THE BEAST WITHIN (Ranma/Darkstalkers/Bloody Roar)

Synopsis: After rereading Cat Fist Fury, (which I’m still writing), I sometimes wondered why cats? Then I thought, why not dogs, or better yet, wolves?

Scene:

Six-year-old Ranma let off a scream as the cats descended upon him to get at the fish sausage. As their claws raked his flesh, the boy began to feel something change within him. Since the lid, which covered the pit had a small crack in it, some light filtered through it. And this wasn’t just any light. Genma had decided that the best way to minimize interference from others, especially the police, was to do the training at night. And there was a full moon out.

The combination of cats, adrenaline, the moon’s alignment and a dormant gene within the boy’s biological makeup all served to be the catalyst for a startling transformation within the pit. Genma became totally confused and frightened when the cats yowling became more intense. A new sound was heard as a snarling sound began drowning out the noise being made from the cats. This was added to sounds of rending flesh and torn limbs. Then something erupted from the pit, causing the lid to explode into splinters. A dark shape bolted from the spot, bowling over the fat martial artist and headed off into the woods.

A minute later, Genma came to his senses (if you could call them that), and peeked into the pit with a flashlight. He swallowed hard to keep from throwing up when he saw the bloody carnage within. Every last cat had been mauled and dismembered. Legs, tails, heads and other body parts were scattered all over the floor of the pit. The stench of blood rose thickly. However, there was no sign of Ranma. In the distance he heard what sounding like wolf howling at the moon, but there was something about it that made it seem almost... human.

Later, at dawn...

Genma found his son some three miles away, sleeping peacefully under a tree. The thing was, though the claws of the cats had torn his gi, his body had not a single mark on it.

End of scene

In this scenario, Genma is not Ranma’s real father. Actually, Nodoka had an affair with another martial artist before she had married Genma. This martial artist has the curse of lycanthropy. His name was Jon Talbain.

In this case, Ranma never learns the Cat Fist, since his werewolf heritage will naturally reject it. Then again, the Wolf Fist is better in this case. He’ll be able to transform back and forth like in Gold Diggers, except during the phases of a full moon. There’s some possibilities with other Darkstalkers appearing and maybe the characters of the Bloody Roar videogame. How about it?