Happi Days 4d: Tetsuo's Tale
by GreggSharp/ aka Metroanime@aol.com

all characters (excepting Master Po & Tetsuo Tsukiku)
 are (c) Takahashi Rumiko, Fred Perry, etc. don't sue
 me as there isn't even enough money here to pay a 
 junior grade lawyer, and you could make more money 
 hiring me anyway. Thanks again to my pre-readers,
 those unsung heroes who make all this so much more
 comprehensible.
The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming
 dragon.
-----------------------------------------

   Ryouga intended to wait for "Akane" to get out of
school but he recognized a figure who was trying to
get his attention a few minutes later. Ryouga couldn't
put a name to the face, but knew it was one of Ranma's
classmates.

   "Ryouga, you escaped too." Tetsuo Tsukiku exclaimed.
"Good, that's almost an even dozen now."

   "Dozen what?"

   "Guys," Tetsuo said with some relief. "That's a little
less pressure on the rest of us. Not much but every
bit helps."

   "What are you talking about?"

   Tetsuo quickly outlined the events of the past week.
Saotome storming out of the Tendo residence, Happosai
going on a vengeance crusade against everyone by hitting
them with blasts of "Spring Of Drowned Bishojo Bride"
water, the male population of Furinkan down to (if you
included Ryouga) eleven guys that happened to be missing
on that morning for one reason or another. Happosai
vanishing, presumably to wait for Saotome to show up.

   "You're kidding. You ARE kidding, right? Please be
kidding!" Ryouga looked slightly ill. "Then when Happi
shot that water at me and I blocked with my umbrella."
Ryouga pulled his umbrella out and thanked it profusely
for being there when he needed it.

   "Not kidding. I tell you it has been HELL here. Guys
you used to know, or girls you used to know as guys, are
acting more and more like girls! They changed the uniform
so that girls are wearing fukus now!" Tetsuo shuddered.

   "I take it you don't like sailor suits."

   Tetsuo favored him with a horrified look. Ryouga 
recognized it as the same sort of expression that he
wore himself whenever someone offered him pork.

   "You've got to be kidding," Tetsuo said in a low 
voice. "I lived in Juuban. Do you know what Juuban is
like? Youma keep showing up, and then there's those
damn Senshi! I got caught in between a youma, the 
Senshi, and a wall. That's what got me started studying
magic, it's hard not to believe in magic when some girl
has just slammed you with some sort of lightning spell."

   "Or when you've seen Jusenkyou curses," Ryouga added.

   "Yeah. Speaking of which, I hope Saotome shows up
soon."

   "So he can draw Happosai out into the open?"

   Tetsuo shook his head. "No, when I got here, Ranma
found out I was studying magic and wanted to know if
I could figure out how to cure a Jusenkyo curse."

   "Oh, and can you?" Ryouga tried not to look 
interested or hopeful.

   "I've gotten a lot of chances to study the curses,
and I've managed to get a sample of the water. I
promised Ranma that if I found a cure, I'd come to him
first. I may have found a way to transfer the curse,
cutting its bonds to a particular individual and then
transfer it over to someone else. If I can do that, I
can transfer his 'Young Girl' curse to an animal or
something and he'll no longer have it. It's really
tricky though, and can only be attempted on one night
a year."

    Tetsuo looked at Ryouga and smiled. "Sorry, didn't
mean to talk shop."

    "So what have you figured out about the curses,"
asked Ryouga. "I mean this whole changing thing is
just so bizarre."

    "According to some records, there was an ancient
civilization called the 'Silver Millenium' and one of
their cities was the site of a major battle of magic
between forces of good and evil. Just my theory, but
Juusenkyo's source could have been the site where that
battle took place and left a Transmutation rift into
the underlying probability matrix between universes."

    "Uh yeah." Ryouga hadn't moved, but he had the 
feeling he was lost again.

    "Sorry." Tetsuo leaned up against one of the
trees. "Let me tell you, Ryouga, it's been a scary
week. The mental effects have been the worst things."

    "Mental effects?"

    "Yeah." Tetsuo glanced briefly at Ryouga. "I mean
most of the guys that got changed acted pretty much
normal for the first day. About halfway through the
day after they'd gotten cursed you started noticing
things that they were doing different."

    "Things?" Ryouga looked lost again, or maybe he
just hadn't stopped being lost.

    "Yeah. Little mannerisms that were off. Guys that
used to walk like guys now taking smaller steps, or
raising the pitch of their voice when talking to 
authority figures, using more feminine speech 
patterns, you know, GIRL stuff."

    "Oh." Ryouga looked a little frightened as the
possibilities ran through his mind.

    "Yeah. It got worse into the third day, even some
of the teachers that used to be guys were adopting 
more gestures, acting more girlish, getting more
comfortable with the change."

    "Oh." Ryouga repeated. He was VERY glad he didn't
attend school. "Then all those girls in those fuku..."

    "Not all, but a LOT of them are formerly guys.
Nabiki's been selling accessories, makeup kits and 
instruction books, all sorts of things. What's really
been crazy was Monday."

    "This IS Monday." Ryouga looked uncertain.

    "Yeah, I cut out after two classes of this. I had
to get some fresh air, you know?"

    "What's so bad now?" Ryouga had a Bad Feeling about
this, he had a feeling this was one of those questions
that you really didn't want to know the answer to.

    "Sometime over the weekend, most of the guys' gender
identity and gender preference switched. That's why I
HAD to get out. I don't care if Hinako sensei gives me
grief for being a delinquent, this was just too much
for me to handle."

    "What do you mean?" Ryouga didn't get it, though a
little voice in the back of his head was making noises
like "Gakkk!" and "Ick!"

    "Meaning those that have gone this far, which seems
to be everyone who wasn't fighting it or didn't have a
lot of mental strength or stability, now regard 
themselves as girls and are comfortable with it. More
frightening, to me at any rate, is that they're quite
apparently attracted to guys now."

     "Gakkkk!"

     "Well put, Ryouga." Tetsuo noticed someone 
approaching. "Uh oh. I just thought of why I SHOULD NOT
let Hinako sensei catch me. LATER...."

      Tetsuo turned to run, which was his second mistake
as he did have a nice "don't notice me" spell that he
could have cast in short order.

      "HAPPO FIVE YEN SATSU!"

      Ryouga noticed Tetsuo trying to run as he was
getting drained and hid behind a tree. He watched as
a partially drained Tetsuo Tsukiku collapsed on the
ground, only to be surrounded by fuku wearing girls
who were apparently going to "rescue" him and "nurse
him back to health" from their remarks.

     Ryouga turned slightly green, made sure that 
Miss Hinako didn't see him, and silently prayed that
he hadn't been noticed and please-kami-let-Akane-get-
out-of-class-early-so-I-can-get-the-heck-out-of-here-
fast.

     He heard a step behind him and turned, slowly,
knowing that this was Major Big Time Not Good.
-----------------
end of my planned side stories, next up Ranma Returns.