char owned by others. treatment by metroanime@mindspring.com
 Spells R Us: Japanese Chronicles 2/3:Kid in the Candy Store
Spells R Us is a fanfic device used on various transformation sites.
Rumiko Takahashi owns the various Ranma 1/2 characters.
         various food & commercial projects appearing here are tm
their various companies.
      -----------------------------------------
 A bell on the door jangled, as a number of people
moved into the cluttered shop.

 A black cat led the way, stopping at a rack of candy
and meowing repeatedly.

 The next one in was a short haired girl of seventeen,
who moved with a slight limp but otherwise had the typical grace of a
skilled martial artist.

 A tether from her hand led to the belt of a confused
looking boy who had a bandana and was carrying an umbrella.

 The final member of this group was a purple-haired
Chinese girl who had the expression of a warrior who has just
stepped behind enemy lines.

 A man in a bathrobe stepped out of a room in the
back. "Ah, Akane Tendo. So nice to get a return customer.
We don't get many, you know. And you brought your sister
Nabiki, the eternally lost Ryouga Hibiki, and Shampoo of the
Nichieju Chinese Amazons."

 "How do you..." Nabiki started then waved it off.
"Let me guess, a spell on the door. Gives you identities and
some basic dossier on those who ring the bell."

 The old man adjusted his glasses. "So nice to do
business with someone who doesn't go through the usual
spiel."

 "Then you already know we're here to see about
getting cures for curses, the one that this cat picked up
particularly."

 "She should have read the fine print on the back."
The wizard shrugged. "We're not responsible for problems
that occur as a result of use or misuse of our products."

 Shampoo looked up from where she was examining
the candy rack. "All candies look normal, but little print in
Cantonese on back. Almost need magnifying glass to read."

 The wizard shrugged again.

 Nabiki didn't waste time threatening a wizard capable
of turning a girl into a cat then rewriting history so that the girl
had never existed. "How much to cure the kitty cat?"

 "Difficult to say." The wizard adjusted his glasses again
and looked directly into Nabiki's eyes. "Are you sure you want
to do that, though? Turning her back puts everything back the
way it was."

 "MEOW!"

 "What's different?" Ryouga blinked. Not much could
have changed, he didn't feel different.

 "The transformation apparently erased from existence
a little sister of mine, apparently named Akane Tendo. Just from
the questions she's asked and reactions she's displayed I can
make a few guesses. May I?" This last was directed to the wizard.

 When he nodded, Nabiki continued.

 "Akane is apparently the Heir to the Tendo School,
not I. She is also apparently engaged to Ranma, doesn't like him
very much, doesn't like Ryouga at all, and is a fair English
student."

 The wizard cleared his throat. "Ryouga sleeps with
Akane in his cursed form as her pet 'P-chan'. Ukyou is NOT
scarred or insane and is seen as one of Ranma's fiancees. Nabiki
never got into singing, drawing manga, OR the martial arts.
I also don't have anything labelled 'antidote' but perhaps something
else will approximate what you're looking for?"

 "I get to sleep indoors," Ryouga said with a wistful
smile.

 "How could Ukyou be..." Nabiki's eyes narrowed as
pieces of a puzzle clicked together. "He's a she? Hmmmm. Maybe
another Jusenkyo victim. All righty then."

 "How much this candy?" Shampoo dumped a few
assorted pieces on the counter.

 "SHAMPOO!" To say Nabiki was alarmed was
quite understating it.

 Shampoo smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Candy
called 'Kit Kat' change girl into kitty cat, yes? So what you
think happen if Ranma in girl form eat 'Big Hunk' bar? Or if
girl-cat have 'Nerds' or 'Girl Scout Cookies:Thin Mints' or
maybe underdeveloped Amazon sister eat 'Whoppers'?"

 Nabiki glared for a moment. "I am quite happy
with my natural amount of 'talent', Shampoo."

 "That not what you say when looking at them
dresses last week."

 Ryouga quietly added another "Big Hunk" bar
and a "Three Musketeers" to the pile.

 "Waitaminute, Shampoo, if we cure Akane here,
then you've paid for something, but we set up a paradox
because if she's cured then we wouldn't have had a reason
to come." Nabiki winced as all the implications and problems
of mucking about with your own history started occurring to
her, absent mindedly putting a set of coins on the counter
to pay for the purchases. "The past timeline in which she,
not I, is your warrior sister..."

 The sad look passed into Nabiki's eyes again
as she considered what she was doing. Would she go back
to being as she was before meeting Ranma? Would she
still at least have her artwork and musical skills? Or would
it be as in the Trial Of The Heart and she would be a mere
shadow trapped in a two-dimensional life, forced to watch
other people being happy but never able to grasp it herself?
Having erected walls around herself to protect herself, but
being cold and lonely and not that well protected after all.

 The cat in discussion would have corrected
Nabiki if she could, but couldn't, so instead just settled
for sniffing at the assorted candies. If all it took was one
bite...

 This world was too crazy for her.
-----------------------
 Akane staggered and put out a hand to steady
himself against the furo wall.

 Some curious dislocation continued to make
itself felt. Groaning, Akane got to the door and wondered
where his... uh oh.

 His scream brought everyone else in the household.
------------------------
 "A curse, Akira?" Sixteen year old Nabiki frowned
and shook her head. "Even with all the craziness Ranma here
brought in, that's a little difficult to swallow."

 "It's Akane." The sullen nineteen year old corrected.

 "That's a GIRL'S name." Nabiki's hand slapped down
on the table. "YOU ARE A GUY! You are NOT Ranma and you
can't change genders with water temperature."

 "Uhm, it's not a Jusenkyo curse." Akira/Akane looked
down from his impressive height at his sisters, father, and a
thoroughly bewildered looking pair of freeloading houseguests.
"All I need to do is go back to the shop, and I can try something
else. No problem."

 "AIREN!" The cry came from the backyard and the
latter part was considerably increased in volume from the first
part.

 Akane sat back, ready to get angry at Ranma for
being glomped by Shampoo. Unfortunately...

 *GLOMP!* "Akira happy to see Shampoo?" The
Amazon snuggled against her big brave husband with the
chiseled musculature. A moment later her eyes widened and
she glanced down. "Akira IS happy to see Shampoo! Shampoo
was beginning to worry that maybe Akira no like girls. Shampoo
HAPPY!" The Amazon Glomp resumed.

 Akira wasn't happy about her/his body going off
and reacting to a suggestively snuggling Amazon without
consulting him about it.

 "Oh dear," Akira's seventeen year old sister Kasumi
said after a moment. "Shouldn't you two take it upstairs if you're
going to try that?"

 "Ohohohohohohohoho!" Sinister laughter echoed
through the house, causing Akira to wince and start pleading that
what he was imagining wasn't really going to happen.

 A swirl of black rose petals, and a leotard clad
Kodachi appeared. "Halt, you common tramp, and release my
Akira-sama!"

 "C'mon, Nabiki, we don't wanna be late," said Ranma
with a weary sigh. He had no idea why Akira was doing all this,
but ever since the boy had insulted his girl form that first day
as a "short and scrawny sniveling little brat" - they hadn't gotten
along too well.

 "So true, my dear Ranma, so true. We'll just leave
the lovebirds alone..." Nabiki smirked. Akira making fun of Nabiki's
relationship with Ranma had stopped after he had accidently beaten
Shampoo, and catching Kodachi that once had set big brother up
for a whole slew of problems.

 "AAAAAA! Shampoo, let go of me! Kodachi, no, not
the ribbon! Not in the house, you guys!" Akane was beginning to
get the faintest hint of sympathy for what Ranma went through.
-----------------------------------------
 A thoroughly bedraggled Akira Tendo thwacked his head
into the doorframe of Spells R Us and wondered how things could be
this bad.

 Being 6'4" and having a sculpted physique, he understood
was part of the "Big Hunk" candy's transformation. This wasn't hard to
understand. How to fix the current problem and not end up worse off,
that was the difficult part.

 Trying to tell Shampoo to go back to China had ended
when Akira had looked down into that happy, loving, face and
realized that Shampoo had it even worse for Akira than she had for
Ranma in the "real" timeline. Akane/Akira just hadn't had the heart.

 "So, Miss Tendo, what did you want to try this time?" It
was the same wizard as from before.

 "The cure." Briefly, Akane entertained the notion of
reaching across the counter, and beating the snot out of this
miserable little man until such time as the wizard gave up the cure.

 "You wouldn't want to try anything rash, Miss Tendo.
The last person who did ended up in a mess a great deal worse than
your current difficulties."

 Akira frowned, realizing that the telepathy spell must
still be going. THAT cut down an already slim list of options.

 "Aunt Jemima" pancake mix. Akane didn't think so,
though maybe Kasumi could make some for Genma. Maybe with
that big bottle of "Mrs Butterworth's" syrup to go with them.

 The old-fashioned soda machine in the corner had
a number of cans. Some were western drinks: Mr Pibb, Dr Pepper,
Sprite, Orange Crush. Others were Japanese: Pocari Sweat, Calpis,
Kirin Gold. A few bottles of some gaijin health drink under the
brand name of "Sobe" read "Power", "Wisdom", "Energy", or
"Eros."

 This last word sounded vaguely familiar to Akira. Maybe
it had something to do with a cure.

 The candy rack held some things that promised any
number of things. There were two varieties of Girl Scout cookies,
and one variety of prepackaged Brownies. Chunky, 3 Musketeers,
Nerds, Everlasting Gobstoppers, Runts, Peppermint Patties, Mars
bars, Reese's Pieces, Whoppers, Skor, Kit-kats, Big Hunks, Tiger's
Milk, Lemon Warheads, Purple Passion Pop Rocks, Pixie Sticks,
Koala Crunchies, Pocky sticks,  Baby Ruth, Oh Henry, Sweet Tarts.
Nothing that immediately screamed "CURE" to Akane's eye.

                   There were costumes hanging from racks. Harem girl
costumes, French maid costumes, bunny costumes, football player
costumes, horse costumes, a blue Sailor Moon-style seifuku, even
a "Lina Inverse" costume from "Slayers" and a costume similar to
.

 Computer programs were listed on a blackboard. VR versions
of "Graduation" and "Tomb Raider." Dating simulators and FFVII.

 Another blackboard had a list of odd things like "inflatable
date" and specials on catering.

 A shelf of videos turned up titles like "Catgirl Nukunuku",
"Bambi", "Dumbo", "Debbie Does Dallas", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre",
"Gremlins", "Cutey Honey Flash volumn I", an empty area marked "Ranma
1/2" (must be all checked out),  and "Fuchigi Yuugi."

 Akira frowned, realizing that he had to do something. The way
things were were getting entirely too comfortable. It was beginning to feel
"right" to be this tall and muscular fellow with the gleaming smile. Time
for
Akane to return, but how?

 Akira looked around the shop, ignoring the shopkeeper's smirk.
If Akira had figured it out, returning to normal was almost impossible. So
the
next decision would be:
 a) go for as close as possible to her original timeline and hope
for the best. Becoming a girl would be fairly easy. Becoming the right one
might be difficult. Maybe that "Debbie" tape was a travelogue, she could
always get a flight back. Or maybe the "Sweet Tarts" or "Peppermint Patty"-
those seemed safe. Then there was the other approach.
 b) screw the status quo, find one that was better off than the
original. After hours in this whacked out reality, Akira realized that damn
near everyone was happy. Kodachi and Shampoo were chasing after Akira,
who apparently had found the attention a mix of embarrassing and kind of
nice. Tatewaki was pursuing Nabiki and the Pigtailed girl. Kasumi was on
the Furinkan Cooking Club and a martial arts bakeoff was scheduled for
later this week against Kolkhoz High School's Midori Chiba. Ukyou and
Nabiki were both interested in Ranma. Shampoo's death-hunt against
female Ranma had been called off because of the relationship between
Ranma and her 'airen' - though occasional hostilities still occurred.
Tsubasa still showed up every blue moon to pursue Ukyou.

 Akira had found that instead of the craziness swirling
around Ranma, that there were three centers to the madness in this odd
world. Ranma, Akira, and Kasumi. Kasumi being pursued by two odd
suitors herself. At least they didn't show up very often, as they were
based OUT of Nerima.

 Akira was the Heir to the Tendo School. Kasumi was fairly
skilled but preferred defensive and avoidance tactics as she seemed to
have trouble with the idea of hurting other people no matter what other
insanities were going on around her. Nabiki had never shown that much
interest in the martial arts beyond as a form of exercise.

 Looking around in desperation, Akira felt more of Akane
beginning to slip away and made a choice.
======================================
typical Spells R Us stories can be found at:
 http://www.t0.or.at/~thomash/tsa/

Spells R Us is the creation of Bill Hart. The wizard running the store
seems to freelance work, sometimes offering his services to the
Divine Justice Department, other times to Infernal Evil & Injustice,
and quite often just his own mischief.
          the version in AVSB is set up in just such a manner, currently
subcontracted with the Bad Guys.

because this whole thing was an attempt at a pro-Akane story
following the feedback to "A Little Sense" there will be multiple
optional endings in chapter 3, including the originally intended
ending. (hey, i actually got some good reaction to the "choose
your own ending" ending in ALS.)