cshadow@hotmail.com
       Well, I'm at it again!  Somebody, shoot me!
       Well, anyway, I've another fanfic for you readers out there, and,
frankly, it doesn't look pretty.
       The usual disclaimers go out there to anyone who's done this before,
i.e.: Rumiko Takahashi, Viz., Kitty, and maybe some fanfic writers out there
that I might be stepping on accidentally.  I hope this hasn't been done before,
but then, looking at the size of the archive at 
ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma I think that it is likely.
       If you're wondering, yes, this is another self-insertion fic.  I
think that the material included may be different, though.  This is going
to be HARD.
       Well, on with the story!

Black Lightning Productions presents:
        Is This a Dream?
        Or a Nightmare?
        a Ranma 1/2 Fanfic

      I wake to my alarm buzzing in my ear.  At this time in the morning,
it is a very unwanted thing, but, then, I need to get to work soon.
       I look at the clock, which reads 11:00 AM, and I moan, "Just five
more minutes..."  The clock just glares at me with its baleful red glowing
digits.  I sigh, and hit the blasted thing, "You're SO ungrateful.  If I
hadn't picked you up off that shelf, you'd have been taken by that guy who
trashes clocks. Oh, well."  I grin at my monologue, and then tap the OFF
button.  Thankfully, the button worked.  I then get up and get dressed.
Then I decide to look in the mirror and see how bad I look today.
       I chant:

       There I be,
       Only me,
       Tall and slim,
       Flat and trim,
       Mark Athagrita I be!

      I grin at my little rhyme, and continue to look at myself in the
mirror.  At 6'3" I don't look too bad, and my light brown hair doesn't do
any wonders, my blue eyes, from my point of view, do most of the work at
making me handsome.
       I had noticed that the meter of my rhyme was lacking in something,
so I gave myself an extra long last name, that wasn't even close, to boot!
I sigh.  But then Mark Reddale isn't even a good name, by my standards.
       I wish that I could actually watch where I'm going, for once.
       Too bad that I didn't, for if I had, I would have noticed the
great, big, gaping hole in front of my closet.  One that seemed to resist
my falling 'till I was half-dressed.  After all, the gods DO have a good
reason for everything, and I think that launching me into a new universe
naked wouldn't have been very funny for them.  Well, it would have, until
I found out a way to get back at them.
       But what they had in mind was MUCH worse.

      I remember watching some anime about a person who changed sexes.
Ranma I think it was called.  I remember something else about a training
ground in china, a training ground called Jusenkyou, or something like
that.  The reason that I'm remembering this is that I'm looking at it.
I remember something about a prince ... Herb his name was, I think.  Lo
and behold, there be he, in all his glory.  I seemed to be heading for a
spring close to the one he was at.  Oh, well, I wonder what I'll turn into?
       Better that I don't know, but then, these things happen, right?
       I hate my life.
       The spring I am heading towards LOOKs harmless, but then, I knew
about the curses.  Herb seems to be grabbing that ladle of his for something.
Then it was too late for thinking.
       SPLASH!  We have touchdown!  I remember thinking, as the water
started working its magic on me.  But something was WRONG.  Ranma didn't
feel any pain when he changed, neither did Genma.  Either they did feel
pain, or I'm in a spring that DOESN'T care if you have pain or not.  I
feel pain as all my limbs shrink, become smaller imitations of themselves.
My body shrinks to more pain, and I wonder what I'll be.  That was my last
coherent thought for a while.

      I wake up, to see a face unfamiliar to me.  "Where am I?"  I groan.
Then I noticed my voice.  It was a small child's voice.  I cover my forehead,
then notice something else.  Something is missing.  Seem as I can't put my
finger on it yet, I sit up and look at the person in front of me.
       The man is short, fat, and is looking at me like I said something
he couldn't understand.  This was the case as I see him walk over to a
bookshelf and take out a book.  I can't read the title, it's in some
oriental language.
       I groan and feel my head.  Not sick, no fever.  That's good, right?
       The man finds what he was looking for, and then comes to me.  he reads
from the book, with no inflection, "Hello little miss, I am Jusenkyou guide,
sorry about this, but oth- other guide on vacation right now.  Would you
follow me and get dressed, please?"  He looks up, mightily pleased with
himself.  I then notice the title he used.  Little miss?  I shrug, maybe
he read it wrong.  Only way to be sure is to check.  I reach under the
covers, into my now, large pants, and feel around.  IT wasn't there OH
SHIT!  I look under the covers to see if my hands missed it or something,
but no luck.  I start to cry.
       The guide looks at me, and frowns in confusion.  Then he gets out
the book and starts reading from it again, "Miss, you fell in very bad
spring called Changing Spring of Drowned Young Girl.  Only spring known
of that makes change permanent."  The guide looks confused for a second,
and then shrugs.
       Permanent?  I start crying harder.  This definitely isn't my day.
A thought occurs to me.  *If the change is PERMANENT, does that mean that
the other pools will still work on me?*  I decide to take a chance and ask.
I calm down, then say this slowly, as I don't think he can understand me at
all, "Will the other springs work on me?"  The guide then picks up his book
and starts leafing through it.  after a few minutes of waiting, he shakes
his head.  I feel the tears start welling up again.  *NO! I will NOT cry!
I will show how mature I am by holding the feelings in!*  Unfortunately,
the spring did more than just change my form ... it changed my mind,
somehow, and now I have just as much control as a small girl.  I can't
hold the tears back.  The guide nods to himself and quickly leaves the
room.  I can't see, or care for that matter.
       I can't really believe it.  I'm a girl.  And from what the guide
says, forever, to boot.  After a few minutes I start to calm down.  *There
HAS to be a way to get out of this, or, at the very least, a way to console
myself.  Waitaminute!  Jusenkyou?  Ranma!  I could go with Ranma and search
for cures with him!  Will he believe me?  Probably not, but it's my only
chance.*
       With that, I set off for Japan, hoping to all the gods out there
that I will succeed.
******
Here ends my third fanfic.
Although it's not much, I like it.  If the response is good enough, I
might even continue it.
C&C welcome!  Thanks for reading!


                      from
               -=<Shadow Dancer>=-
                       of
        -=Black Lightning=- Design Group
               cshadow@hotmail.com

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