All Mixed Up
                      Chapter 1a

      Into Every Life, a Little Madness Must Come

                          by:

                   the DragonBard
______________________________________________________________________

Send all C&C to dragonbard@hotmail.com or dragonbard@my-dejanews.com
_______________________________________________________     The godlike 
mortal, Franklin Richards, and the trickster entity known as Toltiir, 
along with the cosmic embodiment of chaos, sat staring into the pool.
    "Well,"  Franklin said to his companions, "That idea was a bust."
     "How could you have known Ryouga's Saiyan powered breaking point 
would blow up the planet?"  Toltiir consoled the depressed human.  "At 
least the others survived, and now Ranma is having to act as Adam with a 
whole lot of Eves."  The group chuckled at that.
     "I knew something fishy was going on with our timelines!"  Someone 
yelled, and the trio turned to find themselves confronted by the Tendo 
sisters, and Ranma Soatome!  Each member of the group of Nerimaites was 
sporting the diety marks on their faces, and a grim look that would make 
the Lord of Terror run for cover.
     Toltiir covered his face with one paw.
     "Damn, I forgot that they got diefied in some timelines."  He 
muttered.  Akane and Ranma, or more precisley, Akane-kami and 
Ranma-kami, were burning up, literally in Akane's case, as goddess of 
fire was one of her aspects.
     "What right do you have to mess around in 'our' lives?  What if we 
found a timeline where 'you' weren't a god and messed around with it?"
     Toltiir shrugged.  "If I'm not a god, or some other being of power, 
I don't exist.  It's a part of my nature.  Anyway, the Boss was aware of 
it, and didn't tell me not to."  This just got Akane angrier.
     As the others argued, Kasumi-kami looked down at the scrying pool.  
Because of her personality and voice, most people thought Kasumi was an 
aspect of Belldandy, which was close, but inaccurate.  They were both 
manifestation of the same concepts, like Cronos and the Norns.  You may 
be wondering why I'm mentioning this, and my answer is, I just am.  
Anyway, Kasumi-kami studied the situations in the scrying pool, and 
imparted the information she gathered from it to the others.  They 
quickly gathered around her to study it.  After one look, Ranma-kami 
started to beat his head against a nearby boulder.
     "Why is it that whenever my mortal form gets cursed, it ends up 
being a girl?"  He moaned.
     "Well, there is that timeline where your cursed form is male, even 
if it is a sabertoothed cat that makes a bengal tiger look like a 
chiwawa."  Toltiir said.  Ranma-kami just stared at the ground.  Then, 
he straightend, with a strange gleem in his eye.
     "What if we did something like this bet?"  He exclaimed.  "I mean, 
together we should have enough power to make it a permanent one."
     "Sounds interesting, Ranma."  Nabiki-kami said as she looked at the 
scrying pool.  "What do you have in mind?"
     "Simple.  We alter things so that my . . . that is, my mortal 
counterpart's life, isn't so screwed up."
  Toltiir shook his head.
     "Won't happen.  Sooner or later you'ld have a lot of insanity in 
your existence.  It would take direct intervention from the top to 
prevent it.  Believe me, I know."
     "But we could minimize the problems."  Nabiki mused.  "Maybe 
prevent the cat fist, the curse, multiple fiances, that sort of thing."  
The others thought about it a moment, and agreed that it could be fun.  
They then turned back to Toltiir.
     "We still need to have a word with you about the things you've done 
with our timelines!"  Akane-kami grated.  Toltiir began to sweat.  The 
problem with being outside the normal systems meant that he didn't have 
the protections afforded to beings of this framework.  And when 
Akane-kami was that mad, even Kami-sama usually steered clear of her.  
Fortuneately, Franklin came to his rescue.
     "Well, why don't you help us on this one?  We've really just 
started on it, so there should be room for you to help with it.  This 
mollified most of the divine Nerimaites, though Akane still looked like 
she wanted to blow something up.  <Maybe a visit to the asteroid belt 
for some stress relief.>  She thought to herself, as she sat down to 
look at the pool.

*******************************************************

     Ranma stood in a clearing just outside of the city of Tokyo, where 
his seeking spell was telling him to go.  He shrugged, <Can't be any 
worse than that Amazon Village.>  He thought to himeself.  <If I had 
known they were going to be such sore loosers I wouldn't have challenged 
that girl.>  He sighed.
     "Well, no use living in the past."  He muttered to himself.  He dug 
in his bag for a moment, and came out with a medallion.  It was worn, 
and looked older than the pyramids, which it was.  It was also, very 
powerful, as many secrets of magic had been lost a long time ago, and 
this medallion came from before then.  It was one of Ranma's most 
carefully guarded possessions.  It was a talisman of destiny.  A device 
similar to a good luck charm, but much more powerful.  This talisman 
could actually influence the spirits of Fate and Destiny.  With this 
talisman, a man could become a king from a peasent.  It's power was 
also, limited.  It could only do so much before loosing its strength for 
a time.  Thus Ranma only used it a little at a time.  Not only 
conserving its strength, but also, protecting himself from its power.  
You see, a side effect of the talisman, is that when it is used, the 
destiny you have chosen becomes more and more likely, you are plagued by 
good fortune.  However, your life becomes chaos.  Ranma had found 
another use for it.  When dealing with things like seeking spells, the 
medallion magnified their power enormously, preventing anything from 
getting into the way of the spell.  
     Ranma clutched the medallion, and sought out, mentally, the seeking 
spell.  With a few muttered words, and a bit of mystical power, the two 
became joined.  Ranma smiled.  <Now, the spell won't just guide me to my 
family, it'll make sure that I'm going there, even when I'm not 
following the spell.>  Ranma sighed.  He had been hoping that it 
wouldn't be necessary to use this trick, mainly because while everything 
would turn out all right in the end, it would still be one long amount 
of trouble until the medallion finished its task.  Ranma had put it off 
until reaching Japan so that there would be hopefully less trouble, 
believing that he could find them quickly, and let the spell disappate.  
<At least, I 'HOPE' that's what's going to happen.>  Ranma thought to 
himself, <Cause if not, I'm in for some 'major' trouble!>


       *                   *                    *

     Akane stood in the center of the Tendo family dojo, infront of her 
was a pile of bricks.  Akane gently laid her palm on the top brick, and 
after a moment, the entire pile crumbled.  She stood up and dusted her 
hands off.
     "I actually learned it.  The demak."  She whispered to herself in 
amazement.  The demak, sometimes called the delayed death touch, was one 
of the most feared techniques in all martial arts.  With it, you could 
crumble stone, or kill a person with barely a mark, just by means of a 
gentle touch.  She had seen a sensei demonstrate it on that American 
mystery show that Nabiki liked to watch, and had somehow instantly 
understood it, even though it was not a technique of the Anything Goes 
Martial Arts.  At least, not one her Father and sensei, Soun Tendo, had 
ever shown her.  It had been like that for the past three years now.
     She quickly cleaned up the mess, and then began her normal indoors 
workout.  Within moments, Akane was well into a routine that would 
easily qualify her for the Olympics, and most likely, a gold medal.  She 
did handstands, flips, moved into kicks and punches with a speed and 
skill that would have done a master proud.  Once her daily routine was 
done, she grabbed a towel, and went to take a bath.
     Upstairs, Nabiki Tendo sat in her room as if asleep.  In point of 
fact, Nabiki was traveling through the Astral Plane.  It was a strange 
and beautiful place.  Like being in space, but you could breath, and 
travel with the speed of thought.  Mainly because that was all that 
existed.  Thought!  Nabiki could even move into a place which reflected 
the physical world.  See and hear everything without being detected.  
Well not usually.  There was that one time when a little old woman had 
seen her, but she had vanished back into the higher levels of the Astral 
Plane.
     <There,> she thought to herself, <now, with this info, I can take 
the money I got selling those pictures to Kuno, and make a killing on 
the stock market!>

         *                *                 *
     Featherbrite hovered just outside of the home of the woman who had 
been able to see her.  From the size of it, it was obvious that the 
woman was of some importance in this place.  One of the abilities 
faeries have, is the fact that they can hide themselves, even from those 
who could normally seem them.  Featherbrite utilized this ability, as 
she flew into the building.
     "Greetings, Old One."  Cologne said.  Featherbrite was stunned.  
She knew it was possible for people to see her when she was 'actively' 
trying to stay invisible, it was still very difficult.
     "Greetings, Daughter of Eve."  Featherbrite replied, bowing in 
midair.  She quickly divested herself of the glamour of invisiblity she 
had put around herself.  Cologne motioned for her to land on a pillow 
she had set opposite herself.  Featherbrite alighted on it, much to her 
relief, as she was getting tired from hovering around.
     "I am called Featherbrite, a spirte of the air of the Cor Mai Tal 
tribe, Honored One."  Cologne chuckled at the compliment.  Faeries were 
a race closely associated with the elementals, especially  the lesser 
members of their kind.  Thus, they would technically be considered kami 
among the japanese.  To be called Honored One by one such as them, would 
be feather in her cap, if she could ever get this Featherbrite to admit 
it.  The Old Ones were strange that way.  It was, also, not often that 
she ran across one smaller and more ancient than herself. She rather 
enjoyed this.    
     "In the name of the Amazons, and the Council of Elders, I, 
Matriarch Cologne, greet you, Child of the Winds."  Cologne intoned, 
bowing.  She had studied the ancient rituals for dealing with the 
faeries for the past day.  She had figured there was going to be a 
meeting like this, and she wanted it to go well.
     "Why did the Amazons attack Ranma?  Your Champion's defeat was in 
honorable combat, so the matter should have been settled."
     "Forgive us, Old One.  It was the actions of a reckless youth of 
our tribe that caused the attack.  The young man . . . Ranma, was to be 
honored with membership in our tribe, by marrying the greatest of our 
young warriors.  My Great-granddaughter in fact."  Featherbrite looked 
thoughtful.
     "Marriage.  That is an agreement of exclusiveness between mates, 
isn't it?  I'm not sure I like that."
     Cologne frowned.  "Why?  Surely you don't think he's too young?  He 
is likely the same age as my Great-granddaugter."
     "Oh, I just don't think it's right to tie a person down like that.  
Favored mate, or First Mate, 'that' I can agree with."
     "First Mate?"  Cologne said, confused.
     "Done!"  Featherbrite said, bouncing in the air.  It took all of 
Cologne's three hundred years of experience to keep from moaning into 
her hands.  <Maybe the Son-in-Law can figure this out.>  She thought to 
herself.

         *               *                 *
     Ranma stood just beyond the outskirts of Tokyo.  The seeking spell 
was telling him that this was where he needed to go.  There was also 
another place, far away, that he need to reach, but this place had been 
the closer, 'and' the stronger call.
     "'sigh'  Even with the seeking spell, it'll take forever to find my 
way around.  I'll have to try a maping spell."  He said to himself.  
This was something that he 'didn't' want to do.
     In some dimensions, traveling to a high magic reality from outside, 
and staying there a while, caused people to adapt to that world, either 
taking the form of a magical creature, or becoming a member of the 
dominant species.  Fortunately, Featherbrite had been able to prevent 
that, or rather 'delay it.'  Since his world had 'some' magic, though 
the intensity wasn't the same level as say, Faerie, and since he had 
become a sorcerer, the alterations were slower.  But the fact that he 
was a sorcerer was a two edged sword, since it meant he would be exposed 
to a great deal more magic over the years.  Now, all the magic from 
those 'different' realities were trying to change him, and not the slow 
adaptation that it was supposed to be.  <Thank the gods that being in my 
native world should prevent the build up from growing stronger.  In 
fact, being in a lower magic universe 'SHOULD' cause the build up to 
disapate eventually.  But I think I'm near the limit.  I use too much 
magic and POOF I become something else.  And the curse ain't helping.>
     He allowed his mind to expand and feel the different energy flows 
of creation as they existed around him, and what he felt, nearly made 
his hair stand on end.
     This city was sitting on a nexus!  A place where ley lines, 
otherwise known as dragon lines, intersected.  Ley lines were, for all 
intents and purposes, rivers of magical energy.  They could be harnesed 
to enhance the powers of a skilled enough magus.  However, a nexus was 
much, much, more.  It was a well of power, fed by the rivers that flowed 
through it.  If left unattended, many things could occur there.  Magical 
creature evolving, interreality portals openning, and many bizarre 
occurances happening.  Ones which strained coincidence.
     "Damn, and I was hoping for a little quite before this started up 
again!"  He muttered to himself.  "Well, no use whining about what you 
can not control.  Might as well get to work."
     Ranma reached into his traveling bag, and pulled out a blank piece 
of paper.  With a quickly muttered incantation, he joined the seeking 
spell to another one, one which would show on a precisely detailed map 
where the object/person/place he was looking for could be found at any 
time.  It would also act as a map for the city, so he wouldn't get lost.  
The images spread all over the scrolled piece of paper.  On it was a 
perfect map of the physical landscape of the city, and a number of dots, 
all in one location.
     "Well, that's going to make finding them easier."  He muttered to 
himself.  With that, Ranma Saotome set off to meet his fate.
______________________________________________________________________
     I've borrowed a few paragraphs from MetroAnime's finished product 
of Featherbrite's tale, but as the story continues, it will get more 
divergent and original, so don't worry.  It's just they happen to move 
in the same direction for the moment.
     You're probably wondering what Ranma is turning into, and the 
answer is, something.  Even he isn't sure, and he's been around the 
block enough to know quite a few things.  You see, he's been to so many 
different high magic worlds, and each one tried to turn him into 
something different.  A faerie, like Featherbrite, an elf, a were-feline 
of some kind because of his nekoken training.  The curse of Jusenkyo has 
mixed with the transformational effects, and so, that's why Ranma's 
cursed form looks like it does.  One part amazon, one part elf/faerie 
cross, one part cat (which Ranma doesn't realize yet) and a few other 
things from his travels and the various Jusenkyo springs.  Even Ranma 
doesn't know what all the creatures he's got mixed up in himself.  Fun 
huh?
     I'll probably start doing rewrites after a couple of chapters, 
maybe two or three, when I really have an idea where I'm going with 
this.
---
You can find my fanfics at Stardancer's Homepage
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/4630/

"To see a world in a           
  grain of sand,                    
And a Heaven in a
  wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the
  palm of your Hand,
And Eternity in an hour."

  William Blake (1757-1827)

"Lord, What Fools these Mortals Be."
  Shakespeare


You can find my stories at:
Stardancers Homepage 
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/4630/
RanmaS's Archive
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/3007/fanfics.html

>From the Pen of the DragonBard:
****************************************************
*"There are more things in Heaven and Earth . . .  *
*then are dreampt of in your philosiphy."          *
*Hamlet                                            *
*                                                  *
*Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep!*
*                                                  *
*Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;        *
*But will they come when you do call for them?     *
*Henry IV                                          *
****************************************************

Yes I am crazy, I don't just act that way!

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