Grave's New Life

Chapter 23

By Philip Weigel

Disclaimer: Nope, I own this not. High Lord Fred Perry, Rumiko Takahashi-Sama and Godfather Ben Dunn own their respective characters. I only made up this story...

Note: Well, here we go, took some time off to get some ideas in the head.

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Groaning as she walked into the house, Brianna Diggers moved into the living room and flopped down onto the teal-colored couch, groaning as her little "vacation" to Ireland turned into something that turned out to be completely nuts. Not that that should have been any surprise for her. Nutty and insane adventures were almost the norm for her. To be honest, if something normal happened, she'd probably be very, very frightened. Normal wasn't bad, not by a long shot. It was just that normal was so abnormal for her and her family that she doubted things would ever be normal.

"Hey, you okay?" A voice from the kitchen spoke up, causing Brianna to look up. Peeking in from the kitchen was a young woman with golden hair with dark spots in it, white fur all over her face with two black stripes going over each eye going from the middle of her forehead down to her jawbone.

"Hey, Britanny." Brianna said in a tired voice as she relaxed back into the couch. "Found out that rats and leaprechauns don't go well together." She shook her head, groaning lightly at what happened to her on that little trip. It could've been worse, the Lycanthropoid assumed. She could've been locked up in prison, the gold missing and the rats gone. 'Yeah, that would've totally sucked.' She mused. Being locked up by those guys wouldn't be the most pleasant thing in the world to deal with.

"What the heck?" Britanny asked as she walked into the room. "Why were any rats there?"

"Apparently they were after the Leprechaun's gold machine." Brianna shook her head. Why those three were after that machine, she wasn't sure. She didn't really care. All she knew was that they caused more problems for her and her family than was needed.

Britanny balled her left hand up into a fist. It wasn't as if Wererats had ruined her life. Oh no, they had just collared her, caused her dad's hand to get blown away, and she had later found out that they directly caused the last bloody incident between her clan and the Werewolves. No, Wererats weren't high on her list. In all honesty, only a few people were lower on her list than Wererats. Maybe not all of them were as bad as the ones she had met.

"Hey, you got your wedding ring back." Brianna said, noticing the shining object around her sister's left ring finger. She didn't know what the heck happened to cause her sister to lose her wedding ring, but since her sister had it back, there wasn't much need to wonder about it anymore.

"Yep." She said, smirking as she remembered just how she got her ring back. Though she did feel bad for what happened to her friend during that trip, things turned out okay in the end. Only the fish was dead and no one really cared about fish. "Other than the rats, how was it?"

"Not bad." Brianna shrugged. "I think the old coot of a general needs to lighten up though." She didn't know what his problem was, but he didn't seem to like anyone other than himself, and she wasn't sure that he liked himself that much. Brianna snorted in disgust. "Guy should also stop smoking too. Those cigars can't be legal."

"Cigars?" Britanny asked.

"Yeah. Guy had Cuban-sized for Leprechauns," Brianna said. "Why he doesn't just smoke full-sized ones is beyond me."

Shrugging, the older of the two glanced at the time. “Hmm, Muffin should be home soon.”

“Where’d he go?” Brianna asked, wondering. It wasn’t as if her brother-in-law had a job yet, though he was trying to get one.

“Job hunting.” She replied. “He said he’d be home around this time.” She hoped he got a job, not that they needed money at that moment, but it was more for him, since he was looking forward to actually being able to settle down, move to a new house and not actually have to live with their sisters anymore, just like any normal married couple would want.

(---)

Meanwhile, in a dark, undisclosed place...

"So, how bad is it?" A voice asked, this one sounding as if it was never wrong in an argument.

"Whatever do you mean?" The second person said, raising an eyebrow to her companion. Her eyes showed more experience than any single person deserved to have.

"The time change."

"Seems to be different, not sure what to think about it right now."

"Other than those three are in danger?"

"Maybe... He seems to keep that one calm."

"..." The first voice had nothing to say to that.

(---)

"Um, Brianna, Britanny," a voice broke into the sisters' conversation. Turning, they smiled as they saw their purple-haired friend, Genn.

"Hey, Genn." Brianna smiled at her best friend. She felt so lucky to know Genn as a friend. Well, it was better than the girl trying to beat her in a fight then suck her ethereal energy dry. Not that she thought Genn would actually do something like that to her or anyone.

"You two will not believe this." She said, her eyes wide slightly.

The two blinked and followed Genn into the living room, blinking as she was at the T.V., messing around with the DVD. "Genn?" Brianna blinked and tilted her head. Why would her friend ask her to the living room when she could've just told her what was going on instead? "What's up?"

"Yeah, usually you aren't so nervous looking." Britanny added, a slightly worried frown adorning her face as Genn hit the play button on the player.

Genn didn't say anything as the player started up. The two sisters blinked as they saw some video, not the best quality, obviously a home video of some sort. In the front of the video were two Asian youths fighting it out, but that wasn't what caught Britanny and Brianna's attentions. It was the girl with the yellow and black hair, white face and tail that caught their attention. The fact that she had an eye stripe over her right eye and not one on the left side was also interesting to the both of them.

Brianna's eyes widened as she watched her evil half yell something, only to leave a moment later.

"Genn, how the heck did you get this?" Britanny was astounded, another Werecheetah? Okay, so maybe this one wasn't the same as her, but hey, that was fine. Maybe she wasn't the last Werecheetah like everyone thought she was? After all, Raphiel had shown up and gave people hope that there may have been other Werecheetahs out there, but he turned out to be a golem, and that situation had turned up bupkis.

"Japanese news cast. It was for some program or other about "increasing violence in schools"." Or was that, weirdness grows to a new level? Genn wasn't that sure, the transmission wasn't too terribly good and the audio broke up in some key places.

Britanny was half-way out of the room by that time. "Where are you going?" Brianna asked as she watched Britanny leave.

"To get ready for a trip to Japan." Was the reply.

"Japan!?" Brianna asked, agasp at Britanny taking such an interest. "Why do YOU want to go to Japan!?!?"

Stopping at the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, Britanny looked over her shoulder. "Because it's another werecheetah, Brianna... A real werecheetah." At least, she thought it was. After all, she didn't think Tanya had the time or reason to make another like Raphiel.

"Urk! Uh, Brit..." Brianna started to say hesitantly. Great, how was she to get her sister to stay out of this? Lord knows if Grave saw her, she might start trying to finish her mission!

"Yes, Bri?" Britanny asked, wrapping her arms underneath her breasts.

"Well..." Raising a hand to the back of her neck, Brianna scratched a little. What the heck to-OH! "I could just check on it for you! I mean, don't you want to spend time with Stryyp? He'll need all the moral support he can while looking for a job."

Needless to say, Britanny didn't look all that convinced.

"I mean, shouldn't you stay here with Stryyp? Wouldn't he get worried if you were gone?"

"Well..." Britanny considered that, tail waving behind her a bit. "Well, I could just wait for him to get home and show him this." The werecheetah said. "Heck, I think we should show everyone."

"ACK!"

Seeing her sister and the rakshasa blanch, Britanny has to ask, "What?"

"Nothing, nothing!" They said at the same time.

Again, Britanny wasn't convinced; a small sweat-drop rolling down the side of her head. "Well, as I was saying, we should show everyone. I'm sure dad could teleport us to Japan. With all of us, it won't take long to find that girl."

Brianna sweated nervously. Great, just what they needed. Even if their dad could subdue the girl, which she didn't doubt, Grave would probably go crazy seeing all of them in one place at the same time. The amount of destruction wouldn't be pretty.

"Don't you think that's a bit much?" Genn asked, trying to keep this situation from exploding any worse than it already was.

Blinking her eyes, Britanny asked, "A little bit much?"

"Well, I mean, why bring your dad in on this?" Genn asked. "Wouldn't it be better to be more discreet?"

"Why be discreet?" Britanny asked. "If there's another werecheetah, we need to find her and fast! And besides, it's not like anyone is going to hurt her, or gang up on her. We'll look for her and politely ask her questions or at least try to get to know her first."

At least, that was how Britanny saw to go about it.

"Did you tell her?" Genn whispered to Brianna. She sweat dropped as Brianna shook her head. "Greeeeaaat..." She drawled out. Just what they needed. Britanny didn't really understand the situation.

"Tell me what?" Britanny asked, suddenly between the two. "Are you two hiding something?"

"Ack!" Brianna squawked as her sister got in-between them. "Wha.. What gives you that impression?"

"Everything you're doing..." Britanny said as she stood up at full height, arms crossed under her breasts and looking rather menacing as she tapped her foot, tail swaying behind her irritably. "Well?"

"Thatwerecheetahsevilandwantstokillyouginaandmeandifeveryoneshowsuptheresgoingtobeproblems." Brianna blabbered out at once.

"Woah, woah, WOAH! Slow down, Bri!" Britanny said as she raised her hands and tried to make placating motions. "Stop and gather yourself. I may be werecheetah but speed HEARING is not a specialty."

Brianna whimpered. Dammit, how was she going to explain this one? "Fine..." She sighed. "That werecheetah's evil and wants to kill you, me and Gina and if everyone shows up there's going to be problems."

Britanny blinked her eyes once...

Twice...

Thrice...

"...The hell?" Britanny asked, right ear twitching. "Brianna, what the hell makes you say THAT!?" She demanded, that sounded completely unreasonable for anyone. She completely forgot about how her friends Jetta and Thabian, both Werewolves, treated her the first time they met her.

"Um..." Brianna hemmed and gnawed at her bottom lip.

"Well?" Britanny pressured.

"...I can't say..." Brianna answered. Genn was quiet throughout all this, it was something Brianna had to tell on her own.

"Well then, looks like we'll need to do this the hard way then..." Britanny said as she cracked her knuckles...

"The hard way? What hard-" Brianna's eyes went wide. "Oh no! you don't mean-"

"TICKLE ATTACK!" Britanny yelled and tackled her sister, going straight for the armpits. It was the same spot Gina was ticklish and she KNEW it carried over to Brianna.

"WAGH! BWAHAHAHAHA! STTOOOOPP!" Brianna cried out as she laughed and giggled, thrashing around on the carpet as her sister tickled her over and over.

"C'mon, Bri! Spill the beans!" Britanny said, her tail having wrapped around Brianna's wrists above her head so her armpits were completely defenseless to her speedy fingers.

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OKAY! OKAY! JUST STOOOP!" She cried out in laughter, tears coming down her eyes.

"Okay, then what is it?" She asked, smirking as Brianna caught her breath. It was easy to be victorious over her sister when she held her like this. And then for measure she gave another tickle. "C'mon, Bri... You KNOW you wanna tell me..." Britanny said as she straddled her younger sister so she couldn't get away after she stopped tickling.

Panting slightly, Brianna gulped and looked at Genn for any help the Raksasha could give her. Seeing Genn shake her head, she mentally frowned. 'Thanks a lot, Genn.' She thought to herself. "Well... Can't you just trust me that she's evil?"

"...She looked like she was shouting a little in there, but I wouldn't call her evil," Britanny answered as she looked down at Brianna. "Why do you say she's evil?"

"Because she wants to kill you and Gina?" Brianna ventured.

Britanny blinked her eyes. "Why would she want to do that if I've never met her?" Britanny's hand went to the zipper of Brianna's one-piece, letting the Lycanthropoid's breasts spill out of her suit, thankfully, she was wearing a bra, bringing the fly open down to her belly-button. "Tell me, or I'm going to start tickling your armpits directly," The werecheetah threatened as her hands move past the sides of Brianna's black silk bra-cladden breasts.

Brianna's eyes widened at that. "You wouldn't dare..." This would normally be slightly embarrassing, thankfully, they were all girls and Brianna wasn't bothered by normal modesty standards.

Smirking, Britanny stuck her index fingers directly against Bri's armpits. "Commencing tickle in ten... Nine... Eight... Sev-"

Brianna gasped. "Okay, okay! I'll talk!" She protested.

Britanny nodded her head, but kept her hands where they were. "Okay. So please, tell me straight what you know, and no beating around the bush..."

Taking a deep breath, the Lycanthropoid nodded. "She... She's me..." She said, hoping against all hope that Britanny wouldn't tickle her again.

And Britanny didn't. The seriousness with which she had answered was more than enough to convince the werecheetah she had meant that. "She's... You? How?"

"Well..." Brianna said slowly. She then explained how things went down on Jade that caused her and Grave Digger to seperate and fight, nearly destroying Seer's Hamlet in the process.

"And she disappeared for a long while there..."

Britanny nodded her head slowly to that. "There's only one thing to do..."

"That is?" Brianna asked slowly.

"You're right in that we all can't just go. I'll spook her and cause more problems than help..." Britanny admitted. "We WILL be telling Muffin though. He might be the one person that could help us talk to her without Grave freaking out... So it'll be you, me, Genn, and Muffin searching. Four of us. No more, no less, and hopefully..." Britanny sighed. "We can help her realize she's not an enemy... But our sister."

"Okay... Brit?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get off of me? You're heavy."

Britanny chuckled. "Sure, I'll-"

"I'm home!" Stryyp said as he walked into the living room. "Oh, what a day, it's..." Stryyp blinked his eyes and saw the position his wife and sister-in-law were in. "BRITANNY!?"

Blinking her eyes, Britanny looked back and forth between her husband and what she was doing. "IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK!!!"

Genn giggled. This was almost too funny.

Stryyp's eye twitched a little. "I... I hope it's not..."

Brianna chuckled lightly. "She was just tickling me to death... And trying to crush me under her big butt."

"Hey!" Britanny shouted, tail going straight up. "My butt is not big!"

"I sure thought baby got back..." Genn muttered under her breath.

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Britanny shouted, hair standing on end.

"Nothing!" Genn was quick to answer.

"Uh, ladies?" Stryyp spoke up nervously. "Would someone tell me what's going on here?"

Getting off of her sister, Britanny gave a bit of a glare to Genn before turning to her husband. "Sorry, Muffin, but, would you mind going with me, Genn and Brianna to Japan for a few days?" Behind her, Brianna had stood up and was zipping up her body-suit.

"Japan?" The Kryn asked with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't the first time that he had travelled around the world in some sort of expedition with his family. "Sure. What's the occasion though?" He half-expected it was some sort of present for Gina. She was big on collecting various comics and animation. He wouldn't have known if he hadn't stumbled across Gina's secret stash of various American and Japanese comics.

"Well, would you believe that we discovered something and need to check it out right away?!" Britanny quickly explained. Now, how were they supposed to get to Japan? She didn't know if Ace was around at the moment. At least he could keep a secret relatively safe.

"I could..." He said slowly, raising an eyebrow. "But you still haven't told me what it was about."

A few minutes later of long, complex and weird explanations later...

"So, you're saying that there's a Werecheetah in Japan that's actually you, Brianna?" Stryyp raised an eyebrow and looked at the Lycanthropoid in question. Seeing her nod, he sighed and closed his eyes, thinking about what he had heard.

Britanny watched him for several minutes as he thought about what he had heard. "Muffin?" She asked, slightly worried. She just hoped that he wouldn't go and tell Gina or her parents about this. It may have been a good idea, but they didn't need Brianna's other half to go crazy if they all showed up at the same time. What was she thinking? That was the absolute last thing that they needed to happen. Even if her dad could, and she knew it was possible, subdue Grave Digger, if any of that Werecheetah's attacks that she most likely would have used hit anyone, well... Her brain didn't want to go into that.

Sighing, the large Tiger-looking Kryn shook his head and looked at his wife. "To be honest, I feel as if it would be better if we told Gina or Dr. Diggers about this." He held up his hand when it looked like they were about to protest. "It's what I would normally say. However, I agree with your sentiment. The less that show up the better." Seeing everyone relax, he smiled. "However, if you see this girl,"

"Grave Digger." Brianna interrupted.

"Yes, Grave Digger, try not to upset her and cause a scene." He sighed, shaking his head. "Just try to not spook her if she sees you."

"I think she'll be afraid of anyone she sees." Genn spoke up, causing the other three to look at her. "The last memories she has of us aren't pleasant. I caused her to blow up and attack Seer's Hamlet, Brianna was taunting her and fighting and we all know that she doesn't like Britanny." She looked at Stryyp seriously. "To be honest. If you're able to talk to her first, she may be a bit more responsive than to anyone else." Genn had an ulterior motive, that was sure. She figured that the Werecheetah in question would still harbor some feelings for the Kryn in the room. At least, that's what she hoped. Britanny would probably hate her for doing this, but it was better than having an unstable Werecheetah that wanted to kill them all off.

"I'll call to see if Ace is around." Brianna said as she left the room. Gods, she hoped he was. Last thing they needed was to ask their dad about a scroll to Japan.

The others nodded and left to get ready for a trip to Japan. Their minds were all in different directions as they went to get packed for their trip to Japan.

Preview of the next chapter:

"Hey! That was fun!"

"For you maybe..."

"Oh, quiet, Bri, you know it wasn't that bad."

"Well, what happens next?"

"We get Ace and manage to drag him away from Penny for a little bit and get to Japan!"