“C’mon, we gotta hurry before this jerk can do anything else weird!” Ranma chirped, her earlier modesty forgotten. It was pretty clear to anyone who knew her that the redhead was focused on getting payback for her earlier humiliation.
Beside her, Ukyo was trying not to stare too openly at Ranma’s thong clad backside and… well, judging by her blush and occasional stumbles not doing incredibly well at it.
Akane had a few years experience dealing with beautiful women in incredibly revealing outfits, and so was finding the sight ahead of her less distracting. Not that she didn’t appreciate it… well, maybe it would be more accurate to say she could effectively divide her attention between following Ranma and watching that booty.
Not that she actually needed to follow her; it had been a while, but she still remembered her way around her old stomping ground. It was more that she wanted to follow her because teamwork was more effective. And also that booty.
In truth, the feeling as they ran to the Kuno mansion was remarkably nostalgic; it was almost reminding her of her first adventure in Lustrum, back when it had just been her and Tanulia. That had been when they first met the catgirl sisters, Draleal and Nasaidra, before they’d teamed up.
It had also been the first time she’d successfully managed to use a spell. Akane smiled at the recollection; Tanulia had been trying to drill the basics into her, but she’d been unable to get a good grasp on her mana, let alone shape it.
Ultimately the curvy elf had been forced to get uh… hands on. But together they’d made the breakthrough she’d needed, and saved their lives in the process. Even just starting to get a handle on basic fire magic had been a joy.
For a moment, she allowed herself to fantasize about returning to Lustrum with Ranma by her side. Under her firm guidance she’d teach her favorite redhead the secrets of the arcane, imagining the look of joy on her face as she mastered the elements and…
… wait wait wait, on second thought, that was probably a really bad idea. That potential was actually—the wall they were passing by suddenly bulged outward and the exploded into rubble, driving the line of thought completely from her mind.
Ranma reacted instantly, converting her momentum into a flip, and came easily to a halt in a ready stance; Ukyo almost stumbled as she stopped herself, distracted by her confused lust for the redhead. Still, after a second of dithering she drew her spatula.
Akane slid to halt, the beginnings of an Arspike spell forming as she regarded the dust cautiously.
Under the steady rain the cloud of pulverized wall quickly fell away, revealing the figure striding through it. And his familiar two-ton umbrella, currently open to protect against the drizzle, worn travel clothes, and giant backpack full of gear and souvenirs. “Ryoga?”
The lost boy glanced her way at the sound of her voice, promptly blushed brilliantly crimson, and clapped a hand to his nose.
“Ack! S-sorry miss I-I-I d-didn’t mean to to to …” Ryoga stuttered, looking for a moment as if he were about to faint, but soon his flustered response faded into confused blinking as recognition slowly set in. “Ah… Akane!?”
“Oh, joy.” Ukyo muttered, bringing her spatula up defensively.
Before Akane could reply, Ryoga bulled ahead, releasing his nose to gesture angrily. “Damn you Ranma, what have you done to Akane this time!?”
“Hey! I didn’t do nothin’!” Ranma shot back angrily, causing the lost boy to do a double take at the bouncy, scantily clad redhead. And then clapped his free hand back over his nostrils as his brain processed what she was wearing. After a moment of sheer stupefaction, the Lost Boys brain ground back to life, outputting a predictable conclusion.
“You fiend!” Ryoga grated. “I’ll put an end to whatever perverse scheme you’re up to!”
“It isn’t—“ Akane began. Ranma, starting at the same time, rolled right over her words.
“’Perverse scheme!?’ Do you even listen to yourself?” The redhead pointed angrily, causing even more distracting secondary motions. Ryoga shook his head, a furious grimace crawling out from under his hand at the unintentional display.
“How would I do this?” Ranma demanded, her body language getting even more expressive as she got angrier, “Why would I do this, ‘specially to myself!? You think I wanna—“
“Enough of your pathetic excuses! Die you pervert!” Ryoga bellowed, lunging in with a kick. Ranma bounded over the attack, flipping over the enraged boy and landing behind him.
“Ah shut yer yap, porky!” Ranma returned, sending a blazing fast kick towards Ryoga’s head. The Lost Boy grunted, catching the attack on his nosebleed staunching arm, and fired another kick back at Ranma, who once again slipped aside the attack.
“Hold still and die!” Ryoga demanded, following up with a fusillade of furious leg strikes; Ranma refused to comply, shifting through a series of furious blows.
“Make me!” The redhead shot back, putting some distance between herself and her opponent. Ukyo, after a second of waffling, darted in to deliver a clanging blow to Ryoga’s noggin.
“Quit attacking Ran-chan, jackass!” Splang!
“Ow! Hey!”
Akane groaned, feeling a headache coming on. Ranma was never one to accept people ragging on her. And Ryoga’s tendency to jump to conclusions would probably have led to a fight even if she hadn’t said anything.
Well, assuming Ryoga would have been able recognize the redhead on his own. She liked him well enough, but sometimes she had to admit that he was kind of slow on the uptake.
The shaggy youth ducked a follow up strike then lunged out of Ukyo’s range and towards his rival, and a loud crunching noise followed as Ryoga demolished another fence. Ranma slipped a kick past his guard, then delivered a blurringly fast series of punches, drawing a grunt.
Ryoga was forced a half step backward and Ukyo, seeing an opening, swept in from the side, forcing him out of position. The wanderer forced her back, lashing out with a powerful kick, then lunged after his busty target.
Watching the rivals, plus Ukyo, exchange blows, it occurred to her that neither were in top form, and after a bit more observation the reason became clear. When she was a girl Ranma was used to being short and, despite often failing to consciously realize she’d changed sex, was able to accurately adjust her distance and timing to account for it.
Except now Ranma was a lot taller than normal, and that added height was mostly leg. Eventually her longer limbs would probably be pretty beneficial, provided the changes stuck, but right now her proportionality was different enough from either form that she needed to readjust her range.
As if to demonstrate, Ranma slipped past a devastating kick and returned a set of her own, except each came a little too late for them to have their usual impact. Ryoga sneered behind his staunching fist. “I barely even felt that, Ranma!”
Ryoga bellowed and launched a snap kick that his underclad rival was forced to block. Ranma slipped back, putting some distance between her and her opponent, a look of profound irritation crawling over her pretty face.
Luckily Ryoga was fighting well below his usual ability as well, though this mostly seemed to be a result of the fact that—between being enraged at Ranma for reasons and the incredibly distracting bouncing and skimpy outfit—he had somehow forgotten he was still holding his umbrella and was only fighting with his feet. (This wasn’t actually the case but, suffice to say, certain connections hadn’t been made in the 5 years/15 minutes Akane had been absent.)
Obviously unhappy with her lack of progress so far, Ranma darted in as she brought her leg up to perform a powerful axe kick, her foot blurring through the air and wow, would you look at that jiggle. You wouldn’t think someone with that much bounce could make such a big crater in solid concrete.
Ryoga hopped unsteadily away, his face almost as red as Ranma’s hair, having barely avoided the strike. Blood seeped around his fingers. Concealment was just about opposite of what Lustrian womens fashion was made to accomplish; there was no way his efforts to staunch a nose bleed could have withstood the view he must have gotten.
It seemed Ukyo had gotten a good look as well, her spatula dangling from her fingers and a slightly dazed expression on her face; she’d really have to train that girl to handle magically charged bodies.
“G-guh… ahhh...” Ryoga burbled, looking rather like he wanted to crawl in on himself and die, desperately trying to hide the effect Ranma’s anatomy had had on him. Combined with the fact that he was trying to maintain everything else he’d been doing the resulting pose was… well a bit ridiculous, honestly.
“Eh?” Ranma, still up for a fight, took a second to key in to Ryoga’s response; confused blinking became realization, and the redhead flushed in embarrassment as her hands shot down to cover her crotch. “H-hey, watch where you’re lookin’ yo-y-you… you hentai!”
“Who… who’re you calling a h-hentai…?” Ryoga demanded as he wobbled unsteadily on one foot.
Akane shook her head, idly surprised that Ranma hadn’t popped out of her top; her battle armor could contain such fury, but the kind of clothes most Lustrian girls wore around town just weren’t made to deal with this level of abuse.
It was probably for the best that Ranma remained covered, though. She’d prefer Ryoga be conscious (even if only just) so she could at least try to explain things to him. Of course he’d never listen as long as the fight was still on, so she’d have to take this chance to intervene.
"Erwall III!” A shimmering, translucent wall of force sprang into existence, separating the two bickering rivals; Ranma hopped back a short distance, unsure what to make of it while Ryoga bobbled and managed to (somehow) stay upright. Ukyo shook herself, and gave Akane a slightly dazed acknowledgment.
“That’s enough you two!” Akane proclaimed. “This isn’t Ranma’s fault Ryoga, he had nothing to do with it!”
The lost boy gave her a disbelieving look—Ranma always had something to do with it—Causing her to shake her head and hum.
“Er… look, thanks to some weird button I got transported to another dimension, joined a bunch of adventurers, learned magic, and eventually managed to get myself back home. Ranma wasn’t even there when it happened!”
“Then what about… “ Ryoga began angrily, gesturing at Ranma’s everything.
“Oh, that’s because some idiot hentai followed me here and messed with his curse.” Ryoga blinked, mouthing an “Oh” and gave the redhead a sidelong glance; Ranma huffed in annoyance and, rather unintentionally, gave him a pretty good view of her backside.
“Gak!” The cutely fanged boy snapped his gaze back to some indefinite point in the air somewhere above Akane’s head.
“We should probably get going.” Akane stated, looking over to Ukyo, then Ranma as she spoke. Turning, she resumed her jog to the Kuno mansion… but why did she feel like she was forgetting something? Well, it probably wasn’t important.
Sun Apr 15 16:00:42 2018
3 comments Last updated: Thu Apr 19 20:58:02 2018