Ranma 1/2: Grand Tour 4c (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/Animetoo/index.html
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	Nabiki approached the transformed 
dragon during lunch. This "Akane" was staring
at the obento and the chopsticks as if trying to
figure out which was supposed to be eaten.

	"Quite a performance this morning,"
Nabiki said in a low voice. "I am quite curious
as to why you reacted to Kuno that way."

	"Nabiki," Frostbite said with the
air of someone who'd been much put upon.
"How does a dragon normally communicate
with people whose vocal apparatus are not
constructed in the same manner?"

	"Telepathy...you didn't?"

	Frostbite nodded. "It's pretty
much second nature after the first century
or two, you surface scan strangers. No
deep thoughts, but you can get a feel for
people like that. Kuno...is scary."

	"How much of your psychic
talents, dragon abilities, or spells can you
access while you're wearing my sister's
shape, anyway?"

	Frostbite shrugged. "Minor
amounts of telepathy, especially with
people I know well. Both you and Ukyou
block too well for me to contact you easily.
Shampoo spent so much time working on
overcoming her motion sickness while riding,
that I can pretty much reach into her mind
without her knowing, or contact her fairly
easy. Ranma's about halfway, if he's actively
shielding I couldn't reach him. Distract him,
or if he's 'listening' then I can reach him ok.

	"Telekinesis is harder. I might be
able to manage a salt shaker, nothing heavier
unless I shift back to normal. Levitation I can
possibly do, as that's a little different. Near a
feng shui, I can probably teleport, again not
nearly as well as in dragon form.

	"Strength and overall durability,
not much changed from form to form. As for
my breathing  frost on someone, definitely
have to wait till I change back.

	"The spells, those I ought to be
able to access no matter what my shape is."

	Nabiki waited until another student
had passed. "And how well has your acting
gone? Anyone think you're Akane?"

	"Most of 'em think Akane's just
acting weird." Frostbite grimaced. "Some 
haven't noticed any difference at all."

	"Stop eating like that, you're
drawing attention. Akane would never
use her fingers like that."

	"Oh? Who's paying attention?"
Frostbite very exaggeratedly began peering
into the corners of the room.

	Nabiki noted that people just
seemed to avoid looking in their direction.
"You used some sort of spell? What is 
someone here turned out to be a psychic
or a sensitive?"

	"Then THEY would be reacting
just to my presence. There are only three
that I've noticed who have a touch of the
Gift. One's that girl over there at the third
table, the one who's playing solitaire. 
Another is that kid in the back of Akane's
class. May have to help him out, he's 
putting out a low level telepathic 'don't
notice me' field. Could have nasty 
consequences later in life. Third is that
girl over against the wall, the tough 
looking one."

	Nabiki frowned. The fortune
teller and Gosunkugi she was familiar
with. The "tough looking one" she was
not familiar with. That meant new student,
which would also explain why she was
sitting alone. "Still keeping that 'don't
notice us' spell going?"

	"Yeah." Frostbite swallowed
the plum. "Next period's English. At 
least that's something I can do well.
This Japanese history stuff is gonna
be bad. Math'll be easy."

	Nabiki paid attention to 
tracing a pattern on the tabletop, 
whispering the words to her spell.
"Revelation" she murmurred, and
put a drop of moisture on her eyes.

	Frostbite's senses were
quite acute, more so in his draconic
form than in his Akane guise. Nabiki
knew that Frostbite wouldn't have
examined either of the three very 
closely, it wouldn't be proper form
back in his homeland. Nabiki did not
have such reservations.

	To Nabiki's eyes the 
light in the cafeteria seemed to mute
and flicker. Glowing auras sprang up
around the various teens in the room,
dozens of colors and flickering meanings
being revealed. Three auras interested
Nabiki immediately.

	Gosunkugi's aura clearly 
spoke of some sickness, his nascent
powers turned back upon himself through
a lack of self-image. Nabiki smirked, as
Frostbite was a healer by nature, he would
feel drawn to try to cure Gosunkugi. This
would be inevitable, as would Gos 
misunderstanding "Akane" suddenly
paying attention to him.

	The fortuneteller, Reika Suzuki,(1)
was a different matter. Her aura was tinged
with curiosity and a deep sense of concern.
She would bear watching.


	The girl in the back concerned
Nabiki. This girl oozed contempt and hatred, 
and her brown eyes looked yellow to 
Nabiki with the spell running. She looked up
at Nabiki, their eyes meeting across the room.

	Nabiki smiled. Why, of course,
that was her good friend. She felt a need to
talk to the other girl, she had to unburden
herself of all these dirty little secrets.

	Frostbite's hand on her shoulder
pushed her down and a muttered phrase cut
through the fog.

	Nabiki shuddered. That had been
quite unnerving.

	"She's not human," Frostbite
explained unnecessarily. "What she is, I'm
not sure. What I am sure of, is that she's
more than a match for you or Kasumi on
a purely physical level, could easily take
Ukyou or Shampoo in magical combat, 
and would give Ranma or myself a hard
time in an unstructured battle. That isn't
her real shape, so I'm not sure how much
her abilities are curtailed by her current 
form."

	Nabiki watched out of the corner
of her eye as the grin slowly faded from the
strange girl's face and she went back to the
bored and indifferent mask from earlier. This
did not bode well.(2)
-----------------------------------------------
	"Hello? Mister Tendo? My name is
Ranma  Saotome. Yes, Genma's son. Look, my
dad told me that if I got back from China, I 
should stay over at your place. Yeah. No, he
didn't tell me why, other than you used to
study under the same master. Oh, about an
hour, I guess. I'm currently at the Furinkan
station. Just got here. Okay, I'll see you then."

	Ranma hung up the phone and
shrugged at Shampoo. "Well, we might as
well get this over with, ne?"

	"You go, Ranma. Shampoo meet
you there."

	"So how are we gonna play this,"
Ranma leaned against the wall, drinking in
the sights of his homeland once again.

	"You have good choices here.
Nabiki interested, Kasumi interested. You
could even choose Shampoo or Ukyou."

	"Yeah, I guess Frostie would be
major not thrilled if I chose Akane right now."

	"Shampoo never see what you loved
in Akane anyway." Shampoo made a face. "I
hate having to go back to that pidgin, but my
language skills were never that hot and it 
would just be further problems if I stuck out
much further than I already do."

	Ranma smiled. "Besides, I know 
you've both got your hearts set on others at
this point."

	"Hmmph. You didn't used to be
that observant."

	"We learn, we grow." Ranma
watched Shampoo do the rooftop hop,
and settled down for another coffee. He'd
give them the promised hour.
--------------------------------------------
	Soun opened the door, and
was gratified that this one WASN'T 
a purple-haired amazon.

	"You must be..."

	"Yeah, you must be Mister
Tendo. I'm Ranma Saotome, pleased to
meetcha."

	"Oooh, Ranma," Nabiki came
dashing up, wearing tight jeans and one
of her sexier blouses. "Come on in, I'd
like you to meet my sisters."

	Kasumi bowed. Akane grunted
and looked severely uncomfortable.

	"This is Akane, and this is 
Kasumi. I am Nabiki. Oh, and my two
business associates here are Ukyou
Kuonji and Shampoo of the Nichieju."

	"Why, Shampoo, you're from
the amazon village, aren't you? Small 
world, isn't it?"

	Shampoo rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Shampoo agree. Small world."

	"And Ucchan, my best friend
from my days in the Kansai area. Good to
see you. How's the okonomiyaki?"

	Ukyou sighed. No matter how
many worlds they visited, no matter how
many Analogues he incorporated, Ranma
would never be an actor. Of this, she was
surely convinced. "Well enough. I've 
decided to settle down and start my own
restaurant."

	"I'll marry him, father," said
Kasumi with a smile. "I might like a younger
man for a change."

	"I see a lot of potential here,
daddy. Maybe I should marry him." Nabiki
made a show of eyeing Ranma speculatively.

	"Whatever," said Akane. "Leave
me out of this altogether, thank you!"

	"So it has been decided!" Soun
grinned. "You will marry either Nabiki or
Kasumi!" He'd expected all three to protest.

	"Hmmm, so how should we
decide this?" Kasumi appeared to be thinking.
"A cook off?"

	"I never could get the hang of that
stuff. See who can raise the most money?"

	"I don't think so. Cards?"

	"You really want to play cards against
me?"

	"Ah, right. What about..."

	"How about you both marry the guy,
just as long as you leave me out of this stuff."

	"Illegal." Kasumi sighed.

	"Could be fun, though." Shampoo 
put in.

	"Quite." Kasumi considered a little
longer. "How about janpen?"

	"Too simple," Nabiki shook her head.
"Well, there's only one thing to do, then."

	Soun fell for it, or maybe he was just
dizzy from looking back and forth from one to the
other after this exchange. "What's that?"

	"Procrastinate."
------------------------------------------------
	I'm wrapping up here just because
many people have e-mailed me to say that the
Bet has gone on long enough. there's a couple
more pieces ready to drop, and Grand Tour's
direction is pretty much given.

Akane: appears in Lijra's tower, 7th age. She
has to go to school, and has to be protected
from the adaptation effect of this universe. Will
she be a warrior? a mage? a rogue? a priest?
Will she gain Lijra's help in retaining her humanity
or will her species adapt? What of her schoolwork
and her job? Will Akane work as a tavern maid, try
for the guardsman position, or become an apprentice
to some established master?

Kasumi: the healer priestess. Having experienced
excitement and adventure, will she be satisfied with
her role as a stay-at-home housewife? In a world
with so much suffering, can she bear to stay home?

Nabiki: the mage. With powerful spells at her beck
and call, and exotic future technology, can Nabiki
find any challenge anymore in the day-to-day 
blackmailing of her fellow students? Will Nabiki
decide that it's her turn to be an adventurer?

Ranma: martial artist, psionicist. getting back to
home, finally, kicks his feet up, rests, and is
in for one of the fights of his life.

Frostbite: a male adult dragon, talked into 
impersonating Akane for the next year. A role
he does NOT care for, but his shapechanging
abilities are up to at least this level of challenge.

Shampoo: cornered by Great Grandma over what
happened in the village, she challenges and is
beaten...by Frostbite who had no idea that the
amazons of this timeline had such bizarre ideas
about courtship. Shampoo points out that if
Cologne wanted to marry a strong husband,
then she has definitely found such a one.

(1)-	can't remember the name of this char,
if it is even given in the anime. may have to go
back and rewatch it.

(2)-	not saying what she is, other than an
opponent drawn here by the "ripple" of people
moving through the quantum barrier.