The Tendo household wasn't used to family dilemmas. The addition
of a newer and younger Akane, and the subsequent name change of the
older Akane to Cerl, took some getting used to. And most importantly,
Nabiki and Kasumi deserved an apology.
"I'm sorry for not telling you all sooner. However, I had no
idea of what had transpired. I had to go purely on what I could hash
out. I believed that it would be better not to stress your family with
undue knowledge that I was not your real sister." Cerl apologized.
There was an uneasy silence as Cerl bowed to her biological
sisters. Compared to their real sister, Cerl was, to be perfectly
honest, a saint.
"It's... a bit unsettling, but the truth of the matter is that
you made things a lot easier for us." Nabiki spoke up.
"Yes, housework isn't as time-consuming as it was before. And
your cooking is improving every day." Kasumi added.
"Thank you. However, it does not excuse the fact that I did not
tell you the truth. As such, I will accept any punishment that you see
fit." Cerl declared.
"You've more than made up for it with your actions. You did not
create a burden for our family and instead, did what you could to ease
the strain that was already upon us. I see no reason for you to be
punished." Kasumi told her.
"Same here." Nabiki agreed.
"If that is your decision, then I shall accept it." Cerl replied.
Both of the elder Tendo sisters shifted uncomfortably. In truth,
the formality of Cerl's apology was infinitely more disturbing than the
fact that she used to be a man. After all, they'd already gotten used
to Ranma. And besides, what Akane _had_ done was more infuriating than
the implication that Cerl _could_ have done numerous unforgiveable
things.
Akane sat to the side, snorting derisively at the formal apology.
She couldn't defeat Cerl in combat, but that didn't mean Cerl was any
better than her. After all, Cerl was just taking advantage of the
kindness of her family and the amazons, not to mention all of the
skills and advantages of her original body.
Akane was not going to forgive Cerl at all for what she had done.
"Also, as Akane will need to catch up in school, I believe it
would be best if she stayed at home, at least until father can create a
background for me." Cerl explained.
"That's been taken care of, thanks to Bast. But what about the
way you two look? I mean, everyone will notice that you two are almost
identical." Nabiki noted.
"When it's time for Akane to return to school, I'm going to dye
my hair blonde and curl it." Cerl explained.
"Blonde?" Nabiki asked.
"Well, as father explained, it'll be easiest to list me as a
half-american to make up for any slips I might make, so blonde would
make me seem foreign. Which I am." Cerl reasoned.
"And just WHERE will you be getting the money for your hair dye?
Or do you intend for us to shoulder the expense?" Akane demanded.
Hair dye didn't exactly cost much, but Akane wanted to take every
oppurtunity to make Cerl look bad. Which, if she had thought further,
made herself look petty by comparison.
"I've made money betting on 'our' morning battle. It's not much,
but enough to send away for the hair dye." Cerl responded, "Unlike
SOMEONE, I believe in taking responsibility for the things that I do."
Akane growled, ready to lunge at Cerl, but twin disapproving
glares from Kasumi and Nabiki stopped her. Akane fumed, glaring
daggers at Cerl. It was all she could do.
"Why send away for the hair dye?" Nabiki inquired.
"While it would be easier to go to a salon and get my hair dyed
by professionals, the fewer people who have the chance to see Akane
Tendo go into a salon and come out a blonde or see Akane buying hair
dye, the better. Send away at least forces anyone whoever might want
to know into a large amount of red tape. Besides, it should be here by
Saturday." Cerl reasoned.
Nabiki arched an eyebrow. On the one hand, it seemed like Cerl
was a bit paranoid, but she did have a large number of valid reasons.
Heaven was doing a coverup, but there was still the possibility of that
someone might notice.
"I refuse to stay at home." Akane protested.
"You're way behind in school." Cerl told her.
"We can get a note from Doctor Tofu saying that I've got light
amnesia, removing the last few months from my memory. Then, I'll just
catch up." Akane declared.
"It wouldn't be right to ask Doctor Tofu for such a thing."
Kasumi admonished Akane.
Cerl sighed, "But it _is_ something we should do. A sudden
change in personality, especially from mine to hers, would be viewed as
being caused by trouble in the family. If she has 'amnesia' and
'reverted to the way she had been a few months ago', it would be more
easily shrugged off. Besides, it would directly affect her grades on
the upcoming test next friday if she were to go back cold. This way,
she has some leniency."
The eldest two Tendo sisters reluctantly agreed.
The Sailor Senshi were quite real, despite the many critics who
called them urban myths and the monster attacks that occured as 'mass
hallucinations'. The Sailor Senshi did their best to downplay their
public appearances while doing their best to fight evil. After all,
the more public they became, the more people wanted to see them. The
more people wanted to see them, the more the media tried to hunt down
their true identities. And that would lead to much worse things.
Besides, the h-doujinshi artists were already bad enough as it
was. Chibi Moon had made only a few public appearances and already,
she had roughly fifteen very disturbing h-doujinshi about her. And
Makoto was sick and tired of all the manga depicting her with a penis,
going around impregnating every other senshi, all because she had the
name Sailor Jupiter.
It was apparently a popular idea that she was the one responsible
for Chibi Moon's appearance just after Sailor Moon had disappeared for
over a year. Even worse was the reaction of every girl Jupiter had
rescued since the aforementioned h-doujinshis popped up: All of them
kept patting her crotch or trying to look under her skirt.
The troubles hardly ended there. Ami was also irritated. Just
because Sailor Mercury had a visor and a computer, it was believed that
she was always using the X-ray function on her visor and that she was
secretly addicted to various disgusting websites because as the saying
went, "It's always the quiet ones that shock you the most.". It would
certainly shock those people who said that phrase that she was exactly
who she was publicly. Shy did not equate to 'skeletons in the cloest'
for Ami Mizuno.
Minako and Rei were secretly S&M and/or bondage fanatics,
according to those same manga. Usagi and Setsuna were plagued with
being the dildo fetishists, since they had long instruments. Luckily,
Hotaru was fairly new to the scene, thus she didn't have anything to
complain about _yet_.
The only thing the h-doujinshi ever got right was the
relationship between Sailor Meteor and Sailor Neptune.
When the Senshi met, one of the first topics discussed was the
recent slew of H-doujinshi. Mamoru often put in earplugs and read a
book rather than talk about how Tuxedo Kamen was portrayed. Haruka and
Michiru had taken to copying him for the most part.
However, this meeting had a much more urgent note, so Haruka
decided to interupt, "Everyone, please. Let's discuss what we called
this meeting for?"
The group quieted down and Mamoru took out his earplugs.
"We've got a new enemy. While I wouldn't call her an enemy at
first glace, seeing as she did something I'd been tempted to do for the
last few years, she is nonetheless evil." Haruka announced.
"Really?" Usagi asked, brightening almost immediately. A new
enemy meant actually having an excuse to exercise, which meant she
could get off that stupid diet Luna had forced on her. After all,
she'd be countering her eating habits with calorie-burning battles.
Haruka related what Cologne had told them.
"This sounds like it's going to be a lot of trouble." Makoto
noted.
Ami agreed, "A full-fledged sorceress that can do that when she's
not even present will be very dangerous."
Usagi had heard the story, but once Haruka had stopped talking,
her mind had begun choosing what tasty foods she'd eat first. Luna had
been quite annoying about her demands that Usagi keep in shape.
Setsuna, meanwhile, had pulled out a book that another, more
experienced, Sailor Pluto (who looked like Makoto) had given her a few
days ago, the cover of which read "The Complete Idiot's Guide To Being
Sailor Pluto, Written By Makoto Meiou, Edited by Usagi Meiou, Published
by Hotaru Meiou".
Shampoo listened to her grandmother's tale calmly. It seemed
unbelieveable, but her grandmother did not lie often and when she did,
she didn't take on such a serious tone.
"So, Cerl is boy now trapped in Akane's body. And Akane is now
girl again, but she used to be in Cerl's old body." Shampoo repeated,
doing her best to figure out the tale, "This is very confusing,
grandmother."
"It is, but Cerl has told me that it will be easy to tell them
apart soon." Cologne told her.
Shampoo nodded, then a troubled look crossed her face,
"Grandmother, what will we do if Ihadurca does come back for us?"
"I don't know, granddaughter. I honestly don't know." Cologne
responded.
Akane had come to school Monday morning just as planned, after
Nabiki had gotten the requested note from Doctor Tofu. Akane didn't
like the fact that Cerl would be attending the same school, let alone
the same grade. But she especially hated that she had to have a
doctor's note stating that she had light amnesia, but it was the only
way that she would be allowed time to catch up in school. After all,
she was over a month behind.
Akane glanced over at Cerl and grimaced in subconscious envy.
Cerl looked just as good as a blonde. Akane wouldn't admit it, but she
had always wondered if she would look good with a different hair color.
But for some reason, Cerl looked beautiful, even in the stock school
uniform. Why Cerl had decided to wear the winter skirt was beyond her.
And then there was Ranma. She'd found out about his curse and
instantly made a sour face, which irritated everyone further. Her
family had apparently been poisoned by Cerl's presense. But she knew
the truth about Cerl and what a pervert she really was.
Ranma was glancing between Cerl and Akane. It was getting harder
and harder to believe that Cerl and Akane had the same body. Cerl just
seemed so much more mature and more beautiful, even though the blonde
hair and name change were difficult to get used to.
Then again, it probably had to do with the fact that Akane seemed
like an irritating little brat when compared to Cerl. The more he knew
real Akane, the more he liked Cerl. Cerl had been understanding of his
curse, while Akane was not. Cerl had been friendly and open-minded,
while Akane was annoying and as close-minded as one could get without
going into a coma.
Cerl was still puzzling over what had happened between her and
Ranma-chan. Was she really ready for a relationship? And was it right
to force Ranma to be a girl just to ease her former male ego?
The only thing that had been distracting her from her ponderings
was Akane, the annoying brat. It was becoming more and more obvious by
the moment that Akane was projecting all of her own faults onto Cerl.
Akane had probably already shifted the blame of the body-swapping to
Cerl and was seeing Cerl as an intruder and a pest, poisoning the minds
of HER family.
"And who's she?" Akane demanded, pointing at someone next to the
front gate.
Both Ranma and Cerl snapped out of their thoughts and looked at
the blonde girl. She had long blonde hair and dreamy blue eyes. She
wore a white shirt and pink skirt.
"Haven't a clue. She must be new." Cerl commented.
"You mean you don't know?" Akane asked snidely.
"Unlike you, Akane, I'm willing to admit when I don't know
something. Blind ignorance will get you nothing these days." Cerl shot
back.
Akane growled as Cerl and Ranma continued to school.
Shampoo was relaxing on the roof of the apartment building that
she and her grandmother were currently living in. Unlike in her home
village, it was actually possible to get a tan in Japan, so Shampoo was
taking the oppurtunity to see what it was like.
There were very few opportunities to get one for a warrior,
unless someone from the merchant caste asked said warrior to come with
them on a trip to a costal city. The farming or fishing castes also
got tans, but they were usually limited to areas like the arms, necks
and/or legs.
Luckily, there were even fewer oppurtunities for a healer to get
a tan, so there was at least that peace of mind for the average
warrior.
Then, it happened.
“SHAMPOO MY LOVE!”
Her tanning session was ruined. Shampoo rolled out of her
tanning chair and took off her shades in one fluid motion. A blue-
robed figure collided with the chair and rolled off, the figure’s long
loose black hair swirling wildly as the person hastily returned to
their feet.
“That wasn’t very nice, my love.” the figure complained.
“Gel, why in nine HELLS you here?” Shampoo demanded.
The dark-haired girl grinned lecherously, her grey eyes gaining
an almost sinister gleam, “To see you, my darling.”
“Sorry, Shampoo. I tried to keep her in the village, but she
overheard some elders talking about you and Cologne being in Japan, and
took off.” came another voice.
Shampoo glanced quickly at the almost identical twin of the girl
she was glaring at, “It okay, Mousse. You try. It no your fault your
sister is crazy.”
“Crazy in love.” Gel declared.
Mousse adjusted his glasses as he addressed his twin sister,
“Gel, why can’t you just leave her alone?”
“Because she think with loins, not head. If she think other way
around, she realize Shampoo no like her.” Shampoo commented.
“That’s true.” Mousse agreed.
“HEY!” Gel growled, glaring at her brother, “I can forgive my
darling for saying such things, but you, dear brother, are not
forgiven!”
Gel leapt into the air. Mousse grimaced as he readied to block
the inevitable slew of abnormal missiles.
“TAKE THIS!” Gel cried, flinging a number of objects, mostly
silver, black and pink.
Mousse raised an enormous chinese wok and hid behind it as Gel’s
projectiles bounced off it’s titanium shape, leaving no sign that
they'd even struck.
“I see she no change at all.” Shampoo noted as one silver object
landed in her hand. The object was vibrating. Shampoo twisted the
bottom and the vibration stopped.
“Can’t you ever get real weapons?” Mousse asked, blushing at the
large number of dildos and vibrators that were scattered around his
feet. At least it wasn't her nipple clamp or love doll collections
again.
"No, because I never know when my beloved Shampoo will realize
her love for me." Gel answered.
Mousse groaned. Shampoo smiled, but it was a very tense smile,
like the ones babysitters put on when seeing a neighbor's brat who'd
joyfully broken an entire cabinet of irreplaceable fine china and was
seeking praise for the work done.
Gel found herself overlooking Tokyo by way of low earth orbit
(LEO).
The students of Class 1-E were quite surprised to see not one,
not two, but three new female students. Two blondes and a brunette.
"Class, we have three new students. I'll let them introduce
themselves." Mr. Kawashima announced.
Cerl stepped forward, "My name is Cerl Tendo. I'm seventeen and
I was born and raised in America. I'm also Akane Tendo's cousin."
The brunette stepped forward. She had long hair with a cute
white ribbon on top. Her brown eyes seemed to lock onto Ranma, "Hello,
my name is Ukyou Kuonji. I'm also seventeen years old. I was born in
Hokkaido, but we moved to Nerima just last week."
The other blonde girl stepped forward, "Uh, hi. I'm Sabrina
Spellman. I'm from America and I came here on the foreign exchange
program. I'm sixteen."
"Very well, why don't you three choose your seats." Mr Kawashima
told them, "And Miss Spellman, you should go to our school store to get
a uniform before the week is over."
"Gotcha." Sabrina replied.
Mr. Kawashima noted where the three students sat down. Ukyou sat
down to the left of Ranma Saotome, Cerl and Sabrina sat down in the
back row, nearest to the windows.
"And Akane handed me this note from her doctor at the start of
class. It seems that she recently suffered light amnesia and cannot
recall the events of the past few months. Everyone, please do your
best to help her in her studies and not to pressure her to remember
anything recent. But Miss Tendo also doesn't want pity and she isn't
physically incapacitated." Mr. Kawashima announced.
The class looked at Akane with worry. They were sincerely hoping
that she didn't revert to the way she had been before her change. They
were beginning to like the calm and quiet.
Sabrina found herself a bit lost on some of the subjects.
Calculus was a bit harder than Geometry back home. And she had no clue
as to what most of the Ancient Japanese course was about, as her
translation spell allowed her to understand both current and ancient
japanese perfectly. Luckily, she wasn't the only American able to
breeze through English.
When lunch break came, Sabrina turned to her fellow american,
hoping to start up a friendship with someone who was from outside the
country, "Hi, I'm Sabrina."
"Cerl." Cerl answered.
"Um, so what brings you to Japan?" Sabrina inquired.
"An airplane." Cerl responded, smiling.
Sabrina blinked in surprise, then laughed, "I guess I'm a bit
nervous."
"Don't worry about it. I was nervous at first too. Some of the
things will become intuitive once you get the hang of it." Cerl
explained, "Come on, I'll show you around school."
"But, aren't you new?" Sabrina asked.
"Oh, my cousin showed me around school after hours a few months
ago." Cerl responded.
"Really?" Sabrina inquired, glancing at Akane, who was looking at
Sabrina with enough venom to kill a thousand snakes.
"I've got another cousin, Nabiki. She's a junior." Cerl
explained.
Sabrina nodded, "That's good, because I don't think your other
cousin likes you."
"Oh, she's just mad because I broke up her morning exercise
routine." Cerl responded as they began to leave the room.
"Morning routine?" Sabrina asked as they left the room.
"You saw that fight that broke out in front of school today?"
Cerl inquired.
"Yeah, a bunch of guys got beaten up by your cousin." Sabrina
replied.
"Well, my cousin used to be the most popular girl in school, so
much so that all the guys wanted to date her. An upperclassman tried
to help out by announcing that the only guys who could ask her out had
to be able to defeat her in a fight. It backfired and a much larger
group of guys attacked her every morning. But I helped break it all
up. The group you saw today is about a tenth of what it used to be."
Cerl explained.
"So, how many dates did she wind up going on?" Sabrina inquired.
"Zero." Cerl answered.
Sabrina stared at Cerl, waiting for the other girl to break out
in a smile and say, "Just kidding."
When the smile didn't come and instead Cerl began showing her the
science labs, Sabrina realized that Cerl wasn't joking.
Meanwhile, back in the classroom, Yuka and Sayuri approached
Akane hesitantly, "Hey, Akane. Why were you glaring at your cousin?"
"I was making sure she wasn't going to do anything weird. She
got kicked out of six other schools, you know, and she's a complete
pervert." Akane huffed.
Yuka and Sayuri exchanged looks. It was very uncomfortable for
them to see Akane seriously bad-mouthing a family member, especially
after she'd been so nice the last few months.
"Um, why don't we got eat under the big tree behind the school?"
Yuka suggested.
"Good idea." Akane agreed.
Also in the same classroom, a small reunion was taking place no
more two or feet from Akane.
"Ranchan?" Ukyou inquired.
"Hey, Ucchan. You should've told me you were coming. I had a
phone number and address on that envelope, you know." Ranma told his
friend, doing his level best not to glare daggers at Akane for glaring
daggers at Cerl.
"I know, but I wanted to surprise you." Ukyou responded.
"Come on, let's go to the roof. We gotta lot of stuff to catch
up on." Ranma suggested.
Ukyou nodded, grabbed her lunch and followed Ranma to the roof.
Saturday came slowly. For everyone who was glad that Akane had
calmed down, it was like a bad dream to see Akane revert to her violent
ways. As Ms. Koshima, the Home Ec instructor, was forced to throw away
the pot which Akane had used to try and make soup, it became very
apparent that the old Akane was back with full force.
The girls of Class 1-E were gathered in an unused linguistics
room while Akane, Cerl and Sabrina cleaned up the mess in the Home Ec
room.
Yuka sighed, "I really wish Akane hadn't gotten amnesia."
Sayuri nodded, "I know. I'd swear that she's actually gotten
worse than she was before."
Another girl with brown hair tied back into a ponytail, Moemi,
agreed, "Yeah, and can you believe the awful things she's been saying
about her cousin? Even if it were true, I'd never want people to know
about what bad things a cousin of mine had done."
A black haired girl, Shiori, spoke up, "Actually, Cerl's pretty
nice. Almost as nice as Akane was last Saturday."
Sayuri bolted upright, "Hey, wait a minute!"
"What?" Yuka inquired.
"I just thought of something." Sayuri declared, "Cerl is as nice
as Akane has been in the last few months, right?"
The girls nodded.
"And Akane is as bad as she was just before she became real nice,
right?"
Again, the girls nodded.
"What if Akane didn't have light amnesia, but full amnesia and
they had Cerl pose as her?" Sayuri proposed.
"Huh?" Yuka asked.
"That's impossible." Moemi responded.
"Just listen to me." Sayuri requested, "They're about the same
size, right? Even their hair is close to the same length. We probably
wouldn't have even noticed."
"Yeah, she told me that she was borrowing one of Akane's
outfits." Shiori spoke up, "And actually, I remember that she walked to
Akane's locker the first day of gym and opened the combination lock
like she'd done it all her life."
"Why would Akane tell the cousin she hates her locker number or
even the combination numbers?" Moemi pondered aloud, provoking even
more realizations.
"Their eye colors are the same." Ukyou commented.
"And Cerl knew the school's layout without being shown around.
Even if she was shown around once, all new students get lost once or
twice. But she was showing Spellman around like she'd been here for a
while." Shiori noted.
"I remember Cerl talking about breaking up the morning horde."
Yuka commented.
"And it would explain why neither Nabiki nor Akane mentioned Cerl
before she arrived at school. They probably didn't know when Akane's
memory might come back." yet another girl joined in.
"Ranma is as close to Cerl as he used to be to Akane." Shiori
continued.
"Okay, I can understand why the Tendo family would want to keep
Akane's amnesia quiet and I believe it's possible. But if Cerl was
standing in for Akane, why would Akane bad-mouth her so much? I mean,
Cerl did her a huge favor by standing in for her." Moemi asked.
The girls fell silent, before a dark-haired girl, Maho, spoke up,
"Maybe Akane liked being the center of attention." The attention of the
class turned to Maho, "She says she hates boys, but she never really
went out of her way to make the same kind of public announcement that
Tatewaki did."
Everyone shifted uncomfortably as Maho continued, "Think about
it. Akane's been the star of our school for so long. The boys weren't
even going all out and she thought she was the best fighter this school
had to offer. But, she also had their complete attention. Very few
girls could get a date in this school when she was always taking on the
horde, and those that did were usually seen with her."
Yuka winced. She'd taken advantage of Akane's popularity to get
a few dates. She decided to speak up to keep herself from getting
targeted with the growing sense of animosity, "But even those dates
were boring, because the guys only wanted to talk about Akane."
An angry murmur spread throughout the class.
"Then, Cerl came in, posing as Akane. She doesn't know that
Akane has deliberately captivated the attention of the whole school.
She's got a bad record and she doesn't want that attention or scrutiny,
so she breaks up Akane's little attention monopoly. Akane regains her
memory, but when Cerl proudly tells her about what she's done for her
cousin, Akane goes ballistic." Maho reasoned, "However, for some
reason, whether it's family honor or pure skill, she can't just beat up
Cerl. So, what's the best way to hurt Cerl's feelings and drive her
away?"
The girls were silent.
"Get the entire school to hate Cerl as much as Akane does. If we
all hated Cerl and made her life a living hell, she'd ask to be
transfered to another school." Maho finished.
Ukyou stood up, "I hate people who do that sort of thing!"
Ready agreements followed.
"But hold on." Maho interupted, "Until we confirm all this, it's
still speculation. As right as we may be, we still have to get the
final truth from someone who knows."
"Doctor Tofu or Ranma might know." Yuka suggested.
"But they probably don't want to get involved. Remember, it was
probably for the sake of family honor. Same with Kasumi and Soun."
Sayuri responded.
"Nabiki won't sell that sort of information, especially since it
might damage her reputation." Yuka agreed.
"And we've seen, from the way she doesn't fight back or even
argue with Akane, that Cerl's too kind-hearted or in too bad of a
position to think of taking on her cousin, even indirectly." Moemi
spoke up.
"Then we have to get it from the horse's mouth, so to speak."
Maho declared.
"This is all your fault." Akane stated firmly as she continued
scrubbing the floor.
"And just how in the world do you get THAT conclusion? I wasn't
even on the same side of the room as you." Cerl responded, "In fact,
I'm cleaning this up out of the combined goodness of my heart and my
sense of loyalty to the teacher, not for you." Cerl responded.
Sabrina continued scrubbing, silently agreeing with Cerl. Akane
had been shooting insults, spreading rumors and blaming accidents on
Cerl all week with no provocation. If she weren't related to a good
friend, Sabrina would have opened her Big Book Of Nasty Curses and used
half of the index on Akane by now.
"You were distracting me from cooking." Akane growled.
"Most sane people can tell the difference between a salt shaker
and a bottle of Mekimeki Whiz-Bang liquid dishwashing fluid without
looking." Cerl replied.
"That's it! You can clean this up yourself, you perverted
freak!" Akane declared, throwing her scrub brush into her bucket,
grabbing her pre-made bento and storming out of the room.
"Why do you put up with that?" Sabrina inquired.
"Because to her, I am an intruder to her perfect little world. I
show her that she is not the end-all and be-all of everything and she
just can't accept that. I've done what I can to prove to her that she
is not, and now, it's up to time to get it through her thick skull that
she needs to change her ways." Cerl explained.
"Still, you don't need to take that sort of verbal abuse."
Sabrina suggested.
"I have to be able to take it. It would cause even further
strain on the family I'm living with to 'take out the trash', so to
speak." Cerl explained.
"You know, maybe a little curse would teach her a lesson. I've
got an aunt who knows some voodoo and she says it's worked for her."
Sabrina offered.
"It's nice of you to offer, but I believe that time will answer
this problem. It may take a lot of answering, but it has to be done or
else, she'll never truly change for the better." Cerl declared.
Akane entered the linguistics classroom and sat down, closing her
eyes as she folded her arms across her chest.
"I can't believe my cousin. She's such a pest." Akane declared.
"Because she posed as you for the last few months?" came a
somewhat angry inquiry.
"That too, but-" Akane stopped and opened her eyes as she
realized her slip.
Then, she looked around. The girls of the classroom were all
glaring at her. It wasn't like the look of annoyance that her family
or Ranma had directed at her for bad-mouthing Cerl. It was a look of
anger and distrust.
"So, it's true." Sayuri declared.
Akane tried to think of a cover up, but the looks on the faces of
the girls told her that anything she said would be scrutinized heavily,
if not completely disbelieved.
"Your cousin did you a huge favor by making sure that you did not
fall behind in school, that no one forgot about you, that no one knew
about your amnesia." Shiori declared, then Moemi joined in, "She
trained to take on St. Hebereke's undefeated captain in rhythmic
gymnastics, improved your grades and even got rid of the morning horde
for you."
Akane's face turned pale as one of her worst fears came true.
The last line of defense she had against Cerl, her friends and
classmates, had turned to her "cousin"'s side.
"But you didn't like that last part, did you?" Maho asked
rhetorically, "You couldn't stand to lose the attention of all those
guys."
Yuka spoke up, "But it's always been you that's the problem,
Akane. Very few girls could get dates with all the guys hounding after
you, and even those fortunate to land a date were still miserable
because the guys only wanted to know about you or discuss how great you
were."
"But Cerl's better than you, isn't she? She's a better martial
artist, much nicer, more patient, friendlier, better at school. She
just has a bad record. You knew you couldn't beat her, so you've been
bad-mouthing her and trying to set us against her so that you could
drive her out." Maho reasoned.
Akane looked around, hoping for someone to help her, but no one
was on her side. Even her former best friends were looking like she
was their greatest enemy. She couldn't even try to correct their
error, that she didn't like any of the guys who chased her, least of
all, their attention.
Maho spoke, but for Akane, it sounded like a judge might when
sentencing someone to death, "Well, we aren't going to fall for it.
We're all too mature to do something like the silent treatment, so we
won't ignore you. But we aren't going to be listening to you anymore."
With that, they left Akane sitting in the room all alone.
Emotions raced through Akane's mind. She was now hated by her
classmates, removed from the status of heir by her father, disapproved
of by her family, disliked by a fiancee and his father, and in her
place was a hoax. A false her.
Akane locked onto the only emotion she knew best of all.
Sabrina and Cerl stepped out of the Home Ec classroom with Ms.
Koshima.
"I'm very disappointed in Akane. Even if she doesn't like you,
that's no reason for her to leave her duty. I'd assigned HER to do the
clean up." Ms. Koshima sighed, before turning to her two foreign
exchange students, "But thank you two so much for cleaning up. I'm
very proud of the fact that both of you continued working even though
it was not your responsibility."
"It was nothing." Sabrina responded, beaming with pride.
"A Tendo made the mess, so a Tendo should clean it up." Cerl
declared.
"Mah, you're so mature. I wouldn't be surprised if you got
proposals all the time." Ms. Koshima teased Cerl.
"RAAAAAGGGGH!" came a roar from down the hallway, interupting
Cerl's response and keeping Ms. Koshima and Sabrina from seeing the
nauesated look on Cerl's face at the thought of the type of
'proposals' she would get.
The trio turned to see Akane storming down the hall. She was
locked onto Cerl's form like a heat-seeking missile. However, Akane
was dressed in a formal Tendo School dougi rather than her Furinakan
school uniform, or even her wornout practice dougi.
"Miss Tendo! I've had just about enough-" Ms. Koshima began,
stepping in front of Akane's path.
"Ms. Koshima, I think you and Sabrina had best stay out of her
way. She looks quite angry and there's no need to bring dishonor to
our family by causing you two undue injury." Cerl suggested, gently
pushing Ms. Koshima behind her.
"Um, right." Ms. Koshima agreed, recalling that Akane was a
martial artist while she herself knew only the very basics of self-
defense. It would be like stopping water from a high-pressure firehose
with a cheap kleenex that was already soggy and torn.
Cerl watched Akane march up to her with complete apathy. As
Akane brought her nose within inches of Cerl's, she locked eyes with
the older girl.
"Something bothering you, Akane?" Cerl inquired.
"Duel. Soccer field. Ten minutes. We settle this ONCE AND FOR
ALL." Akane declared, before turning and marching away.
"At least there's no pressure." Cerl commented.
"This is bad, Cerl! She doesn't look like she was to fight, she
looked ready to kill!" Sabrina commented.
"Then I'll have to mock her thoroughly. To my gym locker!
AWAY!" Cerl declared, hurrying off.
"Is this normal?" Sabrina asked Ms. Koshima.
"The challenge? Yes. The reaction? Not a chance in the nine
hells." Ms. Koshima responded.
Both women stared down the now-vacant hallway. And worried.
Among famous criminal organizations, none were more famous,
criminal or organized than Shadowloo, the oft-taunted but-rarely-
successfully-invaded micro-empire that had claimed part of Thailand for
it's own purposes.
And leading that organization was a man said to be over sixty
years old, Montgomery Bison. However, since Bison hated the name
Montgomery (which incorrectly hinted that he had something to do with
the store chain) and the shortened version Monty (which implied that he
was a male stripper or prostitute of some kind), the criminal lord had
shortened the name to M (though, now, he was mistakenly thought to be
the father of Eminem, which was a perplexing quandry for both the crime
lord and the rapper).
Besides being a full-time criminal overlord who had managed to
create his own country, M. Bison was also a politician, which was
consequently added to the list of charges against him and raised the
lowest sentence possible for him from Life with 20(^20) years to Death.
As such, he was forced to deal with varying negotiators and other crime
lords, who sought deals and/or treaties.
Ordinarily, those that truly annoyed him were captured,
brainwashed, then sent back to spy on their own groups for Shadowloo or
simply killed. Sometimes, when they were arrogant, M. Bison would
shoot them out of a circus cannon to land painfully at the edge of
Shadowloo's territory.
However, there were always the exceptions. When they were calm
and collected, yet radiated strong will, M. Bison would hear them out
on a lark. When such people appeared before him, M. Bison was rarely
disappointed in them and often times agreed to whatever deal they
presented.
M. Bison, though, was also a man, so most women whom he found
moderately attractive got to skip most of the bullshit and were lucky
enough for M. Bison to listen to whatever they had to say, even if they
sometimes had to sit on his lap to speak to him.
This particular visitor was very intriguing, but very powerful.
Thus, she was not sitting on M. Bison's lap. And he HAD tried to
insist. He was assured that his men would revert from their current
state to their original form once the visitor left, give or take an
hour.
M. Bison did not like the concept of magic. Especially the kind
that could be used so easily and effectively with no possible way to
counter. Part of the reason was that there was no way to counter, but
mostly, it had to do with the fact that he'd worked long and hard to
get all of the powers that he possessed from ancient tapestries and
such and a power that could render him into a pig (like Sagat and
Birdie had suffered) or a toad (like Vega and three of his elite
guard).
However, his visitor was offering him the same power that had
disabled most of his trusted staff. That, M. Bison decided, was well
worth dealing with someone who had so rudely transformed his minions.
He just didn't like the current negotiation stance his visitor had
chosen, which was "I hold all the cards, so kiss up and I might spare
you a savage beating or worse."
That was, M. Bison felt, usually HIS position by default.
He didn't like being on the receiving end of such an attitude.
"Very well, I shall spare as many as I can and we will supply
your mistress, Ihadurca, with fresh units as often as we can." M. Bison
agreed.
"You are fairly wise, Bison, even though you are named after a
brainless herd animal and you are of the unfortunate XY chromosome
pairing." his visitor responded softly in a voice that M. Bison could
not place a gender to if his life depended on it.
M. Bison reigned in his anger. Even killing the messenger was
not an option in this case. His visitor stood, their all-concealing
cloak encompassing their body entirely.
"Next time, I look forward to meeting you in person." the visitor
told him, before vanishing a blur of upward moving speed lines.
M. Bison relaxed, feeling his full age of sixty-seven and then
another quarter century. He unclenched his teeth and stood. As he
swept out of the room, he had to wonder: Just how the hell had Ihadurca
found out about his Doll Program and why was she more interested in it
than he was?
The entire school had turned out for the fight. The faculty knew
that if Akane Tendo wanted a fight, she would get it. Tatewaki had
even turned out for the fight, a rare instance as he usually preferred
to head directly home after the kendo team finished practice, even
prior to the body-swap.
The unsettling part was that Nabiki wasn't allowing any betting,
which was nearly the exact opposite of how she had been before Cerl had
posed as Akane. That particular story had already spread around the
school and was being neither confirmed nor denied by any of the Tendos
or Ranma.
Cologne and Shampoo sat next to Sabrina and Ukyou. Ranma,
Tatewaki and Nabiki stood nearby. Tatewaki stood simply because he
preferred standing, but both Ranma and Nabiki were too nervous to sit.
"Who do you think will win?" Nabiki asked.
"I honestly don't know. Akane isn't anywhere near Cerl's level
normally, but... I've seen her this mad before, but it was never this
controlled... I mean your actual sister, not Cerl." Ranma responded.
Akane stood in the middle of the soccer field, doing her level
best to control herself as she waited.
Then, Cerl arrived on the field.
"What's with that outfit?" Akane demanded.
"Hey, you took our family school's dougi. So, I decided to wear
our school's version of a dougi." Cerl responded, before posing cutely
in the school's female gym uniform of white shirt and red short-shorts.
"You disgusting-" Akane began, fuming at insult.
Cerl interupted, pointing a finger at Akane, "Grow up, Akane! We
both let the cat out of the bag, so to speak. I'm mature enough to
accept it and move on, but you aren't. That's why you've been having
trouble. Everything would have been different if you'd accepted that
things change and grown even a little bit from the unique experience
you were given. But you didn't."
Akane roared, "SHUT UP!"
She charged Cerl, leaping high into the air. Just after Akane
had altered her trajectory, Cerl tensed and hopped back three steps.
Akane slammed into the ground where Cerl had been standing, cratering
it.
"Done?" Cerl inquired.
"I haven't even started." Akane declared.
"Well, you'd better or else Kasumi will be cleaning up after
dinner before this fight starts." Cerl taunted, looking at her wrist as
if looking at watch.
Akane growled, launching at Cerl faster than Cerl had expected.
Akane was still a few inches from connecting, but Cerl frowned.
"Just how did you do that? You're nowhere near as good as I
am." Cerl commented.
"Let's just say that this fight will be completely different from
the fight we had before." Akane declared, lunging at Cerl.
Cerl narrowly leapt over Akane, this time by an even smaller
margin than before.
"You're right. Something IS different." Cerl commented, sniffing
the air, "You smell like the attic. How long has it been since you
wore that dougi? Did you remember moth balls to make sure no moths got
to it? It'd be pretty embarrassing if it tore in half while you were-"
"SHUT UP AND FIGHT ME FOR REAL!" Akane growled.
Cerl skipped away more readily as Akane punched at her, putting a
lot of distance between her and the youngest Tendo.
"Akane is cheating somehow." Cologne declared.
"How can you tell?" Ukyou asked.
"Notice how her stance is slowly changing everytime she throws a
punch. Her school's style is very open and loose, yet from even as
little as I've seen her fight before, it is apparent that she does not
acknowledge that normally. She has a set pattern of attack that she
rarely sways from. Yet she continues to change her attack pattern in
this battle. It is very unlike her." Cologne commented.
Cerl blocked one of Akane's attacks for the first time and
blinked at how much force was behind the strike. She'd been training
much harder than Akane and thus, her strength should have been that
much greater, as Akane's body was almost an entire year younger, weaker
and slower. However, the strike she'd just blocked was close to the
level of strength that Ryouga Hibiki had, but at the speed Ranma
possessed.
"And she keeps speeding up too." Ranma declared, "Cerl was
dodging the attacks cleanly, but that margin is completely gone."
Cerl swatted away strike after strike, "Okay, what's going on,
Akane? There's no way in hell you should be THIS powerful or fast."
Akane sneered at Cerl, pausing in her assault to answer, "Let's
just say that I'm finally at your level. And I intend to pass it."
Cerl's eyes narrowed, "The only way you could ever reach my level
is if you had magic or drugs."
Akane snarled and continued her attack.
"She's using magic." Nabiki declared.
"Huh?" came the inquiry from Ranma, Ukyou, Shampoo and Tatewaki.
"What kind of magic?" Sabrina asked. She'd felt a twinge of
magic in the area at the start of the fight, but now, Sabrina's magical
senses felt Akane radiating magic like a compost heap radiated a
powerful stench.
"And how did she get it?" Cologne added.
"I just remembered my father telling me, when I was about ten
years old, about a magical dougi that he'd been given by an old man for
helping him out against a bunch of thugs. He said it was made to look
like our school's formal dougi. It was said to increase the wearer's
martial ability tremendously, but I'd always thought it was just a
joke. But, I also recalled that the dougi had many other abilities,
such as the ability to change to fit it's wearer." Nabiki explained.
As Cerl continued blocking each and every one of Akane's strikes,
Ranma inquired, "And how do you know that's not just Akane's real
formal dougi?"
"Because she never got one. It's the custom of our school to
have one made for a student when that student reaches master level."
Nabiki answered, "And Akane never reached master level."
"So, what does this mean for Cerl?" Ukyou inquired.
"Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that
Akane's potential is still lower than Cerl's. The bad news is that
even if it is lower, Akane's skill and abilities are matching what Cerl
is capable of right now." Cologne declared.
"Shouldn't we stop the fight? I mean, Akane's cheating and we
have evidence to support the fact." Sabrina inquired.
"No, even if that were true, there are two reasons not to."
Nabiki responded, "The first is that Cerl is still holding her own,
despite Akane's magical dougi. And the second is that it might finally
pound some sense into Akane's thick skull if she were to lose even
wearing the magical dougi."
"Well, Cerl's already working on the second part." Ranma noted.
Cerl had shifted from defensive to counter-offensive, dodging and
striking at the openings Akane left unguarded just after Akane had
launched an attack. Unfortunately, it was like striking Ryouga. Akane
seemed to shrug off hits that would have sent her to the ground bawling
a week ago.
"What drug are you on? Hmmm, can't be speed, you're not jittery
enough. Can't be marijuana, you're too fast and your reflexes aren't
diminished. Besides, you wouldn't be willing to fight. Not steroids,
your reflexes or speed wouldn't have improved with that. Your nostrils
aren't flared or irritating you into wiping it frequently, so I doubt
it could be cocaine. Is it a specialty drug?" Cerl inquired.
Akane growled angrily, "SHUT UP AND FIGHT!"
Akane swung a meteor-style punch, slamming her fist into the
ground where Cerl had been, just before she felt a slap on her ass.
"Naughty Akane! I'll spank you more if you don't tell me what
evil drugs you're on!" Cerl declared.
"I'm not on drugs!" Akane growled.
Cerl gave Akane the stink eye as she rubbed her chin
thoughtfully, "I wouldn't be able to tell for the most part when it
came to personality."
"I'm wearing a magical dougi, smart ass!" Akane told her, then
realized her mistake.
"I was wondering when the hell you'd gotten an official school
dougi." Cerl commented, "And now I can stop dodging and fight you for
real."
"Why you-! You mean you were deliberately avoiding fighting
me?!" Akane growled.
"Indeed. If you were hopped on a drug, all I had to do was
outlast you. But now that I know you've got a magical dougi, I know my
true opponent.” Cerl responded.
“True opponent?” Akane inquired, confused.
“Yeah, the dougi.” Cerl explained, confusing Akane further, “You
aren’t this good, so it must be increasing your skill level. So, in
truth, I’m not fighting you, I’m fighting the dougi.”
Akane’s confusion cleared with the obvious insult. She threw
dirt into Cerl’s face. Cerl raised her arms and closed her eyes to
block the cheap trick, knowing that it left her open.
“You _are_ fighting-” Akane snarled, dashing forward and slamming
her knee into Cerl’s stomach, “_ME_!”
Akane tried to copy Cerl’s favorite attack pattern by following
up her knee with a horizontal axe-handle strike, but Cerl threw her
head and torso backwards fast enough to dodge the strike completely.
Cerl twisted as Akane was over-extended, and flipped, catching Akane
under the chin with a reverse crescent kick.
Cerl landed on her hands and knees, but Akane staggered away
enough that Cerl returned to her feet and wiped the dirt from her face
before Akane could recover. Cerl snorted, “You’re forty years too
young to catch ME off-guard with my own personal favorite, Akane. You
should have known that I think of counters for every single combo that
I develop.”
Akane growled and shifted into an aggressive stance while Cerl
slid into a defensive pose.
“Dammit! STAND STILL!” Akane roared, launching forward with a
flurry of punches.
“Why? Because you think I’m like those bricks you smash and that
I’ll break and go away the instant you hit me? I’m not like the boys
you abused every day, Akane. I don’t intend to take your abuse or
tolerate your cheap shots during a duel of honor.” Cerl snapped back,
sliding past Akane as the dark-haired girl overextended herself and
elbowing Akane in the middle of the back.
Akane staggered forward and then spun to face Cerl.
“I didn’t abuse anyone!” Akane shrieked.
“Oh? In one day, I dismantled over HALF of your daily fight. If
you’d tried, you could have done the same. But, no. You liked hurting
those boys, didn’t you? I added salt to the wound on your pride by
cutting your little sadistic beating sessions down, didn’t I? So, you
tried to attack me with words.” Cerl responded.
Akane launched a high kick at Cerl’s face, but Cerl caught her
leg and held it, “But you chose the wrong ones. That’s the problem
with lies, Akane. If there’s nothing to base them on or if they're
unfounded, the truth is eventually found out. And you fear the truth,
don’t you? That you’re just a selfish, ungrateful little brat, just
like you were at age six! Your body has matured over the years, but
your mind didn’t!”
Akane spun, twisting her other leg to strike at Cerl, but the
blonde dodged. She let go of Akane’s trapped leg to avoid dislocating
her younger sister’s leg from the socket. She knew how painful
dislocations could be. As much of a little brat as Akane was, there
was no need to cause that kind of damage.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? That the one telling the truth is someone
you can’t beat. That you are no longer the heir to the school is
because you can’t control yourself. That your friends and classmates
don’t like you because you can’t be truthful. That the reason you’ve
really lost everything is because you can’t grow up.” Cerl asked
rhetorically.
Akane screamed in fury and attacked Cerl with everything she
could. Cerl blocked every punch, sending Akane’s arm wide every single
time; she dodged every kick. After uncounted punches and kicks, Akane
advancing and Cerl retreating every time, Akane had yet to land a
strike and Cerl decided that it was time to finish the fight.
Akane was continuing forward when Cerl launched a snap-front kick
to Akane’s stomach, forcing Akane to double over. Cerl sighed as she
kneed Akane in the forehead while Akane’s arms clutched her stomach.
The youngest Tendo had the strength of Ryouga and the speed of Ranma,
but there was no real boost in intelligence and the damage resistance
from earlier had vanished.
“Why don’t-” Cerl began.
Akane clutched her face, not even realizing the setup she was now
in. Cerl swept Akane’s feet out from underneath her, then slid under
Akane’s falling body and slammed a rising knee into Akane’s back.
“-you just-” Cerl continued
Akane grunted and her arms went wide as Cerl used a double-handed
axe-handle strike to send Akane into the ground.
”GROW UP?!” Cerl finished as Akane hit the ground, her eyes
clenched in pain for a few seconds before she lay limp on the ground.
Then, Akane’s eyes opened. With one smooth motion, she stood up.
She didn’t even look injured.
“Aw, come on...” Cerl grumbled, tired of opponents who refused to
stay where she put them. First Ryouga, now Akane.
“I am afraid, young lady,” Akane began in a more mature voice,
“That this fight is not over.”
The entire school was baffled at the change of attitude on
Akane’s part. Cerl, however, was not. It didn’t take much to figure
out that the magical dougi had taken over when Akane had fallen
unconscious.
“You must be the spirit of the dougi.” Cerl commented.
“Indeed I am.” The spirit responded through Akane’s mouth,
“You’ve proven yourself an admirable foe. However, I am afraid that
Akane painted a much different picture of you when I agreed to aid her
in defeating you and thus, I must help her until this battle is
through.”
“A very noble sentiment. One must at least hold to one’s
promises unless they go against one’s personal code.” Cerl agreed.
The spirit nodded. Akane’s body darted forward and Cerl was hard
pressed to block the fast punch.
“This young lady could well be your equal with the right
training.” the spirit declared, launching a snap kick.
Cerl blocked the strike, but was catapulted ten feet away. She
landed feet first, skidding along the dry ground, “You mean, with the
right temperament. And indeed, I agree. However, she has thrown that
opportunity away countless times, spirit of the dougi.”
“.....” the spirit responded, before charging and punching at
Cerl.
Cerl leapt backwards.
“Of course, it’s unfair to you to be forcefully involved in what
is essentially a family feud.” Cerl continued, before inquiring,
“Besides, what in the world is the purpose of giving a master-level
fighter a magical dougi?”
The spirit launched Akane’s body at Cerl with a flying kick,
forcing the blonde Tendo to backflip up the incline towards the forest,
“I was made to aid students in emergencies, to increase the abilities
of powerful fighters when terrorized by forces beyond what they could
handle, and to aid aging fighters who’d developed illnesses that
rendered much of their mobility reduced.”
"Ah. That's actually quite smart. Too bad there wasn't a safety
on virtuous intent or something similar." Cerl commented.
Suddenly, Akane’s eyes and posture changed, “What are you
doing?!”
“I was simply speaking with your opponent. Just because she is
your enemy does not mean that-” the spirit began before Akane
interupted herself, “Just shut up and help me!”
“Not exactly a martial artist of honor, eh, spirit?” Cerl
inquired.
“Stop trying to cheat!” Akane snapped.
“ME? I’m not the one wearing a magic suit designed to super-
charge martial artists or flinging dirt to get an opening.” Cerl
huffed.
Akane charged up the hill towards Cerl, who backflipped into the
forest, “You can’t beat me in the open, so let’s see if the forest is
more to your liking.”
“Fine by me!” Akane responded.
“What’s Cerl thinking?” Ranma inquired.
“She’s obviously trying to exhuast Akane.” Cologne commented.
“But Akane hasn’t slowed down a bit.” Ranma noted.
“Yes, not noticeably, but she has slowed. However, it should be
clear to Cerl that the dougi grants Akane not only increased physical
abilities, but also an additional wind, in the form of the spirit of
the dougi. Cerl must exhaust and defeat two people, not one.” Cologne
noted.
“So, it’s not a good strategy?” Sabrina inquired, not really
following most of the martial arts stuff.
“It’s an unwise choice. Even if Akane is beaten, the spirit can
utilize the full power of her enhanced abilities, while Akane is only
managing half. It would be better to simply strike Akane until both
she and the spirit were unconscious.” Cologne noted.
“But if she did that, wouldn’t she wind up seriously hurting
Akane?” Sabrina asked, startling Cologne and Ranma, who turned to stare
the american girl, “I mean, the spirit is only boosting her and
restoring her strength, it's not really there to take that punishment,
right? So, wouldn’t... um, nevermind...”
“That must be it.” Cologne declared, “Cerl knows that in order to
defeat Akane through the faster method, it would likely leave permanent
damage.”
“And she’s been avoiding that the entire battle. She could’ve
broken Akana’s nose with that knee strike earlier, but she chose the
forehead instead. And she could’ve dislocated Akane’s leg before that
by holding it tight, but she decided to let go.” Ranma agreed.
“So, I’m right? Cool.” Sabrina commented aloud to herself,
before realizing something, “But what if Akane’s endurance is higher?”
“It won’t matter while Akane is in control. Defense is almost
always easier because you aren’t using as much energy. Akane, however,
is burning her strength up by attacking as relentlessly as she can.”
Cologne explained, “Even the most fuel efficient car will run out of
gas eventually. And, using that as a basis for a metaphor, Akane is
the most wasteful car on the road.”
Cerl was frowning as she dodged another jump kick. Akane would
have been beyond exhuasted normally. Just how much did that dougi
boost her endurance? They’d done six circuits around the forest
already, ranging from zig-zag through the trees to circling the entire
forest and Akane had been attacking nearly constantly.
Both girls were sweating, but neither had slowed much in their
game of combat tag. Cerl made a sidenote to herself to write up some
rules for an official game of combat tag while considering the problem
at hand. She then rolled out of the way as Akane launched a kick at
her.
As a branch was severed from a nearby tree, it became obvious to
Cerl that outlasting Akane was becoming too dangerous of a plan to
stick to. Akane was gaining more abilities as time passed and if she
already had a vacuum blade down, then the fight had to end before Cerl
lost more than just the battle.
As it stood, there was a good chance for her to lose while Akane
wore the dougi and the chances for winning improved for Akane every
minute.
Then, a plan came to her.
It was a dangerous gambit, but if she could somehow removed even
part of the dougi, Akane might have her abilities reduced, which would
reveal how exhuasted she truly was and could weaken the dark-haired
girl enough to allow Cerl to defeat her without waking the spirit of
the dougi to take Akane’s place.
The reason it was dangerous was that A) she didn’t know if the
dougi was tearable or not and losing it would be rather bad, B) she
didn’t know if the dougi had a magical defense against being removed
and C) it would make her look like a pervert if she was caught trying
to remove her “cousin’s” clothes, as she wasn’t sure how many people
had heard Akane talk about the magical dougi or would believe that a
dougi could be magical.
First, it would require getting Akane into a pattern that would
get her to keep her arms down and to get her to stop using those damn
vacuum blades, the latter meaning that she would have to provoke Akane
into close quarter combat.
They reached the edge of the forest nearest to the soccer field
they’d been in minutes ago. Cerl landed quickly and doubled back to
the first tree she came to. Akane landed and spun to face Cerl, who
was sticking her tongue out at Akane.
“NYAH! You couldn’t hurt me with one of your jump kicks if you
tried!” Cerl taunted.
“WHY YOU-!” Akane snarled, leaping at Cerl.
Cerl ducked and rolled as Akane lashed out at the tree.
Then, Cerl realized that Akane had used a particularly strong
vacuum blade in that kick and the angle had been upward. Akane landed,
but the tree above the line of the cut began descending toward her.
[YOU IDIOT! You couldn’t have just thrown a normal jump kick,
could you?] Cerl thought to herself as she lunged for Akane, who was
frozen in place.
“LOOK OUT!” Cerl cried, shoving Akane out of the way.
The tree caught Cerl in the mid-back, canceling most of her
forward momentum and hurting quite a bit. Cerl hit the ground,
followed by the severed portion of the tree, which pinned her legs.
Cerl felt a very quiet, but unpleasant noise from her right femur as
the tree settled into place on top of her.
Cerl winced as the pain from her back and her legs rang into her
brain like loud sirens.
Then she looked up to see Akane standing in front of her.
Cerl smiled at her biological sibling, “Well, Akane, you wanted
me to stay still and here I am. I can’t even block, so if you wanted
to finish me off, I’m in no position to stop you.”
Akane looked down at Cerl. And for the first time since her
first wish, Akane Tendo was lost in thought.
It was a well-known fact that Akane Tendo had a temper. That
temper was fueled by a voice inside of her that told her that if
something went wrong, it was someone else’s fault. This mistaken ideal
was born of a memory back in childhood.
Akane’s mother had been fatally injured saving Akane when she’d
tried to cross the street. A few of her classmates had seen it and
told Akane that it was her fault that her mother had died. It was the
truth, but it was brutal to a mind so young.
Her mother’s last words to her were meant to be comforting. “It
wasn’t your fault.” Her mother could never have known the damage
saying that had caused. Akane knew that those words, spoken to her by
her own beloved and trusted mother, were false.
Guilt can be a very poisonous demon. Akane had always felt
guilty that it had been her mistake. In an effort to prevent herself
from breaking down, her mind had made those comforting words into a
mantra that she believed. Unfortunately, the mantra had to be so
strong that it became like self-hypnosis.
Guilt had twisted those words into complete denial of
responsibility. If something went wrong, her mantra kicked in and she
wasn’t at fault.
However, there was another memory, more powerful than that one.
She had gotten into a fight with a boy who said that all girls were
weak and stupid. Akane had beaten the boy black and blue, then tried
to go further, but her mother had been there to stop her.
“Akane, even if he said those things, you should never hit a
person when they’re down. It’s not honorable.”
“On-ner-a-bul?” Akane asked.
“Yes, Akane. Honor is what separates the good people from the
bad people. You should always strive to be honorable. We’ll see him
to the doctor and then we’ll apologize to him and his family.”
“Why?” Akane inquired.
“Because honorable people don’t hit other people just because
they say things that we don’t like. Okay?”
“Okay mommy!” Akane agreed.
Akane had never known her mother long, but she cherished her
mother above all else. The lessons on honor were often ignored, but
never forgotten.
Akane looked at her magical dougi, then at Cerl, then at everyone
watching, then back at Cerl, as if confused and looking for an answer.
People had always given her the answer in situations like this. It was
confusing and disorienting to have to figure something out on her own.
No longer shut away, memories came to war against each other.
Guilt battled honor.
Honor battled guilt.
In her mind's eye, she'd always seen the situation as the
opposite of what it was now, Cerl being the one with all of the power,
sneering down at Akane pinned helplessly to the ground. And Akane had
nothing.
Cerl had been a monster in her mind's eye.
Akane realized that now that the situation was in reverse, that
it was she who was truly a monster.
Finally, Akane reached down and grabbed the tree. She lifted it
up and threw it away from Cerl and everyone else. It landed deep in
the forest, only pressing down the plants on the forest floor.
“I’m sorry.” Akane whispered, tears running down her face as she
fell to her knees.
Cerl looked at her crying sister and sighed. Apparently, even if
it was by accident, Akane had matured. She was no longer the whiny
brat that she had been and thus, Cerl felt she had to comfort her
sister.
“It’s okay, Akane.” Cerl told her, placing a hand on her sister’s
shoulder. Akane hugged her adopted sister and cried into her shoulder.
=======================================================================
"I've been haunted by werewolves, bitten by ghosts and slapped by
vampires. I think I deserve that hotdog." - Grim & Evil
"No one's going to give you a map. You've got to walk your own path." - Hot Ice Hilda, Outlaw Star, final episode
Chapter 6, Complete.
Stay tuned!
Next chapter:
The sacrifices made!
A tournament starts!
All this and some more crazies!
Explanations!
School in Japan operates differently. The most some americans
know is that they go by rotating four month segments between four
different divisions. It would look like so:
1 2 3 O
O 2 3 4
1 O 3 4
1 2 O 4
The "O"s stand for a class getting a month off while the numbers
indicate a class is in school for a month. So, technically speaking,
only three classes are going to school at the same time.
Another thing most Americans don't know about is that Saturday
isn't a day off, but it's not a full school day, either. It's a half-
day of school.
There's also Make Up day for high schools, which occurs shortly
after an Exam day. Students who failed a test go to school to re-take
the tests, while students who passed their exams can take the day off.
I'm unsure about this, but I _think_ a student can go to Make Up day to
try and raise a test score by re-taking the exam.
I'm unsure what the school systems would do about snow days.
Students purchase school supplies from stores that specialize in
them. It's acceptable for a student to wear a former school uniform or
even a casual outfit when there aren't any uniform that fit them, but
only in those cases. Ranma doesn't wear one.
Wearing the winter skirt year round is a sign of a delinquent.
Cerl has taken to wearing one, just like Makoto Kino.
Has anyone stopped to consider that Akane is probably resented at
the beginning of the series? Or pondered the fact that dating would be
nearly impossible for other girls unless they were friends with Akane?
Americans are sometimes shunned by students because of the fact
that they are 'gaijin' or outsiders. However, Furinkan has enough
misfits that a nice enough person, regardless of their origin country,
is accepted with open arms. Strangely enough, Americans are often
preferred as english teachers over Canadians and the British, which is
why an American teacher isn't that uncommon in Japan.
Black hair is almost universal in Japan, which is why so many
main characters had black hair. The other favorite colors are blonde
and then red.
The Sailor Jupiter H-dojin featuring her with a penis... This is
what I'd expect more of, given that Jupiter is the Roman name for Zeus,
the biggest horndog of the greek pantheon (outside of Apollo (who's
exploits aren't as well known) and Priapus (god of fertility)).
The Meiou names on the book Setsuna is reading are meant to imply
that each of those people has taken the place of Setsuna in alternate
dimensions, not that they're all married. As kinky as that thought is,
it's not what was intended.
Gel is a creation I've toyed with for a long time. I wondered
what would happen if you crossed one of those aggressive sex-obsessed
girls from a classic H-manga or doujinshi with Mousse. The result is
Gel, Mousse's twin sister and fellow master of hidden weapons.
However, she's currently the master of hidden sex toys. Ain't it
funny?! HUH?!
Maho and Mr. Kawashima are from Kare Kano (His and Her
Circumstances), which is a lot funnier than what I expected.
I had to watch Episode 10 a few times to get a feel for how the
stand off between the class and Akane should go.
I don't know how the Battle Dougi truly works, so I cobbled
together my own version of it. According to one summary that I read,
it essentially boosts the wearer's martial potential to their limit.
My version of it also super-charges the wearer and prevents the wearer
from being slowed, crippled, poisoned or diseased by anything while it
is still intact.
Unfortunately, my version, as Cerl had mentally discerned, does
lose most of it's powers if destroyed or removed by the wearer.
Technically, Cerl and Akane are biologically the same person, so
unknowingly, she is able to disrobe Akane simply using that fact.
As for Akane managing Vacuum Blades, it IS possible for a martial
artist to learn how to use them without training. One simply has to
move fast enough in a cutting motion or swing their arm with enough
force.
Combat Tag sounds really fun. I'll make some rules up for it in
one of the next few chapters or something.
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