru rises, heading to the door. "I'll bring him here right away."
"Better hurry," Karen giggles. "Shirayuki went out of her way to prepare her strawberry wine-cream cake for our visitor from afar."
"You bet!" Mamoru slips on her shoes, then heads out.
"Who are you talking about?" Nabiki stares at Marie, then Karen.
In response, Karen reaches over to cup the Catgirl's puffed cheeks in her hands. "Nabiki, do you love me?"
Nabiki blinks, then nods. "Yes, I love you, Karen."
"Well, consider this the first day of our moving into an 'open' relationship, beloved," Karen leans up to kiss Nabiki's forehead.
The pokegirl considers her Tamer's words, then slowly nods. "Okay..."
"Strange-looking women..."
Ranma tries not to stare too much at the odd-looking forms dotting both sides of the street as he heads towards the centre of town. He did remember the ship's warning about the women of this planet possessing very peculiar genetic modifications to their basic DNA structure. That statement was something that he didn't fully understand when he first heard it.
He understood it now.
Different, wild hair colours. Furred bodies. Tails. Slitted eyes or eyes without visible irises or pupils. Faces possessing animalistic characteristics. The odd set of feathered or furred wings. Weird skin colours. Splotches on the skin like birth-marks. Huge breasts on many of them -- Geez! I thought my female half was busty?! he muses. Misshapen bodies, either possessing too much muscle or muscle groups in the wrong places. Even women possessing TWO sets of arms! And despite all that, they were in the most part VERY beautiful.
What the hairy heck was going on here...?
"Hey!"
He stops as a normal-looking girl in jeans, T-shirt and leather jacket skates up to him on roller blades. Peering intently at her for a moment, Ranma quickly notes the high levels of chi energy this girl possessed. She was either a very good martial artist, someone like Cologne or Happousai -- or simply a different type of girl, like almost all the others around him. "Me?" he then points to himself.
"Yep," she skids to a stop in front of him. "You're Ranma Saotome, right?"
Ranma jolts. "How...?!"
She gives him a wink and a knowing grin. "I'm Mamoru Itou. We've been expecting you and your friends for some time. C'mon, let's go down to my friend's place. You're probably hungry after that crazy trip from your home dimension."
The martial artist's jaw drops to the ground in shocked disbelief. He was expected?!
As Mamoru walks Ranma to Karen's place...
(Posted Wed, 26 Feb 2003 12:42)
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