Chapter Six-Zatch Meets Lupine

Ranma stretched as his mom called him down for breakfast. Yesterday Ranma started to teach Lupine some Anything Goes and was surprised to see that like himself Lupine was a bit of a sponge when it came to it. But at the moment food was top priority.

“Morning Mom. Morning Lupine. What’s for breakfast?” asked Ranma.

Ranma didn’t notice it at first but Lupine was cleaning the house. He had a hand held vacuum in his mouth and a feather duster tied to his tail. Ranma almost bursted with laughter at the site.

Lupine said something to Ranma but he couldn’t make it out because of the hand held vacuum cleaner.

“I’m sorry Lupine but I can’t understand a word your saying.” Said Ranma.

Lupine spat out the vacuum and said “This was all your mother’s idea! Something about me earning my keep! The next thing I know I’M THE MAID!”

“I hear complaining but no cleaning.” Came a voice from the other room.

“Yes mam! Between you and me Ranma, she can be a bit scary with that katana of hers.” Said Lupine.

“Tell me about it.” Said Ranma.

Ranma took a look at the clock that hung above the doorway and grimaced at the time.

“I’d better get going if I want to find my school on time.” Said Ranma.

Ranma ran to the door and past his mother, but then he ran back and kissed his mother on the cheek.

“Bye mom!” said Ranma.

”Ranma what about your breakfast?” asked Nodoka.

“No time mom, I’m going to have to grab something at school!” said Ranma

Ranma ran out the door and started heading towards school. His mom had drawn him a map on how to get there the day before.

Lupine spat out the vacuum out of his mouth again.

“Hey! Wait for me!” said Lupine.

Lupine was about to run after him when Nodoka stepped in his way.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” asked Nodoka.

“I’m going to follow Ranma to school in case a mamodo attacks.” Said Lupine.

Lupine could tell that Nodoka wasn’t going to move an inch to let him follow Ranma.

“I promise I’d stay well hidden.” Said Lupine.

“Not until you clean the bathroom!” said Nodoka.

Lupine grumbled and started to walk to the bathroom.

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Ranma noticed many different things on his way to his new school. There was one loon who was looking for aliens and another who said something about dinosaur hunting.

“Still better than Nerima.” Said Ranma.

Nodoka’s house was just outside of Nerima, Ranma had always wondered how she came over to the dojo so quickly and now he knew.

Unbeknownst to Ranma a certain rival was watching him from the top of a hill.

“Are you sure that the vile sorcerer Saotome has a mamodo?”

Do I really have to tell you which rival it is?

“Yes. I did some snooping and found out it was a wolf mamodo.” Said his mamodo.

Kuno’s mamodo looked a little like Brave Fencer Musashi, except with red hair, black clothes, and only 1 katana.

“So the sorcerer has found himself a hell hound.” Said Kuno.

“What? I told you it was a wolf mamodo!”

“Silence Oro! Come, I shall be late for school should we not hurry.” Said Kuno.

“But what about Ranma?” asked Oro.

“Priorities my friend, now that Akane Tendo is free from his clutches we may finally date.” Said Kuno.

Oro sweat dropped.

(A/N: FYI people, Oro doesn’t belong to me. It’s just one of the many mamodo ideas Cylon One. So I’m giving him credit for this mamodo and any spells he might have.)

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Ranma made it to his new school just in time.

“Now let’s see…my new homeroom should be… on the third floor.” Said Ranma.

Ranma went up the stairs until he reached the third floor.

“Now to find that homeroom.” Said Ranma.

However, before Ranma could continue his search a voice stopped him in his tracks. It was a voice that he knew all too well.

“Ranchan? Is that you?”

There was only one person he knew who called him Ranchan.

Ranma turned around and saw someone who he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Uchan!” shouted Ranma.

Ranma hugged Ukyo in a brotherly way.

“It’s great to see you again Ukyo but what’cha doin here?” asked Ranma.

“As it turns out this is where my father lives. I royally kicked his ass by the way.” Said Ukyo.

“Well that’s great! Hey, maybe you can show me where my classroom is.” Said Ranma.

“Sure thing Ranma-honey.” Said Ukyo.

Ukyo lead Ranma to his classroom which was coincidentally the same one as hers.

Ukyo started to introduce Ranma to some of the students. Ukyo showed him all the students in the classroom except for two.

“Ranma, I would like for you to meet Suzie. Suzie, this is Ranma.” Said Ukyo.

Suzie was considerably short with brown hair.

“Wow. Ukyo told me a lot about you. Now that I’ve actually met you I can give you some fruit.” Said Suzie.

“Fruit?” asked Ranma.

Suzie handed Ranma an orange with a strangely drawn face on it.

“Um thank you?”

Ranma leaned over to Ukyo and whispered into her ear “What’s with the fruit?”

Ukyo whispered back into his ear “Nobody is exactly sure. It’s kind of her thing.”

Ukyo and Ranma walked over to where a teenager with black hair was sitting by the window.

“Well the only one left to introduce you to is Kiyo. Kiyo, this is Ranma.” Said Ukyo.

“So this is the famous Ranma. I can’t get Ukyo to stop talking about you. I think that how those so called friends used to treat you means that they’re psycho neurotically disturbed.” Said Kiyo.

“Psycho what?” asked Ranma.

“You’ll have to excuse Kiyo, he’s the resident genius and he sometimes uses big words.” Said Ukyo.

But that was when Ranma noticed Kiyo had a red mamodo book in his bag and Ranma’s face turned seriously for a moment.

“If he has a book than that means he has a mamodo. But the question is…is he friend or foe? Just going to have to play it safe for now.” Thought Ranma.

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The park…

Lupine was on his way to Ranma’s new school but made a slight detour in the park.

“Stupid woman! What does she do in that bathroom anyways?” asked Lupine.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! CUT IT OUT NAOMI!” shouted a voice.

The plead was followed by a snicker.

Lupine looked to his left and saw a blonde mamodo being chased by a girl with huge teeth in a little toy car. She occasionally rammed him every now and then by pedaling harder.

“That girl is supposed to be human?” asked Lupine.

But it was the blonde mamodo that really get him curious. Where had he seen him before?

“WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE SO MEAN TO ME NAOMI?” shouted the little boy.

That was when Lupine realized who the mamodo was.

“It’s Zatch!” said Lupine.

Lupine leapt forward and stopped the little girl’s car with his front paws.

“Hey! What’s the big idea? Whose dog is this?” demanded the girl named Naomi.

“I AM NOT A DOG! NOW YOU’RE GOING TO LEAVE THIS KID ALONE OR ELSE!” shouted Lupine.

Naomi screamed and pedaled off away into the distance.

Zatch laughed with his usual gusto and jumped up and onto Lupine’s back.

“Wow! Thanks Mr. Wolf, I thought Naomi was going to chase me forever. You’re like the nicest wolf ever!” said Zatch.

“No problem Zatch, you always did have a bit of a problem when it came to girls bullying you.” Said Lupine.

“Huh? You know me?” asked Zatch.

“Well yeah! I knew you, Tia, Kanchome, Brago and a whole bunch of others back in the mamodo world. You mean to say that you honestly don’t remember me?” asked Lupine.

Zatch then went into a lengthy explanation about how a mamodo named Zeno erased his memory.

“That’s a rough break kid. Seeing as how you don’t remember anything from the mamodo world let me reintroduce myself. I am Lupine.”

“Well it’s very nice to meet you Lupine.” Said Zatch bowing.

Before Lupine could say anything more a fox with a honey blonde coat tackled him. The two seemed to stumble around until Lupine finally pinned the fox down. But his eyes widened in surprise because he knew this fox.

“Cherry?”

“Hey big blue. Looks like you can still beat me. I just hope you remember the promise you made me.” Said Cherry.

Lupine swallowed a lump in his throat.

“Damn! She still remembers that? I thought for sure she would have forgotten! Oh crap.”

“Hey, who’s the fox?” asked Zatch.

Lupine got off of the fox with a small blush on his furry face.

“Zatch this is Cherry, I knew her back in the mamodo world.” Said Lupine.

“Since we were cubs actually.” Said Cherry.

Lupine laughed uneasily and put his paw behind his neck to rub it. A habit he picked up from Ranma.

“Right. Uh, Cherry you remember Zatch right? Well he doesn’t remember you, apparently somebody has erased his memory of the mamodo world.” Said Lupine.

Cherry looked at Zatch seriously for a second.

“You mean to say you honestly don’t remember me?” asked Cherry.

“Nope, sorry. I don’t even remember Lupine here and seems really nice.” Said Zatch.

“Nice my butt! He’s the one who taught you how to sniff out an opponent!” said Cherry.

“And you said that it was impossible for me to teach the kid that!” said Lupine.

“I always wondered how I knew what to sniff for!” said Zatch.

“No one’s a better teacher than MY Lupine!” said Cherry.

Lupine’s face went slightly red under his blue fur.

“Huh? What do you mean yours? Like you own him or something?” asked Zatch.

“Excuse us for a second.” Said Lupine.

Lupine walked over to Zatch and picked him up by the back on the collar like he would a cub and started to walk over to the other end of the park.

“Hey! Put me down! I’m not having much fun ya know!” complained Zatch.

Once Lupine thought they were out of Cherry’s hearing distance Lupine put Zatch down.

“Listen Zatch, before we were all sent to Earth Cherry was being well…scared. So to calm her down I said that once we were both eliminated we would start a family together.” Said Lupine.

“So you didn’t mean it?” asked Zatch.

“Well…I did and didn’t.” said Lupine.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Zatch.

“While it is true that I do have something of a growing affection for her I just don’t think I’m the father type. Plus I’m still in the prime of my life, I don’t want to give up my bachelor hood just yet!” said Lupine.

Zatch looked confused for a second but then he had a look on his face as if he understood everything.

“Oh! So in other words you’re afraid.” Said Zatch.

“I AM NOT AFRAID!” shouted Lupine.

Zatch fell over backwards from the force of Lupine’s yell.

“Sorry Zatch. Didn’t mean to yell.” Said Lupine.

Zatch got up and dusted himself off.

“That’s okay, but I really got to get going to Kiyo’s school now. Bye.” Said Zatch.

As Zatch left the park Cherry came over to Lupine.

“So what were you two talking about?” asked Cherry.

“Uh…just guy talk.” Said Lupine.

“Listen Lupine, I need to talk to you seriously for a second. Me and my human partner have found something out.” Said Cherry.

“Really, what?” asked Lupine.

“Shadow Fang is in this battle too.” Said Cherry.

“Him? Figures, I’ve got a score to settle with that mamodo!” said Lupine.

“I know you do, but don’t forget how powerful he is. And when you’re paths do cross again, just promise me you’ll be careful.” Said Cherry.

Lupine smiled at Cherry for a moment.

“I promise.” Said Lupine.

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Tia sighed, Megumi was still acting depressed. She was never the same after one of their visits to Kiyo’s house. Megumi had made Kiyo some special rice cakes, apparently if they were meant to be cherry blossoms would appear on Kiyo’s face but instead an X appeared.

Tia tried numerous times to cheer her up but she failed every time. Tia was beginning to wonder if Megumi would ever go back to her old self.