Natsumi, The Magical Girl Episode 2

Business was slow at Ucchan's today, but Ukyou was still hard at
work in her restaurant. Coming to Nermia over the weekend was an
important business conference, and Ucchan's was just a block
away from the conference. Ukyou expected to make quite a bit of
profit from this weekend, and she owed it all to BFC who was
sponsoring the Conference. If it wasn't for the BFC, she would be
struggling to make a profit, but with BFC executives eating
here, especially Mine, she was making more money than she had ever
made before at Ucchan's.

"Mail, Ukyou-san!!"

"Hai!!" Ukyou began to look through the mail, and found out that
her mail was, as always, mostly bills. But there was one thing
that caught her eye, a invitation addressed to her to attend the
martial arts cooking competition this weekend. "All right, at
last I can show Ran-chan that I'm the best fiancee for him!...
Wait a minute...Oh no!!" Ukyou cried out. The contest was to be
held this weekend, the weekend of the business conference. Ukyou
sighed, she couldn't afford to close Ucchan's this weekend.

"Oh man...Why can't things ever work out for me?!"

>From across the street Mine continued her stake out of Ukyou.
When she first started her plan, she needed some way to get closer 
to her intended target, and after a few weeks of watching Ucchan's, 
she had at last found a way to complete phase one of her plan. 
Soon she would be on her way to achieving supreme power for herself
and the BFC.

			Richard Beaubien

			       Presents

		   Natsumi, the Magical Girl

        Episode 2: Chestnuts and Chop Suey, Natsumi can cook!!

It was your average day at the Tendo dojo, which meant a couple
of things. One was that Ranma and Akane were in the middle of
their usual afternoon argument. Also it meant that Nabiki was
once again plotting to blackmail the major corporations in the
world. However, unlike most normal days where Kasumi usually
would be doing some housework, instead Kasumi was busy visiting
her family shrine.
									
"Mom, please help...I don't know what you want me to do...I want 
to be Natsumi...yet I can't...can't.." Kasumi managed to mutter 
in between her tears. Nabiki noticed Kasumi crying and started 
to walk down towards her.

"What's up, Kasumi?"

"Nothing much...Just paying my respects." Kasumi said as she wiped
away her tears. Nabiki however didn't believe Kasumi as she knew
something was wrong, and more importantly she knew what was wrong
with Kasumi. "It's Natsumi, isn't it?"
 									
"Well...Yes it is. I don't know if I can do this, Nabiki. I'm not 
the superhero type...I can't do this ...I'm sorry, mom!!" Kasumi
cried as she started to hug Nabiki.

"Onnechan, it's all right!! I know you can do this, I've always
had faith in you."

"Nabiki-chan..."

"And I'm sure Mom knows that you can do this, or else she
wouldn't have given you such power.." Nabiki whispered to Kasumi,
trying to hold back her own tears. For most of her teenage
years, Nabiki thought she had come to terms with her mother's
death, yet during the past few weeks she had discovered that
she had not dealt with her mother's death. She was still brought
to tears when she received her business set, which meant
she had a weakness. And if she had a weakness she could be hurt,
hurt like she was when her mother died.

"Nabiki-chan?"
									
"Ahh...I've gotta go do some work, Onnechan.." Nabiki blurted out 
as she started to move away from Kasumi. She needed a diversion
so Kasumi couldn't see her cry, she couldn't let people know
she could be hurt like before. Fortunately Akane just happened to
provide such a diversion.

"Kasumi-onnechan!! Guess what, I've been invited to attend a
martial arts cooking contest this weekend. At last I'll show
everyone that I'm a great cook, just like Mom said I could be..."
									
"That's great news, Akane!!" exclaimed Kasumi, showing no signs of 
the tears she had cried earlier.
									
"Yeah, and you'll win too, Akane.." Ranma muttered as he appeared 
out of nowhere.
									
"Really, Ranma.." Akane looked lovingly at Ranma. It was as if all 
was right with their relationship.
									
"Yeah, your cooking is already classified as a lethal weapon, 
so..." Ranma said without thinking, which was a shame because if 
he thought things through, he wouldn't have been hit by a hammer 
with a velocity of over 100 m/s.

"Ranma no Baka!!!" Nabiki just sighed, at least something's
stayed 'normal' around here. And if things went according to the
norm, they would have their usual unwanted visitor pop in right
about....

"Nihao, Ranma!!"

"Oh man, Shampoo..."

"Why are you here, Shampoo?" Akane asked with a hint of venom in 
her voice.

"None of your Business, violent girl. Shampoo here to tell Ranma
that she will win cooking contest for him.."

"Not the martial arts cooking contest!?"

"Why yes, once Shampoo win it, Ranma sure to marry her!!"
Shampoo yelled through the microphone that appeared out of
nowhere. "Oh no, I'm going to win this contest, Shampoo..."
Akane replied in a voice of confidence.

"Ha, violent girl lucky if Judges even survive food..."

"You Bimbo, I'll show you cooking!!!"

The two girls had a grim determination on their faces that
immediately told Ranma that the two girls were about to fight.
Ranma just sighed, maybe he should enter the tournament after all, 
just to prevent these two from destroying the contest. He did
after all receive a invitation for a 'Ranko', but he had planned 
to ignore it. Yet with Akane and Shampoo in this contest, he had 
to go to prevent major property damage, and to also show them 
that Ranma Saotome is the only person that can win these insanely 
stupid martial arts contests.

Kasumi started to head to the kitchen to avoid the impending
crisis, and also to make some sandwiches for the combatants.
She started to slice some bread when Nabiki came into the kitchen.
"There are some sandwiches on the counter, Nabiki-chan.."
								
"No thanks, Onnechan. I came in here to ask you a question..."

"What is it?" a curious Kasumi asked her younger sister.

"Would you enter this cooking contest as Natsumi?"

"What!?" Kasumi didn't know what to make of the question.
"Why?"

"Two reasons. One, it will give you an opportunity to train for
any more Youma attacks.." Nabiki then waited for a dramatic pause. 
"Two, it'll be a great marketing opportunity..."
									
A huge bead of sweat appeared on Kasumi's forehead. It seemed
like the only thing Nabiki thought about was money, but then
again, she was right about one thing, she could use the training.
"All right, I'll do it."

"Thank you, Onnechan!! I'll take care of the details!!" Nabiki
yelled as she ran out of the kitchen. If things worked out she
could make a killing in marketing and Kasumi would pick up the
self confidence she needed. Nabiki started to smile, she had a
plan that could make her some money and it wouldn't hurt
anybody in the process.

Kasumi just stood in the kitchen, wondering if she could handle
this. She turned to look at the family shrine when she thought
she heard her mother's voice. "You can do it, Kasumi, I know you
can..."

Kasumi sighed, "I hope you're right, mother...I hope you're right."

****

Lunch at the BFC is like lunch at every other corporation in the
world. People would gather together and discuss business,
or perhaps discuss the fate of their favorite sports team. And
usually that's what happens at the BFC, except for the superiors
of the corporation. Oh sure, they would get together at lunch and
discuss business. But the business they would discuss would not
be the usual business of money and how to make it, rather they
would discuss a much more sinister enterprise. Such a meeting was
happening today at the BFC involving Mine, a younger Youma, and
their immediate superior.

"My lady, I would like to know why she has been given the
authority to go ahead with this silly 'Martial Arts cooking
contest'?" Mine asked as she hurled an acid look towards the
younger youma.

"Mine, she has provided a rather good plan to get us some Martial 
artists without attracting suspicion to the BFC like the first plan 
did."
									
"Using a dummy corporation, Sabre 2000 knifes, we will lure the
best of Nerima's martial artists into a trap they can't escape
from; my little cooking contest. Ha!!" The younger youma
exclaimed in a voice that radiated confidence. Mine, however,
didn't share the younger youma's feelings of confidence. "It
sounds like your typical 'bad guy' setup for a trap, do you
really expect it to work?"

The younger youma was about to respond to the accusations
when their superior motioned her to stop. "Enough in-fighting,
we're on the same team here. Mine, my decision stands to let her
go ahead with this trap. I will not tolerate any more questioning of
my decisions. My decisions are made for the best interest of
the company and the 'Master Vision' BFC has for the future. Do you
understand Mine.."

"Yes, My lady.."

"Good, I hope we won't have this problem in the future. As for
the other plan, I see no reason why it should not go ahead. If it 
works, the BFC shall have the best natural resources in the world. 
If it fails, then the failure will have to be accounted for, with 
the usual penalties for wasting company resources."

The younger youma froze at the mention of those last words. She
knew the price of failure, and she did not want to pay such a
severe price. "I won't fail you, My lady.." the youma stuttered
as she disappeared from the office.

"Well, Mine, any other questions?"

"No, my Lady, I'll be going now." Mine then bowed to her leader
as she started to leave the office, hiding the slight smile that was
on her face. What the younger youma didn't know was that
Mine knew about her plan from the beginning. And that Mine in fact,
had wanted her to go ahead with the plan. It would after all
lead to total failure, and the elimination of another potential
adversary. And the one person Mine needed to complete phase
one of her plan would be left out of this snafu because of the
business conference she had scheduled for this weekend. With this
conference, Ukyou Kounji would be hers for the taking.

****

It was the day of the cooking contest, and it seemed like the
whole of Nerima was there to enjoy this spectacle. Certainly
it helped to have an announcer yelling:
"All right people, Sabre 2000 presents the best of the best, the
greatest of the greatest!! It's the martial arts cooking contest!!!
Get your tickets now as the contest begins in under two hours!!!"
And the public did line up to get the tickets, not suspecting the 
whole setup to be your average youma trap. But the announcer
didn't care, for if this plan worked, the BFC would have enough
power to make everyone here into their slaves.

The competitors also didn't suspect this to be a trap, but they
were more preoccupied with more important things. Akane was
thinking of ways to make an edible chow mein, Shampoo was
thinking of ways to hurt Akane and win Ranma's heart, and Ranma
was thinking of ways to keep the property damage to a minimum.
Yep, they were so busy thinking of these things that they missed
any signs pointing to a youma trap, which was supposed to mean
smooth sailing for the youma. However it wasn't...

"What do you mean Ukyou hasn't shown up yet!!" The youma yelled
at her underling. If Ukyou didn't show up, she would not have the
four martial artists that she promised to bring her boss. And
her boss would consider this to be a failure, with its usual
penalties. "I need another Martial artist right now, find me one
or else face the consequences!!!"

Nabiki let a slight grin appear on her face as she overheard the
last statement. It seemed that she now had the perfect way to
get Natsumi into this little contest. "Excuse me, but I may be
able to help you find another martial artist..."

"You can?!"

"Trust me..." Nabiki replied in a voice that did everything but
encourage a feeling of trust.

"Just bring her here!!"

"Okay.." Nabiki yelled as she turned the corner and entered the
ladies room. In there was Kasumi waiting for the signal. "All
right, we're in, but how are you gonna change into Natsumi?"

"Like this, Nabiki...Love power TRANSFORM!!" Suddenly a strange
glow enveloped Kasumi. Her outfit dissolved away as energy
moved up and down her body. A lemon yellow skirt formed around
her waist, and a lime-green top appeared above it. A bright
yellow bow, boots of the same colour and white gloves finished
off the ensemble as the broach settled into the center of the bow.
"Well, let's go, Nabiki.."

"Well, that would work...I just have one more question.."

"What is it, Nabiki?"

"Can I use your transformation scene for the Hentai market?"

A large bead of sweat appeared on Natsumi's forehead. "Nabiki!!"

"Okay, Okay...we'll stay with the kid's market.. It's more
lucrative anyway.." Nabiki muttered as she and Natsumi started
to walk out of the restroom. Natsumi looked down at her sister
with a loving look in her eye. Even though she did almost
anything for money, when the chips were down Nabiki would
always pull through for her family. After all, Nabiki did do that
creative book keeping that kept the family in the black ever
since Ranma started to live at the dojo. And right now Nabiki
had the grim look of determination that told everyone to not
cross her or her family or else they would face the consequences.

The youma was of course the target of this gaze. But she
didn't catch the gaze. Nope, she was busy looking at the fighter
Nabiki had brought for her, and started to curse fate for
bringing her a magical girl. "It's okay, you're in.." the youma
muttered in a defeated voice. She started to wonder if it was
too late to start a less stressful job, something like hostage
negotiations.

"Thanks a lot.." Nabiki then hugged Natsumi, and
whispered, "Do your best!!" Natsumi started to smile,
and then proceeded to the main arena where the contest
would be held. She still had her doubts as to whether she
would succeed or fail. But with Nabiki and her mother supporting
her, Natsumi felt like she could do anything.

The youma, however, thought she could do nothing right. Her
perfect plan would be ruined by this magical girl. But there was
still one way to save face in front of her boss. She could
eliminate this pest of a magical girl, and bring home
three martial artists plus a magical girl to her boss. Then
she would prove once and for all that she was the best
Youma in the BFC, and that she deserved to be promoted.
A nervous smile appeared on her face, today would either be her
greatest victory or her greatest defeat.

****

The arena was packed with spectators awaiting the contest. The
arena was packed for two reasons, one was the usual high level
of combat that people know and love in Nerima. The second reason 
was the fact that the crowd would in fact judge this event which 
meant one thing, free food. Maybe that was the reason why the
majority of the crowd looked like college students. But the
crowd was excited no matter what age group they were from, and
it took the hissing of the PA system to silence the crowd.

"Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Martial arts cooking
contest. Let us introduce the four competitors; first from the
Tendo Dojo, Akane Tendo!!" Akane walked in to a round of applause,
although some of the audience turned blue at the thought of
eating Akane's infamous cuisine.

"Our next competitor hails from China, please welcome Shampoo!!"
Shampoo walked out to the arena to another defining round of
applause. The people that had turned blue started to perk up at
the prospect of eating Shampoo's world famous Ramen. The people
there for the martial arts began to salivate at the mouth. Akane 
and Shampoo usually produced fights that blew away most
martial arts films, even some of Jackie Chan's greatest.

"Our third competitor hails from the Tendo Dojo as well; please
welcome Ranko Tendo.." The arena became deadly quiet as
Ranma-chan entered. If the fight fans weren't already drooling,
they were now. With Ranma-chan in this contest, they were
guaranteed a fight they would remember for the rest of their
lives. Those in the audience that knew of Ranma, Akane, and
Shampoo were also anticipating a great fight, especially with
the bad blood between these three formidable martial artists.

"And our final competitor is Natsumi!!" The arena was
rocking with noise as Natsumi entered, but it wasn't
applause for her. Rather the crowd was busy debating
which of the three martial artists would survive the
impending showdown. Only four people paid attention
to Natsumi, one of whom was Nabiki. The other three
were her competitors.

"All right, let's begin!!" the announcer said as the youma 
took her place in the crowd. The four competitors immediately
proceeded to their kitchens to plan their strategy. Akane
looked over to the mysterious fourth competitor and decided
not to attack her unless she absolutely had to. For some weird
reason, this Natsumi reminded her of Kasumi. She also decided
to stay away from Shampoo for the time being and focus on
Ranma as her first target. After all, she'd never be able to live
through the embarrassment of Ranma winning a cooking contest
over her.

Ranma-chan was also thinking about strategy. She too didn't
want to attack Natsumi, though not for the same reasons as
Akane. Ranma-chan wanted to wait and see what skill this girl
had before they had to fight. She also wanted to stay away from
Shampoo as Ranma knew Shampoo would try to hug her at any
moment, which would lead to the usual mess of problems. So that
only left one option open for her, and that was Akane Tendo.

Shampoo's strategy session was much simpler. She knew she had
to eliminate two people, one of them being Akane Tendo, the 
other being this Natsumi person. And Shampoo would take care 
of Natsumi first, so she could spend the remainder of her time
plotting the defeat her main rival, Akane Tendo.

Natsumi was not planning attack strategy though, rather she
was the only person of the 4 competitor who was actually
cooking something. She had already completed a miso soup when
she heard something moving behind her. She just managed to duck
an incoming Bonbori, and started to move into a defensive stance 
as she prepared for another attack. In front of her stood Shampoo 
in an attack position, ready to strike.

"You give up, so Shampoo no have to hurt.."

"I'm sorry, I can't give up!!"
  								
"Then I attack!!!" Shampoo suddenly sprinted towards Natsumi with
her remaining Bonbori in her hand. Natsumi just stood there
as Shampoo ran towards her with the bonbori ready to strike.
But Natsumi was able to move out of the way as Shampoo reached her,
and was able to grab her wrist and flip Shampoo onto her back.
Shampoo was able to recover immediately and readied herself for
a counter attack. Natsumi once again had a defensive stance, but
she also began to think. She wondered how she was able to do
such a move; she hadn't studied martial arts since she was a little
kid. However, Natsumi's flashback was interrupted as Shampoo
ran in with a spinning side kick that Natsumi was able to duck.

The crowd was loving the fight between Natsumi and Shampoo. They
didn't expect this newcomer to be such a good martial artist,
but she was putting up a great show against Shampoo. Nabiki was
yelling at the top of her lungs, as she hoped Natsumi would
show Shampoo who was the better fighter. But Nabiki was also
wondering how Kasumi picked up this level of martial arts skill.
The broach would definitely not give her this level of martial
arts skill. No, this skill could only come from years of training,
training Kasumi never had.

The youma was also enjoying the fight, although for different
reasons than the crowd. She enjoyed seeing this magical girl
squirm as she tried to fight off Shampoo's attacks. Unfortunately
Natsumi seemed to be doing a decent job of defending herself.
But still the youma had her advantage, with Natsumi distracted by
Shampoo, she could start her attack now and take all four
competitors by surprise. And Natsumi would go down to a bitter defeat.

****

"Aiya!!!" Shampoo yelled as she flew towards Natsumi trying to
perform a drop Kick. But she didn't make it there, instead her
path was obstructed by millions of giant chow mein noodles.
She and the other three competitors were immediately surrounded by
the tasty yet deadly dish.

"I see you're all ready for the final showdown...Well, I'm not ready to
disappoint!!!" The youma yelled as she began her
transformation. She landed in front of  the encircled Natsumi and
began to laugh the usual evil-youma laugh. "I see you're all tied
up at the moment.. But don't worry!! You'll be dead soon, and the
others.. well, let's just say they will have a career change soon!!
Now prepare for the youma final attack!!! Takeout food Nightmare!!"

Suddenly millions of takeout dishes began to appear around the
youma. The hungry crowd began to drool at the tasty dishes, but
Nabiki ignored them. She was more concerned about Kasumi and
what these dishes would do to her. But she didn't have to worry 
as a sphere of green energy surrounded Natsumi. In a matter of
minutes the chow mein noodles that had surrounded Natsumi were
gone. The youma looked on in shock as Natsumi prepared for
another attack. "Cooking should be an activity of enjoyment, not
an act of terror. And I won't have you use cooking to further your
acts of evil. In the name of love, I'm Natsumi, the magical girl"

Bright green energy flared around Natsumi as she prepared
to attack. The youma didn't try to escape, after all this
death would be far less painful than the one she would
experience at the hands of the BFC. "....love power Strike *NOW*"

The energy engulfed the youma, and slowly it started to disappear
into nothingness. Natsumi collapsed onto the floor, exhausted.
She once again began to wonder if she could handle the job of
saving the world. After all, she did fall into a stereotypical
youma trap, and she was the one who was supposed to protect
people from these traps. However this train of thought was
interrupted by the sight of Shampoo running towards her. She
prepared herself for an attack, but was surprised by what 
Shampoo did.

"Thank you, Natsumi-san, you save Shampoo so Shampoo no
attack." Natsumi immediately let out a huge sigh of relief. She
really didn't want to fight Shampoo right now. She really didn't
want to do anything, but the crowd had different ideas. They
started to cheer and clap, and asked her to do an encore.
Some guys  even asked her if they could date her. Natsumi
just sighed as she started to leave the building. She wasn't
sure she was ready to be a hero, but she was sure of one thing,
she really didn't want to be an idol.

Nabiki, of course, was happy. Natsumi would be the marketing
tool she would use to achieve financial success. Nabiki had
visions of mutual funds dancing in head when she remembered
something, something important. She remembered a news article 
she read a few months ago about Sabre 2000 and a company that
had recently purchased all shares of Sabre 2000. And that
company was BFC, the company that was involved in the
first youma attack. It was hell of a coincidence, and Nabiki 
knew that there was no such thing as coincidence in the world.

****

Ukyou sighed. The business conference that was supposed
to make her a mean profit had in fact made her little more than
a lousy 5 yen piece. It seemed like there wasn't even a
conference in town as nobody came to Ucchan's at all. Well
one person did, but Ukyou knew she could have done something
more productive if she went to that contest, she could have won
the love of her fiance Ranma Saotome.

"What's wrong, Ucchan?" Mine asked in a voice of feigned concern.

"I thought today would be a great business day, so I brushed off
some personal plans. But it turned out that I was wrong so..."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Perhaps I can make the day a better
business day for you. How would you like to join the BFC in a
joint venture to make a restaurant chain?"
								
Ukyou beamed, at last she had a way to achieve financial success.
"Yes, I would love to!!!"

"Great, come back with me to the office and we'll work on the
paperwork!!" Mine replied as she tried to hold back her
laughter. Phase one of her plan would soon be complete, as
soon as she turned Ukyou Kounji into a youma....

End of episode 2

Ja ne!!

Richard Beaubien
------------------
Mizuno Ami-chan forever!!!