TP-What to Prepare For[3 of 18][FanFic]

[Twister]

Chapter Three
-------------

Ranma-chan was wondering what was keeping Twister when she rushed in
with a practice gi on.
"Whoo! Just about didn't make it. Sorry to keep you waiting."
"No prob. Didya want to start off where we were from last day?"
queried Ranma-chan.
"You're the boss. It's up to you."
Ranma-chan sighed and continued the lesson from last time.

An hour later, they stopped.
Ranma-chan watched Twister wiping sweat off her forehead. "You sure
learn quick. I can't believe the rate which you're picking this stuff
up."
"Must be because my reflexes are very good," Twister grinned. "I'm
pretty fast, but much less experienced at fighting. That experience is
what I'm lacking mostly. The moves seem to come naturally." She looked
thoughtful, "Like a smooth wave of movement... Hmm. Ah, well. I guess
I'll be able to spar with you soon. That should be interesting."
Twister's teacher was looking a little dubious. "Yeah..."
"Oh, come on! I'm sure you'll kick my butt for a long time to come!
I may be picking this stuff up pretty quickly, but _you're_ the one who
can think in fighting terms right now." Twister shook her head. "I just
know the moves. I realize _that_ by itself isn't enough."
Looking a little better, Ranma-chan smiled, "You're right. I don't
know why I feel like this."
Twister arched an eyebrow, "It _might_ be because you see me as
being better than you in martial arts in picking this up so fast. I wouldn't
worry about it. The only reason I'm likely going so fast is the Event.
That's something that gives me a pretty big advantage. Almost like cheating.
Think of it like that. Though it was a risky sort of cheating I'll admit,"
Twister grinned.
Ranma-chan rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay! You've made your point!"
Twister bowed for Ranma-chan to leave the practicing room, "That
accomplished... After you...'sister'." She smirked.
Looking briefly like she wanted to whack Twister for that comment,
Ranma-chan just left out the door with Twister chuckling behind her.

As they went to their rooms, Twister and Ranma-chan spotted Akane
walking in the direction of the kitchen.
"Where are _you_ going, Akane?" Ranma-chan looked a little nervous.
Akane glared at her, "Mrs. Saotome asked me if I wanted to practice
some more cooking with her. You got a problem with that 'Ranko'?"
"Why? Did something happen to Kasumi? That's the only reason I would
think we would be desperate enough to do _that_." Ranma-chan sarcastically
said.
Looking like she was about to attack Ranma-chan, Akane was interrupted
by Mrs. Saotome who was coming down the stairs. "Now, Ranko, that's not
nice. Akane just needs a little more experience in the kitchen, that's all."
"Make that a _lot_ more," Ranma-chan muttered.
Hearing this, Akane got even madder. "I'll show _you_ Ranko! I'll..."
Mrs. Saotome interrupted, "Calm down, Akane. Let's go into the
kitchen and start right away." She led Akane away from Twister and Ranma-chan.
They heard Mrs. Saotome faintly say to Akane, when they entered the kitchen,
"We'll just give what doesn't work out to Mr. Panda..."
Ranma-chan sighed with relief, "At least _we_ won't have to suffer for
_her_ bad cooking."
Twister smirked, "Just 'Mr. Panda.'" She chuckled evilly before
thinking about something different altogether.
*I can't stand having Mrs. Saotome just keep waiting like this. She's
too nice a lady to do it to. I think she could accept Ranma's curse
after hearing what she told me earlier, but Genma wouldn't exactly help
persuade Ranma to tell his mother.* Twister mentally sighed. *Maybe the
next time she visits I can figure out a way to help Ranma. He's not very
happy about it either.*
*Next time...*

Supper was about a half-hour away and Twister was laying down on
the temporary bed in Nabiki's room. Just thinking.
*Sigh. I'm learning fast, but once I get pretty good..._then_
what? I can make diamonds, but what do I want to _do_ here? I don't
go to school, I don't have a job, so what am I supposed to do??* Twister
sighed out loud. *I need _something_ to occupy my life, now that the worry
of Malkon is pretty much over.* Anger flashed in her eyes briefly at the
thought of the arch-demon. *That bloody gown....AGGHH! That _still_ ticks me
off!* She shook her head. *Get it out of your mind and focus on what you
were thinking on, Twister. I can't really go home because I'm not sure
_how_ to do that and also because of my...changes. What _should_ I do?*
Twister draped an arm over her head and sighed again.
"And what are _you_ moaning about?" Nabiki's voice smiled from the
doorway.
Slowly lifting her arm, Twister looked at Nabiki, who was leaning on
the inside section of the portal.
"Oh, I was just thinking about what I'm going to _do_ with myself.
Just practicing martial arts isn't exactly what I feel like doing for the
rest of my life." Twister sighed. "It's good for me to do, but..."
"It's not what you feel is right for you?" Nabiki looked curiously
at the downcast Twister. "What do _you_ think you should do?"
"I don't know! That's the whole problem!" Twister exclaimed. "I don't
go to school so it's not like I'll be able to do much professionally."
"Maybe you should then," Nabiki calmly replied.
"Huh? Nabiki, it's a little late for me to go to school now. It's
almost the end of the year for you!" Twister looked confused.
Nabiki smiled, "Not school. _College_." She raised an eyebrow. "With
that 'perfect memory' you always say you have, you should have no problem
passing the college entrance exams. Once you've read all of the texts
needed, of course."
After staring at her for a few seconds, Twister slowly said, "True,
but I don't have a high school diploma to back me up."
Waving her hand loftily, Nabiki looked confident, "No problem. If you
do as well as I think you will do, then it shouldn't take much. I think
I can manage to get you a chance," she smiled wickedly.
Twister chuckled, "I'm sure you can, if I know you." She sighed. "Ah,
well. So much for a lazy summer."
Nabiki snorted as she turned, hearing Kasumi cry lunchtime, "If I'm
going to be busy, then so are _you_, buster."
Rising to join her, Twister sighed again, "No pity. No pity at all."
Nabiki chuckled all the way downstairs.

The next day, Mrs. Saotome left and things went back to they were
before...with a few exceptions.
Twister started reading every book that Nabiki had ever read, and was
going to need to read, in order to prepare himself for the college tests.
In between books, however, he started experimenting with making things other
than diamonds with his mind. Basically, just purifying and shaping
metals into little statues. It took a little while, but eventually he was
making things almost lifelike in their detail. He, of course, used Nabiki as
a model when she had the time. The results made her very happy.
The day of the exams soon came and, thanks to Nabiki, Twister wrote
them. He came out feeling rather relieved since he had known every point
that required remembering something. With the problem solving parts, he
had no trouble since not knowing the correct formulas had always got him
before. The appointed time when the results came up proved him right. In
fact, he had gotten a nearly perfect score which annoyed a few other
students who had never seen Twister before.
Nabiki just smirked, "So you thought you would have a _few_ troubles?"
She looked at his score, "Few is right."
Twister sighed, relieved, "_That's_ out of the way, at least."
He smiled at Nabiki, "I didn't think you would have much trouble either."
She waved her hand, "No problem. The hard part is doing the moving
_after_ the tests."

Nabiki began making arrangements to get living quarters for
Twister and herself. From reports she had received, she figured that
renting rooms outside the college dorms would be best, due to their
needing more privacy. After a moment's hesitation, Nabiki sorrowfully
arranged for separate places, as well as roommates to share costs, for
each of them. She persuaded Twister to make some expensive looking
artwork to sell. He complied with this logic, having an idea of what
everything would cost in the end, and wishing for some cash himself.
The results, when he applied himself, were astonishing. Twister had
decided on oriental dragons and had gone to the library to look at pictures
for some examples. He expanded on those by working on them in his mind
and then making the finished product with a few hours work. Twister used his
TK to polish the all-metal bodies so that they shimmered in the light. Making
some of all sizes, colors, and poses, he gave them to Nabiki after signing
them with a small image of a tornado underneath one foot. Everything about
each dragon looked lifelike and had a fierce, restrained energy about them.
Nabiki was surprised at how _good_ they were and actually complained
a little to Twister about how hard it would be to sell them. He calmly replied,
with a hint of a smirk showing, "Well, you _said_ to make them look expensive.
Ask, and ye _shall_ receive." Sighing dramatically, Nabiki had shaken her head
and smiled, "Good thing no one has likely ever seen things like these or
we'd be accused of stealing."
She took one of the smallest ones to an art dealer and asked him on
a price. The dealer looked at the figurine very carefully and grew very
excited over the exacting detail and aliveness the dragon displayed. Nabiki
saw this and smiled when the dealer mentioned in a trying-hard-to-be-calm voice
that he would be _very_ interested if she had more and _who_ had made the
dragon. She had sorrowfully said that the artist wanted to remain anonymous and
that the person had given her _quite_ a few dragons to sell for them. The
dealer looked happy at the thought of the commission he would get and agreed
to keep quiet about who had given him the dragons.
One dragon was displayed in artistic circles and when it was said they
would be auctioned off, many interested parties came to get what they could.
Each dragon in the auction was bid upon for a long period of time, but the
lucky parties who got them were not disappointed in the price. At the end,
the result of the auction gave Nabiki and Twister, the dealer, and the
auctioneer, quite enough for all their needs.
However, there _was_ a dark side. After the auction, several attempts
of robbery were attempted at the dealer's place, due to the fact that the
dragons had been sold at a very nice price. Nabiki and Twister had expected
that however, and were prepared. Twister had not gone to all that trouble with
dragons to leave them to just Mind and he had extremely vivid images of them
for use with Magic. Thusly, every attempt to steal the money met with the
same result. Policemen found the thieves pale and shaking on the floor of the
broken-in dealer's shop, whimpering, "Dragon! Don't let it get me! Dragon!
Don't..." After this occurred three times, the superstitious thieves
stopped trying to steal 'The Dragon's Hoard', as it was now called.
Nabiki showed up eventually and the relieved dealer handed over the
money, minus his commission. He made no comment about the mysterious
dragon guardian.
The soon-to-be college bound pair were delighted over the amount
that the dragons had earned. Nabiki embraced Twister and kissed him for a very
long time.

After separating, Twister commented, "Well! If it hadn't been
that much trouble, we should do that more often."
With glowing eyes, Nabiki looked at the amount of money before them,
"It was certainly worth it."
Twister sighed, "Unfortunately, we can't use too much right away."
Nabiki looked disappointed, but nodded knowingly, "You're right. Two
ordinary." She looked at Twister briefly, "Well, _one_ ordinary girl and one
extra-ordinary...person," Twister smirked at her, "couldn't possibly make
_this_ much money. People would think we're gangsters."
"Yup. College will take a fair chunk of this away anyway since we're
_both_ going to be using it." He smiled at Nabiki, "Of course, that doesn't
mean that we can't splurge a bit once in a while."
"Ranma and Akane have certainly been busy as well this summer,"
Nabiki smirked.
Shaking his head, Twister had to agree, "Those two and the others sure
haven't settled things much have they? Shampoo, Kodachi, and Ukyou are
still after Ranma, while Kunou and Ryouga still after Akane. Mousse just wants
to remove Ranma out the picture to get Shampoo. What a mess." He glanced at
Nabiki, "Hit me if that happens to me."
Nabiki arched an eyebrow and mock-threateningly said, "It had _better_
not."
Twister laughed before asking Nabiki something else that he
had been wondering about. "Who _did_ you set me up with? I've been so
busy with other stuff that I never got the chance to ask."
Smiling, Nabiki replied, "Well, since you decided to go into the
realm of programming computers I found someone who was going into the same
field. From what I've heard, he's in a wholly different world sometimes...which
should be perfect for you. Also, from what you've said, I think he likes
most of the things that you do too so you shouldn't have much of a problem."
He chuckled, "Whoo! I would say...perfect! As are most things you do.
I gather you found a match for yourself?" Twister shook his head. "Of course
you did! Duh!"
"Actually, she's not going into Business like I am. I think it was
Engineering or something similar like that."
Twister blinked. "Hm. Unusual. Well, we ain't in the stone age.
Still...she must be a excellent student."
Nabiki nodded, "Yes, I heard she's pretty good, but a little too
...um...trusting sometimes."
"Aha! That's how you got her to bunk with you! OW!" He said as Nabiki
hit him in the side. "Kidding! Kidding!" Twister waved his hands in surrender
to stave off further attacks.
"You had better be," Nabiki mock growled then chuckled. "But you
_are_ right. She's never heard of me and I don't think my reputation
will increase very much now anyways."
"With 'The Dragon's Hoard,' I should hope not," Twister chuckled.
"You like that name, don't you." It was not a question.
"A well deserved name that one was, from conception, protection, and
denomination."
Nabiki smiled beatifically, "True."
"We'd better go home and get ready since we don't have a lot
of time." He gallantly held out his arm to Nabiki and she accepted it
with a smile.

They soon got ready to leave. Soun was crying, as usual, since one of
his daughters was going to college. Nabiki was holed up with Akane and Kasumi,
talking about writing home and other stuff. Twister was talking with
Ranma while waiting for Nabiki to come down.
"On the rooooaaad again..." Twister mock-sung out.
Ranma grimaced at the voice, "Better work on your singing, Twister."
"Critics! Always critics around me!"
"More like realists, Twister." Nabiki called down from the top
of the stairs where she was talking to her sisters.
Twister sighed.
Ranma was grinning, "Well, you'll likely have a fun time at college
anyway."
"Oh, joy. Homework again. I can't live without it." Twister dourly
said, then a sinister gleam lit his eyes, "But soooon, it will be _your_ turn.
Bwahahahahahah!" He cackled the last part.
This fact caused Ranma to protest, "No, it won't!"
Twister's eyebrow arched, "Oh, no? Well, despite the fact that you
_can_ teach martial arts, and I will teleport in every once in a while to
continue those lessons, I believe you lack some experience in _running_ a
dojo. Of which, if you ever marry Akane in this lifetime, you _will_ be doing
quite a bit of the work in doing so. Also, going might curb that bit of
aggressive behavior you sometimes show."
Ranma had been downcast at the sudden realization that he might
_have_ to go to college, but when he heard that last he got a little
angry. "WHO'S AGGRESSIVE!?" He shouted, fists balled.
Glancing at Ranma's fists, Twister chuckled, "Point in fact."
Deflating at that, Ranma grudgingly admitted, "All right. You _might_
have a point."
"Success! I hath broken though!" Twister cheered. "Just think you're
punching Kunou in the face when you work on those 'dumb' dojo-related
problems," Twister smirked. "Besides, you might lose a few 'girlfriends'
if you go," Ranma brightened at that, "...or not." The lights dimmed.
Ranma sourly said, "Thanks a lot."
"All part of the service, my dear chap!" Twister saw Nabiki was finally
coming down and he picked up their bags, "And now we must say farewell! So
long! Till next time! When next we mee...urk!"
Nabiki pulled Twister away from the house interrupting him. "I think
a simple 'good-bye' will suffice, Twister." She commented while waving to her
family.
"But that's no fun! Heh. Kidding." He waved one last time before
they both got in the cab they had called up and headed for the train
station.

The pair reached the station on time and boarded the train with minutes
to spare. After several hours of being on the train, while talking about what
how college would be like, they arrived at their destination.
They got their baggage and got into another cab.
"We'll go to your place first, Twister, since it's closer." Nabiki
looked a little excited.
"Enjoying the new sights, are we?" Twister chuckled. "Ah, soon
you shall know them well."
"True. I wonder how badly I'll miss being home," Nabiki sighed a
little.
"Hey! That's no worry! Just call Twister Express!" He grinned.
Nabiki smiled. "Right! I forgot. You _are_ handy at times."
" 'At times' she says. Sheesh!" Twister rolled his eyes as Nabiki
smirked.
She looked out the window and commented, "I think we're almost there."
"Hmm. I guess my new roommate will be there first." The cab stopped
in front of a small apartment building. "Ding dong! This must be the place.
Not bad. Fairly new building." He stepped out and retrieved his luggage.
"You sure you'll be able to handle your stuff okay when you get to your
place?"
Nabiki grinned, "I'll get the cab driver to help me."
*Heaven help him if he doesn't.* Twister thought amusedly.

--
==============================================================================
Darren Steffler a.k.a "Twister"- mail at <umst...@cc.umanitoba.ca>
==============================================================================