Quests of Chaos Chapter 1, a ranma fanfic

QUESTS of CHAOS

A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR:

The inspirations for this story are, among other things, Dragon Quest, Dragon Knight, Dragon Pink, the Final Fantasy series, World of Warcraft, Rift, and a fun Ranma ½ fanfiction by Chibi-Reaper by the title of Towers and Titans (seriously - go read it!).

To this end, the timeframe of the story assumes a somewhat ambiguous sliding contemporary setting as a starting point, as apposed to the mid 80's when the cannon series was made. Thus, most of the characters are at least familiar with computers, the internet, relatively cheep and small cell phones, and a working civilian GPS system.

Ranma and Shampoo are, naturally, not among those fortunate ones blessed with the knowledge and convenience of modern civilization. Sucks for them, right?

Well…

PREREADING AND EDITING ASSISTANCE BY:

Lord Talon.

LAST EDITED:

1/1/2012 - changed the prologue a bit, and made other small changes here and there based on advice from my new pre-readers.

1/2/2012 - Hopefully finished catching up to all the spelling and grammer errors that had gotten by each sweep until now... ^-^;;

5/31/2012 - more adjustments as the concepts behind the story are refined.

2/10/2016 - formatting adjustments and refinements.

DISCLAIMER:

'Ranma ½' and all characters therein belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. This fanfic has been produced for my own enjoyment and to pass on without profit. Other characters that come into play in this fanfic may or may not be pulled from other sources (including other fanfics, RPGs, manga, anime, literature, or possibly even gasp American comic books!).

TAGS:

Comedy Adventure Drama with frequent gratuitous (and probably unnecessary) nudity…

Might even get it out of my system. Who knows…

PROLOGUE:

Ranma sighed as he approached the pavilion and presented the ticket Nabiki had won to the attendant. One of a set of four, which (according to the rules on the pamphlet that came with them) could only be distributed amongst residents in the same home. Naturally, their fathers had seized on this as a way to force Akane and him together, despite Ranma's near total lack of familiarity with all things related with computers. Even he knew that, despite Pop's claims to the contrary, managing to play a few arcade games over the years, and being 'Player Two' occasionally on someone else's game system was not the same thing as being a master of computer games, let alone whatever a MMORPG was.

Still, Nabiki had shrugged and stated that as long as the contest officials accepted that he was a part of the household, Ranma could hardly do worse than her father. Which, much to his amusement, took much of the wind out of Mr. Tendo's sails.

After placing a call using the number provided on the pamphlet to confirm that Ranma could participate as himself (and not have to pretend to be a 'fourth' Tendo sister), Nabiki had carefully read over the rules and then distributed the questionnaires for them to fill out, which (along with a set of photos) would be used by the producers of the game being presented at the demo to pregenerate their characters in order to save time.

As compensation for not being able to decide everything themselves, they had been granted the privilege of a permanent two character account in the game for as long as it lasted. Sure, a regular account would have something like eight or ten different slots for different toons, but a free account was a free account, right? Even if one of the free slots was taken up by a permanent, undeletable toon.

Apparently, there were plans in the works to make the premade characters pretty special.

Even better, each account wouldn't count against them if any of them ever did opt to pay for a regular one. And if they did well enough in the LAN party demo, they would each get enough gear to play the game and possibly even up to a full year's worth of game time on their very own gold member accounts!

None of which mattered much to Ranma, despite Nabiki's obvious pleasure at potential free stuff. He figured his old man would somehow screw it up for him eventually.

Ranma was brought out of his self inflicted melancholic reverie when he and the Tendo sisters were brought before a set of isolated booths. One complete, individual set up for each of them, including a monitor, keyboard, mouse, surround sound, soundproofed walls, and a comfy looking office chair with built in speakers and vibration feedback. Everything was stylized with a matching motif that he could only assume was supposed to be mystic, as it used lots of runes, symbols, stones, and crystals.

Well now! This would definitely put a crimp in their fathers' fantasies! It was also fairly evident that Akane had noticed the same thing, as Ranma could see her mood improving as well. Perhaps this wouldn't be a total fiasco after all?

Feeling somewhat relieved and elated, Ranma got into his own booth, sat down as the attendant closed the door, and familiarized himself with the layout. Oddly, what he had assumed to be fake crystal and stone didn't feel like plastic at all, although he supposed that it could still be really good ceramic and glass work instead. The seat of the chair had a plush, silken pillow on it, but otherwise the seat itself was actually quite hard and rigid, if still fairly comfortable to to its design. It was also rather heavy, as if it really was made mostly of crystal and stone, despite turning with quiet ease.

Ranma then turned his attention to the monitor. Thanks to a small amount of practice time that Nabiki had been able to arrange for him on what seemed to be a similar computer game, he knew that he had to use the mouse thingy to move the arrow thingy on the screen, so he looked around for it briefly, spotting it on a pad to the right of the keyboard.

It really was kind of creepy how everything in the booth had matching designs and symbols on them. Heck, the crystals even seemed to glow with an eerie mystical inner light.

Taking a moment to remember what his assigned log in name and password were, Ranma clicked on the appropriate text boxes on the screen and typed them in.

HYRM

4NDR0GYNUS

Both had been Nabiki's idea, and while Ranma still had no idea why the middle Tendo sister found them funny, he couldn't think of any objection to using them either. Especially since he didn't have to use either of those as any of his toon's names. Better than showing them around and admitting ignorance about what Nabiki was teasing him with at any rate.

Hitting enter, Ranma almost blinked as the lines and symbols on everything in the booth flared brightly around him. 'Almost' in that he actually froze in place, not even breathing. He actually had time to wonder just what the heck was happening to him this time when his whole body turned into a misty vapor, which then flowed into a crystal fitting set into headrest of the chair.

All that was left behind was a set of empty clothes and a thin three by five crystal card bearing a three dimensional likeness of his nude male form with his name engraved near the bottom of the forward facing side…

-l-

CHAPTER ONE

-l-

Ranma blinked blearily as she woke up in a mist-shrouded clearing. She could hear birds singing merrily, frogs croaking, and various insects chirping or otherwise making assorted noises. The air smelled clean, pure even, without even a hint of any of the various pollutants she had come to associate with civilization in general. She was lying on a natural bed of moss and, while she could barely see the vaguest hints of the leaves and branches of innumerable trees through the soupy fog, what little she did see and hear suggested that she was in a forest with a stream nearby.

Oh, and she was also completely naked, with no weapons or equipment to speak of…

"What the hell? And when did I turn into a girl?"

-l-

Akane wasn't too happy with the current misadventure Ranma had gotten her (and her sisters…but mostly her) into. Of course, it was some bizarre trap or kidnapping attempt. Of course, it was all Ranma's fault! Naturally she had woken up completely naked in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a creepy-looking fog!

Not that she had ever woken up naked during any of the previous times she'd been kidnapped; but hey, this was one of Ranma's misadventures (at least in her point of view, which ignored the fact that Nabiki was the one who had entered and won the contest) and, like it or not (and Ranma certainly did not like it, despite whatever Akane believed), he was Happosai's chosen heir. Which meant that she had been expecting the pervert to do something like this for a long time now!

Muttering imprecations, epithets, and some alarmingly specific threats towards the absent fiancé she wasn't sure she wanted or not, Akane looked around the hazy glade, picked a random direction, and started walking with determination.

Not that she had any idea where to go, but wherever she ended up, she was going to beat the hell out of somebody!

-l-

Nabiki sat cross-legged on the soft bed of moss she had found herself lying on upon awakening.

She was deep in thought.

Mostly due to the fact that adventures were something that happened to other people. Usually Ranma since his arrival into their home, but even before then this sort of thing occurred occasionally, typically only affecting her peripherally, if at all. This time, the chaos had seemingly centered on her.

As first adventures went, Nabiki thought to herself sardonically, she was starting out about as unprepared as a newbie could get. Her skill set, which lent itself pretty well to a modern, urban setting, was pretty much useless in the middle of nowhere. While she had kept herself fit with dancing and aerobics, she hadn't actively trained in martial arts since her mother died, and considering that she had grown significantly since then, she placed her combat ability as "rusty" at best, and more likely nonexistent. And not only didn't she have any sort of weapon, equipment, she was completely naked, with not even a single coin with which she might rectify any of these issues.

Oh joy…

"Great," Nabiki muttered to herself as she absently folded her arms under her bare bosom and huddled in on herself slightly, "now what am I supposed to do"

As Nabiki continued to ponder her situation, she noticed a sort of display screen taking form in the air before her, seemingly made from shadow and light…

[Tutorial Activated]

[Bonus Objective Complete: Access Tutorial - Success]

"Okay, this is weird," Nabiki commented after reading the screen. Seeing no other means of relaying her inquiries, Nabiki decided to speak her questions aloud, hoping the aberration, if she wasn't just imagining it being there, was voice-activated. "I don't suppose you could tell me what's going on? Oh, and could you show me a Player's Guide, if there is one?" Nabiki had decided that, as inconceivable as it may have been (Jusenkyo curses and such aside), she had somehow been sucked into the game demo she was supposed to be playing. Sure Quests of Chaos was being promoted as 'the Fantasy RPG that will suck you in and makes you a part of the game,' but she had never suspected that they had meant it literally.

The display on the screen changed, and Nabiki began to study the rules of the world she had to work with…

-l-

Kasumi blushed as she hesitantly made her way through the chilly mist shrouded forest, protecting her modesty as well as she was able to with just her arms alone. She wasn't as comfortable with casual nudity as Nabiki and Ranma seemed to be, nor did she have the stubborn bullheadedness of her youngest sister, so she was every bit as frightened and embarrassed as she felt appropriate for her current situation.

Even so, she had gathered up her limited courage and forged her way to the sounds of naturally running water, intending to follow it and (hopefully) return to civilization. She tried not to think too much about the fact that she would be walking around in public if she actually did find a village or town, instead, hoping that once she found help, she would be returned home and reunited with her kitchen and family, more or less in that order.

Oh, and Uncle Genma too, she supposed, having considered Ranma to be part of her family by default.

Pausing at the edge of a new clearing, through which ran the stream she had heard, which fed into a modest sized pond, Kasumi noticed a statue of a beautiful nude woman with angelic wings posed on toes and wingtips as if only just barely flying low enough to brush the top of the flat rock rising from the center of the pond. The statue's arms were spread invitingly, matching the kindly expression on its face, and the sheer aesthetic grace of the display calmed Kasumi to the point where she could almost forget about her own nudity.

At the base of the statue was a small wooden chest, plain, unadorned, and weathered with age. It was rather unassuming and almost unnoticeable, but at the same time it seemed to call out to her once she became aware of it.

Blinking a couple of times, Kasumi's face lost all expression, and her arms fell to her sides as she entered the glade and started wading through the frigid pond in a trance…

-l-

While Ranma was annoyed to find herself naked in the middle of nowhere with neither clothing nor supplies (not to mention the fact that she was also female, which she decided to blame on the thick, chilly fog and gathering morning dew - never mind the fact that she woke up dry), she wasn't particularly worried.

After all, thanks to her father's questionable training methods, Ranma actually knew how to take care of herself in exactly this situation! Well, except for the being female part. Pops put her through extreme survival training years ago, well before they had visited Jusenkyo. Still, it couldn't be too different as a girl.

Heading off towards the sound of the stream had gotten her a cool drink in what anyone else would view as a gorgeous forest grotto where the water emerged from an opening in the rocks on the far side of a shallow pond. Ranma herself would only begrudgingly call it beautiful of course, being more inclined to call the setting 'cool' or 'nifty' instead.

Actually, as she looked over the grotto, she noticed that there seemed to be a small cubby hole behind the falling spring-water that looked like it might have something hidden inside.

"I don't believe this," Ranma spoke aloud to herself as she tried to get a better look. "Who hides a wooden chest in a place like this in the middle of nowhere?"

Ranma stepped right into pond, fully expecting the frigid temperature and immersed herself as quickly as possible in order to get over the shock faster. "Damn, this-s is-s c-c-c-old-d!" she exclaimed as she broke the surface again, teeth already chattering. She almost gave up on the spot, but she knew that she would just have to deal with the inexplicably freezing temperature of the water again anyway if she wanted to see what was in the box, as she couldn't see any other way to get at it, so she waded noisily through the nearly ice-cold water of the pond, trying to get to the chest and back as quickly as she could.

Rubbing her arms as she approached the small waterfall and the wooden container behind it, she was uncomfortably aware of how hard and rigidly erect her nipples had become. She was already shivering uncontrollably as she reached the misty spray kicked up by the small waterfall, but she had already come this far, so she simply stepped into the frigid cascade and pulled the small chest from its nook.

Ranma then quickly made her way over to the nearest edge of the pool low enough for her to be able to get out of the freezing water, which happened to be a somewhat damp slate overhand which she set the chest on so she could clumsily climb onto it. There she lay for a bit on her belly, breasts mashed mercilessly against the cold (but thankfully not frigid) wet stone, too exhausted to do anything other than breathe as her body ever so slowly recovered its precious heat. After what could have been either a few minutes or a few hours as far as Ranma could tell, she finally managed to roll over onto her back and lay there as she gathered her thoughts.

What the hell had just happened?

Really, even assuming that the source of the water was a mountain spring, which was entirely possible for all the further Ranma could see through the persistent dense fog, the pond itself had been unnaturally frigid, and had only gotten more bitingly icy cold the closer she had gotten to the waterfall. The air itself, even with the slight breeze, was merely cool, and for as damp as the misty spray as it was, the rock she was laying on was nowhere near as chilly as it probably should have been considering that the nearby pool should have leached far more of the heat from the surrounding area than it had. Just like it had from her own body.

Magic. It had to be. And Ranma found that she wasn't really surprised about it, as it was the most likely explanation for the whole messed up situation she was in.

Oh well, may as well see if the contents of the chest had been worth all the trouble it took to get it. Looking over the chest briefly, but found nothing particularly remarkable about it. It was a plain design, well weathered, very damp, and without decoration. It didn't even have any sort of lock preventing her from lifting the lid. Since that proved simple enough, the neo-girl looked inside to see if there was anything she could use or sell…

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" she grumbled, finding only a weather stained, threadbare cloth about the size of the palm of her hand, with several rips and holes and a couple of patches of different material, with a ratty looking waist cord looped through the upper hem. There was also a pouch made from very thin pale leather of dubious origin (was that a nipple?) with poorly knit seams that had three tarnished copper coins of indeterminate origin inside. The last item was some sort of translucent ornamental piece of blue glass or stone on a short string. A rough polished blue crystal, perhaps? Or maybe a sapphire? She wasn't sure, but she had the impression that it might be sapphire, and that it might give her a minor dodging bonus if she equipped it. Which she did once she wove her hair into what felt like a familiar braid, using it to tie off the end.

Obviously, Ranma's memories were still screwed up, but she could put off worrying about them until she was finished taking inventory.

The patch of cloth, which had faded to the point where Ranma could only guess at what the original color might have been (it was currently a sort of mottled grey-beige), was easy enough to tie in place. It was almost big enough to hide her groin (if she stood still), and you could only just barely see through the worn fabric (although the holes revealed enough red fluff anyway), so it sort of provided a smidgen of modesty. Maybe. Well, not really, but at least she could work with it.

The pouch, which disturbingly even felt like it was made from some woman's breast, was nonetheless still useful for holding her meager fortune of three copper coins, so she the waist-cord through the belt-straps on the back of it, then tied the waist-cord so that it draped loosely around her hips and let the tiny cloth dangle more or less in front of her vagina. Oddly, she had no actual memories of ever having worn clothing before, but she must have at some point since she obviously knew how to dress herself. She even had a limited amount of funds after a fashion.

Now fully dressed as far as she was concerned, Ranma continued on her way, never noticing the transparent floating screen that briefly showed up behind her. Not that she'd have made much sense of what it displayed anyway…

[Ranma Saotome] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: None]

[Combat Class: Rogue] [Level: 1]

[Combat Role: Hit and Run, stealthy strikes, inflict multiple low damage]

[Armor Type: Cloth (can upgrade to Leather at higher levels)]

[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Dual Light Melee, Light Ranged]

[Regular Moves: Dodge, Double Stab, Flee, Pummel, Rapid Kick]

[Special Moves: Pick Lock, Sneak, Steal]

[Equipped Armor: Tattered Panel]

[Equipped Weapon: Unarmed]

[Accessories: Crude Hair Bauble (+1 Avoidance)]

[Inventory: Worn Breast Pouch]

[Money: 3cp]

[Base Combat Statistics]

[Hit Points: 4] [Mana: 1] [Ki: 2]

[Attack: 2] [Damage: 2] [Move: 4]

[Defense: 2] [Soak: 2] [Avoidance: 4]

-l-

Akane was past the point of being angry, or even livid, and had actually calmed down to the point where she was merely irritated.

She was totally lost, in a fog shrouded forest with virtually no visibility past the length of her arms. She was still completely naked, had no supplies, and was beginning to wonder if leaving the clearing had been such a hot idea.

"Ow!"

And just now she had tripped over a long, shallow, wooden box somebody had thoughtlessly left in the middle of the mist covered grass.

Breaking it open, Akane found herself the *ahem* proud recipient of an old, weathered, wooden cudgel with a dubious grip bearing a striking resemblance to an erect penis. She lifted it out of the box with some distaste, but even a perverted weapon was better than no weapon at all. There was nothing else in the box at all, and it shattered nicely when Akane decided to vent her frustrations on it by striking it several times with her new club.

She took no notice of the wave of… something… that passed through her during her temper tantrum.

Several minutes later, a much more relaxed Akane continued on her way, no longer bothered in even the slightest bit by her continued nudity as she had no memories of ever having worn clothes anyway. In fact, she relished the feel of the brisk morning fog on her bare skin as her small breasts bounced in time with her purposeful stride. As with Ranma, she took no note of the screen that popped briefly into existence where she had just been.

[Akane Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: None]

[Combat Class: Berserker] [Level: 1]

[Combat Role: Attack multiple close quarters opponents, inflict high damage]

[Armor Type: Cloth and Leather]

[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Light Melee, Heavy Melee, Improvised Melee]

[Regular Moves: Bash, Club, Slap, Stab, Kick, Flee]

[Special Moves: Rage, Shôjo Mallet]

[Equipped Armor: None]

[Equipped Weapon: Naughty Old Wooden Cudgel]

[Accessories: None]

[Inventory: Empty]

[Money: None]

[Base Combat Statistics]

[Hit Points: 6] [Mana: 0] [Ki: 4]

[Attack: 2] [Damage: 2] [Move: 4]

[Defense: 2] [Soak: 3] [Avoidance: 2]

-l-

Nabiki dismissed the map as unhelpful, as apparently it only revealed her immediate observable area with everything else in the region shaded into obscurity, which basically meant that the total area currently revealed on it was the area immediately around her as the dense mist effectively obscured everything more than a couple of arm length away from her. With a somewhat disgruntled sigh, Nabiki continued reading the information provided by the screen floating in front of her.

[Attributes: Describe to what extent a character possesses natural, inherent characteristics common to all characters. These are divided between twelve Core Attributes (divided between Physical, Mental, and Spiritual), Eight Secondary Attributes (divided between Social and Fortune), and fourteen Calculated Attributes (derived via various combinations of the Core and Secondary Attributes). Attributes are determined by the Player's Class in combination with their Level, and any Bonuses or Penalties assigned to their Account based on their Ticket information, Akashic reading, as well as those earned or imposed during their adventures.]

[Physical Attributes: Agility, Brawn, Dexterity, and Resilience]

[Mental Attributes: Curiosity, Intuition, Logic, and Perception]

[Spiritual Attributes: Focus, Serenity, Will, and Wisdom]

[Social Attributes: Appearance, Charisma, Maturity, and Subtlety]

[Fortune Attributes: Fate, Luck, Karma, and Weirdness]

[Calculated Attributes: Accuracy, Avoidance, Critical, Damage, Deflection, Health, Initiative, Ki, Mana, Protection, Recovery, Resistance, Soak, and Stealth]

"Well," Nabiki murmured to herself as she quickly skimmed over the actual descriptions of each attribute, "I suppose this is good to know, but I hope that I'm not expected to keep track of all this in real time." Speaking up slightly, she addressed the display screen again, "And just what am I supposed to do here, anyway?"

[Pick One or More Starting Missions:]

[* Access Tutorial (completed - success)]

[* Read Tutorial (in progress…)]

[* Change Starting Class]

[* Locate Other Players]

[* Form Adventuring Party]

[* Exit Starting Area]

[Bonus Objectives:]

[* Locate and Access Starting Class Equipment Stash]

[* Acquire Food and Supplies]

[* Get to Level Five prior to leaving Starting Area]

[* Leave Starting Area at or prior to reaching Level Ten]

[* Earn a Bonus]

[* Avoid Incurring a Penalty]

"Change Starting Class?" Nabiki read with a raised eyebrow. "I don't even know what my current Starting Class is, or if I even have one! How do I check that, anyway?"

[Nabiki Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: None]

[Combat Class: Dancer] [Level: 1]

[Combat Role: Boost allied morale, distract enemies, inflict low damage]

[Armor Type: Cloth (further restricted to articles listed under Dancer)]

[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Light Melee, Musical Instruments, Microphones]

[Regular Moves: Dance, Sing, Slap, Stab, Kick, Flee]

[Special Moves: Jiggle, Bounce, Sway, Seduce]

[Equipped Armor: None]

[Equipped Weapon: Unarmed]

[Accessories: None]

[Inventory: Empty]

[Money: None]

[Base Combat Statistics]

[Hit Points: 3] [Mana: 2] [Ki: 1]

[Attack: 0] [Damage: 1] [Move: 4]

[Defense: 0] [Soak: 0] [Avoidance: 5]

"Uh-huh," Nabiki huffed, not particularly impressed with whatever a 'Dancer' was supposed to be other than apparently agile. Although, she arched an eyebrow at seeing 'microphone' listed as a weapon type; wasn't this supposed to be a medieval setting? Still, she'd heard of other supposed 'fantasy' RPGs allowing some 'modern' items if they could be 'magically' empowered. "Interesting 'Special Moves'," she commented with dry sarcasm, immediately equating 'Dancer' with 'Stripper'; not that she had anything against the profession as she'd long recognized it as a viable means of earning extra income when she left home for university. And while she'd occasionally entertained the fantasy of 'stripping' in front of Ranma to see if she could get him to 'pop his cork' without ever laying a hand upon him, she had no interest in 'shaking her booty' in some game…unless there was a way to make 'real' money doing so. "I don't suppose I could switch to something with more hit points and a better chance to keep me out of combat altogether?"

[Switching Starting Class is possible at this time. Accessing Class List for a list of Classes falling within search perimeters…]

[Query: Does Player (Nabiki Tendo) wish to change Starting Class with the intent to deliberately bypass combat through Class Selection?]

"Yes, please," Nabiki responded. She assumed that the display screen would offer up a selection of alternate starting classes to choose from and idly hoped that 'Merchant' or 'Trader' would be listed as an option; such classes would almost certainly require some form of starting 'capital' or 'trade goods'.

[Violation! Any Player attempting to avoid combat by means of Class adjustment is strictly forbidden!]

"Dammit," Nabiki muttered, "this can't be good…"

[Red Flag: Player in violation is a Female Tendo! Accessing file appendix Tendo-X for further instructions.]

"Hey now," Nabiki was naturally somewhat alarmed to discover direct proof that at least she and her sisters were specifically targeted by whoever was responsible for their current misadventure.

[In accordance with the criteria set forth in file appendix Tendo-X for a Female Tendo found in violation of seeking combat avoidance by means of Class adjustment, Player (Nabiki Tendo) shall be penalized by application of Class Change to be selected at random from acceptable penalty Classes short-listed in file appendix Tendo-X.]

[Penalty selected. Combat Class: Dancer to be changed to Cursed Class: Slave. Applying Class Change now…]

"Abort! Abort!" Nabiki frantically instructed the screen, not really reading the stat adjustments that accompanied the adjustment of her character sheet. "I don't want to change classes after all, okay? Please leave me as a Dancer! I don't want to be a Slave!"

[Violation! Players are strictly forbidden from attempting to avoid penaltied incurred due to their own actions!]

"D'oh!"

[Red Flag: Player in violation is a Female Tendo! Accessing file appendix Tendo-X for further instructions.]

"What! Again! Isn't that, like, double jeopardy or something?"

[In accordance with the criteria set forth in file appendix Tendo-X for a Female Tendo found in violation of seeking to avoid application of a Cursed Class due to penalties incurred by her own actions, Player (Nabiki Tendo) shall be further penalized by the additional application of a Secondary Cursed Class to be selected at random from acceptable penalty Classes short-listed in file appendix Tendo-X.]

[Penalty selected. Addition of Cursed Class: Ponygirl as Secondary Class. Applying Class Change now…]

Nabiki didn't comment about the strange sensation that washed over her as the screen showing her character concluded its adjustments, instead shaking her head clear with a huff. She no longer had any idea what the odd floating things with the squiggly marks on them were, nor that she had been previously engaged in a somewhat bizarre conversation with them just a moment ago. They were neither threatening nor food, so she didn't really care what they were. Not that she felt hungry at the moment.

In fact, she felt rather energetic, so she quickly stood up and bounced experimentally on her horse-like hooves, getting a good feel for the bounce of her bare bosom. She liked how they felt when they jiggled and swayed, enjoying the feeling as hopped up and down, causing her boobs to bob and bounce faster and harder, ignoring the growing discomfort in her bosom until it actually became painful, but even then she liked that particular pain. It was a good pain, that let her know that she was.

Although she remains unaware of the shift, and wouldn't even understood the ramifications of the change currently even if she were, Nabiki's sense of Seat of Identity had moved from being located right behind her eyes to being in her breasts instead. As a Ponygirl, she experienced herself first through her boobs, then through her vagina as a close second. Everything else, was simply there to let her boobs and vagina interact with the world around her, although of those, she still considered her legs, mouth, ears, and eyes as being almost as important, in more or less that order.

So she continued to dance and jump in place, not so much ignoring the pain and this was causing her bosom as she was enjoying how aware of her self her sore tits made her.

For the first time ever (as far as her Ponygirl self was concerned), Nabiki felt that she simply was! She was her boobs and her boobs were her, and as long as her boobs were there, so was she and therefore she existed.

She became so excited by this realization of self identity as her tits, she simply felt that she had to share her boobs with the world! So she took off like a shot, running through the mist-shrouded woods for the sheer joy of running itself, forgetting her cares as she brushed past leaf-covered branches.

Lost in the simple joys of running carefree, Nabiki took no notice of the fact that she was still nude. Nor did it even occur to her to be concerned about the fact that she had abruptly lost quite a bit of knowledge, most of her vocabulary, and the ability to count past two…

Back at the clearing she had started from, the display on the translucent floating screen changed one more time before it faded from view…

[Nabiki Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: Property]

[Primary Combat Class: Slave (Cursed Class) (Inactive)] [Level: 1]

[Combat Role: Combat pet of other Player, distract enemies, inflict low damage]

[Armor Type: Collars and Harnesses Only]

[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Farm Tools, Labor Tools, Artisan Tools]

[Regular Moves: Beg, Slap, Steal, Kick, Flee]

[Special Moves: Jiggle, Bounce, Puff-Puff, Sway]

[Equipped Armor: None]

[Equipped Weapon: Unarmed]

[Accessories: None]

[Inventory: Empty]

[Money: N/A - All money automatically credited to owner's account. Cannot earn money without being owned]

[Base Combat Statistics]

[Hit Points: 2] [Mana: 1] [Ki: 1]

[Attack: 0] [Damage: 1] [Move: 4]

[Defense: 0] [Soak: 0] [Avoidance: 3]

[Special: Slave]

[As a slave, this Player (Nabiki Tendo) is considered to be property and will automatically be viewed as such by all other characters and intelligent monsters. Non-player characters will interact with this Player (Nabiki Tendo) according to their own settings and local rules]

[As a slave, this Player (Nabiki Tendo) must have an owner. If, at any time, this Player (Nabiki Tendo) does not have an owner, the first Player to encounter Player (Nabiki Tendo) will automatically become Player (Nabiki Tendo)'s owner as long as that Player does not have any condition that prevents the Player from owning pets. If first encountered by a non-player character instead, then this Player (Nabiki Tendo) will be placed in Auction so that all qualifying Players may bid on ownership]

[Secondary Combat Class: Ponygirl (Cursed Class) (Active)] [Level: 1]

[Combat Role: Riding, Draft, and Dairy Animal]

[Armor Type: Collars, Harnesses, and Ponygirl Barding Only]

[Weapon Types: Unarmed]

[Regular Moves: Bite, Punch, Kick, Flee]

[Special Moves: Canter, Dash, Jump, Strut]

[Equipped Armor: None]

[Cannot Equip Weapons]

[Accessories: None]

[Inventory: Empty]

[Money: N/A - All money automatically credited to owner's account. Cannot earn money without being owned]

[Base Combat Statistics]

[Hit Points: 8] [Mana: 0] [Ki: 1]

[Attack: 0] [Damage: 3] [Move: 7]

[Defense: 0] [Soak: 0] [Avoidance: 5]

[Penalty Incurred: Nabiki Tendo - For attempting to bypass combat by Class respec]

[Penalty Incurred: Nabiki Tendo - For attempting to avoid incurred penalty by aborting causative violation)

[Penalties Applied: Primary Class change to Slave (Cursed Class) and addition of Secondary Class: Ponygirl (Cursed Class) appended to Player Nabiki Tendo's Account. Initial Primary Class supressed until Cursed Primary Class is revoked or broken]

[* Avoid Incurring a Penalty: Failed!]

[Special: Ponygirl]

[As a ponygirl, this Player (Nabiki Tendo) is considered to be a domestic animal and will automatically be viewed as such by all other characters and intelligent monsters. Non-player characters will interact with this Player (Nabiki Tendo) according to their own settings and local rules]

-l-

A feeling of serenity and acceptance washed over Kasumi as she opened the chest. She briefly wondered why she had ever been bothered by being naked in the first place, as it was obviously more natural for women like herself nude. It wasn't like she had any reason to be ashamed of her body after all. In fact, she felt embarrassed to have ever hidden her pert, healthy body under such frumpy clothing for all these years, instead of properly displaying her charms for all to see and appreciate! Oh, Father must have been so ashamed about her hiding her body like that!

Pausing a moment to let the feeling of serenity wash over her again, Kasumi looked into the chest and noted the contents with a smile. There was only one item inside the small chest: a sheer white cloth panel with red trim and red triangles on the bottom hem, while the upper hem had a red waist-cord looped through it. Putting it on, Kasumi could tell that it was almost translucent rather than transparent, but happily it clearly displayed rather than hid her charms behind a pale veil of white. It was a simple garment, but fit for a starting level Priestess, and Kasumi took it as a sign that she had been assigned the Class she had wanted.

Content to be properly dressed for the first time since… well… ever, Kasumi started to follow the stream calmly, no longer bothering to hide any part of her body at all as she casually made her way. Her bountiful bare bosom jiggled and bounced with every stride, but she easily ignored the discomfort caused by her unrestrained breasts as she could no longer remember having ever covered them before, let alone wearing any sort of support for them.

With any luck, she would find either of her sisters or Ranma soon. And even if not, following the water downstream should still eventually lead her to civilization…

Not sparing a glance back, Kasumi failed to see a screen briefly fade into view near the chest she had just looted, nor did she read the display before it faded back out once again.

[Kasumi Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: Holy]

[Combat Class: Priestess] [Level: 1]

[Combat Role: Heal and Buff allies, inflict low damage]

[Armor Type: Cloth (further restricted to articles listed under Priestess)]

[Weapon Types: Unarmed, Denominational Weapon Category]

[Regular Moves: Bless, Flee, Heal, Slap]

[Special Moves: Resurrect, Serenity, Ward]

[Equipped Armor: Acolyte's Panel]

[Equipped Weapon: Unarmed]

[Accessories: None]

[Inventory: Empty]

[Money: None]

[Base Combat Statistics]

[Hit Points: 4] [Mana: 7] [Ki: 1]

[Attack: 0] [Damage: 1] [Move: 4]

[Defense: 1] [Soak: 2] [Avoidance: 3]

[Holy Denomination: Nuki, Goddess of Health, Fertility, and Sex]

-l-

Gosenkugi looked in amazement at the crispy remains of the cat that had just managed to distort the bars of his gilded cage enough to become a real threat.

He could cast magic! Even as a mouse!

Looking around in excitement over his newfound freedom, and feeling exhilarated from the power he had felt flowing through him, Gosenkugi quickly determined that, despite the vast wealth represented by tome after tome of who knew how many spells, the shear difference in physical scale made it impossibly to reap the benefits of staying in this treasure trove of arcane knowledge.

Scampering under a door he didn't even have to duck for, the magical mouse swiftly found himself on a barren dirt road next to a small tower in the middle of nowhere.

Not really having any idea what to do next, Gosenkugi decided to head west along the road, hoping to avoid any roaming cats that may happen to be wandering about. Not that he was too scared of what might happen anymore.

Other than the fact that he had come across a cursed spell-trap while attempting to loot the abandoned hedge-wizard's hut, getting one of those coveted game preview tickets was turning out to be the best thing that ever happened to him!

We shall endeavor not to make the poor boy feel bad about the fact that becoming a mouse probably raised his hit points from what they had been when he first arrived…

-l-

Ranma followed the stream until it left the confines of the woods and started across a grassy field, happy to note that the rather thick morning fog was finally beginning to thin out and disperse. Not too far away, she could just make out a female figure running naked across the field she had just entered as if she hadn't a care in the world.

"Nabiki? What the hell?" Several thoughts vied for attention in Ranma's befuddled head, some of it fairly contradictory, involving feeling glad to have found her while at the same time afraid of how much the middle Tendo sister was going to blackmail him for seeing her like this. Which was obviously stupid, since Ponygirls didn't care about money or personal possessions.

Wait…what?

Ponygirl…Ponygirl…. The thought churned through Ranma's mind as she pondered what it meant. Unlike her own body, which resembled her actual cursed form so closely that she had yet to find any differences, Nabiki actually had some physical changes from her original form, such as the pony-like ears, legs, and tail that she now had. Somehow, Ranma could tell that Nabiki's changes weren't like those provided by most Jusenkyo inflicted curses, which rarely included a mental element as far as she knew. Which meant that rather than being a mere cosmetic change, Nabiki was now, for all intents and purposes, actually an animal rather than a person. She had no idea how she knew, or why she was inclined to accept it, but since it wasn't even half as crazy as some of the weird shit that happened around her during her life, Ranma just shrugged and went with it.

If Nabiki wanted to play Ponygirl, then so be it - Nabiki was a Ponygirl. And Ponygirls were domestic animals, suitable for draft, dairy, and riding purposes.

Wait a minute…

A Ponygirl meant something to ride!

"Yo! 'Biki!" Ranma called out across the field towards the bounding buxom babe. "Get your bare ass over here so I can ride you!"

The redhead was somewhat gratified when the faux Ponygirl stopped to look at her, then came running with a happy smile on her face. In short order, the naked girl ran into her arms.

"Ranma!" the Ponygirl exclaimed happily, recognizing the redhead and remembering her name.

"That's right, 'Biki, I'm Ranma," the shorter girl smiled amiably as she rubbed down the animal before her, making sure that there were no cuts or abrasions of note, nor any thorns or barbs. Of course, at the same time, she couldn't help but to admire Nabiki's lithe and supple nude form; now that she had the opportunity to do so without the distraction of imminent pain and possible death looming over her, as had become all too commonplace in her life whenever she'd been in the presence of a naked girl in the past.

As she cupped Nabiki's full, rounded breasts, finding them pleasantly firm to her touch, and slid her small hands over Nabiki's surprisingly firm, shapely bottom and well-toned thighs and legs, it didn't really occur to her to be embarrassed by openly groping a girl in such a manner. As far as she was concerned, Nabiki was just another beast of burden at the moment, perfectly suitable for draft, dairy, and riding purposes, or even put to other uses if need be. In fact, the short redhead found that she actually liked Nabiki better this way, as her fiancée's manipulative older sister was a lot friendlier to her as a dumb animal than she was as a somewhat mercenary hedonist.

Of course, since Nabiki was one of her fiancée's sisters, and couldn't be expected to take proper care of herself as she currently was, Ranma decided to claim the wayward Ponygirl as her own and prove to Akane that she could, in fact, be responsible. And of course, being a responsible individual (at least Ranma thought of herself as such), it was only proper that she thoroughly examine Nabiki for any physical injury or potential health problems.

As Ranma began inspecting her new property, she couldn't help but to wonder what had prompted Nabiki to choose the role of an animal for her 'game character,' as opposed to one of the sneaky or crafty types. Assuming, of course, that they were actually in the game, as Ranma suspected, and not just randomly dumped naked in the middle of nowhere. Nabiki had gone on for days about how important class selection was, and how it was best for a new player to try each class at least briefly to see if it felt right for them. And yet here she was as a Ponygirl as opposed to one of the more clever or resourceful classes. Then again, Ranma seemed to remember Nabiki mentioning that it was sometimes fun or challenging to occasionally play as something completely different from yourself, so maybe Nabiki actually had been aiming for some mindless fun? The middle Tendo sister certainly seemed to be quite happy at the moment, her ever-present smirk displaced by a bright and cheerful, if somewhat ditzy, smile. Still, one could never be too sure with Nabiki…best to test the waters, so to speak, and see if Nabiki was actually as 'ditzy' as she appeared.

Casual… Ranma needed to be sneaky and casual about this…

Keeping her voice friendly and calm as she continued to tend to Nabiki's naked body, Ranma did her best to be subtle as she started talking to Nabiki. "You sure seem happy enough this way. And here I thought that you were just a selfish, greedy bitch who got her jollies tormenting others and taking away their money! Who knew that emptying that smart-ass head of yours would cause such an improvement?"

Apparently, Ranma's concept of subtlety was about as discrete as fishing with dynamite…

Fortunately for Ranma, Nabiki completely failed to understand that she had just been rather viciously insulted by the redheaded girl feeling her up (which felt really good) Nabiki merely nodded happily and contributed to the conversation as intelligently as she currently knew how. "Ranma!"

"Yup, that's my name," Ranma agreed with a smile, fondling the taller girl's boobs playfully, having watched her face carefully while delivering her scathing insult. Not so much as a twitch. Nabiki really was less intelligent now. The redhead considered the implications of this briefly before shrugging and deciding that Nabiki's loss of intelligence and current status as an animal was a perfectly acceptable improvement over the bitch that her fiancée's sister usually was. Sliding a hand down her body to blatantly grope Nabiki's firm bottom, Ranma continued, "Now, how about you let me ride you while we look for your sisters?"

"Ranma!" Nabiki nodded, turning about and kneeling down with her arms held slightly away from her body, clearly expecting and pleased for Ranma to 'mount her' piggyback style.

For her part, Ranma stepped up to the taller girl's back, holding onto her shoulders as Nabiki slid her own arms beneath Ranma's legs and lifted her from the ground as she stood back upright. Then, Nabiki just sort of stood there, shifting her grip on Ranma's legs to a more comfortable position, but otherwise clearly waiting for Ranma to do something. Wrapping her arms loosely about Nabiki's neck, Ranma said, "Giddyup!" But Nabiki continued to just stand there, fidgeting a bit in confusion. Hmm, clearly Nabiki wasn't trained to respond to verbal commands as of yet. And trying to smack her bottom, in this position, wasn't really an option. Hmm…how could she get Nabiki to start moving? And how could she control which direction Nabiki traveled in? It wasn't as if Nabiki had any reins or came with a steering wheel. Then, acting on some weird impulse, Ranma reached around Nabiki and firmly gripped the larger girl's full breasts in her small hands, ensuring that the hard nubbins of her nipples were placed between her fingers…and gave both breasts an experimental squeeze.

When her rider gave both boobs a tight squeeze, Nabiki took off like a shot, occasionally turning this way or that, or slowing down, or speeding up again as directed by the strength of her rider's grip on her bosom and the pinching of her nipples between her rider's fingers. Once again feeling both breasts being squeezed firmly, the Ponygirl picked up her speed until she was running as fast as she could in the indicated direction.

"Yahoo!" Ranma yelled out in abandon as she rode the Ponygirl, who was now running faster than any normal person of Nabiki's build and exercise experience had any right being capable of.

Nabiki, for her part, was happy enough to be running pell-mell wherever her rider wanted her to go as they looked for her sisters. She certainly felt healthier than before she had become a Ponygirl. Stronger too, and definitely faster, even with a rider. Maybe her sisters would like to be Ponygirls too? It was a lot of fun, and she no longer had to worry about…whatever it was she was worried about before.

At any rate, it couldn't have been important anyway…

-l-

Akane finally caught sight of a road across the beclouded field and swiftly made her way to it.

"Hey!"

Akane looked around for the source of the faint, high pitched voice.

"Down here! You almost stepped on me!"

"A talking mouse?" Akane pondered, Squatting on her toes (with her ass resting on her heals) and bending forward to get a better look.

The grey furred mouse was actually kind of cute, what with how it held it's little head between its paws, squeaking, "Akane…" before passing out from hormonal overload. Subconsciously, the youngest Tendo daughter filled in the rest of the statement with the vaguely remembered "spoke to me," that she sort of heard from time to time coming from somebody… er… who was it again?

"Gosenkugi?"

Fortunately for the magic mouse, while Akane's guess at the his identity was indeed accurate, her subconscious was way off base, as he had been thinking about something entirely different this time. Something to do with the fact that Akane's proximity and total lack of attire gave him a rather glorious view from his perspective…

So Gosenkugi once again narrowly avoids a brush with death…

-l-

As Kasumi made her way down the dirt road the fog gradually dissipated, and the day became bright and sunny. Eventually, she spotted a pair of girls in the distance heading towards her; a redhead wearing rags and riding a nude, shorthaired brunette, both of whom she quickly recognized.

Without changing her pace, the new Priestess found herself meeting up with the pair soon enough. "Hello, Ranma, Nabiki," the bare-breasted ascetic greeted serenely.

"Kasumi? Ah…err…um…" Ranma stammered, trying to come up with a polite way of asking the older girl if she was aware that her surprisingly large boobs were swaying free in the open for anyone to see…and hoping that she didn't notice that her riding of Kasumi's younger sister had left her more than a little aroused, with stiffened nipples poking into the Ponygirl's back. Somehow, though, it never occurred to her to also be embarrassed about the fact that she was, in fact, 'riding' the older girl's sister while wearing a panel so threadbare that it barely counted as clothing anymore.

"Kasumi!" Nabiki greeted cheerfully. And then she introduced her rider in case her older sister forgot who the redheaded girl was, "Ranma!"

"Yes, I can see that it's Ranma, silly girl," Kasumi chided the Ponygirl amiably as she considered how much more at peace her sister seemed with herself as an animal rather than a person.

"So," Ranma began as she hopped down and gave 'Biki's bare ass a friendly slap to send her over to a nearby apple tree, "any idea what happened to us? I mean, one moment I'm chopping in…"

"It's called 'logging in', Ranma," Kasumi gently corrected.

"Yeah, that," Ranma nodded, filing the fact away under the heading of 'uninteresting, but possibly useful information' for later. A rather leaky mental file at that, containing as it did the bulk of Ranma's social graces and basic education, as opposed to the all-important, tightly-sealed drum which held her accumulated martial arts skills. "Anyway, I'm loggin' in one second, and the next I'm waking up naked in the middle of the woods as a girl! Doesn't make any sense! I mean, if they were going to rob us blind, including our clothes, wouldn't they have at least had us bring something…I dunno…actually worth stealing?"

"Apple!" Nabiki interjected happily, shoving a firm specimen of said fruit in front of her sister's face as she bounced up to the two.

"I think we may be in the world setting of the game we were supposed to play," Kasumi replied to Ranma's question, even as she took the apple her sister offered and gently, but firmly, placed a hand on Nabiki's buttocks and pushed her back towards the tree again. "I'm pretty sure we took the roles of our characters. I know I was aiming for some sort of support role outside of direct conflict when I was answering that questionnaire. Why else would I become a Priestess and have come across my first vestments so quickly?"

"You mean those forms actua-" Ranma was rather rudely interrupted by Nabiki bouncing up to them again and trying to cram an apple into her mouth.

"Apple!" the cheerful Ponygirl announced proudly, oblivious to the fact that the short redhead was writhing on the ground trying to cough out bits of fruit that she had inadvertently half-swallowed. Kasumi quickly rushed over and placed her hands between Ranma's shoulder blades, releasing a pulse of white energy.

"Gah!" Ranma choked out, finally able to breath again. "'Biki! No more apples! Got that, girl?"

"Apple?" Nabiki asked, confused about why her friend didn't want any of the delicious fruit.

"I can't believe I miss the bitchy 'Biki already," Ranma muttered under her breath. "I don't suppose there's a way to change Nabiki back to the way she was before, is there?"

Despite the fact that the question was both rhetorical and directed at Kasumi, the group was startled when a transparent display screen popped out of nowhere and started scrolling a message.

[Nabiki Tendo] [Race: Human] [Affiliation: Property of Ranma Saotome]

[Combat Class: Slave/Ponygirl (Dual Class)] [Level: 1/1] [Active Class: Slave]

[Combat Role: Combat Pet for Ranma Saotome, distract enemies, inflict low damage]

[Armor Type: Collars and Harnesses Only]

[Weapon Types: Unarmed, None permitted due to Secondary Class Restrictions]

[Regular Moves: Dance, Sing, Slap, Stab, Kick, Flee]

[Special Moves: Jiggle, Bounce, Sway, Seduce]

[Equipped Armor: None]

[Cannot Equip Weapons Due to Secondary Class Restrictions]

[Accessories: None]

[Inventory: Empty]

[Money: N/A - All money automatically credited to owner's account. Cannot earn money without being owned]

[Base Combat Statistics While in Primary Class]

[Hit Points: 3] [Mana: 2] [Ki: 1]

[Attack: 0] [Damage: 1] [Move: 4]

[Defense: 0] [Soak: 0] [Avoidance: 5]

[Special: Slave (Owner: Ranma Saotome)]

[Special: Ponygirl (Owner: Ranma Saotome)]

Nabiki blinked, shook her head, and blinked again, as she suddenly remembered everything she had lost a few short hours ago. And then she blinked again as she recalled everything that had occurred during those few short hours, including how she had felt when she was behaving and being treated as if she were nothing more than a domestic animal.

Then Nabiki curled up on herself and began to cry as the real horror of what had happened set in. She never, ever wanted to be that dumb again; and yet, she had felt so happy and carefree while she was in that state that she now craved it more than anything she ever had before.

It was true what they say…

Ignorance is bliss.

-l-

END CHAPTER ONE

-l-

Looks like our heroes are off to a rough start!