All Ranma characters are property of Rumiko Takahashi, first published
by Shogakugan in Japan and brought over to North America by Viz Communications.
A Different Viewpoint:
Curses and Demons:
Chapter 9
Dr. Onu Tofu was only a couple blocks from the Tendo
home when he noticed a pair of cats
watching him from a nearby alleyway. He gave them a look, just
in case one of them was Shampoo.
Living with a girl that changed into a cat whenever she was splashed
with cold water had
gotten him into the habit of taking a look at any cat he saw, just
in case. These two, however, were
strays, although they were watching him with a strange intensity.
Tofu shook his head. < I'm just letting
my imagination run away with me.> He decided. < They
probably just want food or something....> He kept walking, casually
keeping an eye on the two
cats. To his surprise, they followed him out of the alley and
down the street, slowly gaining ground on
him. < Now what?> Dr. Tofu turned around and hunkered
down a bit. "Hello you two. I'm afraid I
don't have any food for you today." The two cats kept staring
at him and kept walking his way,
breaking off to either side as they got closer.
The doctor frowned, turning to follow one of them
with his eyes. "Now that is strange...." He
blinked in confusion as he saw two more cats join the one that had
gone to his right, jumping down
from a nearby rooftop. All three cats began to, pacing back and
forth as if waiting for him to make a
move. < Are they... stalking me?> The doctor glanced the other
way and noticed even more cats
had joined the second feline he had seen, and all of them were looking
at him as if he was some sort
of giant mouse.
"What's going on here?" Tofu wondered out loud,
then started slowly backing away from the
group of cats. "Could this have something to do with how Shampoo
is acting today?" The cats
started coming closer as a group, circling around him to cut off his
avenues of retreat. The doctor
spun around quickly, noticing more and more cats were joining the circle,
their eyes fixed on him
steadily. Dr. Tofu frowned worriedly. "This is bad...."
*******************
In the Tendo dojo, Ryoga was starting to teach one
of his more advanced katas to his students
when Rei stiffened and turned away, losing her place in the line.
Ryoga halted the kata and looked at her. "Hino-san... is there anything the matter?"
Rei was looking off to her left, toward the Dojo's
main gate, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"An evil force...." She whispered to herself. Rei flashed
a warning glance toward her friends then
turned back to Ryoga. "Er... I'm not feeling very well, Ryoga-sensei...
could you excuse me?"
Ryoga blinked. "Well... I suppose...."
He glanced at his students, who for the most part, had
suddenly gotten very quiet, concerned looks passing over their faces.
Usagi glanced around quickly, trying to think.
"Um... Sensei... could we have a break now? I
um... I gotta go to the um...."
Ryoga looked at her in confusion. "What?"
Minako chimed in helpfully. "She's got to go to the bathroom! Right Usagi?"
Usagi blushed but nodded. "That's right! Can we take just a little break?"
Ryoga tried not to look flustered. "Er... of course.... Um... everybody take five!"
Rei, Usagi, and Minako all hurried for the doors,
while the other senshi started to head that way
more slowly, not wanting to appear like they were in a hurry.
Rei opened the door and hurried
outside and suddenly everyone could hear a slowly growing noise approaching
the dojo.
Ryoga went to the door and looked out. "That sounds like...."
Nabiki joined him, nodding. "Like cats.
Angry ones. And they're getting closer...." Everyone
turned to look in the direction of the rising wave of sound, cats hissing
and yowling, from the sound, a
lot of cats. Suddenly, Dr. Tofu jumped over the Dojo's front
gate and started running toward the
house.
Spotting the class mingling by the doors to the dojo
he waved his hands frantically and shouted.
"Everyone get inside! Hurry!" As he got closer it was obvious
that the doctor's clothes were tattered
and he had numerous scratches on his hands and face. Even as
this became apparent, cats started
jumping onto and over the Tendo compound's outer walls.
Ryoga didn't hesitate. "Back into the dojo!"
He commanded his students, pointing toward the
Tendo house. Nabiki grabbed his arm and pushed it the other way.
"The dojo is this way, Ryoga."
Naru and Umino didn't hesitate either, rushing back
inside the dojo immediately. The senshi, on
the other hand, were torn in indecision. Minako acted first, sprinting
for the Tendo house, Rei
grabbed Usagi's arm and followed after her.
Ryoga blinked. "No, wait! This way!" He glanced at Nabiki. "Right?"
Nabiki was tugging at his arm, trying to get him
into the dojo. "They'll be fine in the house! Come
on!"
Dr. Tofu changed course to head for the house as
well, and Setsuna waved for the other senshi to
enter the dojo. "Everyone do as he says, and hurry!" <
Now is not the time for our secret to be
revealed.> Reluctantly, but quickly, the other senshi went back into
the dojo leaving Ryoga alone at
the door. Ryoga watched Dr. Tofu head for the Tendo house and
silently wished the older man luck.
He put his hands on the door to close it the instant the threat got
too close. The cats chased after the
doctor rather than heading for the dojo and Ryoga's eyes narrowed.
The doctor reached the Tendo's
front door and was about to pull the door open when more cats jumped
down from the roof of the
house. The doctor jumped away rather than let them land on him
and started running again, parallel
to the house.
The lost boy stepped outside and yelled back to his
students. "Stay in there and kept this door
shut!" He slammed the dojo door closed behind him and ran to
intercept Dr. Tofu.
Meanwhile, Minako, Rei and Usagi had entered the
Tendo home through the side door. They
looked around quickly, but the hall was deserted.
Rei closed the door behind them. "Those cats
are possessed by some sort of evil energy. We've
got to transform!" Usagi grabbed her pendant and Minako got out
her transformation pen. "Right!"
As one they called out their transformation phrases and for several
moments the hall was filled with a
spectacular light show.
Dr. Tofu entered the side yard and gulped in dismay
as he saw another large group of cats come
over the fences in front of him and too
the side. < I'm cut off! Only one place left to go.>
Without another thought, Dr. Tofu jumped
headfirst into the Tendo pond. < Hopefully they won't follow
me in here.>
Ryoga rounded the corner, led helpfully by the horde
of angry cats, and spotted Dr. Tofu surfacing
in the center of the koi pond, surrounded
by almost a hundred felines, all hissing and spitting in anger.
"Doctor! Are you alright?" What's going
on here?"
Doctor Tofu waved at Ryoga to stay back. "I'm
all right! Get inside and call for help." He
pointed at the open shogi doors. "Go, quickly!"
Soun Tendo waved at Ryoga to come inside. "Come
in, hurry, son. The doctor should be alright
in the pond."
The doctor glanced slowly around at the angry band
of cats surrounding him, and was careful to
stay standing in the exact center of the pond. "Call the fire
department... or the zoo.... I don't think
the police have the equipment to deal with anything like this...."
Ryoga moved over to join Soun on the porch of the
house, noting that as long as he didn't get too
close, the large pack of felines didn't pay
him any attention. "What in the world caused them to act like
this, doctor? Does it have something to
do with Shampoo?"
The doctor shook his head. "I have no idea,
I hope not. Shampoo was acting strangely today... I
hope she's alright." A faint suspicion crossed his mind.
"I wonder if she's in heat?" He muttered
quietly to himself, keeping an eye on the horde all around him.
Ryoga strained to hear what the doctor was saying. "What was that, doctor?"
Dr. Tofu blushed slightly and shook his head. "Nothing important... please, call for help!"
Soun nodded, heading toward the hall. "Right
away, Tofu-san. Ryoga, guard the door." The
Tendo patriarch headed for the hall, but was distracted by the sight
of a small black kitten running
down the stairs and heading for the side yard. "What? C-chan,
stop!"
Sailor Mars led Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon into
the Tendo bathroom. "Quick, we can go out
this window, that way no one will see us leaving the house."
She opened the bathroom window and
jumped out, followed by her fellow senshi.
Venus pointed toward the roof. "Lets go up
there and get a better look. That way we can
probably spot where the action is!" Mars and Sailor Moon nodded
and the three senshi leaped as
one to the rooftop. A dozen cats were already on the roof, thankfully
looking toward the side
yard. The senshi hesitated. "Now what do we do?"
Venus muttered. "I can't just blast those cats....
they're not monsters, just...."
Mars finished. "Possessed. I can't use
my fire attacks either, not without hurting them." She and
Sailor Venus both turned to their companion. "Looks like it's
up to you, Sailor Moon."
Sailor Moon nodded, and took hold of her broach.
"Right. I'll take care of it, just watch." She
extended her broach and started to concentrate. "Moon Healing...
Escalation!" The silver crystal
started to shine brightly, and a wave of energy radiated out of it
toward the cats on the roof. The cats
yowled for a moment as the beam swept over them, then collapsed.
One by one the cats recovered,
looking around in apparent confusion.
Venus laughed and gave Sailor Moon the thumbs up.
"You did it, Sailor Moon! Now for the rest
of them!"
Mars nodded. "Right. I sense the majority of
the evil energy in..." She pointed toward the side
yard. "That direction. We had better hurry, before they
catch that poor man." She started to lead
the way when something cracked into the rooftop just in front of her,
causing her to come to a halt.
"What in the world...? A gymnastics pin?"
A slender figure alighted on the rooftop in front
of them, laughing hauntingly behind her hand. "Ho
ho ho.... I'm afraid, my dears, that you three aren't going anywhere."
She laughed louder, causing the
senshi to wince slightly at the annoying noise. She went into
a gymnastics stance. "I, Kodachi the
black rose Kuno, will stop you."
*********************
Inside the dojo, the senshi had gathered together
in one corner, while Umino and Mamoru Chiba
guarded the door.
Naru stood slightly behind her boyfriend, looking worried. "Gosh, I hope Usagi's alright out there."
Nabiki was quick to reassure her. "I'm sure
she's fine. She had plenty of time to get to the side
door, and daddy is in the house. He'll keep your friends safe,
I'm sure." Inside she winced. < If Dr.
Tofu was running, then daddy won't be able to handle whatever is going
on either... I wish Ranma and
Akane were here.> She winced internally, thinking about Ranma's
likely reaction to a huge horde of
cats, phobia training or no. < On second thought, I'd settle
for Happosai or the old ghoul right about
now....> Nabiki frowned. < Well, maybe not Happosai....>
Nabiki gazed at the door. < Ryoga,
you had better be alright, and you had better save Dr. Tofu!>
In the corner, shielded by her fellow senshi, Ami
had pulled her mini computer out and was busy
scanning the surrounding area. "The energy signals are very faint."
She whispered, just loud enough
for those around her too hear. "Whatever is controlling those
cats, it's not nearby...." She tapped a
few more keys. "I believe that whatever force is controlling
them, Sailor Moon should have no
trouble disrupting
it. It's not like anything we've dealt with in the past, but at least it's not terribly powerful."
Makoto sighed in relief. "Thank goodness.
I was really starting to get worried. I don't like leaving
Usagi to fight on her own like that...."
Hotaru took her hands, trying to reassure her.
"At least Rei and Mina are out there with her. I'm
sure Usagi-san will be just fine."
Makoto sighed. "I know, I just don't like being stuck in here while Usagi fights."
Setsuna shrugged. "We have little choice, unless
we wish to reveal our identities as senshi. Don't
worry, I do not sense any major threat... as of yet."
Luna, who had been acting as lookout, hissed a warning.
"Nabiki's coming over...." Ami slipped
her computer behind her back and the other girls tried to act normally
as the middle Tendo sister
came up to them.
"Don't worry." Nabiki said as she approached
the group. "We're perfectly safe in here." She
waved at the walls. "We had the dojo walls reinforced the last
time we rebuilt the place." Nabiki
shrugged. "And I'm sure daddy has called someone for help by
now." < If he's not running for his life
from a bunch of crazed cats that is....> Nabiki tried to keep
a calm exterior as her mind raced. <
What in the world is going on with all those cats? Does it have
anything to do with Shampoo?>
*******************
In the pond, Dr. Tofu was wondering much the same
thing. The cats around him were starting to
get restless. Any time now he was afraid that that whatever was
causing them to want to attack him
would overcome their natural hatred of water. His thoughts turned
out to be prophetic, as he felt
claws sinking into his back as one of the cats jumped into him from
behind. Tofu yelled and
immediately dived beneath the surface of the water, reaching back to
pull the cat off his back as he
did so. The cat held on grimly despite the bath, and he was forced
to pry it free and fling it from the
pond. Dr. Tofu surfaced for an instant, took a deep breath and
dived beneath the water again.
He held himself to the bottom of the pond, looking
up at the surface warily. < I'll just hold my
breath for a while....>
Inside the house, Soun battled frantically with an
opponent one hundredth his mass, as a tiny ball of
fur tried to tear his hand off so it could go outside and join all
the other cats. Soun was handicapped
by his extreme reluctance to hurt the tiny kitten, which was currently
acting like a miniature buzz saw
on steroids.
Ryoga, seeing Soun's dilemma, decided to help the
Tendo patriarch out by finding the phone and
calling for help himself. "Hang in there, Mr. Tendo. I'm
sure you can handle C-chan! I'll go find the
phone!" Soun was too busy trying to retain all of his fingers
to realize just how bad an idea that was.
On the roof, the senshi faced off with an insane
gymnast as a yell and a splash echoed up from the
side yard, followed by an increased hissing and yowling from the mass
of cats down there. Mars
glanced toward her nominal leader in concern. "Sailor Moon, you
had better deal with the cats first.
We'll handle the Black Rose."
Venus nodded. "Go on, Sailor Moon, that man needs your help!"
Kodachi snorted. "It's you three that need
help, my dear, as you'll soon discover." She twirled a
gymnastic ribbon in their direction, and snapped it out at them suddenly.
The three senshi leaped over
the attack landing farther apart than before.
Venus smiled knowingly. "Rhythmic Gymnastic Martial Arts, huh? I've got this one covered."
Kodachi sniffed disdainfully. "You think incorrectly,
if you believe some knowledge of my art will
help you." She snapped her ribbon at Venus again, forcing the
senshi to dodge away. "If all you can
do is dodge, this battle will soon be mine!"
Sailor Mars frowned angrily. "We can do a lot
more than that." She held out her hands.
"Burning...." Before she could finish her attack, Kodachi's ribbon
wrapped around her legs, pulling
her off her feet and throwing her at Venus. Venus jumped forward
to intercept, taking the hit and
managing to barely stop them both from plummeting off the rooftop.
Hurting, Mars pushed herself off
of her friend and both girls dodged to either side as Kodachi attacked
again.
Meanwhile, trying not to wince at the beating her
friends were taking, Sailor Moon jumped down
into the Tendo's side yard and started focusing on the silver crystal
again. On the roof, Kodachi
noted the Moon senshi's action, and jumped to a spot directly above
her, readying a bomb to drop
directly onto Sailor Moon's head. Just as she was about to throw,
her arm was caught by a golden
chain made of energy.
Sailor Venus slowly pulled Kodachi away from the
roof's edge, then shook one finger at her. "No
no no... you're fighting with me, remember?"
Mars growled, pulling out a ward. "Don't forget
me!" She started to chant, imbuing her ward with
energy. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou
taisan!" Bound by Venus's chain,
Kodachi couldn't avoid the ward Mars slapped onto her forehead, she
stiffened, screamed, and
fainted, collapsing to the ground.
Down below, Sailor Moon had finished her own attack,
sweeping the healing light of her crystal
through the mass of cats surrounding the Tendo pond. They collapsed
almost as a unit, and Sailor
Moon could feel whatever energy that had been controlling them being
swept away. Slowly, one by
one, the cats started to recover, wandering off as they woke.
Sailor Moon looked around for any
signs of trouble and saw none.
The lost boy glanced around distractedly. "Where
in the world did they put the phone... and how
did I get outside?"
With a splash, Dr. Tofu emerged from the water and
looked around. "What happened?" He
spotted Sailor Moon and stared in surprise. "Who...?"
Sailor Moon glanced up at the roof and spotted Venus,
who gave her the thumbs up signal. "Well,
then." She said, trying to act nonchalant. "It seems my
work here is done. Good bye!" Without
further explanation she leapt up onto the roof and ran off.
Ryoga watched the Moon senshi go in amazement. "Sailor Moon? What was she doing here?"
Dr. Tofu stepped out of the pond, dripping.
"I have no idea. Was that really Sailor Moon? I
thought the Sailor Senshi operated out of Juuban?"
Ryoga scratched behind his head. "Isn't that just around the block?"
Dr. Tofu blinked. "Er... not quite."
Soun ventured out of the house, wrapping a bandage around his wounded hand. "Is it over?"
Tofu glanced around at the dispersing cats. "It does appear to be...."
Up on the roof, Sailor Mars knelt over Kodachi.
"Whatever evil I sensed is gone now.... She
appears to be completely human...."
Venus frowned. "But from what Johnathon told
us, this... Kodachi Kuno is supposed to be insane,
right?" She grinned. "I know exactly what to do with her!"
She knelt down and picked the gymnast
up. "You two cover for me, I'll take care of Miss Kuno."
Mars nodded. "We'll go back in the window,
and tell everyone we were just hiding out in the
bathroom the whole time."
Sailor Moon hesitated. "What are you going to do with Kodachi?"
Venus shook her head. "No problem, no problem...
she's supposed to be in the loony bin, right? I
bet they're looking for her right now. I'll just make sure they
find her."
Sailor Moon frowned. "That's the mental hospital, Venus. It isn't nice to call it the loony bin."
Mars sighed. "This loony just tried to kill
us, and you're worried about being politically correct?"
She shrugged and went to jump off the edge of the roof. "That's
our meatball head...."
Sailor Moon followed her friend off the roof. "Don't call me a meatball head!"
Venus jumped off the roof as well, carrying Kodachi. "Now, where is the nearest police box?"
*******************
Minutes later, Rei and Usagi were back in the dojo,
explaining to a worried Ryoga that Minako
had climbed over the back fence to call the police, and that she was
fine.
Ryoga nodded, not fully convinced. "I hope
you're right. You are all my responsibility. I don't
know what I would do if anyone got hurt while I was supposed to be
teaching you...."
Over to one side of the dojo, Ami was expertly applying
some bandages to Dr. Tofu, from the
first aid kit on hand in the dojo for emergencies. "That's very
well done." Tofu nodded as Ami
finished up the bandage on his left hand. "I see you've had some
medical training?"
Ami flushed and shook her head. "Oh no... my
mother is a doctor... and I have done a lot of
reading, but...."
Dr. Tofu smiled. "You've got a knack for medicine.
I can tell. Have you ever considered
becoming a doctor?" Ami nodded, still blushing and tried not
to embarrass herself too badly over her
reaction to the handsome physician.
Nabiki had waited patiently until the doctor had
gotten his wounds taken care of, but now she
wanted some answers. "Dr. Tofu, what in the world is going on
here? Did it have something to do
with Shampoo?"
Tofu frowned. "I don't know, but that is a
possibility. I should get back to the clinic as soon as
possible...."
Ryoga came over. "I'll go with you. You
might need help." He glanced around at his class. "I'm
afraid I have to cut class short today, but please come at the usual
time on thursday."
Ami blinked as she heard the names being mentioned.
< He's Dr. Tofu? He's the one engaged to
Shampoo....> She tried not to look as disappointed as she felt.
< Darn, what a lucky girl.> Ami
turned back to her friends and headed toward Usagi. "I suppose
we should get going, right Usagi?"
Usagi nodded automatically and Ami stepped closer with a whisper.
"I think we should head to Dr.
Tofu's clinic ourselves... as the Senshi."
Minako showed up as everyone was getting ready to leave. "Hi everyone, I'm back!"
Usagi confronted her immediately. "Mina, are
you OK?" She asked loudly. "What did you do
with Kodachi?" She whispered under her breath.
Mina waved her hands, smiling. "I'm fine, I
never did find a phone...." She stepped closer to
Usagi, whispering back to her. "I found a nice policeman, who
promised he'd make sure Kodachi
was taken care of."
Ryoga responded to the first statement with a shake
of his head. "That's OK, I can never seem to
find a phone when I want to, either." He ignored the two girls when
they started to whisper amongst
themselves and turned to the doctor. "It looks like everyone
is accounted for here, lets go check on
Shampoo."
Nabiki chimed in. "I'm coming too." Ryoga
and the doctor looked at her incredulously and she
rolled her eyes. "I'll stay out of the way if there's a fight,
but somebody has to keep an eye on pig boy
here, or the Tendo dojo will be out its only active instructor!"
Ryoga put his hand behind his head sheepishly. "Er... thanks, I suppose."
Nabiki sniffed. "Don't thank me. I'm just protecting my investment."
As the three of them set out for the clinic, Dr.
Tofu suddenly recalled why he had been headed
over to the Tendo Dojo in the first place. < I still need
to talk to Nabiki... but....> He frowned. <
What could have set all those cats off, and why did the Sailor Senshi
show up? From everything I've
heard, the senshi usually deal with monsters, and supernatural threats.
What does that have to do
with me?> He glanced at Ryoga. "Ryoga-kun, what do you
know about the Sailor Senshi?"
Ryoga blinked, glancing over at the doctor.
"The Senshi? Er... they fight monsters, and demons,
and stuff like that.... I don't know all that much about them
really. What did you want to know
about?"
Dr. Tofu looked thoughtful. "I was just wondering
why they'd be there to help us today? What
could have brought them out all this way?"
Nabiki interrupted. "The Senshi were here? They showed up at my house? You're kidding!"
Dr. Tofu shook his head. "No, it did appear
to be them. I didn't see everything that happened, but
I do believe the one that Ryoga called Sailor Moon was the reason that
the cats all stopped
attacking."
Ryoga nodded thoughtfully. "That makes sense,
she can do that sort of thing pretty easy." He
looked curious. "Which attack did she use?"
Dr. Tofu blinked. "Which attack? I didn't really see, I was underwater.... Why do you ask?"
Ryoga shrugged. "Well, it might help if we
knew, I mean, if she had to use one of her more
powerful attacks to stop the cats, we'd know how worried to be about
whatever caused them to go
berserk like that."
Nabiki looked at the lost boy incredulously.
"Don't tell me you're a Sailor Moon groupie or
something, like Umino. Have you seen his web page? It's
got all these "facts" and "figures" about the
Senshi, about the attack phrases they use and everything...."
Ryoga shook his head. "No, no, no... I just
fought some demons with her a while back, that's all...
we had to go into this alternate dimension and blow up this big tree...."
Nabiki and Dr. Tofu stared at
him as if he had just grown another head. "No, really! It
was an evil Ygg... syderal... or something
like that."
Dr. Tofu scratched his head. "The world tree, from Norse Mythology?"
Ryoga nodded quickly. "Yeah, that thing...
it was a seedling... an evil seedling, and it was opening
holes into our dimension, and all these monster-demon things called
Youma were coming out of
them." He shrugged. "Anyway, everybody showed up to help...
Ranma, Akane, Johnathon,
Shampoo, Cologne, Mouse... even Kuno...." He trailed off, looking
a bit pale. "Oops... that was
supposed to be a secret, wasn't it?"
Nabiki's eyes were saucers. "You're not kidding!
You mean all of Ranma's enemies, allies and
fiancees all got together with the Sailor Senshi to stop an invasion
from another dimension?!?"
Ryoga laughed weakly. "Er... did I say that?"
Dr. Tofu nodded slowly. "Now I remember, there
was something on the news about monster
attacks last month. There were sightings of a cat monster that
was supposed to be either
brainwashing or working with the Senshi, and reports of a new red haired
Senshi... with a pigtail, who
people were calling... Sailor Earth?"
Ryoga blinked and started to chuckle. "Really?
Hah! I wish I had seen that! I can picture the
look on Ranma's face when someone called him that...." He broke
into hysterical laughter.
Nabiki slowed down and stopped in the middle of the street. "Last month?"
Dr. Tofu turned to face her, looking concerned, recalling
what else had been happening at the same
time. < That was when Nabiki was hypnotized as well....
I wonder if there is a connection.> "What
is it, Nabiki?"
Nabiki shook her head. "You say there were
news reports about monster attacks... a cat monster,
and a red haired, pig tailed Sailor Senshi?" Dr. Tofu nodded
slowly. Nabiki frowned in
concentration. "You're sure?" Dr. Tofu nodded again.
The middle Tendo sister shook her head.
"That's impossible, I would have heard about it." She shook her
head again. "I always keep track of
the news, how could I have missed something like that?"
Ryoga had stopped as well, looking back at Nabiki
in confusion. "Maybe it wasn't a big story... I
mean, a lot happened that week...."
Dr. Tofu scratched his chin. "Maybe you missed the news for a couple days...."
Nabiki shook her head. "No way, I'd have remembered.
What channel was showing the story,
anyway?"
Dr. Tofu blinked. "It was on channel 4 and
7... prime time, actually. I usually catch the evening
news if I've had a slow day at the clinic...."
Nabiki shook her head again. "Nope, there's
no way I could have missed that." She looked
worried for a moment before her face went cold. "There has to
be some sort of mistake."
Dr. Tofu hesitated. < Memory problems?
That would be consistent with what I know of that
hypnosis incense. But how do I find out for sure?" He glanced
at Ryoga. < I can't discuss Nabiki's
condition with Ryoga here, and we still have to find out if Shampoo's
all right!> He sighed. "Ryoga...
could you... follow a ways behind us? I'd like to talk to Nabiki
alone."
Nabiki frowned. "I don't think so, doctor,
if we let him get out of our sight, he'll be gone before we
get a block. Go ahead and say what you want to say, I don't care
if Ryoga hears." < If it's anything I
don't want repeated, I have more than enough to keep him from talking, anyway.>
Dr. Tofu sighed and started walking again. "If you're sure, Nabiki, but this is quite personal...."
Nabiki hurried to catch up to the doctor and walked
along beside him, dragging Ryoga behind
her. "Just spit it out, doc. Do you know why I don't remember
those news reports?"
Dr. Tofu nodded slowly. "I have a theory.
You see, Nabiki, you came to me with a problem
earlier that week. You were having blackouts... and we determined
that you had been hypnotized."
Nabiki blinked. "Hypnotized? What are you talking about? I don't remember any of this?"
Dr. Tofu nodded. "Which is why I think you
are still under the influence of hypnosis. A day after
coming to me with your concerns, you called me, telling me that you
had been cured of the hypnosis,
the same hypnosis I might add that Ranma had been affected by days
earlier. You told me that
Ranma had given you the cure, and you were fine... but I suspect that
that wasn't the case."
Nabiki stared horrified at the doctor. "I... I don't remember any of this! Are you sure?"
Doctor Tofu nodded. "Absolutely. Happosai
had used what Johnathon called a "magical hypnosis
incense" on Ranma, causing Ranma to be stuck in the Neko-ken.
Ranma was cured, somehow, of
the hypnosis, although I was not privy to the details. When you
came to me with what I could only
identify as symptoms of an extremely powerful hypnosis, I suggested
you ask Ranma about how he
was cured... you later called me and said that Ranma had gotten Happosai
to reverse what he had
done to you... and that was the end of it... or so I thought."
Nabiki looked like she wanted to be sick. "I
was hypnotized by... Happosai? I don't even want to
think about what his sick little mind would have thought up for me
to do...." She paled further. "But if
I don't remember any of this, that means...."
Dr. Tofu shook his head. "We can't be certain
what this means. You may be simply repressing a
traumatic memory, or...."
Nabiki finished. "Or I might be still hypnotized, right?"
Dr. Tofu sighed. "I'm afraid that is a possibility."
Nabiki tried to get back some semblance of control.
"You said that Ranma was cured.... Do you
have any idea how?"
Dr. Tofu shook his head. "Not really.
You told me that Happosai had cured you... but given what
we know now, I don't think we can trust that statement."
Ryoga spoke up finally. "What about Sailor
Moon? She's good at that sort of thing. Ranma even
said that he owed her a big favor... maybe it was because she cured
him?" Nabiki and Dr. Tofu both
looked back at the lost boy incredulously, then at each other.
"Could that be why..." Nabiki started.
"... Those cats were after me...?" Dr. Tofu continued.
"And Sailor Moon showed up?" Nabiki concluded.
Ryoga's danger sense flared a warning, just as a
dark form jumped down from the rooftops,
bringing a large circular mace down on the back of Dr. Tofu's head
with a clang.
Dr. Tofu dropped and Shampoo smiled evilly at Nabiki.
"So nyou figured it out.... nieow!!!"
Shampoo pointed one of her bonboris at Nabiki threateningly.
"But it won't help you now!"
Ryoga blinked. "Now why does that accent sound
familiar?" He shook his head, moving in
between Nabiki and Shampoo defensively. "You'll have to go through
me to get at Nabiki,
Shampoo."
Shampoo meowed again, almost like she was laughing,
and brought out a bucket. "Nynot a
problem. I owe you one, anyway." Ryoga blinked. "I
do know you! You're the... *Splash*"
Nabiki took a step back in dismay as her valiant
"defender" shrank into his clothing. "Ryoga you
idiot...." She paled as Shampoo dropped the bucket and pulled
out her second bonbori. "Now wait
a minute, Shampoo, I'm sure we can talk this out...."
A vaguely familiar voice called down from the rooftops.
"Beating up on doctors, turning hunky
guys into pigs, and threatening innocent girls... the sun itself may
forgive you, but I never will!" The
owner of the voice poised herself picturesquely in the setting sun.
"I am Sailor Moon, and in the name
of the moon, I shall punish you!"
Four more girls in short fukus stepped up to either
side of Sailor Moon. "We're the Sailor Senshi,
and you're not going to get away with it!" They announced as
one.
Shampoo gulped and shook her head. "Nyno way!
I'm nnot fighting them!" An instant later she
collapsed bonelessly to the street.
Mercury instantly called up her visor. "There's
something... it just left Shampoo and flew south...
very fast... some sort of possessing entity or something...."
She and the other Senshi jumped down to
the street and she scanned Shampoo carefully. "Whatever it was...
it's gone now, she's back to
normal... I'm detecting her Jusenkyo curse, but there isn't anything
else here, except a faint residue
from whatever possessed her.
Jupiter frowned angrily. "Damn it! I didn't even get to blast it once!"
Mercury frowned. "Jupiter... do you really have to swear?"
Mars spoke up. "Was whatever was possessing
Shampoo the thing that controlled all those cats...
or is there something else causing all of the possessions?"
Sailor Moon spoke up. "Well, Shampoo is a cat...
sometimes. Maybe whatever it is only can
possess cats...?"
Mercury nodded. "Yes, that actually makes a lot of sense."
Sailor Moon looked worried. "We'd better check on Luna and Artemis, quick!"
Nabiki had been watching the Senshi in shock for
the last several seconds and finally decided that
she had heard enough. "Wait just a second! What in the
world is going on here!?!" Ryoga crawled
out of his clothing and bweed for attention as well."
Sailor Moon decided to address Nabiki. "Well...
we detected an evil force in your area, and
decided to investigate...."
Nabiki frowned angrily. "Bullshit!" She
swore violently in English, which caused Mercury to flinch,
Venus to take a mental note for later, and the rest of the Senshi to
look confused. "There is more to
this than just some "evil force" and you're going to tell me what!"
Sailor Moon backed a step away from Nabiki nervously. "Er... what are you talking about?"
Shampoo groaned, slowly pushing herself up.
"What hit Shampoo?" She shook her head. "No...
first person... What hit me?" Shampoo looked around in confusion,
then spotted the doctor lying
unconscious on the pavement near her. "Tofu!!!" She lunged
over to him, quickly checking for
injuries. "Tofu, Tofu, are you alright?" She noted the
slowly growing lump on the back of his head
and felt a cold chill as she guessed at the cause. Shampoo looked
up, recognizing the Senshi around
her. "Sailor Moon! What happen... what happened here?
Did I... Did I hurt Tofu-chan?"
Sailor Moon knelt down at Shampoo's side. "It
wasn't your fault, Shampoo. You were possessed
by a spirit... or something. You weren't yourself."
Shampoo looked horrified. "Shampoo... I was
possessed?" Her face cleared in understanding. "I
remember... the ghost cat!" Ryoga nodded firmly up and down,
grunting agreement.
Mercury glanced down at the tiny pig in interest.
"You recognized it, Ryoga-kun?" Ryoga nodded
again.
Nabiki blinked. "Oh yeah, Ryoga got possessed
by the Ghost Cat about a year ago... it was trying
to get Akane to marry him or something...." Ryoga flushed as
red as a black pig could get and tried
to become invisible. Mercury found him suddenly to be almost
irresistibly cute and picked him up,
nearly bumping heads with Jupiter as she did so.
Jupiter glared at her and hissed under her breath. "Hey, let me hold him!"
Mercury hesitated, then stuck her tongue out at the
taller Senshi. "Nope." She winked to show
that she was kidding.
Jupiter blinked in astonishment, then smiled slightly. "OK, Mercury, you win this round."
Mercury started to gather up Ryoga's clothing. "Now... where can we find some how water...."
Nabiki ignored the antics of the other Senshi and
glared at Sailor Moon. "OK, now talk. What
are you really doing here?"
Mars stepped slightly in front of her leader and
glared at Nabiki. "Don't go talking to Sailor Moon
like that. We just saved your life you know!"
Sailor Moon hesitated. "Well...."
Nabiki shot back. "And how did you know that my life needed saving?"
Moon tried to speak up. "Actually...."
Mars interrupted. "We didn't! We're just
here to deal with whatever is going around possessing
cats, OK?"
Nabiki sniffed. "Oh really? I still think you're not telling me everything."
Sailor Moon cleared her throat. "Mars, Nabiki...
quiet." She said it softly, but in such a way that
they both turned to her and listened. "Nabiki, do you know why
the cats wanted to hurt the doctor?"
Nabiki hesitated. "Well... I was hoping you
would. At first I thought it might be because of
Shampoo... and if that was the Ghost Cat, it's a real possibility,
but something the doctor and I were
discussing makes me think it might be more than that...." She
turned to Shampoo. "Something it
said... about us having figured it out.... But what did we figure
out? I think it has something to do
with Dr. Tofu realizing that I might be still under Happosai's hypnosis...."
Sailor Moon blinked. "Happosai? Did he hypnotize you too?"
Nabiki chewed on her lip. "Me too? So
you knew about Ranma? Were you really the one that
cured him, like Ryoga thought?"
Sailor Moon nodded slowly. "That's right, Ranma
was hypnotized to think he was a cat... and I
cured him...."
Nabiki pointed at herself. "Then cure me too!
>From what we were able to work out, I've
probably been under the influence of hypnosis ever since then.
I've forgotten large parts of that
week... nothing else makes sense."
Mercury walked up to her, still holding Ryoga and
his clothing. "Let me take a look." She passed
him somewhat reluctantly over to Jupiter and brought out her visor
and mini computer again.
"Hmm...." After several moments, Mercury nodded. "Yes,
Nabiki is being effected by the same
energy that Ranma and the others were. No doubt about it."
Everyone looked at Sailor Moon, who nodded.
"Alright, everyone but Nabiki, stand back." She
tried to look reassuring. "Don't worry, Nabiki-san. This
won't hurt a bit." She brought out the silver
crystal again, and pointed it at Nabiki. "Moon... Healing...."
Dr. Tofu groggily woke, and half
consciously listened in as Mercury made her diagnosis.
As Sailor Moon started to speak her command phrase, he came fully awake. "Wait... not yet...!"
His warning came too late. "Escalation!"
Sailor Moon finished, letting her healing powers wash
over Nabiki. Shampoo helped the doctor to his feet as he headed
toward Nabiki, looking
concerned.
Mercury frowned. "What's wrong, doctor?"
She glanced at Nabiki, who was standing there in
shock, an increasingly horrified look coming over her face. "What's
happening to Nabiki?"
Dr. Tofu reached Nabiki, who started to scream wildly.
"NOOOO!!!" Instantly he tapped a spot
on the back of her neck and she crumpled into his arms.
Tofu sighed. "I was afraid of that. The
built up trauma from everything that happened to her hit her
all at once." He shook his head. "It was bad enough when
she could only remember bits and pieces,
but she's getting it all at once now... and who knows what else might
have happened in the time since
I saw her."
Sailor Moon came up, looking pale. "Oh no... what happened to her that was so terrible, doctor?"
Dr. Tofu shook his head. "I can't say, doctor
patient privilege forbids me. All I can say is that it
would be best it when Nabiki wakes up, she is in familiar surroundings,
with someone she trusts."
Sailor Moon started to cry. "I'm sorry... I didn't know this would happen...."
Dr. Tofu shook his head. "It's alright, you
couldn't have known." He smiled tiredly. "If I'm right,
you simply eliminated the hypnosis that was keeping her from remembering
everything that she went
through while under it's effects. Nabiki's a strong girl, she'll
be alright. She's just undergone a shock."
Shampoo looked confused. "I don't understand.
Why would the Ghost Cat try to keep Nabiki
from getting her memories back?"
Dr. Tofu shook his head. "I think only Nabiki
can answer that question. Perhaps while under
hypnosis she witnessed something that it didn't want revealed?"
Shampoo frowned. "The Ghost Cat is always trying
to get me to marry it, or trying to get revenge
on Ranma... what was it up to this time?"
Sailor Mars glanced around at the slowly gathering
crowd. "Er... hadn't we better discuss this
somewhere more private?"
Dr. Tofu nodded. "That would be best.
We can take Nabiki home and put her to bed... it would
be best if she woke up in her own room. We can talk this through
more at the Tendo's house."
Sailor Moon nodded. "Right. We know the
way. We will meet you there Dr. Tofu!" The Senshi
bounded off together (with Jupiter still carrying Ryoga) leaving Dr.
Tofu and Shampoo alone on the
street with an unconscious Nabiki.
Shampoo glanced at the unconscious girl. "Would
you like me to carry Nabiki, doctor? You
shouldn't exert yourself with your head injury."
Dr. Tofu blinked, about to protest, then shrugged.
"Well... I suppose that would be best,
Shampoo. Heaven forbid that I start insisting on my masculine
prerogative while I'm engaged to
marry an Amazon."
Shampoo nodded and took Nabiki gently from the doctor,
then blinked. "Er... Tofu, what is
masculine prerogative?"
They headed for the Tendo Dojo as well, while Dr.
Tofu tried to explain a certain cultural fetish
that was understood almost everywhere in the world, aside, of course,
from a certain Amazon village.
End Chapter 9
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