Ranma's vision was a blur. He still had water in his eyes and no matter how well he shook, he couldn't bring himself to see very well. However, the pain he felt in his arm when the bamboo pole had lanced through him seemed to have lessened... In fact, after a minute of him just standing in the spring, his body felt as good as new. Was he paying attention, ranma would have seen the wound closed up and turn back into a healthy looking patch of skin and... Fur!?
Staring at his son, Genma couldn't understand why his worthless boy looked like some sort of cat-man. "Did the boy finally master the Neko-Ken with that last blow?" Genma wondered idlely."
"Well, that's new..." Ranma muttered. Flexing his arms he felt that they really did feel new. "Let's see, arms feel good..." Shaking his legs, "Legs feel okay too..." Ranma however, got a weird look on his face as he felt another appendage move above his butt. "I... Have... A... TAIL!?" Ranma asked in shocked. Looking over at the Jusenkyo Guide, he asked, "What spring did I fall into!?"
Cringing, the Jusenkyo Guide knew he should have run like hell instead of standing around waiting for a tip like an idiot. "Honorable sir fall in Waruchitahnichuuan. Spring of Drowned Werecheetah. Very tragic story of werecheetah that drowned 16 year ago. He decide to go for swim to cool down, then realize he no good at swimming."
Ranma's left ear twitched. "HOW THE HELL DO I CHANGE BACK!?" He was starting to get nervous. Cheetahs were a type of cat and it made him feel nervous now that he was a cat.
"No worry honorable sir. Get out of Spring and I show you." The Guide said as he ran back into his hut.
Stepping out of the Spring of Drowned Werecheetah, Ranma stood by his father. He unsheathed his claws and said, "Pops, if I'm stuck like this, I'm going to see how strong these are..." He smiled as he saw a yellow-tinted moisture drip down the white fur of the Panda's legs.
After a moment, the Jusenkyo Tour Guide came out with a tea kettle. He poured some of it's contents on Genma, turning him back into a person. "I'M CURED!"
"Curse it water activated. Hot water turn back to normal, but cxold water turn you back to Panda." The Jusenkyo Tour Guide explained.
"Oh. You mean that was long as I stay away from cold water, I will remain human, and if I should get turned back into a panda with cold water, hot water will change me back." Genam asked, amking sure he got this clear.
"Yes, that what I saying." The Jusenkyo Guide said. He then poured the hot water on Ranma... And Ranma was still a werecheetah. "Odd. Young sir should be turning back to human." The Jusenkyo Guide poured more hot water on him, but to no avail. "Hmm... Perhaps since werecheetah magical being, magic of wereperson mix with that of spring and make Young Sir into werecheetah permanently..."
Ranma sputtered for a moment, until he finally got out, "WHAT!?"
As Genma heard Ranma growl, he realized he should probably be heading out of there now...
(------)
On the other side of the globe, it is currently nighttime in the suburb of Decatur in Atlanta, Georgia. In the Diggers Mansion, we see a teenaged girl named Britanny Diggers laying on her bed, yet she is wide-awake. This would be a normal scenario for most family's and households, except for one minor detail. This 16-year-old girl is a Lycanthrope... Specifically...
"Werecheetah..." Britanny muttered It was the name of her species. And while it normally saddened her to think she was the last, tonight for some reason, it felt unbearable. She sat up on her bed and thought. She didn't like the idea that she was the last of her kind, yet that's how it was...
"Even so, I wish I could find someone that would understand." She can't really talk to her mother, because of what her grandfather Jonathan did when he changed into a Lich. And it's no use tlaking to Gina. Her older sister is 17, and already working on getting her 3rd PhD.
And sure, Britanny has tried to get boyfriend before, but her father's power of illusion had scared all of them off. "Stupid flaming skull..." Britanny said.
Suddenly, Britanny got a chill of goosebumps up her back, one so strong it made her shift forms involuntarilly, shifting from human into her hybrid form. "Great... Now I won't be able to shift again fot another 24 hours..." Though she had had to admit, that shiver felt good...
Realizing that sleep would not come easilly, (and that it wasn't a school night) Britanny got out of bed. She went down the hall and down the stairs. Walking into the living room, Britanny sat on the couch and fished for the remote between the cushions. Finding it, she turned the TV on, bathing the room in a pale light from the television set. She flipped channels for awhile. And then she saw it. "DAD! COME QUICK! PLEASE HURRY!"
In a bright flash of light, her father, Dr. Theodore Diggers appeared. "What's wrong dear? Are you all right?"
"Dad!" Britanny said, "The TV!"
Wondering what has Britanny so excited, Theo turned his head to the television...
And his jaw dropped.
"Another werecheetah..." Theo said as he watched the broadcast. It was a footage from Chinese News Show that showed a male werecheetah chasing a large panda through a valley near the Bayankala Mountain Range in China...
Chapter 2 Werecheetahs have more fun, fun!! by KestralThe funny thing was, he was feeling more and more comfortable with this as time went on.
Part of it might have been that as a werecheetah he was stronger, harder to hurt, and faster. A lot faster. A helluva lot faster.
"Weeeeee!" (zip, zoom, zing!)
Running was a rush.
(THWAM!)
Running over pandas while going better than 90mph was a definite rush!
Ranma decided to test his speed at full, chose one of the paths, and let 'er rip!
A panda held up a sign, having learned this trick a lot earlier due to the problems of communicating with a blond blur. [Stop this at once!]
(zip, zoom, zing, THWAM!)
A panda embedded in the road held up a sign. [Ouch!]
The walls of the canyons were a blur that passed to either side of him, and he made leaps that took him over crevasse or waterfall with ease. He sped past rock and stream and -
(THWAM! THWAM! THWAM! THWAM! THWAM!)
"Oops, sorrry, I didn't see you there," said Ranma after screeching to a halt. "My bad."
Shampoo didn't understand Japanese. What she did understand was a perfectly scrumptious man had just run over her and... he was some sort of furry guy?!
The village went silent as the defeat of five different Amazons by a definite Outsider man was noted.
Finally Cologne made her determination of the event.
"It is a werebeast! And a fairly polite one since he just apologized. Strong + male + Outsider. What are you waiting for?"
Chapter 3
Grooming The Cheetah! by KenderOne of the Amazons turned to another and asked, "Does that mean what I think it does?"
"He did defeat us," the second answered.
"And you know what the Law says..," commented a third.
"Yes, we do," drawled the fourth.
Not being able to speak Chinese, Ranma just took notice of their actions. And got nervous. They were looking at him like his father had at that fancy resturant, the one with all the high class food. It wa a similar kind of hunger, but not exactly. It didn't seem like food was what they were after. Whatever it was, it made him nervous.
"You come with Shampoo now, okay?" Cologne's great grandaughter purred.
The pigtailed werecheetah took one look at how the pretty girl was trying to cuddle up to him and:
ran, but there was that accident with the boy on the cliff...
The Eternal Lost Boy... by Red Priest of the 17th OrderTaking notice of how tight the girl with purple hair was hugging onto him, and how the four other girls were getting closer, Ranma came to the smartest choice of action. (After all, becoming a werecheetah gave him a great healing ability, correcting a lot of the brain damage recieved from his youth during his 'training' exercises under Genma's guidance.)
"Uh, sorry, but..." Ranma said, as he broke the hug with the purple-haired girl. "I gotta run! SEE YA!" And with that said, Ranma took off in the opposite direction as quickly as he could.
Blinking, Shampoo turned to her great-grandmother and asked, "Why did airen run great-granmother?" She asked in perfect Mandarin dialect.
Her left eye twitching, Cologne sighed. "Shampoo, you cannot call him, 'airen' just yet. You did not give him the Kiss of Marriage. Meaning he is a free man, er, wereperson. And that he is up for grabs by the other four Amazon warriors as well..."
All five girls, Shampoo, Soap, Towel, Bubbles, and Brush knew what they had to do. They had to find their man... Er... Werecat and give him the Kiss of Marriage!
(------)
Ryoga Hibiki stood at the edge of a cliff near the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo. He raised his hands high and pledged to the heavens, "Ranma Saotome, because of you, I've seen hell... CURSE YOU FOR RUNNING OFF TO CHINA! WHEN I FIND YOU, I WILL KILL YOU!!!"
It was then Ryoga turned his head to look for a path down to the springs, when he noticed a golden blur rapidly getting closer to him.
*TWHAM*
Ranma blinked as he ran. "Geeze... What did I run into that time?" He idly thought as he continued running. Ranma wanted to put as much distance between himself and those women as possible.
After a few more moments, (and miles) of running, Ranma came to a screeching halt as he saw an older man up ahead holding out his hand. Ranma came to a full stop three feet from the man, who himself looked to be a foreigner.
"Um... Who're you?" Ranma asked the older man. He then watched as the older man made a few motions with his hands. He then listened as the man spoke.
"Hello there young fellow." The man said. "My name is Dr. Theodore Diggers. I must say, I am fascinated as to find a werecheetah here. The slaughter 16 years ago had wiped out the vast majority of them."
While Ranma did understand what the man was saying, Ranma couldn't comprehend how what the man said didn't match his lips. He then shrugged his shoulders and spoke, "Look, I may be a werecheetah, but I wasn't born one."
"Oh? Then, may I ask, how is it you are one now?" Theodore asked. Could there have possibly been another werecheetah around that had inflicted the boy?
Shrugging his shoulders, Ranma said, "I was at Jusenkyo, a place of cursed springs. I fell into 'Spring of Drowned Werecheetah.' Basically, you take the form of whatever drowned there, and for some reason, it's permanent for me." Ranma said.
Nodding his head, Theodore asked, "Would you telling me where the springs are? In the meantime you can talk to my daughter Britanny. She should be by the lake a good 4 miles to the east. She likes to fish."
His stomach grumbling, and with the promise of fish, Ranma couldn't help but agree. What bad could it do going to talk to some guy's daughter?