Spaloosh!  Ranma sat in the water.  It was cold, she shivered.  That 
tomboy!  Why did she have to go and push her in the water.  She had almost 
knocked Ryoga into the water too.  Ranma wasn't certain why he'd bothered to 
save Ryoga, but it was to late to take things back.  Besides, knowing that 
tomboy she'd blame Ranma for Ryoga being a pig.

   "You won't escape me that easily my pretty," cried Happosi springing 
off the roof.  Off Akane, off Ryoga, POW!  Ranma must have seen him 
coming.  His flight path gave him one last fleeting view of his photo as 
it was blown out of sight.  Well at least it didn't cost him any panties.

   "Ranma, how dare you hit me in the back of my head!"
   Ranma leapt to her feet, "What?!  You ingrate I just saved you from a 
fate worse than death!"
   A fate worse than death?  All Ranma had done was knock Ryoga away from 
the pond.  Something was going on here, and Akane was going to get to the 
bottom of it, "What do you mean a fate worse than death Ranma?"
   "Er, uh, nothing Akane."
   "RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE," Ryoga lunged at Ranma.  Ranma picked up a 
rock and held it in front of herself.  She looked really cute and 
defenseless like that.  Ryoga really hated it when Ranma looked cute at 
him.  Heh, she must have forgotten this!

   It had been a decorative rock.  It was smooth and speckled.  It was 
perfect for a pond ornament.  The trouble was, that it didn't make a good 
shield.  It shattered, spraying Ranma with rock shrapnel.  The force of 
the blow was incredible, it flung her across the yard into the wall.  
Ranma shook her head, there was a man hovering in the air just above the 
surface of the pond.  He was dressed all in white.  White shoes, white 
pants, white button down shirt.  His hair was a dusty blond, and his 
features were sharp yet attractive.  The aura of power that radiated from 
him was terrifying.

   Ryoga shook his head, the blast had thrown him through a wall of the 
dojo.  Standing, he looked outside, Ranma must have . . . must have . . . 
have . . . there was a man in white standing over the pond.  Where was 
Ranma?  That man looked like he might know . . .

   When Ryoga hit the rock, there had been a flash of light, a blast of 
wind and then there was this guy hanging over the pond.  Akane could see 
Ranma starting to get up, the blast had thrown her against the wall.  The 
man turned to Akane before she could look for Ryoga and spoke.
   "Dear lady," he said in a voice like music, "did you notice whence the 
demon fled?"
   Akane blinked, this guy sounds like Kuno, "What do you mean by 'my 
dear lady'?"
   He looked at her the way you might look at a particularly interesting 
insect, "It was a form of address.  Quickly now, the demon."
   "What did you do with Ranma," shouted Ryoga charging.  He had failed 
to notice Ranma climbing to her feet over by the wall[1].

   The man watched Ryoga charge, he watched him leap at him, and as Ryoga 
drew close he put out his right hand, the palm facing Ryoga.  Ryoga 
stopped moving, hovering in the air for a split second before falling 
into the pond.  Akane's jaw dropped.  Ryoga turned into a pig!  A little 
black pig, like P-Chan!  The man was a sorcerer, "You turned Ryoga into a 
pig!  Why did you turn him into a pig?  What did he ever do to you?!"
   Ranma sauntered up, at least Akane hadn't figured it out, "Hey Mr. 
Wizard, neat trick.  But if your so hot, lets see ya turn him back."
   Akane plucked Ryoga/P-Chan out of the pond, "Its ok Ryoga, this wizard 
is GOING to turn you back, RIGHT?"

   He looked from Akane to Ranma and back.  He had no idea why they 
seemed to think it was he who had cursed the boy.  It was obvious to him 
that it had been some outside force.  Oh well, it was time to start 
draining the misery out of the world, and he might as well start here, 
"This children, is not my curse, but I can relieve it."
   "Who are you calling child you . . ." this was as far as Ranma got 
before the wizard made some quick, almost imperceptible hand motions and 
Ryoga returned to human form.

   He was cured!  The wizard had turned him back, without hot water!  No 
more being a pig no more P-Chan . . . so, there was a down side.  He 
heard Akane scream.  What now?  He could see Ranma pointing into the 
pond.  Hey those were his cloths in there.  OH NO!

                                 *

[1] Ryoga was quite good at not noticing things.  It helped his sense of 
direction.  If you don't look around, then you can concentrate on where 
your going.  It didn't work, but then Ryoga was never one to give up on 
something after the first three hundred thousand failures.

                           ************

   "Oh so where is this bad thing?  Well?"  If there was one thing in the 
whole world that made Fellowship want to gloat it was talking to 
Sarcasm.  He was always right.  It was irritating.  Well today he was 
wrong.  Nothing bad had happened.  In fact lots of good things had 
happened.  That guy, she wasn't sure who he was, had come out of the 
rock.  He had fixed Ryoga.  He was sure to fix Ranma.  Then Ranma could 
concentrate on winning Akane's heart.

   Even Emotion was smirking at him, oh boy.  Apparently those two 
didn't know what you normally bound to a stone.  Demons, devils, evil 
sorcerers.  Doesn't any one pay attention any more.  The sorcerer 
appeared asking about a demon, "You two really don't get it do you?  Good 
people don't get shoved in a rock for thousands of years.  That thing was 
covered in runes of warding.  Doesn't that tell you something?"
   "You're just jealous because Fellowship knew it would be ok."
   "Oh, that must be it.  I guess I hadn't noticed, I was too busy 
trying to figure out what demon that guy is looking for and why he was in 
a rock with it.[1]"

   Fellowship frowned, she had forgotten about the demon.  She hadn't 
sensed anything particularly evil when the rock had broken.  Sure the guy 
radiated anger and power, but he'd been stuck in a rock what could you 
expect?

   "Sarcasm's mad, Sarcasm's mad.  He knows he's wrong."

   He leaned forward, "Sure, then you can tell everyone that I'm busy 
sulking in the library.  And be sure you tell them that I'm not looking 
up the guy in the rock or the demon.  Tell them I'm only in there to 
sulk.  Oh and by the way, in case you should wonder, I think the demon is 
HIM."

   Emotion stepped back.  She hated HIM.  HE scared her, "You're saying 
that to scare me."
   Sarcasm leaned closer, "Yea, you go ahead and believe that."

                              *

[1] Gods have the potential to know everything.  They can run time 
forwards, and backwards.  The general problem with this is that 
accelerating time is like fast forwarding a video tape.  It takes 
forever and you have to stop and watch the interesting parts.[2]
[2] And then of course rewinding to find out what happened to get all of 
that started.  And eventually you get tired of it and go have a nap.  This
is why gods tend to live in the "present[3]".
[3] Or at least the last place they stopped fast forwarding.

                           ************

   Ranma stood there frozen.  Ryoga had jumped back in the pond to get 
his clothes.  He didn't change.  Could this be it?  The cure for the 
curse?  "Who, who are you?"

   He turned and looked at the red head, she too was under a curse, "I am 
called many things, but you, dear lady, may call me Morphine."
   "Morphine?  Can you get rid of my curse too?"
   "But of course, it would only be right," Morphine began gesturing, it 
didn't take long.
   "I'm cured!  I gotta tell Pop!  I . . . hey wait a minute, if you can 
uncurse me, can you help Akane too?"
   "Excuse me Ranma, but what is that supposed to mean," asked Akane 
rolling up her sleeves.
   "See everything she cooks turns to poison.  You gotta help her," 
continued Ranma oblivious to the raging Akane behind him.
   "Oh, is that so Ranma!"
   Morphine looked at the girl Akane, the comment really seemed to hurt 
her.  She was under no curse. <hmmmm, mental note, don't eat Akane's 
cooking.>  This would be a true test of these new skills.  Morphine gently 
touched Akane on the forehead.

   It was gone.  All the anger.  All the pain.  In its place there was 
nothing.  It had simply drained away leaving an empty hole.  And slowly a 
tired feeling washed over her.  Why bother fighting with Ranma.  There 
was no point.  Either he cared or he didn't.  He wasn't the only man in 
the world.

   "Ranma how dare you insult Akane's cooking," yelled Ryoga pulling on 
his shirt.
   "Akane," Ranma waved his hand in front of her face.
   "Turn around and die like . . ."

   Morphine touched Ryoga.  The boy was full of anger, sadness, guilt, 
self loathing.  It was incredible how full of pain he was.  It felt like 
a burning black ball of hate.  Morphine smiled, he had felt this way many 
times in the past.  It was a pain he could deal with.

   "Hey, Akane?  Are you in there?"
   "I'm fine Ranma.  I just feel a little tired, that's all."

   She sounded tired.  She sounded like she was really tired.  Not just 
physically, but tired of everything.  Ranma watched her trudge back to the 
house.  Then he turned to Morphine, "What did you do to Akane?!?"

   Morphine turned back to the boy named Ranma, who so recently had been 
a red haired girl, "I have taken the pain away, that is what I do."

   Ranma was about to raise the point that Akane didn't seem to be 
herself when he noticed Ryoga.  He was standing there looking off in to 
space.  Lost in himself.
   "I must go.  The demon is about and I can not let it go unchallenged."
   "WHAT DEMON!?!  What are you talking about?  What dija do to Akane 
and Ryoga?"
   "The demon lord Jack Death.  It is my fault he is here I suppose, but 
fear not I will destroy his plans."
   "Are you insane?!  This ain't the Ryoga I kno . . "
   Ryoga put a hand on Ranma's shoulder, "It's ok Ranma.  I just feel a 
little tired that's all."
   Ranma fell over.
   Morphine floated to dry ground and walked out the gate.
   "Hey Ranma, are you ok," asked Ryoga offering him a hand.
   Ranma stared at Ryoga, "Ryoga?  Are YOU ok?"
   "Sure," Ryoga replied pulling Ranma to his feet, "I'm not sure if I'll 
be able to find my way back home, do you think I could stay here tonight 
and try to get there tomorrow?"
    Ranma fell over again.
    Ryoga frowned, "Are you sure you're ok Ranma?"
    
                           ************

   "Fellowship?"
   "Yes, Emotion?"
   "Why is Ryoga acting weird?"
   "I, I think it has something to do with that Morphine person."
   "Fellowship?"
   "Yes?"
   "I'm scared."
   "Lets go find Sarcasm."
   "ok"

                           ************

   "Come on Joe, this is how HE always gets around us.  HE picks a time 
that will take forever to go back to and starts screwing around there.  
You know this could screw up the continuity.  Doubt and I barely patched 
up Fellowship's last screw up, this could trash the whole thing again."
   Puff, "We're talking about The Man here.  Do you think he doesn't know 
what he's doing?"
   "Look Joe, all I'm asking is for you to help me out here.  You and I 
both know that I can keep rewinding till I find out what the hell is 
going on.  All I want you to do is help me cut some time and get there 
and back before anyone gets hurt."
   Smoke ring, "If I jump time for you[1], you gonna owe me big."
   Sarcasm took out a carton of cigarettes and held them up for inspection.
   "Hmmmmm, 1935, good year.  All right my man, but don't spread it around."

                                *

[1] Where all gods can fast forward time, as a god of time, Joe has the 
power of track search.

                           ************

   They found Sarcasm and Joe in the library, just like Sarcasm had 
said.  As they walked in Fellowship thought they seemed to flicker, just 
briefly.  What were they up to?  She decided to probe Sarcasm's mind.
              <Fuck.  That was no fuckin' help.  
               If HE didn't escape then where 
               the hell was he when the stone 
               cracked?  Fellowship quit reading
               my mind.>
Her heart started pounding.  Something bad was going to happen.  Sarcasm 
was always in a bad mood.  It was his natural state of being.  But you 
could tell how he really felt from how bad a mood he was in.  It was 
amazing to her what a range of emotions could be displayed by the way 
someone grumbled.  It was really bad when he was direct.

   They were scared.  Anyone could tell when Emotion was scared, she would 
start holding Fellowship's hand.  If Fellowship was scared she would get 
really quiet and wait for someone to take charge of the situation.  They 
always managed to find him.  Sarcasm sighed inwardly to himself, this is 
what he needed.  Two nervous kids following him around, "I suppose you 
came in here to watch me sulk?"
   "Sarcasm, I'm scared," whimpered Emotion.
   He hated it when she did that.  It always made him feel guilty.  This 
is how he always ended up with theses two following him around, "What's 
wrong now?"
   "Morphine is looking for HIM."
   Sarcasm looked at Joe, "Spill it."
   "You know how it is for mortals, man," drag, "A couple thousand years 
with him and I'd go nuts."
   Sarcasm turned back to his sisters, "Then Morphine is the guy from the 
rock?"
   Emotion hid behind Fellowship, "He did something to Ryoga."
   "Fellowship, what happened."
   She almost jumped out of her sandals, "He, he . . . he made Ryoga be 
nice."
   "Gee that oughta make your day.  Maybe he can polish up the destinies 
of everyone else in the world too."
   Fellowship looked like she wanted to hide under a table.

                           ************

   First Akane, and now Ryoga.  Whatever that Morphine guy did to them he 
was gonna get his.  There was no way Ranma was going to be able to stand 
Akane if she kept on acting like this.  Every time he tried to start 
something she would just look at him and say, "Ranma, whether we like it 
or not, you and I are engaged.  It would be easier to like you if you'd 
quit trying to start fights."  It even had Nabiki worried, and she was 
hardly phased when they thought Akane was a duck.[1]  There had to be 
something that would bring Akane out of it.  She was out on the porch with 
Ryoga and Kasumi planning for the wedding.  This was bad.  Their fathers 
had patted them on the back and congratulated them on making the right 
choice.  And Soun had cried.  Of course.
   "Ranma," whispered Nabiki, "come on."
   Ranma looked over at Nabiki, "Why are you whispering?"
   "Shhhh.  Daddy will go nuts if he finds out where were going."
   Ranma looked at Nabiki like she had suggested going to a sleep cheep, 
"uhhhh. Errrr. Ummmm"
   "Don't be dense, we're going to see Cologne," she whispered motioning 
him out the back door."

                               *

[1] Ranma would be hard pressed to see the difference, but then Ranma was 
not the financial wizard Nabiki was.  When your sister is turned into a 
duck, you can begin a charity fund.  When your sister suddenly mellows 
out into a good little house wife, the margin for profit is zero.  
Though, she might be able to start a save Ranma's stomach fund . . . 
especially if Akane didn't get mad and just kept cooking.