A/N: Heh… Here's the third chapter. The Teen Titans story got screwed… So, I'm focusing on this fic. It's getting repetitive but, read and review, please…

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, some VERY lucky people over in the Land of the Rising Sun do.

Lycanthrope ½: The New and Better (?) Curse

Chapter 3: The Girl, The Reason and the Kid with Fangs

Sniff Sniff "Kasumi's cooking… Delicious… I am so hungry… Thanks, Kasumi-chan." Ranma said.

"Umm… Hello? Are you awake? I've brought you your food." An unfamiliar female voice answered him.

Ranma slowly reopened his eyes, realizing that he had fallen asleep again after Kobold had left. Guess thinking about what he said really tired me out, thought Ranma. After all it is a big decision for me to make… He looked over to where the voice came from and saw a girl sitting on the floor beside him. His attention was quickly diverted from the girl to the very large platter of food beside the girl. Ranma quickly sat up and began to eat, while the girl watched him with quiet amusement, whacking him on the back from time to time when he ate too fast and started to choke. (A/N: Think Dita and Hibiki from Vandread. : P) Finally Ranma finished his meal.

"Hope you liked it. I cooked it myself!" said the girl.

"Umm… yeah. It was great! Thanks." Answered Ranma. Now that the food was out of the way, Ranma was able to study the girl a bit more. She looked young, around sixteen or so, and she had long emerald-green hair tied at the back with a loose ponytail. Ranma's gaze traveled downwards, and he noticed that she had quite an ample chest. They look bigger than Shampoo's, Ranma thought. Although it doesn't really show, Ranma isn't as naïve as we take him to be. Lost in thought, Ranma was quickly brought back to reality when the girl slapped him hard on the cheek.

"Quit staring at my chest, you pervert!" said the girl, slapping him again with one hand while bringing the other to cover her bosom.

"Oh! S-Sorry. You just reminded me of someone I knew back home. A Chinese Amazon with purplish hair. Pardon my language, but your boobs reminded me of her. She was cute, though. " Mused Ranma. "If she wasn't so damn set on killing me with those bonboris of hers when we first met, I might have liked her."

"Hmm… Purple hair, big boobs, a pair of bonboris, Chinese Amazon…Is the girl's name Shampoo? Has a grandmother named Cologne that hops around on a stick?" asked the girl.

"Yeah…Crazy old gal, too. Wickedly good when it comes to the Art, but in other matters- HEY! How'd you know about her? What's your name anyway?" replied Ranma.

"Me? My name's Chloe. I used to be a Chinese-Amazon until the day I…did something they didn't like and they cast me out. I was the best fighter in the village. When I left, the second best took my place as champ." Said the girl.

"Shampoo?" ventured Ranma.

"You guessed it. Of course, she still harbors a grudge against me." Said Chloe.

"Why?" asked Ranma, even though he was pretty sure why.

"Cause she could never beat me. I always bested her in everything. Heck, I remember one time…"

Flashback

(A rainy afternoon, at the Chinese Amazon village's courtyard)

"Aiyahh!" yelled a ten-year-old Shampoo as she furiously attacked the green-haired girl. Ten-year-old Chloe evaded the blows easily, then, somersaulting over Shampoo, grabbed her by the chin and flipped the girl over her head. Shampoo landed face down into the mud. As she tried to get up, a spinning kick from Chloe sent her reeling. Before she could retaliate, Chloe kicked her in the stomach, causing her to double over. Chloe then grabbed her by her sides, shoved her between her knees, lifted Shampoo onto her shoulders, and power-bombed her into the muddy ground. As Shampoo lay dazed on the ground, Chloe looked down on her, pity in her eyes.

"Forget it, Sham. You'll never beat me. Ever."

Chloe slowly walked away.

End Flashback

"But that didn't stop Shampoo. She challenged me every day. And I always beat her every day. She just didn't give up, until it got to the point it started to become annoying." Said Chloe.

"Yeah, I can sympathize with you there. I've got the same problem. There's this guy named Ryoga. He's always trying to beat me. Of course, he never succeeds…"

Flashback

(A rainy afternoon, at an empty lot)

"Arghhhhh!" yelled a ten-year-old Ryoga as he attacked the pig-tailed boy. Ten-year-old Ranma evaded the punch, then, crouching low, did a sweep kick that knocked Ryoga off his feet. As Ryoga struggled to get up, Ranma kicked him in the stomach, grabbed Ryoga's head in the crook of his arm, and gave Ryoga a stunner. Ryoga reeled backwards and then stood up straight, anger in his eyes. Ranma looked at Ryoga with an amused grin on his face, and then pushed Ryoga backwards with a single finger. Ryoga fell back down in the mud. Ranma looked down him and said with just a hint of pity in his voice:

"You'll never win, Ryoga. I'm way better than you. Always was, and always will be."

Ranma smirked, put his hands in his pockets, and walked away, whistling in the rain.

End Flashback

As Ranma and Chloe talked, unbeknownst to them, that same boy whom Ranma had just talked about beating, Ryoga Hibiki, was wandering in a forest, lost as usual. As night fell, and Ryoga was still nowhere near any point of civilization, he decided to make camp for the night. While he lighted the fire and took out a packet of noodles, he did not notice the dark, bat-shaped shadow crouched in the tree above him.

"A fine catch. He will make an excellent addition to the corps… Master will be so pleased with me…" The dark, bat-shaped shadow (from now on to be referred to as the DBSS) sneered.

Meanwhile…

Kobold walked into Ranma's room to find him and Chloe chatting amiably, well, make it arguing about the Art. He chuckled.

"A reverse spinning kick to the back of the head while your enemy is looking the other way? That's so… clichéd! Plus, there's always the chance that your enemy's got a thick skull, to cushion the blow!" said Chloe.

"Well, it's always worked for me!" retorted Ranma.

"Not good enough! Now, if you want to REALLY incapacitate your enemy, what you do is you give him a horizontal thrust into his collarbone! It cuts off his breathing and stops him in his tracks!' said Chloe.

"But isn't that a spy technique?" asked Ranma.

"Well… technically, yeah, but it is quite effective, so…" Chloe trailed off.

"AHA!" Said Ranma. "If you use those kinds of techniques, then you deviate from the normal teachings, which means that-"

"EHERM!" coughed Kobold, just enough to catch the attention of the two. "If you two are done with arguing, then maybe I can have a word with Ranma, alone?"

"Oh! Sorry, Sir." Chloe got up and left, taking the empty dishes with her.

Kobold sat down in front of Ranma.

"So, kid. Have you come to a decision yet, or did Chloe make you forget about it?" said Kobold, a smile on his face.

"Ah! Eh…well…eherm… Actually… she did." Ranma blushingly admits.

"Yeah… I thought so. Anyway, I didn't come here to ask you that. There's… something I forgot to tell you. Something important." A look of uncertainty passes over Kobold's face as he says this, but it disappears as quickly as it comes. "I think this will affect your decision greatly. You see kid, if you become a Brother Wolf, you also pledge to join us in a fight to purge the world of one of the most hated bloodlines ever to walk the Earth. The bloodline of Count Dracula. The Brotherhood of the Wolf has pledged itself to ridding the world of his evil. That was why Viktor Bloodfang and the eleven other Elders of the Moon created the Brotherhood 700 years ago. To fight his evil."

Ranma gave Kobold a questioning look. "But if Dracula's so evil, why didn't the Brotherhood just kill him then and there?"

"That's the thing, boy. See, Dracula… Evil like him is not easily purged. Also, the fact that none knew how to kill him didn't help."

"Why didn't you just use garlic or stakes or sunlight?" said Ranma.

"Ahh… Kid, that stuff only works on lesser vampires. Lesser vampires are spawned from Dracula. Their powers are just like Dracula's, only weakened about a thousand times. And all that stuff you said earlier can kill them. Unfortunately, Dracula is, contrary to popular myth, WAY stronger. Nothing works on him."

"Oh." Was all Ranma could say as Kobold exited the room, leaving Ranma alone in his thoughts.

Back at the Forest…

"Ho-hum…" Ryoga yawned as he lay down in his sleeping bag. "Ranma… I'll get you someday… Akane-san…" With these words, Ryoga zipped himself in and went to sleep. Up in the trees, watching him, the DBSS' sneer grew bigger.

"Perfect. Now, let me just fit my form to carry him."

The DBSS started to grow bigger until it was the size and relative weight of a motorcycle (and not the slim kind too, the big, hefty kind like those fat biker dudes in the biker movies use.) Of course, it was crouched on a branch that could only support the weight of a small DBSS so, inevitably…

SNAP

The DBSS slapped himself on the forehead before falling to the ground below.

THUD

The DBSS fell with a THUD beside Ryoga. The sound, of course, woke Ryoga up.

"What the he-

Before he could finish, he was knocked unconscious by a horizontal punch to his collarbone. The DBSS cracked his knuckles, and smiled.

"And the Master says Discovery Channel is useless."

The DBSS shoved Ryoga back into the sleeping bag and flew off with him into the night in the direction of…Transylvania. Unfortunately, the DBSS forgot to zip up the bag, and an unconscious Ryoga falls back down onto a large boulder.

THUD CRACK CRUMBLE

"Uh-oh." The DBSS grumbles. "He might have broken something. Not good. The Master wants his soldiers in tip-top shape." The DBSS swoops down into the trees and is shocked to find Ryoga, still knocked out, lying in the middle of a pile of rubble. "Woah… He cracked, no, PULVERIZED that rock without even trying! Master will really love this new recruit! Finally, the Master will commend me!" The DBSS stuffs Ryoga into the bag again, zips it up, and flies off into the direction of…Transylvania.

Back to Ranma…

"So…" said Kobold as he entered the room. It had already been a week since Ranma had landed there. Kobold had told him that if he refused their offer, they would let him stay until his feet had healed, and then he would be sent back, with no memory of what had occurred. "How are your feet doing?" asked Kobold.

"Ok, I guess. I can move my toes a little bit." Ranma winced as pain shot up his leg. "By the way, Kobold, I've come to a decision."

"You have? Very well. What is it?" said Kobold.

"Well…" Ranma took a deep breath. "I have decided to…"

A/N: Well, wasn't that a cliffhanger… what do you think he chose? A life within the shadows as a werewolf, or a return to the madness that was Nerima? You will find out in the next chapter. Or will you? Dum-dum-DUM! Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate it!