"Moroboshi, you are in it deep," Tariko mutters to herself before the cracking of branches behind her makes her turn.
"Tom-boy."
She jolts surprisedly as that robotic-like voice catches her attention, then she sees a slender woman in a dirtied and badly torn beige karate-ka's gi stumble towards her. "Tom-boy," escapes her again as her face comes into view, making Tariko's eyes go wide with recognition as she calls on Ataru's memories of the more well-known girls who lived in and around Tomobiki. Not to mention words Ranma said about this particular girl when they were alone together aboard that strange alien starship days ago.
"Akane...?"
The newcomer stops, her glazed-over brown eyes acquiring a flash of lucidity as she turns to stare at the person who said her name. "Tom. Tom-boy-boy," her mouth flutters as she changes direction, staggering stiff-legged towards Tariko.
Ataru's sister remains still as Akane lurches to a stop a metre away from her. "Tom...?" her head tilts slightly as the intelligent flash in her eyes fades, making her seem like a deactivated robot from Westworld or its aborted TV sequel, Beyond Westworld.
Staring at her now, Tariko is quick to notice some differences between this Akane and the Akane Tendou from her dimension. The big one, of course, is the lack of noticable cleavage under her top. While Ranma's late fiancee wasn't close to Shampoo -- much less Tariko or Kikuko -- in the breast department, she was pretty nice looking none the less. This Akane barely HAD breasts worthy of the name. Even more, the arms she possessed -- the top Akane wore now was sleeveless -- while not as deformed as what Popeye had, were quite well developed below the elbows, the upper arms possessing a steel-like solidness to them. And though her legs were pretty much covered, Akane's thighs and calves seem just as muscular. What the hairy hell happened to this girl? Tariko (as Ataru) had often heard the term "kawaiikune" used by some people in describing Ranma Saotome's reluctant fiancee. This Akane seemed the living personification of that term.
"She's become borderline Feral."
Tariko yelps, then spins around to see someone step out behind a tree. "Who...?!"
The newcomer approaches the pair of girls, revealling himself to be a teenage man with a day's growth of beard and moustache stubble on his face, he dressed in a sturdy pair of jeans and a flannel, plaid shirt. A well-packed backpack is slung over his shoulder, a web belt tightly pulled against his waist. On it are six red-and-white steel balls, a scanner-like device resembling a Gameboy machine, plus two canteens. The man has long deep brown hair tied in a single thick ponytail to mid-waist. His eyes, a lighter shade of brown, lock on Tariko, giving her a detailed look-over, then he blinks. "So what's a girl like you doing out here in the nowhere?"
Tariko jolts, then sighs. "Um, actually..." she flusters, then deflates. "It's a long story. So...! Um, what's with her?"
She points to Akane. The earnest curiosity in Tariko's eyes causes the newcomer to blink surprisedly, then he draws out the Gameboy to pass a scanner bit over Tariko. Staring at the result, his jaw nearly hits the ground in disbelief. "Human...?" he whispers, staring anew at Tariko's face, his disbelief as clear as neon to Ataru's sister. "No trace of pokegirl ancestry...?"
"'Pokegirl?!'" Tariko blinks. "What the hell's that?!"
The newcomer takes that in, then sighs. "I think explaining that'll take a bit. Here, let's get our Tomboy here into a ball, then we'll go somewhere to set up camp, then I can explain this to you, um..."
"Ah! S-sorry. Tariko Moroboshi," Ataru's sister flusters.
He nods. "Pleased to meetcha, ma'am. I'm Ukyou Kuonji. Anyhow..."
Tariko yelps as Ukyou draws out one of the balls on his belt, then aims the eye at Akane. One press of the button later makes her vanish in a shower of light -- not to mention sending Tariko leaping into the trees. Ukyou blinks, then looks up confusedly as he puts the ball back on his belt. "Why'd ya leap up there for? I wasn't gonna put ya into a pokeball, miss!"
Tariko shudders. "Oh, nothing! Nothing!"
Later...
"So most of the girls on this planet are either 'pokegirls' or 'pokewomen.' They were created by this Sukebe character three centuries ago to help him gain revenge for what this McKenzie woman did to him, then they nearly wound up destroying all of humanity. And now..."
"And now, folks like me have to go out and keep some sort of control over them to make sure that those humans who're still left don't get hurt," Ukyou finishes. "And to do that, we have to 'tame' them..."
"Which basically means having sex with them, right?" Tariko finishes.
"Yep."
Silence falls over the tent as Tariko considers what Ukyou just told her. After balling Akane, the Tamer had taken the visitor from another dimension into a deserted campsite on a road that would lead eventually to two towns whose names were quite familiar to her: Tomobiki and Nerima. The pokeball now containing Akane sits on the groundsheet between them; Ukyou's other pokegirls are also in their balls, they now sitting beside his backpack. "Well, doesn't that beat all?" Tariko whistles, crossing her arms. "So, does every guy on this planet become Tamers? According to my ship's sensors, the gender ratio on this planet is pretty much tilted towards girls."
"Well, not every guy does it," Ukyou shakes his head. "You gotta have a certain level of stamina (if you know what I mean) for the job in question." He holds up a finger. "And before you ask, girls here in the Edo League aren't allowed to be Tamers."
Tariko jolts, then thinks about that for a moment before giving Ukyou a knowing look. "Because they're afraid that if girls wind up Taming pokegirls, somehow the human girl'll turn into a pokegirl herself, right?"
"Right. Now, there are some leagues that do allow girl Tamers. The closest one to here is the Capital League across the Pacific Ocean from here. And since you don't have any pokegirl ancestry in you, you'll be a shoe-in to become a Tamer if you want!"
"Really?" Tariko perks, then crosses her arms. "So why aren't there any pokeboys?"
"Eh?"
"Pokeboys and pokemen? Where are they?"
Ukyou blinks confusedly for a moment, then chuckles. "Oh, I see what you mean. Well, I suppose the chances are there that pokeboys might come along. At least, that's what some doom-and-gloom sayers predict. But all the experts say it's impossible. Only girls can become pokegirls." He holds up a finger. "Those with pokegirl ancestry, that is. You, Tariko, are pretty much in the clear."
Silence falls for a moment, then Tariko breathes out. "Well, that's a relief. So..." she looks out the open door of the tent to see the well-lit road leading to Tomobiki. "Since I've no idea where Ranma-kun, Nii-chan and Kikuko-chan are, I guess I have to make the best of the situation I'm in right now. So..." she gazes on Ukyou. "Where were you going before we bumped into each other?"
"I'm on a quest right now to locate a man named Ranma Saotome," Ukyou's face hardens.
Tariko perks. "Ranma-kun?! Why...?!"
Ukyou jolts, then relaxes himself. "Sorry. I mean my version of Ranma, not yours. It's a..." he pauses, then sighs. "Matter of honour."
Ataru's sister stares curiously at her host, then her eyes narrow as words Ranma told her on that alien ship days ago replay in her mind. Her eyes fleck down to Ukyou's pokedex, sitting beside Akane's pokeball, then turn back to her host. Ukyou blinks confusedly for a moment, then feels a lump form in his throat as Tariko reaches for the pokedex. Tariko looks at him for a moment, then relaxes, pulling her hand away from the pokedex as she gives her host a reassuring smile. "I think you can drop the disguise now," she winks. "Ukyou-chan."
Silence falls over the tent, then Ukyou nods before "his" face morphs into what is clearly that of a beautiful teenage girl Tariko's age. Her hair unwinds itself, flowing in a straight mass to the small of her back. Her hips and chest expands accordingly to give her a body pretty much like Tariko's in general shape and form (Ukyou is taller, though). Automatically, she reaches down to pull her belt tight around her waist, then she reaches for the pokedex. Handing it to Tariko, Ukyou gives her a reassuring smile. "Go ahead."
Tariko hits the on button, then aims the pokedex at her transformed host:
Nodding understandingly, she hands the pokedex back. "You must've been abandoned by Ranma-kun and his father a long time ago. Say around when you were six?" Seeing the shocked look appear on Ukyou's face, Tariko smirks. "Don't be surprised. It happened to the Ukyou in my universe, too. What..." she pauses, wondering if she should mention this or not, then she sighs. "What you may not understand is that the chances are good that your Ranma-kun doesn't even know what the exact circumstances are behind your parting. Hell, I'm willing to bet that your Ranma currently thinks of you as a guy, not a girl. And especially not a pokegirl."
Silence falls as the wandering pokegirl Tamer takes that in, then she asks, "Is that what happened between your Ranma and his Ukyou?!"
"Yes," Tariko nods. "Of course, there're the big differences between your planet and mine. Your Ranma was training to be a Tamer, right?"
"Yeah. His father ran the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Methodology Pokegirl Taming/Mastery. Ranma was going to take over the school when he came of age. The agreement between his father and mine stated -- I was born a Titto, by the way. I'm not a Thresholder -- that I would've been Ranma's Alpha pokegirl when it came time for him to get his Taming license and he'd hit the road." Ukyou frowns for a moment as she considers what to say next, then she stares at Tariko. "So you're saying that the chances are there..."
"That this planet's Genma Saotome has never even bothered to tell your Ranma-kun the truth about you," Tariko finishes. "In my universe, Ranma-kun was engaged to marry his Ukyou-chan. At the same time, he had about a dozen other engagements hanging over his head, incluing to his Akane-chan," she points down at Akane's pokeball, then she closes her eyes. "And when it all came down on his head..."
"Multiple fiancees?" Ukyou chuckles. "I take it harems don't exist on your Earth."
"Well, not exactly where I live, but there are places where that happens," Tariko laughs before breathing out.
The Titto is quick to notice the sad look on her guest's face. "What's wrong, Tariko?"
"Well..." Ataru's sister begins, then she takes a deep breath. "If you bump into my Ranma-kun, don't be surprised if he acts like you're a ghost. You see, before he, his sister, my brother and I got brought here, everyone we knew -- including your counterpart..."
She stares at Ukyou. The Titto is frozen in place, then she closes her eyes. "Fates..."
"Yeah," Tariko nods. "I just hope they're alright."
"We'll find them, Tariko," Ukyou reaches over to squeeze the other woman's shoulder. "Count on it."
Tariko stares at her host, then nods...
Now what?
(Posted Fri, 28 Feb 2003 08:40)
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