The boars were coming again.  She didn't think that boars normally
tried to kill people, at least not this fervently.  She wished again that
she'd spent more time studying tree climbing rather than finance in
school.  

      However, this time, she was a little more ready.  A handmade bow was
in her hands, and two dozen handmade arrows thrust through her belt.  She
prayed it would work; she had never made a bow before and she didn't have
time to test it.  Sis will probably be mad I used her cat, but it was dead
already.  

      Her legs were wrapped tightly around the branch she was sitting on.
It was one of the few trees on the island with branches instead of just
big fronds at the top.  She had stuck her knife into the tree, since she
no longer had pockets.  It wasn't much of a knife, but it had been good
enough to help her make her bow and arrows.  

      There were three of the boars:  a mother and two children.  There
had been three, but one of her traps had worked well enough to killl off
one of them.  I wonder if they're smart enough to be going for revenge,
she wondered.  

      They weren't quite smart enough to find her, not yet, anyway.  She
watched them snuffle around in the rocks below.  One good thing about
bows, she thought.  They're silent.  Twang.  Junior Boar took an arrow in
the eye and went berserk, thrashing around.  Two more shots, and all three
boars were one-eyed.  They all ran about, crashing into rocks.  The arrows
were ruined, but she expected that.

      More shots.  More frenzied squealing.  The boars didn't quite have a
hold on the death thing, as far as she could tell.  They ran about,
spurting blood everywhere, until finally they collapsed.  She was down to
five arrows by that point.  

      "I guess I'll be eating pork tonight," she muttered to herself.  

      Dinner on the beach would have been romantic if she wasn't covered
with pig blood, missing any pants (which made her thankful for her long
blouse), and stranded by herself on an island somewhere in the Pacific
facing the likelihood that her entire family was dead.  It wasn't a good
day to be Nabiki Tendo.

**********************
Silly Origins #1:
Starring

Nabiki as Green Arrow

"Arrows of Fate"

An Anime/DC fusion story

**********************

       Lives can change in an instant.  Nabiki had been riding with her
sisters and her father on a plane trip to Hawaii for a family vacation.
She had been listening to music on the headphones and trying to ignore
Akane fidgeting and her father rattling on with yet another boring story
about his days in the Justice Society.  This time he was talking about
their battle against Wally the Giant Wombat, or some such thing.  She
loved her father and respected his heroism, but he told the same eight
stories over and over, and by now, she could recite them word for word.

       Kasumi seemed to just eat them up, and so did Akane.  Nabiki, who
might have listened to a NEW story, just wished he'd be quiet before it
turned out someone else on the plane was Wally the Wombat's brother or
something and tried to take them all hostage.  

       The reason he was telling this story was his current
semi-girlfriend hadn't heard it before.  Nabiki could hardly believe that
her father had brought Miss Hinako along on the trip, even if she WAS
kinda cute.  Okay, she was gorgeous, but it still disturbed her.  There
was something weird about that woman.  Sometimes, she acted just like a
little kid in a grownup's body.  

       "So then the Flash sprinted down the tunnel to rescue the hostages,
while I had to fence with him, Cosmic Rod vs. claws!  Meanwhile, Hourman
was trying to dig himself out of the rubble and..."

       "So what exactly does the Cosmic Rod look like, anyway?"  she
asked.

       He reached under his seat and pulled out a briefcase.  It contained
a fancy green rod with various doodads on it.  The cosmic rod was far more
impressive in power than appearance.  Nabiki was relieved that he hadn't
left it lying around the house like he usually did.  She had dim memories
of the time Akane had found it when she was six and had levelled half the
house accidentally.  

        "This is the..."

        There was an explosion outside the cabin of the plane to the left
and the plane shuddered.  A second explosion soon followed to the right.
Everyone began to scream, and the plane shook.  The voice of the Captain
came on the intercom. "Don't worry, we just hit some turbulence and..."

      Nabiki ignored him.  She knew he was lying.  With her window seat,
she could see that the entire wing was on fire and that the engines were
basically twisted slag.  "Dad!  Remember what happened to you at Monte
Carlo?"  Better not to panic the masses.

      His eyes widened.  "Right."  He took the Cosmic Rod in a firm grip
and began to concentrate.  Slowly, the shaking began to subside as
tendrils of energy snaked out from the rod, creeping along the floor and
out the windows to the wings.  The shaking of the plane began to die down.

      Then the bomb in the luggage compartment went off.

***************

      The next thing Nabiki remembered was lying on the beach with her
pants ripped, her walkman still on her head but dysfunctional, and a copy
of the Continental Flight Magazine wedged down her shirt.  She spent
two years on that island, practicing her archery and slowly cutting a
swathe through the local wildlife.   

      Things began to change when the first boatload of green and yellow
clad men arrived on the island.  It had a nice bay on one side, which was
perfect for them to unload their equipment.  They began setting up some
cheesy prefab housing, a generator, some lights and a couple of watch
towers.

      Normally, Nabiki would have gone to them and tried to get a ride
back to civilization, but it isn't every day that known international
terrorists settle down on the island where you're stranded, unless your
life resembles Gilligan's Island, anyway.  Great, Nabiki thought.  KOBRA
picks MY island to set up shop.

      Luckily, the island was decently sized, so it wasn't too hard to
hide from the goons, although as more and more of them arrived, this
became harder.  Too bad Dad's Cosmic Rod didn't wash up on shore with me,
she thought one day as she watched the group building a proper dock.  Then
I could just clean up on them.  Not much I can do with a badly made bow
and bamboo arrows.  I never was much for fighting, anyway.  

      The time came when the KOBRA 'fleet' arrived.  It consisted of a
yacht, two old PT boats that looked like they had been used in World War
II, five rowboats, and a sail boat.  By this point, there were around a
dozen prefabricated buildings and several dozen goons wandering around,
leaving crates of supplies strewn everywhere.  

       Desperate people come up with crazy plans, and Nabiki's plan was
certainly crazy.  There were enough explosives lying around to blow up
three times as many ships as were present.  They didn't bother to post
guards at night, except for one watchtower, which was set to keep an eye
on the ocean.  It made a certain amount of sense not to set guards
anyway...when you're on a deserted island in the pacific, why bother
watching in case someone sneaks up by land?

       In addition, the sub-commander liked archery.  He had a fancy green
composite bow and a quiver of nice arrows, as well as a small archery
range.  Several other goons had bows as well, and Nabiki had spent part of
one day watching the group have its own little tournament.  All she had to
do was get to the shed, get a real bow and real arrows, then get the
explosives, blow up the other boats, and take the sailboat and flee.  

       She knew it was a crazy plan, but she didn't want to be captured by
terrorists, and she didn't think she could hide forever.  The first part
of the plan actually worked.  It was easy, once everyone was asleep, to
creep across the camp, break the lock on the bow shed with a rock, arm
herself properly, and creep over to the explosives.  It was easy to set up
the explosives with timers and creep to the undefended sailboat and cast
off with it.  Watching the explosives go off was pretty simple as well.

      The problem, however, was that Nabiki didn't know anything about
demolitions.  The explosions did cripple the yacht, but the PT boats were
another story.  On one, the explosives didn't even go off, and on the
other one, they mainly annoyed it.  

      So, she soon found herself in a boat chase with two PT boats.  Given
that she was on a sailboat, this wasn't much of a challenge.  Given that
the PT boats had mounted machine guns and torpedoes, the next step was
pretty easy.  She surrendered.  

**************

     Nabiki woke up tied to a chair, with a woman dressed in a skimpy
yellow and green outfit standing over her, laughing maniacally.  "So,
heroine, you thought you could defeat me!  Now I will take off your mask
and reveal your secret identity!"

     Nabiki blinked.  "I'm not wearing a mask."

     The woman pouted for a moment.  "You're really that hideous?  Well,
everyone is hideous in comparison to me, but..."

     Nabiki frowned.  "At least I have some taste in clothing."

     "You were dressed like Tarzan when we found you."

     "Hey, I've been stranded on this island for two years.  It was furs
and grass skirts or go naked."  And I still have that blouse, but it's
holier than Sunday, she thought.  "So who are you?  Queen Kobra or
something?"

     "HOHOHOHOHO!!!!  I am Lady Naga Serpentis, Queen of KOBRA!"

     "Shouldn't you spell that with a C?"

     "Mattel sued us and forced us to change our name."  She looked
embarrassed for a moment.  "So, let's see...what would be a good deathtrap
for a jungle girl..."

     "I want to be a financier if I ever get back to civilization."

     "So you DO have a secret identity!"  Lady Naga put her hands on her
hips, threw back her head, thrust her chest forward and laughed hideously.
"And I will BEAT it out of you!"

     Nabiki sighed.  "Are you actually listening to anything I say?"

     "Hmm.  A jungle girl who wants to be a fiancier in her secret
identity..."  Lady Naga sat down and started trying to plan out an
appropriate deathtrap.  "Do you fear spiders?"

     "No."

     "Man-eating alligators?"  She sounded hopeful.

     "Where are you going to find a man-eating alligator on this island?"

     Naga thought for a moment.  "How about if I just force you to eat
rice-a-roni until you explode?"

     "Just don't throw me in the briar patch."

     Nabiki didn't expect to be taken literally.

******************

     Crawling out of the briars was incredibly painful, although at least
they had dressed her in one of their uniforms before tossing her in there,
which was some comfort.  Naga had assumed being dressed as a member of
KOBRA would torment Nabiki's soul, but actually she felt human for the
first time in months.  Not that this made the thorns hurt any less.

      Listening to Naga rant in the distance didn't help either.  "So,
you're actually Br'er Fox, are you?  Well, even a folktale character
cannot hope to defeat me, ESPECIALLY with that ugly haircut of yours."
Yet more maniacal laughter rolled across the briar patch.

      Nabiki ignored her.  Luckily, the uniform came with a standard belt
knife, which the dimwitted goons had neglected to notice, so she slowly
cut her way through the briars.  Eventually, Naga got bored of laughing
and went to bed, leaving only two idiots on guard duty to watch the briar
patch.  

      She slipped past them and into the camp again, her 'uniform' torn
and bleeding from multiple cuts, still trying to think of some kind of
plan.  Memories of the Dukes of Hazard suddenly filled her mind, and she
grinned.  The archery shed's lock hadn't been replaced, but she was
disappointed to learn that Naga had had the sense to at least lock up the
explosives.  The boats were guarded as well.  

      The radio room, however, was not.  She slipped into the radio room
and started trying to operate it, having no real idea how anything worked.
The best she could do was to send out what she hoped was a distress
signal.  She stuck with it until close to sunrise, then tried to sneak out
of the radio room, only to be stopped by one of the KOBRA goons.  "What
are you doing in a torn uniform?  Go change into a fresh one and PUT your
headgear on!  You look like an escaped prisoner!"

      Nabiki grinned and followed orders, stashing the bow outside the
camp during a bathroom break, so she could get it later if she needed it,
then tromped around all day, following orders and bellowing the KOBRA
theme song.  

      Salvation came in the form of a head poking up in the middle of the
lagoon.  Only Nabiki seemed to notice the dark haired boy, and she knew
better than to point it out to anyone.  Everyone noticed the giant squids
that rose up out of the harbor and dragged all the boats out to see
without any crews.  A few seconds later, a huge green flying carpet dived
down out of the sky with three people riding on it, and a fourth, an old
man with black wedges on his face and an odd green and black checkered
tunic and black pants with a matching long cape, was flying along side it.
The person driving the carpet was  a man in a green and black Kendo
uniform with a huge green lantern woven into the cloth pattern.  The
carpet was projecting from a ring on his hand.  His two passengers were a
pair of women.  One was blonde, wearing a tight black bodysuit with
fishnet stockings over her bare legs and a blue jacket.  Her hair was done
up in knots on either side of her head and trailed down in long ponytails.
The second woman's hair could not be seen, for she wore a tight red outfit
that covered virtually every inch of her flesh, including her face, except
for her lips and her ears, although there was a huge yellow lightning bolt
on her chest and stomach, set into a white circle, for contrast.  

      The guards began running around and shouting wildly as Naga began
shouting contradictory orders and trying to cast some sort of spell.
Nabiki quietly ran off and grabbed her bow.  Sure, they'd armed her with a
gun, but she didn't know ANYTHING about guns, while bows had become second
nature to her in the last two years.  

      The flying carpet hit the beach and the red-clad woman took off at
high speed, disarming goon after goon.  The blonde started screaming like
a maniac, and to Nabiki's surprise, KOBRA agents began crumpling as if
they had been struck.  The lantern guy had made a giant bokken with his
ring and was now breaking the buildings open with single blows.  Finally,
the old guy had pulled an energy sword out of somewhere and was charging
Naga, who was firing mystic blasts at him.  He couldn't get close enough
to hit her, but he easily deflected the shots with his sword.

      Nabiki watched Naga, who was waving some sort of wand around.  Once
she retrieved her arrows, she followed the patterns that Naga's hands
made, studying it, then fired three times, shattering the wand into
pieces.  Naga spun about.  "YOU!  I thought I threw you in the briar
patch!"

      Nabiki didn't dignify that with an answer.  "Give it up or I'll aim
for your scantily clad chest next!"

      "It will bounce off my invulnerable uniform!"

      Nabiki removed the arrow head and fired.  It struck the
diamondshaped cut out exposing part of Naga's breasts that Naga had put in
her uniform to look more slinky.  Without an arrowhead, it hurt, but
didn't penetrate, though it would leave a nasty bruise.  

       "The next one will be real.  Give up?"

       "LADY NAGA NEVER GIVES UP!"

       She raised her arms to cast a spell, and the forgotten man with the
energy sword came up behind her and said, "Boot to the head."  One kick
knocked her out, since she didn't wear a helmet either, for fear it would
mess up her hairstyle.  The man turned and gazed thoughtfully at Nabiki.

       "Uh, hi."

       "Nice to meet you.  I am the Juraiian Manhunter."  He flew over to
her and offered her a hand.

       "You can call me..."  She looked down at the silly outfit she was
wearing. "Green Arrow."  Looking around, she could see that the battle was
over.  The two women and the man with the magic ring had laid the enemy
waste, and their companion, a man...woman? in a fairly tight yellow and
green diving outfit rose up out of the waves to join them while the giant
squids played frisbee with the boats.  

       "You can call us...the Justice League of Japan," the man said.
"These are my companions Green Lantern, Aquawoman, the Flash, and Black
Canary."  He pointed to each of them in turn.  

       "Can I catch a ride back to civilization?  I've been here WAY too
long."  

       "We'd be glad to take you."

       One adventure was over, but her adventures were just beginning.