Gary, hope you don't mind a little bit of C&C. First off, I'll add my 
shlock about names.

Ryoga, Ukyo, and the like, I can live with.

But the chinese names of Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne are all pretty 
much agreed upon as Xian Pu, Mu Tsu, and Khu Lon. I can't imagine 
pronouncing Mu Si as Mousse, and it would have probably come out 
"Mushi", which is Japanese for beetle.

:)

From: kleppe@execpc.com (Gary Kleppe)
To: ffml@fanfic.com
Subject: [FFML] [Ranma][Fanfic] Hearts and Minds, part 1 of 10
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 13:32:02 GMT


                           HEARTS AND MINDS
                               PART ONE

                      Ranma 1/2 manga fanfiction
                            by Gary Kleppe

	The characters of Ranma 1/2 are the creation of and rightful
property of Rumiko Takahashi. They are used here without permission.
This story may be freely redistributed, but it should not be altered
substantially or used for profit in any way.

	Thanks to pre-readers Matt Posner, Keener Barnes, Thomas
Schmidt, Cindy Toler, Lara Bartram, Ed Becerra, and Krista Perry.

	As always, feedback will be greatly appreciated, and public
response is preferred. It is highly recommended (but not absolutely
necessary) that you read the HaM Preludes before this story; these can
be found at <http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics.html#ham>.

                                ______


	*Please, goddesses. Let me get home safely; that's all I ask. I
just want to be home.*

	Ti Pi repeated the mantra to herself as she trudged forward
along the dirt road. She didn't know whether anyone or anything would 

be

listening, but it couldn't hurt. If nothing else, maybe it would help
control her fear. So far, it didn't seem to be working.

I was just wondering... is Ti Pi supposed to be read as in "TeePee"?

	The last vestiges of evening sunlight were quickly dying. Soon
only the pale glow of the full moon would remain, and the road would be
blanketed in darkness. Home lay somewhere ahead, but how far? It was
impossible to know what distance she'd already walked, and the 

blackness

ahead seemed to stretch on forever.

	She remembered how happy she'd been when the chief elder had
assigned her this task. It had sounded so simple. *Visit one of their
cities, and find out everything you can about them.* Telling Ti Pi to
gather information was like telling fish to swim. What she hadn't
counted on was how difficult the journey there and back again would be.

	Her stomach rumbled, demanding to be fed. When she'd left
Yinchuan, the food and water in her pack had seemed like a terrible
burden. Now she wished it had been more. She needed food, and sleep. 

Her

eyelids sagged, begging to be closed. It would be so easy to give in, 

to

drift away like a log floating serenely down a stream....

	Somewhere ahead, an animal howled. Ti Pi knew that rabid dogs
hunted in this part of the country. With her Amazon strength and
training, fighting the beasts off wouldn't be a problem -- if she heard
them coming. As she continued to walk, she stretched her senses to the
utmost, trying to take in everything she could. A cool breeze blew
across her face. Insects chirped in an endless, monotonous rhythm. 

There

was no sign of anything remotely human.

	Earlier, Ti Pi had passed through a village called Zhiwu. She'd
been there before, and the place seemed to be just as she remembered 

it.

Buildings of brick and wood lay strewn haphazardly about a gently
rolling landscape. Lush gardens stood fenced off from the roads. Large
signs stretched overhead, identifying various shops; most of them 

seemed

to be selling herbal medicines.

	There were no people.

	Zhiwu was normally a lively place. There should have been
children running in the street, farmers gabbing noisily as they tended
to the day's crop. But today, no one at all could be seen or heard.

	Ti Pi spent over an hour searching through Zhiwu, looking for
any clue as to what had happened to the population. She found none. Had
the General already sent his armies in this direction, and decided to
wipe out this village simply because it had been in the way? Or had the
people here simply fled? She didn't know.

	And now, as she marched through the endless darkness, she was
afraid, not only for herself but for all of her people. She pictured 

her

Amazon sisters being imprisoned and eventually sold into slavery. Or
perhaps they would be simply slaughtered. That would be the easiest way
to deal with them, wouldn't it?

	*Please, goddesses. Let me get home safely. And let home still
be there when I arrive.*

	She looked up at the sky. The moon gleamed brightly amidst the
canopy of stars. The hills and craters seemed to form a face. It bore 

an

enigmatic smirk  -- as if to say, *I know something that you don't.*

	The road began to climb sharply. Ti Pi was sure she knew where
she was -- a pass between the hills near the edge of the Amazon 

village.

Home had to be near. She pushed herself forward on aching legs. Just a
little further.

	Abruptly, a light stabbed out of the darkness, shining in Ti
Pi's eyes for just a moment before turning away. She looked toward the
source, and could barely make out a figure.

	Instinctively, she inched away from her position, off to the
side of the road. A rocky spire stood nearby; she moved around, as
noiselessly as she could manage, to crouch behind it. Footsteps
approached. She had no idea who was there; probably just an Amazon --
but if it wasn't, being spotted could be fatal. For moments that seemed
to stretch into hours, she waited, for something that would identify 

the

unknown person.

	A voice spoke. "Who's there? Show yourself!" The voice was male;
that told Ti Pi all she needed to know.

	The light panned along the road where she had been standing. Her
mind raced as she considered her options. She remembered a path leading
to the village that she'd used many times when she had played out here
as a child. She could picture in her mind exactly how it looked -- but
would she be able to find it in the dark?

	And what if she made it to the village, and found it overrun
with soldiers? Amazon law would require her to attack. It wouldn't
matter how many of them there were, or how certain her death would be;
her duty to her sisters would be to kill as many enemies as she 

possibly

could before they stopped her.

	The sensible thing to do would be to turn around now and sneak
away. Go back to Cunzhuang, or even all the way to Xining, and wait for
help. If they had beaten all of sisters, how could she possibly win? 

And

how would her walking into certain death help them?

	Still, she had to know for certain what had happened. After all,
how would she be able to ask for help if she didn't know what the
situation was? Yes, she would go to the village. Once there, she'd
decide what to do.

	Waiting until the person with the light was as far away as he
was likely to get, Ti Pi moved.

	The narrow light beam turned towards her. "Stop!" the voice
commanded. She broke into a full run, trying desperately to keep her
balance on the uneven ground as she sped away.

	Something whistled through the darkness, catching the lower part
of Ti Pi's legs, wrapping itself around her ankles. Her body tumbled
forward uncontrollably, coming to a stop as it skidded across the
ground.

	She twisted around to face her attacker. The light blared
directly in her eyes as she turned her head. "Don't move!" The voice
sounded familiar. Where had she heard it before? The figure advanced. 

Ti

Pi could make out the long, narrow shaft of some sort of weapon. He
could shoot her, and there would be nothing she could do about it.

	The figure moved even closer, and a face became visible. Ti Pi
squinted, straining to see as the light burned her eyes. "Zhen? Zhen
BEN? Is that you?"

	"Ti Pi?"

	"What are *you* doing here?" She pulled her legs toward her and
sat up, relieved beyond words.

	"I'm on guard duty!"

	"The elders put you as a sentry?" They had to be desperate to
use a male for such an important job.

If the elders were desperate enough to use a male for such an important 
job, why was Zhen Ben able to take Ti Pi down so easily? After all, she 
can fight off wild dogs with Amazonian strength.

	"Very well, dearest." Gliding across the floor, Kodachi grinned
gleefully as she thrust her ribbon forward. With a fraction of a second
to spare, Ranma jumped upward. Moving faster than the eye could see, he
landed behind her.

	"Looks like you missed!" Ranma tapped Kodachi on the shoulder --
or rather, tried to. For some reason, he couldn't lift his right arm. 

Or

his left.

	She casually swung around to face him. "Oh?"

	Ranma looked down. Wrapped tightly around the entire lower half
of his body, Kodachi's ribbon pinned his arms and legs. Except for his
head, he looked like a mummy. He exerted all his strength, but the
ribbon didn't budge at all. It was like pushing against solid steel; 

not

even Ryoga had ever gripped him so tightly.

This thought is so scary that I can't even comment on it. Unless you 
plan on having Kodachi as a super-villan, I sure hope this is only a 
clever trick. Ranma could have beat Kodachi so easily going all out in a 
fight that it is not even funny, and even in the Manga the only reason 
he had any problems beating her in less than a second with Rhythmic 
Gymnastics was because A) She cheated, B) She cheated, and C) She 
cheated. Frankly, I just about stopped reading at this point.

	And as she looked up, she saw men dressed all in black, with
face masks that looked like the snouts of pigs. Hundreds, thousands of
them, swarming through the village like insects. And she could do
nothing to resist as they dragged her across the ground. And the world
faded, and the blackness swallowed everything.

Invasion of the P-Chan Wannabe's?



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