Cat Fist Fury



Ranma  belongs to you-know-who and you know the rest.



<>: Thoughts

{""}: Language other than Japanese.



                                  Chapter 9

                                  Cat Fight



     Ranma Saotome, also known as Cojiro Shinkara, was not happy. 

It had been a full week since his fight with the Amazons and things 

had not gotten any better. For the last few hours, he had been 

steadily venting his frustrations as he repeatedly pounded away at 

his target in the abandoned lot he was using for a training area. 

However, it was apparent that his training post would not last much 

longer, as he rained blow after blow at nearly full strength.

     Ranma had discovered early on that his superior Neko Ken 

abilities gave him unbelievable strength, endurance and resistance to 

injury. As a result, the usual two by four wooden posts that normal 

martial artists would use snapped like toothpicks after one blow. 

Ranma had also used railroad ties, but they also proved too flimsy. 

He was finally forced to using unorthodox materials. As of now, he 

was pounding away on a reinforced steel girder that he had gotten 

from a construction site. He didn't even bother to wrap the top of 

the beam as the surrounding area echoed with an incessant clanging 

as each blow hit the metal. The entire girder shuddered as it 

threatened to snap. Ranma began increasing his pace and more 

blows hammered against the target. His rage also went up as he 

considered all the problems he had faced. 

     "YAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

     With that final shout, Ranma reared back with his right hand and 

opened up into a claw. It began glowing with a blue light as he thrust 

it forward and arced toward the beam.

     "RIPCLAW SLASH!"

     The upper half of the girder was cleanly sliced off and fell to the 

ground with a dull thud.Ranma simply stood motionless as he stared 

at the piece of metal. After a long moment of  silence, he took a 

deep, cleansing breath and sat down in a cross-legged position. He 

then closed his eyes and began a slow, meditation process to clear 

his mind of all anger and frustration. As he tried to regain his 

composure, he began thinking back to what he had experienced over 

the last few days.

     The Amazons had proven to be very persistent after he had 

defeated them. They had taken up residence with Shampoo and her 

great-grandmother at the Cat Caf. Conditioner, Bubbles, Brush and 

Comb had gotten jobs as waitresses and business boomed. However, 

the entire party and Shampoo were still intent on giving Ranma the 

Kiss of Marriage. Throughout the last five days, he had to go 

through a series of running battles and evade numerous traps as the 

Amazons tried to track him down and find out where he lived. Every 

day, after school, Ranma would lead them all on a merry chase 

through the streets of Tokyo. He would have to double back; zigzag 

and sometimes just plain outrun them. This was not made any easier 

since they were also expert trackers. One of his biggest mistakes 

had happened two days ago.



Two days earlier

     "WO AI NI!"

     "WODE ARIEN!"

     "WAIT FOR BUBBLES YOU HUNK OF BURNING LOVE!"

     The other Amazons turned their heads in surprise at the spear-

wielding warrior. Bubbles blushed a bit as she said; "I see on 

television last night."

     Meanwhile, Ranma had gotten some considerable distance from 

his pursuers but he knew that it would only be a matter of time 

before they would be on his trail again. Leaping over another series 

of rooftops, he somersaulted down to the ground and ducked into an 

alley to catch his breath. The chase had already caused some 

considerable property damage as the Amazons had crashed though 

several walls, fences and whatever else had gotten in the way.

     <Damn! Those girls don't know when to quit! Stupid Amazon 

Laws! I can't believe the mess I'm in! I've got to get them off my 

trail! Ranma began thinking for a moment. Hmmmm, I can't just 

head home right now. They're too close to my apartment and the l 

don't want to get into trouble with the landlord if those girls start 

busting up the place while trying to kiss me! I've got to lead them 

away from my place and take them to someplace less crowded!>

     Ranma leapt up toward a rooftop and saw that the Amazons were 

now starting to close the distance between them. He then started to 

run toward the edge of the city and was soon near the rail station. 

Noting that a bullet train was just about to pull out of the station and 

head out of town, Ranma sprinted toward it and made an incredible 

fifty-foot, running broad jump. He just managed to land on top of 

the last car and did a tuck and roll to lessen the impact. When he 

rolled to a stop, he crouched down and hung onto the roof of the car 

as the train began to pick up speed. Looking back at the station, he 

grinned at the frustrated faces of his pursuers as they halted to a 

stop on top of the roof of the train station. He then frowned as he 

saw them suddenly jump on top of another train that had just pulled 

out and was running on a track that was parallel to his own. It wasn't 

long before the two trains were side by side. Ranma didn't like the 

way the females were grinning at him as they closed in on him.

     Looking out in front of him, the Neko Ken fighter saw that he 

was heading toward an area of dense forests and decided to take his 

chances.< I know this is crazy, but> Ranma began gauging the 

distance between him and the nearby trees that were adjacent to the 

railway. When he came close enough, he leapt off the train and 

grabbed an overhanging branch. He then swung though the foliage 

that would have made Tarzan look like an amateur and was soon 

deep within the forest.

     The warriors of the Joketsuzoku were more than impressed by 

his display of endurance and agility as they too leapt off their train 

and pursued him through the treetops. After the party had 

disappeared into the forest, all was silent. Nothing was heard for the 

longest time. Then it happened

     A thundering roar was heard, causing birds to be startled out of 

their nests. The skies were filled with frightened birds, and the 

ground shook a bit, as numerous animals of all kinds were scared 

out of their burrows and hiding places. The cries of the wildlife 

were accentuated with the surprised screams of a certain husband-

hunting party.

     "AIYA! NO EXPECT THAT TO BE HERE!"

     "SHOOT IT COMB!"

     "WHERE COJIRO?"

     "KILL TIGER NOW! FIND AIREN LATER!"



The present

     <Okay, so that wasn't one of my better ideas!> Ranma shook his 

head and sighed. He had forgotten that the Amazons had considered 

his tiger form as a valuable hunting trophy. He had thought he could 

lose them by shifting to his beast form, perhaps scare them off. 

Instead, the warrior women had chased him with just as much gusto 

as they did when he was human. They had caused a considerable 

ruckus as they tried to catch him. This in turn resulted into another 

media circus when they had encountered a few tourists. One of 

them had a camcorder with him and filmed part of the chase. When 

Ranma had finally gotten away from his pursuers and returned 

home, he was more than a little miffed to see his tiger form on the 

evening news. Once again, there was huge speculation about the 

mysterious 'Tokyo Tiger.' Several scientific and hunting groups 

were now offering huge rewards leading to his capture or kill. The 

Amazons of course, were interviewed for their part in this drama as 

they openly declared their prey was theirs and they fully intended to 

bring it down themselves.

     <And I thought that Kiss of Marriage rule was bad enough! When 

I'm a tiger, they want me dead! When I'm a guy, they just want me! 

Man! Things can't get more complicated than that!>

     Unknown to Ranma, the second appearance of the Tokyo Tiger 

had attracted another interested group. They had just gotten off their 

plane at the airport in Tokyo when they paused to watch a news 

article on a nearby television. When they saw the image of Ranma's 

tiger form, Dr. Theodore Diggers, archimage extroadinaire, was 

deep in thought. <Hmmmm very interesting! It seems that the 

rumors were true.>

     The three girls who were accompanying their father nodded at 

the screen. Gina Diggers, the feisty, yet very educated eldest sister 

looked at her father and said in English, {"So what do you think 

Dad? Could he be another subspecies of lycanthrope?"}

     The head of the Diggers family shook his head and replied, {"I'm 

not sure. I don't have enough information to be certain. However, 

from what I've gathered so far, this saber-toothed tiger is definitely 

not your common variety werebeast. We've already had a full moon 

six days ago and there hasn't been any report about it until now."}

     {"So what do we do now?"} Brittany asked.

     The wizard looked at his adopted, werecheetah daughter and said, 

{"For now, we'll just go to our hotel and keep an eye out for this 

tiger. This will also give you three a chance to brush up on your 

language skills. You will need to understand Japanese if we're going 

to stay here for a while."}

     {"Awwww! I hoping to do some power shopping!"}

     {"Well sis, you can't get the best deals if you can't read the 

labels!"} Brianna quipped as the Diggers clan went to retrieve their 

luggage.

     A few days later, Ranma was running across the rooftops near 

Himoto High. He was currently enjoying a rare commodity, a 

moment of peace. The Amazons had not been stalking him for the 

last couple of days, Kuno and Mousse had not bothered him, due to 

their injuries from their last encounters with him and everything 

seemed peaceful. Ranma was intent on enjoying this respite to the 

fullest. He made a series of acrobatic leaps, turns, flips and other 

such maneuvers with a grace and speed that defied belief. His 

display of agility would soon be noticed by a couple of people, who 

were just emerging from a clothing store.

     {"You really went overboard this time sis!"} Gina remarked as 

she hefted four bags that were overflowing with Brittany's 

purchases. {"Dad's going to have a coronary when he sees his credit 

card bill next month!"}

     {"Hey! It's not my fault that my clothes keep on getting 

destroyed whenever I get into a fight!"} Brittany replied. She was 

currently in her human form. Although she didn't really care for it, 

she had reluctantly agreed to keep to this form during their stay in 

Japan. With all the media hype that was caused by the appearances 

of the Tokyo Tiger, Brittany's hybrid and feline form would attract 

too much attention. Of course, that didn't stop the adopted Digger 

from shopping for some new threads to accentuate her looks as a 

werecheetah. If one were to look closely at her purchases, one 

would notice that they were several sizes too large for her human 

frame.

     {"Well"} Gina began, then stopped as a small beeping was 

heard from one of the pockets in her jeans. She reached down and 

took out a small device that resembled a miniature pocket 

calculator.

     {"Hey, what's that?"} Brittany asked.

     {"It's a new energy detector that I made last week. I created it to 

detect the supernatural energies of lycanthropes and other mystical 

creatures. In our line of work, we do encounter a lot of them! I 

decided to take it along. If this tiger is a werebeast, then we can use 

this to find it. Right now, it's picking up some really weird 

readings!"}

     {"Are you sure it's not just detecting me?"}

     {"No, I've already isolated your own personal energies. This new 

source is a short distance away and whoa! This can't be right!"} 

The science-orientated Digger tapped the side of her device.

     {"What is it?"}

     {"Either my detector needs some major adjustment or the power 

readings that I'm getting is real! I'm reading an energy level that 

goes way beyond the normal range for a lycanthrope of the cat type! 

I'm also getting some strange fluctuations! I can't seem to get a 

positive lock on it!"}

     It was then that Brittany suddenly became silent as she felt a 

breeze from something whooshing above them. She looked up and 

saw something dart past them, easily clearing the gaps between 

rooftops. To her eyes, it was nothing more than a blur of motion.  

     {"That was it!"} Gina exclaimed.

     {"I'll go check it out!"} Brittany replied as she dropped her bags.

     {"Wait a minute!"}

     The impulsive werecheetah wasted no time as she shifted to her 

hybrid form. Her diminutive human body instantly became taller and 

more muscular as it became covered in gold fur, flecked with black 

spots. Her face became pale and two marks that resembled a 

cheetah's facial stripes appeared on her cheeks. The blue T-shirt she 

was wearing was stretched to its limits, as her bust became fuller. 

Her baggy shorts were soon filled with more rounded hips and a 

long tail spouted out from the small of her back. Fortunately, her 

shorts were loose enough to allow enough room for her tail to 

move over the waistband. In less than an instant, Brittany Diggers 

had become a seven foot tall humanoid feline.

     With a mighty leap, Brittany was on a roof and was speeding after 

whatever or whoever had passed them by. Her sister Gina was 

forced to drop most of her packages and give chase. However, she 

was soon left far behind, as she couldn't keep up with her sister's 

rapid pace.

     Ranma's sixth sense began warning him that something was 

coming at him. Assuming that the Amazons were pursuing him 

again, he stopped and turned around, taking a defensive stance. His 

eyes widened as he saw what was approaching him at an extremely 

rapid speed.

     <What the hell is that?!>

     Brittany was equally surprised to see that what she was pursuing 

was just a mere human. She also skidded to a stop and the two faced 

each other off. 

     <This is what I was chasing?> Brittany thought. <Man! Gina's 

gadget must need a lot of fine-tuning! No way a human could move 

like that! Unless>

     "Who or what are you?" Ranma asked cautiously. His body 

began tensing up as he focused his inner energies.

     <Uh oh! He's speaking Japanese! I hope this doesn't sound too 

awkward!> "Uh how you? See you like me?"

     "Huh?"

     "Sorry. No talk goodly Japanese. Look for tiger. You tiger?"

     Ranma stiffened when her heard those words. <Does she know?> 

"Tiger? Why are you looking for a tiger?"

     "Heard on TV. Find out if real."

     "I don't know what you're talking about!" Ranma replied, his 

uneasiness growing.

     Brittany was beginning to think that she might have been chasing 

the wrong guy when she suddenly saw something approaching from 

a short distance away. Ranma also turned his head and his 

expression became very irritated.

     "Aw man! Not now!"

     The Amazons had spotted Ranma earlier on and had been secretly 

following him for the past half-hour. When they saw him suddenly 

stop, they thought that it was a good opportunity to catch him 

unawares. However, when they got within sight of him, they 

instantly noticed Brittany. The Amazons naturally reacted in their 

usual manner. They attacked her, thinking that Ranma was in danger 

from the supposed monster.

     "AIYA! WHAT THAT?"

     "IS DEMON! MUST SAVE AIREN!"

     Brittany was just as confused as the group of warrior women 

came bearing down on her. She had no time to consider as a volley 

of arrows and throwing stars were sent hurtling at her. Her eyes 

widened as she saw their pointed tips glint with telltale sign of 

silver. She jumped to the side to avoid the projectiles and that was 

when things got totally out of hand.

     Gina had finally managed to get to the area where Ranma and 

Brittany were standing on the roof of a building. However, as she 

looked up, she saw the throwing stars and arrows that her sister had 

evaded. The eldest Diggers girl screamed as she just barely managed 

to duck the volley. The stars and arrows imbedded themselves in the 

telephone poles and store walls behind her.

     "GINA!" Brittany snarled as she turned to face the Amazons. 

Seeing her sister put in danger, albeit unintentionally, caused the 

werecheetah to lose control. {"How dare you! You'll pay for that!"} 

The enraged feline girl leapt at the Amazons, intending to rend them 

to pieces.

     The warriors of the Joketsuzoku braced themselves as the 

werecheetah leapt forward. They were quite surprised when 

someone leapt out from one side and tackled her. The force of the 

impact drove the two off the roof.

     Brittany found herself falling toward the ground with whoever 

had tackled her. Twisting her body so that she would land upright, 

she pushed away at her assailant and touched down on the pavement.

     Ranma also twisted to land safely on the ground. He didn't know 

what was going on, but he couldn't stand by and let this situation 

deteriorate any further. Seeing Brittany attack the Amazons had put 

his body on automatic as he instinctively tackled her. Now, as he 

faced off against her, his sixth sense began giving him more 

warnings. Quickly looking up, he saw that Brush and Comb were 

loosing another volley at the werecheetah.

     Brittany saw this new attack and instinctively moved to the side 

to evade it. Ranma saw that Gina was in the line of fire again and 

leapt forward. With uncanny speed, he scooped up the globetrotting 

archaeologist as if she weighed next to nothing and then jumped to a 

height of thirty feet. Gently depositing her on a roof, he leapt down 

to try and calm things down.

     By now, Brittany was very annoyed that she was being used for 

target practice. Using a series of high-speed evasion maneuvers, she 

easily dodged everything that the Amazons could throw at her. As 

she closed in on them, she readied her claws. It was then that 

something hard struck her in the back.

     Ranma had been very uneasy to hitting the werecheetah from 

behind, but he couldn't just stand by and let her tear into the 

Amazons. From what he had already seen and what his enhanced 

senses were telling him, this creature possessed far more power 

that all the warrior women combined. 

     The werecheetah snarled as she faced off against Ranma. The 

young martial artist took this reaction as not a good thing and knew 

that a fight was inevitable. When the werecheetah charged at him, 

Ranma braced himself for action.

     Brittany was very angered that someone had dared hit her from 

behind and threw a hard straight punch toward Ranma's face. Moving 

with unbelievable speed, her punch was barely a visible blur as it 

impacted against the young Neko Ken fighter, sending him 

sprawling back a few dozen feet. A sort of miniuature sonic boom 

was heard after the blow was delivered.

     Ranma was almost knocked unconscious from the blow as he 

tried to steady himself. He shook his head to clear it as he rubbed 

his sore chin. <Ow! What the hell was that?> He had no chance to 

ponder what had just occurred when his danger sense went off. 

Ranma ducked as the werecheetah sped toward him and delivered a 

flying kick. She barely missed Ranma by a fraction of an inch and 

plowed into the roof behind him, causing shingles and tiles to be 

smashed apart.

     The Neko Ken fighter reacted in an instant, pivoting on the balls 

of his feet and turning. He then lashed out with a hand and grabbed 

Brittany by the tail. Pulling hard, he then swung the werecheetah in a 

wide arc and sent her flying off a few dozen meters toward an 

abandoned area of the city. Brittany found herself crashing on top of 

a car in the streets below. The impact of 308lbs of werecheetah 

caused the top of the car to crumple down and the windows to 

shatter.

     <Ow! Ow! Ow! My back! That jerk nearly pulled my spine out!> 

Brittany was just about to get up when she saw a darting shape come 

barreling down toward her. Quickly getting to her feet, she then 

grabbed the wrecked car and hefted the mass over her head. With 

inhuman strength, she lobbed the car at Ranma, just as he landed on 

the street twenty feet from her position.

     Ranma's eyes widened as he saw more than a ton of Japanese 

engineering come hurtling at him. <Damn!> Seeing that there was 

no time for him to power up his claws, Ranma held out his hands 

and braced himself. He reached out and grabbed onto the metal, his 

hands dug into the metal as if it was wet newspaper. The forward 

momentum of the car drove him back a couple of steps but Ranma 

held on. When his movement stopped, he began concentrating his 

power into his hands.

     Brittany was more than surprised to have seen Ranma actually 

intercept the car and hold it aloft. She had expected him to dodge 

the car, not actually catch it! The automobile had to have weighed 

more the 1200lbs! <Damn! That guy's pretty strong! Too strong for 

a human! Could that mean?> Britanny never got to finish that 

thought as she saw a blue light being emitted from Ranma's hands. 

Her expression then got a little paler as she witnessed the 

unthinkable!

     Ranma was steamed. No, steamed did not quite describe it. He 

was absolutely ticked off. As such, his temper began a fast boil and 

his animalistic nature started to show. He let off a roar as he 

tightened his grip on the car and RIPPED IT IN HALF! He then 

tossed the pieces away and charged at Brittany, his eyes red with 

rage.

     "TIGER CLAW FRENZY!"

     "YOW!" Brittany found herself desparately trying to dodge more 

than six hundred slashes being delivered. A few managed to nick her 

arms, causing her to wince in pain. <Holy! This guy's fast!> Ducking 

under the last of his swipes, she then used another one of her 

supersonic punches to try and get some breathing room. 

     Ranma however, had anticipated the move and held out an open 

palm. Brittany's fist impacted with it, causing Ranma some sharp 

pain as he clamped down on it. He then moved forward and planted a 

knee to Brittany's midsection, causing her to gasp as the wind was 

knocked out of her. He then reared back and delivered a hard 

headbutt to the werecheetah's forehead.

     Both combatants staggered back. Ranma had not expected a 

werecheetah's head to be so hard, while Brittany was reeling from 

the force of the blow. Both antagonists shook their heads to clear 

them, but Brittany recovered first. She charged at her opponent and 

delivered a slash to his midsection.

     Ranma's sixth sense had just enough time to warn him to twist his 

body. Brittany's claws just barely missed his skin as they tore a 

gaping hole in his shirt. Just as the claws went by, Ranma pivoted on 

one foot and sent a high spin kick to the side of the werecheetah's 

head. His foot made a solid thwack against her temple. Since she 

was off-balnce at the moment and Ranma had hit her hard enough to 

punch a hole through a three-foot concrete wall, Brittany went 

down. She didn't stay down though as she rolled to one side and got 

to her feet, delivering a series of rabbit punches to Ranma's gut as 

she came up.

     Ranma winced as he felt the hits register on his abdomen. In all 

the time since his accident at Jusenkyo, his cat powers were being 

pushed to the limit. So far, his enhanced stamina and high resistance 

to injury were all that was keeping him from blacking out from the 

pain. His opponent was just as fast, if not faster than he was and she 

was no slouch when it came to hand-to-hand combat. Her strength 

went far beyond anything he had encountered before. She was a heck 

of a lot stronger than even Ryoga and she was shrugging off some of 

his best hits.

     Brittany couldn't believe how someone whom she thought was a 

mere human was still standing! So far, she had been holding back, 

thinking that he would not be able to survive her full-strength blows. 

However, it became apparent that this was no ordinary human. His 

fighting style was obviously connected with the martial arts and he 

had considerable skill. His speed and agility was considerable and 

his strength was far above normal. She actually FELT his punches 

and kicks! What's more, when she looked at the scratches on her 

arms, she noticed that they weren't healing as fast as they should be. 

She then realized that her opponent must be a creature of magic, for 

minor cuts caused by normal injuries would be healed within 

seconds. Just as that thought entered her mind, she then noticed that 

Ranma had begun to glow with a blue aura. She braced herself as he 

threw his hands forward and cupped them.

     "RAGING TIGER BOLT!"

     Brittany barely managed to dodge the oval-shaped chi blast as it 

shot toward her. She was nearly thrown off her feet as the attack 

sped past her and impacted against a lampost, causing it to topple 

over. She then did a leap of more than fifty feet. Ranma's eyes 

glowed red as he looked up and delivered twin beams of concussive 

energy at her. The beams struck home, driving her back down to the 

pavement.

     <Ow! I feel like I was just hit by a car!> Birttany shook her head 

and stood up to face he opponent. <Damn! He's got some kind of 

energy attacks that let him hit me at a distance! I have to get in 

close! Looks like the kitty gloves are off!>

     Brittany gritted her teeth as she charged toward Ranma. She 

watched his eyes glow red and anticipated another blast. Sure 

enough, Ranma let loose twin beams at her midsection, but Brittany 

dodged them by pivoting to her right, then let loose with another 

supersonic punch. The blow connected and Ranma was driven back. 

However, this time, Brittany had hit him full force and the Neko 

Ken fighter was sent crashing into and though the wall of a 

condemned building.

     {"Oh no!"} The werecheetah hadn't meant to hit Ranma that hard 

and she watched in shock as the three-story structure collapsed in 

on itself. <He'll be crushed!> She began racing toward the rubble as 

a huge amount of dust was kicked up. However, the moment she got 

to the edge of the pile of crumbled concrete, broken glass and 

splintered floorboards, her sharp hearing picked up a sound. She 

stopped and held her breath as she saw the top part of the rubble 

begin to shift. Her hair then stood on end as a monstrous roar was 

heard and something erupted from the mound. Debris went flying 

everywhere and Brittany had to leap back to avoid being hit by it. 

When the dust cleared, she looked at what was standing in front of 

her. What she saw made her take a big gulp as she felt her throat 

become suddenly dry.

     <Oh boy! He's a LOT BIGGER in real life than on TV!> Britanny 

could only stare at Ranma's tiger form, which outmassed her own 

cheetah shape by more than quadruple! She became very aware of 

the seven-inch long canines, which complemented the rest of his 

teeth as he snarled at her. She then tensed as she saw its eyes glow 

red again. It then let loose another bast of concussive force, which 

Brittany nimbly dodged.

     However, Ranma was nothing if he didn't learn from his 

mistakes. The eye beams were a diversion. As the werecheetah 

evaded the beams, he sprang forward and slammed into her like a 

freight train. The force of the impact drove the breath out of 

Brittany as the two of them went crashing though another wall, 

crumbling it. Brittany soon found herself flat on her back with the 

sabertooth looming over her. 

     Reacting quickly, she braced her feet against the belly of the 

huge cat and pushed with all her strength. Ranma found himself 

launched into the air and landed on his back near the first pile of 

rubble. Growling with increasing rage, he got to his feet and began 

shooting off a barrage of energy beams at his opponent.

     Brittany was leaping left and right to evade the blasts as they 

streaked toward her. It was at that time that she decided to put some 

distance between them to get more fighting room. Although she 

didn't like changing to her feline form, she knew that she presented 

a smaller target as a cheetah. She triggered the change and began 

running on all fours. Her clothes were ripped apart, as they did not 

conform to a cat's body.

     Ranma was more than amazed that his adversary could also 

transform into a cat as he gave chase. He also noted that while his 

tiger form had gotten faster, able to go at 120mph now, Brittany's 

form as the world's fastest land animal was more than capable of 

outrunning him! As a magical cheetah, she was currently going at 

175!

     Ranma changed his tactics as he shot his eye beams at an 

overhead street sign in front of Brittany's path. The sign exploded 

and the fragments rained down to the ground. This forced Brittany 

to slow down to change direction. With a mighty leap, Ranma 

cleared the distance between them and tackled her to ground. 

     Brittany found that though she was faster as a cheetah, her 

opponent was clearly stronger than she was as a feline. She found 

herself pinned to the ground by the massive paws of the sabertooth. 

Hoping to catch him off guard, she shifted back to her hybrid form 

and lashed out with a fist.

     The fist connected with the side of Ranma's jaw, causing him to 

release his hold on her. As he shook his head, Brittany scrambled to 

her feet and then got behind the tiger's back. Reaching down, she 

wrapped her arms around him and hoisted him up into a full Nelson 

hold. She braced her feet as she held aloft 1300lbs of angry, 

prehistoric killing machine. She tightened her grip as Ranma 

struggled to free himself. The tiger's hind legs thrashed about, claws 

extended as he tried to scratch Brittany, but the werecheetah held 

firm. She began applying pressure to his throat and the transformed 

martial artist felt himself begin to black out.

     Ranma found himself in a bad positon. The tiger's form was not 

suited for wrestling holds and Brittany had the advantage of being 

able to use her arms and hands. The legs of the tiger could not reach 

over to get him out this position and it was clear to him that the 

werecheetah was far stronger than even his enhanced human form, 

so changing back was not a good option. As darkness began to cloud 

his vision, Ranma decided to gamble. He had often toyed with this 

idea, but he never thought to actually try it. With unconsciousness 

overcoming him, he began focusing his inner energies.

     Brittany was a bit confused when the tiger began to glow with 

blue light. Then she got the biggest shock of all. The tiger suddenly 

straightened out and then a pair of hands reached out and grabbed 

her arms in a powerful grip. She winced in pain, as her arms were 

forced apart and then found out that her feet weren't touching the 

ground any more. Before she knew it, she was thrown forward in a 

judo hold. She slammed into another wall, crashing through it.

     Brittany shook her head as she rubbed he aching back. She then 

got up and saw what was standing before her in a defensive stance. 

Her eyes widened as she beheld her opponent. <Good grief! NOW 

he changes to hybrid form and helloooooo nurse!> Brittany's 

eyes became the size of dinner plates as she took in Ranma's new 

form.

     Ranma snarled as he stood there in a ready position, showing off 

rows of sharp teeth and slight fangs. His clothes had somehow 

returned when he transformed to this new body, but they were 

almost stretched to their limits. His hybrid form was nearly seven 

and a half feet tall, topping Brittany's own height by more than a 

head. His body was covered in a fine coat of ebony fur, with just a 

few silver highlights. His frame was lean, yet taut and rippling with 

well-defined muscles. He had pointed ears and his eyes had a shade 

of blue that set off the right contrast to his fur. His hair had become 

a long mane that was tied in a loose ponytail. His tail twitched back 

and forth as it protruded from the small of his back. Fortunately, his 

Kung Fu pants were loose enough to let his tail hang over the 

waistband.

     The Neko Ken fighter was too busy concentrating on his 

opponent to fully note his new appearance. He was unaware that 

fighting had become the last thing on the werecheetah's mind. He 

had become exotic looking, even more attractive than his human 

form. Unknown to Ranma, he was also giving off huge amounts of 

pheromones that were making Brittany's libido go into overdrive.

     <Damn he's so fine! Whoops! I'm not supposed to be thinking of 

that! Stripe's the only one for me! This guy's just a pretty picture, 

that's all.>

     Ranma was wondering why she was not attacking, then noticed 

for the first time that she wasn't wearing any clothes. When he 

looked down her very sexy body, he gulped and felt a nosebleed 

coming on. His cheeks soon became crimson as he covered his 

eyes with a hand and turned around embarrassed.

     Brittany looked in confusion then wondered why it was so drafty. 

Then she looked down.

     "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!!!" Brittany tried to 

cover her breasts and her other private parts as Ranma became even 

more uncomfortable. Fortunately, it was at that time that Gina 

Diggers came onto the scene.

     {"Brittany! Are you all right? What happened to your clothes?"}

     The werecheetah's cheeks were flushed with crimson as she 

replied. {"It's kinda hard to explain. Do you have any of the clothes I 

bought today?"}

     Gina nodded as she handed her a shopping bag and pointed to a 

section of wall that had not been damaged during the fight. Brittany 

gratefully took it and then rushed to hide herself. As she went about 

the business of dressing herself, her sister cautiously walked over 

to where Ranma was still standing.

     "Excuse me. You are the Tiger of Tokyo, yes?"

     Ranma was a bit surprised to hear Japanese and turned to face the 

newcomer. He looked down and saw that she was an American and 

seemed very interested in him. And something told him that her 

interest was not entirely scientific.

     "W-wh-who are you people?"

     "I'm sorry that this trouble happened. My name is Gina Diggers 

and you've already met my sister Brittany."

     "She's your sister?"

     "It's a long story. We would like to take you to our father, Dr. 

Theordore Diggers. He's an expert in this sort of thing and he'd like 

to meet with you."

     On a nearby rooftop, the Amazons watched with interest. They 

had seen the entire battle and were quite shocked at the unexpected 

developments. As the sun began to drop down toward the horizon, 

they decided to head back home to inform the Elders of the day's 

events. Things were just starting to get more complicated.



Author's Notes

     Due to the repeated requests by my readers, Ranma now has the 

ability to transform into a hybrid stage. Yes, this does mean that 

Ranma's powers are more potent in this stage than in his boosted 

human body. However, I still have not yet revealed the nature of 

Ranma's shapeshifting ability or what does it have to do with the 

Diggers family. I'll get into that next chapter.

     For those of you who are still wondering when I'm going to let 

Ranma's identity slip out, you can expect some revelations in the 

next couple of chapters or so. Until then! 



