PM Productions Presents
A Social Commentary Fanfic
By Phillip Masters
Magic Shop

     The old man sprayed the special brew on his window, and began to
wipe it with an old rag.  What he was applying to the entrance of his
shop he had no clue... but when searching for a glass cleaning agent on
a shelf full of chemicals, the spray bottle with blue liquid was
invariably what did the trick.  
     Sure enough, as he swiped the rag across the last streak, it
vanished leaving the glass crystal clear and sparkling brightly.  He put
on a smile, flipped the door lock and turned the sign in the window to
"Open".
     It just simply would not do for an evil Magic Shop not to be
inviting.  The old man prided himself on having the grandest and most
hospitable of all evil Magic Shops.  He was respectably short and
mysterious, with an odor about him that no one could place, but didn't
find appealing at all.  His shelves were laden with trinkets of all
sizes and nature, from a microchip that could cause a computer to curse
its user, to a Cargo Carrier that had sailed through the Bermuda
Triangle *nineteen* times, and never once had even a glitch in the gas
stove's electric pilot.  Hell, even his sign outside was laced with
characters from a language no one had seen in at least six thousand
years.  
     Yes, the old man was very proud of his evil Magic Shop... and now
it was time to make sure mischief was properly spread throughout the
community.  He stepped outside into the morning air, loathing the bright
sunshine which beat down upon his frail form.  The musky smelling, old
leather hood which was draped over his head was pulled tighter to block
the detestable rays of light.  He would have liked nothing better than
to have stayed in his cramped and dingy shop, with nothing but five
candles to see by... but one of the reasons he was so successful is that
he went out and mingled, drawing people in with his own charms, instead
of leaving it to the pull of the spell which lay upon any good evil
Magic Shop.
     The old man grinned as he saw a small group of youths approaching.
The young were always the easiest targets, their minds were weak as well
as their flesh.  It was always a joy to make a sale to some ignorant
bastard of a child.  Such as the young girl who had bought a gem from
him last week.  
     "Oh, it's so pretty!" he said in a mocking tone, then sneered.  
     Yes, it was a pretty jewel, all red and glinty, with a certain
special twinkle when held in the light just right.  Unfortunately, it
also held... a curse!  
     The old man chuckled.  About ninety-eight percent of his stock was
cursed.  There was nothing that could ruin a person's day better than a
finely spelled and properly placed curse.  It was the tool of the evil
Magic Shop owner.  
      "Bet that girl didn't think the gem was so pretty after it turned
her boyfriend into a monster!"  At the image this brought up in his
mind, the old man cackled.  Life was grand!
     The young people were almost to him, and the old man prepared to
strike.  The group was composed of a young man and three women.  The
spell the shop owner was using to identify his clients told him the
young man was a Saotome Ranma.  *Ah! A Martial Artist with woman
problems!  Cha-ching!*  He chuckled silently as he readied his delivery.
     "Hello," he said simply as they came within range.
     They turned to him as expected.  There was a barely held tension
between them all that seemed to decline as their collective attention
was redirected to a target outside their original circle of interest.
"Yeah, ji-chan?" Ranma asked, sounding rather annoyed for having been
stopped.
     "You seem troubled... all of you."  He added the last line after a
pause, for effect.  "I think perhaps I can be of some assistance."
     Although outwardly the group seemed rather pensive, however a scan
of their psyches showed they were interested.
     *Hook, line, and sinker*  He allowed his gnarled hand to rise and
slip out the end of his sleeve.  He swept it toward the shop.  "Just
come into my shop, and I'll show you things that you could never have
imagined."
     Ranma blinked, then looked up at the sign above him.  His look
almost instantly transformed to one of anger, and the shop owner was
slightly taken aback by the chi he felt coming from him.  "What's the
matter, son?" he asked carefully.
     "You're some evil Magic Shop owner, aren't you!?" Ranma accused,
glaring at the old man.
     "Huh?  Wha...?" the old man returned, shocked.
     The pigtailed boy began to walk away briskly, "Come on, Akane,
Shampoo, Ucchan... let's get out of here!"
     The old man watched, incredulously, as his paycheck strolled off
down the street.  *What the hell?*  He blinked, then heard a small sound
behind him.  He turned and looked at his door.  Something was missing.
His gaze turned downward and he saw his Open/Close sign laying on the
ground.
     "Huh?" he said, trying to touch the glass in the frame.  It wasn't
there.
     "Damn!" he cursed, and walked into the store to discard the bottle
of blue liquid.
     He sighed and stepped back out onto the sidewalk, not bothering to
open his door.  Some days simply sucked, and there was little one could
do about it.  *Hopefully someone will come along and buy something...
then everything will have been worth it.*  He also needed money for a
new door.  
     As if to answer his prayer, two people were walking in his
direction.  It was a teenage girl and a small boy.  His mental scan said
the boy was Ryunnosuke, and the girl... well, the girl was rather
unusual.  She seemed human enough, but her mind patterns bared an aweful
resemblance to those of a common housecat.  The old man shrugged... he
needed cash, and the two walking toward him certainly promised that.
     "Greetings," he said as they arrived at his store front.
     The girl smiled at him hugely, and the boy just looked curious.
     "You two are a peculiar couple... perhaps I could interest you in
something from my shop?" He once again did the "sweeping arm" gesture.
     The boy stared at him a moment, then looked up at the sign.  He
instantly frowned and pointed to the old man.  "Nuku!  Kill!"
     *What the...?*
     "Hai!" the girl anwered cheerfully, and proceeded to pummel the old
man within an inch of his existance.  
     Ten minutes later the old man regained consciousness.  He stood up
shakily and brushed himself off.  What in the world was going on today?
He sniffed his underarms, turned green, and decided not worry about it.
Never before had he ever had such trouble bringing in the customers
before.  *I'll get the next one, for sure!*  He decided waiting for
someone alone, and preferably young to come along.
     About an hour later he spotted his prey, a young girl, no more than
fifteen years of age.  A touch on her mind revealed that she was Mizuno
Ami.  She was highly intelligent, but the old man knew how to use that
against a person.
     "How are you on this fine day?" he asked as she stepped up to him.
     She blinked down at him for a moment, then looked up at his sign.
*Oh, shit...*
     Her features became hardened, and she pointed her finger at him.
"You!  You are an evil Magic Shop owner!"
     The old man put his hands up in a defensive posture and began to
back up.  "Uh... no!  No!  You have it all wrong!"
     Ami put what looked like a pager up to her mouth and said, "Senshi
alert!"
     The old man gulped and backed up even farther.  He tripped over the
bottom of his empty door frame and winced in pain as his head struck the
ground.  The girl came up to him with a grin on her face.  "How... how
did you know?" he pleaded.
     A malicious glint entered her eye.  "What?  You don't think I read
fanfiction?"

END
This was borne from reading many fanfics that used the gimmik of the
evil/cursed Magic Shop... I don't think there's anything wrong with it
as plot devices go... however, there are a lot of them out there.  Hope
this at least amused you for a few minutes of your day.  Please tell me
if it did, I would be overjoyed.
Thanks for reading,
PMasters (11-13-98)        

"I'm only holding back the rain.  So many raindrops, so many pains.  I
want to find my train someday.  As seasons go past the station." - Tokyo
Babylon OVA 1
/ E-mail at:  PhilMasters@webtv.net /
Web page pending use of a computer!
"...has anyone ever used something alive for a coat of arms?" - The
Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea (Mishima Yukio, 1965) / 
"You see, what you call a cat, we use as armor." - Rune (El-Hazard,
1994)