A bit of a weird story with lots of potential directions to take. Hope you enjoy it!
Begins from this fatesplit.
Ataru Moroboshi was accused of being a lot of things. Perverted. Unattractive. Lecherous. Kind of stupid. Salacious. No common sense. And, of course, perverted. But even he didn't have bad enough pattern recognition to ignore the one simple fact staring him right in the face as he sat on the school roof looking at a certain spray can.
"This isn't working," he said, casually shaking that very same can he held in his hands. "And now both Lum and Ten are looking for me. Even if I did try something that would work, those two wold probably show up and ruin all my fun anyway."
He stood up, casually tossing the can with one hand and catching it in the other. Ataru had stolen this spray can from the little squirt earlier on. Ten had been playing around at being a rocketship - sorry, make that a missile - at the time, zooming around the sky without a care in the world. Playing around and wasting a valuable and interesting little item. One quick spray, and a person could be transformed into whatever - whomever - they were thinking of when it hit.
Though Ataru had learned the hard way that there were a number of inherent flaws in the stuff. It copied form, altered mass, but did not transfer abilities like flying or thunderbolts, and the illusion was way too easily disrupted to be put to any real long-term use.
Another problem that Ataru hadn’t noticed was body language. For years his periodic attempts to hide his identity had all failed because he simply couldn’t hold back the impulsive core of his body language, and this failed skill was continuing with the Transformation Spray. Even those who believed he was who he said he was would notice that he felt wrong as he moved – at least unless something else was distracting them.
"Might as well give the runt his spray back," he sighed. "Not doing me any good. More trouble than it's wo-"
There was another thing that Ataru was called by those that knew him. Aside from being the most perverted boy they'd ever have the chance to meet, aside from his relentless hitting on any moderately attractive female, aside from all of that, there was one feature which could arguably define him even better than any other: His unpredictable, unnatural, uncanny and at times unrealistic unluckiness. Ataru was a lightning rod of bad luck, ill fortune and all-around not remotely fun times. Some called it universal justice, he called it a pain in the ass. Some said that if he gave up his girl-chasing ways then it would leave him be, but he didn't buy that for a moment.
And that's how Ataru managed to trip over nothing at all, crash to the ground and let the still three-quarters full can of transformation spray roll across the rooftop. "Oh, no, you don't!" he yelled, scrambling to his feet just as the can came to a stop inches from the ledge. Unfortunately, his sudden gust of activity was exactly enough to alter the wind pressure around the can to cause it to roll forward a few inches and plummet rather a lot more.
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This time, she was going to get her revenge. This time it couldn't possibly fail. This time she had been meticulous in every detail, considered every possible avenue of failure and this time - <b>this time</b> she would show Lum what was what and make her suffer. And her little darling too!
Ran's laugh began with a girlish titter but rapidly grew in volume, malevolance and insanity as she carried the concoction around the back of the school. The lid was - of course - sealed and airtight to ensure that she did not spill it on herself or upon anyone else. At least, to ensure she didn't spill it on anyone before the right time. Now! This was out of the way enough. Keep the cauldron hidden here with a cloaking device. Come back to it if something went wrong with the first plan, get more samples of the stuff and try again. Simple. Easy. Flawlessly simple.
It was a rather devious concoction, all truth told. It even managed to seep through metal, meaning that the cauldron had to be made of a special plastic to prevent spillage. "One drop of this stuff on dear Lum's skin, and she will be thoroughly humiliated!" Ran declared to nobody in particular. Why, the mental effects alone will ensure she'll get all the payback she has coming to her for all the humiliation, all the torment for as long as they've ever known each other!
Donning a pair of gloves and a special facemask - just to be on the safe side - Ran opened up the cauldron with the intention of extracting a sample with her syringe. Careful, now. Careful. It might just be the paranoia talking from all the previous failed plans but she couldn't risk anything going wrong now!
And then she saw something land right in the middle of the cauldron with a splash that she swore played before her very eyes no less than three times in a row.
It was a metal can. A spray can of some sort. With goodness only knows what inside it. The metal itself was probably reacting with her mixture already but if there was anything actually inside the can there was no way to tell what sort of side effects there might be. A nasty little twitch formed around Ran's right eye. All those hours last night. All the ingredients she'd acquired, all the planning she'd committed to. The twitch took a brief vacation to her left eye just to see if it was worth staying there long term.
"Oh... Oh, dear," she gasped, tears forming in her still twitchy eyes. "Now li'l Ran will never be able to get her revenge on that <b>thoughtless bitch!</b>"
Alright. Alright! There wasn't much else for it but to extract the offending item and check out the damage, make sure the can was nice and dry before taking a better look at it. Probably some form of deodorant, or spray paint, or -
"Transformation spray?" Ran blinked in interest. "Wait a minute... I've heard of this stuff! I wonder what sort of - hey!"
"Thanks a bunch, Ran!" Ataru said, having plucked the can out of her waiting hands while she had been lost in thought. "I really should be more careful with this stuff, who knows what might have happened if the can broke?"
The idea of Ataru Moroboshi with a can of regular transformation spray was a rather terrifying prospect to anyone of a non-perverted bent. In comparison to him that would be "most everyone". She could easily see the myriad and murky ways he might use it. Turn himself into an insect and spy on girls while they change in the locker room. Pretend to be Rei. Pretend to be <i>her</i> and strip down to check out the goods in front of a mirror...
But there was no way to know what that spray would do now. Her little concoction had surely seeped right in through the can and reacted with the strange liquid inside, in the process creating a whole new mixture with unpredictable effects. In the hands of someone as unlucky, careless and perverted as Ataru... In the hands of someone like that! Time slowed down for Ran, and she dove forward with a dramatic sounding "No!" She reached for the can, attempting to wrench it out of the boy's hands so that she could properly study it for herself.
"Hey, babe," he responded. "If you wanted a tumble in the grass, all you had to do was ask!"
His grip was firmer than she'd expected, but a bite to the arm would surely dissuade him of resistance! Or as she realised seconds after doing so it may well have the opposite effect and cause him to reflexively squeeze the trigger, covering the two of them in the mysterious new spray. Ran whimpered a little, and took the opportunity to kick Ataru in the head just as the changes began to set in.
1: Their personalities have been affected.
2: Their abilities have been affected.
3: Their memories have been affected.
4: Combination of the above
5: Something else
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