Ranma 1/2:  Bet: A Fourth Option, part a
 It was pointed out to me (by Rick Robinson) that
instead of two divergences (Angel 1/2 and Devil 1/2)
that there should be FOUR divergences from Hel's little
manipulation. One, the demon in the pool. Two, the angel
in the pool. Three, neither in the pool. Four, both in the
pool.  Three, i thought would be pretty much normal
Ranmaverse, except that something occurred to me...
you know how dangerous THAT is.
but instead of going there now...
setting and major char by Rumiko Takahashi
add'l char & situations by way too many people.
 y'know who y'all are, so just take a bow, would'ya?
webpage: http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/
---------------------------
INTERSPHERE MEMO-
From: Skuld@Yggdrasil.com
To: Lian@Yggdrasil.com, BHandy@Yggdrasil.com,
C_Angel@Yggdrasil.com, Toltiir@aol.com, Baldur@Bridge.org,
Grey999@rro.org, BDandy@gro.org, Urd@gro.org,
Setsuna@Moon.gov, Susano@Surfer.com

Subject: Hel hath no fury

Regarding Hel's manipulation of the events, esp battle
between Asuralle (Angel 1st class, limited license) and
Amon (Demon 1st class, limited license).

Refresher: Hel attempted to manipulate events in a
retrograde (ie in the processing of merging with a major line)
timeline to create suffering and misery. Based on the results,
it is guessed that there is a 92% chance that she will give up
on the entire effort as not worth the time and energy. There is
a 5% additional chance that while she will try again, she will
give up if this produces similarly unsatisfactory results.

Unlike previous documentation (see ref files "Devil 1/2"
and "Angel 1/2") there were actually four timelines developed
through the manipulation.

In one timeline, it was the Darkness that rose triumphant
over a certain small body of water. In another, the Light was
the victor. A third branch off saw the fight continuing for a
time until both parties retreated, then continually coming
back to spar in midair over the springs to end their ancient
feud once and for all. A fourth branch appeared where both,
locked in immortal combat, fell into a single spring.

Research on this fourth timeline is appended, please note
that it is still early in its divergence and therefore fully
unexplored.

The Musk Dynasty (use keyword MuskDyn at any
Yggdrasil info kiosk for details) determined that their
favorite spring was destroyed. Said destruction was
largely focussed in a vertical axis, so the area of Jusenkyo
destroyed was quite small, roughly 120 feet circular. The
destructive force itself was caused by two opposing magical
beings in battle, the magic of the Cursed Springs themselves
(use keyword Jusendo) and the Doublet system being fedback
due to a simultaneous death.

Herb, young Prince of the Musk Dynasty, responded by
having his men fill in the big gaping hole since it was entirely
too big to become a cursed spring and somehow Cursed
Roughly Olympic Sized Really Damn Deep Swimming Pool
just didn't roll trippingly off the tongue. Even in Mandarin
Chinese.

Due to an ancient pact with the spirits of the place, they
were now to create more of these cursed springs. As
Spring Of Drowned Girl is important to them and their
culture, it was decided that this was the priority.

As in forty-seven other timelines (results pending
further investigation) this proved to be a considerably
greater task than was originally thought. After all, grab
some girl, throw her in a new spring, she drowns, you've
got a NEW Spring Of Drowned Girl, right? Well, no, it
never quite works out that easy. Hence the creation
of a Spring Of Dragon-Who-Was-Shapeshifted-Into-Human-Form,
Spring Of Really-Young-Girl, Spring Of Amazon-Warrior,
and three other springs that didn't quite make the cut.
You'd think that Spring Of Bimbo or Spring Of Heart's
Desire would have satisfied them, but at this point Herb
was getting pretty stubborn and his various henchmen were
set in their routine.  Their REAL problems came about when
a couple of martial artists showed up during one of their
attempts to create a new Cursed Spring, shortly after the
creation of the Cursed Spring Of Dragon-Who-Was-
Shapeshifted-Into-Human Form by throwing a drunk
dragon who had assumed a human guise into a newly
excavated spring.
--------------------------------------
 Ranma hadn't actually thought about it. He
saw two guys, one of whom was holding a girl's head
underwater. He reacted in the manner of a trained martial
artist, moving without thinking when fast decisive methods
were indicated.

 They were good, very good. Better than he had
faced in a long, long, time. They were too good, in fact.

 Ranma felt himself being thrown aside as
easily as if he were a baby challenging a grown man. He
was getting pretty angry when he struck the ground
and more than a little startled when it caved in underneath
him.

 "<I thought you covered that pool!>" Garlic
snarled at Mint.

 "<After what came out of there LAST time?
You bet I did.>"

 "<Not well enough, lunkhead!>" Garlic grabbed
the older man who was trying to flee and threw him into
Spring Of Drowned Piglet. At least they'd be able to eat
something after the fight. "<At least there's not enough water
to curse that boy.>"

 The ground rumbled.

 "<Garlic, I gotta bad feeling about this.
Prince Herb hasn't recovered from his fight with the
last one yet!>"

 The ground rumbled again and the hole
Ranma had made was beginning to glow from within.

 Garlic proved that he was more capable than Mint
OR Lime. Put off getting hurt when you can. "<We've got to
get Prince Herb and tell him about this. We can beat it, but
if we stay for that kind of a fight we'll be exhausted when the
rest of the amazons come.>"

 Mint nodded and started running for the citadel,
ignoring the bleating piglet that was crawling out of a spring.

 With an angry glance back at the hole (now
fountaining up loose dirt and rock), Garlic also made his
best speed. NEXT time they'd fill the spring up with rocks,
THEN pour dirt over the surface. Then maybe some of that
Readymix concrete stuff.)

 The Guide came out of his hut, determined that it
was safe, knew better than to save the drowned girl, and
poured a little hot water on the piglet, then poured a little
down the hole. A moment later, Ranma emerged.

 "Aw shit!" Ranma ran towards one pool,
seeing the girl floating face down in it. He felt a tingle
when he pulled the girl to the side, but didn't pay much
attention to it. The girl wasn't breathing but didn't feel
cold.

 He remembered enough to start pumping the
water out, but what now?

 An old woman's voice said something in Chinese.

 "I don't understand. Why isn't she breathing?!"
Ranma began to notice there were some really odd sensations
beginning to penetrate through the urgency of the moment.

 "Japanese, eh? Well, try this." The old woman
began giving instructions to clear the airways then give
mouth-to-mouth.

 Ranma sat back as the girl began to draw her own
breaths, coughing up still more of the water as Something Bad
began to penetrate.

 Cologne noticed the look of panic and the way
those hands were fumbling. "Don't worry, child, hot water will
restore you to normal."

 "What?!" Ranma now noticed his voice was different.
Higher pitched with an odd sing-song quality. "Oh no, what's
happened to me?"

 "We'll have to request this spring be sealed." Cologne
remarked. "Come along child, you've had a more eventful day than
you can imagine."

 "B-b-but I?!"

 Cologne kindly tapped a sleep shiatsu spot. There
would be time for this a little later. Now she had something else
to attend to.

 "<Shampoo? That IS you, isn't it?>"

 "<Great Grandmother? Those men, Musk?>"

 "<I saw them fleeing for their citadel,>" Cologne
chuckled. "<Can you make it as far as the Guide's hut?>"

 "<Give me a few minutes.>" Shampoo knew her
abilities at recovery. Her eyes widened at what she saw at her
Elder's feet. She considered screaming. "<Great grandmother,
what?>"

 "<Someone who has been Jusenkyo cursed
saving your life, twice if I'm not mistaken. We'll have to see,
won't we?>"
----------------------
 "So," announced Ranma shakily after he'd
awakened and explanations had been made. "Cold water
turns me into...a girl."

 "Turns you into an exact mirror image, a twin
of sorts, of my great granddaughter Shampoo. Except that
you have another form that you can change into, providing
the local environs can accomodate a dragon. Dragons can
shapechange into human form, but because of the springs
mixing like that, the form you change into is that of Shampoo."

 "<Great Grandmother? Why does he look like he
is about to faint?>"

 "<It's a bit much for an outsider to accept all at
once.>" Cologne regarded Ranma. "I don't want to hit you
with too much at once, but there is one thing that needs to
be addressed immediately. Shampoo needs to challenge you
to a fight, and you must not hold back at all."

 "Huh?" Ranma looked over at the girl who HAD
been smiling a few minutes ago but was now looking as coldly
angry as he'd ever seen anyone before.

 "It's a legal matter that needs to be taken care of."
Cologne nodded at the boy. "It deals with pride and honor
and legal matters that I'll go into once you defeat her. IF she
doesn't, oh how does that phrase go? Oh yes, 'kick your behind
so badly that you'll be tasting her shoe polish.' Hmm. Maybe that
wasn't it after all."

 "Oh yeah? Well, come on, then!" Ranma was feeling
out of sorts, a fight might just help him center everything.

 "Good, outside, please." Cologne allowed herself to
smile some. There were laws, and there were laws, and there was
the possibility of her great granddaughter to have a measure of
happiness among all the duties. Cologne was determined to give
her the chance at least.

 Ranma blinked at the combat circle that the old woman
drew in the dirt, then turned his attention back to his opponent.
Where was his father anyway? Probably stuffing his face, per usual.
 This Shampoo girl looked deadly serious, but her own relative was
telling Ranma that he needed to go all out against her. It wasn't the
first time he'd run across weird provincial laws or customs, but...

 Then he saw a girl readying a set of manacles to the side.
She met his eyes briefly and said "in case lose" quite distinctly.

 Ranma snapped to a ready stance. So they were gonna
make him work off some kinda debt, huh? No way. He remembered the
last time that had happened. He'd been working with raw sewage for
three days. "Ain't no way."

 Cologne nodded. "BEGIN!"

 Shampoo launched herself. Ranma launched himself.
Some guy yelled Shampoo's name and was quickly silenced. The
two combatants got over the opening manuevers and began to
exchange blows in earnest.

 Ranma was surprised when the girl connected with a
spinning kick to his ribs that failed to do much at all. His return,
a legsweep, actually spun Shampoo around in midair. When he
punched her jaw, the amazon was briefly airborne and came
down in a heap.

 "What the?" Ranma stared at his fist. He hadn't
been holding back, but he was sure that his opponent hadn't
been either. He felt his other hand being raised to signal that
he'd been the victor. What had happened here?

 Ranma looked up to see the girl smiling at him, before
she grabbed him in a tight embrace and landed a passionate
kiss upon him.

 "It's done!" Cologne spoke in Japanese for the
benefit of Ranma, then repeated it in the local dialect for the
audience. Sugar put away the chains, they might not be needed
after all. There was a generally enthusiastic cheer from the audience.

 "What's done?" Ranma stared at the old woman, puzzled.

 "She has just given you the Kiss Of Marriage,
acknowledging you as her husband." Cologne hopped away,
as Mousse had just started screaming something about bloody
wholesale death and carnage, and she wanted to shut him up before
he intruded on the happy couple.

 "M-m-m-marriage?" Ranma said, feeling as if he had
been hit a lot harder with that one statement than he had been at
any point in the fight. "No way! I can't! No!"

 "Wo da airen. Wo ai ni!" Shampoo chirped happily
as she snuggled up against Ranma. And he turned into her twin
sister, so he could go off and do all the boring stuff she didn't
want to do like attend meetings/lectures run by that old battleaxe
Huang Ling. Shampoo colored as she thought of OTHER possibilities
this brought up.

 The sound of wood meeting someone's skull echoed
through the village as various amazons gave quiet congratulations
to Shampoo.

 "BUT I DON'T WANT TO MARRY SHAMPOO!"

 An old woman's voice (not the one that was again in
front of him) helpfully translated this.

 Silence. Ranma glanced around to find the looks he
was getting now were ten degrees colder than the look Shampoo
had given him earlier.

 "So, groom. Are you refusing to marry my
great-granddaughter?" Cologne turned and said a few words in
her native language to the crowd. Sugar sighed and got the chains
back out. One of the other amazons whispered a few words to Shampoo.

 "I can't marry no..." Ranma stopped when he heard a
sniffle. He glanced at Shampoo and saw those red eyes brimming
with tears. "...body." He swallowed. Somehow that one look, full of
pain, was worse than the bared swords and readied spears now
surrounding him. "I. Marry? I can't. No? I don't even know you!"

 The amazons present were largely experienced, hardened,
warriors. They noticed the cool confident way that Ranma faced their
weapons. They also noted (and pointed out in whispered Mandarin
for the less experienced or slower amazons) how Ranma started to fall
apart upon seeing a few tears beginning to form.

 "What's going on here!" Genma came stalking up, a
picnic basket full of pastries, fruits, and other edibles under one arm.
"What's this about my boy getting married?"

 "He was just telling us that he couldn't lower himself to
accept an Amazon wife." Cologne sneered at Genma. "Shampoo
apparently doesn't live up to his standards."

 "It's not like that!"

 "Oh? Then what is it? Why is Shampoo unsuitable?"

 Ranma looked nervously at the waiting Shampoo,
who looked like she would commence with the waterworks if he
said just one wrong thing. "Uhm, well, I mean. Look, she's really
cute and all, but, I, that is..."

 "He's already got a fiancee," Genma announced as
Ranma's voice trailed off.

 "What?" Ranma spun to face his father. "Whattaya mean by that!?"

 The other Elder translating added that apparently this was
news to the groom. There were one or two in the crowd who needed to
be hit over the head with such information. The rest were merely annoyed.

 "Yes, DO tell us what you mean." Cologne wasn't smiling.
She wasn't amused in the slightest. Prudent amazons located a nearby
exit. Just in case.

 "There is an old honor agreement that Ranma will marry one
of my good friend Soun Tendo's daughters and carry on the Musubetsu
Kakuto Ryuu!"

 "HAPPOSAI!" Three amazons screamed the name as if it were
a curse (it was) and drew weapons again. Over two dozen others stared
at Genma as if deciding where to make the first cut.

 Cologne silenced them with a gesture. "So, Ranma, you
throw aside my great granddaughter in favor of these other girls?"

 "I don't know anything about 'em! I've never met 'em,
so I don't know them either. I ain't gonna marry anyone I don't know."

 As the translation went over his most recent words, a
knowing look came into the eyes of more than one amazon. This
male was trying to bargain, and if other women wanted him, that
just proved he had some additional value yet to him. More, this male w
as behaving like a cornered wild horse. Given time, he could be broken
to the saddle.

 Shampoo, hearing all the comments about equestrian
activities, was blushing a little. Well, supposedly it helped develop
muscle tone. She'd have to see if that was true.

 Cologne nodded as if considering something.
"<Shampoo, what do you say to getting to know the groom a bit
better? Maybe see these other fiancees his father speaks of.>"

 "<Let them lead me to the obstacles, then kill
them?>" Shampoo nodded.

 "<Shampoo, not all women from outside are
warriors. I know this is a strange thought, but it is true.
What are the other options?>"

 Shampoo thought a moment. "<If they are not
warriors at all, then I can defeat them and use the Xi Fang
technique. If their skills are useful and they cooperate, then
they could be made honorary members of the tribe, in which
case they would defer to me. If they do not cooperate, I
could make it a challenge of honor. If they are not members
of the tribe at all, I could make the obstacle a slave.>"

 "<There are even more options than you think,
Shampoo. Providing, of course, we control the events.> You,
Genma." Cologne smiled humorlessly. "Bring these other fiancees.
We'll keep Ranma here so he can get to know Shampoo better. If
this is so important, then they should be anxious to come and
help free their young fiance. We'll give you a month before we
formalize the marriage."
--------------------------------------
 Soun Tendo opened the letter from his old friend
and glanced at the two maps. One showed a port in Yokohama
with the name of a ship marked. The second showed a set of
buses that would take one to a village called "Cloudgate Pass"
and from there an overland journey into the Bayankala mountain
range and another village. A note stated that a certain area to the
side was called the "Martial Arts Training Ground Of Cursed Springs"
and should be avoided.

 Soun waited until after dinner, this was going to be
a problem.

 "FIANCE!?" Akane exploded after being told about
an arranged marriage.

 "Is he cute?" Nabiki questioned, after all most of the
local boys were obsessed with her younger sister. It would be
nice to have a boy who was interested in her, and not as a way
to meet Akane for a change. Rich was too much to hope for,
anyway.

 "I hope he's not too young," Kasumi frowned as she
spoke. "Does your letter say anything about that?"

 "They ran into some problems in China," Soun said,
looking over his daughters. "Just listen.

 "Tendo-san,

 "It is with great urgency that I must ask you to
come with all haste and bring your daughters with you. If
you do not, I fear the Saotome and Tendo lines cannot be
joined and the pledge of honor we made between our families
will be lost.

 "My son, Ranma, has fallen afoul of some local laws.
By saving a young girl's life from some thugs, he will be forced
to marry her by those laws within one month's time. I was granted
one month to produce your daughters to prove that there was a
prior engagement."

 Nabiki interrupted. "So he's saying that this
Ranma saved a girl's life, and now he's got to marry her?
That's silly!"

 Akane nodded agreement. She thought the arranged
marriage was silly and stone age as well, but agreed that it sounded
like this Ranma guy had gotten a raw deal.

 "Yes, that's what it says here." Soun nodded, then
continued to read. "The village is marked here on the map, there
are ways of sneaking in and out of China, one of which I have
permission for you to use. Go to Dock 13 as marked on the map,
look for a small fishing vessel named the Myou No Maru, and
seek out one of the crew. Say that you are on amazon business
and they will get you to a port in China.

 "I am seeking out someone else to bring back, just
in case your daughters decide to abandon family honor and
not come. I know that you will come, old friend, and I look
forward to seeing you there.

 "Sincerely, Genma Saotome. PS: if you run across
any little black pigs in your travels, be sure not to eat it. I'll
explain when you get here. -Genma."

 "Family honor, huh?" Akane scowled, then brightened.
"I can't do it. School's in session and we have a big test coming up.
Well, darn, guess Nabiki or Kasumi will have to be the one to get
engaged."

 Nabiki blinked. Akane was pulling a fast one? "Hmmm.
China, eh? Well, I would like to see China. Darn, though. Sure we
couldn't wait until the 16th? That's when Spring Vacation starts,
and that would free both me AND Akane up."

 Akane hmmphed and made a pointed show of not looking
at her clearly deranged sister.

 "No, I insist. We must leave immediately. There is no
telling what kind of delays will set in if we allow them to. The
families must be united."

 "If it is SO important, how come you didn't mention
it before now," mumbled Akane. Her father had obviously set
his mind on this idea.

 "Oh father, father, father." Kasumi merely shook
her head, with family honor at stake she might end up married
to a child. How silly. How like her father.
----------------------------------------
 "Have I mentioned how much this really stinks?"

 "Since we saw the ship, twelve times. Since we
packed, thirty four times." Nabiki wasn't happy about the
accomodations either, but it was free. "On the first bus, six times.
 On the second bus, four times. On the hike to this shelter, twice."

 Akane glared at her sister. "That was a rhetorical
question."

 Soun came walking up the road, weariness apparent
in his every move. "That village is 'Cloudgate Pass' all right."

 "So we have to hike the rest of the way?" Nabiki
rubbed her sore feet.

 "I'm afraid so," Soun said and shrugged.

 "You go into mountains?" Two large Chinese
men grinned at each other then at the family.

 Soun took a couple of steps back. They had
literally appeared out of nowhere and had the moves of powerful
confident fighters. He had a bad feeling about this.

 "Why, are you offering a ride?" Nabiki brightened
considerably. Roughing it was not her idea of a good time.

 Soun's own aching muscles proved to be too much
of an argument in favor of accepting the ride. Besides, if he was
rested, he could fight the two much better, couldn't he?
------------------------------------------------
 Kasumi tugged at the ropes but Mint and Lime
were getting fairly good at this.

 Kasumi's father had been thrown into another
spring, and a little girl had come out wailing about getting wet.
Kasumi noted that the two had tied up the little girl to the extent
that she rather resembled a sushi roll. Kasumi also noted that
 the two not-so-nice young men seemed rather enthusiastic
about their job.

 Akane had struggled and had been beaten pretty
badly by the two. Simple-minded, noted Kasumi, but quite
strong. Akane had been wrapped up in a similar fashion to
the little girl. One end of the rope had been tied to a large
rock and rolled into a spring. Akane was still struggling, but
 the rope was slowly pulling her in. The two men thought
this was particularly amusing and clever.

 "I really don't think you should be doing this,"
 said Kasumi as they lifted her up. "This isn't a proper way to
treat guests in your country."

 "Don't worry," Mint said brightly. "Once you
drown in Cursed Spring, you feel much better."

 "Dummy," Lime growled. "Once she drowned,
she dead. She not feel ANYTHING."

 "Oh dear," Kasumi managed. She flinched
involuntarily as she felt herself lifted up to be thrown
into the spring.

 A thunderbolt arrived.

 There were flashing claws and clashing jaws, and
SOMETHING that moved past her and Kasumi felt certain
portions of her anatomy slam into the ground instead of the
water. A scent that somehow evoked the image of a pineforest
in spring, newly kissed by rain, lingered in the air behind...

 Kasumi's eyes widened as she saw her rescuer. Easily
twelve feet long, with a coloration that seemed to incorporate every
shade of blue-green imaginable. Blue eyes, strangely human, narrowed
in anger that was focussed directly on the two men.

 Nabiki screamed as the shape flew past, intent on fighting
the two. This brought the dragon's attention back to the two women
as opposed to following the fleeing Mint & Lime.

 Kasumi flinched again as she felt the creature's nose push
her over, as she felt the beast's warm breath against her back, as she felt
 large sharp teeth gently snap through her ropes.

 Kasumi blinked and replayed that last sensation over in her
mind. Expected: teeth cutting into flesh. Received: ropes being cut
through. Kasumi pulled her arms in front of her and stared. All the
fingers were still there. Rope marks but no teeth marks.

 "STAY AWAY!" Akane's shriek cut through Kasumi's
quiet moment of introspection.

 Kasumi saw the dragon pause, obviously not sure of
what to do about this current situation. It had been heading straight
for Akane, who was still slowly being pulled into the water. She
considered that this seemed to be a fairly civilized seeming dragon,
and therefore assumed that it understood Japanese. "Mister Dragon,
if you'd like to help my other sister, I'll pull Akane away from that
waterhole."

 "HuRunnn." The dragon obediently moved over to
the girl still near the cart.

 Nabiki didn't quite freak out at seeing a huge carnivore heading
her way, showing its teeth in a threatening manner. She opted for the
slightly more dignified fainting spell. Or at least that's what it looked
like.
That the dragon reached over and very delicately nipped through one
of the ropes was not unnoticed by her.

 Lime & Mint chose that moment to re-enter the fray. Their
combined attack slammed into the dragon's skull.

 "<We've got him this time!>" Lime squatted next to the
stunned dragon's head and began kicking repeatedly at it.

 "<No stupid outsider messes with the Musk Dynasty!>"
Mint poked at the apparently unconcious girl. "<You show the stupid
beast his lesson, I'll throw this girl into the Spring.>"

 Feeling herself lifted, Nabiki's eyes shot open to see the two
Chinese youths had returned. Her eyes focussed past the two, where the
dragon's tail was curling up.

 Mint noticed the girl's gaze. "Lime, look out!"

 "Gakk!" Lime almost managed to duck under the tail, but
it had found and wrapped around his neck and was lifting him up.

 With a grin, the dragon flung the youth into one of the
pools and turned to confront the other.
Mint ran, intent on reaching the safety of the Citadel. A now female
Lime would prove that at least one of the pools was close enough,
and Herb would declare the efforts successful. (1)

 A shriek of terror was what kept the dragon from
pursuing the two as both dragon and Nabiki turned to see Kasumi
was still shoving against Akane to keep her out of the spring, but
was falling victim to it herself.

 clip to part b

(1) This was Spring Of Drowned Bimbo, but with Lime's initial
intelligence level it was not immediately apparent that the
maximum intelligence of the cursed form of this particular
template was strictly double digits. Oversexed, underintelligent,
and quite likely to continue being a headache to Herb in either form.

i tried doing the auto line length, folks. it made the printouts i
run off for my non-internet readers look pretty pathetic. so back to this
style for now.