(A Urusei Yatsura/ Ranma 1/2 FanFic) Episode 1: Still Waters Run Weird Opening Scene: We see the battered but still standing Morobishi house. The postman is delivering today's mail. As the theme song continues to play, we see the front door open and Ten zips out and gets the mail. The view follows him through the house. Mr. Morobishi is reading the paper. Ten drops his mail onto his lap. Mrs. Morobishi is cooking dinner. Her mail goes on the counter. Lum is tinkering with a device in Ataru's bedroom while Ataru is at his desk. Ten drops the mail on top of the love letter we see that Ataru is writing before we can see who it is to. He grabs the mail, sorts it, and tosses Lum and Ten their mail. Lum has several dozen love letters in her stack, Ten has a tiger-striped card from home, and Ataru has a single letter to "Class President Morobishi Ataru". He opens it up and begins to laugh and dance about. He grabs Lum and starts to tango with her. She smiles and says: Lum: Darling, what is making you so happy? Ten: What is it? Ataru: We won! We won! Ha Ha Ha! Lum: What, what did we win? Ataru: Our class photo collection won us a free vacation for our whole class! We won the school contest! Two weeks away from school! Ha Ha HA HA! {He grows increasingly maniacal}. I've got to tell everyone. {He races down the stairs and into the kitchen.} Ataru: Mom! Dad! We're going on a two week vacation! All of us! Ha Ha Ha! {races into the living room followed by Lum and Ten. In the trio's wake, everything is a mess as they bang into stray pans, knock things off the walls, etc.} Mrs. Morobishi: Why didn't I have a daughter instead of a son? Mr. Morobishi: It wasn't my idea. (Ataru runs out the front door, knocking it off its hinges, followed by Ten and Lum, who grabs him and begins carrying him down the street.} Ataru: Vacation! We're going on a vacation! Ha Ha Ha Ha! Passer-by: Looks like the Morobishi kid finally flipped. Other Passer-by: I'm not surprised at all. Lum voiceover(as various Class members hear the news, pack their bags, assemble at the airport with Sensei Onsen Mark, and head on vacation): Darling was so happy that he didn't bother to see where we were going. The trip was not designed to be all fun and games. (We see the gang of four chasing Ataru who is chasing a woman on top of the great wall, the class in Beijing, the class running away from a chinese dragon, the class in Canton, the class lost somewhere in central china...)Still we enjoyed our trip to china, until halfway into the last week, things went horribly wrong... The scene: A chinese tourguide is leading the class down a cliff face into a valley full of pools with bamboo reeds sticking up in the middle of them. There are hundreds, perhaps even a thousand of these pools stretching as far as the eye can see. There is a sign at the base of the cliff. Too bad no one in the class is fluent in Chinese. We are behind the group, looking at the tour guide. Generic Anime extras in school uniforms(the rest of the class) mill about on the left of Sensei Onsen Mark. Mendo, then Shinobu, then Ataru, then Lum stand in the middle. The gang of four(Megane, Chibi, Kakugari, and Perm) stand on the right, jostling for the position closest to Lum. The Tour Guide: This is the legendary training grounds of the cursed pools. {Ataru is sidling over to put an arm around Shinobu's shoulder.} Mendo Shutaro: training grounds for what? Tour Guide: Good Question. The greatest Martial Artists have traditionally come here to train. They jump from pole to pole, trying to knock each other down and practice their balance. Chibi: That must be very difficult. There isn't anything to stand on. {Ataru has achieved his goals. Lum and Shinobu notice what he is doing simultaneously. Shinobu sheds the arm and steps closer to Mendo simultaneously. } Tour Guide: Yes, and there is also the matter of the curse that falls on whoever falls in one of the pools. Everyone: Curse? Tour Guide: Long ago, many people and animals drowned in various of these pools. Now whoever falls in a pool turns into whatever drowned in it. Sensei Onsen Mark: Surely that is only a story. {Ataru is sidling over to Shinobu again. Lum is starting to get mad.} Megane(Thinks for a moment). There are pools of humans too? Could it change your sex? Everyone stares at him for a moment. Megane:(Blushing) I DON'T WANT TO BE A GIRL! I WAS JUST CURIOUS! Tour Guide: You are correct. The pool of the drowning girl is just over there. (He points to a nearby pool). The pool of the drowning warrior is over there. The pool of the drowning cat is over there. The pool of the drowning oni is over there. The pool of the ... Mendo: We get the point {Ataru fondles Shinobu. Shinobu socks Ataru. He flies into the air. He comes down. Terror fills his face. He splashes into the pool. Everyone stares. Ataru comes up. His hair has turned red. His clothing is a bit...tighter than before. His face is subtly changed. He seems to have lost a few inches. In fact, he is now a she.) Lum: (Her anger now diverts to Shinobu) You, you, BAKA!!! (She grabs Shinobu, hefts her, and throws her into a pool. Then she begins flying towards Ataru.) Darling! (Ataru is trying to tread water, not having realized what has happened. The class is laughing. Onsen Mark is beginning to wend his way between the pools to where Shinobu and Ataru are. The water churns in the pool where Shinobu has fallen.) Onsen Mark: I'm coming! (To Tourguide:) What pool is Shinobu in? Tourguide: (Blanches) Oh no! It's the pool of the ... (Shinobu rises out of the water and jets into the sky as Lum reaches the pool Ataru fell in. She is somewhat changed. Her hair has turned reddish-green. She has two small horns protruding from her forehead. She looks very, very, angry.) Tourguide: drowning oni. Shinobu: (assumes classic lum blasting away position) Lum, Die! Divine Retribution! (Crackling electricity coruscates down her body and strikes the stunned Lum. Lum drops like a rock into the pool next to Ataru, pulling him under again. When they struggle to the surface, Lum's horns are gone and Shinobu is cackling maniacally.) Onsen Mark: I really hate this job. (now most of the way to Ataru and Lum) (Lum gets up and tries to zap Shinobu. Nothing happens. Ataru is trying to splash his way over to the side of it when Shinobu zaps the pool. Lighting crackles through the pool, zapping Lum and Ataru.) Onsen Mark: Stop that this minute, Miyaki Shinobu! This will go on your record! (pointing at her and shaking a fist) Shinobu-oni: (trying not to giggle too hard. We now get a better look at her. Her school uniform is somewhat tattered and torn. Her build has altered subtly. She seems a few inches shorter. She also has reddish-green hair and a pair of small horns similar to Lum's now missing horns.) Yes, Sensei. (She flies over to the class who is staring at her.) Megane(Bulging eyes and distorted face): You! You blasted our beloved Lum-Chan! Now you must die! (Wild Background and shot of giant Megane, Chibi, Perm, and Kakugari looming over Shinobu. Shinobu gets mad again.) Shinobu-oni: Divine Retribution! (She zaps the gang of four. They collapse charred. Shinobu smiles, then "faints" into Mendo's arms.) Oh, I'm so tired. Mendo: (looking shocked)Don't worry. I've got you. (Meanwhile, Lum gets back up from being zapped and turns to Ataru-chan. Ataru-chan is combing her hair. She does not seem to have quite realized the change that has come over her.) Lum: Darling, I can't...(Realizes what has happened to Ataru) Darling, what's happened to you? Ataru-chan:(A little confused) I'm just wet. (We realize Ataru's voice has moved up a few octaves.) My clothing feels a little tight but...(takes a good look at herself. Eyes bug out as she realizes what has happened). AHHHH!!!!! I'm...I'm.... Onsen Mark(Now standing nervously near the pool) a woman. Ataru-chan(looks scared) Everyone is going to laugh at me. This is humiliating. Lum: What's humiliating? (looks slightly confused) Ataru-chan: After all I've done...and now I've become...what I always pursued. (screams to the heavens) I'll never have a harem if I'm a woman! Onsen Mark: Now come out of that pool before you get sick. We've got to get out of here before anyone else falls into one of them. The school is in enough trouble already. Ataru-chan(Now getting out of the pool with Lum) I...feel so strange. Lum: Me too(She looks a little sad and confused. They look at each other. Ataru-chan starts.) Ataru-chan: Your horns, they're gone! Lum:(feels around her head). They are! I've been turned into a human! Mom and Dad are not going to be happy about this. Ataru-chan: At least everyone won't laugh at you, the way they will at me. Onsen Mark: No one will laugh at you or... (Camera Shifts. Everyone is laughing at Ataru except Onsen Mark, Lum, Ryuunosuke, and the Tour Guide. The tour guide looks very sad. Lum puts an arm around Ataru-chan as Ataru-chan begins to cry. Fade to black) Voiceover by Lum: To make matters worse, there was a plumbing accident at the hotel, and we only had cold showers available.(Following is as we see: Ataru-chan walking into a men's room and being thrown out, Flocks of men from the class following Shinobu around as she flirts with various of them, the class girls giggling and pointing at an embarrassed Ataru-chan who runs out of the lobby. Lum tries to zap them, fails and runs out after him.) The rest of the vacation was quite miserable for Darling. I was sad, but he was miserable. Shinobu, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. Finally we got to go home. (The class is on the plane. Shinobu is sitting between Mendo and some unknown guy from the class. She is flirting with both of them. A few rows back, Ataru-chan sits between Ryuunosuke and Lum. We note that she has a more orderly hairstyle than usual.) Lum: Don't worry, Darling, We'll find a way to turn you back to normal. Ataru-chan: I just wish Sensei Onsen Mark had let the tourguide finish telling us whatever he was saying when he left. Lum: Well, he was mad at him for taking us to that cursed place. Ryuunosuke: He didn't have to throw him into the pool that turned him into a cow. Lum: I'm sure oni science can find a cure for this. Ataru-chan: I hope so. I wasn't meant to be a woman, although... Ryuunosuke:... Ataru-chan:I feel so strange, and it's getting worse. Lum: Strange? Ataru-chan: I feel like my behavior is slowly changing... Ryuunosuke: You've stopped walking into the mens' room. Lum: I...I haven't seen you flirt with anyone since you fell in the pool. Ryuunosuke: You've been paying more attention to your appearance. You look neater than usual. Lum: You don't eat as fast or as much as you used to. Ryuunosuke: You look sad and lost all the time. Lum: (Smiling a bit and resting her head on Ataru-chan's shoulder) You don't run away from me anymore. Ataru-chan: I...everyone else laughs at me but you, Onsen Mark, and...(turns head to Ryuunosuke) you. I...why don't you laugh at me, Ryuunosuke? Ryuunosuke: If my father had been there, he would have thrown me in the pool of the drowning man, if there is one. You've been a jerk for as long as I've known you, Ataru Morobishi, but everyone deserves to be able to be themselves. I cannot, and now neither can you. I feel sorry for you. Ataru-chan: ... Thank you. (Face assumes "serious" mode and stays there) I am sorry that I have given you so much grief. I just feel like I am losing myself. I'm still the same person, I hope... (Fade to Black. Now we see Lum and Ataru-chan walking up to the Morobishi house.They walk up the sidewalk and go in. Ataru-chan is wearing casual men's clothes that don't fit her still female figure very well, Lum is wearing a nice, fairly demure dress.) Lum: Mrs. Morobishi, we're home. (turns to a visibly nervous Ataru-chan) Don't be nervous. Your parents have seen you stranger than this. Ataru-chan: (moves closer to Lum, takes her hand without realizing it) I hope so. Mrs. Morobishi:(enters the room with Ten. ) Hello, Lum. (Stops and stares at Ataru-chan.) Who's your friend? Ataru-chan:I... Lum: You don't recognize... Mrs. Morobishi: She looks kind of like Ataru. They could be twins, except... Oh no. Ataru-chan: Mom, I... Mrs. Morobishi: You've turned my son into a woman, you alien bimbo! AHHHH!!!! (Starts to cry) Ten: You didn't shoot him with the boy/girl gun, did you Lum-chan? (sudden realization) Your horns, they're gone! Lum: We both fell in cursed pools. I became human, he became a woman. Mrs. Morobishi: (Eyes wide) You went to cursed pools as part of a vacation? Ataru-chan: It wasn't on the itinerary. Lum: Ten, get the UFO, we've got to find a cure for this, before school tomorrow. Ten: Yes, Lum-chan. (Cut to the front of Shinobu's house. We see a Mendo family Limousine pull up in front. Inside, we see Shinobu kiss Mendo rather fiercely, then smile, open the door and fly up to the window to her room. She opens it and goes in. We see Mendo looking rather dazed in the now departing limo and the limo pulls away.) (Inside Shinobu's room, we see her head into her closet. Clothing begins flying out, but we can't see her.) Voice of Shinobu's mom(sounds a fair way off) Shinobu, is that you? Shinobu-oni(still out of sight inside the closet) Yes Mom. Voice of Shinobu's mom: Dinner is almost ready. Shinobu-oni: I'll be down as soon as I finish changing. (scene cuts to the dining room. Shinobu's mom is putting food on the table. Her father is sitting, watching TV and waiting to be served.) Shinobu's mom:(Yelling to the ceiling) All right, dear. (They sit down to eat. Soon Shinobu-oni enters the room. Her hair has definitely grown a bit longer and is still reddish green, but remains relatively short. She has a confident smile on her face. She is wearing a button down white shirt half unbuttoned(The top half). It is rather tight. She seems a bit better endowed than she was before falling in the pool. She is wearing black shorts. She has a pair of nice gold earrings on, and a red and black tiger-striped bandanna in her hair. Her horns show very clearly. She sits down. Her parents stare.) Shinobu-oni:(evil grin) How do you like the new look? Parents:... (They faint in unison) (Cut to interior of Lum's spaceship. Lum and Ten are wearing tiger-skin lab coats. Ataru is strapped to a table with various strange looking machines and sensors attached to her. Ten is holding a thing that looks like a glowing salt shaker over him, while Lum is looking at a screen with alien squiggles on it.) Lum: Salt test. Ten: Check. (sprinkles salt on Ataru-chan's face) Ataru-chan: Hey! Lum: Standard response. Pepper Test. Ten: Check. (Pulls out glowing pepper pot and shakes pepper on Ataru's face) Ataru-chan: Ah--choo! Ahchoo! (Sneezes several times. Various dials and panels glow and shift around the room) Lum: Standard response. Electricity Test. Ataru: Hey! I... Ten: (Now wearing goggles, pulls a lever.) Check. Ataru-chan:(Electricity surges through him, she twitches and writhes as usual) AHHHH!!!!! Lum: Standard Response. W... Ataru-chan: How many of these tests am I going to have to suffer through? Lum: Just two more, Darling. Cold Water Test. Ten: Check. (Dumps a bucket of water on Ataru-chan. She gets wet. Nothing else happens.) Ataru-chan: That's what caused this problem in the first place! Lum: Standard Response. Hot Water Test. Ataru-chan: (starts to get up.) What? Ten: (Takes a kettle of water off a stove, pours it on Ataru) Check. Ataru-chan: (Writhes amidst the steam) AHHHH!!!!AHHHH!!!! That hurt! (The machinery goes wild, flashing and beeping, while the screen begins printing lots more squiggles.) Lum: Darling, it worked! Ataru:(Back to normal, but dripping wet, his normal male self, emerges from the steam.) That really...(Realizes he is male again) Back to Normal! Yippee! (Grabs Lum and Dances around. Ten gets the kettle and pours the rest of it on Lum. She reverts to her normal Oni self.) Lum: It worked for me too! Ataru: Thank you for finding a way to cure me. Lum: (moves closer to him. Their faces almost touch.) I know a better way for you to show your appreciation. Ataru: (moves a little closer) Let me guess... (They close their eyes, and almost make it to a kiss when Ten interrupts.) Ten: Hey, we're going to miss dinner! (Lum gives Ten the stare of death.) Ataru: Dinner! I'm starving! (Lets go of Lum and heads off with Ten). Lum: Maybe I was better off with him as a woman... ( We cut to the Miyaki residence. Shinobu goes into the bathroom, and starts filling the bathtub with obviously hot water and bubble bath mix. Soon we see her in the bubble bath, mostly submerged. She looks very relaxed. Soon after we see her, towel around her head and bathrobe on, looking into the mirror and brushing her teeth. She looks for the floss, but it is on a shelf just a little too high to reach. She obviously tries to fly up to it, fails, and whacks her stomach on the counter. She tries again. No dice. Finally she turns and looks at herself in the mirror. She takes the towel off her head. Her hair is back to its normal reddish brown and the horns are gone. She looks stunned, then turns contemplative. She goes back to the bathtub/shower and turns on the cold water tap. We cut to the mirror again, where she is once again in bathrobe, but with horns and reddish-green hair again. She has a wicked smile.) (Commercial Break) (End of Commercial Break) (We see various people getting prepared in the morning. Ataru is combing his hair, but it just doesn't want to cooperate anymore. He becomes increasingly frantic, then finally gives up. We hear the phone ringing somewhere. He heads downstairs, passing Lum, who is adjusting her school uniform and tying a blue ribbon in her hair. He heads downstairs to the breakfast table where Mr. Morobishi is eating from behind his newspaper.) Ataru: Hi, dad. (sits down. Mrs. Morobishi enters with his breakfast.) Hi, Mom. Mrs. Morobishi: Ataru, Shinobu called. Ataru: (perks up) Was she calling about a date? Mrs. Morobishi: Actually it was for Lum. Lum: (flying into the room and over to the table)What did she have to say? Mrs. Morobishi: Something like...(Suddenly grows to enormous size and rants maniacally) Ha Ha Ha! Vengeance shall be mine! I intend to get back everything, everything you've stolen from me. Ha Ha Ha! (reverts to normal) Or something to that effect. She said you would understand. Lum: (concerned) Darling, do you have any idea what she could be talking about? Ataru: (mumbled through his mouth, which is full of food)I habxnt dhe faigntswet idyareh. Lum: What. Ataru: (pauses between mouthfuls) I don't know what she's talking about. (Munch, munch, munch) Lum: Perhaps I'd better make a few preparations. Ataru: Right.(Munch, munch, munch) (we fade to the gang of four. We see them in their various houses, combing their hair, brushing their teeth, putting on their uniforms, etc. Each is surrounded by Lum paraphernalia--dolls, pictures, wall posters, paintings, holograms, etc. However, we notice that Kakugari has put a new photo on the mirror over his sink--a photo of Shinobu-oni posing by a statue of some Chinese statesman.) Megane: (talking to his Lum doll) Darling Lum, we will find a way to restore your powers, stolen by the unworthy Shinobu.(Megane grows more maniacal and red in the face as he rants) She will never steal our hearts away from you. It is Lum that we love! We will avenge you! DEATH TO THE INFIDEL! (Shakes his fists at a photo of Shinobu, the same one we saw Kakugari has) You, you....(calms down) are kind of cute as an oni. (Sudden look of shame) No, you have driven me to unfaithful thoughts. (Shreds the photo) Lum, forgive me! AAAHHHH!!! (Collapses exhausted) Perm: Heh, heh, heh. Now that Ataru is a woman, she won't be able to stand between me and Lum. I can smell victory. Chibi: Heh, heh, heh. Now that Ataru is a woman, she won't be able to stand between me and Lum. I can smell victory. Kakugari: I wonder if Shinobu likes tall guys? (we fade to Mendo's mansion. He is being dressed by servants and combing his hair.) Mendo: (obviously thinking, not speaking) What is this attraction for Shinobu that has so completely mastered me? Only one other woman has ever done that to me, Miss Lum. I...Lum, I've hardly spoken to her since she turned into a human. I...don't know why. What has come over Shinobu? She has become a different woman since falling in that pool. I must regain control of myself, before I...before I... I must! (Draws his sword and shouts to the sky) I pledge by the honor of the Mendo clan that I will not give into the lure set before me by temptation. No one seduces a Mendo! No one! I am my own... Mendo's Mother(enters) Shinobu is on the phone, Shutaro. Mendo: Thank you. (Runs out of the room, heading for the phone.) I am coming, Shinobu! (Scene cuts to a classroom at Tomobiki High School. Students are drifting in. Onsen Mark is pacing impatiently at the front of the class. He is talking to himself.) Sensei Onsen Mark: That class vacation was a disaster. No hot water at the hotel, Ataru chasing women on the Great Wall, people falling into cursed pools,... At least Lum won't be able to zap anyone when she gets mad....but now Shinobu will. She was acting quite strangely the last couple of days...At least Ataru didn't try to hit on anyone...I wonder if the principal will insist that Ataru wear a girls' uniform now? I hate this job. This class is... (Ataru walks in with Lum, hands over his head in V for Victory style.) Ataru: Everyone cheer, your class president is here! (Everyone stares. It sinks in that Ataru is back to normal, well as normal as he ever is.) Ataru: What are you staring at? Megane: You...You... Ataru: Same as ever, my normal male self. Lum: I found the cure for our curse. Megane: (now realizes Lum is back to normal) Everyone cheer! Lum is cured! Whole Class: HURRAH! Ataru: (grumbling) Noone cheers for me. Lum: Don't be sad, Darling. (Flies Ataru over to his seat, then sits in her adjacent one.) Onsen Mark: So you found a cure? Lum: Yes. Onsen Mark: Good. Have you used to get rid of Shinobu's curse? Lum: Being an Oni is no curse. Onsen Mark:(quietly grumbles to self) One oni is bad enough, I don't need two of them. (To class:) Where are Miyaki Shinobu and Mendo Shutaro? Its' almost time for class, and neither of them are normally late. (We hear a grinding noise. The class turns and sees Shinobu-oni coming through the window and shutting it. She is wearing her school uniform, but has the red and black tiger stripe bandana in her hair. Her school bag is slung over her shoulder.) Shinobu-oni: Mendo will be here in just a moment. He had to get something for me. (She sits down in her chair. Mendo runs in. He has a bag slung over his shoulder. It is quite large. He gets into his desk, just in time for the start of class. Shinobu looks over at him and raises an eyebrow. He gives her a thumbs up. Scene fades out.) (Its lunch time. Various people are munching out. Ataru is wolfing down his lunch, while Lum slowly eats hers. Megane and the rest of the Gang of four are sitting at a nearby table eating. Suddenly a gout of water(looks like being shot with a fire hose) engulfs Lum, Ataru, and several other nearby students, the stops. We see Shinobu-oni floating outside the window with a Super Super Soaker, with a sight, a foot wide barrel, and a large barrel strapped to her back. She is smirking. The flow of water clears and Ataru has turned into a woman again. Lum has become human, and the other students are wet and mad.) Various students: What did you do that for? (Notice Ataru and stare mindlessly) Ataru-chan: (Stares at self)NO! no, no, no.(Curls up into a ball of denial) Lum:(Turns to Shinobu-oni) What did you do that for? Now we're stuck this way until we can get some hot water. Shinobu-oni: I know. (The principal strides in, sees Ataru. He turns to Shinobu.) Principal: You were right, one of our girls is wearing a boys' uniform. Ataru-chan: I'm not a girl. I'm Morobishi Ataru. I... Principal: Impossible, Ataru is definitely a boy and you are definitely not. Now go home and change. Ataru-chan: But, I... (Principal drags him out) I'll sue!(yelled as he is dragged out the door) Lum:(stares in disbelief at Shinobu) I...you never... Shinobu-oni: You would have done it if our situations were reversed. Lum: Never! Shinobu-oni: I'm going to take your life apart piece by piece, the way you've done to mine! Lum: (shrinks back a bit)I never did anything to you. Shinobu-oni: You would have destroyed my planet if Ataru hadn't beaten you at tag! You took the man I loved away from me and turned him into even more of a hentai than he was before! I tried to find someone else and you took him away too, without even trying! Everyone loves and worships you! Lum: But why did you do that to Darling? Shinobu-oni(looks both mad and sad) Well, I wanted to see if it worked on him like it worked on me. Also, he deserved it. Lum: You embarrassed and hurt Darling! I thought you said you loved him. Shinobu-oni: (looks confused)I...I just...He's hurt me so many times... Lum: (Angry now) I wish I could blast you for what you did, but I can't. Shinobu-oni: No more blasts for you. All it takes is a little water and no more electricity. Lum: (Flash of insight) True. (grabs the fresh hot coffee pot from a nearby table and throws its contents on Shinobu. Shinobu, shocked, reverts to human and plummets.) That takes care of that. Now I've got to find Darling. (Scene cuts to Shinobu lying on the ground. She sits up, still carrying the Super Super Soaker) Shinobu: Oh, that hurt...(Checks soaker. It is empty.) Out of water already...(Takes it off, puts it in the big bag we saw Mendo carrying earlier) Maybe I shouldn't have done that to Ataru...(Turns, sees a crowd chasing Ataru) Crowd: Hentai! Cross dresser! Scum! Lout! Die! Ataru-chan: AAAAHHHHH!!!!! Shinobu: I've got to help him. (She runs after the crowd and begins plowing through it) Ataru-chan (looks back, sees Shinobu) Haven't you done enough? Shinobu: (reaches Ataru-chan and picks her up. One of the crowd is almost on them. Shinobu does her classic back kick on pursuing male. He flies back and hits the wedge shaped mob, which goes down like bowling pins). I'm here to help you. I'm really sorry. (soon they are around a corner and into an alley. The mob boils past them.) Shinobu: Are you okay? (Ataru-chan leans and pants heavily) Ataru-chan: Why did you do that to me? Shinobu: I...feel so much more free when I'm an Oni. All my feelings are heightened and most of my inhibitions just seem to go away. I...wanted revenge for all the times you cheated on me and flirted with other women and... Ataru-chan: I wronged you. I admit it. Shinobu: (stares at him in surprise.)I...you admit it? Ataru-chan: I--did someone spill coffee on you? You've got a big stain on your uniform. Shinobu: Yes--Lum threw it on me. Ataru-chan: And it was hot enough to turn you back to normal? Shinobu: Yes. Ataru-chan: Okay, well we need to get moving. I've got to take a hot bath and get back to normal, and you need to put on a clean uniform. (grabs her hand) Come on. (They start running). (Lum comes around the corner and sees them running. It looks like Shinobu is chasing Ataru-chan from where she is standing. She starts running after them.) Lum: Stop chasing Darling! (They stop.) Ataru-chan: (as Lum catches up) Don't worry, Lum-chan. We were just trying to hurry home so we could get back to normal. Shinobu: Well as normal as any of us ever are. Lum: You're not angry anymore, Shinobu? Shinobu: I feel much calmer now. I'm sorry I yelled at you. Being an Oni...well, now I understand why Ataru gets zapped all the time. (grins) Lum:(smiles confusedly) Come on Darling, we can take a nice hot bath together. (starts dragging him off) Ataru-chan: I don't think mother would approve...(Lum drags her around the corner) Shinobu: This must really be strange for Ataru. I think our life gets stranger everyday. Well, time to change. (heads off towards home). End of Episode 1