DRAGON'S DESTINY 1: Here's Ranma?
a Ranma 1/2 fanfic by Gregg Sharp
   ranma 1/2 and related char (c) Takahashi Rumiko

The Kami Plane________________
	"Hmph." Toltiir was in his black cat guise
again. The kami/demon/spirit of mischief looked over
at his companion with a smirk. "All right, I admit 
that causing Genma to send that letter two weeks earlier
instead of a postcard from the port was a good use of
a Gamma class intervention. You did three nudges that
I'm sure of, though."
	"Whatever," Takahashi waved off the objection.
"Did you think you could do better?"
	"Why don't we see, if we take this timeline
here where Ranma dies at Ryoga's hands while the lost
boy was using the koi rod. And then I change THIS."
	Energy flowed out from the cat, and made a 
minute change in the timestream.
	"Interesting choice," Takahashi smiled in
anticipation. "Oh, and did you grant Ranma that wish
in his Alpha timeline?"
	"Oh yes, he wished someone else had his troubles.
So Ryouga has his troubles, as well as six other people.
The curses duplicated almost exactly. Let's see how
this develops first."
------------------------------
	"<Training ground guide, yes?>" Genma offered
five of the little round coins to the street merchant.

	The street merchant in question looked Genma
over and thought about what a disreputable person he
had found today. Holding up three fingers he handed
Genma a booklet. Genma gave three coins and the deal
was done.

	"Hey pops, what you got there?"

	"Boy, this is a guide to the great martial arts
sites in China. Look here's one called 'Jusenkyo.'" An
errant breeze blew the page over, revealing a cavern.
"Here's another one called the 'Cave of the Dragon's 
Fist' that looks good."

	"Great. That even sounds like someplace to
learn secret techniques. Let's go."
-------------------
	The cave had been carved out in ancient times,
but had an unfinished look. Genma walked to the center
of the cave, Ranma wandering behind him as he looked 
over the area.

	"Man, this doesn't look special at all."

	"Quiet boy," Genma pointed to a plaque hanging
in midair in the exact center of the cave. "What do you
suppose this is?"

	Ranma looked it over. "Damn, it's written in
Chinese. Why couldn't it be in Japanese?"

	Genma was about to reply that they WERE in
China when he noticed the kanji reshaping and moving
around. 

	Ranma swallowed as he watched the lettering
finish moving. The sign was now in Japanese. "Uhm,
neat trick."

	"Frivolous wishes are cause for immediate
termination of wisher." Genma read the first line and
sweated slightly. Frivolous by WHOSE standards?

	"So, I guess using this for getting a decent
meal would be out of the question." Ranma shrugged and
wandered off to check the cave out a bit. Only the
area with the sign was lit, and that as if with a 
spotlight.

	Genma bit back the first thing he had thought
of. "Ranma, did I ever tell you about the promise we
made your mother when we left for this training journey?"

	"Huh? What promise?"

	Genma explained that Ranma had to be a "man 
among men" when rejoining his mother, or both father
and son would have to commit seppuku.

	"Is that why I've been carrying that tanto all
this time?!?" Ranma was shocked and had backed up
against the wall, noticing that there were bones rolled
up against the walls. "Uh oh."

	Genma blanched. Where did THOSE come from? 
Pieces of skeletons shoved up against the far confines
of the wall in all directions except the path from the
door. He could have sworn they weren't there a minute
ago. Had they suddenly appeared, the cave underscoring
the consequences of making light of its magic.

	"I wish that Ranma were truly a man among men,
a paragon, uhm, with powers and abilities far beyond
mortal man, uh, so incredibly heroic that his mother
couldn't possibly doubt that he was a man among men, uh
or something like that." Genma sweated. He hadn't 
intended to say anything of the sort, but he'd gotten
unnerved by the sight of all those bones.

	"Oyaji! What are you....arrrrrggggghhhh!" Ranma
dropped, twisting in pain as an emerald glow washed
over him.

	"GRANTED," came a voice echoing from all over
the cave. "An interesting choice, as I see a use for a
True Hero in these times." The voice was impossibly 
deep and had a growling, raspy quality to it. It also
spoke flawless Japanese, which impressed Genma even 
more than the magical glow.

	"Father," came a deep voice. Genma turned back
to Ranma after failing to find the source of the voice.
Ranma stood again, but Genma might not have recognized
him if he hadn't known he was there.

	Ranma stood taller now, and his frame had also
filled out with a tight musculature. His hair was a
bit lighter in color, and now reached his mid-back.  The
muscles were tightly packed but without the bulk of the
professional weightlifter.

	"Ranma?"

	"Yes, father." Ranma appeared thoughtful. "Shall
we go?"

	"Uh, yeah, I guess so." Genma didn't want to 
consider what might occur if he tried wishing again.

	Shuddering, Genma moved to catch up with his
transformed son, hoping that there wasn't a hidden 
pricetag that would catch up with him later.
----------------------
	"Excuse me," Takahashi said from her chair.
"What exactly was THAT about?"

	"The contract?"

	"No, the wish." Takahashi materialized a cup
of Earl Grey, hot. "You wouldn't be manipulating the
father in front of Shen Long, would you?"

	"Who, me? You must have confused me with 
someone else." Toltiir blinked and looked smug in the
manner that cats have been perfecting for generations.

	"Play fast and loose with the rules, Puck, oh
no. Certainly not you. I must have been mistaken."
----------------------
	"So this is Jusenkyo," Ranma looked about at
the pools of water covering this section of the valley.
"Interesting."

	Genma glanced over at his son, he was somewhat
unnerved by the changes he'd detected in his son as
well as what his son could do now. "C'mon, Ranma, follow
me!"

	Ranma shrugged. "Actually, I don't think this
is such a good idea."

	Genma's leap took him to the top of one of the
bamboo poles. Ranma landed a split instant later on one
of the others. 

	Ranma looked at the various springs. "I REALLY
don't think this is such a good idea."

	"Ranma, concentrate on the fight!"

	Ranma glanced back, his father had already 
leapt and would strike him in two point three seven
seconds. Plenty of time.

	Ranma struck out, slapping his father and
diverting the heavier man on a completely different
trajectory.

	Genma impacted the waters of one of the pools.

	"Oh no, sirs, what you do here! It very 
dangerous, no one train here anymore!"

	Ranma spared a glance at the newcomer. "See,
father, I told you this didn't look like a good idea."

	The panda who slowly crawled out of the pool
couldn't help but agree.
-----------------------
	"This, sirs, is Amazon Village."

	"You can knock off the pidgin," Ranma smirked.
"I saw some of the books in your little hut there."

	"Sorry, sirs, not speak Japanese that well."

	Ranma shrugged and turned his attention back
to the fight, pausing only to slap his father away from
the prize table. "Pops, you don't want to do that. See,
it says 'First Prize' on it."

	"Sir, you read Chinese?"

	"I'm not fluent, but I read through one of 
your Japanese-Chinese dictionaries while you were 
trying to make dinner yesterday." Ranma noted idly
the weaknesses and strengths of both fighters on the
log. The pretty girl was obviously the more skilled,
though her weapons looked pretty silly. The other 
woman was wielding a tetsubo one-handed.

	Taking three point seven seconds longer than
Ranma had estimated, the prettier girl finally knocked
the heavier one off the log.

	The winner turned, looked towards her prize
and quite nearly fell off her log. She said something
too fast for Ranma to follow and charged towards him.

	Dodging, Ranma tried to smile and be reasonable.
"<I sorry. Not speak Chinese very goodly. Please slowly
speak.>"

	Shampoo (you knew it was her, right?) didn't
look impressed. "<Stranger male, you I challenge!>"

	Ranma noted that she had looked him up and
down and licked her lips. They weren't cannibals here,
were they?

	Suddenly another girl stepped forward. Again
more of this odd Mandarin dialect spoken too quickly
for Ranma to follow. He looked towards the Guide.

	"She challenge her for right to challenge you."

	"Damn, they must really hate visitors." Ranma
didn't notice the Guide facefault. A third girl had
apparently challenged the second girl, quickly followed
by a fourth girl screaming something that sounded 
extremely unflattering at the third amazon.

	Only a few more moments of this, then someone
shoved someone else and that sparked it. Ranma, Guide,
and panda fled as a free-for-all developed.

	Over it all could be heard the little old woman
judge standing on her stick and yelling for the entire
group to act like amazons and get their hormones under
control.

	Cologne watched the three fleeing figures. Good
riddance. The village had enough troubles without anyone
fighting over a mere male. Mind you, if she'd been three
centuries younger...

	Shaking her head at the odd fancy, Cologne set
her attention back to the riot at hand. She idly noted
that her great-granddaughter was missing from the crowd.
----------------
	"That must be them!" Nabiki ran for the door.
They couldn't possibly be rich, but she had spent too
much time pondering her loneliness to not want SOMETHING
to fill the void in her heart. Maybe if he was cute...

	She opened the door, saw a huge panda and almost
turned and bolted back into the house. Then her eyes
caught a glimpse of the boy standing there.

	Her hand reached back and closed the door 
behind her, incidently shutting it in her father's face.

	"Hi there," she said, realizing a moment later
that it had come out in a squeak. "I'm home, welcome to
our Nabiki..." Something didn't sound right about that
but she was feeling thoroughly out of sorts and couldn't
spare the time to analyze what was wrong.

	"Uhm. Hello. My name is Ranma Saotome."

	Nabiki was shaking, sweating, and would have
been drooling if her mouth hadn't suddenly gone all dry.
The voice was perfect, a deep silken smooth sort of 
voice that could have been used for radio commercials.
She'd be his agent, with a voice and looks like that, he'd
make her rich. She could have a boyfriend like this, AND
be filthy obscenely rich. "Excuse me a moment."

	Running around the corner she thanked her
ancestors, kami, and any deities/angels/spirits that
she could think of. "YES!"

	Running back to the door, Nabiki noted her 
father had come out of the house.

	"Well, come in now. I want you to meet my other
two daughters."

	Nabiki panicked. *No, no, no. MINE!* She ran
in after the group. "Oh, Daddy? uhm. DIBS!"

	Ranma looked a little puzzled. What was going
on? They were just visiting his father's friend's house,
weren't they? He was still puzzled by the reactions he
was getting from women, he was still himself wasn't he?
A few physical changes since the Cave, but he hadn't
changed that much, had he? He didn't FEEL different.

	Kasumi watched as her father entered, followed
by a huge panda. "Well, father, you certainly have
interesting friends.....?!?" A boy had just entered the
room. Why was it getting so warm all of a sudden?

	Akane's glare vanished as if someone had thrown
a switch. Her mouth refused to work as she gazed up 
into those crystalline blue eyes.

	"Y-y-y-you wouldn't be...." Kasumi managed
after a false start. It wasn't polite to stare but she
just couldn't help it. He was breathtakingly gorgeous,
beyond idol singer levels of cute, with an air of
confidence and quiet strength that seemed to make
something melt within her.

	Akane nodded. He couldn't be. This would just
have been too good to be true.

	Nabiki stood behind the group, trying to get
her father's attention. "Uhm, Daddy, like I said. Dibs!"

	"I'm Ranma Saotome," he said with a bow, showing
respect to the still sitting girls. "Sorry to trouble
you."

	"Oh my," Kasumi realized that she really should
be a better hostess, that she should offer them some tea
or something, but she didn't think her knees would 
support her at the moment. She'd completely forgotten
that the other visitor was a panda.

	Akane nodded again, still trying to get her
mouth working. She was so afraid that she would say
something wrong, the idea of those eyes filled with
hurt was not something she thought she could face.

	"Well then, these are my three daughters. 
There's Kasumi, she's 19..."

	"Yes," breathed Kasumi, her eyes glazed over
as she went off into a private fantasy somewhere.

	"Ah." Soun seemed a little put off, what was
going on here? This guy looked more like a model or
actor than a real martial artist, but Kasumi was all
flushed. She couldn't be sick, could she? "You've 
already met Nabiki, she's 17."

	"DIBS, I said DIBS! I saw him first!"

	"Uhm, right." Soun glanced at Nabiki but
decided to ignore what he didn't understand. "Then
there's Akane, she's 16."

	"Me?!? I couldn't, I wouldn't...Well, if
you insist. Okay."

	Soun looked at Akane as if she'd grown a 
second head. All her complaints had stopped and she
had turned the same color as that Ferrari on that
gaijin TV show about a Hawaiian private eye. Maybe
Kasumi's illness was contagious?

	"Pick anyone you like, she'll be your new
fiancee," Soun smiled. Maybe they liked him, this
would be easier than he'd thought!

	"Excuse me, did you say fiancee?" Ranma looked
at the panda with some displeasure.

	A sign appeared in the panda's paw. [Oh, didn't
I mention that?]

	"Just a moment, please." Ranma sighed deeply.
The girls were all lost for a moment in the contemplation
of how his pectorals and those broad shoulders moved. 
"Do you have any hot water?"

	"Of course!" Kasumi tried to get up, finally
scrambling and half falling as she moved towards the
kitchen. "Justamoment."

	Soun Tendo watched as his eldest nearly tripped
on the way to the kitchen. "Maybe we ought to hold off
on this, I think my daughters may have caught a cold
or something." Concern for his daughters briefly 
overwhelmed his obsession to unite the families.

	"No, no, no, no, no. Daddy, I clearly called
dibs on this one."

	"Nabiki," Akane finally got her mouth working.
She was NOT giving up this easily. "That's not fair!"

	"Life seldom is, sis. Besides, you snooze, you
lose." Yen signs began to appear before Nabiki. With
someone like this, she'd be able to make even more 
money than SHE could spend. The thought of all those
stuck up girls with their boyfriends being envious of
HER formed a private little fantasy that had her 
grinning.

	"Daddy, it's not fair. Besides, it's for the
dojo, right? So the best martial artist in the family
ought to be the one to marry Ranma, right?" She turned
her best smile on Ranma. "Right, Ranma?"

	Kasumi stuck her head out of the kitchen. "As
the eldest, shouldn't it be MY responsibility to meet
the family honor?"

	"Well, I..." Soun looked around. They weren't
sick? This was...

	Kasumi rushed in, bringing Ranma a kettle. 
She blushed and her knees nearly buckled as her fingers
brushed Ranma's as he reached out to take the kettle.

	Pouring a little of the hot water on the panda,
Soun noted that it had turned into his old friend Genma
Saotome. Ranma prepared to explain about Jusenkyo when
it became apparent that none of the three daughters had
noticed the transformation.

	Ranma checked his shirt. No stains, he couldn't
see anything out of place. He blushed at the attention,
not realizing how cute it made him look.

	"Sugoiiiiii," Akane breathed. Her sisters nodded.

	"Uhm, Pop. Do you want to explain about this
engagement thing?" Ranma smiled at the three girls. 
They didn't look as upset with this arrangement as he
was, maybe they'd had time to get used to it? 

	Kasumi nearly fainted. Nabiki sighed and 
absently wiped drool from her mouth. Akane smiled back 
and seemed to be quivering.

	"Uh, maybe we should go somewhere quiet and
discuss this."

	Genma looked at the three girls and was puzzled
as well. His son looked like such a wimp, though he 
knew better, why did Soun's daughters act so strangely
towards him? "I think that's an excellent idea, son."

	The three girls in question, of course, had
other ideas.
-----------------	
	Blocks away, a purple haired girl got directions
from a street vendor who couldn't help but remember the
boy she described. "Ranma, I find you SOON!"
-------------------------
Well, this is the first chapter of Dragon's Destiny,
  which is intended as an "altered-destiny" story 
  companion to the "Neutral Ground" tale. Just posting
  this chapter to gauge reaction while working on
  finishing "The Art." 
Something that i AM interested in hearing is what other
  "spins" on the wish could be made. After all, different
  people will come up with different interpretations of
  the phrase "a man among men." 

Next chapter: Ranma goes to Furinkan. Kuno fights Ranma.
  Shampoo gets directions. Nabiki makes money. The 
  timeline gets further divergent.