Ether Morph (Story in progress)

[Spokavriel]

I hope this can be kept as a tease and return to current time saving more of the lessons and meetings with U-chan until it comes up. But I can't avoid wondering how having Genn around will make things turn out with explaining about being a gender variable being to Ukyo. Is it too late to try to drag in any of the Gambling King? After all the kids he wins against tend to be in the single digit ages.

[KonokoHasano]

It basically will be kept as a tease. It won't get into just what happened when Ranma told Ukyo, the reactions, or if Ukyo continued being Ranma's friend after that.

And yes, it's too late to bring in the Gambler King. Even if he did come in, Ranma would absolutely floor him via the use of his psychic powers to cheat.

[Jomasten]

Heyya, just started reading this, just to see where this goes. Finding it interesting so far. The Peachbody part was kind of awkward, but the following parts after it had a more 'Ranma-esque' feel to it. The last snippet was very interesting, and partially funny as well.

But, I now have the image of horned, beautiful, black-haired women in kimonos.

Thank, and damn you, KonokaHasano.

[Spokavriel]

I find it disturbing enough thinking about Genma changing to any form that would be attractive. You know without a major diet.

[Jomasten]

I find it disturbing enough thinking about Genma changing to any form that would be attractive. You know without a major diet.

Yeah, that's why I was specific enough not to say "Genma as..." in front of "horned, beautiful, black-haired women in kimonos".

I'm just talking about "horned, beautiful, black-haired women in kimonos" in general.

[Spokavriel]

Then again not being able to make a truly attractive form for himself might just be why Genma insists on the combat method to feeding instead of the often fun seduction path.

[Jomasten]

She was currently in a female form due to the fact that it was much easier to score extra portions of food. While she did dislike the idea of mindlessly flirting, she didn’t have a problem with attempting to con some people out of one or two more takoyaki, rice ball, meat bun, or whatever else at the moment.

I think Genma can take on an attractive form, assuming from this part, I think Genma just doesn't like flirting.

[KonokoHasano]

Heyya, just started reading this, just to see where this goes. Finding it interesting so far. The Peachbody part was kind of awkward, but the following parts after it had a more 'Ranma-esque' feel to it. The last snippet was very interesting, and partially funny as well.

Thanks. ^_^

But, I now have the image of horned, beautiful, black-haired women in kimonos.

Thank, and damn you, KonokaHasano.

Hee-hee-hee


And yes, Genma can take on any form, but he would rather beat the snot out of his food instead of flirt. That doesn't mean that he can't flirt if he doesn't want to. There's been several times in the past where he's taken on a beautiful female form, got together with some wealthy individual, and then left a few years later with quite a bit of money.

He can be convincing and a great actor/actress when he/she wants to, but Genma is incredibly lazy in the long run, and feels that flirting and seducing is just too much effort. However, why he doesn't feel that beating up an individual isn't too much work is something that's forever lost in his brain. XD

[LawOhki]

And yes, Genma can take on any form, but he would rather beat the snot out of his food instead of flirt. That doesn't mean that he can't flirt if he doesn't want to. There's been several times in the past where he's taken on a beautiful female form, got together with some wealthy individual, and then left a few years later with quite a bit of money.

He can be convincing and a great actor/actress when he/she wants to, but Genma is incredibly lazy in the long run, and feels that flirting and seducing is just too much effort. However, why he doesn't feel that beating up an individual isn't too much work is something that's forever lost in his brain. XD

Well considering the possible forms that Genma can produce. Changing into some big frightening animal like a tiger, or elephant, makes it easy to beat people into the ground. It's quick, and relatively safe depending on the target.

[KonokoHasano]

That's true... it definitely would be easy to do that.


I ended up fixing the last part of the previous snippet so that it would flow a little better.


“Ranma,” The raven-haired child said, “But I’m going by Kohana while in public as a girl.” Asking them to hold on for a moment, Ranma ran over and grabbed her father -- currently mother -- by the hand and began dragging her towards the duo. “Look! Look!”

“What in the hell has gotten into you all of a sudden?” Genma asked in annoyance as she turned her attention to where her offspring was pointing. When she caught sight of Genn, her eyebrows rose in shock. “Now I see.” She couldn’t believe that she had managed to come across another Rakshasa.

“So you’re her mother?” Brianna asked.

‘Tall…’ Genma thought as she stared up at the blonde woman. “Her father, actually, but since I look like this at the moment, I might as well be.”

“What about her mother?” Brianna asked as she turned to look at the young Rakshasa and Genn excitedly converse with each other. “Is she a human or perhaps some other kind of being?”

Genma’s lips gave a slight twitch as she stared over at Ranma. “She was a human, actually.”

“Was? You mean she’s--”

“No, a few issues ended up cropping up.” Would this girl stop with the questions already? She would prefer to forget about the whole ordeal, not continue to think about it. “So I thought it was best to leave.” He was just glad that Ranma never seemed to ask where his mother was or if he had one.

Feeling a tug on her kimono, she glanced down to see that Ranma was staring at her with hopeful eyes. She also had to take a slight double-take when she noticed that the Rakshasa they just met had assumed a little girl form of about the same age as her own child’s.

“Can I hang out with Genn for a little while? Please? This’ll probably be the only time I’ll ever meet another Rakshasa!” Her eyes took on the dreaded puppy-dog look as she pleaded.

Genma’s eye gave a slight twitch at having that look directed towards her, as well as the intense emotions just coming off of her daughter. “Well…” She really didn’t see the harm. Besides, if she came into any danger at all, the psychic link they shared would alert her, and she’d be on the scene in no time. “Sure, why not? Go enjoy yourself.”

Ranma gave a joyful shout as she pulled Genn along with her. Being able to spend time with another Rakshasa was going to be so much fun.

“Now what…” Genma asked herself as she scratched her head. She could probably just randomly walk around until she decided that it was time to collect her child and leave.

Brianna grabbed the woman by the arm. “Hey, why not come with me and meet my sisters? Just because your daughter’s off having fun playing doesn’t mean that you have to be left out of having fun. Besides, I’m sure everyone else would be interested to meet another Rakshasa.”

The raven-haired woman thought it over for a moment. She didn’t have anything better to do, and just walking around aimlessly by herself would be rather boring. “Eh, sure.” It has been awhile since she was actually able to hang around other people. Watching over Ranma took up a great majority of her time, so shouldn’t she have a chance to have her own fun once in a while?

A small distance away, Genn and Ranma found themselves in a discussion as they took in the sights.

“So your mo-- father is teaching you martial arts so that you can defeat your opponent to gather up the ethereal energy you need?” Genn asked to see if she understood right.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, he says that it’s a lot faster and easier to fight and knock an opponent out compared to the other method.” A slight frown appeared on her lips. “But I don’t really like the idea of beating someone up. Sure, I’ll do it if I have to so I can protect myself, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that doing it causes the other person to feel a lot of pain.”

Genn crossed her arms. “And since you’re a Rakshasa, you’re able to feel the emotions tied to that pain that the other person is feeling, causing you to feel terrible for putting them through that, right?”

“Yeah, but my father says that I’ll get used to it, and I’ll reach a point where I can just block what I’m sensing out.” No matter how many times she was told that, however, she still had issues accepting it.

“You know,” Genn began, “The other way that you’ve heard about might be a lot easier for you.” Sure, maybe there was a reason that the other Rakshasa’s father never told her yet, but she couldn’t just stand by and not offer at least some kind of help. “With it, you wouldn’t have to kick the crap out of someone so that you can get your energy.”

“Really?” Ranma asked with a tilt of her head. “Can you tell me what it is?”

A distance away, Genma felt a slight chill flow through her spine, but she had absolutely no idea what it was about. She could still tell that Ranma was fine, so that couldn’t have been it. ‘It was probably just nothing.’ She thought to herself.

[Cheb]

This version is better. And Genma' thoughts are more funny.

[KonokoHasano]

Yeah, I like to think that this Genma is a lot more laid back after having lived several thousand years. XD


Another small snippet, this time back to the main story...


Nabiki’s jaw dropped at seeing what was before her. Unlike the male form from earlier, this one was taller, and was likely bordering almost six feet with well-defined muscles in all of the right places. ‘Where the hell is my camera?!’ As she glanced around, her eyes lingered on her older sister, who seemed to be as stiff as a board. “Hey, Kasumi?” She asked.

“Uh-- Umm--” The eldest Tendo daughter tried to get out, but fumbled as she continued to stare at the well-muscled Adonis that stood before her. All of a sudden, her entire face flushed beet red. Unable to handle the situation before her, Kasumi quickly turned around in order to hide her face.

“Kasumi!” Akane shouted. “How could you act like that to this… creature?” Just what did he do to her demure sister?

“So?” Ranma asked in a gentle voice as he crouched down near the blushing girl. “What do you think of me now?”

“Y-- You’re very handsome.” Kasumi said as she tried to keep her face hidden.

Ranma gave off a smile. “You shouldn’t keep such a beautiful, blushing face hidden. I bet--” For the third time in less than four hours, Ranma found himself being hit upside the head by his annoyed father.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop flirting, boy?!”

The younger Rakshasa gave the man an annoyed glare before transforming back to neutral. He was about to make a retort, but found himself jumping out of the way as a large source of negative emotions came barreling towards him. “Hey, what in the hell is your problem?”

“Pervert, what did you do to my sister?” Akane asked with a shinai firmly in her hands.

“All I did was transform into what she desires most.”

The dark-haired girl scoffed. “Yeah, like you’d know what the desires of someone you never met were.” This creature was just being some kind of super pervert.

“Will you quit calling me that? I’m not a pervert, and I’m definitely not a super pervert.” Ranma asked with an annoyed look. Maybe he would have to take a peek into her mind and find out just why she loved to sling that word around.

Akane was about to retort, but came to a halt when she realized something. “I never said you were a super pervert.” At least, she didn’t think she did.

“Oh, sorry,” The emerald-haired being said as he scratched the base of his ponytail. “I ended up responded to your surface thoughts. It’s something I accidentally do from time to time.” He tried not to, but since they were easy to pick up, he sometimes forgot they were thoughts and not actually said.

The entire room grew silent, except for the sound of both Genma and Soun drinking tea as they watched their children attempt to decide just who would be engaged to whom. Soun was still in relative shock at everything he had just learned, but was slowly getting over it.

The silence came to an end when Nabiki spoke up. “Did you just say ‘surface thoughts’? As in, what Akane was thinking at this moment?” There was a small nod from the boy. “You can read a person’s mind?” She wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of someone being able to see into her mind and read her deepest thoughts. Her eyes widened. Maybe-- Maybe he already saw what she had planned for him.

“Pretty much; we Rakshasa have access to psychic powers that let us do all sorts of things.” He didn’t like to delve deep into peoples’ minds all that much, because he realized how invasive it would be. He soon found his eyes crossing when he noticed the tip of a shinai being held right in front of his nose. “Err-- But I don’t read them if I can help it.”

“I challenge you.” Akane said with a not-so-pleasant look on her face. “Follow me to the dojo. If I win, you’ll have to leave and never come back.”

Ranma attempted to put up a pleasant smile as he pushed the shinai away. “I’d rather not.”

“What, afraid to be beaten by a girl? Are you a coward?”

The diminutive being gave the youngest Tendo a half-lidded stare. “Incase you’ve forgotten, I’m genderless, and I can become whichever gender I want, so how is that statement supposed to phase me?” He yanked the practice sword out of the girl’s hand. “And no, I’m not a coward. I just don’t like to fight if I don’t have to.”

“You’re probably really weak.” Akane said as she poked him on the cheek. “Your transformation is probably just for show; to psyche out your opponent so that you can chicken your way out of a fight.”

“You’re really pushing it, Tendo.” Ranma said between his teeth.

“Oh?” Akane asked as she crouched down in front of the Rakshasa. “What are you going to do about it?”

Ranma’s eyes narrowed. “Fine, I’ll agree to your silly little match, but I have one question.” He said as he raised a finger. “You don’t mind if I pick any form to fight you in, do you?”

The youngest Tendo sister rolled her eyes. “I don’t care what you turn into. You’ll lose either way.” This was probably going to be the easiest fight she ever had.

The emerald-haired boy’s lips curled into an evil smirk. “Good,” He said as his body transformed, “Because I hope you are ready to lose to yourself.” The now clone of Akane said, the smirk still present on her lips.

Akane stared in shock for a moment before her expression turned into one of anger. “I never said you could use my form!”

“I asked if I could use any form, and you said yes, so I think I can.” Ranma said in a smug manner. “Now hurry up, before I reveal a few of your most embarrassing secrets.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“That’s what you think.”

[Spokavriel]

I like the revised part better. I also love how you have Ranma using Akane's words against her. I wonder how that fight will go having Akane Vs Akane. It would come down to pure skill and hopefully Akane's temper doesn't come with the change. That would get too brutal.

[KonokoHasano]

... that would definitely be a scary thought. XD


Anyway, the next snippet...


“Now don’t be going easy on me, Tendo.” Ranma said as she crossed her arms. She was positioned at a nice enough distance away from Akane as the youngest Tendo finished getting ready for the match. “Remember, I have all of your skills and abilities, and so I know all of your moves as well as you do.”

Akane humphed in response to the statement. “You may have seen them, but there is no way that a silly little copy-cat can defeat the original.” She’d show this silly little perverted freak that no amount of bluffing could defeat her, and she’d do it as her family and the weirdo’s own father watched. “This fight won’t last long. I won’t even need to put everything I have into it.”

Ranma shook her head as a frown appeared on her lips. “I’d suggest you do, because I will be putting everything into it.” She proceeded to get in a ready stance. “C’mon, I’ll even give you a chance to make the first strike!”

To the side of the dojo, both the Tendos and Genma were seated comfortably as they watched the fight get underway. “This is too weird.” Nabiki said. “I’m watching two Akane’s fight each other. I know which is which, but it just seems so eerie.”

“Just how much of my daughter’s fighting talent does your child have, Saotome?” Soun asked.

Genma pushed up his glasses. “All of it.” He responded. “They’re exactly even in speed, strength, stamina, and any other skill that your daughter possesses. The hardest opponent that one could likely ever face would have to be your own self, and such a thing would come down to knowing how to overcome your own abilities. Such a thing is something that most people in this world don’t plan for or understand.”

“And so as a Rakshasa, one learns to take advantage of that fact, right?” Kasumi asked. It was a weird thought, but the idea of being able to transform into anything you wanted sounded amazing and convenient.

Back to the center of the dojo, Akane gave a shout as she rushed towards her doppelganger with a fist pulled back. As she came upon her opponent, she sent the punch flying towards the imposter’s face, hoping to end the match quickly. Her eyes widened, however, when her target dodged to the left, right before grabbing onto her outstretched arm and pulling her off of her feet. She found herself sailing a couple meters before landing right on her back. Undaunted, she pushed herself back to her feet and turned around, just as an elbow impacted against her mid-section and forced her back. This left her wide open for a roundhouse kick to her cheek that sent her back to the floor.

“Oh c’mon,” Ranma whined with her hands to her hips. “Didn’t I tell you to take this fight seriously? It was so blatantly obvious that you weren’t even trying, thinking that you could defeat me so quickly.”

Akane slowly pushed herself up and rubbed the spot on her cheek where she had been kicked. Okay, so she was wrong in assuming that this would be easy, and it was obvious that she was wrong in assuming that her opponent was faking what she said about mimicking her. ‘Fine then,’ She thought with a growl, ‘I’ll give this fake a real fight.’

Without a word, the dark-haired girl made another rush towards her clone. This time, she sent a punch towards the Rakshasa’s mid-section, but found the punch blocked. Not stopping, she quickly changed to a spinning kick to Ranma’s side. The hit failed to connect as her opponent ducked down low, before launching an uppercut that she barely managed to avoid by leaning backwards. A spin kick that mirrored her own just moments before came at her, but she managed dodge it by mere millimeters by hopping backwards. However, she wasn’t quick enough to move out of the way of a backwards heel kick that slammed into her stomach and sent her to her knees.

“What’s the matter? Don’t know how to fight yourself?” Ranma asked with a smug look. This was short lived as she found herself leaning backwards from a quick and sudden high-kick that was aimed for her chin. This quickly put her on the defensive as Akane gave a quick spin to gain momentum for a fast elbow strike to her chin. ‘Looks like she’s finally taking this seriously.’ She thought as she continued to dodge. The Rakshasa failed to notice, however, that as she was blocking and dodging, she was being forced to the dojo wall. She only noticed this when her back was pressed to the wood, and this distracted her enough for a spin kick to hit her in the side and send her fly several meters away to land on her stomach.

‘I got careless there.’ Ranma thought as she pushed herself up into a crouching position before turning to look at Akane. The youngest Tendo daughter was breathing heavily due to both the exertion and hits she received during the fight. Ranma, too, was feeling slightly out of breath, but was far from stopping. Maybe it was the adrenaline speaking, or perhaps something that was due to the form she was in, but the Rakshasa found herself having fun.

Akane was feeling ecstatic that she managed to finally get a proper hit, and didn’t think that she had ever had this much of a difficult time in a fight. All of the boys during her morning fights almost always went down in one or two hits, and they never really proved to be much of a challenge. This… creature -- despite being a genderless, body-stealing pervert -- was honestly giving her a great fight. ‘Alright, c’mon, there’s absolutely no way I’m losing to someone like you.’

Her thoughts were answered when her doppelganger was quickly upon her, sending several strikes to her head and body. The dark-haired girl managed to dodge and block each of the attacks, quickly realizing that she was, indeed, fighting an exact clone of herself. She was about to launch a counter-attack, but found herself fumbling slightly, leaving her open for both an uppercut to the chin and a snap-kick to the stomach that sent her flying onto her back.

“So, have you had enough?” Ranma asked between breaths as she placed her hands on her knees. The girl could really use a lot more stamina.

Akane, breathing heavily herself, attempted to push herself up, but found that her body was too tried to do anything but lay there. “Alright, I give up. You win.” She said in annoyance, expecting the other to start gloating over the victory and rubbing it in. However, all that happened was that her doppelganger walked up to her and held out a hand.

“Here, I’ll help you up.” Ranma said with a tired smile.

The youngest Tendo gave a reluctant stare to the offered hand. After a moment, though, she decided to accept it. “Thanks,” She said in a soft voice.

Ranma scratched the back of her head as she helped the other girl to her feet. “Sorry for having to run you into the ground like that.”

“Why are you apologizing?” She won the fight, so why act all nice and bothersome.

“It’s because of the reason I don’t like to fight that much. As a Rakshasa, I can sense others emotions, that also includes the feelings they’re experiencing when they’re hurt or injured. As such if I hit another person, I can basically feel what they are going through, and that’s not really something I like to experience.” The Rakshasa gave a slight bow. “So I apologize for what I put you through.” Even though it was the dark-haired girl who started the ordeal, she still felt bad for inflicting what she did on her.

Akane could only blink at her mirror clone as she bowed. Being able to feel another person’s emotions, and also being able to feel it when you cause any sort of pain on them? That sounded like it would be absolute hell to constantly experience, and for some odd reason, she felt a slight pang of guilt for forcing the Rakshasa into the situation. “I-- err-- apologize for goading you into fighting.” Despite that, though, she was still angry over the fact that she ended up losing to someone else that had used her own skills and abilities against her. Just what in the hell was up with that anyway? Sure, she had fun during the fight, but it still wasn’t fair!

Ranma let out a large smile. “So, maybe we can start over or something?”

“You wish.” Akane answered as she turned her head. “I still think you’re nothing but a perverted, genderless annoyance!” She went to take a step, but found herself losing her balance and falling forward. She was saved from a meeting with the ground by her doppelganger, who propped her up via her shoulder.

“Careful, your body is too tired to move properly right now.” Ranma’s lips twitched slightly. “You’re also sweating like a pig.”

“Hey!” The dark-haired girl shouted indignantly. If she had the body strength to, she would hit her upside the head for that remark. “I just need to get cleaned up and take a nice long soak in the furo is all.”

“Mind if I join you?”

Akane’s head snapped to stare at her clone. “You’ve got to be crazy if you think I’m going to allow a pervert like you to--”

“Hey,” Ranma interrupted with a frown, “Does it really matter if I’m genderless or female at the time? I feel like I need a nice long soak as well, and I really don’t want to wait for you to get done.” A glare was still focused on her. “Jeez,” She grumbled. “Look, if I try anything perverted, you can bash my head in with that shinai until you feel better, and I give you my word that I won’t try anything.”

“No way! I’m not letting you join me, and that’s that. You can wait until after I’m done.” She needed a little time to herself to think, and having this… person joining her would ruin her privacy and ability to think. “And change out of my form. We’re done fighting, so I don’t want to see you looking like me anymore.”

Ranma gave a pout. “Alright...” She said before returning to neutral form. However, in doing so, this caused Akane to almost fall forward due to not having anyone to lean on. “Can I at least have some ether energy?”

“Some what?”

“Ethereal energy,” The emerald haired being began. “It’s something that all humanoids possess, and is something that we Rakshasa feed off of. It’s also known as ki energy.”

“You want to suck out my energy?!” Akane shouted out in both shock and horror as her hands turned into fists.

Ranma winced slightly. “Well, yeah, but it doesn’t harm you or anything. I just absorb a little of someone’s energy when they’re completely relaxed or unconscious. It has to be when they’re not moving, because the transfer is a little on the ticklish side. If someone moves, not only do they take back their ether energy, but they also take a lot of the Rakshasa’s with them.”

“You realize how much that makes you sound like a vampire?” The youngest Tendo asked in both shock and disbelief. “If you think I’m going to allow you to--”

“Please?” Ranma asked as he placed his hands to his stomach. “Assuming your form and fighting you has made me really hungry.”

Akane’s eye twitched slightly. Just how in the hell was she supposed to believe that this person was 15-years-old when he looked and acted childish? “Alright, fine, but if you try anything sneaky, I’m going to--”

“I swear, I won’t.” The young Rakshasa said as he moved his hands in a warding gesture.

[Spokavriel]

Surprised that Akane didn't have a comment to warn Ranma against doing perverted things in her body. You know like touching herself while looking like that.