renamed to avoid confusion. slightly retooled based on feedback from
pre-reading. Tanoshimu Minaa-san!
On the Road, To Jusenkyo   by Gregg Sharp
revision 1

  just an idea i've partially sketched out, the sort
of thing i've enjoyed reading on the web. if someone's
already done this, give me the address and i'll gladly
stop this and pursue one of my other ideas.
  oh, Kasumi-chan, will you do the honors?
  "Hai, all characters, situations, places, are: (c) of
Takahashi Rumiko, Viz, Kitty Films, Shogokukan, and a
number of other VIPs. My goodness, we're owned by that
many people? Oh, sorry. No smear or copyright violation
is intended, please look both ways before crossing the
street, the rain in spain falls mainly on the plain,
Gold Digger is (c) Fred Perry, and very bad you fall in
spring."
  Kasumi-chan? Try to cut down on the caffeine.
  "Oh my. Gregg-san, about that scene where I get my
curse?"
  Ah, Kasumi-chan? Read the outline chapter two. This
is not necessarily a bad thing...
  "You better write this when you finish Happi Days."
  *sigh* Hai, Kasumi-chan. Hai.
-------------------------------------
Toltiir, angel/kami/demon of bad jokes sat with 
Takahashi, angel/kami/demoness of bizarre romantic
subplots & weird humor. They were drinking sake. 

A continuum away, Christopher Angel, god of moments, 
looked up from his card game with the current god 
of destiny and shuddered. This did not bode well.

The two were betting on how a Gamma class alteration in
a timeline could have major effects on the outcome of 
said timeline. Takahashi smiled at Toltiir and introduced
a single change HERE. Toltiir introduced another change
THERE. They settled down to watch the effects of their
meddling.
------------------
Genma stopped at a sudden thought. This would be the
last stop in the training journey, the boy was coming
along well. Why not send the postcard now, tell old 
Soun what was going on, and that the families would be
united soon. Heck, Soun was probably out of shape and
could use the training himself. If Ranma met his future
bride in "neutral territory" it might be better for
everyone.

Genma quickly wrote out a letter, putting in details 
that a postcard wouldn't have room for. This would
work, and the plan he and Soun had put together all
those years ago would finally come to be.
-------------------
Soun turned over the letter and smiled.

"Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi! Pack your bags, we're going on
a little trip."
-------------------
Nabiki dialed the number she'd gotten from her father's
address book. If the scanty details she'd gotten from
her father were correct, they were going to meet an old
friend of her father's and that friend's son in some
really out of the way place. Even by flight to Tibet
using Ace's Cargo and a mule ride the rest of the way,
this would stretch her finances far more than she'd 
like. By the sound of it, these two had been on this
training trip for nearly ten years, and that meant...

"Hello, is this Mrs Saotome?" Nabiki thought it likely
that after a ten year absence, the mother would want to
meet the son. If they pooled resources, it shouldn't
be so much of a drain on the dojo's tenuous finances.
--------------------
The meeting between families had gone relatively without
problem, though it ended up taking an extra two hours
for the trip despite or because of the presence of the
mules.

This brought the group to the aforementioned "Training
Ground Of Cursed Springs" that Genma had been throwing
hints out about. "Legendary battleground" and "ancient
training spot for masters of the martial arts" were
phrases he'd heard from the person selling him the 
guidebook, and he didn't hesitate to parrot bits and
pieces of the salesman's spiel.

Soun Tendo came up with the idea of getting pictures
of his family at such an infamous site, making a family
portrait with all three daughters, Ranma, and his 
father. 

"Look, nothing to it," Nabiki grabbed one of the
bamboo poles, and slowly moved climbed up until she
was balanced (shakily) upon the top, like Ranma, Akane,
and Genma. A couple of twitches, but she eventually
got to the point where she wasn't windmilling her arms.

Kasumi stood nearby, looking up and muttering about how
dangerous the whole thing looked.

Nadoka Saotome and Soun Tendo looked on from the side,
waiting for that odd Chinese Guide to come out of his
hut. He'd ran in there saying something about having
so many visitors to Cursed Springs all at same time.
Soun adjusted the camera. He wanted to get several 
shots from different angles.

<CLICK> one photo while Kasumi smiled, Nabiki tried to
catch her balance again, and Genma and Ranma glared at
each other.

Genma caught Soun's eyes. While they were waiting 
anyway.

"Daughters," Soun said loud enough to catch everyone's
attention. "I said that I had some important news to
tell you, but I think I'll let Genma tell you since it
WAS originally his idea."

Ranma glanced at his father. Why did the old man have
to make such a stupid promise to his mother. They were
going to hit him with some stupid suggestion like going
shopping or something, and he'd have to be "a man among
men" and not complain about it or "off with their heads."
It was a good thing he'd warned him about this "man among
men" contract shortly after the two families had met on 
the trail. Ranma shuddered to think what might have 
happened otherwise.

Nabiki, Akane, and Kasumi expectantly watched Genma as
he balanced on his own pole.

"Many years ago," Genma started. "It was decided that
the two schools of the 'Anything Goes' style of martial
arts would be joined. My son would marry one of Soun's
daughters."

"WHAT!?!" Three women erupted. Nabiki nearly fell from
her perch. Akane growled at Ranma, but it penetrated 
that he had turned pale and was looking just as shocked.
He hadn't known either, then. The glare was turned in
full upon the two fathers.

"So you see, Ranma, you'll need to choose one of these
three as your fiancee." Ranma's mother smiled. "But not
right now, I think."

Ranma almost fell off his pole, his shock so obvious
that it penetrated Akane's anger a second time. Ranma
would have expected his father to do things to screw up
his life, but his mother?

"I..." Whatever Ranma was about to say would remain
unknown. A yellow and black blur sliced through the
bamboo pole he was still standing on. 

"WHAT!" Nabiki's reaction to the projectiles raining
down from above was predictable. She lost her balance,
which hadn't been too secure to begin with, screamed 
briefly and made quite a splash as she entered the pool.
She clawed briefly at the surface before being drawn
under, though Kasumi and Nadoka noticed the skin of
her hand was CHANGING as she reached for air.

Akane merely yelped and turned to face her attacker.
There was a boy atop one of the ledges throwing the
odd missles. Akane glanced down to find that the 
odd weapons were..."bandanas?"

 As another bandana cut through her pole, Akane noted
there was a cat getting out of the pool that Nabiki had
fallen in, and Ranma's pool was bubbling. Then she hit
the water herself.

 Kasumi managed a startled "Ara!" and turned to run, she
got about four yards before slipping in the mud near one
pool. The look on her face changed as the panic
suddenly let go to be replaced with a certain look of 
"I really don't want to be here, please let this be a
dream sequence."

<SPLASH!>

Kasumi got up and looked at Kasumi. Kasumi #1 realized
that Kasumi #2 didn't have any clothes on. Kasumi#2
realized that SHE didn't have any clothes on, though the
Kasumi next to her WAS wearing her clothes. "EEP!"

Panic returned, both Kasumis scrambled out of the pool.
Kasumi #1 suddenly realized that Genma had been knocked
into the air and was heading directly for her. "Oh my."

<SPLASH!>

Genma grabbed the pole, twisted out of the way of the
water, and bounced back to chase after the attacker
who was now using some sort of umbrella as a weapon.
The wave of water from Kasumi#1 hitting the Spring Of
Twins again hit the startled Kasumi#2.

Kasumi#1 glanced at the other three Kasumis, while the
three new Kasumis were trying to cover themselves with
their hands and not doing an adequate job.

A cat looked up at Kasumi and meowed. Then made an 
interrogative noise at the other Kasumis. The two 
glanced at the pool that Genma was now splashing down
in as one of the poles abruptly snapped under his 
weight.

Kasumi#1 adjusted the wet clothing. "I don't know
Nabiki, I just don't know. Maybe we ought to find me
some additional clothing?"

Nabiki-neko meowed something that sounded affirmative.

Ranma erupted out of the pool. It sank past the 
otherwise all-consuming fury that someone was screaming.
His mother, who was supposed to be so tough was 
screaming at the sight of him. Ranma had felt his body
change, and was now wondering if he dared to look.


------------------------

Yup, ending here. this is the revised version of a draft
sent to my pre-readers or other interested parties. This
is one of those ideas "on a shelf" that i might do 
something with. one of the things i want to get feedback
on is WHAT Ranma turned into. A possibility i'm toying 
with is that he fell into spring of drowned young dragon,
then later in the fight gets knocked into good ol' 
spring of drowned girl. That would make him "Ranma 
Dragon Half"... (if you haven't seen Dragon Half, and you
enjoy Slayers, you should check it out.)
or maybe something else big powerful and mean looking,
after all, he was feeling quite a bit of anger when he
hit the water and if inner nature does affect which pool
you fall in...
spring of drowned velociraptor (Utahraptor)?
spring of drowned sabre-toothed tiger?
spring of drowned Bishonen? hey if the originator of
 the concept doesn't go any further with it...
spring of drowned hawk THEN spring of drowned girl. 
 (Kuno is always going on about pigtailed goddess, what
 about an angel?)
spring of shiva?
something else? 
      mind you, i've got two MORE hearings on this crap
from Bell Honda dropping the ball on my title, and i
read the news, meaning i trust the Phoenix PD about as
much as i could win a fight with Ranma Saotome. When 
i'm having one of my frequent bouts of bronchitis. and
a migraine. and the humidity's making all those joints
that were broken in High School flare up. 
until then, ja ne!