Author's Note: Well, here's my revised edition of the first chapter. I did my best to fix the paragraphs... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½... Rumiko Takahashi does.

Lycanthrope ½: The Other Curse

Chapter 1: Ranma meets Kobold

"Akane, you cooked THIS for dinner? Hey, what's with the look? All right, all right, I'll taste this... BLEEEAARGGHHHHH!!! Kami, Akane! What the hell did you put in this? Toxic waste? Raw sewage? Urk..." As the food/toxin spread out into his being, Ranma suddenly felt numb as a strange feeling came over him. His bones felt as if they were crystallizing, being encased with a hard shell of ice. Then, it felt as if the ice suddenly shattered, taking with it the weird feeling.

"Geez, Akane, what the hell was that shit? Boiled tree bark tasted better than that! Blech!"

Akane saw red, which in itself is never a good thing. With an angry cry of "Ranma no Baka!!!" Ranma was sent flying thru the roof, courtesy of Mallet Airlines (From as near as next block to as far as Australia, we'll get you there with the most amount of pain possible!). As the pig-tailed boy flew thru the air, he contemplated his engagement to that baka tomboy, who he was growing to hate more and more as the days passed. He was getting mighty tired of all the times he was yelled at, called a pervert, insulted, embarrassed, fed with shit that looked (and tasted) like radioactive sludge combined with raw sewage, and hit with that damned mallet. Especially of that damned mallet. While he was thinking, his thoughts were rudely interrupted when he caught sight of where he was going to land.

"Ah shit... A forest. Of all the crappy places to land."

Ranma quickly did a flip in the air, making it so that he would land feet- first. That made little difference, as fortunately, a large, thick bush broke his fall. Unfortunately, the bush was very thorny.

"Ouch... Stupid bush..."

Getting off the bush, he started to remove the prickly thorns, when the strange numbness returned, bringing with it a burning heat that seemingly roasted his bones. He bent over, heaving in pain. Then, as quickly as it came, the numbness disappeared, as did the smoldering fire in his bones.

"Unghh... I think I'm okay... Damned food."

Suddenly, he heard a low growl. He looked up and, to his surprise, saw a wolf slowly approach him.

"Shoo! Go away, you mangy dog. Bad enough that I'm covered in thorns and lost in this stupid forest, Kami knows where I am, and now you! Scat!"

The wolf only responded with a low growl. Suddenly, two more wolves appeared out of nowhere.

"Yipe! Damn wolves. Go away!"

This time, the first wolf lunged forward. Thankfully, Ranma's martial arts reflexes took over. He quickly dodged the wolf and started running. Though the wolves were technically trying to make a meal out of him, he didn't really want to kill them. So, he ran.

"Goddamned wolves..."

Meanwhile, back at the Tendo household...

"It's getting quite late, and Ranma's not back yet. I do hope the poor boy hasn't been hurt or anything." Kasumi looked skyward.

"Oh, come on, Sis. You're actually worried about that idiotic jerk? Don't worry; he'll come back when he gets hungry. Probably sometime tomorrow."

"I do hope you're right, Akane."

"Stop worrying. By the sound of your voice, you'd think Ranma was being chased by wolves or something..."

The eldest Tendo sister looked skywards and sighed. "Oh, Ranma..."

Unbeknownst to her, she was secretly being watched by her sister, the Ice Queen herself, Nabiki Tendo. "So, my sister's falling for that pig-tailed hunk, eh? Oh, well, join the club, sis. Most every gal in this whole damn city's falling for Ranma."

Kasumi finally looked away and with another sigh, headed for her bedroom. Nabiki stayed hidden until her sister had walked past, and then stared into the night sky herself. "Dammit, Ranma... Come back soon..."

Returning to our unfortunate hero...

Ranma looked behind him. The number of wolves chasing him had increased, from three to almost twenty-five. A silvery wolf with a scar across its eye seemed to be leading the pack. They were untiring, almost enjoying this chase. Ranma tried to detect any signs of fatigue, but there were none.

"Time for this chase to end." Said Ranma.

So saying, he stopped and grabbed at a branch above him. He quickly scrambled up the 20-foot tall tree, and got to the topmost branch in no time.

"Hahahahahaha! Stupid wolves! Can't climb up and get me, can ya?"

To his astonishment, the wolves, instead of circling the tree as he thought they would do, stopped at the base. What happened next both scared and shocked Ranma. The leader of the wolves hooked his paws onto the tree trunk and started climb the tree. The rest of the pack quickly followed. Their method of ascent reminded Ranma of kids climbing up a fruit tree.

"These ain't ordinary wolves... Damn."

Before the silver wolf could get any closer, Ranma jumped down the tree. Bad move. His feet hit the ground HARD. He felt and heard the bones in his foot crack. Before he had time to recuperate, the wolves jumped down after him. Having no choice, Ranma resumed running. Of course, it isn't exactly easy to run when the bones in your feet are cracked, as every step causes lots and lots of PAIN. Wincing, Ranma ran on. As he looked back, he noticed that the number of the wolves had increased. From twenty-five, they now numbered more than forty. Wolves were popping out of nowhere and joining in the chase. Too preoccupied with looking over his shoulder, Ranma failed to see that he was headed towards the edge of a gorge. Only when he stepped forward and found nothing underneath did he finally realize his mistake. Losing his balance, Ranma fell down, down, down...

"Ohhhhh.... My head..."

Ranma woke up, and immediately wished himself unconscious again. He was totally surrounded on all sides by wolves. The gorge was completely filled with wolves, and Ranma thought he could see even more wolves looking down up the edge. Even if he had had the strength to fight, the sheer number of wolves would quickly overpower him. Right now, though, Ranma was in extreme pain, due to his broken foot, hunger, and what he believed to be the onset of a moderate concussion. He was in no condition to fight. Then again, thought Ranma, if the wolves were intending to eat him, why was he still alive? He must have been out for a good thirty minutes, probably more. If so, why hadn't the wolves devoured him yet? Ranma groaned. Thinking about it only made his head hurt. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a low growl that snapped him back to reality. The silver wolf was staring at him and growling softly. Then, to Ranma's surprise, it stepped on his chest and sniffed him from head to toe. Then, it turned around and barked at the throng of wolves. They answered by barking in unison. The silver wolf nodded, and then uttered a long howl. What happened next scared the living hell out of Ranma. The silver wolf changed. His paws changed into huge, clawed, hairy hands, as his feet took on a more human shape. His chest flattened and formed some very well developed muscles. His arms and legs thickened. The silver wolf, or rather, werewolf, stood up on two legs, and spoke.

"Greetings. My name is Kobold, and, obviously, I am a werewolf. You are?"

"R-Ranma. Ranma Saotome."

"Ahh... Saotome... You come from Japan, no doubt? Hmm... About time we had a Brother over there."

"A B-Brother? What are you talking about?" Kobold looked at Ranma, and then shook his head and laughed.

"Oh, nothing, nothing. Can you get up on your own? Of course not, how stupid of me. By the way your feet are looking, the bones seem to be cracked or fractured... Didn't stop you from running for more than 25 kilometers, though. Extraordinary. You are in excellent shape. Well, are you going to lie down there all night or what?" He held out a hand. Ranma looked at it for a moment, and then hesitantly took it. As he got to his feet, the pain in his feet returned with a vengeance, and his head started to spin.

"Uhhh... my head..." Ranma muttered before he lost consciousness.

"Hmmm, apparently he's also got a concussion. And yet he was out for only fifteen minutes... Unbelievable. This boy is very extraordinary. With the proper training, he might even become as good as me. And yet, why were his feet broken from that little fall?" With that said, Kobold picked Ranma up, and then jumped out of the gorge. He then slung Ranma over his shoulder, and strode off into the forest, with the wolves following closely.

A/N: Well, hopefully I've satisfied your comments. Special thanks to DeusExMachina and the others who gave such nice, constructive reviews for my betterment... Oh, and to Unkind Fearful Leader... May mushrooms sprout forth from your eyes and ears, and may you awake to find a thousand itchy caterpillars on your body!!! Hehehehehehehehehe.... By the way, Doc Bogey, I did as you requested and changed the genre. So, from now on, I'm going to try and make this fic as funny and supernatural as possible... that means more werewolves and weirdness.