"School?" Ranma asked.

"Well we *are* going to be staying here for a while, and you *have*
been falling behind in your studies as of late. You realize that a 
martial
artist must balance body, mind, and spirit. Why, when I was a boy-"

"Shut up!" Ranma booted his father into the koi pond. "I still 

haven't

forgiven you!" He turned his back on him. "Stupid old man," he
grumbled.

I do have to ask, why is this Ranma going to school?  It's obviously 

not 

because of any respect he has for his father.

Well, Ranma does have *some* respect for education. Besides, it's better 
than hanging around Genma all day.
 

"Do you have any idea what would happen if our secret got out?"
Futaba explained. "We'd all probably become scientific guinea pigs or
something."

Ranma considered it for a moment. "All right. You have my word of
honor that I will never tell another soul about your weird problem."

Honor is extreamly important to Ranma, I don't see why he would give 

his 

word of honor to someone he just met, I could see it more likely he 

could 

offer to exchange this for them keeping his curse a secret.

Possibly, but Futaba has just outlined the importance of keeping the 
secret: it is almost a life-or-death matter. If the secret gets out, 
none of them will be able to live private lives any more, and would at 
best become the targets of racism. Ranma is aware of the gravity of the 
situation.

"You're one of us now too, you know," said Futaba. "If you ever tell 

an

outsider about the Shimeru trait, you had better trust him or her
completely. According to ancient tradition, if an outsider betrays 

the

secret, you will be forever banished from the tribe unless the 

traitor 

can
be silenced."

So if they banish Ranma from the tribe, will they cure him?

Being banished means that none of the tribe may speak to or willingly 
remain in the prescence of the banished person.

"We're gonna be late if we don't go *now*."

Ranma is saying this?  Why does he go from "I don't want to go to 

school" 

to "We're going to be late"?

As far as I have seen, even students who don't like going to school 
don't like being late for class and then facing whatever punishment the 
school staff decide upon.
 

"Each of these young men saw themselves as fit to ask you out, Akane
Tendou...provided that he could first defeat your champions. I have
defeated your cousin..."

Hmm, Futaba defends Akane, she must hate that.

Kunou fights whichever he comes across first.

This elicited a stare from Ranma. This guy must be pretty good if he
could pound Futaba as easily as he claimed. Then again, he could be
lying. He'd have to ask Futaba about it.

"...so, in the abscence of your brother, would you not fight me 

yourself

instead?" the young man concluded.

Hmm.. Her brother, so she goes to school as a guy each morning, then 
changes back to a girl?  Also, Kuno would trash Akane if he fought all 
out, so she must be either better or hurt more often.

Actually, like Futaba, Akane and Nabiki attend school in both forms, 
claiming to be separate people.

"This is a secret room in the main corridor on the second floor,"
explained Akane. "We come here when we need to change clothes. The
door is disguised as a group of lockers, so nobody notices it."

Futaba-chan checked her watch. "Aw, man! Now I'm really late! Gotta
go!" She quickly exited.

"What classes am I in, anyway?" asked Ranma.

"Actually, we still have to get you registered," said Akane.

This change was a good touch.  Out of curiosity, is this secret room 

your 

idea, or something from FKC?

The secret room was something set up by principal Hirouin in FKC.
 

***


'A family of sex-changing in-laws, a crazed Kendouist, a wacky
principal, and now a superhero. This just keeps getting better and
better,' Ranma thought sarcastically.

This scene was a nice addition...

Thanks. The main points of this scene are to introduce principal Kunou 
and to allow Ranma-chan to be registered as separate from the male 
Ranma. It'll be fun seeing Ranma try to act feminine.

I decided to bring in Principal Kunou, slightly altered, so that the 
heroes
would have an "ally" at school. This principal is still a stickler 

for

discipline and control, but he is less bent on enforcing really 

stupid 

rules
(you still have to scrub the toilets if you're caught cutting class, 

but 

no
weird haircuts). I also couldn't resist having him do an imitation of
Hirouin's "Seigi no Mitaka" (Friend of Justice) in the form of 

Captain

Coconut. BTW: his secret identity is just as penetrable as Hirouin's.

You know, if you choose to, you can always use a made-up vice principal 
for your this, and have Principal Kuno the tratditional 

characterization 

(or whatever, Principal Kuno isn't a major character)

Principal Kunou doesn't show up in the canon until after most 
alternaverse series peter out (he appears in Vol. 12, but most 
alternaverses largely abandon the canon timeline shortly after the 
return of the now-cursed Mousse in Vol. 11). Anyway, I thought it would 
be funny for him to know Hirouin personally and imitate his "Seigi no 
Mitaka".


Phil

prohackr@hotmail.com


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