On Sat, 18 Oct 1997 13:57:56 -0700 (MST), Raphael See <raphael@asu.edu>
wrote:

Chapter Two: Follow Ranma!

Ranma's a tough act to follow.... :-)

	"I heard that Principal Kuno thinks that the yearbook is more 
important than the newspaper! At least he's funding yearbook!"

the yearbook

	Suzuki briefly looked up from his game of solitaire. "Yeah, 
Chief, why?"

This guy doesn't much care whether the paper's going under?

	"Well, I've got another one for you! I want you two to follow 
Ranma Saotome for a week."

	Gosunkugi immediately turned a whiter shade of pale. "Follow...Ranma?"

Gosunkugi's a Procol Harum fan? The description IS appropriate in his
case though....

	Noriko's patience was nearing its end. "Yes, follow Ranma; is 
there a problem??"

	"Well...last time someone tried to do that, he ended up in the 
infirmary with multiple dislocated joints," Suzuki answered. "Dang! 
Where's that red king when I need it?"

	Noriko stomped her foot in frustration. "That's because it was 
Kuno-sempai's idiot servant, and he was trying to ambush him at lunch! I 
just want you to tail him for a while! Geez! It's like I'm in charge of a 
bunch of scaredy cats or something!"

	Gosunkugi somehow managed to become even paler. "Please, 
Noriko-san...don't say 'cats' when I'm around." Ever since that incident 
in the multi-purpose room with Ranma and the tiger, Gosunkugi had found 
cats to be a rather squeamish area...

If this is manga continuity, then Kuno shouldn't have a servant -- and
Sasuke's too much of a 'toon to get seriously injured anyway. He got hit
by a truck in one episode and was perfectly okay right afterwards.

The guy who got injured should be Kuno himself IMO.

	Gosunkugi fingered the talisman hanging from its chain. "I wear 
it whenever I have to go near Saotome. It's supposed to ward off disaster 
as long as the potion I steeped it in lasts."

	Suzuki managed to keep from rolling his eyes. "Does it work?"

	Gosunkugi shrugged. "Well, it's hard to say. The last three I had 
got smashed after the first day I tried them out."

Hehheheh!

	Ranma froze. Slowly, he turned around, not really expecting to 
see anyone, but taking a look anyway. Sure enough, no one was in sight, 
but Ranma knew that someone was following him nevertheless. He 
concentrated for a moment...yes, there was definitely someone there. He 
could feel his presence. And maybe someone else's as well. Was it Ryoga? 
Ranma quickly eliminated the possibility. It wasn't Ryoga's style to 
sneak up on people, even if he had sent Ranma another one of those 
blasted formal letters of challenge just a week ago. Probably not 
Shampoo, either. Mousse? Or Kodachi? Well, whoever it was, Ranma decided 
he was better off finding out as soon as possible.

Gosunkugi must've gotten a LOT better if Ranma didn't spot him right
off.

	Suzuki and Gosunkugi stayed huddled behind a nearby tree which 
they had dove behind when Ranma stopped walking. "I think he knows we're 
following him!" Gosunkugi whispered.

	Suzuki snorted. "Yeah, right," he responded. "What do you think 
he is, some kind of magician or something?"

	"Yo, Gosunkugi! What're you up to this time?" Ranma's voice came 

>from just behind them. 

	"Then again...," Suzuki sighed. He turned around to see Ranma 
standing over them, arms crossed.

I think you could make this funnier by doing a Buggs Bunny type thing:

Gos: I think he knows we're following him!

Ranma (having snuck up behind him): What makes ya think so?

Gos: Well, he stopped walking, and... [Bigsweats as he notices who he's
talking to]


BTW, the Ranma narration doesn't add much to this scene IMO. You may
want to tell it from just Gos & Suz's viewpoint. Part of the charm of
this story comes from the fact that it's told from the perspective of
the "mere mortal" characters.

	The door flew opened, followed by two figures who looked nothing 
so much as rejected mummies from a tryout for a B-movie. They limped 
silently into the room, swathed in bandages from head to toe. Noriko 
noticed that one of them carried a camera along with what looked like a 
broken piece of jewelry hanging from a chain. 

Bwa ha ha!!

	Pause. "I...I don't remember," Suzuki said uneasily. He had a 
vague memory of a shout, and then an explosion which threw them on their 
backs and sent Ranma and the crazy bandanna boy into the canal. Then 
Ranma...was it Ranma?...punted a small animal into the air, and... Suzuki 
shook his head again. A clinic. He was at a clinic, getting treated by a 
man with glasses. Gosunkugi was there, too. A young lady entered, 
and...pain. Lots of pain and shouting...was that Ranma shouting? More 

Oh my!

treatment, and waking up at his home, wrapped in bandages. Seeing a girl 
walk away with Gosunkugi on her back. *Strong girl, did she carry me, 
too?* Blackness...

	"I don't remember, either," added Gosunkugi. "I remember that 
Ranma was there for most of it, though." Gosunkugi ruefully fingered the 
broken remains of his talisman. "I guess that makes four," he remarked to 
no one in particular.

This kind of belabors the joke; I think it was already quite well made
above.

This is really cool! Can't wait to see what Noriko does. It's going to
mean trouble for somebody, though I'm not sure who.


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics