Disclaimer: I disclaim to own Ranma 1/2, Gold diggers, or Sailor moon.
Don't own them but using their characters and situations to serve my own
evil needs. MWAHAHAHAH.
Chapter 2: Fight for your right to lick yourself.
It had been over 5 minutes since Nodoka transformed and Ranma was still clinging to the ceiling, Shampoo was still standing warily with her sword drawn, and Sailor Jupiter was trying to figure out what was going on before she called in the cavalry. Cologne was just calming down now. Maybe she would get some help with this situation.
From past experience she knew that the Sailor scouts packed a whole lot of magic and that lycanthropes and magic attacks didn't mix. She also didn't like the way Shampoo was holding that sword. It wasn't silvered but it still hurt when you got some part cut off. She decided to diffuse the situation a bit and switch back to her human form.
"Mako chan? It's me Auntie."
"You're not Auntie you're a monster that killed her and took over her!"
"Makoto I've always been a were cheetah for as long as you've known me. I haven't told you till now because it was for your own safety."
"My own safety! But..."
"Do you remember dear when I was teaching you how to cook? The first thing you made was boiled rice. It burned onto the pot so badly that the smoke alarm went off. You cried so hard that day." She chuckled a bit to herself.
"But you with the ears and the tail... were cheetah?"
"Yes dear now if you could please change back you'd notice that your hair is also turning blond. The potion is removing the lock."
"Wait a minute. The potion! What did you do to me!"
"I'm afraid I've been lying to you for quite some time now... you see Makoto your parents were the other two survivors of the slaughter however they were followed by a pack of werewolves. They fought valiantly but in the end... As for the potion when you were five we gave both you and Ranma potions to lock you in your human form. The potion that I gave you was to undo the effects of the lock."
"That means..." Makoto really didn't like this line of thought.
"Yes dear you're a were cheetah the same as my son. If you look, your hair's changing colour."
She detransformed and grabbed her ponytail. Sure enough from a nice light brown it had turned a dusty yellow.
"You and Ranma should be able to shift forms now." She looked up to where Ranma was still clinging. "Ranma what are you doing up there?"
Cologne stepped forward. "I believe that I may be able to answer that question." She cleared her throat. "You see when Ranma was six his father decided to teach Ranma something called the Neko ken. The training for this is very easy. You dig a pit and put cats in it. Starve the cats for a minimum of five days. You then take the trainee who should be under 8 years of age and wrap them in fish products. Toss the trainee into the pit. Repeat as necessary until either the trainee dies or goes permanently feral." Cologne tapered off as she saw Nodoka straining not to go half weir and run out to kill her husband.
"You're joking right? No self respecting parent would ever do that to their kid. I mean you'd have to be some kind of moron to think that that's a legitimate technique." Makoto was hoping this was a joke. Nobody was that stupid.
"You've never met pops. It took about 10 times in the pit before I finally snapped. Now whenever I'm around a c...c...cat for too long I lose it. I think I'm a cat and go around doing cat things."
"Like what?" Nodoka needed to know about this Neko ken. It could be necessary to know what he could and would do in his cat state and how to get him out of it.
"Umm shred trees, play with balls of yarn, shred pops, chase butterflies, shred 6 inch steel doors you know cat stuff."
Everybody but Cologne was speechless at that last one, and that was only because she had witnessed him do it before.
"You're kidding right? You can't really tear though steel doors right?" Sure she could punch through 3 inches of steel when she was sailor Jupiter and Uranus could punch through 4 inches.
"Of course not I watched him do it." Said Cologne as she took a sip of her tea. "When he is in cat mode he's faster, stronger, and more agile than a normal human. He also is able to form ki claws that can rip through just about anything."
"Yeah I've seen what I can do when I'm in cat mode but I don't remember any of it though."
"So how do you usually get out of cat mode?"
"Umm usually I just curl up on Akane's lap and sleep it off. Or triggering the Jusenkyo curse."
"Umm curse?" asked Makoto. He was cursed?
"Aheh. Yeah you see me n' pop went to this cursed training ground in China and picked up a couple of curses. You see there's all of these pools and if you fall into one you turn into the last thing that drowned there. Pops fell into the spring of drowned panda so whenever he's hit with cold water he turns into a panda." He paused to let it sink in. He knew it was a shock the first time.
"So your father turns into a panda, what do you turn into?" She was curious and a little afraid. What if he turned into a horrible monster with the body of a bull, crane wings, an eel's tail and octopus tentacles. Well maybe the tentacles.
Ranma walked over to where his mother had her drink on the desk. She noted that when he passed her that he kept his distance from her. This hurt her. Her son was afraid of her now. She really wanted to kill her husband. It was a long time since she'd been on a proper hunt. Maybe when she'd gotten her son over his fear she could take him and his fiancee's out for a good old fashioned hunt. She'd never had to hunt a human before, it should be good sport.
When he'd retrieved the glass he walked back and stood right in front of Makoto and looked her right in the eye.
"I fell into the spring of drowned girl. whenever I get hit with cold water I turn into a girl." He upended the juice over his head and say hello to blondie. Ranma's female form's hair had also turned blond to match his male form.
"OK so you turn into a girl that's not so bad." Damn no tentacles.
"Umm yeah I guess with you being a magical girl and all that wouldn't seem so weird." Well she did do the magic stuff for a living so he guessed she'd seen some pretty weird shit.
"You guys all saw that?" Everyone nodded. "Umm I guess it's too late to ask you to forget that isn't it?" Everyone nodded again. "Oh great. Could you kinda not tell anyone." If the other girls got wind that she'd blown her cover they'd never let her live it down.
"Of course dear. You needn't have asked. We all have our secrets here. Now what I really need to teach you is how to change forms. Ranma this includes you too." Maybe changing will help him get used to cats. She hoped so at least. Standing up straight she motioned for Ranma and Makoto to stand in front of her.
"Ok this should be pretty easy to learn, you should be able to get it on the first try." She turned to Ranma. "Son I really would like you to try this. It is my hope that by getting used to your feline side that you will eventually get over your fear." The best way to get over a fear was to confront it head on. Or at least she hoped this was the case.
"Ok both of you close your eyes." They both closed their eyes. "Ok now imagine three buttons all in a row. Do you see them?" They both nodded. "The first button should be lit right now. This is your human form, in the past other visualizations were used but I've found that buttons are easy to visualize. You can use switches, levers, etc it's the mental focus that is important. This little trick will help you until you get the hang of transforming. Until then you can use this like a crutch." She paused to let this sink in. "Ok now imagine your hand reaching out and pressing the middle button. The first change may feel a little strange but there's nothing to worry about."
When Nodoka told them to press the middle button they both started shaking slightly. Both of them grew taller tearing their clothes in the process. Their breasts grew bigger tearing their shirts even more. Their ears shifted to the top of their heads. Finally fur grew over their entire body. When it was over Ranma's head snapped violently to the side and stayed there for a couple of seconds then it went back to face forward.
Makoto was the first one to open her eyes. Since she was naturally tall she was used to looking at things from a higher perspective than most people, however she was now at least a foot taller than she normally was. It was quite disheartening really. The next thing that she noticed was that she felt strong. Really strong. Without testing it she figured that she was at least as strong as she was in scout form. The really scary thing was that it felt perfectly natural for her to be this way. She was kind of hoping that it would feel wrong somehow and that she could get them to change her back.
"Cool I feel great!" Ok so maybe being a monster wouldn't be so bad. There was just one more thing that she needed to try. She pulled out her transformation pen.
"Jupiter Planet Power! Make up!" Crickets.
"Jupiter Planet Power Make up." Still nothing.
"I would assume that it doesn't work while you're transformed dear." If it didn't work when she changed back then she'd just opened a big can of worms.
"I hope so Auntie." She really didn't mind it too much right now she felt as though she could take on all of the scouts and win.
It was about that time that Shampoo spoke up. "Aiyah, airen alright?" She was trying her best not to sound intimidated. Ranma was now taller than her and looking very cat like. Also the fact that Ranma hadn't opened her eyes yet and was flicking two foot long claws in and out from between her fingers.
Makoto took a quick step back. She had no idea where the claws were coming from but they looked sharp and she didn't want to be anywhere near him if he decided to play scratching post.
"Ranma are you alright dear." Nodoka was worried, she'd been so focused on Makoto that she'd completely missed the fact that her own offspring hadn't moved other than extending and retracting his claws.
All of a sudden Ranma's claws fully retracted and her eyes flew open.
"Yes motherrrr I'm just fine." She seemed to purr a bit when she spoke. It was interesting if not a bit weird.
"Ranma I would like to try something." Spoke Cologne as she reached into weapons space to pull out a metal club. "If you don't mind could you cut this in half."
"Certainly Elderrrrr." She unsheathed her claws. "Rrrrready."
"No no if you could use your ki claws. You remember how to make them don't you?" She hoped she was right about this.
"Alright." She retracted her claws. Once her claws were fully retracted three foot long red energy claws sprouted from between her knuckles. "Ready."
Cologne tossed the club towards Ranma. With a quick swipe of her 'paw' the club fell apart into three neatly cut segments. "That was easy."
"I think that the cat persona and his human persona have merged somehow. He has access to the neko ken but he will act like a cat. I want to test a theory." She turned her attention fully towards Ranma. "Ok Ranma look at Makoto." Ranma turned and looked at Makoto like he was asked to do.
"Ok now what?"
"Are you afraid? She does look like a cat."
"You'rrrre rrrrrright and a very good looking cat at that." Ranma said purring a bit at the end.
Makoto blushed a bit at that but it was mostly hid by her facial fur.
"Now what I want you to do is change back to human." She hoped she was wrong about it and that Ranma wouldn't remain cat like when he changed back.
Closing her eyes Ranma changed back into her normal form. Changing back was almost as weird as changing into her hybrid form. When she opened her eyes....
"Ahhhhh CATTT!!' She proceeded to perfect the cling to the ceiling technique.
"Ranma change back, change back!" Ok so he was still afraid of cats but only in his human form.
Unfortunately for him in his haste he hit the third button. The sudden change coupled with the fact that she didn't have her claws out caused her to slip off the ceiling. However cats always land on their feet. Except in this case.
Thud
It's a good thing her head is made of rock or else something might have been damaged.
"Are you alright son?" If he wasn't in control he could do tons of damage with those new claws of his.
The cheetah growled a bit and nodded its head. Everybody let out a breath at that, they would not have to restrain him.
"Ok Ranma change back into your human form." That was enough poking fate with a sharp stick for today. "Makoto you should be able to change into your full cheetah form as well. As you can see with my son your clothing will not change with you." Nodoka commented as she noticed Ranma pulling up her pants. She had made sure before she changed back to face away from Makoto. Freaking out again today was just not on her list of things to do.
Makoto changed back to her human form. There was something that she needed to know.
"Jupiter Planet Power Make up!" Insert flashy transformation sequence. She looked herself over. Nothing seemed to be any different. She tried changing to her hybrid form but found that she couldn't. She let her transformation drop.
"I can't change to hybrid when I'm Sailor Jupiter either."
"That's not as bad then. Having magic and being a were cheetah are probably not a good thing." She nodded. "Ok now for some rules. These are things that you need to know. First of all when you are in hybrid and full cheetah form you have super accelerated healing. That means that if you lose a limb or get cut etc it will heal or grow back in about a day or two. There are some exceptions to this. If your head is cut off you die, if you are sufficiently hurt you will die. You are vulnerable to silver, magic, and other were creatures. Injuries from any of these three ways takes five times longer to heal than a normal wound." She paused for a bit. "You can die from these kind of injuries. Luckily anything silvered or magical has a blue aura about it and if a were creature is coming after you, you should be able to spot them pretty easily." She chuckled a bit. "Feel free to kill any werewolves you come across though."
Makoto was just coming to terms with what she was. Sure it was weird but not quite as strange as being Sailor Jupiter.
"Well Auntie when you said it was going to be a surprise you weren't kidding." She chuckled a bit.
"Actually Mako chan that wasn't the surprise." She wished she'd thought to bring her camera.
"Umm it's not."
"No it isn't. You see before you were born your parents and I pledged that if we had children of opposite genders they would be engaged to be married, and regardless of what my son looks like right now he is definitely male..."
"So I'm engaged to him!"
"Yes that's true." Makoto didn't sound as happy as she thought she would be.
"But I haven't even had a boyfriend yet! And now you tell me I'm engaged to some guy I've never even met before!" She left out that he turned into a girl but it was implied. "So what's next? Are you going to tell me that that girl over there is also engaged to him?"
"No dear she is not engaged to him."
"Well that's good."
"She's actually his wife."
"..."
Nodoka sighed and started to rub her temples.
"Makoto I'm sorry to do this. You are like a daughter to me however you must understand your situation. You are one of two female were cheetah's left in all of existence it is your duty to have children to make sure that the were cheetah's don't go extinct. It is true that you can have children with normal humans however it is much more difficult. It took Genma and I only a few tries however it usually takes years of trying. " She looked up. "I'm not telling you that you have to like it, hell Ranma is still against it but he's going to give it a try. Please just try this, that's all I ask."
After a few minutes of silence.
"Alright I'll give it a try."
Nodoka looked relieved.
"On three conditions though. I want to be his girlfriend first, we decide when and if we get married..." She trialed off.
"And the third condition?" Asked Ranma. He was pretty happy with her conditions. No pressure.
Makoto looked down and blushed heavily. "The third condition is that I want both of them to propose to me. I've always wanted someone to get down on their knees and ask me to marry them, you know romantic like."
Nodoka started laughing very hard.
"Alright conditions accepted." She got out in-between chuckles. "Now it's getting pretty late what do you say we get something to eat?"
"Food!" the kids were getting hungry now.
"Alright Walter this is a special time. break out the Zebra and Antelope!"
"???"
"Umm Auntie we don't eat Zebra." Something was starting to click now in Makoto's head.
"Of course we do dear we're cheetahs we have to eat zebra every so often or our claws get brittle. You now know the reason for the zebra out back."
"You mean that we eat them?" Sure Nabiki often told him that if he tried he could eat a horse. Well maybe someday he'd give it a try.
"Yup of course if you want we don't have to cook it. However I don't think our human guests would appreciate having to watch us rip into raw meat." Too bad too, she rather enjoyed the more carnal side of her nature. She would have to make sure that Cologne and Shampoo were elsewhere durring one of the parties.
Makoto looked a little green at that. "You mean raw meat? That's disgusting!"
"Dear you eat sushi trust me I know, what's the difference between that and a leg of zebra?" Besides things tasted different when you're in your hybrid and cheetah forms, but I'll let them figure that out on their own.
"I'd prefer my meat cooked please." Cologne wasn't quite about to do as in Rome in this circumstance. "Besides I haven't had good roasted zebra in years."
"Auntie I've never cooked zebra before do you think you could teach me how?" Oh well at least it was a new recipe. If it was any good she'd bring some of it to a scout meeting. She laughed at the thought of Usagi choking back big hunks of zebra and then her telling them what it is.
"Shampoo help mother in kitchen too." Like hell she'd let her co-wife get the upper hand on this. If they had to live together she was damned sure she was going to make this work.
"Alright both of you really should learn to do this." Nodoka started walking off with both girls trailing her. After they had gone Ranma turned to Walter.
"Umm you know mom's a cheetah right?"
"Yes young master it would be quite hard not to realize it especially with the number of times that she goes about the house in her hybrid form." He chuckled a bit. Young master Ranma would have to get used to his hybrid form or get used to cats really quick. Both the mistress and he loved their hybrid forms much better than their human forms because of the extra strength and in her case stupid amounts of speed.
"So what are you?" Please not another cat.
"I believe it would be best if you changed back to your hybrid form young Ranma... at least until we can figure out how to cure you of your fear."
Ranma didn't even close his eyes this time just switching to hybrid form. His poor clothes were showing lots of wear and tear from changing back and forth. When he was finished changing and Walter was almost certain that he wouldn't freak out he too shifted. He grew taller, his ears went to the top of his head, a tail grew from his back, and midnight black fur grew all over his body.
"I am a were panther. We're not as strong or as fast as the other were cats but what we lack in physical attributes we more than make up for in stealth abilities." Were panthers were almost as good at stealth as were rats and didn't have that nasty habit of stabbing you in the back when you weren't looking.
"Very dashing young man, is there by any chance a young lady in your life these days?" So what if the odds of a human and a lycanthrope having a child were a little high she knew quite a few girls back in the village who would jump at the chance to jump into the sack with this wild cat. Ahh if she was only 280 years younger.
While the men and old troll I mean honored elder were discussing the finer points of lycanthropy and Walter was furiously ducking the elders not so veiled hints that an amazon bride or three would do him a world of good. The rest of the females however were in the kitchen preparing supper for the rest of the horde. (Mostly Ranma)
"Ok before we begin Mako chan could you please change to hybrid form."
Concentrating for a second she complied. Shampoo had to fight the urge to turn her co-wife to be into a rug. If it wasn't for Ranma she wouldn't tolerate this at all.
"Ok now Shampoo could you go into the freezer over there and pick out a couple of big hunks of meat."
Shampoo looked around but couldn't find anything that looked like a freezer other than the obvious fridge freezer but that couldn't possibly hold meat large enough to feed everybody.
"Where freezer?"
"Yeah Auntie you don't have a freezer." Even Makoto was confused. For the entire time she'd cooked here she'd always used the fridge, there was no freezer.
"Of course there is." She smiled "You've just never seen it. Keeping zebra is one thing eating them is quite another. If you would go to the cookbook shelf and get me my Cook with Emeril cookbook." Wait'll they get a load of this.
Shampoo went over to the cookbook shelf and tried to pull off the Emeril cookbook. When she encountered resistance she pulled harder. She had to stop when she heard a click and the book stopped moving. She yelped and leapt back as the entire shelf descended into the floor. Behind the shelf was a large metal walk in freezer door.
"Aiyahhh." Just like a secret agent movie with the secret doors and everything.
"Go ahead dear we need one of the hind shanks and maybe a roast or two." Had to plan ahead her son sure could eat a lot.
Inside the freezer Shampoo was confronted with whole carcasses that were vacuum packed and hanging from hooks. On the shelves there were other various meat products in various stages of butchering. She secretly wondered just what she'd gotten herself into. She grabbed a couple of beef roasts off of the shelves as she walked towards the back of the freezer. At the back she found several hind legs that were also packaged. The eerie thing is that they still had the hooves on them. She hefted one of the larger ones over her shoulder. As she turned around she noticed that while one side of the freezer was entirely meat the other side of the freezer contained other things like vegetables, ice cream, and several other foodstuffs like flour and margarine and butter. Deciding that it wasn't as scary as it originally was. She just wondered why they would need all that meat.
When she exited the freezer and closed the door she noticed a red button on the right hand side.
"Could you push the red button on your way out?" Nodoka called out.
Shampoo did as she was told and pushed the button. There was a grinding noise like when the bookshelf slid away in the first place. This time she noticed that it was sliding up from the floor. Hustling she jumped through the opening making it just before it slid completely shut.
"Good work now if you could bring those here so that we can work on them." Shampoo was turning out to be such a nice and obedient girl nothing like Walter had described her.
"Now if you could go over to the stove and start the rice Makoto and I will get this cut up."
"Shampoo want help mother too." Damn it she could make rice in her sleep besides cutting up frozen meat wouldn't be too much of a problem.
Nodoka unsheathed her claws. "I know dear but this is training of sorts for Makoto on how to use her claws. Besides I really need to get the rice done sometime. If you could also go to the fridge there should be some vegetables that can also be cut up for a stir-fry. I think something a little more traditional will help put my son's mind at ease."
Shampoo sighed and put away the sword that she'd brought out while Nodoka was speaking. She needed to be very careful. Ranma was still leery of her and didn't quite trust her. Not that she could really trust Ranma or her co-wife. Werewolves were always the bad guys in the stories great- grandmother always told her. Were were cheetahs any different? She didn't know, she'd rather not find out either. She would make it a habit to sleep with a silvered dagger under her pillow until such a time as she was sure she wouldn't wake up to find one of them knawing on her leg.
While Shampoo was off working in another area of the kitchen Nodoka was instructing Makoto on the proper way to use her claws.
"Now using your claws may seem a bit weird at first but soon it will feel as natural as breathing. The first rule is to never ever unsheathe your claws unless you plan on using them they are extremely sharp and you may forget that you have them out. This can be extremely dangerous and even fatal so be careful." She paused to let this sink in.
"Ok got it really sharp dangerous be careful. Now what do we do with this leg?"
"Alright the first thing we need to do is remove the hoof." She sliced a little notch about mid calf. "Ok I've marked where you need to cut now aim well and cut straight down stopping when you hit the cutting board.
Winding up she brought her hand down in a raking motion so that her middle claw would impact with the notch Nodoka had made. To her surprise there was not as much resistance as she would have expected. The hoof and a bit of the bone fell away along with a fair sized chunk of the cutting board.
Nodoka sweat dropped. "Not bad for your first try. Now the next thing we need to do is..."
Nodoka continued to instruct Makoto and then Shampoo on the finer points of cooking. Ranma had decided that he would feel better as a male went and changed. His increase in height and other dimensions was too much for his poor clothes and they decided to fall apart on him. He changed into his larger sized outfit and found that it was still a bit small on him. He blushed as he remembered Makoto and how she looked as her own outfit struggled to contain her larger form. He blushed even harder as he had a short fantasy of the clothing ripping off her exposing her in all her glory. Quickly shaking his head to get rid of those images before he got a nosebleed he grabbed the second set of clothes and went downstairs. He doubted that he could get through dinner with Makoto looking the way she did.
When he got downstairs he noted that Walter and Cologne were nowhere to be found. He decided to leave the clothes at the dining room table, if she wanted to Makoto could change into them before supper. If he didn't know any better he would have thought that his mother was purposely parading Makoto around to try and get him to realize how hot she was. He didn't need to be told she was good looking that was obvious in itself.
Deciding for now that he didn't want to stick around and do nothing, he did what he usually did when he was bored, he went to the dojo to work out.
Upon reaching the dojo he found that it was already occupied. Cologne and Walter were sparring. He noticed that in his hybrid form Walter was stronger but not much faster than he had been when they were sparring. Cologne was not going full out as she easily evaded Walters strikes as easily as she usually avoided his. They continued to spar for another fifteen minutes before Cologne decided that she had humiliated him enough. She exploded to full Amagouriken speed for a couple of seconds. Walter seemed to freeze then fell on his face.
"Well done sonny but you're a hundred years too young to beat me." Cologne chortled. It was fun to show these young pups that they still had a long way to go before they were as good as her.
"Yo old Ghoul now that you'rrre done warrrrming up how about trrrying the main event." He felt ten times stronger and faster in this new form. So what if the old Ghoul had a few tricks up her sleeve there was no way she would be able to keep up with him now.
"If you think you can beat me you've still got a lot to learn kitten." Oh she was going to get him for that 'old Ghoul' remark.
They faced off in the middle of the dojo Walter walking stiffly off to the side. Ranma bowed towards Cologne and she returned the bow but not bowing as low as he did. Ranma got into his 'I'm not in a stance stance' and waited for Cologne to make the first move. When it was obvious that she wasn't he charged in. Or at least that's what he tried to do. He found that he couldn't move a muscle.
She casually pogo'd up to him and poked him in the side of the neck immediately dropping him to the ground unconscious. When she was sure that he was good and asleep did she let her own guard down and dropped to the ground panting.
"It's been a long time since I'd had to do that. I'd forgotten how taxing it is against a powerful opponent." She gulped in some air and resumed her panting.
"What exactly did you do?" This was something Walter never expected, he thought that Ranma would wipe the floor with the old woman, after all once a were cheetah got going it was pretty hard to catch them.
"I used my ki to form a stasis field around him. That held him in place long enough for me to hit his sleep point. I dare say that if he wasn't so surprised he may have been able to struggle out of it and I would have been finished." She'd seen what his kind were capable of and had no illusions about the outcome of the fight if she had allowed him to move.
"So if I wanted to beat you, now would pretty much be the time right?" Walter was just joking of course.
"I've still got more than enough to take you on kitten." She was bluffing... well mostly.
The decided to sit down and wait for Ranma to wake up. Hopefully before supper was ready.
In another part of town Garsmsh was draining yet another hapless human for his master. Unlike Slobodian, Garsmsh had not figured out the art of being subtle therefore.....
"Graaa!" He was in the middle of a crowded mall draining people with abandon. This activity was usually enough to summon
"Halt! Malls are for the enjoyment of everybody and shopping for cute outfits with your boyfriend..." guess who's shopping date just got cancelled. "in the name of the moon I'll punish you!"
Mercury who'd learned her lesson last time was busy scanning the youma while Moon was making her stupid speech. "It's got damage resistance but no magic resistance at all." Ok so they wouldn't need Jupiter or the Outers but damn it she was going to give Jupiter a talking to about not answering her communicator.
"So what does that mean?" Asked Mars.
"We shoot it till it dies. Mercury Aqua Illusion." Shouted Mercury as she unleashed her attack. The others soon followed suit.
"Mars Fireball."
"Venus crescent beam."
The three attacks hit and the monster crumbled to dust even before Moon could do her super ultra finishing move. She of course started sniveling.
"But.... but I didn't even get to finish it off. I usually have to be the one to finish them. Wahhhhh I wanted to kill it for love and justice." She was doing a good impression of a certain Tendo patriarch.
"Knock it off meatball head now that it is dead you can go back to your date with Mamarou." Geeze she was sixteen years old and she acted like she was five.
"Oh right. Oh Mamo-chan!" She skipped off to change back and continue her date with Mamarou for once without the chibi brat.
"Honestly I have no idea why she is the only one of us with a boyfriend when she acts like that." Venus wasn't jealous nope not a bit.
"Come on lets go for some ice cream, I could really use some right about now." Mercury was still going over what she was going to say to Makoto about dereliction of duty.
They detransformed and went to drown their sorrows in a deep chocolate fudge sundae. Minako quickly perked up when she remembered the new transfer student they had yesterday and spoke at length about how cute he was and how she was going to get him as a boyfriend. The others just tuned her out as usual.
Back at the ranch.
Nodoka, Makoto, and Shampoo were putting the finishing touches on the feast that they called supper. When they were finished Makoto went to set the table. She found the clothes that Ranma had left for her. Belatedly she realized exactly how she was 'busting' out of her clothes and what she must look like. She decided to take him up on the offer and change. The clothes were still tight and showed off her figure to a dangerous degree but they weren't as revealing as her now shredded school clothes. She sighed as she looked down. She would need to get a new bra to hold these monsters she now sported. She was always top heavy but now it was just ridiculous.
"Mako-chan could you go and tell everybody that supper is ready."
"Yes auntie." She replied as she jumped down the stairs and took off towards the most likely place that they would be.
When she arrived at the dojo she found Ranma, Cologne and Walter. Ranma having recently woken up and was now trying to copy something Cologne was showing him. He looked to almost have it down when she interrupted.
"Come on food's ready."
"Alright Son-in-law you can finish that later."
"But I've almost got it."
"Auntie will be upset if we're late. There may not be enough food for everyone so if you don't hurry there may not be any left."
The vortex that was created almost swept Makoto off her feet.
"They say dearie that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Ranma has a four lane expressway." She regarded Makoto for a bit then added. "You'll do just fine." She cackled as she moved to follow Ranma's path but at a much reduced rate.
Walter followed her leaving Makoto in the dojo by herself. She wondered what she meant by that. She'd do just fine as what? Ranma's wife? She wasn't quite sure about that yet.
At the table Ranma was sitting in his spot. On either side of him there was a place set for one of the girls. They were still in the kitchen getting ready to bring out supper. He nervously looked from side to side. He was doomed, he just knew it.
When they started bringing out the food he was drooling. Shampoo and Makoto brought out a massive amount of stir fried vegetables and rice. He was pretty happy with just this. That was before his mother came out. His enhanced sense of smell picked up something delicious. When she came out with the shank he almost lost it.
As soon as the food hit the table he engaged his ki claws and sliced off a giant hunk of meat. He started eating it with his hands, his sharp teeth tearing of great chunks which he wolfed down.
Nodoka just hung her head. She hoped that this was just one of those cat tendencies that she'd have to break him of.
"Ranma mind your manners!" Nodoka said forcefully not quite shouting.
"EEp!" Ranma jumped at that he'd been so into eating the yummy food that he'd literally ripped into it like an animal.
"Uhh sorry I just smelled it and then... it was like I couldn't stop myself. Umm it's very good by the way." He sheepishly hung his head.
"That's alright, just try to control yourself a little better."
"Yes mom." He said, right before he started licking his hands clean like a cat does.
Nodoka started banging her head against the table. When she found her husband she was going to make sure that she became a widow really fast.
Somewhere near the China/Mongolia boarder Genma sneezed. It sure was cold here but it was a hell of a lot better than being with his wife. Who knows what she'd do if she ever found out about some of the shit that he'd pulled with the boy.
Nodoka was busy contemplating the various ways that she was going to eviscerate her husband for maximum pain for the buck.
Makoto and Shampoo were trying to eat their food, each of them doing their best to ignore Ranma. It was getting harder and harder by the minute. When he transformed into full cheetah form and was about to start licking his privates is when Shampoo drew the line. She pulled out one of her bonbori and smacked him on the head knocking him out.
"Thanks, I really didn't want to say anything but that was getting kinda embarrassing."
"Too too true. Shampoo never see Ranma act like that before. He no lick self at table."
"It has to be that Neko ken. Auntie do we act like that? I don't feel any different, well except for my senses being heightened."
"Well I don't really know what it's like to be completely human but you won't act like Ranma does. Hell I hope we can get him to start acting better." It would be so embarrassing if she caught him one time cleaning himself. "Please don't hold this against him."
"Him act normal when not in cat mode. Maybe he just need learn focus more, he doing fine until stop concentrating." Although she wouldn't mind if he cleaned her like that.
"Yeah you're right when he was actually concentrating he only purred his r's." This marriage bit just kept getting better and better Makoto thought grumpily. Not only did she have to share him but when he was in cat form he acted like an uncivilized beast. For some reason she felt like going out and getting a mallet.
Somewhere a tomboy sneezed.
After supper was finished (they'd left enough for Ranma) Nodoka and the girls were lounging in the living room while Walter and Ranma were doing the dishes. Ranma was working on trying to control his cat like urges. So far it was a losing battle.
"Auntie are you sure about this? I mean it's like he was raised in the wild or something."
"He was raised in the wild." Yet another thing she had to kill her husband for.
"But I can't marry him!"
"Ranma good man, is just too too strange now. I is sure he get through this too." At least she hoped he got better.
They sat and talked for a while. Eventually Ranma, Walter and Cologne joined them. Ranma was trying to keep up a conversation and was doing fairly good only rolling his r's. Eventually Nodoka noticed that it was getting late.
"Ranma would you mind walking Makoto home?"
"Ahh sure no problem." He was about to get up and walk out the door when his mother called out to him.
"Dear remember you've got to change back first."
"Ahh crap sorry I kinda forgot." He changed back to his human form with predictable results.
"CAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTtttt."
"Makoto could you go after him please." Makoto got up from where she was sitting and started off after her errant fiancé. "And don't you forget to change back either!" Nodoka called out.
In fact she had forgotten to change back. These new forms were as natural to her as breathing, strange as it was. She had completely forgotten that she was in her hybrid form. She changed back and suddenly found herself in a very loose shirt and pants. She cinched up the waist so that it wouldn't fall off and went outside. There was Ranma by the gate shaking like a leaf. Poor guy he must be going through his worst nightmare whether he's transformed or not.
He looked up to see her walking towards him. "Sorry about that I'm really not like that it's just... the cat wants to come out and play and I've got to watch everything I do or I lose it."
"Well other than cleaning yourself you weren't any worse than my last date." Neanderthal that he was. It was also the last time she went on a blind date arranged by Ami.
"When I first changed... I was so afraid... it's like I've become the monsters that my friends and I fight. It was kinda scary. I was hoping that it would feel you know wrong somehow..." she started
"But it felt right, like you've always known you could change and wondering why you couldn't..." he took up the conversation where she stopped.
"And then you do it and boom you feel complete." She finished
"Yeah I know."
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Ranma decided to speak up.
"I don't recommend it." He said.
"This fiancée thing?"
"Nah that's not too bad I mean you're cute, you can cook, you're smart... What I mean is I don't know why guys aren't beating down your door." Mr. clueless scores another home run batting with a frozen fish.
Makoto blushed furiously. "Well most guys tend to avoid me because I'm so tall and because I do martial arts guys avoid me like the plague." It was one of the things that depressed her was the fact that boys actively avoided her.
Looking over at her Ranma noticed that she might be an inch or so taller than he was. "Well you've got a boyfriend now." Lift foot, season with 11 herbs and spices, serves one. Bon appetite. "You've also got a girlfriend out of the deal too."
"Jerk" She did not need to be reminded of that little complication.
"But seriously I don't mind that your taller than me. All I've got to do is switch to my hybrid form and I'll be taller. Also the fact that you do martial arts is pretty much standard with the girls that hang around me so it's not weird at all."
Makoto was about to respond but the monster in front of her pretty much cut off whatever she was going to say.
"Foolisssh humansss. You will give me your energy NOW."
Ranma turned to Makoto. "Well it's your job isn't it?"
"I'm kind of tired tonight. Do you want to take this."
"I'd like to do it myself by maybe you should be standing by just incase you know strength in numbers kinda thing."
"What scared?"
"Nope not really it's just you've got way more experience fighting these things and hey having a cute cheering section never hurts." And having some heavy magical backup if he couldn't hurt this damned thing.
By this time the monster had pretty much had enough of the puny humans ignoring it. "Enough your energy is mine!"
Neither Ranma nor Makoto said a word. Makoto still had to close her eyes to change but other than that in a couple of seconds there were two were cheetah's ready for action.
"EEp!" To find out who said this let's take a look at general youma building.
First of all you must understand that youma or monsters are easier to build than people think. The easiest way to make a monster is to take a base natural creature or object and infuse it with negative energy or a spirit of some kind. The resulting monster has characteristics of the base object or creature, along with some of the instincts or mannerisms of the creature.
The monster in question was based off a fairly common city critter. It was male which for a monster was uncommon. It had grey fur, large ears, a long pink tail, and buck teeth.
Squeakor was a mouse monster and seeing two large cat people appear in front of him was not on his things to do list. He pretty much had one thought about this situation.
"Fuck"
Ranma charged first extending his ki claws. He had no idea what to expect but didn't really feel like playing with it until he determined if it was actually a threat.
When he got within striking range he let loose with a lazy swipe intending to remove it's arm. Amazingly enough it dodged (mostly) and only got a small cut. Realistically the cut should have been a lot deeper than it was but Squeekor did get a lot of damage resistance when he was created.
"Damn that things tough." Ranma swore under his breath as he easily dodged Squeekor's retaliatory attacks. "Alright no more Mr. nice guy."
He exploded into motion easily surpassing his normal amagouriken speed. Squeekor had scads of damage resistance but then again Ranma could do a lot of damage. In the end his damage reduction only served to prolong his suffering as he was slowly carved up. When it was finally over Squeekor exploded into a pile of dust.
"Man that was fun." Ranma said as he shook himself to get rid of the dust. "It really took a lot of damage before finally going down."
Makoto shifted back to her human form before responding. "Usually they take quite a bit before they finally die. Most of the time you've got to hit them with magic or else you can't hurt them." Except for this latest batch which couldn't quite get the balance between damage and magic resistance.
Ranma changed back after she did. "You know I wouldn't mind a couple of those things as sparring partners." He started walking again Makoto falling into step beside him.
"Baka they're monsters. They exist to suck humans of their energy."
"What about us then? We're monsters too. I don't feel like going out and draining humans of energy."
"Neither do I but..."
"Your friends won't see it that way would they?" Damn he'd have to teach her the Saotome Final attack.
"No, no they wouldn't." She looked up at him. "I've got to tell them don't I?" She really hated that part. "I'll tell them at the next meeting." She paused for a bit. "I wouldn't mind some backup just incase something goes wrong."
"Worried one of them might shoot first and keep shooting."
"Something like that..." Images of Uranus danced through her head and all the times that she 'overreacted'
"Tell you what I'll teach you a martial arts move that should allow you to escape."
"You would? Great! After school we usually go to Rei's temple how about you show it to me before then."
"Sounds good. I know of a couple of spots that we can train in. It's so easy you'll have it down in fifteen minutes tops."
"Great!" Nobody taught her anything new nowadays. At least there was one good thing that may come of this engagement, her martial arts skills should get better.
"You know you never did tell me not to try."
"Huh when?" He asked trying to remember the conversation before the monster showed up. "Oh yeah that. I really don't recommend the cleaning yourself no matter how curious you get. Fur in your mouth just is gross."
Makoto just had to laugh at that. "Maybe we'll have to get you a flea collar as well."
"Not funny." He grumped.
They arrived in front of a fairly nice apartment building. "This is my place." Makoto said looking up at her apartment. "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow then."
"Yeah I guess so. Umm goodnight then." He bowed and then turned around and started walking away.
"Ranma wait up!" Makoto called out while running towards him.
As with most anime's accidental kisses where either the female or male trips or something else happens and the two characters share a passionate kiss.
That didn't happen here.
Makoto did trip but she was way too close to him. She ended up flying through the air. Breasts, face, Ranma on bottom.
Not the best way to start a long lasting relationship but it works in a pinch.
Terminally embarrassed Makoto apologized profusely while trying to hide her beet red face. She then turned around and ran into her apartment at full speed.
Ranma was left on the ground stunned but not unconscious. He was noting the differences between being shoved between Shampoo's and Makoto's breasts. It was a tough comparison.
"I must have them both." He hit himself upside his head. "Great now I'm sounding like Kuno." He got up and started walking home.
When he passed by the spot where he killed the monster he saw a couple of sailor scouts just leaving the scene.
As soon as he got home he went straight up to his room. Seeing a lump on one side of the bed he decided that teasing fate with a squeaky toy was probably not the best thing that he could do, he decided to change into full cheetah form and sleep on the floor tonight.
When he'd reached full cheetah he glanced back at the bed.... and had to keep himself from falling over.
On the bed was Shampoo, he'd already guessed that but now he could smell her. What shocked him though was the blue glows that were coming from underneath her pillow, strapped to her leg, and between the mattress. If he wasn't so afraid he'd be scared. Apparently Shampoo still loved him enough to want to sleep with him but didn't trust him enough not to make a snack out of her.
He curled up on the floor on his side of the bed and went to sleep.
Tomorrow was another day.
Unfortunately.
Authors Notes
Well there it is another chapter of Fast Tracks. I guess I'd better get some things cleared up before I get tons of e-mail correcting me. First yes I am aware that cheetah's don't normally eat zebra and their claws don't retract, HOWEVER in the gold diggers universe Brittany is able to retract her claws and they also get brittle if she doesn't eat zebra. So well since this is in the GD universe same here.
nealharris@otakumail.com
Chapter 2: Fight for your right to lick yourself.
It had been over 5 minutes since Nodoka transformed and Ranma was still clinging to the ceiling, Shampoo was still standing warily with her sword drawn, and Sailor Jupiter was trying to figure out what was going on before she called in the cavalry. Cologne was just calming down now. Maybe she would get some help with this situation.
From past experience she knew that the Sailor scouts packed a whole lot of magic and that lycanthropes and magic attacks didn't mix. She also didn't like the way Shampoo was holding that sword. It wasn't silvered but it still hurt when you got some part cut off. She decided to diffuse the situation a bit and switch back to her human form.
"Mako chan? It's me Auntie."
"You're not Auntie you're a monster that killed her and took over her!"
"Makoto I've always been a were cheetah for as long as you've known me. I haven't told you till now because it was for your own safety."
"My own safety! But..."
"Do you remember dear when I was teaching you how to cook? The first thing you made was boiled rice. It burned onto the pot so badly that the smoke alarm went off. You cried so hard that day." She chuckled a bit to herself.
"But you with the ears and the tail... were cheetah?"
"Yes dear now if you could please change back you'd notice that your hair is also turning blond. The potion is removing the lock."
"Wait a minute. The potion! What did you do to me!"
"I'm afraid I've been lying to you for quite some time now... you see Makoto your parents were the other two survivors of the slaughter however they were followed by a pack of werewolves. They fought valiantly but in the end... As for the potion when you were five we gave both you and Ranma potions to lock you in your human form. The potion that I gave you was to undo the effects of the lock."
"That means..." Makoto really didn't like this line of thought.
"Yes dear you're a were cheetah the same as my son. If you look, your hair's changing colour."
She detransformed and grabbed her ponytail. Sure enough from a nice light brown it had turned a dusty yellow.
"You and Ranma should be able to shift forms now." She looked up to where Ranma was still clinging. "Ranma what are you doing up there?"
Cologne stepped forward. "I believe that I may be able to answer that question." She cleared her throat. "You see when Ranma was six his father decided to teach Ranma something called the Neko ken. The training for this is very easy. You dig a pit and put cats in it. Starve the cats for a minimum of five days. You then take the trainee who should be under 8 years of age and wrap them in fish products. Toss the trainee into the pit. Repeat as necessary until either the trainee dies or goes permanently feral." Cologne tapered off as she saw Nodoka straining not to go half weir and run out to kill her husband.
"You're joking right? No self respecting parent would ever do that to their kid. I mean you'd have to be some kind of moron to think that that's a legitimate technique." Makoto was hoping this was a joke. Nobody was that stupid.
"You've never met pops. It took about 10 times in the pit before I finally snapped. Now whenever I'm around a c...c...cat for too long I lose it. I think I'm a cat and go around doing cat things."
"Like what?" Nodoka needed to know about this Neko ken. It could be necessary to know what he could and would do in his cat state and how to get him out of it.
"Umm shred trees, play with balls of yarn, shred pops, chase butterflies, shred 6 inch steel doors you know cat stuff."
Everybody but Cologne was speechless at that last one, and that was only because she had witnessed him do it before.
"You're kidding right? You can't really tear though steel doors right?" Sure she could punch through 3 inches of steel when she was sailor Jupiter and Uranus could punch through 4 inches.
"Of course not I watched him do it." Said Cologne as she took a sip of her tea. "When he is in cat mode he's faster, stronger, and more agile than a normal human. He also is able to form ki claws that can rip through just about anything."
"Yeah I've seen what I can do when I'm in cat mode but I don't remember any of it though."
"So how do you usually get out of cat mode?"
"Umm usually I just curl up on Akane's lap and sleep it off. Or triggering the Jusenkyo curse."
"Umm curse?" asked Makoto. He was cursed?
"Aheh. Yeah you see me n' pop went to this cursed training ground in China and picked up a couple of curses. You see there's all of these pools and if you fall into one you turn into the last thing that drowned there. Pops fell into the spring of drowned panda so whenever he's hit with cold water he turns into a panda." He paused to let it sink in. He knew it was a shock the first time.
"So your father turns into a panda, what do you turn into?" She was curious and a little afraid. What if he turned into a horrible monster with the body of a bull, crane wings, an eel's tail and octopus tentacles. Well maybe the tentacles.
Ranma walked over to where his mother had her drink on the desk. She noted that when he passed her that he kept his distance from her. This hurt her. Her son was afraid of her now. She really wanted to kill her husband. It was a long time since she'd been on a proper hunt. Maybe when she'd gotten her son over his fear she could take him and his fiancee's out for a good old fashioned hunt. She'd never had to hunt a human before, it should be good sport.
When he'd retrieved the glass he walked back and stood right in front of Makoto and looked her right in the eye.
"I fell into the spring of drowned girl. whenever I get hit with cold water I turn into a girl." He upended the juice over his head and say hello to blondie. Ranma's female form's hair had also turned blond to match his male form.
"OK so you turn into a girl that's not so bad." Damn no tentacles.
"Umm yeah I guess with you being a magical girl and all that wouldn't seem so weird." Well she did do the magic stuff for a living so he guessed she'd seen some pretty weird shit.
"You guys all saw that?" Everyone nodded. "Umm I guess it's too late to ask you to forget that isn't it?" Everyone nodded again. "Oh great. Could you kinda not tell anyone." If the other girls got wind that she'd blown her cover they'd never let her live it down.
"Of course dear. You needn't have asked. We all have our secrets here. Now what I really need to teach you is how to change forms. Ranma this includes you too." Maybe changing will help him get used to cats. She hoped so at least. Standing up straight she motioned for Ranma and Makoto to stand in front of her.
"Ok this should be pretty easy to learn, you should be able to get it on the first try." She turned to Ranma. "Son I really would like you to try this. It is my hope that by getting used to your feline side that you will eventually get over your fear." The best way to get over a fear was to confront it head on. Or at least she hoped this was the case.
"Ok both of you close your eyes." They both closed their eyes. "Ok now imagine three buttons all in a row. Do you see them?" They both nodded. "The first button should be lit right now. This is your human form, in the past other visualizations were used but I've found that buttons are easy to visualize. You can use switches, levers, etc it's the mental focus that is important. This little trick will help you until you get the hang of transforming. Until then you can use this like a crutch." She paused to let this sink in. "Ok now imagine your hand reaching out and pressing the middle button. The first change may feel a little strange but there's nothing to worry about."
When Nodoka told them to press the middle button they both started shaking slightly. Both of them grew taller tearing their clothes in the process. Their breasts grew bigger tearing their shirts even more. Their ears shifted to the top of their heads. Finally fur grew over their entire body. When it was over Ranma's head snapped violently to the side and stayed there for a couple of seconds then it went back to face forward.
Makoto was the first one to open her eyes. Since she was naturally tall she was used to looking at things from a higher perspective than most people, however she was now at least a foot taller than she normally was. It was quite disheartening really. The next thing that she noticed was that she felt strong. Really strong. Without testing it she figured that she was at least as strong as she was in scout form. The really scary thing was that it felt perfectly natural for her to be this way. She was kind of hoping that it would feel wrong somehow and that she could get them to change her back.
"Cool I feel great!" Ok so maybe being a monster wouldn't be so bad. There was just one more thing that she needed to try. She pulled out her transformation pen.
"Jupiter Planet Power! Make up!" Crickets.
"Jupiter Planet Power Make up." Still nothing.
"I would assume that it doesn't work while you're transformed dear." If it didn't work when she changed back then she'd just opened a big can of worms.
"I hope so Auntie." She really didn't mind it too much right now she felt as though she could take on all of the scouts and win.
It was about that time that Shampoo spoke up. "Aiyah, airen alright?" She was trying her best not to sound intimidated. Ranma was now taller than her and looking very cat like. Also the fact that Ranma hadn't opened her eyes yet and was flicking two foot long claws in and out from between her fingers.
Makoto took a quick step back. She had no idea where the claws were coming from but they looked sharp and she didn't want to be anywhere near him if he decided to play scratching post.
"Ranma are you alright dear." Nodoka was worried, she'd been so focused on Makoto that she'd completely missed the fact that her own offspring hadn't moved other than extending and retracting his claws.
All of a sudden Ranma's claws fully retracted and her eyes flew open.
"Yes motherrrr I'm just fine." She seemed to purr a bit when she spoke. It was interesting if not a bit weird.
"Ranma I would like to try something." Spoke Cologne as she reached into weapons space to pull out a metal club. "If you don't mind could you cut this in half."
"Certainly Elderrrrr." She unsheathed her claws. "Rrrrready."
"No no if you could use your ki claws. You remember how to make them don't you?" She hoped she was right about this.
"Alright." She retracted her claws. Once her claws were fully retracted three foot long red energy claws sprouted from between her knuckles. "Ready."
Cologne tossed the club towards Ranma. With a quick swipe of her 'paw' the club fell apart into three neatly cut segments. "That was easy."
"I think that the cat persona and his human persona have merged somehow. He has access to the neko ken but he will act like a cat. I want to test a theory." She turned her attention fully towards Ranma. "Ok Ranma look at Makoto." Ranma turned and looked at Makoto like he was asked to do.
"Ok now what?"
"Are you afraid? She does look like a cat."
"You'rrrre rrrrrright and a very good looking cat at that." Ranma said purring a bit at the end.
Makoto blushed a bit at that but it was mostly hid by her facial fur.
"Now what I want you to do is change back to human." She hoped she was wrong about it and that Ranma wouldn't remain cat like when he changed back.
Closing her eyes Ranma changed back into her normal form. Changing back was almost as weird as changing into her hybrid form. When she opened her eyes....
"Ahhhhh CATTT!!' She proceeded to perfect the cling to the ceiling technique.
"Ranma change back, change back!" Ok so he was still afraid of cats but only in his human form.
Unfortunately for him in his haste he hit the third button. The sudden change coupled with the fact that she didn't have her claws out caused her to slip off the ceiling. However cats always land on their feet. Except in this case.
Thud
It's a good thing her head is made of rock or else something might have been damaged.
"Are you alright son?" If he wasn't in control he could do tons of damage with those new claws of his.
The cheetah growled a bit and nodded its head. Everybody let out a breath at that, they would not have to restrain him.
"Ok Ranma change back into your human form." That was enough poking fate with a sharp stick for today. "Makoto you should be able to change into your full cheetah form as well. As you can see with my son your clothing will not change with you." Nodoka commented as she noticed Ranma pulling up her pants. She had made sure before she changed back to face away from Makoto. Freaking out again today was just not on her list of things to do.
Makoto changed back to her human form. There was something that she needed to know.
"Jupiter Planet Power Make up!" Insert flashy transformation sequence. She looked herself over. Nothing seemed to be any different. She tried changing to her hybrid form but found that she couldn't. She let her transformation drop.
"I can't change to hybrid when I'm Sailor Jupiter either."
"That's not as bad then. Having magic and being a were cheetah are probably not a good thing." She nodded. "Ok now for some rules. These are things that you need to know. First of all when you are in hybrid and full cheetah form you have super accelerated healing. That means that if you lose a limb or get cut etc it will heal or grow back in about a day or two. There are some exceptions to this. If your head is cut off you die, if you are sufficiently hurt you will die. You are vulnerable to silver, magic, and other were creatures. Injuries from any of these three ways takes five times longer to heal than a normal wound." She paused for a bit. "You can die from these kind of injuries. Luckily anything silvered or magical has a blue aura about it and if a were creature is coming after you, you should be able to spot them pretty easily." She chuckled a bit. "Feel free to kill any werewolves you come across though."
Makoto was just coming to terms with what she was. Sure it was weird but not quite as strange as being Sailor Jupiter.
"Well Auntie when you said it was going to be a surprise you weren't kidding." She chuckled a bit.
"Actually Mako chan that wasn't the surprise." She wished she'd thought to bring her camera.
"Umm it's not."
"No it isn't. You see before you were born your parents and I pledged that if we had children of opposite genders they would be engaged to be married, and regardless of what my son looks like right now he is definitely male..."
"So I'm engaged to him!"
"Yes that's true." Makoto didn't sound as happy as she thought she would be.
"But I haven't even had a boyfriend yet! And now you tell me I'm engaged to some guy I've never even met before!" She left out that he turned into a girl but it was implied. "So what's next? Are you going to tell me that that girl over there is also engaged to him?"
"No dear she is not engaged to him."
"Well that's good."
"She's actually his wife."
"..."
Nodoka sighed and started to rub her temples.
"Makoto I'm sorry to do this. You are like a daughter to me however you must understand your situation. You are one of two female were cheetah's left in all of existence it is your duty to have children to make sure that the were cheetah's don't go extinct. It is true that you can have children with normal humans however it is much more difficult. It took Genma and I only a few tries however it usually takes years of trying. " She looked up. "I'm not telling you that you have to like it, hell Ranma is still against it but he's going to give it a try. Please just try this, that's all I ask."
After a few minutes of silence.
"Alright I'll give it a try."
Nodoka looked relieved.
"On three conditions though. I want to be his girlfriend first, we decide when and if we get married..." She trialed off.
"And the third condition?" Asked Ranma. He was pretty happy with her conditions. No pressure.
Makoto looked down and blushed heavily. "The third condition is that I want both of them to propose to me. I've always wanted someone to get down on their knees and ask me to marry them, you know romantic like."
Nodoka started laughing very hard.
"Alright conditions accepted." She got out in-between chuckles. "Now it's getting pretty late what do you say we get something to eat?"
"Food!" the kids were getting hungry now.
"Alright Walter this is a special time. break out the Zebra and Antelope!"
"???"
"Umm Auntie we don't eat Zebra." Something was starting to click now in Makoto's head.
"Of course we do dear we're cheetahs we have to eat zebra every so often or our claws get brittle. You now know the reason for the zebra out back."
"You mean that we eat them?" Sure Nabiki often told him that if he tried he could eat a horse. Well maybe someday he'd give it a try.
"Yup of course if you want we don't have to cook it. However I don't think our human guests would appreciate having to watch us rip into raw meat." Too bad too, she rather enjoyed the more carnal side of her nature. She would have to make sure that Cologne and Shampoo were elsewhere durring one of the parties.
Makoto looked a little green at that. "You mean raw meat? That's disgusting!"
"Dear you eat sushi trust me I know, what's the difference between that and a leg of zebra?" Besides things tasted different when you're in your hybrid and cheetah forms, but I'll let them figure that out on their own.
"I'd prefer my meat cooked please." Cologne wasn't quite about to do as in Rome in this circumstance. "Besides I haven't had good roasted zebra in years."
"Auntie I've never cooked zebra before do you think you could teach me how?" Oh well at least it was a new recipe. If it was any good she'd bring some of it to a scout meeting. She laughed at the thought of Usagi choking back big hunks of zebra and then her telling them what it is.
"Shampoo help mother in kitchen too." Like hell she'd let her co-wife get the upper hand on this. If they had to live together she was damned sure she was going to make this work.
"Alright both of you really should learn to do this." Nodoka started walking off with both girls trailing her. After they had gone Ranma turned to Walter.
"Umm you know mom's a cheetah right?"
"Yes young master it would be quite hard not to realize it especially with the number of times that she goes about the house in her hybrid form." He chuckled a bit. Young master Ranma would have to get used to his hybrid form or get used to cats really quick. Both the mistress and he loved their hybrid forms much better than their human forms because of the extra strength and in her case stupid amounts of speed.
"So what are you?" Please not another cat.
"I believe it would be best if you changed back to your hybrid form young Ranma... at least until we can figure out how to cure you of your fear."
Ranma didn't even close his eyes this time just switching to hybrid form. His poor clothes were showing lots of wear and tear from changing back and forth. When he was finished changing and Walter was almost certain that he wouldn't freak out he too shifted. He grew taller, his ears went to the top of his head, a tail grew from his back, and midnight black fur grew all over his body.
"I am a were panther. We're not as strong or as fast as the other were cats but what we lack in physical attributes we more than make up for in stealth abilities." Were panthers were almost as good at stealth as were rats and didn't have that nasty habit of stabbing you in the back when you weren't looking.
"Very dashing young man, is there by any chance a young lady in your life these days?" So what if the odds of a human and a lycanthrope having a child were a little high she knew quite a few girls back in the village who would jump at the chance to jump into the sack with this wild cat. Ahh if she was only 280 years younger.
While the men and old troll I mean honored elder were discussing the finer points of lycanthropy and Walter was furiously ducking the elders not so veiled hints that an amazon bride or three would do him a world of good. The rest of the females however were in the kitchen preparing supper for the rest of the horde. (Mostly Ranma)
"Ok before we begin Mako chan could you please change to hybrid form."
Concentrating for a second she complied. Shampoo had to fight the urge to turn her co-wife to be into a rug. If it wasn't for Ranma she wouldn't tolerate this at all.
"Ok now Shampoo could you go into the freezer over there and pick out a couple of big hunks of meat."
Shampoo looked around but couldn't find anything that looked like a freezer other than the obvious fridge freezer but that couldn't possibly hold meat large enough to feed everybody.
"Where freezer?"
"Yeah Auntie you don't have a freezer." Even Makoto was confused. For the entire time she'd cooked here she'd always used the fridge, there was no freezer.
"Of course there is." She smiled "You've just never seen it. Keeping zebra is one thing eating them is quite another. If you would go to the cookbook shelf and get me my Cook with Emeril cookbook." Wait'll they get a load of this.
Shampoo went over to the cookbook shelf and tried to pull off the Emeril cookbook. When she encountered resistance she pulled harder. She had to stop when she heard a click and the book stopped moving. She yelped and leapt back as the entire shelf descended into the floor. Behind the shelf was a large metal walk in freezer door.
"Aiyahhh." Just like a secret agent movie with the secret doors and everything.
"Go ahead dear we need one of the hind shanks and maybe a roast or two." Had to plan ahead her son sure could eat a lot.
Inside the freezer Shampoo was confronted with whole carcasses that were vacuum packed and hanging from hooks. On the shelves there were other various meat products in various stages of butchering. She secretly wondered just what she'd gotten herself into. She grabbed a couple of beef roasts off of the shelves as she walked towards the back of the freezer. At the back she found several hind legs that were also packaged. The eerie thing is that they still had the hooves on them. She hefted one of the larger ones over her shoulder. As she turned around she noticed that while one side of the freezer was entirely meat the other side of the freezer contained other things like vegetables, ice cream, and several other foodstuffs like flour and margarine and butter. Deciding that it wasn't as scary as it originally was. She just wondered why they would need all that meat.
When she exited the freezer and closed the door she noticed a red button on the right hand side.
"Could you push the red button on your way out?" Nodoka called out.
Shampoo did as she was told and pushed the button. There was a grinding noise like when the bookshelf slid away in the first place. This time she noticed that it was sliding up from the floor. Hustling she jumped through the opening making it just before it slid completely shut.
"Good work now if you could bring those here so that we can work on them." Shampoo was turning out to be such a nice and obedient girl nothing like Walter had described her.
"Now if you could go over to the stove and start the rice Makoto and I will get this cut up."
"Shampoo want help mother too." Damn it she could make rice in her sleep besides cutting up frozen meat wouldn't be too much of a problem.
Nodoka unsheathed her claws. "I know dear but this is training of sorts for Makoto on how to use her claws. Besides I really need to get the rice done sometime. If you could also go to the fridge there should be some vegetables that can also be cut up for a stir-fry. I think something a little more traditional will help put my son's mind at ease."
Shampoo sighed and put away the sword that she'd brought out while Nodoka was speaking. She needed to be very careful. Ranma was still leery of her and didn't quite trust her. Not that she could really trust Ranma or her co-wife. Werewolves were always the bad guys in the stories great- grandmother always told her. Were were cheetahs any different? She didn't know, she'd rather not find out either. She would make it a habit to sleep with a silvered dagger under her pillow until such a time as she was sure she wouldn't wake up to find one of them knawing on her leg.
While Shampoo was off working in another area of the kitchen Nodoka was instructing Makoto on the proper way to use her claws.
"Now using your claws may seem a bit weird at first but soon it will feel as natural as breathing. The first rule is to never ever unsheathe your claws unless you plan on using them they are extremely sharp and you may forget that you have them out. This can be extremely dangerous and even fatal so be careful." She paused to let this sink in.
"Ok got it really sharp dangerous be careful. Now what do we do with this leg?"
"Alright the first thing we need to do is remove the hoof." She sliced a little notch about mid calf. "Ok I've marked where you need to cut now aim well and cut straight down stopping when you hit the cutting board.
Winding up she brought her hand down in a raking motion so that her middle claw would impact with the notch Nodoka had made. To her surprise there was not as much resistance as she would have expected. The hoof and a bit of the bone fell away along with a fair sized chunk of the cutting board.
Nodoka sweat dropped. "Not bad for your first try. Now the next thing we need to do is..."
Nodoka continued to instruct Makoto and then Shampoo on the finer points of cooking. Ranma had decided that he would feel better as a male went and changed. His increase in height and other dimensions was too much for his poor clothes and they decided to fall apart on him. He changed into his larger sized outfit and found that it was still a bit small on him. He blushed as he remembered Makoto and how she looked as her own outfit struggled to contain her larger form. He blushed even harder as he had a short fantasy of the clothing ripping off her exposing her in all her glory. Quickly shaking his head to get rid of those images before he got a nosebleed he grabbed the second set of clothes and went downstairs. He doubted that he could get through dinner with Makoto looking the way she did.
When he got downstairs he noted that Walter and Cologne were nowhere to be found. He decided to leave the clothes at the dining room table, if she wanted to Makoto could change into them before supper. If he didn't know any better he would have thought that his mother was purposely parading Makoto around to try and get him to realize how hot she was. He didn't need to be told she was good looking that was obvious in itself.
Deciding for now that he didn't want to stick around and do nothing, he did what he usually did when he was bored, he went to the dojo to work out.
Upon reaching the dojo he found that it was already occupied. Cologne and Walter were sparring. He noticed that in his hybrid form Walter was stronger but not much faster than he had been when they were sparring. Cologne was not going full out as she easily evaded Walters strikes as easily as she usually avoided his. They continued to spar for another fifteen minutes before Cologne decided that she had humiliated him enough. She exploded to full Amagouriken speed for a couple of seconds. Walter seemed to freeze then fell on his face.
"Well done sonny but you're a hundred years too young to beat me." Cologne chortled. It was fun to show these young pups that they still had a long way to go before they were as good as her.
"Yo old Ghoul now that you'rrre done warrrrming up how about trrrying the main event." He felt ten times stronger and faster in this new form. So what if the old Ghoul had a few tricks up her sleeve there was no way she would be able to keep up with him now.
"If you think you can beat me you've still got a lot to learn kitten." Oh she was going to get him for that 'old Ghoul' remark.
They faced off in the middle of the dojo Walter walking stiffly off to the side. Ranma bowed towards Cologne and she returned the bow but not bowing as low as he did. Ranma got into his 'I'm not in a stance stance' and waited for Cologne to make the first move. When it was obvious that she wasn't he charged in. Or at least that's what he tried to do. He found that he couldn't move a muscle.
She casually pogo'd up to him and poked him in the side of the neck immediately dropping him to the ground unconscious. When she was sure that he was good and asleep did she let her own guard down and dropped to the ground panting.
"It's been a long time since I'd had to do that. I'd forgotten how taxing it is against a powerful opponent." She gulped in some air and resumed her panting.
"What exactly did you do?" This was something Walter never expected, he thought that Ranma would wipe the floor with the old woman, after all once a were cheetah got going it was pretty hard to catch them.
"I used my ki to form a stasis field around him. That held him in place long enough for me to hit his sleep point. I dare say that if he wasn't so surprised he may have been able to struggle out of it and I would have been finished." She'd seen what his kind were capable of and had no illusions about the outcome of the fight if she had allowed him to move.
"So if I wanted to beat you, now would pretty much be the time right?" Walter was just joking of course.
"I've still got more than enough to take you on kitten." She was bluffing... well mostly.
The decided to sit down and wait for Ranma to wake up. Hopefully before supper was ready.
In another part of town Garsmsh was draining yet another hapless human for his master. Unlike Slobodian, Garsmsh had not figured out the art of being subtle therefore.....
"Graaa!" He was in the middle of a crowded mall draining people with abandon. This activity was usually enough to summon
"Halt! Malls are for the enjoyment of everybody and shopping for cute outfits with your boyfriend..." guess who's shopping date just got cancelled. "in the name of the moon I'll punish you!"
Mercury who'd learned her lesson last time was busy scanning the youma while Moon was making her stupid speech. "It's got damage resistance but no magic resistance at all." Ok so they wouldn't need Jupiter or the Outers but damn it she was going to give Jupiter a talking to about not answering her communicator.
"So what does that mean?" Asked Mars.
"We shoot it till it dies. Mercury Aqua Illusion." Shouted Mercury as she unleashed her attack. The others soon followed suit.
"Mars Fireball."
"Venus crescent beam."
The three attacks hit and the monster crumbled to dust even before Moon could do her super ultra finishing move. She of course started sniveling.
"But.... but I didn't even get to finish it off. I usually have to be the one to finish them. Wahhhhh I wanted to kill it for love and justice." She was doing a good impression of a certain Tendo patriarch.
"Knock it off meatball head now that it is dead you can go back to your date with Mamarou." Geeze she was sixteen years old and she acted like she was five.
"Oh right. Oh Mamo-chan!" She skipped off to change back and continue her date with Mamarou for once without the chibi brat.
"Honestly I have no idea why she is the only one of us with a boyfriend when she acts like that." Venus wasn't jealous nope not a bit.
"Come on lets go for some ice cream, I could really use some right about now." Mercury was still going over what she was going to say to Makoto about dereliction of duty.
They detransformed and went to drown their sorrows in a deep chocolate fudge sundae. Minako quickly perked up when she remembered the new transfer student they had yesterday and spoke at length about how cute he was and how she was going to get him as a boyfriend. The others just tuned her out as usual.
Back at the ranch.
Nodoka, Makoto, and Shampoo were putting the finishing touches on the feast that they called supper. When they were finished Makoto went to set the table. She found the clothes that Ranma had left for her. Belatedly she realized exactly how she was 'busting' out of her clothes and what she must look like. She decided to take him up on the offer and change. The clothes were still tight and showed off her figure to a dangerous degree but they weren't as revealing as her now shredded school clothes. She sighed as she looked down. She would need to get a new bra to hold these monsters she now sported. She was always top heavy but now it was just ridiculous.
"Mako-chan could you go and tell everybody that supper is ready."
"Yes auntie." She replied as she jumped down the stairs and took off towards the most likely place that they would be.
When she arrived at the dojo she found Ranma, Cologne and Walter. Ranma having recently woken up and was now trying to copy something Cologne was showing him. He looked to almost have it down when she interrupted.
"Come on food's ready."
"Alright Son-in-law you can finish that later."
"But I've almost got it."
"Auntie will be upset if we're late. There may not be enough food for everyone so if you don't hurry there may not be any left."
The vortex that was created almost swept Makoto off her feet.
"They say dearie that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Ranma has a four lane expressway." She regarded Makoto for a bit then added. "You'll do just fine." She cackled as she moved to follow Ranma's path but at a much reduced rate.
Walter followed her leaving Makoto in the dojo by herself. She wondered what she meant by that. She'd do just fine as what? Ranma's wife? She wasn't quite sure about that yet.
At the table Ranma was sitting in his spot. On either side of him there was a place set for one of the girls. They were still in the kitchen getting ready to bring out supper. He nervously looked from side to side. He was doomed, he just knew it.
When they started bringing out the food he was drooling. Shampoo and Makoto brought out a massive amount of stir fried vegetables and rice. He was pretty happy with just this. That was before his mother came out. His enhanced sense of smell picked up something delicious. When she came out with the shank he almost lost it.
As soon as the food hit the table he engaged his ki claws and sliced off a giant hunk of meat. He started eating it with his hands, his sharp teeth tearing of great chunks which he wolfed down.
Nodoka just hung her head. She hoped that this was just one of those cat tendencies that she'd have to break him of.
"Ranma mind your manners!" Nodoka said forcefully not quite shouting.
"EEp!" Ranma jumped at that he'd been so into eating the yummy food that he'd literally ripped into it like an animal.
"Uhh sorry I just smelled it and then... it was like I couldn't stop myself. Umm it's very good by the way." He sheepishly hung his head.
"That's alright, just try to control yourself a little better."
"Yes mom." He said, right before he started licking his hands clean like a cat does.
Nodoka started banging her head against the table. When she found her husband she was going to make sure that she became a widow really fast.
Somewhere near the China/Mongolia boarder Genma sneezed. It sure was cold here but it was a hell of a lot better than being with his wife. Who knows what she'd do if she ever found out about some of the shit that he'd pulled with the boy.
Nodoka was busy contemplating the various ways that she was going to eviscerate her husband for maximum pain for the buck.
Makoto and Shampoo were trying to eat their food, each of them doing their best to ignore Ranma. It was getting harder and harder by the minute. When he transformed into full cheetah form and was about to start licking his privates is when Shampoo drew the line. She pulled out one of her bonbori and smacked him on the head knocking him out.
"Thanks, I really didn't want to say anything but that was getting kinda embarrassing."
"Too too true. Shampoo never see Ranma act like that before. He no lick self at table."
"It has to be that Neko ken. Auntie do we act like that? I don't feel any different, well except for my senses being heightened."
"Well I don't really know what it's like to be completely human but you won't act like Ranma does. Hell I hope we can get him to start acting better." It would be so embarrassing if she caught him one time cleaning himself. "Please don't hold this against him."
"Him act normal when not in cat mode. Maybe he just need learn focus more, he doing fine until stop concentrating." Although she wouldn't mind if he cleaned her like that.
"Yeah you're right when he was actually concentrating he only purred his r's." This marriage bit just kept getting better and better Makoto thought grumpily. Not only did she have to share him but when he was in cat form he acted like an uncivilized beast. For some reason she felt like going out and getting a mallet.
Somewhere a tomboy sneezed.
After supper was finished (they'd left enough for Ranma) Nodoka and the girls were lounging in the living room while Walter and Ranma were doing the dishes. Ranma was working on trying to control his cat like urges. So far it was a losing battle.
"Auntie are you sure about this? I mean it's like he was raised in the wild or something."
"He was raised in the wild." Yet another thing she had to kill her husband for.
"But I can't marry him!"
"Ranma good man, is just too too strange now. I is sure he get through this too." At least she hoped he got better.
They sat and talked for a while. Eventually Ranma, Walter and Cologne joined them. Ranma was trying to keep up a conversation and was doing fairly good only rolling his r's. Eventually Nodoka noticed that it was getting late.
"Ranma would you mind walking Makoto home?"
"Ahh sure no problem." He was about to get up and walk out the door when his mother called out to him.
"Dear remember you've got to change back first."
"Ahh crap sorry I kinda forgot." He changed back to his human form with predictable results.
"CAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTtttt."
"Makoto could you go after him please." Makoto got up from where she was sitting and started off after her errant fiancé. "And don't you forget to change back either!" Nodoka called out.
In fact she had forgotten to change back. These new forms were as natural to her as breathing, strange as it was. She had completely forgotten that she was in her hybrid form. She changed back and suddenly found herself in a very loose shirt and pants. She cinched up the waist so that it wouldn't fall off and went outside. There was Ranma by the gate shaking like a leaf. Poor guy he must be going through his worst nightmare whether he's transformed or not.
He looked up to see her walking towards him. "Sorry about that I'm really not like that it's just... the cat wants to come out and play and I've got to watch everything I do or I lose it."
"Well other than cleaning yourself you weren't any worse than my last date." Neanderthal that he was. It was also the last time she went on a blind date arranged by Ami.
"When I first changed... I was so afraid... it's like I've become the monsters that my friends and I fight. It was kinda scary. I was hoping that it would feel you know wrong somehow..." she started
"But it felt right, like you've always known you could change and wondering why you couldn't..." he took up the conversation where she stopped.
"And then you do it and boom you feel complete." She finished
"Yeah I know."
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Ranma decided to speak up.
"I don't recommend it." He said.
"This fiancée thing?"
"Nah that's not too bad I mean you're cute, you can cook, you're smart... What I mean is I don't know why guys aren't beating down your door." Mr. clueless scores another home run batting with a frozen fish.
Makoto blushed furiously. "Well most guys tend to avoid me because I'm so tall and because I do martial arts guys avoid me like the plague." It was one of the things that depressed her was the fact that boys actively avoided her.
Looking over at her Ranma noticed that she might be an inch or so taller than he was. "Well you've got a boyfriend now." Lift foot, season with 11 herbs and spices, serves one. Bon appetite. "You've also got a girlfriend out of the deal too."
"Jerk" She did not need to be reminded of that little complication.
"But seriously I don't mind that your taller than me. All I've got to do is switch to my hybrid form and I'll be taller. Also the fact that you do martial arts is pretty much standard with the girls that hang around me so it's not weird at all."
Makoto was about to respond but the monster in front of her pretty much cut off whatever she was going to say.
"Foolisssh humansss. You will give me your energy NOW."
Ranma turned to Makoto. "Well it's your job isn't it?"
"I'm kind of tired tonight. Do you want to take this."
"I'd like to do it myself by maybe you should be standing by just incase you know strength in numbers kinda thing."
"What scared?"
"Nope not really it's just you've got way more experience fighting these things and hey having a cute cheering section never hurts." And having some heavy magical backup if he couldn't hurt this damned thing.
By this time the monster had pretty much had enough of the puny humans ignoring it. "Enough your energy is mine!"
Neither Ranma nor Makoto said a word. Makoto still had to close her eyes to change but other than that in a couple of seconds there were two were cheetah's ready for action.
"EEp!" To find out who said this let's take a look at general youma building.
First of all you must understand that youma or monsters are easier to build than people think. The easiest way to make a monster is to take a base natural creature or object and infuse it with negative energy or a spirit of some kind. The resulting monster has characteristics of the base object or creature, along with some of the instincts or mannerisms of the creature.
The monster in question was based off a fairly common city critter. It was male which for a monster was uncommon. It had grey fur, large ears, a long pink tail, and buck teeth.
Squeakor was a mouse monster and seeing two large cat people appear in front of him was not on his things to do list. He pretty much had one thought about this situation.
"Fuck"
Ranma charged first extending his ki claws. He had no idea what to expect but didn't really feel like playing with it until he determined if it was actually a threat.
When he got within striking range he let loose with a lazy swipe intending to remove it's arm. Amazingly enough it dodged (mostly) and only got a small cut. Realistically the cut should have been a lot deeper than it was but Squeekor did get a lot of damage resistance when he was created.
"Damn that things tough." Ranma swore under his breath as he easily dodged Squeekor's retaliatory attacks. "Alright no more Mr. nice guy."
He exploded into motion easily surpassing his normal amagouriken speed. Squeekor had scads of damage resistance but then again Ranma could do a lot of damage. In the end his damage reduction only served to prolong his suffering as he was slowly carved up. When it was finally over Squeekor exploded into a pile of dust.
"Man that was fun." Ranma said as he shook himself to get rid of the dust. "It really took a lot of damage before finally going down."
Makoto shifted back to her human form before responding. "Usually they take quite a bit before they finally die. Most of the time you've got to hit them with magic or else you can't hurt them." Except for this latest batch which couldn't quite get the balance between damage and magic resistance.
Ranma changed back after she did. "You know I wouldn't mind a couple of those things as sparring partners." He started walking again Makoto falling into step beside him.
"Baka they're monsters. They exist to suck humans of their energy."
"What about us then? We're monsters too. I don't feel like going out and draining humans of energy."
"Neither do I but..."
"Your friends won't see it that way would they?" Damn he'd have to teach her the Saotome Final attack.
"No, no they wouldn't." She looked up at him. "I've got to tell them don't I?" She really hated that part. "I'll tell them at the next meeting." She paused for a bit. "I wouldn't mind some backup just incase something goes wrong."
"Worried one of them might shoot first and keep shooting."
"Something like that..." Images of Uranus danced through her head and all the times that she 'overreacted'
"Tell you what I'll teach you a martial arts move that should allow you to escape."
"You would? Great! After school we usually go to Rei's temple how about you show it to me before then."
"Sounds good. I know of a couple of spots that we can train in. It's so easy you'll have it down in fifteen minutes tops."
"Great!" Nobody taught her anything new nowadays. At least there was one good thing that may come of this engagement, her martial arts skills should get better.
"You know you never did tell me not to try."
"Huh when?" He asked trying to remember the conversation before the monster showed up. "Oh yeah that. I really don't recommend the cleaning yourself no matter how curious you get. Fur in your mouth just is gross."
Makoto just had to laugh at that. "Maybe we'll have to get you a flea collar as well."
"Not funny." He grumped.
They arrived in front of a fairly nice apartment building. "This is my place." Makoto said looking up at her apartment. "I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow then."
"Yeah I guess so. Umm goodnight then." He bowed and then turned around and started walking away.
"Ranma wait up!" Makoto called out while running towards him.
As with most anime's accidental kisses where either the female or male trips or something else happens and the two characters share a passionate kiss.
That didn't happen here.
Makoto did trip but she was way too close to him. She ended up flying through the air. Breasts, face, Ranma on bottom.
Not the best way to start a long lasting relationship but it works in a pinch.
Terminally embarrassed Makoto apologized profusely while trying to hide her beet red face. She then turned around and ran into her apartment at full speed.
Ranma was left on the ground stunned but not unconscious. He was noting the differences between being shoved between Shampoo's and Makoto's breasts. It was a tough comparison.
"I must have them both." He hit himself upside his head. "Great now I'm sounding like Kuno." He got up and started walking home.
When he passed by the spot where he killed the monster he saw a couple of sailor scouts just leaving the scene.
As soon as he got home he went straight up to his room. Seeing a lump on one side of the bed he decided that teasing fate with a squeaky toy was probably not the best thing that he could do, he decided to change into full cheetah form and sleep on the floor tonight.
When he'd reached full cheetah he glanced back at the bed.... and had to keep himself from falling over.
On the bed was Shampoo, he'd already guessed that but now he could smell her. What shocked him though was the blue glows that were coming from underneath her pillow, strapped to her leg, and between the mattress. If he wasn't so afraid he'd be scared. Apparently Shampoo still loved him enough to want to sleep with him but didn't trust him enough not to make a snack out of her.
He curled up on the floor on his side of the bed and went to sleep.
Tomorrow was another day.
Unfortunately.
Authors Notes
Well there it is another chapter of Fast Tracks. I guess I'd better get some things cleared up before I get tons of e-mail correcting me. First yes I am aware that cheetah's don't normally eat zebra and their claws don't retract, HOWEVER in the gold diggers universe Brittany is able to retract her claws and they also get brittle if she doesn't eat zebra. So well since this is in the GD universe same here.
nealharris@otakumail.com