Yech! Ryoga wiped at her lips in genuine disgust. Punting that guy off into the distance one time wasn't nearly enough. He deserved it another two, three, four more times! Despite this stupid cursed body, Ryoga was still a boy, dammit! Even if that wasn't true, going up to a girl and kissing her like that was super creepy, and definitely a form of assault!
Speaking of assault, it was time to track down Ranma Saotome to inflict another kind. He'd been there. Right there! And Ryoga managed to foul it up by getting lost again! It was so infuriating, all that could be done was wander around until that pigtailed oaf showed up again.
"Hello madame, welcome to our ice rink," said a familiar voice, albeit with a haughtier attitude than he was expecting. Huh? Well, that sure was fast! "Might I recommend the ice cream -"
"Ranma Saotome!" Ryoga yelled, pointing an accusatory finger to the boy standing behind the ticket booth in front of her. "Because of you, I have seen hell!"
"That does sound about par for the course for my brother," Ranma said.
"Hah! Don't play dumb! Ranma Saotome is an only child!"
"... Not up on current events, I see," Ranma said, looking Ryoga over carefully. "How strange, I don't recognise you at all, yet you seem certain that Ranma Saotome -"
Ryoga swung down with her umbrella, forcing Ranma to catch it with a single hand. Ah! Damn him, he really was strong wasn't he?!
"Please don't wreck my place of work," Ranma said. "It's only my first day."
"Losing your job would be a small price, compared to losing your manhood!" Ryoga replied. "Because of you, I fell in the Spring of Drowned - "
"I'm sorry ma'am but we will have to bar you from our premises," Ranma said, snapping his fingers, and then, on cue, a cute girl with purple hair appeared right behind her, grabbed Ryoga by the collar and effortlessly scooped her off the floor. "My wife will see you out."
"Dumb girl try to get us fired on first day," the girl said with a weirdly threatening, bubbly tone. "That not something Shampoo forgive easily!"
And out Ryoga went before she knew what was happening. It was so quick that it was a little bit scary! Yet another indignity forced upon her by Ranma Saotome! Grr! Ryoga whirled around, intending to go back inside - only for her lousy sense of direction to send her off in totally the wrong direction, rushing off through the street in basically the exact opposite way she wanted to go.
"Who put this wall here?" Ryoga yelled, and leaped over it to try to get back at Ranma. "You won't escape me again! This time I will have my - "
"You will not keep my Shampoo from me!" a boy in a robe yelled, while throwing a kinda lame punch for Ranma's head. Aha! There he is again! "That woman of yours might not like it if I use my hidden weapons, but if I use my fists there should be no problem!"
"My woman, huh?!" Ranma sneered derisively at the robed boy. "Come on, put your damn glasses on, maybe then your hits will have some weight to them! At least then you could see where you're aiming 'em!"
Honestly it was kinda pathetic, the way this guy was squinting her really ought to be wearing glasses. His attacks didn't have anywhere near the sort of power behind them to really be a bother to Ranma anyway, but the fact he was basically missing wasn't exactly great either.
"Out of my way!" Ryoga yelled, leaping down into the garden and shoving this stranger aside. "Ranma is mine!"
"Yeah? Buddy, you should be at Furinkan if you want - " Ranma retorted, but Ryoga really wasn't in the mood to talk. He tossed a bandana for the boy responsible for his suffering and humiliation, fully intending to slice him to ribbons! "Oh yeah, this is the fun stuff! Come on, try to hit me, I dare ya!"
"That purple haired bimbo won't save you this time..." Ryoga snarled - and then the boy in the robes smacked Ryoga in the back of the head with a fan made of steel! "Hey! Blind idiot, stay out of this!"
"You... Did you just call Shampoo a bimbo?!" the robe wearing boy snarled menacingly. "Any enemy of hers is an enemy of mine!"
"Awesome, a three way brawl?" Ranma grinned deviously, slamming his fist into his open palm. "Yeah, that should spice things up a bit, come on. You seem like a strong chick, I ain't got a problem fighting a strong chick!"
That was how it was going to go. A three way fight between them... Except that all of a sudden, the trio were surrounded on all sides by annoyed looking girls, most of them wearing aprons, and all of them looking close enough that they had to be sisters.
"Ahem!" coughed the one at the lead. "If you three want to pick a fight, do it at the Tendo dojo. That place is built for fighting - not my back yard!"
"You literally just cleaned it up!" snarled the tomboy of the group menacingly.
"It would be quite costly for us to repair if you damaged things," another observed, this one portraying a cool and calculating aura.
"This bandanna is reaaaaally sharp!" the cutesy girly one said, poking the bandanna Ryoga had tossed earlier with her finger. "It coulda caused a lot more damage, but all it did was slice off some of Ukyo's hair!"
Ah... Crap! That was why they were so annoyed? The girl at the head of the group did seem to have a clump of hair missing at the back, now that Ryoga was really looking at it. Needless to say, but this little fight wouldn't be happening here!
"Also!" Ukyo raised her finger. "That's not Ranma. It's his brother. Sort of. There was a whole thing with a magic spring, turning him into four distinct people, and that's one of them right there. Okay? Okay! Now get out of here, the lot of you!"
"Yes, Ukyo!" the three of them said, bowing politely, before hightailing it from the premises. Once again, Ranma Saotome, saved by a woman! Come to think... How many women did you -
"What was that thing about a magic spring?" Ryoga asked, as a thought finally, finally registered inside that empty meathead brain of hers.
<hr>
It was kinda weird hanging out like this with such a L-O-V-E-Y dovey couple, but Mariko could hack it fine. It was weird. She'd have thought she'd feel like a third wheel, but Ranko kept on pulling her into the conversation.
"So you're Seisyun High, right?" Ranko asked, leaning forward with a sort of cheeky grin on her pretty face. "We're Furinkan High. I think we have a contest between our swimming clubs coming up sometime soon, or something like that...?"
"Yep, yep, we sure do!" Mariko said enthusiastically, which was so weird! When hanging out with a romantic couple, a third person usually would feel out of place, especially if they weren't in a relationship themselves. "I'll be on the sidelines cheering the team on!"
"In that case, I can but wish you the very best of luck," said the extremely handsome, charming, ideal man who, unfortunately, had his arm around Ranko's shoulder. Oooh, lucky girl! "Our team won't be so easily defeated."
"Don't you worry, I'll be right there to C-H-E-E-R my team on - "
She'd pulled out a pompom to make that impromptu cheer. Now, if you've been reading up until now you should have a fairly decent idea of the sort of thing that might come next. Let's load up the old Random French Name Generator, and see what comes up this time.
"Bethsabée!" Azusa cried, dive tackling the pompom right out of Mariko's grip. "Yay, Bethsabée! I'm not letting this one go, no matter what, no matter what, no matter -"
Bonk! Both Ranko and Mariko struck Azusa right on the top of her head, with Mariko retrieving her pompom before this weird girl got her slobber all over it.
"No stealing other people's S-T-U-F-F!" Mariko warned, wagging her finger in Azusa's face.
"Waaaah!" Azusa cried, trying to make a dive for the pompom in Mariko's hands - and outright failing to get anywhere close. "Meanie, meanie! Gimme, gimme! Waaaah!"
"Man, she's super cute, but... damn, it wouldn't be worth it..." Ranko muttered to herself, looking Azusa up and down. "I'll just settle for Mariko today, she's yummy enough..."
"Did you say something dear?" Kuno asked.
"Nothing, beloved!" Ranko chirped. "I'm certainly not planning on growing my - our - harem by rocking another total babe's world, hehehehe! Excuse me one second."
Ranko then promptly grabbed Azusa by the arm, and judo tossed her off down the street - only for the girl to be right back, tugging on Ranko's pigtail when she tried to dust off her hands.
"Francine! Francine!" Azusa cooed, forcing Ranko to whirl around to stop her before she pulled her hair out!
"Stop that!" Ranko warned. "Oooh, oh no you don't! Clear out, you airheaded pest! Urgh, I don't mind the first part so much but if only you weren't so annoying!"
"Indeed, it is clear that I must step in right now," Kuno said, putting himself between the girls and Azusa. "Leave, now! While it burns my soul to have to threaten a woman, it is clear that you will hear no other words! Begone, vile pest!"
"Are you... challenging Azusa?" the airhead asked, pointing at herself. "Okay! Me and Mikey will kick your butts, next weekend, be there or be -"
"Don't go making challenges on my behalf!" a rather handsome boy asked, grabbing Azusa in a headlock. This, of course, was Mikado, and he seemed to be in a foul mood. "Hrm... The way those two girls cower behind you... Would you not feel more comfortable in my arms, ladies?"
Actually never mind, ew, he was a total creep and a playboy, not her type at all. Nothing like Kuno, whatsoever!
"Take your friend, and leave," Kuno said. "These ladies wish to have nothing to do with you."
"Oh? Very well then," Mikado laughed a little to himself. "Then we'll take you on in martial arts figure skating. How about that?"
"Or we could just whoop your ass right here and now," Ranko said, and Mariko had to agree with that. This seemed like a way more sensible option. "Save us all a lot of time, y'know?"
"I wouldn't be so hasty about that," Mikado shrugged. "Your brother and his wife work at the ice rink, yes? Well... I was planning on making life very hard for them. So? Will you accept our challenge? Become yet another couple that we cleave apart - Or will you let your beloved brother lose his very first job?"
"Buddy, if you gotta ask that you don't know the relationship between us," Ranko snerked. "But y'know, I like the gumption. We humiliate you on your home turf, and you leave us all alone forever. How's that sound?"
It sounded like a challenge to Mariko's ears! And she'd be right there beside the two of them, cheering them on with all her heart!The Golden Pair, was it? They were legendary enemies of L-O-V-E, and that was one thing Mariko, a devoted cheerleader, could never ever abide!
Though it is worth noting that she was so caught up in that, she didn't notice that Ranko's hand had been on her butt for at least the last couple of minutes by now.
Some comments:
ReplyDelete- "Honestly it was kinda pathetic, the way this guy was squinting her really ought to be wearing glasses."
Should be "he" not "her".
- "He tossed a bandana for the boy responsible for his suffering and humiliation, fully intending to slice him to ribbons!"
Since Ryoga is presumably still in female form, it should be "She" and "her".
- '"Awesome, a three way brawl?"'
Should be "three-way".
- "A three way fight between them..."
Again, "three-way".
- '- not my back yard!"'
Should be "backyard".
- '"Waaaah!" Azusa cried, trying to make a dive for the pompom in Mariko's hands - '
Nothing to correct here as such, but considering it's Azusa, perhaps "bawl" would be an apt synonym to use for "cry" here?
- "cheering them on with all her heart!The Golden Pair, was it?"
I think there needs to be a space between "heart!" and "The Golden Pair".
Nothing else to report, another good entry.