Subject: [FFML][Ranma][ff]a very scary bet 2c
From: metroanime@mindspring.com
Date: 2/9/1999, 9:21 PM
To:


here we go. 2d (finishing up chapter 2) is at the prereaders.
Fist of Orion is at #3 and should be ready for the FFML soon.
(you have been warned) and i've got four others teasered
out for later follow up. <insert evil DM laugh>


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A Very Scary Bet, Rough version rewrite
part 2c: Here's....Ranko?!?!
by greggsharp, metroanime@mindspring.com
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com
various people own the various char. no
trademark infringement is intended.
	oh, and Jared suggested one scene
here, which was something i had already planned 
so it was something that just HAD to be done, ne?
--------------------------------------------
	"RANCHAN!" Ukyou managed a
flying tackle that would have done an NFL
linebacker proud.

	"So, Akane, you get over problem
with poisonous cooking?"

	"Hah, just you wait, you barbarian,
I'll show you! I'll show all of you!"

	The two girls shared a laugh.

	"Is almost like old times."

	"Yeah, I missed you too, you bimbo."

	Nodoka's eyes flicked back and forth.
"Why do you two trade insults back and forth 
like that when you're obviously glad to see each
other?"

	Akane spoke up first. "Uncle Genma 
told us all about that. You've got to insult and
belittle people to show you care for them."

	Nodoka blinked, her eyes sweeping
around the crowd. "...but Kasumi and Ukyou..."

	"Oh, we just got in the habit to please
him. Some of us knew better." Ukyou said in a 
cheerful voice, leading Ranma in by the hand.
She was with her Ranchan, all was right with the
world. The rest of Nerima might have been 
overcast, but as far as she was concerned there
was sunlight beaming down on her and little
bluebirds fluttering about.

	"I...see." Nodoka nodded, fingering
her silk-wrapped bundle. "So Dearest explained 
how such things work to you..."
---------------------------
	Thousands of miles away, a certain 
heavyset man looked up from a hot cup of mulled
wine and shivered at the premonition of Doom 
which had befallen him. 
	
	Figuring that he knew where it had
originated, Genma gave thanks that he was, in
fact, thousands of miles away.

	But where was Ranma? Shouldn't he
have been trudging along by now?
---------------------------
	"Son," Nodoka closed the door,
cutting off the following young girls. "We 
must have a talk now."

	"Yeah? Good. I don't see why
it has to be private, though, me and the
girls shared everything when we were on
the trail."

	"Everything?" Nodoka said,
pausing as if considering something for
a moment. "Now, son, I hear you wouldn't
even look at these girls..."

	"Oh yeah, right. Who'd you
hear THAT from, Akane? 'Look at 'em',
heck for a couple of weeks there, I was
riding 'em! Had to look at 'em then just
to hold on, didn't I?"

	Nodoka blinked, somehow 
making a little squeegee noise as she
did so. "Well, er, yes. That WOULD be
appropriate. So, uhm, you 'rode' these
young ladies before you all were 
separated?"

	Ranma thought back, the
memories bringing a smile to his face.
"Oh yeah. Heck all the time then. They were
all riding me or I was riding them, if we
didn't have to tend the cart or be training
in the martial arts. Heck, I rode Kasumi
for most of a day and a night there once!"

	Nodoka's knees threatened to
give out. She misinterpreted the wistful
grin and distant look on her son's face.
Could it be? "You...and...Kasumi?"

	"Yeah. That was cool, I think
Kasumi hadda be one of the best cause she
was so gentle and just made me feel all warm
and fuzzy when I'd lean into her."

	Nodoka blinked again. "Oh my."

	"Shampoo was cool too, when
we flew together, oh that was thoroughly
neat. You wouldn't think it, but she's really
light, so her weight when she rode me was
hardly any deal. And she gets going really
quick, y'know?"

	Nodoka pulled out a paper fan
and began fanning herself. "My. And you
say you rode the others?"

	"Yeah, pretty much. Nabiki rode
me a couple of times, but that wasn't much
special, though SHE got a kick out of it.
Kodachi was fun, but a little scary, y'know."
Ranma shook his head, riding the tiger had
been a really nerve-wracking experience 
and he'd been trying to convince himself
that she wasn't really a cat all through the
ordeal.

	"Akane was a little tricky, just
getting my legs around her at the time was
a pain, but interesting. I mean she's just 
solid muscle, and feeling the way she 
flexed and moved was really different from
any of the others." Ranma paused, 
wondering why his mother had turned 
that strawberry color. "Ucchan was great,
though. When we flew together, or she rode
me, it was almost kinda poetic at times. We
just seemed to move naturally together, y'know?"

	Nodoka sniffled. "Oh, Ranma,
how MANLY you were. And at such a 
young age, too."

	"Huh?"

	At that point Ukyou interrupted the
discussion by falling through the door, laughing 
uncontrollably.

	Neither Ranma nor Nodoka 
understood the "private joke" that Ukyou
referred to.
------------------------------------
	Nabiki listened to the discussion,
to the whispered explanations and speculations,
and realized she'd have to move soon. They'd
had two years to come to some decisions regarding
how to handle this.

	She was NOT inclined to let her
dear (though really slow on some things) 
brother/fiance die a meaningless death 
because his mother would consider his
virginity (she considered this to be almost 
completely certain based on her analysis of his
personality profile to date) to be a fate deserving
death.

	Nabiki was not a warrior, though
she could hold her own. She had some skill
in Anything Goes, as well as in Amazonian Wu
Shu. However, her strengths were in some of
the other skills she had learned in her time in
the village. Herbcraft, alchemy, shiatsu, and
the secret techniques of the Chinese Amazons
(as opposed to the Norwegian, South American,
or Polynesian tribes) were Nabiki's favored 
weapons.

	She'd decided over a year ago on
a course of action and had been carefully 
preparing the ingredients. The rarer ingredients
had only recently gotten to her, and Yuan 
could still be counted on to send her the sort
of thing that could only be gotten from the 
Amazons.

	Once Nabiki had put together the
proper formula, there remained the question of
administering it, and one final question.

	Then she'd have to decide who
would tame the wild horse. A smirk appeared
on her face as she pondered the possibilities.
--------------------------------
	Shampoo considered. If she hadn't
sworn that she wouldn't use mind-altering 
substances on Ranma, she knew the little 
bottle of pills she'd picked up on Phase World
would take care of some stupid "man among
men" pledge.

	(Shampoo also thought that was
a pretty stupid thing anyway. Now if it had 
been a pledge to be a woman among women,
she could see it as at least a worthy goal. Or,
if it had been a "man among women" - well,
Ranma would have qualified as that quite
handily.)

	Shampoo smiled. SHE had promised
not to use magic potions or the like on Ranma.
That didn't mean she couldn't get someone 
ELSE to use the pills, did it?
-----------------------------------
	Ukyou held her stomach, which was
still fairly sore from realizing that two completely
different conversations had been taking place
between Ranma and his mother.

	Ukyou blinked. Waitaminute. She'd
bet, even with Shampoo spending all that time
around Ranma, that Ranma still hadn't done IT.
This could be a fatal thing with his mother's
weird attitude.

	It was the work of a moment to 
realize what had to be done, and who would do
it. Ukyou grinned at the thought. No, she had to
make this sacrifice for Ranma's sake.

	A vision rose in Ukyou's head, of
Ranma head thrown back in passion as she rode...

	"Ukyou? Are you okay? You look a
little feverish."

	Ukyou blinked. "Oh, heh heh. Sorry,
I was just thinking about something, Kasumi."

	Kasumi nodded and turned back to
her own contemplation. If she hit those three
shiatsu points, hmmm. She might be able to get
Ranma past this difficult point in his life.
----------------------------------
	"<Masters' Residence.>"

	"<Hello, Is Ken there? This Akane Tendo is.>"
She'd decided that sending letters wasn't enough. Today
she would CALL him.

	"Ah, Tendo-san, Master Ken has spoken
of you and his other training partner." The butler's
voice was accented but otherwise passable in his 
Japanese.

	Akane all but shot off sparks. Ken had
spoken of her! Little hearts floated all around her.

	"He's out with his girlfriend Eliza at the
moment. Do you want to leave a message?"

	Little hearts crashed to the ground with
the sound of glass breaking. Akane stared at the
betraying and now crumpled telephone. "Girlfriend?"

	"Gee, Akane, some of us might want to
use the phone ourselves." Nabiki shook her head,
wondering once again if Akane was really related
to her. It was something she'd wondered about since
their reunion.

	"His girlfriend?" Akane carefully put the
crumpled receiver back on its cradle. "His girlfriend
Eliza. He's out with his girlfriend Eliza."

	Vanilla pondered the young girl standing
by the phone and shook her head. She quickly crossed
over to Akane and gently put a hand on her shoulder.
"You need to stake claim on male, that way no one take
what is your property. Otherwise someone else just come
along and pffffttt! You end up watching YOUR property
go off with other womans."

	Akane blinked and regarded the redeyed 
amazon in front of her.

	Vanilla nodded. "Is way of warrior, to strike
fast, strike hard, make intentions plain. Seize moment!"

	Akane rolled her eyes. "This is Japan, not the
Amazon village, you just don't do things that way here."

	Vanilla regarded Akane, cocking her head to
the side. "You no tell boyfriend you interested. Now other
girl stake claim. What part of this no apply?"

	Akane blinked and looked down. She blinked
again, then moved off silently, deep in thought.

	Vanilla nodded, satisfied that she had reached
her sister warrior. If only she could solve her own problems
that easily.
-------------------------------
	"So, Kasumi," Shampoo sat next to her "sister" and
regarded the big pile of parts that Ranma was unloading.
"Cured or suppressed?"

	"Altered. You?" Kasumi allowed a slight smile
to cross her face.

	"Cured." Shampoo smiled as she saw what it was
that Ranma was putting together.

	"I only transform into a unicorn now during the
full moon." Kasumi shrugged. "It's a lot more predictable and
liveable. As you've discovered, I'm sure, it's easier to alter or
suppress the Jusenkyo curses than eliminate them entirely."

	Shampoo nodded. "Was on space station. Using device
called 'transmat' which move you from one place to another. Other
end blow up. Shampoo stuck in between until airen save Shampoo,
override controls and put Shampoo back together again. When
put back together, Shampoo no have curse."

	"Ukyou has control of her curse. For the most part." 
Kasumi watched her "little brother" putting together a vehicle 
that looked like it had pieces of motorcycle and pieces of jet mixed
up. "Some sort of teleportation device. I changed mine through an 
ancient ritual dealing with some ancient moon worshippers.

	"Nabiki suppresses hers through a bracelet. It works
MOST of the time, she says." Kasumi smiled.

	 "Ranma have something similar, except he just work at 
repelling accidental splashings."

	Kasumi nodded. "Well, we HAVE had these curses
for awhile, of course we'd all find ways to work around them. 
Akane mentioned something about using some ancient
chi ritual to suppress her own change."

	"Airen's cure no work that well. It deflect splashes 
accidental in nature. No work against deliberate."

	"Wait till his mother's away, then we can find out
what Ranko is like." Kasumi exchanged a mischievous glance
with Ukyou. It wouldn't be BORING, that was for sure.
------------------------------
	Ranma set the power cord up, clicked the battery
switch to charge, and allowed himself a moment of rest.

	Shampoo REALLY loved her hovercycle. 

	The sudden loss of flight ability after her transmat
accident had left the Amazon looking for some alternative. The
Tengu powerarmor was faster, but the NG-300 "Speedster" 
they'd gotten from that chop-shop recruiter (who would likely
think twice before attacking an Amazon in powerarmor again)
was Shampoo's favorite.

	Small, manueverable, capable of a top speed of 220mph,
with a ceiling of 120ft, and very responsive. It had required some
repairs during the period that Shampoo had learned to use it, but
she had gotten that determined look in her eyes and Ranma knew
better than to get in Shampoo's way when she had her back up 
like that.

	Of course, he wanted to add just a few improvements.
Little tweaks here and there. He'd wait for her birthday and 
surprise her by upgrading the laser or something.

	He'd just finished tightening the frame when he
was swept up by five feet of enthusiastic amazon.

=====================================
clip to A Very Scary Bet 2d.