Gary,

[big snip for space]

Nope, can't take that way out. The whole point of "This is the secret
reality underlying the canon" sort of stories is that you can't fiddle with
the canon story line.  It's cheating, sort of.  At first, I simply assumed
Ryouga would vaciliate again as he has in the past.  After the wedding
attempt P-chan was with Akane, and it's an easy conclusion to jump to that
Ryouga might blame the whole fiasco on Ranma. After all, he blames
everything _else_ on Ranma! I could say that Ryouga has decided to switch
back to Akane, nobly sacrificing his love for Akari in order to save Akane

>from that fiend Saotome and consequentially taking Akane for himself... or

would that be too facile.  What do you think?

That seems more like Kuno than Ryoga. Ryoga at least has a decent grasp
on reality. It was pretty obvious at the wedding that Ranma, far from
being responsible, took the majority of the punishment.

You know, there isn't a lot of pages or frames in the manga, as I recall,
between the end of the wedding and the end of the series.  and it was a long
time ago that I saw it.  I guess I need a manga mavin's help here. _Was_
P-chan with Akane after the wedding?  I remember at least one frame showing
her holding him, but I might be imagining that. I wish I had the manga, but
I don't.

This is a real problem, first pointed out by Andrew Petalik, by the way. I'm
not sure how to procede. Any opinions?

How to proceed? Depends on what you've got planned, I guess, and what
will fit in. Something new and bad could have happened to Ryoga (or to
Akane or Akari) as an indirect result of something Ranma did. Or Ryoga
might be under the influence of something or someone else. That's the
best I can think of at the moment.

The important thing is how Ryouga feels about Ranma, actually. Do you think
he had given up his quest to 'punish' Ranma by the end of the Manga? After
all, he doesn't really have to be in love with Akane to take off after them
in order to protect her from Ranma, but he would only do that if he was
still out to get Ranma.

If Ryouga had decided to bury the hatchet in re: Ranma, by the end of the
Manga, I'll have to find some different comic relief for the prolog and cut
some bits later in the story.  I'm going to post this to the list as well as
sending it to you directly in case anyone want to stick in their oar.
Opinions are being solicited here, eh?  Thanks, Gary... 

Best,

Bob Barnes
rbarnes@moscow.com
Moscow, Idaho

When opportunity comes, the trick is to CATCH the red hat.