Story: Akane's Quest

 Around the ruins of a certain cafe, it's only natural there would be a buzz of people. Interested onlookers, come by to peer and gawp as if staring at a trainwreck. Local authorities, picking through the ruined building and making sure members of the public don't do something obviously stupid.  Plenty of people milling about, watching with keen interest.

It was easy to overlook a small cat with purple highlights strolling into the danger zone. At least, until it had managed to squeeze itself through someplace that only cats ever seem able to.

This cursed form certainly had its uses, didn't it? More compact, more flexible, easily ignored by the general population, superior senses... The perfect tool for a trained warrior to use to scout around unnoticed. Granted, her physical strength was gone, and she could barely rely on any of her martial arts training like this, but such matters were of trivial consequence for Shampoo of the Joketsuzoku.

She could tell right away that this was her airen's work. The telltale signs of a shiryu hoten ha, probably centered from right around there. He must have felt desperate to pull that off while underground, very risky move. Most of the chamber was still intact. The rubble from above had been largely blown aside rather than coming back down on top of it.

There was certainly an atmosphere about the place, Shampoo could tell that much. The officials picking away at the rubble seemed a little... dubious about something. Yes, that was it. Dubious. Suspicious.

"Turns out those kids were right," one of them said. "A sex cult devoted to breasts, what the hell?"

"I mean, one of them was Soun Tendo's youngest, she's from a pretty trustworthy family."

"Never met his middle daughter, have you?"

About as bad as Shampoo had assumed. Akane had gotten herself in over her head, then Ranma came to rescue her, and probably did this to rescue the kitchen wrecker. How amusing. Instead of a kitchen the girl had wrecked a whole cafe this time around.

The aesthetics made a bit more sense now that she had this context: It was like a temple, or some other form of holy building. With that knowledge, Shampoo decided to delve a little deeper into the building. If she could gain an understanding of  what this cult was about and how it gave girls bigger boobs...

Well, it wasn't as if she needed to use it on herself by any means, she was rather proud of her chest. On the other hand, it could impress Great Grandmother, as it might open avenues of knowledge the village could make good use of. She was already quite pleased to learn about both the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion and the counter. Something like this, which could improve a girl's sex appeal... that had some potential uses too!

There was one section that the crew hadn't got to yet - but Shampoo could, thanks to her smaller size. Creeping along carefully, she squeezed her way inside to take a good look around. Unfortunately, she didn't find anything that explained the magic they were using.

But what she did find was something else. Evidence of 'another' cult operating in the area. Rivals to the bust enhancing maid cult. One that focused on posterior growth instead of breasts. This cult was growing in a more subtle manner. Rather than blatantly advertising their enhancements, they were simply luring in the unwary... Into a fitness club.

There was something truly diabolical about that. Come in to lose weight. Lose it from your tummy. Gain it in your thighs. They could pretend it was through muscle mass, maybe brainwash their victims into compliance. Sneaky. Although, that was merely supposition on Shampoo's part. 

She heard noises outside the entrance to this chamber. They were starting to try to get into here now! Very well. This was enough for Shampoo. It confirmed a few things, and gave her something else to look into, and - 

Hrm... Perhaps if she gained herself a nice juicy butt, it would let her overtake Akane's new breast enhancement? That was something to consider. If nothing else, she should have a little time before it became an issue. After all, her airen never reacted to Shampoo's obviously superior bust in all this time! There was no way that violent girl could ever hope to seduce him with some artificially enhanced boobage!

====

Not for the first time in this hour alone, Ranma had to physically force his head to look in a different direction than Akane's chest. It wasn't his fault. It was more hers than anything else. Forcing him to stay in the training hall with her while she tried to work stuff out. 

Then again, it wasn't like she was wearing anything overly showy either. Just her normal gi. Which had grown to a point she could wear it without spilling out all over the place. Even so, with her throwing punches out like that she was making her chest... wobble, quite a lot.

"Stupid Nabiki!" Akane growled. "Making me have to find something better, or she'll - She'll ruin everything! For both of us! Can you take this seriously?!"

Fortunately, Ranma had gone into autopilot and was dancing around Akane's furious strike of punches like they were in slow motion. Then again, compared to what he was used to nowadays they might as well be.

"Is it really Nabiki you're upset at?" Ranma quipped. Cool and casually, eyes cast to the ceiling and most definitely not sneaking quick glimpses of those oh, so pleasing, oh so cute boobs bouncing away under that folded over white cotton jacket. "I mean, this kinda behaviour isn't exactly weird for her. Get what I mean?"

She wrinkled her nose in a very not cute way, so not cute at all, and definitely not a way that made him want to <i>kiss her again</i> square on the lips, holding her close, pushing in deeply, holding her body up against his and never ever letting go not ever ever ever - and then she threw out a punch that he caught as casually as if he'd caught a ball.

"You're more annoyed you can't think of anything better, right?" Ranma said. "I mean, let's get real here. It annoys the heck outta both of us, but in our social circles our relationship is kind of a big deal. Photos of us in a compromising position - "

"Which are complete lies and misrepresent what happened!" Akane interrupted, a little too hastily. Ranma idly noticed she'd turned beet red, was staring at the ground and had opened her hand in such a way that her fingers interlocked with his.

Gulp! Her - Her hands were so small compared to his, but he could still feel the strength in them! While he was way, way stronger it didn't diminish the effect this was having on him. At all. "Ehehehe... I mean, that was a one off thing that happened because we were under the effects of a powerful lust spell, and we happened to be right next to each other."

"Right," Ranma said, squeezing her hand back. "We were right next to each other under the effects of lust magic, and we both had a bust increase, making us both way, way hotter than we already were."

Akane nodded, but somehow turned even redder. Like this, she was almost cute. Almost. Not quite there, but getting closer and closer. She didn't really seem all that much like a tomboy at the moment, huh? So girly, so feminine, so <i>kissable</i> and <i>huggable</i> that he almost forgot who he was dealing with here.

And those were the kinds of thoughts that made his mouth go 'hey let's say something stupid, inane and insulting'. You know. To protect himself from being open and vulnerable in front of the girl he pretends not to love.

"Well, at least you got something to show off now -" Ranma began, and suddenly found himself clobbered into the floor by a <I>hot</i> axe kick from out of nowhere. Sh-Shoot, he wasn't a masochist, was he? No, wait, the thing that got his motor rolling was the 'form', not the 'pain', so he was probably okay?

"Stupid!" Akane stuck her tongue out at him! "Alright! Alright, that's worked out some of my stress. Come on, buster. We're going about town to find something weird. There's gotta be something out there that can top Nabiki showing... <i>that</i> off to everyone we know!"

"You get changed, I'll be by the front gate!" Ranma said. Akane huffed, turned up her head, and stomped off, and - 

Uncute, uncute, uncute! She had <i>such</i> an uncute walk while wearing <i>such</i> uncute clothes, and there was nothing cute <i>at all</i> about the shape of her butt under those baggy trousers. Obviously, there were some lingering effects of the lust magic playing havoc with his common sense. That's the only reason he was so hard right now! Honest!

=====

Up in her room, Akane was frantically sorting through her clothes, holding them up to her body and casting them aside. "Too tomboyish, too obviously flirty, come on, come on, there's gotta be something here -"

She caught herself and took several deep breaths. Okay. Okay! Control yourself. Control. Yourself. This isn't real. What you're feeling now isn't real. It's - It's some sort of lingering effects of the lust magic you were both under not too long ago. The same lust magic that made you stick your tongue down the throat of Ranma's girl form, and hold her stupid sexy shortstack body up against yours.

Akane hated this. She felt so... Flush. So... horny. It made her think of when she was going for the statue. All those Ranmas. Trying to seduce her. Flirt with her. It had made one thing extremely, frustratingly obvious to her in retrospect.

If Ranma wasn't such a - Such a dummy, then he could have had her in bed any time he wanted. At a whim. A few simple compliments that he didn't take back, and she might be carrying their firstborn even now. That fact scared the hell out of her... But it was also making her really want to hear him compliment her again.

The trouble was, if she wore something flirty then he'd make fun of her for it. The others would notice too. It would totally defeat the purpose of wearing it! Sh-She had to wear something cute, but not outright obviously sexy. That meant no miniskirts to show off her legs. It meant no - no sundresses, or - Or frilly blouses or anything too overtly girly. On the other hand it meant she couldn't go for anything too tomboyish either. Like jeans, or baggy jumpers or - Gah! Why was this so difficult?! She didn't normally stress so much about what she was wearing!

"Oh, this is what Yuka and Sayuri mean when they say they struggle to pick out clothes some days..." Akane muttered to herself. "Right, now I get it. Now I completely understand!"

Funny really. Akane hadn't expect that her newest quest would entail her picking out what clothes she'd wear today. The funny thing about that she hadn't realised was, considering the way Ranma was feeling right now, she could have probably succeeded in this quest leaving her room dressed in a burlap sack.

====

It looked like a perfectly ordinary gym from the outside, but Shampoo had already noticed several of the customers coming out were a good deal thicker than when they'd come in. Not around the waist. No, no. Around the thighs. In their hind quarters. It was as if they'd gone in and had that mass squeezed down, without causing their clothes to tear or even fit badly.

For her part, she'd shown up looking the part. Full gym gear already. A snug fitting pair of yoga pants, a tube top, and a headband. Oh! And for good measure she was even chewing gum. She strode inside, practically skipping in, and the woman sitting at reception greeted her with a big friendly smile.

"Hey, hey!" the receptionist said, beaming at her with teeth so bright at first Shampoo thought she'd swallowed a flashlight. "What can we do for you today? You already seem a spry, fit young woman, can't be looking to lose weight... You here for the 'keep up' course?"

"That right," Shampoo said, bouncing to and fro while keeping a close eye on everything around her. It really did look like an ordinary gym. Nothing out of the ordinary here. "Shampoo used to do lots of martial arts at home, but not get much chance since moved here. Need to keep up training, or lose edge."

"Of course, of course!" the receptionist said. She rang a bell. "We'll let you have a first session for free, Miss -"

"Shampoo," she said. A picture was then taken via an automatic instant camera, which left her eyesight dazzled for a second. How had she missed that. "Huh?" By the time her vision had cleared there were two wide hipped, but otherwise fairly slender woman standing on either side of her. "Who you two?"

"They're our top personal trainers," the receptionist said. "They'll help you get used to a few things, gauge where you're at, and then we can move on from there. Sound good?"

This all sounded pretty normal so far. A normal gym will try to trap you into joining long term via a number of different mind games. Then when you try to leave, even if you don't ever use it, they give you the runaround for as long as possible before cancelling the membership. In that sense, it was kind of like a cult. Except most cults at least have the decency to systematically brainwash you first so you don't even know you're trapped in a situation you can't get out of easily.

"Greetings!" the trainer on her right said. "I am Boo Tee, but you can call me Boo."

"And I am Hi Knee, but you can call me Hi!" said the trainer on her left. "To begin with, let us assess your fitness level. Please, try to lift these weights."

They had led her towards some weights. Hrm? A measly 10 kg? Shampoo rolled her eyes, grabbed a few spare weights and slid them right onto the end of the barbell.

"Ah, miss, that would be 500 kg," Hi said. "Are you sure that's - "

Shampoo then hooked her foot under the middle of the handle, flipped it up into the air, and twirled it around on her index finger before catching it single handedly and setting it back on the floor. 500 kg is ridiculously heavy, by the way. For context, in the real world the maximum normal weight recommended for women to lift is around 16kg - That is, women without weight training. Obviously, those who have done weight training can lift far more than that. The heaviest lift recorded by a woman - well, that would depend on what kind of lift you mean, but it hovers between around 314 to 387 kg.

It's worth remembering right now that Shampoo is not an ordinary woman. Hell, Akane could probably lift 500 kg. She'd have a time doing it, but she could probably pull it off - and she's one of the weakest members of the cast that performs martial arts.

Boo and Hi then shared a look with one another, which told Shampoo that her little stunt had more or less worked out the way she'd hoped. She'd impressed them. That was good. They could cut the bullshit now. It wasn't like Shampoo could really fake not being a super strong warrior for very long, and if she had they would have noticed and become suspicious.

"Do you have something more... intense than this?" Shampoo asked.

"Yes, yes we do," Boo said.

"If you would come upstairs with us now," Hi quickly added.

Perfect. Exactly what Shampoo wanted. Go ahead now, give her the ass she deserved. Kukukuku! So Akane thought she could seduce her airen out from under her nose by using that cafe to give her a breast boost? Then arrange for Ranma to destroy it so that nobody else could get that advantage (Shampoo was clearly assigning motivations alongside her own thinking here...) Well then! Shampoo could do the same for this gym, too! Two can play at that game, kitchen wrecker! Let's see how your breasts fare against Shampoo's soon to be luscious ass!

====

You know, Nabiki might not actually release what she'd found quite yet. Not yet, not yet at all. The power it was giving her was simply... intoxicating. Kukuku! Akane thought she could find something worth this little juicy tidbit? She was welcome to try. It didn't mean Nabiki wouldn't hold onto it a little longer, and keep whatever tidbits were offered. She'd be able to have her cake and eat it too!

It sure didn't hurt that Akane's boobs were enormous now. Oh, the pictures she could sell of the girl just going about doing her own thing. Same with Ranma's girl form, too! She was pretty sure the two of them were having a hard time keeping their hands off one another, so this situation just kept getting better and better! There was no way - none at all - that they could possibly come up with something that could top the two of them hooking up. Still, they'd gone out together to try to find something sufficiently... spicy. As if they could! Hah!

She'd spent the time they were out reading through a comic while keeping an eye and ear on the front gate. Perhaps they'd accidentally walk in that gate hand in hand? Perhaps there would be little bruises on either of their necks?  Dishevelled clothes, some other telltale sign of something more fu~un happening than either would ever normally want to admit to?

When the gate did open, she was up on her feet with camera in hand in an instant. To her disappointment... Akane stomped over, something in hand, and a triumphant look on her face.

"Here! This should do it!" she said. "Hand over the negatives."

Hrm? Really? They found something? Nabiki flipped it open and read - a little article in the Occult Times reporting on a... Succubus that was... possessing girls and making them do stuff to boys that liked them?

...

Okay. Okay! That was pretty juicy, if true. But... "How do I know this is real?"

"We're about to head out to kick its butt," Ranma said. "You're welcome to come with -"

"We discussed this, <i>Ranma</i>!" Akane hissed back at him. "You know my sister is about as popular at school as I am, right? There's no shortage of boys who like her! And she's not a martial artist, so - "

"My, my, little sister," Nabiki scoffed. "You worry too much. A story like this is far too juicy to pass up. I'm coming with you to see how you deal with it. If nothing else, that should be plenty entertaining enough, right?"

"N-No way! Just hand over the negatives - " Akane began, but in response Nabiki began to fan herself down with a copy of the photo she'd already taken.

"I'll give you the negatives now, for sure," Nabiki said. "But, I won't hand over every copy I've made until I get a look at the story myself. Okay?  If I find out you've lied to me, well -"

"And if you don't hand those photos over, I won't believe anything you say ever again!" Akane warned. Hrmph! Big talk, little sis. "Okay, fine! Ranma, you'd better make sure nothing happens to my sister, got it?"

Ranma responded by pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a weary sigh. Yeah, he gets it Akane. He doesn't have to like it, but he gets it. Now, let's see what sort of nonsense you've really turned up, shall we?