The Weakness by Ken Arromdee At the moment, Ranma Saotome was in the park facing off against a salaryman. Ranma was male at the moment and wearing his usual Chinese shirt and pants. The salaryman was wearing a business suit, except that it was covered with blood, blood dripping down from the fangs in his mouth, that he was busy draining from a helpless 8 year old boy. "I'm not inta the whole crimefighting thing", said Ranma, "but it's a martial artist's duty ta protect the weak. And that's just a kid! Ain't nobody hurting no kids around here." The vampire laughed. Perhaps Ranma seemed like just a bigger meal at the moment." "And I've started learnin' to sense people's ki. You don't have people ki. You're not a man. You're a thing... a monster..." He leaped on top of Ranma, jaws snapping towards her throat. Ranma hit the vampire with a blow hard enough to shatter stone. Its head snapped free of his body, and a moment later the vampire's entire body crumbled to dust. "You all right?" Ranma asked the boy. The boy mumbled something and pointed behind Ranma. Leaping at him was another vampire. A woman, this time, with matted hair, her clothes clean and her demonic face looking very hungry. She only growled as she charged at Ranma. Ranma looked around and saw a fallen tree nearby, its trunk around a foot wide, which the park owners had yet to clear away. Having vaguely heard something about vampires and wooden stakes, Ranma grabbed the whole tree and thrust it at the vampire. Or at least, he tried to. It was now 8 PM, time for the automatic sprinklers to turn on. Ranma immediately got drenched by the spray and transformed into a girl. He barely cared. He was slightly weaker as a girl, but not enough to matter in a fight like this. But this time, something went wrong. The tree felt like a big weight in the newly female Ranma's hands. Her muscles ached under the strain and she could barely lift the tree, let alone shove it through the vampire's chest. It dropped from her hands. The vampire just laughed, and fell onto Ranma. Its strength was far grater than that of a human being--a normal human being, anyway. Ranma punched the vampire as hard as she could. It recoiled back from the blow in pain. At least, thought Ranma, she could still do some damage to the monster. But it was going to be much harder. The vampire, relying only on its strength and ferocity, tried to claw Ranma. The vampire's nails scratched Ranma's face. Ranma had been hit. Again. Fighting a monster whose friend she had just destroyed in two seconds. Ranma traded blows with the monster. This shouldn't be happening, she thought. But it was. There had to be some way to destroy it. Something she could do with only what strength she had left. Maybe... Ranma backflipped, landing by the boy's schoolbag. She reached into it; luckily what she was looking for was at the top and took only a moment to retrieve. A pencil. It would be difficult, but she should be able to do it. Ranma held the end of the pencil in one clenched fist and thrust it at the vampire's chest just as it leapt on top of her. Despite the vampire's clothes, the pencil went in so easily that even a non-martial-artist could have done it. The vampire disintegrated into a cloud of dust. * * * * * "I'm glad ta see you're in, Dr. Tofu" said (male) Ranma. "How was your vacation? So much has happened here since then... I met my old friend Ukyou and I went to China several times and Ryouga got a girlfriend Akari and I rescued Akane more times than I could count..." "I'm doing well", he replied. "It seems like it's a lot longer than it really was, you know?" "So anyway, how's the kid?" "He needs rest and fluids but he'll be okay. What happened to him anyway?" "I've been meanin' ta ask ya about that! There were all these vampires... And now when I change ta a girl I'm weak. What's happenin'?" "Wait, wait, vampires?" "They didn't turn ta bats or nuthin' like that, but they had fangs and drank blood from the boy and tried to drink from me and turned to dust. And I got weak when I turned into a girl. Does that mean I'm turnin' into a vampire, Dr. Tofu?" "Ranma, what makes you think that that means you're turning into a vampire. It doesn't work like that. I'm not sure why you got weak, but could you try some cold water again?" "All right." Ranma walked over to Dr. Tofu's sink and splashed himself, feeling the familiar twists in his body as it transformed. "Now let me do some tests. There are some weights in the back room, behind the door with the bone chart on it. Let's see how much you can lift." * * * * * Dr. Tofu led Ranma through the tests. Everything seemed normal, except that Ranma had gotten weaker whenever he became a girl. She could only lift a small fraction of what she could as a guy, her reaction times were much worse, and she could barely leap to ceiling level. "Well, look at it this way, Ranma", said Dr. Tofu. "You're still stronger than those vampires. Stronger than Akane, probably stronger than Kunou." "Will I be okay?" "I'll have to research it, Ranma, but there's got to be some explanation. I don't think it's anything really dangeous, you seemed completely healthy to me aside from your problem. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." * * * * * Over in America, a Slayer and her lesbian Wiccan lover were having a discussion about business. "Something's been bothering me, Willow", said Kennedy. "The spell..." It was referred to as *the* spell, of course. "It was supposed to turn all Potentials into Slayers. Each one of us would have the strength of ten men." "And?" replied Willow. "What happens if they're already very strong? Do they just get the strength added on or does it replace their normal strength and make them weaker?" "Oh, don't be silly, Kennedy. Nobody's stronger than ten men."