Miss Ranma
!SPECIAL EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"
Chapter Fourteen
"You've had this coming for a long time, Ranma, so prepare to die!" Ryoga came running against his currently manly opponent like gangbusters! He moved with so much speed that he struck the slower Ranma in the chest, knocking him back several feet.
"Ryoga's must have been training hard; he's so much faster than usual." !POW! "Or is it because I've gotten so much slower?" Ranma thought as she got her bearings.
"You've been getting slow, Ranma! Has all that time as a woman made you soft? Now that you don't have a hot and sexy woman's body to distract me with, you'll have to fight me like a man for the first time in your life."
"Listen to me, Ryoga. I don't know how you know so much about Jusenkyo, but I've been a victim of those cursed waters," Ranma replied as she tried even harder to keep her balance.
"I'm still having a hard time getting used to this male body. And the overabundance of strength this larger upper body has is taking some getting used to! I feel so powerful yet so slow. Uh, oh. Here he comes again!"
"I know, Ranma. You've been cursed to turn into a girl. Since you're a guy right now, I can hit you with everything I got!" !POW!
"Ungh! All right, Ryoga. You want a fight to the finish, so be it!" Ranma answered, wiping the blood from her mouth. Then Ranma came at Ryoga as fast she could with the muscled body she had at the time.
!CRACK!SMASH! "Aagh! What kind of steroids have you been taking, Ranma? You've never hit me so hard!"
"I told you, Ryoga. I'm bigger, better, badder!" Ranma exclaimed flexing her powerful muscles to the point she almost burst out of her clothes. Then she came at Ryoga again with fists of fury!
!CRACK!SMASH!POW! "Ow! You don't scare me, Ranma. Here. This is for you!" !SLASH! With a lightning-fast flick of his wrist, Ryoga whipped out his heavy-duty umbrella and struck Ranma with it, tearing the current boy's shirt to shreds.
"Hey! I liked that shirt!" Ranma exclaimed, covering herself up for a moment until realizing what she was at the time.
"Quit acting like a woman! You don't have those fake chests of yours to distract me now.
Ranma regarded her muscular and manly chest for a moment. Then she tore off the shreds of cloth that were left, tossing them to the ground. Breathing to the point that the pectoral muscles she had at the time heaved up and down, the girl turned boy gave the lost boy a hard look.
"Fine, Ryoga. But I liked that shirt. You've tried so hard to tear off my clothes, and you've even grabbed my tits when I had them. Now you're staring at my muscular chest. Are you bisexual or something?"
Ryoga looked at Ranma in shock for a moment, blushing red. "No, that's not true!"
"Really? It's like you can't take your eyes off of me no matter what I am. I'd hate to think what you'd do to me if I turned into a sheep or something like that."
"Raaaanmaaa!" Ryoga screamed, shaking his fists. The lost boy came at Ranma in a burst of speed, surprising the pigtailed warrior and getting a punch to his opponent's solar plexus, but that was it.
"Ungh!" Ranma quickly recovered, evaded lost boy's following attacks, and countered with a fast-paced jab that rocked Ryoga's head back. Then she struck her adversary's mid-section, using a heavy-handed forward punch. However, as she knocked Ryoga back a little bit and attempted to strike with a roundhouse kick, she missed! "Blast it! These muscular legs are powerful but cumbersome. How do men get their kicks off?"
"You're still too slow, Ranma," Ryoga replied as he landed a leg sweep that knocked the pigtailed martial artist off of her feet.
"I need to work on my leg agility, but for the time being, I'm going to have to punch this guy out."
Then Ranma zipped up to her opponent and struck him with a devastating punch barrage, moving each fist in a circular motion, coordinating them as she struck her opponent over a dozen of times.
"I'm glad I learned that two fist attack from that Chinese guy when Pop took me on that training trip."
"Ungh!" "When did Ranma become so powerful? Is it possible that he was a girl to begin and that being a guy is the curse? I need to change my strategy. There's no way I can go toe to toe with Ranma as he is now."
The lost boy quickly recoiled back, widening the gap between them. Then he whipped out his killer bandannas, covering the area in which Ranma resided at the time.
"Yeow!"
"You're doomed, Ranma. There's no way you can dodge my attacks with all that muscle you got."
As more and more bandannas struck and nicked her, Ranma leaped up into the air and dove down on her opponent like a dive bomber, blasting him with autofire ki blasts. "Take that!"
!ZAP! "Aaargh! No fair, Ranma!" Ryoga redirected his attacks towards his aerial adversary, countering the ki blasts and still sending more killer bandannas in Ranma's direction.
"Aargh!" Ranma screamed as a few of the killer bandannas sliced through him.
"Got him!" Then Ryoga looked around and couldn't find Ranma anywhere. "Where did he go?"
"Here!"
"What the..."
"Shoryuken!" !KAPOW!
"Aaaaah!" Ryoga screamed upon being hit by Ranma's powerful leaping uppercut punch. After being in the air for a moment, the lost boy went crashing to the ground with a thud.
"Where did you learn how to do that?" Ranma turned to see a short-haired, medium-sized girl wearing a sailor, high school outfit with a short skirt that hardly covered red bloomers. She was slender yet moderately muscular as she flexed her arms while wearing red knuckle dusters. At the same time, she was rather cute and cuddly looking despite showing a large degree of physical power.
"I saw some guy use that punch under a waterfall, and I learn martial arts techniques fast, and it was pretty effective," the pigtailed martial artist said with confidence, breathing as her massive chest heaved from the previous exertion.
"You're pretty good. I'm surprised you used that punch with as much accuracy as you did."
"This girl has some serious skill," Ranma contemplated as he regarded the newcomer. "So who are you?" Ranma asked politely.
"I'm Sakura Kasugano. Pleased to meet you," the girl said in a bow, getting in a stance.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm getting ready to fight you. I've been working very hard to improve my martial arts skills for the upcoming Street Fighter Tournament. Won't you fight with me?"
"That's not such a good idea."
"Why not?" the girl asked, giving Ranma a look of perplexity.
"I've just gotten a huge boost in physical power."
"You've been taking steroids or something?"
"Something like that. As of right now, I don't know my own strength," Ranma explained.
"Strength doesn't always matter that much." "I don't sense any fear or cowardice in this guy, so why doesn't he want to fight me?"
"Normally it doesn't, but I um... I overdid it on what I was taking so I might hurt someone," Ranma said unconvincingly.
"You had no problem fighting that last guy. You shouldn't underestimate me because I'm a girl." Thus Sakura kept her stance, quickly pivoted from right to left.
"Oh, it's not that. I would never dream of underestimating you because you're a girl. It's just that..."
"Good." Sakura zipped over towards Ranma at superhuman speed. "Shoryken!" she screamed on rocking Ranma with a powerful blow that sent the young man upward. Then she followed up with the same kind of attack but punching in a machine-gun fashion.
"Aaagh!"
"Now I got ya! Sheputcha!" Sakura then struck Ranma with several fast-paced, helicopter-like kicks as the pigtailed martial artist came crashing down to the ground.
"Ungh!"
"And that's a wrap."
"It's not over yet!" Before the girl could move in on her again, Ranma clapped her powerful hands together and shoved them forward, creating a shockwave that bowled Sakura over backward end over end.
"Hadoken!" Sakura yelled, creating a large fireball and sending it Ranma's way after using her acrobatic skills to right herself.
"Not bad, kid!" Ranma took to the air, dodging the oncoming energy ball. Then Ranma blasted Sakura with an energy blast of her own, surprising the teenage girl.
"Aaargh!"
Then Ranma flew into the girl from a diagonal direction.
"Shoryuken!" Sakura yelled, leaping into the air, fist first.
"I knew she was going to do that!" Ranma blocked the attack. Then the pigtailed martial artist struck the girl in the jaw with a powerful haymaker, stunning her. At that point, Ranma pressed her advantage, nailing Sakura with a well-placed roundhouse kick in her stomach and knocking the wind out of her. As the sailor suited girl fell backward, Ranma moved in on her and struck her with a well placed, all-out punch.
"Aaaagh!" the girl screamed as she fell to the ground unconscious.
"This girl has some serious grace and agility! I'd like to fight her again when I'm back in my normal body," Ranma contemplated. Then the pigtailed martial artist noticed the familiar presence of two girls.
"Ooooh!" Ranma turned around and saw the two girls standing there ogling her masculine body, her clothes having been shredded to the point that Ranma looked like a barbarian, being naked from the waist up and the thighs down.
"Well, hi. I gotta go." Then the pigtailed warrior found herself surrounded by the girls. "Yes?"
"What a gorgeous body you have!" a girl exclaimed, putting her hands on the martial artist's chest.
"Since I'm gorgeous as a girl, I'm gorgeous as a guy. No surprise there. Now I need to get away from these girls before anything regrettable happens."
"Um. Excuse me, girls. I need to go. Bye-bye!"
"You're not going anywhere, sweet cheeks. It's so rare to see a gorgeous hunk of man like you," one of them said, stroking the muscular body. "I could just hold on to you all day long."
"Let go already! Don't you have somewhere to be, Yuka and Sayuri?"
The two girls paused for a moment as Ranma freed herself from their ironclad holds. "How did you know who we were?"
"I, er, um. I've been around and have heard other people say your names. Anyway, gotta go! Gotta go!"
"You have us at an advantage, stranger. What is your name?"
"What is this? These girls are fairly attractive. If they needed a man so badly, any of the boys at school would have obliged them happily," Ranma thought, trying to gently brake free of the girls' surprisingly strong reapplied holds.
"Raanmaaaa!"
"Akane!"
"So there you are! I knew you were a pervert! You can't keep your hands off these poor unsuspecting girls, can you?" the girl said in a rage, coming at her "fiance" with a huge ki hammer.
"Is this your boyfriend, Akane?" Yuka asked with dismay.
"No fair!" Sayuri called out. "First you get all the boys at school chasing after you, and now you have this hunkilicious guy with gorgeous pecs and abs as your boyfriend."
"Wait. Your name is Ranma?" Then Yuka noticed the pigtail, the eyes, the face, and shredded, green pants. "Are you related to Ranma, the girl that goes to our school?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm a distant relative. But don't fall in love with me."
"Why not?"
"I don't know how long I'll be staying here. For all you know I'll just vanish into thin air. Now it's time for me to leave," Ranma said, widening the gap between herself and the amorous girls.
Then Ranma looked over her manly shoulder and noticed both girls staring at her back longingly, practically floating on the ground towards her. "Sigh!"
"You girls don't get out of the house that much, do you?" Ranma replied, stopping and giving the girls a wry look.
"Do you normally walk around half-naked, muscles? Not that I'm complaining, but if you walk around as you are now, you're going to have a whole lot of girls wanting to get their hands on you," Sayuri explained happily.
Then the two girls looked at themselves for a moment. "You know what?" Yuka said.
"What?" Ranma replied suspiciously.
"We're not too selfish. We're willing to share. Right, Sayuri?"
"Right, Yuka!" Then the two girls threw themselves at their bishonen dreamboat.
"Calm down, girls!" Ranma said, motioning them to stop.
"Ranma, you pervert!" Akane screamed, using her hammer to knock the young man into the sky before the girls could get to her fiance.
"Akane, wait!" Ranma protested.
"Pervert!"
!SMASH! "Aaaah!" Ranma screamed. "As if I needed this! I need to get my cure and get it quickly! And when I get my real body back, I'm going to give Akane the beating she has had coming for a long time!"
XXX
!WUMP! Ranma landed, using her flying ability to slow down her descent. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Ranma looked around to see that she was in the middle of a park which was a few blocks away from the Tendo household.
"Ranma!"
"Yeah, Kenji?" the pigtailed martial artist replied, looking over towards him.
The martial artist had been doing some training when Ranma appeared. "Gee, Ranma. You look almost as good as I do," Kenji said with a friendly smile.
"Almost? I'm way better looking than you!" Then Ranma paused for a moment. "Come to think it, I don't want to compete with you when it comes to good looks, Kenji, so I'll leave being a hunk to you. In the meantime, I need to get my woman's body back and get it quickly."
"Sure, Ranma. But why don't you practice katas and tai chi with me? That might help you to adapt to your souped-up male body a lot quicker," Kenji explained.
"Right. Good idea, Kenji." In a few moments, both men were using katas. Kenji had started with easy ones. Then he did more complex ones, making Ranma work harder to keep up. In a matter of minutes, Ranma had become poetry in motion. The pigtailed martial artist began doing the katas with as much fluidity as usual, even though the speed at which she moved was less than usual.
"How's that, Ranma?"
"Whew! You were right, Kenji. This is just what I needed. I can already feel like I'm adapting to all the testosterone in my body. I'll need to be on my A-game if I'm going to get that old crone to change me back."
"Well, since we're here and all warmed up. How about a sparring match?"
"Are you sure about that, Kenji? I'm way stronger than I was before. I may hurt you badly this time."
"Don't worry about it, Ranma. I can take it."
Ranma regarded Kenji for a moment. "All right. Let's do it. Hyaaa!" Ranma came at Kenji with a burst of speed, attempting to strike her fiance with a rapid-fire punching combination. "I barely landed one hit!"
Kenji whipped out his ki hammer and nailed Ranma, knocking the then young man back several feet.
"Ranma's still slower than usual. But when he does hit me, he packs a wallop!" !ZAP! "Aaagh!"
"I tagged him with a ki blast, but I'm going to have to rely more on tactics and maneuvering since my speed is still less than what it was," Ranma contemplated as she flew straight for her opponent.
"Ranma's a lot tougher as well. I guess I won't have to hold back now," Kenji thought as he threw his ki hammer at Ranma, striking the young man square in the chest. !SLAM!
"Oof!" "I knew Kenji was good, but he seems to be a whole lot better now. Wait. Now I know why Kenji was distracted before. He couldn't keep his eyes off of my female body in the past. Now that I'm a guy. He's paying attention to the fight. It's sort of the same thing with Kuno and those guys at school when they fought Akane and me. Well. Even though I'm a whole lot slower than I'd like to be, this still is a great fight."
Ranma came running at Kenji who responded in kind. In seconds, they clashed, going at it toe to toe, trading blow for blow. However, despite her reduced speed, Ranma was getting more blows in. "Ouch! Ranma's so powerful. I don't know how much more punishment I can take. Ah! An opening!" Kenji whipped out his ki hammer and swung it upward, knocking his opponent into the sky. Then he quickly swung his hammer again, propelling himself upward, smashing into Ranma's midsection and striking his opponent hammer first.
"Oof!" Ranma responded with a two-fisted ax handle that came crashing on Kenji's head, sending him downward. Then while Kenji was stunned, Ranma flew into him fists first, knocking the wind out of him.
"Huff!" "Have to do something or I'm finished!" !CLAP! Kenji abruptly clapped his hands together, creating a shockwave that sent Ranma reeling backward end over end.
"I had no idea Kenji could do something like that! Looks like Kenji's going to follow up with another attack."
"I have Ranma now!" Kenji made his hammer appear again and threw it at his opponent. However, much to Kenji's surprise, Ranma blocked it, batting it away.
While still floating in the air, Ranma put his hands together and screamed. "Kamehameha!"
"What the..." !BOOM! "Aargh!" Upon contact of the larger than life ball of energy, Kenji went crashing to the ground. Then he bounced back up, hitting the ground again.
"I win, Kenji!" Ranma announced to the barely conscious, long-haired martial artist as she jumped up in the air with exuberance
"I-I... Oooh," Kenji moaned in surrender.
"Not bad, Ranma, but Great-Grandmother is still too powerful for you!" An impressively imposing yet handsome young man touched down in front of the then young man.
"What do you want, Mousse?" Ranma asked suspiciously.
"Don't be so mean, Ranma. I'm here to help you," Mousse replied with a smile.
"How's that?" Ranma said, still suspicious.
"Get out of here, Mousse!" Kenji exclaimed, getting up. "Haven't you people caused enough trouble?"
"Nobody's talking to you, muscle head!" Then Mousse turned towards Ranma. "Anyway, Ranma. I figured you'd want your gorgeous woman's body back. And I know how to cure you."
"You're just making all of it up," Kenji replied.
"What cure?" Ranma asked excitedly, getting in the young amazon's face.
"It's called the Phoenix pill. It's based on the legendary bird who is reborn in flames! Once you swallow it, you'll be able to absorb hot water and turn back into a girl once and for all."
"How do I get my hands on this pill?"
"My great-grandmother has it."
Kenji had had enough. "You're full of it, Mousse. I knew there was a catch to what you were saying. Ranma will find a way to get her womanhood back; she always succeeds in doing what she sets out to do."
"There is no other way!" Then Mousse narrowed his eyes at Kenji. "I for one want to see Ranma as a girl again, but it's obvious you prefer Ranma as a guy. Is there something about you we don't know, hmm?"
"What? What are you trying to imply?" Then Kenji regarded the newcomer with a sense of bewilderment.
"Hey, you like what you like. I've traveled all over the world and seen gay bars where the men were overly muscular like you. They'd fancy a guy with huge muscles, and you'd like them as well. I simply prefer Ranma as a female. No offense about your alternate lifestyle, Kenji," Mousse replied with a neutral look on his face.
"I think you got me confused with yourself, Mousse," Kenji answered hotly. "You guys are the ones who made Ranma a guy. I have nothing against guys like you, but you shouldn't force that on Ranma."
"Cool it, guys!" Ranma interjected, rolling her eyes. "Where is your great-grandmother, Mousse? I want to get my womanhood back as soon as possible."
"You can find her at the new restaurant called the Lotus Blossom."
"Oh, yes! That's where all that great food came from."
"It's the best Chinese food in the world. All you have to do is show up at the restaurant and apply for a job as a waiter," the myopic boy answered with a smile.
"What's your plan, Mousse?" Kenji asked with suspicion.
Mousse turned towards his rival. "The plan is to get Ranma to be a girl again. Sheesh, you're slow! It's rather late now, so make sure you're there at 10:00 am tomorrow, Ranma. My grandmother will tell you what your duties will be when you get there."
"When do I get my womanhood back?" Rama asked enthusiastically.
"All will be explained when you get there, Ranma. But for the time being, I bid you adieu." The myopic boy leaped into the air, splashed himself with water, turned into a golden brown condor, and flew off.
"He turns into a bird? Yuck!" Ranma freaked out in revulsion.
"What were they talking about? Is Ranma cursed to turn into a guy after all?" P-Chan thought to himself as he regarded the whole situation as he hid within some bushes.
XXX
Later the next day, Ranma woke up in the attic where she normally slept. !BUMP! "Ow! This place is so cramped. I can barely get around in here. Sheesh, I'm so much bigger!"
!SPLASH! "It's time for your daily spar, Ranma. And since you're a man, I'm going to hit you with everything I got!" Genma explained as he stood there at the entrance of the attic with an empty pail of water in his hands.
"Pop! As if you ever held back on me," the drenched martial artist replied. "I still don't know my own strength, so I'm going to even things up a bit." Ranma zipped over to the balding man, quickly grabbed her father, and threw him out the window straight into the koi pond. Then she flew out the window herself and landed right in front of him.
[What did you do that for?] Genma's sign said.
"You're tougher as a panda than as you are when you're human, Pop. Now I don't have to worry about hurting you too much. Here we go!" !KAPOW!
"Ungh!" Genma-Panda moaned upon being struck in his larger than life stomach by a powerful kick from Ranma. The kick was so powerful that the panda was lying on the ground taking hold of his stomach in pain.
"Did I hurt ya too badly, Pop? I spent last night adapting to my masculine body by going through katas. I'm not as fast as I was, but I'm not as slow as I was either. Want some more?" Ranma replied with a smirk.
[We're not done yet!] Genma-Panda came at Ranma with a speed that belied his size, getting in his progeny's face before Ranma could do anything about it. But that was as far as the panda got as Ranma quickly kneed him in the stomach and into the air. Then Ranma flew up to her opponent and struck him with a body blow that knocked him back into the koi pond.
!SPLASH! "Raowrl!" All of a sudden, Genma-Panda leaped out of the water, blasting Ranma with an autofire vacuum bladed ki blast.
"Ouch!" Ranma screamed as the blades into her.
[You're still too slow, boy! But I'm impressed with your manliness and toughness. Maybe you should stay a man and marry Akane for the sake of Anything Goes,] the panda-man stated with a sign.
"Oh, that tears it!" Ranma flew at her father in a rage, striking him with dozens of blows within seconds until she finally knocked the panda out with a well-placed roundhouse kick to the gut.
"Pretty good, Ranma! Maybe you should consider staying a man forever!" a wizened voice called out.
"It's the old ghoul!" !BOP! "Ow!" Ranma yelled, rubbing her head after being struck with Elder Deodorant's stick.
"How dare you be so rude to me, Ranma? I may decide to let you stay a man for the rest of your life and stay married to that blue-haired girl," the amazon elder replied with a knowing look.
"Oh, please don't do that! Anything but that! I'll be good, I promise! Don't make me marry Akane. Noooooo!" Ranma screamed, making mock pleading gestures with her hands.
"Ranma!" Akane screamed, running towards the young man with her ki hammer in hand. !SLAM!
"Yeow!"
As Ranma went flying into the sky, Elder Deodorant leaped into the air, keeping up with the powerful, young man. "Well, Ranma. I guess you'll be marrying Mousse?"
"No, not really. I was just joking. But I hear you have a job opening at your restaurant for a waiter."
"That's right. You want the job?"
"Sure."
"Be at the restaurant later on today at 10:00 am. And don't be late!" With that the amazon elder took off, practically flying away.
XXX
Later that day at 10:00, Ranma arrived at the Lotus Blossom.
"So there you are!" Elder Aloe announced, regarding the handsome young man. "Goddess, you're gorgeous. Maybe you'll stay a man, so I can have you for myself, hmm?"
"No, that's all right. Where's the Phoenix pill?"
"Never mind that right now, handsome. Go out in the back and change into your uniform," Elder Aloe ordered.
In a few moments, Ranma came back wearing a Chinese style shirt that was bare in the center from the throat to the navel. The currently young man also wore black pants that seemed to fit his muscular legs perfectly.
"This is a waiter's outfit?" Ranma exclaimed in surprise.
Then a few more, younger amazons showed up ready for work. "This is Ranma?"
"I thought Ranma was a powerful girl," another commented.
"Back to work, ladies," the elder ordered. "Now it's time for you to get started."
"What a minute! Where's the Phoenix pill?" Ranma stammered.
"Never mind that! Now get to work!"
XXX
During the day, Ranma worked hard, bustling tables. Then she noticed Elder Deodorant walking inside with a hollowed medallion attached to a chain around her neck. "I wonder what that is?"
"Hello, Ranma." The pigtailed boy jumped with a start as the ancient amazon appeared right behind her.
"What the..."
"You like my medallion? You know what's inside?"
"I bet the phoenix pill is in there." !WIFF!
"Not so fast, Daughter in Law," the old woman announced, easily evading the muscular young man. "You're still way too slow. What an impertinent male you are."
"Impertinent male? Gimme that phoenix pill so I can turn back, old woman!" Ranma called out as the amazon elder seemed to vanish into thin air dodging Ranma's attempt to get her large hands on the medallion.
"Get back to work, Ranma!" Elder Aloe ordered. "And pay attention to Spice over there who's running the kitchen!"
"Pick up!" Spice ordered from the pass which connected the kitchen to the dining room.
Ranma quickly zipped over to the path and picked up the orders of food. Then the young man placed the plates of food in front of the customers who had ordered said food.
"Where did that old woman go off to?"
"What are you doing standing around for Ranma? Elder Aloe demanded. "Eight more people have come in. I've already seated them at two tables. Go over to them and take their orders!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" the pigtailed man responded, hopping to it.
"And I want it done faster this time. When did you get so slow? Move it!" Aloe ordered.
"I'm doing the best I can with this over-muscled body of mine! How do guys like Kenji move so fast? I've heard that women have more endurance than men when it comes to tedious work like this. I'm beginning to understand that," Ranma contemplated as she made an even greater effort to move faster with grace and finesse despite the larger bulk she carried.
"And don't drop any of that food on the ground! If you do, it's coming out of your pay!"
"Nag. Nag. Nag."
"What was that, Ranma?"
"Nothing!"
XXX
The next day, Ranma woke up and made her way through to the breakfast table. "Good morning, Ranma," Nabiki said politely.
"Morning," Ranma replied dourly.
"Are you anywhere near getting your womanhood back, Ranma?" Kenji asked.
"Not yet. But I'm not giving up. Sooner or later, I'm going to get my hands on that Phoenix pill!"
"Being a man is not so bad, Ranma," Genma said in a conciliatory tone. "If you can't change back, you can always marry Akane and carry the merging of the Anything Goes schools."
"No!" Upon finishing the meal, Ranma got and left for work.
"Have a nice day!" Kasumi called out to the departing Ranma.
"You think he's overdoing it?" Nabiki asked as she methodically ate her breakfast.
"I heard that the place has a lot more women showing up there since Ranma has started working there," Soun added in.
"I can't help feeling sorry Ranma. Those amazons are running her into the ground," Nabiki commented. "I must admit though. The money I'm raking in selling pictures of Ranma in her new male form in a couple of days is more than with Ranma's usual female in a week. I guess telling them Ranma-Kun wouldn't be around for too long helped make those college girls I sold tests to want what I had all the more. Heh, heh."
"Ranma must be working hard for every penny, but this too is training," Soun replied.
"Aren't you two worried about Ranma?" Kasumi said, motioning to Kenji and Akane.
"I don't care what that pervert does!" Akane stammered. "And there's no way I'm marrying him or her!"
"You make a good point, Kasumi. I think I'll stop by there and see what's going on," Kenji replied upon finishing the meal and excusing himself. At that point, Akane got up and followed him.
"Whoever Ranma ends up with, the future of Anything goes is assured, eh Tendo?"
"That's right, Saotome."
XXX
During the day at work, Ranma spotted the medallion lying near the cash register. "Paydirt!" Ranma reached for the object of her desire. !WIFF!
"You're still too slow, Ranma. But let's work on your speed right now," the diminutive woman announced. "Right now, I want you to serve people table side. Catch!" Out of nowhere, the amazon elder whipped out several orders of freshly made egg rolls, sending them in Ranma's direction.
"Hey!" Ranma screamed as she caught the tossed food in several nearby plates she grabbed without a moment to spare, standing in what looked like a warped martial arts stance to make sure none of the food dropped to the ground.
"You're getting faster, Ranma. All those muscles are good for more than just strength, I see," Elder Deodorant said as she puffed on the small pipe as everyone in the restaurant clapped in appreciation.
A couple of hours later, Kenji and Akane arrived at the restaurant, watching Ranma balance over a dozen bowls of hot food only using slender bamboo sticks, practically entertaining the audience of the restaurant.
"Look at him," Akane interjected. "What does Ranma think he's doing?"
"It looks as if Ranma's increasing her agility in a strange, unusual way," Kenji piped in.
"I'm fine, guys!" Ranma announced with bravado, trying to keep standing despite the exhaustion. Then the tired young man fell forward right into Akane's bosom.
"Ranmaaa! Get off of me!" !SLAP!SLAP!SLAP!SLAP!SLAP!
"Ranma! Snap out of it!" Mousse yelled, coming out of nowhere and slapping him across the face.
"All right already!" Ranma protested. "I have to get back to work!"
"Ranma!" The pigtailed boy turned around to see Elder Deodorant standing on her stick and regarding him. "I want you to come out in the back. There's something I want you to see."
In a few moments, the elder and the four youngsters were in the back alley of the restaurant where the amazon elder quickly set up a small campfire. "What are we going to do now, roast marshmallows?" Ranma asked tiredly.
"Something like that. Mousse, give me the bag you're holding." Upon taking hold of the bag, Deodorant emptied the contents into the fire. "Now watch this." Deodorant glowed with energy and faster than the speed of sight took a handful of roasted chestnuts in each hand right out of the fire! "Now it's your turn, Daughter in Law."
"That's the legendary amazon technique called Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Mousse stated excitedly.
"This technique has been developed for over three thousand years. Even the last emperor of China lived in terror of it," Deodorant explained stoically.
"She grabbed those chestnuts with so much speed that her hands weren't burnt at all," Kenji stated in admiration.
"If you can master this technique, you won't have any problem taking the Phoenix pill away from me," the amazon elder said with a chuckle. Then she hopped away on her walking stick.
XXX
Later the next day, Ranma was in the backyard of the Tendo residence, in a world of pain from having failed to grasp chestnuts out of the burning fire she had set up.
!WUMP! "What are you doing?" a feminine voice called out.
Ranma turned around to see, "Sakura!" What are you doing here?"
"I was hoping we could have a rematch, but then I noticed this campfire. Why would you put your hands in it like that? That doesn't make any sense."
"It's a long story, Sakura. But right now I need to concentrate."
"Have you figured it out yet, Ranma?" Elder Deodorant called out as she practically flew in from the sky, landing right in front of Ranma with the same medallion around her neck. "Look here, Daughter in Law. I have the Phoenix pill. Don't you want it?"
"Gimme that!" Ranma charged the older woman, doing everything she could to take the medallion that contained the pill she wanted. Instead of grasping hold of it... !PAP!PAP!PAP!PAP!PAP!
"You're still too slow, Ranma."
"What did you do?" Ranma called out, regarding the Kanji symbols on her hands and forearms.
"They mean 'reject' Ranma!" Sakura called out.
"Deodorant looked over at the newcomer for a moment. Then she walked over to the campfire. "Now pay attention, Daughter in Law because I'm only going to do this one more time." Without missing a beat, Elder Deodorant put her hands in the flame and retrieved the burnt chestnuts at superhuman speed.
"Her hands aren't even singed! I've never seen anything like it!" Sakura thought to herself as the other members of the Tendo household applauded the ancient, old woman. "So that's what Ranma's trying to do. I have to learn that technique for myself. Wait until Ryu and Karin get a load of me once I've acquired all that speed!"
Deodorant regarded Sakura for a moment. "Are you giving up on getting your womanhood back, Ranma?"
"I'm never giving up, old woman!"
"Then why is this girl here? Cheating on Akane already?" Everybody paused and scrutinized the sailor suited girl. "Well. It's time for me to leave. Ta ta!" With that, the amazon elder leaped into the sky and left.
"Ranma!" Akane screamed, running towards her "fiancee" in a rage.
XXX
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you've enjoyed reading this. Please give me a nice review for it. Now I would like to give props to the ones who gave me reviews for the last chapter.
chm01, Ranma-sama, DrTempo, Cross177, Maric, They call me Bruce, AshK, Sakura Lisel, Rocco13, luger 7, Sir Thames, Radio Driver, Literary, Nikkidanielle, tuatara, Excel
