Ginrai wrote:

And now onto WEST...

He wasn't lost -- never as he had been.

Ryouga.  Unless you're trying to surprise us...

  Now, but now that I think about it, that would have been the ideal lead in for another character -- keeping people on their toes, and whatnot.

Oddly, he still had no real sense of being _lost_... just not
knowing where he was.

And he had one thing to say: "Ranma, this is all your fault!"

  Heh.

He wasn't certain how such a thing could be... so it must have been
a dream.

So this is when he starts losing his powers?

  Yes, though it's somewhat vague.

Three sisters surrounded him, each in turn shifting to the last,
boggling him.

Sounds like the characters from UC.

  The Fates make an appearance there, though only the Lord of the Roads adresses them that way. Ranma calls them the Wierd Sisters.

  He's not exactly wrong, either.

But beyond that, he knew who they were.

Man: Three incredibly ugly ladi... did I just say that out loud?

(As an answer, he got hit by three bolts of divine justice)

  Nah, one's old, one's young, and one's middle aged. Normally. They aren't always beautiful, though.

The eldest spoke first. "We simply need you to make a choice, poppet."

And thus we know she's a higher being with the way she said 'puppet'
^_^

  Was using the old English word, actually. Probably shouldn't have been, though. :p

The grass was always greener.

Unless it's covered with snow.

  Technically, it's green under there, though.

Not that he'd allow himself to believe that, anymore. It wasn't
really greener. Empty promises. The only real things in the world were
those that you crafted with your own hands. Real things.

What caused Ryouga to stop believing in his attacks?  Did this also
include the Breaking Point?

  Well, he never used them in the course of a 'normal' life. Without practice, he was introduced to doubt. The possibility that they were never as real as he imagined them. With that, they actually became less real. In theory. In reality, he just shunned the gift he could have gotten -- he could have been one of the pillars.

Not the flimsy ethereal stuff of dreams.

Ryouga's transition from a Neriman martial artist to a 'normal' one.

Did Akari have any sort of power that she (I'm assuming) lost?

  Nope. She's always pretty much been normal. Like everyone, she had potential, but was never as close as Ryouga to achieving it. Heck, technically Ryouga _was_ Fey for a time, but it didn't last, because he stopped believing.

[Beacon]

Ryouga: Hey!
Ranma: He said 'b_e_acon', not 'bacon'.

  Which is also one of the translations of Akari's name.

He shook his head, turning his attention back to the road, and the
call that drew him onward.

Seems to also have gotten some sort of direction sense...

  Everything is being reduced to a 'realistic' level, slowly. So he's got a bad direction sense, but not nearly as legendary.

And try to make a better person of himself for it?

Ryouga: (Looking at the charred remains of a sumo pig): Maybe if I just
evade the situation and tell Akari that we won't have to worry about
running out of food for the next month... yeah, that's it!

  O_o

[Crone]

   "Firstly," she said, "we offer you the stuff of dreams. To make real
that which is... not."

Ryouga: So if I wave my hands like so, money will appear in front of
me?
Crone: No.
Ryouga: Damn!

  If that were what he wanted, perhaps. It's theoreticaly possible for the Fey to create something chimericaly that passes for 'real' until inspected too closely. Glamours, gold, gems, etc.

"Listen to all, then decide."

Ryouga: But what if I already made my decision and don't want to hear
it?
Crone: Too bad.
Ryouga: (Blinking) You never say anything good, do you?

  Crone: We train mormons.

  Ryouga: This is going to hurt.

She hummed softly, washing the dishes, and gasping slightly, as she

Sentence makes it sound like she was gasping along with humming.

  Whoops...

thought on the thing she had bought earlier that day. And the answer it
had given her.

Akari: The message in the fortune cookie said 'Stick with your wife'.
But I don't have a wife... Now I know what I must do.

  I remember that episode of the Simpsons.

Something that would change her marriage, she felt, and only for the
better.

Akari: Won't Ryouga be surprised when I splash him with the Spring of
Drowned Girl water.

  Hah!

But he seemed so distant, lately...

Akari: I wonder why.  It's not like it'll split him into a male and
pig...

  Ouch. Turnabout is fair play, I suppose.

A ball of sickly light projected from his fingers, becoming
insubstantial and winking out before reaching the stone he faced. "Huh,"
he mumbled. "Maybe... maybe it never really _was_ real?"

He's not thinking that maybe he's no longer as depressed as before?

  Ironicaly, nope.

"We can let you grow in ways you had thought closed to you forever."

Considering that everyone else has said it... oh, well...

Ryouga: Can you make me big?
Mother: Well, we could make your breasts larger.  Does that count?
Ryouga: (Agitated) No!

  ...

  Man, I don't think I'm _ever_ going to recover from the emotional trauma that's inspired. Ever!

He smiled, smelling deeply of her hair, and staring into the fire
they sat near. "I think... I think I'm happy."

Akari smiled, glad that she got a husband with such stamina.

  Hah!

He shook his head, staring at his hands, ignoring the sweat that had
formed on his face despite the nearly constant winter of the last two
years. "I thought I was stronger..."

He's becoming human... Unfortunately for him, the pigs are staying the
same size.

  Or not, but they're much larger and heavier than you might expect.

He blinked, considering. His lost strength, his power... all of that
could be returned to him?

I assume there's some sort of catch here.  Maybe he loses his direction
sense as well as regains his depression.

  The depression, perhaps, but yeah, the direction sense would worsen.

He smiled, embracing her in the night, happiness overwhelming all
else for the moment.

And that probably throws away any chance of him wanting to regain his
powers, _especially_ if there's a catch.

  Correct.

He nodded, dismissing her worried question. "Not as tough as I
thought I was."

This is after Akari's announcement?

  Theoretically. Could go either way.

"Everything is fine, I think."

Probably that last lingering doubt.

  Yep.

"No..." he said, smiling. "It's not worth it. Sorry. I don't want to
be anything other than what I am. I'm... happy this way."

Nice to see him not risk possibly ruining the life worked hard for.

  He's got the best shot at a 'normal' life, probably.

"Dearest?" she murmured sleepily, as he stirred near her.

Seems like he made his decision here.  Or in his dreams.

  Yes.

"I love you too, dearest," she answered, moving to be closer with
him again.

Nice, waffy ending.

  Nice to see I'm not _always_ the endless well of depression and angst I sometimes feel I am. ^_^

Bah. Short, and utterly pointless. Can fit anywhere within the
Compass Points universe.

Nice fic.  No real noticable mistake.  And it did show someone from the
Ranma cast who didn't change like the others.

  Part of the point, yeah.

Well, now onto one of your longer fics.

*Ginrai looks at UC, BoC, PoE and the new part of RI and chooses*

Ginrai: (Muttering to self) Choose one... yeah, right...

  I will resist the urge to hunt you down and smack you with a herring.

Sorry about that ^_^;

  Thank you very much for the C&C, and looking forward to whatever feedback you can give me. :)

Ginrai