Spider-MuuTsu
Standard disclaimer continues from first chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter 2: This complicates things...
The rest of the day passed with minimal trouble. Mallet-sama was unsheathed from malletspace only a total of five times during the course of their tour. Muu Tsu's full attention was focused on the woozy feeling coursing through his body. If anyone noticed, they were just happy that he stopped taking pictures. The group made a few friends with the current students as well as they passed through. After a particularly painful- looking strike from her mallet of justice, Akane was approached by a girl that appeared somewhat strikingly like her older sister Kasumi. The two got to talking, and it appeared that the Tendo girl's temper was curbed for the moment.
When the tour concluded, and all were attempting to get safely back to their home port of call, Muu Tsu decided that traveling _inside_ the bus would be preferable just then. It was all he could do to stay conscious as he made his way to an open seat and crashed into it. The next two hours were an incomprehensible blur as he slept his way home. When the bus finally pulled back into the Nerima ward, XF had to pull him off the bus, all the while muttering all kinds of Chinese curses against the males of her species.
As soon as Muu Tsu's head hit the pavement, his eyes shot open, and he mumbled a quiet apology as he pulled himself to his feet, slumping over on a nearby fence. Seeing that there was indeed something seriously wrong with him, Xian Fu decided to give him a break. Unfortunately for Muu Tsuu, her plan included dousing him and carrying him home as a duck. However, as Xian Fu lifted the conveniently placed bucket of cold water and proceeded to splash the Chinese youth, she was greeted with the surprise of her life. Before her was a sputtering, wet, tired, Muu Tsuu. The duck was out of the equation, it seemed. The young man's eyes fluttered closed again and he seemed out for the count.
Xian Fu decided that an immediate investigation was in order. After ensuring that Muu Tsu was completely unconscious, she hefted him onto her back and jumped the roof-route home. Of course, the wheels that had turned in her head were of concern towards all those who had the curse of Jusenkyo. I'm sure that's what it was. Stop thinking too much, she chided herself, as she reached the final two rooftops before the Nekohanten.
"Great-Grandmother! Something wrong with duck-boy! He no longer duck- boy!" Xian Fu ranted to Ko Lon as she sat the groggy boy down in a chair. The Amazon elder bent close to examine the shallow breathing of the young man. She then repeated XF's earlier trial and drenched the young man just to be sure. This time, not only did he not change, he made no outward sign that he was even alive aside from his erratic breathing. Ko Lon furrowed her brow in concern as she examined him closely.
Indeed, his aura is growing faint. And yet... she thought, sensing an underlying growth in strength as she could see a part of Muu Tsu dying and another part of him being reborn with an aural pattern she had never before seen in her life. This may prove interesting, she mused, hopping once on her staff before pogo-ing away back toward the counter.
"Take him to his room, and he'll sleep it off. Somehow, I think all he needs is a good night's sleep," she told her great-grandaughter. Xian Fu gave her Elder a quizzical look before shrugging and hefting the boy on her shoulders again.
"Is alright, I guess. Finals time no leave much time for students to eat out. Dinner crowd should be thin today," she said, as she made her way to the cupboard under the stairs that served as Muu Tsu's living quarters. She spoke flippantly as always, but Ko Lon could see that particular glint in her eyes that said volumes otherwise. XF lay Muu Tsu carefully on his bed and pulled a blanket over him, turning quickly and slamming the door closed for good measure. She couldn't afford to have appearances slip now; now that she was so close to achieving her dreams to become a full part of the Amazon tribe with a husband to take care of the kids and all. She had realized long ago that that man just couldn't be Muu Tsu, so she had let the issue fade from her mind slowly. Ko Lon just wouldn't accept him; the tribe just barely accepted him. After the reverberating sound of the slamming door had toned down, Xian Fu raised a tentative hand to the door, silently wishing for his safe recovery.
Meanwhile, Across town Tofu was making slow progression towards his own dreams. As he ground a few herbs in a bowl with one hand, he took notes with the other. *Getting close to desired results,* he wrote. *The committee should be pleased with the progression of the project. However, there are dire side-effects in the early trials that need to be addressed. I need to find some way to avoid the aura disruption that ultimately results in insanity and uncontrollable violence. That is what my work is focused on this week. When my lab aid and good friend Muu Tsu returns from his duties I will finally inform him of the project's scope and goals. I think it's only proper he know at this point; the committee be damned what they think about that.*
**
Muu Tsu awoke with a start, rewarding him with a sharp pain in his forehead as he struck the stairs overhead. After a brief, very disorienting moment, Muu Tsu switched on the single lamp that served as illumination in his room. Staring into the blurry space, he began his feeble search for his glasses, trying first to slide them down from his forehead. After a few minutes of feeling around, it finally dawned on Muu Tsu that he had been wearing them the entire time. Snatching the thick lenses from his head, he was in complete shock to see the world come into stark focus for the first time.
Carefully opening his cupboard door, Muu Tsu ventured out into this new world of vision. This 'seeing' stuff just gets better and better, he thought to himself as he made his way to the Furo. He could already tell he had missed a bath the day before and was in need of one. As he stepped into the changing room and removed his top robe (with all accessories intact), he was greeted with the second surprise of the day when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He had never been a slouch in the upper-body strength department, but looking at him now, you would have thought him a professional body-builder the way he was ripped. A knock on the door startled him out of his self-admiration.
"That duck-boy in there? You alive still?" came the unmistakable broken Japanese of the girl of his dreams. Muu Tsu continued to flex and appreciate his new physique, if somewhat confused as to its origin.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm, _real_ fine," he called out, muttering the last part to himself. "I'll be in the furo for a bit, but I'll get to the morning chores in a little while, ok?"
"That ok. Xian Fu already took care of chores. Great-Grandmother already figure you for dead," she said, smiling broadly as he couldn't see her through the door. She turned and walked away, satisfied then of Muu Tsu's well being. Muu Tsu turned to fill the furo for his morning bath. As he went to adjust the temperature, he jerked his hand back as cold water hit his skin while the water heater took its time to supply the hot water. It took Muu Tsu a full thirty seconds to realize that he hadn't transformed, and when he did it was all he could do to not run down the street naked singing hallelujahs.
Having finished his scrubbing and bath, Muu Tsu got back into a clean set of robes and vaulted down the stairs, a spring in his step.
"I see you found a way to remove the curse from yourself, boy," commented a stern-sounding Ko Lon. "Care to tell us how it happened?" she asked. Muu Tsu glanced down to his hand where he could still see the blistering set of circular puncture wounds.
"Well, I guess you could say it kind of fell out of the sky and bit me," he said, beginning to think about it himself. The Elder Amazon was in no mood for contemplation on the boy's part, and set him to work cleaning the tables for the breakfast rush. Muu Tsu continued to contemplate the new sequence of events as he finished half the restaurant in less then five minutes. Ko Lon observed this all with mild amusement, as Muu Tsu finished his chore and she allowed him a brief break to eat breakfast himself. The customers began to file in slowly as the Chinese youth quietly ate his morning meal.
Xian Fu was in high spirits. Today marked the first day of finals week, and soon she would be rid of school altogether. On top of that, Muu Tsu hadn't actually died overnight, so that was somewhat of a relief for her. As she served up breakfast to the steady stream of morning customers, she had a spring in her step as well. Unknown to the young Amazon was the sizable puddle of tea a customer had spilled not three seconds before, and she was about to slip in it. Muu Tsu, however, saw the whole thing happen mere fractions of a second before its occurrence. He whirled around just in time to catch the buxom beauty, and catch each falling dish in succession on the serving tray.
XF found herself looking straight into Muu Tsu's eyes, as she held her now complete tray in her hands once more. Such beautiful blue eyes, she thought. ...and he did all that without his glasses.
This event didn't go unnoticed by a certain martial artist across the room, who was incidentally hiding from Akane's latest attempt at the art of breakfast making. With a microwave and tinfoil. "I could have done that," he muttered to himself.
"Yes, but could you have done it without the Chestnut fist training?" asked a passing Ko Lon. Ranma jumped and immediately began fuming. So what's happened to you, Muu Tsu?
"Hmph. So duck-boy did something right for change. Clean up tea, please?" Xian Fu said, nose turned upwards as she continued on her way. Muu Tsu beamed from ear to ear.
She said 'please,' he thought, looking down to notice that a spoon had stuck squarely in the palm of his hand and refused to let go. After a few minutes of pulling, Muu Tsu succeeded in freeing the offending utensil and examined his hand. Nothing seemed too out of place, but it wierded him out just the same. He decided to finish up at the restaurant and get to school.
Upon reaching the gates of Furinkan high, Muu Tsu was greeted with the same old early morning chaos that fills the heart with such joy and the courtyard with so many bodies. He quickly got situated in class and took the first final exam of the day.
Later, Muu Tsu exited the cafeteria, bento in hand, looking for a secluded spot to chow down. He picked an inconspicuous spot under a shady tree. It was on the way to his quiet destination that he encountered a very curious Ranma Saotome.
"Hey Muu Tsu, what's with the trick earlier?" asked a chummy-sounding pigtailed martial artist. "Been doing some training you're not letting us in on?"
"Not really, Saotome," muttered Muu Tsu under his breath. As a whole, he had come to dislike Ranma's attitudes toward him, life, the art, and Xian Fu. He found him an annoying, smug antithesis to himself. Sure, he was a good guy, but Muu Tsu felt he had all the charm and personality of a plastic chair. "Some weird things have been going on, but believe me, I don't feel like getting into another suicide bout anytime soon."
"Yeah, good thinking," agreed Ranma. "I don't think you've ever lasted more then a minute against me, anyhow."
Muu Tsu felt a tingling up and down his spine. He felt the sudden urge to flee. "That's nice. You might want to move a little," said Muu Tsu, as he himself sidestepped about two paces. Sure enough, the Bike of Death swooped from the sky and landed somewhat approximately where Muu Tsu would have been, but plowed into Ranma instead. Xian Fu looked impressed as she dismounted and surveyed the damage.
"That first time duck-boy escape Amazon bicycle attack," she said, bending down to examine her fallen hero. Ranma muttered an incomprehensible string of words dealing with cheese and penguins as Xian Fu propped him up against the tree. She then turned back to the Chinese youth and pointed an accusing finger. "Why you make Xian Fu hurt airen?" she asked, as if it was all his fault. Muu Tsu, for his part, was already sitting legs akimbo already eating his bento box with mild-mannered interest.
"What do I have anything to do about it?" he asked, taking his own turn to be aloof. "It's not my fault Saotome has the reaction time of a brick," he commented.
"You no insult husband!" exclaimed Xian Fu, ready to pound the offending boy back into submission. Finishing his last bite of rice, Muu Tsu found himself in a suddenly frozen world, as his senses began to ramp. He could suddenly hear every detail of everything being said in the courtyard, see every ripple of wind in the grass, smell each of the various types of lunches being eaten, but most importantly, feel the air off of the mighty punch he was about to receive in the head.
Muu Tsu ducked out of the way of Xian Fu's fist at precisely the right moment. XF instead hit the tree trunk with the full force of her punch, creating a sizable splintery crater. Muu Tsu immediately leapt into action, the adrenaline singing in his veins as a battle rush came over him. After avoiding the first flurry of punches, and ducking and leaping his way over a well-delivered kicking combination, Muu Tsu decided he was going to have a bit of fun. By this time, a crowd had begun to gather from the usual spectators that loved a good Nerima battle. He began to weave his way out of any attack Xian Fu could dish out, and he begun to laugh while doing it, which infuriated the Amazon to no end.
Ranma shook his head and got to his feet. What happened to me? Feels like I got plowed over by a mack truck..., he thought groggily. The first thing he saw was Muu Tsu's back. Being Ranma, he immediately came to a number of wrong conclusions and decided to unleash an attack on the hapless boy.
A tingle in the back of Muu Tsu's mind told him to duck to his right, as a jab sailed past his ear and nearly connected with Xian Fu's face. Muu Tsu whirled around just in time to face Ranma's fastest attack, the Chestnut fist. "Kacchu Tenchin Amagoriken!!!" announced the martial artist as a thousand strikes sailed toward Muu Tsu's face. Time blurred and then slowed to a crawl as Muu Tsu deftly took a step back and deflected each strike as if it were coming much too slow for his attention. Ranma's hands were almost blurred into one mass, yet Muu Tsu continued to intercept his strikes without even one hitting their mark. Muu Tsu then even turned to face Xian Fu, one hand taking over the job of defending his body, the other resting on his hip. He then caught the pigtailed boy's right arm in a vicelike grip, spun it around until the young martial artist was forced to hunch over with the forward motion and pain, and delivered a powerful sidekick to his body, propelling him all the way across the courtyard to connect with the school building's wall. Xian Fu looked back to see Muu Tsu still locked in posture, leg stuck straight out as if still in the act of kicking, then slowly swug to the side and back into a horse stance.
Coming out of the trancelike state and catching his breath, Muu Tsu looked nervously in Xian Fu's direction, then at Ranma before muttering, "I have to go." He then took off across the field, deftly leaping over the fence and sprinted down the street. When he was sure that he was far enough away from the school, Muu Tsu tuned down an alleyway and flattened himself against the wall.
What's happening to me? he asked himself. The speed, the weird tingling danger sense, the strength... Muu Tsu looked again at the bitemark on his hand, then up, as he caught sight of a spiderweb on a street sign. Could it be? he thought, as everything he had heard in the lab the previous day came back to him in a flash. Genetic manipulation...combining physical traits...spiders...
Muu Tsu then remembered the spoon, and looked again at his hand. He then looked closer, using the sight he hadn't even realized he was gifted with. He oogled as he saw hundreds and hundreds of tiny grappling feelers extend from the surface of his skin. Intrigued, he reached tentatively towards the wall of the closest building. As he grasped the wall's surface, he stuck fast. He then reached his other hand above the first, and it too stuck. He then reached up higher with the first hand, and so on and so on, until he was climbing the wall vertically with nearly any effort at all! He looked down to see the street far below, and let out a whoop of joy.
The Chinese youth suddenly found himself leaping from building to building. While this wasn't uncommon in Nerima, and Muu Tsu had the ability himself previously, it wasn't normally for entire square blocks of the city, nor from highrise to highrise. Muu Tsu deftly cleared an entire building before coming to the canal, which was open for a good distance. Muu Tsu was sure he could take the distance, and survive the landing if it came to that, but curiosity got the best of him. He looked down at his hands and then at a nearby crane. He wanted to try something else out as well...
"Go web!" he commanded, stretching out his left hand. Nothing. "...fly..." he tried again, using a different hand motion. Upon closer inspection of his arms, it dawned on him that there was absolutely nothing there that could dispense a web, so he decided to forgo that thought. He was about to turn and go another direction when it occurred to him that he already had the necessary equipment to complete such a swing, if only he used it right. Using a motion he had already perfected, Muu Tsu launched a clawed chain clear across the distance to the crane, locking it into place. He then took a deep breath, and swung out. Muu Tsu quickly found out it wasn't quite the rewarding experience he had expected, when he failed to catch himself before plowing into a billboard for Smack Ramen. He filed away the experience for later inspection, and proceeded to Dr. Tofu's clinic to inform him of the good news.
*******
Chapter 2 complete! I have so many ideas, but the number of positive reviews have inspired me to keep this up in chewable bursts, so that I can continue to get feedback! I love the green panda idea, by the way. I'm kicking around a few ideas here and there; overall, I'm definately looking for more then a pure "good versus evil" approach, but more of the superhero angle that I enjoy, being that both sides have good reasons for fighting, as twisted and askew as they are. Great ideas thus far.
One thing I would like feedback on is if the general desire is more for an action angle, or a humor angle. I have the capacity for both here, but I don't want to get too serious if you guys don't want it too be, and vice/versa. I can get as Tim Burton or as 'Superfriends' as anybody wants.
Standard disclaimer continues from first chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter 2: This complicates things...
The rest of the day passed with minimal trouble. Mallet-sama was unsheathed from malletspace only a total of five times during the course of their tour. Muu Tsu's full attention was focused on the woozy feeling coursing through his body. If anyone noticed, they were just happy that he stopped taking pictures. The group made a few friends with the current students as well as they passed through. After a particularly painful- looking strike from her mallet of justice, Akane was approached by a girl that appeared somewhat strikingly like her older sister Kasumi. The two got to talking, and it appeared that the Tendo girl's temper was curbed for the moment.
When the tour concluded, and all were attempting to get safely back to their home port of call, Muu Tsu decided that traveling _inside_ the bus would be preferable just then. It was all he could do to stay conscious as he made his way to an open seat and crashed into it. The next two hours were an incomprehensible blur as he slept his way home. When the bus finally pulled back into the Nerima ward, XF had to pull him off the bus, all the while muttering all kinds of Chinese curses against the males of her species.
As soon as Muu Tsu's head hit the pavement, his eyes shot open, and he mumbled a quiet apology as he pulled himself to his feet, slumping over on a nearby fence. Seeing that there was indeed something seriously wrong with him, Xian Fu decided to give him a break. Unfortunately for Muu Tsuu, her plan included dousing him and carrying him home as a duck. However, as Xian Fu lifted the conveniently placed bucket of cold water and proceeded to splash the Chinese youth, she was greeted with the surprise of her life. Before her was a sputtering, wet, tired, Muu Tsuu. The duck was out of the equation, it seemed. The young man's eyes fluttered closed again and he seemed out for the count.
Xian Fu decided that an immediate investigation was in order. After ensuring that Muu Tsu was completely unconscious, she hefted him onto her back and jumped the roof-route home. Of course, the wheels that had turned in her head were of concern towards all those who had the curse of Jusenkyo. I'm sure that's what it was. Stop thinking too much, she chided herself, as she reached the final two rooftops before the Nekohanten.
"Great-Grandmother! Something wrong with duck-boy! He no longer duck- boy!" Xian Fu ranted to Ko Lon as she sat the groggy boy down in a chair. The Amazon elder bent close to examine the shallow breathing of the young man. She then repeated XF's earlier trial and drenched the young man just to be sure. This time, not only did he not change, he made no outward sign that he was even alive aside from his erratic breathing. Ko Lon furrowed her brow in concern as she examined him closely.
Indeed, his aura is growing faint. And yet... she thought, sensing an underlying growth in strength as she could see a part of Muu Tsu dying and another part of him being reborn with an aural pattern she had never before seen in her life. This may prove interesting, she mused, hopping once on her staff before pogo-ing away back toward the counter.
"Take him to his room, and he'll sleep it off. Somehow, I think all he needs is a good night's sleep," she told her great-grandaughter. Xian Fu gave her Elder a quizzical look before shrugging and hefting the boy on her shoulders again.
"Is alright, I guess. Finals time no leave much time for students to eat out. Dinner crowd should be thin today," she said, as she made her way to the cupboard under the stairs that served as Muu Tsu's living quarters. She spoke flippantly as always, but Ko Lon could see that particular glint in her eyes that said volumes otherwise. XF lay Muu Tsu carefully on his bed and pulled a blanket over him, turning quickly and slamming the door closed for good measure. She couldn't afford to have appearances slip now; now that she was so close to achieving her dreams to become a full part of the Amazon tribe with a husband to take care of the kids and all. She had realized long ago that that man just couldn't be Muu Tsu, so she had let the issue fade from her mind slowly. Ko Lon just wouldn't accept him; the tribe just barely accepted him. After the reverberating sound of the slamming door had toned down, Xian Fu raised a tentative hand to the door, silently wishing for his safe recovery.
Meanwhile, Across town Tofu was making slow progression towards his own dreams. As he ground a few herbs in a bowl with one hand, he took notes with the other. *Getting close to desired results,* he wrote. *The committee should be pleased with the progression of the project. However, there are dire side-effects in the early trials that need to be addressed. I need to find some way to avoid the aura disruption that ultimately results in insanity and uncontrollable violence. That is what my work is focused on this week. When my lab aid and good friend Muu Tsu returns from his duties I will finally inform him of the project's scope and goals. I think it's only proper he know at this point; the committee be damned what they think about that.*
**
Muu Tsu awoke with a start, rewarding him with a sharp pain in his forehead as he struck the stairs overhead. After a brief, very disorienting moment, Muu Tsu switched on the single lamp that served as illumination in his room. Staring into the blurry space, he began his feeble search for his glasses, trying first to slide them down from his forehead. After a few minutes of feeling around, it finally dawned on Muu Tsu that he had been wearing them the entire time. Snatching the thick lenses from his head, he was in complete shock to see the world come into stark focus for the first time.
Carefully opening his cupboard door, Muu Tsu ventured out into this new world of vision. This 'seeing' stuff just gets better and better, he thought to himself as he made his way to the Furo. He could already tell he had missed a bath the day before and was in need of one. As he stepped into the changing room and removed his top robe (with all accessories intact), he was greeted with the second surprise of the day when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He had never been a slouch in the upper-body strength department, but looking at him now, you would have thought him a professional body-builder the way he was ripped. A knock on the door startled him out of his self-admiration.
"That duck-boy in there? You alive still?" came the unmistakable broken Japanese of the girl of his dreams. Muu Tsu continued to flex and appreciate his new physique, if somewhat confused as to its origin.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm, _real_ fine," he called out, muttering the last part to himself. "I'll be in the furo for a bit, but I'll get to the morning chores in a little while, ok?"
"That ok. Xian Fu already took care of chores. Great-Grandmother already figure you for dead," she said, smiling broadly as he couldn't see her through the door. She turned and walked away, satisfied then of Muu Tsu's well being. Muu Tsu turned to fill the furo for his morning bath. As he went to adjust the temperature, he jerked his hand back as cold water hit his skin while the water heater took its time to supply the hot water. It took Muu Tsu a full thirty seconds to realize that he hadn't transformed, and when he did it was all he could do to not run down the street naked singing hallelujahs.
Having finished his scrubbing and bath, Muu Tsu got back into a clean set of robes and vaulted down the stairs, a spring in his step.
"I see you found a way to remove the curse from yourself, boy," commented a stern-sounding Ko Lon. "Care to tell us how it happened?" she asked. Muu Tsu glanced down to his hand where he could still see the blistering set of circular puncture wounds.
"Well, I guess you could say it kind of fell out of the sky and bit me," he said, beginning to think about it himself. The Elder Amazon was in no mood for contemplation on the boy's part, and set him to work cleaning the tables for the breakfast rush. Muu Tsu continued to contemplate the new sequence of events as he finished half the restaurant in less then five minutes. Ko Lon observed this all with mild amusement, as Muu Tsu finished his chore and she allowed him a brief break to eat breakfast himself. The customers began to file in slowly as the Chinese youth quietly ate his morning meal.
Xian Fu was in high spirits. Today marked the first day of finals week, and soon she would be rid of school altogether. On top of that, Muu Tsu hadn't actually died overnight, so that was somewhat of a relief for her. As she served up breakfast to the steady stream of morning customers, she had a spring in her step as well. Unknown to the young Amazon was the sizable puddle of tea a customer had spilled not three seconds before, and she was about to slip in it. Muu Tsu, however, saw the whole thing happen mere fractions of a second before its occurrence. He whirled around just in time to catch the buxom beauty, and catch each falling dish in succession on the serving tray.
XF found herself looking straight into Muu Tsu's eyes, as she held her now complete tray in her hands once more. Such beautiful blue eyes, she thought. ...and he did all that without his glasses.
This event didn't go unnoticed by a certain martial artist across the room, who was incidentally hiding from Akane's latest attempt at the art of breakfast making. With a microwave and tinfoil. "I could have done that," he muttered to himself.
"Yes, but could you have done it without the Chestnut fist training?" asked a passing Ko Lon. Ranma jumped and immediately began fuming. So what's happened to you, Muu Tsu?
"Hmph. So duck-boy did something right for change. Clean up tea, please?" Xian Fu said, nose turned upwards as she continued on her way. Muu Tsu beamed from ear to ear.
She said 'please,' he thought, looking down to notice that a spoon had stuck squarely in the palm of his hand and refused to let go. After a few minutes of pulling, Muu Tsu succeeded in freeing the offending utensil and examined his hand. Nothing seemed too out of place, but it wierded him out just the same. He decided to finish up at the restaurant and get to school.
Upon reaching the gates of Furinkan high, Muu Tsu was greeted with the same old early morning chaos that fills the heart with such joy and the courtyard with so many bodies. He quickly got situated in class and took the first final exam of the day.
Later, Muu Tsu exited the cafeteria, bento in hand, looking for a secluded spot to chow down. He picked an inconspicuous spot under a shady tree. It was on the way to his quiet destination that he encountered a very curious Ranma Saotome.
"Hey Muu Tsu, what's with the trick earlier?" asked a chummy-sounding pigtailed martial artist. "Been doing some training you're not letting us in on?"
"Not really, Saotome," muttered Muu Tsu under his breath. As a whole, he had come to dislike Ranma's attitudes toward him, life, the art, and Xian Fu. He found him an annoying, smug antithesis to himself. Sure, he was a good guy, but Muu Tsu felt he had all the charm and personality of a plastic chair. "Some weird things have been going on, but believe me, I don't feel like getting into another suicide bout anytime soon."
"Yeah, good thinking," agreed Ranma. "I don't think you've ever lasted more then a minute against me, anyhow."
Muu Tsu felt a tingling up and down his spine. He felt the sudden urge to flee. "That's nice. You might want to move a little," said Muu Tsu, as he himself sidestepped about two paces. Sure enough, the Bike of Death swooped from the sky and landed somewhat approximately where Muu Tsu would have been, but plowed into Ranma instead. Xian Fu looked impressed as she dismounted and surveyed the damage.
"That first time duck-boy escape Amazon bicycle attack," she said, bending down to examine her fallen hero. Ranma muttered an incomprehensible string of words dealing with cheese and penguins as Xian Fu propped him up against the tree. She then turned back to the Chinese youth and pointed an accusing finger. "Why you make Xian Fu hurt airen?" she asked, as if it was all his fault. Muu Tsu, for his part, was already sitting legs akimbo already eating his bento box with mild-mannered interest.
"What do I have anything to do about it?" he asked, taking his own turn to be aloof. "It's not my fault Saotome has the reaction time of a brick," he commented.
"You no insult husband!" exclaimed Xian Fu, ready to pound the offending boy back into submission. Finishing his last bite of rice, Muu Tsu found himself in a suddenly frozen world, as his senses began to ramp. He could suddenly hear every detail of everything being said in the courtyard, see every ripple of wind in the grass, smell each of the various types of lunches being eaten, but most importantly, feel the air off of the mighty punch he was about to receive in the head.
Muu Tsu ducked out of the way of Xian Fu's fist at precisely the right moment. XF instead hit the tree trunk with the full force of her punch, creating a sizable splintery crater. Muu Tsu immediately leapt into action, the adrenaline singing in his veins as a battle rush came over him. After avoiding the first flurry of punches, and ducking and leaping his way over a well-delivered kicking combination, Muu Tsu decided he was going to have a bit of fun. By this time, a crowd had begun to gather from the usual spectators that loved a good Nerima battle. He began to weave his way out of any attack Xian Fu could dish out, and he begun to laugh while doing it, which infuriated the Amazon to no end.
Ranma shook his head and got to his feet. What happened to me? Feels like I got plowed over by a mack truck..., he thought groggily. The first thing he saw was Muu Tsu's back. Being Ranma, he immediately came to a number of wrong conclusions and decided to unleash an attack on the hapless boy.
A tingle in the back of Muu Tsu's mind told him to duck to his right, as a jab sailed past his ear and nearly connected with Xian Fu's face. Muu Tsu whirled around just in time to face Ranma's fastest attack, the Chestnut fist. "Kacchu Tenchin Amagoriken!!!" announced the martial artist as a thousand strikes sailed toward Muu Tsu's face. Time blurred and then slowed to a crawl as Muu Tsu deftly took a step back and deflected each strike as if it were coming much too slow for his attention. Ranma's hands were almost blurred into one mass, yet Muu Tsu continued to intercept his strikes without even one hitting their mark. Muu Tsu then even turned to face Xian Fu, one hand taking over the job of defending his body, the other resting on his hip. He then caught the pigtailed boy's right arm in a vicelike grip, spun it around until the young martial artist was forced to hunch over with the forward motion and pain, and delivered a powerful sidekick to his body, propelling him all the way across the courtyard to connect with the school building's wall. Xian Fu looked back to see Muu Tsu still locked in posture, leg stuck straight out as if still in the act of kicking, then slowly swug to the side and back into a horse stance.
Coming out of the trancelike state and catching his breath, Muu Tsu looked nervously in Xian Fu's direction, then at Ranma before muttering, "I have to go." He then took off across the field, deftly leaping over the fence and sprinted down the street. When he was sure that he was far enough away from the school, Muu Tsu tuned down an alleyway and flattened himself against the wall.
What's happening to me? he asked himself. The speed, the weird tingling danger sense, the strength... Muu Tsu looked again at the bitemark on his hand, then up, as he caught sight of a spiderweb on a street sign. Could it be? he thought, as everything he had heard in the lab the previous day came back to him in a flash. Genetic manipulation...combining physical traits...spiders...
Muu Tsu then remembered the spoon, and looked again at his hand. He then looked closer, using the sight he hadn't even realized he was gifted with. He oogled as he saw hundreds and hundreds of tiny grappling feelers extend from the surface of his skin. Intrigued, he reached tentatively towards the wall of the closest building. As he grasped the wall's surface, he stuck fast. He then reached his other hand above the first, and it too stuck. He then reached up higher with the first hand, and so on and so on, until he was climbing the wall vertically with nearly any effort at all! He looked down to see the street far below, and let out a whoop of joy.
The Chinese youth suddenly found himself leaping from building to building. While this wasn't uncommon in Nerima, and Muu Tsu had the ability himself previously, it wasn't normally for entire square blocks of the city, nor from highrise to highrise. Muu Tsu deftly cleared an entire building before coming to the canal, which was open for a good distance. Muu Tsu was sure he could take the distance, and survive the landing if it came to that, but curiosity got the best of him. He looked down at his hands and then at a nearby crane. He wanted to try something else out as well...
"Go web!" he commanded, stretching out his left hand. Nothing. "...fly..." he tried again, using a different hand motion. Upon closer inspection of his arms, it dawned on him that there was absolutely nothing there that could dispense a web, so he decided to forgo that thought. He was about to turn and go another direction when it occurred to him that he already had the necessary equipment to complete such a swing, if only he used it right. Using a motion he had already perfected, Muu Tsu launched a clawed chain clear across the distance to the crane, locking it into place. He then took a deep breath, and swung out. Muu Tsu quickly found out it wasn't quite the rewarding experience he had expected, when he failed to catch himself before plowing into a billboard for Smack Ramen. He filed away the experience for later inspection, and proceeded to Dr. Tofu's clinic to inform him of the good news.
*******
Chapter 2 complete! I have so many ideas, but the number of positive reviews have inspired me to keep this up in chewable bursts, so that I can continue to get feedback! I love the green panda idea, by the way. I'm kicking around a few ideas here and there; overall, I'm definately looking for more then a pure "good versus evil" approach, but more of the superhero angle that I enjoy, being that both sides have good reasons for fighting, as twisted and askew as they are. Great ideas thus far.
One thing I would like feedback on is if the general desire is more for an action angle, or a humor angle. I have the capacity for both here, but I don't want to get too serious if you guys don't want it too be, and vice/versa. I can get as Tim Burton or as 'Superfriends' as anybody wants.