Original concept by Gregg Sharp under the name RANdom.
Revised concept by Gregg Sharp by request

Grey is copyright by ?

A fan fiction based on Takahashi Rumiko's Manga and Video series, Ranma
1/2

Saotome Ranma, Saotome Genma, Saotome Nodoka, Tendo Akane, Tendo Soun,
Tendo Kasumi, Tendo Nabiki, Kuonji Ukyou, Hibiki Ryouga, P-chan, Shampoo,
Mousse, Kuno Tatewaki, Kuno Kodachi, are copyright 1987, 1998 by Takahashi
Rumiko. 

Publishing rights:

Japan:              Shogakukan Inc. Tokyo
Hong Kong:          Jademan (Holdings) Ltd.
North America: 	    Viz Inc.

Also based upon the Batman series created by Gil Kane

Bruce Wayne, Batman, Batgirl, Robin, Nightwing, Richard Grayson, Alfred
Pennyworth, Commissioner James Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Catwoman, Selina
Kyle, Joker, Two-face, and Timothy Drake are copyright 1936, 1998 by DC
Comics, and Time-Warner Entertainment.

Publishing rights: 

North America: Direct Current Comics

By Jessica Samolson and Ichinohei Hitomi

***

     It was over, and a final timeline had been chosen and stabilised. 
     For some, it was a lot of fun, for others, it had been unnerving, and
for a couple, it was downright devastating.
     While there were parties going on in the local pub, Bacchus having
donated a _lot_ of mead for the 'closing ceremonies', several others were
feeling out of sorts at how everything had ended.
     One of the beings who felt most out of sort was Toltiir, the one who
had started the whole thing.
     He had thought it would be a lot of fun to challenge all of the other
Deities that abounded the multiverses to make small changes in the
timelines and see what chaos resulted.  Sad to say, the one timeline that
had won was, in his opinion, one of the most boring.  After all, he had
seen humans who had acquired the powers of Faerie before.  It had been
done so many times that he, The Oldest of All Old Things, had ceased to
feel any wonder at it at all.
     It was generally considered a very bad thing when the Spirit of
Ultimate Mischief was bored, and at this point, he was bored out of his
proverbial skull. 
        The result was that there was no one to play with because the
rules stated he could not interfere with the newly established timeline. 
Sighing he looked around at the others who had decided not to join the
party, and noticed Bast scowling at yet another timeline in which Ranma
had died due to Genma's stupidity in trying to teach Ranma the Neko-Ken. 
Even when it worked, the boy had an intense fear of felines, and that was
not pleasing to Bast, an Egyptian Goddess of cats, at all.
     Perhaps, just perhaps... 
     With a wink and a nod, the two moved the already dissolving timeline
to parallel the methane breather's timeline, then...
     Toltiir decided to get mischievous as was his wont. Bast got tricky
since she wanted to get rid of Genma in a way that was satisfying, yet
fun.
     The remaining Deities, all of them full of mischief of one type or
another, or who hated Genma in some way, formed a small audience watch the
results, and perhaps help out once in a while...

***

     "...and so Kuno told the sword to grant the pigtailed girl a wish."
Ranma stated as he stared in frustration at the sword in his hands, not
quite believing all of the trouble that he went through for seemingly
nothing, "I tried wishing for the sword to cure my curse, and it buzzed at
me saying that there was a conflict."
     "I see," Kasumi said, a thoughtful look upon her face. "If you wished
yourself free of the curse, you would not be the pigtailed girl, and
therefore the sword would not have granted the pigtailed girl a wish,
forming a paradox.  Oh my." 
     Everyone stared briefly at Kasumi, who, for once, seemed to have made
an excellent summation without being her normal oblivious self.. 
     "Serves the pervert right," Akane said, sipping her tea and trying to
keep her anger in.  "Honestly, the way you acted around Kuno..." 
     "Hey! It's not my fault! You see what it's like with a curse like
this, and see how well you cope!"  Protested Ranma.  "Geez, I got girls
coming onto me in my boy-form, guys coming onto me in my girl-form, and
nobody listens to me in either form!"
        "Humph," continued Akane, not acknowledging Ranma's point. "You're
always getting yourself into these problems, Ranma, and it's always your
fault. Pervert." 
     "Airen!" 
     "Ranchan!" 
     As soon as he heard those voices, Ranma's head slumped in defeat It
couldn't be happening again, not again.  Why was it that every time there
was a chance, even the slightest one, of his life going right, something
would happen to make it go wrong?  And now Akane would take out her mallet
and... "Oh no." 
        "Ranma! How could you invite them over!?" Akane flared and managed
to give the pigtailed boy a hurt look.
     "I...But...I..."  Ranma started, then gave up.  It wouldn't matter in
the long run anyway.
     "Actually, sis, I gave them the option of buying an info service
where I call them whenever Ranma's about to go off on an adventure or do
something that might impact their relationship with him." Nabiki smirked
from where she was sitting. "This qualified."
     Shampoo smiled cutely at Ranma, trying to make him look at her,
"Airen should wish for strong wife who doesn't get in trouble." 
     Ranma gulped a bit.  If he did that, both Akane and Shampoo would
probably be picked, probably in the worst way possible.  That was a bad
idea, a very, _very_ bad idea.
     "Hey, Ranchan, if you're gonna make a wish, why don't you wish to
marry the fiancee that really loves you?" Ukyou smirked, knowing that
neither Akane nor Shampoo could compete in that arena.
        Ranma looked up, that actually didn't sound too bad at all. He
tried to think of what would be so bad about that one, but couldn't come
up with a reason.  It would make the best out of a bad situation. 
     Nabiki huffed arrogantly, knowing that she had to head this off
before her favourite meal ticket disappeared and Ukyou got her wish.  The
best way was to appeal to Ranma's best feature;  his gullibility. "Oh, get
it _over_ with, Saotome.  There is no single thing that can solve all the
problems _you've_ managed to accumulate.  You _know_ that whatever you
wish will just make your problems worse anyway.  Besides, the wish was for
'the pigtailed girl.  If you make that one, then get ready to marry Kuno,
or one of those male friends of yours, or any number of 'Ranko's'
admirers.  Who knows how many men Uncle Saotome and Daddy have promised
their daughters to.  Why not just give it up to someone else?" 
        Ranma winced at that and looked at the table.  His mood had just
gone from bad to worse.  "Well, Kasumi?" 
     "Ranma?" Kasumi asked confused at the question. 
     "Everyone _else_ seems to have something to add, I just thought I'd
give you an opportunity to throw in your bit as well, is all." Ranma's
voice was bitter.  Here he had something that could end his curse, and he
couldn't get any help in figuring out how to do it. 
     "Why would I do that, Ranma?" Kasumi asked as if she didn't
understand.
     "BAKA, will you quit bothering my sister and GET IT OVER WITH!" 
Akane yelled, more than angry that he would consider consulting with
everyone else instead of just talking to her about his wish.
        Ranma looked over at Akane, paused, and was just about to make his
wish when Ukyou spoke up.  "Hey, maybe Nabiki's got something there." 
     "Excuse me," Nabiki looked startled, and worried at the same time. 
She hadn't given away something for free, had she?  And worse yet,
something that might help Ranma escape from her clutches?
     Ukyou smirked, having been thinking the problem through, and coming
to the conclusion that Ranma was really blameless for just about
everything that happened to and around him.  She decided to go for another
tactic that solved the problem without solving the problem.  "Look, if you
wish for a fix to any of your current problems, you get too many at once
with any number of them conflicting with one another.  Maybe you should
turn your attention to what CAUSED all your problems in the first place. 
Your father."

     Elsewhere, a panda sneezed and felt this awful premonition of doom. 
If he was right, events were happening that would be detrimental to his
health.  Perhaps it was time for another training trip with Ranma.  Say to
Australia.  He heard that a person could get lost in the outback for years
at a time. 

     Everyone looked startled at that, then the comments began. 
     "Oh, right, maybe if his father had been rich or related to wealth,"
Nabiki snorted.
     "...more mature, more intelligent," said Kasumi, but in a very polite
manner.
        "...and if he wasn't such a cowardly, freeloading, immoral
wretch," said Ukyou, thinking of her own treatment at the hands of Genma.
     "...and if even stronger fighter who could teach Airen much useful
techniques, so Ranma even better and more powerful fighter," Shampoo said,
clasping her hands together and looking at this wonderful vision in her
mind.
     "That could have been cool," Ranma agreed. "I wish I did have a
father like that..."
     "GRANTED!" said a strangely doubled voice that seemed to reverberate,
almost sounding as though they were two separate ones, answered the group. 
One from the sword and the other that sounded as though it was coming from
somewhere off to the side. The sword then faded away, it's purpose done
until another found it. 

***

     "You're up!"  the Toltiir smirked at the young man standing and
looking on at the new timeline.
     "You're kidding, right?  I mean, doing this is outside of every
parameter that was set up for the bet"
     "Nope, you participated, and now you get to play.  Think of it this
way, you get to see what can happen without really destroying anything."
     The youngster fumed at that silently and left, muttering to himself,
"One little mistake in creating a timeline and..."
     Toltiir chortled as hard as everyone else there already was, "Now for
the fun part!"

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