This is still based on the idea put forth in The Man
in the Shadows' Ranma with Spots fic...but was
beginning to feel uncomfortable with so much stuff
from somebody else in a fic I was doing...plus I still
want to see where HE plans to go with HIS
fic....so...anyway...I kept the text for Kuno and his
pit trap and sparring with Genma (with some
changes)...I altered all the rest of the first half,
kept most of the second half (I don't think there was
much I needed to change to fit the first half...I also
added a gratuitous fight scene between Pee Wee Talon's
goons and Ranma and an appearance by the wererats in
that same scene

Ranma looked across the clearing at his mother,
curious as to what kind of training she had planned
for him.  She hadn't even brought the sword with her,
which was a relief, Saotome-Ryu taught staff and
nunchaku, and Ranma had never felt it necessary to
learn anything else.  He hadn't ever seen his mother
fight either, so he wasn't really sure on what she had
to teach him.

"So what kinda technique is this yer gonna show me?"
Ranma asked.

"It is more of a heritage than a technique," she said.
 She was looking through her pack for something.

"Heritage?" Ranma asked, curiously.

"Yes," Nodoka said.  "You see, we are among the last
survivors of a clan.  And the enemies of that clan are
still in the world.  So, rather than risk them
discovering us, I took steps to hide what we are from
the world.  Until you were old enough to protect
yourself at least."

Ranma scratched his head in confusion, and thought
about what she had just said.

"Hide what we are?" Ranma said.  "What do you mean by
that?"

"Ranma, you have heard the stories about men and women
who can become animals?" she asked, and then stopped
Ranma as he was opening his mouth.  "And I do not mean
Jusenkyo curses, I mean willing, natural
shapechanging."  Ranma crinkled his eyes closed for a
moment and considered that.

"Akane was watchin' some American horror flick," Ranma
said finally.  "Called the Howlin'.  Werewolves and
junk like that.  That what you are talking about?"

"Yes," Nodoka said, distastefully.  "I know the movie.
 And that is sort of what I mean, without the
cannibalism.  Then again, it was wereWOLVES, so
maybe..."

"Are you saying I'm a werewolf or something?" Ranma
asked, feeling moderately insulted at the idea of
being a werewolf.

"No," Nodoka said firmly.  "Werewolves would not like
to have anything to do with us.  Except, perhaps, kill
us."  She finally pulled a thermos from her pack and
nodded before going to her story.

"Huh?" Ranma said.  "Why not?"

"A few decades ago, Ranma," Nodoka started.  "The last
major clan of werewolves on Earth invited the last
clan of werecheetahs to come live with them as a form
of mutual defense and benefit.  Then, for some reason,
the werewolves slaughtered every werecheetah they
could find."  Ranma winced.

"We are of that werecheetah clan," she said.  She
paused and looked at her feet, sighing.  "I was not
there, my family was, including my first husband and
first child.  There was only one survivor, and she was
adopted by an American family in Atlanta Georgia."

Ranma felt a sudden wave of sadness and loss at that
statement.  To think that he had an older brother or
sister that he never got the chance to know.  And
obviously his mother was very distraught, and that
hurt him enough as it was.  He moved over to
hesitantly hug and comfort her, feeling awkward as he
did so.

~Don't know about that stuff though, seemed kinda
silly,~ he thought.

"Thank you, dear," Nodoka said calmly.  She took a
deep breath to continue.  "After that I was drunk, and
I remained drunk for years.  At some point I met your
father.  It was a match made in a sake jug."  

Nodoka smirked in a manner that reminded Ranma
uncomfortably of some of the looks his fiancees gave
him.  Some of them anyway.  Then she sighed and shook
her head.

"It got better after that," Nodoka said.  "With Soun,
Kimiko and most importantly my husband.  He was so
cutely gallant when he offered to marry me after I got
pregnant.  I especially liked the way he pretended my
sizeable bank account at the time didn't matter."  She
said it in a cutesy voice.

"Uhh," Ranma started.  "You like Pop, right Mom?"

"Of course, Ranma," Nodoka said.  "But its so fun to
tease.  If he really only cared about the money he
would have stayed with me, wouldn't he?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Ranma said.  Nodoka smiled, and
then sighed again.

"Then you were born," Nodoka said.  "Luckily there
were only three witnesses to your first change. 
Kimiko, Kasumi and me.  That's when things became a
little more tricky.  If the werewolves realized that
their job was incomplete..." She left the statement
hanging.

"Kasumi knew?!" Ranma gasped.  Nodoka nodded.

"I swore them to secrecy," Nodoka said.  "Even from
you.  And then I took you to a mage to have you locked
in your current form.  I couldn't risk you or Genma
realizing your true form.  He means well, but he can
be fairly idiotic at times, and a child would not
understand the seriousness.  I'm pleasantly surprised
that Kasumi kept her secret actually."  Ranma nodded. 
"Then I made the seppuku contract with your father.  I
wanted you away from me, if they were to find any
werecheetahs, it would be me.  And I wanted Genma to
have a good motivation to train you to exceptional
levels."

"It worked," Ranma said dryly.

"Yes," Nodoka said taking a thermos out of her pack. 
"I see it has.  I still apologize though."

"Err, that's okay," Ranma said.  "What's that?"

"This is the potion that will break the lock on your
forms," Nodoka said.  She handed it over towards him.

"Uh, okay," Ranma took the thermos and looked at it
doubtfully.

"Trust me," she said.  "If you can survive Akane's
cooking, there is nothing in this that will hurt you,
or even make you sick."

"Oh," Ranma said with a smirk.

"Do not tell her I said that, or you will be sorry,"
Nodoka warned teasingly.

"No way I'm gonna get Akane mad at you," Ranma said. 
He took a deep breath and drank the potion.  "So
what's a cheetah anyway?"

Nodoka blinked at the comment.  That she had not
foreseen.

"It'll be better to show you," Nodoka said.  "Think
about strength and speed and power, but mostly about
speed."

"Yeah, I can do that," Ranma shrugged.  It sounded
just like channeling chi from sounds of it.

"Before you do," Nodoka said.  "You might want to
change into that gi, you'll get quite a bit larger." 
Ranma blinked and looked over at the clothing and
shrugged.  A minute or two later, after changing in
privacy he started listening and following his
mother's directions.

With his eyes closed he could feel the fur and tail
growing and his ears changing.  He felt stronger,
tougher, faster, and his senses were more acute.  He
heard his mother's voice change.  He could
smell...Ranma froze and hesitantly cracked open his
eyes.

"Is something wrong, Ranma," Nodoka asked nervously. 
She had grown, and now sported a white and yellow fur
coat with a host of black spots.  Large triangular
ears darted out from the side of her ears, laid back
in trepidation.  A long tail flicked behind her in a
manner that Ranma couldn't help but recognize.  And
there was another one around somewhere, he could smell
it.

"C...c...c...CAAAAAATTTTT!!!" Ranma screamed as he
zipped from his seated position and slammed into a
tree.  He fell back unconscious, fainted mostly. 
Nodoka felt a cold chill run down her back as she
rushed to tend to her side.

"He was afraid of me," Nodoka whispered as she checked
him over.

*********************************************************

Ranma slowly blinked awake and rubbed his head as he
sat up.  Immediately he was on his guard, that cat
smell was still there.  Maybe that catwoman that
replaced his mom was still hanging around.

~Wait,~ Ranma thought.  "MOM!!"

"I'm right here, dear," Nodoka said nervously.  Ranma
turned to see her sitting down to his side, watching
him, concerned.

"Man," Ranma said in relief, uncomfortable with the
sound of his voice.  "I thought that cat-chick had
gotten you.  But there's still one around here."  His
eyes returned to scanning the area in panic again.

"Ranma," Nodoka said.  She stood up and carefully
placed her arms around his shoulder.  For some reason
Ranma felt a little more frightened as she did it.  
For some reason, he was taller than her now.  "Come
with here, dear."

"W...w...what?" Ranma asked nervously.  She led him to
the still pool at the edge of their campsite and
directed him to look at its surface and his
reflection.  His cat-like reflection.

"You and I are the only cats around," Nodoka said
quietly.  "Ranma."  She gasped as Ranma started
shaking in her arms.

"Ca...ca...ca�"  Ranma muttered repeatedly.  Nodoka
turned him to face her and watched Ranma's eyes
glazing over and rolling back in his head. 

Nodoka did the only thing she could think of and
pushed him back into the pool.  The shock of the
transformation instantly brought her son, now
daughter, to awareness and Ranma sputtered to the
surface of the pool looking about frantically.

"What the," Ranma gasped.  She found her mother
staring at her worriedly.  "What the, Mom, did you
just say..." Nodoka cut off his speech.

"I need you to think about your human form," Nodoka
said, obviously concerned.  "And turn back to that. 
Just think about what you look like normally."

"Oh...ohkay," Ranma said nervously, smelling wet cat
somewhere.  It was actually surprisingly easy to
concentrate on the change, seeing as how much she
wanted to ignore the rest of the current situation. 
When she was down her clothes were trying to swim away
from her.

"Ranma," Nodoka said cautiously.  "Could you come back
to camp and tell me about your fear of cats?"

"Oh...ohkay," she whispered, staring up in fear at
Nodoka.   ~It's all true.  I didn't just dream it. 
I...I'm a c...cat!!!~

*********************************************************

The first sign the Tendo household had that Ranma was
back home was the red and black blur zooming through
the house.  Akane and Nabiki blinked in confusion, and
then Akane glowered a little angrily.

"He didn't even say ANYTHING!" Akane muttered angrily.
 She got up to follow and give Ranma a piece of her
mind.  And stopped when the unusual sight of an
enraged Nodoka stalked into the house.  Unusual not in
the severe, angry expression on her face, but rather
in that she was currently wearing a baggy gi that was
just a bit too large for her.

"Have you seen my husband?" she asked coldly as she
noticed Akane.

"He's playing shogi with my..." Akane blinked and
paused as Nodoka stalked past her and headed for the
tea room.  "...Dad."

"GENMA!!!" Nodoka shouted.  "Can you come with me for
a moment?  I have to show you something."  Akane had
entered the doorway just in time to see Genma blanch
in fear.  Then Nodoka grabbed him by his big fluffy
ear and started dragging him away from the shogi
board.

"Is something wrong Auntie?" Kasumi asked hesitantly
coming into the room.

"Excuse me, Kasumi," Nodoka said angrily.  "I have to
talk to Genma about how is training methods conflict
with my son's birthright." Kasumi looked confused for
a moment and then blinked in shock.

"I thought that was just a story," she gasped.  "Oh
my, the Neko-ken."  Nodoka nodded grimly as Genma
produced a sign reading "What birthright?"

"I'll need some privacy," Nodoka said dragging her
husband with her into the furo and slamming the door
behind her.  Kasumi nodded and followed to stand
outside the furo door to make sure they weren't
bothered.

"What is going on Kasumi?" Akane asked, Nabiki fading
in behind her with an appraising look on her face.

"What kind of birthright would cause anymore of a
problem with the Neko-ken?" Nabiki asked.

"I'm sure Auntie Saotome will tell you when she feels
you're ready," Kasumi said.  Right after that Genma's
scream could be heard from inside the bathroom.  Akane
and Nabiki sweatdropped.

"This won't threaten the union of the schools will
it?" Soun asked.  Most people ignored him.

*********************************************************

"How could you do that!?" Nodoka growled at the panda
in her fists.  "How could you do that to a little
child?"  Her eyes went to the sign in his hand.

"Nothing ever seemed to kill him!" Genma's sign read.

"Does that mean you TRIED!?!" Nodoka gasped angrily. 
Genma shook his head desperately.  "Then WHAT!?"

"Car accident soon after we left," Genma signed.  "I
thought he was dead, but he got better, quickly.  I
realized that he had always healed fast, and stepped
up my training a little.  I figured if he could handle
death blows then a bunch of cats..."

"HE WAS A CHILD!!!!" Nodoka shouted.  "How was HE
supposed to know it wouldn't kill him?  And did it
EVER occur to you that kind of thing still HURTS!!!!"

"Umm, no," Genma signed hesitantly.  Nodoka sighed in
frustration and slumped.

~This is why I didn't tell him,~ Nodoka thought to
herself.  ~Why do human martial artists always take
training too far with weres?"

"Is there any other training method that would seem
insane that I should know about?" Nodoka asked
wearily.  Genma blanched.

*********************************************************

"You did WHAT?!" Nodoka shouted from inside the furo. 
"YOU IDIOT!!"

"I'm guessing he's giving Nodoka a rundown of how he
trained Ranma," Nabiki said.

"Are you INSANE!!"

"Most likely," Akane agreed.

"GAHH!! You make me SICK!!!"

"Akane," Kasumi said, looking definitely nervous.  A
shocking sight on its own.

"YOU...

"Yes?" Akane asked hesitantly.

"...SADISTIC..."

"Wow, she's so mad she's hissing and growling," Nabiki
said, impressed.

"...DAMN..."

"I think you should check on Ranma," Kasumi said.  "I
think he may have learned something that shook him
badly."  Akane nodded and started edging away from the
door.

"...BASTARD!!!!"

*********************************************************

"Ranma, are you okay?" Akane asked quietly. 
Thankfully most of the yelling was muffled to the
point of it just being background.  She found Ranma
packing his few belongings and felt a pang in her
heart.

"I'm going to have to go," Ranma said shakily.  "I
gotta kick this c...cat thing."

"W...why now?" Akane asked.

"I don't know if I can tell ya yet," Ranma said.  He
shrugged apologetically.  "I'm not sure you want to
know."

*********************************************************

"Are we sure that's Auntie in there?" Nabiki asked as
the language started getting more colorful.

"I'M GOING TO CUT YOUR HEART OUT WITH A SPOON!!"

"I thought she wanted privacy," Soun noted nervously. 
The yelling stopped and Nodoka opened the door still
looking pissed.  She glanced at Kasumi, mouth
twitching into a sneer.

"Kasumi, I'd like to talk to you," Nodoka said. 
Kasumi blanched.  "I'm not angry with you, dear."

"uh..uh�Of course not," Kasumi responded.  She
followed the still stalking Nodoka up to her room. 
Nabiki and Soun stared into the furo to see the panda
fainted against the wall.  They could see the bruises
through the fur.  For once Nabiki decided that now was
not a good time to eavesdrop further.

*********************************************************

"I need you to tell me everything you can about the
Neko-ken," Nodoka sad tiredly and quietly, slumping
into Kasumi's chair as soon as the door closed on the
hallway.  "Ranma was sketchy and I don't trust myself
not to kill Genma when he wakes up."

"Okay," Kasumi said hesitantly, and proceeded to tell
what she knew.

"Akane can calm him down in this state?" Nodoka asked.

"Yes," Kasumi said.  "She is the only one that can
apparently."

"I shall have to include her then," Nodoka said.  "It
is a miracle I haven't already lost him to
this...insanity."

"There may be a problem with that, Auntie," Kasumi
said.  "The other fiancees.  Shampoo is still out
searching for where you went with Ranma, but Ukyou is
going to be a problem."

"Do you see any other option?" Nodoka asked.  "My son
could fall into that and run off and we'd probably
never find him."

"The change snaps him out of the Neko-ken as well,
Auntie," Kasumi reminded her.  "You could buy some
squirt guns."  She shrugged.

"I'll still want Akane to be ready to help," Nodoka
said after a moment.  "Do you think she can keep this
a secret?"

"I think she can, yes," Kasumi said.

*********************************************************

Akane turned nervously as she heard the door opened,
and sure enough, found Nodoka standing in the doorway.
 She no longer looked enraged, just bone-tired and
depressed.

"Kasumi tells me that Akane can control the Neko-ken,"
Nodoka said simply.  Ranma and Akane both nodded.  "I
think Ranma and I will need your help, Akane.  If you
can accompany us to my home?  I'll explain things
there."

"What about," Akane swallowed.  "Uncle Saotome?" 
Nodoka frowned.

"He is going to stay here," Nodoka said firmly.  Akane
flinched at how cold Nodoka's stare got as she said
that.

*********************************************************

"So what's up sis?" Nabiki as Akane came back home
looking somewhat pale.

"I can't say," Akane said to Nabiki's disappointment. 
She looked to Kasumi who nodded quietly before turning
back to watch the television with the rest of the
family.  Akane shivered and headed to her room.

She was relieved to find P-Chan in there.  She didn't
want to talk to Kasumi quite yet, but she still wanted
to talk about this.

*********************************************************

Ukyou frowned as she approached Akane.  This was the
fourth day in a row without a real fight between her
and Ranma.  And Ranma was still acting like there was
a cat in every shadow.  Ukyou glanced once more to
check and see that Ranma was still busy with Kuno.

"What's up with Ranma, Akane?" Ukyou asked point
blank.

"I can't tell you, Ukyou," Akane said with a trace of
hostility.

"Let's put the attitude aside, sugar," Ukyou
responded.  "This Ranma we're talking about, we've
both cooperated when he's in trouble before."

"And then you threw bombs at him," Akane said angrily.

"I was aiming for you," Ukyou said cooly.

"That makes it so much better," Akane grumbled.

"Hmph," Ukyou sighed.  "Serves me right for following
one of that Amazon's plans."

"I'm being lenient in my opinion," Akane growled,
uncomfortably noting how close it sounded to a real
growl.  ~I wonder if there's anything hidden in our
family.~

"I'm sorry, Akane," Ukyou said.  "Next time I
challenge you it'll be honestly, skill versus skill
with a challenge letter and everything.  That good
enough?"

"For now," Akane said.  She stood up to walk away.

"So what's going on?" Ukyou asked, refusing to accept
the rebuff.

"I'm NOT telling you Ukyou!" Akane snapped then
stomped away pointedly.

"Well, we'll see about that," Ukyou muttered.

*********************************************************

"Okay," Nodoka said.  "Are you ready, Akane?"

"Yes, Auntie," Akane said nervously.  She hadn't been
needed yet, but that didn't mean she was calm about
it.  She'd seen the Neko-Ken, and the idea of Ranma
falling into the state with even greater physical
strength and speed was terrifying.

"Go ahead and change, Ranma," Nodoka said.

"H...hai," Ranma nearly whimpered.  He was starting to
be able to accept his hybrid form, though he still
couldn't really get comfortably close to his mother. 
And there was still that shedding problem.  

As Ranma changed forms they all heard a gasp and
turned to see Ukyou peeking into the room.  The chef
dropped from sight just before Nodoka shifted into her
hybrid from out after her.  Ranma of course, leaped
for the ceiling and leaving Akane to coax him down as
gently as she knew how to do with Ranma.

"Ranma would you get back down here!!"  

"Ca...ca...cat..." Ranma whimpered.

"Come on, Ranma!" Akane sounded moderately frustrated,
"It's your mother!"  

"I...I...know," Ranma said hesitantly after a moment. 
He dropped to the ground and started to sit down.

"Please don't shed on the furniture, dear," Nodoka
said, coming back in.

"Oh, sorry," Ranma said getting off the chair to sit
on the floor.

"Baka," Akane said with clear affection.  She turned
to see Nodoka set down not one, but two other kids.  
"Oh, Konatsu's here too."

"I wouldn't have known if he hadn't moved to protect
Ukyou," Nodoka said.  She switched back into human
form and turned to her captives.  "I suppose we need
to explain some things to you."

"Are you going to kill us?" Ukyou asked quietly. 
Nodoka started laughing.

*********************************************************

It was Sunday morning and Genma stood in the lot,
waiting for the person who had left a note on his bed
the night before. Who ever it was had left hair all
over the way he had come in. It was hardly the work of
a master of the art. Besides that, Genma was expecting
to resume a bit of his son's training that afternoon. 

~At least No-Chan didn't deny how effective a trainer
I am.~ With that thought Genma puffed up with pride.
Even with a few slight pitfalls, he had managed to
raise a fine martial artist. ~So what if he's got a
few minor social problems. He can still beat anyone
around.~

Someone tapped his shoulder and Genma turned around.
"About damned tim..." Genma found himself eye level
with the man's chest. ~Uh-oh...~ He slowly looked up
to a face that had a mix of feline and human features.


"Hi Pop."   

Somehow, Genma hadn't put two and two together until
this moment.  After seeing Nodoka's hybrid form he had
thought she was upset because he was afraid of her. 
The idea that the trait may have been inherited hadn't
occurred to him.  After all, men inherited their
traits from their fathers, right?  It's obviously what
made them men instead of women.

~Oh shit.~ On this thought, the eyes rolled back into
Genma's head and he passed out. 

*********************************************************


Genma slowly opened his eyes.  "Hey pop, are you
okay?" 

Quickly the old man bolted right up and grabbed
Ranma's shoulders. "You're not going to kill me now?
Please, I'm not ready to die!" Genma broke out into
Soun style crying. 

"Pop, I'm not here to kill you. I just have to get
used to my new form, and I needed to spar with you."

"Why with me? You going to make this look like an
accident," asked Genma. 

"Of course not! Pop, if I was here to kill you, I
would have done it by now!"   Genma thought about that
bit of logic. Then he relaxed.   "Just don't tell
anyone about this secret." 

"I'm not suicidal boy. I have a fair idea of what your
mother would do if I told the town." 

"So pops, we goina spar?" 

Genma smiled. "You're still no match for me, boy." 

Ranma smirked and assumed a loose cat stance. Sadly,
he was still shivering. Genma meant to capitalize on
that. But Genma didn't notice his own shaking. Ranma
may have seemed nervous, but Genma had no doubt, Ranma
could rip him apart.

*********************************************************

Ranma took to the rooftops after he had finished
sparring with his father.  It wasn't overly
satisfactory, he was far more capable than his father
now.  Still he had gotten fairly used to his new body,
still preferred the old one though.

He stopped as he caught sight of something out of the
corner of his eye.  He perched on the roof ledge to
figure out what to make of the situation.

*********************************************************

~We're toast,~ Lydia was thinking.  ~Lord High Elder
Gothwrain is going to kill us.~  It was quite possibly
true too.

"I told you this was like, you know, a bad idea,"
Moisha whispered.

"Who's the one that wanted to get some cheap anime?"
Romeo asked.

"Well, like if you guys," Moisha said.  "Were gonna,
you know, insist.  Then I might as well..."

"SHUT UP!!!" Lydia and Romeo shouted together, before
turning back to the source of their concern.

"Like rats in a trap," the little boy in the back of
the group said with a smirk.  "This is very fortunate,
I wonder what I can do with wererat DNA."

"Like, how'd he know we were wererats anyway?" Moisha
asked.

"Oh wait, wasn't he the little twerp that got caught
in the store hold of the ship we were on?" Romeo
asked.

"Enough talk," a fuming Erwin shouted.  "Daishi, Zelda
take them, and I want enough left for a DNA sample!"

"Of course, Lord Talon," Daishi said coolly,
professionally.

"Just try it, jerk-off," Lydia said defiantly.  "We've
been taught by one of the deadliest swordsmasters in
the world." 

"And where are your swords?" Zelda asked with a smirk,
cracking her knuckles.

"We weren't going to need them," Romeo said. 
"Remember.  They're on the way to America."

"Oh, we are like, screwed," Moisha sighed.  Still,
this wasn't Brittany Diggers, so they weren't totally
intimidated.  "We can't even, like, you know,
transform on this street.  Unless we want to be
killed."

*********************************************************

Ranma watched the battle begin and snorted at the
three kids.  He could by the stance they were
weapons-users, and ONLY weapons users.  To the point
that a common brawler would have the edge of them in
battle.  Still they had potential and they seemed to
be the victims in this.  He turned his attention to
the other characters.

The man with the glasses seemed to use all chi, but it
didn't look like chi.  Then he remembered something
his mother had said about spellcasters, and suddenly
the man had a high ranking in the target list.  The
bald woman looked fairly clumsy, but something told
him she wasn't quite the push over she seemed.  That
left the ninja, easily the most dangerous of the lot
in a fight.  Ranma leaned back and took a moment to
thought.

"Good exercise," he muttered, smirking.  Then he
considered the ninja and the mage.  "I think I'll use
a little Umisen on this one though."

*********************************************************

The first sign of the newcomer was Ionis's legs being
kicked out from under him.  The magician, used to the
fighters being targeted first and thus giving him a
chance to escape, went down hard.  Erwin whipped
around toward the sound of Ionis falling and saw,
nothing.

"Mom, says I gotta learn how to fight in this form," a
voice said in Japanese.  "Might as well practice
against a pack of jerk bullies."  It seemed to come
from everywhere around them, while not seeming to move
at all.

"We're saved!" Moisha cried out.  Turning to her
comrades to explain to translate the Japanese.

"What the heck is that!?" Zelda demanded.

"Ionis," Erwin asked nervously.  "Can you hear me?" 
Ionis took the chance to stare at the birdies.

"Come out magician,' Daishi challenged.  "If you truly
wish to fight."

"Guess I can't get any real practice like this can I,"
the voice asked, amused.  A form seemed to fade into
being, coalesce from the everywhere in fact, in
between Erwin and the two fighters.  "Can we get this
started?"  Everybody looked at the wererat that had
suddenly appeared in mild shock.  

Except the rats and Erwin.

They looked downright terrified.

"We are doomed," Lydia said.

"It�'s a kid," Zelda said after a moment.  "And he's
just standing there!"

"Daishi, uh Zelda," Erwin said nervously, now that his
normal exit trip was still somewhat out of it.  "Get
him!"

"Easy Lord Talon," Zelda declared.  Ranma didn't know
what she was saying, but he read the confidant
expression easy enough and shrugged with his own
smirk.  Ranma's appearance was marginally marred by
the fact that he was still shaking like a leaf.

"Do not be so confident," Daishi warned circling
around wide of his partner.  "His stance is
exceptional."

"What stance?" Zelda demanded charging forward, and
found herself punching through a phantom.  Ranma,
meanwhile, almost casually ducked past her and twirled
past the strike Daishi managed to get off.  He paused
standing next to the rats, in a stance between them
and Erwin's cohorts.

"You guys might want to get some unarmed training," he
said.  "Ain't gonna be someone to save your butts all
the time, now get out of here, I'm gonna have some fun
with these guys."

"Uhhhh..." Moisha said flabbergasted as Ranma turned
back Zelda and Daishi.

"Sho Ryu Kick!" Daishi shouted.  The werecheetah
dodged out of the way as Zelda was leaping at his
back, obligingly taking the attack.  Daishi blinked
and moved to follow Ranma's path.  Now that the battle
was actually going, Ranma didn't seem to be shaking at
all.

"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!!" someone shouted behind
him, followed by a blindingly fast series of light
taps to all the vital points on his back.  Daishi
growled and whipped around to strike his opponent and
caught a glimpse of Ranma flashing under his arm.

Zelda stood up shakily after taking that attack and
saw a blur coming past Daishi and stop.  

With his back to her.  

Zelda smirked as she assumed the boy must have thought
she was out of action.  She charged forward and choked
as the boy simply pivoted allowing her past him.  

Which was about the point she saw Daishi's roundhouse.
 

The one that would have hit the boy's head.  

Zelda went flying across the street into a wall. 
Everybody looked at the woman for a moment as she
stood up again.  Ranma whistled, impressed.

"Tough ain't she?" Ranma asked.

"I am Daishi, boy," the ninja proclaimed.  "You should
not be playing with me."

"Why not?" Ranma asked.  "I need the practice, my
reflexes are really off with the added height and
weight."  Daishi's eyes widened and then narrowed
again as he flashed his hands forward.

"HADOKEN!!!" he shouted, Ranma barely sidestepped,
smirking as he heard Zelda cry out.

"You know, I have to thank you," Ranma taunted.  "I
don't like to hit girls."  

Daishi actually growled before he charged forward. 
Ranma smirked as the ninja came forward.  He continued
to give the ninja what he had named the Akane
treatment until he felt the woman about to make
another attack against him.  

Zelda gasped as this time her target just totally
vanished from sight.  Then she got punched in the
face.  Daishi would have been insulted that he had
been tricked into striking his comrade...again.  But
he was too busy being insulted at the featherlight
amaguriken to his back.

"What did he say," Romeo asked Moisha.

"Get out of here," she said nervously.

"Why aren't we?" he returned.

"My feet won't move," Lydia whimpered.

"Okay, maybe its time for some strength exercises,"
Ranma said.  Daishi's eyes widened and then he
launched forward, throwing his hands out.

Ranma saw it coming before the chi was completely
gathered.  He was ready to dodge away when he saw
those three kids still frozen behind him.  He couldn't
use any of his normal specials without blowing who he
was, but the coming attack needed to be taken down
before it struck the people he was trying to protect,
or anybody else for that matter.

"GADO!!" Daishi started.  Ranma smirked as he thought
of something.  It might just end up hurting like hell,
but he had to try.  "BEAM!!!"

The beam was large, wide, and perfectly capable of
annihilating the kids behind him.  But by the time it
reached Ranma he had put his plan into action. 
Ranma's aura flashed out powerfully bright as he
started a high-speed, tight spiral.  The gado-beam
struck the powerful chi effect and was sucked into the
same vortex.  When Ranma came around again, Daishi was
horrified to see his own chi being drawn into a ball,
obviously to be blasted back at him.

Ranma tossed the chi into the air, letting it
dissipate harmlessly while launched forward.  Daishi
didn't see Ranma move.  Nor did Zelda, who found out
that Ranma might not like hitting girls, but he
certainly was willing too, after dealings with certain
treacherous females.  Nor did Erwin, though the kid
did see Ranma deposit his unconscious underlings on
top of the mage as he was waking up.

"Go play with an erector set or something kid," Ranma
said.  Erwin fainted and Ranma rolled his eyes.  "Hey,
you three, don't you speak Japanese?  I said get outta
here, did you WANT these jerks to kill you?"  Ranma
took a step toward them.

"RUN AWAY!!!" they shouted and high-tailed it out of
the area.  Ranma blinked and shrugged.

*********************************************************

"Did you have a good practice session, Ranma?" Nodoka
asked dryly.  Ranma scratched his head and laughed
nervously.  He had started shedding as soon as he saw
her.

"Uh yeah," Ranma said.  "Pop ain't near my level
anymore.  But I got a little bit better used to this
body."  

Nodoka arched an eyebrow and pointed the multi-remote
at the television, turned the power on and started the
VCR playing.  Ranma swallowed nervously as he watched
himself humiliating those jerks from earlier.

"Yes, I saw that," she said.  "I notice you were not
scared in the actual battle."

"I was helping those three..." Ranma blinked.  "I
wasn't?"

"Not from what I could tell," Nodoka said.  "And you
didn't start shedding until you saw...me."  She
sighed.

"I...I'm sorry," Ranma said.

"That isn't your fault Ranma," Nodoka said.  "But next
time do try to be a little more discreet, please?"

"Oh kay," Ranma answered weakly.

*********************************************************

Ryouga sighed pitifully as he saw the news come on in
the electronics store he was passing.  Apparently it
was true.  Ranma was a werecheetah, and Ryouga knew
how you became a werecreature.  You had to make a deal
with an evil demon or something, or was it that you
were bitten by one.  Whatever, werecreatures were
evil, and they had to be destroyed.  For their own
good as well as everyone else's.

"Ranma," Ryouga sighed.  "It looks like I still have
to kill you."

*********************************************************

The Amazons returned to town too late to catch the
news, but by then the gossip was already full of the
existence of a werecheetah in town.  Of course none of
them had to be reminded of the damage that Iceron's
creations had done to the Amazons so long ago.  This
was because there was a law on the books insisting
that all werecreatures be destroyed on sight, and they
didn't bother to ask why it was there.

*********************************************************

"YOU GUYS HAVE TO SEE THIS!!!!" Brianna shouted into
the intercom as she pushed the remote to start
recording the story.  It was useful having a computer
set up to digitally record shows.  "Turn on the
news!!"

"What are YOU doing watching the NEWS, Bri?" Gina
asked over the intercom.

"Never mind that, just do it!" Brianna said.

"What's the big fuss?" Brittany asked as she came into
the room.  She stared at the screen and, before seeing
what was in the center, spotted something else.  "Hey,
it's those wererat jokers that put that collar on me."
 Then she glanced at the fight, and her jaw dropped.

"Bri," Gina called over the intercom.  "Is that what I
think it is?"

"Yep," Brianna said.  "It�s a werecheetah, and he's
kicking the shit out of Pee-Wee's Playmates."

"Wh...where is this?" Brittany asked.

"Japan," Brianna said.

"Do you think Stripe's up for a little trip,
Brittany?" Gina asked over the intercom.

"I...don't think he'd mind."

*********************************************************

Kuno watched as Ranma came over. It was their usual
fight before school. In the boken wielder's mind, a
plan had been hatched, and it had been waiting for
months, for the time to use it. Now was time to
strike. 

"Daemon most foul, how dare thy show thou cowardly
hide in these hollowed grounds after cowering for so
long." 

Ranma set down his bookbag. "What the hell are you
talking about?" 

"Where I hath been preparing for encountering the
Demonic Werecreature, thou hath not been seen. Dost
thy quake within thine own shoes." 

"Shut up, Kuno. I was sparring when he was seen.
Besides he saved some people. He's a good guy." About
the place, students of Furinkan High saw the wisdom in
this. And others wondered what the hell the two were
talking about. 

"Of course thou wouldst say such things. Thou must be
in league with the fiend. Well, have at thee," Kuno
shouted as he took a stance. Ranma, being too
frustrated, moved foreword to deliver a quick blow,
when the ground below his feet flipped. The last thing
the students saw was Kuno tossing fish sausages at
Ranma before the hole sealed itself. 

"Ranma," cried out Akane and Ukyou. 

"And now, it doth end," simply said Kuno. 

*********************************************************


Ranma sat up and groaned. "Now what..." There were
furry things crawling onto him, to eat the fish
sausages. 

"mew..." 

*********************************************************

Kuno advanced towards Akane. "Now the sorcerer hath
been vanquished. Come to me my love." 

Ukyou and Akane threw Kuno aside as they ran to the
pit.  Suddenly, the revolving trap door was slashed in
half, and both girls took a step back. The side of the
trap door fell into the pit, making a slight ramp. 

Suddenly a cheetah came out of the pit, with a kitten
hanging from it's mouth. It set it on the ground, and
went back in for another. 

The student body collectively let out an,
"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww," as the cheetah
brought out the cats and kittens that were in the pit.
Still there was no sign of Ranma.

Ukyou looked in and saw Ranma's shredded clothes on
the floor of the pit. Ukyou quickly started damage
control. "Kuno, you sent Ranma into a deeper NekoKen!"
The gasp from the students was audible. "Do you want
him to go nuts or something?" 

"It would serve the cur, justly," retorted Kuno. 

Ukyou turned to see Ranma and Akane sitting by a small
group of kittens that weren't moving. "What's wrong
with them," she asked in a timid voice."

 Akane looked up with a few tears in her eyes.
"They're starving!" 

"The foul cur! I'll smi-" Kuno was cut off by a
viscous blow to his gut, by Akane, causing him to fall
to his knees. 

"They could have starved to death, you bastard!"
Students started to back her up. 

Kuno slowly looked up to see the slowly forming mob
behind the two women and the cheetah. Then Ranma threw
in his two cents, as he lunged at Kuno.

Kuno found himself under assault from a vicious beast.
It clawed and bit at him. Things were looking pretty
bleak, 
when suddenly Kuno was saved when several students
threw Ranma off of Kuno. 

"I thank you my-" Kuno was cut off as the mob
proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. 

*********************************************************


Miss Hinako was running late. This didn't make her
happy. It meant that she couldn't be able to punish
those students who were late. It also meant she's look
for the reason like a hungry wolf.

She rounded the corner and ran into the room to see
only Akane and Ukyou at their seats, with a large
group of cats and kittens. Also there was a rather
large Cheetah. Hinako's eyes went wide at the sight.
"OH! CUTE!" She lunged foreword and hugged the first
kitten she could find. 

Akane and Ukyou looked up from where they were feeding
starved kittens with baby bottles. Ranma simply
stretched out where he lay, looking very lazy. At this
point, snapping Ranma out of the Neko-Ken would be
pointless. 

Then Hinako looked up from the very cute kitten.
"Pet's aren't allowed in school." 

"Kuno was starving them," countered Akane, while
Hinako searched for a coin. 

"We couldn't just let them starve," added Ukyou. 

Hinako looked horrified. "He starved kitties?" 

"Just so he could make Ranma insane." 

Akane bit back her comment about Ranma already being
crazy and pointed at Ranma. "Now Ranma's in a deeper
Neko-Ken." 

Hinako couldn't help but scratch Ranma's head. Ranma
purred to Akane and Ukyou's jealousy. "Where is Kuno
now?" 

"Everyone else formed a lynch mob," Akane said, "But
Kuno got away." 

The kitten in Hikano's arms started to cuddle up to
her and the teacher giggled. Both Ukyou and Akane
relaxed. It wasn't likely that they'd get zapped that
day. 

*********************************************************


At the end of the day, Akane was starting to get sick
of how Ranma was following her around. Ukyou was also
getting sick of how Ranma followed Akane around.
However Ukyou had to head off to her restaurant and
open up. But she did it reluctantly! 

As Ranma and Akane made their way to Ranma's house,
Ryouga watched from the shadows of an alley. He drew
his umbrella and twisted the handle a bit. A long and
sharp blade slid out. It's silver edge gleamed as he
left the safety of the shadows and started moving
towards Ranma. As he ran foreword, he shouted,
"PREPARE TO DIE, RANMA!" 

Ranma, whom had heard this shout way too often, shot
foreword like a bullet. Unfortunately this course took
him right between Akane's legs. As she fell foreword,
she instinctively grabbed onto Ranma's neck. 

Ranma seemed to have unnatural strength as he kept on
running like mad. The wind rushed by as the three
passed Ranma's house and kept on going. 

*********************************************************

 Nodoka watched from the window as Ryouga attacked
Ranma and Ranma made his rapid escape. Nodoka let out
a groan as Ryouga shouted, "PREPARE TO DIE, RANMA!" 

~Great... Ranma wasn't ready for his feline form yet.
And how did Ryouga find out that Ranma was a
werecheetah?~ Another groan escaped Nodoka's lips.
~Where there is one werehunter, there's more right
behind the idiot.~

*********************************************************

Ranma came to a stop 2 minutes later. Akane had a
death grip on the large cat. It took her a few moments
to relax and let go. As she looked about she
recognized the place as a park that was 15 miles away
from Ranma's home. She plopped down on the grass and
tried to catch her breath

Meanwhile Ranma's mind had returned to what passes for
normal and he took a look at himself. [OH CRAP!] After
a full minute of shedding, Ranma calmed down. [Okay...
I'm a c-c-ca-cat with spots... a Cheetah... I knew I
could do this... But why am I in this form. Last thing
I remember was falling into a pit of...] Ranma put a
paw over his face and groaned. 

"Great," mumbled Akane. "Now how do I get home." Ranma
looked at Akane, who had her back turned to him. A
smile passed his feline features. [Fun time.] He
slapped her shoulder with a paw and ran 10 feet away. 

"HEY!" Akane turned and glared at Ranma. "Baka!" 

Ranma ran foreword, slapped her shoulder and ran back.


"That a challenge or something?" Ranma did it again,
but this time he bopped her on the head. "That's it!"
Akane lunged at Ranma. 

Ranma took off at an slow jog. At least it was slow
for him. For Akane, it was hell to try and keep up. 

*********************************************************

"Are we there yet?"

 Gina sighed as she drove past a nice park. 

"No, not yet." 

"I'm bored," complained Brinnia. 

Gina sighed. "We'll be there soon." She looked into
the rear view mirror. Brittany was staring at her side
of the road with anticipation. Stripe did the same on
his side. "You two holding up okay?" 

"Yeah," replied Brit. "Think there's really another
werecheetah out there?" 

"If there is, we'll find em'," assured Gina. The whole
group failed to notice a girl chasing a Cheetah, right
behind them. 

*********************************************************


Ranma suddenly stopped at a corner just as Akane was
running out of breath. She stopped and sat down,
trying to recover said breath. Ranma gave her an odd
look. Then he looked at him self and made a big show
of seeming like it was the first time he saw himself. 

"You okay Ranma?" He nodded numbly in reply. "Good.
Now how do we get home?" Ranma turned his back to her
and sat down. After a minute he looked back
impatiently. "You want me to ride on you?" He nodded
again. Akane sighed and got on his back. "Okay." 

Ranma took off at high speed. [This isn't half-bad...
Mom said something about a technique allowing me to
change forms at will. I better learn it because I like
this!] As Ranma ran, he grinned. 

"Slow down you baka!" 

*********************************************************

"Damn that, Ranma," Ryouga growled.  He had obviously
carried Akane off to have his evil way with her. 
Ryouga paused and thought about that comment.  "I've
been hanging around Kuno too much.  No wait, Ranma is
an evil perverted..." Ryouga's rant was cut off by the
clanging sound of a sheet of strong metal connecting
with someone's skull.

"Watch what you say about my Ranchan, jerk," Ukyou
snapped angrily.

"But Ukyou!" Ryouga started.

"Don't 'but Ukyou' me!" Ukyou said.  "Ranchan has
enough problems without you on his back."

~She would never believe me,~ Ryouga sighed
dejectedly.   It was up to him alone, to vanquish
Ranma now that the martial artist had obviously made a
deal with the dark powers.  Ryouga shook his head, and
to think he had actually been starting to think Ranma
wasn't all that bad a guy.  ~Still, of all the things
he could have been why a wereCAT?~

"Are you going to stand in my shop's door all day?"
Ukyou asked irritably.  "You're scaring away all the
customers."

"Gomen, Ukyou-san," Ryouga said and started running
off in the direction he thought Ranma had gone.  He
had to save Akane from what the fiend had planned.

"What an idiot," Ukyou thought as she watched Ryouga
run back the way he had come.

*********************************************************

First Brittany and then Brianna snapped to attention
in their seats.  Both sniffed at the air, a slowly
building ecstatic expression over taking their faces.

~Oh no,~ Stripe and Gina thought almost at the same
time.

"TUUUUUUNNNAAA!!!" both girls shouted.  "Stop the car,
Gina!!"

"Think about it you guys," Gina said desperately. 
"There was some sort of girl with a silver sword
chasing that other werecheetah."

"You think this might be a trap?" Brittany asked.

"It is a distinct possibility," Stripe said.  

"Someone is putting out a load of tuna just to attract
any werecheetah that happens by?" Brittany frowned but
appeared to think about it.   Brianna, on the other
hand.

"Even better!!" 

"Oh come on," Brittany said.  "It's probably just a
sushi joint, that would have to be the stupidest trap
that I've ever heard of.  Who could come up with such
a stupid idea."

*********************************************************

"No doubt this will bring the evil fiend running
straight into my trap," Mousse cackled wildly.  As he
stared at the piles of opened tuna cans in the middle
of the table in the abandoned storefront.  The sound
of the car pulling up outside alerted him to
newcomers.

He faded back against the wall as two voices started
chanting "Tuna" in cutesy voices.  As he watched as
two blurs dashed into the store front.  Well one
dashed, the other stopped at the door and glanced
around.

"Brianna, wait!" one blur shouted.  "Gina's right,
it's a..." 

Brittany squinted her eyes closed as Brianna snapped
through a veritable net of tripwires.  Enough so that
Brittany KNEW that Brianna should have seen them.  The
next she heard was a series of loud explosions
circling around where Brianna had run off towards.

"BRIANNA!!!" Gina shouted as her sister was obscured
by the explosions and smoke.

"Huh?" Mousse said.  "That's not supposed to happen." 
He scratched his head and stepped out.  

It was a mistake.

"YOU KILLED MY SISTER!!!" Brittany shouted angrily,
picking up and slamming him against the wall.  "I'M
GOING TO TEAR YOUR SPINE OUT!!!"  Mousse wasn't
certain what the tall, hairy girl was saying, but it
sounded bad.

"Don't do it," Stripe said moving to try and pull his
wife off the boy.

"Yeah!" Gina said.  Everybody glanced at her in
surprise.  "Because I want to experiment on him BEFORE
you rip him to pieces!"

"Mmmmm, tuna!" a satisfied voice said from behind
them.  Everybody turned to see the smoke drifting away
to reveal Brianna sitting on the table, suddenly
wearing a set of high tech shoulder pads with small
rotating turrets.

Brittany dropped Mousse and rushed at Brianna.  The
rotating turrets locked on the movement and swiveled
toward her.

"SHUT DOWN!" Brianna shouted before they fired.  Then
she was in a crushing bear hug.

"Brianna!  You're alive!!"

"gaahhhsp!"

"Cheetah, dear," Stripe said.  "You're crushing her."

"Oh, um," Brittany set down her sister and looked
embarrassed.  "How the hell did you live through
that?"

"Point-defense anti-projectile system," Brianna said,
indicating the now deactivated turrets.  "Called it up
just before going through the trip wires."

"Brianna, why not just use a force field generator?"
Gina asked.  "It's smaller, proven, easier to use and
doesn't produce a stream of loud disturbing explo..."
Gina's face turned deadpan as Brianna grinned widely. 
"Oh."  The silence was broken by the sound of an empty
tin can hitting the floor.

"You ate...ALL the tuna?" Brittany said in shock. 
Brianna nodded.  "I'm about to avenge your brutal and
messy death, and you didn't save me ANY?!"  Gina
stared as her youngest sister shook her head and
licked her lips.

"D�j� vu," she said quietly.   

Then Brittany lunged again. 

At Brianna.

"I'm gonna kill her!!" "Brittany stop!" "HOLD HER!!
HOLD HER!!" "IT WAS A JOKE!! Come on Cheetah!! It was
a joke!!" "I'll show you a joke!!"

Mousse took the moment to slip out of the store.

*********************************************************

Ranma paused at the sound of fighting and he and Akane
watched as Mousse snuck out of an abandoned store
front that seemed to be producing a lot of smoke and
noise.  When the martial artist turned toward them,
Ranma got ready to run.

"Unryu Akari-san," Mousse said suddenly.  It was a
girl riding a giant animal, so who else could it be. 
At least with her, he was never wrong.

"Uhh�yeah," Akane said, not wanting to call attention
to the fact that she was on a cheetah while a
werecheetah was hanging around.  "What's going on?"

"Crazy American blew up my werecheetah trap and now
they're fighting over the tuna, gotta go before they
realize I'm not there."  With that the blind martial
artist skittered off leaving a nervous looking Akane
and Ranma in his wake.

"I think we should talk to your mother," Akane said. 
The cheetah under her nodded and then surged forward.

The scents and sights in the area were somewhat
clouded by smoke and dirt, so neither group noticed
each other, other than Ranma and Akane listening to
shouts of: "I'll buy you some more, all right?!" 
Ranma smelled something like a cat nearby and
shivered, hurrying a little further along before he
analyzed the smell further.

A few minutes later a cross Brittany came out with
Stripe followed by Brianna rubbing her head and
mumbling to Gina.

"Sheesh," Brianna muttered.  She looked around and
sniffed at the air.

"You both realize that we let that creep get away,"
Gina asked.

"That was a little immature," Stripe said discreetly
next to Brittany.

"I just got scared all right," Brittany said.  She
stopped and sniffed the air.  "Brianna, do you smell
that?"

"Yeah," Brianna said grimly after a moment.

"Smell what, you guys?" Gina asked.  Brittany and
Brianna sighed and traded a look.

"A werecheetah walked by while we were in there!!!"
They shouted.  Gina blinked and looked down at the
ground, she leaned down and came up with a few hairs.

"Looks like they're shedding," Stripe said.

"Follow the hair balls!" Gina declared.

*********************************************************

"Hello Akane," Nodoka said as the Tendo girl opened
the gate to let in Ranma.  The cheetah formed boy
approached hesitantly.  "Ranma, how did you end up
like this?"

"Somebody at school," Akane said.  "Tricked him into a
pit of cats.."  Nodoka sighed and winced at that.  She
looked and saw Ranma shedding

"Is this the neko-ken now?" Nodoka asked sadly.

"I don't think so," Akane said.  She turned a glare on
the cheetah next to her.  "He's been his baka self
since about half an hour ago or so."  The cheetah
stuck its tongue out at her.

"Please be more polite," Nodoka said.  Akane started
to smirk.  "Both of you."  She reached out to scratch
Ranma's head.  The cheetah visibly tensed and the
shedding got worse, though it was obvious that Ranma
was trying to ignore the fear.

"Sorry, Auntie," Akane said watching Ranma's reaction
as his mother tried to gently show him she meant know
harm.  At least, show that part of him that was
infested with the memory of hundreds of yowling cats. 
She was fairly certain that Ranma did not consciously
believe she'd hurt him.

"It is not your fault," Nodoka said.  Show hoped that
petting Ranma like this would calm him down.  As the
shedding started getting worse she relented and backed
away from Ranma reluctantly.  "So how did Ryouga learn
about Ranma?"

"I have no idea," Akane said.  "I haven't talked to
anyone."  She paused.  "Except my pet pig."  Ranma let
out a feline, frustrated groan.  Nodoka noticed that
and resolved to speak to Ranma about it later.  "I
doubt Ukyou would, but Ryouga's always getting lost in
funny places, maybe he saw you guys change once."

"I suppose that could be it," Nodoka said.  "Come with
me, Ranma, we need to see about getting you back to
your human form.  Akane, will you be all right getting
yourself home?"

"Oh, sure, Auntie," Akane said, shrugging.  "I'll see
you tomorrow Ranma.  And next time don't go so fast!" 
She could almost see a shaky smirk on the cheetah's
face.  Nodoka waited for Ranma to get into the house
before turning to Akane.

"You know, Akane," Nodoka said with her own smirk. 
"When Ranma learns how to pick out scents better,
you're going to have more trouble in making those
deceptions work."  Akane blushed and laughed
nervously.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Akane said.

"Of course not," Nodoka said and started for the
house.  Akane grumbled to herself, definitely not
thinking about what it felt like to have her legs
around Ranma.  Akane walked out of the gate and noted
the trail of fur where Ranma had started shedding
again as they approached the Saotome house.

~Hmm, better do something about that,~ Akane thought. 
She grabbed a broom from near the gate and started
sweeping it away.  She finished quickly, sweeping just
enough away to hide the trail, and then headed home,
not noticing the group coming up the street.

It was about two blocks later that she realized that
she had forgotten to put up the broom and headed back.

*********************************************************

"Gee, the shedding starts again," Gina said.  "There
must be something wrong here.  I don't remember the
last time you shed this much."

"I do!" Brianna said.  "It was when Genn, Her and me
were looking for..." Brianna glanced at Brittany's
warning face and stopped.  "Damn, I forgot about it."

"Uh huh," Gina deadpanned..  A couple minutes later
they came to the end of the trail of shed fur, as a
girl with blue-black hair was walking away from the
area.

"Did he stop shedding?" Stripe asked.  Then he noticed
where the fur had been swept to the side.  "I guess
not."

"It can't be much further," Gina said.  ~Unless some
random person just swept the fur away from their
walk.~   After a few more yards Brianna and Brittany
stopped in front of a modest gate.

"He's in here," Brittany said.  ~Another werecheetah. 
He could be even be family.~  She glanced over at
Brianna, who was just as anxious about this as she
was.

"Ready for this?" Gina asked.

"Don't worry, honey," Stripe said next to Brittany,
massaging her shoulders.  "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Thank you, Muffin," Brittany said smiling back at
him.

"What do you think he's like?" Brianna asked.

"Instead of asking," Gina said.  "Why don't we go
see?"

*********************************************************

Nodoka looked up from preparing dinner at the sound of
someone knocking on the door.  She started to call
out.

"I'll get it," Ranma called out.  

In the kitchen Nodoka felt nervous for a moment, but
relaxed and breathed out a sigh of relief that Ranma
had managed to change back to human and that he felt
okay enough to greet company.

~With my luck it'll probably be another of the local
loonies with some sort of silver weapon,~ Ranma
thought grimly.  ~And if they see mom first...~

Ranma cautiously gripped the handle of the door and
got ready for a fight.  Through his mind was running a
veritable catalog of moves that could be performed
from a position that was no different from the one
most people used in opening the door.  Ranma was
prepared for anything.

Anything except the two cat people on the other side
of the door.

"Hello...I hope this doesn't sound too strange," the
blonde in front of the two started.

"C...c...c...c...c...CAAAAAAAATTTTTSSS!!!"  Ranma
slammed the door shut, shattering it in the process,
ran back into the house and vanished, somewhere.

Gina blinked and looked back at her sisters and
brother in law.

"Uh�?  What was that?"

"That was WAY faster than a human form should be able
to move," Brittany said.  Brianna cleared her throat. 
"Unless you're Brianna anyway.  And he wasn't as fast
you."  Brianna nodded firmly, but she was still
impressed.

Nodoka stepped into the hallway looking after where
Ranma had vanished and then back at the door.  She
sighed as she saw the visitors, she calmly walked to
the door and moved it out of the way.

"Brittany Elin Diggers, I presume?" She said wearily.

"Yeah," Brittany said.  She stepped a little forward
of Gina, holding Stripe's hand.  "This is my husband,
Stripe, and my sisters.  Gina and Brianna."

"What was with that kid?" Brianna asked.

"I'll explain in a moment," Nodoka said.  She turned
to Brianna and Stripe.  "Can I ask you to take your
human forms while you're here?"

"I don't actually have any other form," Stripe said. 
Nodoka blinked, then nodded.

"Oh yes, I forgot you weren't a werecreature," she
said.  Then she sighed.  "I don't suppose it matters
then."  She thought for a little longer.  "If he can
handle his full feline form, then this might be a good
next step."

"Next step for what?" Gina asked.  Nodoka frowned and
sighed in resignation.

"The next step of curing my son of his fear of cats,"
Nodoka said simply, a little sadly.  The four visitors
found themselves with their faces planted into the
ground.

*********************************************************

"Ranma, dear," Nodoka called softly as she walked up
to his room.  She heard someone shivering in the
closet and quietly sat down outside of it.  "Ranma, is
that you in there?"

"Th...th...th...they're coming to get me," Ranma
whispered.  "The cats are coming to get me."

"No they aren't," Nodoka said, firmly.  "Ranma,
remember I told you that there was one other survivor
to the werecheetah slaughter?"

"Y...y...yeah?" Ranma asked shakily.

"That's her downstairs," Nodoka explained.  "She came
to see us."

"S...s...she doesn't wanna marry me..." Ranma started.
 "Does she?"

"She's here with her husband, Ranma," Nodoka assured
him.

"Th...the...oth...other c...c...cat?" Ranma asked.

"He's not a cat, Ranma," Nodoka said.  "He's an alien
that looks like a cat.  There probably were no cats on
his planet"

"Oh," Ranma said.  ~That's a little better.  Maybe.~

"I've already told them about your problem," Nodoka
said.  "I'm going to go down and tell them why after I
finish dinner.  If you don't want to come down, I'll
understand, but I think it would do you some good to
talk to another werecat.  She may even be family."

"I'll try, okay?" Ranma said hesitantly.

"That's all I can ask," Nodoka said.  "She'll probably
be in her hybrid form, just so you are prepared."

"Okay, thanks," Ranma said.  He still hadn't left the
closet.

*********************************************************

Akane became concerned when she saw the door leaning
against a wall on the inside of the building.  She
frowned and moved to the building to investigate.

"Auntie?" Akane called out cautiously, walking in
through the doorway.  "Nodoka, is everything all..." 
She froze on seeing the four people in the living
room.  One of them was tinkering with something that
looked like a toy pikachu.  Then there was the
cat-person couple, and the normal-seeming blonde that
looked vaguely bored and impatient.

"She's upstairs with your boyfriend," the girl
tinkering said after recognizing Akane's scent. 
Akane's suspicions were derailed by the statement.

"Why would I want to marry that..." 

"I didn't say anything about marriage," the girl said,
smiling and looking up.  Akane realized that she had
just blundered into the wrong statement.  Now all eyes
were on her.

"It's an arranged marriage."  She muttered finally. 
"Since before we were born."

"People actually do that?" the normal girl asked.

"Who are you people?" Akane asked, remembering that
they shouldn't have been there.

"Oh, Akane-chan, what are you doing back?" Nodoka
asked, coming down the stairs.  Akane started to
answer, but Nodoka cut her off.  "Never mind, it is a
lucky occurrence.  Could you go up and help Ranma? 
He's a little...nervous."  Akane turned a narrow-eyed
glance at the cat people.

"I wonder why," Akane muttered.  The couple had the
decency to look embarrassed.  "Sure, I'll go see about
calming down the baka."

"Thank you, Akane-chan," Nodoka said.  She turned to
her guests.  "I was about to finish dinner for myself
and my son, just let me check everything and I'll be
right out."

"Uh, sure," Brittany said.  Nodoka smiled and walked
into the kitchen.

"Just how does a werecat become afraid of cats?"
Brianna asked, doing something that would probably
turn out to be disturbing to one of her peebos.

"I think we're about to find out," Gina said, glancing
to the kitchen.

*********************************************************

"Hey, Ranma," Akane said as she walked into his room. 
She looked around cautiously and was surprised to see
the closet door edge open.

"Akane?" Ranma asked.

"What are you doing in the closet?" Akane asked,
putting a little challenge in her voice.

"What do ya think?!" Ranma demanded.  "Hiding from the
c...cats."

"These are your people, Ranma," Akane said.  "I'm sure
they just want to meet you, and get to know you.  I
can't imagine what it would be like to be one of the
last of a race."

"I know," Ranma said.  "It's just...they're
c...c�cats, you know?"

"And for that you're just going to give up meeting new
people?" Akane asked.  She shook her head.  "I can
understand avoiding domestic pets and such, but these
are people!"

"C�c.c.at people," Ranma corrected irritably.

"Well so are you, baka!" Akane shouted.  Ranma winced.
 "Come on Ranma, You don't act like it very often, but
you should know better than this."

"Know better than what?" Ranma asked.

"Than to think that people will attack you for no
reason," Akane said.  Ranma gave her a look.  "People
don't attack you for no reason."  The look continued. 
"Name one time that someone has attacked you without
reason."

"Kuno," Ranma said.

"Okay, somebody else," Akane said.

"Herb, Pantyhose, Ryouga, Shampoo, Ukyou, Kodachi,
Hinako, Happosai," Ranma paused.  "You."

"I only hit you when you're being a jerk!" Akane
protested.  "And you pick on Ryouga all the time,
and..." Ranma continued giving her the look.  "Okay,
so that happens a lot, but still these AREN'T people
here to fight you," ~I hope.~ "So this should be
easier right?"

*********************************************************

Nodoka appeared and slipped a small folder off of a
bookshelf.  She sat down across from Brittany and
Stripe and held the folder.

"While Ranma was a child I paid a mage to lock him in
human form," Nodoka started.  "I was afraid of the
werewolves finding us and...finishing the job."  She
frowned and took a deep breath before continuing.  "I
didn't tell him what Ranma was to avoid having him
push too hard, unfortunately I didn't consider the
existence of this...monstrosity."  She brandished the
folder in her hands.

"What is that?" Brittany asked.

"It is a dangerous, and banned, martial art
technique," Nodoka said.  "My husband decided to train
my son in it after he discovered Ranma's regenerative
capabilities, without knowing where he got them."

Nodoka gravely handed the folder over to Brittany and
gestured for her to read it.

"Neko-ken training manual," she read.  She looked up. 
"The cat-fist?"  She turned back to read and started
to look green, somewhat impressive considering the
fur.

"That sounds like it would be useful to a werecat,"
Gina said.  "How do you do it?"  Stripe, reading over
Cheetah's shoulder answered.

"Wrap the trainee up in fish sausage and dump them in
a pit of starving cats," Stripe said.  Gina and
Brianna stared at him blankly.

"His father actually did that?" Gina asked.

"Several times," Nodoka said quietly.  "You've seen
the results.  I can't imagine what its like for him,
becoming the worst monster out of his nightmares.  To
be something that you believe is a violent,
treacherous beast ready to pounce somebody at random. 
Can you imagine that?"

"Ummm, sort of," Brianna said.  Nodoka looked at her
and blinked.

"How do you mean?" Nodoka asked.

"It was a curse," Gina said.  "but our Dad took care
of it."  Nodoka turned interested.

"You're father got rid of a curse?" Nodoka asked,
hopefully.

"Yeah, he's part of the conclave," Brittany said. 
"Why?"  Nodoka recognized the name of the organization
and hope began to rise.

"Excuse me," Nodoka said.  "I'll be right back."  She
stood up, made a brief detour to the kitchen to
double-check her dinner, and then went to Ranma's
room.

"What, does she think Dad can get rid of a phobia?"
Brittany asked.

"Maybe," Gina shrugged.  "He might be able to, who
knows."  Gina noticed Brianna turning renewed and
enforced attention to her tinkering.  "Are you okay,
Bri?"

"Yeah," she said.  "Just don't like thinking about
Grave Digger."

"Well, it's not like you've had any problems since
then," Brittany said.

"Uh huh," Brianna said, and went back to tinkering.

*********************************************************

Ranma hesitantly came out of the room behind a
frustrated Akane, and they saw an anxious looking
Nodoka approaching the room.

"Ranma, I have some news," Nodoka said.  "Their father
might be able to get rid of the curse for you."

"What's that?!" Ranma and Akane said.

"Their father is a member of the conclave of wizards,"
she explained.  "Some of the most powerful magicians
in two worlds.  He may be able to get rid of your
curse."

"That sounds like a reason to talk to them," Akane
said.  "Doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Ranma said, nodding.  "If it doesn't turn out
to be a wash like all the other cures."

"There can't be any harm in trying," Nodoka asked. 
"Can there?"  She knew otherwise, but in addition to
getting rid of the curse, as Akane had said, this
might help convince Ranma to talk to Brittany.

"I guess not," Ranma said.  Also aware that there were
plenty of things that could go wrong in seeking a
cure.

"Okay then," Nodoka said.  "I am going to go finish
dinner, and you and Akane can talk to them while I'm
setting the table."

*********************************************************

Ranma came hesitantly into the room glanced at the two
cat-people and then turned to look away from them as
he sat down.  He focused, instead, on the floor and
the two normal looking blondes.  There was something
vaguely cat-like about the larger of those two girls
as well, but it wasn't so obvious as the cheetah and
her, he glanced over long enough to see a pair of
rings, husband.

"Your guys' father can get rid of curses?" Ranma
asked.  Akane rolled her eyes and bapped him upside
the head as she sat down.

"You can be a little more polite," Akane said.  "I'm
Tendo Akane, I didn't bother to introduce myself
earlier."

"We've been told about..." Cheetah shifted
uncomfortably.  "What's wrong."

"I'm Gina," Gina said and then pointed toward the
werecheetah.  "That's Brittany and her husband Stripe,
and that's Brianna."

"Hey, that's a cute looking toy," Akane said suddenly.
 "What's it do?"  The Diggers' family suddenly looked
decidedly nervous, aside from Brianna.

"Well, I'm trying to get the explosion a little more
focused," Brianna said.  "There's still a lot of
wasted energy going in the wrong directions. 
Hopefully it'll take less of them to destroy the
targets, and then I can blow up that many more
targets!!"

"Uhhhh," Akane said, staring at Brianna.

"Oh, and I'm trying to program it to find the guy that
tried to kill me earlier," she added offhand.

"Would he happen to be a nearly blind guy with long
hair?" Ranma asked, still trying to avoid looking at
Brittany and Stripe.

"He had long hair and thick glasses," Brittany said,
nearly growling.  She stopped as she saw Ranma twitch.

"Sounds like Mousse," Ranma said, glancing at her and
back at Brianna.

"You know that lunatic?" Gina asked, edging forward.

"Yeah," Ranma said.  "He's one of the Chinese Amazons
around here."

"You know where we can find him?" Brianna asked.

"At the Nekohanten," Akane said.

"Shampoo was after me too," Ranma said.  "I wonder if
the Amazons have some sort of law for werecreatures or
something."

"This is a way to get out of that engagement then,"
Akane said suddenly.  Everybody looked at her, except
Ranma who was shaking his head.

"Can't do that," Ranma said.

"Why not?!" Akane demanded angrily, standing up and
towering over Ranma.  Then she looked around and
deflated.  "Not that I care."

"What do you think would happen if they found out I
was a werecheetah?" Ranma asked.

"They're already trying to kill you, Ranma," Akane
said.  "How much worse can it get?"

"What about my mom?" Ranma asked.

"Ohh," Akane said.

"Excuse me," Stripe said, Ranma's head slowly,
deliberately turned to face him.  "Aren't you engaged
to this Miss Tendo?"  Ranma nodded.  "And you're
engaged to someone else?"

"Actually, Shampoo thinks we're already married,"
Ranma said.

"How'd that happen?" Gina asked.

"I beat her in a fight," Ranma said simply. 
"Accidentally.  Sort of."

"How do you accidentally beat someone in a fight?"
Brittany asked.  "And how does that get you married?"

"Amazon laws."  Ranma and Akane said together.

"If an outsider male beats an outsider female, they're
married," Ranma explained.

"That sounds like something Grandma would come up
with," Gina said.

"Don't tell me you come from a tribe of warrior
women," Ranma said pleadingly.

"Oh, our mother is greatest warrior on the world of
Jade," Brittany said proudly.

"Hear that, Ranma," Akane asked, smirking.  "A female
martial artist the best on her world."  Ranma noticed
the werecheetah narrowing her eyes and cricked his
neck.

"Kiima would have driven that message home," Ranma
said darkly.  "If Cologne hadn't already."

"Maybe you could try to take me on seriously, then,"
Akane suggested.  Ranma shook his head.

"How about me then?" Brittany asked.  Ranma and Akane
turned to stare at her, with wide eyes.  Ranma
immediately looked away.

"Bad idea!" Akane said.  "You'd trigger the neko-ken. 
You have no idea the kind of damage that would do."

"Oh, yeah," Brittany said.  "Sorry about that."  She
deflated and leaned back.

"You said trigger the neko-ken," Gina said, curiously.
 "You mean there's something more than being afraid of
cats?"

"I get ta thinking I'm a cat," Ranma said.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Gina said.

"During which time I'm practically invincible and will
try my best to tear into shreds anything that bothers
me," Ranma added.  Akane nodded.

"There was the time he used that fifteen foot shark as
a chew toy," Akane said sagely.

"I take it you want our father to fix the Neko-ken
then," Gina asked.  Ranma glanced at her.

"Could he do that, too?" he asked.

"Too?  What other problem is there that you got?"
Brittany asked.

"Might as well get this over with," Ranma sighed.  He
stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"He has another curse?" Stripe asked.  "And two
fiancees?"

"Actually," Akane said irritably as Ranma vanished
into the kitchen.  "He has three fiancees, maybe more.
 His father's fault mostly."  She admitted the last
reluctantly.  Brianna stared at her a moment and
produced another peebo.

"What's he look like?" Brianna asked.

"Where'd the other of the things go?" Akane asked. 
Brianna shrugged. 

*********************************************************

"Hello, Ranma," Nodoka said.  Ranma hesitated as he
entered the kitchen.  He took a breath and moved into
the room with his mother.  The martial artist noted
that Nodoka was about to bring the last few dishes to
the dining table.  "How are you?"

"Uh fine," Ranma said.  "I'm just about to show them
the curse, you need help?"

"No, that's fine," she said.  "I can handle setting
the table, and this might be a way to cure you of your
curse, so that is more important."

"Yeah," Ranma said.  "Don't get your hopes up though,
none of these ever seem to work."

"Can't just give up, Ranma," Nodoka said.

"Naw, I don't ever do that," Ranma said, drawing a
glass of water.  "Umm, this means I'm gonna be a girl
for dinner don't it?"

"Ranma, I keep telling you that I have running hot
water," Nodoka reminded him.  "Just turn on the hot
water tap.  In fact you might want to pull a glass
right now."  Ranma flushed in embarrassment and poured
a second glass of water.

*********************************************************

"So what else has this...person done?" Stripe asked. 
Akane had explained both the Daikoku and Kuonji
engagements, as well as Genma's attempt to sell
himself and Ranma to a circus, and she had just barely
explained the fiasco with the "sickly" boy who wanted
the panda.

"You'd have to ask Ranma," Akane said.  "Or wait a
couple of weeks.  At least one of his mistakes will
turn up by then."  Ranma came back in and sat down
next to Akane with two glasses of water.

"Okay, I'm gonna do this the short way, because mom's
almost done with dinner," Ranma said.  "This is what I
want gotten rid of."  He checked the water temperature
and then poured the cool water over his head.  The
Atlanta gang blinked as Ranma shrunk into a girl,
Akane noted that Ranma's hair didn't change color
anymore.  Looking closely, however, she noticed that
his roots were blonde.

"Your father isn't a Rakshasha is he?" Brianna asked. 
Ranma blinked.

"No, it�s a curse," Ranma said.  She poured the second
glass over her head and changed back to normal.  "It's
triggered by cold water, and hot water changes me
back."  Gina and Brianna huddled together and started
whispering in English.

"Should we be worried?" Akane asked.  Brittany smiled
nervously while Stripe merely nodded.

*********************************************************

Shampoo watched the cute little robot roll into the
Nekohanten and blinked.

"What is that?" Cologne asked seeing the small item.

"Is cute," Shampoo said.  "Lost toy you think?"

"There seems to be something dangerous about it,"
Cologne said.  Mousse walked in and saw a small, cute
little blur on the floor.

"Oh my lovely, Shampoo!" Mousse shouted, scooping up
the robot.  "I'll get you some hot water right away!"

"This'll teach you to try and kill Brianna Diggers,"
the robot said in a synthesized voice.  Then it
exploded in an almost completely focused explosion
that sent Mousse out the doors, across the street and
through the fence, and then two walls after that.

Cologne and Shampoo watched the falling debris where
the explosion had occurred.  There was hardly any
damage done.  Apparently almost the entire force of
the explosion had directed straight at Mousse. 
Brianna would have been happy if she had seen it.

"Shampoo think Mousse mistake girl for Ranma again,"
Shampoo said.

"That seems most likely," Cologne said, shaking her
head.

Across the street, under a pile of rubble.

"Shaammmmpoooo�.."

*********************************************************

"Guys, let's just talk to dad," Brittany said, in
English.  "Nothing fancy, okay?  Please...guys?"

"Have there ever been any behavioral changes?" Gina
asked Akane and Ranma.

"Like what?" Akane asked.

"Well," Brianna looked distinctly nervous.  "Has he
ever like, tried to...umm...kill everybody?"

"There was the mirror clone," Ranma said hesitantly.

"But that was a magical clone," Akane said.  "Not you.
 Same with the separating incense.  No, Ranma's never
tried to kill everybody, but there was that one time."

"Oh, you're not going to tell that story are you?"
Ranma pleaded.

"This is important," Gina said.  "What happened?"

"Ranma once hit his head and thought that he was a
girl," Akane said.  "And he was a GIRLY girl."

"It never happened!" Ranma protested.  "You're all
lying!"

"Okay, thanks," Gina said and went back into the
huddle with Brianna.

"Ohh�I know what they're going to do," Brittany said
in English.  "This could be bad."

"How bad?" Stripe asked.

"TO THE GINA-LAB!!!" The two inventors shouted
together, sending a chill down the spines of everyone
there.

"Dinner's ready," Nodoka called out.  

"After dinner," Brianna said.  Gina nodded
reluctantly.

*********************************************************

Brianna and Brittany stared at the dishes in a total
lack of comprehension.  They really had no place to
complain, since they were rather unexpected guests,
but it was still very surprising.

"Are we certain this is the right place?" Brianna
asked Brittany, speaking in English.

"They're both werecheetahs," Brittany said.  "But..."

"Where's the tuna?!" both girls asked as they sat down
at the table.  Gina gave them a frustrated look.

"Is something wrong?" Nodoka asked.

"Umm, no," Brianna said reluctantly.  "What is this
stuff anyway?"

"Well there's chicken, rabbit, some venison," Nodoka
said.

"Venison isn't Japanese," Gina noted.

"No, but it's a good replacement for zebra," Nodoka
said.  "Wouldn't want my claws to turn brittle."

"Uhh, heh," Brittany said nervously, scratching the
back of her head.  "Where's the tuna?"

"My son showed you his problem?" Nodoka asked
hopefully.

"Yes," Gina said.  "And we think we can solve it!" 
Nodoka blinked.

"Are you magicians as well?" she asked.

"Well, no," Gina said.  "I'm one of the greatest
geniuses on this planet, I got rid of a curse on me
and Brittany once."  Brittany and Brianna cleared
their throats.  "Well, I did.  And Bri and I fixed
Mom's curse.  Between the two of us this should be
cake."

Akane and Nodoka glanced at Brittany's nervous
expression and began to worry.  Maybe some backup was
called for, just in case.

*********************************************************

"Ucchans'," Ukyou said, answering the phone.  "What
can I do you for?  Oh, Ranchan!  You're going where? 
Isn't Atlantis a myth?  Oh, somewhere in America,
okay...you mean Atlanta...where your mom said that
other werecheetah was?"  

Ukyou felt a little nervous, if Ranma met another,
female werecheetah, it could be more competition. 
Then Ranma told her she was already there, and she got
even more nervous.  Then mentioned sisters trying to
cure him, and she got even more nervous.  When he
finally said that Akane had suggested bringing along
some friends for support she was near to panicking. 
That meant either Akane was really worried, or else
Akane no longer viewed her as a threat.  Well, she'd
show that girl.

"Yeah, we'll be right over," Ukyou said.  "Oh, by the
way, Ryouga was looking for you earlier.  Oh, should
have known that.  We'll meet you there."  She hung up
the phone and turned to Konatsu.  "Konatsu, we're
shutting down for a couple of days.  Get your gear,
and get in gear."

"What's wrong Ukyou-sama," Konatsu asked.

"Somebody thinks they can cure Ranma," Ukyou said. 
"And he wants some friends at his back in case it
turns out to be a trick or something."

"Oh, and where are we going?" Konatsu asked.

"Atlanta, Georgia," Ukyou said.  "And keep a close eye
on Akane and Ranma for me, okay?"

"Standard operating procedures then," Konatsu said,
sighing.

*********************************************************

"Oh, hello Akane," Kasumi said answering the phone. 
"I see.  Okay.  And when will you be back?  I see.  Is
anyone else going with you.  Just in case?  Oh that's
good."

"Was that Akane on the phone?" Soun asked, rushing to
Kasumi's side and looking anxious.  ~My baby's all
right!  She's not torn to pieces by some rampaging
monster in the streets!!~

"Yes, she, Ranma and Ukyou are going to America for a
couple of days," Kasumi said calmly.

"WHAT!?!" Soun and Genma shouted.  Nabiki merely
watched, with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes, they may have found someone in Atlanta that can
cure the curse," Kasumi said.  Nabiki heard Atlanta,
thought of what she remembered about the adventures of
a certain werecheetah, and the current situation.  She
put two and two together and smiled, maybe she could
talk to Kuno-chan.

"And they haven't invited me!?" Genma shouted.  And
the bald martial artist was quickly out the door.

"Oh my," Kasumi said.  "Perhaps I should have said
they were already at the airport."  She smiled
serenely and walked into the kitchen.

*********************************************************

"Who'ya callin' sugar?" Ukyou asked as she walked up
to the pay phone.  Akane turned and seemed to relax a
little as she saw Ukyou and Konatsu.

"My family," Akane said.  "We figured it would be a
good idea to wait to call them.  Thanks for coming
Ukyou."

"You think I'm going to let you go off alone with
Ranchan?" Ukyou asked, smirking.  Akane's face
darkened a little.

"Why would I want to be alone with him?" she asked,
rolling her eyes and walking towards a hangar.

"Is this normal for an airport?" Ukyou asked, walking
across the tarmac.  She had gotten the feeling from
various movies that terminals were usually inside.

"Not that I know of," Akane said.  "I think this is a
private company or something."

"Is that the girl?" Ukyou asked.  Akane nodded and
Ukyou started walking directly toward Brittany.

"Ukyou, wait!" Akane called out as Ukyou pulled away
from her and Konatsu to confront the werecheetah.

"You're this Brittany person, right?" Ukyou asked
point blank.  Brittany blinked from where she had been
lounging and looked at Ukyou.

"That's right," she said.

"Well, let's just get one thing clear here," Ukyou
said.  "Ranchan's my fiancee, so don't you be getting
any ideas just because you two are like the last of
your races or anything."  

Brittany acquired a rather curious expression on her
face and crossed her arms.  Noticing the
confrontation, Stripe came away from where he was
helping Ace with something and headed for Brittany.  
Behind her, Akane had her face in her hand.  Konatsu
just looked embarrassed.

"So don't try to get in my way, sugar," Ukyou said. 
"Got it?"  Then Stripe was standing next to Brittany,
who took a breath and gestured towards him.

"Allow me to introduce Stripe," she said in an amused,
and half-offended, tone.  "My husband."  Ukyou blushed
bright red and started fidgeting.

"Oh," Ukyou said.  "Excuse me, I'm going to go now." 
She walked away, burning in embarrassment.

"I tried to warn you," Akane said as Ukyou passed her.

"Oh shut up," Ukyou muttered.

*********************************************************

"Kuno-chan," Nabiki said over the phone.  "I've got
some news about my sister, Ranma and the pig-tailed
girl."  Not even Nabiki noticed the small, furred
eavesdropper.

*********************************************************

Shampoo walked into the back of the Nekohanten and
sought out hot water.  A few moments later she was
running up to Cologne.

"Hibachan!" Shampoo shouted desperately.  "Airen going
to America with Kitchen Destroyer and Spatula Girl!!"

"Did you hear why?" Cologne asked after a moment's
thought.

"Shampoo think he go for cure of curse," Shampoo said.

"The werecheetah will have to wait for now then,"
Cologne said.  "Get your things ready."

"But how will we get there?" Shampoo asked.  "They're
probably already gone!"

"Let me worry about that," Cologne said, smirking.

~Why you, Saotome!!~ Mousse thought.  ~Go get a cure
on your own and leave us behind, will you?~

*********************************************************

"You know, this place seems familiar," Ryouga said. 
Walk through one glowing doorway and suddenly he was
completely off track.  He had been on the road to
Nerima, well actually he had been heading for
Yokohama, but he didn't know that.  Now he could be in
Shangri-la for all he knew.

There were a lot of books though, and glancing at them
showed them to mostly be of esoteric knowledge. 
Ryouga thought about it for a moment.  Maybe there was
something about werecheetahs here...or
even...Jusenkyo!

"Oh, hello again," a voice said.  "Did you find what
you were looking for last time?"  Ryouga turned around
to see a man walking among the books.

"Last time?" Ryouga asked blankly.

"You were looking for books on Jusenkyo," the man
reminded him.

"Oh yeah," Ryouga said, not really remembering it, but
playing along anyway.  "I must have gotten lost, could
you lead me to them."

"Sure anything else you need?" the man asked.

"Do you know anything about werecheetahs?" Ryouga
asked.

"Why yes," the man said.  "One of my ex-girlfriends
has a sister who is a werecheetah."

"What?!"

*********************************************************

Ranma sat forward in the plane, with Ukyou, Akane and
Konatsu.  Brittany turned from looking to them to
looking at Nodoka sitting close to her son, but
obviously wishing to be closer than she was.  Then she
looked to Stripe and her sisters.

"I need to talk to her alone for a moment," Brittany
said.  Stripe nodded.  "She might not want to talk
about...things."

"I understand," he said.  "If you need anything just
call us."  Brittany nodded and started to work her way
across the plane.  Brianna shifted a moment and looked
over at Ranma.

"Where are you going?" Gina asked.

"To talk to the kid," Brianna said.

Akane and Ukyou looked up suspiciously as she
approached.

"Can I speak to your boyfriend for a moment?" Brianna
asked.  "Don't worry, I'm not joining anyone's harem."
 She smirked.  "He's too young for me anyway."

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Ranma
asked.  Brianna looked at the other three and frowned.

"Why don't you three go get to know my sister and
brother-in-law?" Brianna asked.  "This is private."

"Excuse us if we don't trust you," Akane said. 
"There's a lot of history with Ranma and women." 
Ranma groaned and tried to ignore Akane and Ukyou.

"Well, go over there and watch," Brianna said
pointing.  "If I do something you don't like you'll
see it."  They stared at her, uncertain.

"You better not try anything, sugar," Ukyou said,
standing up reluctantly.

"Ranma?" Akane asked, turning to face him.  Ranma
glanced at Brianna's face and saw the half-pleading
expression in the back of her eyes.

"Go ahead, I'll talk to her," Ranma said shrugging.

"And don't YOU try anything," Akane said irritably
standing up to join Ukyou and Konatsu.

"Sheesh, you never trust me," Ranma muttered.  Then he
looked to Brianna.  "So what did you want to talk
about?"  Brianna glanced at her sisters and started
whispering.

"Don't tell my sisters about this okay?" Brianna
asked.

"About what?" Ranma asked.

"About...the Neko-ken," Brianna said quietly.  Ranma
looked confused, why shouldn't he talk to her sisters
about his problem.  Though something was telling him
that she really wanted to talk about something else. 
Ranma saw a spark of something familiar in her eyes. 
A certain fear of snapping to awareness to something
act.  A fear of herself.

"Whatta ya wanna know?" 

*********************************************************

"So how did you survive," Brittany asked.  "My dad
said I was the only one."

"I wasn't there," Nodoka said simply.  "I needed to
think about some things.  So I had left for a short
trip before the attack happened."

"Oh," Brittany said, not sure what else to say.  "What
did you need to think about?  If that's not too much
to ask."

"It hardly matters now," Nodoka said sadly.  "But I
was wondering if I should tell my family who I was." 
Brittany looked confused.  "You see, there was this
time-traveling dog talking about preventing someone
from being born..."

"Dr. Peachbody?" Brittany asked.

"Oh, you've had the...pleasure," Nodoka said.

"Unfortunately," Brittany said.  "You escaped him
though."

"And ended up a few decades ahead in the future,"
Nodoka said.  "By the time I found my family again, I
already had a granddaughter.  I assume Xerxes' child
died along with everyone else."  Nodoka took a look at
Brittany and blinked.  "Is there something wrong,
Brittany-san?"

"Did you say you had a son named Xerxes?" Brittany
asked.

"Yes," Nodoka said, looking at her in anticipation.

"Who married Cyan?" Brittany added.

"Correct," Nodoka said, on the edge of her seat. 
Brittany looked her up and down.

"Ummm," Brittany said.  She hesitated before
continuing.  "Your granddaughter didn't die."  Nodoka
took her turn to investigate Brittany, then she
glanced over at Stripe.

"And she has such a manly husband," Nodoka said.

~Oh no,~ Brittany thought as she remember the words of
her mother's spirit at her wedding.  ~It's
hereditary.~

*********************************************************

"What did she want to talk about?" Akane asked as she
took her seat next to Ranma again, from the sounds of
it the flight would be ending soon.

"Yeah," Ukyou added.  "She looked pretty serious." 
Ranma thought about his answer before shrugging.

"She wanted to talk about the Neko-ken," Ranma said.

"Why?" Akane asked.  Ranma shrugged again.

"I didn't ask about that," Ranma said.  "Maybe it's
something to do with how they wanna get rid of the
curse."

"Oh yeah, they were asking about behavioral changes,"
Akane said.  "I wonder why."

Ranma remembered the question Brianna had asked.  ~Has
he ever like, tried to...umm...kill everybody?~  Then
he shrugged.

*********************************************************

"What did you talk to him about? Gina asked.  Brianna
hesitated and then shrugged.

"The Neko-Ken," Brianna said honestly.  "I was worried
about a repeat of...you know."  It was the truth, even
if how it was said would lead Gina to thinking about
other things.

"Oh I think we can stop that," Gina said confidently. 
Then she gave Brianna a concerned look.  "You're
worrying a lot about that today."

"This Neko-ken thing strikes close to home," Brianna
said.

*********************************************************

"How you get stupid stick boy to let us on plane?"
Shampoo asked.

"I simply informed him that you had business with
Ranma involving a battle you had lost," Cologne said. 
"I'm afraid he took that to mean that Ranma had forced
himself upon you."

"Stick boy get more stupid every day," Shampoo said. 
Then she turned and glared at Mousse.  "What he doing
here?"

"Why I invited him of course," Kodachi said.  ~And if
I help him obtain you, there will be fewer obstacles
between me and my Ranma-sama.~ 
"OHHH-HOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"

"Would you kindly not laugh, Koda-chan," Nabiki said. 
"Or do you not want me to tell you were Ranma is?"

"Enough of this banter!" Kuno shouted.  "Pilot take us
to Atlanta, now!!"

"All right already," the pilot said.  "Sit down!"

*********************************************************

"Is there a reason that we're sneaking into your
home?" Konatsu asked.

"We...uh...don't want to wake up our parents," Gina
said.

"That's a way to put it," Brittany said.  She glanced
at Ranma curiously.  "You two are going to watch while
Ranma's...cured, right?"

"You better believe it, sugar," Ukyou said.

"Uh yeah," Akane said.

"Well why don't the rest of us go somewhere nice and
safe...I mean quiet," Brittany said.  "And get better
acquainted."  She grabbed Stripe and Nodoka and
started walking off.  "Muffin, meat your
grandmother-in-law."

"Excuse me?" Stripe said, somewhat surprised.  Gina
and Brianna turned back at that English statement,
wondering if they had misheard.

"What did she mean by somewhere safe?" Ranma asked.

"Oh don't worry about her," Brianna said.  "Nothing
really dangerous has happened down here for a while." 
It was not a reassuring sound.

*********************************************************

"The kids are back," Theo said.

"So what," Julia retorted.  "It's a very big house,
now about those new...ahem...manuevers."

*********************************************************

"Why is Ranma way out over there?" Akane asked. 
"While we're over here?"

"Because last time we tried this," Gina said.  "There
was this energy discharge that knocked everybody out."

"You're sure this is safe, right?" Ukyou asked.

"Oh yeah," Brianna said.  "And we got lots of stuff
ready just in case."

"Just in case of what?" Akane asked.

"Nothing," Gina said.

"You know," Brianna said.  "I was just thinking that
we should have done some tests on his abilities before
we started."

"Can we get on with this?" Ranma's voice came out over
the intercom.

"Going now!" Gina said, typing in a bunch of buttons
and ignoring Brianna.  "This is going to hurt." Gina
said at last before starting the sequence.

"What do you mean it's gonna...AAAAHHH!!" 

*********************************************************

"What in the world did you do?" Akane demanded as they
rushed up to the tubes and saw a pair of cheetahs
lying unconscious.

"Well, do you think it worked?" Gina asked.

"I ain't checking their gender," Brianna replied
firmly.

"Did what work!" Ukyou demanded.  "You said you were
curing the curse!"  She grabbed at her spatula and got
ready to fight.

"Well the same thing happened when I took the curse
off me and Brittany," Gina said.  "It sort of brought
the decoy I set up to life.  I was sort of wondering
if a shape changing spell like this one would have
enough power for that."

"Well you were wrong!" Akane shouted.  "What happened
to the last 'decoy' that came to life?"  Brianna
waved.

"Hello," she said.

"Akane-san, Ukyou-sama," Konatsu said.  "They're
waking up."  Everybody turned to look at the cheetahs
as they sat up and stretched, cat-like.

"Uh-oh," Akane said, whispering.  "The Neko-ken." 
Both cheetahs noted her and happily started towards
her direction, until they noticed each other.


*********************************************************

"It is pleasant to be able to take hybrid from again,"
Nodoka said stretching out.  

"I've never had to hide myself," Brittany said.  "I
guess I've been lucky."

"The werewolves never tried to kill you?" Nodoka
asked.

"Yes they did," Brit said.  "One of them.  The one who
ordered the attack.  He was a traitor to his own kind
too, did you know that?  Killed a lot of werewolves."

"So it was the responsibility of one madman then,"
Nodoka said, somewhat relieved that the whole nation
of the wolves had not been behind it.  On the other
hand it was chilling that one man could do such
damage.  "What has become of this monster?"

"He was disintegrated," Brittany said with a feral
grin.

"What exactly did you mean by somewhere safe?"

"Oh nothing," Brittany said.

"Then can you tell me how exactly do your sisters plan
to cure Ranma?" Nodoka asked.

"Oh, probably the same way she cured us," Brittany
said.  "Make a decoy for the curse." 

"Isn't that how Brianna was born?" Stripe asked. 
Brittany gave a nervous smile.

"Pardon me?" Nodoka asked.

"Well she said she could do it without the
side-effect," Brittany said nervously.  "Of course,
knowing Bri and Gina..."

"What is this side effect you're talking about?"
Nodoka asked.

"Ahem, could...um...somebody come down here," Gina's
voice came over the intercom.  In the background was
the sound of growling and crashes and people yelling. 
"We seem to have hit a little bit of a snag." 
Brittany sweatdropped.

"Ranma!  Stop attacking Ranma!" Akane's voice added,
sounding confused and angry.

"What in the world is going on down there?" Nodoka
demanded hurriedly.

"I'd say Gina and Brianna accidentally cloned your
son," Stripe said.  Brittany groaned and slammed her
face into her hand.


*********************************************************

"Oh no," Julia moaned.

"I guess we should see what's happening," Theo said
equally resigned.


*********************************************************

"Don't worry!" Brianna yelled.  She had left the lab
as the cheetahs started going after each other, and
now she was back.   "It's not silver!!"

She had, of course, a gun.

"What does she mean by it's not silver?" Ukyou asked
turning toward the voice.  "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

It was a big gun.

"Umm, nothing," Brianna said, pulling up even with
everybody.  "Nothing that'll kill a werecheetah
anyway."  She trained the gun on the fighting
werecheetahs, and smiled as the powering up sounds
echoed through the room.  It didn't really have to
make that noise, but she liked it that way.

"Are you crazy?!" Akane shouted smacking the gun as
Brianna started firing.  The arc of fire went wide,
into the ceiling, only one explosion catching the
cheetahs on the edge.

"Watch what you're doing!" Brianna shouted.  "You
could have killed us."

"And you could have killed the Ranmas!" Ukyou snapped
back.

"Only silver, magic or other werefolk can do that,"
Gina said.  "But, we can try to incapacitate them with
stuff that SHOULD kill them.  And then separate them."

"They're getting away!" Konatsu shouted as the
cheetahs chased each other up the wall and out the
hole Brianna had made in the ceiling.

"How'd they do that?" Bri asked.

"How'd who do what?" a voice asked.  Brianna and Gina
turned around to see their parents.

"Uh, we had a little problem removing a curse," Gina
said.

*********************************************************

"Tell me, how did you come to decide that this was
where Ranma would be heading?" Cologne asked.

"Tell me Cologne," Nabiki said.  "In the year or so
you've been in the modern world, have you heard of the
Diggers?"

"The name sounds familiar," Cologne admitted.  Nabiki
rung the door bell.

"Let's just say that recent events in Nerima and the
fact that Ranma was going to Atlanta with some
Americans point to the Diggers family," Nabiki said.

"I should hope so," Kuno declared.  "If you have, for
no reason, brought us to this land of barbarians who
have utterly no respect for those of true greatness,
then you shall have something to answer for."  Nabiki
rung the door bell again.

"Indeed," Kodachi said.  "I for once must agree with
my delusional brother in this regard."

"It certainly does seem quiet for any place in which
Saotome has resided for any length of time," Mousse
noted.

"Mercenary girl helping sister hide Airen?" Shampoo
threatened dangerously.

"I wouldn't have come with you if I were," Nabiki
said.  Nabiki knocked on the door.

"So where is everybody then?" Mousse asked.  At this
point Nabiki was considering having one of the martial
artists knock.

"This has to be where..." 

Nabiki was interrupted as two large furry shapes
exploded out of the door, knocking both Nabiki and
Kuno to the side.  The shapes bowled through the group
and then stopped for long enough for the Nerimans to
identify a pair of cheetahs, one slightly smaller. 
They were circling each other and hissing.

"Cheetahs?" Cologne said, a little surprised.  Both
cats seemed a little worn, but both displayed a few
gashes here and there, and it seemed more would be
coming.

"They went this way!!" a voice shouted in English. 
Then a blonde girl with the stereotypical big gun came
charging out of the house.  She pointed at the two
cheetahs and then blinked on seeing Mousse.  Then the
gun was trained to point at him.  "Didn't I blow you
up already?"

"Ah no doubt it is the daemonic werecheetah that has
been plaguing Nerima, obviously it came here with its
evil master to escape my righteous wrath," Kuno drew a
silver blade and charged at the dueling cheetahs. 
Both turned away from their fight long enough to
charge at Kuno, and shred his silver sword without
touching it.  After the samurai was tossed aside the
cheetahs turned their attention to each other.

Cologne narrowed her eyes as she recognized the
neko-ken attacks and turned to Nabiki.

"The werecheetah is Ranma, isn't it," Cologne asked. 
At the word werecheetah, Shampoo drew her sword,
looking fairly reluctant to do so.

"That was my guess," Nabiki said.

"Stop shooting at my Ranchan!" Ukyou shouted as she
came through the door and slammed her spatula into
Brianna.  The gun shoved down, almost crushing
Mousse's nervous face.  Then it fired, while stuck in
the ground.  The gun and much of the ground
underneath, exploded upwards sending Mousse, Ukyou and
Brianna flying into the air.

"Brianna!" Gina shouted as she came on the scene with
Akane and her parents.

"Ukyou!" Akane shouted.

"Mousse!" Shampoo shouted.  "FALL ON HEAD!"  

Both werecheetahs were again distracted from their
fight to attend to the falling girls.  Ukyou and
Brianna both felt something grab at the back of their
shirts and interrupt their fall.  Next thing both knew
they were being set down gently.

Mousse obediently fell on his head.  Into Kodachi's,
who had been wondering if the cheetahs would make good
pets.  Both lay senseless on the ground sprawled over
each other.

Shampoo reluctantly moved forward until she was
stopped by Cologne.

"I could not beat Ranma in human form under the
effects of the neko-ken," Cologne said.  "It would
take someone of great power to even challenge him
now."

Both cheetahs slowly started circling after each other
again.

"RANMA STOP NOW!!" Two voices shouted at once, as
Nodoka, Brittany and Stripe joined the scene.  Akane
and Nodoka didn't bother to ask why the cheetahs
hesitated at the shout, they just each moved to hold
back one of the cats.

Shampoo caught sight of another werecheetah and
apparently a weretiger, out of the corner of her eye
and shifted stance to confront them.

"You make airen into monster!" Shampoo shouted,
charging forward with her silver sword.  She was
easily intercepted and tossed across the sizeable yard
by an extremely angry redhead.

"Don't touch my daughter!" Julia snapped.

"You claim that creature as your child?" Cologne
asked.  Brittany growled at the comment.

"What did you call my sister?" someone asked behind
Cologne.  She turned to see Brianna, recovered from
her surprise, and suddenly dressed in futuristic armor
with at least a dozen pokemon like things floating
around her.  Cologne remembered the explosive robot
and frowned.

"Try not to insult my wife," Stripe added grimly.

"Amazon, right?" Theodore Diggers asked.  

Cologne nodded, thinking of what move to make first. 
The two cheetahs, while mostly unwilling to endanger
the people holding them, growled in her direction. 
Nodoka and Akane also glared at Cologne, but kept a
firm hold of the cheetahs, worried they might start
fighting again otherwise.

"You're still following those archaic rules," Dr.
Diggers added, shaking his head.  "For goodness sake,
the Realm of the Undead is more lenient and reasonable
than you people."

"They work," Cologne protested.

"Not really," the mage responded.  Shampoo stood up
and started to stalk towards Julia.  "I wouldn't do
that.  My wife is the Armsmaster of Jade.  Arguably
the best warrior in two worlds."  Cologne blinked,
shocked at the revelation.

"Of course if you want to try to take me on," Julia
said, smirking.  Shampoo growled and looked ready to
rush her.

"Don't child," Cologne insisted.  "The Armsmaster, and
who would you be?"

"Theodore Diggers," he answered.  "A member of the
Conclave of Wizards.  I believe that the Amazons
haven't had anyone in the Conclave for around five
hundred years."

"Before we leave," Cologne said.  "I have to ask how
Ranma contracted his condition."

"He was born that way," Nodoka called out, angrily. 
"How else would it happen?"

"It is a race," Dr. Diggers said.  "Not a disease as
you and yours seem to think."

"I see," Cologne said darkly.  "Shampoo we are
leaving."

"But�!" Shampoo protested, stopping as Cologne gave
her a look.  They didn't bother to take Mousse along
with them.

"Well, that was exciting," Ukyou said, dryly, feeling
jealous as she watched the cheetahs, one of which was
comfortably resting in Akane's arms.  Well it was
straining to attack the other cheetah, but jealousy
colors things funny.

"Okay," Julia said.  "Someone explain to us what's
going on."

*********************************************************

"Congratulations," a male voice said dryly.  "You've
actually managed to cure a Jusenkyo curse.  Sort of."

"It worked didn't it?" Gina's voice said hesitantly. 
Apparently they were speaking Japanese for their
guests' benefit.

"How were we supposed to know that would happen?"
Brianna asked.  The listener could almost feel all the
faces turn to look at Bri.

~Cure a...I'm cured!~ the listener thought.  They sat
up and looked around.   "Am I really cured?"  Then
they noticed a familiar sight and blinked in surprise.
 "Oh my, isn't that my cursed form?"

"Hey," the boy said angrily and nervously.  "You�re my
cursed form!"

"Be quiet, baka!" Akane snapped, elbowing him.  "We
just talked about this."

"Ran...ko," Nodoka said soothingly.  She turned to
look at her mother and shivered.  She loved her
mother, but since finding about this werecheetah thing
it was hard to approach her.  "The procedure to
cure..." her independent boy form rolled his eyes. 
"...resulted in a clone.  You now have a brother,
Ranma."

"Having a telepath on hand is useful," Gina said in
English.  "Isn't it Dad?"

"We wouldn't have so much need if some people weren't
so reckless," Julia said with an amused smirk as the
Saotome siblings cautiously became acquainted.  "I
suppose the next step is meditation techniques to
control the neko-ken?"  Her husband nodded.

"We should probably try Jade for that," Theo said. 
"More mages to control them, just in case."

*********************************************************

"I need to stop walking through glowing doorways,"
Ryouga said wearily as he sat in a tavern sipping a
mug of some alcoholic beverage and watching a
collection of catpeople drinking at a table across the
room.  At the moment Ryouga was fervently hoping that
they wouldn't find the silver blade in his umbrella.


Authors Notes:

both the Hiryu Shoten Ha and the Umisen final attack
(Deep Demon Sea Submerge?  Or something like that)
involve using an opponent's chi against them.  The
Umisen steals the vacuum from the Yamasen demon bomb
(and it can probably do the same to other chi attacks)
to do its work...and the Hiryu Shoten Ha uses ambient
chi about a fighter to do what it does...the unnamed
move Ranma came up with on the fly to remove the Gado
Beam from where it would hurt anyone utilized this
principle of chi theft and redirection...as well as a
little bit of the principle behind the Moko Takabisha
to provide some chi to start the vortex before the
beam got to him...

also...Cheetah beats these people fairly regularly, if
with difficulty...Cheetah is good and all, but unless
she's REALLY pised off and someone she cares about is
hurt, she tends to get somewhat careless...also, her
mother, a warrior EASILY on level with Ranma's skill,
probably better in MANY ways, (I don't think Ranma
could flatten an Elder Dragon) has declared that she
is, in terms of the martial arts, the equivalent of a
"See Spot Run" book...so of course someone like Ranma
would walk through them easy

I like the wererats...I hope they become good guys

=====
"Caffeinated Kender?  What's that, a berserk spell?" - 
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'