Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Neutral Ground ❯ Nabiki Nekomimi ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
NEUTRAL GROUND 2:

Nabiki Nekomimi by Gregg Sharp

A Ranma 1/2 fanfic

"Konnichi wa, all characters, situations, places, are: (c) of Takahashi Rumiko, Viz, Kitty Films, Shogokukan, and a number of other VIPs. Just like I said in the last episode. You were paying attention, weren't you? Gold Digger and associated characters and conventions are (c) Fred Perry & Antarctic Press."

Thank you, Kasumi, you must be back on decaf.

"Hai. Oh, and Nabiki turns into a nekomimi (catgirl), Akane set up the Akanenichuan, and Ranma turns into a dragon-girl. Oh my, it's almost a super-saiyan powerup isn't it? Because the Tendo family meets the Saotomes on the way to Juusenkyo, Ryouga has attacked Ranma with
the entire family there, so most of us have curses.

"At this point, everyone thinks that I fell in Spring Of Drowned Twin. They will learn the truth in this chapter, right, Gregg-san?"

Uhm, no actually. that's in Neutral 3. Ahem, this is basically just a reformatting of the earlier story, where i'm trying to fix it up a little for fanfiction.net - it's not a new story by any means...

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Nabiki-n flicked her feline ears back and forth, checking them out. Her tail twitched as she glared at the boy responsible for her current predicament.

"Thissss rrrreally sssssuckssss," she managed. It was obvious that while her appearance was easily 90% human, that this was just the surface of her cursed form. "Give me one rrrreasssson that I don't take thisss out of yourrrrr hide."

"Uhm, I'm really sorry, but isn't this all Ranma's fault for running out on our duel earlier?"

Nabiki-n noticed that Ranma-d wasn't paying any attention to the drama behind her. Still largely locked in horror at the gender change.

Kasumi was trying to get Akane to breathe again. Genma was unconscious. Her own father was a blubbering wreck. No help there.

Nabiki-n hissed, baring her fangs as she looked at the figure backed up against one of the springs by Ranma's mother. Her tail lashed back and forth, agitated.

Nabiki-n stopped and regarded Ranma. Had all this been too much for him? Her? Whatever? Her eyes tracked back to the boy she held responsible for this tragedy.

Kasumi asked Ranma to put her hands here and here, then Kasumi hit a set of pressure points in Ranma's back.

Ranma responded with a wordless scream and a pillar of golden energy ripping the ground up around her. Energy flared down Ranma's arms into Nabiki's youngest sister.

Golden eyes in Ranma's face met Nabiki-n's catlike eyes briefly. Ranma was reaching deep within himself, tapping the increased reserves of ki of his dragon-girl form.

Nabiki-n watched as the energy flowed from Ranma into her little sister.

Drawing her legs under her, Nabiki-n continued to watch as her sister was brought back from the edge of death. She just hoped that Ranma knew what she was doing. Or, since Kasumi had been the one to direct Ranma, that Kasumi knew what she was doing.

Ranma would have agreed.

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Cologne and the elders looked up from their preparations for the tournament. A pillar of chi lanced up into the sky, and a tremor could be felt through the ground.

Cologne's eyes narrowed as she considered what the Musk Dynasty might be up to. Herb was the immediate suspect, his idiot cousin Kagashi having a more powerful chi level but wasn't able to use it except in strength and durability enhancement.

Perhaps a little quiet investigation was in order.

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Nodoka watched in astonishment hidden behind a cool facade as Ranma-d glowed with golden flames that seemed to writhe like serpents. Her wings had manifested again, turning from the red of her hair to a buttery golden color. As she watched the hair changed to the same hue, and the glow spread from Ranma's hands into the drowned girl's body.

The "drowned" girl abruptly coughed up blood and water, her back spasming as she rolled over onto her side.

Ranma-d's glow vanished, the wings folded back and also vanished, and her coloration returned to normal. Looking at the weakly coughing girl in front of her, she managed to smile.

Then she collapsed, only to be stopped by Kasumi before she could fall into a pool.

"You did it, Ranma-chan," Kasumi said with a smile, lifting the dragongirl easily and moving to an area where her cargo could be safely laid down.

Then she went and began massaging Akane's back to encourage breathing and let the rest of the waters be expelled before she was moved away from the Springs.

---

Nabiki snarled as Ryouga tried to run, only to find that Ranma's mother was pretty quick with that sword. Ryouga fell backwards into the pool that Akane had just come from, exited the other side and was out and running in a flash.

Nabiki-n noticed that his scent had changed, and the clothes seemed to hang a little funny on their attacker. She shrugged and started cleaning herself, she certainly wasn't going to go chasing the boy through these cursed pools. If they met afterwards, though...

"Akane's breathing all right now, both she and Ranma are out cold, and I'm certainly not chasing that boy when these pools turn you into something else. You, Mister Guide, can you provide a few explanations, please?" Nadoka sheathed the family katana and bowed politely to the Jusenkyo Guide.

"Ah do not worry, you can temporarily cure curses by hot water. Only until next time get splashed with cold water, though."

"Why is my daughter acting like a cat?"

"I can answer that," an undersized old woman hopping on an oversized walking stick came from the overhead cliffs to land on the ground nearby.

Nabiki-n pretended to ignore everything around her, seemingly absorbed in the task of licking her hands and arms clean. Anyone who knew cats would know that she wasn't ignoring anything.

"My name is Ku Lon," said the old woman. She indicated the collapsed Ranma. "I take it that THIS is the person responsible for the burst of chi I detected earlier."

"Cologne?"

"Close enough."

"You said you could explain," Soun reminded. He pointed at his middle daughter.

"As for THAT child, each of the pools or combinations of pools carries a second curse. For the most part it is being a 'water magnet' but in the case of a cat/girl combination, the feline instincts and attitudes are much more in control. She'll act very catlike in that form, that's all."

"There's no cure?" Soun repeated.

"No, that's not true. Jusenkyo is not easily cured, however. In many cases simply a bath in Spring Of Drowned Man is enough for a man to return to normal. However, the curse has to be ready to release you."

Nabiki flicked an ear. Like the pool could have really have had much of an effect on her. Moving to this Ranma's side, she decided that Ranma needed some company while the others worried about everything.

Akane watched with a certain horrified fascination as her sister curled up next to Ranma and started purring.

------

"He, no, SHE's still asleep?"

"What do you mean I drowned?"

"Oh my."

"This was NOT one of your better ideas, daddy." Nabiki watched as the Jusenkyo Guide turned his attention to the sleeping dragon girl.

As the hot water touched Ranma, she shifted back to the male Ranma and he awoke. He still looked like he'd done a triathalon.

"Oh man, do I hurt." Ranma looked over at where Akane was sitting. "Are you..."

"I..." Akane seemed to hunt for the words. "I guess you saved my life. Thank you."

"I...couldn't...I." Ranma saw his mother behind Akane putting a finger over her lips. "ah."

Kasumi merely looked thoughtful.

------

"This, sirs and ladies, is Amazon village of Nichieju," the Guide thought that considering how the one young lady was acting, she should fit in fine. "Oh, very lucky, today the woman have tournament."

Genma motioned to Soun, ignoring the still groggy Ranma. A banquet had been laid before them and it would be impolite not to indulge.

"Are you sure that's a woman," asked Nabiki in a sarcastic tone as a huge woman carrying a studded club got on one side of a suspended log.

"Well, that one more pretty." The Guide directed their attention to the other warrior. "You watch this, winning tournament is very great honor."

The clash of weapons back and forth paused briefly, and in that lull carried an idle comment with all the impact of a rifle shot. "They're not so hot."

Nabiki exchanged a glance with Kasumi and both stepped back away from their sister. Nadoka looked at Akane with a "I can't believe you said that" expression.

"Outsider girl want to try," came a sweet voice. One of the younger girls, perhaps fourteen, tapped Akane on the shoulder. "Outsider girl great warrior, maybe demonstrate how good she is?"

"Why not?" Akane shrugged off the Guide's look of horror.

The other girl motioned towards a ring of dark sand within a smaller ring of white sand. "We fight in circle, okay? I Rie Ga of Nichieju."

Akane stood opposite of Rie Ga and bowed, not taking her eyes off her smaller opponent. "I am Akane Tendo of the Tendo Training Hall."

Rie Ga smiled. She hadn't understood much of what the other had said, but this Akane had the same name as her village. Maybe she was of a highly placed family, in which case the spoiled girl would get her comeuppance.

"Fight!" Another Amazon slashed the air between the two with a flag then stepped away.

Nodoka was watching this when a commotion behind her drew her attention. The younger Amazon from the log battle was yelling at the two men who had started eating from the table. Nabiki swore. If the situation hadn't been so bad, Nodoka would have been scandalized.

"You eat prize," the purple-haired girl was yelling again, "you die."

"Wait a minute," Ranma said, groaning as he got up. "If it's the prize, then if I beat you then there's no problem, right?"

An old woman called out something in Chinese, but the girl replied in the same language in a tone that certainly carried her disdain for the outsiders. Nodoka looked again, recognizing that this was the elder that had been at the pools earlier.

Meanwhile, Kasumi was wincing as Akane was being pounded into the sand by her shorter and younger opponent.

*THUD BLOCK SMACK* "You give yet?"

"NO! This doesn't hurt."

*WHAMWHAMWHAMWHAM* "You give yet?"

"You just wait, I'm just getting warmed up!"

*WEDGIE BOOT-TO-DA-HEAD TOESTOMP* "Now?"

"Hold still!"

"Akane of Tendo very stubborn," Rie Ga smiled. "She have much pride, would make good amazon." *WHAM*

"Ungh. Just wait'll I..."

Rie Ga interrupted Akane by picking the outsider up and tossing her outside the ring. "Now Rie Ga not have to give kiss of death to outsider. Rie Ga win, now say you good fighter, just not good as Rie Ga. Think Akane of Tendo much like Rie Ga, very proud, very strong, very much speak mind."

"Kiss of death?" The statement was enough to get Nodoka's attention from the match about to take place up on the log.

"Yes, if outsider defeat Amazon then Amazon must give 'kiss of death' - is vow to track to ends of Earth and kill." Rie Ga glanced over at the old woman and said in a much quieter voice. "Village Elders really stickler for old fashioned laws like that."

*THWACK* Said Village Elder (Cologne again) almost seemed to teleport behind Rie Ga and brought her staff down on the young girl's head. "A little more respect for your Elders, girl."

"Uh oh," came from Nodoka, Kasumi, and Nabiki as they turned towards Ranma who was currently kicking his opponent completely off the log.

"Oh my." Kasumi grabbed her backpack.

Nabiki swore again, this time using German (she only knew a few of the wrong words, but it sounded like a language built for swearing in.)

Nadoka grabbed her husband and Mister Tendo and quietly indicated that she thought the time was appropriate for a strategic withdrawal.

The decision to return to Japan was unanimous.

-----

Second part of Neutral Ground finished.

NEXT: Ranma discovers his power up and the price tag. Akane tries to spar Ranma. Nabiki figures out what her other form is good for. Kasumi makes plans to return to college, after all, she CAN be in two places at the same time.
Voiceover: Will Nabiki's cursed form trigger the Nekoken?
Nabiki looks up from counting her yen and meows.
Voiceover: Will Genma and Ranma pay the price for Ranma not being a "Man among men?"
Ranma and Genma bigsweat as Nodoka starts unwrapping her bundle.
Voiceover: And what of Tatewaki Kuno?
Kuno grins at the camera. "Ah, I, the fierce and noble Tatewaki Kuno shall smite the evil dragon!"
Voiceover: Will he be as clueless as ever?
Kuno sticks tongue out at camera.
Voiceover: It's all in "Neutral Ground 3":


NOTES: go to episode 15 to the scene where Ranma has
just challenged Shampoo, see the little girl looking
belligerently up at the panda in the sweeping crowd
shot? Rie Ga unless i hear otherwise. Likewise the
amazon in the grey tunic resting her hands on the
hilt of a sword will be her big sis, Shu Ga.

ja ne!