But her distrust of him had kept him from having a full chance to do that.
And it kept her from realising that he wasn't the big threat at the moment, as a net caught her up and she was carried off before she could find out what was going on.
It wasn't Genma's fault though.
He had been identified as a possible threat by the kidnapper, and was currently sleeping of the seditive in the dart that had hit him.
But while Hotaru was contained, and the portly man unconscious, the kidnapper made one major mistake.
He didn't consider one little boy to be much of a threat.
Which was why, after following the nasty man, Ranma was sneaking around the wierd lab so that he could palm a key. Luckily, his father's training paid off in that regard, and he slipped over to the cage where his friend was waiting. Crouching before it while the crazy man cackled, he smiled. "It's time ta get ya outta here."
Hotaru beamed at her friend, and the anger of a few minutes earlier was washed away. She hadn't liked this new stranger, and had been thinking of ways to get at him, but now she could get free, so things were much better in that regard.
"There we go..."
Moving quickly, she came up and cuddled next to him, a quiet purr her only means of communicating her pleasure.
"You're welcome, but we've gotta get outta this place. It gives me the creeps..."
The catgirl nodded, and the two of them began to inch away... until they heard the whimpering from nearby. Turning to look they saw another girl, of a different type than Hotaru in another crouch, looking like she would have liked to join them. It was obvious that she was terrified of being there, but she didn't know if she should or could take this opportunity.
He tried to be strong for a moment, but couldn't even consider leaving her there. As soon as he realised that there was someone else being held there, he went to unlock the cage and gestured for her to come. "You're comin' with us. We ain't about ta leave someone nice like ya like this."
The new anthromorph didn't need to be asked twice, and slowly crawled out to him. Once she realised that she was out of her confinement, she hugged him in relief and held on for support.
"I'm glad that you're happy ta be free, but we've gotta get goin'."
Loosening her hold enough to let him move, the three crept out of the lab and on to freedom.
Leaving the mad scientist to turn around to an empty room. "Okay now, it's time to see who could match my brilliance! I shall be experimenting on... nothing..?"
Genma woke up slowly, with his head throbbing like he had been having sake. But he had known that he had used the last of it when celebrating his completion of the pit for the Nekoken training, so that couldn't be it. Still, he had no other idea what it could be, and so he was stuck clueless as to what had happened.
But as he heard rustling in their packs, he looked over and saw his son grinning sheepishly at him. "Boy? What is going on?"
"Sorry Pop," Ranma apologised, "but we've gotta go. Some really wierd guy tried to take Hotaru, but I saved her. So now we've gotta get goin' before he comes back."
"We're going someplace?"
"Yup! All four of us, if you wanna."
"'Four'...? But there is only the two of us... well three if you count that Hotaru..."
"I made a new friend! See?"
The elder Saotome managed to focus his eyes to see what the boy was talking about, and saw a new girl clutching onto him for reassurance. "What is this?!"
Smoothing a hissing Hotaru's head, Ranma smiled. "We only just met, but we're gettin' along great! As far as I can tell, she ain't got a name, so I'm givin' her one. I'm callin' her:
(Posted Thu, 01 Apr 2004 20:35)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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