Manga
Part 2
Friends old and new!
Duke sat up in the small cot that Tofu had supplied him and stretched
out lazily, Tofu had insisted that he train with him a little for his
future medical career, as his assistant nurse of course. He wasn't sure
if he liked the idea yet, being a doctor wasn't exactly the way he'd
pictured himself in a few years. Quite the opposite in fact, he was
planing on sending people to the doctor. The man was eerily cheerful at
times and it bothered him a bit, but Tofu had been good company last
night at any rate. He stuck his head out of the room and smiled at the
picture.
Tofu was a mess, neither of them got much sleep after getting into their
conversation, mostly on martial arts and Shiatsu. He stumbled over to the
pot of coffee as it churned signaling it was ready; he had destroyed the
kitchen when making it, and had to adjust his aim six times to get it
into the cup instead of on the floor. He was unshaven and his glasses
where even on crooked.
Duke cheerfully emerged from his room and smiled, "Good morning Doctor."
The man mumbled his greeting and shook himself awake a few times before
heading to the bathroom. His houseguest moved out into the back lot and
started his exercises, after a half hour of training in the yard he
walked back into the building and checked the clock. "Five a.m. already?
I must be getting soft if I slept in this long."
"Slept in?" Tofu emerged from the bathroom a cheerful and well groomed
man who was cheerful and ready for the day after only fifteen minutes.
"I'm usually up a half hour earlier." said Duke as he sat down and
picked up a newspaper; "I suppose I was up a bit late last night anyway,
I usually get in four or five hours a night. I may have to change my
habits a bit I suppose."
"No need on my account." Tofu smiled as he sipped at his coffee and
picked up a part of the paper. "Coffee?"
"No thanks, I'll have to catch Ranma and Akane on the way home I
suppose, They might try to avoid me."
"I doubt that, they are pretty good kids."
"I agree, but sometimes things change when you least expect them too, I
need to be ready in case I have to be sneaky about hanging around them."
Duke scratched the side of his face as he gazed into the newsprint
lazily.
"You really think your being here involves them?" Tofu was giving him an
appraising look.
"Most assuredly, I'd better get to sweeping that walk way; daylights
burning you know!" the boy jumped up and quietly moved out the door.
Tofu was astounded. "I'll be damned it is him." He had been looking for
small actions and speech patterns in the boy anything that would give him
away as an imposter. The exact opposite had occurred, fact was he had
spent most of the night up watching a few taped episodes of the show
watching for small habits in the boy after Duke had gone to sleep.
Duke was not dressed in his normal attire, he had combed his hair back
and to the side instead of letting it hang as he usually did, and he had
borrowed one of Tofu's dogi's; it was loose, but it fit pretty well.
People didn't seem to notice him much for once and he found it a little
relaxing. "These things are comfortable, I'll have to buy a few later;
black is more my color though."
The day passed quickly, Duke spent most it cleaning and occasionally
helping out with a patient; mostly holding bulky equipment and such. The
hour drew near and he stood outside waiting for Ranma and Akane to pass,
as it turned out they stopped to meet him.
"Well, what do we do?" asked Ranma impatiently as he walked up to them.
"Hang out of course, Ranma I'd like to become friends; the only real way
I can find out what I have to do with you is to either wait for it to
happen on it's own; and it will, or to simply hang around with you for a
while and maybe get a heads up on it. Whatever it is I promise you it
isn't good."
"Great, another problem." said Ranma between his teeth.
"It can't be helped, some of the best friends I've ever had where
because of problems." Duke smiled and walked with them towards the dojo.
"Besides, now you have a decent sparing partner who isn't trying to kill
you or marry you."
"What are we gonna do when we get to the house?" Akane was feeling
awkward about this whole deal, it was like being blackmailed into being
his friend and she didn't think it was going to work.
"Still a long face huh? Well I can tell you that I like this about as
much as you do, and when the shit hit's the proverbial fan I'd rather
have you and your friends as allies." Akane smiled despite herself, he
really was exactly like he was on television.
She always had thought of him as smooth and handsome, somewhat of her
ideal man; now in person his flaws where much more evident, he was pushy,
a little bit rude, and slightly psychotic. He wasn't all that bad of a
guy in the end, but hardly her ideal man anymore. He also had a very
violent personality; if he didn't know you, a little push could get a
violent reaction; that was something she hoped was exaggerated on the
show; just from what she had seen so far, it was very true. "I'd almost
prefer Ranma." she pushed the thought back into her mind and continued
walking.
"I'll need to see the manga up till the point where I vanished from my
own world the anime version too if possible; I believe you said something
about a Dr. Metala?"
Akane seemed puzzled for a moment. "Why is that, don't you know
already?"
"Akane I don't know how close to reality those books and this show
really are, besides I might find a clue about my disappearance in the
fight with Metala, I'm not exactly sure what happened to me.
"Yea, sure." Akane and Ranma seemed uncomfortable for a moment.
"What was that about?" thought Duke as he walked.
Kasumi opened the door and smiled at the three in the door. "Oh my, we
have a visitor!"
"Yes, Kasumi this is..." Akane gave the boy an uncomfortable glance and
he stepped forward and bowed.
"I am Duke Hibiki, it is a pleasure to finally meet you Kasumi."
"Oh, that's nice I'll tell father your here." Kasumi walked back into
the home and Duke smiled cheerfully as he followed Ranma and Akane into
the house and removed his shoes.
A feminine voice came from the living room and set a smile on the three
teenagers faces. "Who is here to see us?!! Are you out of your mind
Kasumi?!!"
The thump of feet rushing into the room to meet them carried down the
hall and then stopped abruptly; a few seconds later, Nabiki calmly walked
through the doorway. "Ranma if you've managed to pull this one off I'll
give back your radio, this isn't funny teasing Kasumi like that." She
stopped as she realized there was a third person in the room. "Who are
you?" she said to the boy sitting with his back to her as he removed his
tennis shoes.
"Man I really gotta get some shoes without laces, these things are a
pain in the ass Ranma." said the boy as he ignored her in favor of his
double knots.
"Nabiki this is, Duke Hibiki." Akane looked almost ashamed and
embarrassed to be saying his name.
The boy finally removed his shoes and stood up facing her, Nabiki
gasped. "Whoa, great likeness, you really look like him." she said
covering her mouth, already she was thinking up various ways this could
work for her.
"That's because I am him babe, don't look at me like I've got a thousand
yen stapled to my forehead please." He backed away and Nabiki took in
what he had said.
"Oh, a comedian huh? To think I was going to let you see my manga
collection for free." she turned to face her sister. "So this is that
cute friend of yours who wanted to see them?" Duke face faulted.
"Well, uh...yea." Akane looked really embarrassed.
"I'll do you one favor in return, no sex, no dates, no nudity, and no
Chinese." said Duke quickly recovering.
"Three favors." Nabiki hardened her stare and tried to glare him down.
"Don't push your luck Tendo, I can buy those on my own you know. Two
favors, same rules."
"Fine."
Akane looked at him and sighed, "Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Consigned myself to take naughty pictures in my boxers and other
embarrassing attire for a lesser male for girls in Furinkan?" Duke gave
her a small grin and pat her on the back. "Relax, I'm an American."
"Oh, so you do know." Ranma smirked and walked by him casually.
"I hate to keep Mr. Tendo and Mr. Saotome waiting." with that the three
of them made their way into the room.
The teens sat around the table with Duke with stacks of manga around
them. "Seventy two volumes?! No way! How could I be this popular?!"
"Well, it's the first thing with a plot that's ever been created."
replied Nabiki with a shrug.
"Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that every television show is like
that wonderfully dull 'Adventures of Mr. Soup and Mrs. Noodle' Tofu was
bawling over this morning?" Duke was perplexed at the horror film he had
watched earlier as well; It consisted of a monster head and a picture of
a woman screaming; that was it, for two and a half hours. At the end the
monster was killed by a sword and no story was ever told.
"Unrequited love and monsters sell." Nabiki began to munch on a small
bag of chips.
"Unrequited love my ass! That's nothing more than a half hour of, "I
must have you!" and "No we musn�t!" I thought it was some kind of sick
joke! No wonder you love my life so much, compared to everything else
this crap is entertaining!"
"Wow, that was good acting." Akane seemed genuinely impressed along with
everyone else in the room.
"Yes, bravo my boy, you could get a real career out of this." agreed
Soun.
The panda almost held a sign up but quickly caught himself and turned
back to his bamboo. "Relax Mr. Saotome, I already know about Jusenkyo."
Ranma scratched the back of his head and smiled at his father's glare
nervously. "Ranma didn't tell me either." said Duke flatly as he leveled
a cool gaze at the elder Saotome.
It took about two hours to get through fifteen volumes of manga, and he
was still a young boy. "Man, this is pretty accurate stuff, a few of the
relationships and jokes have been embellished a bit; I didn't think my
life was this cool."
"What do you mean?" asked Ranma with a yawn, he had already seen most of
the manga at one point or another and it didn't really interest him much
to think back on things he had already seen.
"Well, take your life. I've read your life a few different times,
enjoyed it to. Your not near as big on my world as I am here right now,
but you made a fairly big splash when your story was released as a manga.
Most Japanese people know of you even if they have never seen your show
or your books, it became fairly popular in the US as well. I don't mean
to put your world down, but your story had allot more to compete against
on my world; it's just as good if not better than what I've seen in these
manga."
Nabiki leaned forward and handed Duke another manga, he noticed she was
showing quite a bit of cleavage in the sweater she wore and her hand
brushed across his as she handed him the book. He took note of it and
started to read, "What's she up to?" he wondered.
"Well, he's not here to seduce Akane that's for sure, he would have
given me more of a reaction if his libido had led him here. What's his
angle?" Nabiki smiled darkly and the gears in her mind turned.
"Is this the one?" he asked looking Nabiki in the eye.
"Yes, that's the one with your first battle with Dr. Metala." this would
be the moment of truth.
Duke flipped calmly through the pages and noticed a year of time had
passed and his Manga form matched his more adult body. Kind of like the
difference between Little Goku and Goku from Dragon ball Z, only not
quite as extreme. He read up to the point where Metala fired the shot and
dropped the book on the table in disbelief. A look of complete terror
crossed his face and he clutched his chest. "Wh-Wha? What the hell was
that?" his speech was struggling between gasps as he stared at the manga
that lay on the ground in front of him.
"That was the scene where Dr. Metala shoots a large hole in your chest,
after that your friends band together and defeat him after a long three
Takabon spanning story that opens your adult life; You do get better."
Nabiki eyed him coolly and frowned, he was either the genuine article or
a very good actor. "As it stands now you've faced Metala six times and
barely escaped alive six times, this was the worst of them; but you've
never beaten him in a direct battle, only thwarted his plans so to speak.
Only the combined might of your friends was able to bring him down the
first time, after that they wouldn't even try to take him head on; you
where the only one dumb enough to try more than once."
Duke glared at the manga in disbelief, "I should have been shot there?
What happened to bring me here? I can't lose, I just can't!"
Ranma stood and watched him as he jumped out of the doorway and into the
street. Akane turned to Nabiki and glared hard, "How could you?"
Duke returned after about a minute, he looked calm and stared down at
the book. "I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting that."
"Neither where the readers." said Nabiki coolly.
"Nabiki!" Akane snarled at her sister and almost stood up, Duke
restrained her gently and smiled.
"It's all right Akane, I would have found out anyway."
"I suppose so, what's the big deal?" asked Ranma looking confused. "You
come out Ok in the end."
"You think I'm crazy don't you?" Duke looked Nabiki in the eyes as he
said this and she merely nodded calmly.
"If my life is anything like what I've seen here, I pray to god your
right Nabiki Tendo." with that he sat down and began to stack the books
neatly.
Kasumi had insisted that Duke stay for dinner and he accepted happily,
the mood lightened considerably and Akane and Ranma found themselves
actually enjoying Duke's company. In the end it was a rather pleasant
evening, but as with all good things it came to an end.
Nabiki stopped him at the door and smiled. "You owe me a favor."
"Yes, two if I remember correctly."
"I want to collect." the girl pulled a camera from behind her back and
grabbed him by his shirt. Surprisingly she managed to get him by her
family without them noticing.
Duke found himself in the girls room standing next to her bed as she
lounged on it seductively. "Well?" she asked.
"Well what? What favor do you want?" He wasn't about to let her
manipulate him into assuming things.
Nabiki sighed and sat up, "He's smarter than most boys, how odd. Take
off your clothes."
Duke stared at her silently and did nothing.
"Leave the boxers on Ok?" said Nabiki flatly.
The boy smiled and complied, he removed the shirt first revealing a long
scar down his back. "Jack knife, takabon number seven I believe." he
turned and showed her a distinctively curved scar on his shoulder. "Ryu
Kago, number twelve." finally he turned and showed off a large chest scar
that seemed to split diagonally down his right breast. "Also Ryu Kago,
number fifteen."
Nabiki was shocked he was off by a few of the numbers but the names that
went with the scars along with the general times where correct; this guy
was either a complete psycho or the real thing, the former was the most
likely; "I'd better be careful." she thought as he dropped his pants and
revealed a few more distinctive leg scars.
"How is Katria-chan anyway?" asked Nabiki calmly.
"Huh? Fine I guess, she was alright when I left her." Duke frowned and
couldn't understand the question. "Why?"
"That's not what I meant." snorted Nabiki as she snapped a few shots and
motioned for him to flex a little.
"What the hell are you...You pervert! She's thirteen years old! How
could you even think that?!"
"She won't be thirteen forever Duke." Nabiki snickered at this, she was
probably the most sought after girl in anime, she had a huge perverted
fanboy following. Unfortunately, Duke hadn't fallen for her trap, most
imposters would brag about sleeping with her.
"What do Phil's glasses say on the right side of the rims?" she asked
with a smirk.
"How the hell would I know? They aren't my glasses." replied Duke. "I
know what your doing Nabiki, your trying to get me to slip up and reveal
I'm a fake. Do you remember what you had for breakfast three weeks ago?"
"Of course not!" said Nabiki looking agitated as she snapped a few more
shots.
"Then don't expect me to remember every minute detail of my life either,
I was to busy living it to memorize it." threw a towel over his shoulder
and started to put his clothes back on.
"Excellent argument Mr. Hibiki." said Nabiki cheerfully as she finished
off the roll of film. "Use the window on your way out."
"Whatever." muttered the boy as he exited.
Outside on the roof he was surprised to find Ranma waiting for him. "Man
I hate it when she does that to me."
"The quiz or the photos?" Duke smiled slightly and walked over to the
other side of the roof with the pig tailed boy.
"She never quizzes me, now I feel sorry for you." muttered Ranma.
"I don't think she buys my story, not that I can blame her; It just gets
a little tiring to have to justify my existence to everyone I meet."
"I can understand that, a little." Ranma laughed a little and gazed into
the moon as it floated over the rooftops.
"Well, I've got to get back, work and all that you know. See you
tomorrow Ranma, we'll do lunch or something, away from that hellish
woman." Duke jumped over to the next roof and smiled.
"You mean Akane?" said Ranma with a laugh.
"I would have if she wasn't standing behind you!" called back Duke.
Ranma dove for cover and glanced around in a panic finding no body
there, "That's not funny!" he shouted to the disappearing and laughing
figure over Nerima.
The next morning Duke finished his clean up early, he decided to go for
breakfast; to his surprise he ran into Nabiki as soon as he stepped
outside.
"What are you doing out this early?" he asked.
"Oh, good morning, I just had to get a few pictures developed." she gave
him a quick wink and smiled.
"Oh, right; see ya." Duke walked by her cheerfully and whistled.
"Where are you going, a pretty girl like me stops to talk with you and
you just ignore her?" Nabiki gave him an appraising look and frowned
slightly.
"Well, I don't trust you Miss Tendo. I'm going to get breakfast if you'd
like to come along." the boy jerked his thumb towards the Cat Cafe and
smiled a little.
They entered the restaurant and Duke sat across from Nabiki at a small
table in the center of the room, various other customers sat around them,
but they where few in number and mostly just drinking coffee.
"Welcome to Cat Cafe, what you want eat?" said the pretty young waitress
who approached them. It was Shampoo of course and she had a false smile
plastered on her face. "Aiyah, what mercenary girl want?" she said with a
shocked look after noticing Nabiki.
"Relax, we are just here to eat." said Duke with a wave of his hand.
"Who you is?" the girl gave Duke a large scowl and looked him up and
down.
"I'm Duke Hibiki, who the hell are you?" he returned the gaze and copied
Shampoo exactly, she didn't seem to notice and Nabiki had to stifle a bit
of laughter.
"I've heard stories of a martial artist claiming that name in the area,
he is said to have defeated my son in law even. Could you be this man?"
an elderly woman balancing on top of a twisted staff hopped over to the
table and smiled at him warmly. Duke could sense a little bit of malice
in her tone but ignored it.
"You mean Ranma? Yes, I defeated him, we are getting along better now
though." the boy leaned back in his chair and smiled at the both of them.
"You must be Shampoo and Cologne, it's nice to meet you."
"Likewise I'm sure; tell me; What is your relationship to the Son in
law?" the woman gave him an appraising look in almost the exact same
manner as Shampoo had and Nabiki smiled again.
Duke wisely did not copy her and gave a small smile. "I'm a friend of
his; I'm staying at Dr. Tofu's clinic down the road, I believe your Great
Granddaughter is familiar with the place."
"Ah, yes a very kind man; My Shampoo stayed with him when she first
visited this country; I'm sure you already know about that though."
Cologne smiled again and turned back towards the kitchen. "Mousse! Two
breakfast Ramen specials!" after a few grumbles from the kitchen she
turned back to the pair. "On the house, just this once."
Nabiki frowned and said nothing, Duke was about to get away with not
paying a dime for a date with her, her reputation could be ruined.
"And now we talk da business lil wahine." Duke copied Principal Kuno's
voice almost exactly and gave her a dark look.
"Impressive, now what business do you mean?" Nabiki was definitely
interested.
"I wan you to fine out who makin dis big cartoon! Den tell me, meby we
get a cut on all da royalties and such from da big business! What you say
Wahinee?" Duke gave her a maniacal grin that rivaled any she had ever
seen before.
"We'd have to prove it to them, and they would definitely want to use
you in some way; at least in promotions or something." Nabiki gave a
small frown of annoyance at his use of the principal's voice.
"Well, that's not a problem; I have my special moves and I look and
sound like me. Maybe we can even find out if they brought me here, it is
a possibility." Duke smiled at Shampoo as she placed the food down in
front of him.
"Fine, I'll do it for thirty percent." Nabiki smiled at him coolly and
sat back as well.
"Forty, I think I can trust you with this, I'd like to get some
publicity out of this and maybe attract some attention. It might speed
things up a little, I like your world but I've got my own life to get
back to." Duke slurped at the ramen noisily between words and Nabiki
smiled even wider.
"You don't really think it was them do you?" Nabiki noted he did not
look optimistic about the theory.
"No, I think it was Hikaru Gosunkugi; the only thing is, he couldn't get
something like this right on his own. He would make a mistake and screw
what he wanted up even more." Duke slurped up a few more of the noodles
and wiped his chin.
"Hikaru Gosunkugi? I vaguely remember that name." Nabiki looked
thoughtful.
"I think you buy pictures from him on occasion, he's also the school
loser and a makeshift sorcerer. I don't think I came here alone Nabiki,
Metala is probably running around as well, probably Ryu too; I have to
find as many allies as I can if I'm gonna fix this mess and return home."
Duke finished up the last of his food and put the bowl down.
"Metala and Ryu?! Here!!" Nabiki looked extremely alarmed. "Are you sure
about this?"
"No, that's why I need this publicity, Ryu will blend into this Japan
rather easily, Metala will probably lay low and find some way to get a
little piece of power in the underworld." Duke looked thoughtful and sat
back again.
"I thought you'd never fought Metala before now." Nabiki raised her
eyebrow and leaned towards Duke.
"Get real Nabiki, he's a villain, of course he's going to try to
organize himself and acclimate to this new world. Besides, I heard you
say he's some sort of genius right?" Nabiki nodded silently. "He might be
working on a way to get himself back, he'd need lots of money and a
working space to do that, what better way to do that than get in on the
criminal underworld."
"I doubt it, Dr. Metala isn't really a scientist, more of an engineer
really; he just makes weapons and things. He does it really well, too
well if you ask me; I don't like the idea of having him on this world."
Nabiki hugged her coat around her chest tighter. "You right about him
needing money and workspace though."
"How long do you think this legal thing will take?" asked Duke as he
stood up from the table.
"A few weeks at least, if they don't take it seriously...a few months."
she sat up from the table and stretched.
"They won't take it seriously, that gives me quite a bit of time to work
around." Duke smiled a little and started for the door. "Hopefully I'll
be home by then."
The time drifted past quickly and Duke met Ranma and Akane as they
walked by him on the way back from school. "Hello, what's up Ranma?" he
bounded up on the fence and followed the boy easily on his trek home.
"When did you learn to do that?" asked Akane looking confused for a
moment.
"Well, the physics on this world are a little different than mine, this
is allot easier here." Duke shrugged his shoulders and jumped off the
fence next to Akane.
"For example, you can't see someone's battle aura on my world like you
can here, it's little things like that."
"How can you tell if your opponent is strong then?" asked Ranma.
"The way they carry themselves, how they act, mostly you just have to
fight and find out." Duke smiled a little at the question, it was a
little odd even for this world.
"That sounds dangerous." said Akane warily. "But it is the way I used to
do it until I met Ranma."
"What are you doing Duke?" Ranma asked the question pretty casually and
Duke smiled as he realized they where getting used to having him around
already; It was definitely a good sign.
"I was gonna go over to the Ucchan and have lunch, I haven't met Ukyo
yet." he put his hand inside the dogi top across his chest and continued
walking.
"Say, do you have the luck stone on you?" asked Akane suddenly.
"Huh?" Duke looked surprised for a minute and then remembered himself,
he was dressed in a black dogi he had bought and he pulled a small green
stone from the pocket that was sewn into the inside pocket; it was
polished and semi precious; around the size and shape of a quarter. He
had picked it up when he was very young from the side of the road and
carried it with him ever since. He didn't actually believe it was a good
luck charm and mostly kept it for sort of sentimental value, in the end
it was just a habit to rub on it inside his pocket when he walked along;
he had never told anyone about it before though and Akane's question
caught him off guard.
"I've never called it a luck stone but I assume you mean this." he
handed it to her and smiled.
"Cool! The real thing, they sell these things by the bushel for almost a
thousand yen a piece!" Akane smiled and noticed a small nick in the side
of it, "This is where you got shot and it saved your life!"
"Uh, yea. I used to say that sort of thing only happened in movies,
guess I was right all along." he accepted it when Akane handed it back
and placed it back in his pocket. "It's a wonder the damn thing never
just fell out of my pocket with all I've been through."
"When did you start wearing that thing?" asked Ranma after a moment.
"Your right, he looks so natural in it I didn't notice." Akane stepped
back and held her hand to his face.
"The Dogi? I bought a couple to help hide my identity, why?" Duke looked
confused as they gave him weary looks.
"Uh, I hate to tell you this, but you wear something like that all the
time, especially after you lose to Metala." Akane gave him a small laugh
and hung her head.
"You mean?" asked Duke looking sick.
"Yup, you look even more like you now." Ranma gave him a big grin and
pat the boy on the back.
"Great, too hell with it then!" Duke stood tall and continued towards
the Ucchan; Ranma and Akane couldn't bear it any longer and burst into
laughter.
Ukyo Konji sat at the grill staring intently at the TV screen and sighed
with longing; On the screen was an older animated version of Duke staring
into the eyes of a beautiful dark haired woman in her twenties. The girl
barely noticed Ranma when he entered the room and quickly stared at the
television again after greeting him and ignoring the other two people.
"Darling, I would rather die than forsake you to these bastards." said
the TV Duke to the girl as he was drug away by two large men, the girl
reached for him and they forced a quick kiss before Duke was ripped off
her and pulled back again.
"Come back for me!" she cried from the small cell that she had been
placed in.
"I promise!" said the man as the door closed leaving her in silence with
a shadowy figure.
"I doubt he will keep his word these tombs are full of dangerous traps
and my men, even if he escapes execution he will never return here alive.
The diamond of Wan Tsu is mine, and so are you my dear." the man had a
heavy European accent and he laughed for a moment to himself before
leaving the girl alone.
"My husband will never leave me, and you'll be dead!" screamed the woman
as the man exited and shut the door on her. "Sedate her." he told one of
the door guards; With that the screen went black with the words "To be
continued..." appearing on the corner of the screen.
Duke noticed he was dressed like Indiana Jones in that episode and
frowned a little. "That girl sure seemed familiar to me; I wonder who she
was."
Ranma and Akane looked nervous and said nothing, Ukyo overheard him and
whirled around.
"You dope! That was Duke's wife! They are running a marathon of the best
episodes on this channel all week!" the girl swooned dramatically for a
moment. "Man that was great, he's the only man who could possibly take me
from my Ranchan."
"Really? I'll hold you to that." Duke smiled weakly and took his eyes
away from the screen; he really shouldn't have watched that, but it was
difficult not too in this world.
Ukyo finally noticed the new comer and glared at him for a moment before
turning beet red. "Ha ha, your a riot; what is this Ranma your idea of a
joke?"
"Ah, not exactly, Ucchan meet Duke Hibiki." Ranma nervously introduced
them and stepped back.
"Hi, nice to meet you, your a pretty good impersonator I must say." she
smiled and shook his hand, he was surprised by this unusual western
custom.
"Well at least you know I'm American, I get tired of bowing all the
time." Duke returned her grip and smirked.
"So are you here for some sort of promotion? How do you know my
Ranchan?" Ukyo asked the questions nonchattingly as she cooked a few
Okonomiyaki for them.
"Uh, Ukyo...I don't think you get it. This is the real Duke, he's not an
impersonator." Akane looked more embarrassed than ever.
"Your kidding right?" said the girl skeptically.
Ranma shook his head and looked away, Duke was getting annoyed by this,
"Geeze! It's not you guys who should be embarrassed by this, your acting
like you introducing Santa Clause to her!"
"It's kind of the same thing Duke." said Akane apologetically.
"I suppose so, but you should at least try to act like your not ashamed
of me!" Duke turned back to see Ukyo glaring at him angrily with her
spatula aimed at his head.
"What are you talking about, have you tricked my Ranchan?" she screamed
as she tried to beat him over his head.
"I'm getting a little sick of this," muttered Duke, he had stopped the
spatula in mid strike with his palm and taken it from Ukyo�s grip easily.
"Look here girl, I'm Duke Hibiki, if you want to make something of it
we'll go outside and settle it!"
Ukyo looked him over again and sat down calmly setting an Okonomiyaki
down in front of each of them. "So how did you get here?"
Ranma spoke up first, "He says that Gosunkugi kid had something to do
with it."
"I'm going to talk with him about it tonight, the first thing I did when
I got here was punch him in the face; there's no way I'd trust him to get
me back and I doubt if he'll be much help right now." Duke frowned a
little. "Maybe he got a hold of the Naniban mirror or something, I don't
see how though."
"That thing broke a long time ago." said Ranma lazily.
"Your right about that, but it's the only magical artifact in your world
I know about that could do something like this, unless it's something
new." Duke slumped down and looked at his food for a moment before
eating.
"Well maybe all he had was a piece of it?" Akane looked at them both and
smiled cheerfully.
"Akane that could be it! If that is true it's possible that only I was
brought here!" Duke grinned and jumped out of his chair.
"You think that someone else might have come too?" Ranma looked
surprised at this.
"Yes, that's why I've been hanging around here, they are bound to be
attracted to the activity! I haven't been actively looking for a way home
because I wasn't sure if I was alone here." Duke pat Ranma on the back
and smiled at him. "Sorry about all the trouble I've caused you and I
hope she's right! If she is I'll be out of your hair in no time!"
"Not before we have a rematch!" Ranma stood and grabbed Duke by his
shirt.
"You mean, the rumors are true?" Ukyo looked at them in surprise. "I
didn't think Ranma could lose!"
"I'm afraid so, and I wouldn't leave Ranma hanging that way; You'll get
your rematch, I swear it; just not until your ready." Duke smiled as
Ranma returned to his chair and smirked.
"I could take you now."
"We'll see Ranma, don't be in such a rush! We have all the time in this
world if Akane is right!" Duke relaxed and sat back almost losing his
balance on the stool.
Ukyo stood tall and smiled, "You can count me in!"
"Huh?" Duke looked surprised and pleased.
"Ucchan! You can't it's dangerous!" said Ranma defensively.
"How? We aren't fighting anyone yet! You can be so over protective
sometimes Ranchan; besides if you think I'm going to miss out on an
adventure with Duke Hibiki, your nuts!" Ukyo seemed pretty riled up at
the moment.
"Well I'm glad to have any help I can get right now." Duke leaned on the
counter in an attempt to prevent himself from leaning back again, it was
a bad habit and he was going to pay for it sooner or later. "Say where is
the other Hibiki in this world? I haven't met Ryoga yet and I'd like to
before I leave."
"Good luck, it could be weeks before we see him again." said Ranma
sounding annoyed; Akane elbowed him in the ribs and he coughed roughly
after giving her an angry look.
"I'll introduce you the next time he stops by." said the girl with a
weak smile.
"Thanks, I always was interested in him, he's an unusual pig; Uh, I
mean...man." Akane wasn't quite sure what to make of that comment but
Ranma simply rolled his eyes and smiled.
TBC.....
This is funny damn it! So write something and tell me about it!
C&C to CarrotGlace@juno.com
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