This choice: Some combination of the above • Go Back... Ranma studied Queen Bowsette as they entered the arena. The woman was refreshingly simple to talk to, and unlike most of the females in his life, didn't seem to be interested in pursuing him romantically. The fact that Ranma was currently a girl (he hadn't mentioned his curse yet) may have had something to do with it, but he got the impression that the statuesque woman wouldn't be interested either way.
Right now, though, Ranma was trying to see what kind of fighting style the queen would be using. After all, they were about to spar. Yet Bowsette's movements as she strode to the far side of the ring in the center of the arena gave no clues as to her particular style. Guess I'll just have to wait until the fight begins, Ranma thought. The tried and true method.
"Ready?" Bowsette asked, turning to face her opponent.
Ranma slid into a loose stance. "Whenever you are," she replied.
Bowsette smirked, and then launched herself forward at a fairly impressive speed, one fist cocked back. Still, 'impressive' was relative, and Ranma was one of the fastest martial artists alive. She swayed out of the way of the incoming haymaker, letting Bowsette overextend herself, but Ranma didn't capitalize on the opening. This turned out to be a good thing, as Ranma promptly had to duck a swipe from the queen's spiked tail. Had Ranma moved in to take advantage of Bowsette's opening, the tail would've smacked her silly.
The tail swipe served to spin Bowsette around, as she brought her other fist down in a hammer blow. Ranma was going to sway to the side again, but her instincts suddenly screamed at her to clear the area. Heeding the warning, she dove away. She looked up in time to see Bowsette's punch crater the stone floor of the arena, leaving a depression about 10 feet wide and one foot deep.
Ranma promptly elevated Bowsette's threat level several notches. She's faster than Ryoga, and stronger to boot, the martial artist thought quickly. Noting that Bowsette's fist showed no signs of damage from the impact with the stone, she added, Probably just as tough, too, if that didn't even break her skin. This is gonna be tricky.
"Having fun, Ranma?" Bowsette asked with a grin.
Ranma returned it. "Sure am! Lemme show you what I got!"
This time, Ranma took the offensive. She darted forward, hoping to slip into the taller woman's guard. Unfortunately, just as Ranma launched a punch, Bowsette turned slightly, letting the shell on her back take the blow.
Ranma leapt backward, shaking her fist. Felt like I just tried to punch a steel wall! she thought. The bones in her hand didn't feel broken, but Ranma wasn't a doctor. She looked up to see Bowsette inspecting her shell.
"I'm actually impressed," she said, noting the small depression in the shell's contours. "It takes a lot to be able to damage a normal Koopa's shell, let alone a Royal Koopa." She grinned. "Time to turn up the heat."
Ranma had just shaken the worst of the pain out of her hand when she saw Bowsette inhale, and then breathe out a stream of fire. "Yipe!" While Ranma was remarkably heat-resistant thanks to the Phoenix Pill, that protection didn't extend to her clothes, so she decided to dodge. She managed to open the distance between the two of them, out of range of Bowsette's fire breath. "That must be how your teeth are so shiny, your fire breath kills all the germs on them!"
Bowsette actually blushed slightly. "Huh. Never thought about it like that, before..."
Ranma took the opening, throwing her fists forward. "Moko Takabisha!" A yellow ball of light flew out, hurtling toward Bowsette at high speed. Surprised, she just barely ducked, causing the ball to instead hit the crown on her head, blowing it off.
Ranma was about to apologize, when Bowsette vanished in a cloud of pink smoke that filled the arena. Ranma squinted through the haze, wondering what was going on, when a massive pair of hands grabbed her. She found herself facing an absolutely massive specimen of the Koopas she'd seen before. The ones before had been smaller than her by a hair. This one was comparable to Pantyhose Taro's cursed form in size.
"Gotcha," the beast grated out. "You shouldn't have knocked off the crown, Ranma."
Ranma blinked, and slowly came to a startling conclusion. "... Bowsette?" she asked incredulously.
"In a manner of speaking," the monster replied. His voice was a gravelly bass, and as Ranma stared, he chuckled. "Like I said, my story's a bit strange. But for the moment..." He lifted Ranma up, and then pinned her to the ground under both hands. "I think I win our match."
Ranma squirmed, but couldn't escape the grip of the massive creature. She sighed. "Alright, I give." As she was let go, she continued, "You only won 'cause that changing trick of yours caught me off-guard."
The creature laughed. "That's your fault. You knocked the crown off my head, and turned me back to my normal form."
Ranma blinked. "Wait... this is your normal form?"
The creature gave an approximation of a bow. "Let me introduce myself properly. I'm King Bowser Koopa of the Koopa Kingdom. And this is the form I was born as." He reached down, and plucked up the pink crown Ranma had knocked off. "About a month ago, I discovered this crown. And when I put it on..." He did so, and the pink smoke swallowed him, replacing his form with Bowsette's. "I became Bowsette."
Ranma nodded. She was more than familiar with gender-changing, after all. "So... why were you wearing it when I first got here? Why wear it at all after you found out what it did?"
Bowsette shrugged. "Being Bowsette has its advantages over being Bowser. Mostly in matters of diplomacy; I'm a lot less anger-prone in this form than I am as Bowser, which means I can negotiate with other kingdoms easier."
Ranma blinked; she hadn't expected such a logical reason for remaining as a chick. "Huh... I guess you've got a point, there."
Bowsette gave Ranma a curious look. "You seem to be taking this in stride. I was expecting... well, more of a reaction to the fact that I change so drastically."
Ranma snorted. "Let me have some hot water, and I'll explain everything."
* * * * *
Bowsette gave the now male Ranma an appraising look. "So, this is a curse?"
"Yeah. Cold water changes me into a girl, hot water changes me back to guy," Ranma replied, demonstrating both.
"Interesting..." Bowsette mused.
"More like annoying," Ranma sighed. "It's gotten me into no end of trouble."
"Do tell?" Bowsette asked.
Ranma sighed, and began summarizing his story.
* * * * *
When in Ranma's story was he before being thrown into Bowsette's castle?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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