Ranma Puff Z

By Skye Silverwing

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

Chapter 3: Old Friends Anew

Genma ran. He ran as fast as his chunky Panda legs could take him. He ran through the Valley of the cursed springs, careful not to fall in again. He ran into the undergrowth on the edge of the Valley, seeking cover. He ran through the wooded area, flitting from shadow to shadow as well as his martial arts skills, impaired as they were by his new Panda body, would allow.

He ran from a shining Demoness. A girl who had risen from the spring where his son had fallen. A girl who had flown into the air, shining with horrible power. A girl who wielded a pair of battle fans that hungered for his blood. A girl who looked at him with eyes that reflected his own death.

Certain that he must have put some distance between himself and his pursuer, Genma chanced a look back. He saw nothing but the bushes he had just barreled through and the trees he had been dodging around. Of his pursuer there was no sign.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned back to the way ahead of him, only to be met, eye-to-eye, with the white-clothed force of nature that he had been fleeing from. She looked at him with a malicious gleam in her eye.

Genma's eyes widened in terror as he screamed a Panda's scream.

The girl's face contorted in a vicious grin and she opened her fans.

Genma's world exploded in pain.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

It was several hours after the battle at the school when Akane awoke to find herself in Dr Tofu's clinic. She tried to sit up, and immediately regretted it, as a wave of exhaustion washed over her and threatened to cause her to black out once again.

Dr Tofu took note of the Girl's attempt and hurried to steady her. "Now, now, Akane," he said with a reassuring tone, "you just exhausted yourself to extreme levels a few hours ago, so it is only natural that you would not be very steady yet. Honestly, I am surprised that you are awake at all, given how depleted your life force was when the Powerpuff Girls brought you in this morning."

Akane looked at the Doctor somewhat confused. The entire morning seemed so hazy in her mind. Bits and pieces were there… Going to school that morning… Trying to make some soup in home ec… the teacher screaming that it smelled like a gas leak… Getting released from school early… going to see her sisters… and then…

Akane's eyes widened. "I… I fought a monster..." She said in an awed tone. "And met the Powerpuff Girls. They saved me."

Tofu smiled at the girl's statement. "To hear them tell it," he said, "you were the one that saved them."

Akane's eyes widened even further. "I… I used the Tendo School's Ki Weapon Technique…" she said, recalling a bit more. "It was incredible. I… I can't believe I managed it… I could never do it before…"

She attempted to get up again and faltered, prompting the Doctor to push her gently but firmly back down onto the bed. "No, Akane, you need your rest." He said. "Your sisters will be along soon, so I insist that you rest until they arrive."

Akane sighed and let herself be pushed down, thinking about the Powerpuff Girls Z as she let the fatigue overwhelm her once more.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Ukyo held the small, unconscious black piglet that had once been her directionally-challenged traveling companion in her arms and looked at the man in the green uniform. "W-where are we," she asked in a wavering voice, "and what happened to Ryo-chan?"

The Jusenkyo guide smiled reassuringly at the girl. "This Jusenkyo." He said simply, "Cursed training ground of cursed springs. Mr. Customer fall in Spring of Drowned Pig. Tragic story about Pig who drown in spring. Now all who fall in spring take form of small, black piglet. You lucky, Miss Customer. You fall in Spring of Drowned Girl, but girl already, so no change."

Ukyo blinked, her lower lip beginning to quiver. "Ryo-chan was turned into a pig?" she asked, holding the pig a little tighter. "Is it… permanent?"

The guide shook his head. "Miss Customer not worry." He said, "Victims change back with hot water, but change again with cold."

Ukyo turned on the man with a vicious glare. Setting the pig down, she advanced on the green-clothed man. "Then why haven't you gone to get some yet?" she demanded, bringing her battle spatula to bear to prove her point.

The Guide waved his hands in warding gestures and backing away from the weapon. "No need do anything rash, miss customer," he said quickly, "Please to calm down."

Ukyo fumed. "Calm down?" she demanded, "CALM DOWN? RYOGA IS A PIG! HE IS A PIG AND YOU ARE NOT-"

A sudden whine from behind her caused the angry chef to cut off, and turn to see her small black companion staring at her with tear-filled eyes. She took a step toward him, calling out to him as he turned and fled off into the undergrowth.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Ryoga awoke fitfully as he felt himself suddenly on the cold hard ground. The sensation was not unfamiliar to him, but it was far less comfortable than the soft warmth he had been feeling moments before. Lazily, he raised his head and looked for his traveling companion.

"RYOGA IS A PIG!" he heard Ukyo shout.

The words stabbed deeply into his heart. Was that truly how Ukyo felt about him? Had all the months of traveling together truly meant nothing to her? As his heart broke, he did the only thing a man could do in such a situation: he ran.

He ran into the underbrush, tears streaming from his eyes and down over his wide, flat nose.

He ran out into the scorching desert, failing to notice that he was running on four legs.

He ran along the wide frozen ridges, as his sorrow and pain began to stoke the fires of rage, long cooled by the power of love, in his heart.

He ran on a sandy beach, as the black lightning began to arc around his small black body, changing it.

He ran into the city streets, caring for nothing but his own pain, determined that it was the fault of everything that dared to get in the way of his huge charging hooves.

No longer a small black piglet, the monstrous Razorback Boar charged into the City proper, leaving ruinous destruction in its wake.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Miyako exited the store, carrying a bag containing a number of articles of clothing she had bought to give Kasumi as a gift to apologize for having gone so long without spending time with her. Momoko and Kauru walked over from the bench on which they had been waiting.

Kauru grumbled. "It took you long enough." She grated.

Miyako looked a little abashed. "Sorry, but I wanted to pick exactly the right things." She said. "Kasumi is a wonderful person and I have not been treating her well lately."

Kauru sighed. "Honestly, I just want to check on her sister." She said. "That girl had some moves. It would be horrible if she was seriously hurt because she saved us today."

All three of the girls sighed, recalling how Akane had used that strange burst of power to take out the horrible perverted samurai monster, and how she fainted afterward.

Momoko nodded, a confident smile appearing on her face. "Not to worry." She said, "That Doctor said that she would be fine after she rested. In fact, I bet she is up and on her way home right now."

Miyako nodded in agreement. "I am sure Doctor Tofu is taking good care of Akane." She said, "I am worried about my slip-up with Kasumi. We need to make sure that she doesn't know it was me."

The other girls nodded. "Well, let's go." Momoko said. "After all, we don't want to get interrupted by a-"

As if on cue, one of the buildings behind them exploded outward as a huge Boar Charged through it.

Kauru shot Momoko a glare. "I blame you for this." She said flatly.

Momoko sweat-dropped. "Hey it wasn't my fault!" she defended. "I can't control when monsters show up!"

With that, the girls headed for the nearby alley to transform, so that they could stop the beast before it could do any more damage.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

As the Guide gingerly led her back to his shack, the very disconsolate Ukyo tried to get a grasp on the situation.

Ryoga, the boy she had spent the last several months traveling the world with, the boy who, in spite of herself, she found herself becoming closer to, was gone. He had been turned into a pig and then the very qualities that had kept the pair of them lost all this time had spirited him away, and he had had nearly three hours to become so lost she might never find him again.

It wasn't fair.

A heavy thud behind them snapped Ukyo out of her funk, and she and the Guide turned to see the girl with the odd white hair hovering several feet off the ground glaring down at what appeared to be a severely beaten and broken and very unconscious panda, which she had apparently just deposited where he lay in a rather unceremonious manner.

The guide looked at the girl and the panda. "I go get hot water now." He said, fleeing quickly into the house. He had seen many customers fall in the Nyaniichuan over the years, but never one with such a strong latent reaction to it.

The girl's silver-grey eyes locked with Ukyo's tear-streaked eyes and the anger seeped from them, quickly replaced by concern and sympathy for the other girl.

She floated down until she was standing eye to eye with Ukyo. "Are… Are you alright?" she asked cautiously.

Ukyo shook her head no. "My friend… He got turned into a pig and ran off." She said. "He always had a bad sense of direction, so he is probably really lost…"

The white haired girl smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry, we can find him." She said, "We just have to…huh?"

She cut off, look down at her belt which had begun to flash.

Ukyo noticed it too, and then looked at her own belt. "Oh, no!" she said, "Not now!"

Bell watched in fascination as the brunette proceeded to dance her way through a transformation into a purple outfit not unlike her own.

"ULTRA BUNNY!" she called, completing the transformation and landing on the ground, in a ready stance, her ornate battle spatula in her hand. She gritted her teeth, anticipating the pain and she was not disappointed.

Bell watched in horror as black lightning began to arc around the girl in front of her, obviously causing her immense pain.

Desperate to help, Bell called on her memories of training with the monks, opening her eyes to the energy around her. To her surprise she saw two different energies, black and white, coursing through the poor girl. The energies were equal and opposed, warring over her body driving each other back as they advanced in one area and withdrew in another, unable to gain ground, and swirling painfully through the girl's chi pathways as they built and reacted with each other.

Thinking fast, Bell noticed that the energy with her own body was the same white energy, and it too, was opposed to the black energy. Maybe she could help.

Stepping forward, she pulled out her fans and spread her energy into them. She then stepped quickly up to the other girl, wrapping her arms around her and pushing some of her own light into her.

The sudden increase in the light quickly energized the purple-skirted girl, causing the black energy to withdraw as much as it could, and then, in a flash of dark purple luminescence, the black light burst out from her and streaked out across Jusenkyo.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Akane moved with slow, deliberate steps as she followed her sisters on their way home.

Dr Tofu had been rather surprised to find that the wound on her leg had healed almost completely in the four hours after the fight, especially given the girl's chi exhaustion. She should have taken several days to heal that wound. He ultimately attributed it to the Chi provided to the girl by the Powerpuff Girls, and told her that if she noticed any other effects, to inform him immediately.

Akane had not yet fully recovered her chi, but she was feeling her energy coming back more and more. She was certain it would not be long before she was back at full strength. In fact, if the speed of her recovery was any indication, it was very likely that she would be even stronger than before.

The three Tendos were almost to the market a few blocks from their home when one of the walls in front of them exploded outward, disgorging a large, black boar.

Kasumi screamed, Nabiki grabbed her big sister's hand and pulled her back into the relative safety of a nearby alley, and Akane dropped into a combat stance, because even in her weakened state, she still had a better chance in a fight against a monster than her sisters.

The Boar charged directly at the girl, and she firmed up her stance as it bore down on her. She held out her hands to catch its huge tusks before it could Maul or trample her, and hoped she would have the strength to stop it from hurting her sisters.

"There it is! GRAVITON BLOCK!" Buttercup shouted as she dropped out of the sky and slammed her mallet into the nose of the Boar. "Akane, get your sisters out of here!"

The young Tendo did not need to be told twice as she quickly began herding her sisters into a nearby alley to escape while the Powerpuffs kept the monster busy.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Blossom appeared a moment after the Tendos' escape, supporting her teammate as they attempted to corral the huge beast. "Strawberry shoot!" She called, attempting to ensnare the huge swine's legs with her Yo-yo, but missed as the creature charged around a corner, only to appear again from the opposite direction. "Aww… How does this thing keep jumping around like that? It is like a cartoon chase scene!"

Bubbles, who had been trying to keep a birds-eye view to help determine how the monster was doing what it was doing, dropped down to rally with her teammates. "I could not keep track of it." She said. "It seemed like every time it was obscured by something, it disappeared, only to reappear someplace else."

Buttercup narrowed her eyes. "Then we have to stop it so if can't get out of our sight!" she said, charging to re-engage, and swinging her hammer. "GRAVITON DRIVE!"

A burst of force launched from the hammer and buried the boar in the side of the building next to them. As the structure collapsed, burying the beast in rubble, Buttercup realized her mistake. "Oh, no!" She cried, "It's gone again! Where is it now?"

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Akane led her sisters further along the alley as quickly as their legs would carry them. The sounds of combat behind them spurring them faster. The Alley shook as the building to their left was demolished, presumably burying that horrible beast in the rubble.

The Tendos barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief, though as a moment later, the wall ahead of them, a protective wall around the local public baths, burst outward to reveal the beast, somehow transported to there.

As the beast charged out through the wall, however, it kicked one of the pipes carrying the hot water into the baths, causing it to shatter and spray steamy water everywhere. The result was a horrific transformation. As the stunned teens looked on, the Boar transformed into a huge black-skinned Minotaur.

It stood easily ten feet tall, and its jet-black skin bulged with thick, powerful muscles. It loomed over those in the alley like a mighty shadow of death, and it reached out one huge hand and wrested a steel fencepost from the concrete sidewalk, a chunk of concrete clinging to the end of it, like a make-shift mace.

This was made all the more terrifying for the girls by the realization that the beast was, in fact, very, very naked.

Kasumi screamed and averted her eyes.

Nabiki stared in a combination of horror and intrigue.

Akane, however, clenched her fists in burning rage. "HOW DARE YOU!" she shouted, a pure white aura leaping into existence around her. "YOU PERVERTED MONSTER!"

The Powerpuffs, having heard Kasumi's scream, arrived on the scene just in time to see the youngest Tendo's Aura form around her into, surprisingly, a shifting, pulsing, multicolored version of their own costumes. Then they saw the beast, and as one, they flinched back from it, their young, innocent minds reeling from the sight.

Then Akane attacked, delivering a punishing series of attack to the beast with her chi-born mallet and her hands and feet. The hentai monster flailed uselessly at the girl with his mace as she used the combination of her own skills and the power of the white light, boosting her speed and strength, as well as allowing her to fly, to drive the creature back into the canal.

As soon as the creature hit the water, it changed once more, returning to its previous boar form. Akane, her rage spent, suddenly felt the power leave her and dropped back to the ground, breathing hard and sweating heavily. She looked up to see the boar pulling itself from the water.

The angry beast locked eyes with her, and took the first step in a charge.

"BALOON CATCHER!"

A large bubble leaped from the blue-clad Powerpuff's rod, encasing the beast and lifting it up off the ground, so that its relentless running would only result the bubble spinning in the air.

The three superheroes turned to regard Akane as she sat, breathing heavily, a thick layer of sweat coating her brow. After a few moments, the uniform that marked her has a Powerpuff girl faded back into her school uniform.

Akane looked up at the Powerpuffs plaintively. "What…" she asked, between deep, shuttering breaths, "What… is happening to me?"

The Three girls were confused themselves. It did not make sense. Blossom looked at her teammates and then nodded. "We'll have to take her to the professor." She said finally. "Maybe he can figure out how she has our powers, and what happened to them."

Kasumi stepped forward. "I think Dr. Tofu might be able to help, too." She said, and seeing the girls nod, she turned her attention to her middle sister. "Nabiki, go tell Dr. Tofu to hurry over to the Lab on the hill. I am going home to let father know what is going on, and to wait for word on what is happening."

Nabiki nodded and the two elder Tendo girls hurried off, each to their own task, while the Powerpuffs took to the sky, boar-filled bubble and the youngest Tendo in tow.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Bunny stared from the girl before her to her own purple skirt. There was no pain, no black lightning, no explosion of dark energy. For the first time since the Day of the Iceberg, she felt whole, and more, she felt great. The strength and power inherent in the white light were flowing through her body unimpeded buy whatever that dark light was.

She smiled as the Jusenkyo guide appeared, a kettle of water in hand. He looked around, confused, "Where other girl, girl who look for pig?" he asked.

Bunny looked at the Guide, confused. "I am right here." She replied.

The guide's eyes widened in confusion. "You fall in another spring?" he asked, concerned. "Is no matter, hot water change back. See?" With that, he poured the water on the badly beaten Panda. The change took but a moment. The panda changed, shifting into the form of a man. A man whose face was one that Bunny would never forget.

She glared at the man, a mask of rage forming on her face. "GENMA SAOTOME!" she yelled angrily. She started toward the unconscious man, brandishing her Spatula, when the white haired girl who had saved her stepped in her path.

Bell looked deep into the other girl's eyes with an annoyed look. "What did my Pops do this time?" she asked.

Bunny looked at the girl in confusion. "Your… Pops?" she asked, things not quite clicking in her mind yet.

Bell looked at her and sighed. "Yes, my Pops." She replied, "The man steals, cheats, lies, and in general screws with the lives of pretty much everyone he meets, so I am sure you have a good reason for wanting to beat him to a pulp, but as you can see, he is already in pretty bad shape from the beating I gave him for turning me into a girl. I want to know what he did to you before I let you go and kill him."

Suddenly, everything began to click in Bunny's mind. "Turned into a girl?" she asked, "That means you're… Ranma Saotome?"

The white haired girl nodded, and folded her arms behind her head. "The one and only." She replied with a grin.

Bell's smile faded as she realized that the other girl was now glaring at her, her knuckles whitening on the handle of her battle-spatula.

Bunny suddenly charged, lashing out with her spatula. "Ranma you Jerk!" she yelled as her weapon was deflected by Bell's Fans. "You left me behind! We were engaged, and you ruined my life!"

Bell rolled her eyes as she came out of a roll after avoiding a slash. "Engaged?" she asked, deflecting yet another strike with her fans. "I think my Pops pulled that on several individuals that I can remember, what is your name?"

Bunny dropped into ready stance once more. "I am Ukyo Kuonji!" she said, swinging her weapon once more. "You and your father stole my family Okonomiyaki cart which was to be my dowry!"

Bell blinked and caught the spatula in the side of the head, launching her backward into a nearby rock face. "Uc-chan?" Bell asked, a dumbstruck look on her face. She recalled her old friend, and her Okonomiyaki cart, but… "Uc-chan was a girl? I always just thought Uc-chan was a guy…"

Bunny's eyes widened, first with surprise, then outrage. "OF COURSE I WAS A GIRL!" she screamed, attacking with a raging flurry. "Why would your father engage us if we were both men?"

Bell was pondering it as she moved half-heartedly through dodging the attacks. "I…I don't know." She said at last, "I don't think my old man ever told me about it. Again, it is one of those things he did kind of often. I only started to realize how much of a jerk my pop was when I got hit by that white light while waiting for a friend to show up for a challenge match. He took me out of the city while I was unconscious. By the time I woke up, he had me over fifty miles out of town."

Bunny stopped and looked at her. "Wait." She said, "The day you got hit with the light was probably the same day it hit me. The person you were waiting for… Was it Ryoga Hibiki?"

Bell's eyes widened. "Black hair, bandanna, gets lost constantly?" she asked, "Yeah, it was him. How do you know him?"

Bunny sighed slightly. "We met that day, and when we realized that we were both looking for you, I lead him to the lot you were in, though it must have been a few hours after you left." She said, "I made the mistake of letting him lead me to your house, and he got us both lost. Since then we just stuck together out of need, until a few hours ago, when he got changed into a pig and ran off."

Bell goggled at that. "Your missing friend is Ryoga?" she asked, "That is not good. He can get lost in a room with one door."

Bunny nodded. "I know what you mean." She said, "I am fairly certain that he took us through Death Valley and the Amazon three times in one day. Not that I can really be sure. We were never really sure of time. Once I saw the sunrise in seven different locations in one twenty hour period, and another time we walked in the dark of night for two weeks straight. We have to find him though…"

Bell sighed. "In my experience, the best way to find Ryoga is not to look for him." She said, "Otherwise, the knowledge of where he should be interferes with finding him."

Bunny sighed and nodded and the two of them drifted back down to where the guide was waiting for them.

The Chinese man had been hoping that the two would calm back down so he could change them back to their original forms. He explained the curse, and its cure, to them once more before pouring warm water over each of their heads. Ranma shifted form, becoming his old male self again, while Ukyo was restored to her previous clothing. They both felt stronger than they had before their change.

"Is very strange." The Guide said, "I never see girl change to another girl before… I take you to Village of Amazons. Their elders may be able to tell you more."

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

A few hours after the Guide and the two newly formed Powerpuffs departed the cursed training ground, a soft purple glow began to rise out among the calm, cold springs. The dark light, expelled at last from its eternal struggle in the chef's body, drifted along in the water seeking a new vessel. It drew on the sorrow of the souls eternally trapped there, but it knew, on some level, that the sunlight would destroy it if it did not find somewhere to hide.

As it spread through the waters, it sensed something. Something familiar. It felt a soft, lingering hatred. A curse spat with a dying breath at none other than that white clothed wench that had used the cursed white light to cast the black from its last host. It approached its new shell and, if an embodiment of dark power could be seen to smile, it did so. Soon, it would have its revenge.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

AN. I figure that is a good place to stop. Next time, Tofu and Utonium work to determine the nature and limits of Akane's powers, P-Chan gets a new home, and a certain Amazon bites off more than she can chew.

I love constructive criticism.