Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Storm Warning-Part 2 ❯ Chapter 17

This story contains scenes of explicit sex, naughty words, and other horrible, offensive things.  If you are underage in you house, village, town, city, community, state, province, country, or continent: READ NO FURTHER!  If that type of thing offends your tender sensibilities, or you are stupid: READ NO FURTHER!  All characters are the copyright of their respective creators and/or owners; no copyright infringement is intended by this story.  Any resemblance to people, places, or situations alive, dead, or otherwise is purely coincidental.

 

Chapter 17

That Evening

 

“You're fucked.”

 

Tank scowled at the PokeChess board between him and Ruri, but saw nothing to contradict the Ice Maiden's calm, flat announcement of victory. Giving up, he growled, “One more time!” Then he hit the reset button, causing the board and the figures on it to shimmer, before reappearing in their beginning positions while the cards that were also an integral part of the game, reshuffled themselves into neat piles. Washu's scientific brilliance could be decidedly useful at times, although a bit scary and dangerous as well.

 

While the two waited for the game to finish the setting up process, Ruri observed in her usual emotionless voice, “I am at a loss as to why you are such a poor PokeChess player, Tank. You seem to have some skill at the practical, real world utilization of Pokegirls in combat and you have been quick to absorb my instructions in this game. When faced with an actual match, however, you appear to be incapable of formulating even the slightest semblance of a strategy that might give you victory.” Tank's face reddened at this brutal assessment of his PokeChess abilities, but said nothing as the Pokegirl went on. “In addition, you don't take the time to look beyond the actual position of your opponent's pieces in an attempt to pierce what they are planning in the future. This is a grave error.”

 

“I know, I know!” Tank scowled at the three-tiered board before him. “It seems so obvious and clear in lessons, but when I'm actually playing a game…” The teenager trailed off helplessly.

 

“You lose all reasoning ability,” Ruri summed up flatly. “Very well, let us try-”

 

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

 

The Pokegirl's sentence was cut off by the sound of someone knocking on the room's door. Ruri and Tank exchanged looks, the Tamer shrugging to indicate he wasn't expecting anyone. Tank got to his feet gesturing for Ruri to remain where she was and approached the door. Looking through the peephole he got a distorted view of who was outside. It was a deeply tanned man with the brightest orange hair the teenager had ever seen. The color would have been odd enough, but when you added in the fact that it was cut in a fashion that left it ascending up off his head like a large spike, its strangeness was redoubled. In addition the man's clothes weren't very normal either. He seemed to be wearing a pair of bright yellow coveralls with no shirt of any kind underneath. I wonder who this weirdo is? Tank thought even as he unlocked and opened the door.

 

“Ahchoo!” The first thing out of the stranger's mouth was an explosive sneeze and he rubbed at his red, runny nose as Tank stammered out a bless you. The pause gave Tank an opportunity to get a better view of the newcomer. The thing that stood out seeing him face to face, in addition to his hair and clothes, was that he was fairly tall, a couple of inches taller than Tank and well built, muscles rippling under his tanned skin.

 

“Hey, brudder. Is it always dis cold here?”

 

Tank blinked in surprise at the question before managing to answer, “Uh, well…Winter's just starting so it's going to get a lot colder soon, but Gash is considered one of the warmer places in the Great White League. You know, because of the volcano and all.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I got ya brudder. But geeze, it still seems pretty cold to me, ya know?”

 

Tank nodded his head and waited for the man to add something, but when it was clear he didn't have anything else to say he tried to prompt the older man; “Uh, so can I help you with something, Mr…?”

 

“Oh! Geeze, I'm sorry! My name's Wakka, brudder,” Wakka clasped Tank's hand in a very strong handshake.

 

Wakka? Tank thought. That name sounds familiar…Now where did I hear it? The teenager gave a mental shrug, unable to recall at the moment where he had heard the other man's name and said, “I'm Tank. Nice to meet you, Wakka. So, how can I help you?”

 

“Uh, yeah…” The darkly tanned man rubbed his nose uncomfortably, obviously quite nervous. “Do ya think, maybe, that I could…ya know…that I could come in?”

 

Tank paused for a moment before stepping back from the door, allowing the older man in. “All right. This is Ruri by the way.” Wakka gave a short wave toward the Ice Maiden who answered it with a solemn nod of her head, her face expressionless. Again Tank waited for Wakka to tell him what he wanted, but sighed as the other man simply rubbed the back of his head and occasionally sniffed his nose. “Well?” Tank finally prodded. “Is there something you want?”

 

“Uh…Yeah…Well, ya know…I was watching your fight today in da arena and…”

 

Tank frowned, “Look, if you want any of my Pokegirls, you can forget it! I'm not interested in trading any of them and I'm not looking to schedule any PokeBattles either!” The teenager's voice was much sharper than normal, but ever since the battle dozens of Tamers and dealers in Pokegirls had been hassling him about those subjects. Frankly, he was getting plenty sick of it.

 

“No, no! Dat's not it at all, brudder,” Wakka reassured the angry youth. “I was… Well, I was just wonderin' if…If Lulu was OK, ya know?”

 

Again Tank was momentarily stunned into silence by the other man's response. “Uh, yeah, she's fine. She's going through a healing cycle now, but there's nothing seriously wrong with her.”

 

“Oh, dat's good. Real good!” Seeing Tank's questioning look, Wakka went on, “Uh, maybe ya don't know, brudder, but Lulu used ta be my Pokegirl. My first one, actually. We came here from the Orange League together and…”

 

As Wakka continued his story, Tank finally remembered where he had heard Wakka's name. Wakka! That's the guy the Permafrost Gym Leader said he traded with to get Lulu before he lost her to Kuno! And didn't Lulu say she was missing something when I first talked with her…A box or something?

 

While Tank was thinking those matters over, Wakka was wrapping up his story. “So, dat's why, ya know, I was kinda interested in how she was doin'.”

 

“I understand, Wakka.” Tank paused for a moment before continuing. “By the way, when I was first talking with Lulu, she mentioned some kind of box or something that she was missing. The Permafrost Gym Leader said he hadn't seen anything like it, do you happen to have it?”

 

“A box?” Wakka frowned in thought, knocking his head slightly with his knuckles. “A box…Oh, yeah! That box! Yeah, I got dat still. I think... somewhere.”

 

“Uh, would it be possible for you to find it for me? Lulu seemed pretty interested in getting it back.”

 

“No problem, brudder! I'll root around for dat ting tonight and find it for ya!” Wakka's bright expression suddenly became a bit more shamefaced. “Uh, but do ya tink ya could just…maybe, ya know not mention me to Lulu for a couple of days, brudder?”

 

“Yeah, OK,” Tank agreed. “But why?”

 

“Well, she's got kinda a temper on her, ya know? I don't tink…”

 

Tank nodded in understanding, “OK. I'm planning on leaving Gash pretty soon anyway, so I promise I won't tell her about you or give her back the box until we're well outside of town.”

 

“Thanks, brudder!” Wakka grasped Tank's hand gratefully. “I appreciate it!” Suddenly his mood changed again, becoming a bit regretful and wistful. “It ain't dat I didn't like her, ya know brudder? She was my first Pokegirl, like I said before, but…I don't know. She was kinda, just too…too…too much, ya know brudder?” When the teenager again nodded his head, the older man cautiously asked, “By da way, if ya don't mind me askin'…Uh, how do ya, ya know….?”

 

“Well, I do have Asuka, my Killer Queen,” Tank added noticing Wakka's confusion on hearing the other Pokegirl's name. “She and Lulu have become very… close.”

 

“Yes,” Ruri suddenly added from her seat behind the PokeChess board, making Wakka jump in surprise. The Ice Maiden could be so quiet and self-effacing that it was easy to forget about her, which of course only made her more dangerous. “Their personalities and proclivities do seem to be perfectly well-matched.”

 

“Oh…Yah, OK,” Wakka nodded his head. “I got ya, brudder. Well,” The darkly tanned man moved toward the door, followed by Tank. “Dat's all I wanted to see ya `bout. Sorry for da trouble.”

 

“It's no trouble at all,” Tank reassured him, holding the door open for the other Tamer. “Thank's for stopping by.”

 

“So I'll just drop that box off for ya tomorrow, OK brudder?”

 

“Sounds good,” Tank agreed, then frowned as a sudden thought struck him. “I'm going to be out running a few errands tomorrow, so if I'm not in just drop it off at the front desk, OK? It should be fine there.”

 

“OK. Take care, brudder.” The two men shook hands once again and then Tank closed and locked the door before resuming his seat at the table with Ruri.

 

“Humans certainly can be quite strange,” The Ice Maiden observed as she made the opening move in the game.

 

“Yeah, that's for sure,” Tank agreed moving one of his pieces in response.

 

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

 

“Shit!”

 

The Next Day, Late Afternoon

 

Tank rolled his head in an attempt to work a few cricks out of his neck as he walked up the steps of the Gash central police station, skipping every other step with his long legs. He had hoped to stop in earlier in the day, but of course after he had picked up his Pokegirls from the PokeCenter nothing had gone as he had planned. He had wanted to talk to all six Pokegirls who had been in the fight the day before to let them know how proud he was of their efforts and how well they had done. As soon as he had told them of the results, however, everything had gone haywire.

 

It appeared Ryoko had…appropriated some credits and placed a number of bets. Luckily, they were on Tank's team getting a First Level Badge not on actually winning the fight or they would've been screwed. As it was it had worked out quite well, adding some very useful money to their account, but there had been a great deal of squabbling about Ryoko's actions. Once all that had settled down, Tank still had to go actually collect the money, which had taken quite a bit of time and effort.

 

On returning to the hotel he found Lulu's box waiting for him and a message from Joe Douglas, the miner they had made a deal with a few days previously. It appeared his team had indeed found a vein of Dark Stones in the area Washu had indicated they'd be located. Again this was good news as it meant more credits for them in addition to the Fire Stones Washu wanted so much, but meeting with Douglas, confirming their fee and handling all of the details had chewed up yet more of the day.

 

Thus, instead of coming to the police station around noon, it was closer to 4 pm when Tank pushed open the doors and made his way across the entrance area to the front desk. Waiting for the officer on duty, a Growlie with a blue police vest straining to contain her sizeable bosom and a police hat cocked back on her head, to deal with the person in front of him, Tank rubbed his head thoughtfully. Well, if we go down that one trail, we'll be alongside the train tracks. That'll mean more protection, but it's also the obvious route. On the other hand, if we…

 

“Excuse me, sir? May I help you?”

 

The Pokegirl police officer's voice forced Tank back to reality. He blinked away his thoughts on the future and replied, “Uh, yeah. I was wondering if I could talk with Investigator Collins?”

 

“Investigator Collins? Who should I say wants to talk with him?”

 

“My name's Tank.”

 

“Very well, please wait a moment, sir,” The Growlie picked up a phone from the shelf behind the counter top and began talking into it quietly. Tank was left twiddling his thumbs for a few minutes until the Pokegirl replaced the phone's handset and said, “I'm sorry, but Investigator Collins isn't in the station at the moment. You should be able to catch him if you come in tomorrow around 10 or so, though.”

 

“Uh, can I leave him a message?”

 

“Certainly, sir.” The police officer reached down and picked up a pen and a notepad, placing both items in front of the teenager. “Just write down your message and I'll make sure Investigator Collins gets it.”

 

“Thanks,” Tank shuffled slightly to the side letting the person behind him approach the counter as the Growlie nodded at him before turning her attention to the next person. Tank opened the notepad and paused, wanting to be careful in how he worded the note. Then, just as he was placing pen to paper he was interrupted.

 

“Hey, Tank! How's it going?” Tank turned at the cheery voice and saw Investigator Collins approaching him with Rally, the Officer Jenny Tank had met the first time at the station, by his side. Trailing them slightly were the Special Agents Guile and Chun-Li. All had their attention firmly fixed on the young Tamer.

 

“I caught the fight yesterday, congratulations!” Investigator Collins offered with a smile, extending his right hand to shake with the teen. “It made me wish I had laid a few best on it!” The policeman ignored his Pokegirl's huff of exasperation at his lack of professionalism and went on, “So, what can we do for you?”

 

“Well, I just wanted to see if you need me for anything else.”

 

“Nope, we've asked all the questions we needed to.” Investigator Collins paused for a moment, then asked, “Are you planning on taking off then?”

 

“Yeah,” Tank confirmed. “I've gotten everything done I wanted to do here. Although it took a bit longer than I had expected,” He admitted wryly. “Anyway, I'd like to make it to the coast before winter really gets going.”

 

Collins chuckled, “Yeah, the air will definitely be sweeter than up here. The warmth is nice but I get really sick of the smell sometimes.”

 

Tank nodded his agreement, then shook hands with everyone once again, “Well, I gotta get going. See you around sometime, maybe.” Before the young Tamer could take more than a few steps away, however, he was brought up short by the hard voice of Inspector Guile.

 

“Any idea about where exactly you'll be staying, Tank?”

 

Tank stopped, then turned slowly to directly face the taller, muscular man. “Not yet,” He lied. “Like I said, somewhere along the coast. It'll depend on our money, I guess. Why? I thought you guys didn't need me for anything else.”

 

“That's true,” Chun-Li's voice was softer than her partner's, but equally tough and serious. “But this group is after you for a reason. They're not the types to just let you walk away because of a single failure. They'll be back and it would be better for all concerned, you as well as us, that we be ready for them.”

 

“We will be ready,” Tank said shortly, the inflection in his voice making it clear he meant himself and his Harem, not any of the PokeLeague Officials he was currently talking to. “Now if that's all, I've got things to do.” Not getting any response, the Tamer nodded his head sharply and turned on his heel to make his way through the police station's lobby. He walked steadily enough, but he couldn't help but feel an itch between his shoulder blades until the front door closed behind him.