Cat Fist Fury This story was inspired from another fan fiction I read called Cat Scratch fever. Ranma ? belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Chapter One Transformation "Please Pop! Don't put me down there again!" Ranma Saotome cried as he was being forcibly shoved toward a deep pit. His body was wrapped in fish sausage. "Ranma! Quit your whining!" Genma scolded as he prepared to shove his six-year old son into the pit. "A true martial artist must suffer for his art! Now get in there!" Ranma screamed in horror and pain as he dropped into the shadows. An instant later, the sound of a hundred hungry cats were emitted from the pit, followed by the sounds of clothes and flesh being ripped apart. While this was going on, Genma smiled to himself. A few minutes later, the sounds died down and there came a foreboding silence. Genma wondered what had happened and began to approach the edge of the pit. Suddenly, there was a loud screech, followed by a whoosh of air as something launched itself upward from the hole. Genma only had enough time to scream as a small blur was suddenly upon him and was dealing out immense measures of pain. Nine years later? "Here sirs! We come to famous training ground of Cursed Springs, Jusenkyo!" The guide announced proudly. Ranma and his father looked about the landscape of the small valley. It had taken them many months to find this place. The search was made more difficult, since Genma had not even bothered to learn to speak Chinese before they set out for China. Now the two of them were staring at a place that was nothing but various pools of water with bamboo poles sticking out of them. This was what they had suffered to find? "Aw man! This place isn't as bad as I thought it might be!" Ranma commented as he set down his pack next to his father's. "Not like that Cat Fist training!" He added as he glared at Genma. The fat martial artist shuddered as he remembered that incident. It had taken him six weeks to recover from the mauling that he had received from his son, driven mad by the Neko Ken. He admitted that training his son in the technique had not been a good idea. Putting those thoughts aside, he leapt to a perch on one of the poles. "Let's not dwell on the past okay? Now follow me!" Ranma followed suit as he took up a position opposite to his father. They then began leaping about, trading blows while maintaining their balance. At this time, the Guide was frantically trying to get their attention. "No sirs! Very bad you fall in springs!" It wasn't long before one of them took a tumble. Genma found himself landing in a pool after being kicked by his son. As he made a big splash, Ranma landed on a pole to his right. Behind him was a spring that was large and seemed extremely old. The rocks on its banks were covered in moss and several of its poles were all but rotted through. Just as Ranma landed on his perch, a huge panda erupted from the surface of the pool Genma had fallen into. Ranma's eyes widened with shock as he stared at the animal. His mind barely registered the Guide's words about a panda drowning in that spring two thousand years ago, when it suddenly leapt forward and knocked him backward and into the spring behind him. Unlike Genma, Ranma did not immediately emerge from the spring in his cursed form. The panda and the guide stared at the spring as they waited for the boy to emerge. Suddenly, the water became to steam and soon came to a boil. Both men were confused as to what was happening. Before either one could even contemplate what was going on, the spring exploded as if someone had tossed a bomb into it. The panda was knocked off his perch by the force of the explosion. Fortunately, he had landed near where the guide was and not in another cursed spring. The two were sprawled on their backs as the dust kicked up from the explosion died down. Getting back on their feet, they saw that the spring had been completely obliterated. In its place was a deep ditch. Then? it happened. Genma's fur was put on end and the guide's skin became riddled with goose bumps as they heard a blood-curdling roar come from the hole. A huge black blur leapt up from the pit, causing the father of Ranma Saotome to have a feeling of d?j? vu. When it landed on all fours in front of them, their blood ran cold. The beast was roughly the size of a Buick. Its body was sleek, yet powerfully built. Its fur was the darkest ebony. Its mouth snarled, exposing an impressive set of razor sharp teeth, which complimented the two huge canines in front. Looking at the huge saber toothed tiger, the Guide swallowed and said, "Oh no! He was in Spring of Drowned Monster Tiger! There very tragic legend of giant tiger that drown there 20, 000 year ago! Now?" The guide's words were left unfinished as Ranma let off another thunderous roar that caused the nearby poles to quiver. It glared with blood in its eyes at Genma. That was all the incentive the guide needed for his survival instincts to kick in. Grabbing Genma by the paw he began to bolt for his hut. "RUN SIR! RUN! RUN! RUN!" "Growf?" "No time to explain! Must get hot water!" Ranma let off a snarl as he began to give chase. His new feline form moved with incredible speed as he leapt each of the pools with ease. The guide and his father were inside the hut and bolting the door, but this proved to be no barrier to the transformed martial artist. Ranma smashed through the door as easily as if he was going through tissue paper. When he got inside the hut, Genma was cowering against a wall and was trembling. Ranma could not see the guide anywhere, but didn't care. Getting down low and baring his claws, Ranma prepared to pounce on his father. The panda's expression turned from fear to surprise as he felt something hot pour down his head. He let off a surprised yelp and then discovered himself back in his human form. When he looked up, he saw the guide standing between himself and his son, holding a kettle of water in one trembling hand. "N-no worry sir! Hot water change back to normal, just like father! Please calm down!" Ranma was sorely tempted to tear into Genma anyway, but after a long moment of silence,relented and sat on his haunches. The guide then stepped forward and poured the water. The steamy liquid ran down the big cat's head and? nothing happened. The guide became puzzled at this then repeated the process. Still nothing happened. "W-what is wrong? Young sir no change back!" The guide then proceeded to dump the entire contents of the kettle, which caused a low and menacing growl. The guide's fear came back as he edged away from the tiger. "Oh no! Hot water no work! Young sir still is monster tiger!" Ranma's eyes widened as the realization sank in. He glanced to a mirror that was hanging on a wall. The image reflected back at him was that of a black saber toothed tiger. His eyes regained their red fury as he glared back at Genma. The fat martial artist's expression took on a pure white look as his son resumed his position and bared his claws. Genma found himself frozen on the spot as he saw that his son was beyond all reason. With a final desperate plea, he said, "P- please Ranma! I'm? your father!" Ranma let off a roar that made the entire hut tremble as he launched himself forward. Genma shut his eyes and waited for the end. It never came. Instead, he heard a loud crash behind him as the wall gave way. Opening his eyes, he saw a huge gaping hole beside him. Cautiously, he looked outside and saw a small black dot running toward some mountains over the horizon. As the dot disappeared, Genma had a sinking feeling that things were going to get a lot worse. But as the black dot vanished with the setting sun, Genma's resolve hardened. "We have to after him!" "Oh no sir! Is not very good for customer to go after angry tiger now! Many, many wild animals come out at night! Better to wait until morning! No worry about son! No one bother him when he like that!" Genma shook his head as he realized that the guide was right. To go after Ranma while he was in that state would have been suicidal. It would be best to let the boy calm down. In any case, how hard would it be to find a saber-toothed tiger? To be continued? Author's Notes The rewrite to this first chapter is relatively minor. I added that last bit to show just how shallow Genma is. We all know that he wants the engagement to the Tendos, because he sees it as a way for him to retire and use Ranma as an excuse to live off the dojo. Genma is a lazy, lying, greedy and very poor excuse for a human being and these characteristics will be what will ultimately cause Ranma to desert him. Nobody honestly believes that what he did to Ranma on his training journey was for his benefit, right?