AN Mr. Part time refers to Mousse's brief periods of lucidity. According to one fanfiction I have read.
A Wild Horse and His Cabbit
Chapter 3: The Way to Japan
RanmaRanmaRanmaRanmaRanmaRanma
The travelers spent the night in the guide's hut, to get a fresh start in the morning. As dawn shone through the window, the cursed residents discovered that new leaks in the roof had worked on them all. Apparently the mixing of the springs took a while to settle for the two neo catgirls. Xian Pu and Mu Tzu stood up and found themselves staring at Ranma's chest. They had grown to about four foot to Ranma's five foot and one half inch height. Xian Pu turned to her suitor and stared for a minute while he returned the gaze. "Stupid Mu Tzu, this is all your fault."
She brought out her now oversized bonbori and was about to smash the other catgirl into the floor but stopped when she saw her drop into a fetal position with tears running down the fur on her face. Xian Pu's anger dissipated, "I suppose you have been punished enough, for now." She walked to the door to go outside to think and a large gaunt panda fell across the threshold as she opened it. "Aiyahh! What is a dying panda doing here?"
Ranma pushed her to the side and looked at the emaciated panda. "Pop…is that you?" The panda opened a crust rimmed eye and nodded. "Someone get some hot water and some food."
After being changed and dragged to the table, Genma began an eating frenzy that stunned Ranma and even made KhoLun avert her eyes at the dining ferocity of the starved martial artist. She quietly handed the guide some currency to offset the food cost.
After eating twenty pounds (dry weight) of rice, fourteen large carp (heads and all) and a hindquarter of pork, chased down with bathtub beer, Genma settled down and looked at his daughter.
In Japanese, "I'm sorry, boy, that I wasn't able ta get ya away from them Amazons. When the old mummy took ya out with a cheap shot I watched from as close as I could. They dragged ya away an some of 'em were able ta sense I was around an ya were guarded too well. I watched for ya and saw that they had turned ya inta a real girl over the next coupla weeks. I saw ya in the hot spring in th' village. Ya didn't even remember the Anything Goes. It was like they took my son, a man among men, an made ya inta nothin but a weak girl!"
Ranma began to growl at Genma, in Japanese, "Pops, don't go there, when I got my memories back I spent some time thinkin'. Know what I realized? Girls ain't weak! Ever freakin' month I bleed from 'there'. Girls AIN'T weak. Now they're helpin' me ta look for a way ta become a man again, at least part of thetime. Now can ya tell me why ya ain't the fat bastard ya usually are?"
"Well, I hadn't been able ta be human more'n a few hours since we went ta th' village. I'd go inta a hot spring and didn't get far when a raincloud'd hit me or I'd fall inta a stream and, once, a buncha monkeys pissed on me from the trees."
"Buwah ha ha ha ha! Cackle cackle cackle! Hu hu hu hu!" Everyone laughed while the bald martial artist burned red as he realized that he had given too much information in his bid for sympathy.
"Ha ha 'cough'. Pops, so why are ya so thin? Anyway."
"When I'm a panda, human food an a lotta other stuff makes me sick as hell. I could only eat bamboo and there ain't much a that around these mountains. I found some a few days away, but I lost any good from it by the time I traveled back ta watch ya. I was ready ta give up when ya seemed ta be thinkin' and rememberin' better. I followed ta make sure but passed out when I was goin ta knock on tha door…"
"Well 'Pops', I'm actually glad yer alive, an I'll help ya recover. Cause when yer well enough, I'M GONNA BEAT TH' LIVIN' CRAP OUTTA YA! Don't think I can't cause I'm a girl. Stupid panda breath, ya coulda tried ta learn Chinese and woulda known how dangerous those springs were!" Ranma had approached Genma so close that spittle was hitting him in the face from the force of her angry words.
Genma was close to losing continence and dropped to the floor crying "Sorry, sorry, sorry."
KhoLun shuddered, thinking that maybe she had gotten off easy. Ranma's aura was bluish black with tendrils caressing the bald martial artist in the baggy gi, her eyes were glowing bright red coals. 'Where did she learn to produce a fear aura? It's strong enough to kill, if she willed it.' In Mandarin, "Ranma, child, have I told you how very sorry I am about how I treated you?" This was said with a growing fear for herself, to hell with the tribe!
Ranma turned on her, some of the tendrils of the aura passing through the old body, causing her to vividly recall some of the worst nightmares of her past. As the words sank in, the aura diminished and it was just Ranma standing there. She spoke in the cultured mandarin thatKhoLun and Xian Pu had taught her. "Elder," notably missing was 'honored', "I have thought long and very hard on your actions regarding this one. You had 'murdered' someone and thought little of it until you saw the threat of tribal dissolution."
"I hold no doubt that if you could get away with it, that you would do it again if you thought that there would be no repercussions. Well, I have hope that you are capable of learning that you don't treat people like that. Xian Pu may learn more easily than yourself."
"Ranma, please understand that I do everything for the survival of the tribe, first and foremost."
"That's bull crap! What if the survival of the tribe depended on showing kindness to a stranger, an alliance based on friendship, or of not being cruel in yourarrogant superiority?"
"For what you've done, obliteration of the tribe by blood feud could have been the answer, to keep you from doing it again."
"However, I actually think that you have done me a favor without meaning to. If I had my memories, I would have suffered from constant and humiliating changes and have been in constant contact with an even worse influence than you, Pops. When I got back my memories back, it was like Maolin and Ranma were two people that blended. I'm just glad that Maolin was a warrior and not a like a traditional Japanese girl. Just so you know, though, returning the memories was like a second murder, Maolin is truly no more. Ranma is still dead. I am a new person, whether the lock is removed or not."
Xian Pu chose that moment to speak, "Ranma, I hope you will someday forgive this one for her part in this. When I realized that you were actually a male, I wanted to give you the kiss of marriage, but had no say."
"Xian, you are a friend. If you don't abuse my trust or honor I will defend you and yours with my life. As for marriage, it had better be a matter of love on both sides and not because of a tribal law. By the way, I reserve the right to be first wife for myself." The last was said with a smirk, the humor of which was belied by her eyes.
"Miyah miaow." LinOhki interjected.
"Lin-chan is right. Let's finish breakfast and get going, if we're to catch up with the Musk prince or princess. I figure that we ought to go straight to the destination and wait. You did say it was on Mount Horaisan?"
Five days later, a motley crew was running away from a PRC military base. Morning was a few hours away, but no one wished to hang around.
LinOhki had been floating alongside Ranma and the others in a nighttime march to avoid contact with the government when she jerked to a stop in midair. The delicious stuff she sensed carried through the link. Ranma started to restrain the cabbit, when she shot off like a missile toward the military base that they were skirting. They were halfway there when the installation began to light up and sirens blared. Ranma signaled the others to stop. "Let's get out of here, nothings going to stop Lin-chan in a feeding frenzy. She'll catch up." With that, the group got the hell out of Dodge.
A few hours later, the cabbit showed up nibbling a yellow aluminum sign with a purple propeller symbol on it. KhoLun saw it and muttered, "Oh crap."
Back at the base, a group of generals were looking at piles of wood and other material. Virtually every exposed bit of metal on the entire base was gone, including twelve tactical nukes and four ICBMs in underground silos. Where row upon row of tanks had stood, there was nothing. It was also noted that the base garden was missing all of its carrots. One unfortunate soldier made a remark about Bugs Bunny and Martians and was immediately shot.
Ranma was trying to look disapprovingly at LinOhki, but burst out in a fit of giggles as the cabbit belched and miyahed a bit. Then something came over the link and the girl's eyes bugged out, as did the others when the cabbit started to grow. Lin-chan became a small rabbit catgirl with a mixture of a robe and jumpsuit. She jumped into Ranma's arms and made happy miyahing noises as the others gathered around. In the dark before dawn they watched as the pair looked into the others eyes in some kind of trance. Little blue lights circled them for several minutes until Ranma snapped to attention, looking about her. "What?"
In Japanese, Genma spoke, "Boy, ya had little ki balls floatin' around ya…and ya were floatin' a coupla inches off th' ground."
Ranma replied in Mandarin, "Pops, you are learning Chinese. Don't be any lazier than you already are. Lin-chan and I were just having a little talk. It seems that she has eaten enough to be able to take us the rest of the way to Japan but needs about another day to align the quantum matrices, what ever that means. Her first time might be rough, so she wants to get us there quick and change back in case the strain is a bit too much."
"How is Lin-chan going to get us there? Isn't she too small?" Xian Pu enquired.
KhoLun interjected, "Child, think about how much the creature has eaten. She has enough mass, somewhere, to become a dragon as large as the ones described in the histories."
Ranma looked around the area from a tree top and assessed the land around them. "I think that there is a canyon over that way that will keep us out of view of any soldiers until tomorrow. I can imagine that the government will be hunting for what ever 'stole' their military base."
A short while later the group was in a large limestone cavern waiting on Ranma and Xian Pu to finish cooking a mid day meal. Ranma's cooking skills had improved greatly during the time she had been Maolin. There was a large bucket being heated to allow KhoLun and Xian Pu to use the waterproof soap to lock their birth forms temporarily. "Everyone can eat now." Ranma pronounced.
After she had finished her meal Mu Tzu sat back and noticed that Ranma was missing. The others, including the cabbit, were laying about, conversing or staring at the fire or a combination. She looked at Xian Pu and KhoLun. Their conversation was probably a training session for his beloved. Ranma's father was laying back, digesting his meal. He appeared to be recovering well after a few meals. The cabbit had gone back to the small form that had accompanied them for so much of the trip and seemed to be in a Zen-like state, floating about a foot above the ground. If Ranma was right, tomorrow they would see LinOhki the dragon.
Thinking again of Ranma, Mu Tzu cast about to sense her presence, her nose twitched at discovering the pigtailed martial artist's scent. She got down on all fours and followed the trail, tail waving agitatedly in the manner of a curious cat. She tracked it back, deeper into the cavern past all light. Her sensitive whiskers gave her a sense of the size and shape of her surroundings and the scent trail left her confident in finding her way about. She was actually enjoying her improved senses, especially being able to see what the people around looked like. The few times that she had returned to her birth form, she had panicked at the loss of awareness that came with it. Her speed as a catgirl was nothing to sneeze at and she found that her hidden weapons techniques worked well, though she needed to obtain smaller, lighter weaponry for the form to fully adapt. Being female was a plus, too, though her status would not be as good as those born female in the tribe. The natural low self esteem of Amazon males caused the back of her mind to play with the idea of locking the curse, now that she was large enough to be considered a very short girl rather than a pet.
She twitched her ears as a faint noise could be heard and stepped up her pace slightly. The sound eventually resolved into that of a young woman sobbing. A dim light showed where Ranma was seated on a rock overlooking a pool of crystal clear water. Ripples gave evidence of the occasional tear hitting the water. The dim lighting was coming from the girl as a white glow emanating from her whole body.
"S-saotome. Why are you sad? If you wish I'll listen."
The sobbing continued for several more minutes and Mu Tzu was unable to take any more. Ranma felt a tiny hand rubbing her back and after a bit, became somewhat calm. "Mu Tzu, why are you being so nice to me? You hardly know me. As I remember, I think that KhoLun had likely intended to make you my husband (shudder). I would have refused, since it was obvious that Xian Pu was the object of your affection. Do you still intend to pursue her?"
"I don't know. I think that I am coming to prefer my new form to being a male. You've seen how men are treated by my tribe. If we find Prince Herb I may request to be locked in my current form as you are. I may not be as strong in this form, but I am not almost blind. As a matter of fact, I can even see perfectly under starlight at night. My other senses are even more acute. I can sense the shape of a room just by the movement of air across my whiskers. I'm much more agile and relatively faster. Plus, if I were locked, I would begin to earn the respect of the women of the tribe. Even though I would be expected to bear daughters, I would give my son's and husband the love and respect they deserve. I have long felt that men's lot in the tribe is unfair as a woman I might eventually become an elder and influence attitudes. So…losing my manhood would be a small sacrifice when taking the long view. As for Xian, maybe I could get the love of a friend or a friend as a lover if we married the same man."
"I'm just saying that, with your curse unlocked and the experience of bias from both genders, you should look at it as a blessing to understand both sides of the coin. It is a priceless perspective we have been given. Also, feel blessed that it wasn't the spring of drowned piglet or duck that you fell into. I'm sure that such would have made an animal rights advocate of me. Here's something to think about, maybe when you are unlocked and I get locked, you could defeat Xian Pu and myself in a marriage challenge. We could be your wives…"
"I don't know ! What am I supposed to be? I'd just be half and half! Maolin would want to be woman; Ranma, a man. I'm just confused! Pops and my mother, rest her soul, expect a man among men. Maolin was planning to be an Amazon warrior without peer. Now I can't be either!"
Mu Tzu said, quietly, "I know what I want for me now. But, I think that your destiny is to be more. Think. You can be both. You can be a man amongst men and a mighty Amazon. You could insinuate yourself into both cultures and bring understanding and change to the world if you have enough time."
"I challenge you to be THE best. Its an opportunity to use a great power to change points of view; to destroy stereotypes; to benefit men and women; to protect those too weak to defend themselves."
"Mu Tzu, why are you so different from the way Xian Pu described and the way you were acting?"
"More than my eyes were opened. My senses and feelings are different now and I think that I like it very much. My male form seems so blunted when I take it now. And, if that is the way all men are, I feel pity for them."
"Okay, Mu Tzu, I think that I'll try being both as you suggest. You'll see. Saotome Ranma doesn't lose…and neither does Maolin. Just on the other thing, let's just be friends and see what happens. I'm afraid of what Pops has done. I have his scrolls and journal in my pack. Xian Pu gave me Pops pack when they restored Ranma's memories. It is still strange to feel like my memories, before that, were those of someone else. I truly hope that I can begin to feel like a whole person some time."
Mu Tzu let her own feelings take over. She put her arm around the taller girl and said, "I'm sure you will. I'm sure."
The next morning, after a breakfast of their remaining provisions, the travelers gathered around Ranma and the small cabbit at the cave entrance. "Neither Lin-chan nor I can sense anyone within the valley, so hold on to your stuff, because its time."
With that LinOhki ran at Ranma and leapt from the girls outstretched hands, straight up. She kept going up and began to morph and grow. The observers, including Ranma gasped as a mighty construct of silvery crystalline spires formed, spanning at least a kilometer from one canyon wall to the other. A large blue dome could barely be seen from their angle. Ranma started to shimmer and disappeared from their midst. Xian Pu shouted in surprise, "Aiyaa, where did Ranma…" She was cut off as they all began to shimmer and fade.
Ranma appeared in the environmental dome at the bridge and her eyes glazed over at the deep contact of an expanded link. Monitors were packed with rapidly scrolling characters while she remained immobile. This was the scene that greeted the others as they appeared on the bridge. Xian Pu spoke, "…go to? Whaa!"
KhoLun whispered, "Oh my. This is most certainly not of the earth. Ranma?"
Ranma snapped to attention. "All of Lin-chan's systems are nominal and actually better than we expected, considering that she is so young." The girl waved at some couches rising from the floor and they sat down.
Pops, even though you can't hurt anything, just stay quiet and don't touch anything. "Stealth is activated and we'll be waiting for the prince at Mount Horaisan when he arrives."
The surrounding mountains that had been visible through the blue tinted dome dropped from sight as the morning sky shifted to blackness punctuated by incredibly brilliant stars. LinOhki rotated to give her passengers a view of the world beneath.
"Lin-chan is searching a data network called the World Wide Web to locate our target, she figures that it will take an hour to translate and sift through all of the information currently there, so kick back and relax."
Washu ran into her lab, frantically slapping the acknowledge button on the blaring klaxon and bringing up her holographic computer interface. She was having a hard time believing the assumptive results on the screen. Two new cabbits? The Masu and etherium traces were definitive. Trouble was that all traces winked out a few seconds after initialization, suggestive of a young cabbit, or cabbits, not realizing the need for stealth mode until after transformation. Well, she would wait for detransformation and try to contact them. Meanwhile, a long talk with her daughter and a certain cabbit were in order.
End Chapter 3
10-1-2005
