Cat Fist Fury All disclaimers are in place and are therefore not necessary to mention <>: Thoughts Chapter 10 Confessions "Would you like to have another cup of tea?" "No thanks Dr. Diggers." "Please, call me Theodore." Ranma nodded as he sat back on the easy chair. After his unintentional brawl with the archimage's werecheetah daughter, the Neko Ken fighter had agreed to meet with the head of the Diggers clan at the hotel they were staying in. For the last hour he began to reluctantly reveal the origin of his unique abilities. He didn't like the idea of telling a group of complete strangers his real name, but Dr. Diggers had sworn to him that none of what Ranma had told him would ever be repeated. Somehow, when he looked into the archimage's eyes, he could totally trust the man and his family. His sixth sense was not giving him any warnings and Ranma decided that it was time to get a few things off his chest. "The legendary Neko Ken, also known as the Cat Fist. I didn't think anyone was foolhardy enough to attempt to learn it, much less force his own son into it." Ranma nodded, his expression becoming dark as he thought about his father. "Let's just say that my father didn't win any prizes for being halfway intelligent." "I recall that the student develops an irrational fear of anything feline, provided that he or she even survived the training." Theodore remarked. The young former Saotome sighed. "I did develop a fear of cats in the beginning. For about nine years, I couldn't come close to anything that meowed or purred." "However, you didn't have any trouble fighting Brittany. From what my daughters tell me, you gave Brittany a run for her money." "I'm not sure how to explain it, but I kind of got over my fear after I fell into a cursed pool in China." "A cursed pool? China? Are you referring to Jusenkyo?" Ranma's eyes widened. "You know about it?" "Let's just say that I'm very familiar with things of a mystical nature. So you fell into one of the cursed springs?" "Yes. My idiot father thought that it would be a good place to train, but he didn't even try to find out why it was called a 'cursed' training ground. Heck, he didn't even bother to learn how to speak Chinese. After we started training there, he was the first to fall into one of the springs. He came up as a giant panda. I was so startled that I let my guard down and he got the drop on me. I ended up in another spring." "Which spring was that?" "According to what the guide had told us, it was the Spring of Monster Tiger. Some big cat had drowned there 20, 000 years ago. But here's the strange part. Are you familiar with the effects of a Jusenkyo curse?" The archimage nodded. "Cold water will trigger the curse, hot water will reverse it." "When the guide tried to change me back with a kettle of hot water, it didn't work. I was so frustrated at not being able to change back that I ran off and spent the next two months living off the land in the Bayankala Mountain Range. During that time, I found out three things. First of all, my fear of cats was gone. Secondly, I found out that I had gotten control of my chi. Lastly, it was through that control that I eventually could transform whenever I wanted to. I also discovered that I now had full, conscious control of the Cat Fist!" "I see. I think I may have an answer. Tell me, did something happen to the spring after you fell into it?" "Yeah, it blew up!" "That proves it." "Proves what?" "The Cat Fist is a form of chi attack that is based on the ferocity of a feline. If a person survives the training, the traits of a cat are ingrained into his or her subconscious. When you fell into the spring, the waters attempted to pass on the traits of the tiger that had drowned there. However, you already had the characteristics of a cat from the Neko Ken training. As a result, the curse of Jusenkyo and the Neko Ken had merged together. Since the Neko Ken is a form of chi attack, the transformation from tiger to human and back are therefore connected to your chi. The trigger related to water temperature had been overridden, which is why the spring exploded." "So? what you're saying is, it's because of the Neko Ken, that I can change without using any water?" "Basically, that's it." Dr. Diggers became thoughtful. "In a way, it's ironic. To overcome your fear of cats, you had to become one. As a result, you are now the sole master of the Neko Ken. A pity that it cannot be duplicated." Ranma nodded. "Well, with the Spring of Monster Tiger gone, there's no way anyone could do what I did." "I was also surprised to learn that you were able to achieve a hybrid form. From what my daughter had told me, you were even more powerful than her own intermediate stage." "Well, to tell you the truth, that was the first time that I tried something like that. Apparently, even as a human, I still possess a lot of the power that my saber-tooth tiger form has. I've never really had any reason to try to change to something between human and tiger, until today. By the way, is your daughter like me?" Dr. Diggers shook his head. "No, my daughter is the last of her race. She's a werecheetah." "Werecheetah?" "Yes, you've heard of werewolves, right? Well, Brittany was born to a race of lycanthropes that were based on cheetahs. Her tribe was killed during a blood feud with a rival tribe of werewolves and I adopted her. As you have already found out, she's quite powerful. However, she does have certain limitations, like all werebeasts." "You mean, she can be killed by silver? Just like in the movies?" "Right. She's also vulnerable to magic, which explains how you were able to hurt her." "Come again?" "The Jusenkyo waters have made you a being of magic. A regular martial artist wouldn't have caused anything more than superficial damage to her. She would have been up and about in mere seconds after your little tussle, had you been just a normal human being. Right now, she's still smarting from the fight." "Sorry about that, but?" "No need to apologize. It was all an unfortunate misunderstanding. We came here to investigate the possibility that you might be some kind of weretiger, but that isn't the case. You are not a lycanthrope. The closest term to describe your condition, is an animorph. You don't have any special vulnerability to silver, since you can be injured by conventional means. You don't react to the phases of the moon. However, your body does possess phenomenal chi control, both on a conscious and subconscious level. You have a high rate of strength, endurance, speed, and remarkable healing powers. Your shapeshifting ability mimics that of a werebeast. You could say that you are the closest thing to a werebeast without being one." Some time later, Ranma and the Diggers family were at the Tokyo airport, as the archimage and his daughters were preparing to leave for America. "Here's my card Ranma. In case you ever need me for anything. I would like to hear from you and check on your progress from time to time." "Thanks. Oh and by the way, never call me Ranma Saotome." "Of course, Cojiro Shinkara." "It was nice meeting with you." Gina said as she hefted her bag. Brittany then said something in English to her father, which Dr. Diggers related to Ranma in Japanese. "My daughter Brittany would like to again apologize for all the trouble that was caused and hopes that you would still accept her as a friend." "No problem! We both got out of hand and to be honest, she gave me the best workout I've had in a long time! I'll be looking forward to our next match!" The two shook hands after Dr. Diggers had translated the message. A little while later, they boarded the plane for America and were soon on their way home. It was around five in the afternoon as Ranma was walking down the street, contemplating all that he had learned from the Diggers family. Ranma looked up and saw that his wanderings had led him to the front door of the Ucchan's. Feeling his stomach growl at the delicious smells that was emanating from the establishment, he decided to go in and take up Ukyo's earlier offer for a free meal. Ukyo Kuonji was delighted to see Ranma enter the restaurant and motioned him to take a seat. "Cojiro! Good to see you! I'll be right with you!" Ranma smiled as he took a stool at the counter. After a few minutes, she turned to him and asked him for his order. "I'll have the squid special with plenty of vegetables." In less than five minutes, the owner of the Ucchan's had whipped up Ranma's order with a style and grace that was poetry to watch. Ranma was soon wolfing down the okonomiyaki. "Mmmmm! Tastes just as good as the last time I had it!" Ukyo was a bit puzzled at the statement. "Excuse me, but I don't remember you ever coming in to eat here before today." "Uh? I meant that this tastes just as good as the last time I ate okonomiyaki! Check that. This tastes even better! The best I've ever had!" The flattery was enough to distract Ukyo as she smiled. "The best in the world sugar." "No doubt." Ranma agreed. As Ranma quietly munched on the okonomiyaki, he watched his old friend as she tended to her other customers. After a while, the rest of the patrons paid their bills and left, leaving him alone with his childhood friend. "So sugar, I hear that you've been having some run-ins with the Amazons lately." "How'd you know about that?" "It wasn't hard to notice. They've been chasing you all over Tokyo and all the property damage were to easy to see. Plus, Shampoo has been going on at school about getting you for a husband. What's going on?" "It's kind of a long and complicated story." "Hey, if you don't want to talk about it, then that's okay. But, with the way they been dogging your trail, I would think that you'd be ticked off big time." "That's pretty close to what I'm feeling. Those Amazons are after me because of some dopey law of theirs. But there's one catch. One of them has to kiss me in order to make it official. For the last week or so, I've been avoiding their attempts to liplock with me. Now any other guy would jump at the chance to kiss five beautiful girls, but those Amazons are just too? er, aggressive for me. Besides, this may sound old-fashioned, but I believe in falling in love first before getting hitched. Trying to force me to marry against my will because of some stupid law is crazy! It's just as bad as an arranged marriage!" Ranma's expression became dark as he thought back to all the deals that Genma had made, promising him to ten different girls, including the girl that had served him dinner. When he looked up, he saw that Ukyo had taken on a saddened expression. "Ukyo? What's wrong?" The Kuonji girl sniffled a bit as she replied, "It's nothing. When you mentioned an arranged marriage, it? brought back some memories that I'd rather forget." Ranma mentally kicked himself, as he knew exactly what memories his Ucchan was referring to. "Uh, I'm sorry I said something that offended you." "It's okay. It's been over ten years and I guess it wouldn't hurt to get it off my chest. You see, when I was six, I met this boy, Ranma Saotome. He and I would always spar together for a free okonomiyaki from my father's yattai. He'd always win, but it didn't really matter much in those days. He was probably the best friend I ever had since we moved around a lot. We even made up nicknames. I called him Ran-chan and he called me Ucchan. I thought we'd be together forever. But then? he betrayed me." "What happened?" "His father and my father agreed to engage the both of us. My father's yattai was put up as my dowry. But that jerk and his father took it and abandoned me! I was so hurt by their betrayal that I swore never to love another man! I was ruined for marriage so there was no point in keeping to my femininity." "So? that's the reason why you pretended to be a boy?" Ukyo nodded. "For ten years, I had been passing myself off as a boy. All I could think of was getting back at the Saotomes for the misery they caused me. No one knew that I was a girl, until?" "Until that principal cut your hair." Ranma finished. Ukyo reluctantly nodded. "Ukyo, I really feel sorry that this had happened to you, but aren't you just being a bit narrow-minded? I mean, you and this Ranma boy were only six. He may not have known about anything about the deal between his father and yours." "What do you mean? He and his father Genma took off with my dowry! He even waved goodbye to me!" "Oh come on now! You expect me to believe that a six-year old boy would even know about fianc?es and marriage? Let me ask you this. If Ranma knew about the deal, do you actually believe that he would willingly abandon his best friend for just a few days supply of okonomiyaki?" "Well?" "Let me put it to you another way. From what you're telling me, this Genma had taken the cart and his son, while leaving you behind, even though HE himself made that deal with your father. Sounds to me that Genma had not told his son about the deal. If Ranma had full knowledge of the engagement, then I'm sure that he wouldn't have abandoned you like that." "Well, I have to admit that Genma didn't really seem like a nice person. He was always getting between us and my Dad told me that Ranma had already been promised to another. However, when Dad offered his yattai, Genma jumped at the deal." "Right. Now mind you, I'm only guessing, but I'm willing to wager that Genma was underhanded enough not to tell his son about the arrangement. After all, a six-year old is still pretty innocent and will believe anything that his parent tells him. Probably told his son that the yattai was a gift or something." "I? suppose that might be possible." "Yes, it is possible. The fact of the matter is you've been so consumed about all the negative reasons that you haven't considered any other explanations. Maybe he was lied to. Maybe he misunderstood the question. Maybe he didn't even know that you were a girl!" "What do you mean by that?" "I mean, that's only one suggestion! I thought you were a boy at the tournament!" "So did every one else! What I'm trying to say, is that you shouldn't be so angry over something that you don't have all the facts to. If you don't have the complete story, then there's no point to jumping to conclusions!" "I? guess." Ranma and Ukyo sat in silence for a long while as the okonomiyaki chef considered his words. After a few minutes, Ukyo said, "Well, you've given me something to think about, Cojiro. Maybe I was too angry to actually think of another reason why I was abandoned." "Right. And to be honest, you look cute when you're not angry." Ukyo blushed. "You know, no one's ever called me cute before." "Well, you are! I mean it!" Ranma then looked at his watch and said, "Well, it's getting late and I've got to be going." He then stood up and turned toward the door. "I'll see you later Ukyo." "Hey Cojiro. Call me Ucchan." Ranma turned back with a surprised look as he asked, "You don't mind that name?" Ukyo then smiled sweetly as she stood up and walked over to him. "Why should I mind? Ran-chan!" To be continued? Author's Notes Well, it was only a matter of time before one of the Nerima crew would figure out Ranma's identity. I decided that Ukyo would be the most likely to uncover Ranma's secret. Now that I've explained Ranma's Juesenkyo curse, it's time to move on with the next stage in the Neko Ken master's life. Will Ukyo keep Ranma's secret? Where is Genma? What about the other Tendos? The Amazons? Stay tuned!