Subject: [FFML] [FF] [R.5] Twenty Less Lonely People in the World (Chapter 1)
From: "Nikholas F. Toledo Zu" <niftol@i-manila.com.ph>
Date: 2/13/1998, 9:41 AM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

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|Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!Mayhem!|
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=> Warning!  This fic contains excessive amounts of sugar!  With 
Valentine's day nearing, every single media in existence has been 
turning out sugar bombs that try to mutate all of us into starry-eyed 
idiots.  Sad to say, they have converted me into their sorry lot.   

=> Although I'm *not* proud to be among the few people who dread the 
coming of February, I am forced, under the pain of insanity, torture, 
slow death, (and lots of other horrible things to graphic to mention), 
to write this fic.  Writing romance stories makes me feel all good 
inside.  <gasp>  It's starting already!  Somebody!  Whack me on the 
head!  <Whack, whack>  Thanks, I needed that.  

=> I'm warning you at this point in time that the fic has a *really 
cheesy ending*.   

=> Also, the plot (actually the ending) is not really my original idea.  
I would like to thank my contributor (who still desires to remain 
nameless) for coming up with the cheesy ending that started the wheels 
turning in my mind to come up with a story to match.  May she (and all 
those other nameless people) find our own cheesy ending sometime in the 
foreseeable future.

=> Some notes on notation.  Things in {curly braces} are author's 
comments within the fic.  Signs and sound effects are in... uh... 
<pointy braces> 

=> The disclaimer is at the end, and the more people I would like to 
thank.   

=> Will somebody whack me so I can start?  Thanks.  
********  


8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F  
                 Twenty Less Lonely People in the World
   <otherwise known as Mayhem's Valentine Fic with the Cheesy Ending>  
   By the currently sessile (not senile) Nikholas "Mayhem" F. Toledo  
8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F8F  

{
 Hiroshi and Daisuke looked at Mayhem with disbelieving eyes.
 "I SAID SESSILE!  NOT SENILE!" 
 *BONK*
}

Chapter One
Rude Awakenings

	Ranma ran through the deserted streets of Nerima, with the scourge 
of hell following him in waves of pain and anger.  He was afraid.  He 
knew he couldn't win.  He hated it.  He hated running away.  He knew 
that he should fight, and that he could defeat it, just like everyone he 
had faced before, but all he wanted was to run away.  Just run away.  "I 
can't look..."  He cried out for help, but his scream died in his 
throat.  
	The monster at his heels laughed horribly, sending its tentaculous 
arms throughout the entire world, turning everything it touched into 
nothingness.
	Foolishly, Ranma bumped into the last brick wall in the universe.
	There was nothing left, Nothing was left in the void that used to 
be the universe, except for Ranma, the monster, and the brick wall.
	He turned around, there was nothing left to do.  He looked the 
monster straight in the eye.
	It said, "Goodbye, Ranma," in a voice that was both familiar and 
strange.
	And he shattered into a thousand pieces.

	Akane never had nightmares.  Unlike Ranma, who once every often 
woke up screaming.  Maybe it's a psychological effect of his early 
separation from his mother, his fears manifesting and repeating 
themselves at the subconscious level.  Or, maybe, it's a dumb stroke of 
bad luck.
	Well, Akane's dreams were never that scary.  Of course, she did 
have nightmares, once in a while, but they was never so dark that she 
would wake up screaming in the middle of the night and be unable to 
sleep.
	But this time, it was weird.
	She found herself confronting a cup of instant ramen claiming to 
be her inner self.  Of course she was angry, who wouldn't be if you 
found out that your inner self looked like such. 
	It said to her in a strange way, "you carry your anger around as 
your shield.  Stop, or it will happen again."
	What followed was a pang of sadness and guilt that she had never 
felt for a long time.
	She called out to it, asking what the heck was going on.
	It screamed back at her, loud.
	She woke up with the ringing still in her ears.
	Because it wasn't a dream, the Styrofoam cup was still screaming.
	No... it was actually Ranma, screaming his lungs out in the other 
room.
	"Trust Ranma to ruin everything," she hrrumphed, tossing in bed.

	A loud bloodcurdling scream shattered the early morning 
tranquility of the Tendo Dojo.
	Lots of things happened at the same time.
	To ease the description of the scene, it could be said that the 
same sequence of events that took place was similar to that shown at the 
start of the Cookbook episode (OAV 2).  That is, everyone fell to the 
floor in surprise (except for Nabiki, who, by definition, is never 
surprised, and Kasumi, who gets surprised but doesn't show it), and ran 
up the stairs.  History did have this thing for repeating itself.
	Of course, they were a bit different this time.  First of all, the 
mob that made its way up the stairs was fairly puzzled when they saw 
Akane step out of her room, not being the person who was, in actuality, 
screaming. 
	The second thing that made this scene different was made apparent 
by the composition of the said mob.
	And that made a helluva difference.

	The sliding door was kicked in, and Miss Hinako was the first 
person to enter the room.  Taking out a fifty-yen coin, she blasted the 
would-be screaming delinquent in the room.
	But the problem with Miss Hinako's battle-aura-draining power was 
that it only acted in a direct line of sight with the coin.  If a person 
were to hide behind somebody else, that person wouldn't be drained of 
his battle aura.
	And now, in the Saotome room, a large panda effectively blocked 
whatever attack she dished out with his comparatively large volume.  
Poor Genma, who was sleeping at the time, found his energy being drained 
from him, and his fat furry body shrunk much like raisins exposed to the 
sun.
	(Of course, that analogy would be much more appreciated, given the 
fact that Miss Hinako did look like the sun, 'cause she was wearing that 
skin-tight one-piece yellow miniskirt and did make people, actually the 
men, sweat profusely.)
	Soun Tendo was the next person to see exactly what was going on.  
What caught his attention was the battle-drained panda, drifting in the 
wind.  Of course, this was Soun's first first-hand experience dealing 
with energy-deficient person, besides the time a few months back when 
the skies over Nerima were filled with hundreds of shrunken, energy-
drained bodies floating in the wind.  There were lots of scared people 
that afternoon, and Soun was one of them.
	He held on to Genma-panda for dear life.  "OH, SAOTOME!  WHAT 
TRAGEDY HAS BEFALLEN YOU!"  He wailed, flooding the room with tears.   
"WHY HAVE YOU BECOME SO THIN?!?"  The panda began to drift in the small 
breeze that blew through the room.  "Oh no!  His spirit is leaving us!   
Somebody, do something!"
	The first thing that Akane did when she entered the room was to 
run over to Ranma's side.  He was in his girl form and was cowering in 
one corner of the room, trying to ward off evil spirits with his... her 
hands.  She shook her awake.  "Ranma!  Snap out of it!"  she said, 
slapping him.  "It's just a bad dream!  Come on, wake up!"
	"Uh... Akane..."  Ranma stared at her bleary eyed.  "I thought 
that you..." she stammered out, still half-asleep.
	"Uh... What Ranma?"  Akane grew this little red line across the 
bridge of her nose at the way Ranma was staring at her, with such want 
in her eyes...  She shook it off.  "Ranma," she hissed, "there are 
people watching."
	Ranma was about to say (or do) something that would have ended the 
entire series then and there when Nabiki chose to enter the discussion.  
"Ranma," she said in the caring way we all know and love, "I can't 
believe you would be scared of a little brat."
	"Little brat?"  the two of them echoed, and they stared somewhere 
behind them.
	Kasumi was holding a little boy around the age of six who held a 
small squirt gun in his hand.  "Hello," the boy shyly said, "my name is 
Junior... What's yours?"  he asked in a small-child charming way.  
	"Junior?!?"  Akane and Ranma echoed, with a startling thought that 
pierced through them like an arrow.  They stared at the person who would 
have most likely had an explanation.
	Genma-panda took out a small sign.  <Food will heal me.>

{
 "Hey!  You mean a kid is going to solve everything?"  Daisuke asked 
disbelievingly.
 "And... his... he..." Hiroshi followed through.
 "Watch and learn..."
}
Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/mezza9.html
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