I do not own Tiger and Bunny. Oh that I wish I did, alas, one must press on. To the story~!
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The steam rose pleasantly off the hot spring's surface to slightly obscure the tall tanned man who was testing the water with his foot. The spring was really hot, just the way he liked it. The man grinned, his golden eyes shining in pleasure. "Hey Antonio! I found the perfect one!" he called over his shoulder. It was too bad that his partner, Barnaby, found a cooler spring more to his liking.
Antonio followed the voice of Kotetsu, his old friend, up the path with surprising grace. He was a big man with big muscles, dark hair and dark skin. He found Kotetsu taking off the complementary yukata to reveal tiny black shorts when he arrived. The big man grinned at his excitable buddy and while Kotetsu wasn't looking, one large hand pushed the smaller man into the spring. Antonio bent over double, not bothering to smother his barks of laughter at his friend's loud squeak and flailing arms.
Abruptly breaking the surface of the steaming water, Kotetsu spluttered and yelled at the shaking, laughing mountain that was his friend. "Hey! That hurt!" was the first thing out of his mouth. Kotetsu looked up the suddenly silent Antonio. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked noticing how his voice had changed to his own ears. Wait, changed? He was thirty seven for crying out loud. Vocal changes should have been over and done with. Besides his voice seemed less deep, not that much, but it was noticeable to him.
The two heroes were so shocked that neither one noticed a now young man, who had been hiding in the outcropping of rocks, get out of the pool and flee. The man didn't want anyone to find out about his NEXT powers for obvious reasons. 'Hopefully that loud idiot will get out before the change is permanent.' the man thought to himself as he scurried off.
Kotetsu, still standing in the spring, stared at his hands. All of the callouses and scars he had gotten as a hero were gone. Suddenly Kotetsu's hands flew to his chin, fingers franticly searching for his trademark "kitty" beard. Kotetsu's face slid from panicked shock to dawning horror. "Noooooo! My beard~!"
Summoned by Kotetsu's extended cry of horror, someone came careening around the bend of the path that led to the other hot springs. A tall, muscular, golden blonde man slowed his pace as he neared the spring so as not to slip. "Kotetsu-san what are you yelling about n-? " Halting in his tracks, Barnaby Brooks Jr. stared at the teenager that so resembled his partner, who was standing waist deep in the steaming pool.
"Bunny?" Kotetsu blurted before he could think. "Ah…" Looking down at himself, Kotetsu finally realized that he was still standing in the hot spring. It was as he was moving to get out that Barnaby broke the silence.
"What happened?" Barnaby asked, the dim light glinting off his glasses as he turned from Antonio to the emerging teenage Kotetsu. The latter stopping to look at his partner.
"I pushed Kotetsu into the hot spring," began Antonio, pulling himself together.
"Where I hit my head on the bottom, which hurt by the way, and came up like this." continued Kotetsu as he gestured at himself. As he finished getting out, Kotetsu gave a pained grin to the two. "Ya know, I kinda hoped that once I got out of the water, I'd return to normal." Kotetsu scratched the back of his head, his wet hair sticking up oddly. Kotetsu froze. "Kaede! How can I face Kaede like this?" he whined.
"Humph. Now you are younger than I am physically and mentally." Barnaby snorted.
"Aw Bunny, that's not fair!" Kotetsu complained.
"Maybe we should call Mr. Saito. He may have a clue about this or a clue as how to reverse it." Barnaby stated as he adjusted his glasses and ignored his partner. "We will have to procure a sample of the water from the spring to see if it is truly the cause of all this."
"Oh come on! Magic hot springs? This isn't Ranma ½. I'm not Ranma and I didn't turn into a girl!" Kotetsu protested. "I just got younger…"
"Just?" Antonio asked, a bushy eyebrow raised.
"What about being a Hero?" Kotetsu plowed on, his voice and body movements becoming frantic. "Will I still be able to help people?"
Barnaby looked at his partner is sympathy. He knew how much being able to help people meant to Kotetsu. Kotetsu just had to help. The man simply couldn't stop himself. And although he was down to less than a minute with his powers, he still did his absolute best. He was impulsive, brash, and childish, but he was so very kind and had a deep sense of justice.
Antonio and Barnaby moved to pat Kotetsu on the back at the same time. "It'll be okay Kotetsu," Antonio comforted. "You've always pulled through before."
Kotetsu pouted for a minute before glancing up at them. He gasped, crying out. "Hey! I'm shorter than you now Bunny!"
Barnaby looked at him before laughing. "You were always shorter than me."
"But now it's really noticeable!" Kotetsu complained. "We were practically the same height before."
As the two walked off bickering like an old married couple, Barnaby threw a look at Antonio who nodded and sighed. The big man made sure that the partners were well out of hearing range before turning to the communicator on his left wrist. "Mr. Saito? This is Rock Bison. We need your help with something to do with Wild Tiger."
"What did Tiger-san do now?" Saito's voice came loudly over the speaker.
"He, uh, got younger." Antonio muttered as he ran a hand over his face. The silence on the other end was maddening. He was about to ask if the mechanical engineer had heard him when Saito spoke.
"I'll be right there." Was all Saito said before hanging up.
Antonio was astonished that the small scientist had believed him. And so quickly too! At last, the large man sat back to wait.
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Here it goes, my first real fic~! I'm so very nervous! /o/ But sooo excited! Please, tell me what you think! Is it good enough to continue? What typos did you find that I missed? I hope that you liked it! You did get this far….but, yeah….Yeah, I'm gonna go before I embarrass myself even more with nervous chatter. Arigato, soshite arigato~! See ya~!