Subject: [ffml][fanfic][ranma]Merging Forces. Prolouge: Death
From: Corey Centerbar
Date: 2/5/1999, 12:22 AM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

this is like the second or third thing I've posted and it's been quaite
a while so I apologize for any mistakes.
VidWizard	



	The sun rose over the cursed springs as a new day dawned.  A young man
wearing Chinese clothes and sporting a pigtail walked towards the
training grounds.  He had a look of longing on his face, as if he was in
need of companionship, friendship, or maybe even love.  But this young
man had a greater need.
	
	He needed a cure.  
	
	For he is one of the unlucky few to have gone to Jusenkyo before.  Even
worse he is one of those few to have gained an aquatic curse from the
visit.  This was Ranma Saotome.  

	"Maybe I'll actually find the spring this time." he mused, "It'll be
nice to go swimming as a guy again.  Hm, maybe I can get Mousse and
Ryouga off my back for a while.  Nah, they'll still want to kill me for
something or other.  Seems that everyone I know wants to kiss me or kill
me, sometimes both."  He stopped and pulled a worn picture out of his
pocket.  "Wish me luck Akane," he said smiling "if this works I'll be
the man you want me to be when I come back.  Instead of a cursed
pervert."  He jerked his head up as he heard voices around the bend.  He
rounded the corner to see the guide and a young American being held at
gun point by a girl whose clothes didn't seem to fit right.  "What the
hell..."

	The girl snapped the gun around to bear on Ranma and shouted "Stay
back, "

	"Okay, but what's the gun for?" Ranma replied

	"This bastard ruined my life and now I'm gonna ruin his, get over there
with the other two."  Ranma following the obviously unstable girl's
orders placed his pack on the ground and walked over to where the
American boy and the guide were standing.  He was unusually calm for the
situation.

	"Can anyone tell me what's going on?"

	"Well," the American boy said in perfect Japanese(1) "Andrew there,
well, she's extremely psychotic right now and..."

	"I'M NOT A GIRL GARY!!" Andrew screamed at the top of her lungs(2).

	And the reason hers clothes looked too large suddenly dawned on Ranma,
"You fell in the spring of drowned girl, didn't you?"

	"YES!  This bastard pushed me in!"  She snapped back.

	"Andrew," Gary yelled "I tried to stop you from falling and you know
it!  You're paranoid!"

	"LIAR!" she screamed, tears forming in his... er... her eyes.  "You've
hated me since I was made leader of this expedition."  She dashed the
tears from her eyes and continued to talk.  "You see, last year our
government found out about the so called "Cursed Springs" and decided to
send a team to study the pools and find if and how they worked, I was
made team leader and he hated it!"

	Gary leaned over to Ranma whispering "The fall into the pool has
snapped her mind,  she's become paranoid delusion.  We're here because
it's a training ground, we're game coders.  We wanted to get as many
martial artists as possible to let us study their styles for a game
we're working on."  He chuckled "Too bad we didn't know the pools were
cursed and the ground was abandoned."

	"Game coders?" Ranma replied "She _has_ snapped."

	"He's lying!  We were sent here by our government. He was jealous of me
and pushed me into the pool to get rid of me.  He's been jealous of me
since I stole his girlfriend in high school."  she accused.

	"See what I mean, we didn't go to high school together.  We only met
this past summer.  What happened was some kid wearing a bandanna
mumbling about Furinkan something or other ran by and bumped into
Andrew, when I tried to steady him he pushed me away and fell into the
pool."

	"Stop lying Gary, YOU GOD DAMN PUSHED ME!!" with that she raised her
gun to bear on Gary's head.  "You know, I think it's time for you to die
now Gary.  See you on the other side!"

	It was then that Ranma's impulsive nature and sense of protection got
the better of him.  He decided to go for the gun.  But while he was the
larger of the two, she had a strength born of madness.  "Let go, he has
to die!" she screamed.

	"No way," he shot back, " he doesn't...."  Time moved slowly as the gun
flared.  Pain rivaled only by the first transformation ran through his
body.  Suddenly his grip went weak as he fell to the ground.

	"You shot me, what did you do that for?" he said as the life ran out of
him.  He then fell on his face, lifeless.

	Andrew fell to her knees, suddenly sobbing as the realization of what
she had done shocked her to the core and brought her out of the
madness.  She kneeled there shaking, the gun forgotten as it fell from
her fingers.  Gary picked it up and gave it to the guide.

	"Here, take this." he said as he walked to Ranma's body.  "Oh, god. 
He's just a kid."  He stated as he got a better look at Ranma's body. 
"He's younger than I am.  Sorry to get you involved in this kid."  He
sighed, sitting as he looked at the boys body, depressed and angry at
the same time.

	"Excuse me sir," the guide began.

	"What?"  Gary responded, his head in his hands.

	"There is still a way to revive him."

	"How?  He was shot trough the heart!"

	"Well, this young sir has the curse from the 'Spring of drowned girl',
and he has had it for quite a while now."

	"That's nice, he was killed by someone in the same EXACT SITUATION AS
HE WAS IN!"

	"There is an old legend, that if someone cursed was to be placed back
in the pool they were cursed in with another person of the same gender,
they may be brought back.  but..."

	"But what?" Gary asked as he began to get up.

	"I have never seen it happen," the guide respond.  "I do not know how
it works exactly."

	"Well,"  he started as he picked up Ranma's corpse.  "I'll have to risk
it."  

	"But sir.."

	"No buts!  This kid saved my life, I'd never forgive myself if I didn't
try to do the same.  Now, where's the pool?" he asked.

	"It is this way sir."  The guide responded as he walked towards the
pools.  "But what about the other sir?"

	"She'll be in shock for a good while, I'll figure something out later."

	"If you say so."  The guide suddenly stopped at one of the identical
looking pools.  "Here is the 'Spring of drowned girl', very tragic
legend of girl who drowned in spring 1500 years ago.  Now, whoever fall
in spring take body of girl."

	"If this works, will I be cursed as well?"  Gary asked, looking at the
pool with apprehension.

	"I do not know.  Like I said, I have never seen this done."

	"Well, I guess I'll find out for myself.  CANNONBALL!!"

	Gary jumped into the spring, thinking "I really hope this works"  With
that, he fell into blackness.

Footnotes

(1) What? did you expect a piss poor student like Ranma to know
English?  give me a break.

(2) Any cursed person will be referred to as their CURRENT gender and
species.

End prologue
C&C welcome and requested.