Ranma 1/2: Grand Tour 2a
	R.Takahashi owns the Nerima bunch. Aramar and
the Ninefold Worlds are my creation. No money made on
any of these though i may eventually try to do 
professional stories set in Aramar. My other works can
be found at the RAAC or on my website at 
http://members.aol.com/Metroanime/main.html
                   just to keep track of 'em:
Grand Tour, World 1: World Without Ranma
Grand Tour, World 2: Happily Ever After
  note that other worlds are planned, and the
entire thing (six chapters planned) is mainly
a Prologue to what would be a continuing series
in the Bet...
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	Nabiki arrived first, though her
employer was one of the more distant ones,
teleportational magic was one of the perks
she could occasionally indulge in. It was
fortunate  that she rarely suffered from the
disorientation sickness.

	It had been an interesting 
year working for one of the High Mages
who hadn't needed an apprentice so 
much as someone who could do the
nonmagical research methods for him.

	Nabiki had found the nearly
perfect job as an apprentice sage. To
ferret out secrets and indulge her 
natural curiosity while being paid in
GOLD and silver...Nabiki had been
as content as she could be under
the circumstances.

	Of course, there was that
one time she'd tried to sneak around
in the Master's workshop and had
spent the next week with her mind
transposed with one of the Master's
favorite hounds. THAT had not
been pleasant.

	Or the time when she'd
found a scroll containing a spell that
the Master had worked on, and had
tried to read it. The Master assured
her that he'd be able to cure her of
that compulsive behavior curse 
sometime in the very near future
and in the meantime she'd stay away
from anything even remotely 
alcoholic.

	Nabiki looked at the crowds
walking by and waited for the gates to
open to Lijra's tower. She garnered a few
stares, being of about the same size as an
elf, though without the fairness of skin 
and hair of a wood elf, or the dark skin
of a dark elf, or the wings of a sky elf,
or the greenish-blue coloration common
to sea elves. 

	In short, she didn't fit. There
were those who stared because they
weren't quite sure what she was, there
were others who stared because they
saw the blaze on her leather jacket
that proclaimed her to work for the
mage Kharon- one of the few mages
locally who was even better at his
craft than Lijra. Just not at this 
transdimensional travel. 

	Most who met her assumed
she was a half-dwarf, probably of an
elven mother, or an amazon of House
Rising Sun. That she was too short for
one of the amazons was typically
ignored.

	"Nabiki!" Ukyou came running
up. "Not open yet, huh?"

	Nabiki shook her head. "No.
So what have you been up to, you 
look like you've gotten a lot of sun."

	"Cooking! I've been working
a foodcart near the shipyards. I've always
said that I could make a living anywhere 
with okonomiyaki!"

	Nabiki allowed that this was
probably true. From what she saw of the
amazons, they were always much more
slender than you'd think they'd be considering
how much they ate.

	"Heard from anyone else?"

	"I've seen Shampoo." Ukyou
grinned. "She's been working on a patrol
ship that those Northstar amazons have
been running. It took quite a bit of wind
out of her sails to find out she wasn't the
best fighter of the amazons anymore.
She's improved her skills, but she's still
way below some of the others here."

	"A patrol ship? Which area?"

	"They call it the  'Yo'Mama',
a skyjammer, and it patrols the area around
New Kharonia." Ukyou smiled, as they
both knew how easily Shampoo had gotten
airsick aboard a dragon.
		
	"What about Ranma?"

	"Oh, Ranchan? I see him about
once a week, always running special duties
for the Emperor. You hear from Kasumi?"

	"She's ok." Nabiki shrugged.
"She joined the White Temple as an acolyte.
I doubt she'll even show."

	The gates opened. Frostbite, in
his elven form, looked over both of them.
"Hrmm. You've done well in the past year,
I see. Lijra's ready to see you now. Ranma
is already here, Shampoo will be a little
late. Air pirates, I understand. Kasumi has
been here since dawn."

	Nabiki shrugged. She hadn't 
made a bet on Kasumi's presence. She
was a little surprised though.

_/Atlanta, Georgia, Earth 2001 AD, Prime +313131\____
	Ukyou felt the dizziness pass as she 
entered one of the Alternates. There was a brief
feeling of disappointment as she realized this was
not her home Reality either.

	Noticing that the okonomiyaki in front of
her was done, she quickly removed it from the grill.
The woman she served it to looked slightly concerned
but moved along. 

	Then the next person in line came up, and
Ukyou got busy. This was at least familiar work and
she could lose herself in it as she added up the odd
details.

	One, though there were other asians around,
the predominant number of people were caucasians. She
served the pork okonomiyaki that had been ordered and
took an order for a double-beef, stumbling over making
change both times.

	Two, she was working a yattai with the 
familiar sign of Ucchan's in both romaji and katakana.
A small sign on a stand nearby listed her prices in 
English. Something was wrong there, too, as the
sign read "Ukyou Bateman, prop." Shouldn't it
read "Ukyou Saotome, okonomiyaki artist"?

	They were all speaking English, which she
knew bits and pieces of, at least enough to handle their
orders. She was a LONG way from fluent though.
 
	Three, she was wearing a wedding ring. 
Ah, she finally got Ranchan. But why did they leave
Japan? Well, at least one thing was certain, this was
a better Alternate than she'd been in the last time.

	Facing the lunchtime crowd, Ukyou
started concentrating on the task in front of her.
_/Nichieju, China, Earth 2001 AD, Prime +313131\____
	Ranma stumbled and leaned against
the table. "What the...?"

	Shampoo looked around the room, a
bright smile on her face. "Shampoo win. Shampoo
get Ranma. Shampoo HAPPY!"

	Ranma glanced out the door, and
nodded. "It does look like your village, all right."

	Humming a little Chinese tune, 
Shampoo looked around for some indication of
how she had managed this. After all, if it 
worked once, it should work again.

	Ranma scratched his head,
something was wrong with this scene.
For one thing, he didn't recognize anything
that would indicate a personal possession
of his. No pictures, no personal items other
than clothing.

	"Airen?" Shampoo hesitantly
touched Ranma's shoulder. "Is something
wrong?"

	"We need to find out where
this timeline went divergent, Shampoo,
but something strikes me as being wrong
about the whole thing. It's just a feeling."

	Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo
know."

	"<Shampoo, aren't you ready
yet?>" Ling-ling called from outside the
door. "<Stop fooling around with your
husband and come along or you'll miss
the Ceremony!>"

	Ranma blinked. Nichieju dialect
Mandarin wasn't a skill he'd ever developed.
Maybe THIS Ranma had, but he'd have to
wait until the merging was underway before
the skills developed.

	"<Be right there!>" Shampoo
waved and smiled before switching back
to Japanese for Ranma. "Ah, Ling-ling now
young woman. We maybe five years in
future."

	Ranma had noticed how much
older Ling-ling had looked. "What did she
say?"

	"Shampoo have to go to some
ceremony. Not sure what. She head away
from tournament area so it not that. She
not say anything about airen so must be
official Amazon business. Menfolk not
welcome."

	Ranma sighed. "I see." This
had always been one of the main points
he had against Shampoo.

	"Shampoo be back soon.
Ranma no go anywhere. Will listen for
details of what change is." Shampoo
left at a jog.

	Ranma sighed and looked
around the place. Maybe there was a
clue here.

_/near Flagstaff, Arizona, Earth 2001 AD, Prime +313131\_
	Kasumi moaned slightly as she shifted
into the Alternate. The dizziness passed. She blinked.

	A male voice, sounding quite worried,
asked her a question. At least it sounded like a 
question, though she didn't understand the language
very well. She decided to smile in what she was 
hoped was a reassuring manner.

	Eyes flicked to take stock of her surroundings.
She was in a car, in the passenger front seat. There was
a baby in a child seat on the rear seat. There was a man
she didn't know driving the car.

	They were currently driving through an area
that reminded her of the temple areas near Nara. Deep
pine forests could be seen to either side of the two lane
highway. She didn't recognize the area either.

	A glance back at the child revealed a little
girl, a little more than a year old, who was gurgling 
happily away and staring back with...

	She'd seen those eyes before. In a mirror.

	"Ara...." Kasumi considered one of the
minor divination spells she'd learned. No telling what
this man's reaction would be, though, and he was 
still glancing at her in concern.

	"It's nothing," Kasumi finally said to the
unknown man, "I'm just a little dizzy."

	"Drink more I told you to," the man 
managed in broken Japanese with a peculiar accent.
"When stop we do, water there."

	Kasumi held back a grimace. She'd now
placed the language he'd been speaking earlier, but
it had been years since she'd taken those courses,
and the use of English in Aramar was largely 
restricted to Imperial messengers who used it as a
sort of code.

	A glimpse of something to the right
brought a gasp from her. Well, at least she knew
WHERE she was. The Grand Canyon was something
she'd only seen on TV before. "Masaka."

	"You have headache." The man was 
nodding, and looked a little relieved. Not by much.

	"What?"

	"You speak Japanese always when you
headache get. Or tired really are."

	Kasumi blinked as she tried to work out
what this guy was saying. "Ah." Her hand came
down on a heavy purse. Her gaze went to it, this
should provide answers...

	The wallet came out. There was a...
motorcycle license? She drove a motorcycle?
Her name was Kasumi...Tendo-Lawson? It
seemed clumsy, but she supposed there was
a reason for this. The lettering, typical romaji,
was difficult to puzzle out but that was her
smiling face there.

	She decided to play a hunch.
"Lawson-san?"

	"Yes, dear?"

	Her eyes wide and with a faint blush,
Kasumi studied the scenery. "Oh my. Nothing."  
	
	This was likely to be really really
difficult.
_/Nichieju, China, Earth 2001 AD, Prime +313131\____
	Cologne studied the scene before her.
Ranma was searching the house he shared with 
Shampoo. She looked over at her companion, one
of the other Elders.

	"He may have broken the spell somehow."

	The other Elder nodded. "We'll have to
investigate this further. If he has, we shall have to
find out how he broke free and take steps to keep
it from occurring again before we do it to him again."

	Cologne turned a flat gaze towards Ranma.
"Do you suppose the others..."

	"Unlikely, but we shall have to see. If so,
it would be a pity. There was so much effort in giving
each a happy ending. It would have been far simpler
to kill them."

	Cologne shook her head. "So I'm a 
sentimental old fool. It was worth the extra effort
for my conscience, unless they come looking for
him..."

	"We'd better get going. This Ceremony
is going to be rather...special."
=================================
clip here end Grand Tour part 2a

ja ne, minaasan, arigato!