Insertion 

 Part 56

 The Mistake.

++++++++++++++

 Ranma Saotome looked at the boy who had come into his home and claimed
to be him. "Who the heck are you?" he snapped angrily. 

 "You can call me...Carrot to avoid confusion," said the boy calmly.
"Even though my name is really Ranma Saotome as well."

 "Boy! You'd better have an explanation for this!" said Genma as he
looked at them.

 "Right son!" agreed Soun. "What is the meaning of this?"

 Carrot looked at them and frowned for a moment. "Well, for starters,
when the hell am I?"

 Everyone who had gathered around blinked and looked at him for a moment.
Shampoo and Mousse were sitting next to Ranma, while Akane and her
sisters were opposite them. Ryoga had gotten lost on the way to the
living room, and Soun and Genma had their places around the shogi board a
short distance away. Tatewaki Kuno still had his head stuck in the wall,
and was therefore unaware of what was going on. Ukyo just looked confused
as she sat between the two Ranmas.

 "So, you're like...from the future?" asked Nabiki as she looked him up
and down. "You don't look that old."

 "I don't age much anymore," he replied with a shrug. "And I am from the
future, but I don't think I'm from your future."

 "What's that supposed to mean?" asked Akane as she glared at him
hatefully.

 "Well. Where I come from, we were never really engaged," said Carrot
with a shrug. "It seems that you are engaged to him here."

 "Oh," said the girl in confusion. "Not engaged?"

 "Yes. We agreed that neither one of us was to be engaged to the other
after our father's tried to shove it on us. Instead, we just became good
friends. I stayed with your family for a while, and eventually went on my
way." He got uncomfortable as he said that last part for a moment.

 "What!? You didn't marry my Akane? Ranma!!!" Soun created his giant
demon head and loomed over the two pigtailed martial artist.

 "I'm not from your future," replied Carrot as he poked the demon head
with a needle and deflated it. "What I did, doesn't apply to him."

 "Oh," said Soun dumbly.

 "My son! How could you! My own son! Why didn't you marry Akane like you
were supposed to!? Your mother will be so disappointed boy!"

 "Actually, mother approved," replied Carrot calmly as he looked at the
fat panda man for a moment. "Oh, and I should also mention that you're
not my father. My father died about fifteen years ago."

 "What?! Boy! You'd better show proper respect!" snapped Genma.

 "I'm thirty six years old," snorted Carrot. "I'll speak to you however I
want."

 "Thirty-six?!" said everyone who was sitting around him in shock.

 "That's right," said Carrot calmly.

 "Well, technically. I died once, and was reborn...so I'm not sure if I
have to start counting again or not."

 "How old would you be if you did?" asked Nabiki.

 "About two months?" he said with an uncertain look on his face.

 "This is crazy!" cried Ranma.

 "Yeah. About as crazy as a martial artist who turns into a girl, who's
arch rivals are a pig and a duck, and has an amazing phobia with cats."

 Ranma sat down and looked at his doppelganger. "Oh. Right."

 Akane humphed and crossed her arms. "I don't believe it!"

 "So?" asked Carrot. "That doesn't make it not true."

 She glared at him for a moment.

 "Don't look at me that way. You attacked me. I'm not engaged to you, and
have no obligation to protect, or otherwise take such abuse from you." He
narrowed his eyes at her as she got a shocked look on your face.

 "You deserved it!" she snapped.

 "Who are you to tell me what I deserve?" he said calmly. "Little girl, I
could have seriously hurt you. I am not the nice boy you see sitting next
to you who care too much about you to hurt you. I can, and will, hurt you
if you attack me again."

 Ranma stared at him in shock. "What kind of guy are you?"

 "A guy who cares enough about himself not to take abuse from anyone.
Akane is a martial artist, chances are I'm not going to break her if I
have to defend myself. Frankly, it disgusts me to see you letting anyone
treat you that way. I've only been here a few minutes, and you've allowed
her to hit you at least six times."

 "Allowed!?" cried Akane in disbelief as she stood up and stared at the
newcomer.

 "You've seen him fight. You tell me. You don't really think you're that
good do you?" Carrot chuckled to himself as he looked up at her calmly
and smirked.

 "I'm the best martial artist in..."

 "You're the best martial artist in your own mind," said Carrot as he cut
in and waved her off. "Any one of these girls can beat you. You're just
to stubborn and proud to see it."

 Akane slammed her fist on the table. "I'll show you!"

 "Go ahead. Beat them up. I'll enjoy watching them thrash you. The only
reason they haven't, is because they're either afraid of what he might
think, or what he might do if they hurt you." Carrot pointed at Ranma as
he said this and smiled.

 "Now see here!" snapped Soun as he stood up with a flustered look on his
face.

 "You know I haven't lied Tendo," replied Carrot calmly.

 "That isn't very nice," muttered Kasumi.

 "Insulting my daughter that way is..." started Soun.

 "Show some respect boy!" snapped Genma.

 "Insulting? I haven't said anything that isn't true to her! You old
farts are just upset because I've made the little brat angry! Now she'll
throw a temper tantrum and try to hit me again!" Carrot turned his head
to see Akane starting to glow.

 Ranma blinked as she turned to look at him. "How could you?"

 Carrot's jaw dropped as she raised her fist. "This won't do at all."

 Akane's strike was blocked and she found herself shoved headfirst into
the table as Carrot vanished from his seat and pinned her down by locking
her arm behind her back.

 "Don't you dare start blaming him for me you little brat!" snapped
Carrot angrily.

 "What the!?" gasped Ranma in shock as he staggered back away from them.
His face became angry suddenly. "What the heck are you doing?"

 "I don't care if you can take it Ranma. I won't accept someone else
being blamed for my actions," said Carrot as he smirked at him.

 The boy frowned at this, but actually nodded his head. "Let her go.
Right now."

 Carrot snorted. "Only after she calms down a bit. I'm not hurting her."

 Ranma's frown deepened and he looked down to see Akane still struggling
against the boy's iron grip.

 "Treating your own fiancee so! Saotome! I won't forgive you!" cried
Mousse as he stood up and pointed at him.

 "Amazon or not, it's none of your business," said Carrot.

 "Ranchan...he's right," said Ukyo as she looked down at Akane for a
moment.

 "Spatula girl right," agreed Shampoo. "Violent girl too too violent.
Need calm down first." 

 "What? Traitors!" gasped Akane.

 "Let her go," insisted Ranma.

 "You know what I'll do if she attacks me," said Carrot as he narrowed
his eyes at the boy.

 Ranma merely nodded. "You'll try, but I'll stop you."

 Carrot chuckled and released the girl's arm. She immediately whirled
around to deck him, but her arm met another immovable force. This time,
it was Ranma who caught her fist in front of Carrot's face. 

 Akane looked at her fiancee in shock. He simply shook his head at her
silently.

 Carrot was simply standing calmly with a smile on his face, as if
nothing was happening.

 "What do you want here?" asked Ranma as he looked at the boy.

 "Not much. I'm here by accident actually. Someone should be coming to
pick me up, but that could take weeks, or even months." He smiled
cheerfully and looked towards Soun. "Has he learned the Mokou
Takabishia?"

 The man nodded at him slowly.

 "Herb?"

 "I have some spices in the kitchen," said Kasumi in confusion.

 Carrot looked around and smiled as he realized everyone was a little
confused. "No. Never mind."

 "I guess I should prepare another futon," said Kasumi with a small sigh.

 Carrot smirked and looked at Soun. He walked over to him and reached
into his pocket. "Here. This should cover any expenses I'll be putting
you out on." He handed the man a large wad of yen bills. In fact, it was
a very large wad, of high mark bills.

 "Err...thank you son..." muttered Soun in shock.

 "Boy! Where did you get all that money!?" cried Genma as he grabbed his
son by the collar.

 "How would he know?" asked Carrot as he turned towards them.

 "I ain't got no money!" snapped Ranma.

 Carrot noticed that Nabiki had suddenly become very still, and was
eyeing the cash in her father's hands almost lustfully. 

 The two amazons, and Ukyo had been amazingly silent during this whole
meeting. They actually seemed pretty satisfied with themselves,
especially considering that someone had finally told that Tendo girl off.
Even Mousse had sat quietly while the new Ranma, who called himself
'Carrot', berated her rather harshly.

 Mousse stood up and growled at Carrot. "Saotome."

 "What's your problem? I'm not engaged to Shampoo," said Carrot as he
narrowed his eyes at the boy.

 "What?" muttered Mousse.

 "I said I'm not engaged to Shampoo," repeated Carrot calmly.

 "So! You're rejecting my Shampoo?!" cried the boy angrily.

 "No. Listen. I am not, engaged to Shampoo. The law don't come into it,
since I never defeated her. Get it?" 

 The boy blinked at this. "You never defeated my Shampoo?"

 "No. He did, I didn't," said Carrot calmly. "Get it?"

 "I...I think so..." said Mousse with a confused frown.

 "Look. It's not that hard. Ranma beat Shampoo, and is her Airen. Carrot,
who is me, didn't defeat her, and is not Shampoo's Airen. Get it?"

 "He isn't Shampoo's Airen! Mousse is Shampoo's Airen!" snapped the boy.

 "Whatever. My point is, that I don't enter into it," said Carrot as he
poked the boy in his chest and put his arm across his shoulders. "Get
it?"

 "So...you're renouncing your claim on Shampoo?" said Mousse in
confusion.

 Carrot sighed, Shampoo hit the boy over his head with a bonbori, and
Ranma kicked him in his face. "Stupid Mousse!" 

 "What? You can't expect me to stand here while this louse dumps you!"
cried the Chinese boy angrily.

 "I can't dump her, because I've never gone out with her," said Carrot in
frustration. "Get it? I am not Ranma Saotome! I never defeated her! I am
not engaged to her by your stupid laws!"

 "Laws not stupid!" cried Shampoo.

 "Yes they are!" snapped Carrot.

 "How dare you!?" snapped Mousse.

 Carrot promptly decked him, which knocked him out cold. "Idiot!"

 "Not even Shampoo knock out Mousse so fast!" gasped the Amazon girl as
she looked down at him. "Other Ranma strong!"

 "Don't even think it!" snapped Carrot as he pointed at her in warning.

 "What is talking?" said the girl innocently.

 "Don't get no funny ideas about replacing your Airen!" snapped Carrot. 

 "Hey!" cried Ranma.

 "It's okay Ranchan! If she starts chasing him, you and I can finally be
together!" said Ukyo.

 "You stay out of this!" snapped Carrot as he shifted his attention to
her. "I am not going to go through this whole fiancee mess again! I
solved it once, and I'm not doing it again!"

 Ranma's eyes went wide as he looked at the newcomer. "You...solved it?"

 Carrot looked at him for a moment and shrugged. "I think the whole
Armageddon thing had a lot to do with it."

 "Armageddon?" cried Soun in shock.

 "What? Did you think anything less would solve this?" said Carrot as he
turned towards the man. "You've got a real mess here Mr. Tendo."

 "Ranma Saotome! How dare you ram the Mighty Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High's head through a wall that way!?"
 
 Carrot looked at the boy and blinked. "Oh. Hi."

 "Have you nothing to say?" snapped Kuno.

 "Um, Akane Tendo is upstairs getting dressed as we speak. No doubt she
wants her true love to praise her naked form, thus eliminating her shy
demure feelings of shame. That would no doubt allow her to finally come
into her true love's embrace!"

 Nabiki spit her drink out across the table and looked up at the boy
standing over her in shock. 

 "Ah! I shall vanquish you at a later date then! For your words, though
laced with evil intent, ring true!" Kuno dashed off.

 "What did you just do?" muttered Ranma.

 "Sent Kuno to peep on Akane," said Carrot with a shrug. "She'll beat him
up, and then she'll feel better."

 "What!? I've got to stop him!" cried Ranma.

 "Why? We all know Akane can take Kuno," said Carrot with a small snort.

 "Boy! Go defend your fiancee's honor!" said Genma as he tried to shove
Carrot out the door.

 "I'm not your son!" snapped Carrot as he hefted the man into the air and
threw him into the koi pond. The panda sat up and glared at him for a
moment.

 "Ingrate!" said the animal's sign.

 "Yeah? Well you don't deserve a good son you fat slob!" snapped Carrot.

 "Boy! Show some respect to your father!" signed Genma as he jumped at
him in a flying kick.

 Carrot snorted and dodged easily. "Oh! Want to play do you?"

 "I'll teach you to respect your elders boy!" said the panda's sign.

 "Fat chance loser! You're not that much older than I am!" replied Carrot
as he leapt up to meet the animal in the air.

 The exchange was fast, Carrot pushed through the animal's defenses
easily. Genma was thrown onto the ground rather roughly by a kick. 

Hopping up to his feet, he stared at the descending form of his son and
scowled. "When did the boy get so good?"

 "You ready Pop?" said Carrot with a wicked gleam in his eyes. He knew
Genma couldn't counter this, and no one knew that he didn't know though.

 "Any time boy!" replied the animal with a sign.

 "Kamehameha!" cried Ranma as he sent a beam of power at his father.

 Everyone watching the battle suddenly froze in place. Their jaws hanging
down as they watched the pigtailed boy blast his father through the
outside wall and into the street.

 Carrot frowned as he held his hand over his face and watched the panda
sail away. "Man. He's worse than I thought."

 "How?" said Ranma in awe. 

 Carrot turned and smiled at him for a moment. "Well, that was easier
than I remember it being. Too bad I'd forgot he can't do that."

 "Boy! That was...amazing!" muttered Soun.

 "Not so impressive," replied Carrot with a small shrug.

 Ranma grabbed him by his shoulders. "You've got to show me how to do
that!"

 Carrot sighed and shoved his arms away. "No."

 "What?" said the pigtailed boy in shock.

 "You'll learn it when you're supposed to learn it," replied Carrot. "I
didn't come here to teach you anything, or help you in any way. You're
going to do this stuff on your own."

 Ranma worked his mouth like a fish. "But..."

 "But nothing! Learn it yourself if you want it so bad," snapped Carrot
as he turned away from the boy.

 "Ranchan. You can do it!" said Ukyo as she pat him on the shoulder.

 "I will learn it!" said Ranma as a determined burning started in his
eyes.

 "PERVERT!" screamed a familiar voice above them. 

 Tatewaki Kuno sailed through the air overhead, a look of complete
euphoric joy on his face. "Akane! How your body tells me that your true
love is indeed myself!" he called as he faded away into the sky.

 "Told you," said Carrot as he turned towards Ranma again.

 Nabiki narrowed her eyes at the new boy and frowned. She said nothing
though, and began to plot.

++++++++

 "What did you say child?" asked Cologne as she hopped over to her great
granddaughter. They were all standing in the middle of the Cat Cafe, and
Mousse was scrubbing tabletops.

 "Shampoo say is another Ranma," replied the girl calmly. "He say, from
future, but different future than this one."

 "Most unusual," said the old woman as she peered at her. "Do you believe
him to be honest?"

 "Shampoo not see lie," replied the girl with a shrug. 

 Cologne nodded at that. It wasn't saying much, but she didn't expect
Shampoo to have the experience to know any better. "I'll have to go see
this boy for myself."

 "Shampoo think that good idea," squealed the girl happily as she bounced
off to take care of a customer who had just walked in. "Aiya! Is Airen!"

++++++++++ 

 Carrot sighed as they walked through the streets of Nerima. "So. Those
idiots stuck us in the wrong universe."

 "What?" said Ranma dumbly.

 "We're in the wrong place?" asked Xianfu.

 "Yup," commented Dan. "Seems we're in that comic we told you about
Ranma. Everything is going the way that story goes here."

 "Could be amusing," said Carrot.

 "You mean..." said Ranma.

 "If we hadn't shown up, this would have been your life," said Carrot
with a cheerful nod.

 "What are you idiots talking about?" asked Xianfu.

 "Well, where we come from, Ranma's life is a comic book," said Carrot
cheerfully. "Me and Dan have both read it."

 "What about whiny boy?" she asked irritably.

 "I came along later," said Pissant with a slightly annoyed tone.

 "So what do we do?" asked Ranma in confusion.

 "Sit back and enjoy the show, while causing as little disturbance as
possible," replied Carrot cheerfully. "Sooner or later they'll correct
the mistake. After all, we all want to fix the past, but there's no
hurry. It's not like the past is going anywhere."

 "I think after a week Ranma'll appreciate us a little more," commented
Dan.

 "Yeah. Especially after he sees how much his life would have sucked
without us," said Carrot cheerfully.

 "You mean...my life sucks more without you?!" cried Ranma in horror.

 Carrot paused. "Well, yeah. I'll bet even being sent to hell is better
than being engaged to this Akane."

 "Wouldn't have been upset if it was our old friend, but this chick is a
brat," said Dan in agreement.

 "Spoiled rotten little ingrate she is," agreed Carrot.

 "Right," snorted Xianfu.

 There was a sound from their belly, and all the men spoke at once. "I'm
hungry."

 "Cat Cafe," said Xianfu as she looked up at a sign they were near.

 "Hey! That's the Amazon place! They make a great bowl of ramen!" said
Dan.

 "Yeah. Ucchan's is nearby, but I feel like Chinese," said Carrot as they
shifted into their female form and he rubbed his hands along his body.

 "Oh, you're a real riot," snapped Xianfu as she changed them back into a
man again.

 "We can still do that?" muttered Ranma as he looked down at their body. 

 "Apparently," said Carrot with a shrug. 

 They walked into the restaurant and were greeted by Shampoo.

++++++++++++

 "So. Shampoo tells me you're from the future?" asked Cologne.

 "Um. A future, not the future," said Carrot calmly as he looked back at
her. 

 "A future?" asked Cologne.

 "I'm from an alternate universe. The past here is different from the
past there," he said cheerfully. 

 "Oh? To think that such things actually exist!" said the old woman
cheerfully.

 "Yeah. Neat ain't it?" said Carrot. He frowned a little as the voices in
his head argued about what to order.

 "I suppose it is," agreed Cologne. "What brings you here? Are you going
to date my Shampoo?"

 "Huh? No. I was hungry, and this place was close," he replied with a
small shrug.

 "Well, perhaps I can let you eat for free, if you were to take my
Shampoo on a date."

 Carrot blinked and looked up to see her smiling at him. "Um. I'm not
engaged to Shampoo. I never defeated her. You've got the wrong Ranma."

 "It doesn't matter to me. All that she is required to do, is bring home
Ranma Saotome. Either one of you is fine." 

 Carrot smirked at this. "I'm afraid I wouldn't adjust to amazon life
well."

 "Oh?" said Cologne.

 "I don't take well to other people giving me orders. Woman or
otherwise," he said with a shrug. "I'd probably kill anyone who tried to
make a slave out of me. Come to think of it, Ranma probably isn't suited
very well for the tribe either, but I'm sure you already realized that."
he smiled at her cheerfully.

 Cologne blinked and hopped back from him. "My, but you are perceptive."

 "Thought so. You're hanging around for the entertainment value too
aren't you?" he said with a smirk on his face. "You'd never really let
Shampoo take him back to China."

 Cologne sat down across from him and her eyes twinkled with a sort of
glee. "Why is that?"

 "Even if he fell in love with her, the other women would have trouble
controlling him. They wouldn't take his nature very well, and he'd either
kill, or be killed. Probably the former, although I'm betting you're
thinking it'll be the latter."

 Cologne arched her eyebrow at this. "Interesting."

 "What do you think old woman?" said Carrot calmly.

 "I want to know why you think he'd kill rather than die. I've been
watching him for some time now. He seems unable to do anything to harm
the girls, no matter how much they abuse him."

 "Because I know exactly what it takes to get Ranma Saotome to kill,"
said Carrot cheerfully as he smirked at her. His eyes spoke of something
else. A darkness that Cologne knew was truth.

 "I see," she said with a small frown on her face. Her actions suddenly
became much more cautious.

 "He's actually enjoying himself for the most part. The adventures, the
excitement, the attention of all those girls. Having been with his father
so long alone, and suddenly becoming the center of the world around him?
He's having a ball."

 "Of course, that would all change in Joketzuko," said Cologne with a
small sigh.

 "Right. I can see you've thought this through," said Carrot cheerfully.

 "May I ask?" said Cologne.

 "First time? I suppose the first person I ever managed to kill would
have been that fire elemental named Takibi. Although, I understand I
almost killed Setsuna."

 "These names aren't familiar," said Cologne carefully.

 "I don't think they exist here," replied the boy with a shrug.

 "I see," said Cologne.

 "Well, he looked human at first anyway," said Carrot with a thoughtful
frown. "I don't know if I'd call him a man really."

 Cologne seemed to relax a bit.

 The first human I killed would have been...um...Tatewaki Kuno I believe.
Well, there was that planet I blew up, but that was a little impersonal.
I actually tortured and killed Kuno, with a little help from Akane of
course.

 Cologne gasped as she looked at the boy for a moment. "Tatewaki Kuno?
You say you killed him?"

 "Well, it was after he'd raped my friend Akane. I got him started, and
then let her finish him off. I think it was very therapeutic," he grinned
at her cheerfully.

 "I had no idea that boy had such a horrible thing in him," said Cologne
as she turned away from Carrot.

 "I don't know that this one does. My Kuno got his hands on a mystical
mask. It sort of warped his mind a bit more than normal."

 Cologne relaxed a great deal as she heard this. "That is a relief."

 "Yeah. I guess so," said Carrot with a small shrug. "How's the pork
Ramen?"

 Cologne blinked at this and looked at him. "It's one of the top
sellers."

 "Great! I'll take one of those then," said the boy as he smirked at her.

 Cologne hopped away from the disturbing conversation rather quickly. "I
would be wise to keep an eye on this one." Anyone who could talk about
death the way he was speaking of it, and so casually... They were someone
to be watched closely. The thing that bothered her the most though, was
the fact that she could see no lies in his eyes, only complete honesty.
The deep blackness of a killer's soul was all she could make out in his
eyes.

 Carrot cheerfully ate his Ramen, paid, and then left the store.

++++++++++++++

 "Well, now what?" the pigtailed boy asked himself.

 "Woo hoo! What a haul!" cried a familiar voice from down the street.

 "Hey. It's that old guy!" gasped Ranma.

 "That's right, Akane didn't kill him in this world," said Carrot
cheerfully.

 Happosai bounced towards them, an angry mob of women just behind him. 

 Carrot smiled and began to bounce along the ground beside the man,
keeping up with him easily. "Hiya old man! How ya doin?"

 "Ranma my boy! What timing! Here, help me carry these back to the
house!" He tried to shove the bag into the pigtailed boy's hands, in
order to slow him down and force him into the crowd of women.

 "No thanks." Carrot dodged easily, jumping over to the old man's
opposite side. "If you want to steal them, I'm afraid you'll have to do
it yourself."

 Happosai scowled at him for a moment and dashed across a field that had
appeared off to their right. The sprinkler systems cut on and he dodged
and weaved through the spray, landing on the other side bone dry. He
turned to see Ranma doing exactly the same thing. Dodging the water with
ease. The women stopped though, not willing to pursue him through the
gauntlet of water.

 "Well, seems you've escaped them old man," said Carrot cheerfully.

 "Yes...yes...so it...seems..." said Happosai in confusion. "Since when
is this whelp that good?" his mind screamed.

 "Well, are you on your way back to the dojo? Or are you just going to
steal some more panties?"

 Happosai scooped up a glass of water, from a cup he'd pulled out of
nowhere. He splashed the boy in front of him with it. "Why did you do
that?" asked Carrot.

 "Why don't you carry me back to the dojo like this Ranma-chan?" said the
old man as he nuzzled his...chest?

 "Well, okay...but..." Ranma was smiling at him. 

 Happosai blinked and looked up to see the male Ranma smiling at him.
"Wha? What have you done to my beautiful Ranma-chan?!"

 "She's probably at the dojo, with her fiancee Akane," said Carrot with a
shrug.

 Happosai blinked. "Ranma-chan and Akane?"

 Carrot shrugged his shoulders. "Go figure."

 "I knew it!" cried Happosai with a look of complete joy on his face.

 Carrot smiled at him as he dashed away. He started walking back towards
the dojo. A large group of women met him in the street. "There he is!
That's the guy who was helping the little pervert!"

 "Helping him?" said Carrot in irritation. "I most certainly was not!"

 "Oh yeah! What where you doing then?" screamed one of the women in the
front.

 "I didn't try to stop him either," said Carrot with a shrug. "What that
old man does is none of my business. It's between you and him. Leave me
the hell out of it."

 "Pig!" snapped one of the women as she started to move forward.

 The boy glared at her coldly and his aura flared to life around him.
"Apparently you've mistaken me for that soft hearted Ranma Saotome. I
don't take well to mobs of angry people attacking me."

 The women backed away slowly, but still looked slightly offensive.

 "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear ladies," said Ranma as he formed a
ball of power in his hands and blasted a hole in the street. "Back off.
I'm too much for you to handle."

 The women promptly dispersed, quickly moving in the opposite direction.
Carrot smirked to himself and started back towards the dojo.

+++++++++++

 "Pervert! Dry up and die!" screamed Akane as Happosai sailed through the
air over the dojo.

 Carrot smiled at her as she stomped by him. Ranma was looking beaten as
well, and was in her female form on the ground. "Uncute tomboy!" she
muttered. 

 "What happened to you?" asked Carrot with a scowl forming on her face.

 "That old freak got some weird idea that I was some kinda thespian. Then
Akane got all angry and hit me and the old freak."

 Carrot growled under his breath and stood the girl up again, dusting her
off. "You know. She only does this because you let her get away with it."

 "What can I do?" muttered Ranma as she looked away from him.

 "Defend yourself," said Carrot calmly. "One of these days, she's going
to hurt somebody Ranma. How are you going to protect her from that?"

 "Akane wouldn't..." muttered the redhead defensively.

 "She already has," said Carrot with a smirk forming on his face. 

 Ranma looked down at herself. "This ain't nuthin."

 "To you maybe, but what if the next time...it isn't you?" 

 Ranma turned away. "Look. I know Akane wouldn't..."

 "Well. Let me ask you this then. What kind of man, allows his fiancee,
or any girl for that matter, to beat him on a regular basis?"

 "You sayin I ain't manly?"

 "I asked a question, and you just answered it," said Carrot calmly.

 Ranma's jaw hung down as he looked at the boy in front of him.
"I...that's not fair!"

 "Life seldom is," replied Carrot cheerfully as he turned away and walked
down the stairs. 

 Nabiki's face darkened considerably as she watched the boy sit down at
the table from where she was watching TV. He was getting dangerous.
Putting strange ideas inside Ranma's head, he could very well be
dangerous to them. Or worse yet, he could actually help them get
together. She didn't want that, at least not yet anyway.

 He glanced over to her and smiled. "Don't think I don't see you over
there plotting against me Nabiki. Whatever you're planning, it won't
work."

 She narrowed her eyes at this and scowled deeper. "Damn. Well, we'll see
about that!"

 Carrot paused suddenly as he felt something unusual. "Wow. That's a big
power! Still pretty far away though. I wonder who it is?" He looked out
towards the East and narrowed his eyes. "Hmmm."

++++++++++++

 "School my ass! I'm almost as old as you are!" snapped Carrot as he
tossed the book bag to the ground and crossed his arms.

 Soun blinked. "Well, Nabiki seems to think that..."

 "Nabiki can kiss my rosy red..."

 "Ahem," said the girl in question as she stood at the bottom of the
stairs and glared at him.

 "Thought you could get me to go to school with you? So you could get me
in your little playing field and plot your revenge did you?" said Carrot
as he smiled at her. "Fine. I'll see you there!"

 Nabiki scowled at him and turned towards the door.

 "So, you're going to school?" asked Genma.

 Carrot smirked and snapped his fingers. "I've got just the thing!" A
laptop computer appeared from his shirt and he opened it while cracking
his knuckles. "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!"

 Genma frowned at the boy. "Where did you get that? I won't stand for my
son being a computer geek! Boy! I'll...!" He stupidly attempted to smash
the offending object, and was promptly blasted away by a white ball of
chi energy that landed him in the koi pond again. 

 "Leeme alone! I'm plotting against her!" said Carrot as he looked up at
Genma with a frown on his face. 

 "So. You're doing what exactly?" said Soun.

 "Creating a new identity to go to school with," said Carrot cheerfully.
"Shouldn't take more than a minute or two. Especially with the Mercury
computer here." 

 "Oh. Right," mumbled Soun.

+++++++++++

 Ranma cackled evilly to himself as he typed. 

 "What should we do?" asked Dan.

 "I dunno. It kinda seems like a good idea," said Xianfu.

 "You don't know Nabiki like we do," grumbled Dan.

 "Heck no!" cried Ranma as he read what was being typed up.

 "Shut up! You'll understand soon enough! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAA!"
responded Carrot. He quickly went back to work.

 "Will you quit telling people how old we really are!" snapped Xianfu as
she forced him to lower the age a bit.

 "No!" snapped Carrot as he brought it back up. "Trust me!"

 "Fine," snorted the woman in disgust.

 Carrot laughed in triumph as he sent the information. "Well, that's
that! We now have an identity! Soon, soon we'll have our revenge!"

 "Revenge for what?" asked Ranma.

 "No one has done anything to us yet, Carrot," said Dan.

 "Damn it! You ruined my dramatic moment!" snapped the voice in retort.

 "Yeah. Whatever. Can we just go now?" asked Ranma.

 "Just a minute. I've got to print this stuff out for our records," said
Carrot cheerfully.

 They all sat and looked down at the Mercury printer as it slowly spat
out the paper. 

 "Damn! Unlimited technology in the universe, and they still can't make a
printer that's worth a damn!" cursed Carrot.

 "How long we got anyway?" asked Ranma.

 "An hour," replied Carrot. "Plenty of time."

+++++++++++

 TBC...
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