I got the idea, and some of the text (sparring with Genma, Kuno's
trap) for this fic from The Man in Shadows' Ranma with Spots fic...it
was found at the "Ranma and Co. Crossing Bridges" web site.  It's 
actually a continuation that the pre-said author allowed, and in that 
regard, the early parts are changed more than I usually like to in an 
allowed continuation of another fic.

***

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 it's 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 me, 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.

"It was a supposedly unbeatable technique," Genma said. "And it's
proven useful in the past. Besides if he's like you it couldn't kill
him, could it?"

"I had him locked in human form you!" Nodoka said. "And all his powers
so nobody would have figured it out. If you had killed him, he would
have been dead!"

"Well, he's alive and probably the best martial artist in the world
now," Genma said desperately.

"And terrified of himself!" Nodoka snapped.

"Well, I didn't read the part about that," Genma said, trying to
excuse himself. Nodoka leaned into his face growling.

"Didn't...read it..." Nodoka asked.

"It was hidden on the last page," Genma said. Nodoka rose a furry hand
to her face and sighed.

"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..uh꿕f 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 the problem he had with
shedding. If he didn't regenerate then he'd be bald in under twenty
minutes.

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 and went 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 that 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.

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

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 a blur.

"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."

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

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

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

"Strike from the dark like a coward?" Daishi declared. "Stand and
fight, fool!" Truth be told he was impressed that he still couldn't
find the attacker, even knowing he was in the area.

"Sure," Ranma said, stepping down from the rooftop he had bounced to.
Everyone stared in mild shock at the new werecheetah.

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 Daishi, 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 kick 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.

"GADO!!" Daishi started. Ranma turned toward the wererats. "BEAM!!!"
And then he was rushing away from the beam.

"HE'S COMING TO KILL US!!!!" Romeo shouted stumbling to his feet. The
two girls huddled together, not even noticing the chi blast coming
behind the cheetah. Well they noticed, they just thought it was the
werecheetah's doom gaze in full power.

"Is this, like, gonna hurt?" Moisha asked.

"A lot," Lydia confirmed.

"Oh, bye then," Moisha said.

"Goodbye Moisha," Lydia whimpered. Then Ranma was on top of them.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"

"Goodbye cruel world," Romeo muttered. Then the girls were being
thrown over one of Ranma's shoulders, and Romeo over the other. All
four virtually took flight just as the Beam washed through and blasted
through a building.

"Completely annihilated," Daishi declared as his attack faded away.
Until he noticed the shadow on the ground, just before a pair of feet
smacked him into the concrete. Ranma set the wererats down and,
deciding to stay in a theme, took the unconscious ninja and smacked
him into the unsteady Zelda.

"Have we landed yet?" Romeo asked as flopped on his back. "Make it
stop spinning."

"Is this what death feels like?" Lydia wondered herself as Moisha,
being sort of top heavy, at least until you hit her head, fell next.

"I'm gonna be sick," Moisha whimpered.

"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?"

"We're...alive?" Romeo asked sitting up. Ranma took a step toward
them.

"RUN AWAY!!!" they shouted and high-tailed it out of the area, in
unsteady lines that would make Ryouga look like he knew where he was
going. 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. "It뭩 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 Brianna. 

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. "People KNOW there
is a werecheetah around here and demented little munckin geniuses that
use dirty underhanded tactics to get revenge."

"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.

"Deja 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.

"Uhh뀂eah," 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...c꿤ats, 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!"

"C꿤.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 my husband 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, the not-quite-so-catlike blonde, the normal
looking blonde. 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.

"I wonder if the Amazons have some sort of law for werecreatures or
something," Ranma said wearily.

"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.

"If 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 Amazon 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 Brit 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, it뭩 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.

"Ohh꿌 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, meet 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. On top of Kodachi's head, 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. She turned to Diggers. "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 this
isn't over.~

"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."

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

"So what your saying is," Akane said, staring at the strange
horned...person. "That SHE has all Ranma's memories and thinks that
SHE'S the original."

"Yes," Genn said, not entirely pleased that Bri and Gina had done this
particular experiment again.

"I thought we had it right this time," Gina protested to his look.
Everybody gave both sisters a renewed look.

"Perhaps I would suggest letting her hold on to that belief for now,"
Brianna said. "She'll probably figure it out on her own, but no need
to slam it into her."

"Ranchan's not going to like that," Ukyou muttered.

"We'll just give both of them the same private speech," Akane said.
"That'll work, won't it?"

"Hard to say," Theodore Diggers said. "Mrs. Saotome?"

"I think that'll be the best for now," Nodoka agreed.

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

"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. "You뭨e 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 cat-people 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.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------