TRAINING RANMA 0:00:02
a brief alterniverse concept thrown out for eventually
working into "Settling Bets" though mainly it was
just an idea i had to sketch out, and which didn't fit
into any of my current projects.
                             char owned by others. treatment by 
metroanime@mindspring.com

 "That must be them!" Soun started for the door.

 "Ooooo, RANMA!" Nabiki ran for the door, 
hoping for cute. Rich was too much to expect.

 An older man and a young boy were outside
the door. The man was about her father's age, while the
boy was...sullen. He wore a tired depression as if they
were familiar clothes. 

 Nabiki was brought up short by the air of
someone who was just plain tired of living.

 Behind the boy was a girl with purple hair who 
looked a little nervous herself. 

 "Ah, Soun. We've got to talk. Errr. Ranma,
you and Shampoo wait out here while Soun and I talk
about this."

 "Saotome?" Soun Tendo looked over his
old friend. It brought back memories of times under
the Master. The same tired, even haunted, look. The
same nervous glances once directed towards the evil
Master were directed towards his own son.

 "Inside, Tendo. We need to talk."

 Nabiki watched as the two fathers entered
the house. The boy stared at nothing in particular,
while the girl glanced at the boy then walked over to
where Nabiki stood.

 "Nihao. Shampoo is name. You is no martial
artist. Shampoo can tell. You help with Ranma?"

 "What's wrong with him? Is he always like
this?" Nabiki watched the boy. She corrected her initial
impression of sad and depressed to "just doesn't care
if he lives or dies."

 "Is side effect of martial arts training he
undergo many year ago. We go inside, yes?"

 "Ranma, you look you could use a hot
soak, why don't you take one while we talk?"
----------------------------
 Akane slid open the door, and stared
at the boy getting up out of the tub.

 She was still standing there in shock
as the boy moved past her, not noticing at how 
his lifeless eyes only seemed to vaguely register
her presence at all.

 The boy grabbed his clothes, not
deigning to notice how the girl was staring at
him. He dressed quickly, efficiently, and never
once seemed to actually see her.

 Akane was trying to figure out
what had just happened. He hadn't acted 
at all like she would have expected a boy
to act.

 "Why...that pervert," she finally
whispered. All boys were perverts anyway.
It had to be some sort of perverted joke. "I..
I'll kill him! I'll..."

 Akane glanced back at the door
that this Ranma had just exited from.  A little
voice seemed to be telling her that killing him 
would be doing him a favor. Uncertainty was 
washed away by the anger and embarrassment.
No doubt he'd go tell all his male friends that
he'd seen her naked!

 When she rushed out into the living
room, Ranma was already sitting there, apparently
ignoring his father as well as everyone else in the
room. She hefted the comforting weight of a dumb-bell 
in her hand and prepared to throw it at the pervert.

 "...so when we got to her village, well,
the boy actually seemed almost halfway interested
in the fighting. I left him to watch while I...uhm, 
assuaged my hunger."

 The purple haired girl interrupted. "Pops
steal prize that rightfully belong to Shampoo. He 
say I have to fight Ranma for prize, but Great 
Grandmother step in. She look at Ranma's eyes
and say he no stay in village one moment more."

 "Hey, you pervert! You looked at me
in the nude, you letch! Don't think you can get 
away with that by just walking away!" Akane
interrupted the story and glared at the boy.

 "Why?" The boy spoke for the first
time, so softly that one could barely notice it.

 "You..." Akane paused again, some
confusion at this atypical behavior. It must be an
act. "You saw me naked! You, you..."

 Dead eyes looked up at her. "Why
would I want to look at you naked, anyway?"

 Akane's temper snapped, she'd been
against the whole engagement thing anyway,
and here this idiot was insulting her! "DIE, YOU
PERVERT!"

 Ranma saw the weight heading for 
his face and blinked just before it impacted.

 "Uh oh." Genma started edging
away from the table. "Soun, there's something
I've really got to mention. But right now, everyone
play dead or at least don't make any threatening 
moves."

 Shampoo said something in Mandarin 
and did a quick roll off the back of the patio and
out of sight.

 "Genma, what?"

 Everyone started as a growl started
coming from Ranma's vicinity. Eyes slitted and
seeming to glow reddishly, his face was showing
considerably more animation than it had been.

 "Years ago," said Genma as he assumed
a seated position on the floor that resembled some
nervous Buddha, "I came across some of the Master's
books. Secret techniques promised such powerful
abilities as the 'unbeatable Catfist' or 'Hyuri's Strength.'
Foolishly, I chose to train Ranma in the latter technique.
With the result that sudden attacks, death threats, or
being cornered, unleashes the technique."

 Nabiki blinked. Watching the boy uncoil
from the floor reminded her of some of the wildlife
programs she'd seen. Something about how he was
moving screamed that this was a predator.

 "What have you done, Saotome?" Soun
was ready to intervene, as it looked like Akane was
almost frozen by the boy's glare.

 "He's a berserker." Genma tried to look
as nonthreatening as he could.

 "Bersarkerganger," whispered Soun
as he watched the boy's eyes darting wildly to
each of the occupants of the room. "How could
you, Saotome?"
 
 Akane decided to throw caution to the
wind, ignoring that her own father had turned so
pale his skin was almost transparent. "So what's
the big deal about this letch..." Akane pointed 
across the table at the feral boy.

 The table exploded as Ranma moved
through it, not bothering to slow enough to go over
or around it as the Rage came down over his mind. He 
howled with bloodlust and anger. The extended arm 
was the first priority, and his first move broke the bones 
in the forearm like matchsticks. That was with his left 
hand. The right snaked forward in a move that would
have literally taken her head off. He hesitated for less
than a fraction of a second.

 Soun interrupted that attack, even
though he saw his own life flash before his eyes.
He was thrown outside the house like a ragdoll
a moment later.

 "Everyone just stay calm, don't make
any sudden movements," Genma advised. Akane
had finally laid down, close enough to Kasumi
that the older sister could inspect the arm.

 Kasumi and Nabiki stared, even 
though they were not martial artists, they could
feel the raw power being emanated by the boy
in front of them.

 Kasumi watched the boy in front
of her. "Berserkarganger? So, Ranma alternates
between being emotionally dead to an animalistic
state due to this training?" Kasumi was careful
not to show her disapproval of his father. She
understood the danger. Later on, though...

 Ranma was no longer facing Akane
as he'd turned to deal with her father. Now the
still-growling figure turned, sweeping the room
with his eyes as he tried to find the next enemy.

 Nabiki involuntarily flinched as those
eyes passed over her. They weighed her in an
instant as a potential threat and dismissed her.

 Kasumi remained calm, controlling her
breathing and showing no sign of the current
panic. She remembered reading in one of Doctor
Tofu's books about the berserkers, how their
metabolic rates jumped to insane levels during
the berserk state. 

 Ranma's growls stopped as the 
Beast realized that there were no threats currently
facing him. The growl faded and died, and the 
light passed out of his eyes. A moment later and
the boy collapsed, a look of utter hopelessness
returning to his face.

 "Genma?"

 "Soun?"

 "Is there any way to keep him from
going berserk?"

 "Well, there's medication, but as we've
been on the road...and there hasn't been any 
money for them for quite some time." Genma 
watched as the last traces of the berserker fugue
passed from Ranma's form. "I consulted with an
expert in such things in China who told me that
by taking Ranma continuously away from friends,
and from never forming any attachments to other
people, I've actually made his berserker state more
easily triggered and more uncontrollable."

 "Daddy, you engaged us to a psychopath?"
Nabiki looked at where Kasumi was in the process of
splinting Akane's arm. "Another second and he would
have killed her!"

 "He hesitated, though," argued Genma. "It's
a disappointment, but my son just isn't a killer..."

 Genma paused as he felt the temperature of
the room drop a good twenty degrees. "I mean that while
the berserker is essentially the Survival Instinct, it's still
drawn from Ranma's personality and he isn't inclined to
kill. Heavens, he's been refusing to eat most kinds of meat
lately or even kill to eat. Says the taste of blood makes
him nauseous."

 "Akane, we've got to get you to Doctor Tofu's.
He can set this." Kasumi helped her sister up. Akane was
still quite pale from her ordeal.

 Soun gingerly felt his ribs. "I think I ought to
see the Doctor myself. I think he might have broken a rib."

 Ranma sat still, ignoring the people talking 
around him.

 "So what about that Shampoo girl? Why is she
here?"

 "Because, my son went into the berserker state
near her village when some Amazon decided to show her
displeasure against having some outsider males nearby.
As she was using a sword, Ranma saw it and went berserk.
Her screams drew the village Champion."

 "Shampoo thought she was going to die. Weapons
get smashed, knee get broken, head ringing. Shampoo was
on the ground, ready to greet ancestors. Asked opponent to
make it clean ending, not slow."

 "When Ranma's berserk," Genma continued, "he
doesn't recognize words or anything. He's just pure Rage. 
When she stopped being a threat, he ignored her until the
Elder came by."

 "Great grandmama say no berserker allowed in
village. She also say because Shampoo still moving, then
Ranma not completely uncontrolled. Is hope for cure. So
she say Shampoo go with Ranma, then he pay off debt he
owe to Shampoo. If he get cure, then Shampoo find out
and let Elder know what is."
------------------------------------------
 this is an idea i came up with that i couldn't 
fit into ANY of the current projects, i thought i'd throw it out 
for amusement. After all, the Catfist is pretty pathetic for an 
ultimate technique.
                  i can see where Soun & Co. would be reluctant to
have Ranma around. Certainly Soun would want to make
sure that any daughter of his would survive the wedding.
 Genma's a bit more thoughtful and less pushy
than in the canon. After all, if you make it too threatening
or corner him too badly you might wake something up you
don't want to wake up.
 Nabiki wouldn't want to make too much
money off this guy, as playing with live grenades is not
exactly an intelligent move. Blackmail and the like are
not going to be smooth either.
 Kasumi the healer has the best chance of 
reaching Ranma and getting him to calm down. 
 Ranma's less of a jerk and more "zombied 
out" than Ryouga gets in the canon. So Akane, once
she gets used to that unblinking stare, will be less
angry with him. Still would  hold a grudge against
him for "peeping" and for breaking her arm.
 Ryouga still holds a grudge. This time 
for more cause as he was on the receiving end of
a berserker attack. He survived, but got thoroughly
messed up. He went to Jusenkyo even if the two
Saotomes never made it that far. (They went to the
Amazons because of rumored healers.)
 Ukyou. Unchanged as she was abandoned
before the training.
 Kuno. Probably the first person Ranma kills,
shortly after he states that he will kill Ranma for staying
under the same roof as Akane Tendo.
	Nobody gets Ranma? Maybe.