Ranma 1/2: Grand Tour 4a (the Bet)
	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 of Sorrow/World Without Ranma
Grand Tour, World 2: World of Love/Happily Ever After
Grand Tour, World 3: World of Conflict/RIFTS Earth 
Grand Tour, World 4: World of Nightmare/Gravesite Nerima
Grand Tour, World 5: Dragon's Destiny
Grand Tour, World 6: Neutral Ground
--------End-of-the-line---------------------
_/Nerima, Japan, Earth 1994 AD, Prime +214156\____

	Nabiki felt the slight disorientation that 
meant she had successfully made the dimensional trip,
and was merged with an Analogue or a Nabiki of an
existing timeline.

	She was in her room, looking at an old and
familiar set of homework. Getting up off her bed, she 
checked her journal for the most recent entry and blinked
at what she saw. It was one week before THAT day. That
day being the day that someone had come to her family's
home and turned everything upside down.

	She found Kasumi happily humming in the
kitchen. The tune, a bawdy little tavern song favored
by amazons of House Southern Cross, confirmed that
Kasumi had made the trip as well. The new refinements
to the spell that Lijra had made were apparently 
successful.

	"Well, Kasumi," Nabiki said as she flopped
down onto a chair, "looks like Ranma shows up next
week. Now if we can just figure out where the divergence
is, we'll know how close we are."

	"We're there," Kasumi said, turning towards
her sister. "I've already done a minor divination and 
determined that our arrival is the divergence in this 
particular timeline. We've arrived in your own past."

	"So... we have a week before the engagement
of Ranma and Akane." Nabiki smirked. She had a 
feeling things would go considerably different this
time.
-----------------------------------------
	Akane was just finishing a jog when she
noticed a suspicious figure walking up to her front
door. Some tall gaijin with long silvery hair, looking
most definitely out of place.

	The figure glanced at her briefly before
returning his attention to the sign in front. When
he got to the part about "to defeat owner in savage
combat, use rear door" the man stopped and started
walking around back.

	Akane blinked. A dojo challenger? This
early? Dad would still be brushing his teeth. She 
followed and felt her suspicions confirmed when
the stranger simply opened the rear gate and 
entered. Well, she was ready.

	Akane closed the distance between her
and the gaijin, finally catching up despite the other
not seeming to walk any faster. "Hey, you! What
do you think you're doing?"

	"Checking in on two friends. Why? Do
you have a problem with that?" The stranger was
smirking, almost as if he was laughing at her.

	"Then why did you use the rear door?"

	"When I knew there was a rear door, I
used it. It's early and I didn't want to disturb your
father unnecessarily." The other had never stopped
and was now almost to the house.

	Akane attacked, under the assumption
that this stranger was lying and that he was an 
intruder. To her surprise, the intruder didn't even
bother to evade. He didn't even seem to feel the
punch, in fact, other than a bemused glance in
her direction.

	Akane shook her hand, it had felt like
she'd punched something considerably harder 
than a cinderblock. She decided to try a throw.

	The intruder waited until she had
gotten her hands in place, then with a sigh,
had said something and pointed a finger at
her face.

	Akane watched, helplessly, as
the stranger removed her hands from his
clothing and entered her house. Unable to
move even her eyes to blink, she stared at
the dining room and wondered exactly what
had been done.

	It was when the birds started
landing on her that she began to get angry.
-----------------------------------------
	Ranma stumbled as she watched
her father start pigging out at the table. THAT
looked familiar. She noted she was in her girl
form again, and took in the sights of a scene
she barely remembered. Well, it HAD been 
quite a few subjective years now.

	He looked up onto the Challenge
Log to see Shampoo recover, then knock her
challenger off the log even faster than the 
original battle had been.

	Their eyes met across the distance,
and both smiled and nodded. The village would
get quite a show today. 

	"<YOU! WHAT YOU DO THERE?>"
Shampoo stalked up to where the girl stood and
her panda gorged itself. She stopped her walk
long enough to make a request of one of the
villagers, who immediately ran off. "<That is MY
first prize!>"

	The Jusenkyo Guide started translating,
but Ranma wasn't listening at the moment. This
probably wasn't her home reality anyway, might as
well make this something REALLY special. "Well,
if I beat you, then, there's no problem, right?"

	Shampoo switched to English, which
Ranma had learned as an Imperial Courier, and 
which Shampoo had learned during the last two
years while Ranma had worked with the Southern
Cross amazons."-I won't hold back, my friend.-"

	Ranma grinned. "-Let's make this
something they'll remember, then.-"

	The young girl ran back to Shampoo,
handing her a cup. Shampoo threw the cup of
hot tea in Ranma's face. There were a number of
gasps as the girl turned into a boy. Part of these
being just from the idea that a male had just 
challenged their village champion.

	"<We fight. NOW.>" Shampoo went
into a blur of motion, starting off with the speed
of the Hurricane Spinning Kick.

	Ranma blocked, then began a Kachuu
Tenshin Amaguriken which was blocked by the
same manuever from Shampoo.

	Ranma leapt up, summoning his chi.
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!"

	Shampoo grinned. "REI TATE!" The
blast dissipated on her crossed forearms.
------------------
	Cologne stared from the sidelines.
Neither was going anywhere near the Challenge
Log, and both were using techniques she'd never
heard of before. 

	Lotion coughed. "<Ku Lon, did you
teach that manuever to Xian Pu?>"

	"<Lo Xion, *I* don't know that
manuever.>" Cologne blinked again as a brief
image of a serpentine dragon slammed into 
another chi shield hastily erected by Shampoo.
"" Cologne watched as her great 
grand-daughter unleashed dozens of chi
projectiles in a "Shotgun" attack.

	"<Uh-huh, right.>" Lotion nodded.
She was sure that Cologne had been holding
back something special to teach her chosen
Heir, but THIS. This wasn't just a special 
manuever, this was a set of high chi attacks
and defenses that bordered on the mystic.

	Cologne looked across the battle-
field and noted that the panda was staring
open-mouthed at the fight. If one of them 
was a Jusenkyo victim, why not the other?
And if that one was, he either didn't know
the one fighting, or was just as surprised by
the strange boy's skills as she was by the
sudden skill increase in Shampoo's performance.

	Thunder cracked as both the
challenger and the champion unleashed
major chi attacks that cancelled each other
out in midair.

	Ranma leapt, and used his new
mental talents to hover. Shampoo did the 
same a mere thirty feet away. They nodded 
at each other, time to get serious. Both Ranma
and Shampoo had been excellent fighters and
trained for years in Aramar, fighting all sorts of
nonhuman and sorcerous enemies then had gone
on to develop other talents as well.

	Shampoo held her hands in front of
chest as if she held a ball there. Ranma brought
his hands together over his head.

	"-TELEKINETIC BOMB-!" Shampoo
shoved the ball away from her towards Ranma.

	"-SHOCKWAVE-!" Ranma brought 
his hands down to point the cupped palms at
Shampoo.

	The impact of the two attacks 
caused the challenge log to swing wildly, small
objects to abruptly become airborne, and the
vast majority of the audience to shield their
eyes and brace against the sudden wind.

	Ranma dropped the levitation to 
end up where Shampoo was picking herself up.
She grinned briefly at him, rubbing dirt off her
face. "Good fight." 

	Ranma nodded, then glanced over to
where his father was. The old panda was still
staring, his shock overcoming even HIS hunger
for the moment.

	He felt Shampoo's hands lightly grasp
him. Her lips briefly grazed his.

	"<Oh no,>" Ranma exclaimed in the 
Nichieju dialect for the benefit of all those listening.
"<She give 'Kiss Of Death'!>" Ranma turned and
ran before anyone could see him laugh, grabbing
the panda's arm and forcefully lifting him away from
the feast. "We've got to run, pop!"

	Shampoo fought the grin down. Here was
an excuse to get back to the others. "<Aiyaaa. That
was not Kiss Of Death, you stupid male!>" Shampoo
started running after the two, careful not to catch up
with them.

	Cologne blinked again and turned to Lotion.
"<Well, whatever odd talents Xian Pu has picked up,
we can safely say acting is not among them.>"

	Lotion nodded. "<That lets out demonic
possession, among other things. Maybe you ought
to take a few warriors and a healer and keep an eye
on them.>"

	Cologne paused. "<The healer I can see,
especially if they keep using chi at that level. Ah Lo
would be a good choice, especially if it turns out that
this is one of those cases of two souls bound through
multiple reincarnations, he's always been studying 
that sort of thing. Why the extra warriors?>"

	Lotion snorted. "<You're too close to the
problem. To observe and try to learn the techniques,
if possible, and to assist you in bringing them back
if necessary.>"
	
	Looking at where the challenge log was
still swinging, Cologne doubted the latter use would
prove likely, still the first had sufficient merit that
she called five of her most promising and the best
tracker together. They would follow and try to see
exactly what was going on.
-------------------------------------------
	Akane watched as her two sisters walked
past with the intruder, speaking in some language
that she'd never heard before. She was focussing
on the shadows stretched out on the dining area
when the man's shadow CHANGED. 

	Akane knew no fear, other than failing.
She learned fear as the shadow stretched and seemed
to unfold, with her unable to move or speak, knowing
she was completely helpless.

	"Oh my, Akane," Kasumi's voice came
from behind her. "That was a very powerful...martial
artist. You shouldn't have tried attacking him by
yourself."

	Akane wanted to shout, to scream, but
found she still couldn't move. A gaijin movie came
back to her, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", and
a fresh desire to scream came over her.

	"Oh, c'mon, sis," Nabiki walked into her
field of vision and winked. "It's only temporary, one
of those shiatsu thingies. C'mon, Kasumi, give me
a hand, we can at least get her to bed until it wears
off."

	Akane screamed, though it was only inside
her head. They were taking her. It was just like that
movie! It couldn't have been a shiatsu attack anyway,
as the intruder hadn't even touched her.

	She felt Kasumi come up beside her, and the
world tilted as Kasumi and Nabiki carried her inside,
gently laid her on her bed, and positioned her arms and
legs as though she were a doll. Finally Kasumi brought
her hand up and closed Akane's eyes.

	"Hang on, I'll turn her radio on. That way
if she can't sleep, she can at least listen to some music."
Nabiki was speaking softly but Akane could hear the
concern in her voice. That was jarring on more than
one level. Nabiki? Concerned about something besides
money? It didn't fit the body-snatcher scenario either.

	"She's had a rough day," Kasumi's voice
could be heard over the music. "She should only
be paralyzed for a few more minutes though. I do
hope she forgives Frostbite, he's just not very big
on subtlety or deception."

	"Hmmmph. Kasumi, I've said this many
times over the years, but you have a gift for
understatement."

	Akane heard the door close. She was
still alive, still herself, but she was NOT sure what
was going on. She'd find out though. Just as soon
as she could move.
-------------------------------------
clip here for splicing to 4b.