A Very Scary Bet, rough, very rough, v.v.rough version
part 1d: A different spin and charge
various char owned by various other people, who may
or may not be able to recognize them by the time this
has finished spinning.
by greggsharp, metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com
--------------June 9, 106 PA-----------------------
 "There ya go, how's that?" Ranma
stepped back from the table.

 K-9 flexed his mechanical legs. 
"Diagnostics indicate all systems within assigned
parameters. Correction: slight dysfunction in right 
rear extensor."

 "A bit stiff, eh?" Ranma frowned and
reached for a tool. "Hang on, it may be a faulty
nerve connection. Hmmmm. How's it now?"

 "Fully operational, Master."

 "Oh, it was nothing really," Ranma
grinned. "Just putting together a major upgrade
using cyborg parts and keeping as much of the
original systems as possible."

 "This unit will be able to traverse
a much greater range of environments and be
of much greater use in a variety of situations."
K-9 clicked a few times as he looked over his
covering of fake fur and flesh, broken only by
the mechanical "vest" that was actually an
extension of his cyborg body and an odd gem
between the eyes.

 "Yup!" Ranma nodded happily. "Taser
device in the bite, stun ray unchanged, laser for 
fine and distance work, but the real nice bit'll be 
the sonic beam."

 "I was meaning to ask you about that,"
the Doctor said in a dry tone. "Really, don't you
think all those weapons are a bit much?"

 "Just wait'll the Daleks menace again,"
Ranma shrugged. "The sonic beam is meant for
them or Cybermen, it'll just stun pure organics. 
Against those with refractory coating or really
thick armor..."

 "Yes, yes, I understand." The Doctor
waved it off. "I'm quite concerned with your 
fascination with combat, though."

 "I understand your viewpoint, Doctor,
and share it to some extent." Ranma began putting
away his tools. "Experience says though, you can't
always solve things peacefully..."

 "Making use of that Teaching Machine
a lot, are we?" The Gallifreyan time traveller looked
over the tools that Ranma had. "Isn't that MY sonic
screwdriver?"

 "Yes, now that Kuno isn't around to
load me up with perverted datafiles. And no, I
picked one up out of storage. Handy little thing."

 The Doctor nodded, the device was
exceedingly handy to have around. "Well, this
was the last of the twelve Dalek Bombs. Are you
ready to return to your own space/time?"

 Ranma didn't look up for a moment,
when he did, his expression was sad. "I guess
so, Doctor. It's been fun, and we've done a LOT
of good. Hell, we've saved peoples lives! I've 
even learned a lotta things...but I miss my 
family. Ucchan, 'Sumi, 'Biki, 'Dachi, even the
tomboy and the amazon... I still gotta marry
one of 'em, but even with everything in that
machine or with all we've seen I still don't see
a solution to THAT tangle."

 "No, and you managed to get yourself
engaged on three other worlds and two alternate
timelines," the Doctor pointed out with a smirk.
"At least you've learned not to speak as freely as
you have in the past."

 Ranma shrugged. "Well, they ain't got
access to a TARDIS, so I don't know how any of
'em can track me down, anyways. 'Cept maybe for
Konran, but I don't think he could find me."
-------------------October 10, 1990-----------------
  "So..." Nodoka sipped her tea, her eyes
half-lidded as she thought.

 "Pardon me, Mrs Saotome," Kasumi
inquired politely, "but why do you require that
Ranma be a 'man among men' as you put it? I
remember him as a skilled fighter, a fair student,
and a pleasant brother, but..."

 "I think what my dear sister is trying
to ask," Nabiki started as Kasumi trailed off
uncertainly. "If you wanted your son to be a
'man among men' (whatever THAT means) why
did you entrust his care to your husband?"

 Nodoka considered the four girls
and pulled a sheet of paper out of the sleeve of her
kimono. 

 Kasumi took it, read it, turned pale and
handed it to Nabiki. Akane snatched the paper away
from her sister and started puzzling out the kanji 
scribbled on the document while the remaining two
girls read over her shoulders.

 "WHAT?!" Ukyou started reading again,
sure that she had misread something.

 "Pardon me?" Nabiki looked up at Nodoka
with a flat gaze. "And what, may one inquire, is the
standard for being a 'man among men'?"

 Akane looked up with a nauseous expression.
The handprint at the bottom...how young was Ranma 
when he agreed to this?

 "Seppuku? For not being manly enough?"
Ukyou's eyes widened as she remembered. "Oh my
kami, the curse!" Ukyou oofed as Akane sent an elbow
driving into her midsection.

 "I already know about that." Nodoka 
sighed. "Mister Hibiki explained to me that my 
daughter was under a curse so that she turned into
a boy when splashed with hot water. More, that 
this curse apparently caused my daughter to think
she was actually my son. It was one of the few things
that he and Mister Kuno were able to agree on."

 "Oh my."

 "No! The curses don't work like that. Not
at all!" Nabiki shook her head. She didn't want little
brother to die. There were bets still riding on which
girl would eventually win. Ukyou was a clear favorite
at 2:1 odds, with Shampoo and herself coming in
just a little later.

 "Oh, so he's manly despite being a girl
some of the time?"

 "Well..." Nabiki wasn't sure if this woman
was one of those who could detect lies or not. "He's...
quite...strong."

 "We were able to keep up with some of
the schoolwork while on the road," Kasumi volunteered.
Mostly that had been her doing. "We were able to 
study at odd times during the training."

 "He's very polite," Ukyou put in, not adding
that this would be on the rare occasions when he wasn't
putting his foot in his mouth.

 "And when we were bathing he didn't even
look at us," Akane put in, neglecting to mention
that was because of the pounding he had gotten when
he did look.

 The four girls shrunk back a little as a tear
formed and trickled its way down Nodoka's cheek. "I...
see. So dearest has failed and my son is not manly."

 "Huh?" Four girls stared at the woman 
across from them and wondered exactly what the
subtitles were running, since they quite obviously
weren't having the same conversation.

 "Well, thank you. We shall continue
this conversation later." Nodoka rose to go busy
herself in the kitchen.

 Ukyou blinked. "So, to be a 'man among
men' he can't be polite?"

 "Look at who she married," Nabiki managed
after a moment. "If that's her definition of manly..."

 "Oh my. Poor Ranma." Kasumi sighed, 
she had been SO looking forward to seeing her
little brother again. "He ISN'T very much like his
father, is he?"

 "I wonder what Ken's doing now?" Akane
mused. She hoped that she didn't have to get Mrs
Saotome's approval to date Ken (providing he could
be persuaded to see her as something besides a 
little girl.) It didn't sound like he would be 'manly'
enough for her.

 Nabiki mentally revised the odds of Akane
being Ranma's choice. It sounded like she already had
a boyfriend.
-------------------March 10, 1992----------------------
 The tournament continued. Shampoo
combined her Amazonian Wu Shu with Anything
Goes, because the latter went with everything.

 Her opponent, having just defeated the
giantess named Dowel, was a lithe young girl who
used the same combination of styles. Vanilla had
long trained for this battle, and the bets in the crowd
were flying as fast as the punches on the log.

 Shampoo fought with passion and energy.
Vanilla countered with efficiency and coolly thinking
out each step and motion. It was amazing how long
the fight was lasting.

 An Elder's voice raised up in a call for a 
halt and silence fell upon the assembly. Shampoo
and Vanilla returned to their corners of the Challenge
Log.

 The noise was a mixture of a wheeze and
a grind, terminating in a thump. It repeated, slightly
louder with each repetition.

 Cologne grinned as a blue rectangular
shape began to form near the edge of the crowd.
She pogoed over to the door area, waiting.

 Two figures came out, and Cologne
raised an eyebrow. "So, Doctor, you've finally
been landed by some girl? Huang Xi would have
been SO disappointed after you didn't choose her."

 "But I never defeated her in combat..."

 "That game of chess, back in, oh my, 
must have been 1859. Where does time fly?"

 Ranma grinned, enjoying the sight of
the Doctor being hit with this sort of thing. After
all, it happened to Ranma all the time.

 "This isn't my child, anyway. He mentioned
amazons, so I thought..."

 Cologne looked over the figure dressed in
such close approximation of the Doctor, including the
extraordinarily long scarf.

 "Airen!?" Shampoo yelped happily from
her position on the log. Could it be?

 Ranma waved at Shampoo but quickly found
his view blocked by a pale amazon with red-tinted eyes.
"<Stranger male, YOU I challenge!>"

 "Huh?!" Ranma dodged as the girl's foot was
now occupying the space his head had a moment ago.

 "<Show me what sort of techniques you've
picked up, travelling with the Time Lord!>" Vanilla spun
low into a footsweep.

 Ranma seemed to hang momentarily in the air.
"<Well...okay.>" He bounced lightly, went into a tumble
and landed on top of the TARDIS. "<Behold a technique
so baffling that even the Cybermen were confused by it!
Doctor-fu!>"

 "Not THAT again," said the Doctor.

 Vanilla found herself blinded as the end
of Ranma's scarf wrapped itself around her head.

 "<Feel the terror of the well-made English
crochet work as it keeps you pinned. And now for
the final attack of the Doctor-fu style!>"

 "You really shouldn't do this, you know."
The Doctor shook his head, looking at the ground.

 "<Special Attack:> K-9 Stun Her."

 A sonic beam rippled the air slightly from
within the TARDIS. Vanilla collapsed. 

 There was scattered applause from the
assembled amazons. Ranma bowed.

 "<Airen, you speak Mandarin now?>"

 "<Yes, Shampoo, you pick up odd skills
travelling with the Doctor.>" Ranma shrugged and
sat down. He grinned at his childhood friend from
his seat on the TARDIS roof. "<Though the TARDIS
has a translation effect that makes it hard to tell 
exactly what language I'm speaking at the moment.>"

 "<Mandarin,>" said Cologne. "<Otherwise
your lip-synch would be off like it is for the old meddler
here. So tell me, Doctor, what HAVE you been up to?>"

 Vanilla dusted herself off, gave an unreadable
look to Ranma, then approached the log in order to fight
Shampoo again. 

 Shampoo won, but the fight had lasted longer
than anyone thought it would considering Vanilla's 
problem with endurance.
-------------------
 considering the entire thing was something 
i did while working off writer's block on that one scene
in Featherbrite's Tale, this sucker just breezed up to a
massive size, didn't it?

 Ah, savor the strangeness, though.

 Here we have Ranma, still a martial artist,
still cursed, but a scholarly version of Ranma as well.
He's a little bit more a fusion between Keichi Morisato
and the original Ranma Saotome in this version. He's
got the skills appropriate to a RIFTS Rogue Scientist,
plus some decent martial arts skills. Not nearly as good
a martial artist as in The Original Series (either).

 Here we have a self-confident Akane Tendo,
except in scholastic achievements because she hasn't
kept up that much. She knows basic Street Fighter moves
similar to Ryu and Ken, including the Hadoken. Her
traditional feminine skills are pretty much where they
were in the manga, but she's less anxious to cook.

 Here we have a Kasumi who has studied
shiatsu techniques of Hokuto Shin Ken. She can't do
the 100 punches, but can do paralysis or sleep strikes,
knows most of the healing points and a few surprises
that she's picked up making mistakes. She does NOT
know the head-exploder and doesn't want to know it.
She's spent the last two years learning traditional 
household skills from "Auntie Saotome" while she
pulls in some money as a nurse at a local clinic.

 We also have Nabiki, who is fair at Amazonian
Wu Shu but is WAY below Shampoo in ability. On the
other hand, her knowledge of herbalism and occult lore
is the greatest of this little group of fiancees. She DOES
know the Xai Fang Gao, for one thing, but hesitates to
use it on Mrs Saotome unless it becomes really necessary.
On Genma, however... Oh yeah, she turns into a cat when
she gets wet. Weakest martial artist of the group, but not
a slouch either.
 
 Ukyou remains the CUTE fiancee, she's got a
membership card (#004) and everything. Okonomiyaki style
martial arts, a little Amazonian Wu Shu, and a thorough
grounding in Anything Goes. She's a better fighter
than she was in The Original Series (TOS). Jusenkyo cursed
to turn into a really cute Akita-mix dog.

 Shampoo, likes a strong airen, but has to admit
that a smart airen has uses too. Will try to "get Ranma
into shape" whenever she can. Will actually be attending
Furinkan. Not cursed. A better fighter even than in TOS,
as she combines other styles with Amazonian Wu Shu.

 Kodachi, less insane but certainly vengeful
against Genma. Knows Rei's technique from Hokuto No
Ken, uses chi to slice things as if using a monofilament
sword. Wasn't taught all of the technique though, so she
can only cut through nonliving materials. Jusenkyo cursed
to turn into a cat. Can also do the rose-dart trick like 
Tuxedo Mask, her own invention. If Sailor Moon crossover,
some youma would be vulnerable to her chi attack.

 Mousse, no changes except that Shampoo has
even less effort beating him up.

 Ryouga, at first has a crush on Ranma-chan.
When he learns that male Ranma isn't just the effects of
some curse, he blames Ranma for the deception. Despite
that Ranma has been telling him all along of the curse.
To some extent he'll still have a crush on the female side
of Ranma, as that was the first girl to ever treat him with
kindness.

 Kuno. Doesn't change much. He still wants
to go back in time to where the samurai battle it out
across the lands. Dreams of going back to serve Ieyasu
with the pony-tailed girl as his bride. Then he sees the
fiery Akane Tendo, and the purple haired temptress,
and the albino vixen, and goddess of okonomiyaki!
How can he choose one, he must have them all!

 Vanilla. The albino amazon, Rei Ayanami
as a Nichieju warrior. Cold and unfeeling, the heart of
ice that yearns for some warmth. Also a card carrying
fiancee of Ranma. Has learned some Anything Goes
from observing Nabiki and Shampoo. Ranma feels
that as K-9 was the one who technically defeated 
Vanilla, that she should become a companion of the
Doctor. Vanilla pursues Ranma, at least until/if the 
Doctor shows up again.
 
 Genma. Still looking for Ranma. Still clueless.

 Adventures. Well, adventures will come
looking for THEM. Anything from a Dalek invasion 
(Breaking Point on a Dalek environmental suit= a mess)
to people trying to kidnap Ranma for his advanced
scientific knowledge. (Fiancees to the rescue!)
-------------------------------
 "It's MY turn to save Ranchan!"

 "You no fast enough, you eat Shampoo's dust!"

 "Shuuuuu-SHOU!"

 "Aaaaaaa! Kodachi, watch where you're doing that!
You'll cut the bridge supports!"
======================================
more later, maybe.
trying to get back to Featherbrite's Tale.

ja ne,
gregg