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!