[Ranma][Fanfic] Destiny's Wish, Part Twenty-Three

[Mike Koos]

The day was turning out exactly as Shampoo hoped it would; a
bright, sunny day, certainly no hint of any chance of rain. That was
good. She planned to make a few deliveries on her brand-new
ten-speed bicycle, and what fun would it be if she were turned into a
cat while making those deliveries?
Great-great grandma Cologne would understand, however. There
was no way for Shampoo to run errands without the risk of getting
wet. Cologne supposedly knew of various techniques and remedies that
could counteract Shampoo's Jhusenkyou curse, but most of them were
only temporary or would leave her in an unacceptable weakened state.
Besides, great-great grandmother insisted that until such time as
Shampoo found the way to permanently reverse her curse, Shampoo view
the curse as a challenge to be dealt with. Like Ranma...
One of Cologne's special techniques was to play a crucial role
in her scheme to bring Shampoo and Ayumi together. Especially if the
boy behaved with the same macho pride and ego she had come to expect
from him.
Shampoo pedaled on, humming an unfamiliar tune she'd heard on
the radio earlier that morning. The small chime attached to her
handlebars actually added to the melody.
She recalled Cologne's words from the night before. "I have set
the plan in motion, Shampoo. Within no time at all the two of you
will be married."
A broad smile brightened Shampoo's face. <I can't wait!>

Destiny's Wish
Part Twenty-Three: What Hot Water Can't Cure
written by Mike Koos
----------------------------

The soccer ball broke away from the crowd of soccer players, and
bounced high into the air over the field.
Ayumi leapt after the ball. The opposing team had made an
effort to keep the ball away from him - otherwise, it wouldn't be
much of a game, would it? Fortunately, the girls' half of the class
were usually given a different activity during P.E. class, or else
they might have had to contend with Ranma as well.
Even with two highly-skilled martial artists in attendance,
though, P.E. class was always one of the precious few welcome breaks
in the school day at Fuurinkan High.
But there was nothing to stop Ayumi from kicking the ball now.
Once he did, stopping the ball would be difficult... he'd
unintentionally sent a few people to the nurse's office the last time
anyone had tried. And the P.E. teachers - they'd dismissed the whole
thing as a case of overzealous competitive spirit.
Just as Ayumi was closing on the wayward soccer ball, he heard
the distinct chime of a bicycle's bell come from overhead.
Overhead!?
He cautiously looked up. Above them all, over the soccer field,
Shampoo was descending on a bicycle. "Niihao, Ayumi!" she waved.
Ranma caught sight of the scene as she waited on her track mark
for her partner to pass the baton to her. Like Ayumi, many of her
classmates wanted her to be their partner or a member of their team,
though Ranma was readily more modest about her skills than Ayumi.
<What's *she* doing here?>
Ayumi kept running, and after Shampoo touched down, she pedaled
after him. "You know, if we hurry, we can be married by sunset..."
He didn't slow down. "I already told both of you, NO!" If he
could just make it to the school hallways, Shampoo would have a
difficult time following him. "No one decides my future. Not while
I'm still alive!"
All of a sudden Cologne was next to him, matching his pace by
shuffling along on the top of her staff. "Ah, but your future has
already been decided!!"
"Great-great grandmother!" Shampoo continued to smile,
Cologne's appearance not surprising her in the least.
Ayumi found himself on the receiving end of what he took to be a
hand-driven steamroller - a cement roller with a steel crossbar
attached to it. He caught the large roller on one foot while a
laughing Cologne retreated into the distance. "Farewell for now,
son-in-law!"
Not quite too happy about having large, heavy objects pitched at
him, Ayumi sent the roller after Cologne by place-kicking it. "I
never wanna see you again, you evil old witch!!" he yelled.
It wasn't difficult for Cologne to avoid the heavy equipment; it
descended sooner than she did. Neither she nor anyone else on the
field had expected another person to vault directly into the path of
the roller, however.
The boy's long mane of black hair was the only thing flowing
freely in the wind, aside from the sash of his long Chinese robes, as
he kept the rest of his body curled inward for momentum.
"Hey!" someone on the field called out to him. "Look out!"
But the warning wasn't all that necessary. The boy threw his
arms out to each side, slicing the cement roller in half... seconds
before he impacted against it.
Ranma, Ayumi and Shampoo, along with the rest of homeroom 1-F,
watched the hapless newcomer plummet back to earth. At the last
moment the boy straightened, landing on his feet, only to have the
two halves of the roller land squarely on his head. He collapsed in
a pile underneath them.
The boy dragged himself out once the dust had settled.
"Shampoo..." he said in a dry voice.
"Wow, he survived that?" Daisuke remarked. "Must have a thick
head."
The next thing Ayumi knew, the strange boy was hugging him.
"Shampoo! I've found you at long last!"
Ayumi planted a foot in the boy's face and used it to push him
away. "Do I *LOOK* like Shampoo to you!?"
The boy put on a pair of bottle-top glasses and peered through
them at Ayumi. He sent Ayumi flying with a right cross. "Who do you
think you are, pretending to be my Shampoo?"
With Ayumi out of the way the boy drew a confused Ranma into his
embrace. "Shampoo..."
This time both Ranma and Ayumi pounded him into the ground -
Ranma using her mallet and Ayumi stomping on his head to make sure.
"She's not Shampoo, either!"
Ranma shouldered her mallet. "What d'you think you're doing,
you weirdo!?"
Once the boy had climbed to his feet and resettled his glasses,
he introduced himself. "I am Mousse, Shampoo's husband-to-be."
"You are *not* my husband-to-be," scowled Shampoo. "Just
because we have known each other since we were children you think you
can claim me? I don't think so."
Cologne suddenly reappeared to confirm what Shampoo had said.
"You are far too late, Mousse. Shampoo is already spoken for," she
told him, pointing a withered finger at Ayumi.
"She is *not*," Ayumi force his voice to remain calm... even
though Shampoo was now attached to his right arm, and Ranma was one
step away from switching her glare from Cologne to *him*, at his
other side. Awful quick to get mad at him for just about anything,
wasn't she?
But then, that was normal behavior for Ranma.
Mousse grew incredulous. "What are you talking about? By the
laws, she is bound to marry me, and no one else!"
Cologne narrowed her eyes. "The laws you speak of cannot be any
of the ones we hold valid. Unless, of course, you misread them.
*Again*. It has been decided by the *real* laws that Shampoo will
marry this boy - as you put it, 'no one else.'"
"I never agreed to that decision, thank you very much!" Ayumi
said through clenched teeth.
It was Soun's turn to make an unscheduled appearance. "I TOLD
YOU, AYUMI IS ENGAGED TO RANMA!!" he yelled his reminder through a
megaphone from behind Cologne.
A visibly annoyed Ranma snatched the megaphone away from him and
placed it to her mouth. "Geez... you think you could say that a
little LOUDER, Uncle!?" she yelled at him.
"So..." Mousse pointed an accusing finger at Ayumi, "being
engaged to one girl is not enough for you..."
"*What*!?"
"You are a blight on women everywhere!" declared the boy from
China as he directed a foot upward at Ayumi's head.
Ayumi bounced over the kick. "Will you shut up and listen? I
said--"
His opponent brought his hands up and around in a blur, tagging
Ayumi's chin in the process. "Hakuchou-ken!"
Hiroshi and several other people in the crowd were shocked. "He
hit Ayumi!"
"...Hakuchou-ken...?" Ranma muttered, her mind slipping into
analysis mode. 'Hakuchou-ken' literally meant 'swan fist.' A
special fighting technique, then. At least one good enough to catch
Ayumi by surprise. It was a good idea to study it in case she wound
up having to fight this 'Mousse' herself or help Ayumi figure out
what he'd done wrong. Or maybe it was a technique worthy enough of
appropriating for the Saotome Class of martial arts. Heck, even
using her mallet was legal, though her father frowned on its use...
especially since he or Ayumi were the ones she used the mallet on.
"I didn't even see the guy's hands hit him!" someone exclaimed.
<Bet he's probably got some kind of weapon hidden inside those
robes, that's why!> Ranma thought, frowning.
"Why, that cheating..." growled Ayumi, pushing himself out of
the storm-drain basin he'd been imbedded in, thanks to Mousse's
attack.
Shampoo peered over the rim of the basin at him. "Ayumi!" she
hissed. "Please, be careful. Mousse's strength comes from his use
of hidden weapons."
Whether or not Ayumi paid any attention to her warning, Shampoo
couldn't tell. Why did Ayumi have to be so stubborn? Even he should
be able to see that she knew more about Mousse than anyone else
present!
Of course, it was possible that Mousse wasn't giving him the
opportunity to stop and think. "You haven't seen anything yet, and
you never will!" Mousse lifted his arms to each side as though they
were a pair of wings. "My next strike is like the powerful kicking
of a floundering swan in the water... to think that it will be your
doom!" he shouted, bringing his hands back toward Ayumi's face...
But this time, Ayumi caught the weapon between his feet. "I've
heard that one too many times. Get a new line, huh?"
Then he - and everyone else - saw the weapon Mousse had
attempted to use.
A child's potty-training toy, designed to look like a swan.
Ranma rolled her eyes. <Some 'attack.'>
"That guy sure does have an interesting attack," someone said in
an equally sarcastic tone to the one Ranma had used in her thoughts.
"Yeah. Interesting."
Ayumi threw the toy aside. "Can't you take a fight seriously?"
"Oh, you don't want me to do that," smirked Mousse. "But if you
insist... I want your word, boy. If I defeat you--"
"In the place of Shampoo..." Cologne added. Mousse stared in
her direction for a second but somehow, failed to see her. Still,
there was the potential for a workable idea, there, although he
didn't want to give Shampoo up by any means.
He pointed at Ranma. "Your girl belongs to me." Nearly all of
the girls except for Ranma gasped.
"Hold it! I'm nobody's property, got it?" Ranma's hands
instinctively formed fists at her sides. She was getting
increasingly tired of people treating her like nothing more than
property. Any second now Mousse would find himself with a mallet
imbedded in that thick skull of his... glasses or no glasses.
"Yeah, like you'd ever beat me!" Ayumi's voice interrupted her
fuming. "Okay, you've got yourself a fight!"
Ranma turned on him. "*Ayumi*!"
"We'll have a man-to-man fight, then... that is, if you're up to
being a man." Mousse gave him a smug smile, having made his point.
"More than you'll ever be. At least *I* don't have to use
hidden weapons. Or really cheesy ones at that."
Cologne, meanwhile, chuckled to herself. "A 'man-to-man fight,'
hmm? Just as I had hoped. This should turn out to be a very
interesting fight."

** ** **

"At least say *something*."
Ranma closed her eyes to avoid having to look at him. "I'm not
speaking to you."
Ever since the incident in P.E. class Ranma had been angry with
him for some reason - as if it really took that much! - and not even
Yuka or Sayuri would help Ayumi figure out the reasons why. He
figured they were too close to Ranma to provide an unbiased,
objective viewpoint. Hiroshi and Daisuke were no help, either;
between them, they had no real knowledge of why girls behaved the way
they did. Ayumi liked to believe that having to contend with Ranma
almost twenty-four hours a day gave him a little insight.
Had it been his imagination, or were the rest of the girls in
his class equally as upset with him?
He knew how to annoy Ranma, however, and sooner or later he'd
get the answer from her that way. "But you just did speak to me!"
She glared at him - a glare that seemed to melt his eyes and
punch through the opposite side of his head. Ranma was definitely
angry, all right. "Why is it that EVERY time I turn around, you're
using *me* as a trophy for all these stupid fights you get yourself
into?"
So that was it. "Hey, *you* get yourself into a lot of stupid
fights, too! And besides, it's not like any of them ever stands a
chance of beating me!" Ayumi had been tempted to remind Ranma that
Shampoo wouldn't have come if Ranma hadn't agreed to fight her, but
why add fuel to the fire? She would only get more upset with
everything he said, at any rate.
Ranma hmphed. Extremely confident, wasn't he? "You never
know..."
Cologne landed in between them, perched atop her staff. "You
should listen to her, son-in-law. She sounds wiser than you do," she
cackled.
"Old witch... I told you, I'm not your son-in-law! Why can't
you get that through your thick head?"
Speaking of thick heads...
"Show respect for your elders, boy. I came to help you."
The word *help* set off many of the alarms in Ayumi's mind.
"Help me? How?" Ranma, too, was suspicious, though she didn't let
it show.
Cologne tore open a small packet with Chinese writing imprinted
on it in response, pouring the powder within over Ayumi's head and
quickly massaged it into his scalp.
The first thought that occurred to both Ayumi and Ranma was
Shampoo's attempts to manipulate Ranma's memory through the use of
pressure points and special shampoo formulas. Both he and Ranma
reflexively withdrew away from Cologne. "What do you think you're
doing? You aren't trying to take away my memory, are you?"
A hint of a smile came to Cologne's face. Obviously, these two
were familiar with Shampoo's favorite shampoo techniques. "If I
wanted to do that, you would never realize it. I merely wanted to
provide an interesting angle to your upcoming fight."
"What do you mean?"
They heard the sound of Cologne's laughter as she disappeared
yet again. "You will see."
"I don't trust her," Ranma said once she was sure they were
alone.
Ayumi exhaled. "I never did. Let's just get home so I can wash
this crap out of my hair."
A peal of thunder rumbling through the cloudy skies overhead
signaled the beginning of a minor rain.
"Guess it's gonna rain after all," Ayumi frowned. Rain would be
the perfect end to the perfect day... "Ranma?"
"Already got it." She pulled out her umbrella and opened it.
That was Ranma; always trying to be prepared for rain. If anything,
her curse had given her a slight interest in matters of weather,
though not enough to be able to accurately forecast any rain.
The rain hit Ayumi full-force, as it were. He welcomed it, for
the most part, since he was already miserable. Ranma's anger at him
only worsened the effect. But what was about to happen to him took
him completely by surprise.
"What the HELL is going on!?" Ranma heard a new voice come from
the direction in which she knew Ayumi had been standing.
A girl's voice. She hadn't sensed anyone else approaching, so
who...?
Slowly, Ranma turned to look at Ayumi. When her eyes found him,
she dropped her umbrella in utter shock, her transformation meaning
very little to her at the moment.
Tendo Ayumi had been transformed into a girl.

** ** **

In the foyer of the Tendo home, Ranma set his wet umbrella on
the floor next to his wet shoes.
"I see the rain got you, too," Naka gave him a half-smile...
and, thankfully, a glass of hot water, which he quickly poured over
himself. He'd long since given up on the idea of charging Ranma for
such things; odds were, she'd beat him up rather than pay, and he was
already on thin ice as far as she was concerned, anyway. "Thought
you'd need that. Something wrong with Ayumi? He just ran through
here and shut himself in the upstairs bathroom."
Ranma looked at him and blinked. On one hand, Ayumi wouldn't
want her to tell anyone about his little... *problem*, at least not
until he was able to cope with it, but if his problem was as serious
as Ranma thought it was, the family was bound to find out about it
sooner or later and it was best to get the inevitable embarrassment
out of the way. "......He's a girl," she said, almost hoarsely. It
was difficult enough to talk about *her* curse...
Naka fought to regain his breath. "What?" he blurted, unsure
how to respond. "You're kidding!" When it came to Ranma or Ayumi,
though, the improbable could very well happen... something which
hardly ever happened with Kunou. No, Kunou was too predictable for
that.
Ranma shook her head. "No. Cologne dumped some kind of powder
on him. When it rained, he turned into a girl."
"Like your... curse?" ventured Naka.
"I guess so."
A girl's scream cut through the air from upstairs.
"Ayumi!" Ranma shouted, running upstairs.
Naka followed her. "This I've got to see!"

Ayumi had removed his shirt once in the bathroom and stared in
horror at himself. No, *herself*. <You deserve it,> someone would
likely say. <Now you know what Ranma has to endure. It's your
punishment for being insensitive.>
None of that philosophy was about to take hold, though. The
only thoughts occupying her mind were of frantic denial. She *could
not* have this curse. And if there *was* some ever-so-slight chance
she *did* have it, she didn't want it!
As if it were *that* easy to refuse...
Ayumi poured another pan of hot water over... herself. The last
pan had been far too scalding; maybe that was why she hadn't changed
back to normal - if she could call it that, now. <Damn her! This is
all her fault!>
So she had run more cold water into the mix. Ayumi was *not*
going to be a girl! Not if she could help it!
But once the water touched her skin, she withdrew in pain.
Again it felt as though she had been severely burned.
"Ayumi! What's wrong?"
Ayumi realized with a start that he... no, *she*! hadn't heard
Ranma and Naka enter the bathroom.
Wait a minute. Naka!? What was *he* doing here? Now Naka knew
about this, and Ayumi knew she'd never hear the end of it.
Naka smirked. "I always said you acted a lot like a girl,
Ayumi-chan." He did his best to keep from breaking into laughter.
Ranma pursed her lips. The worst part of all this was that she
felt sympathetic to what Ayumi was going through. She had a similar
problem, although she had no idea whether Ayumi's condition was
temporary or permanent, like her curse.
She began to push Naka out of the room. "Quit gawking at her!
And if you're not going to help, get out!"
That sent a clear signal to Ayumi - she had forgotten that she
had nothing on above the waist. She grabbed a towel and gingerly
wrapped it around her chest.
Naka had been making fun of Ayumi his whole life... likening him
to a girl. And now, he *was* a girl.
"Okay, okay," shrugged Naka. "So what's the matter, Ayumi?
Aside from the obvious, I mean."
The glare Ayumi shot him was far more deadly than the one Ranma
was giving him.
"The water's too hot! I can't change back!"
Naka moved to test the water from the faucet while Ranma placed
a finger in the water in both the pan Ayumi had used and the bathtub
to test their temperature. "Nothing wrong here," Naka observed.
"Here, either," Ranma said. "You sure you're not playing some
kinda joke on us?" Her temper was starting to return, but she held
it back for Ayumi's sake.
"Do I LOOK like I want to play a joke on anyone!?"
"I think you look kinda cute," Naka smirked.
She gave him another glare. "Shut up, Naka!"
This was the exact moment Cologne chose to pop up from within
the bathwater - startling Ranma, as there hadn't been anything in the
water seconds earlier. How had Cologne gotten there?
"You!" seethed Ayumi. "This is all YOUR fault! Change me back
now, or I'll--"
"You will what?" Cologne asked, her voice serious. "The only
thing you *will* do for sure is marry my granddaughter." She
cackled. "Do you remember when we faced each other atop that temple
gate? I used my staff to activate a pressure-point technique you
will find most interesting."
<Pressure-point...?> Ayumi thought. <But she barely even
touched me!>
"In Japanese, it translates to 'Soushin Neko-jita.' The
roughness of the cat's tongue has rendered your entire body extremely
sensitive to hot water."
That explained why Ayumi wasn't able to use hot water to change
back, Ranma realized, glancing at the boy-turned-girl. "So I do have
a Jhusenkyou curse now," Ayumi narrowed her eyes.
Cologne cackled again, this time softly. "Only temporary, I
assure you. I used a packet of Instant Nyan-ni-chuan on you. Each
packet, once mixed with water, is only good for a few changes at the
most."
<Instant Nyan-ni-chuan...?> Ranma's eyes instantly widened.
The Nyan-ni-chuan was the exact opposite of the Jhusenkyou pool she
had fallen into - the Nan-ni-chuan. Even if the effect was - as
Cologne said - only temporary, would the Instant Nyan-ni-chuan cancel
out her curse? "Do you have any more packets?" she bit out.
The Chinese elder studied her for a second. "Why would you want
a packet of Instant Nyan-ni-chuan, child? No; it is best left to the
experts to use. I have no more packets, at any rate." So much for
that idea. It hadn't occurred to Ranma to wonder if Shampoo had told
Cologne that the Saotome girl was cursed, too.
"The only way you will be able to return to being a boy is to
pledge yourself to Shampoo, now and forever," Cologne concluded while
her eyes settled on Ayumi.
"Forget it!" Ayumi pulled her mouth open wide to stick out her
tongue at her tormentor. She had extremely little experience in
being a girl, unfortunately, and forgot that raising her arms would
cause the towel she'd wrapped around her chest to fall. "I told you,
I'm NOT MARRYING HER!!"
Ranma walked over to Ayumi, picked up the towel from where it
lay at her feet and re-secured it around Ayumi's chest, this time
tying the ends together in a tight knot - the effects of which she
was sure Ayumi would feel. "May I *remind* you that you made me the
prize in your little *man-to-man* fight?" she said through clenched
teeth, placing the most emphasis on the words *man-to-man*.
They were, naturally, the words that drove the point home the
most for Ayumi. "Uh......"

** ** **

Ayumi's fight with Mousse had been scheduled to take place on
the Fuurinkan grounds after school - and because certain people had
had their way, it was to be more like a spectator event than a
schoolyard fight.
For those who hadn't heard, strings of firecrackers were set off
in the yard to draw everyone who wasn't already rushing to sit at
ringside. Who wouldn't want to watch the fight of the year?
"Did you say Ayumi's gonna fight someone?" a boy asked one of
his friends.
"They say his opponent's very tough."
A girl pushed her way through the crowd. "We've gotta see this!"
The Nekohanten's representatives were present; Shampoo's father
prepared large dishes at the Nekohanten cart while Shampoo filtered
through the crowd, a solitary vendor. "Nikuman, an-man here!
Nikuman, an-man here!" she called out. Her waist-length hair was
being tossed about in the wind. The small bells she kept tied there
jingled faintly. "Delicious ramen, too! Don't pass this up!"
As it turned out, Shampoo was to make more sales than her father
for this event.
"I heard they're fighting over Ranma," one girl said.
"Huh."
Cologne and Ranma waited by the side of the ring for Ayumi to
appear. Ranma felt she had every right to be there; above all, she
was the unwilling prize in this fight. Not only that, she wanted to
find out if Cologne truthfully had no more packets of Instant
Nyan-ni-chuan or knew of any ways to cancel out her Jhusenkyou
curse... though if she had, wouldn't she have cured Shampoo first?
Cologne scanned the grounds. "Can he not even show up on time
for a fight?"
"Of course not," Ranma snorted. She, too, glanced through the
growing crowd. Stupid Ayumi... <Where are you?> With her luck
there'd be a rule forcing a forfeit if Ayumi didn't show up. *Then*
where would she be?
Maybe this was Ayumi's way of getting rid of her. It wouldn't
have surprised her in the least if Ayumi wanted to trade her for
Shampoo. Shampoo, who wanted to be Ayumi's faithful wife so badly...
"Sheesh, you'd think that with all this we were holding a
festival or something!" she forced her mind back to matters at hand.
Cologne stopped to glance at her. "It is part of human nature
to be drawn to watch a fight." A thought came to her. "Hmm... I
wonder how my son-in-law is contending with his little... *problem*?"
There she was, calling Ayumi her son-in-law. As if Cologne
thought the mere act would convince the boy to marry Shampoo. Come
to think of it, Ayumi wasn't feeling very hospitable toward Cologne
as a result of all the trouble she had brought for him. Ranma
doubted he would go along with any plan that gave Cologne what she
wanted.
"We cannot call this a 'man-to-man' fight any longer, I
suppose! Besides which, he does not even have the courage to come!"
she laughed.
Ranma stared down at her. "He'll be here." <Even if I have to
go get him. I'm not gonna let him get me engaged to anyone else!>
<"Are you nuts? I can't go out looking like this!"> Ayumi had
said this morning. He hadn't shown up for school today, either -
Ranma had had to make up an excuse for him on the spot. Never
again... <"But I've got a plan. I'll make everyone *think* I'm still
a guy."> Uh-huh, *sure*. As if *Ranma* found it that easy to
pretend everything was normal after being changed.
She rolled her eyes. <I'm doomed. I just know it.>
Mousse's voice rang out from nearby. "So you have come after
all, Tendo Ayumi!"
Ranma let her hopes rise. "I told you he'd--" But when she and
Cologne saw who it was Mousse was confronting, they frowned. Mousse
had grabbed someone by the collar, a boy who had just bought a small
bag of nikuman from Shampoo... having mistaken him for Ayumi in his
near-blind state.
"Umm... I think you've got the wrong person..." the boy
stammered.
"Don't try to back out of our man-to-man fight!"
Cologne brought her staff to bear against Mousse's head. "That
is *not* Tendo Ayumi!" she yelled.
Mousse stared at her for a second, long enough for Cologne to
see his eyes attempting to focus on her. After a pause, he spoke.
"You have really let yourself go since our last meeting, Tendo Ayumi."
She debated whether or not to hit him again. Hadn't *any* of
those poundings over the years knocked some sense into him? "Put on
your glasses, you blind idiot!"
Mousse did and stared at her again. The Chinese elder had to
move so that the sunlight reflecting from Mousse's glasses wouldn't
blind her. "What are you?" he asked. "Some kind of demon?" In
response, she swung her staff at him.
Another voice - louder this time - rang out over the grounds.
"You're supposed to be in the ring, Mousse!"
Mousse, Ranma, Cologne and Shampoo each brought their heads up
to look for the source of the voice.
Ranma still hadn't become accustomed to Ayumi's female voice.
"Ayumi...?" It had sounded like Ayumi's voice, yet... Ayumi was
trying to disguise her voice to sound like a boy. And only
marginally succeeding, at that.
"Ah, I see that my son-in-law has finally come," said Cologne.
Shampoo was ecstatic; her love had come to fight for her, after all.
As Mousse scrambled to climb into the ring, the spectators
caught sight of someone cannonballing into the ring from overhead.
"Ah - up there!"
"It *is* Ayumi! He's come!"
The figure landed upright in the ring opposite Mousse. It was
Ayumi, dressed in long, dark Chinese robes like the robes Mousse wore
to hide her smaller figure, and large sunglasses to hide her eyes -
most likely, mocking the glasses Mousse was supposed to wear.
There was a goofy grin painted on Ayumi's face. "Sorry to keep
you waiting!"
Ranma recoiled at the sight. <And he thinks *THAT* makes him
look like a guy!?> Well - she did know Ayumi's secret. What about
what the crowd thought of him... ah, her?
"Why's he wearing all that? He trying to look like the other
guy?"
"Can't you see he's trying to psych the other guy out?"
"Really? I always thought that's what someone did when they're
desperate."
"I don't think that's Ayumi..." a girl close to ringside
commented.
But to Mousse, who had taken off his glasses for the fight, this
person looked enough like the Ayumi he had challenged to be the true
Tendo Ayumi. Someone was going to lose Shampoo to him and that was
all that mattered.
"So, you are finally here, Ayumi!" he declared. Ayumi nodded.
The crowd seemed to relax. "A one-on-one fight, like always."
"Who else could it be but Ayumi?" Which didn't mean there were
no other fights at Fuurinkan High except the ones Ayumi, Ranma and
Kunou participated in. They were merely the most high-profile
fighters at the school. Unlike Kunou, however, the faculty did not
view Ranma or Ayumi as problem students. Kunou believed that he
rightfully deserved power and respect from all of the other students,
as though he were nobility.
It was fortunate, then, that Kunou and his Kendo Club were away
at a tournament... or else he might very well have challenged Mousse.
If anyone was to crush and humiliate Tendo Ayumi, it would be Kunou
Tatewaki!
Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. The crowd believed that there
was nothing wrong with Ayumi. Now all the baka had to do was make it
through the fight.
"Now that we're both here, we might as well get started!" Ayumi
readied herself, the odd grin still present. "Ready... *go*!" And
with that, clouds of smoke, confetti, pastel-colored streamers - some
with miniature international flags attached to them - plus an
unlikely assortment of rabbits and doves exploded forth from Ayumi's
robes... catching Mousse off-guard, who put on his glasses so that he
could see in the confusion.
"What is this foolishness?" demanded Mousse.
His opponent laughed. "Aww, whatsamatter? You upset because
I've got cheap tricks like yours?"
"'Cheap tricks'...?" Mousse removed his glasses. "Whatever
makes you think my advanced attacks are mere *parlor tricks*?"
In response, Ayumi shook a deck of cards free from her sleeves.
"You've gotta be kidding! Anyone can do those stupid tricks of
yours! Just hide a bunch of junk in your robe and... see?" With a
flick of the wrists and Ayumi sticking out her tongue, the cards gave
way to twin bouquets of flowers.
Mousse looked as if he had been dealt a minor blow. "You have a
vivid imagination. But your mind is as addled as your fighting
abilities." Once more his arms rose at his sides, and with a leg
drawn up before him, he proceeded to attack. "Keiran-ken!" he
shouted, approximating the pose of a chicken with its wings
outstretched.
<Chicken eggs?> Ranma thought, incredulous, as that was
essentially what the name of Mousse's attack translated to.
Once he ended his pose, Mousse reached inside his robes to
produce a live chicken. As the crowd watched he held it high and
convinced it to lay eggs, which he caught... tossing them at Ayumi
like hand grenades.
They exploded like hand grenades as well.
"Grenades?" Ayumi leapt over the explosions at Mousse, silently
grateful for the extra boost of speed she had in this form. "See? I
told you they were tricks!"
Mousse tried to kick her but missed. "Shut up!!" Okay, so the
Tendo boy was fast, and believed his attacks were nothing more than
tricks. Time for a move which would prove Tendo Ayumi wrong.
Dozens of weapons, ranging from swords and spiked maces to
yo-yos shot out from Mousse's sleeve on thin chains, all headed for
Ayumi - who yelped as the weapons shredded the robe around her,
catching on her arms and legs.
She landed. "Where are your tricks now, boy?" Mousse asked her
as he pulled on the ropes.
"Oh, I've still got plenty up my sleeve!" The disguised girl
leapt toward him again. In mid-air, she drew her arms and legs
inward. "Tendo Ayumi Ultimate Secret Technique Number Fifteen!"
She exploded... or appeared to. "An explosion?" someone in the
crowd exclaimed.
Fragments of Ayumi's disguise and Mousse's liberated weapons
floated to the ground on small parachutes along with more confetti
and flowers.
Across from Mousse stood a girl - Ayumi - in a full 'bunny girl'
costume, minus the rabbit ears... and holding a top hat with a live
rabbit inside. "Young girl transformation!!"
Ranma crashed to the ground in disbelief.
The boys in the crowd applauded. "What an awesome trick! He
turned into a girl!"
"Yeah! I didn't know you could do THAT in the martial arts!"
Yuka paled. "He turned into a girl...?" She and Sayuri looked
at each other. There was only one person they knew of who could
change gender... "Ranma!"
"But she's over there!" Sayuri pointed to Ranma, who was
recovering from the shock of Ayumi's little 'trick.'
Ayumi set the rabbit-in-the-hat aside. "C'mon!" she prodded
Mousse. "Or are you afraid of having a *girl* beat you up?"
"How dare you!" the other snarled. "You can dress like a girl
all you want! It won't save you in the least!"
Cologne shook her head. "What a pathetic display, son-in-law."
"He's blind even with his glasses on," Shampoo said. She was
taking her break near Ranma and Cologne at ringside. "Even I can see
Ayumi is a girl from here."
Ranma glanced at the pair standing next to her. "Hey, at least
he's got them all fooled!"
Cologne was largely unimpressed. "It will take more than a
girl's body and determination to win this fight. If he does not
bother to think, Mousse will defeat him."
In the ring, Mousse removed his robe, so that all he wore were
his pants. Several weapons and other gadgets clattered to the mat.
"Fine. You wish to fight for real without the aid of weapons?
You'll see the foolishness of challenging me."
Ayumi shrugged. "Big talk from a guy who's nothing but cheap
tricks."
"And you believe that using stupid disguises gains you any
advantage in this fight at all?" Mousse pushed his glasses farther
up his nose while raising a menacing fist.
"Aiyaa..." Shampoo started. "Mousse is getting mad."
Ranma's show of confidence had yet to be shaken. "So? Ayumi's
not gonna be beaten by any stupid *punch*..."
To prove her point, the female Ayumi was small and quick enough
to avoid every punch Mousse threw at her. "Now do you see?" Mousse
gloated.
"All I can see is that you've got terrible aim!"
Meanwhile, the sound of a familiar voice nearby caught Ranma's
attention. "So Ayumi-kun really has been physically changed into a
girl," Dr. Tofu said. She took a bite of her nikuman.
"Tofu-sensei!" Ranma exclaimed. And her father, in panda form,
too... slurping down a bowl of ramen. For some reason the spectators
didn't think *he* was worth paying any attention to.
Ranma guessed her father had told Dr. Tofu about Ayumi's
condition and the fight; how else would Tofu-sensei have known? That
Ayumi was a girl had been a closely guarded secret - one that caused
his father to cry long into the evening hours, sure, but a secret
nonetheless.
"I hope Ayumi isn't trying to fight the exact same way he did as
a boy," Tofu acknowledged Ranma's presence. "If he doesn't
compensate for his smaller stature and shorter reach, he won't stand
a chance in any fight."
Ranma paled, glancing up at Ayumi, who was managing to hold her
own in the ring. "Oh, no! I forgot about that!"
"That's because you've learned to compensate for both your
normal form and your male form since you've lived with your curse far
longer than Ayumi." She had a good point. "Watch."
They watched as Ayumi set up a power counterattack to counter a
drop-kick by Mousse in mid-air. "Cross counter-kick!" she yelled,
extending her own foot.
Mousse's foot connected with Ayumi's face before the girl, with
her shorter legs, could connect with his face.
"As a girl, he must fight closer than he does when he is a boy.
He expected to have the same ability to keep his distance as always.
He'd better rethink his strategy immediately if he wants to win this
fight."
Ayumi hit the mat hard and rolled, wincing in pain. "I believe
I will take your iinazuke now," Mousse walked toward her to keep the
gap in between them small. He brought a foot up swiftly against her
costume as she stood, ripping it apart from waist to shoulder. "Take
off your disguise! This is a man-to-man fight! If you do not
qualify, you will forfeit *now*!"
The girl clutched at the halves of her costume to hold it
together. <This guy really does have some skill!> She strained to
catch her breath. <If I can't get in close enough to fight him as a
girl, I won't be able to win!>
But first, he'd have to fight off the hormone-crazed hordes of
boys he considered to be his classmates - *including* Daisuke,
Hiroshi and a greatly confused Hikaru. "C'mon, tell us how you did
it!" one cried. They were all trying to grab or grope her to
determine if she was truly, physically real or not.
"Not on your life! I didn't do this for you to stare at!" she
screeched, fending them off by kicking at them with her feet.
Ranma closed her eyes and sighed. <I am so doomed, it's
amazing.>

(...to be continued...)

------------
Credits:

Written by: Mike Koos
Prereaders: Richard Beaubien, Tom Williams, David Wills

With apologies to Rumiko Takahashi...

Notes:

What does Ayumi look and sound like as a girl, in case you were
wondering? Akane, of course. ^_^

All parts of this series are available at the RAAC archives at
ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works
or from my WWW pages at
http://iczer1.usacomputers.net/~makoto/index.htm
Comments and questions welcome.

*****************************
* Mike ('Kino Makoto') Koos * "I can do nothing to stop you.
*---------------------------* Your background music is too
* email: mak...@mother.com * strong for me."
***************************** - Whose Line is it Anyway?
www: http://iczer1.usacomputers.net/~makoto/index.htm