Subject: [R1/2] "The Pursuit of Happiness" prologue, beta version
From: RpM-acct2/5
Date: 12/8/1995, 9:40 PM
To: fanfic@andrew.cais.com

Well, this is the BETA version of the prologue to the sequel to my
first fanfic, "The More Things Change", and as such, it is subject to
wild and major changes if I think that it needs it.  I've got a plot ironed
out and I just wanna see what the ML thinks of the direction that I'm gonna
be taking this thing in.

The Cast, returning from "The More Things Change..."

Ranma & Akane:   After a long stretch of bickering and arguing, they finally
  got together.  Why?  Mousse pulled a reverse-Shampoo on them and used
  passion spice to get them together.  He wasn't being nice, he was just
  trying to give Shampoo a reason to stop obsessing over Ranma
  So far only Akane has found out about Mousse's trickery.

Ryoga:  Driven to new depths of depression after he was told that Akane
  and Ranma were getting serious, he abandoned the Tendo Dojo and his
  role as P-Chan (Ranma bought a pig to take the part) and ended up
  sleeping on the streets not caring about anything anymore.  Ukyo
  ran into him and helped him through the rough times.  He's attracted
  to her but doesn't admit it to himself even.  Nearly kills himself
  and his adversary in a major fight.  Has recently acquired the same 
  curse as Ranma.

Ukyo:  Greatly upset at the news of Ranma & Akane's becoming an official
  couple, but puts up a brave front.  She became closer to Ryoga as she
  helped him deal with this major event as well.  Attracted to Ryoga but
  hasn't admitted it to anybody, even herself.

Mousse:  finally got Shampoo (legally, anyways).  He's happy and moved back
  to China.

Shampoo:  angry, tired, Mousse's wife (and not happy about it) but also
  given up on Ranma.

Tsubasa:  has taken her talent for disguises to the next level, incorporating
  mecha hardware at first merely for protection against the hazzards of
  Nerima, but quickly learns the combat uses for it.  Heavily uses the
  parts of the Mishima Heavy Industries.

Gosunkugi:  At first attracted to Akane, he gave up like a wimp when he heard
  they finally were getting serious.  Befriended Ukyo and comforted her when
  everyone thougth Ryoga was killed.  Isn't sure if the pursuit of romance
  is a worthwhile pursuit anymore.  His parents have given him alot of
  self-help books recently, which he has come to rely on in social situations
  sometimes, with mixed results.  Also, some mysterious group wants Gosunkugi
  to accelerate on his progress in magic, and so they used a book to get
  his attention and later talked to him face-to-face.

Akari Unryuu:  She and her pet sumo pig have rampaged across Japan, but
  they've yet to find a good date.  Then she sends her pig after Ryoga,
  who immediately gets into a gigantic brawl.  Akari's pig is beaten,
  and so it is proven that there is someone worthy to date her (it was her
  grandfather's idea) but now the question is:  who hit the pig?

Happosai:  Horny.

Ryo Muhoshin:  old friend (somewhat) and rival of Ryoga.  Trained in usage
  of umbrellas as martial arts weapons under the Unorthodox Weaponry School
  of Martial Arts( UWSMA).  He went on a mild rampage, targeting practicioners
  of breakaway branches of the school for a campaign of revenge by the school
  (including the gigantic Dojo Destroyer, whatsizname from the "Tea Ceremony"
  martial arts school, the martial arts handwriting guy...)
  Comes to Nerima only to get beaten up several times by different people
  and nearly killed by Ryoga.  Has a running feud with Happosai.
  Oh yeah, he has an uncanny resemblance to Gosunkugi.

Ryoko Muhoshin: Ryo's younger sister, wielding yo-yos, boomerangs, etc.
  As a backup plan to make sure the UWSMA doesn't look bad even if Ryo fails
  to defeat Ryoga, they plan to have Ryoko target Ryoga for marrige.  She
  fell in love with him already, years ago when he stayed at the UWSMA
  with her and Ryo.

Manami Hinako:  after the disasterous battle that nearly killed Ryo and Ryoga,
  Ryoga wandered across the earth injured and with amnesia.  While in the
  States, Manami met him and helped him out... and fell for him. 
  Unfortunately, he had his mind on another girl and she reminded him of her.
  And so one day he, still without complete memory, left her, and with very
  little clues to his identity.

Lord of the Shadoloo:  The infamous boss of the Street Fighter videogame
  series (called Vega in japan, Bison in the USA vidgames, don't ask why)
  the crime lord was looking for recruits and intercepted an amnesia-stricken
  Ryo wandering across China.  He infused Ryo with "Psycho Power", a dark
  aura that has interesting powers.  Kuno accidentally acquired a portion
  of that power when he struck Ryo down by surprise.  Kuno and Ryo lost
  the power when Gosunkugi, having no idea what he was doing, tried to throw
  a spell or two at them during another mass-melee which resulted in a
  lengthy hospital stay for nearly everyone.

Nabiki:  she's making money.  What else is new?

Jusenkyo:  due to a disasterous mix-up in Chinese bureaucracy, several hundred
of the cursed springs have been demolished, including those which contain
cursed boy/man waters.

Those are the major players, and now here's the play, act II...




===========================================================================

      And there is even a happiness 
      That makes the heart afraid. 

                     -  Thomas Hood, "Ode to Melancholy"

===========================================================================

Once Upon A Time...

Life was strange.

Especially in Nerima.

Here, in this little part of Japan, there's a force at work.  It's a strange
sort of force, the kind that somehow keeps things the same although it may
seem to change.  For as long as man existed, there's always been death, 
alwaysbeen love, and always been taxes.  People have always flown, it's 
just the mode of transit that's changed(1).

The terms for it are many:  odds, probbability, most likely event, etc...
The important thing to note is this:  there's always been somebody in Nerima
that ended up with an absurd number of love interests and stricken by a certain
amount of fortunate, unfortunate, and just strange events.  This has been the 
case for several hundred years now, and has gone beyond tradition and is now
considered to be a natural event, like a hurricane or volcano or a landslide.
For a while, there was a lack of love trianges/squares/pentagons/etc. but
then suddenly a fellow named Saotome started a chain of events that would
release whole-scale madness upon Nerima.  After all, when a volcano lies
dormant for so long but threatens to erupt again, you can be sure that the
explosion and resulting mess will be _big_.  The end result was roughly three
fiancees, possibly more, several love interests of _both_ genders, and
an impressive rogue's gallery all circling around one Ranma Saotome.

Then, to the surprise of the forces of the universe, it stopped.
Hurrah, hurrah, the boy finally showed his feelings and broke the
circles that orbited dangerously around him.

That wouldn't do.  Someone had to be the victim.  And so, purely as a random
victim of circumstances, Ryoga Hibiki had suddenly acquired a fiancee, 
several love interests, and an impressive rogues gallery.

And that's where things are today...

but that doesn't mean that they accepted things as status quo.

No, life goes on, with the pursuit of money, love, peace, and power.
You know, the usual stuff.

The pursuit of happiness.

                                     ------

                            "M" productions presents


                           --------------------------
                           =The Pursuit Of Happiness=
                           --------------------------

                               sequel to the fanfic
                             "The More Things Change"

                                a Ranma 1/2 fanfic
                         based on characters & stories by
                                 Rumiko Takahashi

      BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION
      BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION
      BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION BETA VERSION

                                    *    *   *



                             =======================
                             =PRELUDES, LOTS OF 'EM=
                             =======================
   
   
   Two mighty warriors stood alone on a grassy field.  There was Haohmaru, 
the legendary swordsman with his white outfit and long black hair in a spiky
ponytail, and Genjuro, his nemisis, with purple hair, dark eyes, and clad in
blue samurai pants with his shirt hanging around his waist.  The two had been
in combat for a while now, and both felt the end was near.
   Genjuro surged forward, his sword cutting across Haohmaru's chest once,
twice, and then coming down hard on Haohmaru's shoulder.
   The evil Genjuro backed away, getting his next attack ready.
   Haohmaru got up and was an angry shade of red.  He reared back and swung
forward with his mighty sword, yelling "Ougi Senpuuretsuzan!" creating an 
energized tornado that zoomed towards his foe.  Genjuro waved his own sword 
and a gigantic card suddenly flew forth, running into and destroying the 
tornado.  Genjuro charged forward once more, hoping to catch Haohmaru off 
guard once again, but this time the legendary swordsman was ready.  Suddenly,
Haohmaru spun his sword wildly, yelling "Tempa-Fuuzin-Zan!!!"  The blade dug 
into Genjuro seven times and sent him reeling unto the floor.  His weapon flew
into the air and shattered.
   Haohmaru looked towards his enemy and taunted "Doshita Doshita!"
   Genjuro stood, now also a deep shade of red, and looked mad as hell.  He
rushed at Haohmaru, who casually swiped at him with his sword.  To Haohmaru's
surprise, Genjuro caught the sword and threw Haohmaru hard across the field.
This time Genjuro taunted, as he gestured for Haohmaro to return and yelled
"SORE DAKE GA!"
   Haohmaru was not amused.
   The mighty warrior reared back, preparing to throw another tornado blast.
Genjuro, seeing the movement, jumped over and prepared to apply the killing
blow.  Suddenly, Haohmaru whirled his sword around and yelled "Ougi
Kogetsuzan!".  He flew into the air, spinning his sword which dug into
Genjuro, wounding him fatally.  His body slowly faded, splitting in half...

                                    *    *   *

   "Heh.  Got you at last, Saotome."
   "Man, I knew I shoulda used someone else."
   Ryoga and Ranma were killing time in the only way currently possible since
their accident(2) and hospitalization:  they were playing video games, and
lots of them.  After being bored to dangerous levels for two weeks, Ukyo
surprised them and rented out the system, as well as a large-screen 
television.   Ryoga, Ranma, Gosunkugi, Tsubasa, and even Kuno(3) had friendly 
matches squared off against each other.
   The Muhoshins, with the exception of Ryo(4), managed to recover faster
than expected and left the hospital already.  This did not make Ryo happy,
especially since he was still stuck with, as far as he was concerned, a pack
of idiots in a hospital roon.  Also, there was the matter of apartment
hunting which he did not trust them to do at all.
   Tsubasa was expected to be released by the middle of the week.  He was
anxious to leave.  Representatives from Mishima Heavy Industries came by to
visit and started asking questions.  When representatives from the Mishima
Corp. start asking around, something interesting or terrible is usually about
to happen.  It would be definitely safer for him to hide out until he found 
out which.
   Gosunkugi spent the two weeks reconsidering his approach to life entirely.
After all, he'd almost been killed.  Was this the right way to go about
living his life?  He wasn't a martial artist.  A budding wizard, yes, but NOT
a martial artist.  And this whole dating thing was also proving to be kinda
hazzardous to his health.  He was young, maybe he shouldn't rush things?

   Ryo had spent his two weeks in a very odd mood.  It all began after the
first week they were stuck in the hospital.  Ryo recieved a telegram, and after
reading it he settled into a sedate calm.  He looked at Ryoga and said "Hey,
Ryoga, you're off the hook.  For now."
   Ryoga looked at Ryo curiously.  "Oh?  Why's that?"
   Ryo tossed the telegram to Ryoga, who read it:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   TO:  Muhoshins (Ryo, Ryoko, Megane, Kyoko)
   RE:  Operation "Restoring Glory"

  As of now you are to cease all assasinations and duels as directed from the
head office.  Paperwork has been misplaced and there have been errors in system
software data records.  Repeat:  do not assasinate or duel as a representative
of the Unorthodox Weaponry School of Martial Arts as at this time the School
cannot risk litigation for unlawful injury/death cases.
  The UWSMA Legal Trust Fund will _not_ be available for use.  Any covert
action done by students and agents of the UWSMA from this point forward
will be considered unofficial actiions and will not be supported by the
UWSMA.

  Have a nice day!


                              UWSMA, Administrative Offices

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   "Hey, Bro, what's in the letter?" asked Kyoko.
   "Heh.  Looks like you've lost your licence to kill," said Ryoga.
   "What's going on?" asked Ryoko.
   Ryoga tossed the letter to her.  She read it.
   "Hey!  Darling! (Ryoga winced) Looks like Ryo can't hunt you down anymore!
(Ryo winced) Tell ya what, let's go on a date once we get outta here."
   Ryoga responded with the usual ers and ums, feeling glad for some strange
reason that Ukyo wasn't around to see this happnening.
   Ryo just sulked.
   Since then, Ryo was rather sedate and took up an unusual hobby.  He'd ask
his siblings (who were now mobile and out of the hospital) for several items,
like something made out of metal and wood, or sometimes strange items like 
clamshells or a large bone, preferrably from a cow or pig, just as long as it 
was large.  Ryo would stare at them for quite a while, turning them over in 
his hands.  Sometimes, when Ukyo was visiting, Ryo would glance at her too, as
if studying her as well.
   At one point Ranma was annoyed enough by this behaviour to ask what was
going on.  "Hey, what'cha doin?"
   Ryo smiled, held up a rib of cow, and poked it with his toothpick.
   It suddenly had cracks all over its surface.  Ryo shook the bone a bit
and it fell apart in his hand.
   "Oh, nothing, nothing."
   Ryo waited until he was sure nobody was watching him, and then poked a
chicken bone with his toothpick.  It crached severely, and then fell apart.
Ryo smiled.  "Bakusaitenketsu.  Heh."
   
                                    *    *   *

   A gentleman clad in a suit was impatiently holding unto a payphone in a
rather elegant, expensive, and probbably four star hotel.
   He was put on hold.
   He wasn't amused.
   His name was Eiji and his current assignment, as told by the home office, 
was to be on the security detail of the United Nations delegate from Japan.
Yeah, sure, that was nice, but for how long?  What were the terms of the 
contract?  Wasn't there supposed to be others assigned to this detail too?  
The delegate wouldn't be in a garden _all_ the time, so how the hell was 
Eiji supposed to guard him properly?
   A voice began to speak on the phone.  "You have reaced the central
administration office of the Unorthodox Weaponry School of Martial Arts."
   "Hello?  Yeah, this is Eiji Sakemoto from the Garden Equipment divis-"
   "We're sorry that a live representative isn't available today, so just 
leave a mes-" *click*
   Eiji hung up the phone in disgust.  
   Damn bureaucracies.
   He sighed, straightened out his tie, smoothened his jacket, picked up
his rake, and tried to ignore the stares he recieved from the guests.  This
was a job for the Dining Utensils, hell, even the Kitchen Utensils division, 
but certainly _not_ for the Garden Equipment division.
   
   This was so embarrasing.

                                    *    *   *

   Soun and Genma looked down at the paperwork piled before them.  Water
bills, electricity bills, taxes, and rough estimates by Nabiki on how
much in food, supply, and repair expenses would be needed for the coming
months.
   "Hm.  Looks like a serious problem, Tendo."
   "Indeed it does, Saotome."
   "Hm..."

                                    *    *   *

   A fearsome man, clad in a red military uniform and large black cape, glowing
with dark swirls of energy, sat in his control room, frowning.
   The lord of the Shadoloo was puzzled.
   Several weeks ago he had infused a Japanese martial artist with a link to
the energy of Psycho Power.  The fool believed it to be an accident.
   It wasn't.
   The lord of the Shadoloo wasn't just about conquest, fortune, and
domination.  He was about chaos, and if what he saw in Mr. Muhoshin was true,
then there'd be plenty of chaos spread by him, thus further tipping the 
overall amout of chaos in the world and hopefully alarming whatever lords of 
Order there may be left in the world.
   There were several things that being infused with Psycho Power should have
done to Mr. Muhoshin.  First of all, his strength would be doubled, maybe
tripled.  His endurance would also rise fantastically.  Any energy based
attacks that he once had would be powered up to deadly and fantastically
destructive levels.  Teleportation and flight would be his as well, and it 
was, as was all the powers that came with being linked with the Psycho Power.
Everything was as it should have been.
   There was also an unmentioned side-effect.  Whatever was seen by Mr.
Muhoshin would be also seen by him.  This was a power only the masters in
weilding Psycho Power could use.  For a while, it was quite amusing to see 
what chaos and destruction his little puppet began to cause.
  Another fun little side-effect was that Mr. Muhoshin was his to control, at
any given time.  That power came in handy when a minor threat to the Shadoloo's
hold in Japan came to town.  Some gangster known as "Mr. Big", a man who worked
for the American gangster Geese Howard, had come into town.  Immediately, Ryo
was taken over, and the lord of the Shadoloo used the puppet to slaughter the
fools.  Of course, it wouldn't do for Ryo to find out he was a puppet, so he
implanted the idea that this was merely a job he was hired to do by the
Shadoloo organization and deposited a fairly large amount of money into the
puppet's account to complete the deception.
   Oh yes, things were going smoothly.
   And then something strange happened.  Mr. Muhoshin had somehow given 
someone else the power as well.  That shouldn't have been possible.  It 
caused no alarm.  Merely a curious show of power on Mr. Muhoshin's part.
   And then, days later, the link was disrupted.
   The lord of the Shadoloo assumed that he had, for some strange reason,
rejected the Psycho Power and tried to cut the link (which would be difficult 
to do) or that he was greatly injured in a battle and was now floating in
and out of consciousness.  The last image that he saw from Ryo was indeed 
a great battle ensuing, with much mayhem and fire.
   
                               (flasback)
   
   Ryo swung wildly and desperately, suddenly caught in a surprise mass
melee.  Kuno to the left of him, some titanic mech behind him, his siblings
to his right, some others around him, a pig (a pig?) zoomed by somewhere, and 
that bastard Happosai was flying all over the damn place.
   He needed to get clear.  He needed some room.  Ryo picked a direction
and ran hard.  He nailed Kuno in the gut with his shoulder and together
they were seperated from the crowd, and ran straight into...
   Gosunkugi?  What was he doing?  Waving his arms?  Suddenly, a bright
light shone from him, and it was racing towards Ryo...

                             (end flashback)
  
   Since that incident, anything that came from Ryo Muhoshin's eyes was
very blurry and only came in small bits, as if the connection was almost cut
but not quite.
   The last clear thing the puppet saw was... a wizard?  He battled a wizard?
_That_ was an interesting possibility.  But that was another thing.  For now, 
the problem was the sudden dissapearance of Ryo Muhoshin, and it seemed that 
he was probbably brain-damaged or catatonic.
   He'd have to use another agent in the search for those rumored artifacts.
They _might_ be in Japan, but for now he'd concentrate his search in the old
ruins throughout the world.
   The crime lord closed his eyes, concentrated, and severed the link between
himself and whatever remained of Ryo Muhoshin.
   Then he called a lackey.
   "Takashi!"
   A gigantic man entered, standing at possibly seven feet tall and probbably
four hundred pounds in weight(5).
   "Send the notice out to all agents we have.  Even the lowest.  And mark
it as a level 2 priority only.  No need to be hectic about it.  If we are,
I'd suspect that our rivals will catch wind of it."
   The lord of the Shadoloo was still a bit bothered about the aparent loss
of Ryo Muhoshin.  He needed some cannon fodder for a little tournament
that he had lined up...

                                    *    *   *

   A visitor walked towards the main entrance of the hospital.  Several
people in the room, by the windows, became alarmed.
   "Hey!" hissed Tsubasa, "It's her again!"
   Several people turned towards Ranma with a menacing glare.
   He became very nervous.
   "Saotome, watch your big mouth," threatened Ryoga.
   "Ranma Saotome you had best keep thy comments on polite levels, fiend,
else we may be forced to smite thee."
   "Oh, this again? At least get a little beyond the scope of tomboy! Pervert!
Tomboy!  Pervert!  Deviant!  Macho chick!" crowed Tsubasa.
   "Hey!  Shut up!"
   "I swear, you two have no imagination..."
   Ryo raised an eyebrow at the incoming comotion, put on some earplugs, and 
then went back to his work.  He'd been fiddling around with those little 
umbrellas that came with pina-colada drinks.
   Gosunkugi was having a bad feeling about this.  Akane hadn't entered the
room yet and there was already a potential for heavy destruction.
   "Hey guys!" said Akane asn she entered the room.
   The room grew tense.  Just one wrong word and the whole situation would blow
up.  Everyone watched as Akane walked up to Ranma, much like a crowd watches
a golfer in a tournament.
   "Oh, uh, hi Akane," said Ranma nervously.
   Good start.
   "I, um, brought you something to eat..."
   Uh oh.  Food.  Tough topic to get around.  Always got those two yelling.
The last thing that Akane brought in had to be beaten down with a bedpan.
   "... from Kasumi."
   Several people in the room sighed with relief.  Akane glanced around and
wondered what was going on.
   "That's... um... thanks," said Ranma.

                                    *    *   *

   There was a field.  A big field.  It stretched on endlessly for as far as
the eye could see.  The grass waved in a hypnotic sort of wave with the wind,
expect for under one tree where the grass was cut immaculately to a level
that would make most golf course designers cry in admiration.
   A small group gathered around the shade of the tree, avoiding the 
noonday sun.  The breeze was brisk and the air temperature was just right, 
as it usually was.  They gathered here often to relax, although today they
were a bit anxious.
   "So, how's that Gosunkugi doing?"
   "Hm?  You mean the one that we did the whole mysterious-people-in-robes
and this-is-your-possible-destiny things with just a few months ago?"
   "Mm.  Yes.  That's the one."
   "I hate the bit with the robes and the hoods."
   "I dunno, I kinda like hanging around that dimension and talking like that
all the time."
   "Talking like what?"
   TALKING LIKE THIS.
   "Oh."
   "Well, I find it annoying."
   "Well, it is annoying, but could you imagine what would happen if he, or
_any_ of them saw who exacty we are before they're ready?"
   One of them sighed.
   "Yes.  Good point."
   "They'd probbably think they were insane."
   "It's not like we're ugly.  I mean, some of us have girlfriends."
   "Not that!  You know what I mean."
   "Anyways, what about that recent one?"
   "He's almost over the bit with the dolls."
   "Still with the dolls?"
   "Too bad that he's going so slowly at it."
   "Yes, usually they either accelerate like a rocket and then end up joining
us, or they opt for the regular life."
   "Or there's that other option."
   "Hm.  There is that."
   "But only one took that option so far."
   "Yes, and he's bound to cause trouble."
   "We should've killed that one."
   "I dunno, I've never killed anyone."
   "Me neither."
   "Nor I.  How about you guys?"
   "No."
   "Nope."
   "Came close."
   NOT ME.
   "Cut that out!"
   SORRY ".... er... um... sorry.  It gets to be addictive, y'know?"
   "Anyways, who's keeping track of that rogue right now?"
   "Twelve and twenty-three are."
   "Hm."
   "The rogue still chasing after stuff?"
   "Stuff?"
   "You know, magical stuff."
   "Hm.  Yeah."
   "Funny how he's never succeeded yet, y'know?"
   
                                    *    *   *
    
   The village was peaceful.

   *CRASH*

   Too peaceful.
   Cologne sat in front of her little wooden home in the Jokuzetsu village,
bored beyond all defenitions and synonyms of the word.  Yes it was nice to
return to the place where she was held in high regard and obeyed as their
one true leader, and not insulted and constantly challanged by young upstarts.
   But _nothing_ ever happened.


   "//Mousse you idiot!!!//"
   "//But Shampoo...//"

   There was plenty to do, it was just plenty of the same old hum-drum
village chores and duties.  Those have been done with little change for
_hundreds_ of years, and she didn't look forward to being a part of them
again.  
   It was hard for her to believe, but she thought that she just might have 
made a mistake in coming back.  Cologne even thought about passing the
leadership of the tribe to Shampoo and just skipping out to do a world tour.
But no, that would be irresponsible.  Besides, she and her... her...
and that idiot Mousse weren't getting along like good Amazon Queens should.

   "//I swear, if it wasn't for the Jokuzetsu Laws, I'd kill you!//"
   "//I'm sorry!  Really!//"
   "//Stop talking to the plants, you idiot!!!//"

   Cologne sighed, inhaled deeply from her pipe, and began mentally ironing out
the details for next week's ceremony.  Yet another ceremony that had been done
over and over for hundreds of years, but a necessary duty indeed.
      
                                    *    *   *

   Kodachi Kuno had been silent.  She'd been silent ever since the first week
of hospitalization passed by.
   The doctors, while taking a blood sample, discovered a wild amount of
unusual chemicals running wild in her blood and had quickly sent her to be
detoxified, her blood filtered of all foreign substances.
   To the surprise of the doctors, nurses, and everyone else forced to share
the same room, she had since then become mild.
   Incredibly mild.
   No more wild cackling.
   No more flashes of psychotic rage.
   Not even an insult.
   Just the occasional "yes" and "no" and maybe a sentance of less than five
words, but not much else.
   Had they known that her body was _used_ to being infused with miscellaneous
foreign chemical substances of a wild botanical nature, then they'd understand
exactly why her body was rather shocked at its sudden absence.
   Kodachi, now purified, became rather silent.
   It was an eerie sort of silence.
   Ever since her early return from the hospital to the Kuno estate, it just
hadn't been the same.  Sasuke's nerves were on end.  A cackling violent
Kodachi was one thing, but a silent undetectable and violent Kodachi was
creepy beyond words.

                                    *    *   *

   "Excuse me, can I ask you a couple of questions?"
   "Eh?  Sure?"
   "You were in your store when that big fight happened, right?"
   "You mean the one with the gas main, the truck, and the bombs?"
   "That's the one."
   "Yeah, I saw it."
   "Did you see exactly which one beat the pig?"
   "The pig?"
   "Yeah.  Somebody beat up my pig."

                                    *    *   *

   The girl sighed and took another sip from her milkshake.
   "Something wrong, kid?"
   She looked up to the bartender.  "Well, you don't wanna hear about it."
   "Hey, of course I wanna hear about it.  Comes with the job," replied the
bartender with a smile.
   "You sure?"
   "Hey, no problem.  The name's King," said the bartender.
   "King?  Sounds familiar."
   "I used to be on the professional martial arts circut for a while, but
things were getting ugly so I decided on a career change," said King.
   "My name's Manami.  Nice to meet ya."  Manami examined the bartender. 
She was hort blond hair, blue eyes, athletic looking, and clad in a feminine 
tuxedo.  She also seemed like a nice enough person to trust with a little
conversation.
   "Well?"
   "Hm?"
   "What's got you down?"
   "Well, I was looking for this guy..."
   "Aren't we all?" said King with a bit of a smile.

                                    *    *   *
==============================================================================
-footnotes-
*1 - the earliest method of flight was the interesting technique of running
     extremely fast and jumping off a hill.  That proved insufficient, so they
     tried using a cliff.  That DID work, but ancient man was none too pleased
     with the landing technique.  A small tribe in South America climbed up
     a tree and then jumped down with a vine tied to their ankles.  This solved
     the whole problem of landing, but the amount of time spent in the air
     was largely unsatisfying.  The earliest success in flight by a bipedal
     species can be credited to an ape-like creature before the time of man
     whose name, in animal-speak, roughly translated into Irritable Male With 
     Big Stripe On Back.  This historical ancestor got swiped by a passing
     pterodactyl,  which angered him greatly, and thus our ancestor proceeded
     to beat its brains out.  The accidental result was the creation of the 
     first hang-glider which flew with surprising effectiveness, length, and 
     grace.  Unfortunately, Irritable Male With Big Stripe On Back didn't get
     the concept of a proper landing either....

*2 - see "The More Things Change" - Epilogue.  Basically it was a gigantic
     mass-melee involving Ryoga, Ranma, Ryo, Tsubasa, Kodachi, Kuno, Gosunkugi,
     Ryoko, Kyoko, Megane, Happosai, several bombs, a gas main, a cargo
     truck full of fuel, an electrical line cut loose, and of course a very
     large explosion.

*3 - "Very well, I shall show thee the might at which I wield a blade in
      ANY medium!" declared Kuno.  Amazingly, he went on to a record of
      80-0 total during the hospital stay.

*4 - He was next to a mech, a fuel truck, and Happosai.  When you're caught
     in that situation, you _will_ be hurt.

*5 - He's the secretary.

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NEXT:  CHAPTER 1, PART 1 :   Quiz Show
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