based on the C&C, some changes made but mainly the
same. if this one doesn't show on the RAAC soon, can someone
send it, a lot of mine haven't gotten up for some reason. arigato!

Cat-scratch fever, the Bet. RAAC version
by Gregg Sharp based on Rumiko Takahashi's situations/char
stone provided by DragonBard

"How about this timeline here?" Toltiir indicated one
dull grey strand that turned black abruptly.

"What's the divergence point?" The smith looked
curiously at it.

"This certainly qualifies as divergent..."
----------------------------
	"Ranma, have you no shame?!" Akane slid the door
open. 

	Genma wept in the hallway. "You sadden your
father, boy..."

	"A-ka-ka-kane Tendo," stammered Kuno.

	"What's SHE got to do with it?!" Ranma looked
up from where she was sitting.

	Kuno sighed, thinking how jealous Akane was
of the pigtailed girl. "So in LOVE with me."

	"You wish," said Akane, striking Kuno.

	"What an excellent idea," thought Kuno as he
landed.

	"Stay OUTTA this, Akane!"

	"Are you THAT desperate to stop being
a girl?!" Akane shouted in Ranma's face.

	"I wish that the pigtailed girl and Akane
Tendo would love me forever, forsaking all their
arguing and jealousy!" Kuno, still prone on the floor
raised the sword Wishbringer above him.

	"Your wish is my command."
----------------------------------
	Toltiir blinked. "Well, I'm the expert
on things like that, so let me give that timeline
my official 'Screwed Up Big Time' stamp."

	//There was the sound of several
Ranma fans being violently ill as the scene
continued. For their sake, it isn't detailed here.//

	"I can see why you would want
to change this one," Hephaestus remarked.
"Look, boy type Ranma isn't under the 
compulsion but whenever he changes..."

	"Let's do him a favor and get
rid of THIS timeline, what change did you
want to make?"

	The Greek god of smithcraft
chuckled. "Personally? Personally I LIKE
Mode 4, Timeline 3216127. That's the one
where Ranma becomes Athena's new 
Pegasus Saint, and I get a cute okonomiyaki
chef...(try having to deal with Aphrodite for
a few years without really valuing traits like
loyalty and intelligence) but for the purposes
of your 'BET', I'll have to go with this juncture here."
--------------------------------
	Doctor Amano Mizuno was
trying a new route home, something he 
frequently did, when he saw what 
appeared to be a feral child in a gi.

	He blinked as a slightly
overweight man came running after
the child, and, his curiosity piqued,
followed.
---------------------------------
	"Frankly, Mister Saotome,
I'd be MUCH happier if your son was
no longer in your custody. Putting your
son through this sort of torture. Since
you HAVE agreed to get him through
treatment, I'm not going through legal
proceedings. We'll try a few different
types of treatment, see what's most
effective, and because we're catching 
it so early, there is a good chance of 
recovery."

	"But will he retain the 
Cat-fist?"

	"WHO GIVES A FLAMING...
uhm. Excuse me. Do I understand you
to say that you value your son learning
this particular technique so much, that
you would rather he remain insane and
liable to regress to animalistic state at
any time than take the chance that the
cure would remove said technique?"

	"Well, when you put it THAT
way." Genma Saotome shut his mouth. 
He could always try again if Ranma forgot
the technique.
-------------------------------
	Ranma stretched as his father
went off about yet another training ground.
This one didn't look special at all, being
a number of bamboo poles stuck into a
number of springs.

	"Feh, if I need a bath, fatherrrrr,
warm waterrrr would be sooo nice," Ranma
grinned at his father. Balancing exercises 
against HIM? The old man wanted to lose,
didn't he?

	"You very strange one, no, sir?"
The Jusenkyo Guide looked at Ranma, there
was something about the boy that just seemed
to represent wildly contrasting forces. Ranma
actually made the Guide nervous. "This place
very dangerous, nobody use now. Is more
than one hundred spring here, and every one
have own terrible tragic legend."

	"Ranma, follow me." Genma leapt
to the top of one of the poles. Ranma was a
moment later.

	"Oh Sirs! What you doing!" The
Guide watched as Ranma came to a stop over
Spring Of Drowned Man.

	"I won't go easy on you," Genma
promised.

	Ranma grinned and reached within
to touch his feline nature, that spirit which
seemed to be a part of him yet also apart.

	The Guide watched as Genma and
Ranma launched towards each other. "Please
Sir, Very bad you fall in spring!"

	Genma landed in a spring with a 
mighty splash as Ranma twisted past him in
midleap, moving with feline grace as the 
other Self began manifesting.

	Ranma idly landed on the top of
another pole and began to clean his hand,
bored already.

	The panda caught him largely
by surprise, and he leapt back three sets
of poles. Grinning, the game was not over
yet, Ranma launched himself when the 
realization penetrated that he was now
fighting a panda.

	The hesitation was enough,
and Ranma fell down.

	"OH NO!" The Guide yelled.
"Not 'Spring Of Drowned Tiger'! Terrible
tragic story of tiger who drown there,
12,500 year ago. Now whoever fall in
spring take body of..."

	The tiger moved out of the
spring, black fur dripping water, green
eyes flashing with the desire for 
VENGEANCE! It's mouth opened,
revealing LOTS of very sharp teeth
to go with the really big two that were
out front.

	"Urk?" The panda went 
dead still as it saw the tiger looking
at it. "Death," promised those eyes.
"Lots of hurt," promised those sharp
teeth. "Very bad for YOU that I fall in
spring," announced those razor sharp
claws as they extended.

	Genma realized that the
predator looking at him right now
outmassed even a giant panda by
nearly double. He was vaguely aware
of the Jusenkyo Guide's hut door
being closed and locked.

	By the time that Genma
woke up, he realized that he had a
large number of bandages covering
most of his body, had been returned
to human, and there was Ranma 
who looked VERY unhappy with him.

	"Crrrrrazy old man," he
said, getting up and leaving him behind.

	"Uhm."
---------------------------------
	"Ahhhgggghhhh," Nabiki
backpeddled as a HUGE cat came into
the room, followed by a panda a few
moments later. Everyone backed away,
even Akane, as the creature before them
sniffed at the three girls.

	Akane reached over, grabbed
the edge of the table, and brought the
table down as hard as she could over
the beast's head while it was examining
a cringing Kasumi.

	The tiger glanced back at her
with a vaguely amused glance then, quite
very deliberately, licked the face of the
eldest Tendo daughter.

	"Uhhhhgghhh," Akane
managed.

	Kasumi started to faint,
then looked into the cat's eyes. "Oh
my." She seemed to be seeing something
unexpected in those green depths. Or
maybe it was just the sort of thing that
a bird saw upon looking into the eyes of
a large and hungry cat.

	"You think it's tame?" 
Nabiki managed as the welcome
realization that she wasn't the Lunch
Special began to register.

	The tiger stopped his 
current activity, a deep rumble that
bore some vague resemblence to
a purr while rubbing his cheek against
Kasumi's shoulder, to blink green
eyes at Nabiki.

	"Uhm," Kasumi began,
"would you mind letting me go? 
I've got to fix supper soon."

	"It's a tiger, Kasumi,
it can't..." Nabiki ran out of words
as the tiger backed off of Kasumi,
resuming the basso purring noise as
it rubbed against her once more.
"...understand...?!"

	"Quick, Kasumi, run
for it! I'll cover you," Akane looked
around. She needed something 
heavier than the table.

	"No way," said Nabiki
as something clicked. "I've seen 
pictures of these but the colors were
all wrong. That's a smilodon!"

	Soun was still a terrified
lump and didn't answer.

	Kasumi brushed herself
off, pleased that the big kittycat
hadn't shed on her, and stood up.
"Oh my, Mister Smilodon, would
you like some milk?"

	"...but sabretoothed 
tigers are supposed to be extinct,"
Nabiki managed as the big cat 
nodded enthusiastically at Kasumi,
then followed her into the kitchen.
"...they're certainly not supposed
to be..." Nabiki fainted, her mind 
having just gone into overload as
she realized that the tiger had just
ANSWERED her big sister. 

	The panda was waving
around a sign that read [He LIKES
her, now our schools will be joined.]
Fortunately, or unfortunately, no one
was paying attention to the panda.

	For his part, Ranma just
wondered what the big fuss was 
about. This one had smelled 
WONDERFUL and was obviously
the cook. The short haired girl had
REEKED to his sensitive nose of 
the generic perfume she used. The
youngest girl was all sweaty and
had an "angry" scent to her. The
father smelled of cigarettes, bleah.
He'd obviously chosen to approach
the right person now, because he was
getting FOOD!

	Soun Tendo twitched,
looking around the corner as he 
watched his eldest daughter pour
a big saucer of milk for their 
houseguest. Said houseguest
butted her hip with his head,
purring in a deep bass thrum,
before beginning the task of
lapping up the milk.

	"AH HA!" Akane
had found a sufficiently heavy
object and came running up with
her heaviest dumb-bell, only
to be confronted with her elder
sister scratching a VERY contented
looking 1300#+ tiger behind one
ear. An ear flicking on the tiger
somehow communicated to her:
"I know where you are, what you're
planning, and I am NOT concerned."

	Suddenly the dumb-bell
didn't seem nearly large or satisfying
enough...
-----------------------------
a scene for a little later:
	Nabiki thought about it.
Thought about it carefully. The guy
was a dumb jock, that's all. Just kind of
laid back most of the time, though he could
get VERY nasty if angry, or all cute
and fuzzy when he wanted to be 
playful.

	He could make her a LOT
of money, especially with his cursed
form. If she walked one path, she 
could make a lot of money off his
curse. Animal trainers and their acts
made BIG money. Not to mention 
what kind of funds she could pull in
to various paleontology groups.

	A pure black sabre-tooth,
green eyes glinting, white teeth 
gleaming. Used as a symbol for a
product, the ad agencies could fork
over big bucks for an image that
powerful.

	The problem, Nabiki decided,
was to go for short-term profit and
ruin any chance of a friendship OR put
herself in as the fiancee of choice and
as the Agent, make large amounts of
money off her to-be-husband?

	She glanced at where Kasumi
had just thought of some things she
needed at the market. The cat somehow
got underneath her then stood, causing
her to grip it as if riding a horse.

	The tiger then took Kasumi
on a ride to the market. Nabiki blinked as
she realized Kasumi's squeal had NOT
been the expected burst of terror.

	Sweet, innocent, housewifely
big sister Kasumi was holding tight as the
tiger RAN. The sound that Nabiki heard
had been...laughter?!?

	What do you do when a
tiger bigger than most Japanese cars
decides it's a good evening for a run?
Nabiki blinked then answered herself.
You get the heck out of its way...

	Plan C it is, Nabiki decided.
Get Kasumi to marry Ranma, then be the
agent/sister-in-law who kept those huge
sums of money coming in. She wondered
what that mild sense of disappointment
was from...
----------------------------------
	Kuno looked at the beast
standing next to Akane Tendo and
wanted a bigger bokken. "Akane Tendo!
I shall save you!"

	The tiger thought this guy
HAD to be joking, right? A sound thwack
from the bokken impacting his skull 
convinced Ranma this guy didn't have
a clue.

	A casual swipe turned the
bokken into thin slices of wood. The 
second swipe had retracted claws but
enough force to knock the kendoist
back twelve feet.

	Green eyes glittered as
the crowd that usually attacked Akane
Tendo in the morning decided they
had business ELSEWHERE!

	Ranma sighed. Why did
he have to go to school anyway? He
just wanted a nap, or to chase some
birds or something. Or see what Kasumi
had in the oven. He licked his chops.

	Unfortunately he was looking
directly at Tatewaki Kuno when he did
that. The Blue Thunder's life passed before
his eyes. (He tuned it out halfway through.)
He was prepared to go out with a fight. Only 
to watch as Akane and the tiger both went 
into the school, the tiger growling softly as it did so.

	Odd, the way the growl was pitched,
it sounded similar to the way someone mutters
under their breath.

	"Kuno!"

	Tatewaki Kuno looked up to see
Nabiki Tendo leaning out of one of the windows.
"That's my sister Kasumi's pet, you really shouldn't
try to injure it."

	"Ah," Kuno smiled. "The sister to 
Akane Tendo? Well then, I shall withhold my
righteous anger for the nonce."

	The Blue Thunder went to change
clothes before class. Lucky he kept a change of
underwear in there.
------------------------------
	"Water!" yelled one of the
onlookers. "They've cracked the very
earth!"

	"Even worse! It's the water
fountain!"

	Ryouga held the umbrella to
block the spraying water, then looked to
where his opponent was landing.

	The low growl being emitted
by the ton of Pleistocene killing machine
in front of him was causing water to dance.
Green eyes flashed and a single point of
light seemed to dance on one of the long
white fangs hanging down from the cat's
jaws.

	"w-w-wait a sec." Ryouga looked
at the monster coming his way. It made the
giant boar he'd faced earlier look about as
offensive as a puppy dog. "Where's....
Ranma?" 

	The tiger snarled, somehow 
communicating something like: "your
move, d' you feel lucky, punk?"

	"Ra..Ra...Ranma?"

	The tiger didn't answer, merely
standing ready.

	"It's not fair! Do you call that
a curse?" Ryouga began pulling bandanas
off, each one revealing another one on 
underneath. "Why couldn't you have a
curse that makes you helpless?!"

	Akane turned, "I'll get some
hot water! You can't fight him like that,
you'll kill him!"

	"Akane, no!" Nabiki yelled
from the tree she was crouched behind.

	<SNAG!> A black blur moved
along the ground, making leaps that a
real sabretooth would have envied. In
its mouth...

	"PUT ME DOWN! YOU 
ANIMAL! YOU BEAST! DO YOU 
HAVE ANY IDEA HOW UNDIGNIFIED
THIS LOOKS!"

	Gently dropping Akane on
the roof, Ranma leapt back down and
sprinted back to where he'd last seen
Ryouga.

	Nabiki lowered her camera.
She doubted that Ranma had even 
realized that carrying Akane like that
had given a large section of the 
audience a quick glimpse of her
panties. She wondered how much
Kuno would pay for THESE shots.
----------------------------
	"C'mon, Ranma, fight me for
real!"
	"Zzzzzzzzzzzz."

	"Don't fake it, Ranma, I know
you're awake."

	"Zzzzzzzzzzzz."

	Akane leaned over the sleeping
tiger. How to wake him up. Well, he DID have
an appetite. "Oh look, Kasumi's made cookies..."

	<WHAM!> The tiger was out
and running before he'd even fully woken
up. Ears flicked back and forth as he sniffed
the air. Cookies? Even barbarian martial artist
sabretooth tigers liked chocolate chip cookies.
Disappointed, Ranma let his tail droop. It had
just been a dream. Ranma moved off to sulk.

	Behind him, Akane was lying on the
floor, entertained by all the little birdies...
----------------
	<click>"Aw, don't they make
a cute couple," Nabiki said to her sister
as she circled the two sleeping figures.

	"Nabiki, it's just not right..."
Akane shook her head. Obviously Kasumi
had just fallen asleep there next to the
tiger, and was now laying half-on, half-off
of Ranma's tiger form.

	From the tooth-rattlingly deep 
rumble from the tiger, he was content. From
the peaceful expression on Kasumi's face
she rather enjoyed a quick nap on a thick
fur blanket.

	Nabiki was grinning. Oh yeah,
this would be a professional photo layout.
"The Lady & The Tiger" or something like
that. Happy little yen signs floated past
Nabiki as she tried to get a variety of angles.

	An ear flicked. A flash of green
eye tracked Nabiki briefly. He couldn't move
or he'd disturb Kasumi, and for some reason
that was just not something he wanted to do.
He told himself it was because she was nice to
him, he would tolerate this indignity. Yeah, that
was it.

	"Kasumi, this isn't proper behavior,"
Akane said in a normal tone of voice, instead of
the previous whispering.

	Kasumi stirred.

	Nabiki and "T-chan" both glared at
Akane.

	"Oh, I need to get dinner ready." 
Kasumi scratched her T-chan behind one ear
briefly before getting up to go wash up.

	The tiger returned to staring at Akane.
Nabiki merely muttered something under her breath
and went off to wait for a more opportune time.
-----------------
	T-chan was snoozing lightly on the roof
when a gymnast almost tripped over him. Looking
up, he saw the Black Rose for the first time.

	Kodachi wondered what this odd black
lump was, on the Tendo roof, when it abruptly
unfolded itself and stood before her.

	"Ohohoho....oh dear. Uhm. Nice kitty?
I DO have to admire your coloration..."
-----------------------
	"Roguespierre! Roguespierre!"

	T-chan/Ranma turned a long-suffering
gaze to Akane and clearly was asking "Why me?"

	"Umf, umf," Azusa Shiratori kept trying
to pick him up and carry him off. She needed a
forklift. "C'mon, Roguespierre, Azusa's gonna take
you home."

	Ears flicked back. It was clearly a "yeah,
right, what kind of drugs are you on?" look.

	"What a charming pet you have here,"
Mikado came sliding up next to Akane.

	Ranma snorted, then "accidently" 
snarled Mikado Sanzennin's leg with his tail
before walking off the ice. His big, wide, paws
made gripping the ice fairly easy, and it amused
him to drag this guy with the fruity scent off 
of Akane. Feh. He hoped Kasumi would show
up soon. SHE would at least offer to share some
hot chocolate.

	And if this guy tried making the moves
on Kasumi, well, he'd make an interesting scratching
post.
-----------------------------------
	Ranma was in boy form again, though
deep in thought. Kasumi AND Nabiki seemed to
prefer his cursed form, which he didn't really mind
that much, but it made a lot of things difficult.

	Akane didn't seem to want much to do
with him in either form. She kept calling him an 
animal, a beast, and other things. Pfeh, like he
could help it when he'd grabbed her school 
uniform in his teeth, then jumped over that fool
Kuno.

	How was he supposed to know that
it was an old uniform? How was he supposed to
know that it would come apart under the strain?
How was he to know that she had some sort of
nudity hangup? Such an uptight girl... Pfeh.

	That Doctor guy, he seemed to have
something for Kasumi, but can you trust a guy
that falls apart like that? Putting his feline instincts
away for a moment (more difficult than it sounded),
did he want to stand in the way of these two getting
together? Could this Doctor Tofu make her happier
than he could?

	Nabiki, well, she had a certain catty
aspect to her. No doubt she would make an interesting
mate, and he'd smelled her excitement on more than
one occasion when there'd been a fight or when he'd
protected her. She just wasn't into snuggling though,
or very affectionate. Ranma's own feline side was 
quite openly affectionate.

	Now this amazon girl had shown up,
and just because he'd beaten her in a fight, she
was ready to marry him. Except that someone else
wanted to marry HER, and that person had now
kidnapped Kasumi. 

	He'd given Doctor Tofu a half hour
lead. This would decide him. If Doctor Tofu was
able to rescue Kasumi, then he'd simply choose
someone else. The next best cook (an important
consideration) was Shampoo, then Nabiki. 

	Ranma checked the time. The half
hour was up. Time to go and see. Of course, if
Kasumi was harmed, he'd have to find this 
"Mousse" guy and shred him. Ranma just 
hoped he wouldn't get tagged with water,
he wanted to be able to come to the rescue
in his uncursed form for once.
--------------------------------------
where could this go?
Voice Over: Kasumi cursed!
//scene: Kasumi holding an umbrella over
               her head and wincing.
VO:Akane livid!
//scene: Akane chasing Shampoo, yelling
               that this is all HER fault.
VO:Tofu acting silly!
//scene: Tofu dancing around while a
               watching Mousse and bound Kasumi
               both bigsweat.
VO:Mousse jealous!
//scene: Mousse looking confused as Tofu
               dances by.
VO:Shampoo affectionate?
//scene: Shampoo turns and kisses Akane,
               who immediately starts choking.
VO:Ranma ready to marry Kasumi, 
       even if she does turn into...
//scene:Ranma in a tuxedo next to a big
              question mark.
VO:Ranma dodging water bombs from 
       various assorted Jusenkyo springs.
//scene:Ranma, still in tuxedo, dodging
              like he really doesn't want to get wet.
VO: And what of the okonomiyaki chef? Will
        she find Ranma's sensual and affectionate
        feline nature a turn off?
//scene: Ukyou scribbles something on her big
        spatula then turns it to the camera so that
        you can read [You've GOT to be kidding?] 
VO: And what of the dread dark master of the
        Anything Goes School? Will he find put 
        sabretooth tigers back on the extinct list
        or will the cat drag something out?
//scene: a dark mountain in China, lightning 
        flares in the background.
	
	Other than that, I've thrown
enough hints in the story. What do
YOU think happens?
remember, if you like this cast your
vote for it as a story in "The Bet".
ja ne,
gregg

has anyone noticed that on the compatibility quiz, if you put
Mr Bateman's full name in, and Ukyou Kuonji, it's an 89%?
some things were meant to be...