Story: Anime Alter Ego: The Tomboy and the Warrior

Begun from here.

It was a world in which there were no Joketsuzoku, no Phoenix Tribe, no Musk. Jusenkyo was a valley shrouded in mystery and intrigue, a place which the wise traveller avoided at any and all cost. A place of powerful magic that was mostly forgotten to the world, and the world was that much better off for it.

Which didn’t even slow the Saotomes down because this was a family for whom wisdom was a dump stat. But never mind that for the moment; all that matters is the simple fact that the two of them departed to Japan without being pursued by a purple-haired warrior girl.

They immediately went towards a certain dojo for reasons that confused the younger of the two until the very moment he learned of a particular engagement, whereupon he attempted to escape, whereupon he concluded the long journey in a distinct case of unconsciousness.

Much of the early days of the engagement were as could be expected in that old classic story. Boy is carried by panda to meet fiancee while in the form of a girl, the actual girl is relieved neither she nor her sisters will have to contend with an engagement to some strange boy right up until the point she takes an ill-timed bath - or at least makes the attempt. Boy and girl’s potential friendship goes up in flames as their mutual aggression towards the engagement hits each other instead of their fathers.

Boy goes to girl’s school, encounters a whole bunch of perverted idiots trying to mack with his new fiancee in the stupidest and least likely to succeed manner imaginable. Rival from boy’s past shows up, tries to kill him, falls in love with girl and pretends to be her pet pig. Insane sister of girl’s most ardent would-be suitor falls for boy, leading to a gymnastics martial arts match. (Yes. Really.) Once she’s dealt with the boy and girl have to contend with a challenge from martial arts figure skaters. (Again, yes, really.)

It really is a classic story. Here is where the divergence occurs: This is right around the time Shampoo would normally make an appearance, except she doesn’t exist. Except she can’t exist. Except the very possibility of her existing as a person is completely and utterly impossible.

At least… for the moment.

<hr>
Punch. Miss.

Some might have asked her why she even bothered.

Jab. Just over the shoulder.

Some might have asked her why she kept on asking him.

Roundhouse kick. Didn’t even clip his pigtail.
But those people obviously didn’t know Akane Tendo very well.

Back elbow. Sidestepped.

It was all about pride. Someday, somehow, someway -

Front kick, pulled off balance and he was sitting on her back eating a cookie.

She would connect with <i>something!</i>

“Feel better, tomboy?” he asked her, keeping his weight on just the right spots to prevent her from standing up without actually hurting her. “Work out all that aggression?” He stopped to think for a moment, but just before Akane could answer he interrupted. “Nah!” he decided. “You’ve got some engine inside you that just makes more!”

“Alright, alright! You proved I can’t touch you! Again! I still don’t see how you think this is supposed to help me improve!”

He rolled off, got to his feet and leaned against the training hall wall while she hopped up and dusted herself off.

“I’d have thought you’d be happy, getting your little piggy back,” Ranma sighed. “But I guess an uncute tomboy will always be an uncute tomboy!”

“I am not uncute!” Akane huffed, storming over towards him. “What about me is so uncute, huh?”

“Oh, not much!” Ranma said, staring up at the ceiling rather than down at her angry face. Probably for the best. If looks could kill… “Your thighs are way too thick, your figure doesn’t even begin to compare to my girl side… And that’s even before we get to how angry you always are.”

Well, maybe it wasn’t such a good thing that he’d been looking up at the ceiling. Might have seen the punch to the gut coming. “Gee, I wonder why that is!” Akane said, continuing her storming but this time in an away direction regarding Ranma’s location. As she re-entered the main building Akane wiped a thin sheen of sweat from her furious, furrowed brow. “I need a bath,” she decided, rotating her shoulder and hoping her muscles didn’t complain too much about how hard she’d pushed them today.

Especially since she intended to push them even harder tomorrow.

<hr>
This hot water was exactly what she’d needed after a workout like that, but it still didn’t do anything to mitigate her frustrations towards a particular pigtailed pest. Ooh! One minute she thought maybe they were getting along better, but it was always one step forward and two steps back with him! Not yesterday, he’d declared things like “She’s my fiancee, touch her and I’ll kill you!” and “I won’t let go!” and today he was all but calling her ugly right to her face!

Was he bipolar as well as cursed? What was up with him?!

Akane took a deep breath and reached over for that new bottle of shampoo Kasumi had picked up earlier on. She’d sounded quite excited about it for whatever reason. The bottle advertised things like “Be the you you always wanted you to be!” and “Unveil what you keep hidden deep inside!” which sounded like marketing nonsense to her, but whatever.

It did smell kind of nice. Like lavender. Whatever. It wasn’t like Ranma would notice if she started smelling really nice all of a sudden. He would never ever look her way, never compliment her unless his own pride was on the line, never -

Goodness but this felt good. Akane rubbed the stuff into her scalp with renewed eagerness. “Wow, that’s pretty amazing!” she said, working up a pretty good lather.

What was she thinking about just now again? Oh! Right! Her fiance, that jerk Ranma. Well… Maybe jerk was a little harsh. He would never force her to date him, even though he could beat her in a fight pretty much at will. And he must find something about her interesting because she could swear sometimes out of the corner of her eye she would catch him staring at her when he probably thought nobody could see. It was oddly endearing in a way. Maybe for all his bluster he was a little shy?

“What am I thinking?” Akane shook her head. “He doesn’t like me. If he did why would - Wait, what is that?”

Something was tickling her back. Something that felt sort of like - Akane reached back and stroked the back of her head. What? But… But her hair was growing out? How was that possible, so quickly? And - Purple? It was never this dark a shade before!

“What happen to Akane?” she asked, and clasped her hand to her mouth. “What happen to Akane voice?! Sound funny! Feel funny…”

A surge of feeling shot through her, ending up in her breasts. She gasped in that stupidly high-pitched voice she had adopted for some reason, but it didn’t stop there. No sir! Her arms and legs got their own jolt of whatever this was, and while it scared her at first it didn’t take long for her to lose all train of thought and settle down as the personality that called itself Akane Tendo was momentarily submerged and a new one rose in its place. Like Akane she was a martial artist, but she was stronger, every bit as strong and fast and skilled as Akane wished herself to be. The differences didn’t stop there either: Where Akane was rather shy and kind, this girl was outgoing and mischievous. Where Akane was perhaps average bust size for her frame, this girl was certainly above average.

But they did have one other thing in common. They had the same level of affection - realised or not - for a certain cursed pigtailed martial artist.

“Who is I?” the girl asked once the change had completed itself. “What is name?”

She looked around and settled upon the bottle in her hand. “Shampoo,” she decided. “Shampoo is name! Shampoo want to have fun!”
                  

1.     Akane wakes up the next day to discover the aftermath of becoming Shampoo. She remembers all of it.                              
2.     Someone else (i.e. Ranma) deals with the events of the previous night
3.     Shampoo explores, gauging others' (i.e. Ranma's) reactions to her.
4.     Shampoo remembers exactly who Akane is, but considers the two of them different people.
5.     Something else