The people over at CS were stu- er, NICE enought to let me write my own story
in the CS universe. It's authorized, but completely unofficial as of this
time. hope ya like it.


Ryo Saotome copywrite of Ross McKenzie.
Ryo Muhoshin copywrite of Rod M (RpM.)
Ranma charachters copywrite of Rumiko Takahashi.

-La Morte de Ryo-
by Mercutio.

Copywrite 1998, Matthew Giglia.

There are million stories in the Ranmaverse. Some are good, some are bad, and
some are just plain wrong. 

This is one of the latter.

*   *   *

It was a quiet morning in Nerima. Unlike in many other Nerima's out there,
this was quite normal. There was never any massive property damage (at least
not on a daily basis) in this Nerima. Nobody got hit with a mallet. Birds
sang, people went on their way to work or school, and the town in general was
well on the way to a nice, peaceful day. In an alley leading off the path to
Furinkan High, a ball of cerulean fire flared.

That wasn't normal at all.

Ryo Saotome stepped out of the portal, taking a moment to observe his
surroundings. It was home, or another reasonable facsimile thereof. Under
other circumstances, considering some of the freakish places he'd been, he
would be overjoyed. Now, he was just annoyed.

"Blast," Ryo muttered, "where IS the man?" He glanced down at the locket with
a rather annoyed look on his face. "I specifically ordered this thing to 'take
me to the evil, psychotic, Ryoga- murdering Ryo Muhoshin whom I've been
hunting for so long.' There is no way it could have messed that u-"

"That was extraordinarily stupid of you. And I dislike being called evil." 

*Uh-oh* thought Ryo. *We have a-* <GOOSHCRACK> *problem...* All of a sudden
Ryo was being troubled by a sharp pain in his chest.

He looked down, and discovered the reason. When one has been gooshed through
the back and heart by a rather sharp umbrella tip, and had it crack through
one's rib cage in a manner that left it protruding six inches out in front of
you, one tends to feel it rather sharply.

Muhoshin withdrew his umbrella from Ryo's back and allowed him to slide to the
ground. "Tsk, tsk," he said, twirling his weapon idley as he saunterd around
into Ryo's field of view. "I would have expected something better out of a
Saotome. You KNOW the lockets can sense each other coming, and you should have
surmised that a command like that would have dumped you extremely close to
me."

"Damn... y-you..." Ryo was in bad shape. There was a gaping hole in both his
back and chest, and every time his heart pumped it spurted blood and various
other vital fluids all over the pavement.

That wouldn't be a problem for much longer. His heart was begginning to beat
much less often, and with less intensity too. Very soon, there would be
nothing left to pump. "Mu... ho... shin..." he gasped.

"Oh, is this where the hero uses his last strength to spew towering invective
at his adversary?" Muhoshin cackled in a manner very reminiscent of Kodachi.
Ryo was in no condition to notice the similarity. "I'm terribly sorry, but
there's nobody here to be impressed." 

Muhoshin then eyed Ryo's clenched fist, and, more specifically, the chain
wrapped around it. One didn't need to be a genius to guess what he clutched
within. "Well, well, well," said Muhoshin, bending down to reach for it. "You
won't be needing this anymore. I'm sure I can give it a good home. Perhaps
Miss Kaeri would like a little gift..."

Ryo groaned and made a rather futile attempt to shield his fist with what
remained of his body. "Now, now," said Muhoshin playfully, "Let's not make
this difficult. You're only prolonging..."

"Hey, is something going on in there?" came a voice from outside the alleyway.
Muhoshin turned to look, and Ryo tilted his head to see as best he could.
Somebody was approaching them; the morning sun already threw his shadow into
the alley.

A shadow... whose head bore a rather distinctive pig-tail.
 
"Well. It looks like daddy dearest has arrived." Muhoshin was perturbed by
this, but only momentarily. "No matter. He'll never get you to a hospital in
time, and he has no idea who you are." Muhoshin stepped back against the wall.
"I'll be back for my prize later. Give my best to Ranma." There was a flash of
blue flame...

And Ryo was alone. He grimaced, and tried to clear the red haze from his
vision. Only one chance now... if Dad would just hurry it up...

*  *  *

Among many other things, Ranma Saotome is a creature of whimsy. So when he
heard a voice moaning in roughly in agony and another voice mocking it in a
polite yet sadistic fashion coming from an alleyway in his neighborhood, he
simply HAD to investigate.

Ranma rounded the corner of the alleyway at a slight jog, just in time to
catch a shadowy figure disappear in a burst of azure, leaving another figure
lying on the pavement in a pool of his own blood.

"What in the..." Ranma rushed immediatly to the side of the fallen one. "Hey,
are you all right?" The boy obviously wasn't, of course, but it was the sort
of thing one said in this situation.

Ryo raised his head "Ngghh.. d...da.."

"Oh hell." Ranma started to turn away. "Hang on a second, I'll call an
ambulance..."

"N...(hack) NO!!" Using some of his last remaining strength, and trying to
ignore the taste of blood in his mouth, Ryo reached out and snagged Ranma's
leg. "No... Dad, don't... go..."

Poor kid was obviously delirious. Thought that he was his father. Ranma gently
bent down and touched the other's hand, intending to pull it away. "Listen,
I'll go get help..."

"No... not enough time.... listen, Dad... this is important..." Ryo held up
the locket before Ranma's face, willing it to life. He could travel, still, he
dimly realized, but even if he could set himself down inside an ER it probably
wouldn't do any good.

Ranma was about to turn away again when the locket flared, surrounding itself
with dancing blue flames. He stared. "How..."

"Listen, Dad. This locket... it's magic." Ryo spat out a bubble of blood and
continued doggedly. He knew what he had to do. "It can take you... through
time. To other worlds. Alternate HNGGG!!!" The internal damage must have
reached my kidneys, Ryo thought. Stings even worse than a rabbit punch.
"Alternate... realities. Just hold it and concentrate...  You'll be there. The
other one... the one in the ball of flame..."

Ranma was still vaguely conscious of the fact that he should be getting help,
but he was transfixed by the narrative. "The other one... then he can also..."

"Yes, Dad... you always caught on quick... he is evil... EVIL!!!" Ryo clasped
his hand over Ranma's, pressing the locket deep into his father's flesh. "He
has... one of these... too. His name is... Muhoshin, and he...he... " 

Ryo had pushed his body past the limits of his endurance, remaining alive only
through pure will. He was running rapidly out of both life and will, however,
and began to swoon. "Muhoshin.... hates Ryoga, kills Ryoga... lots of Ryoga's,
world after world..."

Ranma drew back slighty at this. "Killing Ryoga...." he said, his eyes going
slightly off. "How do you kn-"

"Tried to stop him... couldn't.... now you... have to... Dad..."

"Dad...." Ranma's head was spinning with the sudden onslaught of information
he was receiving. Two minutes earlier, he had simply been on his way to
school, and now... "Dad... time travel... then you are..."

"Your son... who might have been." Ryo slid the locket's chain over Ranma's
hand and then allowed his arm to flop limply to the ground. "Some... son...
eh? Couldn't even... win against... a simple, ordinary psychopath... now...
you... go... stop... Muho-" Ryo suddenly spasmed, his muscles and bones
locking one against each other. "Bell-chan..." he whispered.... "I did what I
could. Now it's up to Da-"

Then Ryo Saotome's world became black and cold.

*  *  *

Ranma stared at the lifeless corpse before him. Then he slowly reached out
closed it's eyes. "Poor kid..." he muttered. "To have such an ill met fate..."

"Ranma?" Came a feminine voice from outside the alleyway. "Hey Ranma, where
are you?"

"Uh-oh." Said Ranma. "This 'll be tough to explain..." Casting about rapidly,
Ranma spied a dumpster. "Looks about the right size...."

After appropriating a nearby rag to cover his hands, and being extremely
careful to avoid the blood as much as possible, Ranma hefted the corpse,
opened the dumpster, and rather uncerimoniously dumped his son inside. "Sorry,
but this would look extremely bad... me being near a dead body and all." Ranma
shut the dumpster, secured the lid, and slipped the locket into his pants
pocket, willing it to stop flaring first. "Looks like it does respond to
mental commands..." Composing himself, he exited the alleyway.

"Ranma! There you are." Akane came running up to him, sligtly winded. "I was
wondering where you'd gotten off to."

"Oh, I just went on ahead without you a little ways, Akane," said Ranma
blithely. Changing the subject, he said, "So, we should probably be on our way
to school right?" Ranma turned and started walking towards Furinkan, forcing
Akane to follow. "And while we walk, tell me some more about his new friend
you said we're meeting at the park. What did you say her name was?"

"Mariko," said Akane, excited that Ranma was taking an interest in her life.
"Nice girl, good martial artist. You'll like her. You wouldn't believe what
she uses as a weapon though... anyway, you'll see for yourself. Here we are."
Sure enough, they'd reached the park.

"How come we didn't just pick her up at her house? Does she live across town
or something?"

Akane shrugged. "I don't know. She just asked me to pick her up here."

Ranma absently nodded, and mouthed a pleasantry, tuning out much of what Akane
was saying as he fingered the item secreted in his pocket. Time travel.
Alternate realities. Interesting. And the bit about a madman killing Ryoga in
world after world... that was even more interesting.

He was sure he could find a use for this little trinket.

The End.

For those of you whom the ending utterly confused, I suggest you read "Ill Met
By Starlight," Chapter Three. It'll clear things right up.

Psycho-Ranma and Hibiki Mariko copywrite of Mike Loader and Susan Doenime.

Special thanks go to Mike, who's been very good natured about me constantly
badgering him in regards to this fic.

-Mercutio-
"A plague 'a both your houses!"